Babysitting

Tonight we are babysitting for Gabi and Raj. They went out for a well deserved adults only dinner, so we are in charge! Bella and Diego did spend some quality time on the ipad, but then they got moving and went to play in Diego's room. As for Adrian, he was of course the first one to crash.

Memories

According to Facebook, exactly a year ago today my dad became a citizen and I started my sabbatical. I wish I could do that every year. I would definitely be up for that.

Parents night out

Last night Ms Mitza hosted a parents night out to raise money for the school's PTO. Bella was signed up, but Sofia did not want to go ...until pretty much the last minute. We dropped them off at 6:00 pm and went out for dinner, just the two of us. We went to Bravo and sat outside on the patio, which was good for me because I have a cold and didn't want to be exposed to the AC. Since I wasn't feeling well though, we went straight home after dinner and I worked a little bit sitting on the couch. It was such a short week, with the holiday and with having to leave work early for swim practice, that I have a lot of work to get done. 

When the time was up Lionel went to get the girls by himself. There was no way I was going out again.

Making it up

Bella is still at that stage where she writes things they way they sound to her. Some words are easy to decipher, but some not so much.

Popsicols - popsicles

Pejemuday - pajama day

Casol - castle

Peris - Paris

Iyfoltawr - Eiffel tower

Groshrestore - grocery store

Wodrmelin - watermelon

Mol - mall

Skerd - scared

Slumbrpordee - slumber party

Librerey - library

Apol - apple

Choclit - chocolate

Shrobare - strawberry

Eckwereum - aquarium

Swim Team

This summer the girls are doing swim team. The name of the neighborhood team is "Stingrays", practice started this week, and the first swim meet is next week. We thought Bella would need to be a Junior Stingray, since she is not full on swimming just yet, but after this week's practice she already got promoted to the 8 and under group. That means she gets to practice the full hour Vs 30 minutes, and she gets to participate in the swim meets. I hope the girls have fun and enjoy the experience, because we are totally doing it for them.

6 miles

This morning I got 6 miles in, right before the rain came. At the end of my run I also had a pretty spot to stretch before I got back in the car - literally seconds before it started to rain. It was a good run. I even ran a couple of miles in under 9 minutes each. That is quite fast for me.

New sticker

My flying pig sticker was all faded, so I had to remove it. But that made room from my brand new polka dot one.

Hawaiian Girl

This weekend I bought some flower necklaces because I thought the kids would have fun with them during the party, and so they did. Bella kept a pink one, and was still proudly wearing it yesterday.

Pool time

Pools in Cincinnati open this weekend, so yesterday we went to check out the one in our new neighborhood. Sofia wanted to wait and go in the evening, because that is when the neighbors were going, but Bella wanted to go before that. So I took her for a little while, but then I ended up disappointed because she didn't even thank me for it. She got cranky because the little girl she was playing with had to leave, so we went back home shortly thereafter. Too bad our first visit to the pool wasn't completely happy times.

Platanitos

I am not one to normally take pictures of food, but the plantains I made this morning deserved to get one.

Fiesta!

After two months getting settled into the new house, today was our housewarming party. We welcomed our friends and neighbors, both old and new, and enjoyed some seriously fabulous weather. So much to be thankful for, today and every single day.

Morning run

This morning Bella woke up when I was getting ready to go running, and said that she wanted to come running with me. I wasn't sure that was a good idea, because more likely than not I would not be able to run, but I said yes anyway. The weather was nice, and I figured it would at least be good Mami-Bella time. 

We did a little bit of walking, and a little bit of sprinting, and managed to finish 2.5 miles in about 33 minutes - which I thought was great considering Bella's size. So I was very proud of her! Our run started at Beech Acres, the girls' favorite park, so after we finished I let Bella play there for a little while. It was about nine by then, so we pretty much had the park of for ourselves. It was a lovely way to start our day.

Bella's Year End Show

Yesterday morning was Bella's year end show, her third and last one in Miss  Mitza's classroom. I was once again very lucky to be able to walk away from work to go see it, and even luckier to have my mom with us as well. 

After the show Bella wanted to come home early with me, but I really had to work. So she went home with my mom instead, which worked out very well. I did what I had to do at work, so I didn't have to worry about it during the weekend, and my mom and Bella enjoyed the afternoon together.

Cool Evening

Tonight was a bit of a cool evening, at least for my taste, but the girls wanted to hang out outside - so we did. We played a little bit of tennis in the driveway, and then we had dinner in the back yard. Lionel was out for a work dinner, so it was girl time.

Finally all set!

This weekend we finally tackled the office, the last room that needed to be cleaned and organized. The living room also needed a few finishing touches, and the dining room needed couple pictures to be hung, which we also did. It is all looking good - if I may say so myself.

The Zoo. The Child. And The Run

They well say there is a first for everything, and Friday was my first time going to the zoo, in the middle of a work day, wearing my work clothes, and running all the way across from the parking lot to pick up my sick child who of course made a miraculous recovery right before I got to her. 

I was in the office when I got a phone call from the school saying that Bella was at her field trip to the zoo, but was coughing a lot and did not look so good. The teacher asked me to please meet them at 1:25 by the picnic area, as they needed to board the buses at 1:30. So as soon as my meeting ended at 1:00 pm I packed my stuff and quickly left the office to go pick her up. Unfortunately the parking lot was all the way across from the picnic area, so once I parked I had to sprint because otherwise there was no way I would make it there on time. I ended up beating them there because they were running late, but when they arrived a few minutes later Bella did not look sick at all. She did look extremely excited to see me there though. She was so happy, with a smile from ear to ear, that I couldn't possibly be annoyed about all the stress of having to rush out of work to meet them there. I was just happy that she was Ok.

The teacher felt bad and told me she wasn't sure what happened, because one minute Bella was coughing like crazy, with sad eyes, but by the time I got there she was perfectly Ok. Maybe it was just allergies, or maybe Bella was just sad that I wasn't there with her. Either way, we ended up walking around for a little bit, she went on the carousel a couple of times, and we went to the insect house. After a final stop by the gift shop, where I took a picture of her with a stuffed monkey, we finally headed back. On our way out Bella offered to take a picture by the flowers, since she remembered I was bummed that this year we missed the tulips - my favorite time to go to the zoo. 

I hadn't had any lunch yet, so we went to Rusty Bucket and had a late lunch. We then intended to pick Sofia up to go get some ice cream right before Piano class, but we ran out of time. So we ended up doing that right after piano, even though I knew that might ruin dinner for them. It had been such a hectic day, all over the place, that I no longer had energy to try to stick to the regular routine. 

After piano and ice cream we ended up going out for dinner, which was nice because we got to sit outside and decompress a little from the day.