"Mama Mia,...

"... here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again?
My my, just how much I've missed you
Yes, I've been brokenhearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go?
Mamma mia, now I really know,
My my, I could never ever let you go."


You guessed it...I just got home from going to see Mama Mia with my friends Aimee & Dalene. I loved it and highly recommend it...unless you're not a music lover, then I'd say stay home cuz it probably won't be for you!!

Reversible Bag

Here is my newest creation from today...it is a reversible bag. The fabric is black with pink polka dots on one side, pink with black polka dots on the other, and a black ribbon handle.


Not too bad for only being able to sew for two and a half days...thanks Aimee!!

Sewin' Mama

I have finally learned how to use my sewing machine...yea!! About 3 1/2 years ago Don and the kids gave me a Singer sewing machine for Christmas because I really wanted to learn how to sew. The machine's manual is just shy of being a short novel, so reading this thing was not how I wanted to learn. My Aunt Shirl, who is a great seamstress, had offered to help me out but I really didn't to want to lug this thing all the way to Minnesota. So this left me trying to find someone local to take on this tedious task...which I obviously didn't pursue to hard as it is almost 4 years later. My good friend Aimee was so kind to offer to teach me and she did an awesome job (we knew she would because she is an AWESOME 4th grade teacher at CCS...Bail had her & we are hoping Nico gets her)! So Tuesday evening the kids and I headed on over to her place so I could tackle this machine & the kids could play with Sophie. Aimee walked me through the ins & outs of the Singer & then it was onto sewing...I 1st learned how to make a patchwork pillow with her, then a made a 2nd one, then I made three Toille pillows & even tufted them, and then made a matching valance for the kitchen. I have to say I'm loving this!

My very first creation....

Please ignore the messy kitchen as sewing is my new priority :)...

Let me know your thoughts...I'm open for any advice!!!

Gotta go now...time to sew my next creation!! :)

Poopy on the Potty

**update** I forgot to add her quote: "Mom it looks like a snake!"

Just a little bit ago Bella came into the room that Liv and I were in and said, "Mom & Livia come here I want to show you something!". I was in the middle of something and told her to wait just a minute, and Liv went to check it out. Both came back to me and said, "mommy you need to come see". I asked if she had gone potty and she kept saying no...meanwhile both had a grin on their faces. They led me into the bathroom and Bella lifted the lid to her potty seat to reveal her POOPY in the POTTY!! I'm so proud of her....she went in there all on her own, went, and then came to show us!!

It looks like she & I will be heading to the store today to get a prize!! WAY TO GO BELLA!

Bed & Breakfast

On Saturday, June 28th Don and I left the kids with my dad and went to stay at the Rivertown Inn in Stillwater, MN. Before we even left for our vacation, in Minnesota, I came up with this idea as a way to celebrate our 15th anniversary which is in August...since Don works for football and our actual anniversary is in the heart of two-a-days I new that celebrating then would be impossible. So I did some research found this place and booked it. Stillwater is a great town on the St. Croix River (this river divides Minnesota & Wisconsin) with tons of great shops and beautiful historic homes which many of have been turned into B&B's. The house that we stayed in, which is located 3 blocks from downtown Stillwater, was built in 1882 and was 1st a B&B in 1980...the current owners bought the home in 1999 and restored this lumber baron mansion to an exquisite work of art. If you would like to learn more about this awesome Victorian home click here to view their website. Here are some of our photos from our stay...I can't wait to go back!!

The pic of the bed isn't that great but it was wonderful & this tub was AMAZING:


Don looking studious reading Lord Byron fireside(must read this with a British accent :)) and the sitting area:



We had our own private deck off of our room and this is a view of one of the gardens below and the door from our room out to our deck:

Us in the sitting area and me before we went down for appetizers of wine, cheeses, crackers, Tapanade, olives, and grapes...after appetizers we went to the Freighthouse for dinner which is right on the river (I forgot to take photos there):

Photo of one of the dining rooms and the 2nd one is from the parlor looking through the house to a bar area (which consisted of coffee, sodas, water, wine & cookies):

In another garden area before we went to dinner:

At our Champagne breakfast the next morning which was amazing (we are sitting in the garden that you could see from our deck):

Isn't this place gorgeous and it's even better in person!!

Awesome News!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I spoke with my brother-in-law Dan today and he told me they got Kari's latest test results (at this point I'm holding my breath)...he said: THAT SHE IS CLEAR OF EVERYTHING!!!!! No more spots anywhere!!!! We are SO happy....thank you GOD!!!

For those of you that are new to my blog or just don't know what I'm talking about please read the posts on Kari in the month of February, '08.

Out of the Mouths of Babes #12

Today the kids and I were running around town picking up lunch (cuz heaven forbid anyone want it from the same place...thank goodness I got gas before this trek) for all of us because we were going to have lunch with Don. After our last restaurant stop we were on our way to his office and Olivia says, "today is a very, very special day for us". I say, "why is that" and she says, "because we get to eat lunch with daddy today and dinner with the Spicci's"! The Spicci's are good friends of ours that we haven't seen in awhile.

So sweet!!

Tummy Hurts

Wednesday evening we went over to our good friends, the O'Connor's house for a BBQ. We had some great food, great margaritas - they are called Knock You Naked Margaritas & they are so good, and great conversation. They kids all had a great time playing as well...except Nico because they only have girls (some day he'll appreciate this ;))!

We got home around 10:30 and put the kids to bed. Around 12:30 (right after I fell asleep of course) Bella came in to our room crying "my tummy hurts" over and over. I told to lay in bed with me...I rubbed her tummy and went through a list of questions with her 1) do you need to go poop? 2) do you need to throw up? 3) are you hungry? 4) what do you want mommy to do?
She says to me in her sweet little voice, "put lotion on it mommy". I'm thinking what the heck is this going to do for you but went with it. We went into the bathroom, grabbed her lotion, rubbed it on, and of course this didn't work. I put her back in bed and rubbed her tummy until she finally fell asleep after a half an hour.

After another half an hour and just falling asleep she wakes up this time screaming about her tummy. Don's getting mad because she is kicking him in the face (she was laying between us with her feet at our heads) and I'm getting worried because I don't know whats wrong. I run through a mental check list to try and figure out what could be wrong (like I have an MD or something)...1) what did she eat tonight? same thing we all did. 2) is she running a fever? no. 3) is her tummy warm to the touch? no. 4)is her tummy distended? no. (I know, pretty good questions for being half asleep :)). So the check list proved nothing and I'm thinking am I going to have to take this poor child to the ER cuz I'm getting really worried at this point with her crying and flipping all over the place in pain. After about an hour of this she falls asleep again and that was the end of it....WEIRD!!

When she got up yesterday morning I asked her how she was feeling and she says nonchalantly "fine".