We have been spending a lot of time at the pool lately, the boys are all in lessons and ask every day if it’s a swimming day. They get to see Sophie and Alice there, too so it’s extra fun. Nana and Papa have come to watch and Carlos got an extra special treat when his former speech therapist, Linda Raquer, came to see him last week. Boy was he proud. Tuesday nights are extra special, we eat dinner at the pool so we can catch the Pajama Storytime at the library. Levi especially likes to listen, the other boys go mostly to pick out new books to read at home.
Last weekend we got to spend the night at Nana and Papa’s house. No, we didn’t lose our power or have any issues where we couldn’t stay at our own place, we just have been wanting to spend more time with Nana and Papa! We had a great time, too and hope to do it again soon.
The Parent Fair was also this weekend and we took the guys to play there. I think their favorite part of it was going around to the booths to collect the free stuff. Oh wait, that and the balloon pirate swords were super cool…until they popped and we had drama. I went back later to volunteer and learned that I had won some raffle prizes. Came away with 3 bottles of Eleven Wine, a 2 hour house cleaning certificate and a month worth of martial arts. Can’t complain about that! And the luck of the Irish is still going…I won a $100 gift card to Toys R Us this week.
Last night was family dinner with Mary and Alice and we decided that we’d splurge and make our favorite recipe, Pescado Veracruzano. Homemade guacamole, the sea bass that melted in your mouth like butter, I made a green rice that was tasty and we ended it with homemade churros! Who doesn’t love deep fat fried batter rolled in cinnamon sugar?
Conferences for all the boys in the morning, we’ll see how they’re all doing. I’m feeling good about it, especially where Levi’s at! Hard to believe my baby will be in Kindergarten next year.

These are from a note on Facebook that someone posted….then my job was to ask one of my kids the same questions.

I asked Levi (my 5 year old) and here’s what he said!

1. What is something mom always says to you?
“stay on the porch”

2. What makes mom happy?
that we do what you say

3. What makes mom sad?
if we do something wrong

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
because you tickle us

5. What was your mom like as a child?
I think you were like a little baby and you cried sometimes and played sometimes

6. How old is your mom?
45, are you 45?

7. How tall is your mom?
big like a giant

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
to go to the beach

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
We are always around

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
You would be a superhero

11. What is your mom really good at?
Taking care of kids and tickling

12. What is your mom not very good at?
painting

13. What does your mom do for a job?
takes care of kids

14.What is your mom’s favorite food?
soup

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
like if you were doing painting up on a roof I’d be proud

16. If your mom were a Cartoon character, who would she be?
Probably Joker

17. What do you and your mom do together?
we help eachother

18. How are you and your mom the same?
because we have the same head but mine not with glasses and we are both wearing a shirt

19. How are you and your mom different?
you have rings on your ear and I don’t

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
because you just do and you’re smart

21. What does your mom like most about your mama dee?
I think it’s because she drives a truck

22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
ice cream

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Here are a few more vacation pics…from my phone. We had such a wonderful time, but it already seems like forever ago.
Believe it or not, we all got along super and even the kids were amazing together. Right outside our house was a little castle that completely occupied the crew during the daylight hours when we weren’t at the beach. At the beach we flew kites (Mary has some great ones) and the kids made sand creations. We mostly drove to the beach since the dunes were quite the walk, but one afternoon Mary, Dee, Levi, Trey and Alice all drove to the beach and Carlos and I caught up later on foot. It was quite the walk, kept having to detour around marshes but we made it to the sand and snuck up on the group at the beach. Carlos LOVED that. Alice, Levi and Carlos all wanted to walk back so I thought it would be fun to see if we could beat Dee, Mary and Trey back. They were driving but they had to bring in the kites and all. The kids and I made it in record time and all hopped into the hot tub and pretended like we’d been waiting a LONG time for them to get back. The kids thought that was hysterical.
We played lots of games, learned Quirkle and Bunco…both fun new additions to our repetoire. Mary beat Dee and I 6 rounds straight one of our games of Bunco! We did a little bowling (found that our group struggles to finish a round…maybe try again in another year or so), played at the arcade and ate a little ice cream, went on the coolest electric boats and saw some bright, bright stars at night from the hot tub. We were blessed by the weather gods, with sunny skies up until the rain on the last day.
Can’t wait until our next getaway…anyone know of a neat little house to rent, cheap?

For all you parents out there who think that their kids are too young for chores…..

We aren’t cracking the whip over here, but we do expect the boys to help out around the house. They feed the animals, make their beds, set and clear the table and a few other odd jobs around the house. I know things will change, but at this point they like helping out and while we usually have to re-do a lot of the things they help with, it’s building skills for them!

I’m too beat to blog about vacation, we got home tonight and it took awhile to settle the boys down to sleep. It’s tough to switch out of vacation mode. Here are some pics, I’ll post more tomorrow after some shut eye.

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We’ve been busy this week, just hanging out with the family. The boys haven’t had school, with President’s Day and a non contract day we’ve had 5 days home. Lots of time with friends, playing in the yard, going up to the school for some basketball and scooter riding, visiting the baby chicks at Bay Hay and Feed and doing some resale shopping. Carlos got a SWEET new Guns n Roses shirt!