A visit to Firenze

We went to visit some friends in Prato Italy for the weekend. While we were there we took the train into Florence (Firenze). We rode the train in and walked around the town. I went into town on Friday night with Tracie. Then on Saturday James and I went into Firenze with Brandon and Tracie. Caleb was in the middle of being sick with the flu and so Evan volunteered to stay back at the house with him. When Jared found out Caleb was staying behind he wanted to stay as well. So the boys stayed at the house all day with Evan watching videos and playing games. I think they enjoyed that way more than walking around Firenze with us. I know we enjoyed it and we didn't have to listen to the boys whining about how long we were walking around. We had a great day.

The city was beautiful and as always the architecture and sculptures are amazing. Florence is where the original David is. We had our pictures taken outside the Ufizi which is the museum where David is housed. So the picture of us is taken in front of a reproduction of the original David. Still a magnificent sculpture. The details in the sculptures was amazing. We walked along the Ponte Vecchio which is where all the gold and jewelry shops are and have been for hundreds of years. Still a lot of the original woodwork there. Really beautiful.

Happy Birthday

To my dear sweet lovable honey bunny! James is 42 today. After 19 years he still makes my heart go pitter patter. Love that man. I am super proud of him and the man he is. I hope and pray that our boys have the honesty, integrity and work ethic of their father.

Just want to share the star book I made him for his birthday.

Soccer Champs

On Saturday, Halloween, we had Jared's last soccer game. They finished up the season UNDEFEATED. Jared really improved his game over the season. We are so proud of how he has grown during this year. Especially as the goalie. AMAZING! I wish you could have seen him. Watching him during practice he didn't seem to really try to block the ball. So, understandably, James and I were a bit nervous when they put him in as goalie for a game. Right off the bat he blocked two or three goals with such skill. It was so great watching him like that. Just jumping in front of the ball and keeping the opposing team from getting the goal. WOOHOO! Impressive!

They had a great season!

Growing Kids

When we first moved into our home here we measured the boys height. We marked it out on the column in the garage. So on Sunday we went back into the garage so see how they measured up. Amazingly enough Caleb has grown at least an inch and a half and Jared has grown at least an inch. They are just shooting up like sprouts. Maybe this evening I will take photos of them next to the marks we made and post them.

Busy Times...

Just wanted to add some photos of some of the crafting I have done lately.

Birthday invitation kit, Christmas card kits, Christmas cards and treats. Some things were added to my online store and others were made as gifts. Last night I even made pumpkin biscuits with cinnaberry butter. Pretty tasty - especially with the cinnaberry (cinnamon cranberry) butter. Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of the biscuits as I was busy getting dinner ready.

Shopping in Nove

I went shopping today with a friend. We went to Nove which is about a 30 minute drive from my house. I was able to go in and buy some of the dishes that James and I liked when we first visited Nove. The ceramic store we shopped in is called the VBC. The collection I purchased is actually sold in the states as the Lenox brand.

I spent a total of 90€ which is about $135. In the US I would spend around $275 for these items. (Of course, you know me, I wouldn't actually spend that amount of money for 4 dinner plates(6€ or $20 each) , 4 soup bowls (3.50€ or $14.99 each), 4 individual square pasta bowls (6€ or $23.99 each), 1 large square pasta bowl(9€) 1 large serving tray (9€) and one divided 3 compartment serving tray (9€)) On the last three items I couldn't find an equivalent dollar amount however, I am sure they would be over $25 each. Definitely wouldn't pay that but I didn't mind the more than 1/2 price discount for some beautiful dishes.

I have the dishes washed and made room for them in the Polish Pottery cabinet - though now I guess it needs to be called international cabinet since it has Polish Pottery, French ceramics, Japanese porcelain, Texas ceramics, German ceramics and now Italian ceramics. However, the largest portion of the the dishes are Polish in origin. Just wanted to share my latest purchase.

Oh and the Festa Italia is this weekend. A big bazaar on base where many vendors from all over Italy and perhaps Europe come and let us see what they have to offer. Can't wait! May have more purchases to post soon.

Budding Artist?

Caleb and his rendition of a hare.

trying to get a close up here so you can see the detail he put into (not much luck though).

Caleb has been studying the Renaissance in his history class. For one of their assignments they were to sketch a representation of what was occurring at that time. They were allowed to copy an existing piece of artwork or choose their own subject for the sketch as long as it was something that happened during that time period. The hare that Caleb chose was a representation of the secular still life artwork being done during the northern Renaissance. They had to choose between the Italian religious artwork or the northern secular artwork. The sketch Caleb chose to do was based on a painting by german artist Albrecht Dϋrer.

His teacher and many of the students were impressed with the quality of his sketch. So were James and I when we saw it. Especially since getting him to draw anything for us has been like pulling teeth. The last time I remember him really drawing something was in 5th grade and he had to draw a scene from a book he had recently read. His drawing was so small and indecipherable that the teacher had to send him home with a note requesting him to draw it again and much larger. He was disgusted with the whole process.

However, on this project he did a fabulous job. The photo doesn't do it justice - especially the detail that he put into his sketch. it is quite fabulous and we are so proud of him for his effort.