Italian Capers

Their dresses came with matching doll dresses. H put her mini dress on a doll, and I put Bitty in the other. Z still loves that old cat. He's tattered and torn, smelly and worn. We are going to the States this week. We'll be flying stand-by, so there is an extra element of suspense. I think we're up for the fun. Anyway, because Nanny-o's luggage was "lost" on her way here, H was very concerned that Bitty might be lost and then Z would be crazy upset. Z doesn't think about it, maybe because it's just too hard to face? I told her Bitty will be in our carry on safe and sound the whole time...she's not sure that's good enough : ) By the way, Nanny-o's luggage was never really "lost." It just had it's own itinerary and left Cleveland much later with a stop off in Rome. I think it had a pleasant journey and got here before Christmas. We'll see you soon!

Last year, neither one of them would get very close to the jolly old elf, which was fine with me. This year at a Christmas gathering in a hangar, they told me they didn't want to chat with him. An hour or so later, they changed their minds. After their visit H said, "Mama, Santa is really nice. And he was warm." (Because we had waited so long, we were almost the last ones to visit him and the poor bloke was probably burning up!) Puzzled, Santa tried to whisper in my ear..."I think one wants a baby who takes a binky and the other wants a baby who doesn't take a binky." Yep, that's right. Neither one of them played with either one of them very long. Oh well.

and in our kitchen..... Can you say Cabin Fever? It's a good thing we've got the fever as our heat keeps going out! Of course, this always occurs on the weekend. I call the landlord who comes right over to tell me there is nothing he can do and we have to wait to get in touch with "Technico."

At midnight, the church bells began ringing. It was beautiful, ethereal. A quick glance out the window revealed a delicate snow had started to fall, as if on cue. The next moment, it sounded like someone was dropping bombs near our house! The fireworks were so loud, you could feel the house shudder a little with each explosion. (Remember, our house is concrete!) It was amazing and the most amazing part? The kids slept right through it all. The next day, with all that freshly-fallen snow, we seized the opportunity to build a snowgirl- a wonderful way to start off the year. It was raining, so our window of opportunity was small. Fear not, as you can see, we got the job done- and we made a little snow dog too. Everyone had a job- here were the "fresh snow" gatherers. They brought back beautiful snow to cover the grass-laden areas on the snowgirl. My job was to roll the large snow balls for the typical triad shape. As you can see, all members of the group were busy. I