There was a time when all three of my girls had some type of floating device on when getting into our pool. Getting them ready was an exhausting feat…. bathing suits on, apply sunblock, put on life vests, arm floats, tubes, noodles around the tubes, etc. Only for them to get into the pool and declare that they wanted to be held. So envision one child with arm floats sitting on the pool ladder, and the two little ones hanging on to either me or my husband, screaming to not let go of them. There was definitely no swimming in sight for either my husband or I, just floating three kids around the pool. It was definitely a delight to see them splash and move their little legs around, and watch their little faces get startled when water would splash on them, but it just felt like my husband and I would never, ever have a relaxing pool day again! But fast forward and now we have three little Mermaids, a bin filled with arm floats that are no longer needed. Now, they run and get their own bathing suits on, spray each other with sunblock, put on their goggles and jump right into the pool. I was actually sad when I took out the stash of arm floats and vests and even my littlest said she didn’t need them! For me, it meant no more water babies and that made me a little nostalgic, but that was quickly replaced by loud giggles and splashes, and now instead of “hold me,” “hold me,” “hold me,” it’s “watch me flip,” “watch me jump,” “watch me do a hand stand.” It’s nice to sit back and watch and take pictures! Sometimes I can even sip a smoothie or even make a phone call while floating in the pool!

I love how a picture can come to life, even if it was taken 38 years ago. Like this picture of my mother in law with my husband (what a cutie). Her smile, her hands locking with her sweet baby boy, I can feel her in the moment. The warmth of the sun on their skin. Her eyes say so much and he just has no clue yet! He’s just happy to have someone holding him up. Helping him to stand. He’s so happy just having his mom close to him. He doesn’t have a care in the world. She probably has so many, but right now all she cares about is keeping him on his two little feet. She seems so casual, so natural. Someone just caught her in the moment. What a beautiful moment.

I didn’t know her as a young mother, but this picture tells me so much. She was a happy mom, a beautiful, sexy mom. She was loving, caring and true.

I did get to know her as the mother of a grown man. She helped him to grow up and stand all by himself. Guiding him, but not controlling him. Loving him, but not smothering him. She held him close but knew how to let go.  She always stood beside him, never in front and never behind him. They were equal. He loved her very much and she the same.

Spring training is here! Welcome back baseball! This past year, the Mets gained three new little fans! Hmmmm, maybe four! I guess I’m taking a liking to baseball myself. My husbands’ yelling and screaming make it hard for me not to wonder what is going on in the game! The love for baseball can be handed down from generation to generation in many different ways. Sometimes from fathers to sons, sometimes from uncles to nephews. For my husband, the love for baseball wasn’t handed down, but rather grew in him as a young child. He began his love affair with the New York Mets when he was 7 years old in 1985. His love for the team spread quickly to his mother. She understood nothing about the game when this all started, but little by little as he explained the game to her she fell in love with it too. The love of baseball, and in particular, the love for the Mets was something special that they shared. Even though the team struggled for many years, they followed them faithfully. Some of his happiest memories are lazy summer afternoons sitting in the backyard listening to the game on the radio together and summer nights watching the games on TV cheering them on.

The two of them would go to Shea Stadium and cheer for the team they loved. Maybe baseball was just an excuse for him to spend time with the mother he adored and looked up to. Maybe baseball was just her excuse to sit next to her youngest son and cheer about a common love. Their relationship was a special one, they enjoyed a lot of the same things, but none more than the New York Mets.

When we had our 3 little girls, my husband never pushed baseball upon them. He never imagined that they would one day learn to love the team he has faithfully followed now for more than 30 years. But as they watched him root for the team they too, started to root right there along beside him.  It’s been really sweet to watch my little girls share in the love of baseball with their daddy. My girls have learned to the love the Mets…to love the game of baseball…to love the time spent watching the games with their dad. Can you guess who their favorite player is?

This post is dedicated to my mother in law who was the biggest Met fan of all. Unfortunately she passed away August 31, 2015 right before the Mets went to the world series. We have a feeling she was watching and had the best seat in the house!

Our family is an interfaith one. My husband is Jewish and I’m Catholic. We are raising the girls Jewish, but are also teaching them about many of my Catholic traditions. In our home, it always seems like we are celebrating something! It’s been fun for me learning all of the wonderful Jewish traditions and holidays as I experience them with my husband and daughters. I am always looking for ways to incorporate Judaism into the girls daily lives. Being Catholic though, it doesn’t always come natural for me to teach them about Judiasm, but I do try in any way that I can. A few years ago my sister in law told us about this wonderful program Called PJ LIBRARY. They mail us free Jewish children’s books and music to families on a monthly basis. (you can go to pjlibrary.org to find out more) Every month we look forward to a new book or music CD. The books are usually sent in accordance with a holiday or tradition that we are celebrating! It’s been so great and helpful in teaching the girls more about their religion and holidays. And I have learned so much as well, even my husband enjoys reading them with the girls! It makes them feel connected and special when we receive the books! Signing up was so simple and since then we have received well over 24 books!!!!

I don’t know what it is but when all three of my children are home together, they can not help but turn their playroom and bedroom into a ginormous mess!  I have to admit, it’s taking some time for me to accept that this is just how they play and if I want to keep them away from wasting their day on TV and electronics then I can not keep getting in the way of how they choose to play. Up until not too long ago (maybe a month ago) I literally would follow them in and out of each room, cleaning up after them constantly, never allowing the rooms to look like the photos above (and I think this was definitely extreme!! Not sure what they were thinking today!). My whole day was literally spent picking up and putting their toys away and complaining about all of the stuff they had. It’s definitely great exercise but I knew I had to start letting go a little bit (This is bad though, and probably will never happen again! Not to this extreme!). And so, little by little instead of cleaning up right away or nagging them to clean up (I don’t want to be a nag!) I have decided that as long as the mess stays in their room and the playroom they can leave it until they are done playing (can’t promise I will last that long but I will try). They have to clean it up and everything has to go back where it belongs at least an hour before bedtime. Today was really the first day I didn’t nag them about the mess. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring it. But I did take the pictures so that one day I can remind them! They really do play so nice and I really do enjoy having these memories of my little girls playing together as they should. I want them to look back at their childhood and remember how much fun they had together!

Isabel created this little sign that I hung on our sliding glass door.

Melina made this cute little turkey at school. Kindergarten November 2014

Created by Isabel

Lia created this one and the letters to the right are supposed to say Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for this incredible life, my husband, my family and these amazing little girls who are forever creating something!!!! I could not ask for anything more! This life is my heaven on earth!

Happy Thanksgiving!

These little girls just love to have fun! From the minute they wake up until their very last minute before bedtime, these girls are just loving life and Im just so lucky to be witnessing it. They live in a world of fun. Sometimes I feel like we live in a children’s museum where the fun never ends. Every single one of them adds such joy and life into my life. I love how they dress up and play pretend. How they head over to the playroom in the morning and start writing on their white board pretending to be teachers. How they collect every book in the house and set up a bookstore. How they take clothes from their closets and make little price tags and pretend to have a boutique. How they create little menus and play restaurant. How they go into my closet and put on my high heels. How they take anything in my house and turn it into something fun. Yes, EVERYTHING they do causes a HUGE mess, and yes sometimes I have to yell and scream for them to clean it up but they are making so many memories together and I’m so happy to be their mom. I’m so happy to be the mom that cleans up after them. That I’m the one who gets to clean up after another incredible memory that they have made. I love you girls!

Will this little lady ever know how much I love her? This is Isabel, my beautiful, smart, caring, compassionate 7 year old. She is the oldest of my three beautiful daughters. She is funny, fierce and sometimes sassy. She is a thinker, she is an observer. She is the one who gets to make me a cup of coffee. She is the one that dad asks for help when he needs to measure something. She is the one who walks her sisters to the bathroom when they are too scared to go by themselves. She is the one who has learned to do homework while her younger sisters sing and scream and cause chaos. She is the one who has had to wait for my attention because I was busy changing or feeding or cleaning up someone or something. She is also my little helper and the one who sometimes gets blamed for the things her little sisters do. The one who has had to deal with her stuff getting ruined by a three year old. The one who has lost story time because her toddler sibling wasn’t cooperating. The one who doesn’t remember that before her sisters came we would sit and lay with her for hours. We played and read books. Went for walks and long car rides. We sat and played with playdough and painted and sang songs, collected leaves and sat outside on a blanket just looking at the sky. I’d hold her in my arms for hours. If she didn’t want to walk, I’d carry her. I Carried her around while she would rest her leg over my 9 month pregnant belly when I was pregnant with my second child. Does she remember that I carried her even if my back was killing me just so she felt safe? Does she remember us making a big fuss over every little thing she learned? I notice now that when we make a big deal about her little sisters learning to read or skip or snap their fingers that she doesn’t realize we also made a big deal about her little and big accomplishments. Does she remember that she too got away with a lot of the same stuff her younger sisters get away with. As the older child she will remember less about her earlier years and  more about her life with two sisters. Her sisters are her best friends. I know there are times she would love to have me all to herself, but my God she misses her sisters when they are not around. Having three children so close in age makes it more challenging to have special time with each one but I do make sure everyday to kiss and hug them, read and play with them and make sure they know how much I love them! Each and everyone of them!