Christmas 2009 - Part 4

La noche del 24, antes de irnos a dormir, le dejamos galletas y leche con chocolate a papá noél.

En el jardín de Diego, hicieron "comida para reno" (reindeer), que consistía de semillas y unas cositas brillantes. Lo dejamos afuera para que se lo comieran. Diego estaba feliz!
Por la mañana Diego se despertó a las 7. Marcelo y yo estabamos muy cansados porque llegamos a la casa muy tarde la noche anterior. Aquí está Diego abriendo su primer regalo del papá noel. Se ve feliz pero también se nota que estaba cansadito.

Marcelito estaba enfermito entonces no lo despertamos para abrir regalos. Lo dejamos dormir hasta casi las 10 de la mañana!! El pobre niño no se sentía bien y necesitaba descansar. Le dió una toz muy fea y casi se le fue la voz. Hoy sigue muy malito. Aquí está abriendo sus regalos pero con muy poco ánimo.

Unas horas después, los padres de Marcelo llegaron con más regalos. Diego estaba feliz! Les regalaron bicicleta a los dos.
Fue una navidad muy linda! La pasamos muy felices. La parte no tan feliz fue que Marcelito se enfermó. Ahora estamos descansado hoy y consintiendo a Marcelito.

Espero que hayan disfrutado todas las fotos! Les mando muchos besos y abrazos y espero que también hayan tenído una navidad muy especial. Ahora necesitamos que Marcelito se mejore para rumbiar el año nuevo!

Christmas 2009 - Part 3

Esta navidad se nos olvidó tomar muchas fotos. Sólo tenemos una de nuestra pequeña familia, pero no tomamos con mi mamá y mi papá y Sergio y David.

Aquí estamos el la casa de mis suegros antes de ir a comer con mi familia.Marcelito y Dieguito tenían la pinta que la Tata les compró. Se veían divinos!Comimos una cena deliciosísima de seviche y comida del mar. Muy rico!!Aquí están los niños abriendo su primer regalo con la Tata.Diego abría uno, lo miraba por un segundo, y decía, "Quiero abrir otro!"En cambio Marcelito abría cada regalo y lo disfrutaba. Aquí está diciendo, "Wow! Un cepillo de dientes!!"

"Mira mami, trenes!"Aquí están los niños con los regalos de "papá noél". Una bicicleta cheverísima para Diego y un carrito de manejar para Marcelito. A Dieguito le dieron celos porque le fascinan los carros que tienen motor y le fascina manejar. Pero este carrito es muy chiquito para él. Además, Diego ya tiene una camioneta grande para manejar!

Y esto sólo fue la primera ronda de regalos! El 25 abrimos más y más regalos. Que concentidos estos niños!

Christmas 2009 - Part 2

Una noche salimos a cantar con la familia de mi Tio Carlos y con amigos de la iglesia. Todos nos pusimos gorritos de navidad. No tenía uno para Marcelito entonces le puse cuernos de reno. No se si se llaman asi! En ingles es reindeer antlers. Aquí se está comiendo una galleta que se ganó por ir al baño. Estamos tratando de enseñarle a ir al baño como niño grande. Como le fascina el dulce, las galletas, y especialmente el chocolate (como la mamá), ha sido facil convencerlo! No se si lo pueden ver en la foto, pero cada uno tiene un carro en la mano. SIEMPRE tienen un carro en la mano. Cuando les digo que es hora de salir, corren y traen un carro para llevar. Nunca sueltan esos carritos! Es una obsesión.Les dije que hicieran una cara chistosa y esto es lo que hicieron. Diego nos tomó esta foto. Le gusta la fotografía como a la mamá!

Christmas 2009 - Part 1

We had a great Christmas this year! My brothers were here and we were all together as a family for Christmas for the first time in 4 years. Diego and Celo have loved spending time with their uncles. I'm going to re-cap Christmas, but I'm going to do it in Spanish because my grandparents are going to be reading this later today. So those of you who don't speak Spanish will just have to make up your own captions for my pictures. :)

La navidad fue muy linda este año. Fue muy rico estar juntos como familia por primera vez en cuatro años! Los niños disfrutaron mucho de estar con sus tios. Voy a compartir fotos de todo lo que hicimos.

Fuimos una noche a un lugar que se llama Celebration. Todas las noches en Diciembre cae "nieve". La nieve es una espuma y a los niños les fascina. Aquí está Diego disfrutando la nieve.

Aquí está tratando de comerse la nieve con el Tato.

Aquí está Marcelito con el papá tratando de tocar la nieve.

Le pareció cheverísimo! Mírenlo con ese gorro!Aquí estamos todos en la nieve.También tienen un tren que uno puede montar. A Diego y a Marcelito les fascinan los trenes. Aquí estamos en el tren. Sergio estaba haciendo cara de payaso.

Fue una noche muy divertida!

Merry Christmas!

"Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, with love: Marcelo, Nathaly, Diego, Marcelito, and Baby #3"

We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday!

Word to the Wise...

If you are pregnant and happen to be driving around all morning running errands with your kids, and the song "Christmas Shoes" comes on the radio, change the station. Otherwise, you will be stuck sitting in a parking lot crying your eyes out while your kids scream from the backseat that they are ready to get out and go into the store. And then you'll go into the store with puffy eyes and a red nose.

More from the Boys

This post is mainly for my dad, because I know he's going to check my blog while he's out of town.

Yesterday we went over to my parents' house. Diego noticed that my dad wasn't there. This is what he said:

Diego: Where's Tato?
Me: He went out of town.
Diego: To what town?

He takes things so literally. I love it.

Last night, we were trying to get the kids to go to bed, and Celo wasn't ready yet. He was very upset that it was already bedtime, so he thought he could fight it by changing the words to the "Go to sleep" song we sing.

Marcelo started singing, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep my sweet baby..." and Celo sang along, replacing all the "go to sleeps" with his own lyrics. "Wake up, wake up, wake up my sweet baby."

He thinks he's so clever.

A Cute Morning

This morning Diego played nicely on his own for a bit. He was in a sweet mood, saying things like, "Mommy, you're the best mommy ever!"

Then Celo woke up.

Right away, it was clear that Celo was in the mood to be as mean as he could to Diego. From the moment he woke up, he was taking toys from Diego. At one point, he ran and grabbed Diego's puppy and threw it into my room so Diego couldn't get it. I told him that if he couldn't be nice to Diego, he had to go to time out.

While Celo was in time out, Diego came running to me with the nursery manual we use for FHE and said, "Can you help me find the lesson about sharing? I need to show it to Celo." I tried hard not to laugh and helped him find the picture that shows a couple of kids sharing toys. (Is it obvious that we've had this lesson for FHE more than once?) Then Diego went into Celo's room and showed him the picture. I stayed out of the room but could hear him saying, in the sweetest little teaching voice, "Look Celo, see these boys and girls sharing? They're sharing their toys. You have to share, too, okay? You have to share like this. See, they're sharing the airplane? That's so nice. You have to share the toys. Okay?"

Celo just repeated what Diego said, "They sharing the toys? They sharing the airplane? Okay."

So so cute. And it actually worked! They played nice for awhile this morning. But now they're back to fighting. I might need to follow Diego's example and whip out that manual again.

Little Victories

Sometimes when everything seems out of control, like the toy disaster in the living room, the never ending pile of laundry to be folded, the dishwasher that I could have sworn I just emptied but is somehow full again, the fact that Celo had turned a corner and was being such an angel child but has now returned to his normal attitude-y, tantrum-throwing ways, the fact that Diego has decided to keep his volume level at "high enough to make my mommy's head explode" at all times, and on and on and on....I have to focus on the small victories.

Recent victories:
I got the boys to eat carrots the other night! I brought out a clear container full of Skittles and told them that for every carrot they ate, they could have a Skittle. As they ate a carrot, I'd pull a Skittle out of the container and they'd see how many they were getting. It was a stroke of genius and worked like a charm.

I felt well enough to be "present" as a mom today! Instead of having to be like, "Go entertain yourselves and try not to kill each other", I played with them outside and drew on the sidewalk with chalk. I read them Christmas stories by the tree. I made them a fun lunch. It felt good to feel normal again for a little while.

Diego has been saying prayers on his own again! He went through a phase of fighting it and fighting it and saying he needed help even though we knew he was fully capable of saying it himself. And now he's back to saying cute little prayers on his own. "Thank you for the cars and the windshield wipers and the lizards and the Christmas tree."

That reminds me, we've talked to Diego about the fact that everything on the earth was made by Heavenly Father and Jesus. So now, in his mind, every single thing was put there by Jesus. We have our TV hanging on the wall in the living room and the other day he said, "Mommy why did Jesus put the TV on the wall?" He's a little confused.

One final victory: I've tried and tried to make my mother-in-law's famous dinner rolls a million times and I never quite get it right. Yesterday, I got the closest I've ever come! They're still not as good as hers, but at least I'm improving. I need her to show me how to properly knead. OR, someone could just buy me a Kitchen Aid Mixer with a dough hook. Any takers? Santa? Are you reading this?

Tidbits from the Kiddos

There are so many things I should be doing right now. Folding laundry, cleaning up my aftermath from making dinner, getting ready for my meeting tonight...the list goes on. But if I don't write this down now, I'll never remember to do it.

So many times, the boys have said something that makes me laugh, smile, or melt, and I think, "I need to write that down!" But then I forget. When I finally remember to write it, I can't think of what they said that was so funny. Hopefully that doesn't happen to me right now.

Tidbits from Diego:
We were driving to school this morning and saw a million birds sitting on a telephone wire. I said, "Look at all the birds, Diego!" He said, "Wow. Are they going to put on a singing show?" So cute.

He calls the end piece on a loaf of bread "the upside down piece." He always asks for that piece.

He's convinced that he's getting a baby sister. He always tells me I have a girl baby in my tummy. When we were at the store the other day, he picked out some girly toys and said, "I think we should get this for our baby for Christmas." I said, "But we don't know if it's a girl." He looked at me like I was slow and said, "It's a girl." Hopefully he's not too disappointed if that little girl ends up being a little boy.

I love hearing his cute little answers to things, lately. "Did you paint at school today?" He gives me a big sigh and says, "No. I didn't get a chance to." Or I ask him something about his friend and he says, "I'm not sure. I'm going to have to ask him next time." It used to just be "I don't know." That was his answer for everything. So I'm really enjoying hearing him tell me more about what goes on in his little world. Although, sometimes he refuses to tell me what happened at school and says, "You're going to have to wait until Daddy gets home. When Daddy gets home I'll tell you because it's very special."

Tidbits from Celo:
Celo is hilarious. He is my funny little man. He loves to make up jokes and make people laugh. The best is when he cracks up at his own joke. We were in the car the other night heading towards Cocoa Beach. My mom was in the car and told the boys, "Look, that's Cocoa." Celo stifled a giggle and said, "Merry Cocoa!" He couldn't even finish the phrase without laughing. Dying laughing. He laughed and laughed like he had just said the funniest thing on the planet. Diego started cracking up, too. Diego repeated it, "Merry Cocoa!" and Celo burst into giggles like someone was tickling him to death. He makes up random jokes like that all the time and cracks Diego up. I don't even know why either of them think it's so funny, but watching them crack up together is one of the best things ever.

Celo has such an imagination. It's so fun to listen to the little things he makes up. I tried to teach him how to ride a tricycle today, but it didn't quite work out. He's too lazy to push the pedals and would rather keep his feet on the ground and walk the bike. I would tell him to put his feet back on the pedals and push, and he'd say, "Wait! I have a fwat tyah." (I have a flat tire.) He'd get off the bike and use a leaf or a stick or whatever he could find to pretend to put air into the tires. He even added sound effects: "Tshhhhhhhhh." Then I'd get him back on the bike and two seconds later he'd say, "Stop! Oh nooo. I wan out of gas. I need mo gas." (I ran out of gas. I need more gas.) He'd get off again and pretend to get more gas. It was very cute.

This morning, Celo woke up and said that he wanted his "Dirty McQueen." (A Lighting McQueen with brown wheels.) I handed him the McQueen in his room and he said, "No. Dat's not mine. Dat's Diego's. Diego took my McQueen." From the other room, Diego yelled, "The Dirty McQueen is mine!" But it's not. It's Celo's. So I said to Celo, "Don't worry, I'll get your McQueen back from Diego." He said, "You gonna be mad to Diego?" (Are you going to get mad at Diego?) I tried not to laugh and said, "No, I'm just going to tell him to give it back." He asked, "You gonna make Diego cwy?" (Cry.) He gets a kick out of his brother being in trouble.

These two boys make my heart want to burst. They also make my head want to explode, but that's another story for another day. :)

Surina Photography

So, many of you know that I dabble in photography. Over the past year, I've gotten work taking pictures for family, friends, and friends of friends. Word of mouth has gotten me a few shoots here and there, but I'm finally at the point where I'm ready to advertise more. Eventually I'd like to have a better website, but here's a link to the site I'm using for now: Surina Photography. (The name comes from my mom's nickname for me.)

If you are interested in getting pictures done, please contact me.

Snapping Out of It

Today is a rainy, gloomy day. My boys woke up to a mom that feels like she's been dealing with morning sickness for 7 months, not 7 weeks. I woke up with a massive headache, nausea, and a debilitating case of the crankies.

For the first part of the morning, the kids were left to their own devices and accomplished the following: broke the blinds in the living room, broke my favorite vase in the whole wide world (I almost cried), and dumped out all their toys in the living room and dining room, leaving a giant irritating mess.

After I yelled a bit, they cleaned up the aftermath. I chatted on the phone with my mom for a little and cried about how crummy I feel. She said, "Yes, but at the end of this, you will get a beautiful blessing." I said, "Yeah, a blessing that will grow up to scream and fight and make messes and break things." I announced to her that this is the last grandchild she can expect from me.

And then I read on a friend's blog a family in our stake lost a child. And then I cried. I grabbed my boys and held them tight and said a prayer for that little girl's family. I can't even imagine. Here I am complaining about NOTHING. These little treasures that I have are so precious. When I'm feeling like hugging a toilet, it's hard to remember how blessed I am. I expect a 3 and a half year old and a 2 year old to entertain themselves and figure out what the heck to do with their day. All they want is their mommy to play. They're only acting psycho because they're bored out of their minds.

After feeling completely ungrateful and very ashamed of myself, I built a fort in the living room. I played along in a game of "The Monster is Coming". I gave my beautiful boys a hug and a kiss and then I let them eat cookies with their lunch.

I am vowing to do better. I'm praying that the all day morning sickness will be over soon now that I'm into the second trimester, but even if it's not, I need to deal with it better. I'm so grateful for my sweet boys and I love them more than anything. But they would never know that by the way I acted this morning. I need to focus on the good moments. I need to smile more. I need to say "yes" more. They are such little miracles....crazy, hyper, stubborn miracles...and I can't waste another day.

I'm Thankful for my Husband

In Colombia, March 2009

I'm so thankful for my gorgeous husband. He's the best husband I could have ever hoped for. This is not just cheesy talk. It's true. And he's the best dad to our boys. They worship him.

There are a million reasons I am thankful for Marcelo. I'm thankful that he is a spiritual, kind hearted, generous, intelligent, handy guy. I'm thankful that he has embraced my Colombian culture and loves things like carne en bistec, arroz con pollo, obleas, maracuyá, and Manzana Postobón. I'm thankful that he's such a hands on dad and is so involved in everything the kids do. I'm thankful that he is so good at fixing things around the house so we never have to pay for anything. (That goes for cars, too.) I'm thankful that he is such a hard worker. I'm thankful for his goals for our future.

But right now there are a few things that I am thankful for more than anything else. I'm thankful that he has taken over the laundry while I'm pregnant and trying not to lift heavy things. (Remember that our washer is inside and our dryer is out in the garage.) I'm thankful that he changes Celo's stinky diaper when I'm feeling a little too nauseous. I'm thankful that he hasn't minded eating fast food for dinner when I've felt too sick to cook. I'm thankful that he is so supportive and 100% there for me.

It also doesn't hurt that his eyes are so dang beautiful.

I'm Thankful for a Bunch of Things

Last night we had a great family night. During the day, Diego, Celo, and I decorated the house for Christmas so we could surprise Marcelo when he came home. As we were doing this, I realized we didn't have a Christmas tree! Diego informed me that we gave it away last year. I was like, no we didn't. It's gotta be here somewhere. After searching high and low I remembered that we had indeed taken it to Goodwill last year! How did he remember??

When Marcelo got home, we went Christmas tree shopping! I was so happy to finally get a big Christmas tree. Up until now we've had a cheap little $15 tree. But I made some money last weekend and decided to spend it on a bigger tree. Here's Diego helping me fan out the branches. He was so into helping last night.
Here are the boys in front of the assembled tree.
After the tree was all set up, we had a lesson on being thankful. Growing up, my family had a tradition that we've kept alive in our little family. As we decorate our Christmas tree, for every ornament we put on the tree, we say something we're thankful for that year. Well, we combined this with an idea that I got from my friend Vanessa, of writing a list of the things we are thankful for. The idea is to write "From the ceiling to the floor, this is what we're grateful for" and then you make a list long enough to reach the floor. Here's our list, proudly displayed next to Diego's artwork on our front door:

Here are some of Diego and Celo's things:In case you can't read it, it says Tato and Tata, Grandpa and Grandma, Cars, Trains

Here are some that Marcelo and I wrote:

Jesus, DVR, Date Nights, Extended Family, Food Labels (to keep Diego safe), and Healthcare

And here is our tree. We're still going to add more, but this was as far as we got.
Afterwards, we made sugar cookies in the shape of the kids' hands and decorated them to look like turkeys. I took a picture, but they're pretty ugly so I'll spare you!

It was a great night! I love my family.

I'm Thankful for...

the teeny baby growing in my belly.

Baby #3 is on the way! We're very excited. I always thought I'd be terrified to have a third, and for a long time I was, but now I feel ready.

We just told Diego last week, when we heard the heartbeat at the 3 month check up. He had been asking me pretty much since the moment I found out, if I had a baby in my belly. I denied it because I wasn't ready to tell him yet. But he kept pushing it. "But you do! You do have a baby in your belly." It was so weird that he seemed to know. When we finally told him last week, he was really excited. I said, "That's why I've been sick." Then I gave him a timeline so he wouldn't ask me everyday if the baby was coming yet. I said, "First it's going to be Daddy's birthday, then Christmas, then your birthday, then Tata's birthday, then my birthday, then when it's almost Celo's birthday, that's when the baby will come." He was quiet for a minute and then said, "But are you going to be sick that whole whole whole whole time?" Poor kid. He's so sick of hearing me say, "Not right now, I don't feel good."

The day we told the boys was so sweet. Diego hugged my belly and kissed it. Celo lifted up my shirt and said, "Hi Baby!" I teared up seeing how happy they were. Diego then informed me that he wants a baby brother. At first he wanted to name it Buttercup after his school's hamster, but then he changed his mind to Baby Celo. I told him we already have a Celo and he said he wanted another. Then, worried that I might mistakenly assume that he meant he wanted to replace Celo with the new Baby Celo, he said, "But I still want to keep this Celo, too." When I told him that we didn't know what kind of baby we were going to get and that we might get a girl, he let out a huge disappointed sigh and grudgingly said, "Okay, we can have a girl baby." A few after we told them, Celo came up to me and pulled my shirt up again so he could say hi to the baby. Then he said, "Mommy, open you mouth so we can see da baby." Two-year-olds are so funny.

I've been SO sick this time. At first I thought, maybe it's the same as my other pregnancies but I just notice it more this time because I have two little kids constantly needing my attention. With Diego, I was working at a job that was flexible and perfect for pregnancy (read: two hour lunch breaks so I could take a nap). I had moments of nausea, but eating a granola bar and drinking some Propel fitness water helped me feel better. Then with Celo, I had a 10 month old baby when I was at my worst, so if I needed to lay down next to him while he played on the floor, it wasn't a big deal. This time, I try to stay still on the couch to avoid losing my last meal, and the kids jump on top of me. Not helpful. But besides that, I'm realizing that my "morning sickness" is just worse this time. I'm sick all day, everyday. I constantly have a disgusting taste in my mouth. The only thing that takes it away is eating or chewing fruity gum. Mint gum doesn't help. Trident Tropical Twist is my best friend. When I'm not chewing gum, I'm eating. I eat pretty much every half an hour. I'm going to be enormous by the end of this.

I can't complain too much about how crappy I feel, though, because it means the baby is growing. And I'm very very happy about that! Plus, my version of morning sickness is just constant nausea, as opposed to actual vomiting. I hate throwing up more than anything in life, so I should count my blessings that I haven't had to....yet. Now I've jinxed myself.

So the estimated date of arrival is the first week of June. If this baby is like my others, it will make an early appearance at the end of May, but we'll see.

Lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

I'm Thankful for my Dad

Today, I'm especially thankful for my dad. He watched my boys for me this morning. The cutest part is that he knows they're a little under the weather and not eating great, so he went out last night and bought them some orange jello and had it all ready for them this morning. Even cuter? He added OJ to it for "added vitamin C". He's awesome. I love the way he is with the boys. And they love to hang out with him. I have such a great dad!

I'm grateful for how smart he is. He's my go-to for all kinds of information. He's taught me so much about computers over the years! And when I'm being too emotional and girly and need a logical answer to a question, I know I can count on him.

Being in the Spanish branch with him was an awesome experience. I'm thankful that I got to see more of his spiritual side. I miss seeing him and my mom on Sundays!

Even though he's all about tough love and "sucking it up", and isn't one to tell you things in a sugary, flowery, sweet little way, he's an incredibly kind-hearted man, a generous man, and I love him!

I'm Thankful for the Space Shuttle

Today I am grateful that I live in a place where I can watch the shuttle launch from my front yard.


I'm also grateful for a good zoom lens.


I tried to take a picture of the boys, but they wouldn't take their eyes off the thing, so all I got was the back of their heads. And trash cans.


These were Diego's thoughts on the shuttle launch. First, he didn't want to go outside because he was afraid it was going to be too loud. He was very happy when it wasn't. Then he told me that we can't touch the shuttle because it's very hot. And then he asked if we can touch the clouds. I said, "Well, they're very very high." So he said, "We can get a tall tall tall tall stool. Or Daddy can pick us up."

These were Celo's thoughts on the shuttle launch: "Three, two, one, bwast off!"

I'm Thankful for Good Food

Today I'm thankful for good friends and Makotos because that's what I'm doing for lunch! Mmmmmm, glazed carrots, seafood sauce, teriyaki chicken....can't wait! And I get to see one of my besties for the first time in a year. :) And THEN, I get to take lots and lots of pictures. (We'll see if I can top yesterday's whopping 938 pictures in 2 hours.)

Earlier this week, I saw one of my other bffs and went out to each Chicken Tikka Masala at an Indian restaurant. It's been a week of good food and food friends!

I'm Thankful for my Boys

Today I am thankful for my boys. More specifically, I'm thankful for the sweet moments I have with them that make the bad moments seem less terrible. A few recent moments:


One day while I was changing Celo's diaper, he looked at me and said, "You a boo-ee-fuw (beautiful) mommy."


Diego says, "Mommy....I think I love you," at least once a day.


Celo is really polite when he wants to be. The other day, I told him I was so proud of him for being a good listener at the playgroup we went to. His response: "Thank you, Mommy!" so emphatically, like I had just made his day by telling him how proud I was. Also, when he doesn't want to eat anymore of the food I give him, instead of turning his face away and giving me mean looks like he used to, he has started trying a new approach. He hands me his plate and very sweetly says, "No thank you."


Diego cannot see Marcelo and I hugging without coming and squishing himself in the middle. "I want a hug, too!" He's so affectionate and loving. I'm sure I will hate this quality when he's a teen. *Shudder.*


They always always always bring me flowers when they go on a walk with their daddy. Wherever they go and they see a flower, they say, "Flowers for Mommy!" Sometimes I have to stop them from picking flowers from other people's beautiful plants.


This week, since Diego has been sick, he hasn't been able to go to school. For the first few days, he and Celo had a blast together. They played SO well together this week. I was in shock. They were best buddies. Today, however, it was clear that they were sick of each other. They bickered all morning. But even the bickering had it's funny moments. At one point, Diego started taking one of his cars and raming it into one of Celo's cars to try to get a rise out of him. Celo made a dramatic little pouty face and said, "Awwww, you making me cry." It was so funny because it was so fake.


I'm soooo thankful that they seem to be getting along better for the most part. They really really want to start sharing a room, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it, yet. I just know naptime will be a nightmare if I do that. Last night, I had them both in Diego's room before bed, and Celo said, "I sweep in Diego's woom." They laid down together and looked so dang cute. They were both really upset when I said it was time for bed and had to separate them. It makes me so happy when they act like they love each other! I might have to make the room transition soon.


They're crazy, they're hyper, and they frequently drive me insane. BUT, they also melt my heart. I'm so grateful I get to be their mommy.

I'm Thankful for my Mom

A lot of people on Facebook are updating their statuses with things they are thankful for, in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday. Since I'm trying hard to wean myself from Facebook, I'm going to do it on my blog.

Today I'm thankful for my mom. She's pretty much the best mom in the whole world. My kids and I are under the weather, so she came over today and helped me clean and entertained the kids so I could go grocery shopping in peace. I came home to a spotless kitchen (and microwave!! And it was baaaad.) and folded laundry. Now I'm just praying she doesn't get sick! Celo woke up with a fever today. Wonderful.

I'm so grateful that my mom loves being a grandma. I don't have to beg her to watch my kids; she volunteers on a regular basis. And they LOVE her.

I'm grateful that she is so unselfish with her time. I know there are a million other things she could be doing, but she's always there when I need her.

I'm thankful I was raised by such a strong woman. I may not be the toughest girl in the world, but I like to think that I can handle whatever is thrown at me and deal with the tough parts of life without turning into a complete cry baby. I'm thankful that she taught me how to suck it up and not be a sissy wussy girl, haha. (Not that I'm never a sissy wussy girl. I have my moments.)

I'm grateful for my mom's example of service. She is so generous and willing to give give give. She's amazing and I love her!

(Don't worry, Dad, you'll get a turn, too. :))

'Tis the Season

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. I love the weather, I love the holidays, I love the family gatherings, I love the it all.

BUT, I hate the sickness. It feels like every other week, someone is sick. Runny noses, coughing, crankiness, and the worst: wheezing. Right now, I'm sick with a cold and Diego has a hacking cough and is wheezing. He breathes in and it sounds like a whistle. Well, he's actually much better today. I've been nebulizing my little asthmatic child and his breathing has improved a ton since yesterday. But I still didn't let him go to school. He was pretty sad about that so I had to bust out the watercolors today to keep him entertained. He's been begging me to let him paint for like 5 days in a row and I kept putting it off because I didn't want to deal with the mess. I know, I'm a fantastic mom.

I hope this year is better than last year with my little sickies. Each year seems to get a little better as they get older and stronger. Usually the super fun frequent colds last until about March. Fingers crossed that it's less frequent this year.

I might just start making them live in a bubble.

Halloween 2009

This year Diego decided he wanted to be Lighting McQueen for Halloween. Huge shocker, right? I decided it would be best to make Celo be the same thing so they wouldn't fight. Plus, Celo's just as obsessed with McQueen as Diego is. Here they are at our church's party. Marcelo and I decided that since our kids were race cars, we'd be race car fans. Hardcore Nascar fans to be exact.Here are all the cousins (minus the random little blonde girl in the back), posing before trick or treating. Danielle is Miss America, which is what I was when I was close to her age. Angela is Cleopatra, Reagan is a fairy, Isabella is Princess Jasmine, and Leilani is a fairy. Our little family at my parents' annual Halloween bash.My parents as Diego and Dora the Explorer. My dad's wig was awesome. And my mom wore make up to make her look like her face was all tan. The only thing she was missing was a bare midriff like Dora.

Another fun Halloween! Is it really November already?

Notes from a Frazzled Mother

It's been one of those days.

I never let my kids have something unless they ask nicely. Screaming and being rude gets them nowhere with me. So WHY then, do they NEVER say please unless I make them? It's the same conversation every time. "I want juice!!!" "Can you ask nicely?" "Can I have some juice, please?" Every single time. You would think they would get it and just ask nicely the first time. I bet they do this with other people, too. And then those people are all, "These kids need to learn some manners." I'm trying, people.

Why can't I leave the room for two seconds without them figuring out a way to torture each other? They'll be playing just fine, and then the second I walk away, they want to kill each other.

Why does Celo screech like a little piggy when he's mad at Diego? It's one of the worst sounds known to man.

Biggest mom pet peeve of all time: Diego talking like a baby. DRIVES. ME. NUTS. I feel like I've tried everything to kick that annoying little habit. I've explained to him that Celo talks the way he does because he's still little and doesn't know how to talk like a big boy yet. I tell him that I love that he's my big boy and that I need him to be my helper and teach Celo how to say things the right way, instead of trying to talk like Celo. Another approach I've tried is telling him that when he talks like a baby, he gets his "big boy things" taken away. I hear him say something like a baby and I say, "Oh, well I guess you want to be a baby and you can't play with ____ toy anymore." I've tried putting him in time out for it. I don't know what else to do. I really can't express how much the baby talk bugs me.

Sometimes I want to throw my hands in the air and put in my resignation letter after I've just spent half an hour cleaning up all the toys and making the room spotless and the boys spend 2.5 seconds destroying it. Oh, and then someone unexpectedly knocks on my door. Why do I bother?

I wish the Daylight Savings people would understand that starting Sunday, I will be dying a slow death from lack of sleep because my 3-year-old is going to be waking up at 5:45am. The second there is a hint of light in his room, he's up. Use black out shades? I do. He moves them. And he made a hole in his blinds (that we had just bought) so that he could see the light outside. It's totally my fault for having a night light in his room since birth. I learned my lesson and Celo sleeps in pitch black darkness. And he wakes up at 8am. But that's also because he's my heavy sleeper and Diego is a ridiculously light sleeper.

On days like today, I can't wait until naptime. But then naptime arrives and instead of being productive, I spew out my frustrations on my blog and check out photography sites for pretty pictures because my energy is spent and I don't feel like mopping.

On days like today, I'm a grump pretty much all day. And then the kids go to bed at night and the guilt sets in. I start kicking myself for wasting another day and not being patient enough. I peek in at the boys sleeping in their beds. They look like angels and I feel like a jerk. I want to wake them up and hug them and tell them how much I love them. And I vow to do a better job the next day. Sometimes I do. But other times I fail again.

Not today. When they wake up from their naps, we're going to have fun.

Ares 1-X Rocket

I feel so lucky to live in a place where I can stand on my front lawn and take pictures like these:

Here's the Ares 1-X Rocket with my neighbor's trees showing on the bottom.

A little closer.

Extreme close up. Gets a little grainy this close, but I'm amazed by it.

I also recorded the launch on tv. Once we came back into the house, the boys made me play it over and over again for them. They counted down, "3, 2, 1, Blast Off!!" and then kept saying, "The wocketship is cool!" Celo heard me mutter "amazing," and like the parrot that he is, kept saying, "Mazing wocketship."

It was an exciting morning!

High School Reunion

On Saturday night, Marcelo and I attended his 10 year high school reunion. It wasn't very well planned. On Friday night, a group of about 60 of his high school classmates got together to go bowling. He went solo to that one because I had to stay home with the kiddos. He had a lot of fun catching up with old friends. On Saturday night, we went to a local restaurant/bar on the water. We went early so we could get dinner with our cousins, Irv and Andrea, and another couple. After dinner, we went out onto the outdoor deck where a ton of his classmates were dancing and drinking. He chatted for a bit with a few old friends, and said hello to aquaintances. We didn't stay for long. The next day, we went to see one of his closest friends who was in town, so he could meet our kids. All in all, Marcelo said it was an enjoyable weekend and it was nice to see how people are doing. I think in two years, when it's time for my high school reunion, I'll want to go, too. Hopefully it will be better planned!

My Sweet Diego

I hope that my boys grow up to be as sweet as their daddy. Marcelo is one of the most kind-hearted people I know and has a great relationship with his mom. I hope I have that kind of relationship with my boys when they're all grown up and married. I see things in Diego that make me think he's going to be a lot like his daddy, and that makes me so happy! He's just so so sweet sometimes. Here are some "for instances".

On Sunday, I walked out of my room all dressed for church and Diego got a huge smile on his face and looked me up and down while saying, "Woooooooooow! Mommy! You look beautiful!! I love your skirt, Mommy!" The way he said it was so cute.

On Monday, he was in the middle of playing and I was getting lunch ready. He walked over to me and said, "I love you Mommy. You're the best mommy in the whole world." I teared up.

A few weeks ago, I told Diego that we were going to start getting a box of toys together to give away to children who don't have toys. I told him that we would get the box ready and then around Christmas, we would give the toys away. I said, "I need you to help me pick out toys that you don't play with anymore so we can give them to boys and girls who need them." I walked away, and 5 minutes later, the box was full.

I saw that he had dumped a bunch of his cars in there and said, "Are you sure you want to give away these McQueens?" He said, "Yes. Some boys and girls don't have any McQueens." I was floored by his generosity and couldn't believe some of the things in the box. He kept adding more and more things and I said, "Diego, if you give all the toys away, there won't be any toys left to play with!" He said, "We can get new ones."

Oh. I see. He didn't quite understand what was going on. He thought dumping all his toys in the box meant he would get all new toys. So much for unselfish generosity. Once he realized we would not be replacing the toys, he started to take stuff out of the box. It was all pretty funny, I must say.

Toy story aside, he's still incredibly sweet and I'm so glad he's mine.

Halloween Fun

This is a word for word repeat of what I just posted on Facebook. It's for my family that doesn't have Facebook.

Little Celo dressed up as a ghost. Cracks me up. This is Ghost Diego. I downloaded a song called Ghost Train and we danced around to it. Diego loved it.

Celo thought it was more fun to walk around like this.
This is me sneaking a picture of Diego's marker-covered pumpkin. He wouldn't let me take a picture until it was finished.

"Okay, take a picture, it's done now."
Celo cannot be trusted with markers.

When I saw that he had written all over himself in brown markers, I tried to get a picture. Celo wasn't in the mood so he refused to open his eyes.
To get all that marker off, we took a creepy crawly bug bath.

I made a Lighting McQueen pumpkin for the boys. It was the biggest waste of an hour ever. When they saw it, they were like, "But that doesn't look like McQueen. I want a Tigger one." They don't even watch Winnie the Pooh.

Here are all our lovely creations.