Year at a Glance

Well...it may be a bit more than a glance...I tried to get it down to ONE picture per month, but it just didn't turn out that way...However, looking back over everything, it just makes my heart so happy that we really did have a great year!  Thank you Lord for the good we had this year...

January:  started the year off with snow ice cream...what a great beginning!

February: onto the project crazy mom mode...here are those Narnia dresses again

March:  brought this little lady...  She has had quite a year herself, I believe...mainly trying to outrun and escape from Little Munchkin all day!

April:  brought the warm weather again...since we were still homeschooling, we started going outside for some quality "learning" time.

May:  My sweet Peanut turns 5 and I can't believe that she's headed to school in the fall!!!

June:  Little Munchkin turns 2 and the garden is on it's way!!!  I think I could have chosen a million different garden pictures, but I just narrowed it to this...cuz she was in it!

pea pickin' time in June as well!

July:  Oh July...we celebrated our 10 year anniversary which was just wonderful!...but, we also continued that garden stuff...remember the farm market??

or the ginormous zucchinis???

August:  ohhhhhhhhh our sunflowers exploded this month and the girls went off to school...this might have been the hardest month of the year...

September: Soccer got into full swing...Peanut's first time and I couldn't believe how tall Sweetpea was getting...

 

Little Munchkin was becoming my little buddy around town while big sisters were in school!

October:  One of my favorite months because we get to get out the sweatshirts and the bonfires begin...our annual neighborhood leaf pile is always a great time as well:

November:  My first born turns 8 and I can't believe it!

Little Munchkin keeps me company and we start going on our own little adventures...

December:  This month was chok-rull of stuff...hard to choose pics to represent this month...so I just put these 2 in here because it's the beginning with the cutting down of the tree and ending with Christmas!!!

Have a great evening everyone...and happy new year...welcome 2010!!!

Just a crazy thing

I went shopping yesterday...

for 7 hours...

Yes, you read that correctly...SEVEN HOURS...

My sister went with me...

It wasn't like the FUN shopping that you get to do before christmas...it was more like the drag your feet, pull your hair out, scream at the top of your lungs type of shopping that you have to do AFTER christmas when you have umpteen million things that need to be returned because they either didn't fit, didn't work OR in my case, you knew that they went on sale and you can get a better deal...

UGH

UGH UGH UGH

I got a lot accomplished...but in the process, I had a few hours of sadness...

Here's my story...

My wonderful friend in Kenya sent me a pair of beautiful earrings for my birthday back in September.

I LOVE them...

I'm not a fancy girl...I'm not used to dangling things hanging from my ears...they are so pretty...they hang fairly long with a black/brown flat/circular stone at the bottom...Once they are in, I don't even feel them anymore...

and therefore, I'm NOT used to these things being ripped from my ear whilst trying on clothes and not realizing it until 2 store later!

I wear these earrings almost everyday...considering that my wardrobe consists of nothing but white, brown, black or ivory...they go with everything...AND, they make me feel stylish even though I'm pretty much in sweatpants or jeans on most days...(and YES, I know that wearing dangling earrings with sweatpants is probably definitely a fashion faux pas...but, remember, I said I'm not a fancy girl)

Anyway...While in the 50th store of the evening, I realized that I was missing an earring...my sister and I started calling the other stores where I had tried on different clothing items...noone had turned in an earring.

I was so sad...wasn't sure how I was going to break it to my friend in Kenya either..."UMmm, Sara...remember those beautiful earrings that you not only purchased, but then had to pay an arm and leg to have them sent over to the U.S. for me for my birthday ONLY 3 months ago...yeah, I lost them!"

I wasn't looking forward to it to say the least...

After being up late (scribbling a blog/journal about it in the middle of the night laying in bed in the night) I prayed that God would just let me let it go and sleep...

low and behold, the next morning...there was the earring on the floor of the bathroom...must've gotten stuck in something I was wearing and came out when I changed for bed...what I don't know is if I actually slept with it on me all night or if it fell out the night before???

nevertheless, it's back and I'm happy once again...it's like the icing on the cake of all my returns and good deal exchanges!

Just thought I'd share the story because I seem to have misplaced some of my "wit and humor" and I feel badly cuz I haven't blogged all that much recently...so, I'm checking off my list that I blogged, albeit without the sarcastic humor...but, I have my earring back and I'm wearing my yoga pants...life is good!

Numbers 5+

Okay...I've decided that I better make this my last post concerning our December celebrations...it's just getting a bit monotonous...even though it was a blast for the fam!

So...Christmas Eve has always been special for Italian Stallion...it's the 7 course meal that does it I think...the eating all day longgggg...

We start out by making the gingerbread train (see the first post for the anatomically correct gingerbread man) I found the idea in a family fun magazine (not for the gingerbread man...but, the TRAIN!!!)

Nana used to do a house with each little family...but it got to be a bit much...now we just raid her house and make a disastrous mess in a span of about 45 minutes...there is so much sugar consumed that we usually need to take a walk outside in the bitter cold just to calm the kiddos down!!!

Once the train is assembled...and the walk is complete...we get dressed up for the christmas eve service...the girls love to get all dressed up again in their capes and muffs...

And then the eating begins...anti-pasta, wedding soup, lasagna, salad....it just goes on and on and on...

After Daddy rolls us to the car, we read our Advent book and head to bed...in the morning, the girls break through the "wrapped up" family room and the presents begin...

This year instead of having a scavenger hunt for a present...we did a scavenger hunt for the "What God Wants for Christmas boxes"...it was sooo much fun...and we got to end our christmas giving/getting time in a really cool way!

The whole day was spent just playing games, singing, watching christmas movies, making a birthday cake for Jesus, eating leftovers and all the cookies from earlier in the week...we ended that night with putting up the glow in the dark stars that the girls each got in their stockings...they had such fun glowing them on their ceiling as they went to bed that evening...

I think this christmas was one of my most favorites!!!  Thank you God for a great family!!!

p.s. I DID get my hats and scarves done for the girlies...still working on the mittens and headbands...but I was glad to have finished something for them to at least open on christmas day!

Number 4

Are you getting bored yet?

I have a whole BOOK that I printed from shutterfly that documented the TWENTY-FIVE December traditions for our family...It's Advent the Italian way...I LOVE having traditions and things that my children will always remember...

however I do understand that what seems awesome to me, may not be all that thrilling to my many  readers...but, I figured, since I have about a gazillion pictures...what better way to share than to stick them on the blog for all to see?  Well, that and you can check out the entire album on facebook...your choice!

After a trip to the doctor's for my pink eye that I contracted while back home...lovely I know...We had our annual cookie decoration time...

our cousins come over and we go to town with frosting and sprinkles...this year Little Munchkin was able to join in the fun...although I think she decorated a total of TWO cookies...and ATE a total of two cookies before she was so sugared up she couldn't see straight.  We don't necessarily monitor the "amount" of decor that goes on the cookies...I guess to put it mildly, there were mountains of frosting, m'n'm's and red hots all over those SUGAR cookies!  YUMMMMM

Next came our Christmas Eve celebrations...stay tuned...

Number 3

And we're up to number 3 now with the little Italian family December Celebrations....

We went up north early this year..I don't know the last time we went BEFORE Christmas...but after the snow fun, we packed up the ENTIRE house and headed up.

It still amazes me how much STUFF we can accumulate and take for only a couple nights away...whether it's one night or a week, it's the same amount of stuff...we had pillows, blankies, more pillows, stuffed animals, American Girl dolls, webkins...these were all the NECESSITIES of course...not to mention things like underwear, toothbrushes, shoes...

We had a couple of meltdowns over which pillow we were going to take when Daddy finally put a limit on what the girls were "packing"...At one point Sweetpea said, "This is just the hardest thing I've ever had to do." (this about choosing between her doggie pillow and her doggie stuffed animal pillow)...Honey, if this is the hardest thing you've ever had to do...you are beyond blessed, pick it and let's go!!!

At this point, I am sad to say that I embarked on a lesson of those less fortunate than us which spurned me onto a pedestal speech which brought my daughters to tears...ahhh that Christmas "mercy" spirit that flows from me in those frustrating times...Praise God for Italian Stallion who came to their rescue and put their mother in her place quickly and quietly before I was able to put together a slide show and music to make my point!!!

She made a choice, we got packed and we were off...

We had a great visit with my dad...the twins had some first steps...we saw my dad's new establishment which is quite nice...Jackalopes...we ate more than we should have and then headed back to my mom's house...It had been awhile since my brother and I had been sleeping under our old roof at the same time...although, now it's our children that are in the same room keeping each other awake at night.

We woke up the next morning and had celebrations...and then my girls cried half way home because they missed Grandma and Auntie...

This particular trip got our Little Munchkin all mixed up with the Christmas Story though...Every time we mention Joseph now, she always includes "and Jason"...oh well..

Number 2

Well...following that beautiful Nutcracker evening...the snow decided to stick around and we had some fun with it!  We were supposed to be leaving that Saturday morning for my parents, but I couldn't just ignore the snow and we WERE NOT going to pack all the snow paraphernalia for the trip north...

So, we headed out to the snow for our traditional snowman making fest!

I must admit, that it really is one of the most fun things that I like to do with the girls...which is weird because I don't like being cold nor wet...and I wouldn't necessarily call myself an outdoorswoman...but, THIS, my friends is FUN!

The snow was perfect for packing and we were able to make enough snow people for our whole family...We only could find ONE snowman kit though, so we had to be creative in making the other 4 people of our family...

we stole rocks from our neighbors for the eyes..

we raided daddy's wood pile for old sticks for the arms and a smile or two...

and last but not least, we went kicking around in our GARDEN...

yep...the garden...that thing that wouldn't stop growing even in November...

we dug up the rest of the carrots that we had left out there...they were perfect noses for our cute little snow creations!

I'm not going to be modest here...I was pretty proud of myself...they turned out cute and I thought we were pretty innovative if I do say so myself...(and the point is I AM saying so myself...)

I hope we get a bit more snow in the future though...we have our annual igloo to make next...I've got to make it big enough for THREE little girls this year...and all their hot cocoa...that post may be sometime in February...

December Celebrations...#1

I'm so sorry that I've been gone for a bit...We've been cramming a lot in this month and it's just been so much fun!  Although, I have missed catching up on my blog reading and facebooking...

So without further ado...thought I'd share just a bit of what's been going on in our life over the past few days.  I will try to spread it out over a couple of days so as to not bore you with a lengthy blog read...I hope it will still be entertaining though...

After school parties concluded and school programs had ended...the Christmas break truly began...

#1:  The Nutcracker

We kicked off the celebration with a trip downtown to the BalletMet to see the Nutcracker Ballet...it's a tradition in our household.  When the girls reach the age of 4, they get the opportunity to stay up late and get dressed up to go see the production.

Nana has always made them black velvet capes to wear over top their Christmas outfits...and we got them white muffs to keep their hands warm.  They make quite an impression whenever you see all 4 girls heading down the walkway...I guess it's like a flashback in time for most people...who really wears muffs these days?  But, my girls love them and it's the highlight of the December celebrations...

This year we sat in the balcony...I was able to get one picture before getting reprimanded to put my camera away because they aren't allowed in the theater...perhaps the flashes will eventually take out of the color of the plush red velvet seats?  Not sure why, but I graciously put it away anyway...

It's probably a good thing though...last year, we sat on the floor right UP CLOSE to the dancers...and let me just say that we got quite the show when the Sugar plum fairy and her partner came out...and by show I mean that we may have seen a little MUCH of her partner to my little girls' liking...not wanting to be taking pictures of THAT for sure...(perhaps that how my girlies decided to make their anatomically correct gingerbread man this year? hmmmm?)

Anyhoo...the ballet was wonderful as usual and as we headed back out, we saw our first snow falling...it was beautiful and we couldn't resist just a few more pictures as we got soaked with the wet precipitation and slipped along the sidewalk...

Rock Your Momma!

My husband was working on Google Earth dot com with my 2 older girls...they googled the statue of liberty, golden gate bridge and then the Capitol...

Once there, my dear Italian Stallion asked Sweetpea, "Do you know who the President is right now?"  To which she quickly replied, "Barack Obama"...at which time, my little Peanut started laughing hysterically...when asked what was so funny, she replied, "I thought she said Rock Your Momma"...

My good friend Marla had this link posted on facebook today...something about a Mondegreen...which is evidently when someone says something, but other people HEAR something entirely different and therefore you get a really messed up version of whatever was meaning to be stated...whew, that was a lengthy definition...

anyhoo...I thought I'd post the same link here because I just laughed so hard and thought you might enjoy it as well...

Click Here

Donut Man Live!!!

We saw the Live Nativity last night at a little country church.  We've had this tradition since Sweetpea was about one month old...

I remember that first time as I have her completely covered up in her little Graco car seat carrier...bundled and sound asleep...thinking, "What are we doing out here in the cold with a one month old???  OH...it's gonna be a tradition...okay..."

And so began the yearly trek out to the country church for a live OUTDOOR presentation of Christ's birth and then the Puppet Posse performance INSIDE along with hot cocoa and cookies!

This year Little Munchkin was a tad nervous...with the donkey braying and the sheep bleeting and the run away llamas...she was clinging to my neck...

I whispered in her ear the story she's heard a million times...the angel coming to Mary, the mommy and then to Joseph, the daddy...and then they had to go to Bethlehem and baby Jesus was born...

She sat wide eyed and watched everything...it was sweet as she commentated what was happening back to me..."the mommy sit...Jofes, the daddy is seeping...hee hee, the sheep is too loud!"  and then "Mommy, it's DONUT MAN"...

Now, those that have no clue what I'm talking about...please just know that IF you did know...you'd LAUGH...but, since you don't...this post will be utterly meaningless and for that I apologize...

Donut Man is a guy that has been around a LONGGGGGG time teaching kids...remember Captain Kangaroo?  Well, it'd be like our kids talking about Captain Kangaroo...no other kids knows what they're talking about, but the adults do...We still have Donut Man videos and he has a christmas presentation all about Jesus' birth and HE plays the angel...

Needless to say, when the "angel" came out last night...Little Munchkin yelled:  DONUT MAN for all to hear...I'm not quite sure the GIRL playing the angel was all that thrilled being compared to a DONUT...but hopefully the sheep bleeting in her ears drowned out the sound of my little one yelling...

Fun memories and traditions to be had...
What is your favorite Christmas tradition???

SQUIRREL!!!

How do I manage to go 3 days without blogging?

I'll tell you:

A.D.D.

That would be Attention Deficit Disorder

Now, I'm not trying to poke fun at the disorder at all...nor am I saying that I have actually been diagnosed with said "disorder"...

Have you ever seen the movie UP?

Ya know when the dog is talking (yes, I know...dogs don't talk...he "talks" through a speaker thing on his collar...but anyway...) He's in the middle of a long discourse that would explain the entire situation of why the older gentleman and the young boy have happened upon him...all of a sudden he turns his head, "SQUIRREL!!!"

Yes, that's me...

Oh, let's sit down at the computer and start working on my bl..."LAUNDRY"...

My, there are lots of clothes to do today, I need to get a basket for the drier..."VACUUM"

Holy cow, the floor in here is filthy, good thing I got the vacuum out..."MIRRORS"

Okay, the mirrors are awful, how did the girls manage to get toothpaste all the way up here, I've got to get up on top of the sink to be able to rea..."BLEACH THE TOILET"

Whew, that smells much better, now I'll just scrub around the edges here and on the floor, I've got to move these ribbons out of the wa..."ORGANIZE THE DRAWERS"

Where did this come from? I think I saw a match to this in the kitch..."DISHES"

The dishwasher is full again?  how did that happen?  I just emptied it an hour ago...this is crazy, I guess I'll just start collecting the dishes from the office first..."BLOG"

Oh Darn...I didn't write my blog...and now it's time to make "DINNER"..."GET THE GIRLS OFF THE BUS"..."FEED THE DOG"...good grief...

Anyway...I hope to do better...cuz, I really do LOVE to chat!  enjoy your weekend!

Is there a law against cuteness?

Because, seriously...

Italian Stallion and I have discussed this a couple of times...more on his end because he realizes what this means for himself with regards to future "suitors" for our girls...

I mean, what can you do?  We don't focus on the outward here at home, we focus on the inward...the heart...but, I think that's what scares us the most...in the sense that she's learning to love Jesus AND she keeps getting cuter...

Eh...but maybe we don't have much to worry about???  Or perhaps we need to focus a bit more on some "outward issues"???

I'll get to the good stuff later

We've started our Advent traditions in our little family...these are special times wrapped with all sorts of traditions and songs and family times that we remember the whole year through...

and I promise that I'll have pictures....

later...

although, if you can't wait, you can go over to my facebook page and search through my album for December Traditions...OR you can just link it here:)

But...what I want to discuss now is the shopping...the endless shopping for things for people that I never really know what to buy in the first place.  It's not that I'm not perceptive, nor does it mean that I don't WANT to get something really neat for my family and friends...on the contrary...the problem is that I am scared to death of being that person that buys a really (now pardon my language here...my girlies will NOT be reading this blog entry) STUPID gift...the kind of gift that people open and smile and give you a hug and are thinking, "What the heck is this...I don't want this!!"

I fear this reaction...I'm a people pleaser...and like people to LOVE what I do for them...it's a problem I know...

Amidst all this emotional baggage that I carry concerning the christmas "gifting" season...I also struggle with distraction...

Actually, I struggle with distraction pretty much ALL the time...but that's another story...

If I were more like my sisters in law, I would have lists of every thing that I needed to purchase, at which stores I needed to peruse and the exact coupon cut for that particular item...I would recklessly search through all the ads in the paper each weekend to find the best deal on that particular item and then schedule the time to run out and get it...

However, I, on the other hand do not have a list persay...it's in my head and sometimes I write it down on a piece of paper or two or a sticky note or the back of my hand...whenever I kinda think of something that might be good and wouldn't be a bummer gift...UGH...it's like a crazy cycle of ridiculous thinking going on in my head...and so, I just guess at what I need and then get home from my hours out shopping...that I already feel guilty about having left my kids and my family time...only to feel the utter disappointment of realizing that I not only didn't achieve what I set out to do...but I came back with bags of other things that I'm going to have to go back out and return later anyway....UGH!!!

Needless to say, my christmas shopping hasn't necessarily been the MOST productive as of late...but, I'm headed out to try again tomorrow...who knows...I may end up coming back with gifts for my little nephew and my in laws...OR, I might end up coming back home with a caffeinated beverage and 4 pairs of pants in different sizes and colors of which I will need to then try on, and decide which 3 to return at a later date! Only, to begin the cycle again...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh the gifting season...

A little sporadic for ya?

Oh my...

my blogging status has not been the best as of late now has it?

Why NO, dear...in fact, it's quite pathetic, thanks for noticing!


Yes...well...I have the usual excuses...like: laundry, trimming the christmas tree, finishing up client photography stuff that sometimes seems like an endless journey, changing diapers, playing playdoh, cleaning the kitchen AGAIN, reading a good book, grocery shopping, finishing up a REALLY COOL December Traditions book for my girlies...(pics to come later)

you know...

the usual stuff...

I may have hit a little writer's block too...nothing huge...not like a boulder or anything..just a few bricks thrown at my head a couple times...making me rethink "what in the world do I have to write about that people would actually want to read?"

that's about it folks...those are my excuses...

We did trim the tree today...it was delightful!  I like that we get the non-prickly trees now...I think they're called Caanan trees?  I have no idea...but, I like them...we've got decor all over the house and I think my darling Italian Stallion might just suffocate if I add one more candle or decorative wreath anywhere near him!  He likes his space...no clutter...S   P   A   C   E....

We're all looking forward the live nativity and cookie baking that's coming up...and I'm sitting here in my new christmas pjs...I participated this year in getting myself new pajamas..because frankly, I need some!  My girlies always look so comfy and warm in their new ones each year and I thought that I need to be apart of that WITH them....

Italian Stallion didn't feel the "need" to participate in that area...but that's okay...the poor man is surrounded by girls in this house...stand your ground honey!!!

Hope you have a great day...I'm planning on lounging in my PJs and probably not blogging consistently once again...hope you'll forgive me...but, I'm tellin' ya...

new pjs and good book....

come on...there's just nothin' better!!!

Thinking again...

No...don't get worried..it's not another lame installment of Deep Thoughts from Mamarazzi...although, I must admit that I've had some doozies lately...like, why is it that I have to plunge out plugged toilets in my bathrobe because I can't seem to figure a way to plunge properly so that the "disgusting goop" doesn't splash all over me...

Ahhh...now isn't that a LOVELY picture to wake up to?  Aren't you SOOO incredibly happy that you happened over to my blog this morning? or afternoon? or right before lunch?  yes...I will stop now...

Sooo..back to my "thinking"...

I had a book discussion last night....

at AWANA...

That's another reason why I love reading so much...if you read, you pretty much NEVER run out of things to talk about...I mean, you can only talk about the weather and just how wonderful your children are for so long (well, in my case...I could get going on Cumulus clouds and onto the craziness of my princess house for a good long while...but, I digress AGAIN)

Anyway...there I was reading a book in the hallway, just waiting for the kiddos to be done...

Let me just interject here (because I can...because it's MY blog...and well, because I ENJOY making a story longer than it really needs to be because secretly I think I like to see how many words I can actually type in a short period of time...UGH, I"m getting nowhere fast!!!)

Interjecting cont...  I think it's pretty great that I can actually chisel in some time for reading...albeit, I'm up until after 1am these days...but, I don't think I could ever give up my fantasy world that lives in my books...

Okay..back to the story/point/endless wandering of my mind:  Someone asked me what I was reading...which led to a cool discussion on books and authors and suspense and how I don't like it and historical fiction and how my darling Italian Stallion thinks that is an oxymoron because...DUH:  HISTORY...FICTION???  get it??

Anyway...that led to talks of other things like recycling and photography and back to reading books again...

And the fact of the matter is that as much as I love reading...I like me some good TALKING time with other people too...it's that crazy energizing thing for me...

So, in my pathetic, desperate attempt to get some comments on my blog post today...HINT HINT HINT...(I lack the talent of subtly and tact in case you haven't noticed) 

What is your favorite genre of reading???

Have a great day!

Family Whirlwind

I love the holidays...and my body pretty much dreads the holidays...

I'm just being honest...

I LOVE people...I get energized being around people...it's just that after about 5 straight days of people 24/7 (and when I say 24/7 I literally mean 24/7 because my little people like to get up in the night while we are visiting other peoples and I get my fill of people!!!) I'm a little tired...

We had a great visit with my brother...and I WOULD have some lovely pictures to share with you, but I unloaded the pictures onto my brothers computer and then proceeded to play with them...cuz that's what he and I do...we sit and talk about stuff that we think we know a lot about and then share tips and stuff and in the end, we're totally just playing around and acting like we are soooo coool!  We SOOOO need to grow up, but I'm really not in that much of a hurry:)

ANYHOO...I don't have pictures right now...I have to go and REplay with all of them because there was some major head switching going on in order to get all 4 boys and all 3 girls looking in the same direction at the same time...but, I digress...

We had a great visit (didn't I just say that?)  they taught me to play euchre AGAIN...I think I've been taught this game at least 10 times now...I thought I was smarter than that, but it appears that I am wrong...and I also learned that I do NOT have a poker face...NOPE...you pretty much know what I have in my hand...not just because of my face...I just talk...and when you put a late night person around the table with PEOPLE, LATE at night...what else am I GOING to do but talk...

okay, this "story" is going nowhere fast...I think I have a post about that "quirk" of mine...but oh well...

We finally got back home and headed straight over to Italian Stallion's family...for OUR version of Thanksgiving...ITALIAN style...ravioli, noodles, ciabatta bread...just like the Indians did:)

Nana always gets the cousins matching pjs...so I DID get a picture...didn't have to play much because I told them to be crazy...

And then, here's one of my girls (and no, I don't know why Peanut is frowning in the picture above, except for maybe because she rammed her knee into a wooden object while trying to FLY onto Nana's bed and Mommy said, "honey, let's just get a picture:)"...oh so sensitive I know!!

I have a LOT of photo editing to do for CTPhotoMems this week...I will do my best to update, but please forgive me if I get a little bogged and you don't hear from me...rest assured though, I'm getting my people fill and hopefully will lots of stories to share in the weeks to come!! 

Yay...here comes christmas!!!