All By Herselllllllllffffffff!

Well the little Miss always asks us if she can stay home by herself. Today we let her do it. We had to run to the store to do some shopping (we live next door to the grocery store). I have been teaching Sophia to call Max with the house phone, just in case of emergency, she can open the door by herself (which believe me is trickier than making a phone call, cuz all the the knob is heavy and turns backwards)-so we let her. She couldnt wait until we left, then she watched us leave from the window and then did who knows what (called all her friends? partied?). We werent gone for more than 10-15 minutes m, but when we got back, she was more than happy and proud of herself that she stayed all by herself. we're pretty proud too. i doubt that we will do that too many times, but at least we know she can do it if need be.

The big jelly belly

Sophia can be so sweet and kind sometimes, she likes to kiss and hug my belly-and then a second later she will turn around and say 'Mommy! You know you have a fatty fatty fat belly!' Where the hell does she learn this stuff?? I suppose it's me, since I've never heard it on Dora or WordGirl. The worst thing about living in a foreign country and being the only one that teaches a second language to my own kid(s), is that any sass or potty mouth that she says, well, i have no one to blame but myself. Altho...she did pick up some naughty stuff this summer (yes AUNTIE SHELL, I'm talkin about you!).

Before/After

Sophia decided she wanted her hair cut:. This is before:
And this is after:I was really surprised. I asked her a million times if she was sure, because hair takes a while to grow back and we can't go all kate gosselin and get some extensions if she changed her mind. But so far she loves it. I think she was really tired of having to brush out the tangles in the morning.

Chiacchere

You know every holiday and festival has some sort of traditional sweet or cake - my favorite are called chiacchere and come around Carnivale time in Lombardia. (Every region has their variation on this, but I like this one.) It's just a real simple recipe with butter, flour and sugar, plus grappa - then they are deep fried, baked and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. I'm always trying to chase down the bakery with the best tasting ones, but I can never find anything better than homemade. Being preggo and craving anything junky, I decided to try my hand at making some this year. They were definitely not as good as other homemade ones I've tried, but better than bakery ones (you have to get them when they are extra fresh or you can taste the difference!). Plus it took forever to figure out the thickness and heat of the oil, so every batch had a different look. Hence the 'before' pic, no finished product.

The Sleep Over

A while back we had promised that Pietro could sleep over our house one night when Francesca went to NY, only I got pneumonia and it never happened. We finally fulfilled our promise last night...Pietro pushed his mom and dad out of the door, he couldnt wait for them to leave. it was so cute. the kids behaved so well (esp sophia), I cant wait to do it again!

Ian Bday

Have not been posting lately, not because I am lazy, but because not a whole heck of a lot has been happening. Today was Ian-From-School's birthday (that is exactly how Sophia says it EVERY TIME, so as not to confuse him with Ian Crane). The party was something totally different from what we usually go to, because Ian's mom, Licia, is a clown. I'm not dissing, that's actually her job-so she and her partner put on a little show for the kids. They also involved the audience, both kids and parents, so it was fun for everyone.

Lunch at the Amigoni

Yara's family invited us and the Gandioli over for a play date and lunch. They live right near the school and have this really cool house. It's got a weird floor plan and is not set up in the typical square divided into 2 BR, 1 BA, but its actually one of best laid out houses we've ever been too. It's not large, but you would never know it by the way it's set up. It also helps that there are several balconies and so lots of natural light keeps the house bright, as well as the fact that the house is decorated in a simple but tasteful design. I wish I took more pictures, but my camera is acting up and so the few pictures i did take didnt come out. When we get to finally get to redo our house, I hope it comes out half as lovely as theirs. The Amigoni house is definitely a reflection of their family because it's friendly and casual.
In fact, we didnt sit down for a formal lunch, but instead Cristiana made loads of appetizers and we just chatted and grazed the whole afternoon.

There were cheeses, olives, salami, and several types of bread. These are pizza rolls with mozzerella and prociutto, which Francesco guarantees us are easy to make. The next time we have to go somewhere I am definitely going to try and make these. And then I stole 2 bread recipes from Cristiana (curry flavored bread (a yeasty risen bread) and a prociutto greyere bread (something like a zucchine bread consistency), I'll let you know how those come out after I make them. Karol made cancitas and pappas alla huanchaina (not sure of the spelling, but a peruvian specialty).

I always think I will eat less munch on appetizers, as opposed to sitting down to a several course meal, but I end up stuffing my face even more.The girls had their own table and ate as they pleased.

Sophia poses with Luna.

Max joins the red hat ladies club.

Francesco and Cristiana take the adult version of the Circus Class that the kids go to. Francesco showed off one of his many talents juggling (but the darn camera would only snap without flash).

Hula Hoop

Sophia has some crazy idea that when (if) we go to california this summer, she will be packing her hula hoop to show grandma and grandpa how good she is. rather than risk security problems or a hefty payment for oversized baggage, we'll try the technological method to show off her talents:

The Befana

The 6th of January is when the 3 kings arrived bearing gifts. In some parts of Italy it is celebrated instead of xmas (well actually used to be, now xmas is so large and commercial every one celebrates that and then sometimes they do the Befana as well). It's similar to American Xmas, in that old socks are put out the night before. Instead of Santa (or a posse of 2 old white guys and a brotha, aka the kings), a wrinkly old witch comes. And instead of scaring the bejesus out of you (like halloween) she either leaves presents (no not frankinsence or myrrh, smart alec!) or coal (depending if you've been good or bad obviously). Sophia was a good girl, so the Befana brought her a little present, altho coal might have been nice this year because with the economy and all, plus the cold-coal would definitely have been more useful!

We don't discriminate here- just like getting ready for Santa, we were very disorganized in getting ready for the Befana too. I forgot to stick the sock up, then I didnt have tape strong enough to stick the sock up with, so I just threw it on the tree, there by breaking one of the glass Christmas ornaments and spreading shards all over the place. And of course by now it was late at night, Sophia had already gone to bed and we couldnt pass the vacuum cleaner. We are so lucky the Befana didnt cut herself, get all bloodied up and take off out of frustration (sue us), all before having left anything.Anyhoo, she brought Sophia a Polly Pockets Pet Rescue helicopter and a hula hoop.

Side note: I just asked Max why 3 old guys in crowns don't leave the gifts and what a witch has to do with anything. He gave me some mumbled answer that didnt explain anything, so I went to do what I should have done in the first place-I looked it up on wikipedia. There are several versions of the story and I'm gonna give you the one I like the best- apparently three old guys with crowns got lost on their way to find baby Jesus (I guess thats why they arrived a week and a half after he was born), they ended up meeting with this old lady. She said she didn't know where he was, but gave the kings room and board. In return, they asked if she wanted to come with them on their quest and she turned them down (you know she gave the ol -er, I have to clean the house excuse, cuz nobody wants to join in on a trip with 2 already lost guys. They already stopped and asked for directions once, you know they weren't gonna stop and do that again. But then, she changed her mind AFTER the 3 dudes left and so ended up taking off looking for them and never found them or BJ and so now leaves candies/gifts/coal for the kiddies. But that's not my favorite part of the story...apparently tradition has it that you are are supposed to leave some food and a glass of wine for her (I like cookies and milk, but by the time xmas rolls around I am so burnt out from eating them/having them around- but I never get tired of food or wine!). If little kids see the Befana, she gets all Super Nanny on them - whips out her broom and whacks them upside the head and tells them to get back to into bed. I guess after she gets a little tipsy, she gets a bit violent-but that's okay because apparently, she cleans your house a bit before she leaves, which is good cuz remember I made a mess and broke xmas decorations in my hurry to get ready for her arrival. We are sooooo celebrating just the Befana from now on! You also don't need to get a tree (we are still yanking out pine needles from the floor and roof of the car), you don't need to decorate a tree if you don't have one. no untangling of lights. no getting made fun of because you have Christmas decorations out in April!, it's just a dirty ol' sock, you can just chuck that in the laundry basket as soon as you're done. If that sits there until April, no one will know the difference. And for a scary old broad, she seems way more hip and fun than that old fat guy who leaves gifts, but then eats up all your food, leaves a trail of dust behind and you probably end up having to clean reindeer poop off your lawn. Happy Befana everyone!!!!!

Giocolandia

We all decided to meet up to take the kids to this indoor play place that Paola had been to. It was FREEZING both inside and out (the heat hadnt been turned on for a few days due to the place being closed over NY.), but the kids were running around and screaming and so didnt seem to notice.
There was a little area with building blocks to stack up and jump on.
There was a little race track with cars to drive.
Luckily there werent too many kids there because there were only a couple of cars, so the kids could go on as many times as they wanted and for as long as they wanted.

We thought he had found a nice bench and fell asleep,

but Marco was actually reading to the kids.

To warm up we had to play a game of foosball.
(honestly i suck so badly at it, i was just a body to hold 2 sticks, i didnt do anything)

NY2010

10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1--Happy New Year!

Marco pops the cork!

Cin!

Me(and baby bump), Paola, Giorgia, Marco and Max
(sophia is taking the picture)

There are so many people that do fireworks on the Policaro's street, that all you can see for an hour after midnight is smoke! Marco swears the people next door to them spend a couple thou on fireworks every year because they go on for at least an hour non stop, which reminded me of my Uncle Melvin (who passed away a few years ago). When we were kids he would drop a couple of hundred on boxes and boxes of illegal fireworks. We would have to pose with his treasure trove, I wish I had some pictures of us to post, knee deep in his illegal doings. Then at midnight he would shoot off all the fireworks off, I don't know how many times he almost burned down the house on the other side of the creek, behind my Grandma's house. I'm sure the blood pressure of the owners of that house, went down several numbers, when around the age of 40 or 50 something my uncle finally stopped playing pyromaniac. I guess every neighborhood needs at least one firecracker crazy family, the Policaros just happen to have theirs living next door, good thing their house is like the third little pigs, it's made of brick and wood or straw.

Sophia passed out.
(the hand that is near her mouth is Cicciobellos, but it sure looks like her weird alien little hand is caressing her bottom lip)