the generous tooth fairy

I've told a few people this story but want to remember it.  Last week Aaron lost his third tooth.  He was soooooooo excited for the tooth fairy to come.  That night was one of many where Isabel woke up all night long and I was still shell shocked.  I got up at 7 a.m. to realize that Aaron was about to wake up and the tooth fairy (aka me) hadn't come yet.  I don't even want to imagine the disappointment.  It'd be almost like Santa Claus not coming.

So in the dark I hurried and grabbed what I thought were 50 cent coins.  I snuck into the room and lucky for me I had convinced Aaron to put his tooth in a zip lock bag so that it would be easier to find.  As I was making the exchange Aaron woke up.  I pretended to be so excited that I went to find out if the tooth fairy had come.  He jumped up with excitement and found the coins.  He was so excited!

He ran into the bathroom and said, "look!  The tooth fairy brought me 2 euros and 50 euros!"  It turns out one of those 50 cent coins was really a 2 euro coin.  Aaron was rolling in the dough in his eyes and was thrilled.  We went to choose a toy to buy.  To my good boy's credit he wanted to buy a toy for Jordan too.

Aaron blowing bubbles for Isabel.  So cute!

Remembering

 I had the priviledge of serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints in 2000-2001.  I served in Bologna for 3 short months with these two ladies.  Camille and Zoe happened to be taking a cruise out of Rome this weekend and came up to Bologna just for the day to visit.

I have to say that this was possible thanks to a wonderful husband who worked all night, didn't get to sleep after working all night and took care of the boys so that I could go with them for the day to see Bologna again.

In front of San Petronio

 As we walked around, memories came flooding back.  As a missionary you work hard, really hard.  You sweat, you panic, you pray with all your might to give what is most dear to you and it's mostly shunned and not many people care.  I had a lot of hard and good and bad experiences, but all of them were growing experiences.  I learned that there really is a God in heaven that loves us and is aware of us.  He has  a perfect plan for us, and He wants us to be happy.  He also lets us struggle a little bit in order that we can grow.  And I also know that His church is on the earth.

I associate knowing that there is a God with feeling His perfect love.  It buoys me up, it fills me to overflowing, and on really bad or hard days, I can seek those feelings again to give me strength and grit to do what I need to do.

Two towers behind us

 A mission gave me the opportunity to grow spiritually.  It also happened to be in the best place on earth for eating!  Come on, I mean we're talking about Italy!  So we had our favorite gelato from our favorite place, and our favorite focaccia from Esselunga.  So delicious!

eating focaccia at giardini margherita

Via bonafede, 21- where we lived as missionaries

 We lived in the tiniest apartment where our bedroom was wall to wall beds.  Paolo met us here with the kids so that he could say hi too.  When Paolo was baptized we were all serving together in Bologna.  For his baptism, all of the  missionaries wrote their testimony in some scriptures that we bought as a present.  All 3 of us had written in it.  Good memories.

Something else I've learned: the good you do grows.  And it's still blessing my own family today.

 I got a laugh out of Aaron trying to take our pictures with my camera.

 Aaron actually took a nice picture so I wanted to post it

And this little champ only had one tantrum on our all day tour of Bologna.  That is HUGE for her (and for me)!

Fall time

 It's starting to feel like fall around here.  It's started raining non-stop and is so humid.  Typical fall around here.  Also the other day (before it started raining) I was riding my bike with Isabel and I saw this beautiful tree.  I just had to take a picture!  I love the reds and oranges of autumn leaves.

 We also had a fun weekend preparing Halloween decorations and crafts with some English speaking friends.  We also painted our faces.  I love this holiday!  It's not celebrated much around here, but I'm starting to see some costumes in the grocery stores.  It wasn't like that a few years ago.

last trip to the beach

 I've said it several times that we're taking our "last trip of the season to the beach."  I think that this time it really was.  The very end of September... it was also the last day of getting into the 80's or so the weatherman says.  Today it is officially raining and cool.  It actually got warm enough to take a dip in the water ( a little cool for me, but I have to follow the kids in to keep them safe), and enough sun for me to get my last sunburn of the season. :)

 There were lots of little sea shells on Saturday, and 3 jelly fish too.  I can do without the jelly fish!

 There were some people going past on horses, which isn't a site you see often around here.

 Isabel had a poop accident in her full length swim suit, so we had to go to plan B.  She had several tantrums (love having a 2 year-old!) and tried to walk around butt naked on the beach.  It took a lot of effort to get her to stay dressed.

 I don't know if you can tell how sandy she is, but she sure was covered in it!

Good-bye beach!!!

Maggie to visit

 My friend and old co-worker from the ER, came to visit me for 5 days.  First of all, I was nervous shortly before she came thinking: "I just invited her to come and stay on my couch!  Will it be comfortable to sleep on?  Will she be able to handle me getting up multiple times a night to get bottles for Isabel.  Will my demanding kids, and multiple children melt downs (excluding my own) be a little overwhelming?!"

It turns out that she was a fabulous house guest.  Wasn't bugged our craziness, and I had a lot of fun hanging out and speaking my own language full time for a few days.  It was also great for me to get know Maggie better.  We knew each other in the context of work.  I think that sometimes we get to know people in layers.  The more we know a person, the better it is to understand them, and to be able to relate to and love them.

I loved having a friend come visit!  We went to the beach one day, Florence another day, and around Bologna the other days.

the beach in Marina Romea

 This picture was taken in Bologna by a few stands where they had used things for 1-3 euros.  My idea of shopping!  One other thing that I like about Maggie is that she loves D.I. (a thrift store in Utah) as much as I do, and she understands my love for shopping economically, and finding what my husband calls junk treasures.

saying good-bye at the train station

porta mazzini

ruins of the city wall, Bologna

Montagnolo Bologna

ponte vecchio, Florence

Day 2...

Day 2 of school

Aaron went to school on the bus, and I walked down to school with just 2 kids only.  It felt strange, and kind of lonely.  I went for a run and came home with just one kid in the house.  Kind of hollower and lonlier than I thought it would be.  Paolo came home from work and I had my own personal melt down.  I cried, and sobbed (teach me to never comment on other mother's tears and sobbing), I felt overwhelmed with trying to figure out our new schedule and not being able to take a nap myself during the day.  Despite having worked all night long, and being on is 10th day in a row of working, he held and comforted me, and encouraged me.  What a great husband.

First day of school... I have a first grader!!!

 Monday was the long awaited first day of school.  The boys were happy to wake up and anxious to get ready for school.  For the new first graders, they had the parents accompany their kids to class.  They called the roll and each kids said "presente", present.  They were then given a special, colored pencil.  Then they made a paper boat with the parents and kids.  During the boat project I snuck out because Jordan was begging me to take him to his school too.

 Jordan was sooooo happy to finally go back to school.  He met an old classmate, they hugged like long-lost brothers, and he didn't even bother giving me a kiss or saying good-bye before going into the class.  See you later, love you too!

As I was walking Jordan into school there were multiple mom's (of the new students) wiping away lots of tears, and even one mom was sobbing!  I had the biggest smile on my face ever.  Finally!  Maybe because I know that my kids are happy, and having fun with other kids.  Maybe because it's not too new.

Even though Elementary school is new for me, and a whole new world in another country, I felt proud of Aaron and his ability to adapt.  He loves school, and I think he'll do really well actually learning and doing new things.  He has a hard time with change, but seemed (for the first day at least) to take this one in stride.  I think that I have my normal mother worries:  will he make good choices, will he be kind to other kids and a friend to those who need one?  Will he be respectful?  What new swear words will learn?  Problem with being a foreigner is that I don't recognize all of them.

Overall, I felt very comfortable knowing that these little ones are in the Lord's hands, even at home, and most especially out of the home.  There's someone else watching over them when I can't.