Chocolate Festival

Within a couple of months of us moving into the house, we decided it was time to take a small day trip. On the list? A chocolate festival. Who isn't curious about that? We drove up to Udine and saw what it had to offer. We tried lots of different things and walked around the city. It has a huge mall and great shopping. But we didn't do any shopping at all. I was still pregnant.

While we were walking around, we found a cute both for kids. It had every character you can think of made of chocolate. Disney, hello kitty, animals, etc. Lots to choose from. We pushed A up to the booth and asked what she wanted. Guess what she chose? An alligator!

Here's a few pictures of that trip:

Rainy Days = Fun Activities

The other day I had to take A to an early morning appointment for myself and Baby E. While we were there, it began raining really bad. We were suppose to spend the day at the park, but because of the weather that wasn't going to happen. While we were waiting patiently for our appointment, I asked A what she would like to spend the day doing since we couldn't be outside. She looked down at her toes, then looked back up at me and said, "Paint Toes!!!" She said it very excitedly, and I desperately needed to paint mine as well. Perfect timing. So home we went. We laid Baby E down for her nap, then we picked out our nail polish colors and grabbed the rest of the gear to paint our toes. While we were picking out our colors, A insisted we pick out a color for E. I explained to her that Baby E is still a bit small, but if we got both of our's painting then we would reconsider painting E's when she woke up.

We laid our towel on the living room floor and gathered our tools. Of course, A wanted her's painted first so that is what we did. Then on to Mommy's.... I took a few pictures!

A went for the pink, and I went for the purple! I will be doing a review on the Piggy Paint and the Avon Finishing Spray! Absolutely purchased with my own money.

Baby E can roll at 3 months

I thought I would share the most recent video of Baby E rolling. No need to turn up the volume.... But her little roll is so cute and much different from the way A started rolling.

A's Two year Birthday

Lets talk about traveling... kind of.

For A's second birthday, we decided to take her to Genova down the Italian Rivera for some sights and lots of fun. Baby E was only a month old. We took the train 4 hours out down to the old harbor. She is really into mermaids and fish, as well as may other animals. I booked us a hotel room over the water and we had a pirate ship right out of our "back door". We had a nice balcony with seaside view and pirate ship view. It was very interesting, and a lot of fun. A would sit out there while I nursed E and just talk about all the people walking along and the ship. We did get to take her to see the ship and climb on it. She loved it. There was a mermaid carving on the ship as well, so she spotted that immediately. Not far from our hotel was a nice little park. It was the smallest little jungle gym possible, but it was perfect for A. It was basic, which is what she likes. We brought her out there to play one day. Then not far from that was a carnival type thing that is always set up. They have some blow up bouncy castles and slides as well as a few small rides. She was dying to "play" and since the trip was for her, we of course stopped and let her play. She loved the bouncy castle and slide combo so so much. More than I ever expected. She stayed on that thing for a good bit. The weather was perfect. Nice and warm without being too windy or hot for either of the kids. Mr. Man and I also took some time for ourselves. We ordered room service quiet a bit and walked around the town during nap times while the kids slept in the stroller. We found some interesting things, like bars and clubs as well as back alleys with cool cafes and stuff. It was neat and fun. We all enjoyed ourselves. Both babies did really well, and it was a nice break for all of us. I will insert some pictures from it now.

The pirate ship outside our hotel room.

A putting makeup on her Daddy.  He was such a trooper about this.

When we entered the aquarium, she was so excited. I bought her a book.

Looking at the penguins. This was a hot spot.

They also had a butterfly house. 

As soon as we entered our hotel room, both girls tested out the bed! KING SIZE, too! 

The little park. Can't you tell she loves it?

On the ship. 

Each day we walked back to the hotel room like this. E sleeping the bassinet part in the back and A passed out in the front.

E was our navigator most of the trip. She was such a good traveler! 

Hope you enjoyed!! :) 

Life update.

The last time I wrote a blog (other the one previous to this one) was on January 14 about my scrapbooking journey. Before that it was a week prior and I have no idea what it was even about. So I thought this would be a fresh start.

Let's go with it.

I go by Mrs. Ma'am here on the blog. My husband is Mr. Man. We have two beautiful daughters, A and Baby E. A is now 2 years old. Can you believe it?! She turned two at the beginning of April. We welcomed Baby E into the world on February 4, 2013. It was a quick delivery - too quick for comfort. She is now 3 months old. Of course we do still have Mr. Buttons - our wonderful miniature schnauzer. We are currently living in Italy because we are stationed at Aviano AB. We absolutely LOVE it here.

Life has been the same. Busy, busy, busy. I graduated in Elementary Education last fall. Mr. Man has started taking more steady classes for his own degree. I have been pushing for him to become more serious, and one day he just randomly realized how important it is. Again, just makes us busy.

Being in Italy doesn't allow much opportunity for working for me. So.... I have decided to sell all my crafting materials from my boutique and move on. Since I picked up photography, I have been photographing friends and family for free in the area. It is a great experience because I have been meeting new people, seeing new sights, and also building something that could be a career if I chose. It has been fun and exciting.

Other than that, this is what our life has been like. School, work, school, family, work, sightseeing, work... it never ends.

So what should I do the next post on? Maybe something about post partum? Traveling? Fitness? Recipes again? Meal planning? Like I said, this will be a fresh start since I am so out of routine with this whole blogging stuff.

It's Been Months...

I can't believe that it has been months since I wrote a blog post. To be honest, I was starting to feel like writing was becoming a chore, and there nothing in it for me. When I started blogging, it was a way for me to express myself. After all, my husband was deployed and I found an amazing support system through the blogging community.Most of those have now gone on with their lives, so I don't have that relationship with those anymore. I follow many blogs. More than I would like to admit, but I rarely get the chance to read them much less have time to write my own. As I sit here on this Saturday, Baby E is napping (which I never even announced her birth - THAT LONG), A is so independent and playing mega bloks, and Mr. Man is at work. I sit here with Home Alone playing in the background (A's favorite movie) thinking that it is time to update this site. Update my life, update the things that have been going on, and clear out my blog list that I don't even read anymore. Not for you, but for me. I miss seeing my journey. Where I have gone in life and the things I have done. I miss sharing the growth of our family, the hardships, and the amazing journeys. With that said, I will try and post every once in a while. Not every day, I can't even promise once a week or even once a month. But when I can, I will. I think the next post will just be a casual update with some pictures. Then I will move on from what has been going on and what we have been up to. I hope everyone is doing great, and I hope to someday be able to catch up with everyone and their lives! Until then... know that I do frequently think about all of you.