Hanging out with the Cuz

Today we had two precious visitor come over to our house - my sister Eunice and her little man, Andrew!

Did we ever have a blast! :) We're so blessed to live real close to each other, but because of my morning sickness, and then my hubby's and Vivie's sickness we actually weren't able to see them for a whole MONTH!!!! Crazy, I know!! I almost didn't recognize this lil' handsome guy!!! He's all smiles and giggles and has a way of melting an aunt's heart - not to mention Viv's passionate love for him! :D 

So here's a few of our captions from our play-date today! :) Just LOOK at those smiles!!!

He's actually trying to be all serious on me here, explaining how he's gonna be chasing bunnies across the field one day :) . . . 

A cuddle-cuddle moment on our favourite blankie . . .

"Counting the toes, checkin' them twice..." Yep he's got all 10 of 'em! ;)

Aaaand we're holding hands - that's right! Best Cousins forever!!! I could just eat those two - 

aren't they so yummy?!?!?

Love is definitely in the air - or better said, in their hearts! :o) 

A heart-melter! 

Father God, please equip us with wisdom and love to guide these precious two gifts before Your throne, so they may live for Your glory alone and be Yours forever. Give them to your precious Son, 

our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Which way to the beach?

Ok, this was just too cute not to share :) 

As we went on our family walk today, Viv takes out her map and starts telling Daddy which way to go. I was just sooo amazed how grown-up she looks already! 

"Oh where oh where has my little girl gone, oh where oh where can she be??"...

We also stopped by the beach (no, we didn't walk :)!
Didn't really get a good sunset cuz of the clouds, but we got to do a lot of fun stuff like...

Taking pictures of our footsie-tootsies... :)

And throwing seashells into the ocean... A little blurry, sorry, but she wouldn't stay still :)

Oh how I love to spend time with my two hunnies! Feeling so blessed!!!!

Ratatouille

• 1 eggplant 
• 2 zucchinis
• bell mushrooms
• 3 carrots
• 2 potatoes (optional)
• crushed tomatoes (small can)
• tomatoe sauce (small can)
• about 1 Tbsp of sugar 
• spices: some salt, pepper, garlic powder
•  (or fresh garlic)
• herbs: oregano, basil leaf and anything else you think would make it taste amazing

*I personally like to add some poultry seasoning and a pinch of italian herb blend

1) cut up the eggplant into cubes and zucchini into quarters, add a little bit of water and cook on medium-high heat till it drops in size and becomes nice and mushy.

2) cut up the rest of the veggies and mushrooms and add with the rest of the ingredients to your big pot.

3) allow to simmer for a while, till all the flavours blend in nicely just like in the movie ;D
(and the carrots are on the softer side)

4) when ready to serve, put a nice heaping spoon full of sourcream on top, with a sprinkling of paprika or cayenne pepper!!!!!.. or a healthified version would use plain white yogurt  ... tastes just as amazing!

VIOLA and ENJOY!!!!! :o)

Dejavu at the Zoo

Can you BELIEVE this was our lil' girl just a year ago?!?!?!?! Look at those cute wittle chubby-cheeks, and that baby face! Oh, how I miss those times...

And now look at her - all grown up, telling her Mommy she's a "silly monkey". Hey! I have NO idea where she got THAT from... We had a TON of fun this time around - Viv absolutely LOVES animals!! If it was up to her, our house would be filled with little lizards and ladybugs and snails - anything she can get her hands on pretty much! :) Come to think of it, I think she got that from MY side of the family :))))

One of the cool attractions was being able to go on a Camel Ride - you had to pay 5 bucks though :) Maybe next year? I think Vivie enjoyed watching from a safe distance for now ;)

Anyhoo, what a great way to spend time with the family! Highly recommend it! Oh, and if you're ever in Naples, first Saturday of the month is free!:) You have to be a resident though!

Till next time!! :)

Tea With "AunTea" Sarah :o)

We had a special visitor come over today - Autie Sarah! Vivie invited her over for a piece of delish fruity 

no-bake cake. (Will post the recipe on here soon!) 

 This little girl was sooo thrilled to treat her Aunt this way - they were both very sweet! I often joke I'm gonna adopt Sarah one day :D . . .

                    

"What a nice big mouth you got there!"
She did eventually manage to get something in ;)

Here she's trying to feed Auntie Sarah, showing her how to open up her mouth nice n' wide. I tell ya - she'll make a wonderful big sis one day!!! ;)

Sarah was so sweet and patient with the lil' munchkin. . . What is she doing now, you might ask? Well, she's making sure Auntie's piece of cake doesn't taste better than her own... Kids!!! Gotta love 'em! :D

Children's Museum

Ok, we just went to the coolest place EVER!!!!!! (at least when it comes to Naples :D )

This place - The Children's Museum - is THE PLACE for the kiddos! Not to mention Rob&I quite enjoyed ourselves as well!! :) So here's one of the few things you'll get to see/do....

  

 You'll get to pretend you're driving a great big vehicle of some sort - after all, it's all about pushing big buttons and steering the wheel, right? :)

You'll also enter the 4-season room...
This one is Spring - you get to feed the birdies with seeds as they open and close their little beaks.
There's also Fall, where you rake cloth leaves that fall out of this big oak tree, and in Winter you get to build your own snow man!!! :) Sweeeet!

 Here you see Vivie practicing her fishing skills - she actually caught one all on her own! :)

 I think this was her favourite - WATER, of course!!
Boy, did we get wet!! :)

Mommy had to help out a bit, so she could get even MORE wet!
There were all these cool inventions being powered by water, Viv was so fascinated by it - really neat! :)

Here we got to draw on a HUGE blackboard with water and paintbrushes - brilliant! :) Then the sun would just dry it up...

My little hula-hoop princess...

A little blurry, but here you have us at a cute retro kiddie restaurant. Viv got to grill up some good hamburgers, and fry some fries... And then she brought the order out to her customer, Daddy! :) He was one happy man! :D

And last but not least, the kiddie play corner!!! :)
There was a ton more stuff to do, but this just about hit the right spot and let Vivie have a good nap afterwards...

If you have kiddos and you're new to Naples, this is DEFINITELY a "must-go-to-place"!!!

Highly recommend it!!! ;)

Artesian No-Knead Bread

Artesian or European-style bread! Can you say "yummers"?!?! 

This stuff is AMAZING!! You'll never ever wanna buy bread again!

Here is the recipe that we absolutely LOVE.

It's a fun video to watch! Can't get any easier than this! :o) 

Click here: Artesian No-Knead Bread Video