Smiley Marisa

On Snow Day no. 3, I sat at the dining room table with the kids and we played at the table. The boys played play doh, and then star wars legos while I tried to play peek a boo with Marisa. I laughed my self silly and then got the camera. She wont peek a boo, but she has such a sweet smile and laugh that I couldn't resist sharing. (You may hear a snippit of some kind of clone wars attack happening on the opposite side of the galaxy - I mean, table.)

Oh - and please disregard Marisa's brief second of nose picking :-).

Major Snow Days

This is our neighborhood under a foot and a half of snow. You can't see it through the haze, but above the tree line next to that evergreen tree, there's a mountain side. Monroe, NY, about 12 miles from our house, recorded 31 inches of snow today. It's not done falling, yet.

So, Luciano has been to school only one day this past week. Last week he only attended twice. Altogether he has missed around 7 days of school in the past three weeks due to inclement weather. Paolo goes to school in the afternoon, so he has been to class a bit more than Luciano. They have the "2 hour delay" here, which means that if you are in the morning class you don't come, but if you are in the afternoon class you do come. Here are some highlights from our snowy past two weeks...

This morning when we woke up, about 14 inches had fallen already. We thought surely that would be it, but it continued to snow through out the morning off and on as well as through out the evening.

Mark shoveled, I shoveled, the plows shoveled and yet we'll be shovelling again in the morning.

What do kids do on a snow day? (The 4th snow day in a row?) Well, they stay in their jammies and play with their light sabers (despite what it looks like, Luciano was actually handing the purple light saber to Paolo, but the picture looks more like he's taking it away). After we got done playing, we suited up for a romp outside in the snow.

The snow was way above my knees, which made me think that next year I might actually buy a proper snow suit so I can worry less about getting soaked. Maybe I would even take the boys sledding if I had some proper gear. Definitely something to think about.

Bat Girl

The boys very graciously shared their batman costume with Marisa - such good big brothers. Here's a bit of the bat baby.... Costumes are a big part of the stuff we do during the day (and night). The boys both have a bit of "showman" in them and they love to create "movies" and "video games." Luciano will often say, "Mom, this is a video game where ..." and then tell me all about whatever it is he's imagining. It's pretty amazing to see them put plots together. There are usually a few things that always appear in the plot - bad guys, guns and/or light sabres, and a death scene (which concludes in the mortally wounded springing back to life for the ultimate sneak attack). A very tolerant Marisa lets them run all around her and call her princess Leah or hand her a light saber. She seems pretty happy to play, too, whatever the weapons or plot may be.

Christmas 2009

This year I struggled to find Christ in Christmas. Things were so chaotic and I think it must have started with the birthday party that spun completely out of control back in November, quickly followed by the Thanksgiving that I made WAY too many mashed potatoes for (what was I thinking? - people had a hard time passing the dish around the table.), and then followed by a Christmas that belted me right between the eyes. Next year - Christmas will have to be taken care of before October, or it's just not going to happen.
For the record, this past Saturday, (was that Jan. 2nd?) I did turn on the Christmas tree, and listen to Christmas music for a couple of hours in the morning.
"Hope there's oil under your rose vine, hope you get that raise. Hope you find plenty of reasons the whole year long to celebrate..." (June Christy singing a swinging tune called The Merriest) That lifted my spirits and helped me put the new year into perspective...and motivated me to get moving to send all the gifts I haven't yet sent to those I love in other parts of the country. They're coming, guys, I love you and I didn't forget you! Life just - happened to me.

The highlights of Christmas were definitely the kids. I was completely cheesed over how cute they are - How did I get so lucky?

Marisa was so sweet in the Christmas dress her Nonna got for her and the boys had a real hoot with the gifts this year.

Meanwhile, I sort of made something that resembled (but didn't exactly taste like) my family's traditional bread twist... Here it is in the process of being iced.

And finally, there was a brief moment before church when everyone sat together and smiled (or maybe breathed a sigh of relief - oh, wait - that would probably just have been me.)