BOYS

Austin's buds.  Cameron, Dylan, and Evan.  All great boys.  All adventurous boys. 

All make Austin happy.

SOUR PUSS

Sour puss face.  That's Ash's new face.  It obviously shows discontentment, ill will, and non-compliance.  Yes, a very common face these days.

Sour puss at the Dr.'s office.

But we're happy when we're eating.  The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in the Toler home.

Little Tiger

Ashley or  Queen Sheeba?

Too tired from putting a few times. This is what sports is about to Austin.  

Pop Here!

Pop came for a visit last week and we of course had so much fun!  Austin stayed with him in a hotel the first few nights, then we'd join them in the afternoons going swimming and drinking "Hampton Inn" Cocoa.  Much tastier than ours.

Pop spoiled us all.  Ash got fairy wings, princess dresses, garden tools from Lowe's and lots of love from Pop.  Austin got a swift kick in the tail from Pop.  But still lots of love.  And I was spoiled most of all.

Dad took me out on many Daddy/Daughter dates.  Including a special night at Cheesecake Factory.  We even enjoyed hours sitting upstairs at Wegmans, talking about life and eating cheese and olives.  

He did everything he could to minimize my stress and to help out so I didn't have to do as much.  Getting kids from the bus, taking the dog out, doing my garden, dishes, making breakfasts, the list goes on.  

But mostly I'm spoiled because I'm thankful that I have a Dad that cares so much about me that he wants to help.  And it goes both ways.  I want him to help.  It's a two-way street, relationships.  Thanks Dad for letting me be a little girl again and stress free for a little while!

Mother's Day 2009

Jonathan was of course travelling for Mother's Day, but he did surprise me with an Edible Arrangements!  Yum.  He never skips a beat.  

For Mother's Day this year, Austin lost his 3rd tooth!  And unfortunately, the Tooth Fairy had NO money.  No quarters, no dollars, only a $10 bill.  I had no choice.  He was astounded when he woke up.  In fact, the tooth fairy wrote a note saying that Austin had to split the money, that he was only intended to have $5, but I didn't have the heart when he came bouncing in my room the next morning with the bill tightly clenched in his little hand, his toothless face smiling and ecstatic.  Fat chance that will ever happen again.  

DUKE

 Over the weekend of May 8, we took a 5 hr road trip to Raleigh Durham N.C and attended the graduation of my younger brother Aaron "Rocco" LaBarbera.  He got his MBA from Duke WHILE being seminary teacher, WHILE working for a top 5 accounting firm Deloitte and Touche in Los Angeles, WHILE being married.  He took his MBA via the executive route so he traveled to NC every 3 months for 2 years for this feat.  

Upon the completion of all the commencements, Aaron and Reghan took us all out to the BEST BBQ restaurant I've ever been too.  "The Shack" and we all ate like little BBQ pot-bellied pigs!

Do you see who spoke at the Duke ceremony?  See that lady waving up there?  Oh yeah, yes it ladies, it's OPRAH!  My lady.  She did a great job.  Very cool.  I was about ready to get up there on stage and do my "Who let the Dogs Out" dance like I did at her pre-show when I saw her in Chicago!  (Remember Kendra?)

Duke has some of the most beautiful old stone buildings on their campus.  Very old, very traditional, very beautiful.

Future MBA grad.  Rock on Austin and Rocco.

CONGRATS ROCCO!

2 Handsome Blue Devils!

And CONGRATS to Reghan who did all the supporting and behind the scenes work.  She is an amazing wife to Rocco.    

I am very thankful for my family.  We are extremely tight and close.  We all talk to each other many times a week/day, etc.  I'm glad that I come from a family that I know always has my best interest in mind and would do absolutely anything for me, anytime.  Truly.  

We live in different parts of the U.S. Miami, Boston, Florida, L.A., Charleston and DC.  But that doesn't stop us from visiting, talking and staying deeply involved in our big extended family's lives. 

Something else I love about my family is that we always stand up for one another.  You don't turn your back on them.  No matter what, we're there for one another.

I want to raise my kids the way I know, which is nothing is more important than family.  

I love you guys.  

Austin's Kindergarten class are the "Penguins".  This week we had lunch with him a couple of times and he's wanted Ash to come each time!  What a good brother.

This week at Mountain View was "Mufins for Mom's" in preparation for Mother's Day this weekend.  After going through the line Austin touching about 4 donuts before finally putting one on his plate and thoroughly disgusting  everyone behind us, we sat down and had a wonderful little breakfast in the school gym!

For some reason the kiddos posed this way --maybe showing their pinkies is like the new 'west side pride' symbol.  

Dad Home 24hrs...

So Austin found a slug in the grass and he's now been added to our aquarium.  Seymour.  So Geico  the crab, Seymour the slug, and he's weathering okay.  Although I don't know what to feed a slug so we'll see how he fairs.

Ash also loves to find dress-up costumes and put them on.  We found Tigger-the Halloween costume Austin wore when he was 2.  

So Daddy came home for 24 hrs.  He'll come back June 1st.    But when Dad was home its always a ritual to play with the police lights and sound the "whoop whoop."  It was rainy so we all got in the back of the ride and pretended we were agents!  Too cool.

Pink

While on the phone, Ash had gotten into hair color (thanks Pop) and smeared it through her fine hair, then hid under her comforter (pink bed) and touched walls (with pink fingers).  My jaw dropped and instead of starting with her, I just laughed and grabbed the camera.  I'm really trying hard to start to look at the big picture and not get upset with the everyday minutia of being a mom.  It's hard, but it's helping me cope with things a little easier.

JAX

My brother Christian and wifey Jodi in Boston just had their 2nd boy.  They named him Jax Diehl LaBarbera last week.  8 lbs 13 oz.  He does't have hair like his big brother Brigg.  Brigg obviously has a lot of love for his brother below.  Congratulations LaBarbera's!