Summer fun

At a friends back yard wedding BBQ. You played with the kids until the wee hours of the night. Ate way too much and had way too much fun.

Spring Recital

Spandex.  I knew this day would come.

with the entourage

Little chef helper

I decided to make an enormous batch of spinach puree. Why, because Sofia and Marcelo have gone from being great eaters to horribly picky eaters and I need to inject them with spinach puree at night while they're sleeping.  Normally, I get the organic baby spinach, but Ray likes to make my life harder so he got the regular spinach which requires that you take off the stems.  I started the painstaking process and Marcelo was jumping at the bit to help me out.  Since no one else was offering, I obliged him.  He was SO excited to be allowed to do this job. You can tell by how far back his lips are sucked into his mouth with that crazy smile. I didn't think his enthusiasm would last long but we kept making "one more batch", I think just so we could enjoy each other's company.  Of course when the spinach was steamed and pureed, my enormous batch was more like a couple of little cupfuls.  I hate how that happens.  Thanks for helping me Marcelo.

Ice skating

Lately, I'm all about finding fun, free or cheap activities to do with the kids. On Christmas Eve day, I found out about free ice skating with Santa. Naturally, it was a must. Nevermind, I'm not much of an ice skater or adept at any activity with special shoes, and that unbeknownst to me, Ray has only been ice skating once in his life and it ended poorly, AND that we are two adults (sort of) to three small children. What exactly were we going to do with the fifth wheel? Well, the truth is, if I let my natural logical and practical mind stop to think about any of these things, we would not be going anywhere. So I've learned to dumb myself down a bit and just leave it all to chance for the sake of new experiences and fun-having.

It took us a very long time to get there because Ray's automatic pilot failed him when he spontaneously decided to get off the freeway for no apparent reason. But, it was all good, we got there still well within the free window of time. There were a lot of people there, but many were already turning in their skates after a half hour of free skating so we were able to get our skates very quickly with the help of the very nice people there who apparently are aliens because I don't think they can be from Utah. Sofia had to get skates about ten sizes too big, but again, my positive-don't-use-your-logic attitude was working. We got everyone skated up with the exception of fifth-wheel. We'd figure out what to do with him when we got to the ice.

As we step on the ice, we spontaneously (ooh, I like that word) decided I would take Marcelo who would probably require more help, and Ray being the manly man he is, would take fifth-wheel on his hip and help Sofia. Although, Ray and Sofia were moving at a snails pace, they quickly left us in the dust. For once, in my life, I wasn't too worried about falling or even looking stupid. Is that what motherhood does to you? Marcelo was such a noodle on the ice, I couldn't stop laughing hysterically for the next five or 10 minutes straight. I then realized, that even if this wasn't a fun, new experience about ice skating, it was all worth it for the way he made me laugh. It was like no one else was there, just the two of us struggling to stay upright. Marcelo's legs were ALL OVER the place. I expected him to be able to gain some kind of composure or slight muscle tone but it never happened. I resorted to holding on to his vest by the shoulders instead to keep him straighter but it was to no avail. I think it took us fifteen minutes just to make it a quarter of the way around the rink. Was it worth it? Totally. That laugh alone helped to loosen some of the cobwebs inn my soul. And I think, the kids are not too scarred that they will probably try ice skating again.

Aprentice Carpenter

 We finally took advantage of the free kid's activities at the home improvement store by our house and took the kids in to make a science lab.  They thought this was the s#;!  They got to hammer away and went home with a new apron and safety glasses in addition to the science lab which I actually thought was pretty cool.

Here Marcelo shows he is clearly ready to be a mad scientist.

When we got home, we tried one of the little experiments from the cards.  They were able to gather the materials. Sofia read the instructions and they really enjoyed it.

Hiking Timpanogos Cave

We worked up the courage to hike up to Mt. Timpanogos Cave with all of the kids. Really the one I was most concerned about was Marcelo. Peter would be in the back carrier the majority of the time and I figured Sofia would do OK. Marcelo, however asked demanded that I carry him when we walked a block to Sofia's school to pick her up the other day! But he did pretty well. Everyone did with the exception of my knees and the next day, my hips.

9:22 am - Getting started (we were supposed to start at 8:30 am so that was close!)

9:31 am - First (and last) stop for attitude adjustment.  "If you don't do exactly what I tell you, you will fall right off the mountatin, OK? ... OK."

So cute.

9:42 am - There's always time to strike a pose even halfway up the mountain. (Attitude adjustment -- affirmative).

Product placement. Very important.  (There could be model/commercial scouts on the mountain).

"Marcelo, you need to go down.  Everyone is going down!"

Thank you for only making me carry you down the mountain.  We got many interesting looks.

Could you pose like this all day long?

Farming

We planted a square foot vegetable garden late in the Spring and we are now starting to get some veggies. Marcelo spotted the first ripe tomato.

It looks quite large in Marcelo's little hand but it is actually a cherry tomato!

My mom used to do this to me when taking pictures of me so I thought it only fair to do it to my children too.

Day Camp #1 Bugs

Last summer, Marcelo had a hard time when we would drop Sofia off at day camp at Thanksgiving Point. There was even a day, when he had finally had it and put his foot down refusing to leave. There was an altercation in the parking lot, someone got kicked in the jaw, a silent ride home, and a question for me when we got home, "Mommy, what are you going to do with me?"

This year, he's finally old enough (or close enough to being old enough) to go to his own day camp. I was very excited about being able to offer this to him until he started getting uncharacteristically clingy at dance class drop offs. I wasn't sure how it would go. He wanted me to stay at his side the whole time but I told him that just wasn't possible. I would stay until they were ready to head off to their camp destination. He was still very excited to go. He just wanted the mommy security blanket there too.

The day came and he cautiously joined the group of kids with big sister, Sofia, at his side. He looked back to analyze my location every 30 seconds or so. But the enjoyment of playing games with the kids while they waited for everyone to arrive was enough to overcome the separation anxiety. When it was time to get going, he just went right along with everyone else. I followed him down to the wagon and he just acted like a perfectly well-adjusted human being.

He had a great time. He wasn't poisoned with foods he's allergic to. He came home with an art piece and some meal worms which along with grasshoppers bother me more than spiders, snakes, and piranhas put together. But we allowed them to live on the kitchen counter, of all places, for several days.

Pirate Party

Marcelo and Sofia both attended the Pirate Party at the Library last week. I was holding on so tight to those tickets for fear of losing them, I messed up! Sofia kept asking me for her ticket on Wednesday afternoon. I finally gave in and grabbed it out of my pocket telling her it was for Thursday when in fact it was for Wednesday.  Oops. Luckily, there was another one the next day but I had to go get Marcelo out of preschool fifteen minutes early on his Easter party day in order to make it. My head is scrambled and then look at the hoops I have to jump through to make good on these things.

I think it was worth it though. They both enjoyed going together. They were quite vocal during the story reading with all kinds of commentary. Sofia had just read the book, How I Became A Pirate, the previous night. I guess after seeing her speak up, Marcelo felt pretty good about piping up with some comments too. Being a veteran of Library functions, Sofia escorted Marcelo to the refreshments area right after the reading and then they moved on to the other activities. It's good to have a big sister like Sofia sometimes. She watches out for Marcelo and immediately removed the cookie off his plate and approved the other fruit and juice offerings explaining his food allergies.

When they got home, they continued on with the pirate theme until bedtime.

Itty Bitty Basketball

It's so exciting to be three. Finally you're old enough for all kinds of new things: going to the bathroom by yourself, deciding you want to wear pajamas or your Adidas pants every day, fighting with your older sister, Itty Bitty Basketball, and maybe even preschool!

Here are some not-so-good pictures I took the first day (mostly sitting on the bleachers).

They were put into teams. (Andrea, you will be happy to know he is in the Miami Heat). They rotated through six stations practicing dribbling, passing, shooting, running, etc.

The second day, they actually practiced playing a game with another team. He made a basket while the whole other team guarded. It was so cute.