Hand prints

We're gettin in all the playdates we can! Today we went on bikes to pick up the girls from school. We finished the handprints we made the other day. After that the kids went to Valentinas house for an hour and Max and I and our friend Silvia(an architect), went to take a second look at a house we saw a week or 2 ago. Karol and Christian (Vale's parents) were really nice to take her for an hour on shuch short notice. I didnt want Sophia to come with us for 2 reasons: 1) i wanted to hear what Silvia's input was and it's hard to do and take care of Sophia at the same time and 2) the house has tenants in it-a lady with 4 kids and it is DISGUSTING- last time- we could tell the small garden was once nice, but had over grown plants, a dead tree and broken toys. This time it was cleaned up a bit, i think the landlord told off the tentant. Also there was crap, just about everywhere! the kitchen table was filled with open food and unwashed dishes, there was a piano buried in unopened mail, there were dirty cushins on the floor to watch the tv the bathrooms were disgusting-i dont think the shower or bathtub had ever been cleaned! This time the dishes were put away, so the kitchen smelled a little less, the piano was dug out and but the rest was still the same. I dont think that the sheets on anything had ever been changed-when we went upstairs to where the kids slept (and they all sleep in one room) the musty smell was so disgusting -i gagged! The thing that always bugs me about going there is that-the family lives like dirty paupers-one youngest kid sleeps in one of those foldable camping beds/cradles-but they have a Wii, with a couple of different joysticks and at least 20 games. Priorities are a bit out of wack there. But the tenants are a superficial thing-nothing that cant be cleaned or replaced-what we were more interested in this time were problems with the house-foundation, stucco, floors, stairs etc. Now we are mulling things over. The same day we saw this house, we saw another one down the street- in much better condition which didnt require a second look-but of course that one cost more. We'll see how it goes.

side story: remember those hats that I made for the school play-I noticed that Sophia isnt on the list to be one of the animals. I asked her about it and she said she wasnt wearing a hat. Today I asked the teacher about it, but not in a direct way-the teacher said that Sophia has the role of one of the courageous children. I was kind of too pissed to say anything, so I left it like that for now.

Play Date with Vale

Sophia's BFF is Valentina. Vale is quite a shy girl. Just after the xmas holidays, she invited Sophia over to play and they had a blast, but when we first asked her over to our house to play, she said no. She is slowly breaking out of her shell-and has started to say yes. She's come over a few times for a short period of time and they had fun. Today she came over for the whole day (its a holiday so we picked her up late in the morning) and the girls had a blast! I know Vale likes to cook, so we made:

BFF heart pizzas!

The girls are good at playing together and making up their own activities, but we dont have as many toys as Vale, so I had some back up boredome activities.

Later

After we went swimming, we packed up and took Sophia to the Nonni to spend some quality time, before we take off to the States next week. I snapped some pictures just because there are so many nice things to take pictures of.

Synagogue door.

A little vietta, off the main street

Even the mail boxes are cute

(too bad you can't see the guy's name on the little yellow ticket. It reads: Botto.M.
I am so 1st grade, I giggled when I read it. Yes, booty humor still makes me laugh!)(Again, another 1st grade thing:)
When I saw this place the first time I went to Cuneo I was like...for reals? what an awesome place to film a horror movie. And what a great title for it, too! I asked Max, if when he was little, did all the kids pull one arm into their sleeve and wave it around while telling scary stories about a hooked arm escapee that kills virgins and couples making out? Apparently the kids of Cuneo are more mature than I am-for the answer was no. But...that's not to say that I don't do that every time we pass the place! I always wish TJ was here - she'd be with me on this one!
ps in case you are wondering, it's a hospital for injured people (like after the war), not for crazy mutilated ones! I know, huh?!- darn!
This is a cool old Roman bridge that we pass on the way to and from Cuneo. I don't know why I am so enamored with it, but I am!

Just the towers remain, the bridge part has eroded away

The Day After....

Guess who got make up yesterday? Technically it was various lippy stuff-in reality turned into body paint.

Our little clown

Uh, i said go to the bathroom and wash all that stuff off, not smear it everywhere!!
After we went to the pool with Vale and Karol. Before we got in, there were still smudges of the greasy makeup, especially around the eyes. Luckily the chlorine ate it off and it didnt look like we beat her silly again.

BFFs

Finally, the party of the century

In the end, about 30 kids showed up. (A bit more than expected, other years we've been able to have the party in the house because very few kids actually came). We...decorated crownsdanced

put out a dragon's fire

ate cake (and decorated cupcakes, but i dont have a pic)

slew a dragon,

and captured his treasure.

then of course we washed off the grime,and passed out!
most importantly, i think the kids had a lot of fun!

She's 4!

She has been talking about this day forever, we have been singing Happy Birthday and having pretend birthday parties. She cried when it was her dad's bday, because it wasnt hers. Last week she insisted that it wasnt my birthday, but hers we had to celebrate...and of course today, Sophia could care less that it's finally the real day! Stinker. We decided to have a family get together today, and the big bash (as you can see on the invite) is on Saturday. The weather is finally hot and there are no longer any construction workers on the balconey, so we went out and got a patio set and a bbq and had the party on the balconey. It's getting so hot, that it looks like we will be out there permanently until we leave for the States.

Max deflowers his virgin bbq!

Our little carnivor

Blowin out the bday candle (yeah i know there, is only one , but its a big one!)

happy 25th to me!