Wood Delivery

We had three cords of wood delivered the other day.  We heat the house in the winter with the wood stove as our main source of heat.  Last winter was the first time we did this and it worked out very well overall.  It also gives the kids some real and useful work to do just about all year long.  Cutting, moving, splitting, hauling, stacking....getting enough wood prepared for the winter is an all year project.

Little Robot Giveaway!

If you head over to Ben Hatke's blog you can enter for a chance to get a copy of his new book Little Robot.  My kids LOVED LOVED his Spacegirl Zita series.

Jolly Raffle Giveaway for Little Robot

How Does Your Garden Grow...

In an effort to get back to posting more regularly I thought I would post some simple garden photos.  The lack of posts had been gnawing at me because the kids so love looking back at what they were up to a year or two or three ago....And here nearly 6 months have gone by with nothing posted.  A baby changes A LOT in six months!!!

Yarn Along - Just In Time For Spring

So it turns out that blogging isn't the only thing I stink at keeping up with!  Knitting too!!!  I started this Wee Balaclava in September or October and told Anna it would be done before it got cold....because it is a quick knit.  But with the baby not sleeping through the night until about two months ago my evening knitting time just wasn't happening.  Nothing ruins motivation like lack of sleep.

Well little Lucy finally started sleeping through the night (and as a side note.  We just went cold turkey...and where I assumed this would mean weeks and weeks of her screaming for hours every night.  It was nothing like that.  She whimpered/cried maybe 30 minutes one night..and maybe 5 minutes the next night and DONE.  She has slept through the night ever since.  And still loved us in the morning) and so I finally finished up this hat just in time for Spring.

I made one for Ben as well but this one came out so much better.  There was a confusing bit of the pattern to get the stitches right around the face and it was much easier to figure out and do correctly second time around.  Now I am tempted to tear Ben's out and redo it.....maybe this Fall LOL....

What I am reading:  33 Days to Morning Glory, Dad is Fat (Jim Gaffigan's book), and The Devil in the White City

If you are interested in the pattern it is free on Ravelry.  Search for "Wee Balaclava".  For more yarn alongs check out Ginny's blog, Small Things.

Feeding Tube Awareness Week

It is the 5th annual Feeding Tube Awareness Week!  I haven't participated in Feeding Tube Awareness Week for a while....mostly because we are tube free and so I forget!  To check out posts from the 1st and 2nd annual awareness weeks click those links.  And if you want to see the post about removing Anna's tube click here.

 Well here she is...a vibrant and very healthy 5.5yr old.  She is in Kindergarten and learning to read.  She is full of life.  She loves her brother and sisters. 

She is full of spunk, but sweet and selfless.

She loves her dance class and her friends at Little Flowers.

I am here to tell all you mommas out there that there is life after the tubie.  After the diagnosis.  After the never ending doctor appointments.....and the accompanying bills.  Annabella is still a tiny pixie weighing in at 32lbs, but she is healthy.  She eats.  She thrives.

I just showed Anna a picture of her tummy with her tubie and she said, "ohhh I miss my tubie.."  When I asked her why she didn't really know.  But I think I understand.  For over two years her tubie defined her in a way and it sustained her.  There are things I miss about those times too.  And we certainly have more than one family joke about those days.  Now we laugh about pump beeping malfunctions in the middle of the night. 

Birthday Season is Winding Down

All the members of the Salvucci household have birthdays in about a one month period....all except Anna that is, who was born in July.

So starting on January 17th we have Buggy's birthday.  She turned 3.  Unfortunately for her she was a bit under the weather on her birthday.  We thought she had a stomach bug, but no one else got it....so really not sure what was going on with her.  It passed quickly though and she felt well enough to still enjoy her day.

Jan 18th is MY birthday.  The big 3-8 for me.  I celebrated by going out for Indian food.  So goood!!!  I am still full though! ;)

January 25th was little Lucy's 1st birthday!!!  She got a Wheely Bug for her birthday.  She wants nothing to do with it, but the other kids fight over it.

Today, February 5th is Ben's 7th birthday....I can hardly believe that my first little baby is 7years old already!!!!  He wanted nothing but a cheetah costume...and so a cheetah costume he got!

Now there is one birthday left for the season.  CLaudio is on February 26th.  The the long birthday-free stretch until July.  I am done baking cupcakes for a while too LOL

The Duel by Eugene Field

Ben just finished memorizing the poem The Duel by Eugene Field.  This was a fun one!  I hope you can understand him.  He is stuffy with a cold.  Plus is missing two teeth.....and worst of all...he is a distracted almost 7year old boy!!  Enjoy!
Ohh and if you listen closely you can hear Cla yelling at the girls!

Tooth #2!!

While brushing his teeth tonight Ben's 2nd tooth popped right out!!  The way he nurses his last wobbly tooth for months and months I was shocked that he basically just brushed this one out in a jiffy!  He is certainly keeping the Tooth Fairy on her toes!!!  Look at that adorable gap though.  So cute!

Ben reached another great milestone today!  After about 9 months of allergy shots every week he graduated to shots every other week.  This may be a bigger milestone for me than Ben since there are simply no allergists in our part of the Poconos and we have to drive down to Bethlehem every week.  It is a bit of a hike and therefore a bit of a bummer. 

Anna's First Poem Of The New Year

At the Seaside by Robert Louis Stevenson

Fair Warning...

"Hi Anna.  I wanted you to know that we are going to sell you tomorrow.  So be aware of Mom and Dad bringing you outside ad putting up a sign that says 'Sisters for sale.  Sisters for sale 0$ cents per sister.'  From Ben."

First Lost Tooth!!!!

Benjamin has had a wobbly tooth for several weeks now.  And today it finally popped on out!! At nearly 7 we were quite excited for this milestone.  Benjamin has Constitutional Growth Delay.  Which is basically just a benign form of growth delay that means he is quite small for his age and that his growth is roughly two years behind.  He should catch up by the time he hits adulthood...just hitting growth spurts late....and that includes losing teeth!  I must say his little gap there is adorable!  Can't wait to see what the Tooth Fairy brings tonight!!

A Message For Santa...

Today Ben wants to be sure that Santa should leave something for his doll in a stocking he has hanging on a small Christmas tree in his room. 

WORST St. Lucy Day EVER....Or, Better Late Then Never??

St. Lucy Day was last Saturday and is a much beloved feastday here.  And now that we have our very own Lucy it is all the more important.

We decided to give St Lucy her due we would move our celebration to Monday because the kids would be out all day Saturday with their dad.  And then Sunday we had Mass, Ben's recital, and then out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa....

By Monday I got socked by a nasty sinus infection and by the time I ran a few errands and waited in line at urgent care I was literally sent to bed by Claudio.

But Anna couldn't bare to put it off another day and Daddy acquiesced.  He cooked up a tube of cinnamon buns amidst a house in absolute horrendous disorder and full of toddler meltdowns.  He got it done though LOL..oy vey.

Thankfully mommy is feeling much better......just in time for the kids to be hit by another cold.  Tis the season!

From Ben To Ilaria.....

For the uninitiated.  "Lolipop" is his cousin.