Italian for Dummies!

Okay, so you want to speak Italian? Read the following story of The Three Bears with a heavy Italian accent and see if you understand what you're saying. I'll get you started with the first couple of lines: Once upon a time was three bears; mamma bear, pappa bear, and baby bear. Live in country near forest. Nice house, no mortgage. One day pappa, mamma, and baby go beach, hurry and forget to lock the door.

Now you try...(BTW, the last word in the story is city hall)

Di Tri Berrese

Uans appona taim uas tri berrese; mamma berre, pappa berre, e beibi berre. Live inna contri nire foresta. Naise aus, no mugheggia. Uanna dei pappa, mamma, e beibi go bice, orie e furghetta locche di dorra.

Bai enne bai commese Goldilocchese. Sci garra nattingha tu du batte meiche troble. Sci puscia olle fudde daon di maute; no live cromme. Den sci gos appesterrese enne slipse in olle beddse. Bai enne bai commese omme di tri berrese, olle sannebronne enne send inne scius. Dei garra no fudde; dei garra no beddse. En uara dei goine du tu Goldilocchese? Tro erre aute inne strit? Colle pulissemenn?

Deis uas Italien berrese, enne dei slippe onne florre. Goldilocchese stei derre tri deise: dei esch erre tu meiche di beddse, sci runne omme craine tu erre mamma. Uatssiuse? Uara iu goine du? Go compleine sittiole?

Hurray for Boys!

I love boys, I really, really do, and having twelve of them (plus my three) here for my son's thirteenth birthday party was a joy. They are loud, messy, silly, and basically uncomplicated creatures. I like to watch them, and I like to feed them, because they eat with gusto and that warms my Italian heart. (To tell you the truth, I'm a little envious of Kathryn, who has EIGHT sons.) So, the birthday party was a success: the rain ended, there was plenty of food, and even after a rousing game of hide-and-seek in the dark, the neighbors still like us.

I wanted memories of this night, so I asked the boys for a group photo:

So they tried a human pyramid . . .

it didn't work.

Then, they conspired and pointed at something

just when I shot the photo. How do they think

of these things??!!

Finally!! The ONLY way to get a group shot!

Oh, Boy(s)!

My oldest son turned 13 this past Wednesday, and since he has now officially become a teenager, he's having a few friends over tonight for a party and to just hang out.

A few friends . . . as in TWELVE.

You know that "rule of thumb" when hosting a Pampered Chef or a Southern Living Party, the one that says send out lots of invitations, then plan on half that amount coming? Well, that rule doesn't apply to teens. Twelve invitations issued, twelve accepted.

And the food. While I've cooked for large groups many, many times, the thought of providing food for twelve growing teenage boys has me just a tad worried. We decided to go with sandwich platters from Subway. One platter feeds 15-20. We're getting two, which is supposed to feed 30-40. Do you think that's enough food? I hope it's enough food. (Mental note: buy more potato chips!)

We have activities planned. Since the party is this evening, we have a glow-in-the-dark basketball (how cool is that?!), a giant flashlight for flashlight tag, and a lighted, over-sized frisbee.

We also pulled down the fussball table from the attic.

Oh, and we also have umbrellas because it has been raining. nonstop. all. morning.

Twelve boys + my 13 year old + my 11 year old + my toddler (let's keep things interesting, shall we?) + my husband = too much testosterone, in my humble opinion. Am I nervous?

Who, me?

But the rustling sounds you hear will be me hiding in the bushes, holding my pretty, pink umbrella, wearing my glow-in-the-dark sports watch (so I'll know when to come out), and enjoying a nice glass of red wine. Cheers!

You Know You're in Trouble When . . .

. . . you stand at the bottom of the stairs calling your toddler's name, and after a couple seconds of silence he yells down,

"I'm not doing ANYTHING!"

The Contrariness of Toddlers

Coming home one afternoon from a lovely family outing, our toddler, who hadn't had a nap, was tired, cranky, and irritable.

I tried to distract him as we drove over a long bridge: "Oh, look at the beautiful river!" I said. It was one of the wide parts of the river, and was very picturesque.

My toddler leaned forward in his booster seat, pointedly looked out the window, then leaned back with a huff as he declared, "I. don't. see. it."

Sheesh. I told my husband to step on it.

Short and Sweet (to prevent boredom!)

Lisa (one of my favorite bloggers) tagged me a while back for a meme of 8 random facts, and I thought I'd challenge myself (and spare you because, really, I'm not that interesting) by listing them in short, concise sentences. So, here goes...

1. I love to cook, but hate to bake.
2. I speak three languages: English, Italian, and Spanish.
3. My husband and I met at a church spaghetti supper.
4. When we say the rosary as a family, we always say one decade in Italian in honor of my Nonna.
5. In my first year as a student teacher one of the students asked me to the prom. (Ick!)
6. My husband sent me and a friend to Rome, Italy for my 40th birthday while he stayed home to babysit.
7. The perfect meal for me? Crusty bread, fresh tomatoes, a chunk of cheese, some red wine.
8. I cried when I saw the Sistine Chapel. Tissue anyone?

I'm supposed to now tag others, so, if you're reading this...

Felice Anno Nuovo

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

-C. S. Lewis

The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.

-Abraham Lincoln

I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.

-author unknown