Pasquale, Megan, Pietro Brian, and Zula Mae

2010-07-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Eccomi finalmente con Grandpa Brian ci siamo divertiti tanto e abbiamo scoperto che siamo molto simili. Ci piacciono gli alberi, la carne, e stare in famiglia.

Sto mangiando il mio primo tacchino-burger fatto da Grandpa, era delizioso e oggi stesso vado di nuovo a mangiare da lui. Ci ha cucinato il pollo in un sugo speciale.

2010-07-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

Il cane grande si chiama Sage e mi ha fatto guidare la ferrari adosso

Sono molto stanco ma non ho voluto dormire perche volevo stare insieme ai cugini piu grandi che stavano guardando un bel film

Lo scivolo acquatico, non ho partecipato naturalmente perche acqua fredda non mi piace anche se fa molto caldo qui nel deserto!

2010-07-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Io insieme alle mie zie Amberly e Erin (ho sempre qualcosina in mano)

Il mio primo pranzo americano a tavola con tutti i cugini

La mia prima colazione, una macchinina non manca mai, cereali e biscotti.

2010-05-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers who have ever worried about kids falling down stairs.
...and to all those who've ever had to clean out their closets for more playing space...

...to all mother's who'd love to kiss me right on my little nose...

...to all moms who are as pretty and natural as my mamma

...and to all moms who've ever used sunscreen and baseball caps to protect their kiddies from the early summer sun...

Okay All You Cousins Ready or Not Here I Come!

2010-04-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

I have lately become quite the explorer and my favourite places include my bedroom closet, the living room entertainment center (naturally), and Zula's bed.
I love the mirror in my room and whenever I get the chance I like to play Patty Cake or give "5's"
Here we are at San Salvo, one of our weekend get-a-ways, we are a cute family!

pietro

2010-03-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is our lovely Mimosa tree I that I planted in 2008, it has flowered beautifully this year.

Happy as can be, waking up and being able to stand up and stretch tall tall tall!

Pietro in his new walker.

2010-03-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Pete doesn't run into babies very often and he's trying to figure out just what to do with his little cousin (Pasquale's cousin Monica's baby boy Giuseppe).

Here we are finally crawling out on the back porch, this is our favourite new place seeing as the weather has warmed up. It seems that Spring has arrived just in time for the need of more space and we are lucky that we have such a fun backyard to romp around in.

This is a happy wake-up moment. There are sad ones as well but when Pete gets a good morning nap in he is happy for the rest of the day. You can't see his teeth here, but he's got two bottoms and 4 tops! We have seen a lot of tears these past couple weeks, teeth coming in all at the same time are not fun.

2010-02-14T14:27:00.000-08:00

Pete frequently refuses to put on his heavy coat so we love wrapping him up warm in his copertina that Nonna Angela made.
Our first homeade Carnival costume, lots of work but optimal results!

Zio Maurizio thought it would be funny to give Pete a taste of his first lemon.

All dressed up, we went to Luca Ryan's 1st birthday party and cried the whole time. There was a little boy dressed as a cowboy who blew a very loud party whistle and poor Pete was scared of its loudness.

Tiredness, sweetness, hungriness all wrapped into one little boy.

Some more shots of Pete in his lovely and bright costume.

Zia Lory bought the material, Nonna Angela thought Megan could follow the pattern, Megan thought Angela knew how to cut the pattern out...in the end a friend came to help us out and this was the final product, cute enough!

Precious moments at pranzo (lunchtime) with Papà

2010-02-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

This is my most frequent apparel: slippers, favourite sweatshirt, and of course, Grandma's apron. It makes me feel pretty in the kitchen.We have loved the addition of the play pen in our living room, Pete especially, although after I caught him climbing out we've had to move the mattress down. At 6 months he's quite an adventurist.

Looking out into the backyard, and looking forward to warmer days...

Mom, you know better than to give me a pen! I'm so smart I can take the lids off and don't I have a cool Zoro mustache?

Little Pete's most disliked moments: getting all bundled up and put into his car seat, but he sure is cute and once he's out and about he's as happy as can be.

2010-02-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite place to play...questo è il mio posto preferito per giocare.

Mommy loves to sit with me...Mamma ama stare seduta con me.

She helps me build and pull and of course find joy in growing...Lei mi aiuta a costruire, a tirare e a trovare gioia nel crescere.

We play while Daddy is at work, so that when he comes home he can see how many things I can do...Giochiamo mentre Papà sta a lavoro cosicché quando torna lui possa vedere quante cose riesco a fare!

I am such a good boy and am beginning to move around so much that now my room floor is covered with my puzzle pieces...Sono talmente bravo e sto imparando a muovermi cosi tanto che adesso la mia camera è tutta un tappetto.

2010-01-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

I'm learning to play the jambé and I'm really good, Mom loves it especially when I scratch my nails on it and make a chalk board screetch.

Papà thought it would be funny to hide me in his closet. I could never hide in Mom's side of the closet...I'd get lost in there.

The computer is one of my most favourite pastimes. I love to sing songs and watch Winnie the Pooh do his morning stretches before eating honey.

I am a slow eater and always a suspect of what Mom's feeding me...but I'm learning to love all food!

Aren't I a Prince?

Papà is camera shy, and I love to dance with Zula.

Here we are, whirling and twirling around the living room, I in my most comfortable sweats (I'm starting to move around lots and lots), and Papà in his work clothes. This is us, on a sunny winter morning...I'm a little bit too big for my bear chair. Papà thought it would be funny to hide me in his closet. I'm learning to play the jambé and I'm really good at it, Mom

2010-01-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

This is our happy little boy
This is our perplexed little boy and tired Dad on Saturday afternoon

This is our hungry but unsure about Mom's rice cereal little boy

2010-01-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

We spent New Year's at Angela and Gabriele's house and celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary. We roasted cheese and it was my first exquisite taste of yet another Italian tradition. During the holidays I always discover new traditions while simultaneously missing traditions at home with family in the States.

This white Monclier coat was Angela and Gabrielle's gift to Pete, we hope it fits better next year.

Everyone was so excited to see Pete dressed up for the holidays. I bought this gilet for him at a fabulous store called H&M that they recently opened in Pescara. There are great buys for cute babies!

2010-01-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

These are the long-ago-promised photos to Erin, Pete's little room. He is such a grown up baby and has been sleeping on his own ever since he reached 3 months. He loves his crib and has difficultly falling asleep elsewhere, something that we've had to get used to as we often find ourselves at friend's and family's right at nap time!

2008-11-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is us as we're trying to survive the arrival of Autumn sleepiness and the oncoming of Winter responsibilities. We are happy because this week our bedroom should be delivered, I should take and pass my driving test, and it should snow for the first time! Pasquale says hi to everyone of course and we are looking forward to any near future skype sessions!

2008-10-16T04:02:00.001-07:00

Who ever saw cuter cousins?
Ever seen anyone as famous as this?
Oh what fun it is to ride...
Matsen Italian night
Our failing Wallstreet...

All aboard the Kid Theodore's bus...
Park walk with Dad and Diana.
Kids more than ready to hit the wake!
Good times in the back of Uncle Jo's truck.
St. George memories...

This is why we love the States!
Doughnuts are man's most ingenious concoction.
Nothing like pure family time!
Kenton's greatest fans!

Grandma was so pleased to see us at the family BBQ, she could hardly say a word. I cried...

Pasquale thinks we look alike, what do you say?

2008-10-16T03:37:00.000-07:00

With every bad there is always one good that follows...and vice versa. I went to the high school yesterday and was able to civilly talk with the administrative director about my contract renewal. We came to an agreement which is in my favour. They accepted my proposal and it seems as though I will be starting this coming Monday, if everything goes as planned that is. As most of you know, Italy is the land where nothing quite goes as planned. Now getting back to the vice versa part. I was planning on enjoying my last few days as a free woman, when BAM, I caught a fever bug. My temperature was running at 101 yesterday afternoon so I treated myself to some warm milk and honey and crawled right in bed. My husband came home and made me some fantastically savory vegetable soup, what we call Brodo, and then I hopped back into bed to begin reading Gulliver's Travels (a book club assignment that I keep putting off, if any of you have read it you'll know why). Pasquale called all of my students for today's lessons telling them that I was to stay in bed in order to get well quickly. He is a genius when it comes to dirty work. This morning I feel a heap better and as soon as I eat my daily grapefruit I'm sure I'll be good to go. To make a long story short: Just the thought of going back to those high school halls makes my temperature rise! I did however catch Kenton on his birthday. His famous words were "But Megan how are you going to eat dinner with a thermometer in your mouth?"

Here are some of our summer vacation pictures, dedicated to all of you of course, because we miss you so much and always reminisce about our time together. Erin, this morning I caught Pasquale browsing your blog...for the illienth time!

2008-07-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July by hanging up a flag and having a big bbq. The next day a group of us went camping up in the mountains at a place called Lake Scanno, you can see our little blue tent that we had set up in the yard to spray it off and clean before the actual outing, girls only of course. Torrie, myelf, Fernanda, and Tasha. Pasquale and I went out for a picnic under the pine trees. This is a picture perfect demonstration of what it's like trying to succor to the needs of both my husband's feet and our doggy.

more recently

2008-07-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

i'm just doing the typical blog write-post-and approve...please have patience as i learn how to make our blog more exciting. the important thing is to see us though, so here are some more recent fotos (aaron note the phonetic spelling here of the word photos). Pasquale is in the garden, on the couch with some friends, positioned well to show-off our built in arm chairs. It was a couch we long awaited but a couch that is currently only used by Megan. It is too slim for pasquale...and of course Zula is not allowed to hop up. On the far right you can see some of my crazy high school students. We had an end of the year pizza night.

when family came

2008-07-25T03:49:00.000-07:00

Surely you have all seen these fotos of when the family came but it was sure a historically memorable week! This is a place near our house where one can look out at this ever-growing city and the infinite-seeming Adriatic Sea.

signing for the mortgage

2008-07-25T03:34:00.000-07:00

We have let so much time pass without filling you all in on a detailed description of the take-off after August 30, 2007...so here are some images of key events...

Here we are at the Notary after the signing for our home. This is the couple who kept the house so paradisically spotless and organized. When you see it now you realize that the people who occupy its spaces are stretched to the limits with time and patience...

October Sunday

2007-10-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

While we've been praying for sun, surely there has been someone praying for rain. But today our faith was strong and we were able to visit the beach. Today the water was grey, but the wind was cool on our faces and we could even feel the water as the waves crashed around the rocks. Zula is our little sea creature. She won't touch the water but she barks at and jumps with the seagulls, climbs the rocks, and meets new friends who get to come and play out in the open.

Today we had a special visit from Pasquale's friend Paolo and his brother Michele. Paolo has recently been to the States for a big exhibition in Las Vegas. He was invited because a company wanted to show him their newest prosthetic devices. Some of you know Paolo's story. He is a talented musician, artist, and soccer player. He lost both of his hands in a work accident two years ago. In September he travelled to New York, and on to Las Vegas to make his debut at the exhibition. They chose him to demonstrate how to work the hands, which takes incredible mental and physical concentration. He and his brother passed through Pescara today on their way to Modena, where Paolo has been hired as a Physical Education Middle School Instructor. We are so honored to know people like Paolo who are our everyday heroes.