Movember

Today is the last day Udine will have this mustache.  Woohoo!!  He grew it out for the month of November to bring awareness to prostate cancer (what his father died from).  I thought he was kidding when he said he was doing this...but it was for real and I was surprised at how many people did this!!  I have a feeling I need to get used to every November being Movember for the mustache.  Love you babe!

Happy 40th Rick!!

On Nov 13-15 my brothers and I flew to WI to surprise my brother Rick for his 40th birthday.  We planned ahead of time with his wife and my parents so we could make it happen.  It was so awesome!!  It was just a great weekend!  Peter, Ben and I flew on the same flight, so we left early Sat morning.  Matt flew on a different flight that would land an hour after ours.  The plan was to just wait at the airport until he got in and then Jen could pick us up.  Well, Matt's flight was delayed so there was a little hicup there, but it turned out just fine.  Jen and Mom picked the three of us up and to kill time for a while we went to grab lunch at Kopp's.  Mmm mmm good!!  And then we went to pick up some balloons and a birthday cake.  By then it was about time for Matt to get in so we headed back to the airport to get him.  I have to say, the whole time we were driving from the airport to their house I couldn't help but smile.  I was so excited, but what made me smile even more was to see how excited Jen was.  It was great!!  She wasn't excited for herself, but she knew how excited Rick was going to be and she could hardly contain herself!  It was hilarious. When we got to the house we hid outside while Jen went in and got kids downstairs so they wouldn't answer the door.  We had to wait 2 min before we knocked and those 2 minutes seemed like FOREVER!  Anyway, we knocked on the door and when Rick answered it we yelled "Happy birthday!!"  It was great!  He just kept saying "I am floored!"  It was priceless and something I won't ever forget.  He had no idea.  He knew something was up this weekend, but had no idea we were involved.  The only thing that would have made it better is if my sister could have come so we could have had the whole family there.  It was a wonderful weekend.  Saturday evening was my Grandma's birthday dinner so we got to go celebrate that with her.  It was awesome to see her and aunts and uncles and cousins that we don't get to see very often anymore.  On Sunday we went to church and then spent the rest of the day chilling with the fam.  Playing some games and just talking.  Monday morning rick made us some delicious omelets.  Then we played some more settlers.  After that we went to walmart looking for some Packers clothing and then we went to eat at George Web and did some more reminiscing.  After George Webb we went to kopps and had our last taste of the best custard in the world!!  :)  There we said good bye to mom, dad and Jen.  Rick stayed with us and we had some time to kill before needing to get to the airport so we stopped at the church we grew up going to since it was just down the road.  Some missionaries were there playing basketball so the doors were open so we took the opportunity to go in and walk through.  It brought back so many memories.  It was fun to hear the boys talk about everything they did there and what they remembered, etc.  I didn't remember quite as much as them, but I did recall some good memories.  We saw a plaque on the wall for eagle scouts and all of their names are still up there!  Crazy!  I also saw the Brookfield wards current missionary board and saw that my best friend growing up, her sister is serving in Las Vegas!!  Crazy!!  I miss Jordan and need to call her!  It has been WAY too long since we have talked.  I can't believe her little sis is on a mission!  I still think of her as a little girl!  Anyway...the whole weekend was just incredible.  We just spent the whole time hanging out as a family, playing games, getting advice from dad and reminiscing about the past.  I couldn't have imagined it to be any better!  I'm so glad we were able to do this.  And thanks to Udine for watching the kids so I could go!!  Happy Birthday Rick!  Thanks for such a great weekend!

Right after we arrived and surprised him (Ben, Me, Rick, Peter, Matt)

Dad and Grandma at her dinner

 George Webb

Ben at Kopps, this picture cracks me up...he went all out and got a scoop of each flavor.  Mmm mmm good.  His eyes were a little bigger than his stomach.  It was a good laugh for us all.  :)

All of us before we left



Happy Halloween!

The kids weren't allowed to wear their masks to school so we painted their faces instead.  Well, Udine painted the faces.  :) 

Diego the skeleton and Alessandro the ghost

Mia (minnie mouse) wanting to wear her costume also 

I had to bribe her with the candy just to stand still so I could take pictures. 

Luca (spiderman) joining in on the pictures 

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for our Halloween treats!  They were a big hit! 

Trick or Treating at Udine's work:  Ancestry.com 

The costumes with their masks.  This was right before leaving to go trick or treat around the neighborhood.  I tried to talk them out of going since it was raining pretty hard, but all three boys were adamant about going.  After going to a few houses I thought Luca would be done so I asked if he wanted to go home.  To which he declined and we were out for about an hour and a half.  I was shocked.  I did not think Luca would last that long.  Diego was a good sport to go slower so we could all stay together and help his younger brothers at homes that were decked out in decorations that they felt were too scary to go up to by themselves.  :)

Cornbellys

The kids look forward to going here every year.  It is talked about for months in anticipation and it is talked about for months after about all the good times.  This year Udine missed it (he showed up for the last hour or so) but pretty much missed it because he had a midterm to take.  :(  I don't think I'll do it solo again.  It's just a lot more fun with him and also easier to keep track of the kids.  The two older were kind of on their own because I had to stay with the 2 little ones.  At least we were there with cousins and aunts and uncles who could help watch and be with them.  I am always exhausted after a night out at cornbellys!  But it is always good times.

Luca's favorite activity by far...Duck Racing

Diego in front of the pretty sunset

Bumpy train ride

Bumpy train ride

Chicken show



Life in our house when dinner is being prepared...

Do the hours of 4pm - 6pm seem crazy to anyone at their house or is it just me?  I swear this is not an unusual occurance during this time for us...or something similar to happen.  Today as I was cooking dinner I catch out of the corner of my eye, Mia taking a game piece so Luca couldn't have it.  Which then caused him to cry and he smacked her.  So she then got up and smacked him in the head which caused him to cry louder.  So he did the same in return.  She then proceeded to hit him with the piece of game board she had in her hand.  So he went and grabbed the box to hit her with it.  She just smacked him back yet again.  To which he grabbed the dogs kong and chucked it at her.  And she just hit him back.  She wasn't getting upset, she'd just retaliate, so he finally got frustrated and started crying and coming to me when he realized I had been watching the whole thing.  Both caught in the act.  Was I a bad mom to just sit and watch?  I don't know, maybe, but this was the fastest I was able to get him to stop crying because he knew I knew that they were both in the wrong.  And it seems when I'm making dinner that is the favorite time to pick fights.  I wish I could hire a cook.  :)  Not that that would cure the fighting, but it sure would be nice for me.  ;)

Carving Pumpkins

I wrote about carving our pumpkins in my last post so I'm just going to post some pictures. 

Pumpkin Harvest

Our garden was very successful this year.  We had more food than we could eat.  My favorite is always the cantaloupe, but next I think is the pumpkins.  It's fun to watch them grow and see the kids get excited about them.  We picked them last week and I seriously thought I was going to throw up after getting them to the front door.  There was one that was too heavy for me to carry so Diego and I were trying to roll it up our hill.  It was crazy.  They are definitely the biggest and heaviest we've ever grown.  Last night we carved two of them.  Diego and Alessandro picked out what kind they wanted to do.  They each cleaned them out on their own and Diego also punched the holes for the pattern.  But Udine and I did the actual carving.  The two little ones didn't want to be left out so they poked holes in a couple of the smaller pumpkins we have.  Not counting the three pumpkins that were rotten, I think we had 9 pumpkins total from our garden this year. 

Seriously, how do people get good pictures of their kids, because I can't!!!  The picture below shows how my day was going.  Why oh why can't they just get along?

I had to post this picture because it makes me laugh.  This is how I felt by the end of all this as well.  Oh the joys.  Seriously, if she is not the one throwing the fit it is Luca.  Please please grow out of it!!!  They are both about killing me!!