Vacation Bible School

Last week the kids and I attended Vacation Bible School at our church. I taught 1st and 2nd graders and really loved spending the week with them, coaching them to run the Race of Life on God's team.
Diego attended a class for two year olds and had a great time. He would cry every time he would see me throughout the day, but once I was out of sight, he was as happy as can be.
Alexia went to the infant nursery and was a champ all week. She missed her morning nap every day, but was still a happy baby.
At church yesterday all of the children who attended VBS stood up at the front to lead the songs to open worship. Ricardo and I remember so clearly when the children stood up last year and we thought, "how wonderful it will be when Diego is up there!" We had no idea it would be so soon! He did not sing a single word or do a single motion, but he did great at just standing there and being good.
We picked up Ricardo from work this afternoon to go look at houses and then dropped him back off later. When he got out of the car he said "I love you Diego." Diego quickly answered back saying "Papa, diga I love you a Alexia!" (Papa, say I love you to Alexia). Whenever we pick Ricardo up, I roll down the window on Diego's side so they can say hi to each other. The first words out of Diego's mouth are always "Papa, alli esta Alexia y papa, alli esta Mami!" (Papa, Alexia is right there and Papa, mami is right there!) He sure looks out for his family and makes sure Papi's love is equally distributed :)

This is the uniform he wore all week to VBS

On stage with the big kids!

Whenever Diego sits (or lies down) next to Alexia he says "Toma una foto!" (take a picture!) and he's finally learning how to smile for the camera. I love the sweet smile on his face in this picture.

Can't you just hear that SCREAM!

I decided to take a picture of the three of us with the self-timer. Well, Diego LOVED snapping the shot, reviewing it and setting up the camera for the next one. We did it at least 9 times. This is one of the cuter shots we got.

Catching Up

I have a backlog of pictures to share so I thought I would upload them all onto one post and let you enjoy...




I dropped Diego off at Ricardo's office yesterday after gymnastics. He always gets so excited when he sees the huge building where Papi works and when I told him he was going to go inside he could hardly believe it. He was SO excited. He spent most of the time there glued to the window, watching the highway below. He also enjoyed spinning in Papi's chair and coloring on his presentation boards.




He still loves gymnastics and can now go on the balance beam by himself.


Typical guy! This is Diego watching the men play basketball after gymnastics. As you can see, his little friend Caitlin is dancing around him, but he is glued to the game.


Playing football with Luke

Alexia and her buddy, Albee at Moms & Tots. His big sister is Sofia, the birthday girl from the previous post

Playing "astronaut" with Gerrick at Moms & Tots church playgroup

Stella and Diego were supposed to be posing for a photo shoot, but couldn't sit still

A special, special weekend

We had a very special visitor this past weekend. Dear Auntie Asawari flew all the way from San Francisco to visit us for 3 nights and we had so much fun. We met 5 years ago at a Welcome Weekend at the business school our husbands went to and have been inseparable ever since. Distance does separate us now, but we continue to keep a very close bond despite the miles. She is expecting a baby in September so it was fun to celebrate that blessings as well. Diego calls her "Auntie Asawari" and had a lot of fun playing with her. Much to our displeasure, we did not get a single picture of her with Diego because he was always on the go, but we got plenty of shots of her with Alexia. Asawari and I even had a girls night out on Friday which was great. We went to eat chocolate cake and drink decaf coffees and talk, talk, talk!
One of Diego's friends had a birthday party on Saturday morning at a park close by. Diego was really excited to take her the present we bought for her - Thomas the tank figurines. I love how excited he gets about giving other kids presents, he never asks to keep the toys for himself. We had fun at the party and Diego had a blast riding in cars and tricycles and playing on the huge playground.
In the evening we went to a park near the river and did a BBQ which was awesome. Ricardo scouted out the perfect table and he grilled salmon, asparagus and potatoes. Diego ate a ton of asparagus and watermelon when he wasn't running around like wild. Even though we got home late that night, we had to bathe both children because they were covered in a layer of grime and sweat.
We dropped Auntie Asawari off at the train before church on Sunday and now every time Diego sees the train he says that she is on it. Thanks again for coming out to visit Auntie Asawari!!!
This week is Vacation Bible School at church every morning. I am teaching the 1st & 2nd graders and Diego is in the two-year olds class. He gets very sad when I drop him off, but then enjoys the day once I am out of sight. Alexia stays in the nursery and has done great except for the fact that she refuses to nap!


Devouring a cupcake at the birthday party.


Beautiful ladies!


That's the birthday girl, Sofia. They loved chasing each other in these little cars.



Diego loved this lil' Radio Flyer - I think we'll have to get one!




At our BBQ site on Saturday evening

It's so hard to get a good family shot - this one was the best out of six

Ricardo would grill every night of the week if he could - he loves it!

Chowing down on asparagus

The river was in front of our table and this playground was behind our table - paradise!

Alexia may be the most smiley baby I have ever met. She smiles wherever she goes, but her smiles are especially expressive when they are directed at her Papi!

Ready to dig in!

Play date with the Halsey's

We had a really fun play date at a friend's house two weeks ago and I just uploaded the pictures this weekend so I thought I would share them. Asher is 6 yrs old, Adeline is 4 yrs old and baby Hartley is 4 months old. Diego loves playing with Asher and Adeline and they absolutely adore Diego. They pick him up and carry him around, which surprisingly, he doesn't mind. Their mommy and I became friends when Diego was about 4-months old and Adeline came up to him at church and said "I love this baby" and started kissing his feet! It has been a special friendship ever since!

We had a special Father's Day. We didn't do very much, which almost made it nicer since we were able to really celebrate Ricardo and rejoice in the blessing of him being Diego and Alexia's Papi. I told Diego that we had to say "Happy Father's Day" in the morning so he went into the bedroom and said "Happy Birthday Father's Day." It was so cute! Diego was so excited to wrap a present and carry it to Ricardo.

We are off to see more houses this morning so I have to get ready while Alexia naps and Diego is occupied. He is absolutely crazy about his Thomas the Train figurines these days. He carries them all over the apartment and loves putting them on a mini train track that he has. He calls them "James y Thomas y sus vagoncitos."



Alexia hanging out with her buddy, Hartley


We couldn't believe we got all 5 kids to look (and smile) at the camera


Diego loved eating lunch with the big kids - can't you tell!?

The best $3 we've spent in a long time

Yesterday we went to a neighborhood swimming pool and Diego was ecstatic.
Our original plans were to go do a BBQ at the river and Diego was really excited about going to the river. We packed all of our BBQ tools, condiments, swimming clothes, towels, etc and we were headed to the grocery store to buy the food when we realized the highway was at a dead-stop. We did not want to sit in traffic for 45+ minutes so we turned around and went to a pool that is just up the street from us. It costs $3 per adult and you can stay as long as you like. It is perfect because it has a zero entry so Diego was able to walk around and play in the water at his own leisure, without constantly being held. We will definitely be going back very often this summer. After the swim we asked Diego if he wanted to go eat pizza and he said "SI! A Mellow Mushroom." He already has preferences for eating out! :)
Today I was dressing Alexia in a dress and he said "Mami, no pone este vestido. Alexia no le gusta. Esta muy grande." (Mami, don't put that dress on. Alexia doesn't like it. It's too big)

A delayed weekend re-cap

Our weekend had a jump-start because Ricardo left work a bit early on Friday which was a special treat. When the kids woke up from their short naps (around 3pm) we got everyone changed, loaded into the strollers and headed to the Marta station (Marta is the public transportation here). We told Diego we were going to ride the train named Marta and he was sooooo excited. We took a short-cut through the mall so we bought a milkshake for the three of us to share...which ended up becoming Diego's milkshake because he was chugging it and did not want to give it up. He was a bit nervous when we got to the train station and we weren't even sure he would be happy on the train. We decided to take it all the way to Midtown to go to Piedmont Park. Every time it stopped and the doors opened Diego said "Vamos, vamos." Once we arrived to the city, he was thrilled. We walked to the park and let him run wild. It was sooo hot out, but that didn't slow him down one bit. It was great. He was excited to get back on the train to go home and we stopped at the mall once again to pick up dinner for him at Chik Fil A.
On Saturday morning the boys went to the pool and had a blast. Diego kept saying to Ricardo. "Quiero meter muchas muchas muchas muchas veces Papa." (I want to go in lots and lots and lots of times) He loved standing on the edge and jumping to Ricardo. The girls stayed behind to clean house and go grocery shopping. We had three couples over for dinner in the evening and had a really special time. Diego's friend Addie was here so the two of them played together all evening long.
I can't believe it's already Wednesday evening - the week has flown by! We've been busy with play dates, lunch dates, errands, house-hunting, gymnastics and simply having fun and enjoying life!


We literally had the entire park to ourselves on Friday afternoon


I'm not sure who took this picture instead of refereeing the quarrel!


I LOVE this picture of Ricardo and his little girl!


We all went to the pool together on Monday evening so Diego could show Alexia and I his new tricks.

Gymnastics

Diego had his first gymnastics class yesterday and to say he LOVED it would be an understatement. It is a weekly class that takes place in an actual gymnasium near our home. We are taking it with his buddy Caitlin so that made him even happier to be there. The class is structured in the beginning and then goes on to a bit of free time throughout the gym during which we walked on the balance beam, swung from the bars and jumped on all the bouncy platforms. The class ends with jumping on a long and huge trampoline and of course, that was Diego's favorite part. He was giddy when he was jumping. I could only snap a few shots because the camera was running out of battery, but will get more next week...

On Wednesday we went to the library to get books and videos and Diego loved it. He is thrilled to have a new stack of books at home and asks to read them all day long. He is now my backseat driver. As we were leaving the library he said "Cuidado mami, viene un carro negro por el tumulo." (Be careful mom, a black car is coming over the speedbump).

During the warm-up excersizes we played with hoola hoops

Diego was Caitlin's shadow

He was trying to figure out how to roll down, but couldn't quite get horizontal

Alexia hung out in her carseat for awhile, but then got fussy so she was happy to watch the action from the baby bjorn.

Artsy Tuesday

It's been awhile since we've done any art projects around here so Diego was VERY excited when I told him we were going to paint on the terrace after Alexia went down for her nap. We had such a good time that we made a trek to Target in the evening to buy even more art supplies. He used to bring lots of art projects home from "school," but now that school is over (for awhile!) I decided we need to get creative around here. Hopefully we'll have some masterpieces to share soon :)

Alexia had her 6-month checkup yesterday (3 weeks late). She's gained a solid 2 pounds since her last visit and is doing just great. Before going I looked back to my spreadsheet on Diego's doctor visits to see what my concerns had been at his 6-month check up. The first one is, "He can sit up perfectly, but can't roll over." Well, this little girl is just the same. She can sit up for 20, 30, 40-minutes, but she still can't roll over! Diego was the exact same and he eventually rolled over and eventually became a crawling champ so we're not worried one bit.
All morning before the visit I was prepping Diego for the fact that Alexia would be getting shots and that she would cry a lot. I was nervous about how he was going to handle it, but he did so well. It's amazing to see how he mimics my emotions. If I would've been worried or upset, I'm sure he would've broken down, but he played cool and just watched everything. Right after the nurse gave Alexia the shots, Diego came over and kissed both of her legs and said "It's okay Alexia." What a sweet big brother!

Scooping up some paint...

...smearing it on the bottom of his foot...

...and SMACK! the perfect foot print!

I forgot to post these pictures last week. We went to have lunch with Auntie May and Addie last week. Auntie May just had a baby boy so I was excited to get a picture of the four kids together. While we were trying to get Addie and Diego into place, I sat Alexia next to Dillon. She decided she needed to eat his socks...and so she did!

Notice that he his missing a sock. This is after she pulled off the left one, I put it back on and then she pulled off the right one. This was the first time she had someone smaller than her to pick on!

This was the best we could do with all four of them! Will try again next time.