Another Kodak Moment...

when I don't have my camera, but just might re stage it so I can get a picture! Today we went looking for a certain store and ended up just taking a walk. We stopped at the Cartoleria and I bought the kids a cheap little bottle of bubbles and Brody a can of "kids spray". For Carnivale, it is acceptable to throw confetti all over the place and spray silly string/"kids spray" and Brody has been asking for the spray ever since carnivale began. It's over now but the store had some foam spray on clearance, whatever, I'll take it to finally shut the kid up. We went to a park across the street and he sprayed it and his reaction was so funny. Sometimes he gets this voice when he's excited like a "totally awesome dude" kinda voice, and he said "o o o oh! that's cool!!" He sprayed everywhere including the side of my head and the side of Abbey's face just barely missing her eye, but it was so funny all I could do was laugh. Then I notice little Abbey in the background blowing bubbles all over the place. This is exciting cause last summer the kid could not blow a bubble if her life depended on it. So after about 3 minutes the spray was gone and we walked to the market, all the way there Abbey was blowing bubbles. She didn't even notice the road block she was creating on the sidewalk, just zig-zagging all over, blowing bubbles. And occasionally she would realize that there were other people around and would look up at them and say "ciao!" It was so cute, she was just on cloud 9 because she had figured out how to blow bubbles by herself.

This little 99 cent broom and dust pan has just made my wise investment list. The kids cannot get enough of it and they fight over who's turn it is! I may just have to splurge and buy another one or 2 because Abbey likes to use it as well.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

That is what I wanted to chant tonight at our church party. Just a little background, my best friends mom, Betty Campbell used to and probably still does make the best chocolate chip cookies and when I got married part of my gift was the recipe. Ryan and I have been making them for years and we love them. We actually forgot to bring the recipe when we moved but no problem, Ryan had it memorized. Anyways, I'm not a huge fan of the way Italians do dessert, it's more like bread with powdered sugar on it or bread deep fried. Tonight at our party there was a little contest for the carnivale desserts. I don't know how to make them and don't care too much for them so I went for some old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. Who won the blue ribbon at the state fair? what up what up! I brought it home with the cookies. I won salt and pepper shakers that are Scottie dogs. I thought it would be funny to chant USA but they don't seem to quite understand our humor, Ryan attempted to make a joke at our last church party and we found out the building had a cricket problem.

ABBEY

She is 2, everything she says or tries to say is cute. I want to write all of it but I think a lot of the cuteness comes form her being my daughter so I'll keep it to a minimum. Abbey's coined phrase is "what? what mommy?" Either I mumble or she is growing potatoes in her ears. She says it all the time to everyone. For some reason if I laugh at a show or show any emotion towards an e-mail, etc, she asks me "what?", like she is going to understand it when I explain it to her. She talks in sentences now and it is just amazing how much she has grown-up since we moved here. She loves to play with animals and got her own little puppy (stuffed) for her birthday. When Ryan puts her to bed she is so desperate to stay up a little later she says "good nite abbey" it's a song I sing to her before bed. As cozy as I am, I can't resist the request.

I thought I had a good idea of downloading episodes of Dora the Explorer onto our computer and that was a mistake :) "watch Dora", said in an excited voice, question, cry and repeated all day. She loves to "color". Her version of coloring is a ballpoint pen and blank paper. She holds the pen very careful and gets close to the paper like she is writing or drawing very fine details. I always make sure I have paper and a pen for church because it will entertain her for a good 15 minutes. She also loves to clean and if left unattended for a long enough period, she will use a whole package of wipes cleaning the house. At least they are scented wipes. She is still a thumb sucker and I love that she doesn't' like to stray to far from me, it makes me feel like she still needs me and wants me around. We all know that will end at about 12 years old. We love the little munchkin and enjoyed reflecting back on her little life this time of year and we've decided she's a keeper. Love you Abs the Fabs.

What happen to my Baby??!!!

Holy crap! Abbey is 2! Yesterday (the 20th) was her birthday and the first thing she said when she woke up was "open presents". She knew what to expect for a birthday because Cloe's was 2 days before. Ryan asked her if she wanted pancakes and she said "no, open presents". We made her wait until after dinner to open them and when she went to school she gave them all a kiss good-bye. They had a party for her and Cloe at school and for dinner she wanted noodles with white sauce. Gotta love birthdays for little kids because you can keep them uneventful. One thing she got for her birthday was panties. Today marks the official potty training. We've dabbled with it here and there and she knows whats going on but we haven't had a full day of no diaper yet. Am I ready for the commitment?

What a difference older siblings makes. I think back to when Cloe was Abbey's age and they were very different. Abbey knows how to be naughty, she talks a lot more and knows how to play. It's cute to see her keep up with Cloe and Brody. She sure is a sweet girl and if I could I would keep her at this age, why do they have to grow up?

CLOE

My little princess. Cloe loves to take care of her younger brother and sister and is always ready to lend a helping hand when it comes to getting Abbey ready for the day. She loves to be read to and is starting to read on her own. She usually reads 3 pages a night. If mom were more patient it would probably be more. She loves to make cards and write letters to people while I tell her how to spell the words. She always want to run. While we are walking she asks if she can run to certain points and wait for us. She has an amazing memory and memorized Ryan and my cell phone after dialing them each 3 times. When I lose my cell phone she tells me the number so I can call it from the house phone. She is starting to learn Italian and knows more than she realizes because she will tell me things that people say in the middle of their conversation. She enjoys playing with her beanie babies and drawing checklists. She drew Ryan his list of things he wants for his birthday that she made up her self. It was pretty frickin good, it included, a new painting, paints, paint brushes, a new phone, a card from her and her. We love her very much and she is a blessing to all of our lives. Happy Birthday Beautiful!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Today is Cloe's 5th birthday! wow, I have a 5 year old. She got to choose the menu today so for breakfast we had pancakes with powder sugar, for lunch we had peach jelly sandwiches and french fries and for dinner we had fish and rice (very happy about that choice). And thanks to Grandma, we had chocolate cake from a box and cream cheese frosting. This time of year is Carnivale which the exact day is "Fat Tuesday" but it is celebrated every weekend for the last 3 weeks. Today there was a parade along the river so we went to "Cloe's birthday parade". For carnivale, the kids dress up in costumes. Cloe was snow white, Brody is Captain hook and Abbey is Alice in Wonderland, found the costumes at the Disney store for 75% off! oh yeah!

Ryan asked Cloe what she wanted to accomplish this year and she said, learn Italian, learn to read better and go to Disneyland Paris.

I'd hate to toot my horn but..........BEEP BEEP!

As I mentioned before, Valentine's happens to be one of my favorite times of year. And this year was no exception. This morning we had heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and then the kids took their valentine cards to school. They did other festivities at school while I ran around the city like a chicken with my head cut off looking for some damn graham crackers. I was told to go to the American store by San Lorenzo market. (It is a huge outdoor market mainly for tourists and I have only been there twice) So I had to first remember how to get there and then try to find the tiny little street that the store was on. Failed. So then I tried to remember the other tiny little street that the more expensive International store was on by the Duomo. Found it but they did not have graham crackers but the English lady told me to use Digestivia crackers. Yeah, I thought the same thing. And luckily they had plain Greek yogurt (by the way I'm trying to find ingredients to make cheesecake in a city that doesn't sale sour cream). So ingredients in hand, I headed home. Got dinner prepped and put the cheesecake in the oven. Anywho, the kids came home and we made place mats and decorated the table. This is where the horn beepin' comes. Just a side note, I've been told that Florence is known for their steak. So for dinner we had steak with a mushroom, bacon cream sauce, Ryan's infamous mashed potato's and for dessert, cheesecake. So yummy. It's hard to follow a recipe that says to beat on low or medium when all I've got is a whisk and I'm mixin by hand and the oven temperatures are in Celsius. But let me tell you, this dinner was the bomb ditty bomb bomb. So we all had a good day and felt the love.

Some things you may not know about Brody

He wants to fly like Peter Pan and when he grows up he wants to be Captain Hook.
He asks questions ALL the time and will continue to ask another question about the answer you just gave.
His voice has only one volume setting, loud. Which does not mix well with his questions in public. "why is that boy wearing a girl belt?" the thought running through my mind "I hope he doesn't understand English!" Most of the time I pretend that I am distracted by Abbey and am unable to listen to him at the moment.
He has had some new accomplishments with his pants. He can now button and zip his pants by himself and he can go pee w/o having to unbutton his pants. He just unzips. He was pretty excited to show Dad that one. And that should be more convinient with his love for public urination.
He's very tender hearted and will not go to sleep unless I sing to him and say a prayer and he always asks "when can we take an airplane to Grandma's?"

I have a new addiction that you have to try! Turbo Jam! This is the best workout video I have ever seen. It is so fun and you really do feel like you are getting a good workout. You can find a lot of the different workouts on ebay. Just wait till you see my results!! Whooohoo!

Who needs to parent when you have a Cloe?

Today during nap time, I put Brody down and then went to lie with Abbey till she dozed off. I heard Brody get up and then Cloe and him talking. I didn't want them to wake up Abbey so I went to see what was going on. Hehehehe, this is where it gets good. Cloe was scolding Brody for getting up and she was holding his arm and winding up to give him a good spankin' on the bum. I came in and talked to Brody about taking a nap and then when I looked at Cloe we both started to laugh. Thank goodness I have her to keep me in line and remind me what a good mom should do! Love you princess!

Valentines Day happens to be one of my favorite holidays and Cloe's as well. I think the reason she really likes it is because it means her birthday is soon. So I always go all out for this little holiday. The kids made valentine cards and Cloe made hers for about 3 days after the actual "craft day". Then they wanted to hang hearts all over the house and give Dad a heart attack. The fun thing was trying to find a Tabacheriia that actually had enough stamps for the US. I'm sure we will have some photos to follow that show our valentine day celebrations.

Well I should have knocked on wood about the kids finally getting healthy! At 3 am Brody woke up crying with an ear infection and thought the house was moving and his bed was going to break. I guess his equal librium was being affected. He was convinced it was moving! Then at 7:30, Cloe had a case of diarrhea so I then cancelled our playdate which gave me time to get the beds washed. Abbey was asleep in our bed, which is rare for that time of morning, so I took her sheets of first and found a mess of barf!!!! yikes! The saddest but also kind of cute thing about her was, she had to puke a couple more times so she stood at the toilet with her hands on the toilet and her face inside. Poor girl but cute enough that I took a photo that i am not including for her prides sake :) One of those times was on our comforter and I found out that a queen size comforter does not fit into our washing machine! 10 euros later and a 10 minute walk, I got it cleaned at the laundry mat. So my day consisted of lethargic children that slept and whined because I wasn't holding them. The picture of Brody is random, but I like to include photos with my entries because they always make blogs more fun to read.

One of those rare weeks when you love your children

view from our bedroom at dusk

JUST KIDDING about the rare part. Last week the kids were all sick one after another with colds and fevers and it was freezing cold outside. This week it has gradually warmed up to where today I wore short sleeves with a goose down vest. Since I'm already used to the stares because I have 3 children, the looks I got for having short sleeves on didn't bother me too bad. A lady that lives by us actually asked me if I was from the North Pole. what? Anyways, so as it got warmer, the kids also started to feel better and after dealing with sick kids you appreciate their health so much more and their personality. They have been so sweet and Abbey says the funniest things. Italy has the lowest birth rate ( no that is not an official statistic) so we have an enormous family to their standards and the last couple days I've had quite a few older people tell me "bravo" because I have 3 children. So that made me feel good, I don't know about you but I can feel pretty inadequate at times. But in a nutshell, We had a good week and the kids were a lot of fun.

Earlier this week Cloe was asking for dessert nonstop. Where does she get that from? So all we had was a couple chocolate bars and strawberries and mom tried to be creative. Good thing we weren't going for appearance, but they sure tasted good. "Oh, did you kids want one? You should of said something."