Mark's Birthday

Mark doesn't officially turn 38 until January 19th but we celebrated his birth the whole weekend, starting on Friday night. Miriam came and babysat while Mark and I met friends at Eclipse di Luna. Mark, myself and 5 friends shared tapas, wine and good times. Saturday, Aisha and Sasha spent the night and we had ice cream cake. Sunday, Mark and I took the kids to Monkey Joes (inflatable jumping place) where we met Gavin, Xavier and Chante. It was a fun birthday weekend.

Happy New Year 2009

Matthew, Luke and Mark had a fun family visit in Allentown. Mark traveled with the boys by himself by plane for the first time. Things went pretty smoothly and Mark had lots of help from Aunt Carolyn. It was a jammed pack visit. They had dinner with Grandma Lamparella and Grandpa Alex Friday. All the cousins had plenty of fun playing together. Saturday they had dinner plans with Grandpa and Nona. During the visit the whole family celebrated Grandma Lamparella's birthday. Aunt Carolyn cooked and cleaned all day and made a great birthday celebration. I missed all the Pennsylvania fun this year. I spent the New Year in England. Heather, Sammie (flight attendants) and myself took the tube to Big Ben and walked all the way to the Tower Bridge. After sightseeing for a few hours we took the tube back to our hotel and ate a pub across the street from our hotel. On December 3, I went to Dublin. I walked around, had a pint of guinness and took it easy. This was my 2nd time to Dublin and did plenty of sightseeing the 1st time I went there. The boys returned from Allentown on the 6th. Luke and Matthew were very excited to return home. They were especially proud of the dollars they had been given from a lady on the airplane. She said they were so well behaved they deserved a dollar each!! I was very happy to see my family. I had missed them while they were away. We are very thankful for our health, our family and friends. We are happy to be employed, have a roof over our heads and thankful for all the generous gifts that we received this Christmas.

Christmas with the Lamparellas

We had a great Christmas. I didn't have to go on a trip til noon on Christmas day so I got to see all the presents that Santa Claus brought for the boys. Santa ate his cookies that Luke left for him and the reindeer ate the carrots that Matthew left out.

Luke and Matthew were very happy with all the toys that Santa brought for them. We watched plenty of Christmas movies during December, the boys especially like Elf, Spongebob Christmas and Matthew's favorite is Polar Express. We are still watching a few times a day. January 1st Mark traveled with the boys to Allentown, PA to have Christmas up there. I went to England and Dublin while they spent time with the family in PA. They stayed with Aunt Carolyn and visited Grandma Lamparella, Grandpa and Nona.