Fathers

I love this video. Made me tear up thinking about my Heavenly Father and how we can learn more about Him as we parent and love children. It was very fitting that as soon as I finished watching it, Luke ran up to me and said, "More cereal please. Bye" and ran away.

It also made me want to have a bright 1950's farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, which is not a dream I have very often :)

Nice & Sweet

I am so proud of this boy:

Even if he makes this face in most pictures:

Today we had parent/teacher conferences. I don't know if I already mentioned it, but Luke graduated from the Special Needs Preschool that he went to last year (it wasn't a formal graduation...he just tested out). It took him a little while to be interested in speaking clearly and using fine motor skills, but he really took off after a year in that program and I am forever grateful to those angel teachers of his. They still keep in touch with us from C-bus and want to know how Luke is doing. There is nothing like an amazing teacher...I wish I had a million dollars to give them. 

Now he goes to a co-op preschool. Co-ops are really common here. In case you've never heard of it, it is a totally normal preschool with a real certified (awesome) teacher and two large classrooms. The only thing a little different is that parents are heavily involved in assisting in the classroom and having other responsibilities to keep it all running smoothly...making the cost a little less expensive. It took me a while to get him enrolled and he has only been going for a few weeks, but today I got to talk to his teacher one-on-one. She is so nice...I'm sure she makes every parent feel so darn proud of their kid. I was no exception. She ended by saying, very sincerely, how Luke is such a very nice and sweet boy. It's true.

Except maybe, when he's doing this:

But how could a little brother be mad for long when his tormentor big brother has such a congenial laugh and friendly disposition?

I have to say that even though Luke really knows how to push my buttons sometimes, I couldn't be more grateful for this sweet boy in my life. Lately, he is SO into being funny. He tries all day to make jokes. I don't always know how to respond. Example:

In the car...totally randomly...

Luke: "Find someone else to be your yo-yo!"

[silence]

Luke: "Was that funny Mom?"

Me: "Ummm... I guess"

Or tonight, I was laying down next to him as he fell asleep and I started playing with his hair. He kind of jumped and said, "what was THAT?!". Then when he saw my hand, he laughed and said, "Oh, I thought it was my curtain!!" (his curtain hangs right behind his bed). He was dying of laughter. I mean, could hardly breathe! The next 15 minutes consisted of jokes along this line. He wanted me to touch his hair and then he would say "What!? Oh I thought it was _____ (fill in the blank)". All the while, laughing with tears in his eyes. I couldn't help but laugh too. He was having so much fun. 

He is always asking me, "Do you think I'm funny Mom?" I'm getting a little concerned that he cares too much about being funny (Don't all McCann's to be honest?!). So I always tell him that he is so funny and makes me laugh and smile. But even more important than being funny, is being kind and good. He is definitely those things as well.

And he builds amazing things. Like this little garage for his cars.

Thanks to this book, he has filled our walls with fun pictures...

And what is a blog post without pics of this cutie...

Aren't pictures worth a thousand words?

Do you even have to ask why I will still get up in the middle of the night when this kiddo yells out my name? He is way too much fun to cuddle with.

But having a big brother is tough sometimes!

My Enchiladas Recipe

It has taken me a while to find an enchiladas recipe that I'm completely happy with. So yesterday during an unexpected nap for BOTH my boys, I had time to play around a little. I loved how it turned out. This post is mostly so I don't forget what I did :).

To be completely fair:
- They probably aren't technically enchiladas. Maybe just fancy burritos.
- My kids didn't really eat them. For Luke it is no surprise, but Cam took one bite, said "yummy", and was done. Enchiladas are a little too complicated for him so he just ate the guacamole.
- The real secret is the topping of guacamole and mango salsa (from Costco). Admittedly this is where 80% of the flavor comes from. I think you could put guac and salsa on cardboard and it would taste good (I might be biased...guacamole is my favorite food).

Here it goes...

Ingredients:

-1 zucchini

-1 yellow squash

-2 or 3 chicken breasts

-garlic

-peppers in any color (green, red, yellow or orange...about 3/4 cup)

-1 can black beans

-half bag of spinach

-cumin

-garlic salt

-tortillas

-can of diced green chilies (optional)

-cheese (I use Monterrey Jack cheese)

-about 1/4 cup of cream or milk)

-avocados

-salsa

First, boil some chicken to shred. I used two chicken breasts. It always turns out too dry when I boil them, but I just found the best way to cook them here. By far it produced the best shredded chicken I've ever personally made. And it was easy.

Second, in a pan saute about a 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, 1 chopped zucchini, 1 chopped yellow squash, some chopped pepper (I had assorted yellow, red and orange peppers in my freezer that I used). After about 4 minutes, add a can of drained black beans and half a bag of spinach. Cook until heated through and sprinkle with some cumin. Separately, shred chicken and season with some garlic salt, set aside.

Arrange enchiladas by putting cheese, shredded chicken and veggie mixture in each flour tortilla. Roll and place in glass baking dish. In a bowl, melt some monterrey jack cheese with a little cream (in microwave) and stir until smooth (I also added some canned diced green chilies). Pour over enchiladas. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Serve with guacamole and Costco's mango salsa on top.

-Note, lately to make guacamole I just mash avocados with some plain greek yogurt, lemon juice and garlic salt, all to taste.

I'm no foodie photographer but what you see is what you get. And yeah, I clearly really like guacamole :)

Lezzeno, Bellagio, Varenna, Bergamo - DAY 3

This is part of a series of photos from our Italy trip. 

To see other Italy posts, click on Intro, Day 1, and Day 2

Lezzeno

Our second night in Italy we didn't get to our bed & breakfast in Lezzeno until after dark. I knew it was an incredible location, but I didn't fully realize how awesome it was until I opened my eyes and looked out the window in the morning.

Isn't this view incredible!? I wish we could have stayed a few more days. The water came right up to our "backyard". 

We went downstairs and found a little kitchen set up with tons of fresh, delicious food to eat. It was a dream!

This was our view from the balcony. If you look closely you can see a man on the dock fishing.

They also had little kayaks just sitting on the shore, for anyone to use. 

Our place was the red building behind us called "Nest on the Lake" (thank you Dansies for the recommendation).

For me each new scene was so beautiful and struck me with extreme reverence, but for Andrew it went beyond that...this was his home for 9 months and each scene was not new for him but held deep significance. 

From the boat we could see where Andrew took this picture when he was a missionary here over a decade ago:

If you look at the picture below just above the little town and see a trail going up the mountain...that is where he took the picture from.

Isn't this woman gorgeous! Those Staceys lucked out in the gene pool.

At this point I could have hopped a plane back home and felt completely fulfilled. Not that I wanted to leave, but it just felt like it couldn't get any better than this...kayaking in Lake Como surrounded by the Swiss Alps.

Bellagio

We drove to Bellagio which was just a little further north. Even though it was more touristy, I didn't mind at all. It was still dreamy.

I know, it's blurry. But I love when I can catch one of Andrew's awesome faces. 

After some window shopping, we hopped on a ferry to little town called Varenna.

(This is a view of Bellagio from the ferry)

Varenna

Varenna was also charming, without all the tourists.

We arrived during siesta and most of the stores were closed.

There is always a church to explore. This one didn't seem advertised or well-known. We just stumbled upon it. This church, I believe, was built around 600 AD.

A sun dial on the wall of someone's home

I took about a thousand pictures of doorways.

We hiked up to a fort on top of a hill

At the top there was a kind of creepy statue of someone looking out over the water. 

Bergamo

After descending the mountain, we said goodbye to the most beautiful lake in the world and jumped in the car headed next to Bergamo.

The newer part of Bergamo that you see in the background is actually kind of a hip college town. But above it is the old walled city of Bergamo (called Citta Alta) that you enter by way of a stone road...it feels like crossing the drawbridge of a castle.

In Bergamo, we were on a quest to recreate this picture, also taken in Bergamo over a decade ago:

But the sun was quickly sinking and this was the closest I got (Marika has some better ones)

Do you think we were tired yet?

The answer is, only when we sat down for longer than 5 minutes.

I wish we had more time in Bergamo. Just like everywhere else we visited, it was enchanting and beautiful.

(this picture was going to be so awesome, but a very impatient driver doing a hundred-point turn sort of messed it up)

After this we went to Iper...reminiscent of an American Walmart except waaaaay better food. We were all drooling so much over how cheap all the good fruits, meats and cheeses were, that admittedly we stayed a little too long. Around 10 pm we started driving to Genova, arriving around 3am (thanks to some road closures). It was a long, amazing day!

Up Next: The Cinque Terre