52/52

 

"a portrait of my daughters, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Zoe Tiare: when you smile, you do it even with your eyes… and everything gets better!

Alma Aiko: with your new friend… trying to understand what christmas means…

last picture. i’m so grateful to jodi for this idea and so happy that i joined till the end. i’m not good in long term projects but this one. i loved this one. and i’m ready for 2014 serie! you can see all my portraits here.

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

merry christmas.

no words, just pictures…

lies of christmas

This year Santa will not come to our house... Zoeti was so scared when we saw him that she almost cries when we say "in a couple of days Santa will come with your presents!" . But of course she wants the presents.. So we told her a little lie: Santa is too busy and a little elf will help him and bring the presents to our house! She felt relieved!
This year zoeti is two and a half so still little to believe to everything at the same time big enough to ask us why, under the tree, there are presents for her friends and relatives... She will ask why they are not to their houses and I've already thought about the answer (I feel smart these days!): Santa (and the elves) are very old and very busy so sometimes they misplaced the presents! And that's why grandma has a present for you and we have a present for our friends’ children!
As I've already mentioned I want that zoeti gives to unlucky children a couple of toys that she doesn't play anymore with in order to understand how lucky she is and that could bring us to another question: why Santa doesn't bring toys to every child in the world? I think I still have some more years before this question but I'm already thinking about it. I have found a couple of answers:there are children that can't write the letter to Santa so we will help him to have extra toys for them.
What about you? How do you manage all the Christmas lies?

51/52

 

"a portrait of my daughters, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Zoe Tiare: so girly… you made me laugh a lot this week!!

Alma Aiko: growing… growing so fast!

merry christmas folks!

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

I really NEED you!

source

It's a long time that I'm thinking about my blog name... Actually I've started thinking about my blogging experience, how much I can invest on it, what it means to me... Thinking about the name was just a consequence..
Even if being a mom is something that keep changing and I'm always learning, I'm not a new mom anymore.. And, let's face it, "my brand new life as mom" is a very long name! When I started blogging I wasn't sure what to expect, how it would last, what I would write about... Choosing the name was not a deliberate choice... Plus, do you know how many blogs there are on blogspot? A lot! Which means few names available!

For the 2014 I want to change the blog name...
I have several alternatives:

'Life in four' :: I know what you are thinking... "And if you'll have another child?" Well, in that case I'll divorce and we will be four again! I'm kidding! In that case I'll change the name again! A blog, in my opinion, is something that grows with you and the name can reflect that change.

'Bello chisto' :: that's something that zoeti says when she loves something. In Italian it would be "bello questo" (that's nice) but she mispronounces it.

'A trolley mama' :: one of the thing that I love most is traveling! I would love a name that reminds that... Besides, if you see how I get out when I'm alone with my girls..: a diaper bag, a backpack if I have to go to the grocery store, my camera bag if I'm inspired... Every time a move!

Ok, let's hear your voice! Tell me which one you prefer. I have a favorite between them, but I'd love to hear your opinion!

my apple & walnut cake

i was looking for a way to use my spelt flour and i found a recipe of muffins with it. i made some changes and that’s my apple & walnut cake. we love it! i made it twice in a week!!

ingredients:

• 80 gr of spelt flour
• 80 gr of rice flour
• 60 gr of walnuts
• 1 apple and a half
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• a pinch of bicarbonate
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• half glass of oil
• 80 gr of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of ricotta cheese or half glass of milk

whip the egg with the sugar, then add the oil. in another bowl mix the flours, the baking powder and the bicarbonate (sifted). add the salt and the walnuts coarsely chopped. cut in small pieces the apples and mix them with the flours. add the liquids to the solids. add the milk (or the ricotta cheese).

bake for 30 min at 170°

to Santa’s house

last saturday the surprise in our advent calendar said “let’s go to find where santa lives!”. zoeti was super excited!! a city near where we live, montecchio maggiore, recreated a magical town in a cave. it was amazing!! i booked 8 tickets for us and our parents. first time in a cave for me! we wore helmets, no heels allowed and, with an elf as guide, we moved inside until we found santa’s house!
i think that maybe zoeti is still too young for this… she was scared by santa and by the grinch and she was always checking at us. but still the effort on creating the atmosphere has been considerable! well done guys!
sorry for the bad quality, but moving and enjoying the place along with low light is a bad combination for taking pictures!

:: the real santa’s house ::

:: gnomes and elves at work ::

:: the grinch! ::

:: with santa! zoeti was scared and alma loved playing with santa’s beard! ::

50/52

 

"a portrait of my daughters, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Zoe Tiare: you discovered your shadow! the funniest moment has been when you looked under your shoes to understand where she was attached!!

Alma Aiko: staring, smiling and rolling!

I’m learning so much from all the talented photographers and moms in this project! i really hope to have more time to know better some of them (even if virtually!). My favorite of the past week are: lily and the shadow, another one from lamb loves fox (i love her pictures. always.), lachlan’s portrait, and again a beautiful picture of kate’s beautiful daughter.

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

Vegan, vegetarian or...

 
Lately I'm thinking about our way to eat. I live in a place where dairy and meat are very diffuse. Among my friends there are just two vegetarians, no one single vegan, but many around me experiencing a situation of doubt and indecision. I want to be honest: I think it's impossible for me to become vegan... I love milk, cheese, eggs... But avoiding meat is something I really want to try! I already mentioned the book I'm reading – the china study (between one about child care and one about montessori's activities!). Yesterday I was at a meeting about homeopathy and a woman said that changing her eating habits changed her life. She suffered of rheumatoid arthritis and switching to a vegan diet made her feeling better without medicines. I don't know if it was because I know closely that disease or because she read that book too, but I keep thinking about it...
One of my resolution for these last two months was cooking more vegetarian dishes and I'm really understanding how hard is for me avoid meat, especially ready-sliced salami. And even harder is cooking legumes and cereals that I didn't even know that existed! Luckily as I've said, I'm not alone and I'm always asking recipes to my friends.
It's time for thinking about a lot of things in my life: what kind of mommy I want to be  how to raise my child, how eat better, if vaccinating or not, if it's time for homeopathy for my little girl with bronchospasm... Even if it's hard I think it's a good thing questioning from time to time: it gives you the chance to learn from others and from your errors!
That's some of my favorite vegetarian/vegan blogs:
Ohdeardrea: not need to say anything about this blog! She writes about her life and her cooking.
Una vegetariana in cucina: (in Italian) a new discovered and I love it!
La frittata è fatta: a new new entry, but I've already seen a couple of recipes I really want to try!
I love browsing about food blogs... Some of them have very beautiful pictures ... The best are:
Cannelle et Vanille
What Katie Ate
il cavoletto di bruxelles
anemone's corner

a family tradition

since when zoeti was born i felt the urge to create new family traditions. decorate the christmas tree and bake cinnamon biscuits on the 8th of december (national holiday here in italy) are two of them. we listened traditional christmas songs, had fun decorating the house, played with alma and filled with cinnamon scent the whole house…

:: i love these two! ::

:: white, silver and all the pieces we bought around the world ::

:: this year we created four new decorations with our names! now we can say “it’s our tree!” ::

      

49/52

 

"a portrait of my daughters, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Zoe Tiare & Alma Aiko: together this week, because you are almost always together and every change in your behavior is related one to each other. Alma, you are always looking for your big sister, your hero, the one who makes you smile every single time. Zoe Tiare, no one can scold your little sister, not even me or daddy! you are always looking for her missing socks and cleaning her face… (images captured from outside the window)

my favorites of the past week are all b/w portraits: this one from life,love, and syntax; Clare’s pictures; and this one from ingridlerstad.

 

Taking part in Jodi's weekly portrait series

stills: a weekly collection

:: 1 :: i love staring at them
:: 2 :: funny face
:: 3 :: peekaboo
:: 4 :: christmas market
:: 5 ::  lovely light
:: 6 :: christmas candles