A take it easy day...

Today I was able to carve a little time for some scrapping. I really enjoyed it. I realized I didn't even have any recent picture printed , so I looked among the most recent pictures and I have found these ones of Ryan and Lucas taken last month at Stanford. It was a beautiful sunny day! Now, Lucas and Ryan have the classical relationship anyone would imagine two little brothers may have: standard love-hate relationship. One minute they ar eplaying together and are all happy, the next one they will be slapping each other like there is no tomorrow. As the god mother that I am, I will record only the loving moments, so here is one of those!!

Fascination

I am not usually a big fan of presents that involve live animals, especially when they are going to end up inside the house, but this one is in a whole different category. It is called AntWorks and it is a space age habitat for Ants. Let me tell you: in our household this Christmas present turned out to be a big winner (if not the big winner!). Everyone is totally in owe of these tiny little creatures and their ability to create tunnels and live in a group setting. It is a very neat way to study ants without disturbing their habits. Through this transparent grass we just look at them and observe their life. Really cool!! And when I say we I mean all of us including Lucas who just looks at them and looks at them......

A great finding

This book was such a pleasant surprise and I really wanted to share this great finding. Few days before Christmas I got in touch with an old friend from high school. It was great to catch up with someone I knew so well and kind of lost touch for 10 years. To make a long story short, while talking about our lives and the ones of our common friends he mentioned that one of my dearest friend's wife had become an accomplished writer of cooking books during these years. Well, after that piece of information I looked into her books and I ordered her last one, Apples for Jam, from Amazon. I was really looking forward to get the book, how often can one say "I know the author of this book"? So, when the book arrived, I started reading it right away and...I totally loved it!!! The book is a wonderful combination of simple and delicious recipes (something everyone can make without having to be a cuisine expert) and little bits and pieces of family life. A melange of memories of Tessa's past and present life. I so enjoy this book, the pictures of the food are wonderful and the presentation is simply perfect! I was even more surprised when I saw the book at the local Anthropologie store few days ago, I thought the store was the prefect setting for this book (I totally love the store!!!!!).

Happy New Year!!!

Hope 2008 brings peace and serenity to all of us.
We spent New Year's Eve at home and waited for the midnight playing cards. Lucas went to bed sometime around 10PM, but Ryan stayed up until midnight and celebrated with us (Alex was at his daddy's this year).It was a peaceful end and new beginning.I hope this is the beginning of a great year!

Christmas Eve

 

Hope everyone out there is having a great Christmas Eve (or Christmas). All is quiet here NOW and I am getting ready to go to bed and recharge for the big day. Today it was a perfect Christmas Eve in my book. In the morning Greg took the kids to Happy Hollow, Mamma and Papa' went out shopping, I waited for Alex to get home and then I went for a run. It felt really good!!!
Lunch was very light and then Greg and I went out for a relaxing walk to the mall. The stores were all open and so many people were still shopping for last minute gifts. By 5:30PM we were back at home and mamma and I started the dinner making. Menu tonight included Penne with crab meat sauce, clams in white sauce, baccala' (both fried and in red sauce)and the fried mix of vegetables. It was all good! After dinner we all jumped in the van and went to see the Christmas lights in Fulton Street in Palo Alto, it was cute! back at home we played a mix version of Bingo/Tombola. It was fun. A good day.