Time with Margaret

What a joy it was today to have our little goddaughter, Margaret, over to play while her mommy ran an errand. She is the cutest and the boys love her! Can I say that again? They LOVE her. Poor thing arrived and was inundated by boy kisses, dog sniffs, and a mama cam in her face! We just had the best time with her...

M is especially sweet with her and will occasionally talk to her while cupping her face with a hand. Adorable! T-baby was also so kind to her. Made me hopeful for baby J's arrival in August--I am praying they like the baby as much as they do Margaret! :)

M and his girl

Here Margaret, you know you want some juice.

Don't you dare touch her!

We're willing to put our masculinity on the line with rasperries--we love her that much!

Have a blessed Wednesday!

The Distractors

Way back when in college, I earned the affectionate title "The Distractor" by a few of GG's beloved roommates. I would saunter over to their room to see GG and wind up keeping the whole bunch of them from doing work! Oops! I guess it's because I'm so engaging (cough, cough :); one of my personal attributes, if you will. And no doubt, my boys have now inherited their mama's talent!! They are expert at all things distracting.

GG is in the thick of law work with a paper, final, and take-home final still to go (and all due within days of each other!) We had a long talk last night about how he would need to get up and sneak out of the house in order to get work done... How he wouldn't be able to join us in the evenings for dinner or bedtime in order to make sure everything was accomplished on time. "No worries," I told him, "We'll be fine. Get your work done and we'll be so excited to spend time with you when you're finished." Excellent plan.

Until this morning. :)

Enter Daddy from stage left.
Enter THREE Distractors from stage right.

Do you think GG had any hope in getting out of here before 9am?
No way!

One pee pee trip, eye drop tackling (M is on antibiotics for pink eye, which requires 3 doses of drops/day--yikes!), boy dressing, breakfast munching, car send-off, and T-baby rousing and our Daddy was "free" to go.

Poor guy!
The Distractors strike again. :)

Hope you're having a blessed week so far. Sorry to have been so absent recently--I will do my best to distract you in the coming days... God bless!

Hot Mama Wheels

You know you've reached a new level of mama status when you are privileged to drive a set of wheels like this:

You also know you've reached a new dimension of child transportation--shown here accommodating four young ones, all in car seats! There is hope for our rapidly-growing Gasperini-Ville after all!!
I almost can't believe the van is mine!? I'm beyond ecstatic and am close to goosebumps when I sit behind the wheel... Little perks for a little mama! :) lol. What's amazing, too, is our non-van-owning-but-with-growing-families friends, who have stopped to gaze at our new vehicle. We are all in van wonder, planning to own many sets of these wheels in the coming years! What used to be convertible-envy has now become mom-mobile-lust. lol!

Here are a couple additional shots from our trip to Amish country yesterday. While the town didn't necessarily feel "Amish", we so enjoyed the outing with dear friends and chance to drive the rolling pastures.
Hope this finds you gearing up for an awesome weekend! God bless and TGIF!

Because sometimes boys just need to play in the mud

And sometimes mamas just need to let them.

Because I may not be able to log on in the morning...

Could you please join me in prayer for my grandfather tomorrow/today?
At 10am Thursday he'll be having a lymph node removed to test for the possibility of lymphoma. His current symptoms, unfortunately, are not boding well for the outcome.

My parents are out in Pennsylvania now for support and we will all be waiting to hear of the doctor's prognosis. We'd so appreciate your prayers!

Thanks a bunch...
I'll be checking back in later with updates and stories of our morning "field trip" to Amish country. We'll be sure to have lots to tell.

God bless!

UPDATE Friday 4/25: Mickey's surgery went well, though we won't know anything now for another week due to the extensive lab work needing to be done. Thank you all for your prayers! You are so gracious to us... Hugs! :)

Lions...

and tigers...
and children...

OH MY! Our morning at the zoo was great fun Saturday. Both M and T seemed to enjoy themselves and the various exhibits, particularly those of the fish (very original as we see these every week at the grocery store! :), red pandas, and wallabes ("baby kangaroos"). How fun to follow up on M's recent interest in a new Noah's ark book. He loved seeing animals also found in the story!

Afterward, we ventured to Ohio to visit family there. GG took us halfway to meet my mom so we could return later with my parents' minivan--our new set of Gasperini-Ville wheels! This mama of soon-to-be three couldn't be happier!! I have never been adverse to driving a Mom-mobile and I embrace the new role willingly! Who can argue with more space??

Later that night, we celebrated my brother-in-law's black belt karate accomplishment with a black 'n white cake. Note to readers: NEVER eat black icing. Here is what will result:

The whole family had stained lips, teeth, tongues, etc. all the way until the morning... and beyond! Try getting that off of a squirmy 1-year-old! lol.

Our Sunday was full of wonderful times with old friends (thanks for the awesome coffee date, Neen!), a baby shower, and ice cream gathering. Here are few shots from the shower, the first of which was taken of the girls and the second of the girls and moms (minus two of our very best gal pals!) My friend since kindergarten, Amy, is having her first near the end of June! How fun to see her wonderful belly and know that we are not far behind... :)

The boys and I returned yesterday in our new minivan! I will soon have pics up of this uber-mama in her new mama wheels...

God bless your Tuesday! Happy Earth Day!

Meditation for a Busy Day

After a busy, family-filled weekend, here is a favorite scripture passage I came across tonight. Blessings to you as you begin your week...
I promise weekend pics and updates tomorrow!
God bless.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

More Fun in the Sun

With the weather being so nice lately, can you blame us for taking every advantage and enjoying the sun? Our Vitamin D-starved bodies are craving the rays... and we are basking in the glory of warmth! Praise God for the true arrival of spring in the Midwest. We're always a little slower on the uptake. :)


One of our outdoor ventures on Wednesday was to a field down the street to fly a Thomas The Train kite M had received for Easter. Blustery, sunny conditions made it a perfect opportunity to let it fly. In the end, though, pregnant, clog-clad mama conditions made it not-so-ideal for us to actually get the kite into the air. lol. I tried to run a few times and took a good fall on the last go 'round, at which time I threw in the towel for the good of the family and of course, the health of my baby J! Yikes! :) I thankfully bailed to the side, which was the best place to land (though horribly embarrassing--thankfully my two kiddos are still young enough not to make fun of their mother! lol. Someday I won't be so lucky! ;)

Afterward, we returned to have a picnic in the backyard and enjoy "peanut butter and sandwich" sandwiches (according to M; Mom was out of jelly), strawberries and cantaloupe, string cheese, and baby carrots. The boys "ate up" time in the sun...

Custer, praying for a dropped-piece-of-food-miracle

Now today we are again enjoying beautiful weather--so much so, the boys are wearing this season's first T-shirts and this mama donned a tank for her afternoon elliptical session! Hallelujah, we're warm! :)

Blessings to you all on this TGIF! On tap for Gasperini-Ville tonight is a family excursion to the local Irish pub! Tell me now to avoid the fish and chips, though I seem to be drawn these days to anything and everything fried.

God bless!

Quick Prayer Request

Could you all give a quick shout out prayer for a friend of mine, who is gearing up to deliver twins this afternoon? She has been enduring pre-ecclampsia and the docs say "it's time" to bring the baby girls into the world. Your prayers for both mother and babies during the C-section would be so appreciated... Thanks and God bless!

Quick update: the girls arrived safely and healthily later that night. Thanks for your prayers!

Mom Jeans

God bless me the day I fit into the profile of this commercial. Hysterical!
Just had to share... :)

Springing Forth

All of this boyhood fun...

Leads to a great need for one of these:

God bless from gorgeous Gasperini-Ville!

Giggly Fun

Gasperini-Ville was full of giggles yesterday as we had the chance to take a roadtrip to see dear friends. What joy it was to laugh along with the oldest boys, our M and godson, C! They found each other ridiculously funny and chuckled alongside one another throughout the afternoon until dinner. Too cute! It is sad to think that we will both be "going our separate ways" as Uncle E finishes business school and their family moves south, while we head east! Oh to always be a couple hours away!!

We also had the chance to revel in their adorable 6-mos-old, M, who is the most content and happy little girl. Her chubby cheeks make me think of my baby boys and how they blossom in their early months! Thank you, T family, for a wonderful afternoon...

Blessings to you on this Monday!

Prego shorts

As I wrap up week 24 of this blessed pregnancy, I just had to share a quick prego funny and a few profile shots with you. First, the funny:

The other night I was making a chicken and rice casserole and appropriately dragged out my rice cooker. It has been a new addition to my kitchen after our first one broke years ago. I finally bought one on sale at Target and have used it a few times, but am still very dependent on the manual for operation. Well, the manual was nowhere to be found and I knew I needed equal parts rice and water, so away I went. I flipped on the cooker and busied myself with the prep for the other ingredients... Minutes later, I smelled burning and the machine turned off by itself, much too soon for the rice to be done. I was so angry (pregnancy hormone-induced!), swearing off rice cookers for the rest of my life. I let the machine cool down a bit and then flipped it on again to cook. It "worked" for a few minutes again and then shut off. "Oh well," I thought, "I'm just going to let it sit there and maybe the rice will eventually be ready." The smell of burning was really prevalent now and my rice-cooker-cursing was even more outstanding! Finally, the rice was done and I proceeded with my casserole, only to later lift the rice cooker pot and find this:

I cooked my rice cooker manual! Boy, am I definitely pregnant!

The shots below confirm this... my bump is growing! Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful weekend! God bless!

Quirks

Call me quirky, but on a morning when my overflowing recycling gets out to the curb on time, I'm as happy as a clam. Crazy, I know, but thrilling nonetheless!

Nothing gets me out of bed faster on the every other Friday morning than knowing I have to beat (yes, this is a race) the recycling guy to the curb before he passes. I've even been known to pre-empt the challenge and put the recyclables out the night before. But not last night--we were amidst downpour and I couldn't, in good conscience, sacrifice my cardboard to wetness.

Alas, the race this morning... and my subsequent triumph!

Eat my dust, Mr. Recycle Guy! :)

It is a good day.

God bless.

Boy times

Gasperini-Ville's welcoming committee

What a wonderful morning its been with my boys... Some days just roll for us and make me feel like we have partial sanity in Gasperini-Ville. I know it is days like these that God sends to affirm me as a mama. Thank you, Lord, for them!

This morning we were out the door by 8:15, shoes tied and bellies full from breakfast. We headed over to meet with "Miss Carol", my friend and workout partner. She and I lift and do calisthenics while the boys romp around her apt. complex's basketball gym. Today both the boys were engrossed with a roly poly bug they found crawling on the floor. The gym time consisted of the two of them hovering over the bug, racing their cars to guide the bug, and feeding it "a snack" of peanut butter crackers. Pretty cute. Miss Carol suggested that I take bugs with me everywhere for entertainment. Not a bad idea. :) Looks like Mimi and Papa's Easter gift bug houses are going to have some use in the future...

Next, we were off to Panera for a promised breakfast date. M sat in his own grown-up chair and helped me butter his french toast bagel. T smiled and ate away happily in his highchair. Both boys were content and pleasant companions and I was a relaxed mama. Good things. On our way out the door, T decided he wanted to walk at which time he took one hand and M took the other and we toddled off to the car. Anyone who has seen us get from point A to point B over the last two years knows this last detail is a minor miracle! Praise God for growing boys!!! (only just in time to add another little one... :)

Later after a Sesame Street "snack", the kiddos ate lunch, read stories with Mommy, and were off to nap. They are wonderful sleepers and I thank God for their schedule every day. Where would I be without it?!

So that's that here in Gasperini-Ville. Nothing all too exciting.

Other news, yesterday GG and I celebrated the "40 days" party, commemorating the 40 days to go until graduation. I tear up thinking of leaving our wonderful little Catholic law school bubble, but know we are itching to spread our wings in Virginia. Life will look oh-so-different in just over a month. Can't believe it!!

Hope you all are enjoying a blessed day and week. Warm hugs!

M mastering the big boy cup--yahoo!

Photo of the Day: Nakie Ridin'

I think this shot says it all! God bless!

Go Daddy Go!

He made it!

GG officially ran a half marathon today!

WOO HOO!! :) Way to go, Love!!

The boys and I jogged over to campus this morning to cheer on GG and friends in the Holy Half Marathon. I ran it last year, but was wonderfully sidelined due to my growing bump! :) GG did awesome and was always smiling and joking as he ran by. "Call 9-1-1!" and "I can see St. Peter at the pearly gates" were a few of his comments in passing. What a goof! Here are a few during race shots...The boys held a cute sign they colored earlier this morning, but were sad whenever Daddy passed because they wanted him to stay and play. M would burst into tears and cry, "I want my Daddy. Where's Daddy?" over and over again. Poor guy! Only my children! :) Here's a glimpse of the sadness... lol.

It was such fun to cheer on my sweetness to victory! He finished with flying colors, making us so proud... Congrats also to our dear friend, Leah (below with daughter, Molly Grace), and other law school friends who completed the race. May God bless all of your recoveries! I'm fully planning to have to pull GG out of bed tomorrow morning due to sore legs!

Hope you all have had fantastic weekends! From sunny, 65F IN to you, God bless!