Friends across the sea

I decided to sign up for a two stocking swaps this year...I was paired with two wonderful ladies: one in Italy and the other in New Zealand.

The first package arrived from Italy.

Since my great-great grandfather came from Italy and I know very little about him or what happened to him (however, I heard he may have left KY and traveled to New York to start over) what a wonderful opportunity to make a new friend and learn about such a beautiful place.

Here is Gabriella with La Befana--a witch who brings goodies to good children or coal to naughty little ones. You can read more about her here. It really is a wonderful Italian tradition and with the commercial product driven Holiday here in the States I am happy to incorporate La Befana into my home.

As you can see she also sent us the most wonderful assortment of chocolate. Unfortunately we didn't save much (because it was so amazing) but I plan on finding some and bringing it back home to Kentucky along with La Befana to share a piece of our heritage and her story.




She sent a beautiful necklace that Gabriella and I fight over and a lovely purple stocking...Purple is my favorite color!
Thanks again Michela for the package and making this holiday so special for me and my family.

I also got a wonderful package from Alison in New Zealand. A large stocking with such wonderful goodies, and I can't wait to get crafting. Again Gabriella claimed the necklace and keeps asking me to open up the little bags of beads. I'm excited to start making something with the yarn and fabric.
It has been such a great experience to get to know these ladies better. Thanks Alison!

It just takes one

As we learned this summer taking a family photo can be a very interesting experience and it takes many a flash and click to get just the right one. Here is a look at our attempt today..



This one isn't bad!

Runners Up:


THE ONE!

EXTRAS!


(if you click on the picture it should open up bigger....and Steve said our tree/photos are apparently sponsored by Coca-Cola)

The day after..

The day after Thanksgiving breakfast...

First Offical HairCut!

This is Gabriella's second haircut..but FIRST by someone who knows what they're doing.

I tried to trim her locks last year and lets just say it was cute but only because her naturally curly hair covered my mistakes.

She wasn't very excited to go at the beginning and needed her favorite kitty cat to comfort her.

After she saw the candy bowl at the Salon things got better and she was ready.
She was PERFECT!

Just a little trim and TA-DA

A touch of Tink

Yes that is right...the tree is up and the decorations out. Part of the reason is because of this:

Her excitement is enchanting. Here is to a magical holiday season.

Halloween

October is gone but here is a recap...

We had a cute family theme this year and yes, Gabriella and I match..why not?

It was really fun!

Pumpkin Carving

Today being that most cavity-inducing of holidays, Halloween, I thought I'd make a Jack-o-lantern indicative of the interest of two of my very favorite ladies in the whole universe. As a note, I haven't carved a pumpkin since college, and it was one of those Eyes Nose Mouth varieties...this is WAY more complicated than that one was.

When I finished it and showed it to Ella, she said "I so proud of you Daddy." That's about the best compliment I can get.

October and SNOW!

Bunches of snow!

And a Halloween Package!

Falling leaves

A beautiful day!

Cookies!

Today Ella Bella and I made some cookies! I'm not sure how they taste (the cookies taste good, and the frosting is so sweet I feel sick just licking the knife), but they sure look good. And it was lots of fun!

After we made the cookies, Ella requested that I take some more photos of her making silly faces. Enjoy!

Finally a Fall Day!

Fall Photos

October Day

Yesterday was a very good day....

I cooked, I cleaned, I laughed and I cleaned some more.....changed diapers, did laundry, washed dishes...made a really good dinner

and a yummy dessert that tested my patience...

Minus the mint...but still very good.
But I'd have to say my favorite part was making this:

Amy came over for our annual "let's make Ella's Halloween Costume" get together. It was so much fun! We looked at the poodles in Joann's and weren't very impressed so Amy suggested we make our own. So we did, well really Amy did and I'm so glad. It turned out very cute.

I also made a big mess...it really was a good day!

Happy October!!!