The sisters

When I first met Mark's extended family many moons ago, I knew I was going to love being a part of his family. Though I love all of his family it was "the sisters" that had me most in awe. When I first met them, they were all in the kitchen and it was a frenzy of cooking, laughing, and what seemed like shouting. They fit my mafia-esque stereotype of the proverbial Italian woman.  Namely, that Italian women like to talk. Preferably loudly. Often times inappropriately. They cherish motherhood and even more-so grand-motherhood. They are fabulous cooks and the best of friends, having been raised in large families they are warm and inviting. 

Shout out to Jamie for the awesome photos!

When I met them, all six of them were in the same kitchen, and not one of them was soft spoken. They are all proud, strong, women with years of stories, laughs, and secrets...what all sisters should be lucky enough to share. Though I haven't spent near enough time with these amazing women, when there was talk of a "ravioli weekend" I wasn't about to miss it. Each one of them hold their own unique specialty in my eyes. Knowledge, Humor, Compassion, Honesty, Love, Empathy. - I'll let you guess who is who. 

With Mark out of state all week, he was "on-call" trying to avoid a flight back to CO and spent his entire morning hunkered down in the basement trying to fix some problems that popped up. Once he could get away from connectivity we loaded up and drove to IL. While he was attached to his phone and laptop for the drive over, he was able to put it away for a few hours to catch up with everyone once we arrived. 

It was fun to see everyone and have a few hours to relax. The girls loved playing with cousins while we all ate and chatted. Grace and Lydia were smitten with each other as usual.  

Norah loved being doted over by Dayja, Scooter and Madison.