Day 22

Day 17

Day 15...take two

Day 15

So it's almost 12:20am on Tuesday and I'm still waiting for this stupid video to upload to the blog site.
I'm watching a Malcolm in the Middle marathon.
I'm tired.
I'm going to bed.
Maybe there'll be a video tomorrow.

Our Gift for Grammy

Here's a little something to cheer you up, Grammy. We hope you enjoy it.

Kiddie Vids

Here's a little something to make the grandma's happy:






A typical night around the diner table.

Happy Birthday Aunt Cira!

Today (April 15th) is Aunt Cira's birthday.

The Sinagra family wants to wish her a happy XXth birthday!

Happy Birthday Carmellina!

Today (Wednesday, April 9th) is Carmellina's 4th birthday (that makes her 48 months old for those you who are still counting). She enjoyed cupcakes at the womens' Bible study at the church and lunch at the Herches' house, dinner at Chik-fil-a and presents followed by ice cream for dessert.
Whew!

By the way, these videos are here especially for my Fallgren cousins to enjoy.

(...i'm in charge of the stars and i'm here to say...)

Carmellina's Potato People

Carmellina has entered her "mandala stage" in drawing. Here's a picture she did along with her explination.

Viol-initiation

The Bible says that "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

On a similar note (ha)...Rosemary got her first violin today.













We took her to a little shop in Bryn Mawr (almost an hour from South Philly) run by a very helpful and very serious little Asian woman named Kot.

She plays a 1/16 violin. Apparently they come in sizes that get bigger with the child, who knew?

So now we get to listen to her practice 20 minutes a day from now until she gets to Carnegie Hall.

Carmellina And The Panda Parade

Rosemary has started taking violin lessons.
We're trying to interest Carmellina in playing something musical as well.
This is her vision.

It's In Her Blood

Jess and I have decided not to push the kids into the arts simply because we're interested in them. Nevertheless, they seem to be innately prone to them. In fact, today, as I was working on a portrait commission, Rosemary stood next to me and said, "Dad, when I grow up, I'm going to be an artist just like you."
Poor thing...does she know she's going to be broke all the time, too?

A Little Bit Of Sunshine

Here's a little something to make you smile.

Rice Rice Baby

This one is for the grandmas! Joey started eating rice cereal on Monday. He has a whopping 2 tablespoons a day! Where does he put it all?

Why Everyone Should Own A Dog

Jess and I both grew up with a dog in the house since we were born. Dogs can provide companionship, comfort, entertainment, and, occasionally, protection. About two and half years ago Jess and I, believing that our lives were not yet complicated enough, decided to get a dog. We spent a little time pricing around and discovered that our budget quickly restricted our options to all but the misfits of canine society. A retriever is a good dog, after all, but not good enough to spend a month and half of rent money to purchase one.

We discovered our choice puppy in a high quality (ahem) establishment conveniently located in scenic Shirley, NY (motto: Spandex Is For Everyone!). We picked out a small wiry haired whitish dog. The lady at the counter said she was a "schnoodle."

For some time I had been thinking of getting a dog for our family. Again, having grown up with a dog all of my I life I felt that having one around would make our fledgling family feel a little more complete. As the sole man in the family at the time my thoughts turned to:

a) a male dog

b) protection and

c) not looking ridiculous when in public.

Alas, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Alice, as we named her, managed to fall short on all three counts.

We moved our family to South Philly this summer. Alice, of course, made the move with us as well. It seems that she has had the most difficulty adjusting. The biggest problem being the control of bodily functions. When we lived in NJ Alice was able to go out whenever she wanted and do her "business." Now that we live in the city we can't exactly open the door and turn her loose. Oh we we could do that but it might result in schnoodle pancakes. So now she is at the mercy of our schedule. Each morning, as I take her out for a walk around the block, I am inevitably reminded of when Jerry Seinfeld said,

"If aliens are looking down on us right now and see us picking up after our dogs, who are they going to think are the masters?"

It is a blow to your pride to have to bend over and grab a fresh hot load with that little bag. I just hope I never get one with a hole in it.

But Alice's morning walk serves many purposes. Not only does she get a chance to download on our neighbors' sidewalks, but she also gets a little exercise, helps me keep on schedule, and she also does her part to keep the neighborhood clean. Most dogs are mother nature's vacuum cleaners and Alice is no exception. Dave Barry once said,

"Dogs operate on the wise survival principle of eating anything that falls on the floor, because if it turns out not to be food, they can always throw it up later."

So far I've seen her eat chicken bones, pizza crusts, lemon rind, paper, bread, something blue, a candy cane, some plastic, M&M's, something brown, some cement and rained-on Chinese food. I have also had the grand privilege of discovering in her stool a penny, some hair, and what I can only assume was a wad of Floam.

Occasionally, though, Alice takes a little "vacay" at the grandparents' houses. Somehow our little furry dust buster has managed to work her way into the hearts of our family members. I have to say, that while she is gone, I notice there are a lot more crumbs on the floor. Having a live-in dust buster is handy for a snack-intensive family like ours. There's also not as much for the kids to do. They miss her terribly when she's gone, as does Jess. There's also no one to bark and warn us of our impending doom when the mail comes...or when someone walks past the house...or when our neighbor takes out his garbage...or when the wind blows. Nevertheless, we always seem to look forward to her return when she's away. It seems that this little dog has managed to prove her worth in our lives simply by earning our affection. She's no dummy.

She is, in fact, maybe the smartest dog I've ever had (Jessie-dog, if you're reading this blog, I take it back...in fact, if you can read, then I really take it back). I have had the pleasure of not having to take a lot of time to train this dog. She has managed to learn almost every command within a day of training and has even managed to work out her own routines and schedules.

She may not be a male dog, (that's okay, I always feel like they should be wearing a cup anyway) and she may not be vicious, (although you should see her lunge a the mail when it "mysteriously" makes its way into our mail slot everyday) and I may look like a complete dope in my pajama pants, work shoes, and leather jacket at 11pm walking a little white furball with a green sequin collar (okay, there's no upside to that one) but all in all I am very happy to have Alice.

And if she is reading this blog: Alice I think I dropped a chip next to the recliner.

And now...The Amazing Alice