Tuscan Cooking Class

Today (Monday)'s adventure was a Tuscan cooking class.  The cook is the mother of the woman who owns the villa, but neither of them speak English, so the all of the explanation was given by their tour organizer, Lucia.  (Lucia is great, very knowledgeable and engaging -- and she also has a three-year old!)

Cooking class may have been a bit of a misnomer, because the mother did all of the things that required skill, like mixing the pasta and the bread dough (and getting it in and out of the fiery brick oven!)  We got to roll out the pasta noodles (which is somewhat trickier than it looks), roll out the dough for the foccacia loaves, and put the ladyfinger cookies in the tiramisu.  But it was quite amazing to watch her work, and fun to participate in those little ways!

The menu was pici pasta, a traditional Tuscan pasta (a bit like egg noodles, although apparently the old-time recipe did not include eggs, since they were hard to get until somewhat recently).  There was a tomato sauce, and focaccia bread, some with cheese and some with rosemary.  They also served cheese and cold meat (prosciutto and cappicola, delicious!), and of course the dessert.  There was also wine that was also made in their family (which we termed "breakfast wine", since the class started at 10 AM).  It was a delicious meal!!  They sent us home with little jars of sauce and recipes.  :)  Somehow I doubt we would be able to replicate that at home. 

Afterwards, we returned to the villa for a siesta, and then went to the town of Chiusi in the evening to pick up another friend at the train station (which was not so easy to find -- thank goodness my phone has a GPS.)  We had a pizza dinner which was also quite enjoyable, and did an evening walk by some old churches and a park with Etruscan ruins. Hilariously, the sign for the park said that these were the archeological ruins that weren't in great demand elsewhere, so they were used as decoration in the parks. :)  There's just so many archeological artifacts here they don't even know what to do with them!

Sarteano Castle

After a refreshing night of sleep, we spent our first touring day in the nearby hill town of Sarteano. The castle dates back at least to the 1300s, from the days when this area was of strategic importance between the warring city-states. :) Today, it provides fabulous views over the city and the countryside. We had a great time exploring it! And we were happy to have nice weather, too.

Afterwards we explored the town, which is all stone buildings, narrow streets (which the Italian drivers navigate fearlessly, even though it looks to me like there's only room for maybe a golf cart), and hills.

One of the high points was that we found an open gelato shop -- yum!  (Most stores and restaurants are closed on Sundays, except for smaller cafes.)

For dinner, we had an absolutely amazing meal at a restaurant in the city center (Osteria da Gagliano).  One of the friends and I shared an appetizer that was grilled pecorino cheese with local bacon and radiccio, and it was so delicious -- we haven't stopped talking about it.  :)  It's a tiny place -- we filled up half of it -- and the owner is also the waiter. He was so nice and welcoming.  It was a fantastic introduction to Tuscan restaurants!

Mike has been doing a great job driving all these windy roads, and he's become an expert at three-point turns in narrow spaces. :)

We checked in on the boys and they have been having fun with their Grandma and cousin and everyone -- apparently the last couple days they've had so much excitement that Mattie has taken a nap!  (That doesn't happen often these days!)

Viva Italia

We have arrived in the Tuscan countryside (after a long morning in the Rome airport!). Craig's friends cooked a delicious dinner, and now we're all off to bed to try to get over jet lag. :)

Grandma Brigade

Mike and I are traveling again, so Grandma and Honorary Grandma Sue have arrived to take care of the boys.  (We are so grateful!!)  Of course, as soon as they arrived, James pulled them into the living room for a game of Dinosaur.  :)

Mommy's Birthday, Observed

I was sick with a cold on my actual birthday, but we went out and celebrated with friends last weekend, and we also had cake at home, much to Mattie's (and my) delight. :)

Like a Fish Needs a Tricycle

We did a trial run of the Halloween costumes this weekend to make sure they fit. Matthew was very pleased with his Nemo costume, and disappointed that he has to wait so long for costume day at preschool. (He also liked the Scooby costume that Grandma got for him, so he may wear one to school and one for trick-or-treating!)

Brotherly Love

The other day, we heard a little conversation from the boys' room in the morning. Then Mattie came trotting into our room and cheerfully announced, "James is out of his crib! I didn't know he could move so fast! I'm going to keep an eye on my little brother."  So cute.  :)

Last week, we were playing the dinosaur board game, and James was about to win.  He rolled an orange, the color he needed.  I said, "James, you have orange!  You win!"  He shook his head and rolled the die again.  Then the same thing happened the next turn.  I said, "James, do you want Matthew to win?"  He said, "Yes!"  (Wow, only three and already throwing games so his brother can win.  He doesn't do that all the time, but I guess he wanted to make Mattie happy that time.)

James stayed home from preschool on Friday because he had a cold.  Mattie told the teacher that he missed James!  At home, when James was getting dressed, I gave him two shirt options.  He said, "What is Mattie wearing?"  When I told him Mattie was wearing his Gator shirt (much to Daddy's dismay, since the Gators were playing LSU on Saturday), James immediately picked the orange shirt and said, "I want to be like Mattie."

The pictures are from today's "volcano."

Apple Trees

Yep, it was Parent of the Day time again on Monday.  This was "apple week", and the art project of the day was making apple trees (the brown handprints were the trunk of the tree).

We were toying with the idea of going apple picking, but I was very disappointed to learn that the apple season down here has just ended!  (That's so wrong!)  Next year we'll have to try earlier.

The weather wasn't great, so the class played down in the Fellowship Hall instead of outside.  The preschool director somehow got them all to think that lining up to get gas in their toy cars was a great game.  (Long live the 70's!)

Reunion!

This past weekend was the NICU reunion.  (We've been looking forward to this for literally two years!)

They had a lot of fun activities for the kids -- a firetruck outside, and a circus theme inside. (To my surprise, Mattie refused to try the cotton candy!  But he gladly scarfed down a piece of cake.)  Mattie especially wanted a balloon animal (a fish, because the fish was orange on the sheet of example animals). There was a long line for the balloon animals, but the boys amused themselves by running around the little toy tent that was set up.

Of course, Mike and I really just wanted to see our nurses and doctors again. We drop by the NICU every once in a while when James is there for appointments and see if anyone we know is working, but we were looking forward to the chance to see them outside of the hospital as well.  (It's much nicer now that our preemies are running around all big and healthy!)

We were so happy that some of our favorite nurses were there -- one who took care of Mattie early on and was there the day we brought him home; another one who guided us through the early days, and two who took extra special good care of James when he was there for so long.  I can't even tell you how much all of their support meant (and still means) to us.  They are just amazing, wonderful people, and it was such a joy to see them.

Unfortunately, Jamesie and Mattie's primary nurses (both new moms now themselves) weren't there, but hopefully we'll have another chance to catch up with them.

We also had a chance to talk with some of our favorite doctors.  We loved Dr. W because she was always very straightforward with us (even when the news was not good).  And same with Dr. L -- he took the time to go through all the research with us, and we really trusted that they were doing what they thought was best for James.  And even though Dr. B and I had some differences when the boys were in the hospital, he is also a great doctor, and I was genuinely delighted to see him, too.  And we only got a brief moment to say hello to Dr. M, one of the Fellows (doctors in their final state of training) who also took wonderful care of James and really helped reassure us about some of his intestinal issues.

We did even get to say hello to one of the families we met when we  were in the NICU -- they recognized us, which was really sweet of them.

The organizers gave out some "awards" for things like the longest name, the shortest name, the smallest birthweight (I wish I could remember, but it was TINY, and the child looked to be about six now and doing well), the largest birthweight, etc.  James was in the final three for longest stay (he was there a bit over five months, the "winner" was there five and a half) -- which honestly still makes me sad, but it's better than the alternative.

One of the activities was to make a page for their "album of  hope" scrapbook, for NICU families.  They had mentioned this in advance, so I brought some pictures of the boys in the hospital and the boys now.  I wasn't sure how much to say for our "story."  We are very very far from the worst case, but I'm guessing a new parent wouldn't think that a lengthy hospital stay, multiple surgeries, and a permanent disability is a particularly hopeful outcome.  So what I said was this:

 "Our twins, James and Matthew, were born at 27 weeks. Matthew weighed 2 lbs, 6 oz, and James weighed 2 lb, 5 oz. Matthew was in the NCCC for two and a half months.  James was in the NCCC for five months, with many ups and downs. He is a survivor of NEC and had multiple surgeries. 

Today, they are both happy and healthy three-year-olds."

And really, I think the pictures of them smiling and reading books together and bouncing on their bed say it all.  :)  

I remember studying the pictures of the "graduates" that were up on the wall, looking for ones that were even smaller and earlier than ours who were still okay, so hopefully seeing the photos of our happy little guys will be helpful to someone.  

(I wish I'd taken a picture of the finished page, but James was melting down asking for milk, so I didn't have a chance.)  

All in all, a lovely afternoon.  :)