another reminder

then and now

4 years ago we were joined for Eternity! (ps this photo is from our Sicily party april 06)

Each day is new adventure, but as we travel through each adventure we grow in love!

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Thank you for your enthusiasm, your sweetness and for loving me! I love you Gio! Happy Anniversary to you!

oh, come, let us adore him!

My little one LOVES BOOKS. She could spend at least half of her day carrying around one or two, and flipping through them. I saw a pattern for a nativity book sometime during the year and knew instantly that it needed to be apart of her library!
I started making this the end of Novemeber- I made two, one for Lottie (shown) and one in Italian for a friend Davide- he turned 1 on the 2nd of Dec.
the pattern is online for purchase here
I am very pleased with the finished product! What do you think??









Last weekend we went into the center to hear a christmas concert in the Duomo- after standing for 20min we left, all the seats were taken- and we did not want to stand for 3 hours. So we got some photos and went to a friends house to hang out instead!
Milan's Center- Christmas tree and all!

Charlotte loves walking around- even in the COLD!

Hanging out at the artisan expo

I also made some fabric ornaments that could stand a beating from Lottie.

Just another project! A onsie for a friend due with a boy any day.

Last Sunday I spoke in church. I spoke about missionary work- I talked mostly about the Greatest Gift that we have been given- The Atonement of Jesus Christ! I found many great talks and testimonies given by living apostles- to read a few please see here and here.

Do you feel it??

its all in the box

I think she is a fabric lover like her mommy, grammie and great-nonna!!

thanks giving

Today I am thankful for my life, my family, the opportunity to be a mother and for Love. I am thankful for faith and a Father in Heaven that loves me. I am also thankful for you!

Another year has passed- yes I am one year older! One Year away from a new Decade! It has been a great year and I look forward to an even BETTER one! Look for more on how we celebrated to come...

A Tasty Tradition

Years ago as a family we took an occasional trip to Jackson hole, WY. We have run the rapids of the Snake River and enjoyed the beauty of the Tetons as well as the shopping in the downtown area. One of our "musts" was to eat at Bubba's BBQ! Not only was the BBQ Fantastic but so was the buttermilk pie! Somewhere along the way we got the recipe and it has been a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition ever since!
Last night I whipped up a few pies- Giovanni and my tummy were very thankful I did!
If you want to try here is the recipe:

Pie crust: (2 crust)
(this is from Betty Crocker)
2 Cups all purpose Flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 Cup plus 2 TBS shortening
4-6 TBS COLD water

Mix flour &salt Cut in shortening with pastry blender
sprinkle in water 1 TBS at a time- dont add too much!Once mixed shape into two balls, wrap with plastic wrap and chill 45min- on a floured surface roll into 9inch circle and place in pie tin- Fill!

Pie Filling: (makes 2)
Mix together
7eggs
1tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 Cups Sugar
3/4 Cups Flour
1 Cup Buttermilk (I used dry and it was still great)
2/3 Cup melted margarine

Bake at 300* F (160*C) for about 1 or longer- done when golden brown and top starts almost crack(i let mine cook almost 1 hr and 30min).
Hope you love it as much as we do!

Tired

Today I am tired. I could be taking a nap while Lottie is down but instead I am going to continue planning my lesson for church on Sunday. In our church we do not have a paid clergy. The members participate in all the meetings as teachers, speakers, primary workers ect... I recently have been called to teach the Relief Society (meetings for women 18 and up) once a month. My lessons are based on talks given in the last General Conference from living apostles and prophets. This month, the lesson is on this talk.
I am very nervous, but excited for the opportunity to be taught by the women and the Spirit. Maybe Monday I will get that nap!

P.S. here is a link about temples

I never go to work

I have always loved They Might Be Giants. I remember singing many of their songs with my cousin Brian, when we were MUCH younger! So when I saw this I really wanted to share- its so cute!

last week

Last week I really wanted to post about so many things, but I got caught up in a sewing project and it sucked the life from me for 6 days! I am back and will be posting a few clips from what I wanted to share last week!

Saturday NOV 14th was my MAMMALINA's birthday! I love you Mom! I have learned many things from you, I hope you enjoyed celebrating your special day!!!

Giovanni had a great experience sharing our faith with a city offical from City of Milan. He was with a fantastic missionary couple and you can read all about it here.

Charlotte has now been in the world as long as she was growing inside me- yup she is now TEN months old!!! Some of her accomplishments are:
-waving
-clapping
-giving 5
-her version of blowing kisses
-crawling speedily
-cruising furniture
-getting down from our bed alone
- up to 5 "solo" steps
She LOVES books, hide & seek, zippers, baths, climbing, talking on the phone, blowing raspberries, & laughing. I love watching her personality develop! She is such fun at 10 months.
Thank you for all the comments on my post about her weight!I really appreciate it!

Ode to Natalie

Nat and KD last November


My sweet friend, how I will miss you living in the boot.
We had such great times together, market shopping, eating gelato, visiting new places, complaining about Italian things, meals together, laughing, driving, the language, pregnancy, mood swings, crying on each others shoulders, phone calls, text mssgs, dreaming about new places to live, book sharing and HUGS!
Move on to better things, but know you are loved by me!
Ciao Bella!!!
G-ster kissing Lottie bye, bye

Yesterday I went to say goodbye to Natalie, my friend Michelle and I met and went together. While turning up through "the forest" as I call it a short distance from Nat's house we saw 2 prostitutes and a truck stopped a little farther down the road where there were 2 more- I had to stop behind him while he picked one up. Now this is fairly common around this country. I learned from Gio that prostitution is LEGAL- but being a Pimp is illegal- also if you are caught picking one up there is a fine. ITALIANS!!!
Well, Nicole, Nat's sister had not had the chance to see a Live prostitute yet; so Nat, Nicole, Michelle and I all jumped in the car and went down the road to show her. We ended up driving by a few times and all laughing so hard! we snapped a quick picture while Nat yelled "Say Cheese"!

a Spider, a Web, and a Pig

This year we started getting into the halloween spirit by carving a pumpkin with Amanda and Zeno last week over a bowl full of chili and again this week by carving a round zucchini- Gio wanted to carve a ping-pong table and this is what we came up with (we did our best).




Little Lottie was really afraid of this huge pumpkin, she did not want to be near it!



For breakfast we had Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup YUMMY!





In the afternoon we were invited to a Halloween- Birthday party for our friend Carter, he turned 2. It was a perfect occasion to plan costumes and be creative! We had a good time!


We went as Charlotte, Wilber and the Web! It was very fitting for us! I made our costumes with things we had around the house, with the exception of Gio's nose and ears- I cut up a hand puppet from IKEA for that!





Happy Halloween to you all!!!

Weighty issues

When Charlotte was born she was small- 5 lbs and 18.5 inches long. She was born 1day after her due date and was healthy in EVERY way full of Energy and Curiosity. through out the past 9 1/2 months of her life so far she has continued to stay the same way- Small, but STRONG and SPunky!


Her Italian Pediatrician has pushed me from the beginning to integrate formula (thinking that the breast milk was not enough) and insisted that there might be something wrong with her. While in the states our pediatrician and friend who specializes in pediatric Gastroenterology said that she is fine and we just needed to slowly increase her calorie intake (this is also after having some blood work done here in Italy). Last week we spent 5 hours at one of the local Hospitals doing more tests to rule out other possibilities, ie: blood work urine, stool samples, sweat test for cystic fibrosis and an ultrasound on all major organs. I had also kept a 2 week diary of everything including amounts of food she ate (plus before and after weights from breastfeeding).
I have felt GUILTY for sometime that maybe there was something I had done wrong during the pregnancy for her to be born small- GUILT again during the 2nd night of her life when they kept her to feed her formula every 3 hrs to help her weight gain and GUILT since then every time her weight comes up- the dumb thing is I have always felt inside me that she is fine- and for some reason I feel like if I write it here it will help me deal with that Guilt. So magically world of blogger- help me rid myself of this GuILT- after all I love my LITTLE LOTTIE just the way she is!
P.S. She took her FIRST STEPS on her own last night!!!!

Normal Days

I recently had a friend comment on something I wrote somewhere questioning me if I ever just stay home in my pj's, and the Answer is ALL OF THE TIME!
Most days are pj days for me, Charlotte and I hang out inside and clean, play, iron(we don't have a dryer so EVERYTHING gets ironed), wash dishes(by hand)and in the afternoons before dinner time we usually get in a short walk to breathe some fresh air. We don't mind being inside, we find things to do even when the chores are done, or I am too lazy to do them, besides it is starting to get chilly here and who wants to spend hours outside with a baby!
I just like to post about the FUN things we do- it makes our life seem more GLAMOROUS!

mouth full of rice grains

Around 6 months Lottie started teething, and by August she had 2 center bottom teeth, a third followed in mid September and now the sweet thing is cutting FIVE yes 5 all at once(one more on the bottom and 4 on top)! She has been prety great about it all- just gets up a few times at night and wants comfort- currently all but one have broken through. In norm with the rest of her these teeth are little. Someone at church told me she looks like she has chicci di riso (rice grains) in her mouth- what do you think?
I did my best to get photos:

Got 6 minutes??

We had a few extra apples around the house last week and on 3 different nights Mr. Gio and I indulged in perfect for the fall baked apples! They were very simple to make.
Core apples (I used my veggie peeler)
sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (I used brown)
place in microwave proof dish
squeeze some lemon or grapefruit juice on top
add a little water in bottom of dish and microwave on high for 5 to 6 min- throw on a scoop of icecream or whipped cream and ENJOY!
Seriously QUICK, EASY and TASTY!

New toy

Last week I worked on this new toy for my Lottie Bug- she seems to like it so far- especially when I stick my face in the center of the circles!

Zucchero

How can you pass up buying sugar in Italy when it looks like this??? I sure could not. And the slogan: The pleasing taste of sugar everyday! Only in Europe!!!

weekend plans

This weekend we had planned to go on a family friendly bike ride in the Dolomite mountains. From a small town in Italy over the border to Austria, we have been looking forward to riding with friends now for a few weeks. Friday morning Gio woke up with a sore throat, working through out the day did not improve things and by the time little Lottie woke up from her afternoon nap she had a runny nose. From there both of them digressed and we spent most of the night awake. Charlotte had a fever all night and in the morning after some medicine it broke- they are both feeling better now, but are resting up. We hope to make the ride before it gets too cool here!

around the house

Here are a few pictures from my phone the past few weeks- Lottie helping me unpack, sweep, canning apples, and she found the washing machine.
It is pretty funny to watch her when it is on. She stays at the door way and watches it turn- not so sure what it is or if she should get closer, she does the same with the vacuum.
Little Lottie is really growing! She is standing more on her own and is so funny! I love her laugh! She claps her hands and has recently stared to shake them like crazy- also she is shaking her head "no, no" I am pretty sure she does not know what it means, but it is funny that she does it! Lottie loves to dance and move her legs around- she is really so fun to be around! She lights up any room!