So Proud

Thursday my stepson Dillon graduated from Edison High School with Honors. I was so proud of him & all of his accomplishments. He will attend a Jr. College & then transfer to a Christian University...he wants to become a Pastor.

Congrats Dillon!

5 of our 6 kids (Jullien is still in NY but will be back for Tasha's wedding on July 16th for 2 1/2 weeks WOOHOO!)


My hubby & his kids







So we have four kids graduated & two left (they will be a Junior & Sophomore). Can't believe we are almost done...well I guess when you're a parent you're NEVER done!

Graduation, Wedding & Summer...Oh My!

We have exactly one week until the kids are out of school. But this summer is going to be very busy for the Petrarca household.

My stepson Dillon graduates on June 17th, with honors...we are so proud of him.

On July 16th, my stepdaughter Natascha is marrying the love of her life, Jeremy, whom she's been dating for the past 7yrs., so he is already family.

Then as we progress into summer, we have football (passing league, two-a-days & action picture taking) for Elijah.

Just when you think, "Wow, life is really changing as the kids get older, we'll finally slow down a little bit!" Then I realized, "There is always going to be something going on."

What was I thinking?

We have 6 kids!

But I wouldn't change a thing.

Old Photo's & Memories

My computer (an old iMac) is driving me CRAZY! It is so messed up right now that I decided to start uploading all of my old saved pictures onto my Flickr account just to be safe.

While going through them & putting them into albums, I stumbled across some old favorites and thought I'd share them with all of you.

MEMORIES

Elijah, Jullien & Josh (My gorgeous Boys!)

Virginia City-Josh, Jullien, Dillon, Elijah & Adam

A Real Panther in Virginia City

Family Christmas Pic

Anthony & Jullien in Hawaii- Pop Warner Midget Championship Football Game (We Won!)

Elijah Receiving Another Academic & Athletic Award

Joshy's Birthday Surf Board

Me & My Costa Rican/Italian Stallion~4th of July @ The Beach


USC Football Camp with Pete Carroll.


Jullien called out to show them a defensive drill @ USC

Joshy's Senior Prom

Tashy & Cousin Tristan

My Mom & Me

Lijey & Allie

Girls Vegas Trip-My Mom & Sisters

My Best Friends Wedding

Jullien (Edison High Football~1st Team All Sunset League Linebacker) Rival Bell Game (We Won!)

Joshy-Record Setting Track Team~(He beat this kid!) 4 yr. Letterman
~Can you tell he's the only Freshman?


Elijah Southern California Championship Track Meet (Elijah placed 1st in the 400M & 2nd in the 200M) Check out that form!

Another year* Another 1st Place in the 400 Meter~ So. Cal. Track Championship

Jullien's 2009 Graduation-This is one of his Fav Teachers...can you tell! This picture cracks me up...I captured the perfect moment!

This is why I love pictures...amazing moments frozen in time!

New York, Cleaning & Graduation

We have a busy week ahead of us...luckily I finally got my massage yesterday, it was AMAZING! Now I'm ready for the crazy week. Jullien leaves for a quick trip to New York again. He has his last final tomorrow and then on Tuesday he has his MANDATORY graduation walk through. Which means he fly's out on Sat. at 7:00 a.m, may have a photo shoot on Sunday and then a HUGE audition on Monday (can't say who yet because I don't want to jinx it...LOL). Then jumps on a plane Monday evening to be back for his walk through.

I have tons of cleaning to do and I am the world's worst procrastinator. All the family and friends will be coming over for an Open House Graduation party next Thursday, immediately following the graduation ceremony. My house has gotten so out of control that I don't know where to even begin. Do you ever feel like that? You start cleaning and then get overwhelmed and think, "What's the use!" This happens to me just about every weekend. Now I don't have a choice, so Saturday I'll take Jullien to the airport and then come home and get started (window washing, dusting, shredding all the piles of stacked paper...you know, the fun stuff).

Is it time for my vacation yet?

Teenagers,Graduation and Flab

I said goodbye to Jullien this morning as he heads off to New York meet with his agent at Red Model Mgmt and for several photo shoots and a fitting with Calvin Klein to possibly walk in his show or Prada's (see him on Models.com). He's been driving me crazy lately...when he gets nervous, he doesn't sleep and he gets edgy. We've been going at it all week, TEENAGERS! I was a little worried about letting him go, he missed school all last week because he was sick. So he has tons of work to make up, and now he is missing Friday-Wednesday. Graduation is on June 11th and it's coming down to the wire. He needs to keep his grades up!

Josh is doing a LOT better...he should be getting his license back at the end of this month. I'm SO happy about this because adding one more person to my daily "bus" schedule has been killing me. He also filled out all of his financial aid papers to start Cosmetology school. For those of you who just thought, "Oh he must be gay," he's not, but his cousin makes TONS of money as a hairstylist so he's all about the BIG BUCKS!LOL! He's working downtown at a punk clothing store and is happy to be getting his life back in order, me too! Thanks for ALL YOUR PRAYERS FOR HIM!

Elijah is doing great in school and track. He placed 2nd by 1/10th of a second in the 400M and 3rd in the 200M at the Orange County track meet, that's without practicing. He's a teenager now and that means he's LAZY! But he has been killing everyone in his school track meets. I told him he needs to practice before the So. CA Championships...but he still says, "OK MOM, LATER!"

Natascha & Dillon are working all the time at the church so we don't get to see them as much as we'd like. They came over for Mother's Day and brought me a card and beautiful flowers.

Adam is working hard trying to earn a starting spot on Edison's JV Football team. He is a GREAT wide receiver...soft hands, but he's a little short so he has to overcome the "football stereotype."

As for me, I've got 3 1/2 weeks to get this flabby body in shape. All the family is coming in from out of town for the graduation and they are going to want to go to the beach...YIKES! I've got some major work to do. I'm definitely a last minute person, I've been planning on working out hard for the last two months...but it takes that final hour stress to push me into action.

Now I just need to find a way to squeeze in gym time. Wish me luck...it will take a miracle!

Another Modeling Offer Comes In

Today RED Model Management called Jullien and said they were supposed to have a meeting about him on Monday, but they were all out to dinner with the owner and he was the topic of discussion over their meal.

He said not only do they all have to agree, but they also show his pictures to top photographers and clients to get their feedback. If they don't like him then there is no point in pursuing a model.

He said that everyone liked his look and they want to offer an EXCLUSIVE contract with their agency. They would begin building his portfolio as soon as we sign with them (NO OUT OF POCKET MONEY FOR US - TOP AGENCIES NEVER CHARGE). We need to let them know by Monday...so we spoke for about an hour (Jullien's only 17) so of course I had to talk to him about everything.

If we go with them he would be jet setting off to Milan, Italy right after his graduation for their summer fashion shows...(scary but exciting). So we will spend the rest of today and tomorrow making a HUGE decision.