Update

I decided it's time for an update of our little family.

Let's start with Jocie.

Jocie is now 2! It's wonderful seeing her grow and having her little personality come out even more with each day that passes by. She is such a tender-sweet little girl. Saying thank you for every little thing and I love you for no reason goes to show what a beautiful-sweet little thing she is. We are enjoying some one on one time with each other now that big sister is off to preschool. I'm not sure where Jocie stands on this matter. Sometimes it seems like she needs her big sister in order to thrive, be confident and outgoing, which I'm not sure I like. I've also seen her more relaxed and better behaved when we go to the store for example, that I like. She continues to be my little helper, she is Tanks official feeder. During our visit to Mexico this summer she learned the value of a coin; you take your money to the store and exchange it for candy. Since then she is in the look out for money. I have taken advantage of her new discovery and have started to pay them for doing little things to help me. She is all about money right now. She loves it and walks around collecting every coin she finds to later put it in her little peanut butter container that I turned into a piggy bank. She is doing great adding new words to her growing vocabulary, but I'm afraid she is not right there with most of the kids her age, just like Naomi was. I have decided that learning two languages at the same has got to be the reason. I'm a little bit less worried this time, because I know she will pick up when I least expect it. Soon she will be rumbling away with all sort of words both in English and Spanish. Jocie loves fashion and everything girlie, among her favorite things are; lipstick and makeup, high hill shoes, tu-tus (can't forget the tu-tu) every accessory imaginable (purses, hats, sunglasses, bracelets, necklaces, you get the idea). She also has many dolls and stuffed animals which are all her babies, even an imaginary one that she carries around in her cupped hands. Her favorite game to play "Mami" and I'm her baby. She is happy if we call her "Mami" all day long, sometimes if we forget she will remind us "I'm not baby, I'm mami!" We love our sweet spirited little girl.

Naomi.

Naomi is now 4 years old! And started Preschool this year. She was so ready, that the first day of school when we pulled up to the curb she quickly unbuckled her seat belt and pushed the door open and said "OK mom I love you, bye!" funny thing. Of course I informed her that I would be walking her to the classroom. She came in eager to say hi to everyone and introducing herself, telling them that her name was Naomi and she was three years old (she was then). A kid started crying, for his mommy, and I was so moved, but not impressed, to see that Naomi grabbed a kleenex walked over to the little boy , put her hand on his shoulder and said "It's ok, here!" Apparently that little boy made a big impression on her since the first day of school, she comes home talking about him almost every day. I walked out of the classroom on my first born's first day of school thinking "That wasn't bad at all" and with the feeling that she would be OK, and I would too.
She learned to write her name within the first couple of weeks of school after noticing a few kids that would sign their own names in the sign in and out sheets. She showed interest in it and she quickly learned how to write her name almost by herself. She knew how to spell it and read it and I had tried to get her to write it before but she was simply not interested, until then.
One day she came home informing me that she could no longer eat peanut butter, because a kid at school was allergic to it and so was she. There's another kid who is allergic to chocolate but she won't say anything about that. Smart girl! Up until this day, she won't eat peanut butter. She'll get over it.

Aaron

Aaron is working hard to provide for his three girls. He took this semester off from school due to the overload of work at his workplace. Which turned out to be a good idea. I don't know how he would have been able to pull this semester and numerous all nighters at work at the same time. He also has been working in the room we recently added to expand our home. He has done a lot of it with the help of my dad. I think it should be ready by the end of this week. We'll moved the girls into their new roomie bedroom and he will have his own office at home, all along with a TV and XBOX! Lucky!

Me

I'm still running. Slowed down for a little bit and slowly coming back to it. I found a running buddy! Whom I am so thankful for and who is willing to be crazy with me and wake up at 6 am to go running in the cold and dark. We are both excited to start our first Marathon training with in the next few weeks! Yes, running a Marathon excites me! Go figure! I watched the New York Marathon women's winner cross the finish line on TV and I started crying, haha!
I'm also taking piano lessons from a Sweet Service Missionary at church. I think I am doing good. I have recently learned that a good idea for food poisoning anyone or cleansing your colon is making them a pie out of fallen apples. Yeah! What was I thinking!? Some were fresh from the tree, but so many had fallen that only a few were within reach, so I thought "What the heck! I'm going to cook them at 400 F. A little dirt never hurt anyone" I was wrong. Anyway, I learned a good lesson that took poisoning my family and my neighbor. Ha!

Life is good. Sometimes a little bumpy, but still good.

Dandelions

Every time we step out our front door, the girls run onto our big and spacious front yard. I will admit that neither Aaron or I are much of a gardener so we are happy to keep our lawn trimmed that's all. You won't see bushes or colorful flowers year long, except for the lilies and tulips that comeback on their own every spring. What you will see year long are those lovely dandelions. How much I love dandelions! Why? Well every time my little girls run onto our front yard they pick the only "flowers" they can find (dandelions), run over to me, present me with one or two and say: "Happy Mothers Day Mami!"

Every day is Mothers day for me. I love it!

She loves me.

Every day around noon is nap time around this house. I get to put the girls to bed and have 1:30 mins to 2:00 hours to myself. I so love nap time! Well for the past 3 or so days I have been cheated out of it. Naomi somehow won't nap. I'll spend up to 1 hour walking in and out of that room trying to get her to stop playing or calling for me, or emptying the drawers, etc, etc. until she finally falls asleep or Jocie wakes up, then Naomi is off the hook. Today after an hour of it I finally gave up. I just sat on my little couch folding laundry trying to ignore my little monster. Seeing that mom would not give her any attention she walked out of the bedroom into the living room where I was sitting and stood next to me. I wanted to blow up and start screaming to go back in that room, but didn't. I decided that talking would be a better idea. "Naomi, you need to go back in the room and take a nap or you can stay out here but there won't be any TV for you today" and she said,

"OK. What are you doing?"
"I'm folding laundry"
"Can I help"
"Yes"
and she did.

From that I realized that the reason to not want to nap is because she wants to spend time with me. She started Preschool this year and obviously that leaves us with less time to spend together. I felt like a bad mom for not seeing it before, but very happy to know that she loves me that much. I'm so blessed.

A little laughter.

Tonight as we were having dinner Jocie came around the table and stood next to me, got my attention by pulling on my shirt, then pointed to her tummy with a very sad look in her face. She had a tummy ache. I understood her immediately and went down the troubleshooting list. Do you need to go to the restroom? She said no. Do you need to throw up? She said no. I took her to her bedroom and sat there next to her as she laid in her bed, sweating and squeezing her eyes shut, in pain. I was scared and worried. Until Little Naomi came in the room with her sense of humor as always. She sat next to Jocie and told her to just throw up, simulation included. Jocie thought it was so funny that she cracked up laughing. Naomi smiled to see her sister's reaction. "She likes that!" and continued to do it, over and over again. Jocie continued to laugh releasing what seemed to be the problem (gas) and giving us one more reason to continue laughing. She was fine after that. Who would have known that a little laughter would solved the problem?

Pre-school

Naomi ira a la escuela por primera vez mañana. Ah estado muy emocionada y anticipando el dia desde hace muchos meses. Ella esta lista, y yo por un lado tambien lo estoy, pero por otro quisiera mantenerla en casa conmigo y no exponerla al mundo aun. Nisiquiera a cumplido los 4 años! Quien dice que nuestros hijos deban ir a la escuela a tan temprana edad? Quien invento Pre-school? Por que la gente anticipa que los niños vayan a la escuela a tan pequeños si no se estan quedando atras!? Quien dice que deben leer, saber el abecedario y contar hasta el 100 antes de empezar la escuela primaria? QUIEN? Y por que les estoy haciendo caso!?

6 years

Last week on the 15th was our 6th year anniversary. I have to admit that when it comes to dates I usually leave the planning to Aaron. He plans, I find a babysitter. This time was no different. A couple of days before we agreed that he would plan something, and he did. Only we woke up to lightening, thunder and rain and his plan went down the drain. He had planned hiking up to a waterfall. I don't know which one, so he'll have to take me another day. With that, we were left with no plan. We put our heads together (more like we went searching the internet for date ideas) and came up with Geo-caching. We had both wanting to do this for a while, just never got to it. We headed to Memory Grove park, and found a couple ones just right off the trail. One of them was made by a mother who lost her 4 year old son to cancer. She explains that hiking down to memory park from one of the streets above was one of her sons favorite things to do. He'd pick up rocks on his way down and would throw them in the pond there at the park. He would listen to the noise the rock would make as it hit the water, and would then put it into a "plop" or "ploop" category. The woman asks that you take the same hike all the way down to the pond and take a rock with you, and put one into the cache box. It was very touching to know something so personal to someone out there. I felt honored to throw in a rock for this little angel. I hope he enjoyed listening to it hit the water.

After that we went back home and rode trax downtown to the Gateway where we watched two movies, HA! Yes, two movies. The time traveler's wife was great, ask Aaron, he even got teary eyed. District 9 was horrible, don't watch it, such a waste of time and money. We then did a little shopping, had dinner and then picked up dessert at the rocky mountain chocholate factory and headed back home. We had a great, relaxing day. Could not have asked for anything else.

I love my hubby, we have both grown during the past 6 years and even though we have had or ups and downs, we still love each other, more as time passes, and that is the truth.

Where does she get this things from?

Naomi is just such an delight to be around. She is at an age where she will just come up with the most interesting and funny things to say and I promise I am not teaching her this things. This morning for example when we were getting ready to go to the park. This is how our little conversation went:

Mami: Let's get ready to go to the park.
Naomi: Is Anish coming to the park with us?
Mami: No sweety, not today.
Naomi: Anish is wonderful. He is my handsome prince.
Mami: (cracking up in laughter)

And then the other day when we went for a walk on garbage collection day.

Naomi: What is that smell?
Mami: I think is that garbage can. It smells gross uh?
Naomi: Yeah, it smells like BOY!


Or a couple of weeks ago. This I am not proud of. We were walking into church for a wedding reception and there was a lady walking a few yards in front of us. I think Naomi's view from her eye level must have made this woman rear look larger than it actually was that it got this reaction out of her.

Naomi: That lady has a BIG, FAT....(mumble)
Mami: covers up her Naomi's mouth as quick as possible as she sweats and blushes.

Luckily, I think that lady didn't hear her, or just pretended she didn't, or didn't speak English. Either way I was SO embarrassed. I took her aside and we had a little talk about how that could have hurt that lady's feelings and that we do not say things to hurt other peoples feelings. I trust she understood, she is smart little girl.

Geneology. Look at my family tree!!!

Happy B-day Jocie!

Jocie's first b-day.

Jocie the week before turning 2 (4th of July weekend)

Look how big I am!

The look in her face when I walked in the room with a cake in hand was priceless. She instantly proceeded to blow out the candles. She knew what to do. Definitely worth staying up til 1:30 AM making it.

Today is Jocie's b-day. She turns two! yes, once again I realize time flies, but I think I do that every day. Today marks her big girl milestone in my eyes, and yes I star loosing my little baby girl. Sniff!

Here are somethings about Jocie:

Jocie has such a gentle and sweet spirit. She is so calm and quiet and still....when her sister is not around. Otherwise they are both crazies! She is an easy learner, but I fear I have not exploited her intellectual to her full potential. I think it might have to do with having to divide my attention and time.
Jocie is an animal lover. From tiny insects to dogs, horses, any type of animal. She goes crazy every time she spots one, any animal and has a good eye for them. It seems like she is always on the look out for creeping or furry beings.
Jocie is a nurturer. From very very young she started carrying her little dolls around, feeding them, covering them with a blanket, putting them in bed, taking them potty, putting band aids on their awies, cleaning them, etc, etc.
Jocie loves to pretend "she's a baby" It's funny listening to her in her baby- tiny- little- pitch voice when she really is a baby. Ha!
Jocie has been potty trained since 21 months of age! Both day and night. Which reminds me. Where have those extra $40+ bucks a month have been going? ...It shall remain a mystery.
Jocie has been sleeping in a big girl bed for a couple months as well with very little rolling off the bed incidents, maybe 2 at the most.
Jocie loves to play pretend restaurant. She asks "what would you like, water?- que va querer, Agua?" Of course only I understand her, and then she will "bring it" to you. You can order other things besides water: hamburgers, fries, pizza, whatever! She has it all.
Jocie loves the swings. She can stay there for hours if mommy lets her. She throws her head back, closes her eyes and just enjoys the breeze in her face.
Jocie loves and looks up to her big sister. She will literally do EVERYTHING she sees her doing, including repeating her sentences.
Jocie is my tiny little helper. The other day I caught her picking up Tanks food that had fallen out of his plate and then putting it in the garbage without being told. She didn't even know I was looking.
Jocie is a very healthy kid. She does a lot of jumping,dancing, climbing, running, going up and down stairs and playgrounds. She moves, moves, moves continually.
Jocie knows and has taken several trips to time up. She is very conscious of that and will choose doing what she is asked to instead of going to time out.
And on and on......

We are very bless to have Jocie in our lives. I'm thankful for being trusted with beautiful and healthy kids that fill our lives with joy. Listening to their laughter and seeing that little sparkle of joy in their eyes is what I live for.

Te amo pequeñita. Feliz Cumpleaños.

Making the most of this summer

This week has been filled with fun for the girls and me. Naomi will be going to school when the new school begins in September. So I decided that we would make the most out of this summer. I am really having a hard time detaching from her and putting her out there in this cruel world. I know she is only going to preschool, but that's how it starts, right? Three hours a day, 4 times a week this year. Then 8 hrs a day five times a week by the time she gets to kinder garden and slowly but surely I loose more and more time with her. I was, still am, seriously considering homeschooling. It is in my mind. Anyway, we have kept ourselves busy and have spent almost everyday at the park, a different one each day of the week and have the tan to prove it. Well at least they do. I look the same no matter the time of year. Ha!

We spent Monday running errands and cleaning our weekend mess. After their nap we spent the afternoon in our backyard soaking up the sun and playing in the kiddie pool.

Tuesday we headed to the sugar house park, we laid out a blanket under a tree and had a little picnic. They didn't play in the playground for very long, it was very hot that day. Naomi complained that it was too hot and she wanted to go "a la sombrita" under the shade. So we went and played next to the creek instead throwing rocks into the water and picking up worms with a stick. Later that evening we went with Tia Areli and tia Chave to the Arts in the Park performing series at the Murray Park. This week they had a group of Irish Dancers. I love Irish dancers and the girls had a lot of fun watching them too. They came home showing daddy their new moves. Daddy could not come because he had school that night.

Wednesday I took the girls to their music class. They had fun playing the different kind of drums the teacher had to show them and singing and dancing around. After class we headed to the Liberty Park and again sat under the shade of a tree to have a little picnic. It was noon and the sun was scorching hot. Naomi was not very excited to play under the sun, AGAIN. Jocie in the other hand didn't seem to care and had a lot fun in the swings, feeling the breeze in her face as she came and went. She loves the swings. Later that evening we went to another evening concert at the Foothill Anderson Library. The County is having a lot of this concert series all over the place this summer. I got a calender in the mail with a list of all this free events and we are taking full advantage of them, at least we did this week. The band playing there this week was an old blue grass band, but my little girls put on a show of their own as they danced away to those tunes. Oh! How I love to see them dance, so carelessly. Daddy was able to come with us, only to leave short after arriving because he had a church meeting to go to. Blah! and he missed the ice cream we stopped to get on our way home. Oops! Our friends the Collins came too.

Thursday we went to a Pioneer Park picnic concert. Laid a blanket under a tree and had a another lovely picnic with our friends Los Collins (little Skyler and Julieta) while we enjoyed the music. After that we went to the Gateway Mall and had the little ones run around the dancing fountain and get wet. To our luck it started pouring after we had only been there for a good 45 mins. The good thing was no one complained when we announced it was time to leave. Ha!

Daddy had the day off today, and we took advantage of it by going hiking at the Millcreek Canyon. We found a new trail from the one we have been to before. It was not very kid friendly, mainly because it had a big incline. We ended up taking turns carrying Jocie on our shoulders. Daddy thought them a couple of those boy scout songs and I had fun listening to them singin as we walked up that trail. Later in the evening we had plans to see our friends who moved away a few months ago. They invited us over to see their new house and thank Aaron for helping them with the move. Naomi was so excited to see Ema. They are only a few weeks apart and have grown together. Naomi loves Ema and we love her parents. They are awesome people. We miss them a lot so it was very nice to see them and spend the evening together. We talked, ate yummy food, watched the kids play, and lighted some fireworks before coming home.

We've had a full week and it was a fun one too. Like I said I will try to make the most out of this summer because of my big girl starting school and also because it might be a few years before we get to have an enjoyable and easy summer like this one again. It took 4 years to be in the situation where we are finally able to enjoy a little bit more carelessly. Pregnancies, breast feeding, babies and diapers make it a little difficult to really just kick back under the shade of a tree and enjoy it.

I love summer!