So lucky

to have spent my Sunday night with these guys!



It was an awesome night of Bob Books, charades and Yahtzee!
Thank you Sirignano Family for a great dinner and a night filled with lots of love and lots of laughs. You guys are the best! We love you tons and can't wait to do it again soon.

A Message from Borders CEO Mike Edwards

Can you believe it - I got a letter from the CEO of Borders. He must have saw my very unhappy blog post from yesterday. Oh wait a minute, it was an e-mail he sent out to all rewards members to let us know that they filed bankruptcy today. What are the odds that one day after I "announce" that I will not shop there again they file bankruptcy - CRAZY! Not really, but it is an odd coincidence.

I really do hate to hear of any company going under. It's sad for the employees and bad for the economy. However, as upset as I was at Borders yesterday all is better. Not because of anything Borders did - the Manager didn't even call me back like he said he would (guessing he's a bit busy or just totally disgruntled now). All is better because of FedEx.

Yes people, FedEx ROCKS!! So you see good customer does not go unnoticed in my book (or blog).

We will return to our regular scheduled programming right after this post. Thanks for baring with me during this slight post detour.

Borders.com is the WORST

I think I might post this every day for a month. I am SO frustrated and disappointed with their LACK of customer service. I have wasted way to much time on the phone with them over the last week.

SUPER POOR SERVICE!

I will NOT be shopping Borders anymore! I hope someone at their corporate office hears about the absolute incompetent "service" I received. It's clear no one at their "customer service" center cares!

Give Love - Guest post by Joanna

One of my dear friends and fellow Spina Bifida mom Joanna put this post together and I asked if she would be willing to share it here on our site. It's just beautiful. We are all still praying for little Shea (the sweet four year old boy living in an orphanage in Ukraine who also has Spina Bifida) to get home soon! However, international adoption is costly and his current situation is not ideal. We have learned that he has been scheduled to transfer to an orphanage in the next few weeks. Thankfully, the adoption is still scheduled to go through but this is not what's best for Shea. Please pray that this doesn't happen. Please pray for Shea's protection and that his forever family will stay strong and have peace. We can all help to save Shea this Valentine's Day. We can help by giving the gift of love. The kind of lave that lasts. Love that can change a little boy's life forever.

Because it's February.

Because I just decorated my house in pink and red hearts.

Because Valentines are not just for couples...but friends, mommies, daddies, siblings, classmates and neighbors.

Because everybody needs love. And not the romantic comedy, butterflies in your stomach, plucking petals off daisies kind of love.

They need the "I'm yours forever" kind of love.

The "we can do this together" kind of love.

The "can't stop starring at you" kind of love.

The "I'm always there for you" kind of love.

The "I can't keep myself from smiling around you" kind of love.

The "I promise to make time to laugh with you" kind of love.

The "everything you say is so important to me" kind of love.

The " I couldn't be prouder of you in this moment" kind of love.

The love that lifts you up....

Squeezes you tight...

Makes even hard times feel alright..

The love that teaches you all that you need to know...

And gives you support you need to grow...

The undeniable you were made for me...

And together we make a family...

What's mine is yours...

I treasure each kiss...

And everyone deserves to feel like this...

Kind of Love.

Because real love is something that cannot be bought - only shared. We need it from the time we are born - and those of us who having loving families know that NOTHING could have replaced that. The love of family - the love I was given as a child - made me who I am today. It teaches us how to love the rest of our lives. It can never be truly expressed in the form of greeting cards, chocolates, flowers, or jewelry. Those sweet tokens and gestures give momentary happiness - it's the feeling love behind them that really means anything at all. So with that in mind, and in the spirit of this holiday of love - I would like to propose the perfect gift for your loved ones.

Give the gift of Love itself.

Give Love.

You can bring joy and love not only to those who hold your heart -

but to child who needs your help.

Give Love.

By helping one little boy come home to the family who is waiting to give him this kind of love. The kind of love every single one of these children pictured above are given every day.

The kind of love so many of us are blessed to have.

The kind of love he deserves.

Give Love.

Shea's story is a remarkable one - and it is only just beginning. He now has a family ready for him - and Shea is WAITING to come home. His family is actively completing the adoption process - eager to give Shea the love, support and care only a family can give. The only thing wecan do to help them bring Shea home as soon as possible is to GIVE.

Give what you have.

$5, $25, $50

It's not the size of the gift, but the size of the heart behind it.

GIVE LOVE.

It is so costly to adopt internationally - so much so that many people say "we can't afford that" or "it's just not possible for us". But this family has given everything they have not once, not twice, but 3 TIMES (read their blog - they are an amazing family)and is making that leap of faith to make Shea a part of their family - but they need help raising the last bits.

(And in adoption language, "bits" = $9,000!)

They need our HELP!

As a friend so honestly reminded me " Let's face it ... we all spend/waste $$$ on this every year. The chocolate is gone...the flowers die... and all you have is a distant memory of the token(s) you invested in."

How much more meaningful - how much more noble - how much more true to what love is all about - to give that money instead to this family - to this little boy -

to bring him home - to give him Love.

So help share the love...with Shea. :)

Isn't that the most adorable Valentine ever?!

It's message is simple - it's purpose sincere.

Make a donation (even just $5!) in the name of a friend or loved one - to Shea's Adoption Grant (through the chipin on the right hand margin of this page) or visit his family's blog and donate through their chipin (it all goes to his account.) Then print out these adorable Shea Valentines(see Donation Gift Cards for the printable link) and give them to your sweetie, your sister, your mother, your friend - and see their faces light up at the sweet face on the card.

I can't think of a sweeter, kinder, more beautiful way to Give Love.

Can you?

(visit www.savingshea.blogspot.com to read about Shea's story

as well as view and print these Valentines)

Thank you. With Love ~ Joanna

Read to me

Last week I took the kids to the library - not for story time, but for quite time. It was really great. We spent well over an hour there just pouring through different books. All three of my little loves seemed to really enjoy themselves.





The best part about a trip to the library with mom in the afternoon is getting to read with dad at night! It's amazing how he and all his funny character voices can captivate the children the way he does. They were so engrossed in the story they didn't even know I was taking their picture.
I love, love, love family time!


Read to me riddles and read to me rhymes
Read to me stories of magical times
Read to me tales about castles and kings
Read to me stories of fabulous things
Read to me pirates and read to me knights
Read to me dragons and dragon-book fights
Read to me spaceships and cowboys and then
When you are finished- please read them again.

Read to me
by Jane Yolen

Rocket Science

Jack has developed an exciting new interest in science. This weekend it was all about rockets!

I was so excited when I heard Jack ask his dad if he would help him build a real rocket that could fly. Branden could have easily said no, not today son, but instead he said sure! It was Saturday morning and Branden had planned to work on one or two if we were lucky of the many, many unfinished projects we have around the house. But instead, he and his boys built real rockets that could fly!

Such excited little men!

Changing the design and adding fins for aerodynamics

So proud of their soda bottle rockets

adding the water before the launch

Check out Jack's rocket go!


Benjamin's 1st attempt


Benjamin's Rocket - shooting for the stars


Here's where it landed!

Fun stuff!

Long over due update

As we are approaching the one year anniversary (February 6, 2010) of my nephew Brent's horrible car accident I realized it's been quite awhile since I posted an update about him. I Feel bad that I haven't updated in so long and wanted to take a moment to update those that have been following his story and praying for him. For those that don't know the details feel free to clink on the "myfamily" link below or read some of my past post with the label Brent Sirignano.

Brent has made amazing progress these past 11 months. We are all so proud of him - well, actually we are all extremely proud of the whole family. The way they have come together through this scary situation and have pulled through a stronger, more connected family. They are an inspiration to us all. We feel so blessed to have spent some very special time with them this past Thanksgiving, at my Dad's birthday and Christmas and again for Benjamin's 4th birthday. These were really great moments that we won't ever forget!


*Keith, their oldest son, our oldest nephew is not pictured. He is engaged to be married and was unable to celebrate with us this year.



Here's the latest update on the "myfamily.com site" posted by my sister Mingie and brother in law Ed.

Hello to ALL,

Well 2011 is under way and Brent is off to a great start. Home tutoring and therapies are going well and Brent continues to heal and show improvements. We attended the ETHS varsity game last night and several of Brents friends came over to say hi and grab a hug. Then we watched the team pull out an amazing win in the last seconds of the game. Yes, we still Love this game and always will. Such an intense finish. Brent handled the excitement, the noise and even balanced himself on the unstable bleachers for the whole game. Good therapy for him! It was our first time being in the gym since the accident and of course being at the gym was a little bitter sweet.

On another note Eddies life seems to be getting back on track and he is showing improvement at school and just in general is a happier person and has regained the security in his life these days. Since Brents accident he has been and continues to be very protective of his brother and for most of last year he was Brents younger, but big brother. It was a very emotional year for Eddie, but as Brent continues to improve, we are seeing positive signs with Eddie too. Brent, however has now reaffirmed his big brother status and sometimes even acts like Eddies second Dad these days, questioning Eddie about his plans , when he will be home, who is driving etc. They certainly have formed quite a bond during this last year.

Keith and Amanda's wedding is approaching fast and we are finally at a place in our lives where we can really be happy for them and our family is getting very excited as the big day gets nearer. We Love you both and are very very happy for you.

May God bless ALL of you in 2011.

Love Always,

The Sirignano Family

Here are some pictures from Christmas of our AWESOME nephews with our boys.

The boys are so thankful to have their playful, happy cousin Brent back. Watching them interact was the BEST Christmas gift I could have asked for.

Whenever the boys and Eddie are together it's a constant giggle fest. He is such a fun and patient cousin. He is REALLY good with them. What a blessing he is. I only wish they lived closer (boo hoo)

Here's Keith and Amanda being as adorable as ever! Amanda is just a doll and we are so excited to have her as our niece and the kids cousin. Here she is being Jack's assistant for his magic tricks he was performing for the family. He was so happy to have her helping him!

WE HAVE SO MUCH LOVE FOR THEM ALL!!

We would like to send a big thank you to everyone who prayed for Brent and the whole family these past 11 months. We would be honored if you would please continue to pray for Brent as he continues on his journey of healing and regaining what was so quickly taken from him last year. Also, please let his experience serve as a reminder how quickly your life can change - in an instant everything can change.

Be safe when you drive, make wise choices and always, always, always let your your family know how much you love them!!

Family Friday!

I just wanted to share these two new family snapshots we got last week when celebrating Benjamin's 4th birthday. Can you even believe my baby boy is 4?





It's been a LONG week and I'm looking forward to some family time this weekend. Hope you are able to enjoy some yourself!

A series of unfortunate events

**This post is from last night (1/4/11). I'm only posting it because it's kind of comical now and I want it as a reminder that things always get better

Unfortunately, this is going to be a downer of a post with me complaining about all the crappy things that have been happening to me (us) lately. Sorry about that, but it has been a really bad day that seems to be getting worse by the minute. As we speak, Branden is at The Home Depot or Lowes – who even knows or cares to be honest. But, he’s there buying a snake (I think) to unclog our bathroom toilet which is now backing up into our bathtub. For those of you that remember, this is our one and only working bathroom. Our front bathroom sprang a leak, what now seems like an eternity ago and that bathroom has been completely out of commission since then. Of course these things never happen at a good time, but this is truly the worst time. Poor Branden is trying to prepare for a big presentation he needs to give on Thursday. He has SO much work to do and does not need this added stress. He was up until after 3am last working on it and I’m sure will do the same tonight.

I know you are probably thinking "come on Nicole, a clogged toilet and tub is an inconvenience but clearly not the end of the world, you of all people should know this”. I do know this, really I do. I know that our health - the health of our children and family are all that truly matter in life. However, after the string of bad luck and stresses we have had the last two weeks I am just really struggling to keep focus and perspective. I am frustrated and angry and am really just trying to hold it all together.

Here’s just a quick list of our series of unfortunate events:

On the 20th our dryer broke and we had to buy a new one (although clearly not a budgeted expense) because ours was super old and had been repaired twice before.

That same night Jack has an asthma attack and is sick with asthma/croup issues for the next few days. Asthma stuff ALWAYS scares me.

On the 21st, while driving to Children’s Hospital LA in the rain we discover that the brakes are going bad. We take the car in and yes, they need to be replaced – more unbudgeted expenses.

On the 27^th as I’m running out the door to take Annabelle to PT we realize that my car battery is dead. We charge it but it dies immediately. We take it in and they say it’s dead – you need a new one. Great, yet another unbudgeted expense!

During these next few days we start to notice that Annabelle is getting sick. Obviously, this is so disappointing since we have been working so hard to keep her healthy. By the 31st she has a high fever and is vomiting ~ we assume it’s another UTI. Of course we have to cancel our New Year’s Eve plans. This was not a huge deal to cancel, but was a big disappointment as we were all looking forward to celebrating with friends. At the doctors they tell me she has an ear infection, I think huh, okay, that’s sort of good in a typical kid illness kind of way. They decide to take a urine sample to be safe. Fast forward to January 2nd when the Dr. calls to tell us that not only does Annabelle have an ear infection but she has another UTI and not just any old UTI but the kind that can only be treated with Cipro - that really strong antibiotic that we really don't like to use. GREAT!

Do you want to know what the saddest part about the whole Dr.’s visit on New Year's Eve was? It was that the whole time there I was so happy that it was 12/31 ant not 1/1 because starting 1/1 ALL deductibles and out of pocket maximum go back to zero! So that $10 office visit would have been a $50+ office visit the very next day. Yep, the beginning of a new year is always dreaded for financial reasons.

So now here we are again January 4, 2011, still with a backed up toilet and bathtub. I forgot to mention that our internet is down – it's been down all day (ugh!). So, I’m actually typing this in MS Word with the intention of copying it into my blog as soon as I have a connection and clearly I can’t ask Branden to see what's going on (double ugh!) So, in the time I’ve been typing this (and trying to nurse my little girl who does not want to go to sleep tonight) things haven’t gotten much better. Branden has returned home with the rented snake from The Home Depot, he has changed into his coveralls and has been doing something loud outside for the last 30+ minutes. He’s now on the phone with the aforementioned Home store because the snake he rented from them seems to be missing a part! He looks furious and has now just run out the door, which I am assuming to go down there because they probably close in 15 minutes (it’s 8:45pm). I’ve got a sink full of dishes I’m afraid to do just in case it starts to back up there and I have a little girl who is determined to not go to sleep anytime soon!

Okay, so I’m “supposed” to feel better now that I have typed this all out, right? It really does still suck and it has been extremely expensive but honestly I do feel better now that I have gotten all off my chest, because really what can you do when crappy stuff happens do. I guess just focus on all the good in our lives, all the people that have been so generous and have helped our family. Just recently my brother in law so generously gave of his time and his business’s time to help start putting our front bathroom together. He installed a new bathtub and has a new toilet and shower fixtures waiting to be installed once Branden gets the drywall and floors done, my Dad who so graciously helped to pay for my brakes and wouldn’t take no for an answer, The Epstein-Levine family who has given (YES, I SAID GIVEN!) us a one week vacation in their time share in San Diego to be used at the end of next month, and I don’t want to forget last months “Christmas miracle” where Dr. Javahery’s office wrote off a very large bill we owed him.

We are so blessed to have these angels in our life and although it’s sometimes hard for me to keep perspective when we’ve had what seems like really, really bad luck. However, I am able to clearly see it now! I’m glad I took the time to complain and then reflect - it was well worth it to help me move past this yucky feeling I’ve had in my belly all day.

Quick bathroom update: It’s 9:52 and he snaked out the culprit (looks like one of those tushie wipes) and the drain is once again clear. Now to clean the bathroom and wash all the towels he dirtied.

Quick Internet update: It’s 11:35 no, now it's 12:15 and we are STILL on hold with Verizon trying to get someone to help us get reconnected to the internet. We have been on hold for almost 2 hours (not feeling so blessed at the moment!) After 1 hour and 57 minutes on hold with Verizon the internet suddenly started working on it's own. They never answered but it works now - go figure! Oh but it's 1:30 in the morning and Branden has passed out asleep :-o

Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Sorry to everyone who didn't get a Christmas / New Years card from us. I wasn't able to get as many of them out this year. Please know that we are so grateful for all the love and support that we receive from you.
May God continue to bless you in 2011 ~ xoxo

Christmas Eve - 2010

JACK, BENJAMIN & ANNABELLE WISH YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

So does their Mom and Dad!

Sweet dreams family and friends.
We hope your holiday was filled with many wonderful moments.

Baking with the boys

Okay, who am I trying to kid. I didn't "bake" the cookies, we just decorated them. We sure had fun though.

Jack - takes his time and is always so proud of his final product

Benjamin - plops it on and goes straight to eating part

"First Friday" Fun - Christmas Edition

The family (minus me - boo) in front of the Christmas tree on Atlantic Ave. here in Long Beach.

We were all bundled up. You know those chilly California nights (he he)

Such cuteness!

If I can be real honest for a moment - I want to put it out there that the ONLY Christmas gift I want this year is for my boys to be like this picture above - kind and loving to one another. Sadly, there has been WAY too much sibling rivalry dampening my Christmas cheer and saddening my heart lately.

We weren't expecting to run into Santa but were sure happy to snap a cute (and free) picture with him. Annabelle was quite intrigued with him. By the time we got her to look at us, the boys were pretty much over the whole smiling thing. Oh well, what can you do.

We ended our night with a Jamba Juice and our usual ride on the BIG RED BUS!!

Another fun family night. I sure cherish these super great times.