A busy Sunday!

Ricardo is busy putting together the last of the chairs for our new kitchen table so I decided to upload some pictures while I keep him company...
We have had a busy day today and it has been a lot of fun! The flexibility of our days will soon be stiffened with a newborn so it is fun to do a lot, while we can.
We all woke up early this morning and Ricardo cooked delicious breakfast burritos for breakfast. We headed to the early church service at 9:15. Alexia now likes to come in to the service with us and does a great job at keeping very quiet. She can sit through the whole 1 1/2 hours, but without fail, she always needs to go to the bathroom half way through the sermon so I end up missing 10-15 minutes of it. Today I decided that we won't bring her in for awhile because it is too distracting to have to get up to take her to the bathroom. Diego also came in to the service with us today because baby Sela was baptized so he was excited to see the ceremony.
After church, we joined the Johnson family for a wonderful party to celebrate Sela's baptism at a restaurant called Canoe, an absolutely gorgeous restaurant on the river. The setting was perfect, the food was fabulous and the company was so special. The party tent was set up in an area that offered a great place for the kids to run around and play the whole time we were there.
We headed home for family nap time around 2pm and we had to wake the kids up at 4:50 to head to another party. A couple from our home group hosted a Memorial Day bbq/pool party which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we only got about 20 minutes of pool time before the thunder/rain storm sent us all indoors, but the kids had a blast while they could.

Gerrick, Nathan and Diego searching for hidden fruit that somebody had hid for them to keep them busy while waiting for lunch to be served at Canoe.

All the kids searching the planters for the hidden fruit

Rebecca (Mom to Gerrick, Greydon and Sela) and me

When we arrived at Walt and Karen's in the evening, some guys were playing pool. Stephen was very sweet to take time to show Diego how to play. Diego LOVED it!

Pregnancy brain got the best of me today and I left our bag of beach towels and swimsuits at home. Walt and Karen have grand kids so they had enough "extras" for us. Alexia wore this bikini which was adorable on her! I was SHOCKED when Karen told me it was a size 3-6 months! I know this girls is a peanut, but come on!

L to R: My handsome boys, Patrick, Benjamin, Brittany and Alexia

The belly at 38 weeks!

I really wanted a picture of me and my big belly with the kids, but they just wanted to be silly

I thought this was a cute family shot, until I realized I had asked Ricardo to hold my purse for me...sorry!


On Friday I entered another nesting craze and thought it was necessary to pull out every item from my desk cupboard, desk drawer and all food cupboards for some rearranging and organizing. I had a dreadful mess for many hours, but it is wonderful to have it all in order now! I will have to take an "after" shot.

Diego and Alexia did such a good job playing in the living room while I worked in the kitchen. They were having a blast playing with the Jenga blocks and Diego called me down to see his tower and this is what he had built. I was impressed!

Strawberries!

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I had the idea to take the kids on a fun outing today. I would like to do a few special things with them before their baby brother arrives so I thought strawberry picking sounded like the perfect outing for today! I did some research on farms late last night and called Ruth bright and early this morning to see if she and her girls were up for joining us. We gathered snacks, sunblock and cameras and headed out to pick them up. Ruth and I were a sight to see - the two of us with our big bellies (me 2 weeks away from due date and her 3 weeks away from due date) and our four kids. We purchased our buckets and headed out to the fields. The kids had a blast and picked and picked and picked. We originally thought we would fill two 1-gallon buckets, but the pregnant mamas were getting tired and hungry so we decided to consolidate our pickings and share one bucket. Alexia LOVED eating the strawberries and it seemed like she was eating them faster than we could pick them.


Ruth and Anjuli getting started


Diego enjoyed having his buddy Anjuli to work with

Alexia loved showing me which ones she could and could not pick

Taking a strawberry snack break

Notice the juices dripping down her arm. She was a MESS!

Below are some pictures from the end of last week:

Diego loved having a boy to play with. Elijah and him were great sword fight buddies (luckily not enemies!)

The kids enjoying their last breakfast together

On Sunday we hosted our church home fellowship group. It was so beautiful outside that we just threw out some blankets and after dinner continued our time of fellowship on the grass. It was great!

Last Saturday was Israel's birthday party at her grandparent's house.

Diego happy to be sitting right next to the birthday girl and her daddy!

I love this picture of Alexia, quietly listening to story time

The kid table last Thursday when Luke and Laura came over for dinner.

Josh dug out the roots of a huge bush for us and Diego and Elijah LOVED digging in the dirt afterwards.

What a week!!

We have had a busy week, but it has been such a blast! Last Sunday, Josh, Taylor, Israel and Elijah arrived to stay with us for 10 days. It has been so special to have a lot of time with them and the kids are absolutely loving it!
I will quickly recap our week, day by day...

On Monday, I had my 36-week appointment and we got to see an ultrasound so the kids really enjoyed that. Marco is so big now that we couldn't really make anything out in the images, but it was still neat to see his heartbeat and some random body parts. He is head down and ready for his grand entrance, whenever God decides is the perfect day for that! Ricardo thinks I'm crazy, but I love being pregnant and love feeling all of his little pokes and kicks and am just so excited to hold him soon!
After the doctor we met Taylor and her kids at Trader Joes. We used to love to go there together so we had to make that one of our first stops for our time together. We stocked up on all the wonderful munchies that they can't get in Bosnia and we were a sight to see with all four kids pushing their kid-sized shopping carts.
In the evening, some friends of Josh and Taylor came over for dinner with their 3 boys and we had a fun time playing outside and enjoying a yummy meal together:

Our sandbox is not that big, but I love that 6 kids were able to play together in it!


After hours of outdoor play, everyone needed a bath so we threw them all in the tub together and they thought it was great. It was the first time my kids have bathed with friends so they thought it was a lot of fun!



On Tuesday morning we watched a short video...

...and then headed to the salon for Izzy and Diego to get their hair cut.

On Wednesday, Vanessa, Brittany and May had a special lunch for me to celebrate Marco's upcoming arrival. We had a wonderful time together and they gave me a basket of adorable gifts for Marco. Thank you so much friends!

L to R: May, Brittany & Benjamin and Vanessa & Michaela.

Diego and Alexia had their own seats at the big table and loved it. Baby Alexis is not in this picture, but she was in her bouncy seat on the floor, behind Alexia.

On Wednesday evening we got a babysitter so that Josh, Taylor, Ricardo and I could go out on a double date. We went to Uncle Julio's and had a fantastic Mexican meal and really enjoyed our first double-date at a restaurant together!

On Thursday, we kept Anjuli and Keona so Ruth could have a day of "nesting" and organizing. She kept my kids last week so I could do the same so it was fun to be able to do the same for her. Her baby is due just 5 days after ours! Taylor started the morning with story time for all 6 kids.

After story time we had snack time and then spent the rest of the day outside after the rest of the friends came.

Rebecca and her 3 kids came over as well as Stori and two of her daughters. Stori is an amazing woman from our church who has 10 children and has homeschooled all of them. We invited her over to share her wisdom of parenting with us. It was such a special time and a real blessing for us young moms to hear her words of wisdom. She brought two of her daughters to play with all of our little kids so we could really focus our attention on her and enjoy our time together.

Rebecca, Stori and Taylor

We were in the yard ALL DAY and the kids were beat by the end of the day.

After we cleaned up from lunch and after everyone left, it was time to hit the kicthen again and cook for more guests for dinner. We had Luke and Laura and their kids over in the evening and once again had a great time of yummy food and awesome fellowship.

Praise God for friends!!!

Today is Friday and I can't believe the week is coming to an end. We have some people coming over for dinner for a delicious Bosnian meal so the Irby's can share details about their ministry in Bosnia. I am excited to taste all the yummy food we bought at the Bosnian market today!

Between all the lunches, dinners and outings it has been such a treat to have one of my very best friend's at my house and be able to talk with her, pray with her, laugh with her and just have fun being together. I will be sad when they go!

Diego's new bike!

Diego has been asking for a bike for months now and we have been looking for just the right one. He knows we've been on the lookout and he has tried several bikes at Target and Walmart, but we couldn't find one that we really liked. He has been so patient with the process and has never gotten upset when leaving a store without a bike, after riding up and down the aisles with glee. Yesterday we decided to make a quick stop at Toys R Us to check out their selection, and sure enough, they had the right bike! He was beyond excited! It is a 14" bike with training wheels and he absolutely LOVES it. It is so much fun to see what a big boy he is and to see him cruising on his bike. Alexia is also excited for Diego's new bike and has been such a good sport about the fact that she can't have a bike yet. A friend has told me that she will be handing a bike down to Alexia soon so we are excited about that!

Ricardo and Diego spent about 3 hours at Home Depot yesterday. Ricardo loves working in the yard and has been wanting to plant some new flowers and plants so he was so pleased to have an afternoon to start his project. They came back with gorgeous flowers, a ton of dirt and a lot of excitement to get to work. Ricardo said Diego was such a huge help at Home Depot and did not complain once about being there. He pushed his own (full size) cart and helped out in every way he could. As a reward for being such an awesome sport, he was allowed to eat ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce after dinner. He was supposed to be on "dessert restriction" until Sunday so he was super excited to devour that ice cream! His "dessert restriction" was something that he came up with. On Tuesday night he asked for strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. I said "No, we're not going to have dessert today." He said "Mami, can I eat dessert tonight and then I won't ask for dessert again until Sunday?" I decided this would be a great lesson in following through with a deal and practicing self-control so I agreed. He was so good with following through and not having dessert. We had family movie/pizza night on Friday and we always, always finish it off with sundaes, but he happily accepted that there would be no dessert afterwards.

Here's the champ on his new set of wheels:

I wanted to get some pictures of the two of us together (Alexia was napping), but he didn't want to take off his helmet and he didn't want to sit on my lap. Here I am with my awesome 4-year old!

And here is the belly at 36 weeks! I spent many hours this week getting the house cleaned and organized and most of the baby stuff ready. I washed all of his clothes and put them away, washed his car seat cover, pulled out his crib, bouncy seat, etc. It was so much fun to realize that this little boy is going to be here sooner than we can imagine! We can't wait to have him in our arms!

Diego went to bed early last night, but since Alexia had a good nap, she stayed up late to help Papi plant the flowers. She was so excited to be his little helper and did a great job.

Happy Birthday Papa!!!

I spent a long time writing up a post last night and when I hit "Publish," it disappeared...ARGGHH!! So, as much as I would love to retype all that I had written, I'm afraid I won't get to it for a few days so I thought I would share the pictures that I had uploaded and write some brief captions for them...


Alexia loves to do absolutely everything by herself. Here she is spreading peanut butter on her waffle for breakfast. She can mostly get herself dressed and undressed and puts her own shoes on everyday. It is wonderful to see her in this independent stage, but it is cause for many tantrums and meltdowns when things don't go just her way.

Ricardo's birthday was last week, but he was in London so we were not with him on the actual day. He returned home early Thursday evening so we went out to a special family dinner at our favorite sushi place. Here are the kids making his favorite chocolate tart Thursday afternoon:

Enjoying their rice at Circle Sushi

My favorite boys!

After dinner we came home for a little celebration. The kids could not wait to get their hands on that cake! Notice the knife in Alexia's hand!

Mmmmmmmm!!!

For Mother's Day I asked Ricardo to go to Ikea with me to get a chest of drawers for our closet. I have several little projects I want to get done before our baby arrives and this was one of the big ones. So, after church yesterday we headed to Ikea to pick up the drawers and Ricardo and the kids spent all afternoon putting it together for me. I am still in the process of organizing the closet, but will post some before and after pictures when I'm done.

Here they are working hard!

When they got bored with all the work, I brought them some markers and crayons to turn the boxes into masterpieces. They loved it!

My awesome family who made me feel very loved on Mother's Day.