Please excuse the mess!

Cute Sylvie-I can actually put her wild hair in a little piggy tail now!

Marco looking at books.

Marco playing with trains.

Lucia and Sylvie drawing.

The kids putting on a play.

I'm just a little bit anal when it comes to my house being tidy and clean. I'm really working on that-letting my kids just play and if it involves a mess, so be it. I've unconsciously not turned the tv on lately. It seems a lot quieter, less tense, and a lot messier in our house! I used to think that if the tv were on, the kids wouldn't whine or fight as much, would let me get stuff done and be entertained. Well, I've found that even without the tv, they don't really fight, whine and they are thoroughly entertained on their own. I can get stuff done while they are busy playing. I find them using their imagination a lot more and being a lot more stimulated through books, toys and art! WOW! Imagine that! What an epiphony! I know, it's taken me a while to learn, but I've finally figured it out....turn off the tv!!!

So this is where my camera was while MIA!

Sylvie with a balloon stuck to her head

What the? (Lucia's new favorite phrase-oh no!)

Marco-who tore a page out of a book!

Lucia's self portrait

HaPpY BiRtHdAy JuLiO!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! We love him so much! He's feeling old now that he's way closer to 40! Here are 38 things we love about our daddy/hubby-

1) He works so hard to support our family

2) He wants the best for us

3) He is a lawyer!

4) He's lost weight this year from all the stress

5) His dream vacation is to go to Japan and eat all the sushi he wants and see all the Miyazaki stuff

6) All he wants for his birthday is sleep

7) He needs new shoes

8) He hates buying new clothes for himself

9) His car is dying and all he wants is an old Honda that runs

10) He will soon be a homeowner!

11) He hates doing yardwork or any manual labor

12) He loves to over-analyze

13) He watches The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every night and laughs out loud

14) He's bad with names

15) He's been an Elders' Quorum instructor for 4 years

16) He used to play basketball every week but hasn't had time lately

17) He has his very own "mini-me" (his son Marco)

18) He's a softy for his girls

19) He's a technological genius

20) He won't fix the knobs on Lucia's dresser

21) He won't throw stuff away

22) He throws his shirt in the dryer every morning to "iron" it

23) He never eats breakfast

24) I have to force him to eat fruit and vegetables

25) He doesn't really like sweets

26) He's low maintenance when it comes to food, but he is a self-proclaimed food snob

27) He's an Angelino through and through

28) He need a haircut every 4 weeks

29) He doesn't have to shave every day (maybe every three days)

30) He doesn't get BO

31) All of his socks have holes in them (I can't figure this out)

32) He loves sitting in our recliner and reading political commentary on the internet

33) He told his boss he refused to go to the office on the weekends because he wants to spend time with his family

34) He never had a bike growing up

35) He doesn't get real excited about birthdays

36) His children made him birthday cards this year

37) He got his new shoes and ties for his birthday

38) He got a new a house (we go into escrow today) for his birthday!

We love him so much!

Today

So, my camera is lost, so I can't post pictures!!! But today I was at Big Lots and this lady behind us in line said about Sylvie, "Somebody should make a doll that looks just like her. She's so cute! She looks like a little pixie." Ahhh, I love getting compliments about my baby!
I got a letter from Lucia's school saying her teacher has gone on medical leave. They didn't even tell the kids she was leaving and that they would have a long-term sub. Well, at least she'll be switching schools soon.
I've been trying to find a Halloween costume for Lucia for a couple of weeks now. I can't seem to fine one I like! She wants to be a fairy-but not just any fairy-Rosetta from the Tinker Bell movie. Those costumes are expensive, or bad quality. It's getting frustratin. We already got Marco a pirate costume that he plays in every day. Sylvie is going to be a fairy princess-a girl in the ward is making her a tutu. So, hopefully we'll find something for Lucia soon! Too bad I'm not crafty!

The kiddos

Sylvie is now 13 months and is getting to be more fun and challenging every day! Her new tricks-she points at what she wants and does the sign for please, says hi, climbs up onto the toilet seat to look in the mirror, brings books and sits on your lap to be read to, eats more than her siblings combined, disappears when you turn away for a second (she runs away every chance she gets), she dances to the beat of music, folds her arms when we pray, does the sign for "again".
Lucia got 4 "wilcat paws" (see previous post) this week and is much happier at school (as am I-the angst is gone when I pick her up). She was putting on a play for us tonight about fairies. She was doing a lot of dancing and hopping and said, "Oh, I keep tooting during my play!"
Marco had his 3 year-old check-up with the doctor this week. He is 31 pounds and in the 50th percentile for weight and height. He is completely healthy. I did discuss with the doctor my concern about his speech and his hearing. She referred him to specialists to be tested. From there, if he needs speech therapy, I'll go to the school district. and request services.
(Sorry no pics at the moment)

A whole lot of nada

This last week was uneventful mostly. We are in negotiations with the bank on a house-still don't know if we got it or not. I guess we'll find out this week. If it's meant to be it'll be...
This weekend we mostly relaxed-had the missionaries for dinner, Julio had a worthless job interview, went to Mom and Dad's for dinner.
I'm having an issue with Lucia's teacher. They have this thing where they can earn "wildcat paws" when they go the extra mile doing something good in class. Well, Lucia did miss a week of school, but she only has 1 wildcat paw. Other kids in her class have 8, 9, 10, up to 15. Why isn't she getting any? I ask her what she needs to do, and she knows. I ask her if she does it and she says, "I think about it, I do things sometimes, but my teacher doesn't see me." She also complains about other kids getting two stamps on their paper and she only gets one. Maybe I'm an overly concerned parent, but I don't think so. Lucia is a good girl, she's smart and I don't think she's getting enough recognition or encouragement. I did send the email to her teacher and expressed my concerns, and I talked to her on the phone about it. Nothing seems to have changed. I guess I should go get fingerprinted so I can go observe her class. I'm not going to bring it up with Lucia anymore. I don't want her to feel bad about herself. I keep saying, "Lets just homeschool you!" and she emphatically replies, "NO!!!!!" Ok then, school can't be all that bad, right?

Life-day to day

Reading "Purplicious"

"Take our picture Daddy!"

Bathy time! (Note: removed photo after seeing a news clip about a family in AZ having their kids taken away by CPS for printing bathtime photos of their small girls! Crazy!)

So, the past two weeks have been difficult. The day after we returned from our trip to LA, Lucia and Julio got sick. It dragged on with fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, congestion...to vertigo and vomiting for Julio...for nearly two weeks! Lucia missed 6 days of school all together. Julio missed 4 days of work. Sylvie, Marco and I were spared the brunt of it, but were still sick. We did have Lucia tested and the official lab results were-SWINE FLU! Just glad we survived it.

This week I was able to go to Book Club and a baby shower-nice to be with other women- looked at more houses, caught up on shopping and laundry, did a little bit of cleaning-have lots more to do- went to the library, went to the park, taught Relief Society today at church, and had a yummy enchilada dinner at Mom and Dad's.

Now on to another busy week. Driving Lucia to school twice a day is a challenge-wish I had someone to carpool with, but don't. Waiting to hear on yet another offer on a house-could it be lucky number 10? We will find out. Julio did find out we can get our $8,000 tax credit now! So we will try for that week. I guess that's all for now. Here are some pics of the kids-they are getting so big!