Sorry for the absenteeism! To take full advantage of our family visitors, we’ve been trying to do ALL the things, eat ALL the food, and stay up ALL (well, half) the night. It’s been fun, but we are run down. I see clean eating, early bedtimes, and no vino coming up this week.
Proof of guests!
On the blog:
Check out these sweet gardens. All excellent day trip options from Rome. Monster posts like these are also one of the reasons I’ve been posting less. This post took three day trips, writing 1100+ words, editing 30+ pictures, looking up links, and doing a little more research. I’m hoping this kind of evergreen content can be useful to some down the road, but I know this isn’t super helpful to the majority of my readers in the U.S. Sigh.
I squeezed in one more letter to Mac before his birthday. Cake pictures to come soon! (He went for it. BIG TIME.)
Not that you will look beyond the adorbs baby, but you can see my ombre hair experimentation here.
And how to host like a rock star. I attempt humor in this one. Consider yourself warned.
On the internets:
A friend of my friend wrote a book! C is for Critter is a huge hit with my boys. Letters such as “E” for echidna and “N” for narwhal make this a nice change for the parents as well. (I challenge you to google quokka and not immediately go awwwww.)
The Cult of Busy. These articles are my clickbait.
You remember when I said I was failing at all the current events? A sweet friend (thanks AJ!) tipped me off to the Skimm. This weekday newsletter curates world news into a humorous, easy-to-digest format. I promise, this one is not just more inbox clutter. Now when friends have said, “did you hear about . . . ?” I’m all yeah, YEAH I did.
Have I mentioned that it is starting to get really hot here? I don’t usually adulterate my sparkling wine, but I may have to work my way through this list of cocktails this summer.
Happenings & Coming up:
Speaking of hot, I’m very happy that Mac can wear his new-to-him summer wardrobe, which aligns surprisingly well with Henry sizing. Chunky baby thighs on display make me happy.
I made a version of this. Even without adding cheese, it turned out nicely. Eggplant stuffing, who knew?
I also made pulled out the slow cooker to make this. Excellent flavor, but this was more work than I like from my crockpot recipes. You want me to cut the meat, sear the meat, cook on high for an hour, and then switch to low? This one is not destined to be in regular rotation.
I’m very excited about summer produce. Melon season has arrived, and these are some of the best cantaloupes I’ve had in my life. Also, apparently fava beans are a big thing now. I picked some up today; will have to figure out what to do with them.
Mac is pro peach
Henry dentisted this week for the first time. He killed it! I was so impressed. They did an actual cleaning, with an ultrasonic water pick thing and everything. I sat there with my eyes welling up because how did my little boy get this big?? (Dentist here is just like back home BTW.)
For this weekend, I actually have no idea what we are up to. We’ll try to squeeze in one more adventure with James’s parents. We are also planning to attend a 70s-themed block party. Pics if I’m brave!
What are you up to? Any birthdays? Dentist? Questionable hair dyes? Hope you have a good one!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Roman Reboot 
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