Egg Dying

I love Easter and Springtime. One of my favorite presents for Easter one year was a bike...a big pink one. Usually we got small things...candy, little toys...but one year I was surprised with a bike. Everything is greening up. I am ready to do a little work outside, but I'm not ready for the mosquitoes. I have a feeling that it will be a bad year since we had so much rain and snow.


Grandma is a good at crayoning!



Pietro is giving us the standard 'Tommasina' face. Whenever you ask his relatives a question that they have to think about a little bit, they'll pull a face like this. I think it's hilarious...and I wonder if Amedeo will do it too.


It is good to have seasoned egg dyers like grandpa around for this...
We managed to get a rainbow selection of eggs this year....I forgot to do an ugly egg. Usually I make at least one brown or puke colored egg. Next year, I guess!


Finally, Amedeo wears the sunglasses. I have been pleading with him to wear some. He picked them up one day and struck a pose. He has been more insistant that his name is Nemo. We'll call him..."Amedeo, come over here." He'll say, "NO! Nemo!" I think it is a cute nickname, but most people associate him with the fish. He has never seen the movie. Ah well.


So, we'll be spending the next few days eating egg salad sandwiches and staring at the yard wondering where to start.

Bike Trailer Test

On Saturday, we decided to go for a bike ride with Pietro's new trailer! Amedeo got a new helmet and some new inner tubes for Pietro's old tires.


It is important to start off the ride with a snack!



Poppy needed lots of help adjusting the bikes. Thank goodness Amedeo was there!


Fortunately, Amedeo loved his first ride. I was worried that he would cry and scream...he calls it the "Choo choo car." Hopefully we will get lots of good use out of this in the summertime!

Zoo part II

I'm going to rewind a little...Friday night we had Alessandro, Tanya and Noe' come to see us! Alex and Pietro went to school together. He and his family are taking a long vacation to see the US. We were lucky to have dinner with them Friday night. The boys dig carrot cake!


This is at the zoo on Sunday...Amedeo in the Tundra-Mobile. It makes me have heart palpitations thinking about him behind the wheel of a car. Crazy boy!


Me holding an elephant turd with Amedeo looking horrified.


Amedeo felt a true kinship with the monkeys.




The End.

Everyone is doing it!

Going to the zoo, that is!!! The weather has been great! Pietro had a friend come into town, so we all went to the Baltimore Zoo.

There were many expressions of JOY! Just in time for spring.


Amedeo's favorite animal of the day...


Lazy little cheetah.

Zooming in the teacup ride.


Ice cream at the end...

next....part II

Messy Feet

Lazy mommy has not been blogging. We did many fun things in February and now that March has arrived, I felt the need to update. I am so eager for spring to come. We are digging deep for things to do inside the house. Many of my mommy friends have blogs that I check regularly. They all do an awesome job with regular updates! One in particular has encouraged me to think outside of the box. Melanie blogs about art and learning projects for her daughter that have inspired me to have a little more fun on a regular basis. I loved her idea about painting with Q-tips and marshmallows...we didn't have either of those, so I decided to try another novel painting device....Feet!


This was a few minutes after he got up from his nap, so he was a little sleepy. Probably, he was a tad skeptical too!



Now, you want me to do WHAT with my feet?!?!?


Oh, ok...it isn't too bad.


I think he did have fun...he's just not showing well.


My favorite pic...

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

February 10 was Amedeo's Birthday! He has made it to the ripe old age of 2, so we decided to celebrate with an excess of presents. Of them all, my favorite is the easel from IKEA. I LOVE drawing on the chalkboard. I suppose Amedeo thinks it's ok.


Dear Cousin Finn, Uncle Morgan, and Aunt Debbie gave Amedeo this tool set! He can screw and unscrew things to his heart's content. Not pictured is a doctor's set....also very generously given by Auntie D and Uncle MoMo. Like Finn, Amedeo enjoys giving everyone (including the cats) shots. He might be a teensy bit sadistic. Thanks, Finn, for the awesome presents!!!


Here is his Bean Box. He can pour and dump, etc....all day. Cheap and versatile toy. I truly hope that he does not become a Bean Counter when he grows up. If he does, it will be my fault.


Pietro and Amedeo with the cars...of course, more cars and trucks for his special day! You might have noticed that Pietro has grown a goatee. He felt he needed one so he could completely embrace his evil plans.


Amedeo also got a blizzard for his birthday. I think he asked for snowplows, not more snow, so a few wires got crossed. Sorry, folks.

The birthday boy eating his birthday dinner.


Roasted potatoes, salad, beans, and pork tenderloin...all of which was consumed with the help of ketchup. I am considering investing my retirement funds in ketchup stock. We buy it in bulk.



Amedeo's cake...chocolate!


Standard cake-eating shot...

Dear, Amedeo,

You are an awesome little boy. We love you so much. You are sweet and loving and smart. We are lucky to have you in our lives. We wish you much happiness in your life and especially on your future birthdays.

love,
Mama and Poppy.

PS...Happy V-Day! Hope everyone feels the love today...if not, here are some hugs and kisses for you XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!

A little bit of snow

Last weekend, we had some snow fall. Enough to make a nice snowman! It was tremendous fun, though a little slushy near the end.

I knit a pair of mittens for Amedeo at the beginning of winter. The hassle has always been how to keep the darn things on him. I discovered that tape helps a bunch.


And then...we got a wee bit more snow.

Our cats are NOT pleased. You can see that Zenzero (the far cat) is covering the heating grate with his whole body.

Unlike our cats, who hate the snow, I love it. Pietro loves it. Fortunately, Amedeo loves it too!
This was when it was still snowing on Saturday morning. There was only 25" on the ground then.
It was a good thing that Pietro left the shovel on the porch since we couldn't even get to the garage to start making a path.


Here is after the snow stopped falling...we wound up with about 28" in our yard. Amedeo is examining the structural integrity of the snow walls.



Here is a mountain of snow that's at the end of our driveway. We aren't totally shoveled out yet. The plow hasn't come through, so there isn't much point in doing the last section.

Here is a picture from early this morning. Beautiful blue skies and calm winds. It was totally silent. That's one thing I really like about the snow. I don't hear the car noises. Everyone was stuck! We hope everyone is having fun playing in the snow....Pietro and Amedeo can't stay out of it!