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.

Catching up from the weekend.

We had a very busy weekend and it seems the week has gotten away from me. Friday night we drove to Iowa 2.5 hours. My husband stayed with his brother and they tiled 2 bathrooms and 1/2 of the kitchen. They worked till 2am friday night and then worked most of Saturday day. They were exhausted. Saturday night we drove back home. Sunday Gioia had her dance recital. My parents and sister were able to come and also some of our friends. It was so PRECIOUS! All the girls did excellent and danced so good. My mom brought Gioia flowers. She was really proud to have "her own" flowers.

This week we have been bumming around. Yesterday was my 28 week appointment. I am right on target with weight and belly size. Baby is still laying sideways. My midwife is not concerned. She said baby has lots of room in there so it just moves around. Once baby starts running out of room he/she will turn the right way.

I took Gioia to get a rash on her face looked at today. It has been there for like a month. He thinks it is a kind of staph infection. Not a serious one, just minor but hard to get rid of sometimes. He gave us some nasty smelling herbs and made it into a cream for her face. Also a homepathic. He wanted Gioia to drink the herbs 3 times a day as well. Um, yeah. When I gave them to her she puked. SO that is not happening. They smell foul. I think we can clear it up with the topical herbs.

Tonight is an impromptu MNO. We are going out for Thai Food. It should be fun. Just to hang out with the girls.

Our first ER visit.

Dominic had his first trip to the ER last night.

Luckily DH came home from work early and we had eaten dinner early. SO about 5pm we had just finished eating and the kids ran up the stairs to the bedrooms. I sighed and followed them to the foot of the stairs shouting at them to come back down right now! We don't let them play up there unsupervised because of the bathrooms and they get into stuff.

Well they were up there 2 mins tops and Dominic starts screaming! He runs out to the top of the stairs with blood streaming down his face. I yell at DH SHIT he is bleeding! I scoop him up and run to the bathroom. Grab a towel and see a 1 1/2 inch gash on the top of his head. It is kind of off to the side, like where a guy might do a side part. Well I see this and yell to DH "We gotta go to the hospital! " He dresses Gioia, gets me a rag to clean Dominic up and some clothes for him. Of course both the kids were naked or in underpants. It stopped bleeding pretty quickly so we calmly made our way to the hospital. We just went to Olathe Medical, because I could see it was going to be a routine head wound thing. He never passed out or anything.

Gioia said he fell against the cot. We had a camping cot set up in our room for Gioia to occasionally sleep on. Well Dominic kept saying the door. The door didn't make sense. I saw blood on the carpet by the cot. Well this morning he showed me and he pointed out the wooden window sill NEXT to the cot. So that makes more sense.

The kids were both really good at the ER. It took 3 hours total to get in and out. They used numbing gel for his head and he got 4 STAPLES. We left the ER about 8pm, he was asleep before we left the parking lot.

Fathers Day Weekend

So we had a really great weekend. Saturday we went to the Arboretum for a walk in the morning. We found all kinds of fun bugs. Dragonflies, beetles, Rollie Pollies, and SNAILS. This giant cottonwood tree had snails all over it. The kids loved it. They even found a few snails on the ground that they picked up and looked at.

Then we went to Home Depot for more landscaping materials. DH finished the backyard landscaping. He also cleaned out he garage and got his cars back in it. Sunday we went to Mass. Later DH smoked a turkey on the smoker and we also cooked brats and steak for lunch. The kids played in the front with me all morning. Later it rained so we took naps and watched a movie. After dinner DH wanted to go get ice cream, so we did. We ended up going to the movies and watching Kung Fu Panda. It was cute. Dominic had trouble sitting still but he was good for most of the movie.

Gioia drew us the cutest picture.

VBS

Vacation Bible School is this week. Gioia is going and she loves it. It is from 9-11:30 in the mornings and when I drop her off she is Miss Independent. She just does it all on her own. Could care LESS about saying good-bye to mom! HA HA! Yesterday i said, Ok honey I will be back to pick you up later. She said "I know." and kept walking. :) The first day she got upset because she didn't have time to finish her craft, so we brought it home and she worked on it more. Then yesterday she had to bring home a coloring book they were making because she didn't have time to do that. The teacher said she was REALLy working hard on a flag craft and didn't want to stop. I love it. She really works hard on things. She also doesn't have that switch tasks mentality that other public school kids have because as a homeschooler she can actually finish a project before moving on to another. Friday is their program. They will sing songs for us and give us some crafts they made.

We also went swimming yesterday. My legs got a little sunburned. I was sitting on the edge in the water and I guess the reflection got me.

My grandma has been in the hospital for a couple days. She went home yesterday. Her heart was doing funny things, but then they found pneumonia. Strange. At least she is doing better. We went to see her the other night. Then my mom, my sister and I ate at Figlios on the plaza. It is expensive, but the food is amazing. Mom said after going through a stressful hospital day she deserved it. I agree.

Ying and Yang

One thing makes me smile and one thing makes me sick.

First the smile. 26 week pregnant baby belly! This little one is good an active. However when Gioia puts her hand on my belly, baby always stops moving.


THANK GOD DH has his electric car to drive to work. Our gas bill would be out the roof if not for that. We have limited our driving a lot as well. In the summer we always have this GO-GO mentality because it is nice out and we can go. This summer however we have bought a pool pass and are staying in town most days. A trip to my moms house cost us $75 in gas this weekend. Its just too much.

So here it is in pictures:

Fridge locks.

A Fridge lock is going to save my life. Ok..maybe not my life but definitely my sanity. So far this week my Raccoon son has gotten out the eggs and broke two, got out mushrooms and mashed into the carpet and gotten out numerous things to eat. I should also mention I found the broken egg mess by stepping in it. NICE. So I went to Walmart, which I loath to do, and bought a fridge lock. I am not sure it will be strong enough but we will give it a go.

Speaking of my son. We have finally determined the cause of all his mystery hives that pop up at random times. Sometimes they are bad. Sometimes they are one or two spots. The culprit? Cold. Thats right, I was stunned too. But after 2 popsicle instances, one cold water (pool) and cold fruit on his face I got to searching online. It is called Cold Urticaria (Urticaria is the fancy word for hives). Check it out here. So really there is nothing to do, except watch out for what he might be exposed to. The main thing to worry about is cold water like a really cold pool where his whoole body might have a severe reaction. They said in the articles that a doctor would do a ice cube test on the skin. I did that. After only 1 min, instead of 5-10 mins like was suggested he had a HUGE welt on his arm in the shape of an ice cube. Then I felt bad. I didn't mean for that to happen, I was just morbidly curious to what the ice cube test would say about him. Well it was a pretty acute reaction. We won't try it again.

Pictures from Friday night.

Cranberry Pecan Bread

This bread recipe is AWESOME! It is for the bread machine, but you can make it by hand.

Makes One (2-pound) Loaf

1-1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons salt
3.5 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons FLEISCHMANN'S Bread Machine Yeast

Directions

Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer, adding dried cranberries and nuts with flour.

Recommended cycle: Basic/white bread cycle, select medium/normal color setting.


Here is the conventional oven method: Same ingredients.
Directions
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, dry milk, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water and butter until very warm (120^o to 130^oF). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in cranberries, pecans, and enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Roll dough to 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Beginning from short end, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seam and ends to seal. Place, seam side down, in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375^oF for 35 to 45 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.

Bambino Slings

So I have been making slings for a while now and I really like it. Several people have been buying them and even more asking for them. I have also sold a few at a friends business Happybottomus. My husband encouraged me to sell them myself and so I decided to do it. I really do like making them and I challenge myself to find funky fabric and fun things to stand out. I also make a few plainer ones for the people that DON'T want to stand out. :) So my new website is www.bambinoslings.com It is not very exciting yet. My sister borrowed my camera for the weekend so I can't add all the slings yet. But check back in a few days and I will have 5-10 slings up for purchase. I am also trying to really keep the cost down to $30 or less so people can afford to buy them. I know when I bought my first sling I paid $45 dollars. It was hard to part with that kind of money when I had never tried it before. I also have the option on there to have a sling custom made if you have your own fabric or you want something in particular. So tell people about it and if someone asks you about your sling send them to my website for a local dealer, even if I didn't make yours.

In regular news, we have had a nice weekend. Friday night we went out for my sisters birthday. It was only the second time in 3 years I had been to a bar. We went to Howl at the Moon piano bar. It rocked! They have dueling pianos (2) playing and they do everything from country songs to Def Leppard to Come on Ilene. All songs that people can sing or dance to. They get the crowd very involved and it was great!! So happy 29th birthday Melanie!

Saturday we chilled. Massimo went fishing in the morning. In the afternoon we grilled burgers and veggies. Today, Sunday we went to 8am Mass. The kids did really good today. Dominic even sat through the whole thing. We went fishing for about an hour but it got hot on us. Then we had pasta for lunch. After lunch we went to the Aquatic Center and swam for a couple hours. We are having BBQ ribs, corn, beans and spinach salad for dinner. MMM!! Can't wait!

Tomorrow I promise pictures from Friday night and a new recipe.

This is your kid on caffeine.

This morning DH was in the bathroom and I was watching the kids. Gioia went to the upstairs bathroom and needed some help. I went up to help and while I was gone Dominic drank the rest of Massimos cup of coffee. The rest of the day was insane. He was hyper until about 2pm. Talking none stop, running. We went to the Mall play area and he was running, sweating. DH and I both felt bad. He was like a crackhead. Poor baby. It finally wore off and he is good as new. New rule in our house: Coffee cups stay up on the kitchen counter where the kids can't get them. We have other rules in our house that I never thought i would need. Like: You have to wear underwear. or Daddy wants to be alone when he poops, please don't bang on the door.

Here is a funny video clip that illustrates our morning with Dominic the coffee guy.

Mint chocolate Chip ice cream

For Mothers day I got a new ice cream freezer. I finally got to try it out today. Gioia requested Mint Choc. Chip flavor. It is one of my favorite as well so that is fine. It turned out wonderful. My ice cream freezer is good, but i had a couple problems at the end. It doesn't seem to be quite as heavy duty as the other one I had for 8 years. The ice cream tasted great though. I don't feel guilty letting my kids eat this kind either since it isn't full of preservatives and high fructose corn syrup.
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream:

1 Large container Half and Half
1 cup whipping cream
Milk
5 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 5 oz packages of mint (approximately 2-3 cups of loose leaves)
1 package dark choc chips

In a saucepan, heat 2 cups Half and Half with all the mint leaves. Heat until barely boiling and remove from heat. Let it sit 30 mins. The heat again, and let it sit 15 mins. In another bowl crack 5 eggs and beat with fork. Take about half the mint leaves out. Then whisk the 5 eggs into the hot mint/cream. Put the 1 cup whipping cream cold in the blender. Then add the mint/egg mixture. Blend well.

Pour everything back in the saucepan and mix in the sweetened condensed milk. Mix well. Then put everything in the ice cream freezer. Add the rest of the half and half container, then fill to fill line with milk.

Freeze the ice cream. When the ice cream freezer is done the ice cream will be firm but still soft. It is best to add the choc chips at the end. Stir them in or add to bowls.


Here are a couple pictures of the kids to add to the sweetness of this post.

Lawrence, KS

This weekend was really good. Yesterday we went to a 1st birthday party. The kids got to pet the goats, play on the playground and go on a horse/wagon ride. It was good.

Today my dad came to help Massimo wired the garage for the electric car. The kids and I cleaned up the kitchen and living room. We grilled steaks and burgers for lunch. After dad left Massimo had the idea to go to Lawrence to pick up his tool chest from Sears. So we hopped in the car and headed over there. It takes about 35 minutes from our house. The kids napped, we talked. It was relaxing. Then we went to downtown and walked around. We had pizza at Papa Kenos. We thought the pizza was kind of expensive until we realized that one slice was a gigantic thing! It was like a personal pizza. We got 5 pieces and brought home 3 pieces. HA HA!! I thought I couldn't eat another bite until we found the Ben and Jerry's place. MMMMM! So we managed to stuff down a Phish Food cone and a Cherry Garcia cone. The kids were a little wild on the way home. (might have been the phish food. LOL) All in all it was a great day. I love walking around Lawrence and if I was there with a couple hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket I would probably spend it all.

Belly is getting big. Hope to post a picture in the next few days. I am about 24 weeks. My back has been giving me trouble. It is like tight muscles and back ache. I think it might be partly due to my bra being way too tight. I got some bra extenders at Target and will try it tomorrow. Today I wore a tank with built in bra shelf and it better.

No credit cards.

So I just closed my credit card. I paid the balance on Friday and closed it today. FEELS great! DH still has a couple (one for the electric car and one with a small balance on it). I hope to be able to close one of his cards by the end of June. After the credit cards we are stuffing money into savings to save up for the down payment on building our new house next year. We hope to start building in April to May range and have it done about 6 months after that.

So for the first time since college I don't have a credit card at all! Wow I love it. When we get DH's cards paid off we will close the American Express, but the Mastercard we will probably leave open with only a 1000 dollar credit limit. It will be for emergencies only. But with a 1000 limit it won't get us in trouble.

Crazy Friday.

Today was supposed to be a lazy Friday. We had breakfast, then I made two veggie lasagnas. We were done by 10am. I was going to relax have lunch and run a few errands. Well then it got crazy. My sister came downstairs and told me that she hit the crub on the way home and ruined her tire. So then a blonde and a pregnant lady (us) tried to change the tire. A neighbor stopped and did it for us. We knew how, but couldn't get the jack in the right place. He had it done in less than 5 minutes. Then Mel had to drive to Lawrence to get a new wheel. Come back and get a new tire at Costco. Meanwhile, the kids and I: Went for Chinese for lunch. Delivered the lasagna to our friend. Took our recycling to the center. Sat in construction traffic. Went to Costco to meet Mel and get a few groceries. Sat in construction traffic some more. Finally come home. Have dinner which was already made (thank goodness). Make a sling for a friend. Finally relax.

This weekend we have planned a birthday party to go to tomorrow. Then sunday my dad is coming to help Massimo wire the garage for the electric car. It will be nice to have him not unplugging my dryer every day.

Springtime planting.

Yesterday we went to our land and planted some baby trees. I couldn't find any plastic tree guards for them (the store was out), so we sprayed Repel on it to try to keep the animals from eating them. I hope they grow. If not we will plant some more. They came from the Arbor Day and they are flowering trees.

On the way home we stopped at the Flower Farm and got our veggie plants. We got 2 roma tomato plants, 2 Brandywine Red tomatoes, 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash plant. We already have beans and spinach in. We also planted Cantaloupe seeds. These were the BEST cantaloupe ever. Organic seeds my mom got from her work. They were so sweet last year, like candy. I hope they do as well this year. So its just a little garden on the side of our house. Next year we plan to be at the land (or near by in a rental house). So next year I plan to have a GIANT garden. If need be I will have friends coop it with me, come and help me work in exchange for some produce.

Weekend at the Farm.

We went to visit my parents again this weekend. It was really fun. My dad found about 5 gallons of Morel Mushrooms. Mom and I fried mushrooms until we were sick of it this weekend. We were feeding my brothers too, so that took a lot of mushrooms. Saturday evening we all went fishing. Everyone caught something. Gioia just caught a couple little ones that we threw back. Dominic caught a nice size catfish on his little pole. It broke the line at the shore. We managed to hang on to it though. My mom will be sending pictures of the fishing. I have a couple of the kids kicking around at the farm though. They also went and rode on my dads new Ranger. It is the farm utility vehicles that look like golf carts, but nicer. It has a bed in the back for hay or buckets. It also has a dump feature so you can dump the bed out. It goes up to 45 mph I guess. He drove it the 10 miles or so to my brothers house. I told him he was the "old man on the mower" driving all over town that way. HA HA!!

Sorry to be such a blog slacker. Nothing really exciting is going on around here.

My mom came to visit Friday night and Saturday. Gioia had a dance recital on Saturday. She just did one song, but it was super cute. I am glad mom got to come.

Dominic was sick last week. Tuesday night thru Thursday he ran an fever and had this crazy rash on him. Then Friday it was pretty much gone, no fever. So i cancel the doctors appointment. Then Friday night and Saturday morning he gets these hives on him that go away with Benadryl. But each day they were less. By Sunday he didn't have any, except a few on his face for about 15 mins when he was throwing a fit and crying. My friend who is a Nurse Practioner said it was probably just left over from whatever virus he had. She must be right because he has been fine since then.

Now I wake up Sunday with a sore throat, Monday it is a stuffed up nose. Now today I feel better in the nose, but still kind of crappy with this cold. We have Volleyball tonight. I will probably go, don't know if I will play or just hang out. I will see how I feel. Thursday we have a cooking day here, rescheduled from last week. I am still planning to have it. I KNOW I will feel much better by then, right?? Right.

We had to bring the plants in last night. There was a frost warning. Great. I need to go out and uncover all the garden today. Guess that means I need to change out of my PJ's and put on some clothes. LOL!!

Electric Car Goodness.

Massimo drove his electric car to the Earthfest on Saturday and it was the sexiest electric car out there. It looked really professional. Lots of the other cars looked like, what is the word..?outdated? rudely slapped together?

Anyway, he drove it to work yesterday for the first time. 55 miles round trip. He still had plenty of juice left. He went about 60 on the way there. On the way home he went upwards of 65 and actually seemed to get better readings (on the voltage and battery usage) then.

He made a website about the stats of the car. You can feel free to share with anyone else interested. More pictures will be posted on there later.

http://www.evalbum.com/1590

I was also going to say that he estimated that it will cost about $7.oo a week in electricity and save about $30 a week in gas. That will save us about $1500 in a year. YEAH!!!

Culture clash meal.

Blame it on pregnant, Blame it on the new cookbook I got. Not really sure, but today we had a multi culture meal. To start with we made this awesome:

Moroccan Chickpea soup.
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 can chopped tomatoes
3 cans chickpeas
1 quart Veggie broth
2 tsp sugar
salt
black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2.5 oz fresh spinach leaves, chopped

Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, not browned. Add the spices and saute a minute or so. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, broth, sugar, salt and 10 grinds of fresh pepper. Bring to boil and simmer low for 45 minutes. Stir in butter. Remove soup from heat. Mash up a portion of the chickpeas and stir back into soup. Add the spinach and stir well. Let set for 5 minutes or so to cook the spinach. Serve.

Very easy soup from Dave Liebermans cookbook.

Then for the other dish we made:
Potstickers

Veggie Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek
3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 garlic clove, chopped fine
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 medium carrot, grated extra fine
1 (1 inch) piece of ginger, peeled and grated
2 tsp soy sauce

Heat oil in skillet. Cook leek about 4 minutes. add cabbage, garlic and vinegar, cook about 4 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Meat filling:

1 pound ground pork
1 egg
2 Tablespoons finely chopped scallions
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 (1/2 inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated.

Mix all ingredients and cook till meat is done in pan.

Use wonton wrappers and place filling in the middle. Wet corners and fold to close. You can use veggie and meat seperate or you can mix them together. IT MAKES A LOT of food. I would recommend HALVING the orginial recipe, unless you are making them for a large family or party. Or if you only make one (veggie or meat) then it would be fine. After you have stuffed the wontons, put a little oil in the skillet and cook for a few minutes, then add about 1/2 cup water and steam them until browned/done. You could probably bake these as well, if you prefer.

Sauce for dipping:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 piece fresh ginger, grated finely
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
juice of one large lemon

Mix all until sugar is dissolved. Serve with wontons.

Outdoor activities

I have been enjoying the springlike weather seems to have come back to us. Last night some moms and I played Volleyball. We joined a league and most of us haven't played since High School. We lost all 3 games, but had a really fun time anyway. I will post a picture of us next week. We call ourselves the Hippie Chicks and we got some cool Parenting shirts that match.

Today I mowed the yard for the first time this season. I planted some more flower bulbs also. About half of my perinneals have come back so far, I noticed today some green on a few more. I have high hopes for my flower garden this year. It is year 3 for it, so it really out to look spectacular.

FINISHED SAMPLER QUILT

So this is my second 100% finished quilt. I have two more quilt tops done. One is ready to quilt and I plan to start it this week. The second one, I have to do a border and then finish it. So far my quilting style has been what they call "stitch in the ditch", meaning sew over where your seams are. It worked WONDERFUL for my first quilt. It gave me more problems with my second one. I think I will try a different style next quilt and see how that looks. I think this quilt will be for Dominic. It is a little less than full size, little more than twin size and pretty gender neutral on the colors. It has a solid light blue background.

Finishing week.

So I am trying to finish my two quilt tops. It is actually going pretty fast on the first one. So I might actually get it done today or tomorrow. I cleaned the dining room table totally off and I am quilting it there. It works so much better cause it is a big table. Anyway, I will post a picture when I am done.

We have 4 cars, 1 working right now. ARRGH! So I am stuck home today and we missed our homeschool preschool group. Dang it.

DH will be slaving away tonight to make at least one of the other cars go!

Chicken Creole

I do like to cook. Especially when everyone in my family loves it. Today I made Chicken Creole and it turned out wonderful. I used this recipe: http://southernfood.about.com/od/cajuncuisine/r/bl80308e.htm I made a few changes, cooked and diced chicken for the shrimp, red bell pepper instead of green, can of Rotel instead of plain diced tomatoes, and Creole seasoning. I don't see how you can make it without Creole Seasoning. It made the dish. Of course, tonight is Moms Night Out. We are going to a Mexican place. Its ok though. I ate a bowl of the Creole at 3:30pm. I will be hungry again by 7pm, when we eat at the MNO.

Today was a do nothing gray dreary day. I did manage to cook, clean up the kitchen and clean up the living room. The vacuum bag was overfull and since I changed it, it doesn't work right. I also cleaned the filters and had to unplug the hose which was full. Geez. Didn't realize it had been so long since I last checked the bag.

What we been up to.

Here are a few pictures of what we been up to. First one is a picture of my Sampler Quilt we did for the Quilt A long. I started posting pictures of each block and got side tracked. ANyway, here is the top finished. Now I need to get backing and finish it. It has been my goal this week to start finishing some of my projects. I now have two quilt tops ready to quilt them. My hold up is that I need to buy a couple sheets to use for backing. I am going to do that tomorrow when we go to Dance Class.
This next picture is of Gioia shooting baskets in the back yard. Notice the Wonder Woman headband. Something funny she does is when someone asks her name she says this: "Gioia Didi GoodWolf Beast Kitty Mouse Roadie Wonder Woman Kara-Kovu Elaine". I swear it cracks people up, and they usually ask her to repeat it. Then she will say that people call her Gioia. All those names represent the personalities she has been or thinks she is.

This last one is Dominic painting. You can only paint paper for so long, then you have to paint yourself.

The 5 finger discount.

Gioia and I went to the grocery store this morning. I had to get only one thing. When we were in the check out she wanted candy but I told her no. Later at Dollar General I noticed she was walking with her hand in her coat. I asked what she had. It was a Rolo Candy she had stolen from the grocery store. So we had a talk about that and how that was stealing. Then we went back to the grocery store and paid for it. *kind of like her Aunt Mel huh?* She was worried and told me NOT to tell them she was stealing, only tell them she was sorry and we would pay for it. HA HA! So thats what we did.

In high school we used to call this getting the 5 finger discount. I knew a guy in school that stole stuff all the time. He got away with it A LOT, then he gets caught one day, stealing a bunch of gloves. What a moron!

Springtime!

I am so excited that Spring is here or starting to be here. We have been getting out and doing more already. Thursday we went to Science City at Union Station for the first time. We met up with Kellie, Abe and Ivy. It was really fun to hang out with them. Kellie is my cousin, but from the other side of the family so we really haven't ever had a chance to get to know each other very well. Turns out we have tons in common and had a great time. Science City was way cool and the kids didn't want to leave. We were there over 3 hours and I was tired of chasing the kids.

Then Saturday we got to go to Deanna Rose Farm. It is a children's farm with goats to pet and things to explore. The kids love it and we go a lot every year. Oh and its free to get in, so that is really nice too.

We were sick at the first of the week. Now DH has come down with it. Lovely. So we are going to miss our preschool coop on Monday. Several families have it and we have to stop sharing germs so we will stay home.

We got some organic fertilizer from a mom that sells it. You dilute it in water and put it on the plants. We did this to our flowerbed and it stunk to high heaven. I mean it was really bad. Well right, it is fertilizer you say. Organic, made from FISH nasty fertilizer. Seriously, DH said we can't put it on the yard because our neighbors will hate us. So I am saving it for the flowers and garden only.

Catch up pictures.

Here are a couple pictures I been meaning to post. The first one is Easter Sunday of the kids. The second one is from this weekend. We went out to our land to hang out and be outside for a bit.

Dutch Oven goodness.

So pretty much everything tastes wonderful cooked in a Dutch Oven. Camping food, stews, all good things. So today I was hungry for some kind of soup/stew. I had the stuff for chili and was about to make it when I saw the recipe for Beef and Barley soup. Just so happens I had bought some barley. So I made it with a few changes. I added Veggie Stock instead of beef bouillon cubes. I also used fresh carrots and celery instead of frozen veggies that the recipe called for. It turned out WONDERFUL! Really hit the spot. We ate it with salad and garlic bread.


Also in honor of April Fool's Day, we decided to make treats instead of tricks. So we whipped up a batch of cookies. They are dark chocolate macadamin nut oatmeal cookies. I also used Stevia instead of sugar. I have to say they aren't quite as good as usual. I am out of Vanilla. Bummer. Still pretty great cookies though.

Food Journal

So my midwife asked me to keep a food journal for 3 days. Nothing special, she has everyone do it to see if you need to make any changes. I started yesterday and thought I was doing pretty good. I was severely lacking in the vegetable department. So today we had salads for dinner. Actually we had big chef salad with ham, chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, and cheese on them. MMM!! Then to balance it all out I made homemade Crab Rangoon. Fried, yes, but fried in olive oil. Hey the cream cheese and crab count as protein. LOL!!!

Green Eggs and Ham

So my 4.5 year old is reading. She has been really reading for a couple months now. I am so excited about it. Of course, most people think it is only a parental pride thing but really it is a LOT more than that. I love to read. I read all the time. If its not a book, I am reading on my computer. I read to the kids. Gioia loves to read as well. From an infant she would bring me books and just want me to read all day. Dominic is just getting into books. It took him longer but he really enjoys them now. SO I have been waiting for the day when Gioia can start reading and really get to experience stories and exploring worlds in her books.

We started with Bob Books and some Dick and Jane stuff. She has really done well with them. So the other night we were going to read stories for bedtime. I picked Green Eggs and Ham. The kids love it, DH likes to read it. We asked Gioia to read the first page. It says "I am Sam." Then she precedes to read the entire 60 page book to us! I am serious. I was stunned and SO HAPPY! Of course we had to help her with some of the really hard words, but basically after we told them to her one time she would remember them the next time. It was so cool. I had to go get my sister and have her come watch. Then the next morning she was reading it again. I videotaped her for a minute or so reading. I asked her to read a little louder, so she is practically shouting.

Anyway. That is my mama brag of the week. :)

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter everyone! Well it is 8:20am. We have Hunted Easter eggs, went to Church, had breakfast at church and are back home. Sunrise Mass was at 6:30am. So we decided why not? We rolled out early. The kids hunted their easter eggs really quick and then we rushed off to church. We don't do the Bunny thing. I just told them mom and Dad hid easter eggs for you and they are totally fine with that. They don't care who does it, so long as they get presents. HA HA!! I did take some pictures but haven't got them loaded on here yet. I know we are all taking a nice Easter nap this afternoon. MMM!!! Knights of Columbus puts on a breakfast (free, they just ask for donations). It was really good. They had pancakes, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, milk and juice. Dominic ate really well and I stuffed myself.

We aren't going to see family this year as traveling to Italy took all our travel vibes for the month. Massimos family was busy with the in-laws so that didn't matter anyway.

Nasosympatico

So next time you have a sinus infection you don't need antibiotics. I yes, I did say that. :) YOu need Nasosympatico and a few homeopathics. Here is an image of a lady doing Nasosympatico. Notice she only has one Q-tip in her nose. I had 3 in each side. That makes 6 folks. I was brave and it seriously only hurt a tiny bit when he put it in the sore side of my face. But I feel 80% well today only 24 hours later. I am sure by tomorrow or the next day I will be AWESOME!! :)

Today it is almost 70 degrees. So we went to a coffee shop at a church, they have an indoor play area for the kids. We had a picnic lunch there. Then we walked around the pond and feed the geese. The kids played on the playground and now they are sound asleep in the car. I just left them there. I am sitting outside soaking up the sun waiting for them to wake up. Yes, the car windows are down. :)

K&Company

A friend of my moms is a high up in K&Company. I believe she is Creative Director? Anyway, at a recent get together at my moms house she saw some of the scrapbooking things I did for Christmas gifts and she said "She needs some K&Company stuff." GUESS WHAT?? She sent me some stuff. It is really nice stuff too! I haven't scrapped anything since Christmas. After making 4 calendars all scrapped I was exhausted. Now I have the motivation to do a few more pages. That and all the great Italy pictures. I can really do some fun layouts. Here is all my loot! THANKS PAM!!!

Food blog

I love to cook new and interesting things. I was searching for Food Blogs once and found a good one. The lady moved and stopped posting. So I moved on too. The other night I found this blog: http://smittenkitchen.com/
So far I have gotten 4 recipes from this blog I am going to try. I made this, Pasta Puttanesca.
It was wonderful. Today I am going to try the Chicken and Mushroom Marsala, and also the puff pastry with custard and fresh berries on it. I can't wait!!!

Last night we went to a birthday party for a boy we know. It was pretty fun. They had it at the Childrens Museum, the kids had a blast, and they had cupcakes. What is better than that?

Finally closing!

Well its the day we been waiting months for. We will finally be closing on our land today. Yippee! We have decided to wait until next year to sell our house and build the new one. I think it is a good choice. I hope it works out ok. This housing market being so unpredictable, one never knows whether it will be better or worse next year. For us it is harder than most people cause we have 2 (almost 3) kids and the 2 large dogs. So we can't rent an apartment. We will have to rent a house or something where we can have the pets with us. We are hoping to be able to rent something close to our property then we can go out and work on the house every day or whenever we need to. All of this also means we have a year to figure out all the perfect things we want our house to have. We got a lot of good ideas about things we like when we were in Italy. Looking at the homes there was nice.

So this afternoon we are closing on the land. Then we are going out to eat to celebrate! This year we will be out there a lot just letting the kids run around. Possibly planting some trees. Camping out there with friends. I can't wait.

Italy Pictures.

Well I took quite a few pictures. Actually looking at them. It doesn't seem like much, but we were sick and my mind wasn't into it some days. This will give you the short version of some of the cool things we saw. The town in the pictures of the group Family was Trieste. It is near the border. They actually went into Slovenia and had lunch. It was about 30 minutes away. There is sea on one side of this town and mountains starting on the other. Massimo didn't take a picture of it, but our Gioia was really excited that the sea had all these Jellyfish in it. I guess it is quite common to see them all bunched up by the shore. Dominic and I didn't get to make it on this outing because we were sick that day. It is where my husbands father and his half sisters Mia and Gioia live. His dad sells products from Sardegna. It is one of the Italy islands and is where Massimo was born. There is a picture of him working at his booth at the market.

Link to Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24599218@N06/sets/

We are back!

Wow. Where do I start. It is too much to tell in one post so I will do the good and bad version.

Good:
1. We got to see Rome. It was pretty neat. Loved the old structures.
2. We got to see all our family.
3. We got to eat wonderful Italian food all week.
4. The kids were wonderful on the planes and traveling.
5. We did excellent with our Italian. We mostly held our own with the help of pocket dictionaries.
6. Massimo's dad and sisters visited with us two days. It was good. For the first time he might actually try to form a relationship with us.


Bad:
1. Rome is really expensive.
2. The dollar's value sucks and the conversion rate is awful.
3. Traveling all those hours by plane sucks.
4. We got sick. Turns out it is Influenza. The kids and I are still sick.
5. One of our flights was cancelled and we had to buy new tickets out of pocket.
6. One of our flights was delayed and hour as well.
7. Rome airport, big bad, lots of stairs.

I promise pictures in the next few days.

Uno Giorno

ONE DAY!! WHEEW! We are so excited. We are mostly packed. I have be printing out directions to the hotel and things like that. I have a list of places I would like to go and see. Charged up the DVD player and my video camera. It is just going to be wonderful!

Heard from my husbands sister in Italy and we are to call them to set up a time to met up when we get there. We plan on asking them to come see us. That way we don't have to drive an hour to their house.

Due Giorni

2 Days! We are getting so close. I plan to pack our suitcases tonight, that way I have tomorrow if we are missing anything.

Here is my thoughts that I shared on my moms board this morning:

So apparently there is no where to get dollars exchanged for Euros in Kansas City. This is ridiculous. I mean, I know we are not a huge port city or anything, but surely there are plenty of upper class people in KC (leawood) that travel to Europe occasionally.

What a pain in the ass. I was trying to find a way to convert our money before we get there because we will be arriving in Italy on a Sunday. The banks will be closed.

Good NEWS: As I was typing this post DH found out that a fellow Marine at work has 100 euros (150 dollars) he came back from Spain with. SO we are going to exchange with him. That should get us by for several days.

Damn though, times like this I really feel like KC is hick-ville trying to pretend it is a city. :roll:

And we will never change the USA to Euros anytime in my lifetime, because the old white men running the country believe it to be a sign of Armageddon to have one world currency. :roll:

Plus I have a freakin' migraine this morning. UGH! I am going to see the Chiropractor today. I think it is coming from my neck.

Tre Giorni

3 days people! 3 days until we will be on a plane with small children! What? you don't want to come? Ha ha!! I think it will be fine. We have lots of snacks and things to play with.

I have had no energy or motivation for these last few days. Lucky for me, the kids fell asleep on the way home from dance class this morning. So I unloaded them and got to take a nap. I feel better but still dragging.

We had an appointment with our Midwife last night. She is wonderful. We are excited to be working with her.

Quattro Giorni

4 days! This is getting good. Today is more laundry and getting ready to go.

Last night we were talking to my MIL who said that the family is coming to visit the USA in August. Rita, Cinza and Diego (and their two kids) will be here for almost 2 weeks. It will be great. We are already thinking of places to take them. I don't feel like Kansas/Missouri is very exciting place to visit in the USA. We do have Oceans of Fun that the boys might like. I believe they are 13 and 8 or something like that.

Cinque Giorni

5 Days until Italy! Today we accomplished going to Walgreens and getting our travel toiletries. Toothpaste, razors, that kind of stuff. We also started gathering things for the kids carry on. We need snacks, juice, crayons, color books and a couple new books to read.

WOO HOO! We are on the countdown!

What to do.

Knowing what to do with life situations is really hard sometime. We supposed to be buying land. We really like it and I think we would like living there. BUT. The county is being difficult and stubborn. Not so fun when you think of having to go through them to build a house and all that. :( So now we are at the point of several decision impacting the others. LIke A) do we try to sell our house and move to a rental? b) Do we try to build our house this year? c) I will be having a baby in september so.....that is a big factor as well.

BLAH!! We are going to call and have a pow-wow with the builders we think we want to use and get a feel for the process and what they think about the county rules and that kind of jazz. It is so many unknowns and I am a planner and do-er. I hate to wait around for someone else to get there shit together. I know there will be lots of that when we build though. UGH.

Looks like we ultimately may wait until next spring to build so we will have everything lined up the way we REALLY want it.

Its alive!!

Update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X9krcjmxTY

The electric car lives! Massimo took it on its maiden voyage today. He had to take it to get the wheels aligned. It still has a few mechanical quirks he needs to fix. Such as the heat, radio, the brakes need more work, things like that. I have a video I am trying to upload to You Tube. I will post about it when I get it working. It is just a 30 second clip of the car driving down the road. Its pretty exciting.

We are on the countdown to Italy. I am also on the countdown to actually having to speak some Italian. Luckly, most places people speak some english. So i figure between the two we will get by fine. We leave in 12 days. WOO HOO!

We had a nice weekend with my mom. Got to go visit my Aunt Roberta. She is in a nursing home. She is doing excellent and might be able to move to assisted living at some point soon. I hope so, she misses her pets and seems really bored at the home.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! I hope everyone has a good one. I don't have much to say. We are on the countdown to listing our house for sale and also for our vacation to Italy. It is going to be great fun!

It is finally sunny again today and the kids are outside playing. Says it is 47 and feels like 39. But the wind isn't blowing much and the kids think it feels pretty good out there. I just looked at Weather.com and the weather in Rome is upper 50's getting into the 60's for the weekend and SUNNY! WOOO HOO! I hope it stays that way (or warmer) in two weeks when we are there! I am so excited ya'll! I am taking lots of pictures. I am taking both my digital and film cameras. Probably my video camera also.

I am working on completing another quilt top. This one is from my Quilt a long. It should be about twin bed size. So I shouldn't have a problem quilting that one. I need to quilt the Futures So Bright quilt I made. I think it is about full to queen size. So i need to measure it and get the backing materials for it.

Park day!

To brighten up this gross blah weather day. I am posting picture of our 72 degree park day yesterday. Missouri and Kansas are expecting snow tonight. Wonderful. I am glad we got our Vitamin D yesterday.

68 Degrees!!!

Holy cow its 68 degrees outside! This is awesome. I think I will take the kids to the park. I can't believe it. It is supposed to be 31 and snowing tomorrow. Welcome to Kansas/Missouri!

Maybe I can post some sunny February pictures when we get back!

Tacos at 3pm.

Hey all. I am still here. Still alive. I actually haven't felt that bad at all, just unmotivated. I am already up to 8 weeks! Wow Times fun when your having flies! HA HA! I was just thinking you know you are pregnant when you are eating Tacos at 3 in the afternoon. I left all the food out because I know I will want more in about an hour. I am sure there are lots of people that are eating at 3pm today, because they partied last night for the start of Mardi Gras festivities and they just now feel good enough to eat. BTDT. My sister was bartending last night, so I hope she made a bunch of money.

We got out taxes done finally. They turned out pretty good. Our refund was about what we expected. We need to adjust things a little more for next year but shouldn't be a problem. Turbo Tax is wonderful. Although I get really sick of everyone nickel and diming me, pay 40 for the software. Then we had to pay 17 to file state electronically, and 17 to file the federal electronically. Then if you would like that deducted from your refund, its 29.50? What? No thanks, I paid with my debit card for free.

I guess today is the Superbowl. We don't watch it because we don't have TV stations. We limit our viewing to movies only. To be honest, I don't know when I ever had the time to watch TV in the first place. I got the new Stephen King book "Duma Key". So far it is good. I am on page 136 already.

Oh I went and got a massage on Saturday. It was great! Just what I needed. If I was rich I would get a massage once a week. Oh yeah.

Futures so bright.

I finally finished the quilt top of my Future's So Bright quilt. It is a quilt another momma did and posted on her blog. I love it! It is so fun to look at! Here is it. I love how the like squares make a row running down it. The big squares make a row the other direction. Click on the picture to see it bigger.


And here is what sleepy looks like. Dominic fell asleep on his dads shoulders.

Skate City

My sister and I took Gioia skating Sunday afternoon. It was really fun. G had about forgot how to do it but by the time we were done she was doing pretty good. Her favorite thing was the Chicken Dance. We had some pizza there and a great time. There were at least 5 kids having birthday parties. Our original plan was to go ice skating but she chickened out on that. She said she didn't want to fall down. So we did roller skating instead. She still fell down, but no as much.

The rest of our weekend was pretty much hanging out. We have had colds for 2 weeks and then last night Gioia threw up. Lovely. :( I hope that doesn't hang around.

I went Friday to a lunch potluck and ate some new foods. Friday afternoon I was throwing up. I asked a friend what she put in the food. Quinoa! I am allergic to it, it makes me throw up. This time I only ate two cookies with it in it. So really it was not alot. I seem to be getting more sensitive to it each time I am exposed. I am never going near it again. I will have to be alot more careful about eating new foods.

Viewing Day

Today was Gioia's dance class viewing day. It was so fun. The girls danced on the stage and the parents got to sit and watch it. They just did what they normally do for their class. It was cute. I videotaped it of course. For their recital they are doing "Walk the Dinosaur". The theme for the recital is Totally 80's!

We had a meeting last night for approval of the land split that needed to be done so we can buy our property in Missouri. There were several neighbors there all worried about it and protesting it. It still passed because no one really had a valid reason for it not to. Most were just worried we would divide it further and make a subdivision. UM NOT!! Damn that is why we are buying the land. But of course, I understand their concern and they don't know us. I hope that when they see how well we take care of the land, planting trees, gardening and such they will appreciate us as neighbors.

Forced annulment keeps couple apart..

So I read this story on Yahoo today. It is very sad. The situation for women in Saudi Arabia is just awful in general.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Two years ago, a knock on Fatima and Mansour al-Timani's door shattered the life they had built together.

It was the police, delivering news that a judge had annulled their marriage in absentia after some of Fatima's relatives sought the divorce on grounds she had married beneath her.

Link to the whole story here. STORY

So here is what really bothers me. These people have it so bad. The women have to have permission from their family to marry. These people are FIGHTING to try to be able to have their family back together. Yet, here in America everyone I know gets divorced at a blink of an eye. I think it all comes down to respect. Respect for that other person in the marriage. If you respect that other persons feelings then you aren't going to yell at them or hit them. If you respect your partner you won't go cheat on them. If you actually mean to be married forever, then you work on problems when they come up instead of giving up. I have known two couples over the last year that "Fell out of love" with each other. AKA. Didn't work on keeping their love and relationship alive.

I know that I am not an expert. But I have been married for 7 years now and I think that is pretty damn good start. It hasn't been easy and I admit that at the beginning of it there were times I thought about walking out the door. So what is the nations problem that Americans have such a high divorce rate and a lack of respect for the other person? Maybe we are all spoiled brats that we have all these luxuries here. Just get divorced and move on. Get a new man. Now not to be labeled cold hearted, I do want to say that I am sorry for the person in the relationship that is the hurt one. The one who was cheated on, or treated awful.

I just found the above article something that made me feel grateful that I can marry my husband and love him forever and not have to worry that a family member could annul it for me.

I just might make it after all..

Starting to feel a little more human. Ugh this has been miserable. My hubby was so sweet that he came home early yesterday and let me nap for a couple hours. Then he helped me put the kids to bed so I could go to bed early. Afrin nasal spray has been my best friend. I LOVE IT! I can breathe! AHH! I changed all the sheets and pillow cases. I hope we can keep from passing it to everyone in the house.

Today is Dh's birthday. I had some great plans, but being sick ruined that. Instead we just went to Olive Garden. It was great. We all felt pretty good today. Dh thinks he might be getting my cold but hopefully it won't be this bad for him.

Also you know how it is when you feel all sorry for yourself and you get one of those "messages". I got one today. A sweet friend from high school (a real good friend of my sister) her mother is in bad shape at KU Med right now. She is having a liver transplant tonight. So if you read this say a prayer for her. She wasn't even sick a month ago. After Christmas she thought she had the flu. NOW!? Liver Failure! It is very sad. SO say a prayer for Debbie.

I could be dieing....

OH MY GOSH! I feel like ass. NO WAIT! Before you start making the Duh your pregnant comments... this has NOTHING to do with pregnancy. I have a horrible sinus cold. My head is plugged up, yet I can breathe through my nose? What is up with that? My head hurts and feels like a migraine brought on by the pressure. Ugh. My hubby just called on the phone and he is getting me some cold medicine and I am going to go take a nap in a few minutes! YYEAHH! It sucks because normally I would kick this thing with some homeopathic meds, some Oregano Oil and a few others. Well I can't take some it when pregnant. Great. So i suffer.

Oh and did I mention that Migraines make me feel nauseous. Nice. If I puke I am absolutely sure my head with pop off. Explode. Done. So send me some feel better vibes.

Furry happy Monsters and Triangle

This has to be one of my all time favorite Sesame Street Videos. The first video is with REM. I love REM. They are great fun. Anyway, enjoy this You Tube clip. The second one is James Blunt singing My Triangle. It is also great!

Good news

Our family has some good news. Here it is.


We are expecting #3 sometime middle to end of September. We are really excited. We planned to wait and tell everyone in a few months, but you know how that goes. ONe friend found out, then more asked or figured it out. We decided it was silly to try and be sneaky so we called our moms last night and told them. My sister in law was the most excited. She has 3 kids and regrets not having more. We are really happy. There are a ton of moms on my parenting board that are pregnant this summer/fall. I have 3 cousins pregnant too. AND THEY ARE ALL SISTERS! How crazy is that? As usual, I feel sad when I think of telling my good friend Jackie. She and her husband have been trying to get pregnant for about 7 years now. :(

Divine Romance

Wheee!!! Last night I went out to a friends house for a Divine Romance party. It is lotions, toys and other fun adult stuff. It was pretty clean since there were babies in attendance. By law she couldn't bring the really adult stuff, but you can look at the catalog or online and order it. It was still really fun. I got some Pheromone Fragrance. It smells awesome, but we found out it really relaxes my husband instead of turning him on. It is pretty funny actually. May be just what I need to wear around him, his job has been stressing him out lately. I got to see a couple friends I hadn't seen in a while. That was nice. 4 men/spouses even came. Massimo was in no way interested in going to that kind of party. As irony would have it, my parents were having a Nut fry last night. As in cow nuts, Mountain oysters and eating them. Always a good time at the nut fry. Again, not something my husband is interested in. I think he is afraid of nuts. LOL!!

Ok. This is getting way crazy for a Sunday post. So I will go now. Maybe back with pictures later.

HOLY FAT THIGHS BATMAN!

We got our Girl Scout cookies tonight. We were looking at the ingredients to see just HOW bad they are for you. The chocolate peanut butter ones are 150 calories for 2 cookies and that is a serving size. 75 calories per cookie. *ACK** We are not talking about large hand size cookies either. Small 3 bite cookies, or 1 bite, you choose. :) Plus the first ingredient is Sugar. AHH!! Next year I promise not to buy any.

Cleaning frenzy!

My sister helped me get the house back under control this week. She cleaned and dusted. I took down the Christmas stuff. We moved a bookshelf to the kids room. We boxed up all my books off the shelf. We bought space bags and put alot of stuff in storage. My baby diapers, baby blankets, kids clothes they have outgrown. Mel painted a wall in the kids room that was all scratched up. We got alot of things done. Today I am doing lots of laundry and I bleached the kitchen sink. I will NEVER have another of those white kitchen sinks. I hate them! After a few days they are brown and stained. I have to get out the soft scrub and bleach it. Next time I want stainless steel that I can just wipe down.

Gonna work on some sewing too. I think I am really close to finishing my Mile-a-minute quilt. Which did not go at a mile a minute! LOL! I need seven more blocks. I know I have enough scraps to make at least one. I also have to do my 8th block for my quilt a long, sampler quilt.

Andiamo a Italia!

WHEEE!!! It is so exciting. We are on the countdown for the Italy trip. We leave March 1st. Less than two months. My Italian speaking is nowhere near as good as I hoped. So I am cracking down on the kids and I. Massimo can get on board or be highly embarrassed when he can't keep up. His family was sad last time that he didn't remember very much. He was born in Italy and it is his first language. It is in his brain, he just needs to dig it out.

I booked our hotel room for Rome. Click here and be all jealous! We thought we wanted something outside of town in a rural area to explore, but reality made us realize that with small children it is better to be next to all the public transportation. The airport is about 20 miles or so outside of town, but we can take the train into Rome, so hopefully it won't be any big deal.

I had a major scare concerning all this last night. When I booked the airline tickets I had to call on the phone because Expedia was acting up. So the lady was supposed to email my itinerary. I never got it. It was back in September. I remembered that my credit card statement had the airline info on it. SO I called US Airways and asked them to look up my info so I could print it out, etc.. The can't find it. They search by ticket number, credit card number, all that. Finally they find it. After 30 agonizing minutes. The other concern I had was the flight stops were listed wrong on my credit card. Luckily, when they finally found out tickets, the flights were all correct. Turns out they misspelled our last name on the tickets. They spelled it with a T instead of P. I was so relived they found the tickets that I forgot to ask her to change it. Oh well, I will call again today and have them correct it. Shouldn't take long since I have all the info and confirmation number in front of me.

61 degrees today

WOO HOO~ It was 61 degrees today in Kansas. IN JANUARY! Nice! I swear it is Gods way of saying Don't give up winter isn't forever! Spring is just around the corner. DH and the kids and I went to the park for a long hike about an hour. It was great. The guys both got their hair cut today. Dominic was a champ. He held really still and asked for his sucker the whole time. LOL!

I am working on a really fun quilt but it is taking forever. I have about 3/4 of the top blocks cut and sewn together. Then I will have to piece it all together. Sew that. Then find a backing and actually do the quilting. I think it will take me about a month or so to get it all finished, maybe more. The quilt-a-long is back on. We had a week off for Christmas. I got block 7 finished. There are only 12 blocks. So in another 6 weeks I should have that finished as well. Then the lady says she thinks we will do a quilt-a-long with various star patterned blocks. That DEFINITELY sounds cool. I have been thinking of making my brother a quilt for his birthday. It is in June. So I might be able to finish the star one by then. It would have to be western style, or some print/colors suitable for a bachelor cowboy. If it is stars I could even do Americana style. I will just have to look around and see what kind of fabric I can find. I will post a picture of block seven tomorrow if I remember.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

Happy New Year to all our friends out there. Hope 2008 is great for everyone!

We are recovering from traveling two weekends in a row to family. We still have one more stop next weekend at my Dads house. My little brother turns 18.

I am working on 3 different quilts at the same time. I might get them finished some time in the next year. HA HA!