Joey's party

Joey's birthday party was last night at a place called Sky High. It is an indoor, wall-to-wall trampoline place. Your basic parents nightmare and orthopedics dream!! The kids had a total blast and it was a pretty easy party. No one got hurt and everyone loved the pirate cake!! A total success!!

White men CAN jump!! Love the extra set of legs sprouting from his booty.
Joey and all his friends

Ahoy Mateys!

Today is Joey's birthday party and I wanted to make him a special cake. Usually I just whip up a batch of cupcakes and throw sprinkles on them, but that is getting boring. Joey is really into pirates, so I googled pirate cake and found a cute one. It calls for fondant, which I have never used before. Suzie found me a website that showed me how to dye the fondant. Here is the process:

Here is the 1.5 lb lump of white fondant:
Adding the coloring a bit at a time and working it in. It was a bit like play dough.
The round cake before I putting a crumb coat on. Excuse the dark, over cooked cake.

With just the frosting Voila'! My finished project! The picture on line used fondant for the entire face, but I was afraid the kids would not like it, plus was a bit intimadated by having to use so much of the fondant, so his skin is frosting. The fondant was surprisingly fun and easy to work with!

Happy Birthday Joey!

My little Joe-bear is six years old today!!

Here are some things about our Joey:

1. Joey has charisma with a capital C! He has that certain something that draws people, especially girls/women, to him. This will take him far in life!
2. When he was little he had fluid in his ears, causing him to be speech delayed. He still talks with a bit of a New England accent. People have actually asked me where he is from! I think it is adorable.
3. He is an amazing athlete! He runs as quick and gracefully as a gazelle. He can handle a soccer ball beyond his years. He has outstanding baseball skills. He is naturally gifted.
4. He is my loving, cuddly guy, giving hugs and telling me he loves me frequently.
5. He needs to be with people. He doesn't even like to sleep alone, crawling in bed with Vinnie most nights. He once stated, "Vinnie keeps me warm like toast." I predict he will be the first one married because of this.

6. He is my silly little clown, shaking his booty and always making faces for the camera.
You are the best Joey!!

Happy Easter!

What a fabulous Eatser weekend!! My mom and sister were in town, I got confirmed, and the weather has been beautiful. I have tons of pictures, so will try to narrow it down. I can only post up to 5 per post, so will have to do 2 posts!

Dying Easter eggs on Saturday with cousin Alex
Easter bunny was up late !!
Following the jelly bean trail to the hidden baskets
Christopher checking out his basket
Vincent at the Easter egg hunt at Nani's house
More to come...

Happy Easter, part II

Joey happy with his loot
The handsome Contini boys!

Zachary really happy with his loot! Slip-n-slide fun in their undies
Joey, LE and Peter are all the exact same age!! Look at the size difference! William is a year younger at age 5 yr
Happy Easter!

I did it!!

Tonight was my big night!! I am now a member of the Catholic faith. At the Easter Vigil mass I was baptised, confirmed, and given first communion. The mass was beautiful and I actually had fun! My mom and sister came up from SoCal, which I was honored by. Alot of the pictures came out too dark, but here are a few:

Waiting in front of the font:

The font is beautiful.


Here is the actual baptism. The water was warm and felt nice, but getting out was cold!


My confirmation.
Taking first communion. I was surprised at how stryofoamy the communion was. I thought it would be more like a cracker.
With my sponsors, Mike and Lisa, and Fr Larry

Thanks Mike and Lisa! And thanks mom and Gina for coming to support me!

Just another night at the Contini's...

Half naked bat wielding with cousins Jacob, Laurel, and William. Nah... that is not an accident waiting to happen.

Our baseball phenom...

Too bad he is such a shrimp!

Gingerwood house, the Easter version!

We pulled out the gingerwood house and decorated it for Easter. I paid attention to the directions this time and beat the icing as long as it said. (Remember the Christmas version? ) It made a huge difference in how stiff the icing was!

Before decorating. Notice the missing Peeps!
During:
Our finished product!

Batter up!!

Yep!! It is baseball season!! Woo hoo! I love watching my boys have so much fun learning the game of baseball. Joey is in coach-pitch this year and Zachary is in AA. Joey had his first game yesterday, but I missed it as I was at a church retreat. Zachary had a practice game today and did awesome!! He got an out at first base, and struck out a batter while playing pitcher. He was on cloud 9 after the game.

Joey coming around 3rd base to home:

Zach waiting his turn to bat:
Zachary pitching:

Christopher already loves to throw the ball!

Graystone today, Broadway tomorrow!!

Tonight Zachary was in the school play, Alice in Wonderland. It was so much fun!! He didn't look nervous at all and did great. He was the 7 of spades, and had a couple of his own lines. We were not allowed to take any pictures of the performance (but of course they were selling the DVD!), so I don't have too many pictures to share.

Zach at the end of the performance. Taken from far away, so not a great picture.
Awesome job Zachary!!

Zach with his classmates and castmates Kyle and Sydney

Ahhh!!!

Our lame Tooth Fairy

Zach had a visit from the tooth fairy last night. She was actually supposed to come on Friday night, but somehow forgot. I am not sure what is sadder-- the fact that she forgot, or the fact that Zach wasn't even that upset about it as it has happened before. I told him that since his tooth fell out after 8 pm, she had already left on her nightly rounds. Truth be told, she almost forgot last night as well, but made a mad dash in his room before he woke up this morning. She really needs to get her act together!

Doctor heal thyself...

Uh... Or not
What is that hideous mark on my face?? A blister. That I put there. See, I had these age spots on my face that got really big when I was pregnant. I went to a dermatologist who said he could freeze it off for $200. I figured "What the heck, I have the same liquid nitrogen in my office that I use for warts." So I did it myself. You can't tell from the photo, but it looks awful in person. I am not sure if it was supposed to do this. I wonder how much a plastic surgeon is going to charge to fix the scar on my face?

Haircut Day!!

My boys all had their hair cut today. Because we have all boys, that job falls to Pete. He takes them to a great (and overpriced) kids place and they all get their hair cut together, including Pete. Our camera battery died when Christopher had his first haircut 6 months ago so I had no pictures of that event. Peter kept forgetting the camera until today. I will change the date of this and stick it under his first haircut. He hasn't grown much since then anyway!

My handsome men!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Today is my 39th birthday!! I have had a great day. Truth be told it wasn't very different from my typical day (run, go to work, etc...), but I love my life, hence it was a great day!! I have had a few people ask me how I feel about getting so close to 40. I honestly feel just fine. My 30's have (so far) been my greatest decade. I am looking forward to seeing what my 40's bring!

Note the candles on the cake-- 3-8-1, ie: 38 +1. As you can see we were out of candles.
I came home from work to find this banner that the kids had made. All 4 handprints were on it.
A close up of what Zach wrote: " Your the bomb!" and "Your not old you are hip!" I received this gorgeous Coach wallet from my hubby. It goes beautifully with the Coach purse I got from Santa. Pete said he called the company, told them which purse I had, and asked wallet would go with it! Then he emailed a picture to my mom to get her opinion. How cute is that!
I don't have a picture, but I also got an awesome present from my mom. It is a garmin running watch with heart rate band. We are going to purchase the optional foot pod. It tracks your miles, time, calories, then automatically uploads the info to your computer when you get close enough to it ( your computer that is). Thanks mom, I love it!!

8 pm on a Saturday...

and this is what my family looks like:

We really know how to party at the Contini house!!