Busy days are happy days

Our days tend to go by faster and happier when we are busy. Not a surprise, right? This has been one of those weeks that we've had a lot going on and have had a blast. Ricardo has even been home for dinner two nights this week which is such a treat. In fact, last night he was even home in time for us all to play a family board game before dinner, which just tickled Diego with excitement.

On Monday we went to visit Dollina and Nathan for playtime and lunch. Dollina is an amazing cook and we had a fabulous Indian feast. I lost track of how many dishes she prepared, but each of them was so special. Diego stuck with green beans and rice, but did take little nibbles of everything Auntie Dollina served him. We had a nice time and Alexia kept right up with the boys, doing everything they did.

On Tuesday we had our regular playgroup with our dear friends, but my camera ran out of battery as I tried to snap a picture of all the kids so I will have to wait for someone to email me the photos they took. Jana and her family moved to Rome, GA this week so it was our last playgroup with Jana and MaraKate for awhile. We will miss them dearly, but are so excited that they are only going to be an hour away so we still get to visit them on a regular basis.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we kept Gwen's three kids for the day and had a fun day with them. Diego adores Asher and showers him with the cuddles the second he walks through the door. They have a blast together - reading, making tents, having pillow fights, wrestling, talking, painting. It is really sweet to see how a 3-yr old and 7-yr old can have such a special friendship. Alexia and Hartley had a lot of fun together and even wrestled together after seeing Diego and Asher do it. Very cute! Having five kids sounds daunting, but the more I keep the Halsey kids, the more I realize that it really could be doable :)

Today we went to church playgroup and enjoyed a nice time of play and fellowship. We were supposed to go out to lunch with a friend, but she had to cancel. Diego was really excited that we were going to go to Chik Fil A so I still took the kids out to lunch. I really love taking the kids out to lunch when it's just the three of us (of course I love when Ricardo can join us, but that rarely happens). When it's just us, they behave wonderfully, they eat all their food and are just a pleasure to be with. We enjoyed our meal, played in the playground for awhile and then bought an ice cream cone to eat on the front terrace. As we were walking to the car, Diego spotted a rosemary plant and was very excited to stop and smell it. Some of my favorite moments as a mom are those in which I can pause with the kids and really enjoy God's creation together.



Diego and Nathan finishing off their jell-o after lunch. Notice Diego's is GONE. He inhaled it. It is only the second time he has ever had jell-o so it was a big deal for him!



The boys painting with water colors



Alexia also painted, but had a special chair, next to Auntie Dollina and I.



This was hilarious. The boys said their watermelon slices were rocket ships and they ate them as pictured above. There Alexia is just checking those wacky boys out...



...but of course she had to jump in and do it along with them!

Where's the bunny!?!?

Alexia playing "peek a boo" behind the curtain

An early morning art project

I showed her how to use this as a telescope with her eye. She tried and it wouldn't make it past her nose!

The big kids waiting for lunch to be ready

After lunch we had a quiet reading time for 40 minutes. Diego and Asher sat on the couch and read...

...and then relocated to the playroom.

After reading time we had some pool/sprinkler time and then watched a video. Before I took the babes down to do puzzles in the playroom, I had to snap a shot of the 5 of them together in the bed. Precious!

We've had two wedding photos sitting on our floor for almost a year now. Ricardo decided yesterday was a good day to hang them up, but of course he needed a helper!

This was a sweet moment to see our son hanging up our wedding photo!

Alexia was quite the little worker as well.

Whenever Diego has smoothies in the mornings he complains of getting really cold. I had to take a picture of him wearing a sweater at breakfast, in 80+ degree weather!

Diego gets a sweater so Alexia does too!

Diego loves to take pictures with the camera. Considering our camera is quite large, I am sometimes impressed with the pictures he takes. This was a cute one from this morning.

"Three"

Here she is, insisting that she is three.

Alexia's latest conversation

Me: "Alexia, how old are you?"
Alexia: "Three"
Me: "No, you're one."
Alexia: "NO! THREE!"

The other day we were driving and I randomly asked Alexia that question and that was how our conversation went. Diego and I both cracked up laughing. I had never asked her that, but since she hears Diego telling people that he is three, she says she is three too. It is so cute to hear her say it so I will try to get a video tomorrow.

Our friends, Aaron and Helen came over on Friday afternoon to keep the kids for us for the night. Ricardo and I had a fabulous time. We checked into our hotel at 3pm and immediately changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool and jacuzzi. I don't remember the last time I was able to actually do laps in a pool. It was so nice to splash around in the water and not have to worry about children! We were down there for awhile and then headed to our room to shower and get ready. We went to an amazing restaurant for dinner and enjoyed our 3 1/2 hour meal! It was such a treat to have uninterrupted conversation and to do things at our own pace. On Saturday we had a wonderful breakfast, walked around Peachtree St (we totally felt like tourists!) and then headed to the Chattahoochee River where we rented a canoe. We canoed down the river and it was heavenly. The day was gorgeous, the scenery was beautiful and we just had a blast. It was the perfect way to spend our afternoon alone and now we can't wait to go back and take the kids in the canoe!
We are so grateful to Aaron and Helen and their willingness to take care of our children! We did not worry about them at all and were able to disconnect and enjoy our time as a couple. Thank you friends!

Saturday hike

We hope to start a new trend of getting out to hike most Saturdays that we can. This past Saturday we went to a place close to Vinings, just 15 minutes from home. We found a trail that went right along the river and it was beautiful. Diego is an outstanding hiker and never complains of being tired or wants to give up. He sometimes asks for a quick piggy back ride to have a little rest, but then keeps right at it. Alexia did well in the pack for the most part, but we took her out to throw some rocks and she was never quite happy in it after that. We let her walk a lot of the way back and we couldn't believe how far those little feet carried her without a single complaint.


Ricardo brought him this double decker bus shirt from London and he was so excited to wear it hiking.




We had to walk on this pavement for awhile before we got to the trail. Diego kept saying "Porque no estamos en el bosque. No quiero estar en la calle." (Why aren't we in the forest? I don't want to be on the road) So here he is running to get to the trail faster.





We all had a blast throwing rocks into the river.




Ricardo carried her most of the way, but I wanted to try it out.

Another break along the way to throw rocks

Grammie enjoyed seeing what troopers the kids were

We have taught Alexia that she must hold our hand if she is walking. Except from her wild attempts to escape from us, she does a really good job holding hands. She was so happy walking with here Papa here.

A week with Grammie

Back in late May, my mom bought a ticket to come visit us this past week. Four days before she arrived, Ricardo found out he had to go to England for the whole week. It was God's perfect timing that brought my mom here while Ricardo was away. We had a fun week and played much more than we usually do. My mom and I usually use her time here to get lots of stuff done and to do little projects around the house. We took it much easier this time and spent hours blowing bubbles in the backyard, playing in the splash pools, playing legos, playing Candyland and Zingo, building puzzles, reading books and going out to eat. Alexia has amazed us with her ability to build lego towers. She has awesome fine motor skills and can do legos just as well as Diego. Our big outing of the week was to the Zoo which was a blast. Alexia was very young the last time we went so this was the first time she was able to enjoy it and she had the best time ever. She loved every animal we saw and would repeat the animal names and corresponding noises over and over.


One night we went out to eat pizza at Mellow Mushroom. Alexia ate THREE pieces of pizza. She does not like to be fed, but this stuff was so good that she let Grammie feed her. On the other hand, Diego ate 3/4 of one piece. The entire week Alexia ate more than Diego at every single meal.



The zoo has a new bouncy house and Diego was thrilled when he saw it. I think his #1 favorite thing in the whole world is a bouncy house. I love this mid-air jump I caught with the camera!


We rode the little train around which was a lot of fun for the kids.

Diego loved the petting zoo and Alexia would not get close to the animals.

There is a new parakeet exhibit where you can feed the birds and hold them on your finger. Diego thought it was so cool to feed the birds!

We took two strollers which was so much easier so they could both hop in and out as they pleased. Here they are checking out the flamingos.

This little peanut is wacky! She found this winter wool hat of Diego's and would NOT take it off. She wore it all day long on Thursday. We even went out for lunch and sat outside, in the hot sun and she was dripping with sweat and still would NOT take it off. She even took her nap with it on. We finally got it off her head because they went outside to play in the rain and she was mad that it got wet and wanted nothing to do with it afterwards. She is a funny girl!

Ricardo does push-ups and the kids love doing them by his side. Alexia has mastered the skill of doing a push-up and it is quite impressive. You can tell by her face that she really is using all her strength. Notice the spoon in her right hand. She also carried that thing around with her all day long.

She walked around like this for a long time and thought she was hot stuff!

Diego running through the sprinkler...

...and making Grammie do it with him!

Grammie has a magic solution that makes mega bubbles. We spent A LOT of time outside doing bubbles throughout the week.

The kids were able to do them really well too...the wands are awesome.

This pictures captures Diego in his element - flying in the air. He loves to jump and sometimes I feel like he never stops jumping.

She loves to walk around with one of my shoes on. Diego puts on one of Ricardo's shoes and they walk around downstairs pretending to "be on a date."

A special Saturday

It has been a long time since we've had no plans for an entire Saturday. Today we took full advantage of having no plans and had a wonderful day. Ricardo woke up early with the kids so I could sleep in. I came downstairs to a pancake breakfast and a happy family...no better way to wake up!

We did a little research in our Georgia hiking book and decided to drive about 30 miles to Sweetwater State Park. It was a breathtaking place and we all had a blast. Diego walked the whole way and was such a champ. Alexia rode in a hiking pack and was as happy as can be on her daddy's back. We walked along a river which led us to ruins of a factory from the late 1800's which were fascinating. We had a picnic lunch on a bench along the trail and walked for almost 2 hours. It was such a treat to hear the excitement in Diego's voice and to see the sparkle in his eyes as he discovered all the wonders of the forest. Alexia was also very observant and enjoyed all the scenery from the perfect view.

Diego loved the river and especially enjoyed throwing rocks into it...such a boy!

This was Alexia's first time in the pack and she loved it.

There were some awesome granite formations and Diego loved the "sparkles" on the rocks

A beautiful view as we crossed a little bridge

Ruins from the river-side mill

As were walking to the car, Ricardo caught sight of this snake. It was fascinating to watch it slither around this tree trunk. The kids were...

...MESMERIZED by the snake.

Playing with a stick and being silly

After the hike we headed home for a much-need family nap. The boys didn't get out of bed until 5:00pm so we were all rested. We showered, got ready and headed out to dinner. Ricardo had been wanting to take the kids to the Old Spaghetti Factory for awhile now and we just haven't had the chance to go. Since he's going out of town tomorrow, we decided to celebrate being together as a family and headed to a special place. It was a really cool restaurant and the food was yummy. The kids were on great behaviour and we really enjoyed our time together.

Ricardo said "cuddle for mami" which is why Alexia is in this position...she is giving me a "cuddle."


Papa's turn for a cuddle

Alexia's monster plate of macaroni and cheese. She polished off most of the plate!

Diego opted for pasta with butter and cheese and loved it. He didn't eat as much as Alexia, but ate quite a lot. He loved the salad and bread as well. We found the kids meals to be a great deal at $4.99 for drink, salad, bread, pasta and dessert.

Alexia enjoying her ice cream

The hostess snapped a family shot for us on our way out

This is how Diego rode home from dinner this evening. He loves to read in the car, but this is the first time I've seen him using his "footrest."

On Tuesday, we drove up to spend the morning with Taylor and her kids. We went to a neighborhood swimming pool that was really close to her parent's house. So, we let Israel and Diego hop in the back of the van and wear seat belts. You should have seen the look on their faces - it was precious!