Trying To Crawl...

She is trying ever so hard to crawl!  We keep telling her "Slow down little baby", but she doesn't listen!

Visitors From Afar...

About a month ago, I got an email from Uncle David asking if he could visit us while visiting the USA.  Uncle David lives in Italy with his wife (Auntie Valentina) and son (cousin Lorenzo).  The answer was of course a HUGE YES.  I haven't seen him since I was in high school.  It wasn't long before Uncle emailed me his flight info and would be arriving in just a few short weeks.  I can't even begin to explain how beyond excited and nervous I was to visit with them.  For those of you that aren't well informed, my mother and I don't speak.  We haven't since I was 16 years old.  Uncle David is my mother's brother.  He moved to Italy around the same time that things went bad between my mother and I.  He and the rest of my mother's family stayed "out of it" and time just began to pass by ever so quickly.  Living in an entirely different country makes it very tough to stay in touch never mind that I live far away from the rest of the family making it hard to visit us when he did visit the family in the states over the years. 
Their visit was short but it didn't matter how long they were here, just that they came!  They arrived late Friday afternoon, poor Lorenzo got a bit sick in the air.  So they didn't make it over to the house until 7pm for dinner.  Luckily, by that time Lorenzo was feeling much better.  After dinner, we visited with each other while the kids played some video games.  Dillon was on cloud 9, since Lorenzo is only a year older than him.  The evening ended with plans to enjoy the entire next day together.  My in-laws and brother in law made it over for lunch, so they too could meet everyone.  After lunch, we left the younger kids with the in-laws and went to Arizona Mills Mall.  We went through the Sea Life Aquarium and then went to see The Bourne Supremacy.  Apparently movie seeing in Italy, isn't anything like movie viewing in the States.  After the movie got out, everyone was hungry for dinner (mind you it was 9:30pm at this point).  We ended up across the street at Aunt Chalidas.  A very tasty Mexican restaurant.  By the time we got home, it was close to 11pm and everyone was ready for bed from such a long fun day.  Sunday was their last day in Arizona.   They needed to leave for the airport around 11:30am and since they like to sleep in, they had just enough time to stop by and say their good-byes.  We all were so sad to have to see them leave.  They had just gotten here but we understood they had many more places and people to visit before returning home to Italy! 

 

I can't thank my uncle enough for squeezing a visit to Arizona into a very full travel schedule!  We hope they comes back to visit soon. 
 

First Day Of School...

 

Man summer went by fast this year.  Although some days felt longer than other, the past 2 1/2 months flew by. 
Today, Ava began 1st grade, Dillon began 3rd grade, and Liliana is beginning her final year of elementary school in 6th grade.
All 3 kids were excited for their first day, all 3 woke up nice and early eager to get to school, and all 3 were anxious to ditch me when I dropped them off and tried to take a few pictures before the bell rang. 
When I picked them up from school, they all wanted to talk over each other.  Liliana anxious to share information about her 2 night 3 day science camp field trip, Dillon about a few familiar faces are in his class this year, and Ava...
Oh my Ava, she insisted on telling me about her teacher.  Apparently, her teacher shared about herself and one of those facts stood out for Ava. 

Ava: "Mommy, Mrs Doutrich told us about herself today to show us what we are suppose to do when we are picked for trailblazer of the week.  Guess what she told us?"

Me: " I have no idea, what?"

Ava: "Mrs. Doutrich and Mr. Doutrich (another teacher at our school)... are married
*covers her mouth and innocently giggles*

Me: "Was that the coolest thing she told you about herself?"

Ava: "Yeahup!"

Oh the things that amuse a 6 year old!


The verdict is... it appears as though all 3 kids are happy to be back in school, happy with their teachers, and happy to share bits and pieces about their days!

Meet The Teacher...

Tonight, the older 3 children met their teachers.  The procedure is quite simple. You show up during the two hour window, walk to the far gym wall to see what teacher you have been assigned, you go to the room, meet the teacher, grab whatever packet the teacher made up for you and your parent, say your good-byes, and move along to the other classrooms until all 3 children's teachers have been met!  I like to torture  challenge myself and bring the entire family.  I purposely bring all 6 children so that the teacher makes a mental note that we are a large family.  I hope that she understands I have a desire to help in the classroom but I have 3 small children at home which I tend to.  In the years past, this tactic has worked well.  Anytime there is an overly large project, I am approached to help but the phrase "Do only what you can, I know you have all those little ones home with you" is always thrown out to me!  I LOVE helping in the kids classrooms but I can't be there nearly as much with 3 still home with me.  Knowing the teachers understand this makes all the difference!

Liliana, Dillon, and Ava are over the moon excited for this coming school year.  Liliana got the teacher she was hoping for (I am actually really excited to work with this teacher since she is so very open and on top of taking parent help), Dillon got a new teacher (she isn't new to the school but this will be her first year teaching instead of being an aide), and Ava got a teacher who she knew from last year.  I am very excited to see another success school year progress.

Firestation Tour...

Our local fire station was really kind and gave the kids a tour.  This fire station is one of their favorites because of the cool slide/fire pole.  Most of the fire stations are only 1 level but this one has 2!  It also has the largest "movie/presentation" room.  The kids loved sitting in the rocking chairs while the firemen asked questions.

 

This was our attempt at a group picture of all the kids in attendance.  It cracks me up because the two firemen appear to be saying to each other

"why are we trying to get all these kids to stand together and smile, it's easier to put out a huge building fire!"

 

 

Water Balloon Fight...

Who doesn't LOVE a water balloon fight?  The kids just have to see a package of unopened, unfilled balloons and they start to beg for a fight.  Last night I filled over 250 balloons and we met our friends at a local park.  One last fun day out with friends before another school year starts up again.  As you can see the kids had a blast. 

Somedays ...

this is true!  You will also hear me say "Of course I love them, they're alive aren't they!"