Jude quotes

Mom, did you buy that mac and cheese? 

I did. 

It's so big! I don't think I can eat all of that right now!

I should hope not! It is family sized!

Mom, did you know i have another jello cup hidden away in my secret drawer?!

I do now!

Italy in Color

I apparently never finished linking videos recently.

There a new link for family videos from Italy. Included is a tour of the house by Elijah.  He missed all the interesting things about the house,  so I hope to someday make you another.  Until then...

Wilhelms in Italy

A House!

After 99 days in a hotel, we have a house! 

It is a very large house, even by American standards. It is a rather odd house, by American or European standards. Custom built, I am sure, and could use some serious updating, but fingers crossed we can find a way to make this a comfortable home! 

The landlord is a super sweet old Italian man. Not much English (though more than our Italian) but so friendly. We met his daughter and she was just as nice and spoke great English. She is probably close to our age and I hope we can become friends. 

Truly though,there is plenty of space, and even a guest room. Come visit! There are also a couple of odd little storage rooms (with windows) that we might be able to use as extra guest rooms for any kids you bring along! 

We walked into town for gelato with Elijah and Judah last night. I didnt try it, but Bryan said it was incredible and the boys both loved it, as well. 

Well, pray for us. The owner was still moving out Friday as the truck with our stuff was here unloading. There is stuff everywhere, some ours, some theirs, and I haven't even had time to figure out how best to set the rooms up. It'll be good, but it'll take a while to get this situated! 

Weekly Randoms

We've finally started bringing Jude toys to restaurants. (You're going to be there a while and the alternative is a screen in his face.) So here he is ordering me to take my turn trying to balance the penguins when I'm trying to snap a quick picture. 

Last night was Brunch Republic for dinner. (They try, but it just isn't quite America.) I love their yogurt- granola bowl, but since I had yogurt for breakfast and lunch....I tried something new-  avocado toast with poached eggs and chili flakes. Jude ate my eggs. And the rest was,  well,  let's just say they REALLY should take a page from the Americans and have salt and pepper on the table. Things here are so bland, and I'm not even someone who likes much flavoring! But alas, there is always sugar on the table, usually oil and vinegar, but almost never salt and pepper. 

While doing laundry earlier this week, Elijah realized the coffee machine had definite cappucino.  He begged money off of Selah after the machine ate his American coins (because it took Euro) and then proclaimed it was the best thing he has ever had to drink. 

The older kids love that Jide crosses his eyes and are always telling him to do this for their amusement. 

The kids went to KFC at the mall for the millionth time, so bryan and I tried to get dinner at the hotel restaurant. There was quite a wait, even for two, so we checked out a little place down the street. 

Finally! A little Italian place just like you would expect. I wish I had taken a picture of the gentleman who served us. 😔 

Also, finally good food! 

I had the house made Bigoli- homemade pasta with a pepper cream sauce. Incredible. 

Bryan had some kind of soup made from creamed beans. He said it was actually quite good, despite the stew look. 

Secondi,  I was excited to see caprese with buffalo mozzerella on the menu (secondi is normally meat or fish) and while it was decent, it needed salt and vinegar! Tomato, cheese, olive oil, basil... I'm just not that Italian. 

This was lunch the same day. A four cheese pasta. This is why we complain about the food here. What is in my simple four cheese pasta?! Blue cheese?! Needless to say I didn't finish it. Selah ate even less of hers. Secondi was grilled chicken- actually grilled! Too bad there was no seasoning whatsoever...

Judah, giving me a heart attack! Just peeking out the screen-less second floor window 😳😳😳

Mom! What day is it?! 

Monday?! I hate monday! 

A picture stolen from the high school's instagram account from last weekend's tennis meet. 

Just a Little Jude

This kid. A day in the life. Need I say more? 

my phone and I are not friends. The sideways pictures are making me crazy. I did read how to fix it, but it requires editing the code on every picture and my tech savvy kid lives in Germany...

Etiquette Training at Its Best.

Mom, you always do this to me! 

Do what to you?!

Make me use a fork!!!

Unrelated to forks, I cannot remember if I have shared about the Italian breakfast juice. It's called Ace, which is pronounced Ah-chay. It is a combination of orange, carrot, and lemon juice and available everywhere, even in juice boxes. Judah actually enjoys it quite a bit. 

Writing Names

It is a much needed cooler morning here, only 74 with a high of 80 today! 

We are waiting for the laundry to finish and Judah asked to draw while I worked on some emails. 

He wrote his name. I am so proud of him. We will work on the upside down u and the crazy d. It was such a good start! I didn't even know he was ready to start working on this. 

A Day With Judah

Judah- Mom, do you want to play with me? 

Yes , I do. But these dishes will not wash themselves. 

J- It's your job to play with me you know. 

Yes, but it's also my job to wash the dishes! 

J-Hmm. I wish we could use electricity to make those dishes wash themselves!

........

A LITTLE LATER WHILE PLAYING PLAYDOH...

.........

J-Mom do you want some more?

Well, we are going to be leaving in all few to take micah to tennis. We should start cleaning up.

J- I'll take that as a yes. Here's more.