Thankful Thought #5

Thankful Thought #5

I'm sitting upstairs, peacefully, after dinner, taking a few moments to catch up on things and I'm thankful for the sweet noises I hear downstairs of my Charlie and his Daddy playing trains and being silly.  There were days, several years ago, that we wondered how life would be and if there would be normal-ness....and there is.  Charlie has his Daddy and he thinks he makes the world go round and round.  We don't take these things lightly, in fact, we make a point of having these quiet moments, in the evening or for a few hours on a weekend, where we don't have anywhere to be except with each other.  Sometimes that together time isn't always perfect, but we work on it, trying to have those moments, in this busy life.  Charlie is growing up so fast and we don't want to miss a moment of it.  You never know when you might not have the chance to have those moments...so make the most of them when you can!

Enjoying some tractors - September 2012

 

Thankful Thought #4

Thankful Thought #4

Many days, I'm thankful for pinterest and they inspiration it provides me.  Recipes, cute ideas for gifts and decorating, homemade (read: less toxic) cleaning ideas, books to read...  The list goes on and on.  I'm thankful for technology and the opportunity it provides us to share ideas and learn.  I love that I can quickly jump on pinterest, find a recipe I pinned in the past and quickly throw together a meal or something for my family. 

Thankful Thought #3

Thankful Thought #3

Today, I'm thankful for a new church to attend.  When Charlie was younger, Kenny and I tried to attend church, but found it difficult as paying attention and getting anything out of a service with a young boy isn't easy.  The "crying room" was awful to sit in as the parents were more disruptive than the kids.  That led to us not going to church often.  As Charlie has gotten older, we thought it would be important for him to attend Sunday School (or religious ed) and as he has more of an attention span now, church.  This past spring, I started church "shopping" online, looking at churches in our area that it would make sense for us to attend.  Our old parish that we were married in, wasn't appealing to us, as the priest that married us left and we never connected with the new priest. 

I found that online, I liked a church we've passed by several times, in the town north of us.  Charlie and I tried it out one weekend and Kenny joined us a few times and we agreed we liked it.  It's very relaxed and full of young families that were welcoming.  The priest also struck a chord with us, but we soon found he was retiring in the summer.  We continued to attend most weeks and then met the newly assigned priest.  We were thrilled that we liked him more than the retiring priest.  He has a wonderful sense of humor and a long term vision for the church.  He is welcoming and in general allows us to see ourselves attending this church for years to come. 

Charlie started Sunday School this fall, during 10am mass, which provides a nice time for Kenny and I to enjoy a service, without constant interuptions from Charlie.  And it provides Charlie with a great time to enjoy learning about God at a 4 year old level.  We are so thankful!

Photo: Nothing to do with the post, just a cute one of Charlie taken by Uncle Ted during their morning in the City together.  April 2012

Thankful Thought #2

 

 

Thankful Thought #2

 



 

I'm thankful for all of my family, but this post is especially for my dad's side of the family.  These pictures are from a family reunion that was held in Iowa in June 2012.  It had been 20 years since our last family reunion with that side of the family, although we have certainly seen them here and there since then.  20 years ago, we called ourselves DOM (Descendants of Martina).  Martina was my great grandmother.  Then DOM name has continued over time...

 

 

The reunion was held in Ames, Iowa and was a great time for all of us.  It is my Italian side of the family, so there is always good food and the family is always so fun to be around.  Many old pictures were out as we all shared stories.  I realize now how important it is to know about family history and several of us were soaking up the stories from the older generations. 

First Cousins with their only Aunt and Uncle
Standing: Bill, Connie, Renny, Vickie, Carol, Larry
Sitting: Aunt Mary Lois, Uncle Fred, Retha, Bud and Rubie

Retha and Bud - such sweet people.  They always remind me of my Nona and Popsie.

My dad and his cousin Bill.  These two are just two days apart (and Charlie shares Bill's birthday).
Although they grew up states away from each other, I think they saw each other most summers and they always enjoy a visit together.

And here they are about 1 year old, I think.  My dad is the bigger one, with curly hair.  Who knew he was a big kid?!

And here's Charlie with Nona and Papa. 

One of my favorite things about the reunion was Charlie got to spend time with my cousin Katie's kids.  The boys surround him in age and they had a blast together as shown below...

 

 

To the thankful thought...last night we spent hours with my dad's side of the family at Connie and Renny's house, enjoying time with an out of town cousin, Roz and those of us who live in Illinois.  It was so nice to enjoy each other's company, good food and listening to stories of the past.  The kids got to play again and as they left each other, were asking for playdates.  

Charlie's First Field Trip



From Fall 2010:

Charlie on his 1st field trip - playing at Harms Farm in McHenry with his Shakespeare Friends.

Charlie was lucky enough to have both of his parents go on his first field trip -- as if we would miss it!

Charlie and his best little buddy, Ryan Schaefer.  Ryan and Charlie don't say much in their 2 year old class, except to each other!
 

Miss Michelle (one of Charlie's favorites) and Charlie and Ryan in the front.

After the field trip was over, Kenny and I stayed at Harms Farm with Charlie to spend a little time there, as we have each year. 

See how big he has gotten!

Charlie wouldn't let Daddy sit in the chair with him.  Stubborn little guy!

Mommy and her favorite litty guy

 

Playing Catch Up with a Month of Posting Thankful Thoughts

 

 

Welcome back!  It's been almost exactly 2 years since I last wrote a post and often I have thought of getting back into it as I want to one day publish these blog posts to record our family's history/scrapbook. 

 

And now it's November and after Halloween it always takes me a day or two to realize it's that month where we are reminded a bit more than usual to count our blessings.  I've always thought of writing a thankful thought a day...so instead, I thought I would try to catch up on life posts by associating them with my thankful thoughts. 

 

Thankful Thought #1

I'm thankful for fall and the beautiful colors that the midwest is graced with in the fall.  Fall of 2012 seemed to fly right by us though as we had a big temperature change without much gradual transition into cooler weather.  Regardless, Kenny, Charlie and I have enjoyed some nice fall moments together, doing some of our traditional fall activities that I will likely be posting about in more detail as the month rolls along.

 

 

Above is our "not so little" Charlie, who is 4 now, posing for me with some pumpkins at the Farm Heritage Festival that we try and get to each year.  It's near our house and has many tractors that Kenny likes to study and teach Charlie about.  We roam around for the afternoon, taking in the smells and tastes of fall activity and let Charlie enjoy more of the activities there each year.  This year, as Kenny and I stood together watching Charlie take off on a tractor barrel ride, we both had moment that we realized how big our little guy is getting and that more and more he doesn't need us for everything.  It's amazing watching him grow up and learn.  We are so grateful to be his parents. 

September Happenings

September Happenings:

Labor Day weekend some how turned into a quiet weekend for us and we got to enjoy some down time, just the three of us.

Below, Charlie was playing in the porch. Our screened porch turned into a wonderful blessing this year, as it provided Charlie with a great, but covered, outdoor area to play and ride his bike and run around outside, without being directly in the sunlight all the time. It also kept him contained and allowed Mommy and Daddy to sit outside with him or to be inside cleaning, cooking, etc. while Charlie played safely!



Over Labor Day weekend, Kenny and I took Charlie on a walk (with his bike) to a park in our neighborhood that is kind of tucked in between some houses. He loved it and didn't want to leave when it started raining. We enjoyed the time outside, in the cool weather, getting a walk in with our little buddy.

At the end of September, we spent an afternoon at Lakewood Forest Preserve for their annual Farm Heritage Show. It's a perfect day event, full of interesting things for Charlie to see.

Kenny braved the petting zoo with Charlie. Charlie didn't want to leave!

Watching a guy load his "big actor" (big tractor) on his trailer. Great excitement for the 2 year old and the 36 year old alike.

While we are trying to teach Charlie to be respectful of others vehicles/equipment on display at shows, this one was a little more accessible. Charlie LOVED being able to sit in the wheel.

Dear God: Please let Mommy and Daddy take this one home with us. I would LOVE it! Thank you, Charlie

Our little buddy!

And a family shot!

This one wasn't on display, but Charlie wanted to check it out anyway.

And finally, we've been working on this for months now, just when Charlie has interest. Sometimes he is VERY interested at home and sometimes not so much. At school though, he seems to always at least want to try. We don't push it too much, but try to just let him learn at his own pace. Eventually, he'll get there.