father's day

In Europe the 19th march is Father's Day and kids at school organize some little handwork to build themself and give daddy as present. Momichan is too little but we will try to organize something for lunch and a little present.

Not in all the worls Father's Day is celebrated the 19th March, in Japan for instance is celebrated the 3rd sunday of June the same as in France, Martinica, Malesia, Malta, Mauritius, Switzerland, Bahamas and in many others, in Brazil Father's Day is the second sunday of August.

the Dukan diet is a stupid thing :)

Since a week already until I guess 3 months I am on diet :)
Since Momichan has come to light I have fattenedd 10 kilos and now I have decided to loose some kilos and become the girl I was once but the battle is hard :)

As my mom is doing Dukan Diet and in a month has lost 7 kilos (she is a person no diet works with her normally) I was determined to try thinking it could work. I eat just the foods recommended and I do not eat nothing at all different from what is listed, nonetheless in a week time insted of loosing I took one kilo and a half !!!, I move a lot and often take Momichan in my arms for long periods going somewhere (she is now 15 kilos), drink a lot of water, use no salt but I have no results. (in the foto is my salad yesterday with carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and salad, after salad I had a portion of non fat cheese .... )

I am a sweet teeth so is really hard for me going coffee shop and taking a coffee without even a tiny croissant, I have always to take with me a small bottle of skimmed milk to pour inside my coffee and never to eat anything outside the recommended list (proteines (meat, fish that I do not eat, eggs, ham with less than 5% fat and one day yes and one day no I can add veggies), Momichan is helping sometimes, if she looks at me and sees I am just taking a look around at bread or sweets she tell me "mommy you're on a diet you cannot eat" HAHAHA and she gives me a kiss :) how sweet !

BAH ! I know that diet are rigid and hard but I thougth that this one could work a little ... BAH I am really demoralized :( though I am going on :( but if at the end of the month I will have no results I will give up, I am not really fat, 163 for 65 kg I am a little round, normally I do not eat much nor I have many sugars or sweets, I normally eat much meat, egg, veggies (salads) and fruit, sometimes for breakfast I have a small croissant and once in a week I eat a kamut bread sandwich with just ham inside), sometimes I cook a cake and have a slice or two but my normal meals are well balanced and my blood exams tells the same :)

climbing the tree ...

As every day as soon as we get out the kindergarden Momichan and I go to the nearest park to play. Days are sunny recently and really hot and inside the park there are nearly all the kids of the kindergarden and the backside elementary school :) the result is the park is totally full but the kids does not have much to play: the slider is not secure because needs reparation, balances are half of the necessary, 2 instead of 4 one of which was for baby kids 7 month old, other attractions are too old and in bad conditions to be used. The only thing are the balances but how can you do 50 kids and just 2 balances ???? the Major doesn't say a single word on that, we (mums of the kindergarden) are trying to get many signatures in a petition to take to Townhall but we think it will not be useful, Major says "we have not money enough" but nonetheless they have spent 980000,00 euros to do a cycle track we did not need (but practically no cycle track have been done, just old sidewalk have been asphalted again but the cost is not 980000,00 euros !!!), this public administration is literally throwing away million of euros (saying they have not !!!) for idiot things we do not need, parks are a disaster, schools are the same, public green ... well is better not to talk about ... everything is going completely ruined and Major is doing nothing, at this point I have to say the park where we go is in the center of the town, like if we were in Milano, the park wuld be Duomo plaza, but the urban decline is really terrible !

The result of all the situation is that kids try to amuse not always in the convention way, Momichan was simply coping some kids of her class climbing a tree !!! it was not really dangerous because she was just at 10 cm from the ground but the tree was not happy at all to feel all the tiny feet trample on it :), iside the park the cannot go with the bikes, but ousite on the sidewalks is even more dangerous, the cannot play with the ball or skate, practically they can do nothing except use the attractions which are broken ........................... !!! no other place to go from 16.00 PM on, if you do not have a car like the major part of the parents here, the only thing we could is run or play hide and seek (not many places to hide really !) and have a giant strawberry ice cream !!! HAHAHA in our preferred coffee shop today ice creams have come out :) and Momichan was the first to eat one :) YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

supermarket

Monday Sampei is free from work in the afternoon so we organized to go supermarket as we lacked of some milk and meat.
The supermarket we went is not our usual, (I can also reach by bus in 10 minutes) this one is bigger and quite far, I can just go with the car so as usually car is used by Sampei we have to go to the nearest one but this has many items more.
In the veggies zone we saw some new strange veggies like black potatoes (purple inside) and yellow carrots ... (the normal are orange, recently we saw the black ones and now the yellow !!! GOSH !).

Fruits and veggies were disposed like a rainbow, I guess it was an idea to sell more, mandarines, pears, papaya, berries, grapes (red, black and white) and much more, so yummy but just now I cannot eat any fruit because I am on a diet for a couple of months :)
In the pasta zone I found many Disney pasta, (we do not have in our locan store), Mickey Mouse, Lion King, Cinderella, Minnie, Donal Duck, letters, numbers, I bought Lion King and Cinderella for Momichan :)
Prices are not always low, just for some items like the drinking yogurt Momi has for breakfast every morning but here we have found also some small cereals (she can eat every type twice) in a special packet formed by 8 small packs everyone different, so she can have choko crispies, honey, normal ....
After having bought what we needed we came home for dinner, Momichan was enthusiast about the new foods but was really tired so after her new Lion King pasta with ragout I put her to bed, tomorrow she will have a special small pizza :)

festa di Peppe :)

In the afternoon today Momichan is invited at Arcobaleno delle Favole to celebrate a friend birthday, for the occasion the other day I have gone togather with another mum to buy a present.
Arcobaleno is always a good idea for the kids, they can play with many things, climb, run, go on the slider, balance, play with the ball, hide and seek ... we had a reserved place where Peppe's mother has organized the party, apart from a big cake there where salami and ham sandwiches, pizza, pop corn, fries and beverages, 14 kids in all plus the parents.
The theme choosed was Spiderman so gobelets and dishes were coloured in red representing the preferred hero of Peppe and also the decoration on the cake was a cute image of Spiderman.
There were not so many kid inside the structure today and it is good because otherwise it is a big mess with kids running everywhere and too many parents shouting at their kids "pay attention to this... do not run ... hey where are you ? ..." I also had time to take a coffee looking at Momichan playing in the baby zone, she loves the little car (foto) and the small house :)
This time the final foto with all the kids seated at the table in front of the cake came out not so fantastic but it gives the idea. Cake was really yummy and also sandwiches, kids did not eated much but their attention was captured by games.
As everytime we go there, everything start to finish around 18.30, here at the moment is time sun goes away and night is arriving so it was time for everybody to go home.
Peppe has received many presents but unlike Momichan for her birthday, he choosed to open present in the quietness of his home and thank afterwards.
Momichan and I had an appointment with granny in the central plaza, grazzy as every saturday goes to church so as we were at the party we met at 19.00 PM instead of 17.00 PM and she gave us a lift home :) Momichan was really tired also because she has slept not much during nap time and after bath, pijama and dinner soup she was totally asleep, she has amused so much :)

women's day

Today in Italy we celebrate Women's Day :) everywhere is full of mimosa flowers, puffy yellow balls and our preferred coffee shop sells "mimosa cakes" fluffy yellow cake with cream inside covered by small yellow puffy dices :)

We are doing nothing particular as Sampei is working and Momichan and I are home alone anyway we went market to give a look at spring fruits and veggies, Momichan loves to go there, there are thousands of colours and smells, yummy fruits, roasted chikens and fries (I bought her some, see in the foto, she is eating) cheese and dresses, house items, pots and pans and other items but the most attractive things are flowers, she loves to see the different colours and smell them :) we have to choose a flower plant to take to kindergarden because the 21st, day of spring, kids will plant their flowers at the entrance of kindergarden and afterwards every kid will have to take care about his own flower, give water, take away dried leaves and so on, so Momi has to tell me which flower she likes, I guess she will want a red or deep violet one :)

hair cut and invitation for a cake ^^

Today Momichan is again having her hair cut, she wants them to be long but when hot temperature is making her head sweat she sayis she hates her hair HAHAHA so I take her to the hairdresser.

Momichan loves when the hairdresser wash her hair and then cut, she looks herself in the mirror and tells everybody she is cute HAHAHA (foto on the left BEFORE CUT).

This time her hair are really long, in the family we all have short hair, I do not like long hair and are absolutely not practical for a baby I have to wash every day, I have no time to spend to dry her hair, while if Momichan has short hair is easier with the phon to get them dry and she is more "cute" :) After having finished, I pay and look my cell phone ringing, a message has arrived, a friend is inviting us to his home to have a snack with a cake WOW.

The friend lives near our house, his mum is baking a cake and as she opens the door a yummy smell comes out ^O^ the kids start to play, Peppe shows his bedroom and his toys to Momichan and they start to play and jump around while his mum Maira and I have a chat and a coffee in the kitchen.
The cake is two colours: chokolate and normal, soft yummy :) Maira pours some chokolate cream on it and after call the kids to have a slice.

She even gives me a big slice to take home YUM, she doesn't know that the cake slice just after having been photographed has disappeared in my belly with the velocity of a lightning HAHAHA so yummy indeed but you know I'm a sweet teeth HAHAHA ^^

man teared to pieces by dogs ...

Just a few days ago, a friend of sista has been teared to pieces by a group of free dogs near my mum's house. Up till now the beasts are not have been taken thoug police is collaborating to find the five dangerous dogs.

The man (friend of my sister) has come on visit but as my sister was not at home he had called her to say he would wait for her while taking a walk to the nearest park and look for some fishes. When he came back after having seen the fishes he has been attacked by the dogs. (LEFT FOTO IS THE HELICOPTER ARRIVED TO TAKE THE MAN TO THE HOSPITAL, RIGHT FOTO IS JUST TWO DOGS, NOTTHE ONES OF THE ATTACK)

The man has been helped by another man who was working in the nearby but despite this his conditions were serious, an ambulance and an helicopter were called and he has been trasported to the nearest hospital where he died soon after.

Police is now trying to catch the dogs but is not easy, the nearest Centenario Park in front of wich the attack has been done is not a safe place also because it has been discovered a big hole in the net so that the dogs can come inside, in the park with a coffee shop in the middle, has a zone for little kids and people go there on sunny days with kids, to take a coffe or ice cream, ride bicicles, play soccer, make pic-nicks and relax. Inside the park there is also a zone where to take dogs to play so many dog owners come to the park.

The problem is that the dogs have not been taken yet and people think the accident has been occurred sowhere else due to the bad news on the net and newspapers.

When in the evning of the attack my mum called me to inform me not to even think to come to the park with Momichan and she explained what was happening (meanwhile sista was at the hospital with her friend to assist) Momichan started to weep, she was frightened the dogs could attack her granny who lives in front of the park, 300 meters where the accident occurred. We had to explain her we and granny were safe and nothing could happen until we stayed home. While eating dinner in the kitchen I left Momichan just a few minutes to go bedroom to organize for the night and take milk bottle to be washed, I heard her cry desperately terrorised and had to run immediately and take her into my arms and kiss her to calm her.

Now she knows about everything of the situation and every person she meets she tell him or her not to go to the park because they can die (I remember you Momichan is just 3 years old) but she is now quite calm because she knows granny is safe and just comes out of the house with a big car when she needs to move to go somewhere and always looks outside before opening the door.

decorations ...

Since a few days a have a new booklet that teaches how to decorate glass.

Togather with the book there are some special colours to decorate, is a special glue colour paste that once dried becomes transparent.

The peeping monster (here on the left) is quite big, I have attached it on the bathroom window and it's quite funny horrible but cheerful ^^

I have made other decorations, a jungle, (zebra, elephant, snake, gyraff and tiger)some insects and a big bird in the middle of a forest, Momichan loves them all because they are so colorful even if the jungle has funny colours.

Here is the book I have bought, inside there are many images you can copy to make your wonderful decorations, it is sufficient you put the included plastic sheet on the image you want to do and trace it with the special black ink, when is dried you can fill in the image with the other colours and after wait 24 hours to peel the image off the plastic sheet and make it adhere to whatever window you like ^___^

I want to decorate the future bedroom window of Momichan with many images, whatever I like it is sufficient copy an image somewhere and after cover it with the special colours, I can change images on the windows every season, making leaves for the automs, flowers for the spring, fishes for the summer, pine trees for the X'Mas season, no limits to immagination and when the colours are finished I have just to go to some colour shop who sells wall and glass colours and buy the colours I need ^O^ (right now I need white, deep blue and some more black).

sunday ...

On sunday Momichan's dad is free until 3 o'clock so we have a little more time to stay togather.

This morning we are going to say "goodbye" to the owners of the Carousel, in the evening they will dismantle the carousel and put it in the truck to go away.

As every week-end we take a walk to our preferred coffee shop, we take coffee and we buy special paste to make pizza for lunch and after Momichan goes to the carousel.

Momichan is a little tired today and she profit of daddy taking a small nap on his shoulders (foto).

Here is Momichan happily going on the carousel, she has taken the pony tail which allows her to make a free ride ^O^ she loves the

fireengine and the horses, sometimes she also goes into the big coffee cup and want us to make her turn quickly ^O^

last day of the carousel

Tomorrow will be the last day Carousel will stay in our town so Momichan and I have decided to make a cake to take to the Carousel owners, Fabio and Roberta who are always so gentle with us.

After cake has been packed Momichan is the one in charge to carry and give the sweet, as soon as we arrive to the carousel we meet Roberta and Momichan gives the cake to her. Momichan is a little sad even if she knows in a month time the other brother will arrive and will take his Carousel Train and will stay a month time again as every year.

going park

In our town days are now getting longer and there is light until 6.00 PM.

Going kindergarden today as it is sunny and quite hot, I thought it would have been nice for Momi to take her bicycle and a rucksack for the snack with juice, chokolate bar and some other foods so that she can choose what to eat.

As I thought Momican was happy to see her mini bicycle and go happily seating on it without getting tired (she doesn't like to walk so much HEHE).

After going here and there in the plaza Momichan decided to go to the park, she loves to go on the balance and now she is big enough to go like the big kids ^O^ she always tells me to push her strong, she wants to go quick but is she still not yet able to move all by herself on the balance (moving her legs up and down as I explained her many times). At the moment it's a pity, the park is not really enchanting, the major part of the balances and sliders are broken and nobody has substituted them, we are quite worried and are trying to writee a letter and get is signed by all the mums visiting the park, the more we get signature, the more we will have possibility the Major will do something ... we hope, because if for that summer the park will be still like that thekids will get crazy and will quarrel for balances (just 2 and none for baby kids) and spaces ! for people like us who do not have a car this in the main plaza is the only park possibile where to go, kids have to do something after kindergarden and on long sunny summer day if we cannot go to the park we do not have a place to go.

french market day

For the third year we are lucky to have the French Markets in our little town.

It's a sunny day and daddy has a half day free so we go to take a look. Momi is enchanted by the stalls, colours and perfumes, she tells us she want a pretzel so we direct to the bread stall, everything there is inviting and has a good smell, we buy a croissant for me, a pretzel for her and a pain chocolat for daddy,baguettes and croissants quicky come out the oven and the smell is really yummy ^O^

Nearby there is the stall of soaps, many different soaps with different colurs and smell attract us, I but two small heart shaped lavender soaps for Momichan and another strawberry normal shaped for us, the man wraps the soaps and gives us as present some lavender flowers to put in the drawer, Momichan takes her soaps happily.

The banquet of napkins is also interesting and some are really gorgeous but prices are terribly high. Some other stall sell cheese, wines, ham and salami, paté, spices, neckalces and jewels and also jackets, pullovers, scarfs.

We also stop at the spice stall and buy some special mix for pasta and some herbs to use everywhere (salads, pasta, grill ...) there are many curry, blue salt, pink salt from Himalaya, a special black salt from some carribean isle, pepper, special mix for salads, grill meat, soups ... the smell and the colours are incredible, Momi looks at in total astonishment.

Our "Naviglio" is dry at the moment for cleanings, there are too many weeds (see foto on the left), it is curious to see and Momi asks worried where fishes have been put.

We talk about organizing a little trip to the french Cote D'Azur (Nice, Menton ...) and show Momichan a little piece of France, I guess she would amuse, new smells, colours, tastes, I think she would amuse so much also eating new foods ^O^

After one hour Momichan start to be tired, is time to go home and prepare lunch, Momichan is in my arms and she puts her head on my shoulder pretending to sleep. I guess we will come back tomorrow to buy some other croissants and baguettes, eventually some other spices ^^ Bye bye french market ^__^

Ikea Carnival Day

Carnival friday, Ikea store organizes for all the week long (18-26 february) everyday, marionette shows, sweets (frittelle and chiacchere), masque show, kids make up, so I tell Momi if she wants to amuse a little and get masqued we can take the bus in the main town plaza and go Ikea, today she has no kindergarden because is holiday, it is sunny and hot enough, the perfect day to go around ^___^
I dress Momichan with her Zorro costume, take a bag of confettis and we go out in the sun to the bus stop. We arrive around 15.00 PM, there are three girls who will make the show and make up kids so Momichan sit on a chair in front of one of them and ask for a butterfly ^O^ GEEEEE !!! the lady makes a cute pink butterfly and after she put on a dark pink glitter powder, the result is really fantastic. She tells us we have to wait a little for the marionette show so we buy a coffee (for me) and a snack (Momi asks for fries !) at the coffee corner and we go around the store to find the new cute spring articles and Momi plays around jumping on beds and entering inside the displays of little houses, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens.
I had told about this idea two or three mums at kindergarden so I am waiting at least one of them to come with the kids.
We start from the kid zone, beds, toys, Momichan plays a little but she loves most to go where there is an entire example of small house all furnished with divided rooms for kid, parents, kitchen, livingroom, entrance, she runs around pretending is her house and telling me idea how to make our future new house. After 50 minutes more or less we come back to the restaurant zone for the marionette show and a voice calls me: one of the mum is arrived with her two kids, the smaller is the kindergarden in the Azure section in front of Momichan class, (Orange section), the other is in the first year of elementary school just on the other side of the kindergarden building, the bigger is dressed like Spiderman and the smaller has a male kimono jacket on with a kanji which represents "matsuri" (celebration, party). The three girls of Ikea mask start to involve the kids in some games and after the build a kind of little theatre and start to make the marionette show using the puppet sold in the store, it's a story about a crocodile, a cat, a lamb, a strawberry. Kids laugh, the story is not really so good but they amuse a lot.
By mistake Momichan has erased her fantastic butterfly so we ask one of the ladies to make another, she makes one yellow and pink and again she glitters it with silver paiettes WOW !
Granny has called me to tell she is in the nearby if I need a passage home, Momichan is happy to see granny and she wants to show her butterfly. While we wait the kids has to start the costume parade, they are so funny, there is a monster, a baby Tigger, Spiderman, a princess, a fairy, some kids without even a costume, just normal, a Zorro, a ninja, everyone comes in front of us and bows a little, Momichan is too shy and does not understand, she just runs to me HAHA, her two friends bow and come back, after every kid has showed they alltogather come in front of the parents for a final bow togather.
With her two friends and mum we decide to exit Ikea but before we all want a hot dog, kids are happy to get a hot dog, we get down at the ground floor and kids enter in a carriage while their mum pulls them, Momi is excited, I walk their side. As soon as we arrive the Swedish Corner and we get the hot dog, granny calls again, she is out already ! "Wait please, we have to finish hot dog, we are togather with friends" tells Momi, but we have to hurry, we say "hello" and we get out, granny is happy to see Momi and Momi shows her Zorro costume and butterfly all excited ^^

french market ...

For the 3rd year in our town we will have the French Markets !!! In the old town on the river just in front of the Townhall 24/25/26 february there will be french stalls coming from many sides of France, they will sell cheese, soaps, honey, wine, lavender items (oils, creams, honey....) chokolates, bags, napkins, towels, pullovers, spices, fresh bread and croissants, sweets and much more ^O^

Every year we wait for it and we always buy fresh bread, croissants and spices, first year we bought a couple of napkins, fresh bread and croissants, last year I bought a summer straw bag too and always fresh bread and croissants plus a couple of cheese.

The smell along the market is yummy because some stall also cook some food (sausage and potatoes and some other strange things I don't remember), during sunny days you also smell lavender, soap, straw and garlic, the tipical odours of the lower coast of France I like so much^O^