Rain, rain, in our basement

Well, when you buy a hundred-year-old house, little things are bound to crop up here and there. Such as all the rain water on the lot draining into our finished basement. As I type this post, I'm waiting for men with tools and an excavator to come destroy my lawn, er, fix the problem.

Besides that, the Caselli household has been steadily prepping for Christmas and travels, and really enjoying the Christmas season. Every morning Sof and I have our very own tree-lighting ceremony in the living room; her simple joy never gets old.

Apparently some critical neurons made connections in Sofia's head in the last week, because her language skills have suddenly exploded. She is very successfully imitating quite a few things that come out of our mouths. I was having a bad driving day the other day (no parking spots, endless one-way streets taking me the wrong direction, etc.), and through my irritated fog I became cognizant of Sofia copying all my grrrrs and groans and sighs. Nothings says "change your attitude" more than a 19-month-old sponge in the backseat!

Some random shots from the last few weeks: