the palmieri family

Boredom comes at a price

2012-02-10T23:32:00.004-07:00

Boredom comes at a huge price at my house = DEVASTATION! When I need a minute to "get things done", and my kids are bored (99% of the time since we've been snowed in for almost 2 weeks- and more is coming).
When I thought they were playing so nicely.... oh how gullible I can be at times.
This a scene from about a week ago. It was one of the worst explosions they've created.

This was also an attempt to alleviate the boredom- a Halloween party. We dressed up in Halloween costumes, and had a party with special snacks, including the last of our goldfish crackers.
The party was a good idea. The VERY BAD idea was to show them some of the Incredibles movie since Jordan was dressed up like one of them. I had forgotten how much body slamming, hitting, kicking action there was. The boys then body slammed, kicked, hit the rest of the week. The last thing they need is to refine those techniques at 2 and 4 years old. I am resigned that yes it will happen, but I'm hoping it's not until Isabel is in time to learn it and use it as self defense against her brothers.

quilt in progress

2012-02-08T00:26:00.003-07:00

This is the back of a quilt I'm making for my bed.
This is the front. I spray basted it to the batting during nap time yesterday. I'm still trying to get it unwrinkled in spots. I got the idea for the lattice quilt from my friend Kati's blog. I love the design because it has so little waste, and enough wiggle room when you're preparing the blocks.

more snow, more mischief

2012-02-06T01:23:00.006-07:00

What does boredom mean? = mischief! Yesterday while trying to give Isabel a bath the boys came in and handed me something from the fridge. They are strictly forbidden from opening the fridge (which they strictly ignore). As I went to return the stolen item, I found the flashlight on in the fridge looking at me. More evidence against the guilty. :) It's the square shape on the top shelf.
A cute hat from grandma!
Luckily a Valentine's package arrived from Grandma just before the storm hit. We've put those Cars2 stickers to use!
Sitting for long periods of time all by herself! Getting close to grabbing things and putting them in her mouth.
Another snow(man)blob. Sadly all this snow isn't the kind good for making snowmen.
Notice the ice on the back of the car. We dug out our car yesterday afternoon.
This is a sheet of ice from off the car
Can you see Aaron's tongue in these two pictures? No, it didn't stick. Not sure what I would have done if it did.

Proud owner of a frozen tongue...

Snowed in

2012-02-05T02:31:00.003-07:00

This is the beginning of the snow fall on Tuesday. The kids were SOOOO excited.

This is after at least 2 feet of snow. It was not heavy, it was the fluffy kind of snow. All day long Aaron asked to make a snowman. This was the sad result. He did have a carrot for a nose, and a hat!

This car is not going anywhere until the snow melts. Since snow if forecasted off and on all week long I think it will be a while. We've had at least 3 feet of snow, some of it melting away. Imagine this happening in Florida and you can get the same idea of chaos as to what it is happening here. It doesn't snow more than 2-3 inches at a time (and even then it's a crisis). So this is a disaster for Bologna. I haven't left my driveway in 5 days.

The other problem is that we are not equipped for snow either. We have no snow clothes, and not even a decent pair of gloves for Jordan. We have no snow boots, and no snow shovel. We are using a garden shovel to try and dig a path in front of our door. It's a little tricky because the shovel is metal and the snow sticks to it right away and it gets heavy.
Glad that daddy finally came home from work. Sledding was a lot more fun when daddy was pulling.

Jordan feeding Isabel

2012-02-02T08:00:00.003-07:00

Our friend's Brianna and Tyson Smith came over for lunch. They came despite snow and coldness. Thank you for the company! When I turned back from taking pictures, I found Jordan feeding Isabel!

Aaron took this of us. Good job buddy.
And this is little Taryn. She doesn't go to others easily and she let me hold her 5 minutes! Big step for her.

This about the cutest thing I've ever witnessed. Jordan is SUCH a 2 year-old that some days it's hard to remember the parts that I love most about him. I spend most of the day trying to forget the hours of crying, screaming, tantrums over the wrong color/shape/too much/too little/not hot enough/too hot, etc. Then he has moments like this one that shine through and remind me what a good core he has.

I was distracted in the middle of feeding Isabel (this is about her 5th solid food meal by the way). When I turned back I saw Jordan feeding Isabel, and Isabel was eating better for Jordan than she was for me. It was a small meal, but Jordan fed her all of it! Thank you for being such cute children!

Remembering Friends

2012-01-31T23:45:00.002-07:00

Making friends is a lot harder around here than at home. Most of the time mine are the only children at the park. Most kids from 1 up are in day care/school all day, and then they spend in the evening in the house with their parents. This makes making friends rather hard since my children won't be able to start school until next year, and there's no one around us or even at the park.

We did make friends with a wonderful family from Libya. They have 2 boys that are about 1 year younger than Aaron and Jordan respectively. We loved having friends to play with and I loved their mother. She is a faithful muslim woman who taught me a lot.

Sadly they moved back to Libya. They were here for his Master's, but with political changes in their country and Italy suddenly cutting off their scholarship they needed to go home. I've had a rough week since they've moved. We will never ever forget our friends!

Missing what felt like my only friend (close by) made me think of all of the other friends that I love so dearly and have recently left too. Way too much crying last week.

Fortunately feeling a little better now. To all my friends, and unfortunately I don't have a way of contacting all of you, I'm attempting a post to tell you personally that I'm so grateful for your friendship. I'm grateful for your love. I'm grateful that I've been so blessed to have your good influence. I'm also grateful that these bonds last a life time, and not just the short time I spent with you. Life is about loving and lifting those around you. Thank you for your friendship! I've been lifted.
Going away party. Thanks for the good Libyan food Basma. You're a good cook!
Saleh was making Isabel laugh. It was so sweet.
This is the park that we always played at together. We were so lucky that the last 2 days before they left we had really good weather and could play outside.

What's for dinner?

2012-01-30T00:58:00.002-07:00

If you don't like stories about children and boogers, I recommend that you stop reading now. If you don't like being grossed out by what they do, again, stop reading now.

2 nights ago I was desperately trying to get Aaron to eat something before going to bed, knowing that he would wake up in the middle of the night hungry (this has happened more than once). We even made pizza to make him happy, which he didn't eat.

I was trying to brush his teeth getting ready for bed and it was a fight (as usually). As a stalling tactic he starting picking his nose- deep! I was so glad that there were no witnesses to this scene. As I was protesting the deep finger diving and trying to explain good manners to Aaron he popped out a huge, dark-green booger! I tried to hurry and grab his hand so that I could then grab a kleenex for the treasure he pulled out. He was faster than me though. He quickly turned his back and shoved his hand in his mouth. Oh Yuck!

He then turned around to start chewing on his only dinner he'd had that night. It was work, and he even had to stick his fingers in his mouth to unstick it a bit from his teeth. Disgusting. I said to myself as I then brushed his teeth: "I'm so sorry Jordan that you love this tooth brush and will likely use it next! Please forgive your mother!"

First foods

2012-01-27T02:29:00.002-07:00

I decided that at 5 1/2 months it was about time I start to give solids to Isabel. I tried once with rice cereal about 2 weeks ago and it didn't go down great. I tried cooking some pumpkin. She made a good face when I put it in her mouth, but once she was able to suck it down, decided it wasn't too bad.

My real struggle with starting solids is having time to pump, at least at first, while replacing a feeding with solids. I'm comprimising by giving a few spoonfuls and then her breast feeding she doesn't eat as much.
Aaron took these last 2 pictures, hence the shadow on the bottom picture. Not too bad for a 4 year-old.

More 2-year-old-ness

2012-01-27T02:03:00.005-07:00

And the newest acquired skill growing from an old skill. Old skill: changing his mind 500 times over what he wants to wear. Newly acquired skill: undressing and taking off everything and running away from mom while laughing hysterically that I'm not as fast as he is and trying to make it up to the top of the bunk bed before I can catch him and wrestle clothes back onto him.

Lesson for mom's of a 2-year-old: Never write in INK! Aaron is really into writing and asks how to spell things. So Jordan of course has to do it too. We were writing together (me holding his hand and writing letters). He asked for an O. Then he changed his mind, he wanted an X in the same spot. After doing what he asked he fell apart and had a royal crying fit. It was such a ridiculous reason to cry, I had to take a picture of it. "take it away mommy!!!!!" I can't my dear. It's called ink. You can't erase it.
"Mooooommmmmyyyyyy, hold me!". Sure thing sweetie. I guess we need to invest in some pencils.

Two year old in the house

2012-01-25T03:38:00.003-07:00

Jordan has 2-year-old-itis in a bad way.

Example 1: while trying to read the Book of Mormon to my kids the other morning Jordan screams "noooooooooo! I want to read about Nephi building the ship."

I answered "we are Jordan."

Hottily he says "no! I will do it!" He grabs the book from hand and starts using his finger to follow the words (like I do when I read to them to help them follow the words I'm reading) and reads: "Nephi was building a ship. Then he fell off it into the water. A whale ate him!"

"A whale at him, huh?"

"yes, a whale ate him. But then he was following the Lord...."

Example 2, while trying to brush my children's teeth. Jordan has to brush his teeth by himself. I'm not allowed to help him because he has to do it all by himself. I hand him his tooth brush and say "here you go Jordan."

He says falling apart and balling his eyes out "I'm not Jordan. I'm fireman Sam" (a new favorite cartoon).

Me: "ok, here you go Fireman Sam."

Crying even louder: "I'm not fireman Sam, I'm Jordan"

Me: "ok Jordan, will you please brush your teeth?"

Jordan crying even louder now, "i'm not Jordan, I'm fireman Sam. And I don't want a little toothpaste, I want a lot of toothpaste!"

To avoid more crying I put more toothpaste on his toothbrush and at this point he falls onto the floor in hysterics, "nooooooooo! I want more toothpaste. Hold me mommy!"

At this point I hardly feel like hearing screaming in my ear, but I hold him anyway. After a minute and yet more toothpaste we were able to brush his teeth without incidence.

Phew! Glad that's over with.

Tired

2012-01-24T00:01:00.002-07:00

I think that tired is a theme that has been lingering around my house for a very long time. I'm still getting woken up by my boys 2-10 times a night. Last night was about 5. Good average number. And then I get woken up by Isabel to feed every 3 hours or so too. I'm wondering if I'll ever sleep again.
Yesterday at the park I put Isabel in the front seat to be able to watch the kids play. Jordan fell off the swing onto his head when it was almost time to go. He had missed his nap and was OVERLY tired. So he decided he needed to lay in Isabel's car seat. He fell asleep in her car seat and took an excellent nap.

Doing much better after his nap.

scripture purse

2012-01-16T05:10:00.003-07:00

I made myself a scripture bag. Mostly wanted an excuse to make a cute purse for myself. I originally saw this purse on my friend, Kati's blogspot. I modified it to a bigger size and whipped this up. I had to make two different ones out of scrap fabric (meaning old pillow covers) so that I wouldn't mess up on my pretty fabric.
I did a zipper pocket and a regulare pocket on the inside.
The fabric is Heirloom by Joel Dewberry. Love it more everytime I look at it.

5 months old

2012-01-16T05:00:00.003-07:00

I can't believe that my baby is 5 months old!!!! It's such a bitter sweet feeling. Glad she's growing. Kind of sad thinking that she's probably my last one and this is the last time around that I get to enjoy the fun discoveries that she makes daily. Yesterday she started staring at one of her hands like it was a fascinating toy. Pretty soon she'll figure out that she's in control of that very interesting object, and that it can do so many fun things. She's also sitting for about 10 seconds at a time by herself.

Say "cheese"!
Aaron loves cuddling Isabel. Jordan is like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. He has moments where he is so sweet and cuddling, and the next moment where he's jealous and doing crazy things to her. I have to be careful with that loose cannon for a while.
I like this picture because it's so classic of my kids. Screaming, wiggling, crying, "look at my foot Mom!", and no chance of holding still for the camera (or in general). Love my munchkins!

keeping up with the Jones'

2012-01-13T00:05:00.002-07:00

I made the boys some aprons for our cooking adventures we have. They love the cars material that my mom sent.

We've all heard the colloquialism keeping up with the Jones'. Around here there is no time to keep up with anybody, especially 2 active boys. Lately while I've been trying to actually cook a meal, or clean the house these two tasmanian devils have been ripping a path of destruction through the house.
This was great fun for them. A little less fun to untangle, but overall not too bad.
This is a short video of me walking in on them playing in their room. You never know what you'll find when you turn your back for 0.18 seconds. Actually this was pretty tame to what I find normally, but this is the first time I felt like smiling and trying to capture it on video. Most of the time it's me expressing my great displeasure.

First teeth

2012-01-06T08:51:00.002-07:00

This morning I felt in Isabel's mouth and to my surprise found two bottom front teeth! She's had her hand constantly in her mouth for about a month. I thought it was just that she's learned to do something with her hands and that's it. I've felt before just in case, but these teeth are definitely well cut through the gums.

Isabel getting big

2012-01-06T02:12:00.002-07:00

Just because I love this little girl!!!! She isn't really rolling yet, but she's very close to sitting by herself. She tries to rock while sitting up which makes her fall over. Yesterday she started intentionally reaching for things realizing that it was her hand touching not just a lucky coincidence. In about 1 week she'll be 5 months old! I can't believe it.
Lucky for me, Jordan is off with uncle Daniele so I have a little more peaceful time with these two.
Pink makes me happy. :)

2012-01-03T00:20:00.003-07:00

Jordan has been a huge pill lately. Including as I urgently yell don't go there, he smiles at me while running directly to where I told him not to go. The result: more mud. Thank heavens my mom sent new shoes for Christmas and now we have a second pair of shoes for days when he dirties his shoes like this.

The day after Christmas is a holiday here. So we took a train to city in the middle of the mountains on good faith that there was a little town we could walk around and then go home. We got off the train and found that there was no such little town. There was however a lot of snow, and the boys had fun making their own version of a snowman.
My favorite comment from Paolo to explain geographically where we were: "If you spit, you'll hit the Tuscany".

I went for a little exploratory walk with Isabel. I walked up a very steep street to find I was in the middle of the mountain. So the pictures with me is half-way up the hill, and then the view from on top. Despite not having a definite end, I still had a lot of fun, and so did the boys.

2011-12-26T02:30:00.002-07:00

blogger isn't working for me. so to make it fast the kids LOVED Christmas. it snowed christmas eve. Aaron and Jordan were in heaven. they loved all of their pressents. we opened them saturday morning. on christmas day we gave our gifts to Jesus. We made a picture of baby Jesus and wrote down all month long their gifts to Jesus ( aka good choices). As I read all of them I was overwhelmed at what good kids I have. It's easy to remember all of the screaming, tantrums, teasing and so on that your kids do. I was instead reminded of all the GOOD that my kids do. What a great reminder for me too. I love these kids.

Christmas Eve we spent at aunt Ivana's and uncle Ivo's. Aunt Ivana is awesome with kids, kept them entertained and even dressed them up like Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas to all of you! I wish I could look each of you in the eyes, tell you how much I love you, and hope that you feel it as I give you a hug. Please accept it from our blog instead and know that I love you!

2011-12-21T01:55:00.005-07:00

Keeping busy right before Christmas. The purse is for our little cousin Valentina, for Christmas. The other pictures are moments when my kids are playing "quietly" and this is what I find. The first one is Aaron and Jordan playing church. Jordan is standing on their table reading and talking about Jesus and Aaron was listening reverently.

The next ones are Aaron and Jordan sneakily taking a bite out of each piece of fruit. Then Aaron "sleeping" on his bed, he got down to his underware to do so. I didn't realize this until after I took his picutre. I asked what he was doing, and he told me "I'm a Lamanite mommy". Sigh. Glad you listen Aaron. :)

sticks and stones may break my bones but dirt will never hurt me

2011-12-13T01:59:00.002-07:00

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but dirt will never hurt me... or something like that. My boys are SUCH boys! They love sticks and dirt just as much as they love the disney movie Cars. Girls are called girly girls, but what are boys called? Burly boys?

Yesterday was a rainy day. For the 15 minutes it didn't rain, Isabel happened to be taking a nap so I took the boys outside to ride their bikes. I stepped in the house to put something away and explicitly told my children not to go into the dirt because it was mud. 10 seconds later I found this.
I let them play for a few minutes in the mud, and then took off their shoes and coats before carrying them into the bathroom to wash off.

As I was carrying Aaron into the bathroom he happened to smear my face with these muddy hands. It made me laugh, and I had a good wash too.
My hormones are doing crazy things to me, and I was VERY GRATEFUL for this in the mail. Sunshine on a rainy day. Thanks Karla for always being so thoughtful!

getting ready for Christmas

2011-12-12T01:35:00.001-07:00

I love these munchkins!
In a couple of days my baby will be 4 months old! I can't believe it. She has discovered her voice and it sounds a lot like screaming. Good practice for defending herself from her brothers right?
Today is a constant drizzle outside, but the last few days it's been unusually nice for winter. We played with the leaves in the yard, and quite a bit at the park.

This is such a Jordan face! He is quite the 2 year old.
And yet he has sweet moments that shine through his 2-year-oldness.

We're trying to get into the Christmas spirit. So we drew pictures of baby Jesus. Every day we write down our gifts for Jesus. Most of the them include: listening to mommy, not hitting when I was angry, reading scriptures.... They are both excited to give gifts to baby Jesus.

And thanks to Paolo's aunt and uncle that had extra Christmas stuff and we've put up our tree, and a nativity set.

Magnum mini

2011-12-09T01:46:00.003-07:00

This post is dedicated to my friend Kati that told me about this wonderful ice cream bar that I used to eat on my mission that is now in the U.S. I found the "mini" box at the store here. I made Paolo buy it for me on a homesick day. It's about half the calories and fat, and still just as good. To all my Italian friends, I love the ice cream here!

Questa e` il mio amore!

2011-12-05T00:42:00.004-07:00

Cute story about Aaron...

Italiano: Dopo chiesa cercavo devo sono finiti i miei bambini. Avevo Isabel in braccio. Apro la porta del nido e trovo Aaron con alcuni bambini piu grandi di cerca 8 anni. Appena che Aaron mi vede urla ai suoi compagni "ecco, questa e` il mio amore!" (riferendosi ad Isabel). Poi cerca di toglierla dal mio braccio per abbracciarla e baciarla. Che tenerezza che mi fa.

English translation: After church I went searching for my boys to see where they had run off to. I was holding Isabel while looking for them. I opened the door to the nursery and found Aaron playing with a few older boys (about 8 years old). As soon as he saw me and Isabel he yelled to his friends "hey look! It's my sweetheart!" (referring to Isabel). He then ran over to us and tried to grab Isabel from me to give her a huge hug and a kiss. What a sweet kid he is sometimes!
Isabel is 3 1/2 months and getting so big! This last week she got fat and I'm loving it. She's got rolls on her legs, and cleaning her with a diaper change is a little more complicated than before. She is still full of smiles, and she'll smile at anyone. Once in a while I have nostalgic moments when I wish she could gift those smiles on those I love because they really are the greatest gift I have everyday. I wish she would smile and coo at Karla, Reah, and Cyndi during R.S. I wish she could smile at little Tate when he walks past our house to pick up Page at the bus stop. I wish she could smile at the fun girls across the street- Leah and Eden. I wish she could smile and light up the room for my grandparents, my mom, my sisters.
A very nice sister from our ward went to the temple in Switzerland. There's a tiny store by the temple that sells church articles. She bought this puzzle for my boys knowing how much they LOVE to do puzzles. As I'm typing Aaron squeeled "oooooh. it's my puzzle!"

Aaron is growing up a little bit. His creativity is starting to sprout. He begged me for some spaghetti yesterday. So I gave him some dry noodles. And this is what he did with the half he didn't eat right away.
And a VERY RARE MOMENT of playing well by themselves on their bunk bed. I'll take whatever I can get.

helmets

2011-12-01T13:14:00.002-07:00

Since we have our blue bike, we need a helmet for the break-neck speed rides down the hill. We found helmets for a super good deal- 5 euros each. The deal was only for one color. Since we got two and needed to distinguish between the two (to avoid a lot of fights), we used some really fun Disney stickers that our friend Karla had given us.
Can you tell that my boys are IN LOVE with Cars?!

Thanks Karla for the fun stickers. We put a lot of them to good use tonight!

The blue bike

2011-11-27T11:53:00.003-07:00

A few random pictures of our last week. We found another park a 5-10 minute drive from our house. It is now known as the airplane park.

Jordan has taken up the passion of wanting to take pictures with my camera(kind of dangerous. I'm worried he'll break it.) This picture of me is one that he took.
I am starting to piece together an awesome lattice quilt for my bed. This is the middle section. I don't get very much sewing time, so it's slow coming. But it's fun to know I've done something.
This bike is one that we found outside a garbage bin. It works great. The next best thing to a good deal is something for free!!!! At least it was Paolo that was garbage digger and not me. :)

Nothing makes me happier than a good deal. I found a second hand store here. They aren't very common around here. I found an old blue bike for Aaron. It has awesome breaks, and the right amount of rust to be just perfect. As I watched him go up, and then come down I had a very scary realization that I desperately need to go buy a helmet and pads for this kid. We'll get that this week. Deal of the week: 12 euros! That'll lift anyone's spirits. :)

Italian Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T05:30:00.003-07:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday evening with friends from our ward in the ward building. We celebrated on Friday because it's not a holiday here, and it was easier to get everyone together on a Friday evening instead of in the middle of the school and work week.

Paolo cooked the turkey and I made the rolls. A little ironic since he's the baker, and I'm the American.
Young single adults, and 2 american families that ate with us.
The Smith's brought home made pumpkin pie. They made it all from scratch, including cooking and pureeing the pumpkin. Pulled it off well.
At the end our bishop dropped by. I handed my camera to one of our friends to take pictures for me. This is one that I found on my camera.
Aaron and Jordan were reasonably well-behaved considering they were up way past their bed time (my kids are in bed by 8 p.m. or earlier if I'm really lucky) and had more sugar than they get in a week. Aaron did get a bloody nose towards the end. After seeing this picture it's no wonder why.

Well, happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. Know that I LOVE YOU!!!! Missed all of you.

Enjoy to the End

2011-11-20T13:40:00.002-07:00

We just started an English sunday school class in our ward because there are students here that go to Johns Hopkin University. The teacher made a comment that I really liked and made me want to make it for my motto for a while. Instead of saying that we need to "endure to the end", his wife likes it a lot more to say "enjoy to the end". It seems less heavy.

My husband told me the other day that I need to be more positive about all of our changes that we're going through. I didn't realize that I was coming off so negative. So I've been trying to look inside a little and see why I was told that. I realized I haven't been my happy, positive self lately. So I'm going to try to "enjoy" through the struggles of life.

On a good note, physically feeling a lot better. Within a few hours of Aaron getting sick and vomiting, I started with it too. All better and it was contained to just the two of us. No longer cracked and bleeding. I'm very grateful for that. I've even needed to eat less chocolate this week.

rough day with tender mercies

2011-11-15T08:31:00.003-07:00

I've been fighting a mastitis on one side for a while. I got half a persciption of amoxicillin from the pharmacist that ran out yesterday. Today I have body aches, headache, loss of appetite, etc... On the other side I've been cracked and bleeding everytime I feed on that side. Isabel has been having black stools from it. I think I'm getting mastitis on the other side now and can't remember the last time I felt this bad.

So I don't have my VISA yet which means that I get to go to the ER for any medical care I need, and since it's not urgent I'll probably have an 8 hour wait.

So we decided to go to Paolo's doctor to see if she'd give me a perscription. Time was running out for the office to close (because it's only open 9:00-11:30 a.m.) Trying to get out of the house the kids through tantrums, undressed and ran away multiple times, etc. I was going to walk 5 minutes to the office with the kids and Paolo was going to meet me there. As we are walking up the drive way Aaron announces that his tummy hurts and he needs to poop. within seconds he was vomiting multiple times. See photo above. :)

Blessing: Paolo went to his doctor, explained my situation, and she was nice enough to give him a perscription for me even though I wasn't physically there to show my cracked and bleeding and hard breasts. Thank you for someone nice and understanding! I think it was zithromax that she gave me, but I'm not sure.

Aaron is still vomiting and I'm just praying that it doesn't get passed to Isabel (since he loves to kiss and lick her, and I can't always stop it).

Sometimes something happens on a really bad that reminds you that you're not alone in the world- that there is a God and that He loves you very much. Today my little reminder was a package from my friend Kati. An unexpected package with material and patterns. You have no idea how this made my very bad day! I don't think that it's a coincidence that it happened on a very hard day.

I'm excited to use these fun colors!

I don't know how Kati knew that I was dreaming about having this card with all of the Kona solid colors on it. So that when I have a need to splurge and purchase on-line I can see if the color is really what I want.

Thanks for a pick-me-up on a bad day!

3 months old

2011-11-15T08:08:00.002-07:00

I can't belive that our little Isabel is 3 months old! She smiles, coos, and squaks like a chicken to get your attention. It's so sweet to see her light up when she sees her brothers. They shower her with kisses. Aaron's also taken to licking people lately so she gets her faced washed sometimes too.

She gets her hands in her mouth sometimes. So close to having a baby that self-soothes, yeah!

fall leaves

2011-11-07T03:26:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was a suprisingly nice day here in Bologna. Our neighbors had some leaves that were very red and orange. So we raked a few leaves so that I could take pictures of my kids and let them jump in a pile of leaves. Unfortunately just barely starting this fun project Jordan wet his pants (something he hasn't done for a long time).

So that's why Jordan is crying here.

Aaron is wanting to hold Isabel all the time. In the leaves was no exception.

Proud parenting moments

2011-11-03T02:47:00.002-06:00

Aaron drew a picture of the family the other day. It's one of those pay-back moments that I love after all the hard work and sleepless nights. From left to right there's. Isabel, Mom, Papà, Jordan and Aaron. I like that all the proportions of family members is right.

Halloween in Italy

2011-11-03T02:36:00.002-06:00

Halloween is just starting to get foot here. Apparently it's just the teenagers that go trick-or-treating around here. So we asked our 2 neighbors and family members that live next to us if we could come knock on their door. Apparently I did't explain trick-or-treating well to neighbors. At the first neighbor's house they gave the boys 2 handfuls of candy each, and the one after that a whole bag of candy each. I was a bit embarassed that I had asked my neighbors to buy a bag of candy for each of my kids. Anyway, they got more candy than they would of at home.

The next day after Halloween we had a halloween party in church that I was in charge of. I only expected 7-10 kids. We ended up having a good turn out! The boys were THRILLED to go dressed up as baseball players!

This is a picture of the kids that came. There were a lot of adults too that aren't in the picture.

Isabel is smiling

2011-10-29T05:45:00.004-06:00

This last week this little girl has woken up. She is wanting to see everything that's going on around her. She's also starting smiling and cooing like you wouldn't believe! I never thought that such a cute smile would be a problem, but today for all of her breast feedings, towards the end of the feeding she ends up looking at me and smiling instead of eating. Oh well. I'm in love with that smile. Thanks for being so cute Isabel!

Aaron is convinced that this is his very fashionable hat. I think it's used in collecting grapes from the vineyard at the end of the season, but not quite sure about that. I think he looks like a chinese worker in the rice fields. :)
And here's that great smiling!

Pictures of the house

2011-10-29T05:21:00.003-06:00

I've been waiting for my house to be clean, all my things to be put away, for a sunny day to have good lighting to take pictures of my house. Since that's not realistically going to happen all on the same day I decided to take some pictures (some are even out of focus) and post them anyway. So here's the entrance.
If you look to the right you see kitchen/living room.
This is looking at the living room from the kitchen.
And looking at the kitchen from the living room.
From the living room looking at the front door.
This is my bedroom.
This is the bathroom in my bedroom.
Paolo's brother and uncle had it built right before we came. Way nice of them!
This is the other bedroom (for the kids).
This is the main bathroom. The very short film below I tried to video our house but ran out of space on our card.

Sleeping through the night

2011-10-24T02:50:00.002-06:00

I hope I'm not cursing myself by posting about this. Isabel has slept through the night for the last 3 nights in a row. I'm hoping that this is a habit that continues. She goes to sleep around 10 p.m. and then I wake up 5-6 a.m. because I'm so full of milk that I can't sleep anymore. I feed her and she goes back to sleep for another 2 hours. My boys have also not gotten up during the night either for the last 3 nights- just up really early in the morning. I can handle that though.

I've had a melancholy 2 days where I'm missing home, family, and friends. I think those kinds of days are normal though.

Rainy Days and Gelato

2011-10-21T01:57:00.005-06:00

Peas in a pod. I did rescue Isabel from getting smashed right after taking the picture.
Walking to the park and eating bread. There's a decent park about 1 mile from our house (there is one closer but doesn't have much other than old people who smoke around my kids).
This is my first time ever trying to make a ruffle. It turned out really well. I made a double-sided apron. The great part is that I used it from spare fabric I had, and it turned out much cuter than I thought it would. That always makes you feel good.

Aaron was my model. I didn't take the picture while Paolo was home, just in case he had a heart attack over his son wearing something rather girly.

Yesterday it rained ALL day long. So we stayed in the house all day. To prevent myself from going crazy I decided to do a sewing project. I've been reading a book my friend Kati gave me that has patterns for some adorable girls clothes. I've never done frills and girly stuff and I've been dying to try. We have a friend who is turning 4 next week, so I decided I could experiment on a present for her. Pictures are to follow.

I had my first gelato the other day. I promised my friend Karla that I'd get an extra scoop. I did, and I'm glad I did. My brother-in-law watched the boys while Paolo and I took Isabel and got an ice cream. I got dark chocolate (it was almost too dark and Paolo had to finish it for me), white chocolate, and hazelnut. Yum!

Chocolate, guilt free goodness

2011-10-17T16:00:00.004-06:00

So I've been up until 1-3 a.m. with Isabel and not been able to sew (makes too much noise for our tiny place). So I took to browsing my recipes. I found a weight watchers recipe that I modified. It's worth trying and making! I've modified it to fit my ingredients that are available. The recipe makes about 15 cookies, so if you end up eating the whole batch, you don't even need to feel bad about it. Here's the recipe.

1 plum grated (1/3 c. prunes pureéd)
1 apple grated (1/3 c. applesauce)
1/3 cup chestnut puree (i recommend grating another apple or a pear)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. water
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. dark chocolate chips (or semi-sweet)
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Grate your fruit. I recommend fresh fruit grated but you can substitute. In a microwave container heat the sugar/cocoa/water/vanilla until sugar is melted. Then throw that in the microwave. Heat in 10 second intervals until choc. chips are melted. Mix chocolate goodness into the grated fruit. Then add flour and baking powder. Cook approx. 10 mins at 350 degrees. Makes about 15 cookies. It's very dark chocolate tasting. I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate but really like these. If you need good stress eating food I recommend these. You won't even feel guilty about it!

So we live on a little private street. Here's the gate going into where we live. We live at the end on the right hand side.

Here's the little vineyard of our neighbors as you walk down our street.
Here's the entrance to the house/apartment where we're living now.

When my kids saw this car they said "it's uncle topolino!" (from the movie Cars 2). They wanted their picture taken with him. Disney has definitely got my boys hooked on Cars.
As I was talking to a very dear friend (thank you Karla for knowing that I needed a phone call) my kids were watching TV just before bed. They were (for the first time today) so cute. The boys were caressing Isabel and being so sweet!
I'm grateful for those rare, sweet moments when the best shines through!

Made it alive

2011-10-13T15:04:00.002-06:00

I don't have any pictures to post since I haven't taken any yet. I promise there will be some soon.

We survived our 24 hour travel period in relatively good condition. Jordan only had a few melt'downs, and Aaron none. Isabel was an angel as always. Granted she's only 2 months old so I'll give her a little time to catch up to her brothers.

I'm wondering if my eyes will ever not be red. They're blood-shot from not sleeping, and were red from crying before I left. One day someone may see that I do have white in my eyes.

The kids are feeling the time difference and so are we. It still feels surreal to me that I live in Italy now. Both Paolo and I are having culture shock!

On a good note, I have two fun things. One is that I forgot about the mozzarella cheese, yum! Just bought some tonight.

The second, is that from the day my first child was born I've thought it would be funny if one of my boys innocent peed on my husband. My brother's oldest child was a fountain whenever he got his diaper changed. I thought it would be funny if the same thing happened to Paolo. Neither of the boys came through for me though- that is until tonight. Jet-lagged and exhausted Jordan fell asleep in Paolo's arms while talking to the neighbor. Paolo came in holding Jordan passed out on his shoulder. We were discussing what to do with him- try to put him to bed like that or change him into his PJ's. I was just expressing my concern that he might wet the bed and we better wake him up to go to the bathroom, when Jordan finally came through for me. He "wet the bed" while Paolo was holding him! I needed a good laugh after all the stress and tiredness we've had. Thank you Jordan for making mommy's dreams come true. :)

Terrorist Attack

2011-10-05T13:23:00.003-06:00

I was having for one of those long wished for moments of your children "playing nice and quietly" down stairs (my kids haven't very many of those moments lately). So I ran upstairs to make a phone call to get ready to move and wash the dishes. As I'm finishing the dishes I turn around and see thread on my kitchen floor. Ominous sign since thread is found only in my sewing room downstairs.

Then I see innocent Jordan (aka terrorist #1) stroll by. I asked him where he got the thread from. He answered down stairs. So I asked him to show me. There is thread strung from the kitchen upstairs, all the way down both flights of stairs, and into my sewing room.

That's when we came upon Aaron (aka terrorist #2) in the sewing room. And this is what I found!

(Sorry about the sideways picture. I down loaded it from my camera and it didn't let me turn it the right way).
They had pulled off every single key from my keyboard on the laptop that we're taking with us to Italy. I was aghast and didn't know what to say. So I sent both boys to their rooms to re-group for a moment.
I then took them back down stairs and showed them what they had done. I explained to them that they had broken mommy's computer and how sad it made me. Aaron just looked at me and said "oh sorry mom" in a tone that clearly sounded like he was totally surprised that his little treat had made me sad (along with annoyed, frustrated....). It was clear to me that they didn't have a clue that they had done something wrong.

Punishment: TV ban for the day (not that they get much of it anyway)
I guess they can make up for it when they smile at you like this.

On a good note, a nice neighbor is coming by tonight to see if he can help reattach those keys. He informs me that I can buy a new keyboard and have it put on for relatively cheap if he's not successful.

Sold

2011-09-27T20:21:00.002-06:00

Well, I sold my car Saturday! I'm very sad to part with it. I would highly recommend a Volkswagon to anyone.

Only 2 more weeks until we're on a plane to Italy. Exciting, scary, sad, happy... all in one. I had a friend ask me what I was looking forward to moving to Italy. I have to say that I didn't have a lot to say. I am, however, glad she asked me because I've started to think of a lot of things. I needed to be reminded that there is so much good in front of me that awaits. Sometimes I feel like all that is good and happy is what I have, and who I have with me right now. However there is a God, He knows me, and He has a plan for me. In front of me there are so many good things in store.

I'm looking forward to good food including: clementines, pizza, gelato, fresh fruits and vegetables, pecorino cheese, parmesan cheese, chocolate... I'm also looking forward to being near family- brother-in-law, aunts and uncles. I'm so excited to see our old friends, and all of our friends from church. I'm happy to be a Latter-day-Saint where I live. I'm looking forward to running on the awesome trails by my house. I'm looking forward to one day traveling a little bit around Europe. I want to see Prague and Budapest and Paris. I want to go to Ireland and see if I can blend in with the natives. I look forward to teaching English. I look forward to being a good influence and lifting up those around me. Being a foreigner makes me a bit unique and I am excused at being a little more bold, or to express my opinions and have them listened to. I am looking forward to the Rome Temple!

To all my friend's and family here: I love you! My heart breaks to leave you behind. But you're not really behind me. You'll always be in my heart. And besides, we'll see each other again. :)

4 generations

2011-09-14T20:31:00.005-06:00

My mom came to visit (aka help me out like crazy after having Isabel). She was here almost a whole 2 weeks. We went up to see grandma Wilson - also affectionately called "crazy grandma" by my brother's kids. They call her crazy grandma because she's as much one of the kids as they are. And that's why we love her to death. So here's Carol, Colleen, Julie, and Isabel. Four generations of women!
Mom just before we took her to the airport. I cried a little bit after she got in the security line. I was so grateful for her help. I also thought about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful mom that taught me so well. This is one of the things that is hardest for me about moving to Italy- being so far away from my family (and friends).

The other day we eating at the table- this time around it was grapes. Aaron stuffed his cheeks full and said, "look mom!" My boy that I love to death!

Jordan trying to imitate Aaron, but not pulling it off as well.
Jordan is often heard to say "I'm the catcher." Second runner up is "I'm the pitcher."
Here's my little catcher. Notice he's looking at me through the space in the glove. You can see his little eye.
And this is Isabel at 4 weeks old right after her bath tonight. She was pushing her head up high. You can't tell as well here because between seeing her do it and getting the camera, it wasn't as high as before. I just can't believe how strong at 4 weeks old. Her brothers better not pick on her when she's a little older or they're going to end up getting a beating!
Go Isabel!

finished sewing projects

2011-09-07T21:06:00.004-06:00

3 little monkies (can't not put them in a post). I've decided before moving back to Italy I'm going to finish up some of the many half-done projects I've got in my sewing closet. So here are a few...

I pieced this top when I was pregnant with Jordan. Two years later I finished it up. This a gift for my sister-in-law who is due at the end of November with their 4th girl.
This was from my quilting group that had a color challenge. We were given a Kona color wheel charm pack and told to make something from it. I decided on functionality- I made a changing cloth and small purse to hold a diaper, wipes, and changing cloth. I made the wonky stars, and this is a reversible carrier.

And here's the changing pad.

These are Christmas stockings that I quilted and threw together. Two out of three I did with a french seam, and the other I just added a border. I like the border less because I'm no good at the curves, and it didn't look so cute.
Aaron slipped these on while I was trying to do the photo shoot of my projects. He was so excited to where his "Christmas boots"!
This is an advent calender that I quilted, and I just need to finish up the hanging peaces to go on it.

These are hot pads I've made for some friends.

And a pin cushion... another challenge project from my quilting group a couple of months ago.

Isabel's First Bath

2011-09-02T19:23:00.002-06:00

I still have to protect her from the over-loving of her brother's. These boys are going to get a beating though once she's able to hold her own. Isabel is very mild and quite a pleasant baby, but I sense she'll be spirited underneath and be able to hold her own quite well.
I love dressing her up like a girl! I kept a few gender neutral items from Aaron and Jordan, but have quickly given them away. I find that I like pink and frilly.
She is a lot more awake and quite strong. When she's awake she seems very aware. She has mild colic in the evening and goes to sleep kind of late because of that, but at least half the time will go back to sleep after night feedings. I am getting a little more sewing done due to sleeping a little less.
Isabel seemed to like her fast bath- or at least she didn't cry, scream, wriggle... She did stare at herself quite a lot in the mirror. She's gained almost a pound since birth, and grown 2 inches. She's still yellow, but the pediatrician said that's a phenomenon that can happen in breast fed babies- it takes them longer to break down the billirubin.
Tomorrow is 3 weeks. That's 21 times older than the day she was born! We love our little angel.

Party of 3

2011-08-22T05:11:00.002-06:00

Almost 10 days into the transition and doing ok. Both of my kids are more whiny, most especially Jordan. But other than that, this transition is MUCH better than going from 1 to 2.

So far Isabel is quite a pleasant baby. Doesn't cry much unless really hungry. Getting on schedule has been a little harder than I remember. I'm a big believer in eating, staying awake, and then sleeping in order to get your baby on schedule. She's been going 4-6 hours between feedings and it's been freaking me out. Jordan was on a 2 hour cycle and ate a ton. I think it freaks me out mostly because she's so small. But as a friend reminded me yesterday, I guess I won't worry about as long as she's wetting diapers and growing.

I have a friend, Kati, that is the awesomest quilter! She's got me going to a quilting group that I love. She is so creative, and inspires me. Well, I was the very LUCKY recipient of one of her blankets, and I LOVE it!!! Thank you Kati.

Bed time wind down...

Stop and smell the roses

2011-08-17T14:33:00.002-06:00

Stop and smell the roses. Looking at this top picture does not make me stop and think of the smell of roses. Actually, quite a different flavor. I was trying (and near failing) to breast feed Isabel when Aaron comes in the room and declares "Jordan got the toilet dirty. Come and see." I told Aaron I'd go in a minute, and then I heard noises from the bathroom that made me decide to go and see right away. This is only a small part of the poop devastation that Jordan did in the bathroom.

Soooo, Isabel didn't quite finish her feeding. It took a lot of wipes, lysol, and hand washing to clean up. But as I was doing so, I had the thought: Look on the bright side of things. So I decided that instead of feeling frustrated by the endlessly smeared poop, I would just be happy I had the opportunity to have a clean bathroom. And I have to say it looks really good now (until the next time one of the boys goes to the bathroom).

So today I'm grateful for a clean bathroom. I'm also grateful that I have two active, happy boys, grateful that going from 2 to 3 isn't quite as bad as the transition from 1 to 2. I'm also very grateful to my friend Sabrina who has had my boys over to play at her house the last few mornings so that I could get some rest!!!!
And I'm also grateful that Heavenly Father gave me one of his beautiful daughters to love, nourish, and teach. What a blessing!

Baby Bimba is here!

2011-08-15T19:32:00.003-06:00

Our little girl was finally born! Her name is... Isabel Maryann Palmieri

Friday night I went into labor. My contractions were 5 mins apart and lasting 2 mins each. I called my sister and had her come over about 1 a.m. I woke up Paolo and made him call in sick to work. We grabbed our bag and were on the way out the door when my contractions stopped. I waited about an hour and I started having them again, but not as often. After another they stopped again. Ugh! At least if you hurt that bad you get a baby out of it. So I woke up my sister for nothing.

Saturday about 7 p.m. my water broke. And yes- it really feels like you just wet your pants! So we called my sister again. I got the kids a bath and in bed early. My very nice neighbor came over while Maureen was coming, and we went to the hospital about 8:30 p.m. By then I was having really good contractions. 2 hours later our cute, small baby was born.

Best delivery I've ever had. 2 contractions worth of pushing and slid out by herself. I didn't tear or anything. Thank heavens for small babies! She was only 6 lbs 3 oz, and 18 inches long. Welcome to the family Isabel!

I think she looks a lot like Jordan.
Aaron and Jordan love their little sister. She was mawled with hugs and kisses. Poor thing.
Exhausted but happy to not be 9 months pregnant!
Welcome home.

Trouble Maker in Chief

2011-08-12T07:25:00.002-06:00

Jordan is in love with his dad! Everything Paolo does, Jordan wants to do too. This means EVERYTHING! He loved shaving with dad.
Jordan has turned into quite the 2 year old too! Hitting is a huge problem. He's also learned how to climb out of his crib and is fighting nap/bed time. I've had to put the baby handle on the inside of his door so he can't escape.

This morning I was in the living room and heard what sounded like a shower, but coming from the kitchen. He had just finished pouring a whole liter of juice onto the table that was showering onto the chairs and floors. That took A LOT of paper towels!

He also loves to climb onto the sinks in the bathroom and wash his hands and feet for hours if you let him. What would I do without this kiddo?

Mission Reunion

2011-08-04T19:59:00.003-06:00

My mission president had a mission reunion mid-July. They've been called to serve in West Africa for the church, and it was 10 years this July that they've been home. I'm so glad that I was able to go and see them. Lee and Jane Curtis have had a profound effect on my life and I'm so grateful for them. I'm also so grateful for the time I had to serve as a missionary in Italy. My life will never be the same again!

A few random pictures. Probably our last trip to the zoo since our zoo pass expired at the end of the month.

One of my mission companions got married this week. Yeah for marriage!
Jordan's face is typical of one he makes quite often lately.

On the Farm 2

2011-07-24T10:01:00.005-06:00

I finally got blogger to upload more pictures. Prepare yourself for a LOT of pictures of the Palmieri boys. Thanks Shelly!

On the Farm

2011-07-24T07:21:00.004-06:00

I have a co-worker that offered to take pictures of my kids. Who can say no to that? There are A LOT of cute pictures. Unfortunately blogger won't upload any more pictures, so I'll have to do a second post. This is in Magna where my friend Shelly has horses and cattle. Thank you Shelly for the great pictures!

Salt Flats

2011-07-06T14:43:00.002-06:00

Do you have days like this when you think your children are playing wonderfully, while you're preparing gourmet waffles and trying to be a good "homemaker" and mother, to walk into this?

While I'm glad that Jordan is now potty trained, it comes at a cost some days, like unrolling a whole roll of toilet paper, and then deciding that he needs to empty out his potty chair, but completely missing the toilet! While the other child has dumped out all 500 books and all the toys into one pile and is playing king of the mountain.

Motherhood... I remind myself in moments like this that it's ok. My life has meaning and purpose. I'm doing my best to teach them to be good kids and follow the Savior.

We went to Wendover to meet some Italian friends and got to see the famous Salt Flats. Let me tell you, the reflection on the white salt in the middle of the desert is blinding! I couldn't keep my eyes open for the camera.
I also haven't taken ANY pregnant belly pictures. The third time around you just pray that you can quickly not be big and pregnant anymore. So here's my official 33 week prego belly (8 months for those of you who count in months).

These are my little angels. They love what Aaron calls "picnic" outside. He loves to eat out in the yard. As long as he'll eat anything I'll agree to it. He's so hard to feed sometimes.
Cheesy!

Vacation at Zion's National Park

2011-06-28T08:10:00.004-06:00

This was one awesome Jet tub in our small cabin. It ended being only a bathtub for the kids, but they loved it!
My mom rented out some cabins just outside of Zion's National Park. All of my siblings, and Jim (my step-dad)'s kids and families came. It was so much fun! My kids loved playing with all of their cousins, and I loved hanging out with my siblings.

Papa Jim plays a game with the older kids that if they can catch a dollar between their fingers then they get to keep it. He did it for all of the grand kids with 5 dollar bills so that they would have money to go spend while on vacation. Thanks Jim! Aaron was thrilled with the money.

My youngest brother, Steven, was the biggest help in the world. Paolo couldn't come because he had to work all weekend. So I went down 8 months pregnant by myself with the kids. My brother Steve was an awesome uncle and helped me out a ton. We went on a half mile hike, and the boys loved it. They could have kept going, but I was tuckered out. :)

I tried to get a picture of the boy cousins. It was a little difficult to say the least. I love Park's great face.
This one we got cousin Jackson. Aaron loved playing with Jackson.
Last night we went down and made smores with all the grandkids. My kids get a limited amount of sugar at home, and so enjoyed the chocolate and marshmallows even more.

View while making smores. Absolutely beautiful! Thanks again mom for the best family vacation! My favorite part was hanging out every evening and making/eating dinner together. I'll never forget what a wonderful family I have and how much I love all of them.

Happy 4th Birthday Aaron!

2011-06-08T21:56:00.002-06:00

Today my oldest turned 4. Things I love about Aaron: he is very enthusiastic- about everything, he loves to play, his laugh warms my heart, he has a tender heart and when he is kind and sweet with Jordan he is the sweetest of boys, he is good at puzzles, he loves to help mom/dad cook and his fingers are constantly in the food (and then into his mouth). The list goes on. I'm just so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me this little boy who will one day grow into a man.

I hope he learns to be loving, kind, generous, responsible, diligent, and faithful.
I did not feel like doing anything special. Maybe it's being 30 weeks pregnant, maybe not. So we had a water balloon fight/pool with his little buddy Roberto. At home we made a cake and sang happy birthday after Jordan's nap. That way the sugar went down early in the day and not right before bed time.
Aaron liked his little monkey. :)

It actually took about 4 blows to blow it out. Love you Aaron!!! I'm grateful you're in my life.

sewing projects

2011-05-30T08:39:00.003-06:00

So here are a couple of things I've sewn lately. This first one I made for a friend in Italy. I finished it the night before we left. (As most of my projects go.)
This one I made this week from left over 9 square patches I had made some time back. I made a lap-sized quilt for Aaron's pre-school teacher. It's been a while since I've done a smaller quilt and it's nice to whip it out a lot faster than a big one.

Happy Birthday Jordan!

2011-05-23T09:15:00.002-06:00

Today is Jordan's 2nd Birthday. My how time flies. I love this little guy to death. I'm so glad that he's part of our family. Things that I love about Jordan: his smile, how he says "si", that he can speak both English and Italian, when you get him out of bed in the morning and his little voice is so excited to say your name when you come in the room, he loves to jump a lot, when he walks he swings his arms, I love how much he and Aaron love each other and wrestle and hug a lot.
This is a random picture of Aaron that makes me laugh. I shouldn't even post it, but the scene was so funny. One evening he comes into the kitchen and rips my kids magazine off the counter and then marched into the bathroom and slammed the door. I peeked in to see what he was doing, and this is what I discovered. It's a learned behavior from Dad.

Uncle Daniele

2011-04-25T12:14:00.003-06:00

Our second and last trip to the beach. Uncle Daniele has been helping me A LOT with the boys. Thank you zio Daniele!!!! Aaron and Jordan miss dad like crazy (who has already gone home). But having a fun uncle helps a lot.

I love this smile.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Visiting lots of friends

2011-04-22T06:41:00.002-06:00

This is my favorite picture of the boys with uncle Daniele.

I'm in the frenzied count-down of going home and trying to see and visit everyone I want to. We took a trip to San Luca, a huge cathedral way up on a hill, with our friends Roberto and Giuliana. Good to see them before we go.
Playing at the park.
The girl in pink is Anna. I used to babysit her before I had Aaron. She was a doll then and she still is now. She has a little sister Livia and little brother Giacomo. Cuties all of them.

Trip to Prato

2011-04-22T06:26:00.004-06:00

I went this last Monday and Tuesday to visit one of my favorite families, the Furia family. I initially met them on my mission and have kept in contact since. I got the royal "mamma italiana" treatment- meaning spoiled rotten.
Their youngest daughter's name is Letizia. Aaron and Leti were friends from the second they re-met. As you can see, hand in hand. Aaron has never done this with any other kid in his life (walk around the park hand-in-hand for more than 2.1 seconds- Aaron's attention span).
I love this faithful family. They have always been so nice to me!

Jordan would NOT take a nap for me, but he did fall asleep in Letizia's arms. Magic. Thanks for the visit and good food and friendship!

Bathroom issues and the beach

2011-04-15T10:57:00.003-06:00

So yesterday we were out and about for a really long time. We stopped to get a pizza on our way home. Aaron really had to go, and of course there was no public bathroom. So Paolo took him outside to find a bush. It's nice to have boys in that sense. Aaron came back delighted and told me that he had pee'd a river of pee. Very proud.

As we were coming home and walking around the corner to go inside, he suddenly pulled down his pants and pee'd on our wall right in front of our front door! When he was done he exclaimed "mission complete"! We then had a talk about when it's ok to pee outside or not.
When we came home today from visiting family, it was really late in the afternoon and the boys were exhausted. So I proposed that we cuddle on my bed. They immediately jumped under the covers and started to cuddle each other. One of those cute, rare moments that you'll never forget.
This is our first trip to the beach! They boys had the time of their life.

Aaron wanted to make a "sand angel" like you would in the snow- except in the sand.
Jumped right in.
These guys had so much fun even though the water was cold. They played about 45 minutes in the water before complaining that they were cold.

Here we are visiting Ferrara. I love this little town. The boys had fun seeing the huge castle in the middle of down town. To be honest though, they asked the whole time we were here to be able to go to the beach. Shouldn't have told them about what was coming next. :)

Our first week

2011-04-08T01:01:00.002-06:00

We went to the baseball field to go see some friends and the boys had fun playing, and chasing the baseball.

We also got to see some friends. This is Roberto and Giulianna. Roberto is great with the kids.
Eating gelato together. How I love Italian ice cream!
Every time we passed by this cone (at least 6 times) Aaron would try and lick. Disgusting I know!

This is our trip to Italia in Miniatura (a theme park here). There is Italy in miniature with models of all the famous monuments and places.
On the train that takes you around the park.

On the boat ride in little Venezia.

Trip to Italy

2011-04-04T02:20:00.002-06:00

We made it to Bologna Italy... after a long trip. It ended up taking a little over 24 hours to get here but we made it! There were lots of disasters and lots of blessings along the way. We had a hard time checking in at Salt Lake. Delta was not able to find Jordans ticket and we were at check in about 45 mins. We were worried we would miss the plane. We did made it though, only to find out that all 3 tickets were far away from each other. The plane was full and they were not able to change the tickets for us. Begging and nice passengers traded with us so that we could sit together.

Then at Atlanta all 3 seats were far apart again (I asked to change seats on a once again completely full flight). The flight was delayed almost 2 hours and right when I asked to change seats a family of 3 gave up their tickets (thank heavens for tender mercies). So the overnight flight was all together too. We barely missed our connection in Amsterdam. The plane was pulling away as we came running up breathelessly. After a 6 hour wait there we finally made it to Bologna.
Notice the scab on Jordan's forehead. We got in about 10:30 p.m. The kids were in bed by midnight. At 2:30 Jordan woke up and wouldn't go back to his new crib. So I brought him to sleep with me. At 5:30 a.m. I woke up to horrible bonk and realized that Jordan had fallen out of bed and landed with his head on the hard marble. He cried for quite a while. When I took him into the bathroom he looked like he had a huge gash on his head. I thought for sure that he had split his head open and I would have to take him to the ER for stitches. Fortunately it was just a nasty abrasion. Probably will have a good scar anyway.
First real Italian gelato That we ate together. Too bad the picture is out of focus, but it was priceless anyway.
These kids are definitely suffering the time change. Aaron has a hard time waking up in the morning, and my is he awnry! This was Jordan trying to help us wake him up at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. This child has never slept past about 8 a.m. in his life. He usually wakes up at 6 a.m. at home.

Baby #3

2011-03-22T13:14:00.005-06:00

This is from Carnevale- the Italian equivalent of Halloween and celebrated in February. I'm a little behind the times I know. February was like a month ago.

Yummy treats.

Jordan eating out of someone's cup. Gross!

Thank heavens for snow storms that melt quickly. I thought the chicken in the snow was funny. Strange sense of humor I know.

The boys playing together. So cute!

And ladies and gentleman. A drum roll please....... We found out that we're having a little....

Girl!

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed

2011-02-23T09:05:00.002-07:00

Aaron LOVES building castles and temples with his legos. This, according to Aaron is the castle of Neuschwanstein (the Cinderalla castle in Germany). He happens to be fixated with this place from watching too much Little Einstein's.

Aaron also loves to put on his apron and bake, mostly cookies because he loves to sneak as many finger fulls of dough as he can possibly get.

We have a little toy pizza guy that if you push the button he sings a hillarious song about making pizza. Aaron and Jordan love to take turns pushing the button and "dance" on our bed while the music plays. These are my two little monkeys jumping on my bed. :)

On the pregnancy front, I'm feeling MUCH better. I no longer want to barf all day, and I'm a much nicer wife and mother for it. Second trimester is definitely the best one.

These are a few of our favorite things...

2011-02-03T12:55:00.002-07:00

Jordan is quite the character these days. He LOVES to play with the soap and wash his hands in the bathroom when mom isn't looking. He definitely has the cleanest hands in the house.

Peek-a-boo. Jordan and Aaron both love hiding and then jumping out or getting caught.

Jordan has also picked up a nack for trying on all kinds of things in the house, most especially winter hats, and slippers.

...or goggles...

...quite the good looking sport...

Aaron is in tumbling right now, and loving it.

We like to play a little baseball in doors before it starts. It's a good way to get the winter-closed-in-the-house wiggles out.

Quite the duo. They love each other and are getting good at fighting too. Aaron always steals Jordan's toys, and then Jordan head butts or hits Aaron. Trying to work on sharing and using your words to express your feelings, but we have a ways to go.

My favorite thing is they love to wrestle and chase each other around the house.

Here they are hiding from mom.

"eccoci qua!"

Baby update

2011-01-19T08:00:00.001-07:00

So I went to the OB a week ago convinced that I was 10 1/2 weeks pregnant. My due date was pushed back 10 days! I was only 9 weeks. Ten extra days of wanting to barf all day wasn't what I wanted to hear. However, I know for sure it's not twins. Sigh of relief. To be honest this picture is actually of Aaron at that age because I don't have a scanner for the picture of the alien inside me right now. :) I think that's what they look like early on.

New due date: August 17th, 2011

Stubborn!

2011-01-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

We have a little tradition that Aaron loves to accompany Papa` to the mailbox which is 3 houses down. (I should mention we have one of those community mailboxes for about 20 houses where you open your slot with a key.) During the summer Aaron would hop on his trike and follow Paolo down. We obviously haven't done that in a very long time considering that we always covered in snow. Well this day Aaron decided that he HAD to ride his bike down in the snow to the mailbox. We told him over and over the bike doesn't go on the snow. Aaron is rather stubborn and refused to listen. So he stood over the bike and walked to and from the mailbox with the bike between his legs. As mom predicted, he didn't actually ride it. :)

There is a small park about 1 mile from our house with some great hills that aren't too big. Aaron is completely fearless. He went to the top of the tallest hill and smiled all the way down. I worry about what he's going to do when he's a teenager. Definitely dangerous and stupid stuff.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

A couple days before Christmas it snowed a lot of wet snow. It was perfect for building a snow man. This is Aaron's first ever snow man. He loved it!

A rare moment of being cute together just before bed time.

This is Aaron's first year of really getting excited for Christmas. He had so much fun ripping open his packages. In all honesty I don't believe in buying a lot of presents for your kids, so they got some toys from DI and were perfectly happy.

Here's Jordan's present: some sun glasses. He still loves wearing them.

Ironically Aaron's favorite present of the morning was a sucker that he got from one of his little friends for Christmas.

#3 on the way

2010-12-22T07:21:00.001-07:00

Just announcing that we're expecting baby Palmieri #3 towards the beginning of August. I was going to wait until I at least went to my OB, but since Paolo posted it on facebook... I'm only 7.7 weeks along, and feeling nauseated. My first pregnancy was worse by far. Merry Christmas!

more sewing projects

2010-12-16T08:52:00.001-07:00

This is about my 3rd finished quilt. I tried to show the loopy stitch I did.

I didn't have a great place to take pictures of this blanket. I usually do it on my front fence, but considering everything is covered in snow, I couldn't. I most post a picture in a few weeks when we are no longer snow covered.

It's satisfying to FINALLY be done! Now on to the next one.

Rough Day

2010-12-09T07:10:00.001-07:00

So have you ever had a frustatingly hard day? That was me yesterday morning. I'm trying to get ready to go to preschool. Aaron had stripped naked and was running around the house (something we don't usually allow). He was running away from me and laughing. So I locked him in his room in time out and told him he could get out when he was dressed. In the mean time I'm trying to hurry and take a shower. My bathroom was disgusting and I hurried and washed the sink. Then I went down stairs to switch the laundry before showering. Jordan had been playing really well by himself.

I came upstairs and found him like this. The only thing that kept me from flipping is a promise I made to myself to not cry over spilled milk with the kids. So I hurried and took a picture and then quickly undressed Jordan, washed him off and made him drink water before calling poison control just to make sure I didn't need to watch for anything.

They recommended that I give him a bath too. So as I get ready to give Jordan a bath, Aaron calls me from his room stating he is dressed. I open the door and he is still buck naked, and is so excited to show me that he peed in the little potty. He also had pooped all over the floor. How on earth did he do one in the port-a-potty and the other on the floor?

So then while they were bathing I'm trying to clean up Comet, and it wouldn't go away. Sweeping it was like moving it around. I tried to vaccum it. That was a little better, but still all over. So then I had to wash my whole upstairs, plus vaccum the whole upstairs, plus do at least 3 loads of wash because the powder was all over his bed too.

THEN I got to clean up poop. We were really late for preschool and I was exhausted!

Thank heavens most days aren't like that. I also realize that I have so much to be grateful for- that I have two happy, healthy children that still do relatively small damage. That are able to do damage (verses being in a hospital or otherwise handicapped). Now that it's the next day I feel a lot better about everything. So bad days don't last forever.

walking in a winter wonderland

2010-12-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is Thanksgiving 2010. This is also the first time Aaron has enjoyed playing in the snow without him crying because he's cold or other reasons.

Our trampoline was covered and we tried to remove as much snow as possible.

Paolo hates having his picture taken, let alone me publishing it online. Oh well. He looks better than me in the picture. :)

A visit to the temple grounds to remember what we're most grateful for- an eternal family, an opportunity to know our Savior and to try to become like Him. We fall short a lot, but certainly feel His love as we are trying.

Who cannot resist such a cute face?! Jordan is talking in 3-5 word sentences and will say a prayer. So cute to hear his little voice.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-03T14:05:00.001-06:00

We got these spiderman spectacles in a hand-me-down bag. I wouldn't have ever gotten them, but the boys love them! They love to put them on mom and dad and have a good laugh at us. Sorry, no pictures of that one!

When we went trick-or-treating it started to rain at the house next door. I think we hit a total of 6 houses and came home. The boys were happy anyway. Aaron enjoyed giving out the candy to all of the kids more than anything else.

Here they are: Dinosaur (or crocodile, I'm not sure which), and Superman. Aaron calls superman "superpan". It's quite funny to here him yell it at the top of his lungs.

On Saturday we went to Hogle Zoo to trick or treat in the morning. This is Aaron's friend Roberto (who is also Italian speaking). They love to hang out together.

And this was Italian preschool dressing up. The boys loved dressing up this year. Aaron actually understood that he was getting candy in his bag this year and was almost over the edge with excitement. Fortunately he's young enough he didn't even realize his bag of candy disappeared that night.

Sewing projects and My Boys

2010-10-18T08:08:00.000-06:00

This is my second quilt that I've finished. This one is for my mom for Christmas. No suprises for my mom is she checks my blogspot. I was just so proud of myself for not screwing it up. It fits a twin sized bed.

Aaron's new drama: going potty. Will it never end?! I can't let him go to the bathroom by himself because this happens about 80% of the time. It's expensive and annoying.

Say cheese! And don't do that again!

Jordan my ever happy child.

This is Aaron at 2 weeks...

And Aaron at almost 3 1/2 years old. What a difference.

The boys hanging out before church.

Jordan is adorable when it comes to saying prayers.

Eating an Onion

2010-10-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

I was trying to chop of a bunch of vegetable for a soup I was making. Aaron told me that he wanted to eat the onion. I told him he didn't want to eat it. He kept insisting that he really did want to eat that onion so I told him to go ahead. Then I hurried and grabbed my camera. Enjoy! I had a good laugh.

boys will be boys

2010-09-23T08:26:00.000-06:00

These two love to wrestle together (in their own sort of way). It is so fun to see them play and love each other. Although truth be told they are already starting to fight and bicker over toys too. I guess there must be an oposition in all things, right?

Go Jordan!

Funny things your kids do (or gross things): yesterday I was trying to get Aaron dressed (this is not my favorite part about 3 year olds- nothing is ok. If you choose their clothes they have a melt down. If you try to help them they have a melt down. If you don't help them they have a melt down. ) For no reason at all Aaron just looks and me and says "abbraccio mamma" (translation: "hug mommy") and then comes to hug my neck. He threw his arms around my neck and then proceded to wipe his nose in my hair with a nice back and forth cleaning movement. I swear kids think that moms are their own personal nose rags! So much for the anticipated cute moment.

Guess that shape

2010-09-11T13:12:00.000-06:00

We made a cake for our neighbor as a birthday joke. It didn't look like the animal it was supposed to. Can you guess what it is? If you guess right, the prize is being the best interpreter of modern art. Answer is at the bottom of the post.

Kids are growing. Aaron started preschool this week. We are still doing Italian preschool too. Here's to hoping this kid will eventually be bilingual.

Jordan repeats EVERYTHING he hears. He says 40-50 words now. It is so fun to listen to his little squeaky voice say things.

We went on the little train at This is the Place State Park with our friend Roberto. The boys loved it!

I can never get these guys to simultaneously look at the camera. The answer is: skunk. It is supposed to be a skunk. Oh well, we can't all be good at cake decorating. :)

Sewing Projects

2010-09-01T12:30:00.000-06:00

So I started to sew a little in Italy, and I've recently joined a quilting group to start getting a little better. I made this apron very last minute for a bridal shower for a cousin. My cousin Kim is getting married and the bridal shower theme was "honey-do list". So I whipped this up out of my fabric stash (because I decided to go 2 days before and didn't have time to go to the fabric store).

This is my first quilt from start to finish that I did everything all by myself. I paper pieced the top. I then did free motion quilting to quilt it together, and then sewed on the binding. It was a lot of work for a novice like me. Modesty aside I'm quite proud of myself and I really like this quilt.

Jordan's first haircut

2010-08-23T08:30:00.000-06:00

We started out trimming Aaron's hair so that Jordan could see. Then we moved on to Jordan.

Before.

That smile quickly disappeared.

After.

This is our little garden. We've got zucchini and pumpkins up to our ears- or at least up to our kid's ears. Paolo thought it would be fun to take pictures of them in our gargen to show how tall the plants are.

I rarely get a good smile out of him. It's usually forced and with a scrunched up nose.

I love their faces. An expression can be worth a lot of words...

Paolo's comment when he saw this picture: baby squirrel.

5th Wedding Anniversary

2010-08-12T14:04:00.000-06:00

5 years ago today I married my eternal companion! I love Paolo and know that he is a gift to me. Now our eternal family has 2 wonderful additions: Aaron and Jordan. I just wanted to tell my tesoro that I love him with all of my heart! -Julie

self-photo

2010-07-30T07:57:00.000-06:00

The last time I tried to check out some blogspots, I turned around to find this little guy covered in strawberries! He is getting so big! He now tries to sing "I am a child of God" whenever he hears it, and he gets the last 3-4 words pretty good. He also loves to give kisses (something that Aaron never did). He is so happy and good natured. I love having Jordan around.

Since I never have pictures of me and the kids, I attempted some self-portraits. This is what I came up with. :)

My favorite is Jordan looking up and Aaron looking dead serious.

We had some friends from Italy who were passing by. This was our friend Roberto's hat that Aaron took and then took off on his trike. That same day we were inside playing and the boys were loving the attention from Roberto. They kept trying to steal his glasses. So Roberto held them up in the air and started to auction them off. He said, "what will you give me in exchange for these glasses?" Aaron without a seconds hesitation responded, "baby Jordan!" Quite the exchange!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-08T13:32:00.000-06:00

I don't take enough pictures, or post very often. JOrdan is turning into quite the little boy. He eats like a pig and is still underweight. The boys keep me more than busy. Recently my m0m and step-dad came into town to visit. It was fun hanging out with grandma and grandpa Copple. We went to This is the Place State Park. The boys had a blast!

Aaron has said for the last 50 times straight: "Aaron on the train!" I think that was his highlight for the trip.

Cousins. I love my nieces and nephews and am happy when I get to see them.

The other highlight: petting the lambs and goats.

Or maybe it was the horseride.

A rare smile for the camera.

Just as a comment on the 4th of July. I'm not very eloquent but I do want to express my profound gratitude for the freedom I enjoy. I am so grateful for the many men and women throughout the history of this land that have sacrificed for political, religious, ethical, and all basic freedoms. Having lived abroad for a few years I am so grateful to have as much as I do. I do believe that we should be a nation under God. I feel like some of my core values are sometimes attacked and ridiculed. But I believe that as we love our Savior and our fellowmen, and protect the family that this nation will continue to be blessed.

June 2010

2010-06-23T08:09:00.000-06:00

Aaron is my serious boy. He does smile a lot, but rarely for the camera.

Paolo has been showing Aaron how to play baseball. We put the ball on the bucket and Aaron hits it and runs towards first base. He's actually quited good for barely 3 years old.

We had friends visit from Italy for a day, and they brought us the Italian flag. Aaron LOVED that flag. He even had to take it to bed with him. He wouldn't give it up. Needless to say that he didn't get a nap that day.

Evviva Italia!

This is a sweet deal: free truck. The neighbors were going to throw it away because a wheel is bent. We don't mind bent wheels. The boys have absolutely loved it.

These are some of my favorite faces that Jordan makes on a daily basis.

Another typical Jordan: with food in his mouth. This kids eats more than I do right now.

Jordan has long hair on top that some days looks like an awesome comb-over, and other days like a rooster. Jordan in my drama king, and frequently has this expression on his face when he is upset about something. Love him to death!

At Wheeler Farm.

Love the teeth.

Chickens

2010-06-12T10:19:00.000-06:00

Aaron loves to try to put on Dad's garden boots (that he can't even fit into). In the background is the new car that I got. We traded mine in. We got a Volkswagon Passatt station wagon 2005. I LOVE it!!!

Aaron also just turned 3. Happy Birthday Aaron. We didn't do anything for his birthday for. I just didn't feel like it.

On one of the few nice days we've had, we had a picnic and ate some really good cantelope.

The picnic just happened to be in the part of the yard fenced off for our new chickens.

So we'll probably never have any cats or dogs, but we gave in and got some chickens. We got 3 chickens from one of Paolo's co-workers. The next morning we woke up to the crowing of the rooster. Really annoying actually. So a few days later we took that one back. The next morning we woke up to crowing again. Big sigh. 2 out of 3 were roosters. So we actually purchased 4 chickens from a farm (with the guarantee that they are female). 3 of them lay the regular brown eggs, and the 4th lays blue eggs. They are still young so it will be a few months before they actually start to lay eggs. We have a total of 5 chickens.

Happy late Birthday Jordan!

2010-06-02T14:50:00.000-06:00

This is Jordan's first birthday cake: flan. I didn't feel like doing anything messy this time, although admittedly the pictures are more fun if you do. We just called uncle Daniele on skype when Jordan woke up, and he got a special breakfast.

I can't believe that my baby is 1! The time goes way too fast the second time around.

I love his smile, and this is a typical grin from him.

Aaron is almsot 3, and you can tell. His loves are: all animals (ferocious and benign), tractors, buses, ambulances, police cars, fire men/trucks, and running (mostly away from me at top speeds).

He also loves to feed the animals.

This kid has no fear.

I also just buzzed his head, and was very sad afterwards. I actually like his long hair. I comfort myself by saying that it's his "summer cut".

Give him a piece of candy and he'll hold still for anything.

I've also just purchased a low quality mountain bike from DI, and had the bike trailor from a co-worker. We've started short excursions on the bike on the very few days it hasn't been poor weather. We're looking forward to summer weather! The first ride Aaron kept his arm in a hug around Jordan. It was so stinking cute, especially because Aaron has never been the cuddly type.

Cereal up the Nose

2010-05-14T09:12:00.001-06:00

This is the byproduct of a trip up Aaron's nose. I'm sure it was quite the horrible trip for this poor little cereal. It's never been up a slimey place like that before. If only it knew that a piece of bread made the same horrible fate just two days before.

I'm not sure why Aaron has discovered that shoving things up his nose is fun. This piece of cereal was WAY up there too. Fortunately for Aaron his mom is an ER nurse and knows a trick or two.

So here is a tutorial if anyone has a child that sticks something up his/her nose: Lay your child on the bed. Close the nostril that isn't plugged with fun treats. Go in as if you were going to give your child a kiss. Then put your mouth over there's and form a good seal (as if you were to give a breathe doing CPR). Blow hard. Don't worry, you won't hurt them. Sometimes you have to blow more than once, but it's not guaranteed that they will hold still for more than one blow. The object (and sometimes a face full of snot) will then come out, probably onto your face!

Hope none of you have to do this!

Aaron loves "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands". We sing the Italian version and he is so cute when he does it!

Paolo was watching Jordan while I was napping the other day. To pass the time he decided it was really funny to make Jordan look like Alpha Alpha. I have to agree. It was really quite funny.

Jordan feeding himself spaghetti.

Jordan is starting to take his first steps, but he'd much rather crawl still.

Nonna in town

2010-04-27T10:10:00.000-06:00

My mom came into town this weekend. We had a lot of fun going down town to Temple Square and having a picninc with Aaron's cousins. It was my oldest nephew's birthday so we had a picnic lunch to celebrate.

Nonna with Aaron and Jordan. I can't ever get Aaron to look at the camera. The only time he did was when he was picking his nose. I though I'd spare you the gorey details.

This kid loves feeding himself and trying to get whatever scraps from the table he can (usually from Aaron).

Jordan is the worst toilet paper puller ever. This was only a mild job compared to most times. How I love this little boy!

Le Smorfie di Jordan (Jordan's funny faces)

2010-04-12T09:56:00.000-06:00

Jordan makes some great faces. Here are a few when we were at the park.

love the teeth!

love the snot!

love the teeth and snot!

notice the drool dripping off of his chin. he's teething.

Playing at the park

2010-04-12T09:47:00.000-06:00

We had fun taking advantage of the warmer, but windy weather to play at the park a few days this week. Both of the boys LOVED it!

Check out my afro blowing in the wind!

Family Mascot

2010-03-24T15:42:00.000-06:00

We had an "Olympic Ceremonies" at church, and Paolo was one of the Mascot's. He played the part well. He looked so ridiculous that I had to post a picture. Love my hubby!

Jordan is now 10 months old. To celebrate he got a black eye yesterday. In the bath he fell while trying to pull himself up on the faucet and smacked his left eye on the lever that makes the water go down. At first I didn't realize what he'd done. But when I was dressing him I could see the swelling and redness. Nothing like your baby getting a black eye to make you feel like a bad mom. Today it's not too swollen or discolored, so I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be too bad. No pictures of that one.

At least Aaron is pushing him instead of pushing him down (Aaron gets a lot of time out's over that one).

Jordan is literally into everything! I've been saying for months that I need to put a baby lock on this door too, and the crawling in and getting into things inspired me to do it that same day.

He has also left me a present in the bath water twice in the last week.

And his all time favorite- toilet paper eating! I don't know how many times a day I have to take him away from his favorite acitivity.

2010-03-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

The sun's in my eyes mom!

My happy boy is doing well. His top two fangs (I call them) are growing in nicely, and the top front ones are cutting through right now. So hopefully Jordan won't look like Dracula for too long. :)

This kids also loves to feed himself. he won't take much baby food these days because he has to feed himself. He eats a lot of cheerios and boiled vegetables.

About the only time of day that he looks like an angel is when he's sleeping- which he hasn't done much of lately. We sent his binky to the moon on a balloon about 10 days ago. Ever since he's had a hard time relaxing to fall asleep at night time. This was one of the rare occassions that he did.

This kid loves dirt. He likes to hit it with stick. Unfortunately he still likes to eat it when I'm not looking. He does it for the attention- or at least that's what I presume because it can't possible taste that good.

Aaron was imitating Paolo after he had worked on our garden box in our yard.

Carnevale

2010-02-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Abbiamo festeggiato Carnevale alla scuola Italiana questa settimana. Questo e` Aaron con il suo amico Roberto. Erano carini.

This week at Italian pre-school we celebrated "Carnevale" which is the Italian version of our Halloween. Aaron had a lot of fun!

I swear Aaron has picked his nose more than anything else the last two weeks. Caught in the act.

Aaron had some great faces that were funny.

Aaron's super powers: he can yell louder than any child or adult that I know (hmmm, maybe he'll be an opera singer one day); he can go from happy to full body temper tantrum in less than 0.2 seconds (hmmm, sounds like he's close to 3); he LOVES his baby brother and often tries to smother (literally) him with love. Poor Jordan is constantly being rescues from the clutches of Aaron; when he wants to, he can really pour on the charm; he can memorize anything as long as you read it to him in a book every day for a week.

And that's my super boy!

This is Jordan as we were playing "magia" (magic in Italian) where the boys sit on my bed and we throw this exceptionally ugly blanket over them. Then I stick my head under and Aaron starts to laugh like crazy. Jordan was laughing too because Aaron was laughing. I couldn't get Aaron to hold still long enough to get picture of him under the blanket too.

Peek-a-boo!

Love his smile. Always!

When your kids imitate you

2010-02-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

We just bought new windows because all of our other ones had cracks in at least one pane or had moisture inbetween them. Here are some before and after pictures.

Aaron has started to use his imagination and immitate what we do. He "talks on the phone" a lot by putting his hand up to his ear, and has some funny conversations. Well lately I've been so exhausted that if he isn't being quiet during nap time and I need to sleep, I let him cuddle with me in bed while I take a nap. Yesterday Aaron hopped in his bed and wanted to pretend that he was taking a nap with mom. So I layed my head next to his. He started breathing really hard and really fast in my ear! It must seem to him that that's what I do when I sleep. So that's how Aaron views his mommy. Very telling. :)

Toddler Bed and Crawling

2010-02-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

This is a very typical expression for Jordan. He is my HAPPY boy!

He also loves bath time more than anything else all day long. He loves kicking aroun in the water and playing with Aaron.

He is also crawling like crazy, everywhere. He crawls in and out of this box several times a day.

Paolo this week threatened to suprise me by taking Aaron to get his first short haircut. Little did I know that it would be Monday while I was working. He brought the boys in so I could feed Jordan, and I couldn't stop staring at Aaron.

I found this car at D.I. for $10. I love a good buy!

Aaron has been crawling out of his crib for a few weeks now. We got a lock for his door, and found a toddler bed on line for a good price. Now he is up at night emptying all 6 drawers of their content (photos to come). And we have to pick it up every morning. Oh the joys of kids!

Here's my crawling maniac.