Fall Days

October brings shorter days and a chill to the air along with many fun family moments.
I look forward to every year with great anticipation:
1) pumpkins! Yes, pumpkins are everywhere. Every year I gear up for the one day I get to practice my hand at a fleeting but wonderful art form – Halloween pumpkin carving! It will be a blast!
2) Hot apple cider has become my drink of choice this Fall.
3)Cold weather. Our move to Texas made me realize how nice it is to actually have the changing seasons. All the leaves on the trees are changing color and falling off and I love to turn the fireplace on.
4) watching Fall family movies together and watching scary movies with Mike, when the kids get to bed.

When the leaves are golden rolling down my street, it marks my favorite time of year.
Fall is the time when one sheds tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is chicken soup for the battered spirit.
When the air is cool, we spend time with family and friends, and every moment when my little family is gathered indoors to play board games and watch old movies.
A few of those days and all is well in the land of Tubiolo.
I feel like the future is wide open and filled with sun-dappled possibilities.
HAPPY FALL EVERYONE :)

Letter To the Bugs

Dear Nasty Flu Bugs:
I ask that you LEAVE now! Leave our home!
We have had ENOUGH! We got our flu shots and you have still been inhabiting my home for almost 2 weeks now! And you got to me and my son!

I understand that this is what you do and all that but can you go do it somewhere else?
I am tired of feeling like crap. I am tired of not being able to talk or breathe properly. I am tired of blowing my nose.

Seriously, enough is enough!
Also could you maybe depart from the rest of my kids too? Please.
My kids aren't as strong as me and I think between all of us, we have already gone through dozens of airborne, antibacterial soap, and hand sanitizer – all of which you seem resistant too. And you have ruined Ethan's chance at perfect attendance!!!

Its too much for us, we are a busy family and need all our energy.
So please – let us part TODAY!!!!!!!!!
Thank you

Swine Whine

My mom seemed to rarely get sick, and if she did, we never knew it, she never let it get her down.

I remember being sick as a child. My mom would make me chicken noodle soup, give me medicine, tuck me in bed, take my temperature, feel my forehead, and let me rest with peace and quiet.

Well….I'm not a kid anymore!!!

Last week, my allergies started to act up…or so I thought.

I was coughing and had a runny nose. I went to the CVS minute clinic, to make sure that it wasn't the flu: my test came back negative. As the days went on, it got worse.

I was achey and felt like my head and ears were stuffed with cotton. I felt TERRIBLE!

To top it all off, I woke up yesterday with NO voice!!! I had to yell just to get a whisper out. Me not being able to talk is NOT a good thing. After much teasing from the kids and hubby quoting the Godfather, I decided to not let it ruin my day. By the way, I can still text Nikki if I need to talk.

However, lunches still had to be made, kids still had to be dressed, we had football games to get to and the house still needed to be cleaned. I was not going to let this bug get me down....I am MOM!!!

I began to lose my energy, the piles of tissues were growing, and I just didn't feel like myself. Just then, Ethan started running a fever, coughing, vomitting...you get the picture.

So, there we were, me and Ethan, in bed...sick!

I won't go into details about the discharges, aches, and other syptoms we experienced.

Long story short...Me and Ethan caught the swine!!!! Yes, we got the swine flu and it is kicking my butt. It is horrible!!!!

I thought mother's weren't supposed to get sick. What is going on????

Dear Balloon Boy Parents......

I watched yesterday, completely engrossed in the live coverage on CNN. I watched the story unfold of your son, who was thought to be trapped in your home made aircraft; drifting through the Colorado sky. I watched in worry as the balloon floated away and I couldn't help but imagine the worst.

I was truly worried.

I gave you the benefit of the doubt, never did I think that someone could speculated such fraud. But I think it's pretty clear now that that is exactly what it was.You faked the potentially tragic death of your own son for publicity. You called the police and the news, pulling resources away from those who might have needed them.

IF this was a hoax ( see, i'm still trying to give you the benefit of a doubt):

You're not a hero.

You're just a piece of tabloid history.

Your children will have to live with the legacy of this and it will follow them for the rest of their lives.

and......you should be ashamed of yourselves!!!

NOT an Easy Bake Oven

I knew this day would come. After years of making the kids stay out of the kitchen while I am cooking and making them stay at least 200 feet from ANY flames, here I am teaching my kids to cook.

YIKES!

My kids love helping out in the kitchen: pouring and mixing ingredients. But, once the oven or stove goes on, the kitchen is off limits.

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day who informed me that her 11-year-old makes herself scrambled eggs in the morning and makes cakes, start to finish all the time. Well, Sydney is ten and a half. And I remember cooking all by myself when I was twelve. I realized that I needed to start sometime and now is as good time as any.

After much thought, I decided that teaching my kids how to use the oven first would be much easier than going right for the stove, and cookie baking season is coming up so, I went for oven lessons!!! I cheated, I had them bake their own pot pies. I needed to start out as basic as I could for my own sanity.

I didn't realize how many buttons are on my oven and the preheating process, which takes 6 minutes.... took ALL of that to explain why we preheat. What an ordeal!!!

So once we get passed that, the kids put their pot pies in the oven and set the timer according to the package.

30 minutes later, when the timer goes off, they all run for the oven. This could be a problem!

Finally, pot pies ready.

I was happy to see that they each were very careful and remembered their oven mits!

The kids were so proud and no one got burned!!!


At first I felt like I cheated them out of a REAL cooking lesson, but pot pies are not always easy to make.

Just click here to read my crazy pot pie story!!!

It's worth a good laugh!