Kitty Entertainment

We have one of those bird feeders that sit right in the window and has a one way mirror so you can see the birds but they can't see you. This is where the cat spends 80% of the day. Every now and then you hear a thump as she crashes into the window trying to get one of the birds. It's not a great picture but if you look closely there is a bird sitting in the feeder. Now that everything is covered with ice there is a constant flow of birds to the feeder. (as you can see I need to fill it up again!) It's really kinda fun to watch them. Just ask Misty!

"Water is the worst nightmare!"

I am very lucky to have two well behaved children most of the time, but Mackenzie can be very challenging. At least several times a day we butt heads about something, usually clothing but it could be anything on any given day.
Last night was a perfect example. As I was making dinner Kenzie asked for some milk. Not wanting her to fill up on milk right before dinner I told her that she could have water now and milk with her dinner. This of course did not go over well at all and Kenzie went on and on about how she hated water and "water is the worst nightmare!' She continued her tirade until we sat down to dinner. In reality Kenzie drinks water all the time. In fact both girls will no longer drink juice only milk or water by their own choice. We finally sit down to dinner and the girls get milk. When dinner is over I notice that Kenzie's glass is still over half full. So I ask her if she is going to drink it.
"No, I want water." She sweetly replied as I resisted the urge to bang my head repeatedly against the wall. It is a good thing that she is so cute!

Winter is finally here

We seem to finally be getting some honest to goodness New England winter weather here in mid-January. Not that I want actual winter weather. I was in fact enjoying the mild weather very much. Today we have had a mixture of sleet, freezing rain and snow. I would prefer just straight snow but since I didn't have to go anywhere today the ice is okay. As long as we don't get too much and lose power! Becca should have had school today but it was cancelled because of the weather as was her dance class. Dom wisely chose to work from home today so everyone has been home safe and sound. When everyone is home and we can just hang out and not worry about the weather I don't mind the snow/ice/freezing rain. The weathermen are saying that the cold weather is here to stay. It is supposed to be really cold all week.







Now so you don't think I am total geek rambling on about the weather for my last two posts, onto other news:







THE PATRIOTS BEAT THE CHARGERS!!!!!!!!!!WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!







I am not a big football fan but I watched the whole game to support my poor husband who was a total wreck the entire time. How they managed to pull it off I don't know but they did. Dom thinks that if they can beat the chargers they'll go to the Superbowl. Let's hope he's right!







We are in the final planning stages of Becca's birthday party. She wanted a Willy Wonka themed party this year so I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with ideas. I made the invitations and they came out pretty cute. For the front of the invitation I color copied a Wonka Bar then inside is of course a golden ticket! Sorry, pics aren't so good. I've got some candy crafts planned. I even found a small chocolate fountain on clearance at Target for our chocolate waterfall! (I love Target clearance! It was only $12.00!!) You should have seen Becca's eye's light up when I told her about the fountain. Instead of a cake I will make cupcakes and let the kids decorate them.
I will post more pics after the party on Saturday.

I am officially freaked out!

By the weather. It was 65 degrees on Saturday January 6th. There is no snow on the ground and we played outside in sweatshirts. The girls didn't even seem to mind the mild weather. Our road and driveway is a mess of mud as well as our vehicles. It is currently 41 and pouring rain. I am not complaining but it's getting a little creepy. Can you say global warming????

A dog's life

This is Boomer relaxing and just letting it all hang out. He is not supposed to be on the couch but does it look like he cares????

He actually sleeps all sprawled out like this all the time and it cracks me up. This is the best one so far.

Happy New Year!

New look for the Blog for the new year. Like it?

New Years Eve

The NH Ciolinos are spending a quiet New Years Eve at home this year. We finally got a little snow yesterday. About 3 inches. The girls couldn't wait to get out and play in it. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and it will all melt probably and they are predicting mid 40s later in the week! Crazy weather even for New England.
Yesterday Dom and I dropped the girls off at Nonna's and went out to lunch at the Macaroni Grill. Dom got a gift certificate from a co-worker and the closest one to us is in Reading, Ma. convenietly located near Nonna's. Excellent Italian food! Then we hit the Burlington mall and I spent some Christmas money at Bath and Body works and Cracker Barrel. Also a trip into the Lego store to get Becca a birthday gift. That is our next big event, planning Becca's birthday party. She wants a Willy Wonka themed party so I will be putting my creativity to the test on this one! Luckily I am always up for a creative challenge!

Best Christmas ever!

So it has been declared by Becca. This made me feel good considering health wise I was feeling not so great and neither was Kenzie. Mackenzie did well first thing in the morning, getting caught up in all the excitement of opening gifts but by noon she was starting to crash and went up to her room for a nap. I was wishing I could join her. I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband who can cook and was in charge of the meal this Christmas because I really was not up for cooking. Dom did an excellent job and everyone seemed happy with the meal. I am also thankful to my mom and mother-in-law who did the dishes after the meal because our dishwasher is broken.
The girls were spoiled by everyone and were happy with everything they got. Becca's favorite gift was a littlest pet shop digital pet that I could hardly drag her away from. Kenzie bounced around from toy to toy so it was hard to tell if there was one favorite. I didn't really take too many pictures which proves how sick I felt!
I still am not feeling 100% but better than I have for a week. Today is the first day that Kenzie has really perked up which is a relief, I was ready to call the doctor if she didn't seem any better today.
Hope that everyone's holiday's were happy!

Technical Difficulties

For some reason people have been unable to post comments lately. I don't know why but it seems to be fixed I hope! Thanks to those of you who let me know that you were reading even though you couldn't post comments. I have it set so that I see the comments before they are published to cut down on spam so your comments won't be visible right away.
It's nice to hear from you guys!
With Christmas right around the corner, there will probably be very little posting until after Christmas. I have also come down with a mega-cold, Kenzie has too unfortunately. I was doing pretty good fighting it but today has been tough. I am hoping to get some rest so I can be healthy for Christmas.
Take care everyone and have a Merry Christmas!

More Christmas stuff

Here are a couple more Christmas projects. The first is a candy dish made from a clay pot, saucer and glass bowl to look like a gumball machine. I've made these for Becca's teachers and for a co-worker of Dom's known as "the candy man" to the girls because he always has candy on his desk. Dom is always grabbing a couple of treats to bring home to the girls."The candy man" sent home a 5lb bag of candy to the girls for Christmas. They will probably be eating it until next Christmas.
The second is a Santa cake I made for Dom to take to work and I also made a few little elves for the girls. This cake was really simple and fun to make. It is just an upside down heart!
I have also included a few pics of the girls graham cracker houses that they made. I helped put the houses together but the girls did all the decorating themselves. I think they came out great! Rebecca made the little one and Kenzie made the bigger one.

Mom the KUS guy is here again!

'Who is the KUS guy? and why is he here? Not just here, but here again?' I ask myself. This is of course being yelled through the closed bathroom door as I try to get a little privacy. Now it's not just my kids interrupting me but the KUS guy, whoever he is.
"Who's here?" I ask Kenzie who is the one doing the yelling.
"The KUS guy. You know the package guy."
"Oh you mean the UPS guy." I reply finally getting it.
The UPS guy is of course peeling out of the end of the driveway by the time I reach the door. Becca runs to see who the packages are for and is very disappointed that they are all addressed to me. "Why don't we get anything?"she demands pouting.
"You'll get your gifts on Christmas." I reassure her.
"But I want it Now!" I cringe. She sounds exactly like Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka. You know the spoiled brat.

Time for a little lesson in the joy of giving and not just recieving I think. Wish me luck.

Your call is important to us.....

Blah, blah, blah..okay time for a vent. I got home today and had a message on my machine asking me to call a bank that we have a loan with. No biggie I think cause I sent the payment last week, so I call and push 14 buttons and pray that the moon and the stars are in the correct alignment and I got the right combination to connect me with a real person. It's my lucky day. Jack answers the phone and asks if he can help me. I explain the phone message that states any associate can assist me.
Jack:"Who did you speak with?"
Me: "No one, Someone left a message."
Jack: "Right, who left the message?"
Me: "Uh, a lady with a really bad cold, Didi maybe? It was really hard to
understand her on the message."
I give Jack my account info and he puts me back on hold where I get to listen to Christmas Carols. Jack comes back in the middle of 'A White Christmas".
"I'm not sure why someone called you. You haven't paid for December yet.
Let me transfer you to collections."
Me: "I sent the check and its' not even late for another four days."
Too late. I am already on hold and this time no music. Only an annoying automated voice that comes on every thirty seconds to remind me how important my call is and to please hold for the next available associate. Well I don't feel very important. I didn't get any music. I contemplate telling them this when finally, I get the next available associate and explain everything all over again, including account number.
Associate: "What number were you asked to call?"
I give her the number.
Associate: "that's not this number, maybe you should call that number."
Me: "I did call that number and they transfered me to you."
Associate:" I don't know why someone called. We haven't recieved your December
payment yet. Maybe that's why."
Me: "I sent it out last week and it isn't even considered late for another 4 days.
It's probably sitting in the accounting office right now."
Associate: "Would you like me to transfer you to accounting?"
Me:"No! No thank you. Thanks for your uh help."
Click

15 minutes of my life wasted. How annoying is that!

More unusually warm weather

It was 50 degrees today. The kids had a 'picnic' snack outside today when Becca got home from School. As you can see they were only slightly annoyed by the appearance of the
'mamarazzi'. I am alway sticking a camera in their cute little faces. This is a self-proclaimed nickname as I got sick of being called "the crazy camera lady". Yes, I have been known to carry around several camera's at once, you know digital, video etc... I can't be the only one can I??

ABC's of our Christmas

Got this idea off the web. Plan to do a scrapbook out of it.

Advent calendar
Baking lots of cookies
Christmas Carols
Decorating and Deenie the elf
Excitement
Family & Friends
Giftwrapping
Hosting Christmas day
Internet shopping
Jesus-the reason for the season
Kisses -hershey's cordial creme- my favorite!
Love for family and friends
Mackenzie enjoying the Magic of the season
Nativity scene -adding a new piece each year
Ornaments-the girls picking a new one each year
Pile of catalogs in the mail each day
Quiet moments few and far between
Rebecca Reading holiday stories
Santa, of course!
Train around the Tree
Under the tree with all the gifts
Videos of our favorite holiday movies
White Christmas-(ususally!)
XXXX's & OOOO's to family
Yummy treats to eat
Zonked at the end of it all!

How about a list from my fellow bloggers????????

Potty humor

If you are easily offended just skip this post. I came across this song and it made me giggle. Call me immature but sometimes potty humor is funny. The link is for a song called 'I farted on Santa's lap.' http://www.songagram.com/Merry_Christmas_to_You/I_Farted_On_Santas_Lap.htm

Enjoy!!

On the go

We had a busy weekend but I think things are going to settle down a little before Christmas, Of course I probably just jinxed myself by typing that! We all got haircuts this weekend even Copper so we can all be pretty for Christmas. We also visited both sets of grandparents.
Becca decided she wanted to participate in the Christmas pagaent at church, so she had rehearsal for that Sunday after Mass. Then she changed her mind and decided she wanted to sing in the children's choir instead, so that is what she is going to do. There will only be three girls in the choir and they will be singing 'Away in a manger'.
We got our first snow on Friday. About three inches and Becca had a two hour delay from school. It is already mostly melted but at least we got to play in it for a little while!
It was actually good that the girls got to sleep in because the night before was Becca's winter concert at school so we were out a little late. Lots of singing and music. It was really cute. Unfortunately I left the video camers sitting on the kitchen counter! Oh well.

Gotta love Calvin and Hobbes

Catching up with friends

This past week we have been able to catch up with some friends we haven't seen in a year, The Child Family. Over the summer they moved out to Colorado (conveniently near Aunt Lisa and Uncle Chuck.) This week they have been back in the area and we got a chance to see them not once, but twice! The first time was to celebrate Tracy's parents 50th anniversary. Tracy, her brother Doug and sister, Kim put together a very nice party at the Puritan Restaraunt in Hooksett. Then on Tuesday afternoon, Tracy, Chris, Alison and Abby trekked out to our place to hang out and have dinner with us. I made homemade portobello mushroom and proscuitto pizza that everyone seemed to enjoy. The girls had a great time playing and the adults had a good time chatting. They gave us their expert tips on flying with children so we could go out and visit them.(And Aunty Lisa and Uncle Chuck too, of course!)

Craftin'

I quite often see a craft that I must create immediately. Especially this time of the year and sometimes I manage to actually finish the craft and sometimes I do not. This year I came across two crafts and was able to complete both of them. I also have a habit of giving away my crafts which my husband and now my children complain that I never keep any for us. So this time I gave one away and kept one. The first craft was really simple and easy and only took about an hour to complete. It was a Santa made from an empty coffeemate creamer bottle. Yet another habit of mine is seeing a craft and not actually reading directions on how to make it, just making it up as I go. Most of the time this works out okay, sometimes not. With the Santa, no problem.
I enjoyed this craft a lot. It was fairly simple and there is potential to really make a variety of different characters.
I will definitely be playing around with different variations.

The second craft was a Gingerbread man serving tray. I saw this on TV and thought it was absolutely adorable in a goofy sort of way. It is made out of clay pots. I really like working with clay pots, mostly because they are cheap, and you can make lots of different things out of them. I did need to read directions to figure out how to put this guy together and even then it was a little tricky keeping everything in place while the glue dried. The finished size is actually quite large and he would also make a cute little plant stand, which is what I did as you can see in one of the pictures. I think this craft has the potential to become a variety of characters and even uses.

We are keeping the gingerbreadman , Santa has been given away, but I plan on making more! I am thinking about doing a couple of craft fairs next year. I did a couple several years ago and had lots of fun, that was before I had kids though so we'll see. I guess ebay is always an options too.
Anyway, what are your opinions? Would you buy one of my creations at a crafts fair?

Deenie the Elf

Deenie the elf is one of Santa's elves that has come to stay with us until Christmas Eve. On Christmas eve she will return to the North Pole with Santa. Deenie came with some magic snowflakes that the girls sprinkle on her before bed to keep her magical and at night, while everyone is sleeping, Deenie gets into mischief. She hid all our Holiday movies one night. She has decorated the bathroom with toilet paper and turned the water in the toilet green. One morning we even found her watching the movie 'Elf' and eating popcorn! It is always fun to wake up and find out what Deenie has been doing. Of course I'm not sure who is having more fun with this me or the kids but I hope we are creating some fun memories! Check out www.elf-magic.com if you are interested in having your own elf come visit!