Christmas pics

Christmas Eve started out at our house to open presents before we went to Ron's house for dinner. Ron welcoming all in between the 2 rooms because the tables spread out into the living room to seat 29 people.

Nono with his 2 girls.

All 7 of the newest generation - at least they are all facing forward at this point.

Right before the kids play - Chris was one of the "wise guys" as you can tell from the crown. Haylee and Kamdyn still had their "angel halos" on.

Everyone watching as Santa makes his entrance.

Christmas Day at our house - a much smaller crowd, only 15.

Updating photos

With everyone being sick for the last few weeks, it is hard to get picture of the kids. The first few pics of Cheyenne were taken at Matt & Sarah's house when I was up there in November.

The next ones were taken this past Saturday when they all got to visit with Santa at Notre Dame. Tyler had a great time making ornaments, decorating cookies, and talking to Santa. Haylee didn't seem to notice that she was sitting on Santa's lap - Cheyenne did, and she did not want any part of him, even if Mommy held her. They all came back here to have lunch and visit with Nono Al.

End of a long week

I left Vacaville this morning leaving Sarah and Cheyenne at her grandmother's house for "mommy and babysitting". My poor little Cheyenne has such sick little eyes, but at least she slept until 9 this morning and is now into her 3 1/2+ hour nap. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon to make her feel better so she will start eating again. Sarah was doing much better this morning after sleeping a little better and had a big breakfast. I got home around 11:25 a.m., unpacked and sat on the couch. I just woke up from a short nap. Didn't think I was that tired. Although I keep hearing a baby cry and think I have to go get her up. Back to work tomorrow...

Saturday update

Matt went to the doctors on Thursday before work - worried that he night have strep throat. Turned out negative - just a virus. Sarah's appt was on Friday - she is still not feeling good. I woke up not feeling well and didn't know if I could handle Cheyenne, so she spent a few hours with Grandad. Sarah's staples were removed and the doctor told her to start eating a lot more than she has been - so she has been forcing herself to eat more. Cheyenne woke up this morning with a 101.8 degree temp - so Matt and I took her in and it looks like she may have a sinus infection. I am feeling much better although Sarah was very generous with her cough and gave it to me. Bob is coming up today for a visit and he can take home some of my stuff and then I head home tomorrow. Hopefully everyone will feel better tomorrow... what a week!!!

Thursday morning update

It's 8:40 on Thursday morning and I am sitting alone in the front room - everyone is still sleeping. Matt doesn't leave for work until around noon, and hopefully Sarah is sleeping despite the cold she caught. I do hear some cooing coming from Miss Cheyenne's room - I guess I will have to go in and get her up, and play with her all by myself (ha ha).

Sarah's homecoming

Matt picked up Sarah from the hospital this morning. When they walked in the house, the smile on Cheyenne's face was unbelieveable. I held Cheyenne up so she could hug mommy and she would not let go. From being very clingy, whiny, and not sleeping yesterday, today she is a different little girl. We had to wake her from a 3 hour nap this afternoon and she went to bed without a peep tonight and she has been smiling all day. Richard made his usual Sunday night dinner - pasta and chicken cacciatore and Johathan made fresh pumpkin cookies for dessert. Everything was delicious. Will keep you updated during the week...

Vacation in November?

I am on my way tomorrow morning up to Vacaville to take care of Cheyenne and Sarah, as soon as she comes home from the hospital. The report today from Matthew is that Sarah is feeling much better and walking up and down the halls of the hospital. Eric went up today to babysit Cheyenne since she came down with a slight temperature yesterday and Matthew wanted to spend the afternoon at the hospital with Sarah. Hopefully, Sarah will be home soon and she can recuperate quickly spending lots of time with Cheyenne. No better medicine than a sweet little girl to cheer you up...

More news from Vacaville later.

Andrew's Halloween birthday party

Had a great time at Andrew's birthday party...

Haylee loved the ride on Uncle Eric's ostrich...

Haylee's 1st Birthday

Sunday was Haylee's first birthday and after Saturday's tornado winds, we were just happy to see the sun at the park in Newark. The little "ladybug" was dressed up and ready for action.

She is always happy when she is eating - you would think she would be bigger the way she eats.

All her cousins were there to celebrate with her - Andrew and Cheyenne got to know each other very well. She wanted to play - he kept trying to get away.

The 3 grandmothers and Haylee eyeing those ladybug cupcakes - they sure were good!



Haylee liked her own special ladybug cake and really dug in but it was way past her bedtime.

She finally conked out for about an hour in Cheyenne's stroller even after eating all that icing off the cake.



Godmother Andrea was right there to comfort Haylee after she finally woke up.

A great day and a great party for a special little girl....

Cheyenne's 1st birthday

On Sunday, we went to Vacaville to celebrate Cheyenne's first birthday. Since it had been 107 degrees on Saturday in Vacaville, it was nice to know there was a swimming pool at our luau party. When we arrived the wind was blowing, but it did calm down later and we had a great afternoon - about 88 degrees, just perfect for swimming. Cheyenne greeted us with her Hawaiian attire and never onc touched the flower in her hair.

The 3 kids sat together and we all grabbed the cameras fast - they don't stay still too long....

Uncle Eric had fun trying to feed Cheyenne and Haylee and eat his own lunch...

Cheyenne laughed every time Uncle John threw her up in the air in the pool...






Haylee would rather sit in the shade than be wet in the pool - she did not like the water at all...

Uncle John made Cheyenne's cake and she started out slow, BUT it didn't take her long to figure out what to do...

She ate quite a bit of that cake (some she pushed down into her lap), and when some chunks of cake fell on the grass, Haylee would go pick it up and eat it...

Bathtub time...THE END......

Truckee/Family picnic

After our 2 weeks vacation, the whole family (and I mean the "whole family") headed back up to Truckee for our annual "Fraschieri/Lavezzo" picnic. Our family dinner night was Friday when we hosted 47 people. Bob and Mike Silvestri did their famous deep-fried turkey which turned out delicious and also some trout caught the day before fresh from the lake. Even with the 3 tri-tips, 4 loaves of garlic bread, a big salad, and sauteed zucchini, we still ran out of food.

The next morning, Bob, Becky, Alyssa, Chris, and Matt got up early and went fishing. Eric and Sarah met them with Tyler, and Cheyenne so Tyler could catch "a" fish 3 times. When they all got back to the cabin, the 2 girls decided they wanted to fish, too. So Nono gave them their fishhing poles and you can see how excited they are to be fishing.

After lunch, we all met at Ron, Dave, and Uncle Al's cabin for the picnic. For the 1st time, we took individual family pictures and one of the whole gang of cousins at "3-lizard" rock (so named because Chris saw 3 lizards when they were walking by this rock about 20 years ago).. After much running around, Tyler took a little breather and fell asleep on top of some shoes in the cabin. Peyton really wanted to play with Tyler and kept checking to see if he was awake yet.

After dinner, the big bonfire was started up so everyone could have s'mores. It was a first for the little boys who had a great time climbing every rock they could find. All in all, a great weekend.

Vacation visits

Two weeks in Truckee started and ended a little shaky but was very relaxing and enjoyable. Bob drove me to Peninsula Hopsital before we even left town because of a pounding heartbeat (everything was found to be normal after all the tests, and we went on our way the next day). Our first week was very laid back - just Bob & I - we did a lot of swimming and shopping, preparing for compay the following week. Our second week, Eric and Steve & Heidi Silvestrini joined us and we took several little gaunts to Lake Tahoe, Squaw Valley, and the ever-famous Cabelas. We had dinner with Ron & Colleen's group, and Juliane & Bob's group joined us for our travels - and we consumed plenty of good food. Of course, the fishermen did their thing and the freezer is full of fish that Bob won't eat. Eric, Heidi, and I left on Saturday, 8/1, stopped in Vacaville to eat lunch with Matt and Cheyenne and made it home leaving Steve to bring Bob to Tahoe Forest Hospital Emergency with yet another kidney stone(s). Bob has his handy pain pills that make him feel "REAL GOOD", so needless to say, he won't be driving. He will leave that up to his live-in nurse, Steve. Eric and I will be heading back up to Truckee on Thursday for our annual family reunion. Lori, Mark, and the girls arrive Thursday afternoon and the girls will be hitching a ride with us, too.

What else? pictures of babies

Well, I have finally gotten a chance to sit down and get this blog updated. It has been a very busy 4 weeks.

Matt and Cheyenne came down 2 weeks ago on Saturday to have lunch with all of us. The girls had a good time getting to play together. Haylee can pull herself up on anything, so she tried it on Cheyenne's playseat so she could get to the Cheerios in the tray. Cheyenne didn't seem to mind very much.

Tyler and Haylee (and Mom) met Bob and I in RC for the 4th of July parade this last Saturday. He was already to watch from his seat until several people moved in in front of us and he couldn't see. It turned out to be a great parade and the weather was very warm. By 1:00, they were on their way home to take a nap.

Stacie's graduation

Bob and I spent last weekend in Minnesota to attend Stacie's graduation from high school on Friday night and her graduation party on Sunday. It was fun to see the surprised look on the girls faces as we showed up at their front door.
You can barely pick out Stacie in the middle of this crowd with her arm partially covering her face as they threw their mortarboards in the air at the end of the ceremony.

Stacie and Kelly after the graduation. Kelly played the flute in the band at the ceremony, and Stacie played the trumpet in their last senior class song.

The party had to move indoors to the garage as it rained all day Saturday and was very cold and overcast on Sunday.

Lori and Kelly put together a collage of pictures of Stacie at different ages.

A full sheet cake with Stacie's picture on it.

Then and now....