the hair cut

Aaron has been really struggling at school lately.  He bottles up a lot of tension and comes home and explodes.  It's been hard for him, and it's been hard for us.

Today we spent 3 hours trying to help Aaron get his homework done, but it was 3 hours of lots of crying and yelling (on his part).  When he finally had calmed down and was getting into the groove of homework he asked to be left alone to do it, which is what he usually does.  So I left him to it.  A little while later, I found no homework done, and this.

Don't know if I'm a good or a bad parent for this decision, but I decided that instead of getting mad or telling him off, that the consequence is that he gets to go like this to school tomorrow.  Then I'll shave his head.  I hope it's not too mean and will help him learn not to do that again.

All roads lead to... Rome

 All roads lead to... Rome.  Or so the saying goes.  I have to say that I have about the best husband in the whole wide world!  He had two days off from work, and so what did he do?  He sent me on vacation for two days.  I took Isabel with me, and the boys stayed home with dad.  I went to see a good friend, Jenna, who lives in Rome.  She's an amazing mom of 5.  She too is American and married to an Italian.  They lived near us in Salt Lake, and moved here about the same time we did too.

So I went to Rome Saturday evening to Monday afternoon.

 My first morning I woke up, totally care free! And I woke up to one of my favorite things in the world: a beautiful sunrise.  It was nice to get up and not have children calling me or needing me.  It was nice to get on my knees and pray without being interupted.  Amazing!  It was nice to not be the responsible adult.

 I also went to see the LDS temple being built in Rome.  It's almost done and some of the scaffolding has been taken off.  As a Latter-day-saint, the temple is my special place where I can step away from life and my problems, and turn my heart to my creator.  So this is a big deal for me.  Only 3.5 hours away instead of 8!  It's supposed to be done and dedicated in 2015.

 On Sunday afternoon we drove to the beach which is about 30 minutes from Jenna's house.  She only has one girl too, and for a weekend these little ones had an adopted sister, or at least some girl time that they don't normally get.

 It was cool, but not too cold.  Warm enough to walk bare foot in the sand, but not warm enough to go into the water (even though Isabel tried... more than once).

 Monday, Jenna and I were totally crazy brave and walked around Rome in the cold, pouring rain.  Isabel was SOOOOOOO good and didn't even cry while we did so.

where Paul was under house arrest for 2 years

 For those of you who are Bible buffs, this is where Paul was placed under house arrest for 2 years, and he taught the gospel to many from here.  He later died in Rome, but not here.

And a nice lunch and hot chocolate out!  Thanks again Jenna for hosting.  And thanks to my wonderful husband for letting me go on an adventure!

Welcome baby Ever

 My poor sister was overdue (anyone who's been pregnant can understand how hard it is), and finally had her baby.  One thing I miss about being so far away from family is seeing my nieces and nephews, and especially when one is born.  This is her second baby she's had since I've moved here.

So I made this blanket and it's going to be delivered soon by some good Italian friends that are traveling through Utah right now.

Welcome Ever!  I can't wait to hold you in my arms!

la fiera del gelato

 We went to the annual "fiera del gelato".  Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream.  But this isn't ice cream that you can get in the states.  It is ooooooooh so good!  There's a big convention every year, and this is our second year in a row going.  Both years, Paolo's friend Massimiliano, scored us some tickets.  So thanks again Pelo!

 Unfortunately I didn't get great pictures... I was too busy trying not to loose a child, and dealing with crying, or just sampling the gelato.  All the gelato that you can eat.  Dream come true!

 You can kind of see how absolutely sticky and gooey Isabel is here.  She was a lot harder this year, wanting to constantly climb out of her stroller and run off after gelato.  Notwithstanding some screaming a few tantrums from the kids, we had a LOT of fun.  My favorite flavors this year: lemon pie, and a biological raspberry.  It tasted like I was literally eating raspberries without any fake flavors.  It was amazing!

 Photo courtesy of Aaron.

 And of course the big hit of the trip (aside from eating lots of gelato) for my boys were seeing these huge tires, and an old plane (not seen here) as we were walking to the convention center from very far away.  I think that's maybe one of the reasons I love my boys so much.  They're boys!

Wilderness Explorers

 Last Saturday we became "explorers" and went off in search of treasures and dinosaur bones.  i.e. we went for a walk in the hills above our house.  This picture makes me laugh  because Jordan has one of his frequent grumpy faces.

 We went equipped with shovels and a mini rake for digging, a magnifying glass to look at what we find, a magnetic pad to draw pictures of what we find, a sword to kill anything that might come out of a hole, the boys wore hats that explorers wear.  They had fun!

 This is Jordan documenting our findings (dirt and rocks and a pine cone).

I love it when my kids use their imagination!

coming home...

I just purchased tickets, and I'm officially coming home to SLC to visit!  Me and the kids.  Poor Paolo has to work.

June 5- July 29th.

So if you want to see us, please send me an email sometime before then!

I'm so happy I could cry!

Try, try, try again

I've been thinking a little bit about New Year's and resolutions, and the opportunity to re-evaluate.  I have the phrase "try again" floating around my mind.  I use it a lot with my kids.  It's usually used after a whiney voice, screaming, demanding, rudeness, hitting of a sibbling, etc.  We try again to do it the right way/nice way.  Most of the time it takes a few tries and lots of coaching from me on a nicer way of doing or saying things.

I've been thinking about how grateful I am that we can constantly "try again".  Lately I haven't gotten much sleep and the love of being a mommy has been kind of low.  No sleep, waking up to screaming tantrums (usually the 2 and 4 year-old), getting woken up all night to screaming and tantrums (usually the 2 year-old), the constant melt downs over the unguessable (usually the 2 year-old, sometimes the 4 and 6 year-old and mommy), constant headaches from no sleep.  Somehow my brain filters that help me reason, and find the good in some situations have gone on vacation.  They usually return from vacation when I manage to get some sleep.  To be honest, I really really don't like feeling that way (not loving my job as a mom).  I'm grateful when I'm in a state that I don't love being in, I can try again.

When I'm not doing as well as I'd like, I can pray for help and try again.  I can say I'm sorry when I've raised my voice when I didn't want to, and try again.  When I whine and complain, I can try again by saying thank you, and finding the good in life.  When I don't get in touch with spiritual things, I can try again in earnest.  When I'm not grateful enough to a wonderful spouse, I can try again and try to give back as much as he gives.  When I don't love or forgive like I feel I should, I can say sorry and try again.  When I don't pay enough attention to the kid pulling constantly on my sleeve, I can awaken my heart and try again.

Innate in being human we have an incredible ability to change (try again).  We each have our own way of reaching that source/ability to change.  For me it's my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I hope to live in such a way that my heart is His, and that I can learn, grow, change, and be made into a better person than I could be on my own.

So if at first you don't succeed, just try, try, try again!