Well, hello there!

Hey, blog world! Long time no see. Frankly, I just haven't had much I wanted to say on the interwebs lately. Chalk it up to a little winter blues, and yet more adjusting to a new home.

But I have to say I think my feet are now firmly planted here in Portland, and we've established a nice daily rhythm. I can even boldly say that if I had the chance to go back in time, I wouldn't change anything.

I've been musing a lot, as one might expect, about Sofia's childhood and the world she's growing up in. What kind of country will this be? How will her social world function? What is she going to see and learn in the classroom? And seriously, how weird is it that Michael Jackson will be considered before her time? When I watch her expertly scroll through the album covers on my iPod Touch, I'm truly flabbergasted at how quickly things have changed. All I have to say is that in this house, Casa da Caselli, all of our books will have real paper pages. That you have to turn. One by one. And they never, ever have to be charged. Harrumph.

Anyhoo, Sof is, as usual, a laugh a minute these days. I can't possibly express what a joy it is watching her grow up. She has a sense of humor, bravery, confidence, creativity, trust, sensitivity, compassion...things I never expected to recognize in a 21-month-old! But I can see them, and I'm so proud of her.

Two of my current favorite Sofia antics are when she reads her books out loud, and when she has phone "conversations." She speaks her language so purposefully, so expressively it's just irresistible.

The absolute kicker was this morning. Sof found her handy dandy pocket German phrasebook, and wanted me to read it to her, which I did. Then she took it from me, and opened it up to begin reading it herself. And (*holding hand up to indicate complete honesty*), the child began to "read" the German book with a German accent. I can't recall the last time I've laughed that hard. Oh, um, wait yes I can...that would be the previous night when Johnny and I were having a Michael-Jackson-style dance off.

Ahem.

In other news, we took a little trip yesterday out to Mt. Hood to do some snowshoeing. In true Joanna style, I researched a lovely sounding trail, we packed everything up, drove an hour, and found the trail...sans snow. After a little asking around, we located another spot and finally managed to get in some snowplay!

Here's Sof, eating her first snowball:



And here's our masterpiece of a snowman:



See ya later! (*moonwalks out*)

Here's to Twenty Ten

For this crazy bunch of Casellis, the new decade began with us...asleep. Yes, we were in Vegas over New Year's, and we were in bed by 11. No need to tell me how awesome we are.

But lest you judge, we really were pooped. New Year's marked the end of a wonderful visit to family and friends in Vegas, and a side trip up to Utah for some fun in the snow. I'm happy to report that after a few winters off, I got right back into the boarding groove, and wasn't too far behind Johnny coming down the mountain!

Sof and cousin Gianna picked up right where they left off, and I think I didn't even see Sof for about two days. The child was in seventh heaven -- surrounded by cousins, puppies and reptiles.





G taught Sof how to do somersaults:


We went to see the Christmas display at the Bellagio, and also caught the fountain show:



Sofia discovered the lazy susan at the cabin. Of course, now she thinks a wild ride awaits her on every table.


Sof wasn't entirely sure how much she liked the snow, but there was no question that the puppies did:



So now we're back at home and working hard at recovering from the bugs we picked up along the way. Regardless, it's SO GOOD to sleep in our own beds again.

And now we look forward to everything 2010 might hold for us. I've got a feeling it's going to be pretty good.