The LaGreca Family

I didn’t want to let Easter pass w/o it’s OWN blog post. After all, it’s probably my favorite holiday of the year!

The weeks leading up to Easter were busy with fun activities. The boys both attended Easter for Kids at a local church. It’s a GREAT free program where kids learn all about the Easter story, and work on crafts, decorate cookies, watch a short video and learn a new song (to sing for all the parents at the end). It was AJ’s first year going (kids have to be 3…so, I got ‘special’ permission for him to go a month before his 3rd birthday). The church served a free lunch to all the families and them there was a BIG Easter Egg Hunt outside.

Then we had Palm Sunday at church and one of our traditions at FHPC is to have the children walk into the sanctuary with Palm branches and then they sing a song in front of the church.

In preparation of Good Friday, Nicholas drew the above picture of his understanding of the events happening on Good Friday. I just LOVE evert hung about his picture. Although he doesn’t really understand the unbelievable significance of that 1st Good Friday, his little brain is soaking up as much as it can. Every year, I can see a difference and maturity in his understanding of Easter.

Another Easter Egg Hunt the Saturday before Easter with friends and family. The boys got MORE candy. And we had a family picture taken with the Easter Bunny (not pictures above…maybe it will be good enough to make it on the Christmas card this year).

We dyed a LOT of hard boiled eggs the evening before Easter. I can’t believe how fast 5 kids dyed 24 eggs!! AJ was excited to get them all done and then he was very concerned about WHEN we would be able to EAT them. I let him have one with dinner that night

Easter Morning!! It was a busy morning at church. The All Church breakfast was first.

Then an Easter Egg Hunt on the playground.

One of my favorite parts of our Easter Sunday worship is the cross with flowers. And I FINALLY remembered to bring flowers this year! The boys each got to put two flowers on the cross to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning. The music at church was AMAZING!! Seriously, wow!

We ended the day with Easter lunch/dinner at Meg & Steve’s house…and THE FINAL Egg Hunt of 2013!

Lent was a great time of sacrifice and prayer. It was fun to talk to the boys about Easter and teach them a little bit more than they already knew. Nicholas is starting to have some REALLY good (and hard) spiritual questions!! Sometimes I really have to think about my answer (and try to put it in terms that a 5 year old can understand). It’s NOT easy!

Hard to believe it’s April and Easter has come…and gone :/ Lucky for us, we get to celebrate Easter every Sunday! (But Easter Sunday is still, and always will be, my FAVORITE Sunday of the year).

* I started this post back in March, well before Easter. Figured I should still post it with all the pictures. *

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It’s kind of funny when we (San Diegans) people here go on and on about Spring…and how excited they are for the weather change, etc. I always smile when I hear it because…it is basically ALWAYS “Spring” in San Diego.

I do love ‘Spring’ according to the calendar…it means… Easter!! I never would have thought, growing up, that Easter would be one of my favorite holidays. I mean, I have ALWYAS loved hard boiled eggs (to make egg salad), but I have never been one to love pastel colors. Now that I am adult….those childhood reminders of Easter hardly enter my mind when thinking about this time of year…BUT….another blog post on that coming soon.

I need to catch up (again) on a few pictures….including or recent trip to Turlock. We spent 5+ days up north… With a rented van, 2 little boys, and one brand new puppy.

Everything went pretty good on the way up (Except for AJ’s TWO accidents in his pants while sitting in his car seat :/ Oh well, that’s why we have washers/dryers.)

We had a busy & fun trip with lots of play time and visiting. The Johnson’s had us over for the day and let me tell you, a group of six kids is ALWAYS fun We had a picnic at a local park – with a SUPER awesome play structure! We visited with my Grandmother for a bit. We had dinner at the Vallier’s (which also included a few drum solos by AJ — Bec even threatened to send the drum set HOME with us!)! We went bowling as a family. We played sidewalk chalk games made up by Nicholas and sailed on Pirate ships invented by AJ. And of course, we took a field trip to BassPro.

It was a long drive home but I have to admit, the boys AND Lucy did so well. I am glad we rented the van and had all the extra space!

***And now that Easter is over (I had at least two other blog posts planned before Easter)…I will really have to get my act together on the blog! Sometimes, I just don’t know where the time goes.***

That’s right. The LaGreca Family is growing! Today, we welcomed a Little GIRL to our family. Mommy gets more pink!

Everyone, Please say hello to our sweet baby girl…Lucy.

Lucy was born on December 4th to a rescued Mama dog. She was one of 6 puppies born at a shelter/foster home. Joe found her ad online:

The shelter named her ‘Jora’ and took good care of her as she grew. She is 3 months old now and, like nearly EVERY puppy, she is adorable.

And yes….she looks EXACTLY like Roscoe :/ Even more so in person, than her pictures. It’s all too coincidental (if I believed in coincidences).

Joe really wanted to look for a puppy — he has really missed having a 4-legged family member romping around the house. I told him that I wasn’t ready. He didn’t listen and starting searching online. He emailed me a link to 2 dogs on Wednesday….with pictures. With ‘Jora’ he said “She is homeless..she NEEDS a home.” And I said (reluctantly) “I will fill out the application” (thinking, “what am I DOING!?!?!”)

I told myself (over and over) “if it’s meant to be…it will happen.” The shelter called me a few hours after submitting the application. The foster Mom was ready to set up a ‘meet-n-greet’. I couldn’t believe it was all happening so fast. We scheduled an appointment to see her at 8:30am today (Friday). I don’t know about Joe, but I was really nervous. I knew that if we went to meet the puppy in person… There was NO way we were leaving the foster home w/o her. On the way over, Joe said “Are you sure you want to do this?!?” Ha! At that point, we were 2 miles from the house!

Obviously, we saw her, played with her, learned about her Mom…and then, we took her home We started working on names in the car, on the way home. We knew we weren’t going to keep ‘Jora’.

Jen came to visit and the pup curled up in her lap for a little snooze.

We narrowed down our ‘girl-puppy-name-list’ to 5 names. And from that, we picked our Top 2. We each had our favorite – and decided we would get help from the boys….they were BOTH at school today, and had NO idea that we were going to get a puppy today.

Anthony met the pup first and said. “What is that?? Is it Roscoe?”

We picked Nicholas up next and he was SHOCKED! He had the biggest smile and said “She has a PINK collar — it’s a girl!!!”

Nicholas & Anthony decided that Lucy was a good name for our girl (after Joe decided Lucy was the perfect name for our girl). I love her name. I think it suits her just right.

Lucy has settled in so nice. It’s almost like she has been with us for weeks. It’s going to take awhile for AJ to get used to her (right now, he is scared of her and her REALLY sharp puppy teeth). Nicholas is going to keep her busy. Joe & I are going to spend every minute cuddling, that we can.

Little Miss is ZONKED out on our bed right now. She is pooped!! It’s going to be a fun (& busy) weekend.

An official LaGrecaFamily Blog WELCOME to our new family member: Lucy. We are happy to have you.

Another great family weekend for the LaGreca’s, and the best part…we were HOME!

Impromptu walk down to the Jolliffe’s on Friday evening — and fresh, juicy oranges had picked and peeled with love. (Thanks Mr. Jolliffe!!)

Dinner out at a local Mexican food place. Some of you would be awe struck if you saw my boys eat. At 5 and almost 3 yrs old…I am positive they could out eat some women.

***Saturday was our day of visitors, games and food!!***

The weather was so perfect on Saturday (in the 80′s at our house!) Joe and Neal BBQed pizza on the grill and it felt (and smelled) like SUMMER! We called our neighbors over to join us in the pizza . Grampy & Della were with us the whole day (and played a LOT with the two Littles). We finished off the night with Dani, Neal and vicious game of SkipBo It doesn’t get much better.

We topped off the weekend with church,
a ‘day date’ to RoadRunner to get new shoes (both Joe & I) while Grandpa LG took the boys/Otis to Dog Beach, and a family hike up the mountain…and, I think all of the means; that we will all sleep well tonight (parents can hope).

Oh – and it’s MARCH?!?! Is anyone else thinking “Whoa! Where did the first 2 months of 2013 go???” — Although I am shocked we are already in March, I am REALLY looking forward to everything that is coming up.

Stay tuned for stories & pictures

Well, with the speed of Instagram & Facebook – nothing is left to ‘surprise’ on this blog :/

Last week, we met my sister for dinner and while we were waiting for our food…my Mom walked up to our table!! It was a surprise for the boys & I. And, for the first time, I was actually SURPRISED!! (Good secret, Dani & Joe).

The boys were thrilled to have Grandma D visit us AND they loved that she was sleeping in the room next door to them.

Mom and AJ met me for lunch on Thursday and AJ did a little brainstorming in my white board.

Unfortunately, the stomach bug hit our house the next day :/ Mom had a rough day. Joe picked Nicholas up from school and he threw up in the car on the way home. I was TERRIFIED to go home on Friday. It’s nothing shirt if a miracle (and a WHOLE lot of bleach water) that Joe & I escaped this round. We were SO thankful.

(On Friday night, AJ and I enter down to the park to play for a bit. It was fun to hand out with just him and watch him master his super social ability with a boy playing in the sand).

By Saturday morning we were seeing signs of recovery…

Nicholas even planned a birthday party for Raspberry (I guess he turned 18…says NCL).

Grandma D felt good enough to babysit the boys on Saturday night, so Joe I had a date night! Shopping at Viejas outlets and the Seafood Buffet (for free!)

We finished up the weekend with church and a big family dinner at the Moreno’s.

Despite the yucky stomach bug, we all enjoyed the visit. We tried to talk her into staying longer…but we failed. Nicholas wanted her to stay forever…or 100 days (I don’t think he understand the difference yet).

Thanks for driving down to San Diego, Grandma D!! Come back soon — the boys are ready