Catch-Up

Dylan
His fifth grade Science Fair Project kept us busy for a while....Not this mothers favorite homework assignment.  I really wanted this to be an experiment he could do by himself and enjoy and learn from, so we researched topics he likes, i.e. Bridges, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Tornado's.  He liked a  project that involved learning which bridge structure stood up best against earthquakes.  We ordered a recommended bridge kit (for this particular experiment) and I put off making him do it until the very end, BAD idea..  We soon learned that even though people had reported success with this idea we just couldn't get it to work.  The bridge kit was just to sturdy and even after throwing the bridges into the floor repeatedly we couldn't get the structures to break (which was sort of the point).   He then tried tooth picks and marshmallows, but those bridges proved to be to flimsy to accurately gauge anything.  So I was in a total panic as to what he was going to do last minute.  Thankfully his teacher okayed him changing up his original idea a little and things went rather smoothly after that.
Here's what the end results looked like.

So glad that it's over with, I was so stressed out about the whole thing.  Just three years til I have to go through that again.  

Dylan also did his last Derby Car Race in Scouts.  His car managed to be the slowest one again!  Dylan was an emotional wreck about it just like the last three years.  Abrielle had a coughing fit right before the race began and she vomited half digested pineapple all over me and herself, so gross. I sat in the hall, puke covered while trying to console Dylan while Derik wrangled the rest of the kids and tried to help with the race, therefore I didn't get any pictures this year.  Yep I'm glad that event is over with too!

Alivia

Remember how I promised a picture of her with her "new" birthday bike?  Well here it is six months later.

It always makes me laugh when I pop the SD card into the computer and see all the selfies my kids take   

 Alivia got another beautiful and fantastic letter sent home from her teacher.  It so nice to have that positivity in my life. I'm so glad she works so hard and is so eager to be everyone's friend.  

Isaac

He finally had his fourth birthday.  He asked months in advance if we could go to the beach for his birthday so that's what we did.  It was a beautiful day and I think the kids had a real good time.  We got home in time to open presents and have cake before crashing in bed.  

He finally got his own remote control helicopter, since he refused to leave his dads alone.  

 

 He also got himself a shiny new bike as well.

Abrielle

My snugly love-bug is so full of "personality" these days. 

When we went to Galveston for Isaac's birthday the first thing she did was stick her head in the sand and rubbed her head back and forth, I thought she had fallen the first time so I brushed her off and then she turned around and did it again on purpose.   Every time I would clean her off she'd do it again. So we just went with the sand mohawk look.

I've been keeping myself excessively busy.  

I spent a good chunk of the last month out in the yard.  I ripped up my garden boxes and did something a little different.  I planted trees and flowers.  Other than having to re-sod some patches in the back yard that I tore up the yard looks gloriously beautiful.  

I finished my shoe dresser too.  One of  my favorite builds.  I ran out of paint and so the paint job is pretty horrible, I distressed it hoping that would distract from the bad paint job, but I loved the stained flourish so much that I didn't want to try and mess with the paint job.   It is a shoe holder after all so I'm not stressing to much about it.  It fits perfectly in my tiny front entry way with out being in the way because it's only six inches wide.  I love how the doors tilt out so I can get quite a few pairs of shoes in it.

I also painted up the shelf I had made before and hung it across the way from the shoe dresser so the kids had a place for their backpacks.  

 My latest build is the whole reason I really wanted a wood router.  I made this Faux window frame and it turned out almost perfectly.  I know it's stupid and silly but I could stare at it all day.   I just can't believe I actually made it.  I eventually plan on putting a picture behind it but for now it just adorns my wall in it's barest beauty.

The Mr.

Derik has been crazy busy at work.  Like I never see him busy.

He gets to move from his corporate office to the facility that is super close to our home this month.  It will be nice having him work so close to home. 

He's back to training for a marathon.  He's hoping to run one in June.

Frr Frr Frozen

Looks like Alivia's Hero Elsa came for a visit.

Dear Elsa you should let it go...I can't hold it back anymore...I'm ready for Spring!

(Alivia actually stood by the window posing this morning,

 she was like "I love Frozen, it's frozen outside mom, take my picture"!)

I fought a huge crowd of over zealous gardeners at this years county extensions vegetable sale on Saturday.  Boy I'm glad I didn't plant my stuff yet!  On average the last freeze/frost date here is Feb 18.  

My poor trees and bushes were just starting to recover and get new leaves and buds from the first hard freeze.   Let's hope they'll recover twice. 

Sunday Snippets

February 3 - 15, 2014

The Mr. and I went out to a Chinese buffet for lunch to celebrate our Wedding anniversary.  We went on a Monday so we only had two kids with us instead of all four. I really didn't like the Chinese they had to offer, but the salad and wedge fries I had were pretty good.  Even if the food was sub-par the kids were pretty good and it was nice to get out. 

 These pictures was taken on the morning of February the 5th.  I just had to document the first snow I've experienced here in Houston.   Funny thing is the day it actually snowed the kids had to go to school and didn't have a "snow day", oh the irony...

See it on the tramp and roof tops?

My neighbors whom I really really like (but have just recently gotten to know) whom have three (great) kids the same age as mine had my three oldest children over for a movie and pizza night.  I think it was the first time since the Mr. and I moved here that we could sit down in silence and watch a movie of our own.  It was extra nice cause we weren't paying out the nose for a babysitter either.  Usually we are hosting the neighborhood kids or watching someone elses children, so they can go on a date night.  It was exceptionally nice to be on the other end of the deal this time.  It makes me want to cry thinking these wonderful neighbors are moving this month.  I am going to miss them! 

I'm not much for partying or holidays or birthdays, I'm like the scrooge of everything, but I decided that maybe my attitude and choices about those things were rubbing off on my kids.  So I've been trying to exert a little effort into doing something special for my kids when holidays or important events roll around this year.

For Valentines (my least favorite holiday) I gave each person in our family a cheesy valentines that involved something they enjoyed.   

I made our dinner Italian themed.  It included Two-Timing Pasta (a blend of Marinara and Alfredo sauce) Salad, Garlic Bread, a Cherry topped Black Forest Cake from scratch, and homemade Italian Sodas.    

We waited and waited for the Mr. to come home from work, but when it became apparent he was coming home anytime soon, the kids and I lit-up some candles turned off the lights and had a wonderful date night.  

We took turns telling each other why we loved each other.  It actually was a fun night.  The kids ask to do candle lit dinners all the time now.  

Isaac was upset about something and threw a shoe at me from the top of our stairs.  I was busy undressing the baby and didn't see it coming.  The corner of the the sole of his Sunday shoe stuck right in the side of my eye.  I thought I had been shot.  All l know is my world went black and I started screaming and bawling and flailing all over the floor.  Darn that kids aim!  Oh how it hurt, I remember first thinking I was blind, and then when I stopped panicking and started being rational I realized I could still see, but everything was fuzzy and my eye burned with each blink.  Eventually my vision cleared and I just had a blood shot eye.  Thank goodness there was no permanent damage.  

Miss Abrielle is a walking machine, and she won't be contained.  She refuses to let anyone hold her during church.  She wants to be all over discovering everything.  She is covered in bruises though.  She tripped walking around with her daddies cup in her mouth and has a giant ring bruise that goes around her whole face.  My mom sent her these really adorable dresses  for her first birthday.  I tried to grab a picture of her cuteness, but like I said she wanted nothing to do with being still.  

She totally let out a very loud fart during the closing prayer in Sunday School.  The youth in our class appreciate the laughs she brings.  She just stood there grinning at them as they giggled at her.

Both Alivia and Dylan are working hard on memorizing the Articles of Faith, they each have the first three memorized.  It's my hope, we'll have them all memorized before Alivia's baptism.

She's ONE

I've heard it a million times before, you know that saying that goes, "time flies when you're having fun" and while I'm not sure I'd call the last year fun (stressful and chaotic are coming to mind) time has flown!
I'm having a hard time coming to terms with my baby being one.  She is so sweet and snugly and innocent and content, that it makes my heart hurt a little to see her grown up.  It's selfish of me, because she's quite happy to grow up and learn and explore life, It just happened so fast for me that I feel like I didn't get to enjoy her as much as I wanted to.
Abrielle Elizabeth Giovannoni,
I thank God for your precious spirit every single day! I desperately wanted you!  And I love, love, love you!
You are everything sweet.   Your greatest pleasure in life is being snuggled, from day one you weren't happy or content unless someone was holding you close.  I find myself a little put out every now and then when you're whining for me to hold you, but the minute I pick you up, I remember and thank you for demanding the love you so earnestly deserve.  You have a magical ability to calm me.  It's hypnotic to listen to you breath next to me, you just have a way of stilling me from the inside out.
You love to eat, anything and everything.  You make noises while you eat, just like Isaac.  It's quite comical to listen to the two of you moan your way through a meal.
You inherited the Giovannoni - Ward stubborn disposition.  I've decided there is no escaping this genetic mash up.  You will do what ever your heart pleases no matter the consequences.
Thankfully you really only desire to eat and be held so you haven't gotten yourself in to to much trouble yet.
You have two brothers and a sister wrapped around your little finger.  They tease and torment you to no end, but you also have your happiest moments with them.  They make you laugh and they take care of you when I'm not available to.
You are definitely daddy's "baby".
You are the worlds lightest sleeper.  Everything wakes you up. I have never been able to successfully transfer you when you are sleeping. 
You have my eyes.  You look so very much like me, sometimes it cracks me up to see my face and facial expressions staring back up at me.
You have a bunch of teeth.  I should probably count them and put an actual number down but you are asleep on my lap as I write this and I don't want to wake you up.
You love being outside.
You still don't have much hair on the top of your head and a bunch on the back, it's sort of like a mullet I guess.  I am however loving the little wispy curls your back hair has. You REFUSE to wear any sort of headband or bow so everyone thinks you're a handsome little fella! 
I am so happy that you are mine, that you are happy and healthy, that our family was blessed with your presence.  Thanks girl for making me love that much deeper!

January 2014

• The kids started school back up and I found a little of my sanity again. 
• We got a new Sister Missionary in our Ward and she looks a lot like my little sister Cozette!
• Dylan started choir.
• Alivia started going to a before-school art club.
• Isaac graduated Nursery and was moved to Sunbeams in church this year.  It is not going well at all!  We have late church which doesn't help since it runs during his much needed nap time.  
• Abrielle walks everywhere if she is assisted, but staunchly refuses to walk on her own. 
• I built a table for a nook in our wall.  I stained it and white washed it and it came out the most gorgeous grey color, I LOVED it!  Then I quickly realized that even though I loved, loved, loved the grey, it looked very unattractive next to my beige and chocolate walls.  so even though it tore me up inside I just painted the thing white so I could be done with it, but now it's white I'm thinking I should just go all out crazy and paint it a bold color like turquoise or coral or some sort of vibrant green.

• My Sister Cozette asked me months ago to crochet her some headbands, I am glad to finally say I finished them! The original ones she fell in love with and wanted were knitted so I did my best to recreate the look with crochet, they turned out really cute (at least I think so)!

• We actually had a few hard freezes down here in last little while and I lost all my plants (and my temper) seriously, its hot like 9 months a year here I didn't/don't want to spend the three nice months we have freezing!  I am however still enjoying my blood oranges that are currently hanging from a leafless tree in my back yard.  They taste heavenly, even though they aren't totally ripe!

• Abbie's had a rough month, mobility definitely has taken it's toll on her little forehead.  She managed to get three separate goose bumps in one day!

• We finally took Alivia out for her Birthday dinner.  She requested that we go to Clay's Restaurant.  The foods nothing special but it's not terrible either.  The kids however love the outside sandpit and petting zoo.  I laughed and shuddered a little when I first heard of an eating establishment and a petting zoo that were one in the same, but it is a fun family experience none-the-less.  Isaac and Alivia especially loved the pony ride.

We went to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 after dinner and then finished the night off with an ice cream cone (which we actually suspect wasn't ice cream at all, but frozen whipped cream) from Sonic.

• The weather has been bi-polar the last week or so.  Sunny and warm one day and bitter cold freezing the next.  The kids school was cancelled on Friday because we had rain and freezing temps which iced over all the freeways and over passes.  I thought it was totally crazy that they cancelled school, but I guess they were being safe...
• I finally busted out the new bike trailer, (which I had Dylan assemble for me) and the kids and I have loved getting out for bike rides!  
•  After a few years of trying I think I finally made a Tikka Masala that is just as good as anything you'd find at any restaurant. Hooray!
• The Mr. had another "Go live Weekend"  (which means he wasn't home for a 24 hour period) so the kids and I did our best to entertain ourselves Friday evening without his presence.  Little Ceasars Pizza and a few rounds of Wii Party seemed to do the trick.
• The kids had a second "Snow Day", because of cold temps. I know I'll regret saying this, but is it time for warm weather yet?  I have a sneaky suspicion that it's going to be winter one day and Summer the next.  I just wanted a month or two of decent enjoyable weather.
• The Mr. found an incredible deal on a Table Saw and bought me one, other than a Lathe and a few other unnecessary but very cool saws, I think I now own every piece of woodworking equipment I could ever want.  
• I finished building and installing the baby gate for our stairs.  I used the wood from the twin box spring we deconstructed a few weeks back, to build the baby gate.  I didn't want to drill into the banisters to secure the gate so I built a frame and then used heavy duty zip ties to secure the frame to the newel posts. I was going for the picket fence look.  I originally dreamed that I would paint it white and distress the heck out of it so that it would look chippy and weathered, but since it's cold outside I'm putting off painting it.   I used a natural vinegar and black tea stain on the reclaimed wood and it almost perfectly matches the color of the banisters. 
  
  
  
  
  

  • Alivia and Dylan both brought home wonderful report cards.  Dylan made the Honor Roll this semester.  That is huge for him.  I'm so pleased!
    
    
    
    
    
  • Abrielle got tired of hearing me tease her about not walking on her own and decided to give it a shot.  She's rather funny and zombie like about the whole thing.  She is still really unsure of herself and prefers to crawl where ever she needs to, but on rare occasion when she thinks nobody is looking, she'll toddle across a room.  It's just a matter of gaining some self confidence and she'll be running along with her brothers and sister. 

The Remaining Snippets of 2013

• Miss Alivia celebrated her seventh birthday.

 

 

Right before bed (and after the camera was put away) Mr. Giovannoni surprised her with a brand new bike.  Hopefully before next year is over I'll  get a picture of her riding it and share that too.

She brought this note home from her teacher at school, It's really nice to hear such positive things, how can we not be proud of such a wonderful little girl!

• Dylan also brought a certificate of honor home from school.  He was really emotional about it.  Apparently he had cried when he got it at school and on the way home from school he tried to throw it away.  When he finally showed it to me it was a crinkled waded up mess.  It read:  Hard work leads to success (keep up the good work!).  He told me that he thought it meant everyone thought that he was a failure up until now.  Sometimes I see so much of me in that little boy.  Dylan spends a lot of time at school with one of his teachers writing, she really has helped him find joy in expressing himself and his ideas through writing, she has been a much needed influence for good in his life.  She emailed this note to me a few weeks back and it made me cry, it is so nice having someone be a cheer leader for Dylan.  "I am so pleased to get to send you a message and tell you what an honor it is to have Dylan in my class. He is so creative and will be an excellent director or movie writer when he is grown.  (He doesn't want to do this now, but he does have the aptitude".  

•  I totally forgot to take a before photo, but I finally got the mirror framed up in our guest bathroom.  Someday I'll get to replacing those less than fabulous light fixtures and maybe just maybe I'll live out my dream of putting up wainscoting on the walls, we'll just have to see.  For now I'll just feel giddy about the mirrors being framed!

 

• We had our good friends the Gunnell's and my cousin Mindy over for Thanksgiving dinner. You'll just have to imagine a kitchen full of delicious food and lots of kids running around because I don't multi-task well and taking pictures just didn't happen. When all was said and done it was a very pleasant Thanksgiving indeed!
• I built a train table for a friend in our ward.  It turned out pretty good, at least I think it did...

 

• The Giovannoni's had a WONDERFUL Christmas!  

The tree...Let's just pretend all of my pre-lit tree is in working order, I tried and tried to figure out which bulb was causing the outage and I just couldn't figure it out, maybe next year?

some very kind neighbors gave us this box of bread you see under the tree, I jokingly told Derik it was probably a $25.00 loaf. 

Imagine me choking on my mouthful of the most delicious bread ever when I indeed saw the 25 dollar price tag online.  But oh man that was good stuff!  Hope they enjoyed my plate of Rice Crispy treats as much as we loved that bread (ha ha ha)....

Each of our children got new PJ's on Christmas Eve.  As well as some popcorn and hot chocolate.

Dylan's Christmas 

Alivia's Christmas

 

Isaac's Christmas

Abrielle's Christmas

My Christmas

Mr Giovannoni's Christmas

Poor poor dude...Hopefully he gets an enormous amount of joy out of seeing all our shining happy faces, because unfortunately he usually gets the short end of the stick for Christmas.  

He did however get a giant whiteboard for his office and some running gear.

• I passed the 17000 mark for indexed names this year  (17117 in total). I forgot to look and see how many names I did just this year and the numbers have been reset.

• New Years Eve (afternoon, if that makes sense) the kids and I (and the Mr. popped in every once in a while) deconstructed a twin bed box spring.  It took us the entire afternoon to do.  Rather than just dumping it in a landfill I decided it would be fun to rip apart.  It kept the kids interested and for once I wasn't worried about them ruining something so we all pulled out staples and springs to our little hearts content.  Now I have a box full of springs and some "salvaged" wood to build with.
  The kids then had friends from the neighborhood over until 10pm or so.  Around eleven I got tired and "grumpy" and sent everyone to bed.  We all quietly slept through the New Years celebrations that were happening everywhere.  People down her in Houston go CRAZY with fireworks!  Maybe next year I'll muster up the gumption to actually stay up and ring in the new years with my kids and all these crazy Houstonians.

Sunday Snippets

Our Last Few Weeks in Review

I spent a really long time building this Jack Skellington for Derik.  I found some plans online and then used a little of my own creative juices and modified those plans.   He turned out just about perfect. He's somewhere around 7 feet tall. 

 After I finished up Jack I started making frames for all of our very large builder grade mirrors.  I thought it was going to be a simple project but it became rather comical when I kept having problem after problem after problem.  First I repeatedly cut the wood molding in the wrong direction, even though I thought I was cutting it right, then once I had the first frame cut, glued together and painted, I placed it on the counter of the bathroom while I opened up the liquid nails adhesive.  The stubborn liquid nails bottle wasn't working right and while I was working on that the frame fell off the counter and broke apart.  After I carefully glued it back together and stuck the frame to the mirror I noticed the top board was bowing, (I thought I had the most ingenious fix) so I wrapped our shower curtain rod in a cloth and used it to hold the board straight while the liquid nails dried.  Several hours later I took the shower curtain rod down only to watch the cloth I used to protect the paint rip it all off instead (I'm not sure how I'm going to fix that one since the frame is permanently on the mirror and I used a copper spray paint, I don't think touching up my mistake is going to be clean or easy!) and the top board popped right back into the bowed position.  So even though my first mirror frame is somewhat of a disaster, it hasn't deterred me from attempting to make a second. 

Here's a few before and after photo's.

 

Our children have been  on a destructive rampage.  Late one night the Mr. and I heard a rather large thump upstairs, I assumed it was Isaac, because he loves to jump from his headboard onto his bed.  As I went upstairs to scold him I heard Alivia in her room having a hysterical fit, I assumed Isaac had done something to make her mad and she had pushed him and that's why we had heard a thud.
This happens to be the scene I saw when I opened the boys bedroom door...

Apparently Isaac was teaching Alivia how to belly dive from his headboard onto the mattress.  Alivia did it with such gusto that the bed just broke apart! She was upset enough with her self that I didn't feel it necessary to get upset with her. 
A few days before Isaac took one of the boards from under his bed and beat a hole in the wall during one of his time outs, so now I have the opportunity to learn how to replace/repair drywall.

The Mr had his 34th birthday.  He's such a lucky man (LOL), I made him an Oreo poke cake with gummy worms, that's right I rock the birthday cake business!

We took the kids out to see Despicable Me II, it was fun to get out as a family, we don't do that much these days.  

I always wait until Halloween Evening to try and do everything, I really need to learn to plan better, I was carving pumpkins, cooking pizzas and trying to get kids ready to go trick or treating.
Dylan picked a dragon for his pumpkin, I drew it and he carved what he could, I finished up the smaller more delicate parts of the carving.

 Alivia wanted an Ariel pumpkin, so I carved this one for her.

Dylan stayed home and passed out candy, while Derik and I walked the three little ones around the block.  Alivia was a butterfly (again) and Isaac was batman.  I didn't even bother dressing Abrielle this year (isn't that sad!).  Maybe next year I'll have it together.

 Jack was a huge hit with the few people that ventured down our street to trick or treat.

I've officially had my wedding ring for 12 years now, which is more than impressive since I have managed to lose every piece of jewelry I've owned. 

I received another teaching calling.  I was asked to teach the third Sunday lesson in Relief Society, I'm super nervous but excited!

The weather has finally cooled down and I remember why I look forward to Novembers in Houston.  It's so nice!

Alivia and Dylan both went to the dentist...Finally...And both were cavity free!

Abrielle is 9 months old.  I really can't believe she's been here with us for that long, time is flying! 
She's such a great little girl, one minute she's sweet and cuddly and the next she is being an obnoxious turkey and loving every second of it!  She has a super cheesy grin and a deafening high pitched scream when she thinks her needs are not being met.  She is very much a momma's girl.  She's crawling everywhere and eats any and everything that's on the floor.  She likes to eat, especially Oreo's....I should probably be ashamed that she's even had a cookie at this age, but she is my fourth and I bend a lot of rules just to keep the peace around here!