a vain attempt

In a very vain attempt to do something with her whispy, out of control hair, I tried to put something in it.  It was vain in both the sense of vanity and a small failure.  I tried to coax her into putting them in my hair first.  We did our hair in front of the mirror together too.  She still screamed the whole time.  Our first initiation into being girly wasn't met with enthusiasm but I was able to keep the mini ponytail in her hair for a couple of hours before she remembered it was there.

friends

There's nothing like friends.  People you enjoy spending time with- people that you love and love you.  We've been friends with "Julie and Bob" (Giulianna e Roberto) since Paolo ran into them in Salt Lake.  They're from Bologna and travel pretty often to the U.S.  Since we're living here we get to see them pretty often.  Our kids love them, and to be honest, we do too.  Their only granddaughter is off for the adventure of her life going to Australia, and so we got to meet her the other day.   It was fun.

 Speaking of friends, we ran into Elder Anderson again at stake conference in Venice this last weekend.  He finishes his mission in 2 weeks and it was nice to see him again!  We also had Jun in our car.  He is from China and was baptized a while back.  He's been back in Bologna for 3 days and drove up with us.

 She is about the cutest creature alive.  She's started walking with her chubby hands behind her back and it's so funny.

 The other day we had someone over and she apparently didn't want to be looked at, and seriously gave them the look of death!  I've never seen that face on her before.  Oh my goodness!

 Speaking of friends, Paolo is Jordan't idol and he loves being with Papa`.  The other day after vacuuming out our car, he was in the car for at least 15-20 minutes with daddy pretending to drive.  He pretended to drive to the baseball stadium, to play baseball with Papa` and then drive home.  Jordan was absolutely glowing, and I was so grateful for a dad that spends time with his kids!

the golden birthday rule

March 4th is my birthday.  I had one of the best birthday's ever.  My kids only woke up once during the night (which means I didn't wake up with a headache).  At 3 p.m. Paolo had to go see someone and he took Isabel with him.  Which meant that I had time to think...  I can't remember the last time that happened.  One that I was lucid enough to do that, and two there was silence.  Two unusual things for me.  I started thinking about all of the people that had been giving to me.  My husband, my kids, the package I got from my friend Karla, the emails and phone calls.  It was definitely a day for receiving for me!

So then I started thinking about the golden: do to others what you'd want them to do to you/for you.  I'm  a BIG BELIEVER in the golden rule for a few reasons.  One, it's true.  For another thing, I feel much happier when I try to give the very best to others, even when I don't feel like it in the moment.  It made me think that I was sent to the earth for a purpose- to give to others and to love, and to become better.  I wondered if I was doing enough?  Giving enough?  I feel like I do give the best of myself most of the time, but I felt like my heart could be in it more of the time or to a higher degree.  So I decided on a birthday goal/rule for myself.  It's a good reminder to ask myself:  Am I giving? lifting? loving like I was created to?  Because when I do, I really do feel happy.

 That being said, I was very grateful for all of the love and good that was given to me, and hope to pay it forward.  Another good birthday rule:  pay it forward!  I got a fun little package from my friend Karla.

I also went on a DATE with my sweet husband.  And to top it off, I had a FREE gelato from my favorite Gelateria, Gianni's.  They give you a free ice cream on your birthday.  Too bad I didn't have my camera on my date!

 These are just a couple of pictures from meeting friends at the park on Sunday.  My kids LO-OVE strawberries and they chowed down on the little treat that we brought with us.

and the highlight of my kids day: ice cream!  My friend Rosangela lives next to this park and she had some ice cream cones in her freezer.  Oh the joy!

a few of my favorite things...

 The other day I had a few things out on my table while putting groceries away and also having pulled out some fabric I had hoped to cut into.  So here are a few of my favorite things: fresh strawberries, a basil plant, mozzarella di bufala (buffalo mozzarella, you know what I mean only if you've eaten it!), olive oil, and beautiful fabric.  I wish you could have smelled the fresh basil.  It made my mouth water!

 I was able to distract her for about 5 minutes before she realized that she had a bow in her hair (it's usually under a second).  And once she realizes it's there she throws it to the ground in a football touchdown style.  Score!  Free of another silly bow that my mom wants to put in my hair!

On the left is Anziano Anderson.  He happened to be one of the young men that Paolo worked with in our first ward when we moved to Utah.  He finishes his mission at the end of March and speaks excellent Italian!  He's serving in Ferrara, which is the closest branch to us.  It was so fun to see him again!

Ramblings

 About one of the cutest things ever that Isabel does, is that her little hand rests on the back of your neck- she does it when you hold her, when she cuddles with you, whenever she's in close contact.  Melts my heart!

 As a rambling thought, my kids are growing like weeds.  It's getting harder and harder to get all 3 to fit into the same tub.  Granted Aaron's getting old enough that pretty soon I should start separating them, but it's faster, although much more water gets splashed EVERYWHERE, to wash them all at once.  I also love this picture because it's a good match to what my kids are like most days.  My boys being totally crazy, and Isabel doing her best to imitate, and one up them on the being crazy.

And as a farewell to this quilt... I washed it and "hung it out to dry", aka on my space heater since we've just had another 18 inches of snow recently.  Friends should be coming by this week to pick it up and take it to the states to give to a friend.  So I lovingly washed it, and am preparing it for a long trip.  It's my favorite quilt I've made so far, and it makes me even happier to give it to someone I love to death.  But I'll be honest and say that I've already started cutting up every piece of fabric that I can get my hands on in order to make another one in the near future.  It's fun to have projects in mind.

Finished!

 Here's another double hour glass, smaller, that I just finished up for a little niece that was born a month ago. It's 36x42 inches.  I did echo quilting (the reason why I was able to finish it).  I did a scrappy binding from my left over fabric, but it's not my favorite binding ever.

 And a piece of flannel that I had for the back.  It really doesn't match at all the fabric on the front, but it's warm and cuddly, and that's why I used it.

 As a bonus, Jordan asked me last night to help me wash the dishes.  He was so sweet!

tripple spoiled

So last night was another rough one for sleep.  Isabel cried a lot and I ended up wrestling holding her for over an hour last night.  After I had just gotten back to sleep, Jordan got up. Then I got up a few other times last night with kids.  Rough kind of night. 

When I got up with the kids, on the kitchen table was breakfast ready, and a hand written note to each of us from Papa` telling us that he loved us.  It made the bad night not feel so bad after all.  Double blessed- to have a husband/father that loves and supports and gives when life is hard.

Then..... I got ANOTHER package in the mail.  This time and envelope from my friend Kati.  She happens to be another quilt and fabric lover like myself and we used to go to a quilting group together.  She's also a great friend (and not because she sends me packages).

Kati also happens to be a much better quilter than me, and I admire the things she's done.  She's had a few quilts published lately, and I now get to have my own copy!  Thanks for the fabric, interfacing, and good reading!  Triple blessings!