Bye, February! Hello Summer!

Whew!! The last few days here it has actually been *hot* in the car and about 65-70 degrees out in the afternoons! The girls and I have really enjoyed it and have been doing long walks through the neighborhood, eating lunch outside, and playing at the park! This weekend we are going orange picking with Valerie's little friends on an ITT Trip! I'll be sure to post how it went.

I have decided to start weight watchers online and see how it goes. After two c-sections in two years, I am ready to drop about 30 lbs. So far I believe I'm down 3. I figure if I post it for all to see, I'm more likely to stick to it. I was doing really well until Derrick came home last summer. ha ha. We'll just leave it at that. Wish me luck!!

Here are a few recent photos from the last couple days. Obviously the day with the hats was an early morning walk for mommy while the girls stayed bundled up in the stroller!!

Girls being silly

This is what happens when Ellie is supposed to be napping. Valerie decides to go in there with about 30 books and entertain her instead. lovely, ay?

And the countdown begins..

Derrick is off on his "trip" and doing well. Valerie & Lindsay got to chat with him on webcam last night which is a treat for Val, especially. She thinks watching herself on the camera is downright hilarious, let alone the fact that Daddy plays peekaboo with her! So far this makes for a much better situation than last year as we could go a week or so without hearing from! I will let him post about his job over there. From what I've heard so far, it's hot already and he sees lots of camels.



The girls are doing well. Luckily Ellie is a bit too young to know when someone is gone or not. Valerie is doing better this time but definitely understands that Daddy is not coming back for awhile. There is a Sesame Street DVD that the military gives out for free that helps talk about deployments and we watched that together. She will tell you that Daddy is on a trip, on an airplane, and that when he comes back she gets a birthday party. In fact she will talk to you about her 3rd birthday for hours, even if you try to change the subject!!!



Speaking of birthday's.. Eleanor turns 1 next month! I can hardly believe it. She's a big girl! Ellie is quite a bit tougher than Valerie as she has to be to keep her sister from trying to ride on her back when she's crawling. She's cruising, not yet walking, and likes to push things. Ellie doesn't talk too much though. Valerie was much more dramatic and talkative, yet not as active at this age. It is funny how different they are!



Not too much to share as of now.. I'll include a picture from Valentine's Day of my 3 loves:

a princess, a valentine, & mini me

This past weekend we had a going away party for Derrick's detachment and the divers joining them from Virginia. It was freezing but of course it didn't stop the guys from standing in a huddle outside playing darts. The women stayed inside by the food as usual. ;) We didn't do too much else this weekend as Derrick came down with the sigonella stomach bug. He thought he escaped it a few weeks ago but we think it won't die until every last sigonellan has had it atleast once!!!!

Saturday morning we had a "Valentine's breakfast" as we thought Derrick would be gone by now but got to stay a few extra days! Eleanor was baptized at our small little chapel church this weekend but I will post pics as I get them. A friend took so graciously took some for us during the ceremony! Here are a few random pics from the weekend:

*loving her candy (of course):
*Helping daddy cook:

*princess in her tutu and rainboots giving her piggy a ride on the tric:

Carnivale and Dinner for Due

We had a fantastic weekend! Taking advantage of Derrick's extra week before he left, we decided to get out and about again. Saturday we got a sitter and went to an agriturismo out in the country for an amazing meal. Agriturismos are farms that make all of their own produce, and usually olive oil, wine, ricotta cheese, pork, oranges, etc. Usually they have a restaurant and sometimes also offer rooms to stay and so forth. This one is out by Mineo and newly opened and renovated. For all of our Sig friends-- go check it out! It was quite possibly the best food we have had thurs far on the island. However do not eat all day before going. I believe we had 14 appetizers, 2 types of pasta, 3 types of meat, and 3 desserts. Also included was of course, red wine, water, and a few shots of liquor to end the meal. Derrick spent the entire evening lying in pain on the couch. hahaha. Unfortunately I forgot my camera- however they do have a website for those around here!

http://www.agriturismoborgoantico.net/

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Sunday we decided to head to Acireale's world famous Carnivale!! Carnivale has been around since 1601 in Sicily which is hard to imagine. It's very comparible to Mardi Gras, although women here do not flash for beads. We were glad that it was a family environment to take the kids to! The streets are covered in confetti and silly string. Valerie got her first bag of carnival confetti and definitely had fun with it. I believe we will be picking pieces of it out of our car for awhile. The floats have very loud music ranging from "Grease Lightening" (yes, in english!) to techno. There are kids in costumes everywhere and sweets, nuts, and candies to buy. It was such a great time - we would love to have visitors at this time next year enjoy it with us! Here are a few photos of Acireale-

Piazza in center of town. This is the end of the parade route. It is hard to see, but there is a large float to the left. It's amusing to watch these gigantic floats squeeze through the tiny streets!
One of the huge floats. They are made from paper mache and usually have dancers on board along with smoke and flashing lights!
They stay in one place for 10 minutes or so before moving on and another float follows several minutes later. It is very different from the parades in the States! You can buy small bags full of confetti for fairly cheap. This was obviously Valerie's favorite part. We also decided to spend 5 euro (ridiculous) for a gigantic Nemo helium balloon. This seemed like a great idea until we had to get through a huge crowd with the 2 kids and this huge balloon. ;)
Linds and Val
Ellie loves the backpack. These types of crowds are definitely not stroller friendly!
Just a pretty photo.

Have a great week!!!