Memorial Day in San Francisco

It was such a beautiful day, we had a picnic by the Palace of Fine Arts

Then we explored all the amazing things in the Exploratorium. sights, sounds, things to touch and experiment with. we loved it!

and that’s all the pictures we got because the battery died on the camera. We would have liked to get some shots outside in the Palace. the kids kept saying, “Wow, this is so beautiful!”  We were exhausted though, so we headed home. It was a fun day and it was good we got to use our museum passes-saved us a lot of money!

Mother’s Day

I love getting handmade gifts from my children. Sylvie brought me a plant she planted at school and a beautiful card. It said:

My mommy’s name is : my mommy.

My mommy is: 2 years old and weighs 2 pounds. Her eyes are blue (?) and her hair is brown.

My mommy makes the best pasta. She likes to eat pasta.

If my mommy could have any wish in the world it would be: a baby (what?!)  I love you mom because you smile.

Marco made me a card that said “My mom is special because she loves me and she watches tv with me.”  and a magnet.

Lucia made me a pot holder and card. She wrote the following poem:   Mom  joyful happy caring and kind you are my mom and that’s what counts! I love you because you take care of me and my dinner! You take of me when I get hurt. Thank you!

Julio got me a…..new computer! My very own pink laptop that the kids can’t get their dirty little fingerprints all over, and that won’t crash every 1o minutes! yay! I am so grateful to be a mother. It’s the hardest, but best job in the world!

Tessa’s birthday

what can Tessa do? She can walk-fast! She climbs up onto Marco’s bed and onto the toy box. She can wave bye-bye, points at things when you  ask her where they are. She says mama, dada, hi (sounds like hah), and ball. She drinks milk now but is still nursing-mommy’s trying to wean her. She is eating a variety of foods. She likes things she can moosh with her tongue-refried beans, yogurt with pumpkin puree, bread and crackers. She does not like eggs and bananas. She has 4 teeth. She is mostly sleeping through the night-but she’s started having night terrors like Lucia had where she wakes up screaming and isn’t quite awake, but we have to calm her down before we can get her back to bed.

We celebrated her birthday on the actual day-a Saturday. The Hill’s were out of town, so we invited the Donaldson’s. Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle B came too. We had pizza, presents and cupcakes. It was low key, but Tessa seemed to enjoy it.

		Tessa’s birthday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Tessa is a year old!

Here are some cute pictures of  Tessa from the past month:

at Tia Yesenia’s house. We

went down to LA for a couple of days for a funeral for one of Julio’s friends.

with cousin Halea.

HI! I’m walking!

peek-a-boo!

the dress Aunt Callie made her for her birthday.

Getting dirty!

Julio took Marco on the Father and Son campout this weekend. He didn’t want to go-he said, “Can’t I just take him to San Francisco instead? I’ll be spending time with my son?” I told him he needed to go on the campout and spend time with the other men and boys from church. So, he did. He didn’t take any pictures of himself with Marco, but it looked like they had fun and got plenty dirty!

Lucia’s imagination

Our brilliant little girl in her little world

waiting at “the bus stop”

Her miniature house complete with little couches, a phone, white carpet and little friends.

a top a box about to be turned into something else.

Marco and Sylvie at school

The past couple of weeks, I’ve been able to help out in Marco’s kindergarten class. His class has 31 kids and 20 of them are boys. That teacher sure has her hands full! I wasn’t able to go in until recently when Sylvia started preschool. (I will write about that in a minute). The work they have kindergartners doing nowadays is pretty advanced. I was helping them correct their math packets the other day. They turn them in when they are done and then get a new packet. Some kids are careful about doing their work completely and neatly. Others do it as fast as they can just to finish and get a lot of problems wrong. Marco still hasn’t turned in his packet because he’s a perfectionist! Who’d have though my kid would be a perfectionist? I’m definitely not one! His teacher held up a page he colored so intricately and elaborately to show the class how great it was and to praise him. He beamed from ear to ear.  Then they do writing. They have to draw a picture to go with their sentence I like _______ because _________.   Marco did his so neatly and spelled every word correctly, that he didn’t finish. But, I knew which paper was his-the neatest and prettiest of them all. That’s my boy!

Sylvia is doing well in school. Julio takes her in the morning when he drops off the other kids. He reads her a story and then he leaves for work. She cried the first two weeks when he left, but this week-no tears! She has a visual schedule she checks so she knows what to expect each day. She has her own teacher’s aide that helps her out.  She eats breakfast, brushes her teeth, does circle time, plays outside, does crafts and letters/numbers, eats lunch and then rides the school bus home. She always has a huge smile on her face when the bus pulls up in front of our house and the first thing she says when she gets off the bus is, “Mommy, I’m home!” and gives me a big hug.  As soon as she walks in the door, she wants to turn on the tv, but I make her use the potty and then tell me about school before she can watch it. I really have to pry any information out of her, but she gives me little snippets of her day. She’s making friends and following the schedule. She also attends speech once a week.  She’s eating much better at home now and she’s able to deal with her anxiety better too. I’m so glad she’s liking school.