Boy Art

Who needs paper when you have cabinets?

You'd better believe this was happening afterward...

Happy weekend! God bless. ;)

Big Daddy

M: Daddy was a baby once. Then he grew and grew and grew and became a big, fat Daddy.

lol. Happy Friday!

Yankees Passing Through

What a grand time we had with friends who visited this past weekend from NY. They were on a whirlwind trip and graced us with a stop along the way. Gasperini-Ville came to life in their presence as they are wonderful with the littlest ones. They brought their own little guy to the mix--wee Luke (3 mos.) fit right into the bunch and was an adorable addition. The boys would have adopted him as a new brother without question!

A few thoughts flood my mind as I think about our time together:

1) Good, Christian friendships are to be cherished. We so enjoyed rich conversation talking about everything from work to childrearing, always with Christ at the forefront and the Church's teachings as a framework. How blessed GG and I are to have so many of these relationships to foster from back in college. Now, we need to continue to find and strengthen such community in our immediate surroundings--no easy task but we appreciated the encouragement from our dear friends!

2) It is so important for GG and I to introduce our boys to positive, Christian male rolemodels. The boys lit up around Mr. Geoff and would have followed him to the end of the earth. It is clear how well they respond to someone who takes a keen interest in them; how influential these types of positive relationships really can be.

3) Laughter is wonderful and the best way to deal with children. Our friends were quick to find humor in the boys (e.g. "Extreme Gardening"--M watering plants with his bike helmet on. Good one, Mr. Geoff!) and I loved sharing in the laughs. Sometimes I think I take my "job" too seriously. Gotta try to work on this... :)

Thanks G fam for beautifying our weekend!

My Busy Bees

Did you know?

A bee "tongue" is called a proboscis.

We learned this interesting fact this morning amidst oodles of wonderful bee questions from my busy bee boys. They are so curious about bees and have stopped to admire them on several occasions while we've been out and about. So this morning as I was flooded with bee questions, we turned to the computer and had a ball. The first venture was learning about what bees used to collect nectar from the flowers--answer: proboscis. The biology teacher in me had already answered the question, but I had to check and be sure (I would hate to impart incorrect information to my young pupils! :)

We progressed from there to YouTube to watch bee videos and learn about the life stages of bees. Pretty cool... The boys were engrossed and enjoyed learning that bees go from egg to larvae "worm" to pupa to baby bee in development. We even were able to catch a few videos of hatching bees. Their fave video of all, though, was of a beekeeper marking the queen bee. Perhaps I have some future beekeepers on my hands?! I wish there was a local bee farm we could visit. I found this, but still have to do more hunting...

Just minutes ago I heard the following as the boys played with Play-Doh at the kitchen table:

M: Look, T, Lightning McQueen is a worm in a cocoon ready to become a bee. (The car is covered in pink play-doh.)

T: Cool.

A little while later, this tiny critter came to life from little hands:

Amazing how these precious lessons emerge from our day-to-day.

Don't say it too loudly, but perhaps we did a little homeschooling of our own today?

Pretty cool, indeed.

I hope you all enjoyed a blessed Memorial Day weekend. We had such fun hosting friends of ours passing through on their return to New York. I plan to get those pics up and running soon.

Blessings for a brilliant Tuesday,

My TGIF

*the sun is shining

*there is a 3-day weekend ahead, complete with a visit from good friends

*this is our mulch pile status--can someone give me an amen?

*at breakfast this morning, we stopped to pray for the meal only and looked down to see Baby J joining us with folded hands and earnest attention. My day has been made. :)

God bless,

Gasperini-Ville's Joke of the Day

I couldn't help but crack up last night while reading "America's 10 Funniest Jokes" in Reader's Digest. (And yes, I realize this provides you with a second piece of evidence supporting my dorkiness! I'm okay with that--I've been reading the magazine since I was 10. Old habits die hard!! :)

Here's a good one:

A poodle and a collie are walking together when the poodle suddenly unloads on his friend, "My life is a mess," he says, "My owner is mean, my girlfriend ran away with a schnauzer, and I'm as jittery as a cat."
"Why don't you go see a psychiatrist?" suggests the collie.
"I can't," say the poodle, "I'm not allowed on the couch."

lol

(for another laugh, head over to Building Cathedrals...)

A Look Back

We had a whirlwind weekend, which is why I'm thrilled to have energy back! (btw, check out all the W's in that last sentence! Go alliteration! :)

Bottom line: I LOVE living in a city that celebrates everything, even wonder dogs jumping into a large swimming pool! Saturday after a morning birthday party at Chuck-E's for M, we headed downtown for the Ultimate Air Dogs Competition that was part of a larger James "RiverRock" event. Cool Stuff! The boys couldn't see super well, but we still had fun and managed to meet up with a buddy of GG's and his family. Here is a shot of SuperDad shlepping all the kids!We had fun watching the dogs and then mosied down the way to listen to some of the bands and have lunch. Everyone feasted on various disgusting festival foods--who orders Sesame Chicken at an event like this? Moi, of course! :) Baby J dined on sweet potatoes and cereal while propped in his backback. Sweet, redface boy!
Later we found the James River Foundation Tent and the boys and I marveled at all sorts of wonderful creatures, including a Corn Snake (state snake of Virginia) and two types of turtles. The Biology teacher in me was giddy... it was awesome to see the boys so enraptured with things I find so exciting. We stayed at the tent for probably close to a half hour listening about turtles and their adaptations, lifestyle patterns, etc. Now we have a few more things for which to look when we head down to the neighborhood pond! And yes, I realize I'm a total science nerd. ;)

Here is a cute shot of GG and J--isn't J the cutest, smiliest? I just couldn't get enough of this pic!
To round out the weekend, we joyfully welcomed Jaime, our dear friend from college to visit Saturday evening and Sunday. The boys were *thrilled* to see her again--her visit felt supercharged with boy energy. Hopefully we didn't wear you out, Jaim! It was so fun to see her and re-connect after some time. Here she is holding J, whom she met for the first time this weekend.
We, of course, had to pause for one final '01 roommate shot before she took off. GG was trying to make me laugh because he thinks a lot of our photos are of me with a fake smile. What? :) In the end, though, I think the result looks a bit goofy. Oh well! (And yes, that is the slowly shrinking pile of mulch still in our driveway. Who has time for yard work with all this fun to be had?)
There's a candid look at weekend life in Gasperini-Ville... Thanks for checking in!

God bless! Hope your Wednesday is wonderful.

Springy Steps

It was amazing to stop and recognize a familiar something Saturday night after a very full day.

You know what it wasn't? fatigue

You know what it was? ENERGY! (woo hoo!)

B-mama is BACK!!!

And then it hit me that this is the first time in a long time that I've been getting enough sleep.

Two pregnancies, a miscarriage, J's birth last August and resulting sleep deprivation that comes with a newborn, a half marathon in March, mono in April... to now. We've just weaned J off of his 4am feeding (he was too cute to thwart!), which means this is the first time in over a year (at least) that I've been sleeping straight stretches. Just in the nick of time to kick this mono thing into the past for good.

And by golly, it feels GOOD!

So good that I did my first workout tonight on the elliptical.

Somebody hold me back. ;)

Weekend pics to come tomorrow... Off to sleep.

When The Sun Shines

Gasperinis are hard to find by the computer!

I can't believe it's Thursday and I am just posting again...

My apologies!

These shots were from a bike riding outing we took the other day around lunchtime. We rode aplenty through the neighborhood and then finished at a small playground around the way. The boys loved the fresh air and I loved not having to clean my kitchen after our meal! :) I also loved watching M and T share their food well and enjoy seeing one of Baby J's first times on the swings. Too cute!

On the baby front, J has earned his first baby stripes with the rite-of-passage tipping of the dog bowls. He did it twice in one day and was soaked through both times!! Stinker! Now he is on the ground for milliseconds before heading out to the kitchen to the shiny bowls. We are now trying to teach him his first "No" lesson along with a firm hand squeeze. M gets very upset, though, hearing us reprimand his baby brother. What a loyal boy! GG and I explained to him the need for J to know right and wrong. M was surprised to find out he'd learned similar lessons when he was a wee one. (And he's still learning them!) That seems to have satisfied his dismay for the moment.

And other than an argument over the possession of the blue cereal bowl at breakfast this morning, we're off to a great day. ;) Hope you are too!

God bless,

7 years ago...

...I was readying to marry my beloved on a gorgeous spring afternoon.

It was a blissful day and the start of our forever.

We celebrated our anniversary over a delicious meal out Saturday evening. The most overwhelming thought in my head while we dined was: "Praise God I found somebody so perfect for me; so complimentary in every way. He is the best." And he really is. I'm not just writing this for the blogging world. My GG is truly incredible and I love him so!! I am such a lucky gal.

No itching in Gasperini-Ville! :)

Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart.

"Happy Mudder's Day" -M

To all the mothers out there, blessings to you on this special day!!

To my mom and mom-in-love, Mimi, I love you and praise God for you most especially today!!

We are off to a baby celebration followed by a BBQ with the ones we love most. Here's hoping you have an awesome day! God Bless!

Trumpets, Dirt, and Goodbyes

We've thankfully enjoyed time with all the grandparents this week--how blessed are we? Mimi spiced up our night Wednesday by bringing over cousin Brian's trumpet and Daddy's old saxophone. Too cool in the world of little boys! We were not surprised to see our musical M absolutely taken by the new "toys". He amazed us with his ability to already elicit sounds with proper lip buzzing, etc. You can be sure the grandmothers were giddy with excitement--my mom was a music major/choir director/organist and Mimi played violin and piano, sung in many choirs, and continues to wow us with her musical prowess. Good genes for my kiddos? You betcha! :)
The boys and Pappy had great adventures yesterday, heading out to a nearby pond. They reported seeing turtles, frogs, geese, and goslings or "baby goose" according to M. T was most excited to tell about a green snake sighting on the walk back. M had reached down to pick up a green worm only to find it was no worm at all! They enjoyed watching it slither into the bushes.
Later Pappy and M had the World Piston Cup race with the two Lighting McQueens. M won and insisted that he and Pap lie on the floor to reminisce about the race. Too cute! :)
These shots are from earlier in the week when we received quite a delivery of mulch. Can you imagine a better time for little boys? Many, many thanks to my dad for ALL of his amazing work getting this distributed to the flower beds. I had to hold back a bit, but confess to helping a little with the mulch raking. It's the old landscaper in me!! As of today, our beds look beefy and beautiful even though the torrential rains this week have removed a lot of the dark brown dye. The beds already look so aged. Oh well!
And here is the latest on our petunia sprouts. They are making their way toward any and all sunlight. We haven't yet had to water, which is great because I would probably overwater and kill the poor things! The best has been watching the boys inspect the sprouts daily. They love to show any visitors our newest growth. Now we are waiting for first leaves to sprout and then we will "thin the herd", providing our own natural selection for the biggest and healthiest in each pod. That will be hard to do. I want them all to live... blah, blah. :)
We were so sad to say final farewells to my parents this morning. :( Sniff, sniff. They have literally brought me back to life with their care and love. Thank you, Mom and Dad!! You have saved me once again. Little did they know that parenting continued past 30 years. :) lol. They are the best and we are so blessed by them. Our quality of life this week has been through the roof!!

So that's the latest from corner of the world. I do hope this finds you well. We send our love and very best Friday wishes to you today.

God bless for an awesome weekend!

Grandparents are the Goods

My parents have been such a tremendous help over this past week. Not to mention the boys love every moment spent with their grandparents. We are all well when they are around!

The other night at bedtime we were in stitches when seeing the aftermath of Pappy getting M dressed after his bath. Hysterical! Both legs ended up in one leg of his pants (think mermaid) and his buttons were all off one. Pappy claims it was a fluke, but we know he was just making sure we were all keeping good humor. I don't think I've laughed that hard in quite awhile--good for my soul!! lol.

As I type, I hear my dad asking T, "Want to go play some trains?" Are you kidding? We'll play trains with Pap any and all days. How lucky we truly are!! Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

Blessings to you on a Wednesday!

All Things Brother

We've caught some cute ones lately of the three brothers extraordinaire.

There's the brother sandwich:

(yes, Baby J is on the bottom and smiling!)

The "rub a dub dub three brothers in a tub":

And the "can they really all fit on there?" brother rocking chair shot:

As you can see, all is fabulous here in Gasperini-Ville this Monday. The arrival of my parents last Friday evening and the end to GG's work week brought SUCH relief to this mono mama! Mimi and Papa and great friends in the area had been doing an amazing job keeping things afloat, but round-the-clock help was in order!!! Thankfully, the weekend of rest and relaxation has calmed my sore and swollen throat and given me the beginning of a slight spring in my step!! Venturing out this morning with our M to preschool and the post office, I almost felt like a new woman only to return and sleep for the next 2+ hours. :) It is going to be a nice, gradual return to normalcy.

Praise God for family during times like these, huh?!

I want to give a quick shout out to my beloved parents on their 40th wedding anniversary yesterday! Woo hoo! We celebrated with roses, champagne, and ice cream sundaes. They are so good to spend such a monumental day helping us. I hope to be half the parents they are to me!

Thanks for checking in on us. You are cherished. God bless.