Marco... the artist!

I don't know how they do it...

The second you are not looking, they manage to find the ONE marker in your house, that of course is not washable, from a billion yrs ago that you either bought pre-children or someone who doesn't have *active* kids gifted you with.

This is Marco showing off his latest art skills.

Yup. He colored red, non-washable red marker all over the WHITE window trim. And, he also colored the window.

He spent most of the morning watching the people working on the pool and landscaping in the backyard. I had even scooted the bench over to the window so he could get a better view (unknowingly, also a better angle for his new art project).

He looks half guilty in this photo... and half *look what I just did mom - isn't it cool*?

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!

I often bring Marco to W.hole F.oods with me to pickup the delicious, thin wood fired crust pizzas. 

He KNOWS the pizza boxes. Right when he sees them, he’ll start yelling “Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!” 

I’ll tell him he can have pizza as soon as we get it home and sometimes this calms/distracts him a bit. Other times, he keeps yelling “Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!”, so I’ll end up caving and give him a little slice of pizza when we get to the car so he can enjoy it on the ride home. 

Such a funny little rascal! And, he does this same pizza chant for Dan too!

Today's Breakfast Consumption

Sometimes it is important to note crazy little facts like this. Important only because I hope to someday look back and laugh about things like this... and for my kids to look back and maybe appreciate me/us and all we had done for them.

Our Saturday breakfast consumption today was as follows:
* 2 packs of bacon
*12 eggs
* 4 pieces of toast
* 1 waffle
* 2 bowls cereal
* 2 apples

This was all consumed in less than 10 minutes.

I predicted that one of my little people would come up to me 45 minutes later and tell me they were STARVING. My prediction was correct. Right after you clean up a meal. You just start on the next snack or meal. Having 4 young growing children is exhausting sometimes. I spend 90% of my day in the kitchen when they are all home from school.

No joke. .

This house is ALL wrong!

Giuliana keeps telling me she does not like our new house. She says the play room is supposed to be upstairs and the kitchen is supposed to be downstairs (like our house in WA).

I have to remind myself that she has lived most of her life in our WA house, even though she was born in CA, and now we're back. So crazy!

So, while she seems to love being back in CA... this new house is still ALL WRONG.

Skiing Fun!

I took the kids skiing in the Sierra Mountains on Friday.

They each brought a friend from school, and Rocco's buddy's mom joined us as well. Her name is Kelly and we get along great, have similar interests and have gone running a few times together.

We put the kids in an all day private lesson. But, we ended up joining them around 2pm and kept skiing the green's with them. It was a really great day and we all had a blast. Gabby and Rocco are getting to be great little skiers.

Rocco has no fear, great balance, and just races down the mountain. The coach kept telling me he's a natural and that she just had to remind him to not bullet down the hill... but work on some S turns. I tried to tell him to not go so fast...and he said "MOM... I LIKE going fast!" I really loved skiing with him and he could have kept skiing into the night.

Gabby really enjoys skiing. But, sometimes her perfectionism gets the best of her. Her coach and I both reminded her a few times that she's not going to be perfect and she has to let herself make some mistakes. A full day of coached skiing for her might have been a bit much... but it seemed like she relaxed and had a lot more fun, and did better, when we were all hanging out together skiing the greens. I also think she may have been a little competitive with her friend.

The only bummer about the ski day was that there were dismal amounts of snow in the mountains. Check out some of these photos... I can't recall ever seeing so much of the rock and terrain of the ground while skiing in the Sierra's. Mountain tops that would normally be blanketed in snow didn't have any... and some had patches. The resort we were skiing at had more runs closed than open. And, the snow by the end of the day was awful... ice patches, slush... it was crazy. I felt like we were skiing in April vs. January. No snow. Fifty-five degrees at 1pm. Crazy stuff.

California could REALLY use some storms. Our area is in a drought and in desperate need of rain. And, the mountains are lacking so much snow... it could really impact our water supplies come springtime if we don't get rain soon.

Chef Dan

While Dan's been home for the past two weeks... he decided to put on his chef hat for the holiday meals. (Lucky me, right?!)

He hasn't done this in a long time... because of the move, temporary apartment living, traveling a LOT for work, and then getting moved and settled into this house, in addition to a loaded end of year biz travel schedule.

Oh, and Rocco made the GIGANTIC white place cards for each of our holiday meals using 8.5x5.5 paper and a yellow marker (see photo). In the past, I've had the kids make Christmas tree w/green paper and glitter... but that got tossed aside this year. :)



A little sampling of the meals he's made:
Christmas Eve: Our traditional home made Italian lasagna (not an American version w/cottage cheese)








Christmas Day dinner: Turkey; roasted pine nut, red pepper & spicy sausage stuffing; brussel sprouts w/prosciutto; mashed potatoes












 
 
New Year's Eve: seared tuna w/a soy ginger sauce and chives & brussel sprouts

 

I think I like you already 2014...

For a very long time I haven't been able to say Happy New Year.

For a very long time... I have been held down by the thought of "what's so happy about another fricking year... " because my heart remains heavy with sadness. I miss my little Matteo.

But this year, I decided I am going to say Happy New Year.

It doesn't change the fact that part of me is still grieving...sometimes more than others. But, for me right now... I have decided that no matter what sh*$ you are dealt in life... you get to a point where you have to stop and actually realize what you should and need to be thankful for. You need to recognize that even though you were dealt a sh*% card, you also have been fortunate in other ways.

Often times... it is easy for us to look at others and think "wow... their life is PERFECT" or "they have THE best life"... when in reality, every single one of us faces our own challenges and battles. Some may be worse than others. Some may perceive theirs to be worse than others. Perception is everything and nothing. We all have things we need/should be thankful for. We all have our daily challenges or sh*% cards. It's called life.

So, I am thankful...

2013 moved us back to CA... where I feel closer to what Matteo knew in life. We're closer to family. We're closer to deep-rooted friendships. We're closer to our professional networks. We're closer to fun in every direction.

My husband cooked me an amazing dinner on NYE. He made delicious seared tuna steaks, with a ginger soy chive sauce, and the world's best brussel sprouts. He stayed up with me... just so he could kiss me as the clock turned to12:00am, even though I know he could have easily fallen asleep at 10pm. I am a super lucky wife. He's a good husband. A great dad. He loves me. I love him. We are fortunate.

I woke up to 4 of my beautiful children bouncing in and out of my bedroom and bed the next morning. Sounds of giggles and squeals and laughter... and noise. Hugs and wet, slobbery kisses galore. We might be missing one baby boy... and his loss is so deep I'll never crawl out of the hole. But, we are fortunate. Very fortunate.

I had a big, wonderful breakfast with my family. My healthy family. My healthy, happy family. In our new home in CA. We are fortunate.

My husband has a job. A good job. With great benefits. We are fortunate.

I went for a 8.6 mile run. On a gorgeous, warm and sunny day. I felt the sun kissing my skin. The run was challenging but it felt great. I can run. I can run with minimal pain. I am fortunate.

We invited friends over to join us for champagne and food. It was a fun afternoon of conversation, kids, food and a Vintage 2008 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. We have amazing friendships... near and far, old and new. Friends that are like family and who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of life. We are incredibly fortunate.

My parents called and left a happy new year message. Yup... we are so, deeply, incredibly fortunate.

I think I like you already 2014.