Winter: Indoors and Out

I enjoy winter, particularly when snow is abundant! This year we haven't had as much as I like, but it is enough to enjoy.

This was some very wet snow...it stuck to the trees like crazy. We had a few limbs break, but nothing big. Maybe we'll have less pruning to do in the spring?


The Walgreens is completely obscured by the snow covered branches. This makes me want to have snow for the entire winter. Too bad that I am not in charge.


While it is fun going out in the snow to play, it does have some drawbacks. It can take 20-30 minutes to wrangle all the snow gear onto Amedeo.

I wish I had come up with this idea on my own...bringing snow indoors is a good compromise. Amedeo wanted to play in the snow at 5pm, when I wanted to start dinner. Instead, we brought some inside, he could play, and I could make dinner.


Very little gear is required....just some mittens!



I hope the temps don't melt the snow too fast. Amedeo loved this activity!

It's a Miracle!

The miracle is that I made a menu plan for the week. When I am left to dream up my own recipes, we have pasta twice, potatoes and eggs and chicken nuggets. Boring stuff.

I have a Rachael Ray cookbook and a few other favorites that have creative recipes. I managed to make up a list and went grocery shopping this morning! This is all a miracle because right now I am suffering from pregnant brain syndrome. I have enough energy, but my lack of focus makes it hard to do useful things.

Anyway, here's the plan:

1. Marinated flank steak and blue cheese biscuits with arugula, tomatoes, and sour cream
2. Pasta con aglio, oglio, e pepperoncino con cecci, formaggio e spinaci. (Garlic, oil, hot peppers and garbanzo beans on pasta...I usually also add cheese and spinach).
3. Five Spice burgers with warm mu shu topping, pineapple and exotic chips. (fancy turkey burgers)
4. Mushroom casserole from Molly Katzen's cookbook.
5. Something from the freezer or takeout.

Next, I need to finish up organizing for Amedeo's party next weekend. I am concerned about mid-week mobility because of the snow, so I will try to have most things ready and in the house by tomorrow.

And here is our little Amedeo repairing his car. He's drawing a picture of the problem on his little green board.

That was a long break!

It has been a loooong time since I have posted. Things are going really well here. I think I'll do a little bit of reviewing with pics. Since Pietro's birthday, we've had Christmas, and a visit from Morgan Etc., and half of January. Here we go!

Amedeo is busy. I try to find activities for him that are entertaining for both of us. Here he is eating a Cheerio necklace. He had a good time stringing the "beads" but I think eating them was the best part!


And we do a little cooking too. A very big hit that day was making Ants on a Log. He was thrilled to get a very dull knife, peanut butter, raisins and celery to create his own snack. I couldn't believe that he ate almost all of what he made.



One thing to note, there has not been enough snow for our liking. Pathetic, Mother Nature!!! We need at least 6 inches for sledding and building.


Partway through December, Morgan, Debbie and Finn arrived! Finn turned three in June. Amedeo had a great time playing with him. I didn't get many pictures of all of them together. That was when I had the most morning sickness, which for me was just all day nausea, plus icky headaches. I was not very energetic either...so we're going to go visit them in their new house in March/April.

This day was our entire extended family on mom's side getting together for a Christmas lunch. It was lots of fun to have everyone over, minus the men who had to work.

Lisa, JoAnna, Uncle Rich, Matthew and Debbie:

Aunt Linda, Mom and me:

Lacey (my 2nd cousin) and Amedeo...he fell in love with her. He followed her around the entire time. Lacey was very sweet and tolerant.

Morgan and Matthew playing Wii.


All the kids together....and for a change all of them are looking happy, but not necessarily at the camera!


And, everyone in the pic...the last time we had one of these was probably in 1985.


And then, Christmas morning...
Amedeo was so excited. We noticed after a few presents were opened that he wasn't giving us as good a reaction as usual. There was no jumping up and down, or giggly laughter. Later, we realized that he had a fever! Poor child. Hopefully we can avoid that next year!

Next...more photos from Christmas...

Pietro's Birthday

This is a little after Tday. I remember making hand-turkeys in kindergarden. The teacher painted each finger a different color. That was my very favorite project the whole year. I wanted to try it with Amedeo. He really liked it! I'm glad because he has been anti-art lately.


And December 5th is Pietro's birthday. Traditionally, this is the first day we get any signifigant snow fall. We got a few flurries, but nothing good like in years past.
As you can see, he is VERY excited about his present.


Grandpa and Pietro playing tennis together. Pietro has been staying up very late playing his games...I am glad it's a hit, but I hope he is getting enough sleep.


I made a chocolate pudding cake for dessert. It has cake on the top and the pudding on the bottom. It goes together in a crazy way...you make a batter and put it in the bottom, then you sprinkle dry ingredients on top. Then you pour coffee all over, making what looks like a giant cake-y disaster. It was delicious. I would make it again and again.


One very happy Pietro.

Zoo Day

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we went with James and his sister and parents to the Baltimore Zoo. The boys had a great time together. It was rather cold...but we saw lots of activity from the animals.

The train ride was fun for the boys. It doesn't take you near many of the animal exhibits...and it is short...but, boys and trains are hard to keep apart.



Cookies!!!

They enjoyed the children's part of the zoo...lots of animals to pet and fun things to see...



Amedeo fell asleep in the car on the way home. I managed to carry him in and put him on his bed. When I checked on him 2 hours later, he was in this position, sound asleep. He is still in diapers for naps and bedtime. I didn't put one on him this time since he was already asleep...so his clothes and shoes were soaked with pee. I learned that soaking the shoes in Simple Green and water works well. The drying rack in our dryer works great to get them dry again.




Next...a few pics from Pietro's birthday...

Thanksgiving Post

We are thankful for our family, friends and good fun. I think Amedeo expresses our happiness with this energetic train dance.




Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Trick or Treating

We had to go and see Grandma for some trick or treating! She has all the good candy.



Grandma took Amedeo to visit some of their neighbors...



I think the part that Amedeo liked the most was the socializing. He loved going door to door to talk to people. The candy was exciting, but I think he mostly liked the attention. So far, he hasn't asked to eat any more candy, fortunately.


One of our cool neighbors sets up a cave in their garage. They offer snacks and wine and beer to the adults. I was ready to stay there all night.


My mom made stuffed orange peppers. Delicious and cute. If you look closely, it looks as if this pepper has been barfing.

This one is a snarky pepper.


Thanks, mom, for the amusing and yummy dinner!