New Year's Eve 2013

New Year's Eve was fabulous this year!  The party was at our house and we LOVED hosting so many fun people here in Sigonella. 

All of the kids were in and out of the house (as usual) all night.  Lucy was in heaven having all these fun girls to hang out with.  (To be honest, two of these girls I don't even know.  Yep....we know how to throw a party!)

McKenzie and Susanna Fomby were, of course, in attendance.  Hannah came, too.  We played a little Scattergories.  Good times.  

We also did two rounds of The Candybar Game.  One for the boys, one for the girls. It got a little crazy and there were only a few tears.  

The neighborhood all gathered our chairs together around our neighbor's fire pit.  We visited and ate the food that everyone brought.  So nice just hanging out.  

The Fomby family brought over their Wii and the kids got their "Just Dance" on.  

I love that the kiddos could run and bike up and down our little street all evening.  

Sullivan joined in on the fun for a little while, too.  

December Shenanigans

December was different for us this year, but still great.  In year's past we are just biding our time until we load up the car and make our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house around the 18th.  This was the first Christmas in all my 33 years that I wasn't with my family.  I had prepared myself for severe depression, but I survived it!  There were some tears every now and then (who could keep a dry eye when "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" are playing on Pandora?).  

We decorated this year the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It was our second year with our pre-lit tree and it was so easy and fun!  

Santa came to Sigonella!  

Benny kept telling Santa he wanted a DS and a bike.....little did he know that Santa had already ordered the Imaginext fortress from Amazon that he mentioned in November.  No switchies when you live in Italy.  

My sweet kiddos.  Benny refused to wear pants....ever.  Always insisting he was fine with a long sleeve shirt.  It doesn't get too cold here, but a little chilly every once in a while.  The temperatures have dropped a little more in January, so I can get him to wear pants now.  

One of Jason's Italian co-workers, Mariella, invited our family over for dinner on a Friday night.  Originally she told us to come at 8 o'clock (dinner in Italy typically starts after eight).  He asked if maybe we could come a little earlier, she said, "Sure!  Come at seven and we'll eat at eight!"  

Mariella, her husband, Luigi, and Jason.  He's not drinking wine, I promise.  It's just Coke in a fancy glass.  

Needless to say, my kids were super sleepy at the dinner table.  We fed them a little dinner at 5, so they weren't starving, but......

 

Graham asked to leave the table and when we came into the living room we found him like this.  

By this point, it was ten o'clock.  The dinner was amazing and well worth the wait.  

This was before dinner.  Luigi and Mariella have a 3D television.  The kids were watching Lion King...in Italian....and in 3D.  

Mariella fell in love with Lucy.  Jason asked her to make a card for Mariella before we left.  The card won her over.  She kept referring to it and saying how "lovely" Lucy is.  

Later in the month we did some "candy-caning" to some friends in our branch.  Graham made this cute picture to tape on their door.  It says, "Ho Ho Hope you know how much we love you."  Notice the reindeer antlers on the "o" in you.  Too cute.  

We had a great branch Christmas party.  It was Who-ville themed, so we all came in our jammies and had breakfast for dinner.  Susanna read The Grinch Who Stole Christmas to the kiddos.  

Early in the month I got to go to Benny's preschool and decorate a graham cracker house with him.  

We had another Italian experience in December.  Jason's work sponsored a low-income Children's Center.  We were able to go with him when they brought dinner to them and some gifts.  The Italian kids put on a program complete with lip-syncing Mariah Carey's, "All I Want For Christmas is You"   and dancing to George Michael's, "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart".  

The kids all LOVED Baby Sullivan.  It was a crazy evening in a very small space with a whole lot of people.  The leader of the children's group spoke on a microphone VERY LOUDLY the whole time.  That's the one word I would use to describe the evening.....LOUD.  

I brought candy canes for my kids to pass out to the Italian kiddos.  It was funny to see them try to trick Lucy into giving them another one.  We may not have understood 99% of what they said, but the need for candy is universal.  

Christmas Outfits!

Grandma and Grandpa outdid themselves this year!  We LOVED and continue to love our Christmas outfits this year.  Here's a few pictures I took on the Sunday morning before Christmas.

Jason loved Benny's thumbs up so much, he made it his phone screen saver.  So funny!

The many faces of Sullivan:

Mineo, Italy at Christmas

Mineo is a town situated up on a mountain not far from our home.  It seems a lot of the cities and villages are up on these massive hills.  I need to take some pictures so you'll know what I mean.  I've asked around and nobody gives me a straight answer as to why they were build their homes and buildings up so high.  It seems like it would have been so difficult to get supplies and everything up there.  My guess is that it was so they could see their enemies coming from far away? 

Anyways, every year this town, Mineo, sets up these nativity scenes.  They have an annual contest and whichever scene gets the most votes stays up permanently.  There was a little map that showed us where to walk around the city to find these little hidden gems.  

So much time and effort put into all of it.  It was amazing!

Check out the crazy walkway we found!  Our friends, the Fomby's, came with us.  The boy in front is Nikolas, not Graham.  

The one above was made out of a lot of lentils and beans.  look close and you can see all the individual beans glued to the buildings.  

Handsome boy

Stopping for a photo op as we make our way to the next spot.  

Sleepy Sully

The view from Mineo was gorgeous!  So glad I have my new camera to take better pictures of all the amazingness we see! 

Christmas 2013

Our Christmas celebration was different from any we've had before.  It was the first Christmas in my 33 years that I wasn't at home in Utah with my parents and whatever siblings could make it.  There were some sad and homesick moments, but there were many happy and joyful moments, too.

Dad had to work for a few hours in the morning.  I wanted to get a workout in, so the kids and I went for a little jog/bike ride/rollerblade.  Love my posse!

We spent Christmas Eve with many from our branch family here in Sigonella.  We went to Susanna and Matt Fomby's house and had homemade pizza and tons of other food.  We kept our tradition alive and had all the kids act out the Christmas story.  Mom had sent costumes a few weeks earlier, so they were all decked out.  

Here's the crew as they wait for their scenes to come.  

Any guesses as to which scene this was?  Graham really go into his character.  

Benny was channeling his inner ninja the entire time.  Surprise, surprise.  

Susanna Fomby, ME, Shevaun Davis

After our program, we came home to finish the evening with some of our own traditions.  The kids opened up their pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and their ornaments.  Graham got Luke Skywalker, Benny got a Rabbids pirate, and Lucy got a Minecraft piece.  

Then it was off to bed to wait for Santa.  Love this picture I took right before J and I went to bed.  

Christmas Morning!  We started the day with a crisis.  Benny had a major tummy ache and ended up having diarrhea all over the bathroom.  We woke to a loud cry of terror from him.  Lucy had been up since 3 am and was laying in our bed with Jason.  I had gone to lay down with Graham, who couldn't sleep either.  Jason cleaned it all up (because he loves me) and then we were able to go downstairs.  Benny kept saying, "No!  My new Superman jammies!"  We were able to find last year's pair and Christmas was saved.  

You'll notice the pictures get a whole lot better from here on out because....we got a new camera!!!  Very exciting!

Lucy and one of her favorite presents.  She got this Lego set and a Galaxy Tablet.  Santa's a softie...that's all I'm gonna say about that.  

This was the year of the dragons from Benny.  He got three different ones along with a Imaginext castle he had his eye on for months.  

Both boys were excited about their little Power Ranger Legos.  Graham also got a new bike and helmet.  Happy day for everyone!

The day was beautiful!  The kids were in and out of the house and we all relaxed.  Friends from the branch came over in the late afternoon for dinner.  

Little Sullivan was there, too!  Here he is in his new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.  He was pretty thrilled with his haul:  diapers and formula.