Kirra's Thanksgiving Preformance

Here's a cute picture of Kirra at the 1st grade Thanksgiving preformance. They all did a great job, singing songs like Mr Turkey BIG and FAT, Over the River, and A Thanksgiving Blessing.

Vicenza Nevicare

In the 4 years that we lived in Italy it snowed TWICE...that's it...TWICE!!! We had fun playing in the snow, but in the back of our minds we wished that we wouldn't have lost a day of clearing because it decided to snow three days before we left.
Ms. Ginn's class went outside and had a snowball fight..I just happened to catch this after they refused to help us at the Golden Lion :)
Kirra had so much fun making the snowman, she decided to make another one! :)

Italia Bambino

I took this picture of the kids outside of our house the last day we were there. The kids really do miss their Italian friends.


Top Row Left: Austin, Chiada, Ausia, Kirra, Roberto, Christian,
Bottom Row Left: Joele, Marco, Rafaele

Switzerland

Here are some pictures of our last trip to Switzerland. I'm trying not to think too much about this post, because I miss these people tremendously, and I dont wanna cry.

Last trip to Venice

We decided that before we left Vicenza we should take one last trip to Venice.

My kids LOVE Venice! Here they are waiting for our Train.

We went to the island of Murano.

The kids were excited to get on the boat.

Dave Wagner and Dave Christansen came with us - so here's all of the boys

We watched a demonstration on how they make the glass... I thought the entry was beautiful.

We had fun checking out the glass store. I love this picture of Christian

Kirra liked the birdies.

After Murano we went back to have lunch and hang out in San Marco square.

The kids had a ride on the Lion

And we were attacked by the pigeons for the last time

Christian actually didn't freak out this time!

One last family photo :)

Quick trip to Asiago

Chad woke up this Sunday and decided that
after church we were going to go up to Asiago for a picnic.
Kirra and Christian wanted to ride this train...
but instead we just took pictures by it.

Chad loves being up in the mountains!

Kirra is MY girl! :)

Christian is trying to be like the cow in the background...MOO!

Fun on the playground

After lunch and our little walk, we went to the War Memorial

What a great place to go, so close to Veterans Day

He was impressed

Taking a little break

One last pose...

Snow Day!

Yea!!! Finally a chance to just sit and blog. Chad just left to check out the Rec Center, and the kids are checking out all of Grandmas toys. So I am going to BLOG!!! You all know that I can't just start with the current stuff... so here is where I left off...

Everyone laughed about Kirra having a pet named Hopper...so I caught her out in the yard on Saturday (after I posted my tagged blog) playing with her friend...



There's the proof!!!

It is a winter wonderland outside... I got to look out the window for a few seconds while my picture downloaded and watch the snowfall...so beautiful... and did you see... SECONDS... it only took a few seconds... I LOVE high speed internet!!! :)

I've Been Tagged

I'm so excited!!! I was tagged by Ashley and Lexi!!!
So here goes- 7 things about ME....
**1** My Mom was born in Rock Springs Wyoming, when my Grandma was 28 years old, and she was the first girl born in the family. It was the same thing when I was born... I was born in Rock Springs, when my mom was 28, and I was the first girl. Does this mean that Kirra should have waited to be born in Rock Springs in 2010? lol

**2** I am like a big kid, especially when I'm SWIMMING! It's no fun to go swimming and just hang out in the water. I want to play Marco Polo, do cannonballs into the water, dunk people, throw things to the bottom of the pool and race to see who can get it the fastest :) HOWEVER- I was recently reminded of my fear to jump off of the diving board (and for good reason) The first time I was going to jump off of one, my lovely brother decided to push me. I'll never forget the fear I had when that happened. And to this day, I really dont like diving boards.

**3** I love the Denver Broncos (more than I think I even know)! Yesterday while I was sitting with Chad, Shawn, and Dave eating lunch in the food court, some guy stopped by to say hello to them, and just had to mention how badly the Broncos are doing this year, and I was offended. How dare they talk bad about MY team? Being in Italy we get the games at crazy times...and I'll admit I've stayed up till 2 am to watch the game. Earlier this year, Jason was putting Austin on the bus, and mentioned that his team was LOSING, I LAUGHED and was ESTATIC because the Broncos were stomping on the Raiders. Then just tonight during the game against Cleveland, I was upset over a bad call against MY team. Who knew I cared so much about a football team?!?!

**4** I would rather scrub toilets than do dishes! That's how badly I hate doing dishes. And the dishes aren't as bad as doing the laundry. Laundry is evil!! It's seriously never done, at the end of the day you're still going to have dirty clothes, even if you did laundry ALL day. Its an evil process of getting it done too...Sort it, Wash it, dry it, fold it, put it away! What a pain!!! Maybe I'll be better about laundry when I get to the States... you know when it doesn't take 2 hours to wash ONE load...or when I dont have to put my shoes on, walk down 30 stairs, unlock the garage, just to get a load in the dryer! I know this isn't a secret to most of you... but did you know that I once washed one load of towels three times? This is because every time, I waited until the towels had that funny smell from sitting in the washer wet for too long... what a shame :{

**5** I'm sure you all have memories of a childhood pet... I remember my brothers dog Rambo, our hamsters- Booboo, Cheeto, Sam and Hammy, our cat Buster and my very favorite a little black dog named Scooter. With this being said... I am scared to get a family pet. My kids have been begging me to get a pet for at least the last two years. I've been happy that we live in a building that has a 'no pet policy' and that was the perfect excuse. That's until our neighbor decided to get a dog... then I had to use the excuse that we HAVE to wait till we move back to the United States before we can get a dog. Really guys...I'm more nervous to have a little dog to take care of, than I was when I found out I was pregnant. I'm sure when we finally get the little creature, it will melt my little heart. It will also be great that Kirra wont have to count on grasshoppers being in out yard to play with when she gets home from school.

**6** I dream of going on The Amazing Race! I LOVE that show - how cool would it be to race around the World, and have the chance to win a bunch of money in the end. Funny thing is... once upon a time I said I would NEVER travel outside of the United States...especially after I went to Mexico, and got SICK for three days, and came back with a huge jelly fish sting on my leg. When I was a Junior, I was offered a chance to go to Germany on a foreign exchange trip. I flat out told my teacher I never wanted to leave the U.S. again. After living in Italy for four years now... my eyes have been opened, and I'm greatful for the experience.

**7** I never thought I'd be able to think of 7 random things about little ol me, and now that I've started, I can think of a bunch of random stuff you might not know... silly things like: Growing up I was a baton twirler and walked in a couple of parades twirling a baton. I have a collection of Stamps, that I started collecting in Middle School. Once upon a time, not that long ago, I asked Chad why the weather in Hawaii and Alaska are so different when they are so close together? Why do maps have to be so darn deceiving? I refused to eat rice, broccoli, and meatloaf when we first got married, because I hated it... Honestly, it was because I didn't eat much of those things growing up...and I guess because mom didn't like it I didn't either..yea right LOL. Two of my most favorite things are DR PEPPER and the INTERNET and my TWO least favorite things are HAIR and STRESS.

So, I am tagging
Mom
Michelle
Elisa
Holly
Julie
Peggy
Becky

HAVE FUN!!!

Pocketbikes

I just have to share this picture of our "menly men" After our trip to Asiago all of the guys got together to go ride pocketbikes. Really, it looks to me like these things could fit in their pocket! How the heck to they ride them!?!? HAHA

Asiago

Our trip to Asiago started at the restraunt that serves the BEST calzones in Italy. We have a lasting memory from the first time we went there. It all started when Kirra spilled a little bit of her Sprite on the table, and my frustrated Chad commented "we can't take you kids anywhere"! It sounded a lot like something my Dad would say. But Chads luck... moments after he got Kirra's mess cleaned up. He bumped his own glass with his elbow, and Coke went EVERYWHERE! My sweet little Kirra pipes up... Daddy, Maybe YOU need a sippy cup! I laughed so hard that I cried! She was a pretty witty 3 year old!
After our lunch we headed over to the Ice Rink- Everyone had a blast! It was great to watch the kids figuring it out. They all did SO good... and I didn't hear anyone complain (until it was time to go home). I was a bit worried about Kirra- she did not want ANY help and fell down every two seconds. Still, she had a smile on her face the WHOLE time! My biggest fear for Christian was that he'd have bruises on his arms from Chad and I holding him up. We finished with a cup of Hot Chocolate :) The only thing that went wrong....all of my pictures from the day was deleted off of my camera :( Lucky for me it was just the ones I had taken that day! I stole this picture from Dave.... Kirra cracks me up!!

Happy Halloween

Early Halloween morning I had a ghost in my house. Christian wondered in our room around 7 AM with a blanket over his head, and making some pretty erie noises. Somebody was excited!! About an hour later, he couldn't handle it anymore...Kirra HAD to wake up. After all, it was HALLOWEEN DAY, they FINALLY got their costumes that Grandma sent, and they had a way cool party planned for them. We certainly couldn't just simply tell Kirra that it was time to wake up... Chad decided that we would make use of our toilet paper, and turn Christian into a mummy. Christian was digging this idea! Lets just say it started a great day off right :D
Even though it was pouring down rain- we wasn't going to let it rain on our parade! We all got together at the church and had a BLAST!!! We had EVERYTHING from Bingo to Witches Brooms! We made masks, had a candy walk, decorated cookies, made ghost lolipops, had a ball toss, a fishing game, donuts on a string, and bobbing for apples! After these activities we ate some yummy lunch, and then had a mummy race and a pumpkin search! The kids were in heaven!!! After a much needed nap, we went Trick-or-Treating for an hour on Villagio. And ended our WONDERFUL day at Nancy's house. She spoiled us with Pumpkin bars and some of the best bread I have EVER ate, and topped it off with hot apple cider. Really- I think this is one of the best Halloweens I've had, and I think my kids would agree!

Chads Jump

Thanks to our friend Dave- I got some pictures of Chad's jump from last week. Although it is insane to jump from a perfectly good airplane...
it is his part of his job.

Nursing Home Visit

We had the opportunity to visit the nursing home last Monday. It was fun for the kids to dress up and entertain the elderly. There isn't really any way to express how wonderful it is to see your children putting smiles on the faces of these sweet folks. Even though the Italian culture doesn't celebrate Halloween the way we do, it is great to share our traditions with them. I really appreciate Silvia, Julie and Lexi for making this happen. It was GREAT!!

Carving Pumpkins

We had a lot of fun carving our pumpkins this year. Kirra and Christian each picked out two pumpkins and decided what they wanted to carve on them. Kirra made a ghost and a bat or better known as Ghostie and Battie. and Christian made a Cat and a traditional Jack-O-Lantern face, he called them- Kitty and Happy Hal (that he said looked ALOT like Kirra with her missing teeth). Christian said he liked cleaning out the pumpkin, but the look on his face said otherwise. Kirra left the dirty work up to the rest of us. She's such a girl! :) However, she LOVED tracing the pattern onto the pumpkin. I just loved her face when she pulled the paper off :D

Letting the good times roll....

This has to be one of the best days spent on post....
All of the girls got together and went to the movie! We watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants- so we made the no boys allowed rule :)

And then we met up with the guys and went bowling!!

My kids are getting to be really good bowlers!

They LOVE hanging out with their friends!

I have to say that Caserme Ederle finally did something right when they built the Arena Bowling Alley. Just in time for us to move :*(

Germany

We had a wonderful time in Germany. We spent 4 days in beautiful Garmisch and a day in Munich. It was great to be up in the mountains, breathing in the fresh mountain air, and enjoying all the vibrant fall colors.