A fun reunion!

We had the best timing visiting with my cousins who came down from TN a couple weekends ago. As crazy as it is to write this Connor Allen Vest turned 13 and Little Miss Julz turned 12 and so they came down to go to St. Augustine for Connor's bday and to spend some good family time. Sammy hadn't seen them since he was about 6 months old so he just fully enjoyed playing with all the big kids. He was slightly confused at first b/c I think in his mind he thought we were referring to his little buddy Connor Shirey but I remember distinctly when it finally clicked for him b/c it was so funny. He came over to me and pointed to big Connor and said "Nonor no choo choo Nonor?" Ever since we visited Lakeland he associates Connor Shirey with choo choos b/c of his cool train table Sammy loved, too funny!

Anyway, once the confusion was clarified Sammy had the time of his life! He was the center of Sarah and Shelby's attention and he just ate it up. They were so sweet with him and did just about anything they could to make him laugh. They even attempted to teach him how to make fishy faces but sadly he never quite "got it" and now just squeezes his hands to the side of his head by his ears really hard and squints his eyes and says "Shelby, Sarah!". Maybe next time you can give him a refresher girls. =)

I had so much fun visiting with Karen, Sherry, and Debbie. Even though I technically grew up as an only child my cousins were like big sisters to me since I was always at their house. It was just so fun to sit and chat and I just wish we could have had more time. It really made me wish that we could all live closer to each other. How great would that be?? Sammy could grow up with his cousins and see them regularly and I could hang out and chat with them anytime we wanted. Now Cindy is even moving up there so they will literally ALL be in TN (I am hopeful it will workout Debbie). Something to think about anyway.

with Cole & Sarah
Sammy thought Sarah was just so much fun!
Can you believe how big Connor is now??? Shocking. I just can't get over it.
Shelby taking Sammy for ride
I caught the two oldest bday kids in here scheming up a plan... little did I know it would involve me and a 5 hour trip to the mall.
Checking out Richard's new truck!! Fancy!!!
The men-folk doing their men-folk thing
The women-folk doing their women-folk thing, lol. Loved the difference so had to post!
Sammy loved having everyone drive him around, he was a trooper. I got scared when they turned and went up bumps but he just squealed with delight!
racing trucks with Connor and Sarah
Shelby worked very hard to paint her "Fragile" piggy bank from Aunt Cindy
The gang

He he he,.. had to make fun of myself. I borrowed some of Aunt Sandra's hot mamma shorts. They came up above my belly button and were super stylish. =)

Future Ballerinas!

Oh how I miss Guatemala! I have been getting pictures off the camera and organized and thought I should give fair warning that there may be a slew of posts about Guatemala coming. =) We just made so many fun memories and had so many great experiences that it is hard not to share each and every one. I sure do love those kids. I miss them terribly and literally dream about them and being at Casa EVERY SINGLE night.

Here is one super fun memory. Dancing with Esperanza Up!!!! This year two of our team members, Irene and Taylor busted out some ballet moves for the girls and they just loved it! Irene and Taylor were such a blessing to our team. They are seniors in our youth group and both are so amazing. It was so great to spend time with them and see two girls who are living their lives in ways that please and glorify God. You could literally see God living through them and I know that He will use them in great ways as they start college next year. It was so good for our girls in the dorm to see these two living boldly for God, they are great role models. I was so glad to have them partnered with me to lead our small group. They each shared their testimonies with the girls in our group and were very open and real about personal struggles and how God has worked in their own lives. It was not easy to share these things but both of them put themselves out there but both did such a great job and just seriously shined. I know God was smiling down on them proud as could be that night. At one point I actually had tears in my eyes as they were sharing with our small group b/c I was just so proud of them and could see the impact it was having on the girls in our group. Our girls were listening intently and asked questions. Both Irene and Taylor were just so great with them. These two girls also knew how to have some serious fun! I giggled with them like I was in my own senior year again and just really enjoyed talking with them about camp and other things. Just wish I had more time to hang out with them!

One night after we finished our small group time we went across the hall to another room in the dorm where a few girls had the radio on. We all formed a big circle and took turns doing some dance moves. Kristie was the first to break it down and the girls loved it! You KNOW I had to keep it real and bust out some clogging moves for them, which of course the girls in Guatemala had never seen. They laughed and thought I was MUI TONTO (Very silly)! After some time of free styling it someone asked Irene and Taylor to show them some ballet (ok it was me, I can't help it I love me some ballet). These two are in a dance company and are extremely good dancers. They did some basic things and taught the girls basic steps and then started doing some more fancy things. The Esperanza girls just loved it and it was such a fun fun night. I am sure the girls in the dorm below were not that fond of our dance party as I am sure we souded like a team of elephants up there but we had a blast and laughed and giggled the night away. This is one of those times that will always be engraved in my memory. So much fun!!! Here are some videos for you.

Andrea... in the videos Misty is in the middle in pink pj pants and she was by far the best, watch how she tries each move. Too cute!

Kristie showing the girls her moves, so much fun!


Taylor & Irene teaching first position
Look at that form, now these are some future ballerinas!
Check out the videos, they've got skillz!

We are oh so trendy!

So, the DeLucca Fam figured we would jump on the band wagon and try out this swine flu thing. =) Our Samuelito came down with it Wed, Heather called from Sonshine to say he wasn't feeling well and was lethargic & fevered. We just gave tylenol and assumed would be fine but nope, H1N1 had other plans. We had a rough night battling 103.5 fever and a rough next day. Sammy's pediatrician tested him and confirmed it was the swine flu and then began the search for meds. Tamiflu speeds up the duratoin and because of the rampant spread of the illness recently is sold out in Gville. I was calling pharmacies and so was the nurse and we finally found one place 30 min away that had a few boxes but we had to wait 4 hours for them, thankfully b/c of Sammy's age he was high priority for the meds. Sammy continued to get worse and by that evening was vomiting and just miserable. He was so very lethargic. We had decided to have him sleep in our bed to keep in eye on him since every 3 hours after a dose of tylenol/motrin rotation the fever spiked. He had just had tylenol and so figured he was fine and was in the other room talking to Leslie. I heard him whimper and peeked in on him and his cheeks were fire engine red and he felt like he was on fire himself. I took his temp and saw 104.8 and freaked out! We were off to the ER and the nurse said he was especially puny (there were several other little ones in that night) and thankfully he was put ahead of them. We had a super long and miserable night in the hostpital, he had LOTS of IV fluid and some Zofran to stop the vomiting. It was just so hard to see him in there with the IV. I was thanking God that we were only in for the flu and nothing more serious. I just can't imagine what the parents of seriously sick children go through seeing their children like that on a constant basis. Our little fatty seemed so small and helpless in that big bed. We were so ready to get home after the last of the IV but they had to keep us until his vitals were back down to normal. Poor thing's heart rate was racing and had high BP. Thankfully we are home now and he seems much improved.

As of now his fever seems under control but he is sooo grouchy! He just cries uncontrollably and is so winy. I am sure he is hurting somewhere, I am thinking maybe his head or throat, so we are doing everything we can to keep him comfortable. The good news is we were told with the Tamiflu he should be feeling better by Monday so we are hopefully nearing the end of this. As most of you know it is so difficult to see your child so miserable and to feel so helpless!

Sam and I think we have a touch of it but haven't been to doctor or anything. Just like the media says, it really isn't that bad on adults. We just feel like we have bad cold and super run down, exhausted. Me being the eternal optimist that I am have decided to see this as a blessing in disguise that we have it early on. I can't imagine taking him in to the ER and having many others just as sick as him and having to wait as his fever spiked to 105 with nobody available to helpd us. Hopefully it won't come to that and it won't be as bad as they say. Oh and we do think we discovered how he got it. We had been at the Avenues mall on Monday with some of my family and figure he got it there. Mom said the headlines in Jax were regarding the large # diagnosed with swine flu in that county last week.

Thanks for all the prayers! Just watned to post a quick update that we are all doing good and Sammy is being a trooper. I think he is over the worst of it, hopefully.

Here is a video of him I found as I am FINALLY getting things off my camera. It is too precious! This is him praising his Jesus! Oh, one cute antidote. He now has a few bruises on his arms and foot from the needles and he points to them and says "Mammy (sammy) boo boo" then he looked and me and said "mommy, Jesus boo boo?" I told him Jesus would help to heal his boo boo and help him feel better soon. Too cute!!! =)

Fun times!

Such a fun weekend! Labor Day weekend started with a super fun playdate at Katie's house on Friday. Sammy brought his little buddy Samuel, his mom Nathalia, and of course Gloria with him and he was one happy camper! Gloria had so much fun. She taught the older kids Spanish and enjoyed meeting my friends. I am always amazed that wherever we go kids flock to her, regardless if they understand Spanish. She is just a kid magnent and loves every moment with them and them with her. I think Sammy's most difficult transition to preschool even above the nap issue has been not seeing Gloria as much. We still see her each day after school but he asks about her much more often and cries for her at the door and window, just too sweet.

Saturday was spent with my CoCo. Cody came to visit us and it was SOOO great to hang out together again. We just sat on the couch and caught up with each other while Sammy napped and then we met up with some in my Sunday School class for our first ever tailgating expereince. We both had no clue what to expect but we dawned our gator apparell, packed our meat and cooler and off we went. Sammy loved running around and playing with his buddies, he did his gator chomp several time. Once the game started we left and visited Sam at his post for a while, he worked the game as part of his reserve duty. He had a funny incident with Tim Tebow's bro you'll have to ask him about sometime. =) My favorite part was after the game when everyone in Gville was partying it up, Cody and I came back to the house put Sammy to bed then ordered some pizza hut and watched Parent Trap on the Disney Channel, keeping it real! Just like old times. It was so great to be together for such an extended period of time Cody, I love you! More of those times coming soon!!!

Here are Friday and Sat in pictures....

11 kids all in one spot, wow! Are we good or what??
The tinest buddies there, chatting it up
Gloria playing with the kiddos
Samuel seemed to really enjoy his first playdate! We sure hope he comes back and joins the gang
Just taking it easy
Sammy has always LOVED Luke's swing.. columpio!
Nicolae or as Sammy calls him "Nick a"

And after the playdate Amy showed me how to do our own haircuts at home! Acutally she did such a great job that I think I will just make her Sammy's official hair stylest! =) He barely even cried, it was his best ever experience. Thanks again Amy!

Nicolae went first and showed Sammy the ropes, he did great!

Then was Sammy's turn, he was pretty scared of the buzzing but skittles helped a lot!

The boys got their hair did.. check out their new dos!

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GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!
Checking things out with Coco
Bubbles!
Me and my little gator
Fun Fun!

Randomness..

Had to post this pic.. check out his wild hair! I can always tell it is time for another haircut when it gets poofy like this. Gville moms- anyone know of good kids cut place in town???????

Things have been rather hectic with the first few weeks of school starting for me & Sammy. Sammy has adjusted well to preschool. His first week was a little rough and his happy gram each day always mentioned the fun things he enjoyed doing most but then also that he had a rough time at nap time. For some reason he cries before nap and as soon as he wakes up for me. It is so hard to hear that and each time I look at the clock while I am working and see it is noon.. dum dum dum... I want to drive and pick him up but then I stop myself and realize he is and will be ok and is well cared for there and I have too much work to do. Yesterday they said he had his first good nap day with very few tears so I am hoping that means the transistion is almost complete.

He seems to already be learning a lot, he can now count with us to 10 (he inserts numbers 2, 9, & 10) and knows some of the ABC song but not much. He brought home his first peice of artwork, complete with cheese cracker crumbs stuck in the glue- that's my boy! It is proudly displayed on our fridge. Each day he rattles on and on when I asked him what he did in school but sadly I have no idea what he is saying for the most part. I just take his excitement to mean he did a lot of fun things and learned a lot. I was happy to hear his teachers say that they can tell we have taught him to put his toys back when he finishes playing b/c he is a great helper in the classroom. As a first time mommy that was good to hear! Sam and I are learning as we go, poor Sammy. We are still working on using gentle hands and being kind to others. He apparenly is great the majority of the time but still has his rough moments where he pinches and pushes the kids. I think he has figured out that he is the biggest one in there and resorts to bullying to get his way, not good. We have been working on this one for a lo-ong time. Hoping and praying it will click soon. =)

Sammy has been telling his first joke!! As you know Gloria had knee surgery and Sam's still sporting his knee injury from Guatemala. So Sammy will say "Mommy, Ya Ya boo boo?" and I say "yes, Gloria has a boo boo" and then he smiles and says "Daddy boo boo?" and I say "yes daddy has a boo boo too" Then before I even finish sayint that he starts cracking up, laughing so hard that he turns purple and he can hardly get the next words out... "Nanet (Janet) boo boo?" and then quickly he says "NO!!!" because Janet does not have a boo boo (that I know of). Anyway, it is just super cute b/c he begins laughing before he even says his little punch line. I think we are going to have a class clown on our hands for sure!

One more random peice of info.... our mystery has been solved. We have had several items around the house dissapear lately. These range from salt and pepper shakers, water bottles, etc to sunglasses & my bathing suit just to name a few. I seriously thought either I was loosing my mind or my car had some whole in the trunk. Last night though, I watched in disbelief as Sammy picked up a target bag with a few items in it that I had sat down by the garage door (a place I put things when I first walk in to get my hands free) and said to himself "trash" then he walked to our trash can in the kitchen with a lid that swings so I never actually see what is in it, and placed it in there then clapped for himself and said "yay Sammy" and walked away. That bag would have been lost too if I had not caught him in action. MYSTERY SOLVED! I still can't believe that my cute guatemalan purse and my bathing suit are gone forever. At least I can have some peace about their loss though. =(

Here are a couple random pictures of my little man and a video of him tickeling Elmo. He was given a VERY nice hand me down gift from Jamine Lynn since she was scared of her Elmo and Sammy has just been on cloud 9. Elmo even helps him eat his veggies! We LOVE the new addition to our household. Thanks again Jamie Lynn! (If you find Elmo's voice as annoying as I do you may want to mute your sound)

His first trip to downtown Jax, he LOVED the fountain and the boats but his fave was of course, the choo choo that went over the river. He was just facinated

Grandaddy fixed him a giant bowl of frozen yougurt with SPRINKLES!

My silly boy
Smelling the flowers at Minoma's house
He played fetch the stick with Pixie (their doggy)
His b/f Thomas (or as he says, Momas) is with him where ever he goes, well except school cuz he isn't allowed there but just about everywhere else
Mommy made him a special treat after school
He liked it!
He just had to take his "cras" to bed with him this night and he lined them up all in a row, now if that is not a Sam DeLucca I dont' know what is. =)
tickling his new buddy Elmo