Heard From My Kids Recently...

Carnival in Milan

We have never been big fans of Halloween. We let our kids dress up and get candy, but we much prefer the safe environment of a church or neighborhood party, as opposed to door to door trick-or-treating, where the costumes/decorations can sometimes be scary. This past Halloween we weren't sad at all to not have any trick-or-treating (Italians don't really celebrate Halloween), but we did miss having an excuse to dress up and show off our cool costumes.

Four months later, in February, the Italians celebrate Carnival. It's a time when the kids (and some adults) get dressed up. There are performances, parties, games, rides and a parade through the center of the city. Carnival lasts for about 3 days, and each city in Italy has their own weekend in which they celebrate it.

I love Carnival so much more than Halloween! Nothing is too scary, and in fact the costumes are very traditional. Lots of clowns, knights, princesses and the occasional superhero. I didn't see any skeletons, zombies, or Britney Spears. Instead of "scary/spooky" being the theme of everything, it was more like "rides/costumes/confetti". It was a blast. The confetti was a highlight too. You can buy a giant bag of loose confetti, then grab a handful and throw it. The week leading up to Carnival weekend, I saw confetti all over the streets of Milan. A lot of people make it a game to throw it at each other.

For Carnival, we all dressed in our Superhero costumes for a few days. We did carnival rides and also watched the parade. It was so much fun, and definitely a memory I will keep for a long time!

The kid's first cotton candy.

A man from the parade throwing confetti and Gabriel.

Enjoying throwing confetti with our friend during the parade.

And here are a couple of fun videos we took while going down the really tall slide ride.

February Instagram Pictures

Gabriel's Fourth Birthday

My little man. He's growing up so fast. He now will rarely let me kiss him on the lips. When I do he wipes it off, but at least he'll let me kiss his head. He likes to do things by himself: Make a cup of tea, set the table, etc. It's actually quite nice! We encourage the independence. But I'm so grateful that he still enjoys to snuggle. I love snuggling up on the couch and reading together. I hope he'll do that for many more years to come!

For Gabriel's fourth birthday, we took the family bowling. Unfortunately the bowling alley said our kids were too little and weren't allowed to play (say what?!). So we stayed in the arcade area and played games. I think it actually turned out better that way, because everyone had a blast! Gabriel was so excited he couldn't contain himself. The second he got done with one game, he started another. Oh to be a kid again!

Clark Kent glasses and superman poster

Hope's Second Birthday

My baby is two years old. She doesn't sit still long enough for me to cuddle and she's too heavy to hold for a long time. She's just getting so big! Seeing her grow is bitter-sweet. I want to keep her a baby forever, but I also want to see her grow and learn.

For Hope's second birthday, we had a simple celebration while the grandparents were here with cake and presents. Her favorite part must have been blowing out the candle on her cake, because she won't stop talking about it. "I bwode out da fire!"

Happy birthday sweet girl. We love you!

January Instagram Pictures

Since not everyone who follows our blog uses Instagram, I thought it would be fun to post my Instagram pictures at the end of each month. I won't bother with the descriptions, so if you have a question let me know. You can also view my Instagram profile by clicking here, or putting the app on your phone and following me (mommysanders). Here's January!

Pasta Class

Richard sent me to a pasta class with my friend Emily and mother-in-law fora Christmas present. The class was taught by a sweet woman who brought us into her home and kitchen. We learned to make pesto lasagna, tagliatelle, gnocchi and tiramisu! My favorites were the gnocchi and tiramisu. Words can't describe how tasty it all was. And eating it after we had spent hours making it all by hand was so rewarding!

The gnocchi was actually much easier than I thought it would be. Using this little gnocchi board to add decorative lines in the gnocchi was fun too.

The tagliatelle is what took the longest. We mixed the ingredients, let it rest, kneaded it, then rolled it so thin that you could read something placed underneath it.

The tagliatelle was then folded, cut and set out to dry.

Our teacher served us our hand-made dishes at the end.

The tiramisu was amazing! And the teacher also gave us some limoncello made by her family using lemons from her family's land in southern Italy.

Here is our whole class. It was so much fun!

If you're interested in taking this class, I highly recommend it. Go to www.cookinmilano.com for class schedules.