If you are odd like me

You may like to try this. I don't know if any of you out there have ever had the desire to bite into CHALK or maybe a ROSE or PLAYDOUGH or SILLYPUDDY? I have had the desire to do these things and I have tried all of them, multipul times, even though some are just plain disgusting, that would be the playdough. Something might be wrong with me, but it just seems like these things would be fun to bite into. These things are also fun to cut with a knife. To make a long story short, today I was making S'MORE bars and it calls for quartered REESES PEANUT BUTTER CUPS. I stacked them by twos and then used a big sharp knife to cut them into quarters. It was satisfying. You should try it sometime, plus they taste good, but they are more fun to cut than to bite.
Just thought you might like to know.

Happy cutting and biting into odd things!

santa claus is comin' to town

So this was a little while ago, the day after Thanksgiving, but we went to Santa's Grand Event, or something, at the University Mall. Santa came in on a HELICOPTER. My mom said, "What happened to the good old days when he came in on a SLEIGH???"

Either way, I think it is exciting! I LOVE Christmas!
Armani was THRILLED. So was I to be truthful. I have never been that close to a helicopter, at least one that was moving. It was really windy!
I was another fun CHRISTMAS activity!

So if the video doesn't work, I am sorry. It took a year to upload. Without the video the post is boring!

ooops...

I had an enrichment activity last night, I signed up to bring a dessert. When I got home I was washing the platter that I put the dessert on, and on the back I saw this

ummmm. I hope I didn't poison anyone. I just was trying to make it look nice.

Armani found a Santa hat in my box of Christmas decorations and insists on wearing it, all the time. His latest FAVORITE activity is "doing dishes". I came in and he had given himself a beard of bubbles while wearing the Santa hat.

ho. ho. ho.

While I was climbing up a latter in our garage to get down a box of lights, he said "mom you better watch out, you better not fall, cause I'm tellin you why, I'm Santa" He makes me laugh!

This is a three in one post. This is the last thing for now. We went to the Lights On Festival in Provo. It was free. That is nice. They had singing and dancing performances and a band of all elderly men, it was cute. They didn't turn the lights on at 6:30 like a thought they would, the mayor needed to make it official by saying a bunch of stuff we didn't really care about. And then he tried to do a PRACTICE countdown, but Santa and the kids really threw the MAGIC DUST when we all said MERRY CHRISTMAS, so the lights didn't turn on and then they had to get MORE magic dust and we had to count down again. The lights did turn on with the second MERRY CHRISTMAS, and it was very beautiful, the trees in front of the Covey Center were loaded with lights. Armani loved it. My toes were frozen. It was a fun HOLIDAY family night!

I am trying to make the most of this holiday season, by filling it with all sorts of Christmas-y activities. Giovanni says that it is just going to make me more depressed once it is all over. He is probably right, but I like to believe that I am right till proven otherwise!

The front room makeover

We have lived in our home for almost 4 years now. We originally planed on about 2 years. If I have learned one thing in life it is this, PLANS CHANGE. Like me, you may not want plans to change, but I believe it is just part of life. You never REALLY know what your plan will be.

So we have done things to our home along the way, but being that I PLANED to not be here for TOO long, I never really settled in and made this home MY home.

Now we are still here and I really have NO idea when we will make some other house our home. So I will take one room at a time and make it what I want it to be, so that I will be happier with this home that I spend the majority of my time in. Don't get me wrong, I am VERY grateful and feel VERY blessed to have a house that we own.

This is our front room before the recent makeover

this wall is pages from art books that we put up on the wall, I really like this wall. You can also see the GREEN wall. I really like this wall too, but it is time for a change.

Here is our brown wall.

The rug and coffee table are new additions (that we bought on by birthday). The futon is also new, well newish. Thanks Magleby's!

So here is what is looks like now.

new paint and some fun mirrors, plus we moved our computer desk to this wall


I am going to make curtains for that window and also paint the futon black, and make a new cover for it...that is the new fabric draped over it.

new tv (via some trade) and new tv stand

we are going to put a piece of wood painted white over the existing curtain rod and I am going to make new curtains

Last but most definitely not least, we are going to get a new fan. I would like to put just a basic white molding around the ceiling, like we have in our dining-ish room, but that is just more time and work, it looks good enough without it.

so you don't have to wait any longer

I am sure you were not really waiting but I will now post about my birthday, which was on the 14th of November, I know, that was quite some time ago. Oh well.

My wonderful husband bought me these


for breakfast I made this


Armani also wanted this

Yes, for breakfast.
The french toast with fresh whipped cream and raspberries,
with a dusting of powdered sugar were not enough for him,
he had to have leftover mac and cheese too.

For lunch we went here


and ate this


the best MEATBALL sandwich in all the world...


maybe the MESSIEST sandwich in all the land too.
Sorry for the gross picture - that isn't even all the napkins I used either!!!

Then we went here


and got some new items for our front room!

Then we went here


the DELICIOUS Tepanyaki, with family, I love my families.

Then we went to this

and ate this

this

and this


I may have felt a bit sick at the end of the night, I am not sure why, my day didn't revolve around food or anything...


I planed it and he executed it, therefore I had a great birthday!

out of the mouth of babes...

or just my babe, who called me babe this morning while I was getting ready for church. I said, "where is dad when you need him" (to help me choose black or brown tights and shoes to go with my outfit, (yes he helps me with those things when I can't make a decision on my own) so I asked Armani, "should I do black or brown?" and he being his stinking cute self said, "I like those babe. You look cute babe." He is just like his father in so many ways.

I have been thinking about my blog, and I am going to add some structure to it, sort of. Certain days will be dedicated to certain things, for instance on the 19th - or around about that date - i will post all about my little man, he was born on the 19th. He grows and learns and changes so much each month, little phrases he says come and go in a month and I want to try to remember as many as I can. I know it isn't the 19th, but I am trying to do some catching up, I haven't posted in a while.

If you don't like Armani then don't read on, but I don't know a single soul who has met him and does not like him, he is a charmer!

INTERVIEW OF FAVORITES

last month / this month

FAVORTIE FOOD:
hot cocoa (he was drinking it at the moment) / donuts (also eating when I asked)

FAVORITE CANDY:
"corn candies" / "mm's" and "kip caps" aka...kit kats

FAVORITE WORD:
"I don't know. What word?" / "ummm, my favorite word is milk" (it was on the table)
-This reminded me of BRICK, "i love lamp"

FAVORITE TOY:
box / tractors

FAVORITE BLANKET:
"my oder (other) one" / "my other one"
-he can now say other correctly, and that is just what he calls his blue blanket...

FAVORITE MOVIE:
"builder bob and nemo" / "lightning.... um chicken middle"
-i don't know where lightning came from??

FAVORITE DAY:
"I don't know." / "um my favorite day is, um, a new day, that's my day."
-in chicken little he says, "today is a new day"

FAVORITE PLACE:
"the chef place" upon saying this he looked as though he reminded himself of this place because he then said "I want to go to the Chef place, lets go!" / "Tepanyaki, the chef does fire and then he tosses the shrimp"
-he now knows the name of the chef place and asks to go there daily.

I added these questions this month...

FAVORITE SHOW:
"the train one, all aboard the train, lets watch that"

FAVORITE UNCLE:
"stefo, he plays with me all day"

FAVORITE AUNT:
"um, aunt jeanie... oh, MEGAN is and Stefo is my favorite aunt too!"

-Aunt, Uncle, Grandma and Grandpa, etc... are a little hard for him to remember which gender they belong to, sorry Stefano!

He is a little A.D.D. one thing reminds him of something and then that reminds him of something else, and so on.

As of late he is obsessed with taking PHOTOS. He uses the word PHOTOS, he is great! I enhanced these a TINY TINY bit, they are pretty cool shots!

If you can't tell, I love my little boy. I was always told by my mother that I wouldn't know how much she loved me till I had my own and now I know.
Now back to being a mom, I need to go awake him from his afternoon slumber...but stay tuned, I still need to post about my delightful birthday and my front room Make Over!


TAGGED

I was tagged, as it is called, by my delightful friend Jessie. Here is the TAG..
List 6 quirky habits that you have...
tag 6 quirky friends & link the person who tagged you.
So when it says link the person who tagged me... what does that mean???
Anyway, here it goes

#1
I always have gum in my mouth. I don't chew it. I suck on it. My chin does a funny thing, I will see pictures of me and I can tell that I am sucking on my gum.

#2
I have a habit of taking self portraits. The funny thing is, the uglier I can make myself look, the funnier I think it is. This is a weird habit that runs true amongst my sisters.

#3
I don't know that it is a habit, but it may differ from other women of my age. I dream about the day that I can garden ALL day long. I even like just watering my garden or hosing off the sidewalk. I grew tomatoes for the first time this year and they were the best I have EVER tasted. (I am not the only person who thought so!)
I dream about landscaping and what my yard and garden will be like someday.

#4
I must brush my teeth at least 4 times daily. If I am somewhere and I think about it, and I can't, I start to feel uneasy.

#5
For some reason, at night, right before I go to sleep I feel like I have to clear my throat. I have to like sit up and cough and it is always a big ordeal. It is really annoying, because it is really RIGHT when I am closing my eyes, Giovanni and I are done talking, and then I get this itch in my throat...

#6
I feel like I am growing a mullet as soon as my hair on my neck line starts to get a little bit "long". I don't think I will ever be able to grow my hair out.

So I tag,
Beka, Breanna (this means you have to start a blog!), Lindsey, Traci M., Nicole C., and...um...I have expended all my resourses, anyone else that might read my blog has already been tagged with this tag.
Lood at me tagging someone who doesn't even have a blog.
Sad.

So, I know way past the holiday of TRICKS and TREATS
but for journal-ing purposes
(my sister-in-law tells me I can get a bound book at the end of the year of my posts...)
I will share the last bit of our Halloween holiday
and then move on to bigger and better things.
We had a SPOOKTASTIC dinner.
Someday Armani will get more excited about it,
but I really do it because I like to.

This was the appetizer sampler.


This is the dinner menu. I won't tell you what is really was,
I will just let your imaginations wonder...


We had dessert too, Witch hats with frozen cow milk. Yummy!

Alright.
I am done now.
That is the END of Halloween until next year!

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!"

This is what Armani says whenever he sees anything Halloween.

We had fun. The plan was for Armani to be a tooth, me a tooth fairy and giovanni a dentist. Come the 31st I had no costumes and Armani did not want to be a tooth anymore. Gabrielle went along with me to the costume store, something you should not do the day of. I would rather dress up than not, so Armani was Superman, he found a superman trick-or-treat bucket and had to have it and the night before my neighbor brought me over her little boys Superman costume! I was a pig in a 4XL pink tee and giovanni was a redneck.

My handsome little black-haired Superman, he just woke up so he is a little dazed.


The TRIO.


Armani did the Rock Canyon school Halloween parade with Grandma Ju-ju-bee. They were "NEARDS".


At Trunck-or-treat we saw LeeAnna and Chris and Jane. I was trying to get Armani to give Jane a little smooch, she was playing hard to get! Maybe Armani's manly muscles made her a little nervous, or his stunning blue eyes...

Close but not quite.


A hand on her back was as far as he got.


To sum up the day, we had loads of sugar. Provo Bakery donuts, glazed PLUS chocolate frosting, absolutely delicious. Candy, candy and some more candy, in fact new candy I had never tried, Reeses crunch stick things - tasty little things. Breanna's sugar cookies, about three. Some more donuts just because they were there. And more candy.



Happy Halloween!

Activities of Halloween

So Halloween does not top my list of favorite holidays, is does however kick off the holiday season, which is my favorite. I consider November 1st through December 25th a great big holiday. Birthdays, including MINE, Thanksgiving, Holiday Parties, Driving around to see the lights, Christmas shopping, Christmas Eve festivities and of course, Christmas Day. All of this excitement and anticipation tends to leave me slightly depressed on the 26th. Anyway I am going to make the most of this season, and it got a great start with a fun Halloween.

We went to Cornbellys, or is it Cornbellies, I'm not sure, at Thanksgiving Point, it was my first time, I had no idea how much went into that place. Armani had a great time and he found his way to a carriage with some women, he told me he was just having a rest, as he ate some of the lady's popcorn...oh that child!

Armani MILKING a cow. Armani with a CHEESY smile.


Here are Jessica and Chelsea having a good old TETHER BALL match, the activity of choice in elementary school! I'm not some who won...?



We also we to Gardner's Village. It was fun and very Halloweenish. Armani LOVED the tractor rode with the Witch. She really got into her character, I was impressed. Surprise, surprise, Armani would not look at me for the picture when I really needed him to, it always seems to happen that way.

The Beginning

So, here I am. I am attempting to be a blogger. I will do my best to keep it updated. I don't know if anyone will even want to read this, well maybe one person will, at least once a week...that would be you Beka, so you better!

I have a child who is full of LIFE and so I have some great material to write about, at least I think it's great material.

I have a husband who is BUSY and creative and always coming up with great ideas for all sorts of things. You will most likely hear about him in this here blog.

I have a dog, Gwen, she is an English Bulldog. My neighbor said, "She is a whole lot of woman!" oh how true that statement is.

I am Armani's mom or LOVEY as he sometimes calls me (because that is what I call him), I am Gwen's mom too, says Armani. I am Giovanni's wife and assistant and secretary, etc... That is me and what occupies pretty much ALL of my time.

I have a wonderful, exciting, and very busy life. And if you want you can read all about it right here on my new and fabulous (hopefully I can make it more fabulous as I learn all the tricks) blog.