California Girl

My sister, Lizzie, is now a California Girl! 

On Monday she left for San Francisco for 6 months. 

She will be participating in the Credit Management Training Program (CMTP) for her company, Wells Fargo.  It's a great opportunity and we couldn't be more proud of her. 

But, of course, we'll miss her like CRAZY!!!

Last Saturday, my parents hosted a going away party at their house for the family and then Lizzie's boyfriend, Jordan continued the party by hosting a party at Orazio's, a bar downtown Naperville.

We had an awesome time celebrating our sweet Beanie!


ready to take on San Fran!


"Big Guy" is putting piggy tails in...because he's the only one she'll let do it!  ...btw...awful angle...but Kenna sure looks cute!


Benny & Aunt Beanie


Beanie & Mackie


Amanda & Krissy


squinty sisters!


Momma sure loves her Bella


a couple of Momma's best friends came too!  Marie & Jody


Godmother love!


it's always fun with Aunt Beanie & Big Guy


always!


Kenna loves cu-cakes!


Here's to you and all you will accomplish, Liz!  We love you!


Love!


the four girls


ready for our girls trip!


a nice family picture, but we're missing a couple of people!  Brian?  Benny?




Lizzie,
There is so much ahead of you as you embark on this chapter of your life.  We are so proud of all of your accomplishments and can't wait to see what's next for you! Work hard and show them just how amazing you are.  You'll be home before you know it.  ROVE!
Good luck! 

...Mackenzie has the pictures of part 2 on her camera...it was a late night...and a rough Sunday...we sure had fun!

Love

On January 28, we headed to Ohio to celebrate my Grandma & Grandpa Milazzo's Anniversary.  It's been awhile since the Milazzo family has all gotten together and this was the perfect occasion.   We enjoyed a delicious dinner while catching up with one another and snuggling all of the great grand babies. 

The past year has proved to be quite a bumpy road.  Love and prayers are a pretty amazing thing.   We are all so lucky to have one another and the heads of our family couldn't be better examples. 

We love you Grandma & Grandpa Milazzo.  We love you VERY much.

Grandpa & his #1 (of 16) grandchild and his #6 (of 8) great-grandchild!


kids table - Sal, Dino, Mikey, McKenna, Marissa, & Sammy


McKenna coloring with Sal


Grandma & Grandpa!


Big Guy & Beanie


Bri and his boy


Lenny & Little Lenny...same smile?


great picture of Uncle Lenny & Nicky


Grandpa meeting his newest Great Grandchild, Kinsley!


G&GM with the littles...this group keeps growing!


I <3 my cousins!   ...mandy, angie, tony, lizzie, sean, nick, me!...


missing a few of us :(


nice picture of the grand kids with G&GM...  sadly missing: Kristen, Mackenzie, Matt, Joe, and Julie


the girls!  Aunt Kim, Aunt Lynn, Grandma, Aunt Jan, Mom, Aunt Deb


look at the blue eyes on these two!  Benny with beautiful Marissa


cutting the cake


my gorgeous cousin, Angie, who I don't get to see nearly enough!


Sophie, Nicky, Lizzie...probably about to break out in a dance off


enter hilarious caption here


Auntie Lynnie and Maris

such a sweet picture...Kenna loves Big Guy

Evenings like these just remind me how much I miss all of my family.  We always have such a great time together.  It's such a shame that we live so far away from one another and really don't get the chance to see each other.   Thank goodness for Facebook, otherwise it'd be a lot harder to keep in touch! 

Congratulations Grandma and Grandpa Milazzo!   We love you!

Winter?

It's winter.

In Chicago we usually expect it to be cold and we expect it to snow, especially when we're expecting it to be "the worst winter ever." 

In our case (so far), it has by no means been the worst.  It's been pretty mild and we've only had one snow that is really worth talking about.  Funny enough, I'm so far behind on my blogging that I haven't talked about it. 

So...here I am...talking about it. 

In anticipation of "the worst winter ever", Brian & I ran around Plainfield looking for snow pants and boots for our two little snow bunnies.   Itty bitty boots were bought and they sat waiting and waiting for the first snow of the season. 

Finally, it arrived.  I was pumped to get McKenna & Ben out in it together.  I thought for sure they'd both love it...sledding down our side yard, throwing snowballs at Trippy (and at each other), shoveling with Daddy, snow angels, building a snowman, all stuffed in our winter gear...

Well, as it turns out...pumped wasn't the word to describe McKenna's reaction...and well, Benny, he's young enough to still 'go with the flow'.  So, Benny & I (and Trippy) went out and played in the snow.  Brian & McKenna stayed in and took pictures :)


Benny's first snow!


not totally sure about it


wanted nothing to do with playing in the snow


Trip, on the other hand, loves the snow


loves the snow


first sled ride

Maybe next time, Kenna???

21 months old

Dear McKenna,

You're 21 months old!  Only 3 more months until you're TWO!  I can't even believe it!


21 months, January 9, 2012

You're now wearing size 18 months clothes!  You're still wearing size 4 diapers (which is nice for me...Benny wears size 4 too..so I only have to buy one size!) and you're wearing size 5 shoes. 

Your vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds in the last 3 months.  There really isn't anything you aren't saying now.  You're sentences/phrases have increased to about 3 words...sometimes more.  You'll repeat anything we say.  You're favorite (or most used!) phrase is "No, Ben!"  You call everyone by name, especially when you're trying to get their attention!  You call Grandma Milazzo, MiMoo; Grandpa Milazzo, PP; Grandpa Witkowski, Papa; and Grandma Witkowski, Ma. 



You are very much a 'girly-girl'.  You love to wear necklaces and bracelets.  You love to have your fingernails and toenails painted.  Painting your nails is the only way I can get you to let me cut your nails, I have to promise that we'll paint them too.  You are just too funny.  The only thing you won't let me do is put your hair up in pig tails!  You won't let me do your hair at ALL and it drives me crazy!  Your hair is finally growing in the back and it is so cute in piggy tails, but there is just something that you don't like about it.  Hopefully soon you'll let me do something with it.



You love technology.  You love to play with my iPhone and Kindle and you know exactly how to use them.  You request to play "cupcake" all the time.  You like to color and play a matching game on it too.  You're just so smart.



You are still a very picky eater.  You don't eat too much at meal times, but you sure love to snack and eat dessert.  Cookies continue to be your most favorite food...you'd eat them all day long if we let you. 





You continue to be mesmorized by movies both in the car and at home.  Your favorite movie is Cinderella.  You request to watch "La!" all of the time, you laugh so hard at Gus Gus and Jaq and you always say "uh oh!" when Cindy drops the dishes.  You also love to watch Shrek.  You'll walk over to the TV and touch the screen looking over at us saying "watch Shrek?" 


oh, how I love you.





You love to play with your kitchen and all of your play food.  But, your most favorite toys right now are your "guys" as you call them.  You play with your Little People, your Little People animals, and your dollhouse all of the time.  You bring your guys everywhere we go. 



You love to color and draw with markers and crayons.  We usually pull out one of our big boxes for you to sit in and color.  You love the smelly markers. 




Sometimes you can't contain yourself and your body becomes part of your canvas. 



You have officially become a big girl.   You no longer use your binkies.  Although you were only using them at nap and bed time, you were just too dependent on them.  You were fighting us more and more about not wanting to leave them in your bed.  So while Daddy was in Florida in January, I took them away.  A clean break.  My heartached for you when you realized you really weren't getting them back.  We had many days and nights of crying and yelling "MOM! BINKY! MOMMY BINKY!"  But, we held strong and you got over them.  It's so hard being a big girl.  :(  



We noticed that now that you don't have your binkies to rely on puppy and baby have come back into the picture.  You love your knit blankets too.  I think you have everyone we own in your crib!  



drinking our coffee together!


You and Benny love to play in the basement together with Trippy Dip and Daddy. 






Funny...you were in the bathroom with me and you grabbed my deoderant.  Immediately you lifted your arm and started putting it on.  You are just so funny.  You're always watching.  Always observing.  Always.



We signed you up for soccer!  You are on the 18-24 month "team" called the Bunnies.  You have a uniform (you are #3!) and your coach is Coach Kristen.  We love it!  You get to run, kick, play with bubbles, do parachute, build towers with cones, all ending with stamps on your hands at the end (your favorite part!)  You are one lucky girl...you always have the biggest cheering section!  Each week you get more and more brave and participate more and more.  We are so proud of you!  GO KENNA!







Just know you are the most perfect little girl in the whole world.

I love you my sweet girl.

Love, Mommy