Family

Edwards/Testolin Family

Family Photos:

Nico lost his 2nd front tooth on January 24, 2010!
Here he is wearing a gift from Leah’s dad.

Fall and Halloween 2009:

Leah got her braces off in August.
A trip to the corn maze at Rader Farm…
The corn was taller than Laura.
The corn was taller than Laura.
The corn was taller than Laura.
Nico was Darth Vader.
Leah was a pirate and trick-or-treated with Hannah, as she has for about the past 13 years.
Gio and Nico are making the beginnings of ravioli.
Gio and Laura had some funky hair.

Fall and Halloween 2008:

It’s been so fun watching our kids this fall, back to school, growing and learning new things.

Here are some pictures of Nico measuring, monkeying around, setting the camera to auto-take pictures over and over ofhim and mamma, and him and papà:

Halloween 2008 was a great success. The children were home from school that day and so carving of the pumpkins was a leisurely task. Hannah and Leah got dressed to go out togetheras they have for the past decade or so. Leah forgot her witches’ hat at home and thus became Madonna for Halloween instead. Nico and 3 of his good friends trick or treated together:

August 08

Leah looked great as she prepared to leave for school this morning so I took a couple of pictures of her.

This past weekend, out of nowhere Nico decided that he was ready to ride his bike. So, he got on the road! Just like that:

Joshua Tree, December 2008?

A few weeks ago, one hot afternoon, we went to Springfield to hear Obama speak. We did not actually get to see him in person, but we were just next to the building where he spoke. The crowd was huge and it felt great to be around so many different types of people with such varied social status, all for the same candidate.

Summer is almost over but our sunflowers just bloomed. The goldfinches are going to town with the seeds now:

Nico and Leah’s first day of school ’08:

Leah woke up bright and shiny and was ready to leave by 7:15. Nico woke up to say goodbye to her. Nico had his meeting with his teacher at 12:30 that same day. The Spiderman backpack must’ve given him some courage to go. Leah was happy to be able to participate in her brother’s first day of school.

Nico loves the school playground.

Later that same day, back at home, we found a teeny baby gardener snake in our yard:

We’ve had a great summer. Our trip to Madrid and Italy was a fabulous time seeing old friends, family and new places. Once we returned to the U.S., we dove right in to relishing the beauties of homelife during the summertime.

Here are several pictures of our garden, complete with butterflies and snakes. Here’s a picture or two of our trip to northern Illinois along the Illinois River where we picked blueberries (15 pounds!) At home, Giovanni (looking more and more like Alfeo) delights in one of his daily harvests. We love sitting out among our flowers:

We just finished a large-scale celebration over the weekend for Nico’s 5th birthday. All he wanted was a Ben Ten watch and a scooter, and to celebrate with his friends (who by this time of the evening were all zoned out in front of a Ben Ten movie.). Leah was proud to stand next to the birthday brother at the ritual blowing out of candles. Nico loved all of his presents. Giovanni and I took advantage of the occasion and invited all of our good friends and family, too: