Recent projects

 I've been trying to be on top of the game this year and actually make some Christmas presents more than the day before Christmas.  I decided to try this tutorial done by my friend Kati.  I'm actually making quite a few of them and it's kind of my blanket Christmas present this year.

I went to the local convention center and went to a craft fair, and wanted to have this pillow done for two friends that were going with me.

 The one thing I did different from Kati's tutorial was that I didn't do a star on the tree.  It was mostly laziness, but I quilted a star on top with the free motion quilting.  Even if it's not yellow, I think it still looks ok.

 This is the second pillow case, without a pillow in it.

 I was also in charge of an activity with some women from my church.  I came up with some no-expensive, cute Christmas presents to be able to make.  We did "brownies in a jar", and

this Christmas tree.  The colored balls on the top are chocolate balls.  You can't get better than chocolate!  Especially Italian chocolate.

what a mess!

 Yesterday Jordan stayed home from school.  He and Isabel managed to be partners in crime and did some damage around the house.  After dumping a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet after pooping, and clogging it, and after Isabel colored on the table and chairs, and after a lot of morning tantrums, Isabel decided that she needed to eat an ink pad.  Hopefully no major chemicals in that thing.  I washed her up and gave her some milk to try and help dilute it.  Thankfully it was washable ink. :)  And washable markers. :) And thankfully I had a thick pair of rubber gloves to fix that clogged toilet. :)

 This morning Aaron told me to close my eyes.  He then put that nice little beard on me (that Jordan had finished coloring), he did it again with the mustache.  Apparently it was really funny because both Aaron and Jordan laughed their heads off. So I had them take a picture of their handy work too.

I love these little guys more than life itself!

I love you as much as...

Lately with Jordan we've been playing the "I love you as much as..." game.  It's fun to think of ways of describing to him how much I love him, and even more fun to hear what he comes up with.  The other night I was leaving for the evening and hugging each of the kids.

I told him that I loved him as far as the sun.  He thought for a minute and then said

"I love as far as Heavenly Father!"

So cute and melted my heart.


Another Jordanism: as we were walking to school on Friday morning he told me "Mom, I'm going to Jaccopo's house after school!"

This was news to me.  I told him it sounded like a lot of fun to go, but that the mom's have to talk first and agree as to when and where.  After a moment, he said, "but Mom, you and I agreed on it, but you weren't there!"

 Hmmm, I see.

Bad teeth

 Aaron last year had a huge hole between two molars.  He's not able to tolerate pain in his mouth well.  We tried laughing gas, we tried everything and couldn't get it fixed.  So we ended up having to do outpatient same day surgery and have him put out and intubated to get his teeth fixed.  Since then I've been RELIGIOUS about brushing and flossing.  I've probably missed 5 nights in the last year.  Even when kids are crying, and I'm so tired I can't see straight, I still brush and floss their teeth.

The night of Halloween I was brushing his teeth and noticed some brown that wasn't going away between some molars, so worked extra hard at cleaning his teeth.  He has another huge hole between two more molars.  We're going to the dentist on Wednesday and I hope that we can figure this one out better than last time. :(

You can see where Isabel fell off her tricycle- onto her nose!

 We had 3 days of celebrating Halloween.  It's not really celebrated here in Italy, although it's starting to now.  We organized with some friends to go to several businesses and friends/grandparent's house to trick-or-treat.  It was so much fun for the kids!  The next day is a holiday in Italy and we invited a little Scottish friend over and we celebrated.  The next day was a "Halloween birthday party".  3 days in a row of sweets and treats!  The kids loved it, but I'm glad that we're done with our sugar streak.

 My mom brought glow sticks when she came this summer.  There were a lot of fun with trick-or-treating and with our little friend.

These two love each other to death.  Isabel loves to try and tackle and wrestle her brothers.  I think she's going to be a little Tom boy.