Lazzara Life

Happy Fall everyone!

This month has flown by and I can’t believe today is already the 17th!  We have finally gotten into the school routine, now that it’s the end of the first 9 weeks.  No one in the house likes out 6 am wake up call & we covet Saturday mornings to sleep in.

The girls are doing excellent in their new schools and making some great new friends.  Avery has joined the Broadway Club at school and continues her weekly tae kwon do class.  Lorin loves school, her elective classes and her acrobatics class most of all  She has been cast in the making of the Fantastic Four short film, by her close friend Derrick, who is entering a young film makers contest.  She, along with several other friends have been working very hard in making this film and they are having a ball!  Haley is loving school as well and is doing wonderfully in her dance classes.  She too, has been working very hard to prepare for the Brandon Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” in December.  Our weeks have been very full of activities!

This weekend Haley and Lorin went on an overnight birthday party trip to their friends’ lake house and went tubing for the first time.  They had a blast!  While Haley was more cautious at first, Lorin held up to her reputation of being a daredevil and spent more time in the water than on the boat.  Haley became more comfortable as the day went on and ended up loving it!

While the girls were away, we took the little ones to a local Pumpkin Festival!  They played in inflatables, got their faces painted and carved a pumpkin.

Happy Fall!

a friend of mine posted a very cool art project that she did over the weekend.  of course haley was all over it & during our run to publix, she begged if we could get the supllies to make our own.  it is very cool!!

first she hot glued the crayons to the foam board.

next take it outside and use a hair dryer to melt the crayons.  be patient, it takes some time.

finished product.  pretty cool!!

So, today is the 19th and I’m finally getting around to last weekends festivities!

Friday night we went to see Disney on ice.  Avery has been many times with myself, my mother-in-law & my niece, Ava.  Typically it comes in May, right after Avery & Ava’s birthday, so I didn’t realize that the big girls had never been!  It was a family affair.  We went with our little family & Santana’s foster family!  Yes, we are THAT close.  We see each other at least once a week & if we haven’t it feels like forever since we’ve been together.  I can’t tell you how much we LOVE them and are blessed by them   Here are a few pictures from the show!!

This is Santana’s Oma, Joy.

And this is Derrick, Joy’s son & Santana’s “Bubby”, also one of Haley & Lorin’s new BFF’s.

Saturday was awesome!  Why?  Because one of my best friends married Rich’s cousin!!!  How cool is that?!  It’s been such a special time in our family & we couldn’t be happier that Christina & Joe are now husband & wife!!  It was a beautiful ceremony and the BEST reception ever!  Haley & Lorin have been flower girls in 6-7 weddings, no exaggeration, but Avery has never been to a wedding!  Yes, I know she’s 7, but it seems like she’s been around forever and she LOVES romance, fairy tales, weddings, make-believe, she is a romantic!  So, she thought it was the best day ever.  Of course Rich & I love Christina & Joe for our own reasons, friend & family, but they both ADORE our kids & the kids ADORE them back, so the excitement was so incredible!

The Bride & Groom, with Avery.

We have been joking and apologizing for Avery.  The joke is, that she is going to be in EVERY SINGLE wedding photo.  She was all over the place!  Front row for watching the dancing before the dance floor was open for everyone else, first in line for cake, and I believe she danced with everyone in the room.  She will be like “Where’s Waldo” in all of the photos.  I can’t wait to see the wedding album!!

AND, she caught the bouquet!

Just kidding…  she stole it, got the girl who caught it to give it to her.  Then she reenacted as if she were the one who caught it.We had such a lovely weekend, filled with love, love, love, it was fantastic!

During the summer months, I sometimes miss the “schedule” of having something to do every day.   This year, I was excited to get back in to the swing of things, not have to take all 4 kids to Publix, Costco, Target, etc…  Well, I’ve since changed my tune.  Week 3 of school is starting to wear on everyone.  The first 2 weeks we’re all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at our 6 AM wake up time…  This week?  Not so much.  DDDUUHHRRAAAGGGGIIIINNNGGGG children is what I have.  Don’t forget the whining too

So, we’re up at 6, dressed, teeth brushed, breakfast, lunches made, hair done, finding our shoes and out the door by 7. Not 7:05, but 7!  If not, we will be late to school, which is 3 miles from our house.  Haley & Lorin start at 7:35, Avery starts at 8.  Rich took the girls a few times last week & discovered a long short cut.  What I mean by that, is instead of the straight shot to the school (literally, go 3 miles, take 1 turn & we’re there), go straight to a main intersection, we take a right, go up 1 mile, take a left through a neighborhood, take a right at a side street, take a left onto the road to the BACK of the school, go a little farther, take a left down another side street and loop around to car line.  IF we were to go straight, there’s major construction & in the morning, it’s a nightmare, afternoons are okay.  So, we drop off H&L, then take Avery, then it’s just me & the little man.  Sometimes we come home and play, sometimes we run a few errands, & 1 day a week we have a playdate.  Lunch at 11:30, nap from 12-2 (2:30), get in the car to pick everyone up.

Monday’s are Lorin’s acrobatics class, Tuesday is Tae Kwon Do for Avery & ballet for Haley, Wednesday CHURCH!, Thursday Haley ballet, Friday Avery Tae Kwon Do & Haley ballet & jazz.  Then you have to add in an allergy shot every 4 weeks, and maybe another appointment every few months.  That’s the jist of it!

Here’s a little news…  Haley is in the Brandon Ballet Company again this year  (YAY!), she got promoted to Junior I dancer this year (last year she was an apprentice).  They will be performing The Nutcracker again this December, the 10th & the 11th.  Their spring performance will be Sleeping Beauty!!  Which means, Haley lives at the dance studio…

Here she is with her acceptance letter

ALSO….  Lorin has taken up Cello!  She is in her school orchestra & is SOOO excited!  She will have 2 performances at school, one in December & one in May.

Is this not the cutest!!

Avery is still going strong with tae kwon do, she will probably stop in January, when our contract is up…  because…  she wants to take ACTING classes!!  For those of you who don’t know Avery, she is a hoot!  She is so funny, can imitate just about any voice or sound & is hilarious!!  Plus, she can memorize an entire movie & play Barbies acting out the movie.

Little man will be ours very soon!  He was “placed” with us July 15 & we have a 90 day wait period before we can finalize his adoption.  Sooo, around October 15th (ish) we will get a court date & make it official!!

Now that we’re back on our schedule, you may never see us again, so check our blog often

The girls had their first day of school yesterday & were very excited!  They all started at new schools this year.  Avery’s going to a local Charter School and Haley & Lorin are going to a performing arts magnet middle school.  Yep, MIDDLE school!

Here’s their 1st day of school photo, sorry, taken with my phone, couldn’t trouble myself to find the “real camera” at 7am!  And, Lorin did put shoes on, in case you were wondering.

After school, we stopped by Menchie’s for some frozen yogurt!!!

Their first day was awesome (except for some carline issues at Av’s school), but they love their teachers and were excited to go back today

After the girls 11th birthday party, we loaded up the car and drove up to North Carolina!  We took the kids 2 Christmas’ ago & they were NOT fans of the cold weather, so we thought we’d try in the summer and we had HUGE success!  The drive up wasn’t too bad, at hour 10 everyone started to get a bit out of control, except for Avery

Avery was quite content sitting in  the car for 11-12 hours watching TV, while Haley & Lorin had issues with personal space in the 3rd row & Santana had a fit when I took his shoe from him…  The one that he was LICKING the bottom of, which had been walking on at least 4 public restroom floors within the last 10 hours

Once we arrived at our friend, Scott’s gorgeous mountain home, all was good.

We stayed here, in the guest house…

We got out, unpacked and got freshened up a bit.  We had dinner out on the deck, made a fire & ate s’mores.

The next morning, we went on our morning walk.  We did this walk every morning & let me tell you, it’s quite a way to start your day! Did I mention that it’s about 70 degrees all day?!! In AUGUST!!  Not like the 100 degrees we have her in FL!  We took Mr. Scott’s dogs, Montana & Aspen with us (Probably Haley’s favorite part of the trip were her new doggie friends)…  There are really nice trails mapped out (with 4 wheeler tire tracks) so we knew where we were going.  The scenery was unbelievable!  A Christmas Tree farm, gorgeous old barns & creeks here and there.  Santana is now a mountain boy, who had to have a stick wherever he went

After our walk, we went to a place called “Tweetsie Railroad”, it’s a really cute amusements park, with rides, petting zoo, shows, and a really cool train ride!

First we fed the animals.  The girls LOVED the baby goats, and then asked if we could get one when we got home…  Ummmm, No.

Let’s rewind a little bit.  They give us the food for the animals in ice cream cones.  This is a great idea since they can eat it & you don’t have a bunch of plastic cups littering the place, or choking the animals.  However, try explaining that to a 2 1/2 year old!  Santana did NOT believe any of us that this was not for him to eat.  We all told him it was for the animals and he threw a FIT!  Sooo, we let him have a tiny taste.  Now he believed us.

 Yuck!  He spit it out.

This particular bigger goat wasn’t shy about getting his food    Have you ever been licked in the ear by a goat?  Me either until this day!

We rode the sky coaster-ma-jigger, and it was very scary for me to watch the kids in them!  But, when you have 4 kids & 2 adults and it’s 2 per seat, you kinda have no choice!  But, they thought it was the coolest thing ever to get to ride by themselves

We went over to the bigger kid rides & Lorin said, “Let’s all go on the Free Fall, it will be FUN!”, so I took some pictures while Rich went on with them & they loved it so much, I got to go the second time…

Next we had lunch & saw a can-can show…  Not really the Disney quality we’re used to, but it was cute.

There were horse statues everywhere, so of course EVERY time we passed some, we had to get on & take a picture.

After the can-can show, we boarded the Tweetsie Train (which the park is named after) and had a nice ride.  Throughout the train trip, we made a few stops for “history”, which included a live Cowboy’s & Indian’s routine.  It was cute, we were all on a “train robbery”…  They should probably tell you this before you get on the train.  I think a couple of the kids in our cart were  a bit freaked out.  Luckily, the Sheriff showed up and saved the day.

Lastly the girls wanted to get their “Old Timey” photo taken.  I used to do this at the state fair or festival almost every year with my friends, so it was so much fun for me to get to help them pick their dress & gussy them up for the photograph

When we got back, we had a short nap & headed out to the nearby trails on a “hayride”, without the hay.  Mr. Scott and Rich drove the 4 wheelers & Mr. Scott had a small trailer for the kids to sit in.  It was really fun!  We went through the Christmas Tree farm and found a local family (who were missionaries in Africa for 22 years!!), and drank from their fresh spring.  This was the highlight for Av & Santana.

We had dinner again (obviously) out on the deck (GORGEOUS!!)…  The kids got in the jacuzzi, dogs nearby, just plain awesomeness.  While the kids were in the jacuzzi, Lorin said, “Look a fox!”.  I was helping with dinner (making guacamole), and I didn’t get to see it.  Mr. Scott took a look and said, “No, that’s a coyote!”.  The dogs went nuts barking and ran it off.  Mr. Scott said that he has had deer (all the time) in his yard & once a black bear came int he backyard down the stream!  I asked Scott later on why the coyote would have come down so close to the house (because it was still light out), and he said all the noise from the kids laughing and playing would have made him think there was an animal in distress…  Well idiot me, was like, “Oh, how sweet, coming to help”, he was like, “No, animal in distress is dinner”, Yikes!  Needless to say we were on the lookout.

Our next day was quiet and SO MUCH FUN!!  We stared out in town and went shopping in some of the local stores.  Haley bought a quilted backpack, I got a gorgeous bracelet and Lorin decided to save her money.  Avery & Santana hung out in the courtyard with Daddy and Avery took pictures of ever flower she saw (I’ll spare you from having to look at all of those).

We found a very nice park, with play sets and a rock climbing wall.

Next up, lunch!  We’re starving.  We found a beautiful convenient store (not like the Mobile on the corner by my house).  It had a deli & grocery along with gas!

We all chose our sandwiches, chips, drinks & a sweet.  I had a basket & everyone put their things in…  except Santana was not cool with me wanting his rice crispy treat.  Again, explaining things to a 2 1/2 year old sometimes get lost in translation.  I said, “please put it in the basket so I can pay for it and you can have it later”.  Apparently he heard, “Give me that NOW, you CANT have it!”, so he proceeded to have the biggest fit I have ever seen in the middle of the store…  Which included him taking OFF his SHIRT!  Oh my goodness!  I wish I had it recorded, because you have to SEE it to get the full effect.  He grabbed the neck of his shirt from the back and pulled it over his head.  It was like he was saying, “Lady, give me my rice crispy treat RIGHT NOW, you see these abs?  I will mess you up!”.  I was dying with laughter, so I called Rich over, who took him out to go get in the car.

Fast forward~  We stopped at a nearby park with a few creeks & had lunch.  After we finished eating, we went “Stone Stepping”, Avery’s term.  The girls were having the best time!  Rich went in with them for a little bit, we found other streams & later on I took my turn stepping stones with the girls.  They played and played for hours.  When I went down, I asked what they were playing & they said that they were pretending to be Indian Princesses and their father, the King, said that princesses shouldn’t be out in the creeks stone stepping, so each time they hear Rich talk or get up from the table, they would crouch down & hide.  Their little Indian brother blew their cover a few times, when he couldn’t see them and called out for them.

It’s not uncommon, that after a full afternoon of stone stepping, that someone takes a spill.  Avery was our girl to fall in the water, a few times.  But she didn’t care one bit!

Dinner time!  Ribs on the grill & some TLC for the doggies.

Our last full day, we went up to Grandfather Mountain with Mr. Scott (tour guide extraordinaire!).

We did some hiking, ate lunch, visited some animal exhibits & then went to the top of the mountain & crossed the swinging bridge!!

Our last night, we had dinner out & then ice cream at Kilwin’s!!!  The BEST!  We had a wonderful trip, made lots of memories & are so thankful for the hospitality of great friends   Thanks Scott!!

Haley & Lorin celebrated their 11th birthday this past Thursday, the 11th.  The had a friend sleepover Wednesday night, went to the doctor and got 2 shots (I had no idea), went ice skating & had their party on Sunday.

I took a photo of them ON their birthday, but it’s of them in their fancy paper gowns at the doctor’s office, which I promised not to post here, but it is on my Facebook page if you are my friend  They were as crazy as usual, looking into each others eyes and ears before the doctor came in.  Lorin said that her paper gown was the most hideous thing she’d ever put on, if she HAD to wear it every day, she would glue feathers to it!  She then began digging through her purse to find some accessories to spruce it up  Doctor came in, did their physical, they are perfect, of course.  Lorin is in the 5th percentile for weight 25th for height, Haley is 50th for height & I can’t remember which for weight, either 25 or 50th?  Anyway, they has to get 2 shots    We went out for dinner and did  a little shopping for school supplies & birthday party stuff…

Friday we went Ice Skating!!!  We had the best time!  Daddy came to take pictures and sit with Santana, so I could skate with the girls.  Haley & Lorin did very well and Avery got pretty decent as time went on.  I have to tell you, there’s nothing quite as hilarious as skating with Avery.  Most of the time, I was holding her up, but she would say the funniest things!  She said that she was “horrible, going to kill herself (by falling), SO embarrassed, and wanted to come again on her birthday”.  Once when she fell, a little boy about her age was nearby and came over to ask if she was okay.  She said, “Wow, I think he loves me”.  Ummmm, what else?  Oh!  She would scream when someone else fell down, as if it were her.

Sunday was their official birthday party.  We made a few finger sandwiches, chips, fruit, cheese & had the most beautiful birthday cake from our favorite bakery “Sweetie’s Delights”!  Friends and family came to our house, we ate, talked, laughed, had a blast & ate cake!!

Click HERE to view all the photos.

Have a great week!  One more week & we are back to school, so we’re taking one last trip and everyone is excited to start school!!!

I feel like most of my posts begin with, “Wow!  What a busy week!”  Well, it’s true again.  I had a great week celebrating my birthday, had a few appointments for the kids, attended a bachelorette party beach weekend & am trying to get everything together before school starts because…  we’re taking a vacation the week before school begins.

Let’s see, my birthday was Monday, we celebrated on Sunday, so it wasn’t a huge deal that Rich had to leave for the week to work in Fort Lauderdale

“Big Boy”, as Rich likes to call him, had his first visit with our beloved pediatrician & he was awesome.  She said that he’s great, just keep doing what we’re doing & also, a huge compliment to his foster Oma…  Dr said that he was the most well cared for child she’d seen  And has the MOST thorough medical records, thanks to his awesome case worker.

We also did dentist appointments for all the girls before school starts.  We were in & out in and hour & a half.  Sounds like a long time, but not really since all 3 were cleaned & seen!  While one was back, the other 2 played with the little guy.  The best part was him LOVING the music the girls would play and completely start dancing & trying to breakdance on the waiting room floor  Yes, we are “those” people.  Oh well!

Since it’s been so rainy, we haven’t gotten out much.  ”What does that mean? you Say?”…  In our house, that means that Haley & Lorin become obsessive about watching youtube videos of people decorating cupcakes!  I gave them free reign of the kitchen & they made everything themselves, insistent on NO HELP from Mommy!

Haley did some really pretty butterflies with pretzel and chocolate wings (yummy!)

Lorin did Sesame Street characters for Santana, he LOVES Elmo!!

This weekend was a special treat for Mommy.  One of my bestest friends is getting married to Rich’s cousin (HOW COOL IS THAT??!!) next month, so we had her bachelorette beach party this weekend in Siesta Key, one of FL’s most beautiful beaches!  Here’s a picture of myself and the Bride to Be!!

We’ve been finishing up back to school shopping, working on planning Haley & Lorin’s 11th birthday and tying up loose ends for the kids to return back to school.  Not to mention all of the appointments we have and people to talk to in order to finalize our adoption!  Today we went to court, we didn’t have to go, but case worker invited us to go & say “Hi” to the judge that has had Santana’s case.  This hearing was to tell the judge that adoptive placement has been made & we are moving forward to finalize in October.  We saw this rainbow on our way downtown & it was such a beautiful reminder of our Faithful Lord, guiding us and directing us all the way to where we are today.  It was awesome!!

Avery was really funny when we got to the courthouse…  We walked up to the security line she said, “I thought we were going to court, not the airport!”  Then when we were in the courtroom, Santana was sitting on my lap, UNTIL…  He realized there were microphones on the table and he then proceeded to try to crawl up onto the table (numerous times) and say, “Helllloooo!!” into the microphone.  If that weren’t distracting enough, Avery thought it was the funniest thing EVER, so she is laughing uncontrollably the ENTIRE time!  The judge was so sweet, he invited the kids back behind his desk and gave them all teddy bears.  Not cheapo vending machine ones, these are nice & plush, I thought they were coming out with Build A Bears.

After court, I HAD to get the oil changed in my car, since we will be going out-of-town and it was 3 months past the 3,000 miles sticker…  The kids were whining about going until we went into the waiting room & there was a huge freezer of ice creams.  This made the 15-20 minute wait worth our while.  I don’t think they’ll ever complain about having to go get the oil changed again

Awww!!  Today in the mail, I got my birthday card from Rich’s grandmother, Grandma Kaps!  She’s so sweet & thoughtful, we wish she lived in FL!!  Enclosed was this portrait of her & her cat Cleo.  Is she not the cutest 91-year-old you’ve ever seen!!!  This pic is now hanging on the frig!  It totally made my day

I’ll end this post with my new favorite praise & worship song!  It’s called “Defender”, written by a very young man named Travis Doucette.  Enjoy!!

We’ve had a bust few weeks, here are the highlights…

Haley & Lorin’s birthday is coming up, so I took Avery (& Justin Beiber) to the mall to pick out their gifts…

While Avery was at Tae Kwon Do, the girls & I headed over to the local WallyMart to get school supplies.

We also got our July 4th photo book in the mail!  This was very exciting because we used a new provider for our photo invitations & now tried their photo books to see if they are just as great, AND THEY ARE!!!  Try www.mixbook.com

Haley girl got her MUCH anticipated Demi-Pointe shoes last Saturday and it’s ALL she can talk about.  She kept them in the car for a few days to show everyone

Of course, we’ve been to the beach…  a few times.

We SO enjoyed our annual, “Girls ONLY  Luncheon” at Mimi’s house and had such a great time hanging out with all of the lovely ladies in our family.

And a few videos for your viewing pleasure…

Here’s a little shot of our new “talent”.  The girls are working hard to teach him some dance moves. but we’ve got a natural on our hands!!

Also, a cute little snip of Santana showing me our family in a Winnie the Pooh book at the doctor’s office

Oh, and TODAY is my birthday   Have a great week!!

We have not been to Chuck E Cheese’s in YEARS!   This is WHY we have not been since our last birthday party invite, 6 years ago.

Chuck E Cheese, our top 10 list  07/22/2011

1. Lots of boobs and tatoos

2. Guy with a mullet and completely see thru white shirt

3. Baby wearing a diaper only

4. Lady couponing at her kids bday table, stacks everywhere…

5. Outside of bathroom smells like pee… We did NOT go inside.  I told them if they had to pee, we’d just leave and go home.

6. Lots of bare feet, mostly kids, but some adults too

7. Lady wearing shower cap

8. Lady with cigarette lighter and cell phone in her cleavage- we saw more boobs today than I care to see in my life.

9. Coins stuck together with blue gunk- these were ours.

10. Adults hogging skee ball game lanes to win tickets for a plastic slinky and curly straw, maybe some stickers and expired smarties & nerds candies.

Let’s just make a public announcement that we will not be going back anytime soon or ever.  It used to be a nice place (when I was a kid), but now it’s just gross!!!  No offense to those who love it, it’s just not for me…