We got a fence!!

Christmas came early. We got a fence! Hallelujah! I am a happy happy girl.

We had lots of help to make this happen this weekend, so thank you to everyone who helped! The boys wanted to be outside the whole time, which was a little hard what with all the power tools and nails lying around. As soon as Diego saw people arriving in the morning, he grabbed his little toolbox and started rushing towards the backdoor in his pajamas saying, "I need to go help Daddy!" It was adorable.

While we were outside, Marcelo's cousin's husband found a grub worm (I think that's what it was called). A bunch of the kids (Marcelo's cousin has 7 kids and 3 of them were here to help us), had fun looking at it and touching it. At one point, Celo got his hands on it. I was standing too close to him, so it blurred out the worm, but here he is holding it:

Then, the dang thing bit him in the finger and made him bleed. It was pretty sad. Marcelo's cousin's oldest son, who is 12 years old, made sure that grub worm wasn't going to bite anyone else. How did he do this? He ATE IT. Yeah. I took a picture but I haven't asked them if I can post it. I may edit this later.

Here's Diego "helping". He was all business about it. He also kept going around and measuring things with the measuring tape.

The fence isn't completely finished yet, but I can hear Marcelo hammering away as I type this. The boys are asleep, hopefully for awhile longer, because I let them run around like crazy this morning to get them nice and tired. They were thrilled to get to play in their newly enclosed backyard. No more Mommy yelling, "Don't go near the ditch!!"

I took some pictures of the boys in front of it, but you can't see those yet, because I'm using them for our Christmas cards. So instead, you have to see me. Here I am showing off the fence. Okay, and maybe my new scarf, too. You think it's too cowboy-ish? Jae? Thoughts?

I let the kids go crazy and do whatever they wanted to do this morning because, well, what the heck. They were having fun. So they got FILTHY playing in the dirt. FIL-THY. They had to take baths as soon as we went back inside, and all of their clothes, down to their shoes, got thrown in the wash. Check out the mud behind Celo. And on his hands. And mouth. And his soaking wet shirt. He's looking longingly at the dirt he was enjoying just moments before, but the mean mommy said that's enough.

Diego filling up his dump truck. And that's my new pineapple plant behind Diego. I'm pretty excited about it.

Oh, and here's the giant gash on Celo's nose. He fell into a sharp "big kid" toy that he is no longer allowed to play with. I honestly thought his nose was broken because it started to swell. But it's not. He just gets to look like a little boxer, just in time for all the Christmas pictures I was planning to take. :)

As you can tell, I'm really excited to finally have an enclosed area for thr boys to play. They love to be outside, but we live on a corner lot, so lots of cars are always driving by, and our house backs up to a ditch. Before getting a fence, it was really hard to be out there alone with the boys. I'd be swatting ants off Diego's shoes, and then I'd look up and Celo would be running straight for the giant ditch. Not good. This fence is going to make my life a lot easier!

When it's finished, anyone want to come play? :)

8 Things Tag

It's Sunday after church, and all my boys are taking naps. As tired as I've been feeling with this pesky cold that doesn't want to go away, I just couldn't sleep. So instead I'm taking the time to answer this tag from my friend Vanessa.

8 Things Tag

8 Things I'm passionate about
1. Being a wife
2. Being a mommy
3. Being close to my extended family
4. Living the Gospel
5. Food - cooking it and eating it
6. Photography
7. Graphic design
8. Traveling (for now it's just a dream, though)

8 words or phrases I say too often
1. No
2. Crap
3. Babe
4. I love you
5. You're gorgeous (seriously need to stop this one before I create a monster)
6. Ask nicely or "Say please"
7. You know?
8. If you do that again, you're going to time out.

8 things I want to do before I die
1. Have at least one more baby, whether my own or through adoption
2. Go to Italy
3. See my children go on missions and marry in the temple
4. Make a ton of scrapbooks and memory books for my kids
5. Read the Bible and B.O.M all the way through several times
6. Get my house in order..."a place for everything and everything in it's place".
7. Go on a vacation with my whole family
8. Learn lots of different things like how to ballroom dance, learn another language and other random things

8 things I have learned from my past
1. All the tricks that my teenagers will NOT get away with
2. To always look for what the Lord wants you to learn from every situation He throws at you
3. You can never please everyone, so stop trying, and just be yourself
4. Bowl cuts are never a good idea
5. Life gets so much better after high school (amen, Vanessa)
6. Life goes by quickly, so enjoy each moment while you're living it because you're not going to get that time back.
7. God knows what He's doing, so trust that He knows what's best for you
8. Good, true friends are the ones that are always happy for you no matter what

8 places I would love to see
1. Italy
2. Spain
3. Greece
4. Hawaii
5. An island like Fiji or Tahiti
6. Egypt
7. France
8. The Grand Canyon

8 things I currently need or want
1. A maid (Want. No. Need.)
2. To finish my Christmas shopping (Need.)
3. A 50mm 1.2, 1.4 or 1.8 Canon lens (Want.)
4. To finish making 3 Christmas calendars and a couple of Christmas cards (Need.)
5. A storage shed (Want.)
6. A wooden chest for our room (Want.)
7. More food storage (Need.)
8. To clean out the garage. Again. (Need.)

8 People I tag to do this...

(I'm just choosing the first 8 alphabetically.)
1. Alisa
2. Brie
3. Carly
4. Carolyn
5. Jae
6. Janelle
7. Julie
8. Kate

and anyone who wants to do it!

Christmas Mush

I'm feeling very lovey and mushy towards my family, so I apologize in advance for the sugary post.

I'm LOVING this Christmas season. Diego is in love with Christmas this year, and that makes it a million times more fun. We've seriously been keeping Blockbuster in business all by ourselves for the past few weeks. Every few days we go rent a new Christmas movie. Why don't I go to the library and get them for free? Because it's too far and I'm lazy. Blockbuster is super close.

Anyway, so these Christmas movies have done a few things to my almost 3 year old:

1) They have made him absolutely adore all things Christmas
When we decorated the house (the day after Thanksgiving), he came home, saw all the decorations, and couldn't stop smiling. He spun around slowly, pointing at everything, saying, "Look!! Look! And look and look and look!" Saying "look" each time he saw something else he liked.

2) They have made him crazy about Santa
He's so excited about Santa. He keeps saying, "Santa's coming to our house to bring me presents??" And on our little calendar, he keeps moving the little tree to the 24th. I tell him, no, today's only the 2nd (or 3rd or 4th...this happens everyday). It's not Christmas yet." And he says, "NO! I want it to be the 24!" Marcelo and I had been contemplating teaching the kids that the Wise Men bring presents, like he was brought up, but the matter has been decided for us.

3) They have confused the heck out of him about what Christmas is supposed to look like.
On the day I put up the decorations, I was explaining to him that Christmas was coming soon. He looked at me all confused and said, "But it's not snowing!" I had to explain to him that it's not going to snow. At all.

Other fun Christmas things Diego has said:
-We put up some Christmas lights on the outside of the house. Not a ton. Just along the roof and on the front porch. A few days ago, we went driving around looking at Christmas lights. After seeing some houses all decked out with lights, blow up Santa's, snowmen, reindeer, and more, Diego said, "Our house needs more lights." He didn't want our drive to end, so we tried to make it a little more fun by telling him we were going to go look at one more house: the BEST house. And then we pulled into our driveway and said, "There's the BEST house!" He did not look amused. He said, "No! Our house not the best house!" If he thinks Daddy is going to put up more lights, he's going to be disappointed.

- I gave him a rice crispy treat to eat the other day. He said, "What's that?" I said, "It's a rice crispy treat." He said, "A rice Christmas tree?" And now he calls them Rice Christmas Trees.

- I keep trying to teach Diego that at Christmas, we celebrate Jesus's birth. But he's not really getting it. I say, "Diego, who's birthday is on Christmas?" And he says, "Santa's?" Maybe I should lay off the Christmas movies.

- Marcelo's family dog is very sick, and may be put down soon. The other night, we thought he was going to get put down the very next morning. So Marcelo went over to say goodbye. Diego asked him where he was going, and he explained that he was going to say goodbye to Smokey, because Smokey was going to live in heaven. I said, "Diego, who else lives in heaven?" He said, "Jesus." I said, "Very good!" And then he said, "And Santa." Sigh.

Diego's "Christmas Spirit" is making this year so much fun. Marcelo and I want to go nuts this year and try to do something Christmassy and fun with Diego the boys every weekend. Just thinking about all the things we have planned makes me feel all gooey and mushy about spending time with my little family. :)

Happy Birthday, Marcelo!

Yesterday was Marcelo's (big Marcelo's) birthday. Two more years 'till the big 3-0!

The day started out so cute! As soon as Diego woke up, he remembered it was Daddy's birthday. He said, "I have to go get Daddy's present and give him a big hug!" I had taken the boys to the dollar store the day before and had Diego pick out some presents for Marcelo. He chose a blue teddy bear (because that's Daddy's favorite color), a blue stapler, a blue gun that shoots these colorful balls, and a Christmas ornament with a Baby Ruth inside. So first thing in the morning, Diego ran and got the blue bear and gave it to Marcelo. He was so happy that it was Daddy's birthday. Then he grabbed my hand and took me to the living room. He said, "Mommy we have to hide!" We went to a surprise birthday party recently and now he thinks all birthdays are surprise parties. So we hid under the coffee table, and when Marcelo came out, we jumped out and said Surprise and Marcelo acted shocked. Diego fell into a giggling fit after that.

At night we had a simple celebration. I cooked for hours on Monday, making his favorite meal: lasanga. I wanted it to be a really good one, so I made an "authentic" italian lasagna...at least that's what the 2,000 reviews of the recipe said. I put it in the fridge overnight, so all I had to do yesterday was pop it in the oven. Since I had some time, I made these breadsticks. (They were delicious, by the way.) We topped that off with some sparkling cider, and that was our big feast. To be honest, I don't think it was worth it to make such a labor intensive lasagna, when a quick and easy one would really have been just as good. Oh well, now I know for next time.

After dinner, we had Marcelo's family and my parents over for ice cream cake (also Marcelo's fave) and presents. He basically got a new wardrobe for work, which is exactly what he needed! His work shirts (polo shirts) are soo ridiculously worn out and drab looking. He loved all his new clothes. He looked so good when he left for work this morning, that I almost took a picture. (And you better believe I will be going through his closet and throwing out the old shirts with or without his permission.) He also loved the present his parents got him, and one more present that is coming sometime this month...but I can't discuss either of those here. Mysterious, huh?

As far as celebrating just the two of us, we did that last Friday night. I told Marcelo to choose what he wanted to do, since he was the birthday boy. He chose to go to dinner, and then do some service for someone we know. I know many people who will roll their eyes at this, but it's the truth. That's Marcelo. And his giving personality is just one of the many many reasons why I love him.

Picture time!

I made a motherload of food for just two and a half people. (Diego can't eat lasagna and Celo just ate a small portion.) So here is all the leftover food that we will be eating this week:

Only half of the breadsticks were seasoned because Diego can't eat the parmesan cheese in the seasoning.

Celo loved the lasagna.

Here's Marcelo opening his presents with his little sidekick.

We got the baby swing out for one of my nieces. After everyone left, we found Diego playing in it.

Happy Thankgsiving!

We had a really good Thanksgiving this year. The timing worked out perfectly with both sides of the family. We got to spend a good amount of time with our families at Juany's house, and then at Rena's. And we got to eat double the yummy food. Diego and Celo had a blast with all their cousins, but ate very little. They're both getting sick and didn't have much of an appetite.

Now Thanksgiving weekend is almost over, and I want to express my gratitude for a few things.

This year I am thankful for:
1. Marcelo and the boys
2. Our families and all they do for us
3. The Church
4. Having good friends
5. The fact that Marcelo has a job that allows me to stay home with the boys
6. Being in good health (and having healthy loved ones)
7. Wild Cherry Pepsi
8. Chocolate
9. The fact that I didn't get pregnant this year
10. Soy products and egg replacer
11. My camera
12. Photoshop
13. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
14. Diego's little preschool group
15. Having children who sleep through the night
16. The fact that for the first time in 16 years, my eyesight didn't get worse this year
17. The Internet
18. My dishwasher
19. A fixed front door that doesn't allow the lizards to get in
20. Naptime

It's the simple things in life.

Back from AZ

I was in Arizona this weekend seeing my cousin get married. Marcelo took care of the boys all alone for 3 days. Poor guy. He had a ton of fun with them, though, and I found the house exactly how I left it. Not true. It was actually cleaner than how I left it.

I had a lot of fun with Arizona and got to spend a lot of time with my brother. The best part was probably sleeping in for as long as I wanted to. But I would have moments where I would miss Marcelo and the boys, so I would give them a call to get to listen to Diego's little voice. All I would hear is Diego whining and crying in the background while Marcelo and I tried to talk, and I would hang up thinking, "Yeah, I can stay here a little while longer." :)

By Sunday night, though, I was ready to come home and see all my boys. I made the mistake of not beating my parents out of the car, so my parents were the first ones the boys saw. As usual, they got super excited and wanted to be held by Tata and Tato. When I got out of the car, they didn't even look at me. Not a smile. I expected that from Diego, but not from my little mamma's boy. I tried to give him a kiss and he pushed me away because I was interrupting his time with Tato.

I held it together until we got home and the boys were in bed, but as soon as they were out for the night, I lost it. I cried and cried. What? I was jet-lagged and tired, and losing my mind just a little. So I cried. I said, "They didn't even miss me!! They don't even care that I'm back! They would be just fine without me!!" Marcelo reassured me that none of them would be fine without me, but it wasn't convincing. I didn't calm down until the next day, when I had this conversation with Diego, first thing in the morning.

D: Mommy, you Mommy?
Me: Yes, I'm Mommy.
D: You not Daddy?
Me: Nope. I'm not Daddy.
D: You not airplane anymore?
Me: No, I'm not on an airplane anymore.
D: You back?
Me: Yup.
D: (Big smile.) I happy. I love you Mommy.

For the rest of the day, he gave me big hugs and told me he loved me "so much". And I did everything he wanted to do, including a trip to the park, a walk, and dancing around the house waving a towel in the air. (I don't really know why he wanted to do that, but it made him happy.)

A funny story from Arizona:

When I was getting on the airplane at 6:30 in the morning, I had pretty much just rolled out of bed so I was wearing no make-up and my glasses. The lady who took my ticket, noticed that I was sitting in an emergency exit aisle. She was like, "Do you understand the responsibility of sitting by the exit....wait....how old are you?" I was like, "Um, 25." She said, "Oh, sorry!" and let me get on the plane. Once I was sitting down, I was like...okay, how old did she think I was? How old do you have to be to sit by the emergency exit? So I looked at the pamphlet.

You have to be 15. FIFTEEN!!!!!

I was like, you've got to be kidding me. There's no way I look 15. My dad laughed at me for like 5 mintues.

One more story. On our connection flight, I got on the plane, and the first person sitting right there in the first row was none other than Charles Barkley. I wanted to go back and ask him for a picture, but I didn't want to bother him. The whole team of high school cheerleaders on the plane didn't worry about bugging him, though, and made several trips up to ask him for his autograph. And one of them hung onto the back of my seat for like half an hour, pulling on it and driving me insane, as she sat in her friend's lap who was seated behind me. Why didn't I turn around and say, "Um, can you please stop pulling on my chair?" Because I'm retarded.

All About Marcelito

I've talked a lot about Diego lately. Now it's Marcelo's turn.

Okay, so he's 15, almost 16 months old, and he still has like 5 names. I call him "Marcelo", because I never call my husband by his name, (I call him by many different "pet names") so it's not confusing to me. Big Marcelo calls Little Marcelo "Celo", Diego calls him "Baby Marcelo" but in the past two days has started calling him "Celo", all of his cousins call him "Baby Celo", and his grandparents, his Tato and Tata, and everyone on my side of the family call him "Marcelito". So that's the name situation.


I've mentioned before that he is a very angry boy, right? He is. He is a tantrum thrower, a food thrower, a toy thrower, and will smack you in the face if you're not careful. Yeah. I try to get it under control, I really do. But how do you discipline a 15 month old?? He doesn't "get" the time out thing, I'm not gonna smack him, and talking to him firmly just doesn't work. The pediatrician said, "Just ignore him." Yeah, that'll work. If I'm in the middle of Relief Society trying to teach a lesson and he's screaming on the floor, I'll just ignore him. Great idea.

The one thing that has helped a little is teaching him sign language. He didn't pick it up as easily as Diego did, so he basically says two words: please and more. I try to get him to sign eat or drink, but instead he just points at the food or cup and says, "Uh uh uh uh uh!" And then when I say, "Can you ask nicely?" He starts rubbing his chest signing "please" while at the same time saying, "eeeeeeees". Oh, and he totally has a lisp. It's adorable.

He's saying a few words. I lost my journal that says what Diego was saying at this age, so I haven't been able to compare. But I think they're about the same. Here's what he says:
please - eeeeees
more - mo
car - ca (He says this 1000 times a day.)
puppy - pa pa
milk - ma
juice - zoos
shoes - shoes
bath - bath
ball - ba
Diego - digo (He's only said this a few times)
Daddy - Dada ( He says this over and over again whenever he sees Marcelo)
Mommy - mama
Tata - Tata
Tato - Tata ( He says both of these as soon as we get into my parents' neighborhood and he realizes where we're going.)

That's all I can think of right now. There are a couple more, but I can't think what they are.

Now for the pictures. The kid thinks he's so much older than he is, and, quite frankly, he thinks he's super cool.

He thinks it's cool to brush his teeth like a big boy:
He thinks he's big enough to ride a bike:
He thinks it's cool to suck his thumb and stare off into la la land when he gets sleepy:
He thinks it's cool to look like a teenager. Am I the only one that thinks he looks like a teenager in this picture?
He thinks it's cool to shut his eyes and make this face at you when you try to take a picture of him.

See? I'm not joking. When he sees me whip out the camera, he shuts his eyes like this before I even take off the lens cap. And it's not even like I use the flash! He just thinks it's funny to not let me take his picture.
Or he just covers his face with his hands.
Those last three pictures are also representative of what he does when I try to feed him a few more bites of something he doesn't want.



He's a little monster, but we love him.