Zoey and the frog

Zoey really likes the frog toy Abuelito and Abuelita gave her. Well, I guess I should say she "liked it". She has been playing with it for a while, and today she finally destroyed it for good.

Un ojo al gato, y el otro al garabato...

A few things happen when I am working from home and, for one reason or another, I need to keep Bella with me:

1) She makes a giant mess while I watch her helplessly because I need to work, and more often than not I also need to be on the phone.

2) She eats stuff that she probably shouldn't [like candy] because while I am working she grabs her plastic stool and moves it around to get stuff that she wants from the kitchen.

3) At some point I end up asking her if she wants to watch TV (yes, I actually offer it to her) because I need to ensure she is not going to start screaming while I am trying to get stuff done.

4) I get really stressed, dreading the moment when [while I am on the phone] she may start screaming or talking to me loudly, and I may not be fast enough to go on mute.

5) I feel like a bad mom (for ignoring my child) and like a bad worker (for having my child with me).

Today was one of those days. Bella built a fort in the living room, left all her play dough stuff on the kitchen table, and barely ate lunch. But all things considered I think we did Ok.

In progress...

True to my promise to myself, I have started teaching French to the kids. They may learn to speak French with a Spanish accent, but it is better than no French at all. As of today, they have learned the following words in French:

1. Numbers from 1-10
2. Hello, good bye, see you later, good morning
3. I am doing fine
4. I like
5. Head, hair, hand, foot, eyes, ears, teeth, mouth, nose

Sofia has also learned how to say banana, strawberries, orange, and cherries.

White board

Due to bad behavior, tonight Bella did not make it to Sofia's drawing on the white board. She tried to convince me to add her, but I wasn't touching that with a 10 foot pole.

The kissing hand

This is the gift Bella brought home for me tonight.

Bella and her crown

This is what Bella chose to wear yesterday. My answer? Sure, why not! She didn't really keep it for long. By the time I dropped them off at school, she had gotten tired of it and left it in the car.

True Story!

Today Bella came to me, hugged me, and whispered in my ear: "Mami, you are beautiful".

Back to back

Today was a pretty full Saturday. I ran 7 miles in the morning, Lionel and the girls then had tennis, we went to Target to buy a birthday gift and food for lunch, came back home to take showers and eat lunch, and right after drove all the way up to the Great Wolf Lodge to drop Sofia off for the overnight birthday party she was invited to. Bella had an absolute meltdown when we came back without Sofia, and cried for like 20 minutes straight. But she finally calmed down when I told her she was going to Coco's birthday as soon as we got home. When we came back home we probably rested for 10 minutes before we walked back down Perla's house. By then, it was close to 4:00 pm. By 6:30pm Lionel picked us up, with the intention of going out for dinner all three of us. Since Bella doesn't really get a chance to be alone with us, we thought it would be a good opportunity to spend time together just the 3 of us. But she had other plans ... Since it was Parent's Night Out at her daycare - a babysitting opportunity they now offer every month - she decided she wanted to go there instead. I tried to convince her otherwise, but she had made up her mind. I was disappointed at the missed opportunity, but we took her to daycare as she asked. Lionel and I then had dinner out, just the two of us, and picked Bella back up at around 9:15. By then, I was absolutely beat. So we are now sitting on the couch, and I am writing this as Lionel watches TV.

After a back to back type of day, sitting on the couch is just what my tired feet need right now.

Zoey!

Zoey had her vet appointment today. She has no fleas, no parasites, no issues. She is one healthy girl!

Filosofando

Bella: I don’t want mami to get old

Sofia: Don’t worry. Daddy is going to die WAY before mami

Me: Why do you say that?

Sofia: Because daddy is older than you … but don’t worry Bella. It is still a long time from now, so we are good

Bella's 1st day ... in year 2 of preschool

Today it was Bella's turn to go back to school. The morning was pretty uneventful, until it was time for the drop off. As soon as one of the teachers opened the door to take Bella out of the car, she started to cry. So I had to get out of the car and give her a big hug. Luckily, one of her teachers was close to us so she walked up to Bella and offered to walk her inside. That calmed her down.

In the afternoon my mom picked her up from school, and based on what the teacher told her, Bella had a great day. Tonight I asked Bella why she cried, and she told me it was because she wanted to spend time with me. Awww...

1st day back!

Today was Sofia's first day back at school, so last night I made her a cute sign she could hold while I took her picture in the morning. Then, tonight, we modified the sign to be ready for Bella's first day tomorrow morning. I made the sign, and Sofia and Bella added some girly decorations to it.

Sofia's day went well, very uneventful considering this is her third year with the same teacher, and with the same classmates. When we asked her how her day was, she responded with a quick "It was Ok" and "I don't remember exactly what I did" - typical answer for any given day. So back to the routine I guess...

Pizza stone

Sometimes I make bad choices, just like everybody else. Today, my bad choice came when I was making dinner for the girls.

Since Lionel was at the Reds game for some work event, today's menu was salad and home-made pizza. I had bought pizza dough that you just take out of the package and unfold into a flat rectangle. Over the weekend I also bought a pizza stone - which is supposed to make the pizza a lot crispier - so I was eager to use it. Since the pizza stone is round, and the dough was a rectangle, I decided to make a big ball of dough to then reshape it to a circle. That, as it turns out, was a really bad idea. Once I had the ball, I really struggled to reshape it back into a square, a circle, anything! It was so compact, that it really did not want to expand. Eventually I managed to spread it enough to cover probably 60% of the pizza stone ... good enough as far as I was concerned! I then finally put on the sauce, the cheese, and the pepperoni, and put it in the oven while I went to give the girls a shower.

By the time we were ready to eat, and I took the pizza out of the oven, I realized that the dough had stuck to the pizza stone! I did put flour on it before I put the dough in there, but I guess that will all the effort of trying to spread it again, it just stuck.

We still ate our pizza, and we still enjoyed it very much, but the pizza stone is still there, waiting to be cleaned. That is a project for another day...

Last day of summer vacation

Today was the last day of summer vacation, since Sands reopens tomorrow. Technically Bella has one more day off, since she goes to school until Thursday, but tomorrow she is going to the Goddard school and I am going to work.

I couldn't take the day off, so the girls stayed at home with me while I worked. That wasn't ideal, but they managed to entertain themselves and we took a break to take their supplies to school and to grab lunch at First Watch. We then came back home so I could work for a few more hours, but at the end of the day we went to grab some snow cones, and to the park for a little while. I just wanted to make sure that on their very last day of summer vacation, they got to do something fun.

Play with me!

Zoey sometimes doesn't seem to understand that when I am working from home, it doesn't mean play time. She may be ready to toss the tennis ball, but I need to check email.

Twelve!

Today was our 12th wedding anniversary, and although we didn't have a special celebration planned, we certainly kept busy from beginning to end. Lionel and I ran 6 miles in Hyde Park, we then picked up the girls from my sister's house - where they spent the night - and had a very "exotic" late lunch at Panera with the girls in tow. We watched one of the tennis finals, I played in the swings with Bella for a little while, we had dinner outside, and I made cupcakes and arranged them as a flower vase, just like a picture I saw on the internet. My flower vase didn't turn out exactly like in the picture, but overall I think I did Ok.

Tennis night out

Thanks to my mom's help taking care of the kids, Gabi, Raj, Lionel and I were able to go to the tennis semi-finals last night. The weather was great, and it was also fun to see my work friends for a few minutes there, but I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. So much so, that I fell asleep on the ride back home and barely woke up to put my pajamas on, brush my teeth, and get into bed.

Flower power

My racquet's new accessory.

Anderson Music Workshop

I hadn't realized that the place where Sofia goes to piano lessons has a Facebook page. But today her teacher pointed it out, especially because there are some really special people on their profile page. Check it out by yourselves...

Goddard Picnic

Today was the Goddard School's end of summer picnic at Juilfs Park. The playground has been under construction, and hasn't yet been completed, but it is looking really great! We arrived at 6 and stayed until 8:30, but then it was time to go back home. I was cold, since the temperature has been unseasonably cool, and the girls were so filthy that I definitely needed to give them a shower before they went to bed.