DREAM Act

Here's what I have in my mind lately, in case you haven't notice.

 Please read.
http://hubpages.com/hub/DREAM-Army

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This conversation happened today, in the car, on or way to my parents house. Jocie seems to be drawn to notice constructions sites. So today as we passed the construction of a bridge near my parents house she couldn't help but notice and pointed it out. I know this is silly, but I think she might want to be an architect when she grows up. So I told her..."When you grow up, you can be an architect and build bridges too!"  She loved the idea. Then I asked Naomi (even though I knew the answer... or part of it)

Mom: "What do you want to be when you grow up"
Naomi: "While my husband stays home with the kids, I will be a cupcake maker. I will go to the bakery and make cupcakes for my customers."
Mom: mom's jaw falls to the ground wide open.....then recovers and tries not to laugh ( I wouldn't want to discourage her from following her dreams)....but eventually did break out a little laugh.....and then said "Ok then! That sounds like a great idea!"

Talk about a strong, independent little mentality! Can somebody tell me where she got this idea from?

A new concept

So I have been thinking.... and came to the conclusion that I am turning this blog into a journal of the little cute, and clever things my kids say everyday. Really, if you think about it, that alone will give me plenty to write. I'll have an infinite source of quotes and conversations that come out of my little ones mouth. Naomi, right now, will be the main source of my blogging. Since she is the oldest, she can talk and express so much more than her little sister right now. The cool thing is than in a few months, as Jocie acquires more and more vocabulary, and imagination,  I know I will have double the material to blog in here. And maybe, just maybe I'll throw in a bonus update of our family every now and then. I think this is pretty much what I have been doing for a while, but now it's official!

Let the blogging begin!

The Backyard

Spring is here, and even though the weather can be unpredictable, we are loving it! This week I was able to remember the thing I love most  about our house- our backyard! To lay under the shade of that big tree and  watch the girls chase the dog around, swing in the hammocks,  and listen to their little make believe conversations is just like heaven on earth, right in our backyard. 

 

Tea party picnic

A watchful eye

At play

Sisterly love

It's not always tears and fights ;)

Loving it!

Does my belly look big?

So the girls are trying on dresses that I have stored in a box in a closet, most of them are Naomi's hand-me-downs for Jocie, and some of them fit Naomi small, from last year. Anyway, Naomi tries on a dress and walks over to me to ask "Mommy, does my belly look big?"  My answer was of course "No! You look beatiful!" but really what I was thinking was "AAAAAAAH! !What!? How old are you!!" but instead I asked "Where did you hear that?" She didn't say she heard it from me, but that was probably what she was thinking. I am very careful, or so I thought, not to ever say "I'm fat!" or "Does this make my butt look big?" in front of the girls. I know they are always watching and listening and the absorb everything like a sponge, but I guess I need to be more careful and I will be more careful. What's next? Boys?

Update

It's been a while since I do our usual update. There's really not much to say, since everything is pretty much the same. Aaron is busy with school, taking 4 classes right now trying to finish with his associates this summer. I think this is the one semester where he's been the busiest. He's gone 3 times a week from leaving to work in the morning and not coming home til 10pm, and then he has a class on Saturday mornings. Having a new job has made this semester so much easier, working the normal 8 hour days is so much more predictable and healthy. There would be times when he didn't even come home to sleep, it was ridiculous! With this new job he's been able to take 4 classes and get good grades, not that he didn't before. He is doing awesome in school and I am so proud of him.

I am training for a marathon. You can read about that here. I just re-did our living room last week with new paint and carpet. Aaron's been busy so he only helped with moving the furniture, which was more than enough. I'm gald I did not have to move that piano! My sister Nathalie and her boyfriend Don-Hee helped me painting. I don't know what I would have done without them! and of course we paid someone to do our carpet, I did not do that myself. Next project in my list, I have many projects, the office that is more like a dump ground right now. UGH! I can feel the stress levels going up, so I'll move to another subject.

The girls. Naomi is in school, thriving everyday. She is figuring out friendship and all the drama that comes with it. I'm in school with her once a week and get to see the little conflicts she goes through, from rejecting other classmates to being rejected, I think it might be even harder on me. I have to remind myself that they are just kids. I can call her out when she is being rude or mean to someone else, but I can't really do much when she is on the other end. The other day for example, one of the moms told me Naomi and her little girl had had a conflict that day and Naomi had made the other little girl cry telling her that she did not want to be her friend anymore. I talked to her on the way home and asked to apologize the next day and try to have a better day the next day. The next morning we walked in the classroom, I had forgotten about our little conversation, but she remembered. I was so happy to see her run to her little friend as soon as she saw. She apologized for being mean and gave her a big kiss and a hug. She is a sweet little girl that little girl of mine.

Jocie. Oh my Jocie! She is definetly the sweetest thing I've ever met. She is going through a phase where she wants to sleep in our bed. Since Aaron and I have a different bed time than the girls, we have allowed her to fall asleep in our bed and then we transfer her to her bed after she has fallen asleep before going to bed ourselves. I often wake up with her wraped around my neck in the morning because she woke up during the night and came to our bed without me even noticing, which is a bit scary, to be completely knock out not to notice your own kid climbing into bed next to you, I blame the marathon training. Jocie is definetly fallen into the usual little sister protocol where she gets to see her big sister doing all the fun stuff that she does not get to do yet. She wants to go to school, I have a hard time leaving the classroom every day because she wants to stay too. She gets to sit by the sidelines during big sister's dance classe wishing she could join her. Soon she will be old enough to do so!

We are starting to enjoy the outdoors more everyday, from swinging in our hammocks and playing in the sand, to digging out worms and finding insects. A couple of days ago I got my first dandelion so far this year from thr girls. Welcome spring! Kind of.  Life is sweet.

A new calling

I just got back from  an interview with the bishop where a new calling was extended to me, Nursery Leader. Of course I accepted, but I almost cried right there in the bishop's office, and it wasn't tears of joy. See, I have plenty of experience in the nursery since there was never a reliable nursery teacher in our previous Spanish Branch ever since my first born turned 18 months and it was time for her to be in the nursery, until the time we left ( a couple months ago) when my second born was already more than 2 years old. So I have been both my kids unofficial nursery teacher. At least now I will have the official title to be my own kid's nursery teacher. This was one of the reason's we made the move into the English ward. I needed some adult time and a class where I would acually be the one learning and being taught to. I think there's a scripture that says, "El  Señor no sera burlado" or "The Lord will not be mocked" and I am finding that this pretty much applies here. I tried to run from it, only to come back to same exact thing. Heavenly Father must be trying to teach me something.

I shared the news with Jocie when I got home and she was super excited "You are my teacher!" she yelled. She gave me a big hug and then said "You are going to give me snacks!" I couldn't help but smile and cry a little more, but this time they were tears of joy.

Early Valentine's surprises

Today I got a very pleasant surprise delivered to my door, roses and chocolates! As previously divulged by my 4 year old. Really, what was daddy thinking trusting his Valentines secret plan to her? So with that, I knew what to expect, but it still caught me by surprise when they came to my door, in a box. The girls could see and hear my excitement that they too jumped and giggled as I opened the box to reveal my surprise. Naomi asked "Mom, who sent you this!?" I said "Daddy, isn't he nice?" to which she answered "Yep. He must love you!"  Yes, he does. He loves me. I know sometimes it's not easy to love me, but he still does. I love him too.

Later in the day, there came another surprise package in the mail. This time for the girls from their grandpa. I wish I'd had a camera to record their reaction. They were so excited about it, they could not believe it. Jocie had just had a melt down at the store over a little box of candy hearts that I did not buy her, and now she was getting her wish.

Let the sugar overload begin! Happy Valentines!

"Mom, where is Jesus?"

I wish I had a pen and paper on hand every single minute of the day, or a memory that could remember all the cute, funny, smart things my kids say. I'm always trying to keep a mental note of them for the purpose of writting them down later at the end of the day, but it never happens and then I forget. This is to precious I could not forget.

Today as we were driving around driving errands, we passed a pretty ugly car accident site. The girls, specially Naomi could not help but notice and naturally asking questions. First she asked: Mom, what happened? Why are the firefighters here? I explained the best I could for a 4 year old to understand and some of it sounded like "There's been an accident and sometimes people get hurt and the firefighters are here to help those people" kind of thing, and then she asked,  "Mom, where is Jesus?" and I answered "Jesus is in Heaven" and she said "Jesus can help those people. He can heal them! Why is he not coming down?" ...and my eyes got all watery as I tried to think of the right words to say. What do you say? This was the best I could come up with: "If you say a prayer for those people Jesus can help heal them. Do you want to say a prayer?" and then she said "No". I think she was a little dissapointed with my answer. What kind of answer is that for someone who believes Jesus is real as to come down from Heaven to heal someone on the spot. I wish I could have that kind of faith. I hope I didn't just destroy it.

A silly old witch.

Just a while ago the girls and I were sitting at the table eating lunch, and this is what happend:

Naomi: Jocie do you want to hear a story?
Jocie: uh-hu!
Naomi: Once upon a time, there was a silly old witch that didn't eat healthy snacks so she died, but then she ate Jocie and she lived happily ever after and  she went to heaven and sat in Jesus chair. The end! That was a silly old witch!

Life with this two little ones is never boring.

My new running blog

I just started a new running blog for myself. I will be able to keep track of my running progress and other health and fitness related stuff separate from our family's blog. Here's the link if you are interested in hearing about running stuff.

"Group Hug!"

The missionaries came over for dinner yesterday and at the end, as usual, they shared a scripture and a prayer with us. At the end of the prayer Naomi yelled out "Group Hug!" Which left the missionaries a bit confused. Aaron and I broke down laughing and then had to explain to them that is actually what we do after our family prayers. The girls yell out "Group Hug!" and Aaron scoops them up and squeezes them hard. They girls love this and they look forward to family prayer and "Group Hugs." The missionaries, in the other hand, were happy to pass on the group hug.