Egg and spoon racers

End of another week full of activities. On Sunday Gregorio and the girls spoilt me with adorable mother's day cards and a cup of tea in bed (not quite breakfast but still gratefully received) followed by a lovely family walk in the park. This week Isabella has been busy with the end of year 'quizzes' (don't even get me started on the British educational need to test 7 year olds) and today both girls gave it their all in the school sports day. Verdict: the Impavido girls are good at balance and coordination - egg and spoon race was a doddle, but when it comes to pure running, it seems to be more about unique style rather than speed. Gregorio refused to join me in the parent's 3-legged race. As we now know, he's a serious runner!

Given all this excitement we are having treatment today, on Friday afternoon, so that Isabella could join in all the fun with her friends. The girls are in the art room now, eating cherries and brownies left over from the picnic while we wait for the chemo to be ready. The blood counts are a little low, but not drastically, probably related to the small cold she has. We are still proceeding with chemo. We're hoping there'll be no fever this week-end and all will proceed as 'normal'. We are at round 3 of cycle 3, one more week and then another break. Isabella does seem to be getting stronger and stronger with each week, even her hair is starting to grow back, despite being on treatment. This has pleased her greatly.

We'll take it easy this week-end and hopefully Isabella will be up to all the fun things going on, especially her first piano recital on Sunday. We have been practicing religiously and the stuffed toys, Matilde, Gregorio and I have been duly attending the practice rehearsals in the study.

And next week there seems to be even more going on what with the school's 10th anniversary celebrations and Matilde's 5th birthday. The girls have been learning a celebration song for the school festivities. Isabella insisted on looking something up on the computer, I was having difficulty understanding what she needed, and she certainly put me in my technological place "Oh mother, you don't understand anything about YouTube!" and proceeded to find what she was looking for.

And Gregorio is gearing Isabella up for her Italian end of year test. I think we'll be happy to reach half term at the end of the week. The parent's of Isabella and Matilde's future cousin are coming to stay. Matilde has all the baby stuff ready for it (it isn't due till September). But what we are really looking forward to is the pool opening at the end of next week. So, Mr Weatherman, summer can officially begin please, enough rain.

Love,

Emma & Gregorio. xxx