Funny Dinnertime Moments

Sometimes, there are family moments where EVERYONE just has to laugh. We've had several lately and I just had to share a couple of them.

The other night at the dinner table (where all great conversations occur), I was talking to the kids about how important they are to Allan and I and some other mushy stuff. I told them, "we created all of you....." and during my pause, Jack piped up just as serious as can be and said, "uh, that would be God. God actually created us."

Another night, Allan had a jar of olives that he was eating out of during dinner. On the jar was a picture of an Italian woman sitting on a stone wall, leaning back with her arm up high, reaching for an olive branch behind her. Great mental picture, huh?! Anyway, out of nowhere, Allan started asking each of us what we thought she was saying. Will- "I'm mad". Tanna - "Come and smell my armpits". Allan - "woo hoo these olives are good!". Next, was Emma's turn. She looked at it for some time and then without much emotion in her voice, says "raise the roof". We all just cracked up.

I'm sure reading about these moments don't really portray how funny the actual moment was, but I can say with certainty that we have fun at the dinner table. Dinner with my family, at home, is the highlight of my day. I hope that these moments, as insignificant as they may seem at the time, will instill the sense of family in our children. I am sure the day will come when we will be apart at dinnertime. But for now, these are the important and cherished moments of my days.

Parvuli Dei

Father Michael, Will and Allan

Congratulations, Will! On Scout Sunday, February 7th, Will received his Parvuli Dei medal at church from Father Michael. This is an award received through Cub Scouts.

Will had several activities to complete with us (Allan and Tanna) at home. One of the activities was to make a banner which represents things for which he is thankful. Will drew a rough sketch of what he wanted his banner to look like. Things included on his banner were: his family, God, the Trinity, trees, the sun, ice cream and hamburgers. We printed a family picture on cloth and then Will sewed the cloth picture on his felt banner (using my sewing machine!). He cut the rest of the objects out of felt and glued them on. It turned out really nice!

After completing these activities, which were all faith-based, Will had an interview with our priest, Father Michael. He was then selected to read the intercessions at the Scout Sunday mass at Holy Family.

True to his nature, Will was not in the least nervous about reading in front of the congregation. Mom and Dad were nervous though! Just minutes before mass, Will was given the names of the people for whom the mass was offered - Tona Duarte and Giovanni Fontana! Lord knows it couldn't have been the Smith family! Nonetheless, he said them without hesitation or flaw. He and two other boys were then presented with their Parvuli Dei medals.

We are so proud of Will and this accomplishment!

Take Note:

Four year-olds DO listen to EVERY word! On the way to preschool this morning, I was all excited about starting my new volunteer position at the Community Care Center. So, I started talking to Jack about it. I said "today, Mommy is going to work at a doctor's office while you are at school!". Evidently, all Jack heard was the word "work". In our house, Daddy is the only one who "works". God only knows what really went on his head, but the result was not pretty. He firmly stated that I could not "work" today and that he was not going to school. He wanted to be with me. I then collected my brain cells and explained that I was not really going to work, rather that I would just be helping at the doctor's office and would be back to pick him up just like always. No explanation in the world was going to satisfy him. Poor Ms. Donna had to PULL him out of the car. I had to pry his fingers off the headrest so she could carry him screaming into school.

I know I sound like the world's worst mommy (for so many different reasons), but I knew in my heart that he was in good hands and would be just fine when he got to his room. I called the preschool as soon as I got to CCC to check on him. Ms. Donna said that he was fine. His teacher had heard him screaming in the hallway and ran to get him. She said that he seemed more mad than anything and kept asking for Mommy. He also just wanted to be held for a few minutes. When he had calmed down, he jumped off of her lap and went to play with his friends.

Needless to say, I picked him up a little early and we had a long talk. A big lesson was learned today. This time, it was ME who learned the lesson. Don't use the phrase "going to work" lightly. For children who stay at home with their mommies, those are bad and scary words. I also learned that children listen to EVERYTHING! They may not acknowledge what is said, but they DO hear EVERYTHING.

Finally!

After MONTHS of wiggling around a loose tooth, Emma finally used fishing line and pulled out her other front tooth. Seriously, that girl has been wiggling it since before Christmas. We thought she'd be singing the famous, "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song. But no. I even scared her by telling her she might swallow it at night (this really did make her cry), or loose it while eating and then swallow it. Nothing could get that tooth out!

But, tonight was the night and it came out! Hooray for Emma! She even did it herself!

Go Bucks!

Trying to do a little catching up while we are stuck inside with yet ANOTHER snow day (this is day 4)......

Back in January, we hosted a Rose Bowl party and invited a few of our neighbors. As luck would have it, one family is also from NW Ohio and Buckeye fans. We really got into the spirit and pulled out all of our Buckeye gear and had the monster-big OSU flag flying. Mary Jo had sent the kids OSU tats and eye thingies, so we pulled those out and decorated ourselves.

It was a great time and of course, our Buckeyes won!

Annual Daddy/Daughter Dance

Allan and Emma attended the Third Annual Daddy/Daughter dance a couple of weekends ago. Emma's excitement could hardly be contained! It was a night full of soda (this is the only day of the year that she is allowed to drink the poison), dancing (both Daddy and Emma complained of sore feet from dancing all night) and total Daddy attention(what more can a girl ask for?).

Miss Emma was chattering a mile a minute when she got home. I'm sure it was in part because of the soda, but seriously, that girl LOVES to dance and time alone with Daddy is rare and cherished. They also made a few crafts and Emma won a bag of lip gloss. It just doesn't get any better!