Re-doubling my efforts

So I have been thinking about food and health lately. It was interesting that a friend posted this very same stuff on her blog this week. My issue is stemming from the fact that I seem to have these little sores..canker sores maybe on my tongue that keep coming back and they really hurt. DH also just had an ulcer that he went to the Naturopath and got help with healing it up. We have really been slacking lately with our conscious food choices. Easy things to fix, like not eating a proper variety of veggies, or not eating enough salad and raw things. We decided that for our Anniversary (Sept. 30th) we were going to buy a juicer. After DH gets paid this friday we are going to do just that. Hopefully we can make those combo veggie/fruit juice drinks and stop buying store juice.

So far so good today. Oatmeal for breakfast and water to drink. Need to sort out lunch and dinner. Salad is on the menu somewhere in there. I also need to buy some new Probiotics to help our guts get back to where they need to be.

I once told my husband wouldn't it be great if we were so healthy that eating fast food made us sick! He was like, well yeah, that is kind of warped thinking but I see your point.

In other news, the electric car project is coming along quite nicely. He has ordered the engine, controller and all that stuff. It will be here in a couple weeks. We are so excited. The man he ordered the engine from also makes these cars for people to buy. They cost 11,000 but TOTALLY worth the expense. You use zero gas for one thing. The engine is supposed to last 50 years. The batteries like 5 years. Anyway, here is the website, if you want to check it out. This man said Discovery channel has contacted him about doing a show on his electric cars. So if you were thinking about a Prius, just do this instead!! http://www.ev-blue.com/
I was re-reading the above and just to make clear, we are just ordering parts and my DH is building the car himself, so it will only cost us about 8000. Then we get tax credits for about 1/2 that and we will sell his current work car. So all said and done I think we will only be out about 3000. That is cheaper than what we have into his work car currently. GOOD DEAL!!

Word of the day.

So Garth Brooks-mania has hit Kansas City. He was supposed to do one show to honor Walmart/Sams Club for selling his new album coming out. Well people freaked out and went nuts, so he added a total of 9 shows. He is not going back on tour, just these nine shows, which I heard sold out in 2 hours. Garth is cool. I used to listen to his music in college, but I am not freaking or even caring to go to a show. It really cracks me up when non-country people, or people that don't typically listen to this kind of thing, join in on the madness.

SO here is your word of the day: Latigo Can you tell me what it is.....WITHOUT looking it up on the internet? if so post in the comment section. Here is the word in Garth Action:

"It's boots and chaps
It's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo
It's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo"

My DH is also calling into question some of our friends "hippie-ness". You know who you are....reading this right now, going to a WALMART sponsored concert. That is right, hang your head in shame. You can turn in your crunchy card on the way to your Garth Brooks concert.

Another wedding

We have had a really fun weekend so far. My cousin Jason got married to his Fiance Sarah. Gioia was the flower girl again, this time it was planned that way. Ha ha!! The rehearsal was Friday night. We had smoked brisket and chicken afterwards, that Jason cooked. It was excellent! Really good. When Gioia was rehearsing she was concerned because there were no flower petals in her basket. She insisted she needed something to throw so we filled the basket with dried leaves. It was pretty cute. The ringer bearer was only 2, so they held hands to walk down the aisle.

I have to say it was the fastest wedding I EVER been to. It literally lasted 10-15 minutes. They just walked in, did the vows and walked back out. Everyone looked really lovely though. It was outside and real nice weather. The party was just great. Sarah and Jason met singing Karaoke at a bar. So of course they had Karaoke at the wedding. They had a margarita machine, beer, food, DJ. It was really fun. I have never been to a place were everyone that got up to sing was really good. However, Sarah's family is very talented. Ever single person that sang was great. Including myself of course. LOL! They also handed out Koozies that said "Sarah and Jason got married and all I got was this damn Koozie. October 6th, 2007." I love it.

There was only one moment of aggravation and that was when some guy at the reception got pissy at Massimo. Dominic got all excited and was rough housing with a little girl about 5 years old. He pushed her twice and Massimo got up to go stop him. The guy says "that your boy?" Massimo said Yeah. I am handling it. The guy said "Not fast enough." Massimo said something back and gave the guy a pissed off stare. I mean, seriously people, no one was crying or hurt, just chill out.

I do have pictures but they are on my 35mm camera and I actually have to get them developed. Remember those cameras of old that use film? Crazy!

OH MY!

Last night my sister volunteered to watch the kids for a couple hours while DH and I went out to eat. GREAT! Then yesterday Gioia started running a fever. She had it all day and was sleeping most of the day. My sister assured us she could handle it so we went ahead and went out for dinner. I said, If she throws up or anything call me and we will come home. So dinner went fine, then we went to Costco for groceries. About the time we were getting ready to check out, she called and Gioia puked. Ok... we are paying and heading home. 10 minutes later she calls again and says Don't go in the downstairs bathroom, we are heading for a bath. Dominic pooped/diarrhea everywhere! OH MY! Poor sister. Well, it turns out Dominic just had a messy poop, probably from the WHOLE pear he ate at lunch time. He was fine. My sister gave Gioia a homepathic I had and she didn't barf anymore and is feeling pretty good today.

My DH laughed and said that this is good for my sis. This is her new line of work. She is going to Nursing school right now. HA HA!! Anyway, it was all under control when we got back and everyone slept pretty good.

Another thursday

It is our busy day of the week. We have our friends son today. Go to speech, pack a lunch and go to the park. I have 225 lbs of flour belonging to others that I have to swap with them. Then homeschool preschool this afternoon. I have reading and we are just going to have to put together a collection of things from here at home.

Tonight DH and I get to go on a date. My sister offered to watch the kids for us to go out. So we are going to take her up on that offer. FUN!

I am working on getting a couple sewing projects done by this weekend. I also am going to attempt to have a garage sale. I have tons of girl things that need to go to a new home.

Have to go because little man is throwing a fit.

Subsitute Flower Girl

We went to my cousin Travis's wedding this weekend. We were not supposed to be in the wedding. Just attending it. Well 5 minutes or so before it was to start, the bridesmaids came out and got me, my sister and Gioia (who was asleep). They needed Gioia to be the flower girl. Apparently the "real" flower girl had the flu. She was sick the night before and they had her in the pictures earlier in the day. However, she was still sick and refusing to do it. She is 2, the poor thing. So Gioia put on the size 2T dress (BARELY! LOL! ) we fixed her hair really quick. Told her what to do and she did it!
Several people didn't know till after the wedding that she wasn't the real flower girl. She walked down in her barefeet too because the shoes didn't fit. I think she was beautiful and did a fabulous job! The second picture below is Gioia and her Grandma (my mom).

7 years!

Today is my husband and I's 7 year anniversary. For some reason it really seems like the number 7 is a really long time! I love it. I have had a great time married to this man. He is wonderful and an excellent father. I wouldn't change a thing about him! :) Here are a couple pictures of us as young pups.

I went tuesday and got my hair colored and styled again. I LOVE IT! That is one expense in life that is so worth it. When I feel like I look good, I have such better days. I am more happy. :)

We have been crazy busy this week. Yesterday was dance class. Today we have Ashton, take him to speech, then after lunch we got to our preschool coop. We have named it The Learning Garden. The kids really love it. Then my mom is stopping by tonight to hang out with us and spend the night.

This weekend we have a wedding to go to. Not much exciting things going on.

Tiziano Ferro

MMMM! He is delicious! Just found him yesterday and I have watched the video 3-4 times and I ordered his CD. Thanks to the wonderful world of internet, I found the lyrics to the songs and it is FUN!! It helps to learn to speak a language when you can sing songs and stuff. So here is a video of yummy Tiziano. This song is called "E Raffaella e' mia." It means Raffaella is mine. In the song he is obsessed with this Pop diva Raffaella, (who is a real person)and he wins this tv show for her to come to his house.
The words of the chorus go "E Rafaella canta a casa mia. E Rafaella balla a casa mia." etc.etc.. Means= R. sings at my house, R. dances at my house. etc. Words are very similar to spanish right? Some of you are probably thinking this. :) Anyway, watch and enjoy this great video even if you don't know all the words.

Haven't been in the blogging spirit.

Not sure why. Just feels like I blog boring stuff sometimes. :) This week we are pet-sitting for a friend. They took their family on a Make a Wish trip for their daughter. In return, they are going to pet-sit for us when we go to Italy. YEAh! Works for both families.

Thursday we had our first session of the Preschool Coop. We named it The Learning Garden. The kids had a great time. Gioia said, "I like this kind of school." We had several centers with things going on they could do. I was in charge of reading. I picked books about Farmers or farm themed stuff. The kids really enjoyed them. Then I also brought coloring pages with farm animals on it. A few kids colored but most were too busy to sit down and do that.

Tonight we were going to try to go camping but DH stayed home from work cause he had an upset stomach. So I don't know if we are going to try to go or not.

We have plans to go to Worlds of Fun on Sunday just hubby and I. It will be really fun. I can't wait.

Something different for dinner

Ok. I am turning into a true Italian cook. I hardly ever measure and I always think. I should write this recipe down, but rarely do. HA HA! So I will try to guess close as I can on measurements.

Pasta with Crab, Mushroom and White Sauce.

1 lb of your favorite pasta.
8 oz Portabella mushrooms, chopped
1 lb crab meat
4 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 to 1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup smoked gouda, shredded
1/2 cup goat cheese, shredded
salt and pepper

Start water to boil and cook pasta while making the sauce. Saute mushrooms, crabmeat and garlic in olive oil. Just enough oil to keep it from sticking in the pan. Salt and pepper this mix. Remove from heat when mushrooms are cooked and set aside. In same pan, add cream and sour cream. Bring to a boil. Add the cheese. You can add more cheese to your liking if you wish. Then add the milk a little at a time till you get a good sauce/gravy like thickness. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Serve pasta with sauce over it and a heaping scoop of the meat/mushroom mixture on top. ENJOY!!

You will have more mushroom mixture than white sauce most likely. Leftover pasta can be served with the mushroom mixture and grated Parmesan cheese and is wonderful.

Hold you!

I thought of something else I wanted to blog about. Part of the reason I started a blog was to record funny things the kids say and do. Well Dominic is talking up a storm and says the funniest things. One is that when he wants someone to hold him he says, "Hold you! I need hold you." He is such a snuggly guy. He likes to "snuggle nursie", which means stick his hand down my shirt. Its a transition from nursing all day. We just snuggle instead sometimes.

Gioia: The other day we were in the car and she says to me. "Give me that horse or you will be in big trouble!" Um... the horse was in the back seat and I was driving. I told her I would reach it for her but she needed to say it nicely to me. The next day she told me "If I didn't do X, she was going to bite me!" I said, NO. We don't bite people and you need to ask me nicely. I guess the lesson here is I need to ask HER nicely for things. That whole modeling good behavior right? I have NEVER said I would bite her. LOL!!

I am good.

I have worked on 3 projects this weekend. Two of them are gifts for people that read this blog, so I can't post pictures yet. The third was Gioia's witch skirt for Halloween. It was easy and looks real cute. I am getting pretty good at this sewing thing.

We went to a Bridal shower on Saturday. It was fun. Gioia had other girls to play with and the Bride got lots of nice gifts. Sunday was just a lazy day. DH mowed the yard and ran the weedeater. My parents stopped by and took us out for dinner. Then they headed off to Arkansas for a little vacation and antique shopping. They brought Dominic his birthday gift (clothes) and Gioia some books.

I have tongue ulcers. :( At least that is what I think it is. Hurts like hell. It is usually better every morning and worse at night after I have talked and eaten all day. I am trying not to talk much today and eat soft stuff that doesn't require much chewing. I am also gonna make a Devil's Smoothie today because my lymph nodes were swollen last night. AGH!

DH and I are going on a date afternoon next weekend to Worlds of Fun. I am soo excited. I haven't been to an amusement park in over 4 years. I have either be pregnant in the summer or had a nursing baby I couldn't leave. FOR 4 YEARS!!! So this year, we are going. :)

Line Dancing.

BRRR!!! We left the windows open last night and when we woke up it was 56 degrees in here. Yozza! We turned the gas fireplace on and we had warm pancakes for breakfast.

Today Gioia and I are going to a Bridal Shower. She is also the flowergirl in the upcoming wedding. We have two weekends in a row of weddings. One on Sept 29th and one on October 6th. Busy time. Both weddings are cousins of mine. DH and I will have our 7th anniversary on Sept. 30th. Not sure what we are going to do yet.

We went last night up to the town square for the Festival. Our town is having their 150th anniversary celebration. They had some square dancing going on. They were teaching the crowd dances as well. They were doing line dancing and Gioia wanted to do it. So she went up on stage with a bunch of other people and learned the line dance. She had fun and didn't want to come off the stage. :) I think she will do well at her dance recital this year. We didn't participate in recital last year. I didn't think she was ready for that. Being as this is her second year in dance I figure she will be more confident and like doing it. We told her when we left the festival that she will be going to two wedding soon. There will be lots of dancing. She was pretty happy about that.

Speaking of her dance class. Our next door neighbor (in her 30's) said Gioia's dance teacher Miss Leigh was her teacher also when she was a kid. Only the instruction was in Leigh's home and Neighbor thought she was mean and refused to go back. Well Leigh must have learned alot about teaching in all those years because she is excellent and the little girls ADORE her. But how "small world" is it that she was our neighbors teacher and now my daughters teacher? HA HA! That is like me, my step-dad and I had the same 1st grade teacher.

Italia!

We are going to Italy. I am soo excited. We are going the first part of March. It is going to be amazing. We are flying into Rome, stay about two days, then take the train up to the north part where Massimo's family lives. Then stay with them for several days. Go to Venice for a day or two and fly out of venice. I can't WAIT! SO now I have the motivation I need to keep getting better at my Italian speaking. Gioia is learning it really well but is a little shy to speak it. I need to get my MIL and SIL involved in speaking it more when we are around. We are going to get involved more with the Italian Study groups that are in our area as well. How awesome of a homeschool adventure is this? Learning a foreign language and actually going to the country to be immersed in it. By the time we have to start keeping homeschool hours (age 7) then we should be doing writing in Italian and learning to read it as well, I imagine.

My sewing machine is on the fritz. The fabric feeder under my pressure foot is not working. GRRR!. So the material is binding up and not working right. Makes it damn hard to sew.

What else is exciting? We are meeting with our friends tonight that we are trying to buy land with. We are going to work on a contract to buy it. Then we will make the offer and see if they laugh or except it. Everyone think positive thoughts for us. Don't know if I am more excited to actually be out on the land with animals and such, or excited that we will have next door neighbors we know and love and homeschool too. Probably both! YIPPEE!! Oh and did I say the Berry Patch is down the street? Yeah, never buying store blueberries again! HA HA!!

NICKLEBACK!!

I forgot to say that my sister and I went to Nickleback Concert last Sunday. It Kicked ASS! We also saw Daughtery and Puddle Of Mudd. Here is some Nickleback for your viewing/listening pleasure.




I LOVE this song,but even more now that I have seen the video, and heard it live.

I hate working on cars.....

My husband went to pick up his newest car project today. So any time in the next month or two I should hear...."I hate working on cars." What kind of car you might say? A Fiero. Yes, Yes, again. Stop rolling your eyes. This is an actual project that I am encouraging him to do. The best part is that it has a deadline, so we know it will get done. I will keep you all updated as to how it is going. It is actually something you will be interested in. The first step is removing the engine, radiator, battery, gas tank and various other things. Now you are like ? WTF, mate? :) just wait and see.

Ok. My space bar is Fu-BAR'd. So I can't really type right now. More later.

HOT DAMN!!! :) :)

WOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!! Can you hear that? My son just pooped on the potty. NO, not just that. He TOLD ME he had to potty and went and pooped on the potty! This is the second time so it is for real baby. I AM SO EXCITED! He just turned 2 on Thursday. My daughter was right around 3 when she potty trained. I am beyond excited. I have been changing diapers for 4 years now (both kids combined) and it is so sweet to be finished with that for a while.

Only you moms will understand the shear joy of another person doing their business on the toilet.

Busy busy busy...

Man, seems like we been super busy lately. We are looking at buying land. We found a great place, now its just jump through hoops to make it work. That is the stressful part. Here are a couple pictures of what we are looking at. It is only 20-25 minutes from DH's work so that is a major bonus. It is on the Missouri side, that is Eh...Ok, not a huge deal either way.


Saturday I got to go to Whole Foods, Overland Park Farmers Market and the Recycling Center all by myself. I was gone two hours and it was very relaxing. I L-O-V-E the Farmers Market. I feel so good buying food there and its fun to walk around and pick your food out. The recycling center is pretty neat too. Basically it is just a whole bunch of dumpsters and you separate your things into the correct bin. It is just cool, because it makes you feel good and its all in one central location. I feel lame that i am just now starting to do my recycling 3 years after i moved back to Kansas.

Happy Birthday little man!

My little boy is 2 today. We had a great day. Then had a few friends over for a BBQ and cake and ice cream this evening. I made strawberry Shortcake. It turned out excellent. It was my first time making it. Dominic got a slew of presents mostly car stuff and kids tools. He loves it all. I can't believe he is 2 already. Boy how time flies. His birth was so wonderful. It is really nice to look back on it with such nice memories. I made a video highlighting his last two years.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I wish kittens were mean...

Seriously. QUIT LAUGHING!!! I wish they were a little bit mean. I wish that when my daughter is being mean to them, or squishing the life out of it, the kitten would turn around and bite her. The big cat will scratch or bite when she has had enough. The kitten doesn't, it cries pitifully. That doesn't stop Gioia though. She laughes or ignores it. We were seriously considering keeping the kitten. Not now. For one, I am sick of refereeing the Kitten vs. Gioia battle. Second, I saw the little shit try to claw my leather furniture. UM NO!!! We want to sell that this spring and get something we like better. Cat scratches are not conducive to that.

Weekend with Daddy.

Well Massimo was gone all week to St. Louis for work. We normally go with him but I declined this time since it is so friggin hot. So he got back Friday. Saturday we went and looked at some property. It was nice but location wasn't as good. It was close to a highway. After that, lunch and we went to Town Center and did some shopping. DH needed some new running shoes, and I needed a new bra. We found both.

Sunday we went to the church at 8am, then we decided to go to the zoo. We packed a lunch and headed out. It was a great day. We saw lots of animals and rode the zoo train. Here are a couple pictures.

Crayon Roll

So once again I have copied some fun things my friend Sarah T. is doing. Her blog if you don't already check it out, always has the cutest things on it. Lately she has posted several tutorials that are online and show pictures of each step. I need these kinds of things. Without pictures I am totally clueless. That is why I have such trouble making things from paper patterns. However, if you give me a picture and the exact measurements, I can make it, it seems.

I have also set my sewing machine up in the living room. This is great! I have even be successful in keeping the kids from bothering it. Seems after the newness of it being there wore off, they aren't very interested in it. I can sew, stop, help them, or whatever and they can play right near me. It is great.

So here it is. The Crayon Roll I made Gioia. I made one for Dominic too, but hers turned out better. I am giving them to the kids as presents next week for Dominics Birthday.

Pool party pictures.

Tuesday night we went to a pool party. It was really fun. We made it potluck and had lots of food. Here are few pictures from that.

Dominic blowing bubbles.
Gioia swimming.
And here is what a hot tub of Soggy Granola looks like! HA HA! My friends will get the joke. Or AKA...how many people can you fit in one hot tub?

I been tagged again.

I was tagged by Alissa. So I will try to make it interesting.

Here are the rules for being tagged:
RULES - Post rules before giving the facts - Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves - People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules - At the end of the your blog you need to tag six people and list their names - Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.

1. I like to sing. I sang at a local talent show a few weeks ago and I got 2nd place. Woo hoo! I won 10 dollars. ha ha!

2. I got run over by a van when I was 3. No permanent damage and no broken bones. I think the only one traumatized was my mom. Poor mom. :)

3. I would love to have a homebirth next time. Gotta keep talking with that husband of mine to convince him. Each person we know that has one gets us closer and closer. Especially all you HBAC (HomeBirth After Cesarean) mommas! You ROCK!!!

4. I love ice cream! I try to eat healthy but we have ice cream several times a week. DH and I love to go out and get ice cream at Culvers, or Dairy Queen. We went to the best place last week. Sylas and Maddys in Olathe. OH it was heaven. I had English Toffee ice cream on a homemade waffle cone. WOW! DH had Pistachio Almond and it was great as well. I can't wait to go back there again.

5. I spend too much time on the internet. Damn you KCAP! LOL! I check my email, chat on my forum, and do tons of other things. If we move to the country I am going to fork out the 50 bucks for Satellite Internet because I can do without TV but don't try to take my Internet.

6. I love to cook. I really enjoyed the cooking club I was in but DH wasn't as impressed with it. I especially love making tasty desserts. I can't wait for winter food time. I am hungry for Clam Chowder and Chicken Pot Pie. MMMM!!!

7. I love good rock music. I am really disappointed lately that my favorite rock station has TONS of swearing on it. I mean, even during the commercial breaks. It is so bad that I can hardly listen to it for fear of the kids repeating it. GGRR!!

8. I like to get a reaction out of people. I love to wear my advocacy shirts for Breastfeeding, my bumper stickers and things like that. I think people will never become comfortable with things like nursing older babies (like 2 year olds) if they don't see people doing it. I don't mind answering questions about stuff like birth, breastfeeding, homeschooling so I guess I am a good person to promote it.

Ok. I am not going to tag anyone, because they have already been all tagged. Enjoy.

I feel so Crafty!

I am so excited! I have made two things this week that worked out. Usually I have grand ideas of making things, clothes for the kids, things for myself and it never works out. I can't figure out the pattern or I make it wrong. Anyway, I made Gioia's skirt the other day. Which I am planning to make her a couple more just tweek the measurements. Today I made a bag. WOO HOO! And it turned out good but GIANT. Its ok though. I am going to use it for a beach bag. We needed a bigger bag to fit our towels and toys in. I have enough material left to make a smaller bag for my sister. She said she would like one for school to throw stuff in. I think I am going to make some for Christmas for some of my female relatives. I have some really nice material I bought that will look great.

Got the pattern for this fromhere.
http://craftywench.typepad.com/knittingwench/2007/07/very-easy-tote-.html

Give me a diaper...

We had a fun day yesterday. Our family from Iowa came down. They came to get their bikes we got for them. DH spent the evening in the heat fixing most of them. The kids were very excited. They have their new garage rebuilt now, so they have a place to keep the bikes. (They had a garage fire last April/May? A total lost of all of it and the contents.) All the kids ages 11, 9, 6, and 4 slept in the bunkbeds and cots in Gioia's room. Dominic slept with us. They totured, i mean played with the kittens and we also went swimming. They left this morning and headed home. We went for lunch at Korma Sutra, Indian food restaurant. It was delicious and they had buffet. The kids liked it ok. The 4 of us ate for 26.50 (including tip). So we were happy about that.

Dominic is trucking along with the potty learning. He did something weird yesterday. He didn't poop. He is usually a really regular guy. Then last night we has whining and pulling at his bottom. So i tried to put him on the potty and he didn't want to. Then he fell asleep and I put a diaper on him. This morning we took off the diaper, peed on the potty and put underwear back on. Later he made a small poop on the floor. I was like OH NO. So i tried the potty and he wouldn't go and he was crying about it. Finally i said, do you want a diaper? He agreed and then he walked over behind the table and pooped in it. Poor little guy! I think we HELD it yesterday. He is doing so great I don't want to traumatize him with the poop issue. For now, if he wants to poop in a diaper, so be it.

Sewing.

So yesterday I went to get some fabric to make a skirt for Gioia and a bag for me, possibly one for my sister and if they turn out great, maybe some for Christmas gifts. We get the fabric only 30 bucks. YAHH! I actually make it home with all the things i need. I start sewing Gioia's skirt last night, only to realize I cut every piece wrong. :( I cut them all the wrong directions. ALL the fabric is wasted. :( I was so upset I really thought I was going to cry. Well, I had dreams about it all night. I realized I had some leftover fabric that would match the little bit I had left. SO I worked on it today and I MADE A SKIRT!! It was really easy ( well if you are smart even to cut it right). I got it from here: SKIRT
I will make a few more for her maybe for Christmas. I would make it a few inches less wide around the waist. It is supposed to be gathered to twirl, but I think it is too gathered and would look better a smidge smaller. I would also like to try it a couple inches shorter. My daughter is tall and skinny.


Not to leave the boy out. Here he is in Big Boy Pants. He is still awesome about peeing in the potty and not his pants. Still not pooping on the potty but hey. I have been only using about one diaper a day for this week and I am REALLY happy about that.

Potty learning

I just have to share my excitement. This has been all his idea really. I decided last week to sit him on the potty in the morning with his cereal to see if I could catch his regular morning poop. Well I got pee instead. I was excited. For about 3 mornings in a row he peed first thing after waking.

Well for the last 2 days he has been naked and using the potty. Of course we are having accidents and I will be pleasantly surprised if we don't have them for quite a while yet. He will be 2 on the 30th.

I am so surprised he is doing it this early. But very excited. We haven't had any poops yet, but he will sit down and pee when asked to. So that is really awesome that he has the control to do that.

Right now he has on "big boy blues clues pants". :)

Fairs Fairs everywhere!

We had a week of crazy fair fun! First we had the Johnson County fair. We went on Tuesday for "Family Fun Night". The kids had a good time and we ate some tasty but bad for you Fair food. Sweet Potato fries and corn dog for the kids. It was really hot. Then Wed. we went back up to the fair for the kids to ride the rides. It was great fun. Dominic could only ride the cars and the carousel, he was too short for the other ones. Gioia wanted to ride everything. She rode everything that she could. She and my sister rode the Ferris Wheel. The swings were her favorite thing though. The first turn around on the swings, her face had the biggest grin possible and her eyes were all lit up. I don't think she knew she would fly that high. She LOVED it. Massimo said, that look on her face was worth the 16 dollar armband.

Thursday we left here to go to my moms house. Our hometown fair, which we call the Jameson Picnic, was going on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So Thursday night we made it down. We ate some delicious Tenderloin sandwiches and then they had a talent show. Gioia sang "He's got the whole world in his hands" and "Immaculate Mary". Both are songs she learned in Bible School. Then I sang "Before he cheats" by Carrie Underwood. Gioia didn't place but I won Second place in the 17 and over group. I don't have pictures of this because I videotaped it instead.

Friday we went back up for more fun and ride the rides. My mom bought the kids armband (unlimited rides) all 3 nights. Grandmas are silly like that. I thought it was hot on Tuesday, LORD ALMIGHTY, it got soooo hot by Friday and Saturday. The heat index (what it feels like) was 109 and 105. It was like been in an oven. Amazing enough they only had one incident of someone getting sick. It was a man in the band Friday night and he was diabetic, so i am not even sure it was heat related.

Saturday, they had the baby show. Dominic was in it. Then Gioia was in the Little Miss show. These are small town baby shows, Dominic had 3 boys in his group. He didn't win. Its ok. Gioia had about 8 in her group. She didn't win either but after it was over the lady had the microphone for them to say their own names. Gioia grabbed the microphone and burst into her songs again (from the talent show) and wouldn't give it back until she was finished. The crowd was laughing. So even though she didn't win the trophy, she stole the show anyway. Saturday night they rode rides, Massimo picked us up at about 9pm and we drove home. It was a long weekend, but really fun.

Petty people

GRRR!! Damn it! I am sick of petty people. My moms group I am on, this young mom posted about a medical issue she had with her pregnancy. People gave her advice, then this new lady posted her experience with it, which was (in my opinion) pretty scary. I emailed the new lady and said, Wow that was pretty scary, do you think you could edit it a little bit so you don't totally freak the pregnant mom out? She didn't agree with me that it was scary, just honest, but she edited. And she ALSO wrote that someone asked her to, and made a stinking deal of out it to the whole board. NICE. DAMN IT! The reason I emailed her privately was to not make a big deal out of it and not involve the whole community in one tiny issue. I even told the lady I was asking her a favor. I did it for the pregnant mom not to get all worried and freaked out.

FORGET IT! Sometimes it just doesn't pay to try to help other people out, because someone will get pissed off and act all petty about it.

Move out to the country, eat a lot of peaches...

So we want to move out to the country (and eat a lot of peaches...heh hee). We are serious about it and plan to try to put our house on the market next spring/summer. In the meantime, we are looking at properties, both land and houses with land. If we find a great vacant land we will probably buy it and plan to build next spring. However, we are hoping to find a house already on some great land. We have looked at a couple houses and like a few areas. We have narrowed our search down. We have to stay within about 30-40 minutes drive of my husbands work.

We looked at a house yesterday in Cleveland Missouri. It was really cool. 12.45 acres, barn (needs new roof), small shed, and "garage" that really is justs a tin building, m-ay-be you could fit one car in it but I doubt it. We would most likely tear it down and build a nice 2 car garage. The house was a 2 bed, 1 bath brick house. It has all hardwoods in it, nice old woodwork in it, and it is great. The interior doesn't need any work. Then it has a second floor that they finished. It would need a little work, but it is basically 1 bedroom, but is the size of almost two rooms. SO it would be perfect for a kids room and playgroup combo. If we bought this house, we would build on to it, probably large Master Bathroom (to make bath #2), extend the kitchen, and another room like a dining room with windows around it to have an excellent view. Then DH had a good idea that instead of a deck we could do a large patio with a wrought iron fence enclosing it, to keep the pets off when you are entertaining or eating. Think about Italy Bistro kind of theme. I think I love it all, but DH is not so sure. So we are waiting and thinking on it. It would be really nice to get a house and land already done, but of course that cost more money too.

We also found a really cute house in Peculiar, MO. We haven't been to see the inside of it yet, but DH was in love with it because it is on a gravel cul-de-sac, 8 acres and the house is already done, 3 bed, 2 bath. The online pictures look great. We drove by it one day to see the location and area. The neighbor dogs were just walking right up to us. There were several neighbors on the street but everyone has several acres in between them. That one was more money, so we would have to sell our house FIRST then buy it. I don't know if it will be on the market this spring. I am sure the sellers hope not. :)

Anyway, it is fun and exciting to be going through this process and it is SOO different this time, because we are in a better financial position and it really opens a lot of doors for us.

My list of things I am going to do when I get my land/house:
#1 - A CLOTHES LINE! WOO HOO! I can hang my diapers and other clothes outside. Fun!
#2 - Get a diesel car/van or something to run biodiesel on. AKA... Grease from the local restaurant. I need a shed to filter and store the grease. (stop laughing it is free and good for the environment)
#3 - Get a couple goats for the kids to pet and love and eat the grass.
#4 - Next spring - HUGE ASS garden. HUGE flower garden and flowers everywhere. :)
#5- Horse or Pony for the kids - maybe a year or 2 down the road.

1st pee in the potty

Last night my little guy made his first pee-pee in the potty! WOO HOO! He is only 23 months. I do not expect him to do it on any kind of regular basis, but i am just excited he knows what we want him to do. He has been asking to sit on the potty and we always let him, even though he doesn't go. I was going to try to catch his morning poop, but he did it right away this morning before we even made it to the bathroom. Oh well. I will try again tomorrow.

Yesterday we just ran errands and dropped some food off for a friend who had a baby. Took a bike ride in the evening and just had a regular day. I made some tasty BBQ ribs for dinner. Everyone loved them. We worked in the garden and I need to re-plant my green beans today.

Poor little guy.

The last 24 hrs. have not been my little guys day at all. So yesterday afternoon he touched my sisters flat iron (for her hair, hot!!). It must have been a brief touch cause he cried and I put aloe on his hands, but he doesn't have a red mark. Then in the evening he tried to climb on the oven door. It came open and pinched his toes, which were in the spot between the door and the bottom drawer. OUCH!! That DID leave a mark. Then last night we were sleeping and about 2am he pukes on the bed. NICE! What a way to wake up! I am not sure he is sick. He is acting 100% this morning. Never had a fever or anything. He is teething and I wonder if he choked on drool or something. It was really weird. We wiped it up, laid down some towels and went back to sleep.

My afternoon sucked yesterday. I had to take my phone in to Sprint to have them fix it. I pay for a extended warranty to the price of about 7 dollars a month. So this is the second time in 6 months I have had to have this phone fixed/replaced. I have NEVER had to replace a cell phone in the 10 years I have been using them. SO I am not happy about this. The lady says, if it is water damage or something like that, I have a 50 dollar deductible. Ok, well I can just upgrade and get a better phone for $50 right? NO. Not till November when my start date comes up. DAMN SPRINT! I hate them. Their customer service sucks. So I have to go back and get my phone this morning. I am assuming they will be assholes about it all. I have DH's old sprint phone and I will just transfer my number to it. I am not spending 50 on a phone I have had to replace twice. DUH! We may be switching back to Verizon after we are finished with the employee discount at Sprint. Then I was looking at Family plans on phones. EGADS! They start at 69.99 a month, that doesn't include the 10-15 dollars in taxes and fees they tack on every month. How do people afford this crap? How did we afford it before the lovely Sprint discount? Dh has always had his work pay for his phones, but now that he is a contractor we have to pay for it. RARR!!

Well I need to go shower and get ready to go to the sprint store. Peace be with me. Try not to kill poor girl that works there. Cancel bullshit phone insurance.

4 years old.

My baby had her 4th birthday yesterday. Corny to say, but it really does seem like yesterday that she was a tiny baby and I was nursing her. Taking her to the pool in Texas and staying up late rocking her watching TV. :) We had a great day. We met a group of friends for cupcakes and ice cream, then we went swimming for over 2 hours. Later in the day she opened presents and then Grandma Elaine came and stayed all night. What fun! Of course, I failed to get any pool party pictures. DUH! But I did get pictures of her with her new scooter her Dad and I got her. She also got new dance clothes, books, music cd, Hopscotch game and beanbag.

Pee, pee everywhere.

My daughter is driving me crazy. She has been potty trained for over a year now. She has had the random accident rarely, but the last few days it is just out of hand. Yesterday she had 3 episodes of peeing her pants on the floor, in the bed, just where ever she is. It isn't even that she is hurrying to the bathroom. She is simply not going there and then not telling us until we notice she is wet. So today I went and got her stuff to fight a UTI. I am not sure she has one, but i figure better safe than sorry (or insane). I am hoping if it is a behavioral issue, that our treating it like a issue that we can fix and "get the bug out", will clear up the behavior. We have been doing pretty good since this mornings accident, until just a few minutes ago. She peed her pants while playing legos. So i made her change clothes, drink another glass of cranberry juice and I will have her pee in the potty in about 30 minutes or so.

Today we went to the swimming pool. I finally figured out a way to keep Dominic occupied. We took a Dora doll and a baby doll with us. He had a great time swimming with his babies. He was having them jump off the side to him and he was playing with them.

You know you are old when....

1. Your rockin' 31st birthday party is over and everyone is in bed by 11:30pm.

2. You try to wake your spouse up for a little fun at 11:30pm and he is too tired, and doesn't even remember being awoken the next morning.

Well, at least we had a successful party. No cops called, no neighbors pissed off, no one barfed. Adult parties are definitely much more tame than the parties of college days. And you know what? I am totally fine with that! LOL! It was fun and we even got a funny quote from the night.
" Smell my wet spot." Just so you all don't think it was "THAT" kind of party, I will say that statement involved margaritas. Good food, good friends, I guess that is all you need.

Today, we went to church, then out to the Arboretum. I got some really nice pictures of the kids. I will have to post a couple. We had a nice walk. Later this afternoon we took a family bike ride and Dominic fell asleep in his bike seat. It is really fun. I can't wait till the kids get bigger and we can go on longer bike rides.

Greasy baby

I just got done giving the kids a bath. Dominic and Gioia were upstairs playing along. I know, I know, that was my first mistake. I went to check on them and he is COVERED in Vicks Baby Rub. UGH! Greasy minty baby. Of course he put the most of it in his hair. I gave him a bath. I had to change the water cause it was all oily. Then I couldn't get the oil slick out of his hair, and he has a buzz cut!! FInally I tried the Dawn dish soap. It did help alot more than the shampoo. Oy! What a mess. I called my grandma to see if she had any helpful tips. She didn't but she got a good laugh.

Birthdays!

This week I have been looking for a couple things for the kids birthdays. Massimo and I have bikes now, so we wanted to get Dominic a seat that attaches so he can ride with us. Gioia has been wanting a scooter, so I wanted to get that for her birthday as well. DO you THINK I can find a scooter that isn't all decked out in either Disney Princess, Cars logo, or some other blatant advertisements? NO! Not at a store anyway. I finally found this. Radio Flyer Scooter I was able to order that and Dominics bike seat from Amazon. I did a special thing where I get overnight shipping on both items for the total of 3.99 (so like 2 dollars a piece). Can't beat that. I would spend more that on gas to drive to a store to buy these things.

So we are having a party Saturday night for a friend and I. Our birthdays are July and August, so we meet in the middle and have a party. It started last year for our 30th and we decided to continue the tradition this year. Then the next week is my daughters birthday so we are having a playdate/swimming thing for that.

Swimming fun.

Yesterday we went to our friends house for a pool party. It was really fun. Lots of moms and kids came. I would say there was at least 10 families there, maybe more. Gioia did excellent in her life jacket, swimming with no help. She did have a scary moment when she had the jacket off and she went under but my friend pulled her up. She was in a place she could have touched the bottom, but she got scared. I told her that is why we always have to wear the life jacket. Dominic is more the hang out poolside kind of guy. He spent his time playing and eating snacks.

Here he is on the way home from the party:

BIKES

So I got an email last week that Bike and Trikes for Tykes Organization was losing their warehouse and having to get rid of all there merchandise. So Saturday, bright and early we high tailed it down there to get us some bikes. We got there at 8:30am and WOOOHH! They had bikes and bikes and bikes. We got DH and I new mountain bikes, Gioia a bike and Dominic a brand new trike (still in the box), for $70 dollars! The mountain bikes each needed minor work. One of them needs a new wheel. So we started calling everyone we knew to GO GET A BIKE! DH went back with a friend around 1pm and they were already loading a dumpster with bikes. NOOO!!! He ended up getting 10 bikes this trip. My sister-in-law and her family lost their bikes in a garage fire a month ago, so we got bikes for all of them. This second trip he spent $36 dollars on 10 bikes. SCORE!

Sunday we went to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum for a tour of the Italian art. It was great. We had a good time. The kids stayed with a friend for a playdate. Also, remember how I said that bike needed a wheel? Well we were in the vicinity of the bike place, so we went back. DH went dumpster diving and we came home with a complete mountain bike, a kids bike and an extra wheel. Turns out the dumpster mountain bike is worth like 700 dollars and is better than the first one that we paid for. HA HA!!

So here is what my garage looks like:

Dora and Diego

My kids love these cartoons. It is so funny. Dominic really doesn't care for tv or movies. But we had Dora and then Diego on this morning and he is loving it. There are a few shows and channels we miss since turning off our TV. Mostly Dora and Diego for the kids and Discovery Channel, Animal Planet for hubby and I. Since we are at the Hotel this week, we have selectively watched a few programs. We are heading out for the zoo soon. It is cool here today, supposed to be a high of 80. So a perfect walking around the zoo day.

Ok. Here are a few things my little man does that drives me C-R-A-Z-Y! Plays in the toilet! EWW!! Digs in the trash! YUCK! (I think he is part raccoon.) Climbs on the table, and plays in people drinks. MESSY! I will be glad when he quits doing all these messy things. On a happy note, I have gotten several compliments this week on how well he speaks and people can understand him well. It is nice, and funny cause about 6 months ago we thought he was slow on the talking thing. He is really making up for that now. HA HA!!

Gioia serenaded everyone at the hotel breakfast buffet this morning with her Immaculate Mary song. One lady laughed and said, we are getting a little mass with our breakfast! :)

St. Louis

We have been in St. Louis all week with hubby's work. Got here monday and went swimming at the hotel. Then yesterday was my birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMAPERRECA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! :) We had a busy day. We went to the mall. Then to the Butterfly gardens at Faust Park. Then we went to the Aquaport swim center. They have a lazy river, slides and pools for the kids. It was supposed to be 15 dollars since I am not a resident of the city, but I played the birthday card and got in for resident price of 4 dollars! WOO HOO! Then we went out for dinner and ate Mexican. The food was ok, the service was crappy. We made up for it by stopping at Olive Garden to pick up dessert of Tiramisu and Chocolate cheesecake. FUN FUN DAY!

Today we went to a free movie at AMC Theatres. We saw Ice Age: The Meltdown. We had already seen it so I knew the kids would like it. Afterwards we went to Grants Farm. It was really cool. Now Gioia is sleeping away and Dominic and I are chilling out. Whew. I need a vacation from my vacation.

To many wonderful pictures to post so I made a slideshow.

Holy Blog Slacker!

Holy cow. Am I am blog slacker or what? I haven't posted all week. Ok. So for the update.

4th of July went great. Dh had the day off so we went to look at a property (WE ARE NOT BUYING). It had petroleum lines running under the property. Sorry, don't want to build near that. Then swimming at our local pool. Later in the day I was getting upset because we were supposed to go to a friends farm to party, but it looked like rain and severe thunderstorms. I called and she said the party was still on. Well it worked out great. We BBQ'd, did fireworks with the kids, hung out with friends and then watch an amazing fireworks display by the host. Then the cops came, and it was an official party. Just like in college! HA HA!! No, but seriously, the neighbor called the cops but luckily the show was over just when they arrived. The host did have a permit, so it was all fine.

Then Thursday and Friday we went to visit my mom at her farm. It was great fun as always. My brothers and dad were in the hay field, baling, stacking and moving hay both days. We helped on Friday by bringing them water and sandwiches. It was really cool to see the bale wagon working. Basically, it scoops up the hay bales off the ground and a series of belts and things stack the hay on the wagon. One person runs the tractor and wagon. It is great! I wish they would have had it when I was in high school and had to help do hay. We also went on a 4 wheeler ride and went to look at the cows. We found a dead one. So we had to talk about dead cows alot with Gioia over the last few days. She wasn't really upset. The cow just looked asleep, not all gruesome or anything. She just had questions. Now she says the cow went to heaven.

Saturday was just a lazy day. We went over and visited a friend for a little bit. Today I got a new digital camera. My old one was dead, Dominic got it wet and it is no more. The new one was a display model so I got it on clearance. NICE! Here are a couple of pictures of my beautiful babies.

Its July!

I can't believe its July already. Geez. Where is the summer going? Last week we were really busy, but the rain kept us inside. Wed. we were supposed to have a playgroup/party at a park. We decided not to try to go since it was raining. Thursday a swim playgroup turned into an inside playgroup but there were cupcakes so the kids were happy. :) Friday we had knitting playgroup and it went really well. We got a baby blanket done.

Over the last week we have had 6.13 inches of rain here. Our backyard looks like a swamp. We are luckier than other folks in Kansas. Some got 20 inches and are evacuating their homes from flooding. Of course we don't live by any major rivers like they do.

Saturday DH got to spend the entire afternoon snaking the kitchen sink out. 2 snakes and 3-4 hours later he fixed it. The clog must have been somewhere all the way down in the basement pipe because he didn't reach it with the 15 foot snake. He got it with the heavy duty 25 footer though. Good grief what a mess. The upside is that we got a new dishwasher! FINALLY! My old one sucked and we have put up with it almost 3 years now. We got it on clearance and it is so AWESOME!! I actually enjoy doing the dishes.

Sunday we went on a little adventure and looked at some land for sale. The kids did good on the drive and we had fun looking. It was over in Peculiar MO. It would be about the same distance from DH's work and to Overland Park as it is now from where we live. The actually area where the land is, we really liked it. I just don't know if we are in love with the location, neighboring town, that kind of thing. We looked at one property that does have a house there already. It was great as well. Both had like 8 or 9 acres. Anyway, we aren't ready to move quite yet, probably not till next year but we want to take our time, look around and find the right spot.

School things

Today my sister moved in with us. She is going to be here for 2 months for sure. Maybe longer, depends on how long it takes her to save money and find a place she can afford. She and her husband are seperating, heading for divorce most likely. It is really sad. Anyway, we are all trying to make the best of it. It will be fun for me and the kids to have her here. She is going back to nursing school.

We went to the pool with our homeschool group today. It was great fun. We were there two hours and the kids had a blast. I think we will met there more this summer. It is just to hot to be at the park for any amount of time.

Our preschool coop is coming along. Now if we can just find somewhere to meet. It is going to start in September. I think it will run like the regular school year time. It is going to be a hands on, unschooling type setting where the kids have alot of activities and learning tools available but they learn and participate at their own speed. I think it is going to be just great.

I got tagged..

Ok so I got tagged by my friend Sarah to do a list of seven random thing about me. Hmm.. Lets see, I will try to think of interesting things.

1. I have a tongue ring, various earrings, one tattoo and I want another tattoo. I will get it, just gonna take some time and money.

2. I love to travel. Hoping to make it with the family to Italy this year, and maybe Cancun or somewhere warm next year.

3. I have a degree in Animal Science and twice I worked for corporate pig farms. (That was before my crunchy days. I could never work there now.)

4. I wish I never had to wear shoes, and I don't really care much for shaving. i do shave because my DH prefers it, otherwise I would just be hairy.

5. Every since I was little I always wanted to work with animals. I once tried to care for the following animals: Blind kitten (died), baby calf that couldn't walk (died) and a injured frog (i think it died). So maybe that wasn't my calling after all, or was I trying to fix the hopeless?

6. I love to sing. My kids love to sing. I can bust out some damn good Karoke songs. Word.

7. I love to read. Stephen King is my favorite, pretty sure I have read every book he has published, or really close to it.

The future

So gioia and I are talking about growing up. She was asking if I was going to have lots of birthdays. I said, yes until I am a really old lady. She said "I will have lots of birthdays until I am 10 then I will be a lady." "Then I will get married to my husband named Man." I asked her what she would do after she was married. She said "I would get a tongue ring!" LOL!!! Then she said, after that I would be a grandma. Funny kid!!


HA HA! ok. So perhaps I will leave this blog post going and just type what she says all day. Now she says about her brother "He is going to turn to a man. Then I will marry that man." I said you will marry him? "Yes, I am gonna marry my brother." she says. *No hunny, we don't live in Arkansas.*

TA-DA!!

My sister came to visit today. It was really fun. We went out for pizza and then swimming at the new awesome Aquatic Center in town. The kids had a great time too. She is going to be moving in with us for a couples months. She and her husband are separating. It is very sad and upsetting to us all. I haven't posted about it because it is personal and not really mine to share I guess. I have a friend who I can talk to about it and my husband of course. Mel, my sister, is going back to college to be a RN. She starts classes first of July. The kids will love having her around more, so that is a plus. We lived with her and her DH for 3 months when we moved back to KS from TX. So we definitely owe her.

Now the Ta-Da story. So like I said previously we went to eat pizza, then to the park and while we were at the park Gioia needed to pee. I took her potty, which required taking off her swimsuit and all that. No problem, we use the bathroom and go back to playing. After that we go swimming. While we are at the pool she looks at my sister and says TA-DA! AND..... pulls a marble out from inside her swimming suit. FROM HER PRIVATES! Yes, folks. The new and improved Ben-Wa-Ball. A marble! My sister about died. She came and told me, gave me the marble and we had a good laugh. She told Gioia in a serious voice, we don't put things in our privates. OK>>>> think back to where I said she peed and I noticed nothing! EEGADS!!! Marble privileges have been revoked. Putting things in her panties has been an ongoing issue, but always before she has used her underwear as a pocket. Like she would put the toy hammer in there to hold it because she didn't have a pocket. I had a friend a while back say that her daughter tried to do this very thing.

Mission accomplished

Fleas have been terminated! Our friend came and sprayed. I am so glad. We have to wait a few more days to make sure no more come back. He said we might have to spray one more time. Hopefully they are dead.

This weekend has been crazy busy so far. We had a preschool soccer playdate this morning. We attempted to get the kids to play soccer. They did pretty good. Then we went to KC, MO to pick up some old vintage windows. I am going to use them to make doors for a china cabinet. It is going to look awesome. I got 6 for $60 bucks. Whatever i don't use I will re-sell or give away. Then we rushed home to babysit for my friends boys. They were here for 5 hours. It was pretty good. Dominic was so tired that he crashed and went to bed at 7pm.

Tomorrow is Fathers Day and I am a little bummed because the gift I ordered for DH didn't come yet. It should be here Monday or Tuesday. He is being understanding. I think he will be excited when he gets it. I am not telling him what it is. The kids got him a card and we will make it a relaxing day.

Massimo went to an auction today and bought me a sewing machine for $1.00. WOW! It was an estate sale and this lady had tons of crap he said. Weirdest of all was a huge collection of porcelain puppets. The marionette kind with strings. I guess maybe she made dolls since there were doll parts new in boxes. So tomorrow we will try the machine out and see if it actually works, which I think it will.

Farmers Market

I love Farmers Market. Dominic and I went yesterday while Gioia was at Bible School. It was great! We got broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon, peaches, blueberries and zucchini. DELICIOUS! We went to the one in Overland Park. There is one in Olathe too that I need to try and one right next door to DH's work.

I have a few tiny tomatoes on my plants and some zucchini coming on. I am excited. I can't wait to make fresh salsa. We had BLT's last night and they were great.

We got the screen replaced in the patio door. Ran a bunch of errands this week. So today we are just hanging out. We tried to go get free ice cream last night but the line was 30 minutes or more wait, so we skipped it. It isn't worth saving $5.00 for that kind of wait, especially with kids.

THE BUMMER: FLEAS! I have fleas in my basement living room. YUCK! ICCKY! I itch just thinking about it. So I called my friends husband and he is coming either tonight or in the morning to spray the house and yard. Man it sucks to have something like that in the house.

Crash!

Dominics smooth move of the day was pulling the sewing machine over on his head. OUCH! We are talking the sewing machine that is built into the table, so the whole thing went over on him. He only got a little surface scratch on his head. It could have been so much worse.

Gioia is Dee Dee a "spotty dog" aka Dalmatian. She has asked everyone at Bible school to call her Dee Dee a well. It was really weird to hear them all calling her that when I went to pick her up. HAHA! She informed me that she wanted to stay at Bible School forever. :) Well we talked about how bible school was only for a week, and then we would get to go again next summer. Glad she likes it. Whats not to like? Yesterday they had M&M cookies for a snack at 10am. Nice. She didn't eat very much lunch. So i asked her teachers today if they were doing only cookies or what. They said the kids got to choose, and crackers and other things were a choice. I asked if they could try to direct her choice to something like the crackers or raisins. So today she said she had raisins, nuts and M&M's. *SIGH* Oh well. I am guessing it was actually some kind of trail mix stuff. She still ate a good lunch so I am not going to worry about it.

Vacation Bible School

This week Gioia is going to Vacation Bible School at our church. It is from 9-11:30 every day. It was really weird, but nice to have that time with just Dominic and I. We made a meatloaf, homemade mac and cheese, and cookies! Gioia had a great time at bible school. They sang songs, colored pictures and all that stuff.

I am working on steam cleaning the carpets. Got one living room and under the kitchen table done this weekend. Also got my wallpaper in the mail today. Yippee! So DH and I have to hang it this weekend. I have already painted 3 walls in the bathroom, the wallpaper will go on the 4th wall. I can't wait to have it finished.

We are also signing up to take Italian Classes for 7 weeks. It will be on Sundays and I am really looking forward to it. I hope this is the big busy DH and I need to get to speaking it more fluently and using it at home. We worked tonight on brushing up on our verbs and basic words and phrases. The classes start the 24th. SO I am hoping in the next two weeks we can work each night on brushing up and speaking with each other so we can fall right into the class.

Stress.

Well this week has been very stressful. Had lots of things going on with our extended family this week, both my husbands side and mine. Family stuff is very stressful. I noticed yesterday that the kids were acting up, especially in the evening when they were tired and DH just got home. I really think they were picking up on all the tension going around. SO today we decided to get out of our funk and have a great day. It was cool all day, started in the 50's early morning and got into the 70's at the highest. We ran errands, got some lunch, went to the park for 2 hours, and then came home. The kids took 2 hour naps, I printed pictures off and put them in albums. It was just what we needed. We had a nice dinner at home, then went to the mall. Both kids got new flip-flop sandals and we got Dairy Queen ice cream. Then we played at the mall until 9pm. The kids made some little friends, it was cute. D fell asleep on the way home, and Gioia went right to bed too. I am going to bed now as well. My goal for tomorrow is to keep my mind busy with positive things and have a fun weekend with my hubby and kids.

Oh hubby and baby got haircuts today too. We shaved D's head again and he looks so damn cute! Gioia and I also worked on an Addition Math workbook. She is getting it pretty good. She wasn't as interested as I thought she would be but it was neat to see her catching on and learning it. We only did one page.

Cave pictures and more

Well I have a few of our vacation pictures back. Here is a group picture in Jacobs Cave.














Picture of the Soda straws, that form Stalactites.













Playing at the Beach at Lake of the Ozarks State Park.

Homeschooling workbooks.

Today I decided to get the letters and numbers workbooks out again for Gioia. She has always loved doing them, but she is a bit of a perfectionist and would get frustrated and say she couldn't do it. Well we have reached a turning point! Today she would tell me to close my eyes and she would write her letters. Then I would open them and see how she did. After several pages of that, I said I would do the dishes and when she was done to tell me and I would look. This was fine and she is on the 9th page of her workbook. She wants to just keep going and do more pages. That is fine with me! She may finish the whole book today. LOL!

I am going to start her on the addition book as well. It is sums up to 6, then sums up to 10. I know she can do those. It also has pictures, so you can count the physical things and find your answer. Perfect for her age. Its says 1st grade book. She is 4. Yeah, I guess I am bragging a bit. Honestly, though I find it amazing and cool how she learns all this on her own or with everyday guidance from her parents.

Rafts and Rock Shrimp

We just got back from vacation today. We left on Sunday and got back today Friday. Had no Internet service and no cell phones while camping. So we really were AWAY from it all. :) We hit the road with our friends on Sunday and stopped at Jacobs Cave near Gravois Mills, MO. http://www.jacobscave.com/ Then we had lunch and finished driving to Tan-tar-a Resort. We had our own cabin/apartment type thing, it was nice. It had 2 double beds and a fold out couch. We went and watched some fireworks that night and just hung out. Monday (memorial Day) we went to the Timber Falls Waterpark. The kids LOVED it, and so did the adults. The big bucket would dump every 2 minutes and Dominic would say "WOOO" every time it spilled, even when he wasn't under it. Then that night we went to eat at a place called the Happy Fisherman. It was great local place and they served Rock Shrimp. I had never seen or eaten a rock shrimp before. They have a hard shell like a lobster and taste more lobster like than regular shrimp. I love them. Here is a picture of them. http://www.mbl.edu/marine_org/flescher/images/flescher/Hi/568.JPG

Tuesday we went to Lake of the Ozarks state park. It has some really cool trails. We started out on one trail and were having a great time, when we all noticed we were getting covered with ticks. RRRRTTT!!! *hear the tires screeching?* STOP! GO BACK! So we played at the beach instead, the kids got all wet and dirty. It was great fun. Later my friend watched all the kids at the hotel while Hubby and I went on a date! We rode Go-karts, played mini golf and shopped a little.

Wednesday we started our second half of our trip. We went to Bridal Cave, it was neat, but I think we all enjoyed Jacobs Cave more. Jacobs was longer and easier for the kids, plus the tour guide was better. After the cave tour, we went to camp. Our original plan was to camp the entire week, but rain forecast had us change plans to half hotel and half camping. We got to camp and set up. It was perfect and almost no one was there camping. The campground was large and beautiful and there was a little creek with about 12 inches of water in it. It was perfect and clear and cold. The kids played in it for two days! We stayed here Niangua River Oasis Thursday we did a float trip in a raft. A raft does not steer as well as a canoe so we had a bit of trouble with it. However, it was a good choice with all the kids. Dominic cried a bit cause he didn't like his life jacket. We went 7 miles and it was really fun. Lincoln (my friends son) fell out of the boat when we crashed into some brush on the the side of the water. His mama jumped out to get him and he was fine. He did a great job of not panicking and he grabbed a tree branch. His eyes were big as saucers and we were all scared for a minute. The river was not very deep and I don't think it ever was over any of the adults heads (5 foot) at any point.

Then Friday we woke up and busted our butts to pack up in the sprinkling rain so we could come home. I guess here in KC we got like 5 inches of rain. We got a few short showers at the hotel various times and NO rain what-so-ever during our camping, except during packing. So all in all it was fabulous and great fun for our friends to be with us.

We saw so much wildlife! Turtles galore while floating the river and otters and beavers. Then the first night at camp we heard this noise, I thought it was a coon, turns out to be a skunk! I was freaked out. I didn't want it to spray us. So I laid back down in the tent and waited for it to leave. Then about 20 minutes later a raccoon did come and dig in the trash. We scared it off and put the trash away. The second night that damn skunk came back. Making this crazy chittering sound and looking for food. We also saw deer, birds, crawfish in the creek, I caught a big frog tadpole at the river and OH THE BEST!!! Gioia had a leach stuck to her ankle during the float trip! EWWW!! She was calm and my DH removed it.

Whew.... I am tired. Going to bed to rest from my vacation! Pictures later.

Lets see, what has been going on this week? Well Sunday we went to my Dad's for a visit. It was nice. The kids played and the adults talked. We cooked on the grill. Dad gave me a camping stove, double burner, never been used. Sweet! I am excited to use it on our vacation. Speaking of vacation, it is supposed to be next week. Camping in Missouri. Guess what??? The weather is calling for rain all week! DAMN IT!! Rain Rain go away!

Gas prices! DOUBLE DAMN IT! This is freakin ridiculous. We are seriously going to have to get cracking on a grease car or whatever. I mean, it was $3.36 here last night. I hear it is going up for the weekend. OH JOY! This is the main reason we aren't going to Colorado right now. But they also say Corn prices are going up because of all the E-85 being sold. I think that is great. I feel like calling my Stepdad and saying PLANT CORN! ha ha! Now i just need a car that runs on it.

Gioia is having a great time with her new found computer skills. She plays for a while each day. She has a couple websites she can do now. Dominic is talking a mile a minute. He repeats any and all words. Luckly no bad words yet. :)

I am back to using my 35mm Camera because my digital is toast. We got it working after the kids got it wet, but the pictures it takes are all crappy and grainy. :( So anyway, hopefully I will post new pictures after our vacation.

Oh my head...

So Blues Traveler kicked ass last night. But I drank too much. So did my friend. We had to leave early because of it, so we didn't get to see the entire show. But oh well, it was still fun. My mom was here and helped me with the kids this morning. Then we she got ready to leave, my daughter wanted to go with Grandma. We ended up letting her go and she will meet us tomorrow afternoon to give her back. It is always fun at Grandmas house! I was supposed to babysit for a friend this afternoon, but they canceled because of not feeling well. That actually worked to my advantage. I am reminded that I am too old and it hurts to drink too much. Ugh!

Anyway, DH mowed and weedeat the lawn today. Looks really nice. I mustered up the energy to make a Quiche for my friends and some pumpkin muffins for them and us as well. They made it home with their new baby Keegan and they are just the cutest new family. Baby is beautiful!

Blues Traveler

I am really excited. My hubby and I get to go see Blues Traveler in concert tonight. I have always wanted to see them. Our friend got us free tickets! How cool is that?! Here is one of my favorite songs of theirs. http://youtube.com/watch?v=iO5GNbx918k I love it when he rocks on the harmonica. Sweet! My mom is coming to stay all night and watch the kids. So that will be really nice. My friend and her new boyfriend are coming with us. We haven't met him yet, but I have been told he is awesome. ;)

Here is another song for your listening pleasure. Along with a funny story. http://youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdoxlNvNQ
When I was in college, we had a friend nicknamed House (because he was big as a house). He would do a rockin' John Popper impression. He would wail and sing during the rap part of this song. It was totally awesome and I will ALWAYS remember that when this song comes on.

Graduation! Congrats Colt!

My brother Colt graduated from High School yesterday. He is the last of us. My moms baby, her fourth child. Come august her and my dad will be home alone! AHHH! Ha ha! I think they are ready for it in a way. I am not sure what my mom will do. She has always been active in our sporting events, school plays, MOB squad, and any other parenting duty under the sun. Anyway, colt got over $5000 a semester in scholarships and loans. He graduated in the honor society, A+ programs, and several other awards. He also already has 17 hours of college credit. That is a whole semester already complete. That is awesome. He is going Pre-med and is on the football team at Mo Western in St. Joseph Mo. He is also rooming with a friend from high school who is also on the football team. He is off to a great start and we are all SUPER proud of him.

Will post picture later. My camera is toast. :(

Learning new things

Well Dominic has learned to sleep in his own bed. It is really great. We are all enjoying more sleep and more bed space. He is also talking up a storm. Repeats everything we say to him. Gioia had a new learning experience yesterday. She learning how to use the mouse pad on the computer. So now she can play her word games online. She loves this website. www.starfall.com It is learning letter sounds and how to read. She still works on the letter sounds. I might let her try the reading stuff soon. I was really amazed that she could figure out the mouse and do it so well. Now she can play letter games when I need her to do something quiet during rest time or when i am making dinner, etc.

I am gearing up for our big camping trip to Colorado. We are so excited. I am going to a camping store today hopefully. They have surplus camping things from Coleman and I am getting new sleeping bags and hand and feet warmer things. Maybe a camp heater if they have one for a great price.

Delivery day

I got two packages today. One, Gioia's new carseat! She likes it, I love it. Now we get to test it out this weekend when we go to Grandma's house. It is about a 2 hour drive. I think it will go fine. Second package was my video camera. FINALLY it is fixed. I am so excited to video tape all the things Dominic has been doing. I have missed a lot of things since it has been broken for about 6 months. Well anyway. It was cool to get all my deliveries today. Fed ex came to my house twice. Doesn't seem very well organized to have 2 separate trucks have to come to my house. Whatever! That is why they charge so much i guess. Geez!

Also had to order 2 new tires for our Durango today. Upon further research we found out, guess what? Our current tires are crap and people have lots of bad reviews for them. DH has patched tons of punctures and leaks in them, and now one is got a slipped belt. So we are getting some Michelin tires that are rated 5 stars by customer reviews and Costco carries them and puts them on for free. Free lifetime rotation and balance and stem replacement, etc...
Hopefully they will last a really long time.