First week of school!

We just completed our 1st week of school, and it went very, very well!! Here's a picture of the kids in the school room before we got started one morning. I need to get some pictures of them actually doing some work :)

Chiara loves to water...

the plants on the front porch...




the concrete...

the grass (since she doesn't have to cut it!)...

even her own toes! (She hoping that it will help her catch up to her siblings in size :)

Let's Go Fly a Kite!!

Dany's brothers came bearing gifts for the kids from everyone in Italy. Among these gifts were kites! The kids were very excited to get their 1st kites. Cati had tried many, many times to make her own out of printer paper and yarn without success :)

I hope you can see these kites way up in the sky.





Sometimes, even a math professor just needs to go fly a kite!

(Is anyone else singing along with Mary Poppins??)

Helpful Visitors

Giovanni and Michele helped complete some summer projects around the house while they were here.


Here's the pantry that has needed serious attention since we moved in. You can see the peeling paint on the ceiling.

Dirty, stained walls and floor.

After scraping, washing, painting, and new flooring, here's the result!

They also dug up all the grass and weeds from around the shrubs in front of the house and put down mulch.

Thanks for much for your help with these much needed projects!!! We couldn't have done it without you!!

Neglectful blogger

Dany's brothers, Michele and Giovanni, have been visiting us during the past 2 weeks. We've been having a lot of fun. The weather has been perfect, so there has been lots of outside playtime. I've been busy trying to keep the house decent and preparing for us to start school on Monday, so I haven't had ANY time for blogging. I hope to catch up over the weekend!

Getting ready...

...to go back to PA. We've had a great stay here in GA. We've been able to see lots of friends and family, and we hope to see everyone again soon!! Thanks to everyone who made time to see us!

In all of these posts, I noticed there aren't any pictures of the kids with Grandma and Pipa! For some reason, we are not good about making sure we have lots of pictures with them, even though we spend the most time with them! Here are a few I found from this trip.





On Wednesday, we will make the long drive back. Then we will be getting ready for some visitors to our house: Zio Michele and Zio Giovanni!! Two of Dany's brothers will be making their 1st trip to the U.S.!!

Family Reunion

On Saturday, we gathered in celebration of Alice's life and spent a fun day at Stone Mountain Park.



Here is the younger crew waiting in front of the hotel for the fun to begin!

We rode the train around the mountain.

Then we went for a much needed dip in the pool while the others started grilling.

After all their hard work, we gathered at the picnic area for a short-lived picnic. After about 10 minutes, we were dashing to our cars for shelter from the hail and lightning storm!

We moved the picnic indoors, which was a lot of fun, too!

The weather cleared out and many of us made it for the laser show!

It was a great weekend! The only thing that could've made it better was more time!! (and maybe cooler temps!)

Saying Goodbye

We gathered on Friday to say goodbye to my grandmother, Alice, one last time. She wanted to be cremated and buried in a new military cemetary that only recently opened. She was a WWII nurse and was buried with military honors. We were unable to attend her funeral Mass last January, so we were grateful to be a part of this.



Maria laid a rose petal on her new grave.

Uncle Rob and Aunt Jess visit!

Rob and Jess came down for a visit this weekend!


Matteo hasn't warmed up to too many people down here, but he loves Aunt Jess!

Hopefully, Rob will forgive me for posting this early morning picture of him with Chiara. It's hard to get pictures of her with anyone!

She warms up to girls much faster. She's actually smiling with Aunt Jess!
We hope to see them again at Christmas!!

Time with Pamela

We got to spend a few short hours with Pamela on Thursday.

Here she is with 2 of her godchildren.
Here she is with our 4 kids.

And here's the whole group of kids, Arcaras and Rosamonds.

Aunt Pamela has lots of little kids who love her!

Time with the Rosamonds

We got to spend some time with the Rosamonds last week. The kids had a lot of fun playing together.



John Paul doesn't remember us from the time we all lived together in Utah, of course. Thankfully, he's a very friendly boy who is happy to have anyone carry him around! We were all happy to do it!

My kids enjoyed their 1st fishing experience with Uncle Chad. They didn't catch anything, but that didn't matter :)
You can't spend too much time outside here in GA. It is unbelievably hot and humid! The kids came in to enjoy the A/C and an exciting game of Go Fish!

Chiara's just about had it with our "on-the-go" schedule over the past week! She found a kitchen mat, pulled it over, and decided she needed a rest!