First Came Love: 2009

Sunday, December 13, 2009

G-Day............pictures pending

Well, we have had what has felt like a non-stop, event-filled last few weeks, including Thanksgiving, a visit from Opa, Sonja, Rachelle, Renee and David, Duquesa's 26th birthday, visits from Honey and Nonno, and, most recently, an ultrasound at which we learned the sex of our fourth child.

Our first visitors from Minnesota arrived a day before Thanksgiving after spending a solid 22 hours in the car. Jerome and Elliot were, of course, beside themselves with excitement, and they did their best to show off their new domain. Siena went straight to her Godmother, Renee, proving that she at such a tender age can remember the love in MN. We all celebrated Thanksgiving with our neighbors, the Schoppe family, who had over 60 family members and friends over. As you can imagine, it was quite a production. Fr. Clay came and said Mass for everyone outside with the incredible hill country panoramic view behind him. Che bello!

Molli came to help the kids and I celebrate Duquesa's birthday, and she made Duquesa's favorite cake - death by chocolate. I was just grateful that the kids successfully handed "their" gifts to momma without opening them. Her birthday was yet another occasion for me to be grateful for such a young, beautiful wife to love. :)

Nonno was able to swing by as part of a business trip that brought him through Texas, and he treated the kids to a Christmas-gift-finding trip to the store, which of course involved sampling just about every toy in every aisle before they would settle on one. It was so much fun, but we fear the next time we have to go to Target with the kids. Pandora's box has been opened. Thank you Gary for the pre-Christmas fun!

Today was G day, where we got to discover the gender of Agent #4. We figured that we had enjoyed the "surprise" of finding out the sex at birth quite enough with Siena. In fact, her birth pretty much filled our surprise quota for many years. So, we had a very nice ultrasound experience that discovered our baby to be totally healthy (Thank God!) and ... undeniably masculine! He was moving all over the whole time we could see him, kicking, scooting his bottom up in the air, just putting on a show. And, when it came time to do the in-between the leg check, he must have known, because he went spread eagle to make it easy for us. The funniest part was that the nurse felt she had to point out the extremely obvious to us - "This is one leg here, this is the other one, and this ..." Yeah, we know what that is. Thank you!

We can't wait to welcome him into the world! Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and delivery in early May.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Texas and Birthday Season

So much has happened since we last posted that I don't know where to start. I guess I will just try to sum it up.

About halfway through the summer, the parish in Texas of which Duquesa's brother, Fr. Clay, is the Associate Pastor, flew me down there to see if I would be their Director of Youth Ministry. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a HUGE parish, over 6,000 registered families, so their youth programs take quite a bit of facilitation. Very long story made short, we prayed and thought about it a ton, and we felt this was where we were being called as a family. We made the big move from Minnesota to Texas in the middle of August, and life has been jam packed with unpacking, babies, and new job stuff ever since.

Oh, and we also found out that Duquesa is pregnant with baby #4 and due May 7, 2010! (If only I had a dollar for every time I have heard, "You have your hands full" since we have moved down here, I think all the diapers would be paid for :))

I really love the work, as I am able to utilize my education and passion for the Church while knowing that all of the day-to-day difficulties are not merely endured for the sake of filling some rich guy's pockets or to climb the corporate ladder. Rather, all of the hard work is much more directly focused on the ultimate human end: our eternal relationship with God. I dig it.

Early November hosts the birthdays of both Elliot (Nov 2) and Siena (Nov 16, today!), so we have been in party mode and loving it. So for those of you curious, Jerome is 3, Elliot is 2, Siena 1, and new baby en route.

The parish community has been very welcoming and generous with us, especially the Schoppe family, our host neighbors. Dean and Joan have seven wonderful children: Shelly, Austin, Troy, Aaron, Abigail, Simon, and little Benjamin. Jerome and Elliot have a blast playing with all of them, but mostly Abby (5), Simon (2), and Benjamin (1). We live a good ways out from San Antonio in a beautiful rural area in the Texas Hill country, so the kids have plenty of room to roam and explore.

Let's see. Other highlights include the weather (marvelous this time of year), being close to the Hunt family (lots of visits from Honey), and revisiting San Antonio's River Walk with Duquesa where we first started dating by holding hands on September 14, 2002. Of course, we miss all of our wonderful family and friends in Minnesota and Italy, and we look forward to reconnecting with y'all! ;)

Check out the beautiful view from the backyard! I wish I had one of those panoramic cameras so I could get the whole view on here. It really is breathtaking, especially in the evening when the sunset paints the hills in gold and orange.

Elliot had a wonderful birthday, and one of his favorite presents was a balloon that got bopped around the house for probably 3 hours straight until it popped. :)
Oh, and I can't forget to mention Halloween and all the fun the kids had dressing up. You can see below how exhausted they were after running around and collecting candy with the Schoppes.

Beautiful Duquesa and Siena!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Pictures & Footage

Alright guys, it's been months and I haven't put anything up....I wonder why??!?! :)
Sooooo....I'm just going to go with the good stuff and put up some pics and videos. Hope you all enjoy!

Siena - 6 months old

Siena wearing an outfit that was Mama's when she was a baby

Siena is very flexible and loves to chew on her toes. Dada loves it when she does this!

Hmmmm?

Siena's favorite way to fall asleep - with Dada.

Siena with Nonna

Elliot loves trucks so much that he sleeps with them. More often than not, he calls them Papa instead of truck.

Elliot - 18 months - Love these boys in their hats!

Elliot - He was so proud of himself for getting his own snack!

Jerome - My very own little plumber....

Jerome - Playing make believe...he's a king with a crown and a sword

Jerome - Showing off his eggs during the Easter hunt

Jerome - my little man

Well, the video's won't post, so I'll work on them later.....

Thursday, March 12, 2009

BIG smiles!!!

Yes, I put my daughter in a spring dress even though it's 20 degrees outside!

Such a little girl

reading a book and playing with balls....the life of my boys

Jon made this little guy SO happy by letting him pick this ball out at Target. So happy that he slept with it the night that he got it and he won't let it out of his sight.