{THIS MOMENT}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. ~ Courtesy of Amanda at SouleMama


P.S. Due to my new Friday ritual, Francesca's birthday will appear in tomorrow's post!

CHEW ON THIS

While we were missing the Big Fish at midnight because he was busy being the Mayor of Edison Park, we still managed to have a little fun...

...and it all came to a SCREECHING halt when Monkey decided to eat it.

In case you missed it, watch again or just read on...

Yep, that's right, Monkey actually took a bite out of the glass. Who says that I'm overprotective of my kids? Wanna chew on glass? Go right ahead and recycle! Would a normal mama let her kids celebrate New Year's at midnight, instead of 7pm, or drink (sparkling white grape juice) from a REAL glass, or eat breakfast for dinner? Save for some predetermined times, I'm not really hyped up on conformity.









Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

*Robert Frost*

.

BONNIE HUNT

Yeah, I love her.  She is a funny lady, talented actress and a fellow Chicago Girl!  I have never met her in person, although Joey and my sister Nicole have met her several times and like to tease me about it.  A long time ago, she applied for a job at the infamous Wally's and was denied said job by my father.  THE NERVE OF DADDIO!  Joey asked her, on her recent trip back home, if she remembered being denied and she told him, "of course....tell your rat b@st@rd of a father-in-law thanks for ruining my career."  She is too funny! HA HA DADDIO!  We all had a good laugh and then Joey got mad that she didn't mention him or the fact that he threw someone out of the bar during the opening of her talk show today.  So hard to be the MAYOR and get no recognition for a job well done :(

I WISH she would bring her talk show to Chicago....
http://www.bonniehunt.com/

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