Merry Christmas!

Well Merry Christmas to everyone! We celebrated Christmas today, the 26th, because Robert had to work on Christmas Day. That didn't get us down at all, what did get us down is that we are all sick with horrible colds unfortunately. Ruth was unfortunately miserable which is the reason for the pacifiers in all of the pictures!

We loved all of our presents for everyone and thank you to all, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles...thanks to ALL!






I bet you can't find Ruth in all of these toys! These aren't even all of them and doesn't include the mountain of clothes for her too!



Mommy and Daddy got me this ride on Zebra and I couldn't wait to get it put together and rarely got off of it all day!

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Thanks Aunt Katrina for the new lady bug bean bag chair. We officially retired my old chair to upstairs because Mommy thinks this one is so WWAAYYY better!

Beautiful view from our front door

There is something wonderful about Sigonella Sicily. There must be because there are ALWAYS rainbows here. I see them almost everytime it rains but this time I grabbed my camera and snapped a good shot. The other end of the rainbow ended right in the middle of the runway where Robert works. Such a beautiful sight for him at work and me at home.

Our Christmas Tree

The final touches to our christmas tree are finally complete just for it to be taken down in a week! Oh well. Thanks to Grammy Eck for sending the beautiful angel to top out tree!

Breakfast with Santa

We went for breakfast with Santa last weekend and things did not go as planned. We ended up eating breakfast but never seeing Santa. There was a 2 hour line to see santa! We already know that she is a screamer for Santa so why stand in line for 2 hours to see a man that she hates? So we just ate the free pancakes and sausage and then went shopping!

The strike is over! After five long days of a trucker strike the country has gone back to normal. This strike is the first truck strike in Italy since 1990 with 90 percent of truckers participating. It resulted in a loss of 5 million euros (7.5 million dollars). Food began rotting in warehouses, gas stations were closed, and the whole country came to a stand still.

This is the scene of ALL of the gas stations in Italy the past few days. The sign saying "Chiuso" means "closed"and that man is the gas station attendent with his arms up to indicate "There is nothing I can do about it...we have no gas"

This is the scene of many warehouses as spoiling food has to be thrown out becuase the truckers were not delivering them for sale. This is also what many of the shelves of our grocery stores looked like as well.

This is what the highways looked like when the strike first took place. Trucks blocking the toll booths so no one could travel on highways. Trucks also made baracades in the middle of major highways and the entrances to other countries. Trucks were even blocking certain off ramps so that regular cars couldn't even go home!

Nationwide Truck Strike!

A truck strike has occured all over Italy and is not looking to resolve soon. This has already resulted in empty gas stations and no milk or eggs. We have only 1/4 of a tank of gas with none coming our way soon. We were told to stock up on enough groceries to get us until January (since we won't be able to get to the grocery store on no gas) praying that it will get resolved then. Schools have closed in Naples, Italy on base and simply waiting for Sigonella's to close as well. Hopefully the truck drivers get what they want soon so we can have gas and milk!

Christmas Party

Today was the Christmas Party for Robert's work. It was at the movie theatres which meant Ruth got to go watch a movie on the big screen for the first time! At first she was mesmorized by the big screen, bog cookies, and big seat....

After a while she got bored, went down the stairs, and made friends with another little girl her age. They played and played for a long time, sharing toys, and hugging eachother everytime they got close.

Then it was time to meet Santa. This was not an enjoyable experience to say the least. Oh well maybe next year..?

Sunny Sigonella... for 2 days

It was sunny and warm on Thursday and Friday, unlike the usual rain. Robert cut the grass in the back yard and cleaned up the yard real nice and set out her toys again. She had such a blast playing in the yard for two days that I am not sure she even came in the house! Saturday it was back to rain.

New Marinai Playgroup!

This Wednesday Ruth and some of her friends had their first playgroup at the Recreational Center. One of the stay at home dad's decided to create it. Ruth is friends with all of these kids and have played with them before and it was nice to have somewhere for all of them to play and not in our houses to make the mess! Ruth's friend in the back is Emily (2), Ayden is the little one (16 months) and in the front is Landon (14 months). They had so much fun we decided to organize it every monday and wednesday mornings for 2 hours with snack time, craft time, and so much more! We are so excited. Anyone from Marinai is invited to come on out! Call me for more info.

Tree lighting ceremony

Mommy just woke me up from nap, put this cute sweater on me, and drug me down to the base to eat cookies, watch the tree lighting, sing christmas carols, and jump in the inflatable jumpy houses in the gym. I had so much fun, too bad daddy didn't get to come. He had to work late.... aaaaggggaaaiiiinnn.

This is the huge tree that we watched light up!

Ruth and the baby

Ruth LOVES babies. If there is a baby around she has no interest in anything else but that baby. Our friends have a baby girl named Abby. Ruth climbs up next to the baby and puts Abby on her lap. She likes to get in her face and coo to her and make her smile. She also lifts her shirt and tickles her belly. She could sit for hours doing this. I think it is the only time she sits still!

Getting ready for Christmas

Ruth loved helping mommy decorate the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. She did a great job hanging the "non-breakables" on the tree!