My parents and my sister were in San Diego for Tin's basketball tournament so the girls and I had a sleepover at my empty house. We wanted to test out my new panini press and cook dinner at my house on Friday night, stay up to watch movies and talk all night and then cook breakfast on Saturday morning. Well, that was the plan anyhow. And just for fun, I suggested that the dress code for the evening should be college hoodie and pajama pants. Haha!
My living room was hilarious! We moved the coffee table to make room for Cile's air mattress for her and Bobbers and Iya and I took to the couches for the night. The next morning we all woke up, debating our need to get up, and then contemplated breakfast. We were supposed to cook, remember? We ended up at Max's in our sweatshirts! hahaha! I swear, they all must've thought we were home visiting from school for the weekend. hahaha! Cile's treat yay!
After breakfast, and a stop at Porto's, we went back to my house, changed back into our jammies, finished watching The Waitress and then took another nap before we had to say good-bye. I honestly couldn't have hoped for a better way to spend some QT with 3 of my favorite people! LOVE YOU GIRLS!!!
My Tita Mila's boss has season tickets to Staples Center events and my aunt just so happened to get these sweet tickets for a Christmas day basketball game. Unable to go herself, however, she called our house this morning to offer it to us. Leave it to me and my dad to ditch my mom and my sister on Christmas day to watch a Laker game. HAHAHA!
What an exciting game!!! The lead changed a few times and, for me, no team played better than the other. Every single time the Lakers got a 5-point lead, the Suns would shoot it down with a 3-pointer on the other side. I'm not EVEN gonna front like they suck. It was anyone's game really...except tonight it was ours for the taking. =) 
Here's Bianca. She's the eldest...
Here's Mom and Dad with the former baby of the family and new big sister, Sabrina.
Sadly, Providence lost this game for reasons that I don't even want to get into (at least not on something as public as this blog) , but the girls played hard and as a fan and supporter, that's all you could ask for. 
I've been thinking of my nephew a lot lately. When Kelsoe was born, we fussed over him as much as anyone could fuss over another person. Eversince he moved, not a day goes by when I don't think of him; remember holding him when he was newly born, putting him to sleep with my *NSYNC slow jams, having him grip my hand as he was learning to walk - we just really miss having him around. It's weird and sad not seeing him every weekend, but Iya's birthday provided a temporary baby fix. What perfect timing. In addition to Iya's nephew, Matthew and nieces, Bea and silly Samantha, we had a slew of other kids who do what they do best. Look at Hadith's 6-month old, Sophie (see how cute she is!) hanging out with us. She looks just like her mommy!
Watching Rochelle trying to hold her was just pure entertainment. If you EVER want to see Rochelle look uncomfortable, hand her a baby. It's the most endearing yet most hilarious sight in the world!
Chris put her on the ground and tried to get her to walk. She's still learning so for about 6-7 minutes she just kind of stood there looking at Tito Chris like, "Are you kidding me? I'm not ready to walk yet." haha! Benjo gave her a little nudge on the bottom and when she almost fell forward, her lip quivered a little. Chris saw it and said, "uh-oh" and as soon as he scooped her back up, she started crying. Aaaaw poor thing...
We were just walking around our first morning there, headed towards the Colloseum, I believe. We came across some ruins and walked down a path that led to more ruins and we realized we were at the Palatino. To imagine the function of these fallen and decaying structures is something none of us could put words to.
Every tunnel bears a ghost of a Roman man, woman or child who probably walked through it thousands of years ago, bearing baskets of fruit. 
What fathoms me the most about Rome, or Italy in general, is the vast history; every stone on the street, every gilded statue is sitting in the same place in practically the same shape as it was when it was first created. WOW!
Oh, I miss having the best of so many things! The best of gelato...mmmmmmmm!!!!!!
The best two dozen or so churches we came across during our walks through each city provided not only visual inspiration, but a spiritual uplift as well. We entered each one, staying for mass on a couple of instances, quietly reflecting other times.
Our dependance on maps and directions? It's why we consider this trip an adventure more than a vacation. Each day had a plan, but everything that would ever matter didn't occur because it was on the itinerary, and that was the best part!
I will forever and always remember these fools! Hahaha! A happy group we certainly were...even when flights got cancelled or climbing hills got tiring or we couldn't understand what people were saying to us. 
And when I got to the gate area, it was completely desserted. I honestly began to wonder if I was the only passenger they'd be flying to Zurich that morning. Anyhow, I got home safely and, just as I had suspected, a changed lady.