Festa di Alloween

This year has been sort of chaotic (do I say that every year?), so I didnt actually get to make a costume for Sophia as she asked. She really wanted to be a witch, I started knitting her a hat, but I didn't get very far-so she just wore her usual tshirt and pants that I get from Target every year before we leave.

We made masks.

We played Halloween Bingo.

I found this cute game called witches stew- you cut out pieces of paper in halloween shapes and the kids have to use a straw to suck them up and dump them into a cauldron (we economized-they got an orange plate in our version of the game).

We decorated cookies.

The mommies too.

Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Sophia was unusually whiny at her party...we soon discovered why, as soon as the guests left, she broke out in a very high fever. It was a very stressful wknd with mixed emotions between whether she had the scarlet fever (which is going around the school) or swine flu (which is a pandemic on the news). Nothing to do but look up internet cures and distribute tacchipirina (like baby tylonol).

Pumpkin Carvin

This year Sophia was big enough to help clean out the pumpkin and make a few cuts...she hated cleaning the pumpkin and gave up after the first attempt. She didnt cut too much either, but she did draw the face on the pumpkin.

BTW, this is her pose for almost every picture we take-i don't know why!Boo!

Festa di qualche chiesa...non mi ricordo piu!

Today Karol invited Sophia, Giorgia (the other little girl in that started at the same time at the preschool) and their families to lunch at their house. There was also another festival of the church near their house. This was actually a big one for Cologno Monzese:

There were several booths selling stuff and a small parade with acrobats and

then they had something called the goose chase. Didnt really understand-despite the fact that i asked everyone about it. Basically at a certain hour they let all the geese go and these guys in white shirts chased after them.
And of course there was always one straggler that wanted to do his own thing and lagged after everyone else and they couldnt get him back to the flock and all the old people goo and gaa after it. It was actually very cute and quaint-one of those things you just don't find back in the old UC.

There was also this thing called the fishing game. Inside the oratory there was a wall with dozens and dozens of prizes with numbers attached to them. There was also a stand where you could buy tickets for 2 euro, 5 euro or 10 euro. They give you a numbered ticket and you go to the prize table and they give you the prize with the same number attached to it. You can get crap or something really good, Georgia got a really cool ironing board and iron play set. We got that tennis racket and sponge ball Karol is holding and poor Valentina got some sponges (they actually went back and tried again and she got a doll).

We did it!

we have signed our souls away to that devil known as - a new house (okay the house is old - in very bad condition, but its ours all ours...muahahahaha). Looking for a house and buying a house has been a whole learning experience. the house is quite old, about 100 years old. it was an old italian style farm house, called a cascina. farm houses used to be practically communities, several small apts for families, a place to store the tractors, hay and/or animals. i dont know how ours was at one time, i hope it was just people living there, but by now, you cant really tell what was there. when we start doing some upgrades and im sure there will be LOTS to write about! but for now i will leave you with this sign. it's mos def not going to be ANYTHING like Under the Tuscan Sun!

* i forgot to mention (thanks tammy)- you know how you usually have to give a 30 day notice before you move out in the States? well here 6 months notice is very typical here, in fact thats what we have written into our contract, so we won't get the house until March. This actually works out better because i dont want to be packing up boxes and go into labor halfway thru the move

** i already forgot to mention...applying for a loan is sooo different here. first of all you have to apply to see how much you qualify for (and yes thats the same), then you look for a house. one thing is, if it's your first house, you get very low taxes. max's parents helped their kids invest in a house when they were younger, but as it's a bad market now, it's not a good time to sell. it is a good time to buy, hence why we got the house now. anyhoo if it's a second house the bank doesn't give you 100% of the selling price, you get 80% of what you ask for and the taxes are higher. wouldn't it just make sense to give 100% but a lower amount? guess not, that's how it works here and they are stickin to it! don't ask where we are going to get the other 20%, we are hoping more loan fairies come and help us out, but for now we are just going to cross our fingers and hope it all works out for the best.

Nonna sta male e Festa delle Castagne

Max's mom has some stomach problems and is being recovered in the hospital, we went up for the day to go see her. It happened to be the Chestnut Festival, we went the first year Sophia was born - it must have been during an off hour because no one was there. This time there were tons of people, it was impossible to walk.

...so despite the cold, we pulled ourselves out of the crowd and went for an ice cream.

It's NOT Polenta

Max is destroying Sophia's American heritage. Sophia was soo good at doing the cabbage patch to Push It- now just take a look at what it's turned into! How embarassing!

Jumpy things

It was the annual Festival of the little church in front of Sophia's school (i dont know what it's called)- last year we went, sophia had just started the new school and we didnt really know anyone. This year she had a lot more fun because all the kids from the area come and play. There isnt actually a whole heck of a lot to do on wknds here, so it was fun for the kids to get some energy out and play on the jumpy things (which are relatively cheap too).

Alice's Bday

Sophia was invited to Alice's Bday. I have been a bit under the weather lately, so Max took Sophia-who obviously had a wonderful time. (Alice's sister Vittoria was born on the same day as Alice's bday this month, so it was actually a welcome Vittoria party as well).