Trip to the Swiss Temple

This is my friend Claudia, who should also be known as an angel. She took the long 9 hour drive each way with 3 small kids in tow to the Bern, Switzerland temple with me. She drove the whole way, she put up with my kids, didn't lose her cool once, even helped tend my kids so that I could to a wedding in the temple! If anyone deserves saint-hood it's this woman here. I was grateful for a fun road trip, and the good company.
Landscape pictures were taken from the car, so not very good, but it was the best I could do.



Road trips, so fun, but so long when you've got small ones with you!

This was me watching 6 kids ages 5,4,4,4,2.75, and 7 months! We even had fun. :)

Alice and Giorgio with me
Filippo being so sweet with Isabel
This is in front of the Bern, Switzerland temple.


This is my good friend, Elisa
The Acquaviva family (with Isabel). Love this family! They were sealed in the temple for eternity!

Gratefu
We made it home (dead tired) without any problems (relatively speaking). Grateful that we could make it safe and sound. Grateful to sleep in my own bed tonight too.

Luckiest Mom Ever!

Aaron does something that melts my mother heart. He loves to help Jordan when they are playing together. When they are at the play ground, or any other place and Jordan is trying to climb up high and can't quite make it, he's got a brother who is amazingly unselfish.

Aaron lays on the ground, lets Jordan climb onto his back. Then he slowly does a push-up until he's on all four's and then slowly stands up while Jordan is on his back. That is how Jordan gets to hard to reach places.

Aaron did this at the play ground a few weeks ago to help Jordan slide down a pole "like Fireman Sam". We had a special moment the other day where I was able to finally get a picture of him doing it. When he did this at the park I had the thought come to me: "I'm so lucky to be Aaron's mom!"
That being said, I have most moments of most days where my kids are screaming in an embarassing way, tantrums, frustrations, etc. I'm just grateful for those moments that make being a mother worth it! They don't happen very often or all the time- just enough to make me remember that it's worth it! Being a mother is hard, it's not for sissies! I'm so grateful that there is some divine intervention to help me as a mother (and all mothers), or else I couldn't do it.
Despite the not sleeping and LOTS of screaming tantrums, especially by Flash Jordan, I feel like I'm the luckiest wife and mother ever!

Carnevale

Carnevale is a big party around here. You dress up in costumes (like Halloween, but without the dark scary stuff), there's a big parade, and they usually throw candy to the kids. This last Saturday was carnevale where we live at. Uncle Daniele came with us. Aaron even got to go up on one of the floats.

getting over the flu

Nothing new or special going on around here. We've all had the flu since last Saturday, and are all starting to get better except Paolo and Isabel. We've started nebulizer treatments on Isabel, and so far she's only cried a little bit. The other times she's tried to chew the mask.

There's been lots of crying and whining around here, and Aaron's been getting good and putting on a good show for crying. Can't wait to be all better again.

Where your treasure is...

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also..."

Lately we've gone on a lot of treasure hunts to help kill the ever lingering boredom around our house. Today was such one of these days. I was thinking while I was walking with these two munchkins and Isabel in the baby carrier of how much I love little things about them, and a few of those rare moments when you love what you have before you. Today there were a few of those rare moments.

Treasure #1: sticks and rocks are the usual treasures that Aaron and Jordan find. They shout with excited voices like they've just found a hundred dollar bill (for the 563rd time), it's a treasure! Today Jordan yelled those famous words "it's a treasure!" and gave me a small rock to put in my pocket. Shortly after with the same voice of excitement, "oh look! I found a match!"

Treasure #2: my boys give me every flower they find. I am bidden to either put it in my hair, or in my pocket; depending on the giver.
Treasure #3: we were sitting in the dip between big rolling hills while going to dig for dinosaur bones. Aaron looked at the only two clouds in the sky and we were enjoying the sunshine on a cold spring day. For the first time that I can recall Aaron gave a shape to the clouds. "Oh look mom! It's a crocodile!"

I said, a crocodile huh? He answered, "yes, it's at the water." We'll have the grammar lesson later on down the road. It was fun to see his little mind starting to open up to the world around him.
Treasure #4: my little ones! I especially love having a little girl around that sweetens up life a little. I love my boys too. I can't imagine my life without sticks, dirt, rocks, cars racing around my table and every other surface in my house.
Treasure #5: check out those fat rolls! Love 'em!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Sunday (March 4th) was my birthday. I turned 33. I'm still young enough to admit to my age. :) My husmband gave me the best birthday present ever- an afternoon off from being mom. We had stake conference in Venice. So after 2 hours of driving up. 2 hours of trying to keep the boys good and calm (which they did suprisingly well). So we played at the park for 2 hours. My friend Brianna who lives in Bologna came up to the conference too. She suprised me by making these delicious cookies! They were so yummy. We also splurged on strawberries, which the boys devoured.

I love Aaron's face.


Thank you to Paolo for sending me into Venice with some friends and taking the boys the rest of the day by himself. He drove 2 hours home, alone. Kept two very active boys busy for a whole afternoon, alone. Put the boys to bed, alone. Put them back in bed a total of 9 times, alone. Jordan got up 5 different times after being put in bed because he wanted to be cuddled. Aaron was beyond difficult to put back to bed- 4 times. Thank you to my sweetheart for letting me have fun, for taking two busy boys, and mostly for loving me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This is my friend Rosangela. She was our tour guide and we had so much fun.
The grand canale from Ponte Rialto.
My friend Paige and her husband Mike. Little Ada was a trooper in the stroller the whole time!



I love the windows in Venice!