Buon Anno 2009!

Happy New Year!
(this was actually before midnight-by the time the new year rolled around that red thing was saliva soaked and didnt roll out any more...ewww!)

Buon Apetito

Daddy Max rocks the New Years hat.

Everyone.

Our street by the time we got home.

Monday

Kids play trains.

Max celebrates the espresso machine working with a cup of java.

Chandler just picked up the clarinet and he can already jam!

TLC from TLC

Max looks out of his element. When I said that we need another kid he said: I'm not so sure anymore. They just sleep and eat and cry and poop all the time. 2 days later we watched Shrek 3 - where coincidentally Shrek says the exact same thing. Great I married an ogre.

the Craisis make Pizza!

Chandler pours in the flour.

PU the yeast stinks!

Tyler kneads, then rolls.

Ian gets crazy with the toppings.

Lucas and Sophia get in on the action too.
(I know Mike hates this pic, but I love it, I think Lucas looks so much like him when he says CHEESE!)

Christmas Cookies

I love making Christmas cookies and apparently so does Auntie Holly, she had sprinkles galore!

Shakin the sprinkles.

Tyler trims the tree.
Auntie Holly, Tristan and Chandler at the Christmas Cookie Extravaganza!

Mike makes an Italian flag inspired cookie.
Max gets in on the action.

Hey no lickies!, we're not done with that frosting yet!
Finally, the kids get to eat a cookie!
Look what Pia made.
Hmmmm I know just the medicine to make Ian-Banian better...
Christmas cookies cure EVERYTHING!

Ahhhm!

Over the river and through the woods to

Costco! That's right, England has Costco. Despite the fact the Cranes only live a few km (as the crow flies) from 2 Costcos (yes thats right there are 2), it takes FOREVER to get there! In fact we saw a bird flying parallel to us and it was actually going faster! It took so long, that even the driver (Holly) started saying 'Are we there yet?' Eventually we made it, but...apparently the car did not want Holly to fill it up with MORE shopping and trapped her (see foto below).

I actually think this was just a clever ruse of Holly's to get her Coach bag in a foto.

Big Ben. Tower of London. Blah Blah Blah...this is the real tourist attraction!

Howdy Neighbor...

Look it's Wilson. Oh wait, no that's just Auntie Holly, who despite having...

...got the coffee machine to work.

...had a cup of hot chocolate using the fixed machine

...made blueberry pancakes

...and cuddled the kids...

did not have enough time to also get dressed and do hair and make-up, hence the clever disguises.

Waitrose

Okay this is cool...waitrose (pronounced way-troze) is like Safeway. You can check out a scanner, scan your own items and be on your way without waiting in check-out. The scanner also prompts you for sales and specials of the items you are buying. cool, huh?

Land of Harry Potter, Colin Firth, Big Ben and much much more!

Diary of getting ready for Christmas out of home:
6:30 alarm on sleep.
6:45 turn off alarm.
6:50 get up, make coffee, check FB for the last time before departure
7:oo still on facebook, Sophia wakes up
7:05 pour cheerios and milk and back to FB
7:20 freak out that so much time was wasted on FB start trying to clean BA, kitch, LR, MB and sm BR (ie the whole house) and repack etc etc etc until..
13:00 pack car, drive 2 minutes to CMC metro station.
13:10 buy tickets, jump on train to Central Station.
13:30 get off, walk up the stairs with: 1 backpack (ea), 1 purse (for me), 1 laptop (Max), 2 suitcases stroller and Sophia.
13:40 after having walked around around a big, giant obtrusive wall arrive at bus station
14:00 get on very full Malpensa Express Bus (7 Euro ea),. The crazy driver has the heat turned up high, the radio mega loud, Max's seat is broken and slides every time the driver brakes and carbon monoxide is filling the air in the back half of the bus. Luckily I packed a PB&J, cookies (from francesca) and a juice box because Sophia (and Max) were starving and we didnt have time to pick up lunch.
15:00 nauseated, tired and hungry we arrive at Malpensa (but cant get out luggage because the door is broken) can't figure out how to get to the BA check-in.

side story: apparently BA and a couple of other airlines share the same check-in counters. The check-in screens tell you which counter number you need to go to, but an unmarked/unmanned security station blocks the view of the counters. So basically you have to ask other uninformed passengers and anyone around what you have to do/where you have to wait. finally the security opened for us and this was the scene:

2 Caribinieri (one short guy, one tall guy). SG asks for, then looks at our passports passes them on to TG. Shorty looks for us on the passenger list, TG looks at our passports in more detail (?). SG tells us to move over and calls next in line. NIL hands over her passport and TG is still looking at our passports. SG can't find NIL on passenger list and asks if she is going to London. NIL says no she is going to Russia, isn't this the Russian airlines, this is where she was told to stand (doesn't speak italian well). SG says no this is the flight for London/England this not going to Russia . Poor NIL can't figure out what is going on doesn't know where to go. Finally TG looks at SG and explain the flight is to London, the obvious thing is that SG would explain in Russian or English that BA and the Russian airlines share security/counters and her check-in doesn't open for another half hour). Instead SG turns to NIL and shouts 'Volo per IN-GHI-TER-RA!' Ahahahah what an idiot. Finally another passenger comes up and explains to the poor lady in Russian what is going on.

18:00ish...hooray we finally made it to Heathrow! Sophia wanted to take the pictures, so this is all we got:

Salame and New Ears

It's recital time! The pre-school did something a little more traditional this year, all the kids were given laterns (the big kids had ones made out of paper and had candles inside and the little kids, like Sophia had ones made with flashlights). The kids and parents did a procession through the park and oratory (across the street) and then back to the school again. Outside the school the kids formed a circle with the parents outside and then say sang. You cant see Sophia because it was too dark and she was in front of me. It's a song about King Solomon:

I only mention the title because, like all kids, Sophia just sings what she hears. The words go:
No No No No No,
Qui non c'e
Pace, Pace,
Salome

Which translates to:
No (5xs)
There isn't any,
Peace, Peace
(King) Solomon

When Sophia sings, she says salami instead of Salome - which cracks us up. Okay now re-sing the song (in your head, you can watch the video if you want)-and it's a song about cured meat! ha ha! We keep singing it with pane (bread) instead of pace (peace) because it sounds funnier, but she gets mad. The other song learned at school and she sings at home is: We wish you a merry Christmas and Happy New Ears (italians don't pronounce that y sound) which also makes us ROTFL.

Cheap-o Christmas

Our potted Xmas tree, that we had since Sophia's first Xmas, got too big and we gave it to the Nonni to plant at their mountain house. This year there was much too do (ie facebook/dlisted), I got a late start decorating the house, plus we leave Saturday for the Cranes, so it hardly seemed worth it to get a tree (that we'd have to keep in the house until waayyyy after xmas, not because we are too lazy to take it down (yes, i know we are tho), but because they are still doing construction outside). At the same time, it's just not Christmas without presents and lights and stuff. In compromise, we present to you the Christmas Treehouse...
...Greta tried to make 'classy' with a nativity inside using the Happy Family, but Sophia wasn't havin it. She wouldnt let her use the lego cow and sheep inside the house and got mad..

the best time ever!

The kids played in the house for a bit:
Then we went outside and all hell broke loos:

The girls had a lot of fun!

Snow Job

It rained most of yesterday, but it was all snow this morning. Sophia was so excited. It dumped snow in waves, some of it mushy some of it not. Federica had to do her homework still and so we downstairs to go play in the snow, while Max and the Nonno put chains on the car tires in anticipation for the ride home. Sophia was so cute, the first thing she did when she got downstairs was to stick her tongue out and catch snow...i guess it is instinctive, we never taught her that (i would never let her do that in milan, the snow is so nasty and grey and full of smog!)

ahhhhhhh!

Step One: make mound of snow

Step Two: Roll a little snowball into a big one for the head, then hide.

Tahdahhhh! Wait a minute....this guy looks like Daddy!

Sophia's favorite thing was gathering up snow and throwing it at people. She is so small that she can't throw far, so you are lucky if it lands on you. I left her playing in the snow and went to go and get something from the car. The little booger sat on the sidewalk and I thought she was pouting...instead she was hiding her hands behind the wall and waiting in ambush...as soon as I got there she started throwing snowballs at me! I didnt get a pic because I didnt expect that! What a dingdong! By then Max was done and Federica arrived so the girls chased after Max and Sandro.

ps: that horrible blue jacket that max has on does not mean that the 80s are back, he just needed something warm and water proof to put the chains on with. i was so embarassed of that bright thing. Max's dad is like mine, he can't throw away clothes and uses his kids' old stuff. so there are lots of throwbacks from the 80s and 90s there.

pre-christmas in cuneo

We are in Cuneo for the wknd.
(the tiara hasnt come off since friday)

sophia gives nonno a new digital camera for xmas

and a popsicle stick jewelry box for nonna.

it dumped loads of snow recently and there was still some left to play in.
after a pizza with the bosias we went to go play in the park. sophia laughed and screamed and had loads of fun.

ahhhh, push it!

we went to the fiera artigenato at the new convention center in rho (outside of milan), it is gigantic and much nicer and more organized! greta and i met in the city center called up simo who is working there (but not for the fair). it's like 30 stops on the metro, but very convenient, it drops you off right at the entrance. usually i got to buy christmas presents for everyone, but i end up buying loads of crap for myself-nothing changed this year, but thanks to greta, during the last 10 minutes before the fair closed we actually did buy stuff for other people.

greta and simo grubbin thai.

My favorite acquisition from the fair.
Salt n Peppa!
and they hug! awwwwww.