I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam-I-Am

 This is a favorite Italian dish for many- a red sauce with these little octopus-looking things.  I've never been able to put one in my mouth before.  Just looking at it and thinking of it wriggle down my gullet has always been too strong for me.  Has always made me gag actually.  Paolo has tried to get me to try and like Dr. Seuss's character, I would turn up my nose and say "I do not like them Sam-I-Am."

Well yesterday we were invited to eat dinner at a friend's house and this is what was for dinner.  Unfortunately I was too embarrassed to say no without ever having tried it before.  So I tried it.

And guess what...  I totally liked it.  I didn't just like it, I loved it!  It's really, really good.  So good in fact that I'd do my best to try and get everyone else to try it too.

So here's another thing to add to my list of things that I should never have put on my "never ever" list.

As and FYI, on mission I swore on my life that I'd never marry an Italian!  Never ever.  They're all mamma's boys and don't know how to lift a finger around the house... or so I thought.  I'm glad that I did marry an Italian, and he sure does help a whole lot around the house!

I guess I should take off the "never ever" list:

• the one object in my house that I hate cleaning is the toilet
• jump off high heights (like even the high dive at the swimming pool)
• pet snakes
• sea food in general, at least the really fishy stuff.  I can handle mild things just fine

I might end up loving cleaning toilets or go for a career change and become a stunt double, or a food critic for sea food.

gelato for breakfast

 Our good friends, Robert and Giulianna, came to visit with gelato yesterday.  In order to get them to eat dinner after they had a small ice cream cone, with the promise for more at breakfast if they ate a good dinner.  They did eat a good dinner.  Lucky them.

 We didn't have cones so we had pancakes with gelato.  Mmmmmmmmm!

It was so good that he had to lick the pancake clean!

Jordan-isms

Jordan said a few funny things yesterday:

In the car on the way to a birthday party:

Jordan:  "Mom, look my hair's growing!"

I wasn't sure I heard right so I asked:  "What did you say?"

Jordan:  "My hair is growing."

Me:  "where Jordan?"

Jordan: "on my legs and on my knee. (In a very proud-of-himself voice) I'm becoming a Dad!"


On the way home from the birthday party the boys were sharing gummy worms that are two colors.  Before eating one, they would announce what flavor they were about to eat.  The first ones were strawberries & lemon, pear & apple... the Jordan announced "salad and orange!"



In macchina andando a una festa di compleanno:

Jordan:  "Mamma, guarda! Mi stanno crescendo i peli"

Non ero sicura di aver sentito bene quindi ho chiesto:  "Cos'hai detto?"

Jordan:  "Mi stanno crescendo i peli."

Io:  "dove Jordan?"

Jordan: "sulle mie gambe, e anche sul ginocchio. (Poi in a voce fiero di se`) Sto diventando un Papa`!"



Tornando a casa dalla stessa festa i bimbi mangiavano delle caramelle gomose di due colori.  Prima di mangiare quelle caramelle annunciavano i gusti che stavanno per mangiare. All'inizio sentivo: fragola e limone, pera e mela...  Poi Jordan ha detto "insalata e arancia!"

My favorite Flower

 I remember when I was a kid that certain facts were very, very important to know about someone.  Things like what is your favorite color?  Or what is your favorite food?  When is your birthday?  How old are you?  I hear that last one all the time from Aaron.

To tell you the truth I don't know what my favorite color is.  I love too many foods to have a favorite one, and I'm young enough to admit that I'm 34 years old.  I DO have a favorite flower though...

It's a weed.  Here it's called a margherita.  Or a daisy.  They're the most common weed around here, and actually kind of pretty.  It's my favorite flower because I get given at least 30 of them a day, mostly from Jordan.  Jordan is daddy's boy and ALL of his pictures are dedicated to daddy, but anytime he sees a flower, he makes a wonderful bouquet for mamma.  He instructs me to close my eyes, and when I open them, he's shoving them into my face, and I beam with joy.

And every once in a while, Aaron thinks of mommy too.  His bouquets are more like a wad, but beautiful all the same.

sunshine and puddles

The last 2 days have been perfect!  It's been 20-24 degrees C (70-75 F) and on Saturday we spent all day at the park, and I'm talking 6-7 hours at the park with other moms and kids.  It was record long, but also record fun.  I've never been so happy to see sunshine.  The last weeks and months have been a long blur of rain and gray skies.  Even just a couple of days ago the park was wet and full of puddles and mud.  I went out of desperation and Isabel found a very muddy puddle to play in.

 We had a good picnic and the kids played and digged in dry dirt all day long.  What a fun day!

 Isabel stealing a sandwich.

This is the other day when Isabel played in the muddy puddle.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The whole park was wet and muddy.  There was one big puddle that I managed to keep Isabel out of for about 20 minutes.  She finally managed to jump into it before I could stop her.  So I let her have fun.  I've never seen her dance and stomp her feet like that in all her little life!

Then she LAID down in it and tried to lick the water like a dog.  I picked her up by the coat and got her out of the puddle.  She dived back in before I could stop her and the second time was successful in drinking some of that mud water.  Yuck!  No kisses for you my dear.  Not until after your bath anyway.

Hold them close

This post is mostly for me as a mommy.  The other night as I was getting the boys in bed, I usually have my obligatory cuddling of Jordan, and Aaron was a little jealous and wanting his fair share of mommy cuddling.  As I held my children close, and stroked their heads or rubbed their backs to help them relax and go to sleep, it was one of those inexplicable moments of joy.  I had my small child who wanted me close.  I could feel their warmth, and they could feel mine.  Everything was warm and safe and calm.  It was heaven.

I started asking myself:  Will they know when they are older and no longer wanting to be held by mom that they are loved?  Will they remember that they are special?  Will those terrible teenage years totally rob them of those feelings of comfort and peace, or will they be able to remember how they were loved and held, and will always be loved?  Will they remember that they have a Father in Heaven that loves them and helps them along in life?  Will they be able to cling to faith?  Will they be able to be strong when life is hard?  I prayed fervently that they would be able to be strong, faithful, loyal, courageous.  You never know what life is going to hand you.  You have no control over that.  But you have control over how you choose to react, and how you to choose to act.  You have control over only you.

So if years ahead are hard for these little ones that I love more than I love life itself, then I can remember that I don't have control over that, but I have control over me.  I can choose to love, to support, to counsel, to stay silent when it's the right thing to do.  I can choose to trust that there is a God, that there is a purpose for me.  There is a purpose for them, and that He's able to guide us through life.  I'll trust that He knows what He's doing, even if I can't see the big picture.  I'll trust that wrongs can be made right, and that to love and to give is what makes me happy.  I hope that I can teach them well enough to trust and to love too.

Dozza

 Dozza is called the "City of Art".  It's a unique little town about 30-40 minute drive from my house.  It's famous for it's outside murals/frescos and each year they hold a competition to see who's fresco gets to go up on a wall.  It's all modern art, meaning from about the 70's on up.  The modern art on old, antique walls is fascinating.

 I went with these two ladies- Rebeca and Nicola.

 The stair is painted to look like it has a wood grain.

 You can't see it in the picture, but this door was totally warped and crooked, and if you were one inch taller than me, you'd hit your head every time you walk into that door.

 This was my favorite of all, maybe because it depicts where I'm at in life.  There are different phases of womanhood here.

Isabel was a pretty good tag-a-long, especially because she's a very active toddler who doesn't like being still, and she had to sit in a stroller or a car a lot.

The eentsy weentsy spider

The other evening as we were getting ready for bed, Aaron was laying on the couch and spotted a very small spider on the ceiling.  He pointed this out to us, which is the signal for Paolo or I to smash the spider.  So Paolo took a book and smashed the spider.

To our surprise, Aaron burst into tears and said "ma non schiacciarlo.  La sua mamma lo aspetta!  La sua mamma gli sta aspettando a casa!!!" singhiozzo.

"Don't smash it.  His mommy is waiting for him! (sob) His mommy is waiting for him at home!"

He was totally distraught.  So we explained that even though it was a small spider (compared to the other ones that we smash around our house) that he was an adult and that he'll be ok.  After a little convincing we were able to calm him down.  This is also the first time that Aaron has expressed this kind of emotion.  Even though he was traumatized, I'm grateful that those emotions are starting to come out and he can express them in some way.