Sweater from Aunt Rhoda

Aunt Rhoda made a really cute cardigan for Maja! Here is the back, and Maja's bald spot. :)

It was tricky getting a good pic at the soccer game because it was so bright... so I tried to keep her face in the shade but then that didn't make for very good pictures.

With Tata.

Her hair is pretty red in the sun!

Conversations with Vittoria/Things I never said at five

Thanks for making asparagus tonight. 

Halloween

Halloween is pretty complicated, so we had to practice tonight at Amerman. 

Maternity leave is coming to an end... :(

I started this on my phone with the new blogger app, it wouldn't let me publish (kept getting an error) but it let me save as a draft and now I'm publishing from the iPad. I don't like the picture quality (esp the one of Maja watching soccer) but I guess I might use it again for maybe just one pic or something...
------
I go back to work next Thursday. Boo. Here are some pics of the girls from my time off - we had some great bonding time!

Rhoda posted pics of the salon party already but she didn't have any pics of Ania with the mud mask, so here is one.

Watching the big sisters play soccer

Watching the big sisters swim. It was hot in there!

Jay gave Alina a few pointers on soccer by drawing a picture... Ania watched carefully and came out with her own version when he was done. :)

Tummy time yesterday

Jealous?

Kwame is in the news. Where's Mom?

Blogging from my phone

Here is Katie. 

Happy Halloween from a Dentist!

What every kid wants when they go trick or treating. Listerine!!

Goodbye 2008

Hello, 2013!

I finally got a smart phone. Now help me choose a case.

Pizza

Hilary and I made pizza while staying at her house. It was super pfun. A real highlight of a fantastic trip.

I used a recipe from my good buddy Chris, which took  24 hours to refrigerate.

Then we got to heat up her oven!!

That's Hilary stirring the coals and making her second blog appearance. She doesn't know what a big deal it is.

And roll the dough.

I'm American, English and Italian all at the same time. Have you ever seen anything so amazing??? The only thing missing is my foulard.

This was the first one we did as a test. We decided the recipe could use a bit more salt and be divided into thirds instead of halves so it would be a bit thinner, but overall we were happy.

Finally, Hilary has this awesome cup. I got to pose with it and drink tea from it almost everyday. She told me I looked like an Eastern European tart in this picture.

The Muse

I liked taking pictures of Mom. Sometimes she'd make faces for me.

Sometimes she was full.

Sometimes she worshiped idol gods. In Prague if you rub this dog...

And then this person...

Our guide told us you will get pregnant whilst in Prague. Large guffaw from this girl when he said that.

She was a good sport and didn't seem to mind my camera always in her face.

53 Days

She's cute.

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

Being back in Rome is great. I went to my old neighborhood and saw they had build a new bridge. Not sure how I feel about it. Having a bridge is nice, but it doesn't look very Roman, does it?

There is also a new Burger King, a bubbler fountain in the center (didn't get a photo), new trains on the metro. The line that I used to consider the ghetto line has trains that have AC and teles that show sushi advertisements! And even car sharing.

Just as I was starting to think Rome was taking a turn for the better, as I was headed home, Rome showed her true colors.

See those numbers under the "RIT" column I've tried to circle? Those are minutes late. "CAN", as you can imagine, means canceled. I got on the train that was supposed to be the 6:02 at 7:45ish. What's even better is when we pulled into the station the announcement said, "This train is 25 minutes late." Ummm...This is not the 7:32 train.

Then I got to thinking, "This is exactly why Americans will never do public transport." I don't even know what Americans would do in this situation. Break stuff? We don't typically riot. Just stand there like a bunch of Italians? Also not likely? Freak out? Yes. But how? Make someone come get them?

Something else that hasn't changed? Gelato...

And that's Hilary and me...Not sure if we've changed or stayed the same...