Christmas 2008

Christmas was at our new house this year, which is still very much empty (not a piece of furniture). I found most of the evening I was needing things that were packed away in storage (in which there is a very good chance will never see the light of day again). You see, when we moved back home we thought it would be a very temporary solution, so I had a brilliant idea to even out the weight of the boxes we were shipping by mixing everything up. I wrapped clothes from enormous rolls of plastic wrap and used them to pad our breakables and fill the spaces between our odd sized items. Now 2 years later we are still discovering long lost clothing items, and wondering if our swimsuits are with the boxes of pots and pans or picture frames. Since we're still not in the house we intend on settling into the boxes are still waiting and we continue to live without random items you don't realize you miss until you need them. Try draining pasta without a colander, or flipping pancakes without a spatula - "ruffing it" as my mom likes to call it is only amusing for so long.  

Even with all we were lacking our family Christmas party was as jubilant and fulfilling as years past, with good company and fabulous food. After all, in our family that's what we enjoy most about the holidays with after holiday shopping a close second :)                                                            

Snow Day

Remember when you were a kid and would hope and pray that during the night it would snow and snow and you would wake up to your mom saying "No school, snow day!"
Now I'm the mom and we get a call at 8pm the night before not even a flake of snow sighted yet, and school is closed for tomorrow. I remember that happy tingly feeling, but now its replaced with a big DOH! I would drive over snow mountains to get them to school if it meant just a few minutes of quiet bliss.
At least my Christmas shopping is complete! You can't see it but I just raised my arms in an Olympic gymnast stance. Ta-Da! And, I didn't step into a single store for a purchase. Kisses to the Internet- Smooch! Also to the UPS guy, but the mailman is on the naughty list this year. He has this thing about packages not fitting in my mailbox going back to his postal location (wherever that may be) and leaving me a nice little note to come pick them up or they will be returned to sender. He doesn't even try to ring my doorbell, probably assuming I'm not home- but guess what?! I'm ALWAYS home, so i got you there!
So, wish me luck. Christmas break is starting a half day early due to our Snow Day. YAy er ummm eeeekkk!

All day long my son Alex serenades our family with his rendition of the top 20 from XM.         is his first broadcasted performance :)

I've caught the BUG!

In the last year I've made up for all the previous years of my life that I hated shopping.  I completely blame my partner in crime who may look completely innocent but in reality is my enabler. There may be a long and treacherous road between us and the mall, but thankfully the Internet has brought us back together. Last week we shared what may have been the most inspiring virtual shopping trip ever.  I clicked till my heart's content, feeling secure with my free shipping and free returns.  Besides, 3% of my purchases went to Upromise.  Which meant that if I were to spend just 1 Million dollars before my boys became college bound, I would have 30,000 to get them thru - oh maybe their first semester. So, while that aspect may have been completely unrealistic I did learn some valuable lessons...

In those 2 hours I gained a box of mostly unflattering clothing that was returned.  Lesson #1, everything looks better on the online models. Lesson #2, and most importantly, should agoraphobia and I ever cross paths, between Peapod and Nordstroms.com I would survive. 

Goodbye 2008

Mid November means 2009 is just a whisper away, and even sooner is Christmas. I'm not even sure what happened with October, and yet it's gone. Usually I am right on top of early Christmas shopping, and now I feel that if I blink it will be too late. I'll be forced to double the cost of my last minute present with one painful click next to the overnight shipping bubble.
So, what to get the kids? The question is harder to answer every year, as their toys continue to accumulate. Making it even more difficult is the fact that we're still quite unsettled in a temporary house. The kids think its fun that we don't have any furniture blocking their path during their intense imagination sessions. The strange part is that I'm getting used to it too. The rooms never look cluttered, and best of all- hardly a thing to clean!
So, goodbye 2008! Hopefully next year I'll remember to linger a while in October, knowing it will be November all too soon. And, hopefully next year we'll be able to send Santa a change of address card before we say hello to 2010. Yikes!

Halloween 2008

It never fails to disappoint that each year you can guarantee Halloween will be either freezing cold or freezing rain. This year it was the cold plus a wind that could knock the kids over. Luckily, some neighbors made it more bearable by welcoming us into their homes for our treats. Some good friends of ours joined us for our trick-or-treating in 100% homemade outfits that put everyone else's we saw to shame! Put your orders in early for 2009

Our boys couldn't decide what the wanted to be, but knew it would fall in the superherocategory, so they picked their favorite cape and hats and were all set. After spending the day with our friends elephant and lion, we decided next year we might put a little more effort into our costumes.

Introduction

This year has brought many changes to our family. We've moved to a new city, Alexander and Paolo Luca are now in a new school full time, and Giovanni is quickly growing out of his long-time nickname "Baby." I often find there are so many big things going on that we forget to share the precious smaller moments that disappear into the chaos of the day. Lucky for me and all of our readers that there is this brand new thing called a blog and I am not at all behind in the times by finally starting my own.

In this space I hope to share some of our cherrished experiences by welcoming you on our exciting and sometimes exhausting adventure we call our family!