Happy Birthday, sis!

Happy Birthday to my sister Courtney!  We don’t get to see each other often but keep in touch by phone.  Miss you Court!

Most recent picture I have is this one from Christmas.  (besides the one you sent me on your phone of your horrible sunburn…)

Fairview Father Daughter Dance

Each year Fairview holds a Father Daughter Dance.  This year’s theme was a 50’s sock hop.  We watched some Grease YouTube clips and showed the girls potential outfits.  In the end, Isabella went Sandra Dee style and Vita went more in the style of Rizzo.  They had a lot of fun dancing with all their friends and hanging out with dad.  There was a photographer on hand to take pictures but it might be a while before we get those back.  Here are some pictures I took at our house Saturday evening before the dance.

Last Weekend

Last weekend Ben’s mom came down to watch the girls’ soccer games and we had lunch at our favorite place, Maggiano’s.  The girls had gluten-free pasta, Blackburn had mac-n-cheese and I had chicken parmesan.  I forget what Linda had (?) but a picture of Ben’s eggplant parmesan is below.  He had creme brulee for dessert.

Here are also a couple of  soccer photos from Vita’s game:

and a picture of grandma waving goodbye…

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.- via soulemama

Photo taken by Blackburn

Italian Luncheon

On Friday I left work to have lunch with Vita’s class.  The kids had decorated their classroom with green, white and red paper chains, menu maps of Italy, red checkered tablecloths and they served the parents spaghetti.  After lunch they gave a song and dance performance.  Here are some pictures from the lunch:

Mona Vita

Chef Vita

Plant and Horticultural Study

Last Thursday, Blackburn’s preschool class visited the University of Cincinnati’s greenhouse on the roof of Rieveschel Hall.  The kids were shown different types of flowers, herbs and toured the greenhouse which was 101 degrees that day!  His class is currently sprouting seeds which they will be able to bring home soon.

These were Blackburn’s favorite “the flowers that eats”.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.- via soulemama

Recent reminders

Sometimes its nice to be thought of and given a reminder why you are with the person you chose.  In the busy days of working, raising kids, housework, soccer schedules and homework helping,  the days can blur and time spent just the two of us, is rare.  Work has been extra hectic lately, so it was a nice surprise to receive roses last Monday from Ben.  For a moment, I thought I had forgotten an occasion, I opened the card and read “just because”.  The best kind of flowers.  They sat on my desk all week and allowed me to smile when I needed it the most.

I also received a lovely bag from New Orleans brought back from some Fairview parents.  Turns out, Ben had given them some money to bring back a little bit of New Orleans for me.

Aunt Sally’s Creole Pralines, New Orleans

They also chose beads, pralines, masks

Little reminders of why we still fit, despite the years, months and days that may sometimes hectically pass us by one minute then suspend in time the next.

Reminders…

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.- via soulemama

A quick note:

Vita spent the night at her first sleepover Saturday.  She went roller skating (we went with her because I didn’t feel comfortable with her going without us…baby steps, the actual sleepover was more than enough for me to worry about) then she went to her friend’s house where I am told she stayed up until 1:00 am, watched movies and jumped on a trampoline.  She had a blast!