Spring is arriving! What??

Amidst the cold and rain of a Texas winter, there are signs even now at the end of January! That spring wants to emerge and be born! For a Minnesotan this is all a bit bizarre, but it still makes one smile at the wonder of it all!

No school, but plenty of fun things to do!!

After driving every day for 4 hours taking the kids to and from school and therapy.........uh-oh, just realized I forgot to take Giovanni to Occupational therapy today (OOps!). That's what happens when they schedule no school days, it makes you feel like it is a holiday/weekend...Ughhh.. Anyway, it was so nice to sleep in after a hectic week and having Vittorio incapacitated with a shoulder injury. We decided to take advantage of the day by heading outside for a walk to the creek post rain-storm last night to do a little fishing and to see how high the creek got. We had lots of fun exploring the forest and were amazed at the swift current of the creek and how much the rain flooded everything. For the Italians: Our creek was so flooded that it looked half the size of the river Tevere in Rome (see pictures above). Now to head in for some Hot Chocolate and plenty of WII sword-fights!! If it warms up this weekend we look forward to have an amazing fire in our new fire-pit and roast some marsh mellows!

Two front teeth have arrived!

Gianni screamed this morning "MOMMY....COME SEE, MY TWO FRONT TEETH!" Since we had just been to the dentist this week with a clean bill of health and the main topic for the past many months (we were hoping they would arrive by Christmas) has been, when are my grownup teeth going to come, it was a very, very exciting morning!

Making Button Soup.

Every week I usually take the girls to storytime at one of our local libraries. They absolutely love going and there is always some fun craft for them to do. Today they read the story "Button Soup" (such a wonderful story). Then they had soup afterwords and it was sooooooo yummy!

Well Hello Beautiful

Well, the boys have finished the patio!! Yea! It still needs to be polished, but it is absolutely beautiful and blends so well with the forest! They also have started to work on the sink area, it is going to be so gorgeous! Tomorrow they will continue to clean the forest and make a path to our creek! Hmmm...maybe we will stay :).

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Here is the beginning of our new patio floor!! Yeah! I hope we will be here long enough to enjoy it a bit, this is my favorite time of year in Texas, the air is clear, the weather is wonderful and you can actually play outside for more than 5 minutes!

my race

Well, for those that had any doubt (besides me). Here is a picture of me post marathon! Thanks again for all the support and encouragement!

Why Oh WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday = Funday!

What a morning, first I was able to sleep in thanks to my wonderful husband! The rest of my morning was filled with high heels and snotty noses. Even though the paper man forgot my Sunday paper, the sky and air this morning was so glorious nothing could get me down. We packed up the kids and took a walk to the creek, exploring animal footprints, watching the baby fishes and the exploring the beauty of our forest. Then is was back to home for lunch and some "plein-air" painting and creating! This is the kind of day we dream of having. Now lets just hope the fresh air will make my munchkins pass out by 7:00!

One hell of a Saturday

Saturday, a day to relax and unwind, a day to lay by the pool drinking margaritas and smiling at your amazingly well behaved children. Jennifer, wake up..... wake up.... it is only a dream! Oh no, my Saturday was started well probably about 3 am when I was playing musical beds with the kids, ohh.. it is really a fun game, except their is no music and definitely no laughing. Then, after a few gallons of coffee, Vittorio woke up and was in such severe pain we needed to take him to the Emergency room.....(with three ever willing participants in tow). While he got poked and prodded and asked repeatedly the same questions over and over again . I decided to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese: where Gianni wanted to play on every game that was too big for him and Gabi wanted to ride every horse and Tia just wanted to cry and be held. For a few moments I thought how much fun the Emergency Room really could be. Well, thankfully my pain and Vittorio's pain was not very long lived and we headed for home, which was filled with millions of jobs that you postpone until the weekend because you think you will have so much time. Needless to say nothing got done, except for wishing I could have a do-over on my weekend. Ohhh please tell me Sunday will not start until the sun actually comes up!