first baseball game

 Last Saturday the boys had their first ever baseball game that they played in.  They were sooooooo excited.

 This is Aaron batting.  Unfortunately I didn't get  a picture of Jordan batting.  The age range was 6-9 year olds, but they let Jordan play this time.  Jordan was a total midget compared to the other kids, especially the compared to the 9 year-olds.

I watched the game with Isabel, while Paolo was one of the co-coaches.  Italians love blonde children and always say how cute they are.  Lucky for Isabel is she is both blonde and cute, which won her a free lolli-pop.  The concessions stand guy thought she was so cute that he gave her one.  Like her mother, she has a sweet tooth and loved every lick of it. :)

carnevale 2014

 Carnevale here in Italy, is kind of like Halloween in the sense that the kids get to dress up in costumes.  There's usually a parade somewhere and you get to through lots of confetti and make a big mess.  All things that kids love to do!

 My boys are totally obsessed with swords.  What's not to love about being able to hit someone, right?

 In the little community where we live they always have a small parade for the kids.

 Fortunately for me uncle Daniele came with us.  It's a good thing, because otherwise I would have lost the boys.  I was trying to keep track of Isabel and the kids were running after the floats to try and get  the things that were being thrown out to the kids.

This little principessa absolutely refused to wear her costume (a pink leotard with a tutu).  She saw another little girl at the park in a princess dress and yelled to me "guarda!  E` bella".  Look!  She's beautiful!  When I told Isabel that in a little bit she could dress up pretty too, she flat out told me NO!  So I rephrased it to make sure that she understood that she could wear a pretty costume too.  I was again told very firmly: NO!  And she kept her promise.  She did NOT wear her pretty pink costume.

a visit from the Smith's

 March was a busy and fun month.  We had some American visitors, the Smith family, from Texas.  They were passing through Bologna and so we met up and had a short tour of Bologna.  Our boys got along like they'd always known each other, and we got to eat gelato, not just once, but twice in the same day!

At the second gelateria (ice cream parlor) the kids thought it was fun to take pictures of themselves jumping off the bench.  This one of Aaron just makes me laugh!

I love these guys!

 What I love more than anything else: these cute little guys!

more treasure hunting

We recently went on yet another treasure hunt.  My kids never get sick of finding treasure.  I love the outdoors, and fueling their immaginations.  And for heaven sakes, I live in Italy! for crying out loud.  This place is beautiful and green.  I've got to soak up every second I can.

 My boys are so good at playing together and doing things.  Our little princess has a hard time keeping up, especially when we go on our excursions.  I can feel differences between the boys and the girls too.  Isabel waistes spends a lot of time doddling, wandering off the path we're on, and picking flowers.  My boys pick up sticks, and hit each other with them.  Not as cute as getting a bouquet of flowers, but a lot more time efficient. :)

Even though my kids are all different, they love each other.  And I love them.  And I love that they love each other.

National Women's Day- March 8th

 Saturday was national Woman's Day here in Italy.  I celebrated by being fully woman- with my husband and children.  One of the greatest blessings of being a woman is that I can be a wife and mother.  I love these kids more than life itself.  Even though some days I think that I might go gray overnight, I don't.  I have good and bad moments as a mother, but I also have golden, heavenly moments where I hope that I never, ever forget how happy and content I feel.  Going to the beach on Saturday with my family was one of those moments.  It was also surrounded by crying, and pinching in the car, followed by ear splitting screaming.  But there are those moments in time where it's all worth it!

 We also did our first kite flying with the kids thanks to a kite that they were given recently.

We also talked about the wise man and the foolish man and building a house on sand.  So we tried to build a "house" on the sand, and yes, it did wash away, before we could even build it... multiple attempts.

I'm so grateful to be a woman.  It means that I can love, I can care, I can give my heart, I can feel caresses and wet, disgusting kisses that melt my heart.  It means that I can hold my husband's hand, and feel his warmth and know that I'm loved to death for being imperfect me.  It means that I can give life, and nourish it, and to teach that life I've given to be good and do good.  It means that I can make others around me better.  It means that I can choose who I am and what I become.  I know that I'm a daughter of my creator and that I was created with purpose and meaning.  This is reassuring to me when my brain cells have stopped working for hours on end because of sleep deprivation.  I'm grateful to be me!

35... or half way to 70

 Aaron has been really into the idea of "surprise birthday parties" and has been asking for a while if we can do one for Jordan for his birthday.  Lucky for me, my birthday came before Jordan's.  So Aaron asked Paolo if they could do a surprise birthday party for mom.  They went and bought roses and picked out stuff to make a cake.

It was really quite funny to hear their audible whispers when I was right next to them as they were planning or talking about the along-waited surprise.  I would then start to hum, or go into the other room and play dumb.

 It did melt my heart that my kids thought so fondly of me, and were so EXCITED to show me that they care!  Isabel was exactic at the idea of blowing out candles and as soon as she saw it, she yelled out "io, io, io!"  "Me, me, ME!"

I was so grateful for the calls and emails from friends and family.  It's nice to talk to people that you love.

Before having kids, I was kind of into spoiling myself on my birthday.  That's kind of changed.  I now feel and view it as an opportunity to celebrate that I'm being given my time on earth to be able to do good.  It's a good time to evaluate if I'm at where I want to be at.  Am I doing all the good I was created to do?  Am I loving and giving and nurturing and as grateful as I can be?  I hope so. :)

So here's to being young, and ... half way to 70!