Benld Italian American Days

Benld Italian American Days is a festival in a near by town to my parent's house. I had not been since 2002. Since it was the weekend of Michelle's Shower, my parents, Michelle, Mike and I took Bella up for the evening. Bella and I riding "Dumbo"

Bella not so sure about he ducky ride

Bella and Aunt Michelle

Bella and Aunt Michelle riding the "horseys"

Grandpa Mike(afraid of heights), Bella and Uncle Mike on the Ferris wheel

Beep Beep....Bella on the firetruck

Bella the big girl on another ride all by herself

Gone fishing....this game cost me like $5 and she won a "great lil ball". Totally worth it....haha

Bella proudly carrying her cotton candy. She had no idea what cotton candy was but she was excited nonetheless

Aunt Michelle helping Bella with her first bite

Bella giving Aunt Michelle some

Uncle Mike, Bella, and Aunt Michelle

Grandpa and Bella dancing

Michelle's Bridal Shower

Michelle, Marilyn, Lynne, and Marion. Marilyn, Lynne, and Marion are very good friends of our family's. Michelle and Lynne were best friends growing up.

Michelle and Grandma Rossetto. Michelle was introducing everyone at her shower in this photo thus the pointing:)

Michelle's sister in law Nikki, her mother in law Carol, and her niece Sage

Bella loving on Marion.

One of the center pieces.

The head table.

I was really into the initials for the shower. I had R's and W's every where. They were very inexpensive and added just enough of that little extra something.

Our fun lanterns and again an initial

The dessert table

We Are Home

After 22 days, we are home. It was a wonderful adventure. The kids slept in 5 different beds in 22 days, and let me tell you they were ready they were to see their own beds. They were also pretty excite to see their own toys.
I am pretty well unpacked and most of the laundry is done. I need to make a major trip to the Commissary and iron, but our trip is about to be completely done.
The kids may have been ready to come home, but I was not. I know all my readers have heard me complain nonstop about how much I dislike Memphis, but here I go again. I love my house, but I dislike this area. I loved being in Illinois and California so much that I have been in a funk for the last two days. One would think after 4 years I would be use to it. I cannot put my finger on one thing that makes me dislike this area. It seems like I dislike everything right now. Maybe I try to like it here too much. Maybe it is because all of my friends are gone. I am not sure but I will say I am ready for Annapolis.

A Childhood Hero

The famous numbers

Please Ryno one more autograph for me.

Coming in from the 3rd base line.

Gearing up his men.

Wish it had been my bat!

Most of you know I take my Cub's baseball pretty serious! I love my Cubs and despite a loosing season more often than not, I still love them. I am not sure why, but if you ask any Cub fan they will probably tell you, there is just something about being a Cub fan one cannot describe.

Today, the Iowa Cubs(Chicago's Minor League Team) was in Memphis playing the Redbirds(Cardinal's Minor League Team). I was hell bent on going to the game and sitting right next to the dugout because the Iowa Cub's manager is my all time favorite Cub....the famous #23 Ryno! I grew up hearing his name come from Harry Carry on WGN and at Wrigley Field. I loved Ryno, I wanted to be a second baseman because of Ryno. I was never good enough to play 2nd, but my sister was and she worn #23. I was however, good enough at times to play 1st and I would dream about Mark Grace.

Well, I did it. I had 2 tickets right next to the dugout and was so excited to go! Game time was 1:35pm so I had the sitter arrive at 12pm. Larry and I were set to go until Larry's experiment failed at school. He called at 12:15pm to tell me there was no way he would make it to meet me at the game. I had to decided quickly to go or not. I knew there was talk of Ryno moving up to be with the Cubs next year and the Iowa Cubs were only in town for one more game this season. I had to go even if it meant alone. So, off I went. Arriving in plenty of time to line up for a photo and autograph. Well, time did not allow for Ryno to get to me, but I got lots of photos. And, I will never forget getting to see him up close coach a game.

Hopefully, this time next year I will be sitting in Wrigley watching him coach the Cubs to victory over the Cards. We will see......for now, I just have some cool memories of today to stash in my memory bank of a childhood hero!

And They are Off.....

to Boy Scout Summer Camp for a week! The boys excitedly tossed their well packed stuff into the back of a pick up truck and headed off to Scout Camp today. They tossed me a kiss and a one arm hug and they were off. I of course got in the car and cried. When did I close my eyes long enough to miss them growing up? Can I please hit the rewind button and get back all the days I was too tired to play one more board game? Can I have back the missed opportunities to take one more bike ride with them? Have I done a good job? Will they be ok this week without me? I have to trust that I have done my best and that I am the only one that remembers I passed up small moments in time to stop and play with them. I have to trust they will remember where home is forever and that they will always want to come back. For those of you with little ones that are tired and cannot wait for them to walk, talk, bath themselves, ect; stop before you know it, it will all happen. You soon will be like me, wondering where it all went!

I am so grateful to have the older dudes. I can honestly say I do a much better job not missing out on the little things with Bella.

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies".......

If you have never read a "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies" or any other "If You......" book to your child, you will understand the following. If you have never read one, sorry.....

It all started last Sunday......I was sitting on the back porch with the kids and Carla and noticed we really needed some flowers and a good clean out of flower beds. Carla was visiting so she kept the kiddos while I ran to the NEX for a few bags of mulch and some trays of flowers. I should add I blindly went to the NEX being that I have NEVER done yard work or anything that has to do with yard work prior to Sunday.

I arrived home eager to get started. I had 8 bags of mulch and 3 trays of flowers. The kids and I started working. Only to find that there was way more cleaning out and mulching to be done than I first noticed. Thus, the project turned into a much larger project. Monday I found myself at Home Depot after an OBGYN apt buying 2 more bags of mulch, and more flowers. By 3pm on Monday I found myself making another trip to the NEX for 2 MORE bags of mulch, potting soil, and pots because I had bought too many flowers. I finished the "landscaping" by 5pm. I then noticed that the front porch needed to be cleaned off. Out came the power washer. Who does not clean all the outside windows, back porch, sidewalks, garage doors, and driveway when they have the power washer out? By 10pm on Monday night I felt like a train hit me. I must add that Larry was not able to landscape because he has been at school every waking hour every day of the week for a month now:)

Tuesday morning came and I headed to the dentist about 8:30am. When I arrived home it only made since to clean all the inside windows and blinds. Once they were clean, I thought I should clean out the boy's room from all the toys and stuff they no longer play with. Well, it would have been silly to do that and not do the toy room too......12am on Wednesday morning found me with the toy room and boy's room cleaned out. 4 car loads to charity places later, I had all the stuff given away.

Wednesday was also an early start with a trip to the eye doctor for myself and the boys. We were at the NEX, so I also had the boy's hair cut. We headed home and started "cleaning" the upstairs. Complete with better organizing the attic, the boy's closet, Bella's closet, you name it it was reorganized. So much was cleaned out it only made sense to move all the furniture and vacuum behind it, and hit every thing.....every nuck, ect with a duster.

Thursday, I HAD to clean downstairs. I cleaned EVERYTHING! I took stuff out of my hutch, curio cabinet, you name it again it was dusted and vacuumed. All this cleaning led me to see how badly I needed to redecorate, so off I went to buy some cool new stuff for the house. I also needed to buy some totes to store piles of stuff in a neater way in. Thursday night Larry arrived home and said get in the car we are going out to eat. You have to be running on empty. I stopped my craziness and went out with him and the kids. Thursday being the first time I had dinner with them all week!

I was not completely done on Friday morning, so I got up and hit it again. I finished about 10am and headed to the Spa. An hour long facial and massage left me feeling like a queen. Oh, I also got a mani and pedi......ahhhhh!

I woke up this morning and looked back at the week. I have no idea where the energy came from, but I am very proud of all my labor! It was totally worth it the 2 bottles of window cleaner, the rolls of paper towels, and all the body aches! I HATE putting clothes away and ironing, so I still have to complete that tomorrow, but after that is done I will be in summer vacation mood!

I must add as a slight pat on my own back. I wanted to loose weight for my sister's wedding in 4 weeks. So, in March I got really serious. I have lost 22lbs to date! I took size 12 shorts (not worn) back yesterday and exchanged them for size 8s!!!!

Flooded....

Thank you to everyone that has called or text us this weekend. Yes, the rain was bad, but we were very lucky. Like just about everyone in the area, we have experienced damage. In my eyes, it is a lot but in the grand scheme of things it is nothing. We have friends on the base that have lost everything they are speculating. They were given 5 minutes to get off the base late last night and were only able to get off in John boats.
As for our damage, it is all in Bella's room. Her closet ceiling is bucked and coming in. Her walls are soaked and do in the carpet in her closet. We will make a claim tomorrow as it is still raining here.
Thank you for checking in~