Life is busy

After much thought and searching the web for a form of blogging I can do better with from my iPhone I have landed here. I'm going to make an effort to post daily. More photos, less words, honesty. Here goes.

A new beginning.

Independence Day, our way

Two hundred and thirty five years ago some pretty snarly guys set the record strait. We don't do well with people telling us what to do. Yesterday we celebrated just the three of us, at home, making our own traditions, well sort of. Jojo and I spent the day playing out side. the sun shined and the breeze blew and it was simply beautiful out. Just right for playing in some water and checking out the garden and the rest of the yard. I'm trying to get him outside as much as possible. He loves it and I love watching John cringe as he watches the little guy toddle across the concrete  with bare toes and knees. He's only picked up a few raw spots. We keep the neosporin handy. the booboos never seem to slow him down.  

 He is not to fond of the grass yet. It's kind of pokey...

 Checking out the flowers

 They even feel good.

 After all the rain we had the last couple days my Hollyhocks are starting to bloom. As a child my mom always kept a row of them along the back side of the deck at home. I can remember them towering over me each summer. They were the first flowers I knew I had to have in my garden when we started landscaping here. Even with all the wind out here they seem to fair well. To bad they don't smell as wonderful as they look.

 While hiding out in the bathroom yesterday morning, I came across this recipe for a quick peach dessert. Yes, there is a time most days that I head to the bathroom, even if I don't have to go. It's quiet and uninterrupted and filled with good reading material. It's a well spent five minutes here and there throughout the day. Back to the peaches, I can't think of anything more summer than a good peach. We had a peach tree in our side yard and every August peaches would fill the branches so plentiful that we would move the clothes line poles under the branches to help support them. The peaches were so ripe they juiced all over every last inch of your fingers as you ate them. Mom would clean them in the yard while we played for canning and offer us slices. I don't think I will ever eat a peach again as good as those. Dessert turned out so well that there is another in the oven as I type to take to dinner with a good friend tonight.

 Gel clings hold a special place in my heart.

 John cooked hot dogs on the grill. I don't think there is anything more American. Jojo tasted his first hot dog yesterday and ate the whole thing. Minus the bun of course.

 We ate inside with all the windows open to help bring the outside in it was just that nice.

 A little relaxing in the living room after dinner. iPhone in hand. We have to lock the phones because he is one smart little boy.

 This is the look the cat give Joey when he is in the middle of temper tantrum. It's one of a kind.

 My Mom stopped down with Dick after dinner and she took Joey for a wagon ride in the yard cart. The light was so nice I couldn't resist making a photo. I love having my mom so close, I'm pretty sure Joey and John feel the same.

After all the dishes were done and Joey went to bed John and I climbed into bed just in time to see the New York City fireworks. I started watching them a couple years a go when John showed them to me. He used to watch them all the time when he was living out east. They are fabulous. Last night I added "Watch the New York fireworks live" to my life list. It will happen.

Today I'm thankful for:

-Those five minutes in the bathroom.
-Beautiful weather.
-The ability to put the chores of life aside and just PLAY for a while.
-My mom's potato salad recipe, forever in my mind.
-A day free from nausea and exhaustion.

-All the love in the Universe-

Summer just got the best of us...

It's now July... Six more months until Christmas... There is so much to do before the snow comes.
We've been making the best of the warm weather and tacking advantage of the cool summer days. No one really likes 98 degrees with 90 percent humidity anyways.

We've hit up the flea market a few times. Jojo loves just riding in the wagon and John and I often grapple over who gets to do the pulling. It's so cool to look back and see those giant smiles.  

After a row garden filled with weeds last summer John and I gave square foot gardening a shot. It's really easy to get started and so far has been growing really well. i have cucumbers and green tomatoes on the vine. fingers crossed we should have some good eatin' in a month. 

Jojo has started walking. After 14 months he decided vertical was the way to be and hasn't looked back once. I suspect he will be running faster than my waddle in no time.  

Of course nap time is still a favorite of both his an ours. 

We joke that he eats like a cave man...but Bowls and plates are starting to stay on the tray of his highchair. 

He loves to help and vacuuming is his favorite, a whole 10 or so minutes of touching a cord he is otherwise forbidden to hold. 

We are trying to grow more grass and then it rained and washed almost all of our seed away. 

BUT we are successfully growing another family member. 

I can't wait for our trio to become a quartet in January.

I'm hoping to up date this more. and start making more photos again with a real camera and not this silly phone. I miss it, but I'm enjoying the moments each and everyone of them. Isn't that what it's really all about. 

Today I'm grateful for:

- Cheap peppermint mints from the vending machine. 

- The AC in my car. 

- The two wonderful boys waiting for me at home.

- John's wonderful ability to do dishes and laundry. 

All the LOVE in the Universe. 

Two minutes with Jojo:

Yeah I know it's been way to long. The days are getting longer and the air is just a little warmer. I can't wait for the real summer. Here's two minutes with Jojo for your viewing pleasure.


Backyard Breeze from Wendy Antrosiglio on Vimeo.

The first of many

The night before Joey's first birthday John and I took some time to write a letter to him. We placed it in his birthday card and later I'll put it in his special box... I hope some day he will read it and know how incredible he was first from the start. 

Joey,

When I look at you I can't help but smile in my heart. The first time I heard your cries my eyes filled with tears of joy and today as you, Dad and I celebrate your first birthday I can't help but think about that night, the moment that Daddy and my lives changed forever.

Since that first night we have grown so much as a family. We've learned from each other daily. Dad and I try our best and you remind us what it's like to see the world from your eyes. You help me  understand the most important things in life. From the moment I walk into your room each morning you fill my heart with joy. You used to gaze up at me from your crib and smile that once gummy smile. And now on mornings like this you eagerly pull the curtain aside and point at the sunrise just past the "big digger".

You are amazed with yourself, crawling, standing up, cruising on your own, exploring your world. You pinch with your fingers while eating O's on my lap each morning, the two of us curled up under you blanket. You lay in my arms, heavy but I could hold you so for the rest of my life. Your hair smells so sweet and your head, warm on my cheek so soft, so innocent. your voice unmistakeable as you point to birds at the feeder, laugh at a tickle, and cry as I leave for work each day. I promise always to come back to each night.

We promise to say no, less and distract you more.

We promise to think about what is best for you even of it's not best for Daddy and I.

We promise to show you how incredible the earth is even if Daddy isn't overly excited out walking sticks.

We promise to hold your hand even through your struggles.

We promise to let you struggle from time to time.

We promise to let you become the person you want to be.

We promise to love you more each day unconditionally.

Jojo, you are the best thing Daddy and I have ever done.

The world is a better place because of you.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

We love you more than the sky is tall and the ocean is deep.

Mama & Daddy

P.S. Mama thinks you are the sweetest little boy in the whole world, and the world is a pretty big place.

ALL THE LOVE IN THE UNIVERSE!

More Snow

It snowed again... But I'm thankful. As the weather warms I sometimes forget how nice it is to just sit around and live. Thats what we did today. Made more bread, pizza dough and spice cake. Watched the birds eat at the feeder and played on the floor in our tent.

This was from snack time today. He had milk and cheese ducks... When I look at this photo I see a little a baby that has made the journey to a little boy. I'm incredibly excited and slightly saddened by this.
A week from today he will be a year old... It's kind of bitter sweet.

Grandma.

She's 80 today. That's 52 more years of learning lessons, living courageously, and loving whole heartily than I have. She one heck of a lady. "the thing of it is" life's to short to always play by the rules. Some times you have to make up your own.



All the LOVE in the universe.

Horder

Two weeks ago I swiped my little plastic card at the Apple Store and brought home a new iMac to the Antrosiglio house. Our thoughts were that we would convert our old one to a server and I could finally retire my very loyal, but aging MacBook Pro. Instead of just putting it up on a shelf and using the hard drive as a place to store the things that I may miss someday in the distant future, I'm giving it up, and giving it to my sister who I'm sure will get a good couple of years out of the old girl. After all how much power does it really take to surf the internet? 


I thought this would be easy, cleaning up the last six years of my digital existence. Not so much. In that time I've gotten engaged, married, had a baby, been on numerous vacations, created handfuls of birth announcements, Christmas cards, shower and wedding invitations and a few surprise birthday parties. 


I've had to move all it to new places and hope that I haven't forgotten anything. The thought of losing any of those photographs that someday my family will look back at when I'm no longer here makes my skin crawl. 


It's been a great two weeks rediscovering all those moments that have come and gone again. Like finding old notes from high school or a dollar in the street. I even came across the the first email John had ever written to me. I still swoon now like I did then. I hope someday our grandchildren will have them to read and know just how much we loved each other. 


Here's a screen shot from all my cleaning. Cir. sometime last summer. It's hot and there are pickles. You can't ask for anything more than that. 

Maybe I'm obsessing to much but after all isn't all this stuff, all these memories, the foundation of our family tree, and
the toughest part of any tree is its roots. 


Today I'm thankful for:
#11 The ability to back up my digital existence
#12 the Open window in my bedroom 
#80 my grandmother on her 80th birthday. 

All the LOVE in the universe

Gull and Cheese

Green Grass Dreaming

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained some more. And the snow, there are still traces of it everywhere.

It's about this time every year that I've had all my fill of winter. I think about it often, being overtaken with an euphoria the moment I feel the warm south wind on my face, when the grass greens up. It's so wonderful, the smell of earthworms. When I can spend well deserve time in my flower gardens cleaning up what I left behind in the fall. Fifty degrees is tropical in March.

I took the long way home yesterday. I bumped and dipped my way down the back roads just for a change of pace. It clears my mind and gives me a feeling like nothing else. Those bumpy roads wake my soul.


The snow lays on the earth like a afghan.



Rain on the window as wipers, whip, back, and forth. Beautiful.


Good friends came for dinner last night. Tulips and jelly jars remind me of spring.

Today I'm thankful for:
#8 Rainy days
#9 The way my husband smells after a shower.
# 10 Dirt roads because real life doesn't happen along the highway.

Thanks mom

My mom came to visit a few days ago and she put jojo in the toy box just to have a little fun. Now he thinks it is the best place ever and for a few moments at a time he is so quiet looking at all those "baby" toys that I almost forget about the little guy, almost.







Today I'm thankful for:
#5 Muck boots, it's pretty wet out there.
#6 The five minute phone call with my mom tonight.
#7 My babbling baby. He always sings the best songs.

All the LOVE in the universe!

I got a feeling

Some days when I open my eyes I just know, I know that when I throw back the covers and place my feet on the the floor everything is just going to come together. I love those days. It seems more and more world is on my side.

It's the little things in life that make it worth living. Sunshine coming in the window, the pot of tulips just waiting to open on my kitchen table, the way John's arms feel around me at the end of a long day. I've been making a a serious effort to change the way I see the world. To make the most of the times when life makes my blood boil and to remember to sit back and enjoy the things that give me that lump in the back of my throat.

Yesterday as I was getting out of the shower I was listening to John and Joey downstairs. " Shhhhhh,  Joey don't you want to learn about yeast." John said. We've been making bread and enjoying it very much. I couldn't help but chuckle.

A couple weeks ago marked John's fourth year here in the mitten state. It's hard to believe that it's been that long. He's changed so much since we first met. He's still the loving, kind hearted man I fell in love with but he's really taken to the laid back lifestyle of the midwest. He loves looking up at the stars at night, stopped smoking, makes bread, drives a tractor, helps me in the garden, gets his hair cut at a place with one chair and a $7 price tag. He's left his banded bottom polo shirts for t-shirts with Joey puke stains and holes and He's more excited about a Radio Flyer wagon and this summers flea market season than I am.

Yesterday as we were searching for a new cat food at the store he was reading the labels. When I asked him what he was looking for he turned to me and said, "I just want to make sure there is more than beaks and claws in n here." He watches out for all of us, even the cat.

Here's a few from the past couple days.

 In the playpen and loving it. 

 He's getting faster and faster. Not even the giant mess of toys on the living room floor slows him down.

 I have to sneak in photos of him playing. He's always looking my way these days.

 John dancing in the kitchen for Jojo.

The world is such a crazy place that I think to better help my new mindset I'm going to list a few things with each post that I am thankful for.

I'm thankful for:

#1 The ability to photograph the life of my family.

#2 My boss calling me this morning to tell me I have an hour and a half of extra time this morning.

#3 The dryer without it I'd be wearing wet jeans to work.

#4 Nap time, I don't believe this really needs an explanation.

ALL THE LOVE IN THE UNIVERSE

Fish

The boy leaves a ring in the tub... Every time.

Progress

That's right we were on a roll today. I knew from the moment I opened my eyes this morning it was going to be one heck of a great day. I mean can you really have two bad days in a row? Fate has got to tip a hat to you once in a while.

Joey spared us a poopy diaper right from the get go. And because he didn't smell like a dumpster fire we played for a few minutes in our bed. If you get to him before he's had time to discover he's awake the little guy actually feels like cuddling. And John and I can never get enough.


John got a hair cut and Joey and I both made it through breakfast without wearing oatmeal in our hair. And we were off to the balk food store in Sandusky. We headed north to pick up bread flour for a grand adventure in bread making in the afternoon.We made bread for the fist time ever. It smells so good.


To bad I butchered the loaf with a dull bread knife. I'll have to work on my loaf carving skills.

I tried hard to enjoy playing this afternoon. I am still learning to set the chores aside, turn the tv off and put my adult life on hold so that we can have time to play. I read "Mr. Brown can Moo can you" four times today not because I was thrilled with "dribble dribble dribble drop" but because when Joey lays back in my lap and smiles I know we both are right were we need to be.



He loves looking out the window so much now. I just wish we had one he could always see out. I guess it just means I'm going to spend some time looking at the outside. In the end it's probably good for both him and I.


I started giving Joey laundry basket rides in the hallway up stairs. He loves it. And it's good to get my blood pumping. It's hard work. Tonight Leslie came over and joined in the fun.

-ALL THE LOVE IN THE UNIVERSE-