Dirty Dirt Sundaes

We had an incident today involving a big brother stealing a little brother's dirt sundae worm and taking a bite out of it! Can you guess what livid mama was on the loose? I was so disappointed with this poor choice... After M's timeout and apology (not to mention losing his own sundae in the process), little T magnanimously offered M the rest of his worm. I marveled out loud at what a nice little brother M had--"most little brothers would probably still be angry about you taking the worm in the first place," I offered. This funny exchange followed and I was thankfully able to walk away with some chuckles... :)

M: "T has a pretty big heart. I guess he can think a lot better than me."

T: "Yeah, I've got a lot of remembory."

All in a day's work, ;)

Can It Be April Yet?

For some reason this month, the Gasperini-Ville budget has been difficult to maintain.

Could it be there are 31 days in March?? February was so short and good to us.

Could it be we're gearing up to welcome our little sweetheart in a few months? Girl bedding has arrived and we are working on the nursery decor. I'll post pics soon!

Could it be that car and home repairs crept in when we were doing so well...?

Could it be that we eat too much? :) haha

The latter is very possible, especially coming from the prego who could consume food at all hours of the day!

Whatever the reason, last week GG and I realized where we were heading for the month and put on the financial brakes. Since then, we have made a concerted effort to really conserve on expenses, including the grocery budget. And here's the outcome:

Sheer emptiness

Thank goodness the month ends tomorrow!!!!! lol

Nothing like an empty fridge and cupboard to challenge a mama toward creative cooking and snacking. We have worked through just about everything... which then motivated me to clean the fridge! woo hoo!! Good things come to those who conserve.

You'd better believe there will be some celebrating this Easter in Gasperini-Ville!

Lent will be over and our cupboards and bellies will be full.

In anticipation,

TGIF

A glimpse of T during Creative Movement

A blessed Friday to you!

This morning we had some of the usual--mom's elliptical time while J played. Then a trip to school to watch M's creative movement class (T's was last week). And then J and I were off to the furniture store to meet with a designer about some accent pieces for the house. We have store credit that is burning a hole in our pockets! Afterward, we were back to school to fetch the boys and then home for lunch...

It is rainy here in Gasperini-Ville, but I must say, the caffeinated coffee (an unusual indulgence) surging through my veins is providing a cheery backdrop to the gray. I am wonder woman with caffeine! :) Seriously. It is fantastic!

My workout regime has been pretty spot-on these days, which is awesome but leaves me with very little energy in the afternoon. Last week I was five for five with workouts ranging from "wogging" (5 minute fast walk, 5 minute slow jog while holding on), spinning (still can get my legs around without hitting my belly!), and the elliptical. So far, so good and I'm feeling great during the workout. But then I'll usually pass out during J's nap and the boys' simultaneous quiet time later on. There's only so much energy to go around! :)

Not today, though. Thank you, coffee!!! In a moment we're off to set up the bounce house in the garage. Boy energy is looming and we need an outlet.

One last thing, I'm sorry to say I have no updated prego pics today because... my beloved has misplaced the camera. He was watching all three boys at the time, so I can't fault him for it. At least the children are all accounted for! Camera? Not so much. Perhaps this is a sign we need to splurge and get a new one?? Many of you have Nikons that take amazing pics and I am itching to follow suit. This little baby girl needs sweet photos... We'll see!

Hope you all have brilliant Fridays! God bless!!

Settling In

I had the chance to attend a women's retreat this weekend and am back... settling in.

Happy to report the boys had a great time together. GG did a stupendous job organizing and caring for them. When I returned, he paid special attention to my integration to be sure I didn't feel overwhelmed coming back into the life of our crazy family. I have a gem of a hubby, I tell you! Thanks Love!

The retreat was a blessed break and chance to commune with our Lord and good friends. I am blessed by a God who loves me dearly and nurtures me during anonymous times in my life. As a stay-at-home mother, I am definitely living a hidden life at home right now, so it was especially encouraging to hear from Alicia Britt Chole, the author and woman who spoke at our retreat from her book Anonymous: Jesus' Hidden Years... And Yours. The whole time was so good for my soul...

Alas, I am behind on an updated prego pic. It will come, I promise. Just have to get through the day's laundry task and change into something presentable!! :) Sweats won't do.

Blessings to you for a wonderful day.

Week at a Glance

We've had a fabulous week here in Gasperini-Ville, commenced by a special someone's birthday. Happy 62nd Papa!!

We celebrated with him on Sunday night and the boys had a blast giving him his gift--"A Day With Papa", complete with gift certificates to spend a day with his grandsons eating ice cream, spoiling them at Toys 'R Us, and finishing off at a local baseball game.

When GG and I sat down to brainstorm birthday gift ideas we kept coming back to two things-- TIME and GRANDSONS. Put the two together and voila! "A Day With Papa" was born. M and T helped come up with locations for the day, so in the end it was a family effort. We are also hopeful J will get to tag along for the ice cream and toy spoiling part of the venture. Most of all, we hope Papa is in heaven getting to spend some quality time with his little boys, doing what he loves best. Oh Happy Day!

The rest of the week has been the usual--preschool, work, and the like. One snaffoo we hate to mention (but will for posterity's sake) was an unnamed family member's losing of his car keys (how we hate to place blame! :) Unfortunately, the car wouldn't start with the spare set, so we had to have it towed from work to the shop, where they figured out the key problem. Then we had to pay through the nose to get the spare and another key chip configured. Don't you just love issues like this (especially when the monthly budget was so on track!)?? :)

The boys were along for the initial ride to drop off the spare set of keys (which didn't end up working and led to the towing...) and kept asking, "Why aren't the keys working? Why is this taking so long? What is going to happen to Daddy's car?" Mama had to put on her game face and give them a dose of a life lesson--"Well boys, sometimes things don't work out as we planned, but we have to learn to roll with the punches..." Mind you, I had to repeat this internally several times to keep myself calm. How I would have hated to hand out the lesson and then live it differently! ha

So that's what we did... we rolled through the rest of the week and are doing just fine. Thanks be to God!

****

To end, I leave you with two funny M quotes from tonight:

As I'm getting ready to read the story of Zaccheus, the tax collector, and Jesus' visit to his home, M says,

"Mom, was Zucchini the small man?"

Later as we're getting ready for bed, he says to me,

"Mom, I'm going to be MG's protector. If she tries to break any of the toys or go into J's room, I'm going to stop her and be in charge of her."

Oh boy.

Blessings,

Prodigal Sunday

Many blessings to you on this Lord's Day, dear friends and family!

The rain has continued here in Virginia, though with it we have enjoyed the coziness of home and hearth. Today I write amidst this warmth to the sound of meditative chant. GG has been inspired to have more of that playing around here since attending a silent Lenten retreat last weekend. He had an enriching time of prayer, meditation, reconciliation, and overall closeness with God while away, so we are thankful he's brought a little piece of that inspiration home to us.

Today's Gospel reading of the story of the Prodigal Son was a good one for us to ponder. As parents, GG and I are enamored with the father in the story and his willingness to let his son go (no doubt continuing to love and pray for him) and then to welcome him home and rejoice in his return to an upstanding life. There was no judgment, only love; as there is with God when we return to Him from our sinful ways. I love this story on many levels and am reminded of the tale when I listen to an oldie worship song, "When God Ran" by Benny Hester. I'm going to link to it through the blog so you all can enjoy hearing it too... Not surprising, it moves me to tears each time I listen to it. That God would run to little old me and rejoice in my return is an overwhelmingly moving thought. I hope you enjoy it on this Prodigal Sunday.

Quite special was sitting at Mass with our M today and watching him listen intently to the story. We had studied it earlier in the week during one of our Jesus Tree lessons and he recognized it... This year I've added The New Catholic Picture Bible to our studies; it is neat to see how captivated M is by the older picture renditions. Suffice to say, the Jesus Tree has taken on greater meaning for him this go 'round and even made Mass more meaningful. That warms a mama's heart.

Mama at 26 weeks

And speaking of my heart, I will say the somewhat gloomy prego disposition of last week has lifted and I write with ease and comfort at 26 weeks. I think MG grew a bunch last week, which left me in a limbo state, attempting to catch up with my body. I feel much more like myself this week and that is so good. Selfish discomfort has passed away and in its place is a sincere gratitude I have for her life, a precious, healthy life which God has given us. We are so blessed. I am so blessed by this baby. She is already so good to her mama. I cannot wait to have her in my arms and introduce her to our family. June cannot come sooner ;).

Hope this finds you well.

Grace and peace to you,

Thursday Sunshine

Despite the cloud cover, Gasperini-Ville saw some sunshine today thanks to these beautiful tulips. They are a sign spring is around the corner... and I think we can all agree that that's a really good thing.

Blessings,

To My Children

Dear children,

Please wash your hands. Because if you wash your hands then you won't get sick. But if you do get sick, please do not throw up on the family room chenille throw. If you happen to throw up on the family room throw, washing it will cause all sorts of problems for your parents and the family dryer.

Mommy and Daddy will have to clean out the dryer vent hose in the middle of the night because none of the clothes are drying. Then Mommy will venture outside to find that it has snowed, but not the kind of snow you love, but instead chenille snow in fuzz form all over the flower beds. Mommy will then have to use the telescoping wand to clean out the outside vent. She might just break off one of the slats and then all the wonderful fuzz will come shooting out of the vent and rain down on the rest of our backyard. It will be so silly and not a sight you want to see, trust me.

So the bottom line, please just don't get sick. But even more importantly, please avoid vomiting on the throw. Thanks.

Your loving mother,

Sunday Preggers

I've been getting a lot of requests lately for belly shots, so here you go--B-mama, in all my pregnant glory. The docs say I'm 25 weeks today (according to the 8-week ultrasound). I say its not until Wednesday (according to my charts). The discrepancy will surely play out with some drama around my due date when they are itching to induce me and I'm wishing to go overdue. We'll see how that goes... So, basically, this is me somewhere between 24.5 and 25 weeks prego!

I haven't posted belly shots yet because for some reason this time around I've been a lot more self conscious of the changes going on in my little prego body. Maybe its having a girl and getting ready to be upstaged by a daughter!? Maybe its as the folk lore says--girls wear you out! I definitely have noticed a lack of pregnancy glow this time around; in its place, pale pallor and then some!! Spring sunshine, I need you!

From here on out, though, I promise to post at least one shot a week to chronicle this little gal's growth. MG seems very sweet and complacent in utero. She appears to sleep a lot and only gives me an occasional jab. I do think she's turning a bunch because her movements are never consistently in the same place... So that's the latest on our baby girl. Hope you have a blessed Sunday!

Mi Madre!

I would love your prayers for my mom, who right now is undergoing abdominal surgery.

We have every reason to believe she will be back to her 100% self after this, but would love your prayers for the doctor's wisdom and her strength during recovery!!

Thank you and blessings,

**Update 9pm: The surgery went well and the doc is pleased at the prognosis! My mom should be back on the elliptical next week!! Thank goodness for laproscopy. :) Incidentally, this all was to remove a benign cyst. We didn't know it was benign until today--praise God!! Thank you for your prayers.