That's amoré

The Italians are in town — or as folks 'round these parts might say, "the eye-talians." More specifically, I'm referring to Stacey's grandparents, or Connor's great-grandparents. If you've ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, change the ethnicity from Greek to Italian and you've got Stacey's family...well, maybe not quite, but you get the picture.

Every other Tuesday, Nana and Poppa make the trip out and spend the entire day with Connor. But, despite the break that this visit affords me, there is a much bigger benefit to be had: the food.

Italians like to eat, and they like others to eat with them, so Stacey's grandparents come armed with a cooler and a large shopping bag filled with all kids of good stuff from home-cooked vegetarian stews and vegetables for Connor, to macaroni pie or manicotti (correctly pronounced "manna koots," for all you whities like me) for us. Did I mention the chocolate chip cookies? For those of you struggling to keep up with the demands of parenthood, I highly recommend picking up a set of helpful Italian grandparents. Each time they visit us, they take all of our empty Tupperware and return two weeks later with the same Tupperware, filled with food. I don't know why more people don't have a system like this.