I'm a sassy mama and I blog to prove it
Karina Lee Veverka was born to Michel (Lou’s sister) & Stuart Veverka on July 16 at 9:43pm. She weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. Abigail and Karina are almost 6 months apart, they are going to have so much fun together and when Daria has her baby in October there is going to be another girl cousin. Guess pink is in for 2010.
Abbity Rabbity
Ok, well it wasn’t really madness but I thought that it was going to be. Now having two young kids makes everything take longer and just seem like more of a pain in the booty. Don’t get me wrong, I love my girls but holy cow now we have even more crap to lug around, especially on a Holiday visit to the in-laws.
However, this Easter I was pleasantly surprised, it went very smooth….omg did I say that? I could not believe how awesome my Easter was.
Lily was so well behaved and I was so proud of her as she didn’t gather ALL of the Easter eggs during the hunt at Grandma’s, she left some for her younger cousins. Abby was the best baby EVER! She cried when she wanted to be fed, took naps when she was tired and even did some socializing. I just couldn’t believe how un-stressed I was….it was a very nice feeling.
However, the days before Easter were a bit stressful for me. You see, I am a very organized gal…ok I used to be before I had the girls. Normally, I would have had all of my Easter stuff done at least the weekend if not a few days before. This time, I didn’t start until Friday and I was still putting things together on Saturday night, which drove me a bit batty. The whole time I was putting Lily’s Easter basket together I was so sure she was going to come bounding down the stair and ruin the surprise, but she didn’t and I stressed for no reason. She slept through the night, unlike me though. I was up every two hours with Abby and then up at 6:30 when Lily woke up to see what the Easter Bunny brought. *sigh* So we started our day pretty early and I had a headache the entire day, but it was still a good day.
Are you looking for something F.R.E.E. to do with your kids on a Saturday? If so, you might want to head on over to your local Home Depot and check out the Kids Workshops.
Louis and Lily happened to be at The Home Depot a few weeks ago and found out that they have F.R.E.E. Kids workshops on the first Saturday of every month from 9-Noon. You don’t have to stay for the entire 3 hours, you can just come and work on the project between those hours.
Your kid will get an Apron and a special pin to put on it for each project that they complete and a certificate. The projects come in a kit that you put together and they provide the decorative elements such as stickers, paint and markers.
Lily had a great time working with Louis to put together the house, she even “bammed” in some of the nails. Of course her favorite part was the decorating. Lily thought that the whole thing was pretty darn cool and is looking forward to the next one in May.
We celebrated Super Bowl Sunday by putting on our Raider gear and making some yummy snack foods. We really like Franks Red Hot sauce so Louis made his “Hot Nuggets”. It is simple to make, just dice up some chicken and bread it then fry it up in a pan. In another pan melt butter and add Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and mix well. When the chicken is done place it in a serving bowl and pour the sauce over the chicken and turn to coat. Serve with blue cheese dressing or buttermilk dressing.
Abigail in her Raider gear
Our first family portrait
We spent New Years at Daria’s house and Lily really wanted to wear something with sparkles and a poofy skirt. She had fun hanging out with cousin Kenny and Wyatt.
Lou’s brought over Guitar Hero and Rock Band AC/DC so we could rock out.
Josh and Michel playing the game.
Josh and Louis playing the game.
I was hoping to find some photos from the infamous New Years Eve 1999 party, but not very many of them were ‘post-able’ in the family blog..LOL. This was the only one I could find and I have NO idea what we were doing here, but it looks like we are having a good time. This was about 11 months before we were married.
New Years Eve 1999
We had a great time at Christmas spending the Eve with my family and the day with Lou’s family.
The highlight from Christmas Eve was visiting with BizNona as she now lives in a care home but my mom was able to ‘check her out’ for a few hours and bring her home.
Lily & BizNona
Dancing Dora from BizNona
The highlight from Christmas Morning is always watching Lily open her gifts.
Christmas Morning - Lily's Baby Doll Accessories
The highlight from Christmas Day was watching Baby Wyatt’s reaction to getting Chicken Dance Elmo and seeing him take a few steps…Wyatt, not Elmo.
Wyatt & Chicken Dance Elmo
Lily & Julia with their automated Kitty Cats - meow, purr
Cullo Stockings
Lily Decorated
Daddy's
Daddy's
Lily's
Happy Holidays !! We are glad you found us. We are currently working on a new and improved Cullo Family Blog, so until it is finished you can read all about our family on Dawn’s personal blog site.
We are currently working on getting ready for the newest Cullo to join the family and she is due to arrive mid January, we have decided to call her Abigail Grace.
Lily is very excited to become a big sister and really jazzed to be able to teach her fun things like how to play with all her toys, the kitties and baby signs. We are so blessed to be able to grow our family and can’t wait until she arrives.
You can read more about Baby Abigail Cullo 2010 updates on her blog.
Lily turned 4 in September and is in Preschool, she just loves it. Each day that she comes home she is full of all kinds of stories about what she did at school and you can tell that she really enjoys it.
When she is at home she loves to play with her kitties Sassy and Roxy as well as read books with Mommy and Daddy and she loves to draw.
It seems that her new favorite thing is to play with my Flip video camera and take all sorts of Videos. You can see her videos by visiting our video page on this site or on our YouTube Channel.
Louis is still working for Delta Dental in Rancho Cordova as a workforce analyst and still enjoys helping Lily with her math questions, teaching her card games and playing guitar with her.
He is also busy around the house getting things ready for Abigail’s arrival by putting furniture together and rearranging things around the house.
If you would like to connect with Louis you can do so on Facebook or email at zzlou@comcast.net.
Dawn is a Virtual Assistant and sells Avon. Having these home businesses allows her the freedom to work at home during wacky hours and be home for Lily and the future Miss Abigail.
Dawn owns a Virtual Assisting business helping small business owners with their Social Networking strategies. She currently has several clients but happy to assist more, you can visit her company site at http://www.SunriseVirtualServices.com
If you would like to connect with Dawn you can do so via Facebook or email at DawnCullo@comcast.net.
We hope that you all have a wonderful Holiday Season and a fantastic 2010!
Louis, Dawn and Lily Cullo
Wow, what a weekend I just had. The California Capital Airshow was in town and the Thunderbirds put on quite a show. We live very near the Mather Airport so it is easy for us to drive down the street to check out the planes. We are also able to view the practice sessions that they have on Thursday & Friday prior to the airshow. Here is my favorite picture from the Thunderbirds practice which took place on September 11, 2009. You can see more on my Flickr Account
Then on Saturday we went to the airshow and spent about 2 hours there and then headed back to our secret viewing spot to view the Thunderbirds show later in the afternoon. 
That night there was a Nascar Night race, which is my favorite kind of racing. Then on Sunday Lily we had Lily’s family birthday party (4th Birthday) along with opening weekend for Football AND DirecTV had their NFL Season Ticket for free that day so the whole family (ok, just the guys) were playing with that. All of my favoriate things were rolled up into one weekend – Thunderbirds, Nascar, Family and Football. I am still tired from it all.
We went to the Discovery Museum and had a good time. It is small but just the right amount of stuff for Lily to do. I was excited to see an Owl but then disappointed that the Owl was very tiny and hiding in his tree. Oh well.
I meet Donovan & Julia at Grandma’s house on Saturday. We played together for SIX HOURS! I had a great time and can’t wait to see them again.
Julia and I played on the slide a lot too. We both like to swing on the bar before you slide down.
Donovan , Julia and I all got in the Tire Swing and sang songs.
We pulled our tree out of storage and threw some lights and ornaments on it. Lily had a lot of fun pulling out the ornaments and trying to put them on the tree. She wasn’t very good at it and finally got frustrated and went to play with the cats.
We put up our Holiday lights too. Lily helped out Daddy by bringing him the clips for the lights. We use a handy tool to put up our lights which virtually eliminates using a ladder to put up the lights.
Lily loves her Mickey Mouse stocking.
Minnie Mouse wrote in my book “Much Love to Lily, love always Minnie Mouse” She is the best! I even wore a dress like Minnie Mouse’s. 
Mama & Dada let me have Mickey Mouse ice cream, I ate almost the whole thing.
I went on a ton of rides with Mama & Dada. I rode the carousel in Disneyland and California Adventure at least 10 times total.
I really liked this ride, Mama didn’t like it so much because I wanted it to go up in the sky higher and higher.
Here I am on the Tea Cups, I rode them 5 times.
The first character that she got to meet was Mickey Mouse. We went to his house in Toontown and meet him. The look on her face was worth the drive down there. She hugged him and did nosey nosey with him. At one point she hugged him and then looked at me while she was hugging him as if to say “thanks Mama”. I had a kleenex moment. There are more pictures on Lily’s Blog too.
She was so jazzed to meet Minnie Mouse. We really had to wait a long time during breakfast to meet her. Lily did really well waiting for her I thought we were going to have to leave with out seeing Mickey’s lady.
(Still at the park) I think I’m gonna hurl.
Hanging out in the Backyard with Mama and Dada
Yoga class with Mama. I got to roll her up like a Burrito…whatever that is.
We took Lily to the Sacramento Zoo to meet the Penguins and she had a great time.
Dadda and Lily laughing at the Monkeys.
Lily petting a snake. ICK!
I went to see Mickey Mouse last night and he was on ice skates! Mommy and Daddy took me to Disney on Ice: Disneyland Adventure. I had a great time and I can’t wait to go to Disneyland for my Birthday in September. We had great seats and sat in the second row. I had a great time sitting on Daddy’s lap and I also danced around to the beat of the music during the second half. At the end of the show Chip & Dale came up to the edge of ice and told me to come close to them. Mommy picked me up and we went to see Chip and Dale. I stood right in front of them and waved to them, they are so tall.
Ok, so the Raiders didn’t do so well this year but at least they are first in something….THE DRAFT!! Here are a few pictures from our Superbowl Sunday party.
Daria’s boyfriend Joshua is a super star. He is the Executive Chef at Capital City Catering He recently appeared on Good Day Sacramento and Channel 3. Here are links to his appearances on Good Day.
http://www.cbs13.com/video/?id=15959@kovr.dayport.com
http://www.cbs13.com/video/?id=15961@kovr.dayport.com
So again has passed another Holiday season and Louis and I are exhausted. We moved before Thanksgiving and also had to do all of our Holiday fun (shopping, decorating and FaLalalalaing) while we were unpacking and making trips to IKEA and Home Depot. Hopefully next year things wont be so crazy and we can just enjoy the Holiday season instead of being so tired from unpacking and putting together bookcases and other fun things for the house.
Lily took bows off of the presents and put them in her hair.
Nona & Grandpa Bill got her a wagon and a Tickle Me Elmo. She loves to ride in her Wagon with her Singing Mickey Mouse.
The best present that we all received was from Michel and Stuart, they are going to have a baby at the end of July. We are all very excited for them.
We are in a new area of Rancho Cordova called Anatolia. It is part of a larger master planned area called Sunridge. This area is expanding with many good things such as parks, schools and shopping to come soon. We live just around the corner from a park and have access to the Community Clubhouse. Here is a picture of our house.
Louis now works just a few miles from home at Delta Dental as a Workforce Analyst for their call center and his commute is a lot better. He has been working there since the end of August and is a superstar. Dawn is working at home as a Virtual Assistant and just loving it. Lily Belle is happily chasing the cats, unpacking everything she can and right now she is pulling file folders out of boxes and needless to say I have a large mess to clean up after I finish this post. UGH.
We are very happy with our new home and plan on staying put as we have plenty of room now for all of our things and hopefully more children.
Drop us a line and let us know what you are up to.
Louis – zzlou@comcast.net
Dawn- snryse@comcast.net
We are about a month away from moving into our new house. Living in the rental house is really starting to take a toll on our family. Living out of boxes is a nightmare and most of our stuff is in a storage POD. However, we do have a backyard for the cats and Lily to roam, a garage and great water pressure AND this is a temporary situation so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Here are some pictures of the progress on the house.
KITCHEN
We were lucky enough to catch a good deal when it came our way. Last week someone fell out of Escrow on a home with our builder Morrison Homes. The sales team was offering the house for the same price as what we were paying for our house which is/was 600 sqft less. We asked if we could switch houses and they said YES! We now will be moving down the street from our other house (the Andros model) and it will be ready in about six weeks in mid November. The house is two stories, four bedrooms, a loft, family room, dining room and much larger backyard than our other one down the street. We plan on staying there for a very long time. !!
We received two offers on our house last week. We are so excited to be able to breath again and not live in a perfectly clean, baby toy and cat house free house. The first then we did when we accepted the offer was to bring in the cat house and scatter Lily’s toys all over the place. We have to be out of the house by August 31st.
We also heard that our house will be ready early on October 31st. Previously, it was to be ready ‘sometime’ in November. We are searching for a place to live for two months and it is hard work. There are very few apartment complexes that will rent on a month to month or short term three month lease. Many are renting for seven months now because people don’t rent apartments during the holiday season and that is what would happen if they rented short term now.
We are looking everywhere for a house, townhome, condo or apartment. We looked into Corporate Housing but it is very expensive since the places are furnished with everything including the linens and kitchen items. The cheapest I found was for $2500 a month !! OUCH.
So if you know of anyone wanting to rent out their house, condo or know of a short term apartment place please email me.
Me, Mommy and Daddy had a good time in the sun. I am in my frog floaty thing from CostCo…love it.
Lily’s Baptism took place at St. Ignatius Church on Saturday, July 15th. She was great through the entire thing. She didn’t even cry when the Deacon poured the holy water on her head. She thought it was time for a bath. We were very blessed to have so many people in attendance for her Baptism. Her Aunt Daria is her GodMother….or as we like to call her Daria Cullo, GM.
 Copy and Paste Code |
