Summertime

Who needs a pool?  not us..

Anything is possible

I just realized it.. you know how you feel connected to mother nature/animals. I just realized my kids are. The two younger ones are connected somehow to a certain animal. I didn't know it until yesterday. I would question about their behavior and wonder where in the world they got it from. And yesterday I found the answer. You see Santiago and Amali have recently been screaming high pitch screams for everything...

"MAMA AGGGHHHIIIEEEE... les go ouside aggghhhiiieeee.... look mama aghhiee book... agghhhieee.. Mama leche aggghhieee.."

both just scream for no reason but to get our attention. And I would just look and ask the 2 and 1 year old where in the world did they get this from.. Why are you screaming.. stop screaming...and then yesterday we went to Discovery Kingdom... passed the dolphins.. and knew it.. there it was that same screeching scream... except instead of it being my kids it was the dolphins talking to eachother..

agghiiee... agghhiieee..a ggghhieee..  

And I knew.. the babies are dolphins... that's it.. Its possible.. somehow their DNA got mixed up with dolphins.. Yeah I must have gone to Sea World or the dolphins in Puerto V got in my blood and mixed in both pregnancies.. They must be cause where in the heck would they get this screaming from.. besides anything is possible..


heck if this can happen.... then so can this.... 

 

Ouch.. sorry Mama she beat you.. 

Summer and time....

Its almost at an end.. and it makes me sad. Summertime is my favorite. I really get to spend time with the kids and get to know them even more. Yes I said it.. Get to know them. I hate to admit it but when I'm working it's always routine time get up, get ready, get set and go. And I do spend time with them during school days. But I feel that work and everything just adds stress to my full attention on them.


During break I don't think of anything else. Nothing is in my mind but what should we do tomorrow with the kids? What can we do to have fun? What are some things to play and learn and relax that we can do... Each baby of mine.. has grown.. learned something new.. has done hilarious things, has grown at least an inch, made me laugh, worry, giggle, hug them and more.  Just in this small amount of time I've seen each of my babies grow...


Santiago - Is talking so much.  He repeats a lot of what he says and has this cute adorable voice when he says it.  He calls everyone Mama.. but I know he knows who the real Mama is.  He adores his siblings and wants to do everything they do.  Follow them, chase them, run with them.. everything.  He has scraped his knee fallen on it many of times and yet he gets right back up to play.

Amali -  Is my 2 year old who thinks she is 10.  She will start preschool soon and I already know she is going to love it.  She is my social butterfly who is not afraid of anyone (which worries me too)  She doesn't like the word No and wants to try things on her own.  This summer she has gotten off the sippy cup ( I know I know my bad).. and is in the process of potty training.  She is my little mama who wants to help out with everyone.

Javier- Is my almost 7 year old who has enjoyed watching and learning NTGEO and history stuff with his daddy. He's losing his baby face and is stretching out some more.  I swear all summer long he has just been snacking and eating all day.   He's excited for 2nd grade but is enjoying summer vacation too much to start.  

Lourdes -  My 11 year old baby girl.  I need to remember that sometimes and not forget she is only 11.  She  will be a 6th grader, which means only 1 more year till middle school.    She's done with cartoons and toys, and dolls and has a diary.  She's past my chin and catching up to me..

Aye.. summer slow down.. I want more time.. 

I heart faces/ water

WHY???

I hate advertisements these days... When I see them they make me feel so... What's the word... I guess upset. It's like the companies are trying to sell something that is so wrong!
 Poor kids these days just don't get a break and are always treated wrong! I see it everywhere it's like they are all jumping the bandwagon!

 The images I see just make me so distraught! I can't help but think what the heck were they thinking when they published it! I sometimes get speechless.. Not sure what to think...so look for yourself at my sadness...













What?? Were you thinking something else? Don't get me wrong I love teaching but I love vacation too!!!

years later... sorry neighbor

Yes.. I admit sometimes I'm wrong.. I'm not one to deny it.. I know that I thought wrong even if its 11 years later... So here goes the story...

Right when we found out we were pregnant with Lala we had moved to a house in La Mesa.  We lived in a house next to some duplexes.  My brother in law use to live in one of the duplexes.  (That's where they met, fell in love and eloped.. okay back to the original story...)

 So these duplexes were not so big.  The living room was at least 200sq ft.. so Javi says.  I just say it was hellasmall. And after my neighbor/brother in law met my sister, got married and moved to a townhouse with her.. a small family had moved in.  A young couple with a toddler.  And every day or maybe every hour.. they were vacuuming...

Javi and I would get up in the morning.. and hear the vacuum next door.. come home for lunch and hear the vacuum next door, get ready for dinner and hear the vacuum... SO we thought.. jeez... whats up with the vacuum.. they must be on something.. to be vacuuming all the time...

YES.. I thought that... sorry.. Sorry SORRY!  cause now I know.  after 4 kids.. now I know.. and the vacuum lives in the living room.. and we have professional vacuum cleaners..AKA Papos and Lala who love to take their time to grab every crumb from the floor.. And you think how in the heck does it get sooo dirty... but it does.. So do i mind if my neighbors might think i may be crazy for vacuuming every day/ hour and moment... Nope.. Cause I said I'm sorry to my neighbor ...now that I know.

F I T!

So the last few weeks that I have of vacation are dedicated to getting ready, ready to hit the school year healthy and strong... For the next  weeks my days are scheduled for doctors appointments..
The list:
Just had my physical
Lala and Papos had theirs today
Next week lala and Papos get their eyes checked
Next week Ama gets her foot checked out
Lala just had her orthodontist appointment
Going to schedule her speech therapy
Papos has his orthodontist appointment next month
Dentist appointments coming up
My next check up is next month
Lala needs to go back and get another shot next month
... whew... and more.
 I knew that I needed to go for my physical.. I mean how come no one ever told me that being pregnant 2 years back to back does not mean that you had your regular physical.. I was at the Docs office all the time for my check ups.. I assumed they were checking me up too.  BUt I guess now its time for me.. So I had my appointment.. Went with my other list.. The list of what the hell is wrong with me.. how do i fix it and will I be ok..
Here it is:
Whats wrong with my...
wrist
Elbow
lower back
my veins
am I anemic (whole other story.. Teresa even has a song dedicated to her being anemic.)
hips
hearing

and more..  I went in not telling my doc i had a list.. but he was smart and already knew I had one. He said we can do the regular appointment or hit up your list... So the list was first..
ME: Well heres my list.. My elbow hurts and so does my wrist.. whats wrong with it..?
Doc: Lets check oh looks like it my be tennis elbow... don't do this.. treat it like this.. take care of it..
(CHECK)
ME: OK  next my lower back and hips are bothering me and I know it has to do with my weight but whats wrong with me..
Doc: So lower back and hips were on your list but not your weight.
ME: well Yeah .. I know cause I know the problem about my weight I know how to solve it.. but I have no idea of the other things.
Doc: so.. why isn't it on the list..
ME (Thinking. damn it. i knew it. crap. ok. here it goes) I know i'm over weight and I'm working on it. But what about the other things.
DOC: So what do you eat.. do you exercise
Me: (Crap.. there goes the list)  Sigh... ok doc what do i have to do..
DOC: Have you thought about being a vegan?
ME: (ummmm.....) No.


So... I think the Doc has a plan for me.  Tere wants me to go for it.. but a vegan?  really.. doesn't he know I'm married to Javi who is a carnivore and I'm not creative when it comes to cooking.  So he's going to see me in a month.. do the regular check up.. check how I'm doing on my own (not vegan way) and see if I can do it.. otherwise he has a plan...
So we all decided to have a competition.. see who loses more weight.. or body mass or anything.. motivation to get our butt moving...  Let's GO!



My motivation now is to keep up with them.. Cause they leave me in the dust.. Here we go!

Stroller mania

I'm not one to preach about things that people should get and buy.  But I do post about what works for me.  You see my sister is a little crazy over strollers.  When she had her first set of "twins"(side note... no they are not twins but 18 months apart might as well be).. she tried every stroller on the block. She was never really happy bout any of them. Eight years later when she found out she was pregnant again.. she was shocked.. and then excited because then she realized she could get the expensive awesome stroller that she loved for her baby.  Not to long after looking up in the internet, imagining and loving the thought of finding the perfect stroller for her and the baby... she found out she was having twins... She was shocked... scared... excited.. speechless... and then sad... Sad because her idea of getting that stroller not sure which one but probably the expensive weird looking one was gone.. and she was on the hunt.. of finding a great double stroller...

I'm guessing she likes this one.. but I could be wrong!

Fast forward to after I had my "twins" I  always asked her which one was the best.. which stroller I should buy  she always gave me names that I never remembered.. So Javi and I went shopping one day and bought a compact great double stroller for the babies.  We needed it to be a compact easy going one for all of our trips.. And it worked.. And then every where I would go.. I'd see these huge bulky double jogging like strollers that anywhere you go they were there.  At the beach, Sea World, the park, every side walk, the mall, grocery shopping, soccer games, soccer tournaments, I mean everywhere.... and I had no idea what it was.. Shoot we even saw some in Mexico.  then I realized they were the BOB strollers... I had no information on this stroller..heck I had no idea who BOB was.. but it was everywhere. It got to the point were Teresa and I would be at random locations and call eachother up with our tallies of how many BOBS we saw that day.

And then came our trip to San Diego...Pictures might be a tad bit louder than words.


Ama was reenacting the scene from FRED Flinstones movie...everyday.. I had a automatic break installed without even knowing.. She was talented.. and I was going crazy.  I'd be walking then almost trip over the stroller cause Ama placed her foot down to stop.  We'd be taking a nice slow stroll around the city when all of a sudden we were speeding up as if we were racing another baby.. It was crazy.  So then it hit me.. I need a BOB.. yes I'll follow and be like everyone else.  Then I realized how much $$ it cost.. and the idea of being like everyone else went away... But then it hit me.. Hello... I'm in SOCAL.. San Diego and Orange County.. I should check Craigslist to see if someone.. anyone bought one didn't like it or needed it and is selling it for a cheap price...

and guess what.........................

There was... and I got it..

  And I think the BOB is on my sisters list of great Strollers... So I got the stamp of approval from the stroller queen.. and the kids are happy..and its ORANGE :) and we are back in control..
yes!

Sprinklers... aahh life is good!

The babies thought.. playing in the dirty puddle next to the fridge was fun... So guess what we busted out...
 

THE SPRINKLERS!!!  Oh yeah.. and who said the big girls couldn't have fun too!! I think they were loving it more than the babies!

 

Summer Days...

Summer days are so precious to us.  Growing up in Woodland out in the country we use to have our own little summer camp there.  My dad use to pitch up a tent or two and we would spend all of our time outside.  I remember having at least 11 kids our cousins and us at camp.  We didn't need no YMCA or Parks and Rec.  What you talking about.. We had our own activities thanks to our director Gloria and her assistant Teresa.  My Ma would set up movies nights with chairs and popcorn in a brown paper bag.  There would be a day in the week were we would go in town to the movies or the mall (these were the days where the mall was cool to go to and just walk around with my ma of course).

Other days the boys would come up with cool fun games.  Each person had their own character to play.. Tere my sista would be the drama director and have an idea of what we would do. Tere and I being the damsel in distress.. of course I just followed the big sis in what to do.;  The boys would either were the wise man, the hero, the villains,  the scientist ... who ever they were .. we would be out there for hours coming up with scenes and stories.  "lets pretend you are behind the bush hiding and you come out walking and I grab you and take you and the hero tries to save you"  or "lets get shovels and rakes and run to the cornfield and play CHILDREN OF THE CORN"..
These were the days before wii, internet, cell phones.. Where being a kid meant grabbing your bike in the morning and riding it to the end of the street to see if we can catch tadpoles or frogs.  Where we swam all day and ate from the fruit trees.. Where we hid behind the bush next to our neighbors house when we saw some of their animals well... we just would.. hide. 
And now I could say.. we could somehow provide that for our crew.  Our summers are a little different.. But its the new G (generation)  Camp.  And evey year might be different and we might not live in the country.. but the compound will do.  And it works. For us.  But I'm looking to grow some corn next year.. that way they can play CHILDREN OF THE CORN too :)

So now enjoy some pic these next few post.. They'll be of our NEW "G" CAMP at the compound.

Warning.. Crazy amount of Photos...:)

I was thinking of posting some of my favorite pics of the kids.. and I kind of got out of hand.. So I warned you.. Crazy amount.. but my favorite .. ok thats a lie..cause all pics of the kids my favorite.

Enjoy. Cause I did! :)