Thursday, January 29, 2015

January update!!!

The first week back to school for the kids I spent getting the house back in order and getting caught up around the house.  On the 8th of January I ventured out to the chapel to help take decorations down, I got to meet a couple new people!

Friday the 9th Hannah and I had a date night together with a friend of hers and her parents.  It was really nice to go and hang out with a friend, my first time being invited out since we moved here!  And Hannah and I won a prize and so did the other family!

The 10th we went back up to Piancavallo to go sledding and play in the snow.  We plan to enjoy the snow as much as possible until it is gone!  That evening we went to a pizzeria in our town called Pizzeria Pratobello https://www.facebook.com/pizzeriapratobello/info  The pizza was great, now we know we have a favorite close to home!!!

The 12th of January began a busy week for all of us and the weeks to come.  Hannah started baton, and Daniel and Alyssa started basketball on Mondays and Wednesdays.

The evening of the 15th I attended the Parent Academy at the kids school.  It was very informational!  Besides getting Autism Awareness, I also attended a routines to prevent meltdowns class and raising a reader in our digital age class.

On the 16th the girls and I attended the PWOC Evening of Tea, where I found out about the upcoming Bible Studies.  At that time I choose the Jonah study as it had the shortest list of people, since then the class has gotten very large.  Jonah is a good pick for me, it fits into my life perfectly.

The 17th we ventured out to Castle Miramare in the Trieste area of Italy.  We had a great time checking out the castle inside and out!
The 21st my bible study began and now I look forward to bible study every week!

The 23rd there was no school and we decided that would be the day to have Daniel and Hannah's birthday party.  We have never done a dual birthday party before for any of the kids, so when Daniel and Hannah asked me if they could I was very unsure.  I like for the kids to have their own special day, but we decided to go ahead and let them and it was a total success with 25 kids and 17 adults!!!
The 24th Alyssa had her first basketball game and her BFF spent the day with us.  We also decided to go sledding since there was some fresh snow on the mountain!

The 28th (yesterday) I attending the PTA bi-monthly meeting that they have.  Yesterday was just a busy day I left the house at 8:20 am and didn't get home until about 6:30 pm.

Alyssa came home with A honor roll today (the 29th)!  I am so proud of her for accomplishing her goal for this semester!!!  Her poem was also selected as one of the top three in her class for possible publication!!
Bill was also awarded Senior NCO of the year for the 31st Maintenance squadron today!!!  I don't have a picture yet as he has his award at his office.  I was not able to attend :(

This year has also been a year of new things for our family.  I am changing the way we eat, adding things to our diet, starting essential oils, and just trying to be more active.  I started a blog if you are interested in following it!  http://asimplelife4us.blogspot.it/  I am super excited about this year!!!

Love these kiddos!!!




Another trip to Piancavallo (January 10th)

Take note of the yellow and black markers for when it snows, so they know where to plow!!!!

Playing on the little hilll!

Heading to the big hill!!!


You can see a couple of the ski slopes in this picture and there are more!!!

Taking a break!

Love this one of my kiddos!

Taking a lunch break, it was a beautiful day and very warm as the afternoon went on.

Our snowman!!!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Our first visit to Parco San Floriano (Jan. 4th, 2015)

Village/Mountain view!!!

Love this picture!!!

Hiking through the woods!



Checking out the animals!!!

Monday, January 19, 2015

Christmas Break Part 2!

We spent the second half of our Christmas break waiting for a van part to arrive, which has still not come in :(  Bill found out on Friday that it was shipped to Afghanistan along with a whole shipment of stuff.  We only have heat in the front of the van as a hose broke back on the 13th of December, lucky for us it isn't that cold here!  So we had a lot of fun at home playing games, watching cooking shows, going for walks in our town and just hanging out together!!!  Daniel got a whole box full of legos along with a Lego book for Christmas, so we spent a couple days just building different things!  Alyssa went with me on a couple of 5K runs and did very well!  The kids love helping out with cooking in the kitchen, so we did some of that too!
Out in the rain!

Check out that beautiful view!!!

On the 2nd of January Bill decided that it was time to go to Piancovallo to go sledding with or without the van part.  We all had a great time sledding and playing in the snow.  It was the first time the kids had played in the snow in five years, so Daniel's first time that he remembers!


Can you see the excitement!!!!
 January 4th we ventured to Parco Rurale di San Floriano (http://www.parcosanfloriano.it/)  It was a beautiful, but windy day!  We hiked through the walking path and also off the path a bit.  We are a very adventurous family!!!
Here are the kids having a picnic with the awesome weather!
Enjoying the mountains!!!
January 5th was back to school and back to a routine for me!  We had a great Christmas break with lots of quality time home with Bill.  It is great to have a normal routine with Bill again since he is no longer an MTI!  Life is good!!!

Christmas 2014!!!

Family presents!!!

The girls finally got those American Girl dolls they were wanting!


Alyssa & Julie

Hannah & Carmel

Hanging out at the bowling alley!!!

Santa was here!!!




We spent a lot of time over Christmas break building Lego creations!!!

Grotte del Caglieron near Fregona, Italy!

I love all of our adventures!!!