Beautiful

As much as I dislike the snow, I have to admit it is beautiful when it first falls.

Pickles chasing birds

Bath Fun!!

These two crack me up. During baths Mia ALWAYS has to sit in this corner or else she throws a huge fit, and Luca always sits practically on top of her! (He's usually even closer than he is in this picture) It often leads into fights because Mia feels like she's being invaded and Luca refuses to move to the other side of the tub. Oh the joys. :) At least they are happy for the first part of bath time.

Thanks Abuelita!

Udine's mom sent each of the kids a shirt. I haven't gotten a picture of the older boys yet, but they all love them. Luca and Mia are obsessed with them. They always want to wear them and Luca has to have Mia wear her Ariel shirt if he's wearing his Ben 10 shirt. Thanks Abuelita! They are a hit!!!

Go Italy!

Udine, Diego, and Alessandro all shaved their heads on Jan 1st to bring good luck to Italy for the World Cup this year. They won't cut their hair again until Italy wins the cup or is eliminated. So it will be about 6 months without a cut, I'm curious to see how it will look. Yikes!

Four years ago Udine didn't shave his beard until Italy won the cup. It worked so now he's doing his head of hair. :) This was four years ago after Italy won.

Merry Christmas

Christmas was so much fun. It is so great to watch the excitement in the kids eyes and feel their energy. Even if they were bouncing off the walls for a few days! :)

When Udine was little he would get a new article of clothing that he needed on Christmas Eve for his gift. We have carried on that tradition and this year we all got Green Bay Packers shirts.

On Christmas Eve we went to Ben and Jana's house. We had way too much food (like always), played games, decorated cookies for Santa and watched a Christmas special. This has become a sort of tradition for us. For the last few years we have gotten together with them on Christmas Eve. It is nice to have someone to celebrate the holiday with on the actual holiday. :)

Christmas day was nice and relaxing. The kids woke up early and were anxious to open gifts. We then played the rest of the day. How nice!

The kids sporting their new shirts

At Ben's house on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning: Santa ate the cookies but not the piece of shrimp Diego decorated to try and trick him. :) Alessandro wrote a note that said "Dear Santa, are your elves small? Write yes or no" Santa responded "yes"
Luca enjoying his puzzles Christmas morning

Alessandro opening the I-Dog that he wanted so badly

Diego opening his pocket watch he has been begging to get for months

Mia loving the new stroller to push

We really enjoyed being together as a family this holiday season. It all went by way too fast!

Christmas Festivas

We had our annual celebration of Christmas with the Nettesheim siblings that live here. We decorated the Gingerbread houses that Ben made, the kids acted out the Christmas pageant, and we exchanged gifts. So much fun!! My boys were bouncing off the walls and couldn't wait for it to begin! For weeks they had been talking about it!

Diego was a sheep, Luca was a wiseman, Alessandro was Joseph

Icy!!!

Yet another reason I hate the location of our house!!! Every winter we have problems with this big hill! Right before I took this picture I was watching a car slide down the hill backwards because the road was too icy to make it up. That has happened to me on more than one occasion. And often I have trouble getting in the driveway because our driveway gets icy which is also an incline, so I'm stuck with a bunch of kids to walk through the snow into the house. And trying to walk up an icy road with two little ones to carry up and 2 bigger ones to watch, is not fun! I hate it! BUT, with all that complaining, I have to say, I do realize we are very blessed to have a home and I am grateful for that.