Wrapping up Christmas

We're finally finished with wrapping up Christmas around these parts (yes, total pun intended) and I can't say that I'm too sad this year. It's almost like Christmas came and went so quickly this year, it hardly registered a blip on my radar. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas, but Christmas in  Italy is so different than what I grew up with, I'm just not feelin' it over here.  And we've been so rushed this holiday season--too rushed to even really enjoy much. I swear, next year we will be putting up the tree the week after Halloween, just so that we have a chance to enjoy it instead of rushing to get ready for Christmas and then rushing to put it all away after January 1st. And then I've got it--the dreaded mommy guilt. If you're a normal mom (not a Pinterest mom with far too much time on her hands) like I am, you know what I'm talking about. Nothing is ever good enough and soon your kids won't be little anymore... Ugh, the Guilt!!

When I was a little girl, my parents put up the same fake Christmas tree every year.  I use the word "fake" for a reason... It was white (to portray the image of a snow-covered tree, I guess) and my mother put these pale blue lights on it.  I pretty much hated it.  I wanted a cut tree more than anything but my mom's "allergies" kept us from getting a cut tree.

But my father volunteered with the Lion's Club and every year, he would work the club's Christmas tree lot. And every year, close to Christmas day, he would bring me my own tiny little tree that he would put up on a table and let me decorate with flashing colored lights--you know the huge bulbs and come in a rainbow of colors? I loved my short, fat little tree.  I was perfect to me.

Here in Italy, a cut tree is very hard to find--surprising, right?  They are so popular in Germany! There are some available but they're usually ugly and expensive, so our family was stuck again this year with the pre-lit 220 volt tree that we bought at the PX last year.  It.is.so.ugly.  For some reason, Jackson absolutely LOVES it.  To him, it is the prettiest Christmas tree EVER.  Jackson is our "Christmas kid". He lives for the holidays, and so when Steve and I went to Ikea a couple of weekends before Christmas and they had tiny, fat LIVE Christmas trees that you could plant after Christmas, I knew we were in trouble.  So Jackson got his very own living Christmas tree in his room this year :)  Wish I could have found some big, fat, flashing 220 volt lights for it...

But it was perfect for him.

Our Italian Toll Booth Pees Money

It just so happens that our daily life here in Italy usually involves several trips each day through the toll booth. At least two trips are made each day, sometimes more, depending on the measure of hectic-ness in our day. Four trips each way are not uncommon in a day... I often find myself collecting coins in increments of 80 cents Euro since this is the cost of a trip back and forth from my house to the toll booth nearest to post.

No, I do not have a Telepass...and Yes, having one would make life so much easier.  No excuses....

Anyhow, my children are all use to the trip through the toll booth. And all of them know the cost of the trip. It's the job of the passenger to hold the toll booth ticket until we exit and to riffle through the change in search of the 80 cents Euro. 

Jackson has become increasingly interested in this whole process since at school,  he is learning about making change.  Keep in mind, the money we use over here looks vastly different than the money he is learning about at school but fortunately, his teacher has introduced the concept of American money versus Euro, so he's at least familiar with them both. 

Last week, we were on our way home from picking up the oldest brat from cross country practice on post. We were exiting the Autostrada and had stopped at the toll plaza in our town to pay our 80 cents toll. I inserted my ticket and had dropped my usual 80 cents into the cup and was pleasantly surprised when instead of simply rasing the arm to let me, I was rewarded with a €2 coin dropping into the change return. I excitedly told the kids that we had actually made money on this trip and explained to them what had happened. Jackson immediately asked if it was American money and I told him that no, it was European money. Delilah, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for this ride piped up with, "No, he's not! Jackson's not peeing money!!" 

Get it?

European money...

Ur a Peein' money!

I cracked up!

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The Mona Lisa (and a little Blog Hop!)

At the end of this fab post on our visit with Mona, My friend Casey is hosting a Fresh Face Blog Hop!  Be sure to link up, friends!

And now on to the Mona Lisa. Seriously, she's the size of a postage stamp.  Ok not *really*.  But honestly, it's really quite small.  I was surprise.  She seemed SO much bigger in The Da Vinci Code, which, in all honesty, I actually re-watched SEVERAL times before our visit to Paris, just so that I'd be that much more prepared for the Louvre. But Sophie and Robert got it SO wrong.  The actual Mona Lisa is so much smaller than they make her out to be, although I did totally recognize exactly where I was in the Grand Gallery because of the Parquet floors. When I saw the sign that said Grand Gallery, I totally wanted to run to the first painting that I saw to look for hidden messages written on priceless works of art with the black light I had strategically placed in my purse, or to look for hidden keys behind the paintings.  I could be Sophie and Steve could be Robert, right?!? But, sigh, Steve wouldn’t let me.  I swear, he ruins all the fun. And keeps me from getting arrested I suppose.  Maybe when we retire to Paris is a few years, I get a job giving Da Vinci Code tours in the Louvre.  I’m sure they’d LOVE that….

 See! She's tiny!  Impressive, but tiny.  I texted my dad a this picture of us and he said he was surprised that the room with the Mona Lisa wasn't more crowded--so I sent him this one from the back of the room.

Tory and Jackson with the Mona Lisa.  Jackson was less than thrilled since he wants to be an artist when he grows up and we told him we were taking him to see the most famous painting in the world.  He couldn't figure out why "some painting of some lady" was so famous.

See that smiling and happy momma above standing in that field of sunflowers? That's ME!  I'm so happy that you decided to stop by today and to visit my little blog about our family's adventures as a military family stationed in Italy.  We've got some great stories to tell you about and some even more awesome places to share with you, so please join us in our adventure by following my blog.  I love followers :) And you just never know when I'll decide to have a little give away for them.  And while you're here, please click on that little picture of that other tiny momma below.  Your click will count as a vote for me for Top Momma Blog! Thanks and see you real soon!

Welcome to the

FRESH FACE FRIDAY BLOG HOP!

No prompt, just fun!

Hosted by: Casey @ We Took the Road Less Traveled

Rules for hopping:

1| Follow your host & co-hosts (first 3 links), pretty please! 

2| Link up your blog's homepage or Bloglovin' page.

3| Hop around, meet new bloggers, and leave them love!

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5| Want to be a co-host? Click here for more info! 

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An InLinkz Link-up

See that blue link up there?  The one that says "An InLinkz Linkup"?  You have to click it to join the blog hop (sorry...just wanted to make sure everyone saw it....I'm old....I need directions, too!!!)

The BEST Artist (and blog post about it) EVER!

Yesterday, I received an email from Jackson's teacher, Mrs. Tramm.  We love her.

If you haven't met Jackson or don't know about his love of art, click HERE before reading any farther.

One of the things that we love about Mrs. Tramm the most is her awesome sense of humor.  She's a Kindergarten teacher--she's got to see the humor in life, right?  

Either that or take up drinking.  

At school.

Anyways, Mrs. Tramm sent me an email that read like this:

Make sure you check Jackson's folder today.  There's some art work in there for you.

I assumed that Jackson had drawn a picture, made a collage, mosaic, or fabtacular painting of something, most likely our cherry tree, which he is anxiously awaiting to bear fruit. 

I was wrong.

This was better.

But, I didn't realize it at first.

Because I found this:

I read it, chuckled that it was yet ANOTHER report on the status of said cherry tree, and flipped to the next page in his folder.

This is where I found it.

The most awesome drawing of all time. 

But, paper clipped on top of the most awesome drawing of all time, was a note from Jackson's teacher.

It said:

I nodded my head in agreement.  I love all the experiences that my children get from living overseas.  

Rock on Hip Awesome Teacher!

And then I flipped to the next page:

 That is EXACTLY what The David looks like! 

 Jackson remembers it WELL apparently, because he has SEEN it! (Make sure you look closely, just in case you may have missed somepart something impenis, I mean IMPORTANT!)

(Read about that experience HERE)

It looks like he kind-of struggled with the face, but he got all the important parts down!!

Way to go Buddy!

I Love Jackson, too!

If you've enjoyed this story, love Jackson's obvious artistic talent, or are related to me, or anyone I know, have known, or will know in my entire lifetime, please click on that little picture of the mommy below.  By clicking on her, you'll be putting me one step close to being the #1 Military Mommy Blog.  (I'm currently # 2, sigh....) Grazie!

P.S. I'd love a comment below also!  

P.P.S. And follow my blog so you'll be sure not to miss anything!

And the Babysitter of the Year Award Goes to....

NOT Steve!  This is post number 2 for today, so if you haven't read the other "main post" click here.   I had to run to the market this evening to pick up something for dinner.  When I arrived home, this is what I saw:

The back end of our backyard had flooded at little and the kids had dragged their toys over to that end. It had become their own little adventure water theme park.

Then they were nice enough to use the towels that I had JUST washed and JUST hung out on the clothes line to dry off with... Steve's excuse: By the time he noticed what they were up to, they were already wet, so he just let them have at it... At least they had fun! Sorry so many of the pictures are so blurry...I forgot to switch my camera to "action shot" apparently!

Introducing our cast of characters...

Jackson--Our Red-shirt Kindergartener

In preparation for our brief appearance on Casey's blog We Took the Road Less Traveled in a couple of weeks, I thought I'd spend the next few posts introducing (or updating in most cases) everyone to our family "cast of characters". I'm going to begin with Jackson, for no other reason than I just took some cute photos of him and wanted to share.

Jackson is our third child and our second boy. He will turn 7 in August and is currently in Kindergarten with Mrs. Tramm.  We decided to have Jackson repeat Kindergarten again this year because he was the youngest kid in the entire school last year and was clearly struggling.  We moved to Italy from Ft. Campbell in the middle of the school year and I had a feeling that Jackson might have a learning disability. It's a decision I'm glad a made and don't think I'll ever regret.  It wasn't a easy one to make...well-meaning friends and family kept telling me I was wrong, that he was just a boy, that he would catch up, that repeating kindergarten would hurt his self-esteem, etc, etc....But I stuck to my guns, and am proud that I did. Jackson was able to return to Mrs. Tramm's class this past fall and is thriving.  He loves school, his classmates--especially Audrey--and art class. Jackson continues to tell us that he wants to be an artist when he grows up.  He enjoys living over here in Italy and loves to travel around and see Europe, although he did tell Mrs. Tramm that all he saw over Spring Break last year were statues of naked people (The David).  He totes around an old Vera Bradley bag of mine filled with his art supplies and coloring books.  When it's not in use, he keeps it at the foot of his bed.  I have a feeling this is because he is reluctant to share with Delilah his siblings.

If I were to sum up a description of Jackson in just one word, it would be "kind".  Steve and I always say he is the nicest of our 4 children and the one who is the most concerned with making everyone happy.  He always makes sure everyone has a special present from him even on the smallest holiday, usually something that he has made by hand.  For her birthday, he brought Audrey, his classmate at school, a pink plastic bracelet that he stole from Delilah found laying around the house, along with some pretty rocks that we found in Tuscany. He is always coloring me pictures and taping them to my wall, the bed, the inside of my purse...

Jackson is also the most sensitive of our children.  He is the most likely to whine and the most likely to cry if he doesn't get his way, if someone teasing him, if the wind is blowing or the tv is too loud, if he doesn't like what's for dinner, or what we happen to be doing that day...Stuck in the middle, he is likely the kid to get left out.  In secret, where no one else can hear, I tell each of my children,  "Don't tell your siblings, but you're my favorite."  Jackson just knows this is true about him.  He is CLEARLY my favorite in his eyes.  At school, when he was asked what he was most thankful for at Thanksgiving time, he said, "That Mommy likes me the best." (In his eyes, this is clearly why I picked him to post about first)

Jackson has a great smile and the longest eyelashes known to man

He loves Stitch

 And loves to have his picture taken in front of random places and things

 Like the waterfall at Disneyland

A flowerbed next to the Louvre

 Some random place in Paris

And with a strangely dressed Donald Duck

With his siblings at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

With his sister in front of the most famous painting in the world that he just doesn't understand why it is so famous because it's just some lady

He's pointing because his own middle name is Alexander

He is writing his own book about these little mice, Garcia and Mousey (Garcia is the girl....go figure)

This is an sample of his artwork that is hanging in Mrs. Tramm's classroom.  It is supposed to be Corduroy the Bear, but it looks like a stylin' mouse to me.  Check out those glittery eyes.

I love this one...

Clearly, he is incredible.