There is no school this week. We've been trying to keep busy. Monday we went to the mall, yesterday the library. Today, I'm painting the bathroom. What was I thinking???? I'm 29 weeks pregnant. I've only done about 1/2 of it and it'll need a second coat and I'm EXHAUSTED!!!! I took on a project that is too big for me right now....I'm always tired.

Tomorrow we will continue our outings with a trip to the park with a friend and Friday a playdate here at our house. Not too exciting, but keeping the kids from getting too bored. I think Saturday we will go to the Jelly Belly Factory since we didn't get to go today.
pictures will be posted later.

p.s. Blogger is lame. It won't let me publish my posts. I have to save them first and then go to Edit Posts and then I can publish it. Plus it takes forever to upload pictures. Any suggestions?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! We have been celebrating this lovely holiday since last Thursday when we had our Valentine's party for preschool. We made Valentine's and bags and exchanged them, we decorated Valentine's cupcakes. Friday, Lucia had a party at school. Saturday, we got a surprise Valentine's box from the Hill's with all sorts of goodies, cards and homemade hair clips. This morning the kids (minus Lucia who didn't get out bed in time before school) got their little Valentine's goodies from me. I think they've now had enough sugar to last them at least a week! Julio is in San Francisco today, so I don't know when we'll get to go out and have a date. I guess nowadays it's more about the kids. Kind of sad. I will go get him his favorite treat today (pan dulce) and have it waiting for him when he gets home. Other than that, not such a romantic time for us! I'm still happy I have 4 Valentine's and I love them all very much!

Family Day

Free museum day last weekend at the Aerospace Museum. It was very sunny, windy and CROWDED. Geesh, it's like the whole city of Sacramento decided to go to free museum day. It was nice to have a family day though.

In the cockpit of a US Airforce passenger plane that carried former governors.

Marco and Sylvie in the cockpit ready for take-off!

Our backyard doesn't drain very well and there are a lot of muddy spots out there. As a result of falling off the swing face first, Sylvie ended up covered in mud.

Miss Crazy Hair in the tub. Her hair is very hard to manage and she HATES having it brushed or washed.

The birds and the bees

Our dinner-table conversations lately have been about baby names. The kids think it's hillarious to come up with silly names for the baby (mostly character names like Winnie the Pooh or Dora the Explorer). Then Lucia said, "Next time we have a boy, we can name him..." I stoppped her mid-sentence to say, "There won't be a next time. No more babies after this." And Lucia said, "How do you know?" I said, "Because I'm the factory and it's closing after this one." Lucia proceded to ask, "But don't babies come from heaven? What if another one decides to come down from heaven?" Hmmm, I thought, how to answer that one? "Well, they do come from heaven, but we aren't having anymore." She then asked, "How does the baby get into your tummy anyway?" Julio and I looked at each other and then he changed the subject, "So how was school today?"

I guess we'll have to have "the talk" soon since she's becoming more curious about it. I just don't know exactly how to go about it. Any suggestions? I could say something like: when a mommy and daddy love each other, they come together and the daddy puts a seed into the mommy's tummy. I don't know!!!! Help! I guess I should go get a book about it from the library that explains it in a more child friendly way. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Travesura #10

Another Sylviaism. Today, when I came out of the shower, I found Sylvia jumping on my bed throwing something white into the air and yelling, "Its snowing!" I couldn't figure out what it was, until I got a closer look. Her clothes and hair, my entire bed, and the carpet were covered in PONDS COLD CREAM!!!!!!! She had climbed up on the vanity and gotten the jar and opened it and smeared it everywhere. I was shocked, and then...I stepped on the tube of toothpaste that was on the floor and saw there was toothpaste all over the carpet as well! I swear, this child is going to give me a heart attack one of these days. And when I reprimanded her and stuck her in the shower with all her clothes on, she just laughed and said, "Sorry Mom!" She is now locked in her room where she will remain the rest of the afternoon. I know, I'm a mean mommy, but I can't handle another disaster right now. And, Julio is in San Francisco. Lovely.

Catching up.

So January is the longest, dullest month of the year with it's gloomy, cold weather. We've been getting back into our school routine. Lucia was Star of the Week last week at school. She got to take some of her favorite photos from home and some of her favorite items (her Goldilicious book, a maraca her Primary teacher brought her from Mexico, and a block with a picture of her and her siblings and cousins). She got to present her stuff to her class on Friday and I missed it! I got there right after she was done. Bummer! I did take treats for her to share with her class. I am the worse picture taker!

After school on Friday, we went to see Aunt Nancy who came to visit from Oregon (she's actually my great-aunt). She has given our kids many darling stuffed animals over the years from a gift shop downtown called Joann's. Sadly, Joann is closing her doors and so Aunt Nancy came to help and buy the last gifts for our kids. They were so excited to open their new stuffed animals!

Another change as of this month is with Julio's job. His office here in town ran out of work for him to do, so they're sending him to their San Francisco office. It is a 2 1/2 hour commute each way and costs $40 per day to travel. It is a long and exhausting day when he has to go to SF. Last week, he only went 3 days, so hopefully he'll be able to stay in town the majority of the time with enough work to keep him busy. We don't know what the future holds, he is looking for another job, but we want to keep our health insurance until the baby comes. It's hard, but staying positive and praying for reassurance has helped.