Marco Time

Marco got invited to his first birthday party without Lucia. He was so excited and felt so special to be able to go to a party by himself. He even got to sit by the birthday girl!

Marco has been having more problems with his asthma this week. On Wed., after our playgroup at the park, he came home and started coughing and wheezing. He kept us up all that night and then we took him to see the doctor on Thursday. We're still not sure what bring it on-we know he's allergic to cats and if he gets congested he gets wheezy. It could be he's allergic to pollen and grass. But, asthma is not fun for anyone involved. He has his regimen of prednisone to open up his airways when he's had bad attacks, pulmacort for prevention and albuterol for when he's in the middle of an attack. My sister-in-law Paulette said her kids have been outgrowing their asthma-so hopefully Marco will too.

An Almost Perfect Day

Mother's Day....it's hard not to have high expectations of perfectly behaved children, a delicious breakfast in bed, and getting everyone ready and to church on time. Well, those things didn't happen because Marco stuffed a bunch of tp in the toilet and flushed it, therefore flooding the bathroom. Because of this, Julio wasn't able to make breakfast and our whole morning got thrown off. Oh well, can't expect too much. Julio did do way too much in the gift department. Church was really good; all the talks were nice and the Relief Society lesson was really good and we got cookies! I did get a nice afternoon nap. Dad, Brandon and Julio did the dinner; flank steak, pasta salad, green beans, strawberries and flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream for dessert (made by my husband). Mom and I took Chase for a walk after dinner and watched the kids play in the park. So, it was an almost perfect day. I'm so grateful for the mother's I've know in my life and their examples. I'm so happy to be a mother. My children teach me so much-patience, organization, love, kindness, generosity, sympathy, a desire to learn about life and the world. I love them so much and don't know what my life would be like without them!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Lucia's school scheduled a "field trip" to Six Flags yesterday. We just rode with some friends from playgroup and who also do the same charter as us. Brandon and Grandpa watched Marco and Sylvie so Lucia and I could enjoy the day. We sure did have fun! We rode a rollercoaster, a white-water rapid ride, went to a couple of shows, saw tons of cool animals and did lots of kiddie rides. Lucia loves rides. She is usually such a chicken, so it surprises me that she likes them. When we went on the white-water rapid ride, we all got soaked! We saw the killer whale show and it was kind of boring now that the trainers can't get in the water. We spent lots of time in the Jungle area-going on kiddie rides and looking at the animals. We were there about 5 hours and only saw about 1/2 the park. There's so much to do there! The weather was perfect, it wasn't too crowded and Lucia had a great time with her friends. Next time we'll take the rest of the family with us.

sylvie talk

Sylvie has started talking a lot lately. Today she said-totally unprompted-"1,2,3 whee!" when she went down the slide. When we were at Target this morning, Marco took a box of fishy crackers from her and she cried, "No! My fishy crackers!" The other day we were quizzing her on her animal sounds, and then I asked her what Mommy says, and she yelled "Wah, blah, blah!" I guess I yell too much.

Lucia says...

Last week after I picked Lucia up from her Friday class, I was asking her if she had made any new friends. She started naming the kids and then went into detail about a boy named Jason. She said, "He has blond hair, he reads really good, he's really smart and he always listens to the teacher." So I asked if he was her friend and she said, "I TOTALLY know him Mom, but we're not really friends."

Today on the way to church, I asked Julio why he gave in to Sylvia and he said because she was crying. So I asked him if when she's a teenager he's going to give her whatever she wants if she cries. Daddy, I want a new car!! Whaaah!! Julio said, "NO" Then Lucia chimes in from the back seat, "When I'm a teenager, I'm just going to drive the family van." What a funny girl.

Ok blog, I'll give you some attention

Cute boy in front of the temple

Cute girl in front of the temple.

Lucia and Madelyn-so happy to see eachother!

The men working in the yard.

The last couple of weeks have been busy. My social calendar has been pretty full and we've been trying to work on the house and yard. A couple of weeks ago, I had a girl's lunch at the park with my old friends (meaning from a long time ago, not that they're old), a girl's night out with some girls from our new ward and book club. It's nice to have girl time. Last weekend we tired ourselves out working in the yard. There's so much to do in the front and the back. My dad came and helped out a little. Julio has been digging out all the stones and bricks in the ground and we cleared all the weeds out of the terrace. We are going to plant vegetables and flowers in the terrace and grass in the rest of the yard. The front lawn needs to be leveled out, the flower bed needs to be cleaned out and have rocks or ground covering put in. Lots to do. I've painted our bathroom and the trim, Julio put in new towel and tp racks. I've been painting the dining chairs and bought valances for the dining room windows. Things are looking better.

Yesterday was another busy Saturday. We were able to go to the temple to see our friends from our old ward, the Bergen's sealed as a family (in the temple they perform a special ordinance where families can be sealed for time and all eternity) It was so awesome to witness. The kids had to wait outside, of course, but Lucia was so happy to see her best friend Madelyn when they came out. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to attend a luncheon for them and spend some time with family and friends. Yesterday we had dinner here with Mom, Dad, and Brandon.

Now it's Monday again. The weeks are flying by. We're looking forward to summer! Lucia only has school until May 24th! We want to go to Utah, LA, go camping. Need to start planning!

What to do?

It has been nearly two weeks since my last post-I have been really lazy and unmotivated to blog lately. But today, I am so peeved, I have to vent. So here it goes. I've been debating putting Lucia into public school for a while. I did open enrollment for one of the fundamental schools in the area. Our home school is a title 1 (low income, low test scores) and so I found this other school to be our best option. I got a letter a couple of weeks ago saying she got in to our school of choice-they only gave us one choice too. So, I called and made an appt. to go to the district office today to enroll her since right now she is enrolled in a private charter. I waited 45 minutes before being called back to meet with the "technician". She copied our paperwork and started inputting stuff in the computer. Then she stopped and got up and left. A few minutes later she asked me to come back to the director of enrollment's office. The director then explained to me that there had been a mix-up with Lucia's open enrollment form and she had been admitted as a kindergartner for next year, not a first grader. Somebody had written on her form that she was in pre-K (it was handwritten above the "K" that I wrote in a different pen). She didn't know who caused the error or why it was made. All she could do is "Try to get her in, but we wouldn't know for another month or two. She's # 8 on the waiting list." I was so furious I just got up and walked out. Now my mom works at the district and turned in her enrollment form. She said she would tr to talk to someone for me. I don't know if it's worth the hassle. I need to look into other options. I'm not real pleased with the current charter I'm with. I've only gotten left over materials and it's been a major pain to get anything approved to buy-like 2-3 weeks. Plus, I get less money than other area charters. I picked this one because they have a learning center where they can go for mini-classes, but I don't think Lucia is benefitting much from those. I don't know...I've got a headache and can't think about it right now. I will later...