2010 Meeting of the Grans

We took out the old blue sink upstairs and put in a new one, but we havent put the mirror up  yet.  Poor Grandma is using the only mirror in the house to fix her hair.  Things have been crazy busy, Max, my dad and I ran to Bennet (Gemco like store) to buy an umbrella because we don't have a table inside the house large enough for everyone (we've been using our 2 seater for breakfast) but it's dang hot outside now. 

Nonna hugs Vivienne.

Buon apetito.

Moody Soffria giving the evil eye.

The Nonni and the Grans with the grandkids 2010.  Would be a nice picture, too bad for my dad's fancy outfit and the slime on the wall!

 Vivienne pines for her long lost love.

Sophia in her ghetto swimming pool.

Happy Easter

I couldn't find anything to use as Easter baskets or find to turn into a basket, so I surfed online and found a cute basket to make out of felt. I didn't have time to make them back home, so I threw everything into a box and planned on making them in Cuneo. However, Sophia was so excited about being at her Nonni's she didn't end up going to sleep until after 11 and so I ended up staying up to 3am making something that was just supposed to take an hour. (partially it was due to the fact that i was tired and kept making stupid mistakes and partially because it was so late i had to hand sew everything).
Sophia woke up early and was a good girl and played with her toys all morning (and that's Nonna in the background cooking up a storm already).

I finally got my butt up out of bed and we broke into the Easter baskets.
Sophia doesn't really like candy/chocolates (that's cuz there's no Peeps here!! Everybody loves Peeps, especially slightly stale ones! Even Viv is sticking out her tongue cuz there are no Peeps in her basket!). Instead, the Easter Bunny brought Sophia a dress, a necklace/bracelet set, nail polish, hair clippies and some glitter glue pens. And for Vivienne he brought a cute little Easter dress. Yeah, I know, the Easter Bunny is not very traditional, but either are my kids.

After we opened baskets, Vivienne had to be fed and Sophia of course wanted to put on the nail polish, so Daddy did it.

The girls in their Easter finest.

The Nonni and their nipotine.

The Nonni's first visit to see Vivienne.

Irene and Beppe drove up to see the nipotine.

Nonni e Nipotine

Nonna and Vivienne

Nonna and Sophia

Nonno and Vivienne
(and Sophia wants you to know you can see her body a little bit)

Cuneo

It was off to Cuneo today to see the Nonni.

While Sophia went to play with the Nonno, we went down to the bottom area of the plateau to check out the Views.

Making use of the gorillagrip.

Max on the footbridge

This is the bridge that leads in and out of the city, the top level is for cars and the bottom level is for the trains.

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.

A walk about Cuneo

It was such a nice day today, we went to Bonfante for cappuccinos and brioches, and then a walk around downtown and thru the small streets and into the courtyards. you know just looking for a 'if we lived in Cuneo we would live here...' type of house. it will never happen, because i think i would die of boredom, but you know just in one of those moments of daydreaming, it's fun to pretend.

And then it was finish packing. Load up the car and haul *ss to Cuneo for Christmas lunch with the Parisis. Even tho I made the pancakes this morning I only had time to eat the small left over one (i made just a few because we were supposed to eat a big lunch and we werent gonna be home for a few days). We were starving by the time we got to Cuneo. There was sooo much to eat, but I just ended up eating appetizers because i was friggin hungry! By the time the pasta came out and then the roast i was stuffed and couldnt really enjoy it. Plus i was exhausted from having not slept for most of Dec.

Sophia is back

Sophia is back from the sea with her grandparents. Have been washing sheets from the houseguests and clothes from our trip and soph's trip to tuscany and praying everything will dry in time. leaving day after tomorrow for Cali.

The rant...

Okay, so Friday when we arrived in Tuscany everyone pressured me to let Sophia go a few days early, which I later regretted. I think she would have had a great time running around Piazza del Campo and then dancing at the wedding...Everyone said the wedding would be long and not a place for kids, but it wasnt true - the wedding was short and sweet and the dinner was intimate and fun. She would have been tired, but would have had a blast. But I caved because everyone made me feel like I was being selfish and I just wanted to show her off to my friends. Of course I wanted everyone to see her, my friends haven't seen her for such a long time - but that wasn't really why I wanted Sophia to come. And then to add salt to my wounds we made a big mistake....we went to go and see her and the Nonni (grandparents) at the beach. What a nightmare that was! Sophia's grandparents are like Las Vegas - What happens with the Nonni stays with the Nonni, and I don't want to know otherwise!!! Why the hell did we think it was a good idea to go there? we could have gone to another beach....far far far away (i think another galaxy would have been enough distance). Unfortunately we had to witness what really happens when she is with them! I was really good, I didn't say anything when Nonna said that she put sunscreen on Sophia everyday (and I knew it wasnt true, because Sophia was starting to burn a little and I could feel she wasnt greasy and didnt have the occasional white streaks that the sunscreen leaves behind). I didnt say anything when I saw that just after 3 days Sophia had already noticeably put on a few pounds (I dont think she needs to be skinny but I dont want her to be exaggeratedly overfed either). Nor did I mention the fact that her teeth were all covered in plaque and had food particles in them. I did ask about them brushing her teeth and we were told a long story about how she cried and hemmed and hawed every time they tried - and then I noticed that the toothbrush was still in the package. Did I make a fuss about the fact that she never had a hat on when she went in the hot hot sun? Did I even grimace when they actually told me that she wasnt eating any veggies, gave her food off of their plates when she had the same things on her own or mention the fact that deep fried onions and potatoes doesnt count as a serving of fruits and veggies? But I did draw the line at being constantly told that Sophia never cries when she is with them (and to be made out like Max and I are bad parents- not because they never say no). I'm tired of the Nonna saying to Sophia that we are mean and bad people because we let her cry and don't give into everything she wants. I'm fed up with cuddling Sophia for 2 seconds and having her ripped out of my arms because - well only God knows why. And I didnt even explode when we were trying to wait out a temper tantrum and the Nonna kept interrupting - we kept blowing her off - especially for the fact that she kept announcing to everyone around that it wasnt a tantrum, she was just tired (it was still an F'n tantrum - tired or not). I did finally erupt when the Nonna, tired of getting blown off, went to go buy an ice cream and hand it to the kicking and screaming Sophia - making dealing with the public tantrum even more complicated! And I blew up again when Sophia yanked the camera off the table and threw it on the ground because she couldnt have something else she wanted - and the Nonna yelled at us for scolding her! AAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGG!!!! Friggin Italian NONNI!!!! Well we learned our lesson. I mean its not like stuff like this never happens. We should have known better than to come, next time we are drop kicking Sophia to their house and they can mail her back to us.

San Giacomo B-days

This weekend we went to the San Giacomo house to celebrate the 3 birthdays (Irene (Max's mom), Sophia and mine). And we were supposed to celebrate Irene's 80th birthday with her friends on Sunday with a big lunch. There was prosciutto and melon, lots of salamis, hams and cheese from Tuscany. And then Irene made polenta and cinghiale (boar). Molto buono! But....Irene didnt tell anyone it was her birthday and the party ended being for Sophia. (I was kind of mad about that because she didnt even tell us that the party was not for her...Max thinks she doesnt want people to know her age, she should just lie like we do in the Ng family).

...But we know the truth. We gave her a matching purse and shawl. Every one did a little something for the present. I crocheted, Sophia decorated the wrapping paper and card and Max wrote the card. (Sophia is wearing a hooded beach towel the her Auntie Paola and Uncle Ale gave her)




After lunch Max and I went for a walk. San Giacomo is beautiful at every season. In spring there are beautiful flowers that carpet the hills...which i always pillage and plunder from the wild and bring home to shove in tiny Ikea vase in our tiny sad apt. Here they will stay until the wilt and eventually start to rot and the smell is so awful that I will have no other choice than to finally get rid of them. Just so I can pretend to bring some of that wild beauty back into our crampy little Milanese home. But they arent wilted and smelly yet, so I am still enjoying them (well except for the pollen and petals that keep falling off).

(the pictures are quite annoying to upload and then trying to place them where you want them to go is all together another frustration....sorry)