we're back

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things after spring break. I have about a million pictures to sort through/edit. Until I do, here are a few pictures which pretty much summarize this break.

Day 1. At the lighthouse in Long Beach. No one is tired yet.


Day 2. Alec asleep outside of the Indiana Jones ride.


Day 3. Alec asleep at our table during lunch.


Day 4. Alec asleep during the fireworks show.


Day 5. Pleased with their purchases and pretty much sitting down whenever they can.


You'll see more pics on flickr soon. For now, I need a break from our break.

feeling: tired
listening to: Franz Ferdinand (No You Girls)

weekend wrap-up

Friday
I had been freaking out about a little white dot on the TV screen. I was sure that I'd done something that had created a burn-in and was just about to schedule a repair man to come out. Then I heard this news. Whew! You can tell which channel I watch a lot. I usually stick to three channels. I'm surprised Tim Gunn or "Michael Scott" aren't burned into my screen yet either.

Friday/Saturday
I wasn't sure whether or not to go to the midnight release party for Breaking Dawn. I did. I also took Brianna which made me think I was bordering on child abuse. She really wanted to go with me, though and so I gave in. I also thought I might be able to say that she's a really advanced reader and we were really there for her and not me. :P I was number 613 in line. Nice. The kids in attendance went all out! I loved the shirts with Team Jacob/Team Edward on them. I'd be the latter, by the way. I really wanted to take pictures of several of the shirts and outfits but I thought I'd be the creepy old lady there and so I refrained.


The rest of the weekend was spent at home. I can't believe it! It felt good to be home for a couple of days. Rodrigo and Alec seemed to be getting one of those horrible summer colds and neither really felt like doing anything. It gave me a chance to read. Sunday I pretty much lived in the kitchen. I cooked my grandma's style food which takes hours to prep (homemade sopes, gorditas, green chile, shredded beef and spanich rice).
I hope your weekend was good as well.

feeling: sooooooo tired of the humidity. I can't handle it
listening to: STP (Unglued)

Badger by numbers

- 9: Number of pictures that I have of Badger with green or blue eyes when the flash hits his eyes. It seems that the red eye reducer doesn't work on these.


-1: Number of beds Badger has.

-0: Number of beds he actually uses to sleep on. He prefers to sleep under our bed.

- ?: Number of inches his snout has grown. I wish I would've measured because he's no longer the little short snouted puppy seen here:


- 1: Number of complexes he has. My puppy definitely has a Napoleon complex. He'll go upstairs to bark at passing cars & motorcycles. I'm convinced he likes to feel tall to do so.



- 8: Number of friends Badger made at puppy kindergarten.

- 1: Number of times I was knocked down by one of those friends . . . a 90+ pound Great Dane puppy.

- 2: Number of times I've punished the kids by sticking them in crates. Yes, I'm kidding. When we were doggy crate shopping, the kids were getting in the crates. Of course I had to take pictures. What can I say? My poor children have absolutely no toys and have to entertain themselves any way they can. :P



- 1: Number of tags with his name misspelled. "Badser" wears his dog tags all the time.

- About one million: Number of times Badger tried to take off his cone he had to wear after the neutering.


Random puppy cuteness . . . . .














Seriously, couldn't you just squeeze him. Awww, I love my third baby.

the homeless kids

Last week I was running around like crazy. I had a laundry basket under one arm, I was carrying something in my other hand and I walked by an open window making a mental list of things I needed to do that day. I glanced out the window and one of my neighbors was outside on a lawnchair reading a newspaper. I did a double-take wondering, "how does she do that?". She has three kids (whom I've dubbed "the homeless kids"). I wonder how someone with three kids doesn't have a mountain of laundry or end of year school projects to work on or lunch to cook or dishes to wash or floors to clean, etc. etc. You get the point. I put the clothes in the washing machine, walked back and noticed that she was no longer reading the newspaper. . . she was sun bathing! In the middle of the morning. On a freaking Thursday. WTF? I want to do that too. Am I just managing my time poorly?
So let me tell you about the kids. There's two boys one looks like he's older than Brianna, one younger and a little girl that looks like she's about Alec's age. I call them the homeless kids because when they first moved in, I swear I thought those kids had no home. They are outside all day. I first noticed them at the bus stop. Brianna is way too cool to have me walk her to the bus stop now. It's just behind my house, though, so I watch her from my window. This little girl was always the first one out there by herself (I've been asked for an update on her, so watch out for that) then when the homeless kids moved in, they were out there really, really early too, playing football. I noticed them because they were outside playing sooooooo early in the morning. This is before 7:00 am. They'd play football on the sidewalk and street where the bus stops. Of course they wouldn't catch the ball each time, so they'd go onto my back neighbor's yard. The ball would sometimes hit the walls of that house. One day I saw the homeless kids' dad walk out to leave for work when the kids were playing in that yard. I thought "Ooh, they're going to get it now from dad". He waved at them as he drove off and said nothing. Nothing. I'd be really upset if I saw my kids playing on someone else's yard, hitting their walls especially at a time when they're possibly still asleep. I'd say something immediately.
So this has gone on. On weekends when I open the blinds the kids are already out there playing. On afternoons when Brianna gets home from school, we talk about her day, she'll have a snack and do her homework. Those kids are outside. They're dropped off by the same bus only they don't go inside their home. If they do, it's just to dump their backpacks. I wonder when they eat or do homework. Plus their mom is at home. She doesn't work. I can understand kids playing outside all day maybe in the summer, but all the time? This Sunday we were leaving to the store and the homeless kids were out riding their bikes while wearing pajamas and no shoes. I play around and say that the mom sets an alarm early in the morning just to kick them out. They roam around the neighborhood. I walked out once to bring in a garbage can and was startled by them. They were playing like they were shooting each other and one was hiding in my front yard.
I wonder if that mom worries at all about where her kids are. It must be nice to just kick them out and have the house to herself all the time. Maybe that's why she's so carefree sunbathing. I'm always worried about where my kids are, what they're doing, how their day was, if they're hungry, checking homework, making sure they're clean, etc. I must be doing something wrong.

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

It seems that there's a lot of changes and a lot of time has passed since I last wrote. In reality, it hasn't been all that long. Since I've posted . . . .

- We've gone to spend time with family in Texas and have come back. A good time was had by all. We were freezing.

- Rodrigo went out to get the oil changed in my car and came back hours later in a new car. It's not the first time he does that and I really, really don't like it. I feel that I should have some say in the matter. I mean, I should at the very least get to choose the color (since that's basically what I care about). He traded in his Mazda and is now driving one of these in midnight blue. I call it his "dad car". His whole excuse, er, reason for buying it is so that I could drive it (I don't drive standard).

- Brianna turned 9 years old and the changed overnight. Gone are the days of her loving all the little Disney princess things. She's now really into music. She has a c.d. player in her room (along with the iPod we gave her) and so although she still plays with toys, now she does so while listening to music. We're also forced to listen to RadioDisney in the car. The kid artists she loves are soooooo popular now. Either that or I have to hear a lot about them around here. The cool rock music Rodrigo and I listen to is slowly being replaced by The Jonas Brothers and others.
She also begged me for "side bangs" and she looks very different now that she has them. I find it funny that she and all her little friends are really all into the same type of thing. They stand around in their new more grown-up hairstyles, with their new eletronics wearing lip gloss and talking about what Santa brought them. It's a very interesting "in-between" time.

- Last but not least, Rodrigo gave me the ring for Christmas. It's lovely and simple and perfect! My head is nearly exploding because I want to share more about this, but, uh . . . . well, I will. In time.

That's it for now. I want to go in and check on all the blogs I've been neglecting and catch up.


feeling: making lists in my head
listening to: The Juno soundtrack, I don't know the name of the song

back and leaving again

The Polar Express was amazing! I'll post pictures and write about it in detail soon. Now we're back and getting ready to leave to Texas. We're leaving today, so I'll wish everyone now a very happy Christmas! Have a great time, eat too much, laugh too much and most of all be near loved ones. Take care, all!





feeling: busy again
listening to: Alec talking and talking and talking and talking . . .

the polar express

Tomorrow we leave to take the kids on The Polar Express. Doesn't it look awesome? We've never been there before but this is what I know . . . Each Christmas season, the Grand Canyon Railway becomes The Polar Express. Everyone rides wearing pajamas and while you're on the train you get hot chocolate, cookies, listen to the story and sing carols. Then you arrive in "The North Pole" and Santa is there waiting. He boards the train and passes out bells to all the kids. The kids are going to LOVE it. Oh, and it's a surprise to them. They have no idea. We're telling them we're leaving to Texas.
Anyway, I'll be gone for a couple of days. I have to finish packing and I have to finish some other things before I leave. I'm still not done with my cards and haven't even started wrapping. I don't think I've ever sent cards out this late. Don't think I'm being a scrooge this season. I am very much into Christmas this year, I've just been slacking. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.
OMG! A high of 43 where we're going?!?!?!? We were at 71 here yesterday. Brrrrr!

Oh, I almost forgot. If any of you think you might want to come to Arizona and do this next year, reserve soon. All reservations are made about a year in advance. To make the reservation, call the number on the link, you have to know what day you want to ride the train, how many people, which package and they take the payment at that time. You have until March to cancel or make changes. From what I've heard, it's really worth it.

*Ani, this is near the place we were talking about in some recent emails. Remember where I told you they got all the snow?

feeling: busy/excited
listening to: morning news

lots o' stuff

I'm living in a sort of daze. I can't believe Thanksgiving was already a week ago. Ok, so I want to write about some things . . .

- About Thanksgiving:
My mom, dad and grandma came over and spent it here with us in Arizona. They arrived last Tuesday and stayed until Sunday. It was nice to have them here. I especially loved that my grandma came and got to see the house. I ate too much. Everyday. With my parents here, Rodrigo and I were actually able to go out and do something by ourselves. We went to watch this movie and got to do a lot of shopping without the kids. Yes, we did the early shopping and risk getting trampled thing.

- About my parents:
They couldn't get over the weather and kept going out for walks. I personally thought it was finally getting chilly and was wearing sweaters. Meanwhile my parents were wearing shorts and skirts. Well, my mom was wearing skirts. My dad wasn't. :P

- About the kids:
The kids are crazy spoiled and it gets worse with the grandparents here. They were going everywhere with my parents and really pushing the limits of what they can get away with. That said, whenever they have their own kids, I'm spoiling those to get revenge for now. (insert evil grin here)
Brianna's grade had a field trip here last Wednesday. I got to chaperon and spend a lovely day with 75 million third graders. I'm kidding, it was actually really nice. The weather was not too hot or cold and each parent was only in charge of three kids. We got to go at our own pace and just try to complete a scavenger hunt. My group was just interested in being silly. See? (Brianna in pink)



- About the Na_ _ _ Mo's.
I didn't do them this year. I knew all the things I was going to be doing this month and there was just no way I could write a novel and/or post an entry every day. Plus, I'd have to go out and do all sorts of cool things to make my life seem a lot more awesome than I really am. Or lie. I signed up for the NaBloPoMo last year and apparently I'm still on the randomizer. So if you're here checking in to see if I'm really doing it, I'm not. I'd love to, but I can't.

- There's a lot of other things that I want to post about. I screw myself for taking so long in between posts. If I make some time while I'm checking emails and such to throw in a short post, I'll get it done. I have to tell you guys about our elf in the house but that deserves it's own post. Tomorrow. I PROMISE!

feeling: too rushed
listening to: Radiohead (Fake Plastic Trees)

that mom

Yesterday was back to school after what seemed to be the longest three weeks of my life. Every day the kids would be wanting me to keep them entertained with something. In these past weeks we decorated for Halloween, made some crafts, practiced writing (with Alec), began t-ball practices and games, began cheer practices and games, went to cheer camp, went to the zoo, went to the library, went to the park, took lots of pictures, had the kids help with dinner, had them set the table, polish the banister, just anything, ANYTHING that would keep them occupied for a while.
Yesterday morning, Brianna left for school and everything felt calm for a while. I was on the phone with my mom criticizing moms who I consider irresponsible ( this mom to be exact. She still leaves her kid outside by herself and now the little girl has been running out to the middle of the street). Anyway, I was going on and on about how some people don't care about their kids, blah, blah. We hung up and I grabbed my planner to see what we had pending this week: cheer practice, t-ball practice, due date for library dvd's, Alec's pictures are ready, field trip to pumpkin patch, Fool's Hollow/Japanese Ghost stories celebration, Rodrigo's company open house, Brianna's game, Alec's game, cheer leader trophy order form due, Brianna's book report, Alec's parent/teacher conference . . . .wait. What?!?!? Alec's parent/teacher conference which was scheduled two hours before I was reading this. CRAP! I completely forgot about it. I was super embarrassed having to reschedule. The teacher thought it was pretty funny but I feel like that mom. Oh God, can you imagine? Alec's first ever parent/teacher conference and I forgot. I might as well just throw him out to play on the street now.

feeling: like the worst parent ever
listening to: The Church (Under The Milky Way)

this week's update

While most kids are barely getting into the hang of being back in school, mine started Fall holiday this past Monday. They're on a year-long schedule and will have three weeks off. Three LONG weeks. I've been trying to keep them busy and entertained this whole week. They both started up sports practices this week. Brianna is in cheer leading again and now Alec is on t-ball. It's an amazing time to be outside.
Let me tell you about the weather here. . . . it's hot in the summer. HOT! It gets to the point where we say ridiculous things like "It's going to be cooler today. We're only hitting a high of 103". I must say though that right now the weather is lovely. Well, to me at least. These days our lows are in the low 60's and highs in the low to mid 90's. Awesome. Lovely morning walking weather.
Recently I met three new families in school and cheer leading. One just moved here from Wisconsin, another from upstate New York and the other from Washington State. They're burning up. While I was talking to the New York mom yesterday, she was telling me how excited she was that her kids will actually be able to wear Halloween costumes in their size now. She was telling me how she would always buy them about two sizes too big to accommodate warm clothes underneath. If this Halloween is like last year's then it should be no problem.
Speaking of . . . . we decorated the house for Halloween yesterday. Alec is now calling it "The Haunted Mansion". Cute. I'm about to check on various crafts sites to see what I can occupy the kiddies with today.
Another family I met is also from Texas. (I remembered because she also had her kids decorate this week) Just like us, the Texas family moved here because of the man's job and has no other family here. Well, also the Wisconsin family, the New York family, and the Washington family. All of us are here without family and none of us moms work. (We moms? Us moms? Whatever) Plus we all have kids that are somehow friends. Some are friends with Brianna, some with Alec. I am fully convinced that we all have to start some sort of new Joy Luck Club. I'm fantasizing about book meetings, soup swaps, Oscar parties, birthday parties and babysitting duties. The two moms whose kids are buddies with Alec and I are getting together next week and the two who are Brianna's friends, I'll be seeing tomorrow. I just somehow need to get them all together. I'm thinking pot luck at my house since I'm the common acquaintance.
Ok, well I've been rambling through this whole post. I've thought of about a million things to post about this week and each time I've been busy with these kids. Oh, did you all watch The Office last night? Yeah, it was worth the wait. I laughed most at "I'm not superstitious, I'm just a little stitious".
Again, sorry about the nonsequitors. It's kind of hard to concentrate with Brianna reading over my shoulder. (Ha! She stopped as soon as she read that)

feeling: activitied-out
listening to: Brianna talk about her Littlest Pet Shop

rubbish bin yvett

My kids were born with a sort of defect that prevents them from placing trash in a trashcan. Instead, they hand it to me. Come to think of it, I think Rodrigo has that same condition. I don't know what is wrong with them, but they all just hand me their trash. I mean we could be out somewhere where there is no trashcan in sight or they could be closer to one than I am and they'll still just give it to me instead. I'm trying to remember if I did the same thing with my mom. I really don't think I did. Of course I realize it's my fault. I take it. If I would just tell them to not give it to me and tell them where they could place it, they'd do it.
Brianna doesn't do it anymore. Let me tell you how . . . . The last time that we went to the movies, she was sitting with some popcorn and a drink. I didn't want any myself, but once I was sitting next to her, the popcorn smelled good. I told her so. She then handed me what I thought was a single popcorn and I put it in my mouth. It was her straw's wrapper. I then did the whole sticking out my tongue, closing my eyes and a sort of "bleh, bleh". She looked like she felt bad and I secretly felt good that she felt guilty. Heh, heh (insert cackling here). I just noticed that she hasn't handed me her trash since. If I would've known that all I had to do was place the trash they hand me in my mouth, I would've done it a long time ago.

feeling: super happy
listening to: Muse (Supermassive Black Hole)

weekend wrap-up

Friday:
We finally made it out to In-n-Out Burger. The crowd wasn't as bad as it had been. We took just a little over a half hour to get our order. The first day it opened, people were waiting four hours. FOUR! That didn't make any sense to me, since I could drive two hours and be at the next nearest location.


Saturday:
We took the kiddies to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We all really liked it. It's out in the middle of the desert and is part museum, part zoo and part botanical garden. At 103 degrees, the zoo and hiking part was, uh, interesting. Let's just say that we were looking for a "real desert experience" and we definately got it. Pics here.


In the evening, my lovely family took me out to Mother's Day dinner here. Yum!


Sunday:
I got exactly what I wanted for Mother's day, to go nowhere! Yes, an entire day of not having to go anywhere. Ahh...... We cooked, baked, sat around and watched tv, you know those lucky, lucky days when you don't have to go out.

Well, that going nowhere, doing nothing feeling is over today. I have some more packing to do.

feeling: like I should get up and do something now
listening to: Interpol (The Heinrich Maneuver)

model homes

My kids may never have been camping a day in their lives, they've never been fishing and have never run a lemonade stand, but they know model homes. That's right. They have the whole model home thing down.
Ever since we moved to Arizona, we started visiting MANY, many model homes. At first we would go to the model of the house we're having built. After that, we started visiting those of other builders. Some just to look at the layout of the house. Others just to get decorating ideas. So far, we have visited the models for this, this, this,this, this and this builder. Those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. We have spent entire weekends just going from model to model. All of us love it. The kids now have a game where they choose their bedroom first (they're mice in this game for some reason) then one of the mice is trapped somehow and the other has to save it. Weird, but whatever. Brianna has now also taken to carrying around a little notebook and writing down colors or things she'd like in her room. She has a little purse where she carries around that notebook, some pencils and paint chips. I'm probably setting up the kids to be major dorks when they grow up, wanting to talk about interior decorating instead of sports or something. :P



feeling: I can't believe how hot it is already
listening to: Garbage (I Think I'm Paranoid)

Brianna's teeth

Nope, I haven't fallen off the earth, I've just been busy. Brianna had some minor surgery this past Thursday and well, now that she's all better, I can talk about it.

-sigh- I feel soooooooo relieved now that this is all done with. We've been dealing with this for the longest time. My poor daughter lost her top teeth in the autumn of 2005. I remember this very, very well because she had a field trip to a pumpkin patch where they were given a corn on the cob. Her best friend's mom and I were talking about how the girls had both just lost their teeth and had a hard time with the corn. Anyway, all the other kids' teeth started coming in and I saw no progress with Brianna. I waited and waited. In the spring of 2006, I had her dentist check her again. At this check-up, he pretty much kept asking me if I hit her. I told him no but he was insistent that she had hit her teeth and they had fallen out before time. I kept telling him that I don't hit her, no one else has hit her and she has never fallen and hit her teeth. Still, I was dismissed and told to just wait. We waited longer. We moved to Arizona and I took her to a different dentist here. He also told us to just wait. Now it had been a little over a year since she'd lost her teeth. Also, it looked like the teeth were there but covered. You could actually see the outline. This guy really got under my skin. When he asked me why we were there, I explained the whole thing while he took a look at Brianna's x-rays. I thought he was listening and when I was done talking, he said "Ok, let's take a look at those teeth". Then he was surprised that the teeth weren't in even though I had just TOLD HIM! Anyway, he didn't know what to do or say and he told us to wait a month. We waited a month, I called and he said to wait another month. All this time, I was looking up all sorts of websites for some sort of information. Rodrigo and I spent soooooo much time trying to find some sort of information or answer but couldn't find anything similar. I called around to various local dentists and specialists and no one really knew what to do. I finally found one specialist who was willing to see her. As soon as he saw her, he knew what it was. I was so relieved, I started getting verklempt talking to the doctor. The teeth were in fact in but actually covered up by gums. We were given another month to try to get the teeth to cut through. At least this time, we were actually made to do something. We were numbing her gums and rubbing them each morning and night. After the month, there was only a little progress and so we were sent to an oral surgeon. Then she had to be examined there and finally had surgery on Thursday. They removed a chunk of her gums to uncover her teeth. -cringe- I couldn't sleep the night before. I kept thinking she was going to be in pain, wondering why the first dentist couldn't have just listened to me, thinking that I should have been more insistent since I knew something was wrong, wishing I could go through with the surgery instead of her . . all sorts of things. The actual procedure took only about half an hour. After she was done, they called me into the recovery room and I was shocked to see all her teeth in. The four front teeth were uncovered completely. They're not like halfway in but all there all of a sudden. So for about two days, she had some soft food and lots of ice cream. She's been smiling all weekend, poor thing. Saturday she cheered at a football game and was just all smiles the whole time. She couldn't wait to go back to school today. I'm glad she feels better and happy that this is all over with.

feeling: very, very relieved
listening to: Paolo Nutini (Last Request)

my vegetarian son

Up until recently, I had no problems with Alec's diet. Little by little I've been noticing that he liked any sort of meat less and less. Now he just refuses to eat it. I have to beg him, bribe him, and sometimes even feed him myself. I feel guilty because, well, I don't like meat all that much either. I feel bad pressuring him to eat it. It's just that I feel he needs protein. He's so thin. He'll be four years old in June and he still weighs only 30 lbs at the most.
I've been trying to sneak in some meat in his meals. A couple of nights ago, I made stir fry and cut up some beef into tiny little pieces hoping they'd just blend in. He was eating fine, then tasted the beef, took it out of his mouth and said "Eww, this mushroom tastes bad".
So, I've been looking on websites to find information about kids nutrition and protein requirements. I have no problem getting him to eat fruits, vegetables, grains and dairy. All he hates is all meat except for fish. But, well, I can't and won't make fish every night. Knowing that he loves the taste of fruit, I tried looking for recipes that included some sort of protein in fruit. I ended up making pork chops in a cranberry glaze. He loved it and ate the whole thing. Score! Wait, Brianna hated it. Suck. Just when I thought she was the perfect dinner daughter who never complains about food (other than eggs), she was whiny yesterday. She was wiping the glaze off the pork chop and complaining the whole time. That's it. I give up. I'm going to become one of those moms who just give them canned food or macaroni and cheese every night. Yeah, and then my mom, my grandma, and Rodrigo's mom will all come over and punch me in the face . . and Rodrigo will marry me just to be able to divorce me.
Ah, I miss the days when the kids were young enough to just eat whatever I gave them. Why did I ever teach them to speak?

feeling: I LOVE this coffee
listening to: The Shins (Phantom Limb)

random conversations

I've got nothing. I thought I'd share some bits of conversations we've been having here at Chez Yvett. . . .

- Alec: What are you doing?
- me: Getting ready
- Alec: with make-up?
- me: yes. it's lipstick
- Alec: I don't want to kiss you anymore
- me: why not?
- Alec: because you have make-up on your mouth
- me: it's lipstick. I put it on my lips to look pretty
- Alec: nobody is ever, ever, ever gonna kiss you because you have make-up on your mouth
(walked away and left me there) He's kept his word so far. All day he didn't let me kiss him.


- Rodrigo: What was the dentist's name again?
- me: Dr. Jaws
- Rodrigo: That's right! That's awesome! If my name were "Jaws" I'd have to be a dentist.
- me: that's not his name j.a.w.s. are his initials
- Rodrigo: well, if those were my initials, I'd have to be a dentist
- me: oh really? then why don't you work on the railroad? or why don't you run a bed and breakfast so that people can get some "R & R".
- Rodrigo: aish


- Brianna: did I tell you that Sarah lost her earring?
- me: WHAT? Sarah lost her ear?!?!
- Brianna: her earring! but she found it later on. What is she, Sarah Van Gogh?
-me: oh. I'm glad she found it. (thinking) wow. she knows more things than I realize.


- me to Rodrigo: quit making that face at me. you look like Gilbert Gottfried
- Rodrigo laughs
- me: hey, do you know who he is
- Rodrigo: Gilbert Gottfried?
- me: yeah
- Rodrigo: yeah I know who he is
- me: no, do you know who he does?
- Rodrigo: his wife?
- me: no! that duck
- Rodrigo: huh?
- me: he does that Aflac duck. that's him
- Rodrigo: oh. uh, ok.
- me: BWAH! HA! HA! Gilbert Gottfried does his wife! HA! -and I kept laughing for about 10 minutes.


- Alec: mama, what's this? (he was holding onto something small)
- me: oh, that's a . . uh . . . "lentejuela"
- Alec was satisfied with my answer and ran off
- Rodrigo: What the hell is that? Len . . te. .what?
- me: it's . . uh. . sequins! or sequin whatever, I couldn't remember the word in English
- Rodrigo: "lentejuela" that's a funny word
- me: si, cara de lentejuela
- we both laugh. I guess it is a funny sounding word.


feeling: sort of chilly
listening to: a morning radio talk show

loud house

My mom, dad and nephew are in town for the weekend. Yay for seeing family! Boo for the extremely loud house! You see the kids hadn't seen in each other for a while and of course all they want to do is play. Well, they want to play, scream, fight and cry, play, scream, fight and cry, play scream, fight and cry. You get the picture. It's funny that even though they end up fighting, they all just want to be together all the time. Poor Alec is getting bullied today. The youngest always gets it. They're playing Candyland in his room right now and he runs out crying every few minutes.

At today's football game Brianna had to audacity to tell her little cheerleader friends that she wishes she had a sister. I heard this and couldn't believe it. She hates when Alec goes into her room and gets things. I would imagine that a sister would be even more interested in her toys. Brianna would be mad all the time. I don't know. I think her chances of having a sister are slim to none. The older the kids get, the less I can imagine having another baby and just doing all the baby things over again.

Sorry, I have to go now. My mom has completely taken over my computer to play the all important Text Twist. I'm getting kicked out of the office.

feeling: happy to see my family
listening to: my mom telling me to move :)

alec

The online album issue has been solved. Even though, technically I'm not supposed to do this, I'm going to share a couple of pictures with you for maybe a day or two. Then I'll take it down. So, here is my baby Alec. . .



feeling: cold
listening to: Christmas music

bad, bad Brianna

Yes, I love my daughter. Yes, I'd do anything for her. Yes, she's usually nice but every now and then, wow, my daughter can be sooooo bad. She loves drama. Always has. We're pretty much used to it and don't make a huge deal about it. Tonight, though, she made me quite angry.
She was getting ready for bed was already in pajamas and had already brushed her teeth. Then she asked me what she was going to be wearing for school tomorrow and I showed her. When she saw the outfit, she wanted to sleep in curlers because "her hair had to be pretty with those clothes". I was putting the curlers on her and she kept fidgeting and whining. I started making conversation with her but she was in an arguing mood. I told her I was proud of her and her class for passing some tests. She started arguing saying that they weren't tests but instead "things they have to do". I was talking to her about an upcoming field trip and she said she didn't care. I knew she must be really sleepy since she gets in an "everbody is my enemy" mood when she's realy sleepy. She started moving her head away and was stopping my hand, so I told her to go to bed. I wasn't done placing all the curlers and I was sort of bluffing. I'd have gone into her room a minute later and finished but right then she stood up. She started removing the curlers one by one and saying, "Good. I. Didn't. Want. To. Wear. These. Anyway." At the same time she was throwing the curlers to the floor all over the living room. I was shocked! All I thought was "Oh no she didn't". In a calm voice I told her to pick them up and she almost screamed "No!". I told her again, this time in a firmer voice. She threw herself in a pseudo-faint worthy of an Oscar nomination, started picking them up all while crying and saying "It's not fair! It's not fair!". I don't know what wasn't fair, but I guess it wasn't. She went to bed. I followed a few minutes later to tuck her in and kiss her knowing she'd be over it but she was fast asleep. I felt horrible for not tucking her in but I kissed her anyway. Yikes. I wonder how the teen years are going to be.

feeling: sleepy
watching: Conan O'Brien

botanical garden

We took the kiddies to the botanical gardens today to see a butterfly exhibit. They LOVED it! I did too, of course. Ok, time to upload the pictures.

feeling: tired
listening to: Incubus (Anna Molly)