Ready or Not, Here I Come

The kids love playing hide-and-seek with Papi. As soon as he gets home in the evenings, he eats dinner and then it's time to play hide-and-seek before the kids need to go to bed. ~I'm sure that's something the kids will never forget!

Things I said I would NEVER do

I've always said:

1. I will not spend my money on slippers for my kids, since I didn't like slippers growing up.

2. I will not buy something for one of my children just because his/her sibling has one.

3. I will never buy them anything with a cartoon character on it. (I don't know why, it's just not my style.)

4. I will, definetly, not drive around town looking specifically for whatever item my child is asking for.

Well...yesterday I did all of the above, except for #1. Mami helped me out on that one.

It was all worth it though. You should have seen Luke's face when he saw his first pair of slippers.

Mission Accomplished

Natalia knows how to tie her shoes all by herself! Daddy has been trying to teach Natalia how to tie her shoes for a while now and on Sunday, she finally did it. I tried to teach her, but had NO patience. Thank God for Daddy who has ALL the patience in the world to handle important things like this.

So, I think this is how it goes:

"Go under the bridge, make a loop, go around the loop, and pull the other loop through."

Once again, having fun with Daddy!

I should've known that the kids and Daddy were going to have a blast while I was gone. On Friday, I had to run an errand. I wasn't even gone that long, but Dave doesn't need a lot of time! One thing I know, Dave has acquired a lot of experience while remodeling our home. He decided that watching Star Wars for the 10,000th time was just not good enough. So, they decided to build a fort. I've built forts before, but nothing like this. The kids were so comfortable in the fort that we had a hard time convincing them to go to bed. And Dave was so proud of it that he wanted to sleep in his fort! He is such a kid :0).

All the way from Guatemala!

It has been 9 years since I've been to Guatemala. I've seen several relatives since then, but some I have not seen since 1999! Tia Lety came to see us for our wedding and then she came again when Natalia was only 9 months old. Now, tia Naty came when Carson was only a baby. So, neither of them knew Luke. It has been so much fun having them here. Natalia has really been speaking a lot of Spanish with them. Carson and Luke, on the other hand, understand it but can't really speak it. I hope that they learn how to speak Spanish one of these days. Tia Lety and Tia Naty are so much help with the kids and around the house. They will be here for one month. They've been here for a week already. I can't believe how fast time has flown by.

C is for Citizenship

Yesterday, as soon as I picked Natalia up from school, she informed me that she was going to be getting an award today.  I tried to get information from her, but got no where.  After questioning her all the way home, she finally said:  "Mama, why don't you just ask Ms. Leach.  I just can't remember what she said."  So, I figured I would just find out today during the awards ceremony.  

So there I sat this morning.  With my camera poised and ready.  Parents lined the school's cafeteria awaiting to hear what award their bright young kindergartners had earned.  Natalia sitting proudly among all her classmates, waiting to hear her name.

Natalia's name was called for the Outstanding Citizenship award.  To be an outstanding Citizen meant that you do things to make the community around you a better place.  You are considerate of others, you are polite, you use your manners, etc.  Wow, I'm so glad she is a little different when she is not around her brothers LOL!  

Hey, maybe Dave & I are doing something right after all.

  

Happy 2nd Birthday Sarah!

 
This weekend, we went to visit the Ivey's.  It is Sarah's birthday today so we had to help her celebrate!  Natalia & Hannah had so much fun talking and playing together.  Boy, can those girls talk!  Carson, pretty much, did his own thing.  Meanwhile, Luke & Sarah were all over the place. 

Saturday, right after we arrived, we went to Hannah's soccer game.  Then, we went back home to get ready for Sarah's party.  The kids played non-stop.  After the party, all the kids went upstairs.  We got them ready for bed and let them watch a movie, hoping that they would all fall asleep.  Ha, the movie was over before any of them fell asleep.  It was close to 11:00 before they were all asleep. 

    

By 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, everybody was awake.  What in the world is all that about!  They were supposed to be tired, very tired after all they did the day before.  I guess, not tired enough to sleep past 6:30 a.m.  After eating breakfast, Hetal decided that we needed to go for a walk.  So, why not walk to Starbucks?  Great idea, except that only Luke and Sarah got to ride in the stroller, the others had to walk.  After walking one block, the ones walking had had it.  So, we had to hear them complain all the way there and back.  On the way back to the house, we stopped by the playground.  Even though they were tired of walking, they had fun, except for Luke, who was out by the time we got there.  

   

  

   

When we got back, Hetal ordered pizza (which, by the way, I still owe her money for it :0)), while the kids continued to play.  The kids ate so much.  They were so hungry after the long walk.  Later, they played in the sprinklers, ate more cupcakes and took a bath.  By then, it was time for dinner, so we ate dinner and we headed back home.  They fell asleep as soon as we pulled out of the driveway (approximately 6:15 p.m.).  When we got home, they went straight to bed.  What a great weekend we had!