Christmas is back!

It is that time of year again. Today we put up our Christmas decorations! ... And given that I didn't feel well at all during the Thanksgiving Holiday, I am certainly looking forward to the Christmas break!

Bye bye stuff

Even though it makes me sad, we have decided that during this Christmas break we will get rid of the playroom, and give each girl their own room. I like them sharing a room - just like Gabi and I always did - but the playroom is always messy and they end up not enjoying it at all. Also, they end up blaming each other for the mess in both the playroom and their bedroom, and it is getting to the point where Sofia needs her space anyway. But in order to undo the bunk bed, and move Sofia's bed to the playroom, we need to remove a few things. That includes two different tables, an easel, and some shelves. It also makes me sad to let go of them, but I know somebody out there will still be able to enjoy them. And since we were already looking to get some things out, Lionel asked the girls if we could also donate the play kitchen we have in the living room. To his and my surprise, they both said yes. So off it goes as well.

Lionel's Birthday

Yesterday was Lionel's birthday, but unfortunately I was sick pretty much all weekend and we couldn't do anything fun. I did manage to make him his favorite cake in the morning, and he went out for dinner with his friends. And the girls made him birthday cards as well.

Thanksgiving crafts

This weekend Bella and I spent some time working on crafts. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, Sofia decided not to join us for that. Bella had us make baskets and flowers with coffee filters and wooden sticks, and I choose to make Gratitude Journals, which I read about in one of those parenting blogs. Since Bella can't write many words yet she mostly did drawings, and her journal included things like family, Santa Claus, and house. Mine included family, friends, house, school and work.

Family poster

Recently, they did family posters again in Bella's classroom. I don't remember if I had posted the picture of ours, so here it is just in case.

Normal. Flattering. Creepy.

This is a short story about how a visit to Kroger earlier today went from normal, to flattering, to creepy. Here it goes...

This morning I went to Kroger real quick to get couple ingredients I was missing to make Lionel his birthday cake. I was grabbing the buttermilk when I heard somebody behind me say: "Excuse me". I turned around and there was a guy, probably in his late forties, standing there. "Do you know where I can find pie crusts?” I told him where to find them and he walked away. So far so good.

I then ran into him again (probably on purpose as I later found out) and he said "Excuse me again. Are you married?” I answered yes, and he added "You are a very pretty girl". I said a weary thank you as he walked away, hoping that was it. But he came back couple minutes later and said "Excuse me, but I have to ask. If I give you my number, is there any way I can take you out?" ... WHAT?!? You've got to be kidding me people!! I answered a firm "No sir" and he finally left. But I definitely lingered for a few extra minutes at the store to make sure I wouldn't run into him outside. Oh, and may I mention that I have a cold and was wearing my sweat pants?

Thanksgiving 2014

Today was Thanksgiving day, and we took it easy. The things I am thankful for are too many to list here, but family is at the top of the list, as well as good friends, good neighbors, and the huge blessing that is to live every single day in the freedom and safety that so many people, in so many countries, can only dream of. We are a lucky bunch indeed.

Messy!

Yesterday the girls' school was closed, but I had to work. So I worked from home. By 10 am they had already argued about something (anything, it appears) multiple times. So I split them, and one had to be upstairs while the other one was downstairs. That gave me a bit of peace, except that they went around making a mess everywhere. I was busy though, so I had to force myself not to worry about the mess until later, potentially until Lionel came back home in the afternoon. When he arrived, this is a bit of what he saw. Sigh...

Cake encore

Abuelita and Tios came back, and my cake plan worked! Says who that this was a half eaten cake?

Birthday afternoon

On Tuesday, by the time the Thanksgiving feast was over, it was already time for lunch. I had planned to go somewhere special for lunch - just the two of us - but Bella had other plans. She decided that she wanted to go back home and simply eat eggs. I thought that was kind of boring, but she was the birthday girl.

After lunch she decided she wanted to go to Yagoot, so we did. We then went to the car wash real quick, and by then she was really exhausted and fell asleep in the car. So I drove around to let her sleep some, just like in the old times. I was tired too, and wished somebody was driving ME around.

We eventually went to pick up her second birthday cake, the one for our traditional family cake cutting, picked up Sofia, and came back home. Since Abuelita and Tios were still out of town, this time around it was only Abuelito and the 4 of us. But we held the fort, and I strategically decided to cut the back of the cake so that when Abuelita and Tios came back, we could still take a picture with it and pretend that they didn't miss the birthday. Pretty ingenious, if I may say so myself.

Thanksgiving feast

On Tuesday I took the day off to spend it with Bella, which also allowed me to attend her Thanksgiving Feast and be there for her classroom's birthday celebration. The celebration consists of the kids walking around the sun as many times as how old they are, while somebody (in this case me) reads aloud an accomplishment or something that happened on each year.

Bella was happy to have me there, and of course I was even happier than her.

Goodie bags

Sofia took the initiative of putting together the goodie bags, which was really sweet. Unfortunately that means that some of the names were written in an interesting way, and the boys ended up with pink bags.

Bella's Birthday Party

This past Sunday we hosted Bella's birthday party at a new place called Pogo Play. As usual, the list of guests ended up being huge - especially since in the last few days Bella started inviting siblings of her guests and Sofia's friends  - but as usual it all turned out Ok. After all, that was a place where kids could run around, jump, climb, and scream without being asked to tone it down. So whether you had 5 or 20, it was kind of the same thing. And while the kids played around, the adults had a bit of catch up time.