YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!

A reminder that mom isn't just trying to ruin your fun--she makes those rules because it really can happen!!!

Eli made another trip to the emergency room when Adam's aim was a bit too sure with the "bow and arrow" (made at a church activity sponsored by the Elder's quorum--stick& string bow and a pointed wooden skewer for the arrow, yikes. I had confiscated this long ago and thought it was gone, but...)

David and I are making dinner when we hear the scream from Eli. His hand was over his eye (not good). Adam was frozen holding the bow and the skewer was on the ground.

It had hit the white of Eli's eye not 1/8 inch from his iris. It grazed off the tissue and his tears were tinted red--freaky!

Eli was possibly out-done in crying by Adam, who felt so bad, especially when he knew Eli had to go to the hospital. Gabriel joined in a bit and let me know, with a very stern face and his hand on his hip, that I shouldn't take Eli to the doctor since he didn't want to go.

After just 1 hour Eli and David returned from the emergency room. Eli has a patch on his eye, he isn't supposed to watch TV or read for a couple of days, and I apply medication 3 times a day.

Hopefully a lesson learned--of course, the hard way!!

So, boys, when mom says, "Don't use Dad's garden hoe to dig out there! When you swing it over your head like that someone could get killed!"...on second thought, I'd better get rid of that hoe!

BOYS!!!!! sure do love 'em!

Frasassi Caves

We had heard about some caves about 2 hours away from us and decided to go check them out this past weekend.

It ended up being one of the most awesome places ever! The stalactites and stalagmites were unbelieveable! I truly had tears come to my eyes as I looked around me at these things which have taken thousands of years to form. We walked through the cave for over an hour, though I could have looked at it all for much longer.

The boys loved it (on the drive down the boys watched Planet Earth's Caves to really make it mean something)! It truly felt like you were in some sort of fantasy world.

I have seen some pretty neat buildings and art since living here, but there just isn't anything to compare with God-made, natural beauties. These things were made one drop at a time--a great analogy for sticking to it!

*You couldn't take pictures inside, but they had a camera and photographer set up in one place, so we bought this picture from them--the picture definitely does not do it justice.

A little snippet of our March

March was great, but I didn't have the blog up yet, so I decided to rewind a bit and share a couple fun pics from last month.

Adam turned 7 March 11th and wanted cowboy clothes for his birthday. Thanks to G&G Moss, and Aunt Jen (who shopped for me in Texas), he ended up all decked out and happy as can be! Doesn't he look great?!

Later in March we headed to Napoli (Naples). We got to climb a volcano (Vesuvio), and visit the ancient city of Pompei.

The hike up Vesuvio was cold, but it was cool to look into the mouth and see how high we were above the city. It is still an active volcano, so the boys were a bit concerned that it might blow--they were very disappointed not to see lava when they got to the top.

Pompei was really neat. It is a city which was buried in ash over a thousand years ago when Vesuvio blew. The kids favorite part was seeing the "dead people" (there are real casts of some of the bodies in the position they were in when they died). Otherwise, it was just a large rocky playscape to them.

Just A nother Day in Paradise

I love the country song by Phil Vassar called Just Another Day in Paradise, so I decided to try and think about my paradisical life when the "little things" go wrong.

Well, the other day, when David was out of town, I cooked eggs for the boys before school. Don't you hate it when they stick to the pan? I soaked the pan for many hours--a habit of mine which is easily accomplished since I often let my dishes sit all day before getting to them anyway!

When I finally tried to clean the pan, I had to use my fingernails to scrape off the egg. I was about ready to throw the pan out when I remembered this song. I realized that I was living "just another day in paradise" and these eggs weren't going to get me down!

I then saw them as something other than a mere mess--they became a wonderful message board for the note I wanted to send to my husband.

I am so blessed to be living, for the most part, the life of my dreams!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!!

we can't believe that Eli is 9 years old. We are too young to have one so grown-up!

He had a birthday party yesterday with a few friends. He still loves dinosaurs and happily received many dinosaur items--toys and books. He told me that his goal is to own every book in the world on dinosaurs--hmmm. He also loves knights and all midevil things, especially weaponry. He wanted his party to be themed around knights. Eli spent the day with his Dad on the train and in Florence (picking up Isaac's first passport), so Adam and I created a castle on our kitchen wall to surprize him when he got home--the path up the green hill and arches are all Adams creation. Eli's cake is supposed to be a shield and sword (he wanted a smiley face for his happy kingdom).

David asked Eli a couple days ago, "In your long 9 years, what is your proudest moment?"

Eli didn't skip a beat, but responded, "For some people that would be a hard question, but for me it is easy. It is when I hunted trilabites with Grandpa Von!"

We love our Eli. His energy is awe-inspiring, his desire for information is incredible, and his heart is pure gold. We are so glad that he is a part of our family!!!!

We are here! I have been so excited to start our own family blogsite. Such a fun way to let everyone know what we are up to. I will try to be good about keeping it updated.
SO fun!

Rebekah