Ce-le-brate Good Times, C'mon!

I am a planner. A bonafide Type-A, here's what we will be doing for the next four months, list-making type of girl. Given this, it should not surprise anyone that I have been planning for today since January.

I went back and looked at our old posts from this time last year. Somehow, we managed to skip over July 1st altogether. I have no idea what we were thinking. How could we let Kacey's birthday slip by without some sort of tribute? What we needed was a grand post in honor of her big day. What we gave her was nothing, nada, zilch.

I swore I would not make the same mistake twice. A few week's ago, I did what any good friend would and I got in touch with Kacey's mom and sister for photos.

I could not let my friend down again; not after the many, many years we've shared...

There was Kacey's Hawaiian-themed birthday party back in the early '80s.


Brownie Troop 301.


More Halloween costumes than I can possibly count.




There were dances, and boys.

(That last picture is for you, Barbaloot.)

But really, what I love most about our friendship isn't the history. Instead, it is watching my friend more recently.

Standing by her side as she got married,


Watching her with her beautiful baby girl,


And simply being amazed as she went from being my childhood friend...


to my lifelong friend.


She really is quite a girl.


Happy Birthday, Kacey, from the many friends and family who love you!

May your 39th year be your best yet! :)

Keep It Simple

Like any SAHM, I watch my children each day. Lately, though, I have tried to take a step back and really observe; taking note of the things that render both Giancarlo and Lucia utterly happy, sometimes sad, and completely in awe.

After weeks of almost scientific-like observations, this is what I have learned:

There is nothing better than being naked.

Each night, before and after their bath, my children are in complete bliss. They are perfectly content to run freely around our house in the buff. This is especially true for Lucia. As soon as the last stitch of clothing comes off of her little body, she is gone, running, laughing, and trying to hide. Granted, she always chooses our bedroom closet as her hiding spot, but “finding” her there never ceases to make us both laugh.

If you don’t like what you are eating, simply take it out of your mouth.

Do this without delay. If the particular healthy vegetable or snack does not agree with your palate, simply open your mouth and let it drop out. Another option would be to stick your hand in your mouth and scrape the contents off of your tongue. Both methods work equally as well and provide a rapid solution to the problem.

If you don’t like what your parents are trying to make you do, simply go boneless.

This is a new tactic for both my children. I am not sure who came up with this brilliant idea first, but in our household, once one child stumbles upon a successful technique, the other is sure to follow. The three of us have learned that this works particularly well in public places. Two boneless children are incredibly difficult to manage in a place like the grocery store.

The nightly bath time and bedtime ritual is bliss.

There is nothing better than being pampered, right? While I am lucky if I am able to remember to brush my teeth most days, my kids are bathed, in clean pajamas, have full tummies, and a bedtime story all before bed. It really is a wonderful way to go to sleep.

Other than to share this knowledge with the blogosphere, I am not quite sure what to do with the wisdom I have acquired. Perhaps it is enough to simply be reminded of the importance of keeping things simple and finding joy in life’s little pleasures...

-Francesca

What's Love Got To Do With It?

Back in November, our very good friend, Wendy at Green Girl Art, tagged us with a meme for 75 loves. I followed up on the tag a third of the way at the time, posting a list of Giancarlo’s loves.

Although a few months have passed, I thought the week of Valentine’s Day would be an appropriate time to return to this meme and post another 25 items.

I have been giving this tag my upmost thought and consideration. During the time of year when everything is red and pink, coated in chocolate, and accompanied by flowers, what should I write about? Lucia’s loves, my loves, celebrity loves gone bad?

What about 25 things I love to hate? Now that might be interesting…

1. Loud cell phone users
2. Taxes
3. Folding laundry
4. Junk mail
5. Telemarketers
6. Driving down the freeway in what is no longer your clean car because the vehicle in front of you just cleaned their windshield
7. Caillou
8. People who should check their luggage prior to boarding an airplane, but instead try to shove it into the overhead compartment, while you are standing in line, waiting to get to your seat
9. Missing garbage day
10. Really bad reality TV on VH1 that I can’t help but watch
11. The minutes after your child is given a vaccination shot
12. Getting your teeth cleaned
13. The mommy pooch that suddenly takes up permanent residence on your body after you have a baby
14. Target on a Saturday morning
15. Parents who do nothing to reign in their obnoxious or out-of-control children
16. The phrases, “It’s not you, it’s me” and “We can still be friends.”
17. Pop-ups on your computer, even after you have installed every piece of spyware on the planet
18. The end piece from a sliced loaf of bread
19. Identity theft
20. The little old lady in the parking lot of the grocery store who clearly can’t see over the dashboard of her Lincoln Continental, but somehow manages to swipe the parking spot you have been patiently waiting for
21. Guests on the Jerry Springer Show
22. Mondays
23. Lost…Three words: time traveling island
24. Negotiating where to spend the holidays after you are married and, even more so, after you have kids
25. Moving

Before I forward the meme along, here is a quick recap of Wendy's rules:

1. List things you love.
2. Choose a number that is significant to you. For example, 100, the year you were born, the day you were born, {you get the picture}. If you feel like writing a lot, go for it. If not, then cut back by choosing a suitable number.
3. Tag 3 people.

Since there are three of us here by the bay, I will go the extra mile and tag 3 people for each of us.

Forwarding the love onto....

Tiburon at Shark Bait (Think of this as the playground at 3:00. Bring it!)
Kim at The Mommy Machine
Stephanie at Baseballs and Tutus
Nicole at Here's the Diehl
Pam at Twenty Little Piggies
Anna at Addison Marie
Jane Anne at Gravity of Motion
Karen at Mommy, I'm Home
Sue Q at The Quack Shack

-Francesca

My Man Cave

I don't remember when we turned off our cable and opted instead for a very basic package. In an effort to cut down on the number of hours spent watching TV, we subscribe to only a few children's cable channels, the Food Network, and the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Network.

The good news is that our idea worked. Geoff and I do not watch as much TV as we used to. However, every good plan has its downside. Now, the programs we do watch are usually on the DIY Network and revolve around topics such as how to paint your kitchen cabinets or how to create faux-stone walls. Television at its finest!

One program that we recently came across was Man Caves. Have you seen it? Two hosts offer ideas and do-it-yourself instruction to turn a basic basement into the ultimate guys’ hangout. “Every guy needs a space to call his own … a sanctuary where boys can be boys, where life essentials include a wet bar, a poker table and a place to watch the game with the fellas.”

Some ideas are just pure brilliance. I was so inspired by this concept that I asked Geoff what he might like to have in his "man cave.” It took a bit to pull the answers out of him, but he eventually divulged that his ideal retreat would include a wet bar, flat screen TV, big arm chair, mini frig, pin ball machine, slot car race track, and massively loud stereo.

Hmmm....interesting, but can we do better? I have to admit that when I first envisioned Geoff's man cave, I thought it would be something incredibly grand. Maybe even along the lines of Snoop Dogg’s man cave.

Snoop’s cave keeps it real. In addition to his mini frig and custom couch made from the bumper of a 1961 Cadillac, Snoop has a direct line to his favorite restaurant…Denny’s. C'mon, do you really need anything more?

Of course, all of this discussion got me thinking about my ideal retreat. What would my man cave look like? Would it be anything like Snoop’s?

Indeed it would.

Meet my Pimped Out Powder Room:

Everything I need in a bathroom and more. Let's take a moment to discuss a few of the key features:

• A pro-style hair dryer, so that I may appear like "I just stepped out of a salon" at all times.
• A strategically placed laptop computer that allows me to conduct both my own business and my blog business at the same time.
• The Wii, located on top of the toliet, so that I may stay in shape without ever having to leave my powder room.
• As inspired by Snopp, a mini-frig, only pink.
• An all-in-one heated towel rack/TV/mirror, as shown on the wall on right-hand side of the picture.
• The Fusion Drink station, located on top of the mini-frig, so that I may offer refreshments to anyone who might pop by for a visit.

Naturally, there are a few features not shown above that would be important to include, such as photos of my family. I'm guessing that I will probably never want to leave my Pimped Out Powder Room, so it would be good to have small remembrances of what my husband and kids look like.

I'd also like to have the ability to put my powder room on "lock down," if needed. Sound proofing, gigantic locks, and video cameras would all be critial to ensure that my sanctuary is never breached unexpectedly. Think back to the movie, Panic Room, only way more pink.

-Francesca

The Other Side

We made it! Welcome to the other side. It is the time of year when I know that the holiday season is coming to a close because I am truly exhausted, sick, and have absolutely no idea what day it is.

In trying to clear the cowebs from my mind and squint very hard into the new year, I thought I would take a moment to look back over the weeks that made up our holiday season.

The house and the tables were decorated. Although I didn't notice it until after I took the above picture, my son has apparently inherited my OCD approach to life. Case in point, Giancarlo carefully laid out all of the ornament hangers neatly in a line before inserting them into the ornaments.

Cookies were put out for Santa and presents were opened. After seeing the cookies on Christmas morning, Giancarlo was super excited that Santa had not eaten them all and left some for him.

Birthdays were celebrated with family and friends.

And much to my surprise, Home Depot had the same, pre-holiday sale this year. What luck! We were able to add to our collection of lawn decorations so that Santa is no longer alone on his tractor. He now has a friend, Tigger.

-Francesca

The Beginning of 75 Loves

Wendy from Girl in Green tagged us last week with 75 loves. In talking about how to follow-up, Thuy and I initially thought we might put together a list of 75 things we need to cross off of our beloved “to do lists” before the end of the year. However, we later decided against the idea since it probably would not make for very interesting reading for anyone but us.

Instead, in light of the Thanksgiving holiday, I give you 25 things that my son, G, loves and is thankful for.

1. Cars and trucks and all things that go
2. Larger than life balloons
3. Treats of any kind
4. His best friend in the world and our neighbor
5. The park
6. His Dad
7. The million and one ways his grandparents indulge him. (I might expand on this topic more in an upcoming post entitled, "Grandparents Gone Wild.")
8. Fire engines
9. Carnival rides
10. Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump IV (nicknamed "Heffy")
11. Pillows
12. Garbage trucks
13. Scissors
14. Holidays
15. Birthday candles
16. Eating breakfast with a Disney character at Disneyland
17. Lightning McQueen and Mater from the movie, Cars
18. Macaroni and cheese
19. The beach
20. Cameras and being able to take pictures of L
21. Hard work with his Dad around the house
22. Kleenex
23. Band-Aids
24. Crocs
25. The electric train around our Christmas tree

I'll leave the other 50 items on the list for Kacey and Thuy.

And now, to pass the love along, I will tag some old friends and some new: Forever Folding Laundry, Baby Tunnel Exodus, Overstuffed with Abundance, Running Along, Tammie and the Hellions, Jeff & Me + Three, Malfunction Junction, The Kids Did WHAT?!, and Ramblings of a Crazy Mom.

I figure the 3 tag requirement x 3 Bay B Chicks = 9, so I had better cover all of our bases!

Wendy's rules:
1. List things you love.
2. Choose a number that is significant to you. For example, 100, the year you were born, the day you were born, {you get the picture}. If you feel like writing a lot, go for it. If not, then cut back by choosing a suitable number.
3. Tag 3 people.

That's it. Adapt the rules to fit how you roll.

-Francesca

L's Points of Joy

After having posted my own points of joy earlier this week, it got me thinking, what makes my children happy? What little things bring a smile to their day? This question was a bit more complicated to answer for L than for G, since L is not exactly expressing herself using the English language yet. However, I think she managed to get her point across.

L's points of joy:

1) Fine dining, in this case on Cheerios.
2) Time at the spa.
3) Catching up on reading with her brother. Actually, any activity involving her brother.
4) Journaling.
5) The crazy, nameless fish that lives next to her crib. Although he ate all of the other, much more beautiful fish in the tank, she loves him just the same.
6) Sports.

G and I are still working on his list. It takes time to define these things for the very cultured and sophisticated.

-Francesca

Points of Joy

My friend, Susannah, is an incredibly creative person. On her blog, Good but Hard, she has published a few entries entitled, "Points of Joy." In other words, what makes you happy? Here are the things that made me happy yesterday. Play along on your blog if you like too.

1. G doing "hard work" in the garage with his Dad.
2. The sound and feel of the heater in the morning, signaling the change of seasons from summer to fall.
3. My husband resuming work on the pizza oven in our backyard.
   
4. A full bird feeder, sans the squirrel.
5. The flowers blooming in our front yard.
6. My computer and my quiet house first thing in the morning.
7. Going to the grocery store by myself and not listening to either a children's CD or DVD. Instead, blaring the radio to my very "street" music and singing at the top of my lungs.
8. Toffee crunch caramel cheesecake
9. L learning how to pull herself up in her crib and being tremendously pleased with herself.
10. Freshly cut grass.
11. The smell of tomatoes from my husband's garden roasting in the oven.
12. My husband and G making pasta together.
13. The fruits of their labor.

-Francesca