What Will 2012 Hold?

As we begin a New Year it is a great time to reflect on the previous year and make wishes and dreams for the coming year.

2011 was a great year in the Perillo home....we spent the first full year with our second daughter, we watched Jolie grow and develop into an amazing little lady, we reached some major personal goals, and we had a good time along the way. Now don't get me wrong 2011 wasn't all sunshine....we saw the health of my Grandmother decline, I had major surgery and a hard recovery, Jolie did several rounds of lung issues, we both suffered through some difficult times at work but we survived to tell the stories and the good by far out weighted the bad.

As we enter 2012 there are a lot of things on the horizon, we know for sure there a changes coming for our household. Avery starts school tomorrow so that changes things, hopefully for the best as we will have one drop off and one pick up until Jolie goes on to another school in the fall. There are big changes coming for me (unfortunately I can't share in this public forum yet but I promise I will soon). We are awaiting Jolie's acceptance letter to the school we applied to for her in the fall, we have already heard she was accepted but to see it in writing will make it our true reality. We are very excited about Jolie graduating from her VPK program as she is truly thriving in it, she is reading really well, does double digit addition and subtraction and this semester she will begin in multiplication. I know I am totally biased as her mother but she is just so smart and so beautiful, she really is something special and I feel truly blessed to be her mother, I can't wait to see her continue to grow and mature. Rich has settled into his career nicely and things are looking up there so as I said we are going into 2012 with the greatest of hope for an amazing year.

With the dawning of a new year I find myself looking forward to the promises of the new year but also setting some goals for myself, resolutions makes it sound negative and part of what I want to accomplish this year is keeping a positive attitude. So in 2012 I plan to work on having and keeping a positive attitude, being a better wife, mother, daughter, and friend, I want to build a better relationship with God, I want to share my relationship with God with my children more, I want to walk a more righteous path and remember that good or bad the Lord has a plan for my life. I know I have lofty goals for the year but I hope to put the effort into reaching them everyday, and on days when it all seems impossible I will remind myself of the reason I made these goals and that is my wonderful husband and beautiful children, they need me and deserve the best of me.

I hope that you enjoyed your New Years Eve last night, we had a really chill, really quiet night but it was fun. We stayed home, I cooked a nice dinner filets and all the fixings, then we put Avery to bed and my cousins came over, we just hung around talking, laughing and watching Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve on TV. We toasted with a little bubbly at midnight and went to bed shortly after. I have to say I have begun to love our quiet NYE's at home...they have Ndola some what of a tradition over the last few years. Jolie is in NC with my parents still, the are hoping for snow sometime tomorrow and Tuesday so they won't be back until later in the day Friday. They too had a quiet night in last night as well, in fact Jolie started watching Nina's countdown on Sprout (for those of you without children it is an educational kid's TV network) and was passed out by 10. Jolie is having a great time up there and I know Avery has liked being an only child for a few days and being the center of Mommy and Daddy's attention. I am off of work tomorrow, however, Rich has to work and Avery is going to school for the first time so tomorrow will be pretty busy and I have a few small projects I want to get done around the house while I have some quiet time to do them then it is back to work on Tuesday.

Happy New Year, may it be your best year yet!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

So as I sit here with 15 minutes left in 2011 I am reflecting on this past year and looking forward to 2012. 2011 was a great year for Rich, Jolie, Avery and myself. We have been truly blessed this year. We have some amazing new adventures in store for us in 2012 and we look forward to all of them with happy hearts. I will do a best of 2011 post soon but I couldn't let a new year dawn without a quick post.

Happy 2012, may this year bring you all the joy possible!!!

Everything Bridial

Today was such a fun day. In the mIddle of what is a crazy time of year for me at work I was able to spare a few minutes to go with one of my dearest friends to look at wedding dresses. I think the best part was that it was all of my best college friends there together again, like old times. I promise to post the picture once Meagan sends it but I just wanted to post about how amazing my friends are. Sarah, Lora, Meagan and I have truly been the best of friends for what seems like an eternity but it just makes me so thrilled that we have such a strong friendship that we have been friends for nearly 14 years and we just pick up and start right were we left off no matter how long the in between time. I can't imagine life without my girls so this is just another incredible memory with the four of us.

Meagan, congratulations of your recent engagement and I wish you and Todd a lifetime of happiness together!!! You are an amazing person and you truly deserve the very best life has to offer. I am so excited I was able to be a part of this special time in your life.

Merry Christmas, a little late!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, I know I am a little late but there is a great reason. I took this weekend and enjoyed family and good friends. I did't worry about email, this blog, work, or even my phone. I just flat spent time with my family, I hope you all did the same. I will post Christmas pictures and Avery's party later this week but for now I am watching movies with Jolie and snuggling and enjoying her because she is leaving for vacation tomorrow with my parents for the cold weather of NC. So I am off to snuggle and enjoy her before she leaves. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and did like we did and enjoyed family and gave thanks for the true meaning of Christmas!

Merry Christmas and God Bless!!!

Avery at One

It is just so hard to believe but on Saturday, Avery Marie Perillo turned one! All I can say is WOW, this year has flown by and been full of so many new adventures for us as a family of four, I will say I wouldn't trade the craziness for anything in the world, I love my life and my family more than words could ever express. As usual I am struggling just to keep my head above water so I am on the iPad so I am writing this post with no pictures but I promise to add some later.

Avery,
It is so hard for me to believe that it has already been a year since you came into our family but at the same time I just can't imagine our family without you. You are a funny little girl, you have some of the funniest facial expressions and your little personality shines right through them. Much like your Mommy you wear your emotions on your sleeve. You smile and laugh when you are happy but oh boy when you are mad you let everyone know! You are a great eater and sleeper. You love to feed yourself but we can't put a plate of food in front of you because you will try to shove it all in your mouth at once and choke yourself, we give you one or two bites at a time and that's it. You adore your big sister and she adores you, Jolie makes you laugh a lot! You and Jolie love playing together and that just makes my Mommy heart sore. You love board books and blocks, you stick everything and anything in your mouth if your paci isn't in your mouth. We let you have your paci more than we should because I am always afraid I will miss you getting into something and you will choke. You have become a great sleeper in the last several months, you still get a bottle before bed but then I put you in your crib with classical music on and you go right to bed, you normally sleep from about 8pm to 6:30am, occasionally you wake up in the night but not often. You are a big girl, tall and all, you wear size 24 month clothes with a few 18 months mixed in, you wear a size 4 diaper, and a size 4.5W shoe. Your Daddy and I love you to pieces and feel so blessed to be your parents!!!! We love you baby girl. Happy First Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Totally overdue

I am totally overdue for about 15 different post but all the activities of the holidays have gotten in the way of my blogging. I have been working harder than ever, we have had family portraits, parties to go to, we have bought and wrapped gifts. It has just been busy. Plus we have two children that need us a lot. I promise to do some big catch up post soon but until then we hope you are enjoying the season!

Black Friday

So yesterday (Black Friday) marked the busiest shopping day of the year....actually I think it really started Thanksgiving Day since so many of the stores openned sometime last night, what is that by the way anyways?? I am just not sure a holiday that is all about thanks and giving should be cluttered with crazy amounts of shopping and the brawls that in sue. Rich and I watched the news yesterday morning to hear some of the craziest stories of pepper spray, fights, traffic jams and just thought it can't be worth it to save $100 on a TV.

I thought for a short time that a little Black Friday shopping would be fun, I mean after all I was up, the kids were sleeping, and Walmart started their sale at 10 pm. Walmart is two minutes from our house so I left here about 9:45 pm. I arrived to a packed parking lot but I proceeded in the store. When I walked in there were police officers taking people out in handcuffs, apparently there was a fight shortly before my arrival, this was the first major sign this was a horrible idea. I walked around, there were no carts so I would have to carry anything I purchased, not the end of the world but another sign I should be running home. I proceeded to look around, watching people literally jumping in to grab items off pallets as the Walmart employees unwrapped them at their assigned sale time, it was a zoo. I had grabbed a few things for the girls but nothing amazing or must have and thought it was time to check out. Headed for the checkout I suddenly realize the checkouts literLly stretch from the front of the store to the back. I put down my things go home and vow to Rich I will never do this again.

So I went to my Mom's house with Avery around 10am to sort through the gifts we had already bought and figure out what else we might need. We decided about 12:30 pm tp venture to Babies R Us which I have to admit was easy and we found a few things for Avery for her Birthday and Christmas. We then went to Target which again wasn't bad. I did the bulk of my shopping there and found some great things including all the little cootie games for $3.99 each, games like Ants in the Pants, Don't Spill the Beans, and Don't Break the Ice....Jolie will love those I'm sure. We then did a quick run through BJ's for a few additions. So other than maybe two more things for Avery I am done, I managed to get some great deals on Black Friday but spared myself the late night crazies. All and all I am thrilled with my purchases and I am ready to ring in the holiday season and we will have a busy one with Avery's Birthday, work, Holiday get togethers, and just holiday times. Happy start to the Holiday Season!!!!!