Luciano Lost a Tooth Yesterday

Before

"Other than a dimple

in a cute little chin,

What's more adorable

than a toothless grin?"

 - Azu Betty Espezia

After

Luciano has lost his third tooth now.  He put it in a baggy - because I haven't gotten around to making a pillow - I should really get on that...  And he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking if he could please keep his tooth.  It said, "Dear Tooth Fairy,  I would like to keep my tooth please.  Thank you.  Your friend, Luciano." 

So the Tooth Fairy left the note under his pillow, but she must have read it because she left his tooth along with a gold dollar coin. 
I wonder if he would have gotten more money if he had let the Tooth Fairy keep it?  :0 )

Ballerina Marisa at her first dance class

Marisa's 'arabesque' (did I spell that right?)

Isn't she just so sweet?

 This week Marisa had her very first dance class.  She started with ballet and then had her tap class right after.  I think she had a really great time with it and she was surprisingly attentive. 



They danced to the Tinkerbell movie soundtrack, which was beautiful.  Combine incredible amounts of cuteness -all those tiny ballerinas twirling around - with that music and you'll get tears every time.

Dance is the hidden

language of the soul.

-Martha Graham

The beginnings of graceful awareness...

What a joy it was to share this special day with Marisa! 

Paolo's five!

When you turn five in the Tonelli home it's a big deal. You can chew gum for the first time, watch Star Wars, Episode 4 with your dad (special date with dad), and have a party where you can invite friends. Paolo turned five on August 7th. He was a gracious host and I was so proud of him. What a special day!

We were so happy to visit with grammy Suzie and Papa Bob who came to celebrate Paolo's birthday with us! The kids had such a fun time with them.

Paolo had a Pokemon party (yes, that's a Poke-ball cake). Like Luciano, he had his party at the West Point train station, complete with passing train every 30 minutes. It was a lot of fun. Grammy Suzie and Papa Bob were able to come from K.C. and Nonna and Papa came from Jersey to help us celebrate.

Not knowing much about pokemon, made it a little bit challenging to figure things out. In the end, though, I think the kids all had a lot of fun.

La Famiglia Tonelli

It's been a little moment since we've had a family photo session. Two or so years have gone by. So here are the kids and the parents in October when the leaves were looking so beautiful at West Point.

Luciano and Paolo and Marisa had a great time playing and posing for the photographer. Since then, we've accomplished almost a whole year of school, and everyone seems to be sprouting well. Did I ever tell you how much I love these cheeky little monkeys? All the way to the galaxy and back. (That's also Paolo's love declaration.)