my new favorite picture

here it is!

talking

Hi.  

So Cole's been doing some talking lately.  But only when he's in a good mood so it's been tough to catch on video......

In other news, my favorite James-word is "crynin" which is a combo for "crying" plus "whining".  It works.  He uses it substitutionally for either choice.

And Lena has been loving PreK.  Which I'm super-happy about.  Yesterday she told Mike that she had a secret for him and it was "I just LOVE my school".  So that's a good sign ;-)

We went apple picking last weekend and Sheryl took these pictures for us:

Catching up.

So much to talk about. Sheesh.

So here's Cole being cute:

Cole and Mike and I went to my cousin Janine's beautiful wedding in the Finger Lakes over Labor Day Weekend while Lena and James spent time with their grandparents in Pittsburgh!  That was a *win win win* situation.  (except my in laws did *loose* in the sleep department for sure....- thanks again guys!!!)

DeGregorio cousins minus my bro Mike

A wedding vacation for us!

My uncle playing harmonica with the band!!  He was awesome!!

Then right after we got back from the festivities, Lena started pre school!!!  

Here she is all ready for day 1:

She's really enjoying it!  She's going 3 mornings/week and it's working out GREAT.

Here's her discussing it:

Also in Lena news we're done with naps.  A few months ago we thought the naps were done but then she had a nap-resurgance which was awesome.  Lately however this is what happens at nighttime if she naps in the afternoon:

If you can't tell, that's lipstick all over her face.... the rest of it is all over my bed.  This is what happens when someone's not tired at night so sneaks down to her parents' room and gets into her makeup.  Clearly she was pretty upset at being caught. Anyway, naps are done.  It's the only way we can ensure a peaceful early bedtime.  

However, because of the no-more-nap-policy sometime this happens in the late afternoon:

mmmk.  So we're working on the transition.

Also, here are the twin cousins:

They're holding hands :-)

Any finally, here's Cole with some more smiles for you to enjoy:

First Smiles

Ladies and gentlemen for your enjoyment today I present to you 

Mr. Cole and his quick little smiles:

One month already?

So this little guy was 1 month old yesterday:

Hi Cole.

Well, I wanted an Italian baby and I surely got one in him.  Seriously, look at this child.  Where did he come from?!

Too funny.  I love it.  

And here's Mike and his 2 blondies:

la la la.

The new Cuz and some photo shoot fails

So We've got a new nephew!!!  Horray!  

His name is Callahan James Roth and he was born on August 6.  

Here he is with his parents Matt & Kristin:

Yay!  We're so happy for them.

And since Callahan and Cole are like twin cousins being only 2 weeks apart we thought we'd do a photo shoot with them.  Fail.  Here are the funny shots that resulted.  Maybe we should try again in a couple weeks.....

Yea, not so great.  Clearly Bubby needed to get in on the action and suddenly he's enormous.

and here's another amusing shot of Lena charming the boys:

Good job, Bean.  

Lena's been playing mommy with one of her baby dolls since we had Cole.  She invents these elaborate imagination senarios that are pretty funny.  Yesterday while the baby was napping and I was occupied paying bills she informed me that her baby was tired and she needed to put her to bed.  I said something like, "ok yea, go for it." and went on with my business.  An hour later I went to go check on Cole who was still asleep and this is what I found:

hah.

Lastly, Lena has been getting the camera and practicing her photography skills lately.  

Here are three un-edited pieces of art:

Titled:  Aunt Sheryl's Entrance

Titled: Wait, Where Do I See The Picture I Just Took?

Titled:  Woah. My World is Rocked.

cry face

We've just completed week 2 of having 3 kids.  I think we deserve a prize.  It's tough, I don't have enough hands for this!!  Mike goes back to work on Monday and I shudder to think of how I'm going to manage by myself.  But people do this, right?  Right.  Here's me and the 3:

Notice the tissue in poor Lena's hand, she's is just now finally over her horrible bout with Croup.

and just because it's so funny, here is what it looks like when James cries:

He does this moving-his-jaw-to-the-rihgt-and-left-thing that is just too funny.  And so now here it is on video:

and here's Bubby pretending to be a puppy.  He plays fetch.

And that's that for now.  Sorry this post is lacking in both Lena and Cole pictures but I'll make up for that on the next post.  Sheryl's coming over to take nice pics of Cole this week so I'll put some of those up later on.  Ciao.