BOYS WILL BE, ARE, MUST BE BOYS

I don't know if I am prepared to be the mother of these two boys. I found two power ranger suits today on total after Christmas clearance. I don't know what possessed me to buy them. I don't even let them watch the show because whenever I do the next three days are full of karate, crying and cursing. Well, I got them for them and I was like I had just given them THE greatest gift. They immediately put them on and of course I had to lovingly, loudly, remind them of the, "No kicking your brother" rule. Good luck figuring out who is who.

Serg on the right. Vanni on the Left

Giovanni

Sergio

"resting" after a long days work

NO MORE PROJECTS!!

I say this everytime I paint something. Today, I decided we needed a footstool. Marc and I like to snuggle on the couch and watch movies. I have really long legs and like to put them up on something. I have been using some old short barstools, but they make my legs go numb because they are just too high. Anyway, short story long, I found this cute black leather storage box, put some wheels on it and it actually is the perfect height. At least there was no paint involved.

new living room

I went into a thrift shop here the other day and saw a great black leather 3 seater couch with a matching chair that was in GREAT condition. We have had the same futon for almost the whole eight years we have been married. I made a horribly low offer on an already reduced price and the guy agreed, with delivery set for the next week. I came home and realized that I would have to rearrange the whole room to accomodate the bigger couch. I also decided to paint an old cabinet to make a new entertainment center for the new TV Marc contributed to our new room. It has two drawers for remotes and I cut a whole in the back for the wires to go through so that we could close the doors on the DVD, Wii and cable box. I think that it turned out great. So here are the pics, I will have to find a before pic. Don't tell Marc. He is out of town until the first of Feb and I thought I would see how long it takes him to notice the new living room. (By, the way, the couches, cabinet and paint still cost me less than what Marc paid for the TV, and he got a great after Christmas deal!!!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here are some pics of the boys rooms. That is right, they have room's' here. This is the biggest house we have had since we got married. The first picture is their bedroom. They have maps of the world, the US and Great Britain on the wall. The second picture is the toy room. It is the room right across the hall from their bedroom. The next picture is my favorite room in the house. It is the attic room off of the toy room. I bought a scrap of carpet, put up some dollar store posters of the ABC's and it is their secret hideout room. The last pic is just too cute. Happy New Year.

School Plays

The boys school here is technically a Church of England school. This means that they are still allowed to talk about God and Christ and all things religious. They don't teach doctrine, but we like that they are a school with faith based beliefs. They still have school plays here and obviously they still have a Christmas Play and can still call it a Christmas Play. The school has four grades. Nursery is our preschool. Reception is our Kindergarten. Year one and year two are equivalent to our first and second grades. Nursery and reception had its own play about the stable and Christ's birth. Year one and year two read The Night Before Christmas. Sergio was a sheep in the stable and Giovanni was one of the reindeer that pulled Santa's sleigh. The British are really creative and they can make almost anything from cardboard and glue. They just had the kids dress in all white, brown, grey or black. Then they wore masks that actually sat on their heads like hats so when they looked down, you could see the animal. It was too fun to watch the boys. Sergio was less than enthusiastic, but Giovanni loved it. Here are some pics. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night......"

BOYS,BOYS,BOYS

While we were at the Christmas Market, the boys played with the walkie-talkies. Here are my two budding spies. (Or is it criminals?!)

Our lovely Lincoln

Our town is rich in history. Every year it has a Christmas Market. People come from all over Europe to buy anything from ornaments to cheese to junk to gloves. It is so big that they have to shut down that part of the city for three days. It starts at the cathedral and winds right through the castle grounds. My mom was lucky enough to be here for it. It was sooo cold that we had to buy Giovanni wool socks and carry him for a couple of hours. We got hot chocolate and sat and watched all the people. Here are some pics of the cathedral and the castle. The cathedral is the HUGE one and the pic of the castle is at night.