Open Day

St. Philip School had Open Day (aka Open House) and we got to go see all of the fun things the kids have been working on. Katherines is the dragon right above her head. Half the class was assigned a dragon to draw and the other half a knight. After they finished their drawings the teacher paired them up. It's so cool how they look like they were meant to be together.

Lauren's is the one right under the yellow one. The yellow one is Jason's, an autistic boy in her class. He doesn't like to use black so he was allowed to use yellow. Lauren enjoys working with him as well because she's one of the few that can communicate well with him and understand what he is saying because he only uses Chinese.

Katherine's- stain glass drawing

Projects that Katherine's class is working on. They are learning to knit, crochet, and wood carve.

Katherine's spoon is in stage 2 there. She's just getting started. What a fun project!

Hudson was excited to see all of the middle school classes for next year. He's especially excited about the science lab!

Lauren's yellow locker

Lauren's Lantern

Lauren's pastel

One of the group projects that Lauren did (three kids per group)

The Chinese book of nursery rhymes that Jason likes for Lauren to read to him.

Lauren's project on Wales

Katherine's (from Chinese class)

Lauren's (from Chinese class)

practicing characters

The kids with Miss Mariana (Lauren's favorite teacher...the English teacher)

Katherine's

Katherine's cave drawing

Lauren is interested in the drums and flute. Maybe she will get to learn one of them. Katherine wants to learn the accordion.

The girls with Miss Basia, Katherine's English teacher (she also does art and the Englsih part of science)

Welcome to Hudson's 5th grade class!

I was so excited to see his room! It was so colorful and fun!

Hudson showing me his picture.

He couldn't remember which one is his, but it's one of them :)

His clay soldier

His lantern

Teaching the kids how to measure distance.

I love Hudson's bird

Hudson's 

Hudson's teacher Maetsra Barbara

Hudson's English teacher, Teacher Richard.

Hudson and his friend Gianmarco playing in the courtyard before we went home.
 

Decorating for Christmas

Ok, first step in decorating...get the tree out of the box.

Step two took awhile. We had no idea where to put the tree. We rearranged furniture multiple times before we figured out what worked best. I'm very happy with the current arrangement. You can see the tree while sitting on the couch AND it can be seen outside.

I just thought I would show a picture of parents picking up students in the rain.

Now it's time to finish assembling the tree.

We are very pleased with the way this tree looks! I love the soft snow tipped look and the occasional pine cones throughout.

The equivalent of the Blue Angels for Italy has been practicing and running drills over our house all week. They fly so low and it's so fun to see. By the time we hear them/see them it's too late to get my camera. This day they flew over, but it sounded like they were coming back. They didn't, but we could still see them in the distance. They were doing red and green smoke designs in the sky.

picking up Katherine in the rain from school on Friday (it took us 2 days to get our decorating done)

Organizing the ornaments that we brought with us.

Jonathan was working on the lights.

We were getting everything else ready.

One last picture before we took the tree down.

Hudson wanted a picture with Regan, too.

Picture traditions...each kids putting the first ornament on.

I'd have to go back and look, but I think Regan always puts her angel on first.

Hudson chose to put his "Hudson's First Christmas" ornament on first.

Her ballerina

The Christmas Countdown

I think the dog was cold. He wanted me or someone to hold him the entire time we were trying to decorate.

Family selfie in front of the tree :)

In keeping with traditions..HAHA! It was Regan's turn to put the star on top. So, Jonathan lifted her up.

Then she put it on for real. I thought we were going to end up with 2 people in a tree ;)

The finished product! I'm very happy with it :)

AWE! I LOVE THIS ONE! 

Selfies with Mom (Benjamin 16)

Hudson 12

Lauren 12

Katherine 14

Regan 17 (for a few more days!)

Shadow (4 yrs)

Scout (4 yrs)

Afterwards, we watched a Christmas movie. We opted for Elf.
 

Katherine has already bought for her secret person and put it under the tree. The dogs stay on their bed much of the time because the floor is cold. THey look like they are enjoying the tree as well :)

Lights are starting to go up around town :)

At the grocery store...look carefully. Do you see the dog?

I took Katherine to soccer and FROZE while I waited for her! :) It was so windy. I was thankful for the mask to help keep me warm ;)

On the way to soccer class. I look so short next to her!

Shadow was excited that Regan was taking him for a walk.

Maybe if we lay closer together it will warm us up.

Jonathan and I went on a "Christmas errand" together. We saw this different looking church. It was really interesting though how it matched the look of the block it was in.

Well, not a pretty picture, but thought I would show the reality of Rome and not just the pretty stuff. There really must be a better way to handle the trash.

M y beautiful girls and their dogs (although they switched dogs in the picture)

The girls decorated the balcony with lights 

And we had a strand of lights leftover from the tree. So the girls decorated their bed as well. (The boys didn't really need more lights since Hudson runs his disco ball all the time)

It was quite the job! It was a super long strand of lights.

Hudson fell asleep during the Christmas movie.

Katherine made a wreath of our front door.

Well, I guess the pictures uploaded out of order. Here they are working on the balcony lights.

Our Kinder chocolate countdown!

I'm so glad that we found a place for the stockings! The window sill isn't quite deep enough to hang the hooks properly, but it works most of the time. We occasionally know them off, but I like the way they look here.

We were having trouble finding where to put our Nativity scene this year. Regan said we could use her school desk to display it. So, she is doing school either on her bed or at the kitchen table for a couple weeks before she is off for Christmas break! Interesting thing. Nativities in Rome do not have baby Jesus in them. At least not yet. The custom here is to add baby Jesus to the scene on the night of Dec. 24