Time Away from Reality

So here I sit, margarita in hand, thinking about how quickly this week has flown by...vacations always do, don't they? The Outer Banks have been very, very kind to us. It has been heavenly to have this week between Pete's last day at Parker and the start of his new job in Columbia on September 2nd. We have hardly thought about the time we'll have to be apart and the tough transition ahead of us...of course until just now, as I couldn't help but bring it up as I touch base with reality online! Anyway, it has been great to spend with our family, and just try (try as hard as one can with two toddlers) to relax....

I am sure things will get interesting around here over the next few months, so stay posted to my musings and the adventure that the Agliata's are about to endure...I promise if nothing else, it will be entertaining!!!

Hope you are all well and enjoying the last few weeks of summer...

Love, Kate

Heading to the Outer Banks!

What a frustrating morning! I went to get two pints of paint made, somewhere where I should have known better to go, and an hour and ten minutes later, had a LIST of problems that had occured with the ***** paint guys making my paint. They were actually the most absurd things too- just an example- they didn't put the lid of the can on tight enough and when I put it on the bottom of my cart, it fell over, opening up and spilling paint everywhere!

Okay, enough complaining...I will never ever shop at WAL-MART again!!! I vow to you all right now!

Moving on, I want to send out a HUGE congratulations to my dear friend, Jennifer, who had her second baby boy, Ty, this past weekend. Every one is doing well and wow, he is a beautiful baby!!!

Not much else to write today, I need to pack up our things and get the car loaded up for our long journey to the Outer Banks in NC tomorrow... I will try and post while there, but if not, I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll be back posting in September!

Love, Kate

Sweet Nate

My Sweet Boy

So, I know I am slightly biased, okay, maybe more than slightly, but never the less, is this child not the cutest you have ever laid your eyes on (with the exception of his sister, Juliana, of course!)??????

Can you even believe he is THREE YEARS OLD now? Okay, maybe you can, because it's no big deal to you. But to me, to me...his sweet little childhood is simply going by way, WAY too fast! He is about to start his second year of preschool and he'll go three days a week. It is hard to believe that soon he will be going to school full time and coming home with homework and making new friends and dating girls and driving a car and getting married.....AHAHAHA!!!!! Okay, I've slowed down, for now I will just enjoy continuing to watch him grow into such an unbelievably handsome, smart, witty, caring, sweet little boy....

Oh, and for those of you who never saw this really, cute (I really mean hilarious) photo of my poor babe stuffed into a super small infant swim suit while vacationing in the Outer Banks, NC a few years ago...

Enjoy!

Summer Food Indulging

One of my most favorite things about Summer is being able to use so many fresh ingrediants in our cooking. Today was one of those days where we were just all about creating new recipes and enjoying the fruit of our labor.



The kids and I had fun creating our own frozen fruit Popsicles (made with a secret GREEN juice blend including broccoli, spinach and wheatgerm...hahahahahah!!!!!).





Juliana helped by dropping the strawberries into the blender and Nate by pushing all of the necessary blending buttons (of course).

Later on, we concocted our own Smoked Chicken Risotto recipe, (with leftover smoked chicken from the night before) and I must say, it was quite a success! (Recipe will come later today)

In addition, part of our preparation for a week long trip to the Outer Banks in NC next week, included smoking twenty (that's right, I said 20!) pounds of Boston Pork Butt to freeze and serve up to the 22 people who will all be staying in one house together!

A total of 13 hours was needed to get it to be JUST right, and at 11 pm last night as Pete and I stuck our forks into the two "butts" to begin the shredding....we soon realized that it was definitely going to be well worth the long day! A half hour later, meat having fallen right off the bone like butter, barbecue sauce added, and pulled pork stored in zip lock bags, we fed some scraps to the dogs and headed off to bed- where we dreamed of savory pulled pork sandwiches!

All in all, I have to say it was a fun day filled with excellent food resulting in very satisfied bellies!
Happy Monday to everyone!

More later, Kate

If you LOVE, or even LIKE food, check this out!!!

I have found the most wonderful, unique food web site! I stumbled across Foodgawker on the even more unique web site, thepioneerwoman and have become completely hooked! The amazing photos of unbelievably delicious looking foods are what really grab your attention at first glimpse, but then you realize that a small click upon each one actually links you to another food web site or blog where you can find the recipe and usually a whole lot more!

Here are just a few of the links that we found appealing and couldn't help but check out for ourselves!

Crabbycook.com

Buttermilk and Pinecones

Smell and taste are my memory

mealmakeovermoms.com

carmencooks.wordpress.com

soyandpepper.com

If you LOVE food and are interested in seeing some amazing looking food, PLEASE visit this web site and pass it on to your friends. I promise, you will be refreshed and smitten over it!

Happy browsing!

Love, Kate

Let's Get Her Sold!

Happy Friday! What a crazy, crazy week it has been around here. As I think I mentioned in my previous post, WE ARE MOVING (!!!!!!) and if you can't tell, I am slightly, okay really, really, really excited about it!!! I spent the last few days in a frenzy trying to get the house in shape to put on the market, and we actually had some people come and look at it yesterday!

I displayed roses from the garden on our counter tops and made sure that the house smelled good by having scented wax burning all day. Any other suggestions or tips on making the house

more appealing to potential buyers?

To the left is a picture of our kitchen....Help! We are so anxious to get this place sold!

I am still feeling a bit under the weather, colds really do seem to last longer in the summer, don't they? So, we have another boring weekend in Dublin and then next Friday, we are off to the Outer Banks in NC with Pete's family for a week. Wish us luck for the super long car drive with two toddlers!

We're looking forward to the beach and time for family...then Pete will move to Columbia and the reality of what we've gotten ourselves into will really kick in!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Kate

WE ARE MOVING!!!!!!!

I am finally free to talk about the craziness that has been our life for the past month or so! Yesterday, my husband, Pete, gave two weeks notice to his current employer and accepted a new job in Columbia SC!!!!!!

Needless to say, we are super excited about the move and what it will do for our family! Dublin GA has been good to our family for the most part, and the friends we have made here have been truly wonderful. Yet at the same time, there has been so much that we feel we have been missing out on. Having grown up in larger areas in the North, both Pete and I had opportunities to travel and gain many wonderful experiences through our families and their backgrounds and through the diverse culture residing in our own communities. That is something we feel is lacking here, and we truly feel like it would be an injustice to our own children if they were to miss out on those experiences and opportunities.

In addition, you may have noticed that I have become somewhat passionate about aiding in righting the wrong of civilization's carelessness in terms of the environment. It has been extremely frustrating living in a community where people either don't care or are just too uneducated to know the difference their impact could make. As I told a friend recently who alluded to my passion as a "hobby" of sorts, it is everyone's responsibility to wake up and start making more Eco-friendly changes in their daily lives, not just those of us who happen to be passionate about it. The community we are moving to has curbside pick up for recycling, which to many of you is the NORM and is no big deal, but to me, it is amazing and unreal and absolutely wonderful!

In Columbia, the state's capital, there is a renowned art museum, children's museum, countless other museums, a zoo, botanical gardens, a HUGE lake, a free summer concert series, theater, arts, nightlife, actual fine dining- at establishments other then the Red Lobster and Applebees and of course, one of the bigger tickets (for us anyhow) multiple Catholic Churches to choose from (some having parishes with as many as 800-1000 members!).

I think it is safe to say that I honestly feel like we are coming home. We have not connected with the Dublin community in many ways and I am confident that things will be incredible different with this change for us.

I hope you all come and visit us in Columbia!!!!!

Run of the Mill

I am in day two of a massive head cold, so please excuse my short post today....

We had a great weekend after an emotional roller coaster of a week! On Saturday we spent the day in Atlanta visiting with Pete's mom who was down from Buffalo for business. We went to the aquarium and were blown away by the incredible marine life inhabiting the place. I'm not sure which was more overwhelming- the amount of fish or the amount of people- it was insane!

Anyway, all else is well...more later! Love, Kate

Appreciation of Learning

One of the greatest aspects of parenting is all of the amazing things you get to share with and teach to your children. Every day is a new adventure and a whole new learning experience for them as well as me! Lately, I have seen incredible progression in both of my children's mental and emotional development. Juliana has such a fervor for books, that I can see her learning to read in the next few months! Okay, maybe that is exaggerating a bit, but really, she must approach me ten times a day with book in hand, asking me to read it to her.

Nate is becoming more and more creative and imaginative. He'll pack up his backpack, grab his binoculars and head off on a forest adventure through the living room.

In appreciation of this teaching and learning, I would like to share with you my friend Liz's latest efforts to educate her children about the importance of making a great contribution toward living a more Eco-friendly life. Please check out this link!

http://rackley4.blogspot.com/2008/07/kids-recycling-center.html

That is all for now, we're off to go for a swim at a friend's house.
Love, Kate

11:38 AM UPDATE....Well, we just semi survived our first dual meltdown. After being invited over to swim at the home of a retired couple from our church, Nate and Jules lasted about 28 minutes before they had every float imaginable in the pool and each refusing to go in for more than a minute. Then they wanted to go inside-the house. When I expressed to each of them that that was not an option, well, you can guess, all H*ll broke loose. I actually had to straddle Jules to the ground to get her changed and into the car - she was turning purple from putting up such a struggle. And Nate, well, he just stood there crying his poor little eyes out. I have never been so embarrassed in my life!

Oh, except when Jules had a meltdown at the grocery store last week and Nate Nate ran out into the parking lot while we were at the cash register....Humm, could this be some sort of horrid pattern starting? Toddler hood is so much fun!!!!!!!

We've Gone Cloth!

I just wanted to update you all on my cloth diaper experience! We have been using them for about two weeks now and despite a few bumps in the road, I am feeling really great about my decision to incorporate them into our life.

One of the "bumps" could have been spotted a mile away if I had any sense to follow the logic that would ensue my purchasing the cheaper diapers. Of course they don't hold up as well and of course, they are already starting to fall apart at the seams (yes, literally) (warning: stay far away from the Yucky Duck brand of cloth diapers). It's a bad habit in my family- buy cheap and save money now, think about consequences later.

So anyway, I learned my lesson the hard way after letting Jules sleep in one of these overnight only to have the poor babe wake up soaking wet. Worse, however, was that her favorite blankie AND it's backup were both soaking wet as well. We had a major meltdown as a result of their two hour absence while they "had a bath."


But, soon enough I caught on to the problem and quickly ordered a few more of the more reliable (expensive) kind. And wow, moral of the story- you really DO get what you pay for! As you can see above, even Sophie, our weimaraner, is impressed with these diapers! (please excuse the horrible plastic carpet covering- we have it there to protect the carpeting when the dogs come in from outside- I swear we remove it when guests come over!).

Here is Jules playing hide and seek with Sophie- AKA the poor animal under the above mentioned blankie!

Love, Kate

We're Back...Again!

Hi! Anyone there? Remember me, the one who claimed she would blog, blog, blog her days away? Well, I am back from yet another round of summer getaways....no, it wasn't any fancy hotel or time alone with hubby this time around, but we did have a great time!

The kids and I took off the middle of last week and headed to Savannah to visit with my sister, Krista and her new husband, Michael. With much on the mind these days, we all needed a little distraction, and for goodness sake, something fun to do besides swing on the swings in our backyard at 8 am and 8 pm (it's too hot any other times of day) and making weekly trips to the library!

On our first day there, we went to The Little Jumping Bean, an awesome place filled with those huge inflatables to bounce in. The cool thing about this place is that it caters specifically to children six and under. As you can imagine it was a huge success with Nate and Jules. We spent the following days at various playgrounds, the outdoor pool and really cool water fountain/sprinklers at the YMCA, and of course, the BEACH! In addition, we got to spend a day with my mom who came down from NC on Saturday to spend the week helping Krista recover from her upcoming shoulder surgery.

I even had the chance to do a little tax free shopping for all of us (tax free weekend for back to school) and took advantage of shopping alone while Krista and my mom watched the kids....it was such a strange feeling to be free to spend however much time I needed and not to just run into a store really quickly with two energetic toddlers for exactly what was on a short list...and nothing more!

Fun was had by all at the beach, except for Michael, who in the first five minutes of dipping himself into the water was stung by a fierce and unforgiving jellyfish! I was really touched by the fact that he hung in there for about an hour despite the pain, just so the kids could have some fun playing in the sand and the water. Thank you Michael!

So all in all, it was a fantastic getaway. We are all rejuvenated and ready to start another week in Dudley, GA....at least I think we are......