Sunny Days

After all the wind and rain we have been experiencing this week, the Heavens smiled upon us and returned the sun --- Yeah!!!!

Chloe was pleased with this as she got to try out a new outfit (obviously NOT one of Matteo's!).

Pulling herself up

Not only is Chloe crawling, but she is pulling herself up as well :-)
(Note: Just to her knees, not her feet, but i'm sure that will come soon enough).

Oranges and clocks

If there is one thing that is for sure, it is that Chloe May LOVES oranges :-)

And who is this interesting creature, well simply a robot Daddy and Matteo built today. Welcome to our Humble Home Robot.

And why does Matteo turn bright red when Gramps is on the phone...well simply because he has Gramps clock (see below) and Gramps "wants" it back ...and yells into the phone everytime they talk "give me back my clock.'

Crawling!!

I hope the suspense is not killing you having to wait so long to find out what is new with our Darling Chloe May - however she is indeed crawling!! And not the "army crawl" that Matteo did at her age, but a full blow, "get me out of here", or "I'll get that, thank you" crawl! :-) WAY TO GO CHLOE! But at the same time WOW, that went super fast. Wasn't it just yesterday she was in my belly? :-) cherish each moment really rings true.

Jesse Holy Communion I

After getting up super early - we ventured up to our old stomping grounds for Cousin Jesse's Holy Communion.

Gramps (yes I know - he's awake!) - visited with Chloe May in church...

Jessica was by far the most beauitful first Holy Communicant ever (and I'm not just saying that)

Yes after viewing this picture of Jesse and her Mommy (Aunt Adrienne) I know you agree.

Yes Jesse set the bar pretty high for her cousin Chloe May :-)

Lunch

After Church we all got treated to lunch out by Jesse.

I got to visit with Cousin Andrew who just turned 6 this past week! Andrew looks like he got more handsome since I last saw him, as if that is possible :-)

I also indulged in TWO pieces of this delicious cake (a rarity for me).

We also enjoyed a visit with Grandma.

And as always, we took time to smell the flowers in life.

Back to Grandma's house!

After lunch (I know this was a VERY long day)...we went back to Grandma's house to unwind and get some fresh air.

Matteo rode bikes with Andrew & Jay J, while Chloe May & Kimmy enjoyed Grandma's visit.

Sadly Gramps' tree is not looking very healthy.

However Daddy and Gramps spent time reflecting ....

Great photo of Chloe May & Daddy - though Daddy looks tired.



We then enjoyed a 3 hour dinner out with Grandma and Gramps and as always were sad to leave to come back home. Discussions are underway here on the Lane to move, after all, why stay when no one really leaves the house except for food haha. Will keep you posted of course.

Tune in tomorrow for Chloe May's exciting news!

Spring fun

With the weather warming up, Matteo enjoyed some hose/sprinkler time - -
but only for a brief time as it gets chilly when the sun goes down.

Bookworm

Often times lately I find Matteo "reading" by himself...I love my bookworm .

Tuesday

We started Tuesday with Chloe May getting used to her Easter present....

and concluded with a haircut for our Matteo.



Doesn't he look handsome :-)

Oil :-X

Today we received our 225+ gallons of oil for almost $600. I think I would have preferred oil-less a bit longer! haha. I wish I could say the shower felt good, but Chloe cried the whole time outside of it...and really are Mommy showers ever long?

On a happy and positive note, Chloe May signed her first word yesterday "fan". :-) We are happily on the road of signing.

Oil :-(

Today we ran out of oil. Hence Daddy went out to try to get some diesel and restart the burner....no luck.



So we shall be hot waterless people for 24+ hours. No biggie, oh but it was. So biggie I dare not blog about it as I don't want to relive all the drama :-) But alas we still have our health and tomorrow hot water :-)

Doors & More!

Augh yes after our busy busy Thursday we finally had a chance to breathe today and take a pic of our new garage doors :-)



and Mommy wasn't the only one worn out by yesterday, so was Ms. Chloe May...though I suspect she is on the verge of something major as she has been sleeping a bit more soundly/a bit better recently. Only time will tell.

Doors and Dirt

The tax man cometh, and to us he paid, Thank you Miss Chloe May :-) Did you pay your taxes today?

Well Dear readers, today turned into an overly eventful day here on The Lane.

First, out with the old (garage doors)....



in with the new...(picture to come in the coming days). Yes, we received new garage doors today and not a moment too soon as ours were broken beyond repair and as old as the house. Thank you Daddy!

Mommy continued with her piano lesson (did I mention I take them weekly...for about 6 weeks). I am progressing, though the symphony will have to wait :-)

And with a tree's roots showing, becoming a tripping hazard and our land caving in (due to the original homeowner burying trees), we decided to get 10 yards of topsoil in the hopes of growing grass.

Below is a picture of my Matteo climbing the soil barefoot (love it!). Mommy got barefoot too---oh what a feeling :-)

He really is turning into a little boy. No more baby.

Matteo stayed up late to help Daddy spread the topsoil.



What a day!

7 years!

What is 7 years you may ask....us in our Home.

7 years, 2 dogs, 5 cats, 1 fish and 2 children later (pretty much in that order!).

Whew, i'm tired just typing all that!

Here's to another 7 days Daddy :-) (one step at a time is my motto).

A yummy day!

Today we received some fun books in the mail from Aunt Adrienne (Jesse's Mommy). This was our first time with books that you PLAY with - - i.e. race cars around the track.



Thanks so much Aunt Adrienne, so much fun.

And about 8(?) months ago Caleb's Mommy gave me a "recipe" for homemade ice pops and the procrastinator that I am decided today to make them with Matteo. Daddy was super impressed at how flavorful they were and Matteo enjoyed his as well. Thanks for the recipe Sarah!

A guilty secret, when the ice cream truck comes down the road, Matteo thinks that is the "music truck" and will say "Mommy here comes the music truck" as we have told him that that is what the truck does (technically NOT lying, as the truck does play music). I have never once purchased Matteo an ice cream from that over priced truck and hope to complete another summer on the same note. One time a friend did call our "ice cream" to which Matteo repeated and I said "where where" and that ended that. But think about it, for about $2.5 or $3 (the price of a single ice cream from that truck), I can probably buy 7 or 8 pops from the supermarket. AND, the truck comes down our road (kid you not) 3-4 times a day during the warmer months and about 3 times a week during the winter. No thanks, I can avoid those arguments with Matteo (and have successfully done so) with the "music truck". And really how pretty the truck does sound :-)

Chloe enjoyed some yogurt with banana and strawberry today :-) She is getting big, isn't she :-)

Don't get wet.

I told Matteo not to get wet..........



what was I thinking? haha.

Sunny day

I was so excited when I saw Matteo playing in the dirt today looking so adorable and innocent that I ran to get my camera, only to find upon closer inspection that he was pulling out my newly grown grass!!!! Yes, I planted seeds about 3 weeks ago and have been monitoring same closely.......Mommy was none too pleased.

What I was pleased about is that Daddy and Mommy spent about 2 hours cleaning the garage and Daddy selflessly cut down his workbench so we could have more moving around in the garage.

And oh the grass incident is long forgotten when i see how innocent Matteo is. When we go for our daily walks, Matteo enjoys picking "flowers" (dandelions) off lawns and the result is always a yellow streak from his nose to his mouth.



Oh to be 3 again :-)

Lookie who's up!

Gramps and Grandma came today and lookie who's awake....GRAMPS!!!!!!!!

B R O K E N

Sadly I think Daddy broke his toe last night.......(Dare to scroll down).





You see after Chloe fell off the bed once (plus one).... :X...... Daddy and I concluded that she needed to remain in between us. Hence sometimes at night we switch sides of the bed.....well DAddy gets up and walks around and mommy scoots over Chloe. Well last night (in case you didn't hear it in your neck of the woods) Daddy was walking around the bed and BOOM slammed/smashed his poor toe into the rocking chair (that was just recently put in our room as a result of last weeks crying episodes late at night). Now normally I don't pay daddy any attention when he is hurt/sick/upset, but this time even I felt bad for him. And poor Daddy was so so tired, he just said "OW" and went right back to bed. Feel better Daddy!!

PS - In case you are wonderring why I often refer to Jules as "Daddy", it's because Matteo has taken to calling him "Jules" and "Giulio" (which I really only call him Giulio when he is in trouble..however does that mean when Matteo calls him Giulio he is in trouble haha). Like our neighbors I refer to as "Mr. and Mrs." in the hopes that the repetition he will catch on. Only our friend Caleb's Mommy does he call by her first name.

Avacado

Chloe May enjoyed her first advacado today!

Hot hot hot

Another warmer than usual day.....

so we hung around the old homestead, rode bikes and played with what else....water!! (I'm seeing a summer trend here!). We also ventured to library two times (mother goose program for each child) - where I am happy to report that Matteo recited Ba Ba Blacksheep in front of the entire "class"! Way to go Matteo. Also we experienced our first fire drill today...of which Chloe slept through the whole thing.!

Venting

Today the weatherman said "warm" - so I started out in shorts and a t-shirt. Then after an hour and it being cold and cloudy I changed into half pants and t-shirt. Then an hour after that, yoga pants and long sleeves!! I kept waiting for the weather to warm up, but it didn't until about 1 PM. And then it was chilly again by 3 PM. Not to complain - but I'm going to - I spent the better part of the day waiting for the weather to warm up and not enjoying the moment. Lesson Learned: a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush!!!! Spring will be here soon enough - until then I am going to enjoy the weather God hands me.

By the way Sunday is Matteo's second day of soccer, wish us luck :-) and tune back in to see how he does.

Lastly, piano lessons are not going at planned (or at all) when you have a sick, teething and separation anxiety Chloe May :-( Perhaps in my next lifetime.

Super lastly, today was Matteo's first day at his farm class and Daddy said he did beyond fantastic --- Yeah Matteo! (and he can spell his own name!).

Easter

THE BUNNY CAME!!!!! What a wonderful celebration we enjoyed at home.........

and then we got ready to go to Grandma's....... and oh that was the end of Mommy and Chloe's joy......

Grandma and Gramps took a nice photo with the grandkids- though Chloe was none too happy.

She did however cheer up for a tractor ride.



And so dear followers, that was the end of a LONGGGGGGGGG week. I have concluded last week that Chloe was getting her first tooth (having it push all the way up), coupled with a cold, and this week Chloe May is getting ANOTHER tooth and is now experiencing the dreaded separation anxiety (thank you for confirming same Sarah!). But with the sun shining and the sky so blue and two healthy children, what have I to complain about? :-)

8 months

Happy 8 months Dolly!

Eggtraspecial Day!

Took to coloring Easter eggs today - none too soon for the bunny.

Daddy was super impressed at his dinosaur egg: notice the blue sky and green grass :-) Well done Daddy.

Anything to keep Chloe happy - she didn't have to participate.



BTW - Chloe update: her sleeping at night is getting better -

Oh yes forgot to mention we celebrated Easter Mass with Grandma today met her at her old convent - what a wonderful way to ring in Easter. Funny: throughout the whole (and I mean WHOLE) mass Matteo continually asked Grandma: will you live with me. (Mommy was keeping my fingers crossed for a yes - however Grandma cannot).

Peter Rabbit

No April Fools today - Matteo and Chloe May took in the theater and saw .... Peter Rabbit (how appropriate for the approaching Easter celebration).