Okay, no more walking on eggshells, holding my breath, or waiting for the other shoe to drop...

Let's play a guessing game - can you guess what this series of pictures means?

Hmmm...what does it mean?

...a little bit closer...

...and a wee bit closer...



Do you have it yet?

Nighty night!

I just had to post this picture because I thought it was so cute. During Josephine's "sleepy time" (we don't call it naptime around here, because according to Josephine, "naptime is for babies!"), Josephine likes to look at a book while she waits to doze off. Today, when I went to check on her to see if she was asleep yet, I found her like this:

My favorite part is how the book is upside down.

Just one of those fun moments where you think "man, my kid is cute". It makes up for the times when you are thinking "man, my kid is annoying!" And don't kid yourself, you've all thought BOTH of those things... :)

By the way, the book in the picture is one that I highly recommend: "The Little Mouse, The Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear". It is short, but seriously cute, and a big favorite around this house.

Goodbye winter!

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to winter. I do love winter - the snow, the cold, the feeling of everything being so quiet and still...

Having said that...I am SO ready for spring! Some of our perennials have already shot up and have gotten me all revved up about green grass and gardening and parks...

I love the new start that spring brings - everything coming alive again after lying dormant for so long. Most of all I just love the change in seasons and the inevitable time of self-reflection that always accompanys it.

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Maria reminded me of a promise that I made to make a snowman together. We finally got to it and it's a good thing we did it when we did, because the next day it all melted and it has not snowed again since.

So long Frosty!

Josephine trying to find some suitable arms for our snowman

"Like a big pink nightmare!"

Here is Maria eating the other half of Frosty's nose - the cannibal...

And here they are sharing the remains of Frosty's nose. Our last romp in the snow!

Anyhow, so long winter - it was fun while it lasted! Until next year!

Now bring on the green... :)

No pictures - Booo!

So, our camera is on the fritz, mostly because Lou SAT ON IT at my sister's wedding a month ago, which would explain why I haven't posted in so long. I feel that all posts should have pictures, though I don't know why.

Anyhow, this post is the result of something that has been on my mind the past couple of days, and that is the fact that I have really come to appreciate "little kid talk". I love it all, the mispronunciations, the speech impediments, that sentences that make no sense - it's great! Here are a few of my favorites of Josephines right now:

-Jefus Christ (instead of Jesus)
-wif (as in "I want to go wif you!")
-fwee (as in the number 3)
-dat (instead of "that")
-dose (instead of "those")
-pwease (instead of "please")
-Fodder (instead of "father". "Where's my fodder?" - too cute)
-Bizmiss (instead of "business", as in "Mind your own BIZMISS Maria!")
-Her new habit of saying "seriously" with everything (except she says it like "sewiouswy"). For example, today she told me "I wike (like) cows, Mommy. Sewiouswy, I weally (really) do wike dem (them). Sewiouswy." She cracks me up

There are so many more, but I can't think of them off hand, and anyways, you get the point. I love her little kid talk - one of my little pleasures as a Mom... :)

Creations

I think this is really old news, but some of you did request pictures of the homemade gifts I made at our Relief Society Enrichment activity in November. There were lots of options, but I made the decorative mirrors. They looked really easy, but they are not as simple as they appear. They are made using a stencil and spraypaint, and the paint is actually kind of fussy to put on (and make it look good, that is.). I made six altogether, but only photograhed two, since the rest are repeats.


It's actually really hard to photograph a mirror! But I hope you can get the idea of what they look like.


This was one of my favorites - it's the Washington D.C. temple, where Lou and I were sealed (all the funny lines you see are just weird reflections of sunlight bouncing off the walls). I made one for us, and one for my parents (it's where they were sealed, too). I also made one of the Salt Lake City temple.

I took a cake decorating class in January! I decorated three cakes throughout the class, and this one is my second one! It was a lot of fun. Oh yeah, and if you look carefully, you'll notice a chunk missing on the far side. Thank you, Lou...

Here is a close-up of the side. My border on top isn't as nice as the one on bottom - I got better as I went along, I guess...

Here is a close-up of some of the flowers I learned (besides the VERY difficult rose...).

My third cake was way nicer, but Lou sat on our camera recently (and broke it, of course), so alas, we now have no camera. My sister took pictures on her phone, but who knows when, or if I will ever get them.

Anyways, with my newfound skills, I am now looking for any excuse to make a cake!! Any requests? :)

Happy Anniversary to us!

Lou and I celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary today! Sometimes it feels as though we have always been together, yet somehow, at the same time it is hard to believe that it has already been 10 years! It has been an adventurous 10 years, I will say that, with our fair share of ups and down. As you all know, Lou and I both have VERY strong personalities, and so I tend to think that lasting 10 years together is quite an accomplishment for us! I will not say that it has been easy, but I will say that I glad that we have never given up. Over the years, we have laughed together, cried together, and experienced every emotion in between. Through it all, though our differences are many, our one grand thing is common is that we love each other beyond reason. He may irritate me at times (okay, a lot of times) and embarass the heck out of me at others, but I do love my big, crazy, loudmouth Italian... :)


Here are some wedding photos for your viewing pleasure:

Louis and Robyn DeGaetano

January 16, 1999-January 16, 2009

10 years together...

Happy Anniversary, Lou!

Merry Christmas...really, really late.

This was supposed to be posted on Christmas night, but I had some issues uploading the pictures because of their size, so I had to send them over to my computer saavy sister and have her resize them. So anyways, here's the post that was meant for the Christmas season:

Tis the season to see all kinds of cute family photos enclosed in Christmas cards - smiling, cute children and their proud, happy parents. Well, unfortunately, our family seems to be completely incapable of producing such a picture. There is always at least ONE of us who looks weird in some way...
The Sunday before Christmas we tried, in vain of course, to get a nice family photo. The pictures that we ended up with were, well, at least entertaining, but not exactly Christmas card material. :) So, without further ado, I invite you to look at our blooper photos and have a good laugh!

Hey there.

We lovingly call this Maria's "Chandler face". Those of you who ever watched the show Friends will get the reference.

Seriously, why does her on-camera smile look like a grimace?


I thought this one was decent, until I saw the strategic placement of Josephine's fingers...

Again, Josephine, so charming.

Here is me trying to "make" Maria smile. It didn't work, by the way. And is Josephine conducting a choir or something?

Here is the Chandler smile again, and now Josephine is conducting with her eyes closed - impressive.

Aahhhh, there are no words...

It's official - now we ALL look like freaks. And by the way, did Lou become Amish when I wasn't looking?

Josephine is getting away!

So next time you think it's hard to get your kids to be cute for a picture, just think of the DeGaetanos, and you'll realize it could always be worse...