Bedtime friends

All the kids really love to have all their stuffed animals with them in their bed and all of them fell asleep hugging and resting over and surrounded by all their 'friends'.

The other night Seba looked especially sweet while getting ready to sleep and i told him, so since everybody knows how much i love taking pics he told me in the sweetest way that i could take a pic of him and his friends if i wanted ...

And of course as soon as i took this one Milla said that i could take a pic of her too :)

Good Night !

Beads and Dough

Last saturday, while we were in the karaoke place, kids started playing with some pizza dough and plastic beads. When they were about closing the kitchen the kids have been helped to cook their little pieces of art and all of them had real fun. So the other day i had some 'failed' pizza dough ( it didn't grow at all ) and proposed the kids to do the same. It has been a great succes that kept all of us busy for a long while ...


Bead pizza is the day's special :))

Close up on my pizza flower

The first batch is ready !

The pizza flower

Close up on the melted beads, they looks so shiny and the shape is really original. A funny and original way to spend an afternoon together creating nice things :)

Happy birthday to me - 19\01\09

On monday the 19th january i turned 33. It's so weird, when i turned 30 i felt really bad, it seemed i was getting old and instead i just wanted to be young and carefree, quite hard when you have 4 young kids and a husband isn't it ? Well 3 years later i feel i am a much different person. I walked a long road, but it must have been the right one, since this year, i welcomed my new age with a much lighter heart and feeling. Somehow i feel young again, young even in the middle of the worries and busyness of my life. Young because i learned again to watch the world, the universe, with wonder. Young because i'm learning to accept . Young because i've started accepting my spiritual side without being ashamed or scared from it. Young because i learned again to learn everyday, something new. Happy birthday to me then !

When i went downstairs at 5:45 am to get dressed i found it all decorated. Gaia gave instructions to papaF how to prepare it after i was in bed ( i usually go to bed really early during the week - usually by 21:30 i'm in bed ! )

One of the present from PapaF and the kids

The other presents from PapaF and the kids. The wooden box is an old one used to keep wine bottles. PapaF restored it and now it looks so beautiful. The i had a parfumed multi-colour pen, a pencil, a box of coloured pencils, a notebook and half kilos of beautiful wool.

Gaia, Leo and Seba organized a small concert in my honour :)

My precious children ( my mother bought the cake as a present )

The best gift, my family.

The kids and I, about blowing the candles

My mother's other present, a knitting bag, filled with new knitting needles ( i only had my mother's old ones ) and another half kilos of wool from my aunts.

Ecclesiastes 3

1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Carnival is arriving

In Italy carnival is a big thing. Depending when Easter is carnival can be longer or shorter but always kinda felt period especially from children.

In the apple tree the young apples already caught the carnival fever. At the moment we have 3 knights ( Milla, Leo and Gaia - Narnia Chronicles did the trick ) and a wannabe Winnie Pooh ( Seba, but i have to sew his dress ) .

Since Seba doesn't have a dress yet, he decided to put on ALL the dresses he could find, both boy's or girl's dresses. Kinda fun to see, isn't it ?

Milla, beauty at bath ....

Ok, after bath. Here my sweet and beautiful Milla. Milla is a special child, everybody keep saying this and i can see myself. I chose the name Milla out of a list of Finnish names, I remember reading the names and just stopping at Milla thinking that this was the right name for a happy girl ( please notice i didn't knew if it was a boy or a girl at the time, but well, somehow in my heart i already knew it was a baby girl ) and PapaF agreed naming her so. She was delivered with a c-section and i had the spinal tap so i was awake, and well when they pulled her out of my womb and put on my chest she started laughing. Yes laughing, not only smiling, you could hear her 'ahahahah' and all the doctors stared at her in awe, they told me is highly unusual a newborn starts laughing instead of crying, but she did, and never stopped eversince. She is my flowerchild. Poetical and funny. A little fairy dancing and singing around. A true joy.

Sweetheart, the moonshine for you ...

Chicken revival

Since our first attempt cooking an whole chicken went so well, and being the whole chicken the cheapest meat you can find in the store ;) , i thought we could give it a second try. Actually all this happened more then 10 days ago, but life is busier then ever so i only today can find half an hour to share.

Leo, the master of chicken is sharing his wisdom with his young pupil, little sister Milla

Milla concentrating before trying the fine art herself ....

Leo's been a good teacher after all ;) .....

The woodstove

Finally i can find some time to write. Today is my 33rd birthday and i'm making myself half an hour free as gift :)

Last week we had a much welcomed purchase, a woodstove !! On tuesday papaF bought it on sale and since then, we didn't need the central heating anymore or the warm water to wash dishes. It's a real blessing and i'm so happy we finally have a decent temperature inside :)
Here some pics of its arrival and first start.

Here it is in all its beauty !

Heheheh kids were quite happy and excited, they were always complaining about the cold, and they love fire :)

Kids helping papaF moving furniture to make room for the woodstove

Seba fixing the back of a cabinet

Seba collecting wood from the basement to start the first fire

After all the hard work, Seba had the honour to start himself the stove for the first time

The first fire !!

Adding wood, all the kids were in absolute awe of the stove, and still are ! I can't believe how well it works and i find myself wondering if all this so called progress and the reckless run to reach the newest and the fastest and the most expensive is just a trap we fell in ....

Pop-Corn for everybody !

Help yourself :)

Sunday recital

To end the day Gaia Seba and Milla organized for us and Grandparents visiting a recital in the living room. Our faithful sofa was the stage and i was the sound tech :)

Gaia is busy organizing the chairs situation and styling Milla and Seba's hair



Seba is ready to start

Gaia is ready as well

Milla is ready

Jump ! They were singing a song from their uncle Massimo cd ( La vita è qui ) and during his guitar solo they had to jump all together ( If you want to listen to him you can visit him in My Space www.myspace.com/massimilianoputrino )

The recital started, Gaia and Seba are knights, discussing about the their king

Knight Milla joined the company, they decided to smoke a cigarette ( it's a chocolate one of course, and still i found it kinda disturbing, but well ... )

Singing another song, waving hands

Final bow ( really professional ).....

.... and final fight ( very ..mmm .. usual .. eheheheh )

Working with dad

Another good thing from yesterday has been the kids working with PapaF. He had to cut some wood we have in the basement ( we're hoping to buy a woodstove, this would halp us save gas and maybe finally the temperature inside would be a bit higher then 15 °C - yep is freezing cold inside ) and since all the little ones were behaving well he called them to help. Actually in a first moment the boys went and girls helped me in the kitchen, but once we were done also Milla and Gaia joined the fun.

Gaia

Seba ( and Leo watching closely )

Leo

Milla

A good sunday

Yesterday we had a beautiful sunday. Nothing really special happened, but there was that special something in the air. We had a spring like weather, warm and calm. The country around was smelling so good, lady bugs were flying around and the kids could play outside long time enjoying the sun that blessed us yesterday ( this year we're having a real winter, don't get me wrong, i love winter, but after long grey and cold days, waking up in the warm sun was welcomed as a surprise ).