Buon Giorno!

Well, if you know my kids, or your kids, or any kid then how could we not go to Italy?  I'll tell you why...pizza, pizza and more pizza!

ITALY!

Because my kids LOVE pizza so much I knew today was my day to give them as much pizza as they could stand, or so I thought.  So, we started off bright and early to our local Market Street.  This is a grocery store that the word fancy doesn't even describe.  And their food?  Delicious!  And, they serve what else?  Breakfast pizza!

Oh yes!  Mom was "The Best Mom Ever!" Now the only problem I will have is that they now know about this and they are going to ask for it...then I will be "The Worst Mom Ever" when I say "No."  Details.

We then took a detour from Italy and went to the library for story time and learned about nutrition from the most beautiful books I have ever seen.  My girls were really into this and Olivia was especially happy because this is one of the things she misses most about being away at school all day.

After coloring a fruit basket at the library we were off to the house, with a sleeping baby!  All that nutrition talk wore her out.  Or maybe it was those dizzying colored squares on the floor that she kept chasing...

Anyway, we ate a quick lunch and then we were off to Italy again!  We read all about what comes from Italy and even I was amazed!  Then we got to the real work...crafting!  First, we made gondolas!

But, Olivia says if you live in Texas you call them canoes.  And I had to tell her we weren't in Texas, we were in Italy.  She looked at me real funny.

Then, of course, we had to paint the flag of Italy.  And, just because Man came home the day before asking about the specifics on the China flag, I did my research on this one.  If you don't know what the colors stand for...look it up!  Very cool!

Then I had a special cooking surprise.  They were going to make dinner for all of us from start to finish!  And start was marinara sauce...from scratch!

Under the close supervision of Allye.

We can't go back, not ever.  The only thing that would have made this totally really, all the way, was fresh tomatoes crushed... but the kids were doing this, hello?  Blender + Tomatoes = RED Ceiling....No thanks!

Then we practiced our pizza making skills with paper plates and hand cutters.

Yes, she is always supervising.  An early skill every woman needs...

Ok, I am thinking they can do this for real.

and they do...TaaaaDaaaa! Even separating their halves using the mini pepperonis to make their initials...Only girls would do this I have a feeling??!!

Hands down The BEST pizza ever!

 We did have one more kind of pizza to consume....dessert pizza!  The healthy way!  

After finishing the Dr. Seuss documentary (very awesome!) we were off to bed.  And because we learned that Italy is shaped like a boot (foot) we had to read The Foot Book, by Dr. Seuss, of course!

What a magnificent time we are having and I love the look on Olivia's face right now.  That look of learning and connecting "it" and loving it!  Priceless...well, not exactly priceless ;) but isn't money best spent making memories with your family?

I am happy to report that whatever "bug" was visiting our home yesterday morning he has left the building!

Arrivederci!