William reads a story

William has been working very hard to learn to read. He can read several stories in "Dick and Jane" all by himself, but he prefers to have mommy read to him at night. Who wouldn't? For the past two days, William has brought home books from school that he has to read to mommy for homework. We have a Reader Log that we sign and send the book back to Mrs. Reilly. With Daddy away for some training, we decided to video William reading his book so Daddy can see his progress. Scroll down to the video section and check it out. The lighting is a bit darker because we did this at nighttime in William's room with his little lamp, but you still get to see everything you need to. William has become a great reader and is very proud of himself.....I am very proud of him too.

William, William and more William

With Kindergarten only being one day this past week, William and I spent alot of time together. And he got to do some of his favorite things....like take pictures with the camera. I have not seen pictures like these for about a six months....since Kindergarten started...but here was what was in the camera when I went to upload photos to the blog.

William was in desperate need of new PJs. So on Thursday night we went to Moe's and bought new jammies. William REALLY wanted these with the foot socks. I knew he would NEVER wear them because he is a heater....ALL THE TIME. And I have been right.....he wears them at night for 30 minutes and then changes into his other jammies to sleep in. Some battles are not worth the fight. These sure do bring him joy though when he has them on. He picked these out....can you tell? It has the Mario Brothers on it. He wanted his photo taken in his new jammies. Here they are.

This is a present that William wrapped and decorated all by himself for ME! He cut and tied the ribbons and put the stickers on. I was so proud of him. We took a pic for the blog. Oh, the present you ask...what was it? Coins.....money....he knows what are the best presents to give.....diamonds might have been better but he already gave all those to Ms. Laura when she visited.

Housing choices

I have been working hard on choosing options for our new home. I picked out the cabinets, granite, hardwood stain and carpet yesterday. Now I have to pick paint colors for the interior and siding colors for the exterior. Kevin and I talked about going dark....a natural clay color was our first choice. Then I drove by and saw a house with green siding and tan trim.....craftsmen colors. Surprisingly, I really liked it. So I came home and played around on the manufacturer's website picking different siding options. Here are my top three. Look them over and let me know which on you like. You need to visualize this house without the upper-story. Here is a drawing of our house.

This is option one: Natural Clay siding with Natural Clay corner trim, white trim around the doors and windows, white porch rails black shutter, black door, black roof and a white garage door.

This option two: Cypress siding with white trim around corners, windows and doors, white porch rails, black roof, black door, black shutters and a white garage.


This is the third option (currently my favorite): Cypress siding, cedar/tan trim around the corners, windows and doors, porch rails will also be painted the same color, black shutters, black door, black roof, white garage door.

Snow video

I have to capture every moment of the snow because you never know when it will return again. We do have some cute video of William when he was two and we lived in Colorado from his first snow experience. Here is one of the boys playing on the deck before we headed out for sledding. Enjoy.

Snowed out!

I am snowed out! Pooped that is. The boys are getting more energized by the minute. William has been out in the snow four times and keeps wanting more and more. I finally made him come in and rest during Paul's naptime. I am sure we will all head out one last time after Paulie awakens. Here are some photos from our second venture out to the golf course for some sledding. I must say....they sure are cute in their hats and coats!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It snowed over night and the boys are thrilled! I don't know which day got a bigger reception, Christmas or today. When I woke William and he saw the snow he said "Mom, that means Christmas is back! It snowed!!!!" So what do you think we did first thing? Yup, up and at 'em....we got dressed in our warmest clothes and headed out. We made snow angels, ran around, and played with the Radio Flyer sled. It was a grand time. We then headed in for a warm up, breakfast and some rest. It is about time to head back out for round two. William has been begging and begging to head back out. We have warm bellies and warm clothes so off we go. Here are some pictures of our house with the snow and the boys on the deck. It is alot! Three to five inches, if not more because it just won't let up!

Update on the minivan repair saga

After 52 hours, my minivan is finally fixed and home now. The best part is I was able to get the FULL $200 off of my bill due to the inconvenience caused by having to leave the van there for so long. The shift manager had no problems giving the full compensation once he saw my rental car quotes. Good to come prepared! I am thrilled to have the van back....just in time for a snow storm. What fun for the boys.

It all started....

On Thursday when I took my van into to have the ABS light checked on. The ABS light had been on for about a month and I KNEW it was a bad sensor. We experienced this before....about 8 months ago....so I KNEW that a sensor had gone out again. And as it is expected, because it is never going to be just one thing when you take your vehicle in to get inspected, the mechanics found something wrong with the vehicle. AAAAAANNNNDDDDD, as expected again, whatever is wrong is so bad and dangerous that it needs to be fixed immediately AND it costs around $800.00. This is always the case with mechanics. It makes me wonder about their creditability. So I called around to get price estimates because everyone knows the dealer is always the most expensive. The Firestone Care Shop on base had a good price, said they could get the vehicle fixed on Saturday, and seemed to be competent. We took Kevin's there about 2 weeks ago to have the tires changed out and had a good experience.

So Saturday morning we piled the kids into the two vehicles drive the 40 minutes to the place, drop the car off and waste time waiting for them to fix the vehicle. We check in around 2:30PM and learn the car will not be finished till 5:30PM. So we drive home and wait. I call to check on the vehicle at 5:00 and learn the car needs to stay overnight. They tell me the vehicle will be ready at 12:ooPM. This is a problem! Kevin left yesterday for some training so getting my vehicle is going to be abit more frustrating because I need to find a driver that can take me and the kids. Also, to add frustration to this, I only know two people who can help, oh and their husbands are away, and they also have small children. Fun....fun....fun! I managed to find a friend who can take all of us there to get the vehicle.

So yesterday at noon, I call to check on the vehicle and as it goes THE VEHICLE IS NOT READY! They seem to think it will be completed by 5:00PM. About 30 minutes later they call back and say "we don't have a strong enough crew to get your part in the vehicle. Your car needs to stay overnight." So now I am going on 3 days without the vehicle. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! At this point, I wished I had taken the vehicle to the dealer because they would have fixed it the promised time allotted. I talked to the manager on duty yesterday about compensation because 3 days to fix a vehicle is ridiculous and is inconveniencing me and my friend. They took $70 off the bill. THAT IS IT!!!!!!! So I have gone online and gotten 3 quotes on what it would cost me to have a rental car during this time.....$200. That is what is going to be taken off my bill!

Can you tell I am a bit annoyed?!

I am a lucky gal...a shout out.

I have written several posts about friendship, having good ones, looking for ones, the importance of friends, etc. I feel truly blessed to have the two greatest friends in the world. These two ladies are exceptional! I always felt blessed to have one great friend, Adrienne, but when Sara entered my life I was, and still am amazed, that I could be so lucky. I hope that I am half the friend to them that they are to me. If I am, then I know that they are loved, appreciated, and valued...because that is how they make me feel. Having great friends is the best gift! I love sharing my life with them everyday....even if most of it is on the phone. I love you guys! Really because you are more than friends....you two are my sisters.

Sara and her little guy.

Adrienne and her two guys....missing the other....he is probably running wild...like all young boys should!

Welcome home!!!!!!

It is official! Kevin and I are homeowners once again. We are so excited. Over the next four months we will be building our new home. I am thrilled to pick out our hardwood floor colors, kitchen cabinet colors, granite, siding colors and oh so much more. We made alot of structural changes and will have a full walk-out basement that we plan to finish with two bedrooms, a bath, workshop/storage area, recreational area and wet-bar. Being an adult is a funny thing.....as a kid or even a young 20-something, I never thought I would be this excited about being a homeowner. Military life has a way of making you long for roots and stability sometime...so having a home that is ours is the greatest gift. We are so appreciative. Oh, and here is rendition of the home. As the building progresses, I will post photos....my own version of scrapbooking. Check back if you like.

Our home....or something like it!

The hottest 38 seconds EVER....intended for mature audiences only.

Weekends have been kinda lazy around here since the holidays. I think we are still coming down from the flurry of visitors. Yesterday, while we waited for our realtor to call about our offer, the boys decided it was time to destroy the house. By this I mean, pull every toy, book, movie, whatever we have in the playroom and make sure they make their way to other rooms in the house. So we had a fort in the dining room, building blocks in the kitchen and all other sorts of toys in the living room. Before we went out for the night, it was time to straighten up the house....except for the playroom....that is today's chore. Kevin, without my asking or prompting, did the following........Watch out, it is a pretty racy video. It is intended for mature audiences only.

Let the negotiations begin!

The day finally arrived.....we submitted our offer this morning for the house we hope to build in 2009! After many rounds and rounds and rounds of idea creation, structural changes and pricing.....forever more and more pricing quotes....we sent the offer off with our realtor. So now we wait....wait for the negotiations to begin. Do you think we are excited! I can't wait for the phone to ring. If you are not the realtor calling, expect the answering machine to get the call! Just kidding.

You tell me......

Auntie Sara bought William a new toy for the New Year....a Rudolph. William loved it so much that we went back and got a second one....so now we have two. The funny part about this is where we bought them...PetsMart. So do you think that Rudolph is a child's toy or a dog's toy. There is a squeaker in his right hand. Let me know what you think.

Capturing the moment

Below is an exhibit in pictures of trying to "capture the moment" of all four cousins together. Um, you can imagine how it went. Yeah, one was crying, one was not behaving, one was giving dirty looks, and one was just annoyed....and those were the adult children in the photos. Imagine the babies......ha! (Just kidding).

Von Gunten/Seybert/Capozzoli Christmas 2008 photos

As you can see, I finally have gotten around to updating the blog. The last of our holiday season family members left yesterday (Auntie Sara) giving us some time to relax and update the blog. As you can imagine, I have several photos from the big family Christmas. They will be posted in several posts over time. Here are just a few from the first day and first meal at the rental home. We took the kids to the Imagination Station and then Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

These are from the first meal in the rental house....we are making smores in the fireplace. Fun times for all.