We have a backyard!

I am almost afraid to say it but I think the work at the house is all done. Inside and out, and I can hardly believe it! The yard was left for last and now is done. We still can't walk on the grass so it feels like it is teasing us but in a couple of weeks it will be all ours! It is really nice, simple and safe for the kids o be out there on their own without having to worry about getting hurt. It is going to take some time for all the plants and trees to be fully mature and cover the ground they way they are supposed to, but no complaints here. The work is done let's the fun begin!

Busy Days

These are very busy times. At work I have a so much to do I don't know what is up and what is down: among the many things I had to prepare a presentation for today, I have a grant that needs to go out in 20 days and 2 big proposals to work on.
At home it is not any easier:today Alex forgot his binder on the bus but I did not know that until I drove back to the pool (after dinner) to see if by any chance we had left it there after swimming. Nothing, he thinks he may have left it on the bus on its way to the pool (why was not in the backpack in the first place, one may ask???).
But I am keeping my cool and trying not to overreact (breath Annalisa breath....)
This month I bought the September Kit of the Month and I love it!! It is so easy to use, great rub-ons, beautiful patterned paper. It is about travel and I had all the pictures from our trip to Colorado that we took in May just sitting on my desk. I felt it was calling my name, I had to get it. Really really enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had time to work on it all at once, rather than working on it 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, but it's OK (remember to breath...). It is almost all done, I have to add the journaling (always wait until the last minute for that one) and all my pictures from Colorado will have a home. It will take me a couple of days only to clean my desk, but that is a story for another time.

Whose feet are those?

Just another evening in our house. If we get through dinner without silliness something is surely wrong with one of our kids. So tonight we were all laughing watching those little feet sticking out of the pantry. And then after a little while we even got to see the head!!

September 11 (6 years ago)

The memories of that horrible days will stay with us forever, the fear, the feeling of incredible loss for no reason.We travel a lot and every time we are at an airport I can' help but think about all the people who lost their lives that day, people like us just living their lives. I had this picture of Lucas and Ryan at the airport in Denver since Memorial Day week-end when we went to Colorado for a few days. I love the two of them looking at the rain (falling incessantly!) while we were waiting for some good news about our plane possible departure. The plane was delayed 5 hours because of the bad weather and the two of them had to be kept busy during that time. But there were moments like this one, when they were calm and looking at the planes sitting there waiting for clearance for departure. I remember thinking about that horrible day of September in 2001 and feeling so incredibly lucky. I hope nobody will ever forget.

Brotherly Love

I wonder if a parent should recognize the signs of a devious personality to be when the forming of this personality is still in the making. I surely hope not. I want to believe that children's action are simply children' actions.
Ryan came to me tonight and with a really concerned tone of voice said" Mommy, look at what Lucas did to himself!"
Unfortunately for Ryan Lucas is right handed and it took me less than a minute to figure out that the beautiful artwork captured by this picture was not Lucas doing. Needless to say Ryan attempted to deny his own doing until I told him that the punishment for lying on top of everything else would ave been 10 times heavier. So, as a result he is in bed early. I think he understood it was a really bad thing to do, while Lucas (totally clueless) had to have his second shower today!!!