southern scioscias in the burgh

my grandparents’ beautiful home was built in the early 1900s! my mom said 1915, i think? they moved in when my dad was 4 years old… and i just loved getting to see my sweet baby bunnies setting foot in a place that has held so many memories! memories going 100 years back. my own memories there are some of my very favorites… and to think, that’s the least of them! sometimes i feel like i see life in layers, you know? my babies’ footsteps overtop the ghosts of so many others that came before. too deep? yessss, sorry. my thoughts are exhausting!

some of my grandmother’s beautiful bloomies!

i had a feeling my uncle joe [dad’s oldest brother!] would still have some reptiles to dazzle us with. 😉 i was right! box turtles! and just wait for the giant lizard…

bouncing with sweet bella!

i love remembering just how huge this house is when you are so so tiny. ♡

we stayed at my aunt bridget’s house [dad’s big sis!] with my uncle and cousins… and it was so much like all our old sleepover times!!! it really was just such a blessing to have that time with them. i laughed so much harder than i have laughed in a long, long time… and maddalena and rocco were absolutely, completely spoiled with love and good food and toys! that household is a special one. seriously, thank you guys so much!!

thiiiiiis totally gets me right here!! the giant lizard. who is a girl, first of all. a girl named bubba. anyway, maddalena will pet just about anything, but rocco still has to gear himself up a little. i love him holding and guiding his own hand like sissy was holding it to get him to touch the lizard! hahaha!

tom! one of three house kitties, but tom wasn’t there last time i visited. never any shortage of fluffies in the fam! yet another thing we are genetically wired to love and adore. so, really, i can’t even help it!

yaaay! the classic dish, made by my grandpap! and let me say, he has pulled through some very grim circumstances multiple times in recent years… and astonishingly bounced back like a champ over and over again. so, now that he’s caring so sweetly for my grandmother and her current health stuff going on, while still having some things of his own slowing him down a little [as one does when you’re rounding out 89 very full life years!] …you would think he’d let someone else do the cooking when extra hands are available! 😉 yet, there he was whipping up delicious pasta with homemade meatballs and sugo [sauce] like it’s nothing. he wouldn’t even let us help. we love you, pap!!!

…is there anything better than theeeese pasta devouring faces?!

they melt me. they just really, truly melt me.

a family gathering at aunt bridget’s and uncle phil’s!!! oh my goodness. being among all of these beloved faces… and squeezing each one of them!! i was SO HAPPY!!! and we missed the ones that weren’t there!! we are still missing 6 cousins in this photo.

maddalena having a little piano lesson with aunt bridgie… and sweet grandmom sitting and listening! i loved coming upon this scene so much.

my parents fixed up grandmom and pappap’s side porch with a couple of new chairs so they can sit and enjoy gram’s beautiful flowers!! we tested it out, there, along with my aunt chris [dad’s little sister]… then later moved into pizza mode, at which point rocco got some dinnertime tickles from joe poe.  🙂

grandmom & pappap with their great-grandbabies!! i have been waiting years for this capture!!! also, there is just not a cuter couple on this planet. he still makes her laugh and sparkle, and she’s just always beautiful, anyway! these two are truly inspiring. [#goals, as we say now. ;)] gah. you people. ♡♡♡

more cousin time! and hooow this woman has managed 6 children, 19 grandchildren, and now! 2 great-grands… well, i just do not know. isn’t it kind of interesting that there happen to be 6 of us in the photo with her, since that’s how many children she had? funny! i love you, grammygrams!!!

rocco testing out pappap’s new comfy chair… and while he’s at it, nailing the classic pap pose. i just cannottttt with these two. rocco’s name came from pap’s father, by the way! straight from napoli. and now this scene is all the cuter, right?!

oh my goodness. all these photos!! i know there are a million of them, but that is nothing in comparison to my MILLIONS OF FEELINGS about each one. haha. oh, and the bajillion i didn’t even post!!

this visit was such a much-needed event!! i hate to even admit that it’s been 6 years since i was last up there… and honestly, i really wish we could’ve figured out a few more regular trips that way between babies and house moves and things being crazy. life is just too short!! i mean, at least i’m not writing letters to family back in the old country with months in between correspondence, right? but! there are so many experiences and smells and memories i have been so ready to get back to. always feels like going home. 🙂

also. gah! i love my family so much. because let’s be honest! no family is perfect, and that wouldn’t be any fun anyway… but for better or worse, we all love big, talk loud, work hard, and pitch in when we see the need. it’s a good fam vibe, if i do say so, myself. 😉 there is so much love and laughter that goes around [and salami, oh it’s been AGES since i had a good salami and provolone sandwich] and, gosh, it was just so so nice to be back with everyone. and this time having maddalena and rocco with me made it even better!! they had the best time and were so loved on by everybody!

thank you, everyone, for loving us so well during our little whirlwind trip up to pittsburgh! we’ll be back soon, i hope!! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

[i almost cried three times putting this together. and i had to hit backspace upon multiple exclamation points. i’m losing my edge, people!!!]