First Full day of Summer Break!

Amazing start to our summer break!!  I was all for having a slow start to the day, but by 7 a.m. everyone had already been up a little while and by 8 a.m. was in full play mode.  We did a lot of fun things today.  One being that if we couldn't have a slow day, we were going to have a pajama day.  This lasted all the way until 4 p.m. when we all started feeling like we might want to get dressed for the rest of the day.  Go figure. 

Belle's ready to join us at the table

The boys were completely into imaginary play today.  This morning we even had a beach ball/sunglasses party in the living room.  With a little baby and no back yard we are limited in outside time sometimes so we bring the outdoors in a lot.  Most of the day they played together so well and for the first time that I can ever recall, the boys actually split off from each other for a little while (without being mad at each other) and had their own play time in opposite parts of the house.  They pretty much always play in the same space with the same toys, etc.  It was a lot of fun to see them branching out doing their own things, and quietly while they were at it!  I know I've mentioned their imagination before, but I just LOVE seeing the things they come up with and of course I just play right along.  While the baby napped and the boys were playing so well, I started getting some laundry together and putting some of their school things away.  Of course this is when it gets interesting as well as adding our first horrific blooper to our list.  Sooooo....you know how in the Smurfs there is one named Clumsy?  There is a reason why the boys like for me to take on the role of this Smurf when we play....sigh...Today I completely and totally wiped out.  It really took a lot to keep me from shedding a tear it was PAINFUL!!!  It could be a long story, but to make it short, I tripped on some train tracks and lost my balance when I tried to pick my foot up quickly, found there was no free spot close by to put my foot and so I fell flat on my face...on top of all the tracks.  Nico heard me cry out in pain (thank goodness my usual word of choice in these type situations did not slip out for them to hear) and he came right away saying "Are you okay, Mama?"  You know that throbbing kind of pain that makes you rock yourself back and forth like that's going to comfort you or take your pain away, well that's what I was doing.  Nico said, "Mama, you need band aids!"  He ran off to find some and came back with Mickey Mouse bandages for me all on his own.  He was so sweet.  At this point Max had joined the party and was examining my wounds to make sure I wasn't going to bleed to death.  When I started bandaging myself up, the boys were pointing out every spot that "needed" a band aide.  If I would have gone with every suggestion I would have used the whole box.  But I left a couple in there.  Nico was doing well with everything until he noticed a pretty bad looking wound and saw the blood.  His eyes got so big and he didn't look so well.  I don't know if he's got a blood phobia or what, but he just slowly started backing away and slightly shaking kind of in a panic.  When I told him it was okay to look away, that I was going to be okay, he just cautiously said...ok...and looked at his feet.  Man I love my kids.  Nico sure cracked me up.  Made the whole incident memorable, but in a good way.  My boys take such good care of me.  Nico just wanted to help so bad that he was sacrificing his scared feelings to help me.  What a little man!  Max was okay to finish helping and then both boys kissed my boo boos.  I guess I'm a little spoiled with these guys!    Of course when I was talking to their Papa on the phone later, Nico had to take the phone from me and tell his Papa about the accident and how Mama got some bad ouies. 

Nico had been asking me ALL morning to let him watch a movie so since he and Max were so sweet and brave and helped me out, I decided to give in.  I set up a picnic lunch for them on the living room floor and they had their picnic lunch while watching Kung Fu Panda and wearing their pajamas :)  They were so distracted by the movie that they ate almost every bite of food I gave them without a struggle! 

After lunch and the baby was down for her afternoon nap, we busted out the best game we've ever played together,  "I Can Do It".  It's a Dr. Seuss themed game that Mema gave Max last night for his graduation.  The boys and I had so much fun.  I think we played it three times and then reenacted some of the actions just for fun.  LOVED it and I would recommend it for kids.  The game says 4+ but Nico did AWESOME with it too.  Thanks so much, Mema!  It's a hit with all of us!

When the boys were tired of playing games, they went up to their room and started playing Goofy's birthday party or something like that.  I'm not exactly sure, I just know that I was supposed to be Minnie and Belle (who actually slept through our loud game playing) was Daisy.  While the boys were upstairs and the baby was still asleep, I took advantage of that time to start cutting out the super hero designs for their capes I've made.  Okay so I only got the picture printed and got that pinned on to the felt before I got interrupted, but it's a start. 

Now, I'm just plan exhausted but satisfied with an amazing day. 

Best part of the day:

Max: Playing the game and eating ice cream for dessert

Nico: Playing the game

Belle: Hanging out in the Moby Wrap that Mama's finally started to use and getting to sit in her booster seat

Fer: Eating lettuce with lime and salt.  Getting the boys to actually try it and love it!

Jen: Playing "I Can Do It" with the boys, getting the super hero designs started, and successfully cooking dinner for the fourth night in a row!!!! (HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT!)

Bloopers...well, no need to recap that one.  We all know what happened. 

BEST first full DAY of summer break EVER!

The End of the School year, BEGINNING of the Best Summer EVER

 Last day of school for the boys.  They spent one final day with their teachers and friends today.  It was bitter sweet.  We love school, but at the same time we enjoy spending lots of time together in the summer doing lots of special activities. No matter what, we will dearly miss our friends, especially Max, as some of his friends will scatter off to other schools next year. 

Max is the cute one in the middle holding his collar looking at the camera. I am very aware that our camera takes poor quality pictures when zoomed it.  It's almost time to invest in a new one.

 Today was a very exciting fun day.  For the first time I felt like a more "experienced" parent.  I had a child wearing a cap and gown graduating from Pre-K 4.  He was so handsome!  I am so proud of everything he has accomplished and grown to be in his first 4 1/2 years of his life.  I know it sounds like I've got a kid graduating from high school or college.  He might as well be as fast as he's growing up!  I realize I'm being a little over dramatic, but he's my baby!  If I feel this way and he still has one more year of Pre-K (next year he'll graduate with honors from the Pre-K 5 class) I don't know how I'll feel about it next year with it being his final year at this school.  Just glad to postpone it and be able to send him to St. Michael Academy for one more year.  He goes to an amazing school, and I can not brag enough about it.  Everyone there is so caring and patient with the students, and the other families who have children attending are awesome too.  We have created a lot of great friendships over the past 4 years of school.  It's even more special because this year Max and Nico's best friends are brothers of their same ages.  It has been a blessing to be a part of such a wonderful school family.

Alright everyone, see how his pants are NOT tucked into his boots?  Well that is how he left home.  By the time he made it to stage he had his pants tucked into his boots.  I failed to get a picture of it myself, because being the awesome parent that I am, my memory ended up being full on my camera.  Thank goodness the queen of picture taking was there (Mom) and I could get them from her. Last night after the program I was telling anyone and everyone who would hear it, that I did NOT dress my child with his pants tucked into his boots....Okay so half of graduation only one was tucked in, the other was out...YIKES!  But when they exited the stage and came back, both were in.  I thought he looked like a jockey.  My dad thought he looked like he was getting ready for high waters...whatever one might think, the truth is, Max admitted that he just wanted to be like Woody.  Precious boy. 



See boots...and yes those are butterfly wings on his head.

Overall it was the best last day of school we've had yet.  We are so thankful that Max, Nico, and Belle's Mema and Pops could come down for his special day, and their "Aunt" Ashlie was there too.  Thanks guys!  We appreciate your presence so much!  It means a lot to us!  Thanks to all of Max and Nico's teachers, St. Michael Academy director, and all of the staff for making their school experience the best possible.  We love you all!

I think the whole family's favorite parts of the day were enjoying the last day activities, Max's graduation ceremony, and spending it with people we love.

Bloopers:

Well, you've seen it...it's the pants in the boots as far as I'm concerned..

Playing Cards and Building Forts

Before 8 am this morning the boys already had me playing card games with them.  Our breakfast of home style oats, blueberries, and walnuts (just blueberries for picky eater Max) proved to be very entertaining with each boy trying to play a different card game with me at the same time.  That's a lot to keep up with while not drinking coffee.  But ,I am my Grandma's Granddaughter and for those of you who don't know what that means, I'm saying that I'm usually game for a good round of card playing.

Today was going to be errand running day, but I scratched that almost immediately this morning as I tried frantically to keep up with the daily chores.  I know I'm not the only one out there that feels it.  The faster and harder I tried to get the house in order, the crazier my house became.  The endless picking up of things off the floor today was incredibly insane.  I would start doing one thing and find another thing to do, and another, and before I knew it NOTHING was getting finished. I know you know what I'm talking about.  This snowball effect is a regular occurrence in my home.  But, in the end, it all came together....for about .5 seconds when my little tornadoes ran back through, and now I'm sitting here with my back to a mess trying to forget about it for just a few minutes.  I'm sure it'll be waiting for me when I'm done unless Jeannie moved in and can take care of that with a crossing of her arms, a head nod, and blinking of the eyes.  Okay, call me crazy (it wouldn't be the first time), but has anyone actually tried that before?  I'm not going to lie, periodically I give it a try.  I mean, what can it hurt?  Just MAYBE one of these days it'll work?  Alright, I'm not delusional, just desperate sometimes. 

During the madness of the day I decided to give the guys a surprise.  Partly because I needed to distract them so I could get their room straightened up because it was driving me even more crazy, and partly because I just LOVE surprising them with things.  I sent them out of their room and made them stay out until I called them back in.  I hung sheets off the top bunk bed on the foot of the bed and on the side to create a fort.  I gave them a pair of toy binoculars and a view finder, told them to watch for enemy cars driving down the alley.  They bought it...well they bought into the fantasy, and we had a lot of fun off and on today playing in that thing.  Remember the train set we set up at the end of last week?...well the best part of the fort play was they were too distracted to care that I picked up that set and put it away....finally.

The boys and I did quite a bit more summer planning.  They are in for a lot of fun activities this summer.  I'm exhausting myself just trying to plan it, hope I can keep up with them.  I'm definitely going to keep a day or two free each week just for "at home" play.  My boys have the most amazing imaginations and I can't even fathom the idea of not giving them that time to play together in their own little worlds.  

This is off topic, but I felt it was worthwhile to share.  Perhaps most of you already do this, but I have to admit, it's the first time I really gave some time to it.  While researching summer activities and tours of our local Fire and Police Departments I checked out the Bedford PD website.  The site is so informative.  It had links to the city's most wanted with photos, pictures of local sex offenders and home addresses, and descriptions and photos of the city's most wanted and missing persons.  I knew all of this was out there, but I just never had the time to really think about visiting the page.  I think I'm going to try to check it out more often.  I definitely think that with kids out of schools and with the weather nice, before we just let our kids out lose in the neighborhoods (no, I do NOT EVER let my 4 year old or 2 year old out to wander on their own nor do I recommend it) perhaps you should consider checking out your local PD website for information on your community's offenders.  Okay enough about that little bit of useful (or useless) information.

Let's move on to...
Favorite parts of the day:
Max:  playing in the fort (okay, bad parent moment, Fer and I honestly can't remember exactly what Max said, but I'm sure this was part of it)
Nico:  "Playing with Chase!!!" "when Papa came to my home"
Fer:  Getting his haircut, picking up things for our vacation, and the fact that our picky eater, Max ate his chicken for dinner.  Go Max!
Jen: playing cards with the boys, surprising the boys with the fort, and of course snuggling with my baby, and after the chores are done, enjoying a clean house for about 2 seconds before I conk out

Today's bloopers:

Seeing my boys repeatedly without pants on.  It's like I would get them a pair of pants, turn around, and they'd be gone.  I couldn't keep a pair on them if the world depended on them.  I apologize to the neighbors walking by who were greeted by my children with only underwear....and poor Belle, she's drooling so much and having explosive diapers that I'm constantly seeing her clothless too.  Ah well, they're just kids :)

Jen running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get things done....but what's new :)

And the most awesome blooper of all, Fernando gets in his car to go get his haircut, but without thinking he drives himself, not to the place he gets his hair cut, but to Brahms.  As he's pulling into the parking lot he realizes his error and barely makes it to get his haircut before they close.  I guess he's taking a few too many ice cream runs...(there I go again mentioning Brahms.  We should be getting paid for advertising.)  We REALLY don't go that often for ice cream.  It's just a big deal when we do.   


Alright, I'm in desperate need of a tall glass of chocolate milk in a frosty mug...so yeah, that's where I'm headed then it's on to clean up this place.

BEST...DAY...EVER...    

update:  before Fer could read over this and I could publish it, I had my milk and cleaned up.  Wahooo!!

Best (Mother's) Day Ever!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Let me tell you, I'm the LUCKIEST, MOST BLESSED, IN LOVE Mama in the entire world.  Just sayin. 

My boys had the best "hand made" gifts waiting for me that they created at school.  Look at their cute hand prints :)  They make me so proud!  The best gifts are those that they make for me.  I'm a total sap when it comes to things made by hand.    My thoughtful hubby helped the kiddos each give me a sunflower.  It's the first time I ever received a sunflower and I think they're so beautiful!

 (please ignore the bedhead.  I look AMAZING in the morning)

I've got the cutest kids and the best looking husband, don't you think?

We had a super slow start to our day and that was amazing.  It's so rare that we can just take our time in the mornings.  Fernando made us very tasty omelets for breakfast and we spent our morning watching cartoons.  Of course Phineas and Ferb were part of the main attraction with episodes dedicated to Mom.  And now I have a song from the show playing over and over in my head.  At least the songs are catchy.  

Belle went down to nap at her usual morning time and then SURPRISE slept until it was time for her usual afternoon nap.  She was exhausted from yesterday's activities which I'll post more about tomorrow.  I suspect she's been going through a growth spurt lately, too, and I think the proof is in this picture.  She grew today in her sleep, seriously!  She just grew up.  Can't believe four months has passed us by so quickly.  The fastest four months of my ENTIRE life!  I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun!      

 

 I forced the kids to get another picture with me since it's mother's day.  Not an easy feat.  Max INSISTED that his race cars join us and Nico wouldn't keep his hands off of his sister.  All of this pretty typical.  We all took a fun family trip to our local Lowes (a favorite store for us).  Then Papa surprised us with a trip to Brahms....I think this is already my second time to mention Brahms in my few posts.  I don't know what our obsession is with ice cream, but we're all crazy for it.  I used to not be able to eat ice cream because I had a dairy sensitivity, but after I got pregnant with Max that went away (minus during my pregnancy with Belle when I couldn't handle dairy at all).  Now I'm a dairyaholic....good thing my extended family owns one!  www.circlendairy.com  Check them out!  This will not be the one and only time you hear me mention them.  In fact, we'll be attending a charity event there called M-O-O-Ving Thru' the MUD with Landon.  You can check that out on facebook if you are interested.  The boys can not wait to get dirty and play in the mud!  Wow I totally digressed again...

Papa and the boys put together our new bench for our dining room table.  With Belle getting bigger, it's almost time she joined us there.  The little guys LOVE being able to sit side by side.  The bench matches our dining set perfectly!  I love when we have to add little things here and there around our home to accommodate our growing family.  It makes me feel so complete.  While they did this, I spent some time upstairs sewing Nico's superhero cape.  He tells me every day that he's Batman and I can't wait to surprise him and Max with their superhero capes one day this summer.  I'm not sure when...but when the perfect opportunity presents itself, it'll happen.  Look for more on this in the future :)  Being a HUGE superhero fan myself, I just can't wait! 

Our favorite parts of the day
Max: playing Cars 2 games

Nico:  playing with his Cars 2 cars

Fer:  (claims) making me omelet for breakfast because it made me happy, taking us out for ice cream, playing Cars game, taking boys on a wagon ride around the neighborhood to visit the water fountains

Jen:  getting spoiled by everyone for MOTHER'S DAY and Fer fixing the garage door and putting our family bench together.  Thanks Loves!

Best Bloopers of today:

1.  Papa made us hash browns that looked a little funky...turned out to have expired...in 2010....thank goodness we didn't eat them before we found that out...

2. Nico's meltdown when Papa tried to push his ice cream down into the cone so that it wouldn't fall onto the floor like last time.  He screamed so the entire place could hear him "Papa ate my ice cream!!!" over and over gain at the top of his lungs through hysterical sobs...good times. (At Nico's defense, Fer pushed the ice cream down with his mouth and it did in fact look like he had taken a bite...Poor Fer felt awful!)

3.  Max disowning Fernando and I as parents because we would not give into his little brothers tantrum over Cheese Its and yogurt. 

4.  Jen finding a random piece of apple in her vase of sunflowers....finding out who actually put it there...long story but in the end it wasn't one of my little kids...

BEST mother's DAY EVER!!!

Little Lucy gets Baptized!!

Our family spent a wonderful Saturday evening with the Bengforts and Vus celebrating a new life in Christ!  My niece Little Lucy was Baptized into the Catholic faith.  We are so happy for Lucy and my brother and sister-in-law.  Congratulations Lucy!  We can't wait to share our faith with you!  It was an honor to share the day with our amazing family.     

Left to Right Back:  Fernando, Nico, AuNtGIe, Mom/Mema (Joyce), Belle, Dad/Pops (Michael), Jen, Uncle Jon

Left to Right Front:  Jack, Max, Aunt Lisa, Lucy

No pictured: Uncle Scott & Henry

Thank you God for the blessings that we get to call family.  May we never take them for granted. May we always cherish every moment spent together.  And may those moments be many!

A day at Home

Hello All! 

Today was a great day!  We didn't go ANYWHERE and that was so nice for a change.  Not that we weren't supposed to though...I kind of completely forgot about the "preschool" Trinity High School was putting on which I registered both my boys for.  I lost my mind and we missed today...AND last week.  So, since there is only one more day next week, we're just going to forget that one too.  The boys forgave me so it's all good.  They are used to my forgetfulness.  Blame it on "mamabrain", lack of sleep, whatever...I'm losing it.  But hey, if I can't remember that I've forgotten, I've got it made.

So since we were at home today, and since a few weekends ago we finally bunked our boys' beds, we used the huge floor space in their room to play.  Yippee!!  Boy toys are now (for the most part) out of our downstairs living room.  Until of course they migrate down one by one and we start all over again. 

Totally off topic:  I was thinking today (for just a few seconds) how I need to join a gym soon.  And then I realize that I go up and down the stairs a million times a day.  That should count for something, right?!  Or does the late night Brahms milkshake runs when the kids are in bed cancel that out...now I'm thinking about that gym again...

Anyway, I digress, which you will see a lot of if you continue to follow our blog.  Don't worry, I won't blame you if you choose to spend your time elsewhere...We decided to use the huge floor space in the boys' room.  We have a drawer FULL of train tracks and we filled up their room with a huge "set".  Belle had the best time watching her brothers.     

Oh and did I mention that it's Mother's Day!  Okay, not the traditional American holiday, but for Latin American countries today is, as Fer called it this morning, "Madre's Day".  So since it's a day to celebrate someone like me (AND Fer was working late AND I, once again, was too tired to make a fancy meal, nor should I have to, right, it's Madre's Day, AND I refuse to have pizza night two days in a row), I decided to treat myself to my favorite "breakfast for dinner" meal.  Pancakes!!!  I decided to have a little fun with it and since the boys think the ultimate girl color is pink, I made PINK PANCAKES!!!  Okay so you can't really tell they are pink since in my distractedness I cooked them a tiny bit too long, and I have no eye for presentation...just not my thing, but they tasted fabulous!

Here's the list of our favorite parts of the day:
Max - "when Papa came home for lunch" (since he was going to have to work late), "playing with the trains", and "what I liked the most was the PINK PANCAKES! Mama Rocks!!!"  Okay I might have added the "Mama Rocks" part but come on...pink pancakes are cool
Nico - "playing with the craft box with Max" He so loves his big brother.
Belle - drooling and trying to eat her fingers...or so it seems
Fernando aka Papa - "coming home for lunch" and I'm sure after he reads my blog he'll say that's a fav part of his day as well. 
Jen - of course the PINK PANCAKES, Papa's lunchtime visit, PINK PANCAKES, (first time) successfully pumping breastmilk while all the kids watched...yes I just said it, and I did that, but what else can I do, and don't worry, I covered myself; successfully feeding Belle her 2nd rice cereal bottle! (so proud of her), PINK PANCAKES, having my towels come out of the washer smelling cleaner than ever before (I'm now washing in hot water with a cup of vinegar, then running them again on hot with 1/2 cup baking soda...Thank you Pinterest), and sewing my first Superhero cape from nothing more than my imagintion. 

A new section to our blog:  TODAY'S BLOOPERS
Don't be fooled into thinking it's all roses and sunshine in our home.  NOBODY IS PERFECT ESPECIALLY US!  Here are just a few of my "favorite" ones

1.  Nico putting his pancake and small bowl of syrup (he's a dipper) on the living room floor.  The poor pink pancake was not sitting on a plate (and so nicely blending into the dark floors since if you remember they were slightly overcooked) and here comes Max walking by and creams that poor pink pancake into the floor.  Nico was only slightly annonyed.  He had already abandoned it for another distraction.  (All I could do was sit and watch and direct...yes this was while I was pumping...TMI???)

2.  Max taking some food off of his plate and running from the table as fast as he could not realizing he was still holding onto the plate, therefore flinging his plate to the ground and it shattering into a million teeny tiny pieces, some of which slip under the jumper Belle is currently standing in...once again while I'm pumping...sigh...see a pattern...wonder why I've never attempted to do this while without another adult present before, but at the same time...what if I'd been hiding in another room....

3.  Belle's head and face completely covered not only in her own drool, but Max and Nico's as well from kissing on her, or in Nico's case, licking her....

4.  Fernando's heel hurting so bad that he's missing his smile today :(

and 5.  Jen...well...overcooking those PINK PANCAKES and maybe forgetting their "preschool"

But still...Best....Day...EVER!!!

A day of Firsts

I finally got the chance to attempt to get an updated headshot of all the kiddos together.  It was NOT an easy task and this was the BEST I could get.  I had to bribe with marshmellows too...

What can I say?  Today was a great day! 

The kids, of course, loved their time at school.  Max had a particularly fun day because today his class celebrated Summer birthdays.  He came home with a bag full of goodies, which Nico basically claimed as his own immediately.  Max being the awesome big bro that he is shared his special prizes (except the bouncy ball which pretty much caused WWIII, but we won't get into that). 

The boys got a special surprise in the afternoon when Papa came home from work at an earlier time (due to an earlier start time) and took them for their first swim of the summer.  The water was a little chilly but they got used to it pretty quickly.  They also enjoyed the pizza party we had for dinner!

Belle had a big day today too.  While the boys were in school she went fabric shopping with me which we both LOVE to do.  And this evening she did so well when we attempted to feed her rice cereal for the first time.  She was a good sport about it.  Max would only take it by bottle for quite some time in the beginning, Nico would never take it from a bottle and always with a spoon, so I was pleasantly surprised that she would do either way (although bottle was easier).  It was her first time to accept the bottle too!  Up until now she refused it.  I was so proud of her since this is something we've been struggling with.  But she took it for her Papa!  I was even able to help her finish her cereal bottle.  Although we'll continue with nursing, I'm extremely happy for my baby's accomplishment and it is reasuring to know that if I can't be around she'll get what she needs.  She's growing up too fast.  Already 4 months old! 

At the end of every day we ask the kids about their favorite part of the day.  Here were the verdicts:
Max - school and the pool.
Nico - only shook his head in agreement, I'm sure they were his favorite parts too! 
Belle - having Papa feed her for the first time
Fernando - getting to spend extra quality time with his little kiddos, especially at the pool. 
Jen - (although I LOVED it ALL as I do everyday)...seeing my family's smiles and not having to cook dinner!!!! 

BEST...DAY...EVER!