I have some pictures and updates BUT my landlord pulled a fast one and is changing our internet. Right now we are at the american church and they are having some singing worship and Ryan is getting down dancing and worshiping. hilarious! He says they need more cow bell. Anyways, we are now depending on Italians to fix this so possibly weeks!
she did not want kisses during silly face pictures
cracks me up. Since Cloe and Brody started school we have more alone time and I love watching her. She says the funniest things and is so cute when she's in her room playing by herself. As much as the kids don't like going to school, I like that Abbey and I have this time together.
Ryan's parents left today, very sad, and now we are getting ready for some more friends. See, I'm serious about "come stay with us"! One of his students got accepted to Florence Academy of Art so his wife and kid are staying with us for a couple weeks while they find a place.
We loved having grandma and grandpa here, some highlights from their stay.
bedtime reading, room for everyone
running for the bus on our way to school
flying kites for FHE
grandma teaching Brody how to skip a rock into the river
On Monday, Ryan took his parents to Venice for the day and it is one of my favorite cities so I couldn't resist posting this picture
Ryan painting in Venice
San Marcos Basillica
His parents in Piazza San Marcos. So far, my favorite Piazza in Italy
wouldn't that be terrible! Ryan's parents got here on thursday and leave Wednesday ;( We love having company because let's face it, when you don't have televsion, your evenings get kinda boring from 7-9:30. But anyways, more than anything, I love having Grandma stay with us. I don't think I have had to interact with my kids in the last 5 days. awesome. just kidding but seriously you know what I'm talking about, right? She plays "school" with CLoe and sometimes Brody and Abbey for hours, She reads to them for hours, and is very encouraging with Cloe helping her read. I felt bad for my kids when my mom left because she was the same way and now they have to face the realization again, our mom's boring. But at least I let them watch movies and drink soda, doesn't that count? hahahaha. So Laurene, thank you!! But one great thing about having my elders visit, I always learn someting that makes me a better wife and mom. They are great examples and I'm trying to commit my mother-in-law to coming back in November (she flys free, retired Delta employee)
On Monday, Cloe and Brody went with me to their school to check it out and I had to go get all the information. They met the nuns (suora) saw their classes and played on the playground which they loved. Oh and they got their uniforms! So ugly but they all are. With Italy being such a fashion capitol you'd think Dolce and Gabbana could style something up for us. But the list of items to bring was a little different. For the first day of school, they needed, 2 rolls of paper towels, 2 bottles of soap, a package of tissue and a toothbrush and toothpaste. oh, and a plastic cup. alright. And it was great to have the nuns explaining things to me in full Italian sentences. All I could do was nod like I understood. Not only is it hard to not understand everything they say but I also have no experience with the school system so I don't know how things are normally ran. I'll figure it out soon :)
Ryan's parents got here on the 12th so his mom came with us to drop them off. We caught the city bus at 8:05 and took em' to school. I just kind of searched for kids in their same uniform because the different ages wear different uniforms. They were on the playground and they had no problem with us leaving them. we gave kisses and Ryan's mom got a little weepy. I wasn't a very good mom because I didn't cry. We picked them up at 12:30 and they seemed to have had a good time and I also liked the morning with less kids. sad but true. I don't think they did much but play, so when school really starts with their teacher (who isn't a nun) we'll see how they do.
became a guinea pig for my talented sister. She is going to school for make-up and wanted to practice on Cloe. Pretty good, eh? Anyone need to hire someone for Halloween?
So the vacation is over and back to Italia. The flights were good and uneventful. The kids slept most of the NY to Italy flight, and what more could you ask for? We flew into Pisa, which I highly recomend and then luckily took a travel bus to Florence rather than the train with all our luggage and crap. We settled in a little and then took a 2 hour nap and just hung out. Cloe, Brody and Abbey and I ended up with a stomach flu. I was hoping it wasn't the type that was going around UT that people were catching from the swimming pools and lasted days. We went to bed around midnight and we all finally woke up at 1:30 PM!!! I slept great and did not want to get up. And we all felt better that afternoon, considering we slept 12 hours, it must have been a 24 hour bug! Cloe and brody start school on Monday and I'm a nervous wreck about how they will do, but there's only one way to find out. And next week Ryan's parents are coming to visit so that will make life easier on Brody. He is a tender hearted little guy and keeps crying because he misses his grandma's. Which doesn't help me much either.
Since I was slacking big time the last couple weeks, here's the rest of our vacation in UT in a nutshell. No more of this blogging diet stuff, it's time for a real diet though! We ate out as much as possible and I now love Costa Vida!! And gained at least 5 lbs but won't tell you what I gained at the most ;) The kids LOVED being with family and friends and for those of you that I wanted to hang out with but never did, I'm sorry. I didn't want the trip to fly by so I kept unbusy so I could relax and enjoy. Hopefully we'll be back soon.
This is my sister Corine's baby shower and I'm posting it because my mom and I spent a lot of time puting it together and so it is blog worthy. I thougth it was pretty cute myself.
The Tree House Museum in Ogden, so worth the drive and I highly recomend this place!!
Luckily we were there for Makayla B-day party. Her mom is an event planner and always throws THE best parties. The theme was cowgirl/cowboy and it was at Thanksgiving point. The kids LOVED it and Abbey said her favorite part of Utah was riding the horse. Well done Michelle!
Cloe practicing her roping
Good thing G'pa just bought them new cowboy boots!
Cloe and Makayla
Ole Wild Bill in jail
Each kid got food to feed the animals, Brody used all of ours and loved his hand being tickled
the food was so perfect with the theme. Instead of plates we ate off of pie tins, and the cups were boots.
YEE_HAW!!!
Brody the cowboy riding his horse
the cake!!! so cute, just shows all the detail Michelle puts into it!!
with the birthday girl
we have made the switch over to a mac. this should be fun. first things first, we gotta make sure the photo booth is functioning correctly!!
but I have ZERO clue on how to add pictures now. Lesue fam, any suggestions? I was cracking myself up at how funny I am. These pictures are great. But I guess anything looks good on a 24 inch screen. huh? Huh?
