Video Time!

Peter is now four months old and quite a ham.  This is a little video of Peter's first time in the high chair.  He's not eating yet, but he sure loves to be up by the action and "talking".

Dominic and Cate dancing with their best friends, Margaret and Edith.

The first minute captures Peter rolling and cooing.

"Who's a friend?"

Here's some Cate love, especially for Grandma and Grandpa and cousins Stephen, Eliana, Abigail, and Miriam.

"I got a REAL light saber!"

Dominic received many presents for his fourth birthday that he really liked, but this one especially tickled his fancy.  His cousins, Stephen and Ellie, both have their own light sabers and it had apparently been a secret wish of his to have one too...

Videos: February

In lieu of something witty, interesting, or insightful to read...rot your brains with some more videos.

Videos: Christmas Cuteness and Veggie Tales

I know, Christmas was almost 6 weeks ago... But I just went through my pictures and videos and found this precious one of Dominic and Cate dancing.  They're the best of friends.

And here's a promised video of the kids trying to sing the Veggie Tales theme song: 

If you haven't seen Cate, or miss her...

Video! Cate in her glory

We've returned! After 20 hours of travel, we were exceedingly glad to arrive safely in York, PA. The kids were surprisingly good, on account of your prayers, I have no doubt, as it was miraculous that we only suffered ten minutes of crying the entire taxi ride, check-in, security, flight, layover, security, flight, baggage claim, and drive. Endless cookies and juice boxes are also a big hit.

We couldn't be happier to be back in the US. It is amazing to have family and friends nearby or just a phone call away. To have a washer and dryer in my own house. To have more than 450 square feet to call our own. To load up a car and go whenever we want, without waiting for a bus that we frantically load, hoping we didn't forget anything or anyone. To eat Mexican, Chinese, and American food. To have a backyard. To have an amazing shower. To know how stuff works. To know how people work. To understand every word spoken to us or around us. The list goes on and on about why we're so glad to be home. Italy was phenomenal and a real adventure full of incredible moments and priceless experiences, but really, there's no place like home.

And with that, we are back to the business of living, American style (although I must confess, I just made a cappuccino in an Italian moka...).

In our little family, both Cate and Dominic are comedians. Dominic is the clever, scheming sort and Cate is the off-the-cuff, body humor sort. Most of you have seen or read stories of Dominic's tricks, but Cate's are much harder to capture. But thanks to our new camera and blessedly high-speed U.S. internet, I've got a little video to share her tricks.

How cool is the Colosseum?

We visited the Colosseum on my birthday. I figured it would be an absolute shame to spend two months living in Rome and never actually go inside Flavian's famed amphitheater. Built in just ten years during the first century ad and still standing today is quite a feat! It held 50,000 spectators and even had underground tunnels to pipe in water for their mock sea battles! Just standing in the ruins of it almost 2,000 years later still impressed me, but maybe I'm just easily impressed. Dominic, no, he didn't think it was that cool. Check it out for yourself.

Movie Time

In lieu of anything witty or inspiring, I offer you some video entertainment:

Take the Key and Lock Her Up


Chrstmas Lights!



Amy spikes a good one



Hot Cross Buns

New Blog Features

Just wanted to let you all know that I installed a YouTube video bar on the left side of the blog. It is directly linked to my YouTube channel and will automatically update with little images of the latest videos, so you can see whether you've seen them. Also, if they happen to have thumbnails of the fight against poverty, African children, or something else, just wait a minute and they should switch to pictures of people you recognize. If you click on it, they will load and you can watch each video. I uploaded four new videos yesterday from November. Enjoy!

Recap!

Aren't pictures worth a thousand words? Well, I'm going to save you the trouble of reading 75,000 words and have selected the best twenty percent for you to view at your leisure. Lots of things we weren't allowed to take pictures of, so, quite naturally, there are not very many pictures of some of the spectacular things we saw. Let's just say, it was a wonderful couple of weeks with Grandma and Grandpa!

Florence was crowded, rainy, and charming in its artsy way. We enjoyed a very central location and took in the local culture by eating at a late hour without the kids (we went as couples, taking turns watching the kids). The art museums were spectacular, but exhausting, as museums are wont to be.

Rome was, well, really old. It was sweet to see the ruins and imagine a thriving city there at one time, but honestly, Turkey has better ruins. Imagine that, better ruins. :) In Turkey they let you climb all over the ruins and really get close. But Turkey doesn't have the Colosseum or The Arch of Constantine. I really enjoyed seeing in person all of the things that hitherto have only been a page in an art history textbook. The process of getting to the Sistine Chapel was way more complicated than I ever dreamed it could be! We waited in line for 2 hours (our fault for not having reservations...but, as a plus, we went on a free day and saved a lot of money), then we were led through what felt like miles of anterooms gloriously decorated with frescoes, paintings, gold, carvings, etc. before we ever got to the Sistine Chapel. Once we finally got to Michaelangelo's masterpiece, you would have thought that we wouldn't have much art appreciation left in us. The man clapping his hands and bellowing out "SI-lence!" to the hoards below didn't help with that problem. Despite the downsides, however, it was still amazing. I have no idea how anyone, or even a group of people, could paint something so masterful and so beautiful. Extraordinary. St. Peter's Basilica blew my mind. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I love that it is still functioning as a church and not a museum or merely a destination for visitors. It was very prayerful and reverent as well as overwhelmingly beautiful and glorious.

The Colli Hills, about 40 minutes from us, are really quite lovely. It was nice to be out in nature and away from people after so many crowds, lines, and bustle. We enjoyed our hike to the top. Matt was such a trooper hauling Dominic up there in a baby backpack. Grandpa carried Cate in the other backpack and was a tropper too (she's just not quite as heavy). We saw some really gnarly vineyards, olive trees, and a persimmon tree. As a side note, we do not recommend not-quite-ripe persimmons. Psch, eckk, yuck! They taste like chalk and give you the worst cotton mouth you've ever had.

Verona was a charming city. It was a quaint little place full of its own wonders. The entire city is built upon Roman ruins. It has great shops, restaurants, and fun places to see. It was a joy just to wander around.

Lastly, we went to Venice. I know I've already posted about Venice, so I'll keep it brief. We went after a rainy day. The city had a slightly sewagey smell. But despite that, it was still a very endearing city. Because of the ill weather, we were able to walk right into St. Mark's Basilica without waiting at all. That was a miracle. It was a gold, Byzantine wonder. There are mosaics everywhere! According to Rick Steve's, who knows all, of course, the ceiling is as large as a football field and to do the mosaics would be like paving a football field with contacts (but of different shapes, etc!). We also took a boat ride to Murano island and saw a very brief demonstration on glass-blowing. I wish it had been longer because it was really fascinating. Mom and I gave in and bought necklaces with Murano glass beads. They're pretty cool, I must say.

At home, in Padova, we had a little (early) birthday celebration for Cate with a chocolate torte. She sure enjoyed that! It was wonderful to have Grandma and Grandpa here to celebrate it with us.

We had a fantastic time and wore ourselves out with wonder. Now it's back to the everyday grind, which is much less exciting...and exhausting.

Video: Hokey Pokey

I'm dangerous once I get started posting the videos... Matt has been taking the camera to the library to photograph old books, so most days I am "sans camera". He hasn't needed it for the last couple days, though, so I took full advantage by commanding my husband and the children to be interesting and then shot precious videos. Enjoy the Hokey Pokey.

Video Time!

I thought that everyone could use a little dose of the kids in action. Here's Dominic doing the song "Head and Shoulders" with Daddy.



And here's Cate giggling with Mommy.

Happy Birthday Video

Because we will be in Italy for the next 10 months, Mama and Papa wanted to celebrate Matt's and Cate's birthdays before we leave. Enjoy this special euphonic arrangement of the classic hit, "Happy Birthday."

"Tubby" by the Tub (a companion video)

This video tells more than I ever could about our son's burgeoning personality: lively, energetic, and camera-loving. There's no doubt about it, he is his father's son through and through. The only thing that I can claim (besides his obvious good looks...) is his unmistakable eyebrow raise to accompany any expression. Clearly he gets that from my side--especially my mother and brothers. So, without any further delay, here's the video of my "Tubby" at his favorite place, the tub. I hope this video brings a smile to your face, as it does to mine. Think of it as a visual companion to my post, "The Tub's Edge".