Remembering a great man!

The Licitra clan at our wedding

On April 20, 2009 we lost a great man in our family. Giuseppe Licitra, AKA NoNo. Although I have only been part of the family for about 14years now I have had the opprtunity to really get to know Nono the past 6 years or so. He was a wonderful grandfather. A truely kind hearted and genuine man. When Danny and I were dating I was known as "the girl" he would tell Danny with his Italian accent, "say hello to the girl for me or how's the girl." once we got married I was "the wife." Whenever I saw him he would always ask about my family and "my momma and daddy" He had only seen them a few times and had only been to the house once, but he always wanted to know how they were doing.

After we were married Danny and I were fortunate to be able to stay at his house for a few years to keep the place up and to save money to get a place of our own. We are truely greatful to him for that and have a good amount saved to put down on a house whenever that day comes.

I know that Nono was like a father to Danny and his brother Mark after their father passed away. He was a true family man and would get so excited to see his grandchildren and greatgranchildren. I am greatful that we were able to introduce Brooklyn to him, even though she will not remember the pictures will be treasured forever. Although it has been an emotional time for us we are greatful for the time we got with him and we know that he is happily reunited with his wife Nana and that we will see him again.

I will miss his stories (even though I always needed them traslated), his kind hearted spirit and the way he said "I try!" If we could just take one thing that we learned from Nono and apply it to our lives we will all be that much better of a person. Nono you will forever be in our hearts, may your body and spirit be at peace now.

I Love to Laugh!

This is a little video of Brooklyn laughing at her Uncle Richard. She thinks he is pretty funny. He was telling a story and she was watching him and just started laughing. It was funnier to see in person, you know its the simple things in life that amuse us. ( you can hear all of us laughing in the background)

Easter Weekend!

A hat that one of the volunteers at the Elk's Hospital knits for the babies, had to take a pic it is just to funny and cute!

Out little bunny B, we had a great Easter weekend. We went to an Egg Hunt at Ricky and Steph's Subdivision Park, it was cold that morning so I do not have many pics at the park. It had been a while since we had seen the family so it was fun to hang out for alittle while. Sunday was a beautiful day, Brooklyn and I got to sleep in! When we wokeup we went for a nice long family walk. It was so quiet outside, we enjoyed the sun and looking at all the blooming flowers. Then we came home and got ready for church. We got to spend the evening at Richard and Steph's having a great dinner and a little family time. It was a nice mellow weekend.

Brooklyn's First Easter! This is Madison Casida's dress that she wore at our wedding almost 4 years ago. So fun to have hand me downs!

Relaxing after dinner!

Lucy and Clara playing with the dancing chicken that Clara got for Easter!

Enjoying the sun on Easter morning!

This was one of the houses that we walked by, it was so cute. They had all the eggs on the lawn with beach balls and sand buckets on the porch waiting for the grandkids to come over for an egg hunt. It was so fun to see all the eggs shining in the sunlight, I wished I was there grandchild, it looked like fun.

Surprise! She fell asleep for part of the walk.

Some bonding time with Daddy!

Easter morning,reading a book Brooklyn got in her Easter basket.

She loves to play with Daddy on the floor.

After the Egg Hunt, playing with Hannah.

Lucy so excited about her PURPLE egg! That's my girl, purple!

Favorite Lucy quote: Gotta agree with her, after all it is chocolate.

Aunt Shan : "Lucy, those candies are called M&M's"

Lucy: "No, Yummy"

Nana's visit!

Nana came to visit for a long weekend, Brooklyn was not to sure at first, but warmed up and enjoyed playing with her Nana and getting lots of hugs and kisses.

Sorry, this is a long post with lots of pictures, but it was a busy weekend. We have started giving Brooklyn rice cereal, hopefully this will help put some weight on. She was not a fan of it the first time, but everyday it gets a little better. I gave her some last night (4/6/09) and she saw me mixing it and was so excited when I sat down she was kicking her legs and opening her mouth.

Day 2 of Cereal - likes it much better today

Daddy feeding me for the first time

We got some nice weather this weekend, so we took Brooklyn for a walk for the first time in her big girl stroller without the infant carrier she liked it so much she fell asleep half way through the walk.

Having lunch with Nana, Marin and Garrett. Then we took a walk along the river to the park. It was a little windy so we didn't stay out to long, but it is nice to finally feel the sun .

Here is a video of Brooklyn playing and laughing with her Nana. This was the first time that she laughed continuously for such a long time. It is fun to see the new things she discovers.

Ity Bity B

I may be on the smaller side, but still so darn cute!

Thanks Aunt Jen for the outfit to make me even cuter.

I don't know what happened, but I had a baby that was delivered 1 week early because she was getting to big and now she decided to be a petite little girl.

Brooklyn had her routine 4 month check up, she did pretty good considering I had to wake her up to go to the appointment. She is still taking her time growing, she weighs 11lbs. 14oz's (25% range), 24 ins tall (50% range) and her head is only in the 10% range. So she has pretty much gained only 1 pound a month since her 2 month checkup. The doctor doesn't seem to be to concerned since she is still growing and she is a strong happy baby. She had a hard time sleeping most of the day, she just wanted to be cuddled. She did however go down by 7:30, so this gave me some time to read the new book Aunt Dina got me that I can't put down!

Now we get to start Rice Cereal and see how she does, hopefully not constipate her to much since poor thing only goes once every 7-8 days, guess my milk is skim milk? So I am sure there will be some lovely pics of cereal all over her face, the messy adventure begins!

Visitors, Hooray!

Auntie Dina and Uncle Angelo came to visit for a long weekend! This was there first time meeting our little Brooklyn Rose. It is always great to have them here, we always enjoy there company and Auntie's amazing cooking. Danny of course always enjoys the Cabela's trips. This time instead of golfing they got to go shooting, the boys and the dogs. Thank you for making the drive and taking time of work, it was fun to have you here.

Tummy Time!

Dinner at Cheesecake Factory, so yummy!

Cool B!

(she was sleeping, had to try the shades on)

Her new trick, getting her hands out of her swaddle to suck on her fingers. Her fingers must taste good she loves to suck on them.

Our little 50's girl, wearing her daddy's yellow sweater.

Our first Play Date!

Brooklyn, Jake, Sophia, and Emilia

A few weeks ago we got together with for a play date with the girls from pre-natal water aerobics. Keri on the far left holding Cameron is the last to have her baby due in June or July? with another boy. Then Rebecca holding her daughter Sophia is due with a boy March 30th. Me with B the oldest of the babies, Lyn holding Jake about 5 weeks old here and Michele holding Emilia about 4 weeks old. The only one not in the picture is Holly (our awesome instructor) she is taking the pic! It was fun to get together again, I have missed hanging a few times a week. I forgot how little the babiesa are when they are born. B looked so big compared to the newborns. I am excited for Rebecca to have her baby soon and we can start going to the park for walks when it warms up!