First Day of School......by Lucy Ray

Benny and his poster

Notice beautiful Mt. Etna in the background

Graham not being cooperative

Lets just say Lucy was not as excited to start school as Ben was

                              Benny was very excited to start his fist day of kindergarten

Crazy Days

WRITTEN IN JUNE 2015

I really have sooo much to blog about, but it's a little too overwhelming to think about right now.  So, instead I'm going to just journal about what's going on in our lives right now.

We had oh so many visitors this spring!  It has been wonderful!  Maleah and Bob Christensen came in March, Tanna and Jed Grunig came in April, Trent and Lichelle Perry came in May, and The Kidd girls (Tami, Kalleen, Carol, and Lydia) just left yesterday.  We absolutely LOVED showing them this part of the world.  With each visitor, we tried to make sure we saw a few new things, too.  Although, we made sure to show all of them our favorites.  We love Taormina and the Catania market, so everyone saw that.  I'm pretty sure everyone saw Siracusa and Ortygia, too.

I can't believe that Benny is done with preschool this week.  I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be in full day kindergarten in the fall, but he is counting down the days.  I know he'll be fine and will be successful, but I'll miss my little buddy.  He's such a sweet, fun little boy.  I love hearing his sound effects as he plays with his "guys".  He still likes to bring toys with him when we go on a car ride.  If Graham is coming, he brings his, too, but he gets extremely irritated with the noises Benny makes.  Benny LOVES snacks, playing with Graham on the Wii or outside, and showing us his ninja dance moves.  He can really get down to some "Moves Like Jagger" or "Dynamite".  He's going to do a dance for tomorrow's talent show in preschool.  He spends a lot of time with Evan, our little neighbor.  Graham has a turkey hot dog every day for lunch with chips and some green peppers or carrots.

Sullivan is getting so independent!  Just now I heard the front door open and knew it was him that opened it.  I yelled, "Hey Sully.  Don't go outside."  He immediately yelled, "NO!"  We hear that word a lot, but we also hear, "Hi, Mom!"  or "Hi, Dad!"  Usually he is waving as he yells it when we come into a room or he'll say it to us over and over at the dinner table.

Carnivale 2015

The haps.

I'm long over due for an update on the family.  I'm just going to dive right in and fill you in on the happenings around here.

Lucy Goose is done with swim for the season.  She hasn't decided if she's going to be on the team next year.  She really only has about 2 months off and then they start up with conditioning again.  She wants to be on the team because many of her friends are still participating, but she's not passionate about swimming itself.  She started piano lessons this month and I can tell she really enjoys that.  She's in the school musical, The Wizard of Oz.  She's a jitterbug and enjoys practicing during the week.

The boys are doing good.  It seems our afternoons revolve around Graham getting homework done so that he and Benny can play the Wii for a little bit and then go play with Henry, the neighbor kiddo.  They earn time on the Wii by getting up without complaining, doing homework without complaining and doing their chore without complaining.  Are you seeing a trend here?  The two of them both want to sign up for baseball next month, so that'll be fun.

Graham's highs and lows are fewer and farther between.  That little man just needs some extra time from the two of us every once in a while.  I started reading Peter and the Starcatchers to him most nights before bed.  It seems to have helped him be a little less frustrated and angry.  

Benny is in preschool and spends his mornings and afternoons playing with his buddy, Evan.  The two dress-up a lot and like to pretend.  Yesterday I went to go check on him at Evan's house (right next door) and the two of them were playing "Cub Scouts".

Sullivan is growing like a weed and talking like crazy!  I'm pretty sure today I heard him say, "That's funny!"  He loves the kids and says their names whenever he notices one of their pictures on the wall.  We can't get him to eat much these days, so that's worrisome, but he drinks a lot of milk.  He loves Signing Time and has eased up a bit on his Frozen addiction.

Jason leaves on Sunday morning for two whole weeks.  He has to go to Germany for a training.  I have to say, I'm nervous for him to be gone.  Evenings are tough stuff around here!  Sullivan can be such a grouch that time of day and I live for the moment when Jason walks through the door like a Knight in camouflage armor to take screaming baby away from me for a while.  I'll also miss our evenings together.  My happiest parts of the day are when I'm with that guy.  I stress less when he's around and I just feel better about life.

I'm teaching in Relief Society on Sunday and I can't come up with a topic that the sisters need to hear.  In our small branch, sometimes it feels like I am teaching ALL THE TIME and I worry that the sisters get sick of hearing from me.

I started playing in the Captain's Cup soccer tournament this week.  It has been sooo fun, but I am soooo sore and today I'm wondering if the fun is worth the pain, lol.  I'm training for the half marathon here in Sigonella next month and today I was hard to run because my legs are killing me!  This getting old thing is tough stuff.

Well, Benny is at preschool and Sullivan is down for a nap.  I should clean out my fridge or start preparing my lesson for Sunday, but instead I'm going to plug in the heating pad and take a little late morning snooze while my aching legs get some TLC.

January Miscellaneous

 Lucy took this shot of me with the boys just before bedtime.  More often than not, by 7:30 or 8 at night, I'm done.  Ready to be just Maggie and not Mom anymore.  But as I look at these pictures, I know that I will miss reading to them every night.  I will be sad that Benny doesn't beg me to "lay down" with him anymore.  

These two crazy cats!  This was before kindergarten.  Evan Fahey is our neighbor and I am soooo grateful for him and his family.  These two were inseparable after preschool.  

Notice the amazing shot of snowy Mt. Etna.  

We met up with the Jones family one Saturday and attempted sledding on Mt. Etna.  It was soo cold and we didn't last too long, but it sure was fun!

Didn't find many pictures from the day, but I love this one of little Sully.  He was only 15 months.  

These next three notes that Lucy wrote to us back then are what keeps her alive the next few years.  Proof that she is sweet and appreciative.  Love that girl so much!

I want to remember the crazy preschool carpool we had last year.  My car always had four preschoolers and Benny.  It was always intense getting them in and out and walking them to their classroom, but we had some great conversations!  Benny always wanted the music turned down and all the other kids wanted it loud.  They always hoped for gum when I picked up after school.  

We had an FHE on goal setting.  I loved reading through some of their ideas.  One of Benny's:  Count to 50.  Oh how I wish I would have saved these!!!!!  I can't read the picture well enough.  

It's so crazy to see Sully's bald head!  We had a day when we had to stay at the school for a bit.  The kids always LOVE when they get to play at the park for a little while when Graham gets out.  

Love this shot of my boys!

Jason loves to make himself a breakfast burrito on Saturday mornings.  Sullivan likes to have a bite or two.  I just remembered why his head was so bald.  He had quite a mullet and so I decided to try and cut it.  Ha!  I found some super sharp sewing scissors.  It looked SOOOO bad!  I took him to the community center salon and they basically had to just shave it all off.  Parent fail.  

This was when I had a double eye infection and had to wear glasses for a few weeks.  No fun!  I'm much better about replacing my contacts more often now.  

Love Lucy's brace face!  

The boy loves himself two eggs every morning.  

Grateful for this family of mine and the memories we are making together.  

Winter Wonderland Dance

Lucy Goose went to her first real junior high school dance.  To be honest, I'm a little annoyed that they don't just have the after school ones that we had as kids.  This made it too "date" like and these guys are too young for that, but oh well.  She went.....she had a great time.

Love these group of crazy girls!

Kendall Jackson, Gabby Andres, Alyah Perkins, Camila Cardona, LUCY, Emmy McCarthy, Bailey Wilson, Sammie Wray

Lucy and Bailey have been on and off best buddies since we moved here.  They are always friends, but they go through long phases when they are inseparable.  I'm grateful for their friendship and the good kids Lucy is able to spend her time with.  

So, this boy, Truman Boller.  At the time of this dance, he had a huge crush on Miss Lucy.  Lucy returned the crush a little bit, but wasn't as vocal or forward.  He asked her to go to the dance with her and she told him she couldn't, but would dance with him there.  (Side note:  We've had MANY conversations about how "going" to a dance with someone is a date and Lucy sticks to her idea that it isn't.  Needless to say....there was A LOT of debating).  She got to the dance and he was waiting for her with these flowers.  Deep sigh.......

Not sure I'm ready for this stuff, but I'm neck deep in it, it seems.  

Happy Birthday to Me!

Jason rocked the birthday cake scene by calling Kalleen and getting her white cake and white frosting recipes.  Nailed it!

Lucy totally and completely shocked me with this gift.  She got all of my family and a ton of my friends to email Jason with compliments for me and/or things they admire about me.  Then she typed them up, printed them, and then cut them out individually.  This jar was filled with little strips of paper that each told me how awesome I am.  It was amazing!  So thoughtful!

This was one of my favorites from Heidi.  

Jason took my birthday off from work and we went SKIING ON MOUNT ETNA!  That's right, folks.  We skied down a volcano!!!  It was so fun!

It was a fabulous day!  We kissed  on the ski lift.  We ate the Christmas chocolates that Kalleen sent us and we felt like rockstars even though we hadn't been on skis in years.  

It was a wonderful celebration of my 35 years.  I felt very loved and very appreciated.  

Now......only 12 more shopping days until the 10th of January!!!