Nesting.

Well my nesting has begun. Some of it is a sense of urgency because I have too many sewing projects started and not enough of them finished. I have two quilts that I have started quilting but not finished. I have a quilt top in progress that HAS to get done because it is for Christmas. If some of the other quilts turn out good they may be Christmas gifts as well. Then I have all my slings. I have my own business, so I need to have the slings sewn and ready to go.

I also want to have several freezer meals made up for when the baby comes. I know my AP group will bring a few meals. It is that first month or even second month when the exhaustion of night nursing a new baby kicks in. You always get TONS of help the first few weeks then it almost seems like everyone disappears.

SO I have on my list: Pepper Sauce (for pasta) DONE. Crockpot Jambalaya, Chicken Corn and Black Bean soup. These I have all the ingredients for and will be making in the next few days.

Today we also cooked: Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf and Homemade Bread. MMM!! Oh and last night I made a lasagna (for tonights dinner).

Gioia turns 5!

This weekend Gioia turned 5! Wow! I can hardly believe it. On the one hand it seems like she has been with us forever, then again it seems like yesterday I was pregnant with her. Anyway, she had a crazy birthday weekend.

Friday we had a party with friends. We had slip and slides and Strawberry Shortcake. Fun was had by all.


Friday night my Mom came and she took us all out to Chuck E Cheese. The kids of course had a blast. We almost had to force them to sit down and eat pizza because they just wanted to play. :) Saturday was her actually birthday day. We again went out for lunch at the Chinese place here in town. The manager is this really nice Asian man. He made her a special dessert, which was fruit, jello and whipped cream with a candle. Gioia thought it was cool. She also opened presents. She got several new movies, kid makeup, a little dog that barks and Roller skates. She wears the roller skates all the time. We are going to try to get to the Skating Rink this week.

It is crazy to me how age 5 has become the new 16. 5 is now the magic age of involvement. As soon as you are 5 you need to get enrolled in all sorts of time sucking things. Kindergarten starts for public school. That is basically 7:30 to 3:30 (with the bus/travel). Then there is the extracurricular activities: boy scouts, girl scouts, dance class, baseball etc. Every kid I know has at least one thing like that. At church Sunday I found out she starts her Religious Ed classes at age 5. That is sort of what is know as Sunday School at other churches. It is Sundays at 9am for one hour before the 10:30 mass, or after your 8am Mass which ever you choose.

When do public school parents actually SEE their kids? It is one of the many reasons I am SOO glad that we choose to Home school. I am also very glad that we are fortunate enough that I can stay home and make that choice.

Extra fun day.

Today was an extra fun day. We were up and at the Mall by 9:15 am or so. We played at the kids area, then watched a 10am movie. The local theatre has two kids movies during the week. It is nice because it is so hot you can't play outside all day unless you are swimming. Then in the afternoon we went to play with homeschool friends.

Finally in the late afternoon we went to the midwife. Baby is doing good. Baby is no longer sideways. He/She is starting to move head down, but hasn't made it all the way. Its ok. We have 7 more weeks, roughly. We are finally getting some names narrowed down. I am feeling great overall. Getting a tired more easy and back/hip aches. Nothing out of the ordinary. I am also doing great with no swelling. I gained 2 more pounds so now I am up to 140. YIKES! I still have almost 2 months left.

The icing on the cake was some naughty cookies we made (and ate). Also we went to Olive Garden for dinner. MMM! I had the seafood portofino.

Weekly update.

Gioia finished her swimming lessons this week. She didn't really "pass" the class because she didn't want to submerge her face/head. She also didn't really want to jump in where she would go under. That is ok. She is going to be 5 next week on her birthday so she is still little. She went of the board with her teachers help the 2nd or 3rd day. She later told me "SHE PUSHED ME!" I said, oh honey she just helped you. "NO SHE pushed me!" Ok. So that settles that i guess. She decided that was all of that she wanted. She told me she would do it when she was bigger. I said that was fine. :)

We changed the earrings to match. Gioia found the 14k gold one we thought we lost. So now she has both them in. It was not without a struggle. I think they can just stay that way until she is 20 at this rate. I don't care if she ever changes them again. Geez...

We had an Italian cooking day here last week as well. We made homemade lasagna. Also we had lunch together and it was great. The kids all got along really well. In fact one of the little girls has requested to play with Gioia again.

Quilting. Lets see. It is going ok. I am not super happy with the two I am quilting right now. The tops look fabulous, but the quilting is hard. I think the biggest one will turn out fine. I was hoping for GREAT! Not going to happen. The second one is a scrap quilt so I don't care as much what it looks like. I am trying stippling for the first time. It is hard. I actually think the back looks better than the front. Oh well. If it really sucks maybe I can give it away to a charity or something. The Star Quilt-a-long is almost done. One more week for the star blocks. I have 6 of the 12 setting blocks done so I have to work on that. Then I have to decide how to quilt it. Since I am making it for a Christmas gift I really want it to look nice. I am have to just practice on scraps until I am more happy with my quilt finishing abilities.

8 weeks until baby. :)

Quilting class

Saturday I took a quilting class. It was pretty fun. I discovered I really SUCK at free motion quilting. I will master it though. OH YES. It looks so cool and I will figure out how to stipple and make heart shapes and leaves and all that jazz on my quilts. For now, I think I will go ahead and do free motion straight lines. It will still look cool but not really hard. Got to start somewhere right??

I am making a star quilt for my brother for Christmas. I also have two quilts that the tops are done and I need to finish them. One I have a home in mind for it. The second is just a scrap quilt so I will probably keep it for now until I figure out someone who would like it. I think I will also make a baby quilt for my step-brother. They have a baby boy due in December.

Wow. I have lots of work in progress so I better get crackin. Seeing as how i have my own baby due in about 9 weeks. EEE!!!!

July pictures.

So to conclude my birthday last night I got a Garmin GPS! FUN! Now i hopefully won't get lost any more. Actually since I have lived here for several years I am learning my way around, and don't get lost much anymore. However, I do have to print maps off. Well not anymore. :)

Here is a picture of Gioia with her new earrings. If you click on the picture you can enlarge it.


Water Fun outside.

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to me! Today I am 32! Wow how did I get so old? :) We have went out to eat two times this week, Tuesday and Wednesday. My kids made me birthday cards. My husband got me chocolate and a foot massager machine. My sister watched the kids last night so DH and I could go to a movie. We saw Hancock. It was pretty good. It had a couple funny parts as well. I got cards from my mom and grandma with some birthday cash. That is always good. I also just thought about something funny. This is the 3rd birthday that I have celebrated pregnant. All my kids are summer babies. That is pretty neat.

Everyone have a good day.

Update on the earring saga.

So Gioia and I talked today about what it means to be nervous. How people get nervous all the time. Not because it really hurts but because they are kind of afraid and excited at the same time. She agreed that this is what she was feeling. So when we were at swimming lesson this morning another mom said that they sell the piercing stuff at Sally Beauty. I called and they said yes they do 7.99. WOW! So tonight I picked one up. Of course it is a different earring but who cares. Anyway, we talked about how I could do it when she was asleep. I told her it would not hurt but she might wake up when I touched her. She gave a nervous giggle, but agreed. I was more nervous than anyone. I just didn't want to hurt her. DH was steady and said he would do it. So he did and guess what.... SHE DIDN"T EVEN WAKE UP! She moved her hand to her ear like swatting a fly, rolled over and doesn't even know it was done! HA HA HA!!! So in the morning I can truthfully say, LOOK mama told you it wouldn't even hurt if I did it in your sleep. HOW CRAZY!!

Oh and to add to the drama. Dominic got the ziplock bag with the matching flower earring and LOST IT. The little shit. I was pissed. So I really hope to find it in the house/carpet somewhere. They are beautiful and 14k gold. So she has one flower and one round gold diamond type earring. Whatever. People will think she picked it that way cause she is little. :)

Now good night! I am wore out thinking about worrying about all this stuff.

Failed attempt.

So last night was my 30 week midwife appointment. Baby is doing good. Heart sounded great. I didn't gain anything these last two weeks, but my belly still grew the 2 cms it was supposed to. Considering my last appointment I gained 6 lbs in 3 weeks I am not worried.

We went to Cinzetti's Italian buffet last night. Kids eat free. It was great as always. After that a quick stop at Whole Foods then to the mall. Gioia had been talking about getting her ears pierced. I asked her if she was brave enough. OH YES. So I told her we would see how she felt after dinner. She still was really wanting to do it. I told her it would pinch a little but not really hurt, no blood etc.. We go to the mall, pick out adorable 14k blue flower earrings. Then she sits still, lets the lady clean her ears, and put the dots on them. She is really happy. They do the first ear. AND>>>>> Freaks out. :( Won't let them do the second ear. Damn it. So we talk, try to bribe with candy, hold a teddy bear, squeeze my hand, "Honey it looks silly with one ear, we have to do the other one.", etc. etc. The more we tried to talk her into it, the more upset she got. SO in the end, we took the earrings home. She is still wearing the one earring as she won't let us take it out. Thing is it really didn't hurt that much. She didn't cry, she was just surprised by the feeling. I blame myself. There is a good reason that my mom didn't let us get our ears pierced until age 9. DH said we should hold her head down and just do it. I said no. That is not cool and in the end he agreed. He was just frustrated. I wish I would have waited until they could have two people do both ears at the same time.

Panang Beef

So I made something wonderful for dinner last night. It is a Thai Dish called Panang Beef. I first tried it a couple weeks ago at a Moms Night Out dinner at a Thai restaurant. Here is the recipe I used. It fed 2 adults and 2 kids.

1 lb minute steak (tender pounded beef)
1 1/2 med green bell peppers, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small leek, diced small

Sauce:
1 can coconut milk
3 Tablespoon Red curry paste
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 extra full Tablespoon Peanut Butter
Extra red pepper for spicy

I cooked the beef and leek together in some oil until the meat was cooked all the way. Then remove it from skillet and cook the peppers in some oil. Until tender/crisp (like stirfry). While the meat and peppers are being cooked, get a separate sauce pan to make the sauce. Combine coconut milk and curry paste. Whisk until blended on medium heat. Add fish sauce and sugar. Cook until all is dissolved and blended. Then add the peanut butter last. Sauce should taste like red curry sauce with just a hint of peanut butter creaminess. You can adjust it to be more spicy with red pepper flakes. Also you can add more peanut butter if you like it more that way. After sauce is ready combine meat, peppers and sauce together. Simmer on low for about 5-10 minutes.

Photo slacker

I used to be crazy with pictures. I took them all the time, everywhere. I have so many pictures it is annoying. So what is my deal lately? I even take my camera with me but don't use it. I think its because I am so busy with both kids. At Gioia's recital I videotaped her, but didn't get a picture of her in her dance custom. WTF?? I think I am going to take her to Target or something and get some pictures of her in it.

I did manage to take those pictures of Dominics staples in his head. Had to have that for memories. HA HA!

Only 10 more weeks till baby time. I am getting excited. I think DH and I have come to some agreement on a couple boys names. Still nothing on the girls names. Not much else to report on that front. Everything is going well.

We sold our Taurus this last weekend. So now DH has only the electric car to drive to work. It is working really well. He has his Classic Thunderbird that he could drive as a backup car.