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.