Gavin's New Adventure

Since the beginning of the school year, we've been trying to find an extracurricular activity for Gavin. He pretty much loves doing whatever his sister is doing, so we felt like it was really important for him to have something that was his own.

The obvious choice in Italy is soccer. We looked into several options, but we never found what we thought was a good fit. As you can imagine, soccer is incredible competitive here. We just wanted a place where Gavin could learn, have fun, and meet some new friends without all the pressure.


Nothing panned out in the Fall, and about a month ago, Cody said, "We should find a place for Gavin to take karate." Wow, why didn't we think about that earlier? So, we scoured the internet and finally found a place really close to our house that offered lessons to kids. And it's technically not karate. . . it's taekwondo.

Looks tough, doesn't he?

Gavin is five, and they like kids to be six before they start. But because he is so tall for his age, they agreed to let him try it out. He LOVES it! After his years of Jedi training, it's really the perfect fit. :) And honestly, with Gavin's personality, an individual sport is probably a much better idea for him to be able to develop confidence.

Got to say, he was pretty excited about his uniform. I know there's an official name for it, but we're not that far in yet!

He goes twice a week, and he's been for two weeks now. Mondays and Wednesdays are highlights for him! He's so proud to show us what he's learned, and we're so proud of him for doing this all on his own. This is actually a really big deal for him, and we feel like it is incredibly significant toward helping him to really thrive here. So we are rejoicing in announcing the new white belt living in our home. The next time you see him, you'll have to ask him to show you his moves!

Valentine's Day in Florence

Wow, what a treat we had last night! Since our awesome and amazing STINT girl Crystal was already set to babysit for us on Monday for a meeting we had in Florence, we didn't have any big plans for Valentine's Day. I was going to make fajitas, but that was about it. Also because of our meeting, we were going to have to get up early to catch a train.

On Friday, Crystal called to see if we would want to go out on Sunday night. She didn't mind babysitting Sunday night AND Monday morning if it would be a blessing to us (she used to be a teacher, so she has great skills with maintaining order among our three!). One thing led to another, and she ended up spending the night Sunday night so that Cody and I could head to Florence early and enjoy our very first overnight away from the kids since moving.

A self-taken photo in front of the Duomo

I went online and found a great deal on this old hotel that had been refurbished recently. I went with it because of the price, but it turned out to be one of the nicest hotels we've stayed in here. All hotels offer a breakfast with the room, but they usually consist of bread and jams. This breakfast was a full buffet with eggs and american-style bacon!

And while we're on the topic of food. . . we decided to forgo Italian on Valentine's night and hit the Mexican restaurant in Florence (who would do that in the States?). Yummy, yummy, yummy! That was an incredibly special treat, since Mexican restaurants (especially good ones) are pretty darn rare here.

We wrapped up our 24 hours away with a stroll around town after our meeting, before catching the train back. Oh, how we were blessed with this little gift of a few hours away to focus on each other! Since I'm writing this (Jen), I can not let the opportunity pass to say what an incredible job Cody did making the most of our time away. I felt pursued in the ways I did when we were dating. :) He truly made it one of the best Valentine's Days we've ever had together. What a great guy!

I am so thankful to say we returned to Bologna feeling incredibly refreshed! It was a short trip, but it went a long ways.

An Italian Super Bowl

As I posted on Facebook, Super Bowl Sunday has to be one of the hardest days to be overseas. Especially this year! Watching the Super Bowl, while eating every possible form of junk food available, is just so. . . American! And though we can stream the game live through our computers, it doesn't come on until midnight in Italy. And whether we go to bed at 10pm or 4am, our kids will be getting up bright and early on Monday morning to head to school.


Last year, our first Super Bowl away, it wasn't a hard decision. We had absolutely no interest in either team. This year is a completely different story! We could only be more torn if the Texans were playing. (Actually, that would be a no-brainer--we'd up at any hour).

All last week, we debated what to do. . . do we watch it or do we not? Do we tape it and watch it later? Do we pretend we really don't care and just go to bed, trying to forget it's Super Bowl Sunday? Alas, we could not help ourselves. So, at 10pm, we turned on the SlingBox to watch the pre-game festivities. We gave nachos our best attempt and rewarmed our chicken wings, which were really just chicken legs.


It was awesome! We kind of forgot we were in Italy for a while. We haven't really watched American TV for almost a year and half, so watching the commercials felt like a crash course in catching up with the current American culture. It was weird to feel so out of the loop. If not Texans's fans, we usually root for the Colts. But Drew Brees and the Saints offered such a good story, we were just as happy for them to finally win the Trophy.

Unfortunately, 7am came just as expected this morning, and wow, are we feeling it! When Cody took the kids to school this morning, one of the other dads asked how he was, and he said he was pretty tired. "Ah! I know why this is! Your Super Bowl was on last night!" Got to love it!

My Crazy Artist

He looks so innocent, doesn't he? You'll notice the red and blue on his cheek. . . not so innocent! Ben is at this stage where he just wants to do whatever a Big Person is doing. Sometimes this is really cute and helpful--like when he vacuums under the table after dinner or walks around the house dusting. Not all of his attempts at being older than his almost two years are so harmless though.

One of his favorite sources of mischief are writing utensils. Every day Ben spends time in his room playing by himself. Last week, when I went to check on him (it was a little too quiet in there), I discovered that somehow he had manuevered a chair in such a way as to reach Gavin's markers. Upon acquiring his prize, he went to town--coloring every surface imaginable in his room, and on his body.

He decorated the floor, the furniture, his quilt, the table, his clothes. . . you name it. He was so proud of himself! I was so shocked I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Thankfully, as a seasoned Mom, I only allow washable markers in the house. So, it took a little elbow grease to erase his artwork, but eventually all returned to normal.

I did have to take a few pictures of his tattoo work though. Colorful, don't you think?

This little guy is such a curious, smart, ordered and happy toddler. And active. Incredibly active. When he is awake, I get very little else done other than chasing him around, keeping him out of disaster and bodily harm. I know this season won't last forever, and there will be a time I will look back and miss it. For now, however, I am just trying to survive!