OUR FAMILY

There's nothing like a great family picture to capture what is important in life!  This is our first semi-professional picture (thank you Nicole!) and we had it made into a canvas.  What a great way to do something a little non-conventional!  The quality is absolutely superb and with the help of Groupon, the price was just right.  Check out Canvas On Demand to see how easy it is to showcase your important family photos! 

LETTING THE DAYS GO BY

I have been so out of sorts since my last post. I have also written about 10 posts that are still in the editing process and not yet to my liking, so please be patient!

Until then, here is a quote from one of my fav books. Stay with the run-on....

"The hardest thing to convey is how lovely it all is and how that loveliness seems all you need. The ghosts that haunted you in New York or Pittsburgh will haunt you anywhere you go, because they're your ghosts and the house they haunt is you. But, they become disconnected, shaken, confused for half a minute, and in that moment on a December day at four o'clock when you're walking from the bus stop to the rue Saint-Dominique and the lights are twinkling in the bateaux mouches, luring the tourists, but still...you feel as if you've only escaped your ghosts, if only because, being you, they're transfixed looking at the lights in the tree on the other bank, too, which they haven't seen before, either. It's true that you can't run away from yourself. But, we were right...you can run away."

Where would we run to?
Does it matter?
Would you miss us?

I TURNED 43 TODAY!!!

The secret to staying young is to
live honestly, eat slowly,

and lie about your age!
~Lucille Ball~

I have been working on being more honest.
With myself.
With others.
With my expectations.
With my limitations.
With my reality.
With everything except my age!

I again refer to my theory on why women should lie and represent themselves as being years older. You don't ever want to say you are younger than your actual age and get that awkward smile from someone who is about to call you out on your lie. You know the look. It is usually followed by silence. Instead, I prefer to say I am years older so I get the other smile. The one that tells you that even though you haven't really brushed your hair since Pepper was born; and the bags under your eyes are no longer considered carry-on size; and your smile is a little less vibrant than the rainbow it once was; you still look pretty young. I don't care as much about how young I look, but rather how young I act. I am so thankful that my children keep me young in spirit!

And speaking of eating slowly, Joey and I had the most relaxing, slow dinner ever. I had been waiting weeks for my birthday dinner at Heritage Prairie Farm and it did not disappoint! They are an organic farm in Elburn, which is right past St. Charles and Geneva. I would LOVE to join their C.S.A. this year, but it is a little out of our price range.

Salivate over my personalized Valentine's Day/Birthday Menu. Every savory morsel that passed my lips was more delicious than the next. I will, for a long time, dream of the cucumber and lime granita. I had never had microgreens before but they were so packed with flavor! When I saw the ravioli, I thought, where is the marinara? It was so light with just shaved pecorino cheese on top, I didn't even miss the sauce!

This is what helped me enjoy dinner.

Here is my sweet dessert.

I was full but I could not be wasteful!

Joey looks like he had more to drink

than I did. Not true in the least!

How hard do you think it was to find cute black flats to wear with my favorite dress and new bolero? I checked 6, yes, 6 different stores to no avail. On my last stop, I found these little purple beauties. The awesome Paris box is a birthday gift from Mil and Fil!

After asking her for fashion advice, my sister warned me that I couldn't wear heels to a farm. She was right. They were way too gorgeous and inexpensive (85% off) to pass up! Besides, a girl has to buy herself a nice present once in a while! We got to the farm halfway through cocktail hour and had to park at the end of the gravel and snow covered driveway. It was a long and slow walk. We almost missed the second half of cocktail hour. I decided to pretend I was just making a slow and graceful entrance, just like a queen would! Here is the walkway to the farm house. And lastly, please take note of my ever-present, yet only occasionally photographed angel.

VACATION TOOTS

Again, I don't Twitter, but...
if a bird communicates by "tweeting",
what do you call it when fish communicate?
Tooting!!! (trademark pending)

Actually, scientists have discovered that fish communicate underwater when they create high-frequency sounds by releasing air from their backsides. That sure is talking out of your ass!

I thought I would communicate with you all about our mini vacation. I hereby call it "Tooting" (trademark pending) on behalf of the above research findings!

Am I starting a new trend?

Let's Toot together...hahaha

Here are a few guidelines...

* Toots must be 3 words or less
* No vulgar language
* Punctuation can be used but is not necessary
* Links are accepted, but no other words will be allowed in that individual Toot

Following is moment by moment Tooting about our vacation. Enjoy!

* Wisconsin, baby! * 1.5 hour estimated * 4 hour actual * too many stops * Cracker Barrel Yum * sooooo not organic * beautiful drive * first snowmobile sighting * want to ride * organic grocery store * too much luggage * suite > condo * swim swim swim * Joey closed ride * lost glasses * teaching Francesca swimming * trip to Walmart * homemade dinner * fake fire * real sleep * oatmeal and oj * learning arcade games * family nap * lazy river * outdoor hot tub * super fast slides * lots of smiles * swim swim swim * kid's first jacuzzi * homemade dinner * surprise cheese curds * fake fire * real sleep * quick breakfast * better at arcade * walkin the town * yeah nap time * swim swim swim * hate yellow slide * asthma attack * kid's second jacuzzi * Gino's cheese pizza * bottle of wine * 9 hours sleep * good morning * crabby family * pack it up * bringing home recycling * mastered arcade * on the road * can we move? * Cracker Barrel again * teaching Nicholas checkers * car naps * outlet malls * new ski jacket * new ski boots * French leggings * le creuset dreamin * Jelly Belly factory * too much sugar * too much cheese * too much traffic * not good combos * finally back home * back to life * back to reality * back to the * here and now * Chicago, baby! * yeah! *

I love this picture

of the water!

We stayed at the Timber Ridge

in Lake Geneva.

Read my highly recommended review here!

WHY WE LOVE TRADER JOE'S

There are many reasons why we heart

Some goofy guy hearts them even more. 

He made a corny video of his reasons!

It makes me smile every time I watch!

ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND...

It was another not so quiet weekend.  Do we ever have a day planned that includes only ONE activity?  Not usually...just ask Joanne!  Keeping busy has kept us out of the house, which is always a good thing! 

SATURDAY...Our annual trip to the
Bristol Renaissance Faire!

I stayed up until 4am the night before finishing our Ren crafts. 

Francesca wore her wench flower wreath for all of 38 seconds...

...so I enjoyed it for the rest of the fest!

Nicholas and his silver sword with hand picked "jems" protected his Princess Maile, without fail, except for when he was busy eating!

Joey hates crowds, heat, dirt

and over-priced food.

I give him credit; he made the best of it!

We saw beautiful forest fairies.

And angry, bad knights.

Our only regret was that we were running so late, we spent more time looking for

J x 3 + G = The Lisy Family :) than we did hanging out with them!

We had a long day, but well worth it. 

We knew it was time to leave when Monkey and Pepper turned into...

Just kidding. They aren't giants....

*************************************************

SUNDAY...And we're off...to Arlington!

What a great afternoon!  It was nice to relax and enjoy a laid-back sunny day and actually win some money!  We have some goofy pics since we were attempting to

get back to 35mm film.

We have a LOT of pictures of birds. 

Thank you Donald!

Here are the winning horses we picked...

Joey - The Elevator

Deanna - Si Si Mon Amie

Nicholas - Wild Comedy

It seems as if our theory of (somewhat) choosing a horse based on a name that means something to us,

works every time!

Francesca wasn't feelin it.  She absolutely refused to touch the program every time we tried to get her to pick!

A little snack for the boys. 

Thank you, Zio!

The boys also enjoyed riding around the track on Sammie...

Francesca and Valentina were both a bit overwhelmed and mostly watched and slept.  Maybe next year, girls!

Joey could have been an actor in (insert your favorite mob movie title here) with his classic look and favorite shirt!

All in all, we had a very nice afternoon with family and friends and a very nice dinner afterwards!


MONDAY...BBQ...NUFF SAID

DEANNA IS A LOSER

Sadly, I did not win my MADSEN bike that
I have been drooling over. 
They are giving away one bike per week, so I still have another chance!

I get an entry for each click on the pic,
so....let your fingers do the walking!

If I win, I will personally ride to your house and deliver to you a delicious loaf of multigrain bread that's homemade from our favorite local bakery.

THANKFUL FOR A LOVELY WEEKEND

We had a great and (not at all) quiet weekend! 

Here are a few things we are grateful for...

Joey working late on Friday nights, so we have a chance to MISS him!

Thank you Joey/Daddy!

Getting lost in nature!  Thank you God and our favorite hideaway!

Deanna having the best laugh of her life after seeing "The Bubblebath"!

Thank you Grandma Jan!

Our new favorite vegetarian dish...

The Sweet Ass Texan Bean Salad!

Thank you Auntie Pam!

An absolutely fabulous sushi dinner from TANK!  Thank you so much Franco!

Devouring Red Octopus Martinis! 
They go down too smooth!

Thank you Pasquale!

An honest to goodness full night's sleep
(9 1/2 hours to be exact)

Thank you mom and dad!

Great laughs; great times; great company; great memories!

Thank you for it all, Kiddieland!

A great friend who also happens to be a great photographer! 

Thank you Janet!

 p.s..this is my new fav pic of myself :)

Hope y'all were also able to enjoy these last beautiful days of summer!