Notable Quotables

It is Sunday morning and I am two days from being due with my fourth child. Arianna says: Why do you have bags under your eyes?
I try to explain how hard it is to sleep at night and that I am RATHER swollen all over and then I ask her if she thinks I ought to do something about it.
A: yea, I saw a commercial for some stuff...and the first 100 callers get a free gift if they call right now.
I just had to laugh. I LOVE infomercials, don't you?!

I am not going to go into the conversational details of this one, but Enzo continues to be confused about the difference between burping and passing gas. He often asks me which one comes out of your mouth. Just sitting down to write that brings a flood of hillarious conversations to mind that we have had with him about the subject...I will spare you the details, but you can probably imagine well enough for yourself. I sure hope he gets those cleared up in his mind before too long!

Last night before bed Enzo rounded up a few stuffed animals for bed. Massimo had to follow suit, as usual. I was in the animal bin asking him what animals he would like. He alread had a bear and a dog but now he wanted a chickie (because his brother had one) and a cat. None of that is humorous, what is so 'notable' is his speech impediment. Neither of my other kids have had such trouble with pronounciation so I am just loving this! He said he needed a 'titty-tat' and a 'dickie'. Anyone else find that as funny as I did?? That is what he needed to rest at night.

And on a not-so-humurous note I read an article about the atonement that explained repentance in such a visual way that I had to record it somewhere, so here it is:

Why is it necessary for us to suffer on the way to repentance for serious transgressions? We tend to think of the results of repentance as simply cleansing us from sin, but that is an incomplete view of the matter. A person who sins is like a tree that bends easily in the wind. On a windy and rainy day, the tree bends so deeply against the ground that the leaves become soiled with mud, like sin. If we focus only on cleaning the leaves, the weakness in the tree that allowed it to bend and soil its leaves may remain. Similarly, a person who is merely sorry to be soiled by sin will sin again in the next high wind. The susceptiblility to repetition continues until the tree has been strengthened. When a person has gone through the process that results in what the scriptures call 'a broken heart and a contrite spirit,' the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential.... To enter His presence we must be more than clean. We must also be changed from a morally weak person who has sinned into a strong person with the spiritual stature to dwell in the presence of God. Forsaking involves a fundamental change in the individual.

-Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Twelve

Livin' the Life

Since warm weather won't come here, we travelled south to Las Vegas to find IT. Our brother-in-law hooked us up with an awesome vacation home down there w/ a pool and putting green which was just what the doctor ordered for ALL of us! What a blast!
The kids jumped into the pool about 8pm when we first got there Thursday night
and they hardly got out until Saturday was all but gone.
They tired themselves out so much that getting them to sleep was the easy part!
If they weren't swimming
they were likely playing basketball or golf, Massimo especially liked the golf!
He got pretty good at it by the end too!

My kids loved having time to play with their cousins! They would yell, "Celebration!" as they jumped into the water time and time again.
They were having a BALL!
After baths everyone wound down playing games and watching the Jazz ALMOST win.

Thanks Gina and Brad for making that happen and for feeding us so well! We never wanted for anything! So I guess if you do it right, what happens in Vegas DOESN'T have to stay in Vegas. Ahhhh. Life is good.

Spring Ball

"Ohhhh, I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller...." That is my youngest son's motto. He's not into the, "I wish I had a girl that looked good, I would call her" part yet, thank heavens!! (Does anyone else remember that rap song)
He really wishes that he could play soccer with his sister and Tee Ball with his brother!
He looks ready, wouldn't you say?
It has been fun to see Enzo's progress with Tee ball this year. He has a focus and competitiveness that he lacked last spring and it makes the game much more exciting! He hustles to catch every ball and will even try to get it from a teammate that has already caught the ball...we're working on that! He has a nice hit and most of all, he enjoys himself.
Arianna loves having her Dad help coach and she gets a little better w/ each passing season.
She says she likes soccer even more than gymnastics which is surprising considering that she does cartwheels and round offs all over town! She has a fun group to play with which helps too!

Lovin' Life

I love how kids are so easily impressed. They find joy in the simplest things. How very much I have to learn from them! We took a quick weekend away to Wolf Creek up in Eden last month and what did our kids love?? They LOVED being tickled and chased by their aunt, uncle and grandpa;they loved playing with their cousins; they loved taking walks to hunt for dragons...in the rain;
they loved 'swimming' in the hot tub out back; and they even loved taking a bath in the big tub once it was Sunday and they could no longer 'swim'.
Ahhh, I love simplicity. I love family. I don't get to see my father much, he lives in Thailand, but it was great to have him here for a time and to see the kids take to him as their Grandpa.

Enzo's Big Day

Yea, it has been a little while, like a month, but our vacation put me back a bit! I am still having a hard time realizing that he is 4. Just the other day I had to ask Marco if that was REALLY the case, and I meant it!!
He is one special boy though! He is very caring with his little brother, very excited to meet his new sister and 'give her hugs,' he HATES to do wrong and turns to tears when he fears that he has. Don't get me wrong, he is ALL boy! He loves his swords and his wrestling time with Dad and he teases his big sister and likes to go his own way when he can swing it. I cherish that giggle of his, though, and the way he senses the needs of another and answers to them the best way a four-year-old can. He is a sensitive soul, always has been, and we love him! Happy Birthday bud! You are my SUPER hero. Not quite sure why he chose a crocodile cake, but after seeing the Dino cake his brother requested for his recent birthday, green was in order.
We had a quiet night together opening his gifts, eating his favorite dinner ('PASTA, but only with Parmesan Cheese') and gobbling up the crocodile cake. The whole family enjoyed working together on all his new toys!
He has a great group of friends too! What a blessing.
I would have any of them over or a combination of many of them and they all seem to get along so well. Good kids, the whole of them. We had a blast training to be super heros, racing through obstacle courses, chasing down the Green Goblin, and finally resting for some grub and gifts! They were all great sports!