Sleeping

I love sleeping babies.  Ok, she's not a baby, but I still think she's so cute when she's asleep and all is peaceful.  :)

Sledding

We went sledding with the cousins and the kids had a great time. This was the first time we have gone all winter since there hasn't been much snow this year.

Luca and Mia were way too heavy to pull up the hill together!!!  :)  They were scared their first few times down, but after that they didn't want to stop.   

 Mia loves Caitlin!!

 The boys decided sliding down on their bellies was more fun.  ;)

Zoo

We went to the zoo shortly after valentines day so the animals still had valentines that were given to them.  It was cool to see them open boxes or lick cards that were put in their cages for them.  It was a little chillly out so some of the animals that we don't see out and about very often were active.  It was fun.  I think the tigers were my favorite this trip.

Whenever we'd go somewhere that had an unpleasant smell Mia would scrunch up her face and say "Something smell" and she would keep saying it and want to get out.  It was hilarious.  We tried to get a picture here in the reptile area but it snapped right after the face was made.  Oh well.  She's a funny girl.   

Ice Fishing

Alessandro's scout troop went ice fishing and since Udine was going, Diego got to tag along also.  This is something they have done every year since being in scouts.  We have some great leaders that organize it.  They enjoyed it, but yet again, didn't catch a thing.  People were catching all around them but they couldn't catch even one.  Diego got a bite, but it got away.  They even tried other people's holes, rods, everything...but the fish would disappear when they were there.  They have Udine's luck with catching fish.  :(  At least they still had a good time.  :)  They cooked and ate some of the fish that others caught before they came home.  Glad they got to go.

Kindergarten shots

At our doctor's office they have a little fair for kids who have turned five and will be going into kindergarten in the fall.  So we took Luca and it was really great.  He was terrified because he knew he needed shots, but he got to bring home a box full of things (crayons, candy, little toys, ruler, etc), someone made him a dinosaur out of balloons and he got to have his face painted....batman style.  How can you not enjoy that?  :)

Birthday Celebrations

I made Alessandro's angry bird birthday cake when we had the cousins over for cousins night.  We celebrated both Luca and his birthday that night.  The kids love doing this for their birthdays, but it does get a bit crazy in our little house with 20 kids running around and trying to feed them cake and ice cream and squeeze in a game or two.  But it's totally worth it to watch the joy in my kids faces as their best friends (cousins) come to celebrate.  Happy Birthday little men!!

Happy Birthday Alessandro!

February 15th Alessandro turned 9!  Woohoo!  He was lucky and got checked out of school early to go to lunch with Udine at Tucanos, this has become a tradition the boys look forward to every birthday.  It's the only time they go to this restaurant because they get a free birthday meal and they just love the never ending meats that are brought to them.  It's always a fun experience.  And they are always sung to.  :) 
After school I took the kids to Trafalga and they rock climbed and got in 2 rounds of mini golf..one inside and one outside.  I don't think it's ever been warm enough to do that outside in Feb before!!  Both Alessandro and I lost our balls though, so we ended up having to share with Diego.  There were lots of laughs and it was a great time.  That night he wanted over easy eggs and baked potatoes for dinner.  Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to wish him a happy birthday and we also had cupcakes for him.  It was a fun day.

Enjoying Tucanos

Alessandro is a great kid.  If he applies himself he's very good at school, but I have to follow up with him to make sure he actually does the homework.  He tends to be a bit lazy with that and just doesn't want to.  Even though it takes him only minutes because it's not hard for him.  grr.  Hopefully this doesn't continue.  :)  He is a bright boy though and I love to see the wheels turn in his head.  He still loves art and enjoys creating things out of anything he can find.  He will ask for things that are getting thrown away so he can create something out of it.  Needless to say, wherever he has been working is usually a big mess!!  He loves tennis and I think that has become his favorite sport.  He wishes he could play in the winter.  He's a very shy boy and it takes a lot of courage for him to talk with other people.  It's like he needs to prepare himself for it.  He tends to mumble because he is embarrassed and that is something we are working on with him.  Every now and then he will want to surprise you and do little acts of kindness like making beds for everyone or cleaning rooms, etc without being asked.  It is always a nice surprise.  And he is great at writing little notes.  He may not know how to express himself vocally, but he is pretty good at it through pen and paper.  We often find little notes from him.  Its' great.   He's starting to mature and take care of his little siblings and help them out more which is nice to see.  He's such a blessing in our lives.  We love you Alessandro!  Happy Birthday!!