Valentine's Day

Yesterday we missed the Dehombre family. For the last two years, we had made and decorated valentine's cakes with Sofia and Able and had such a fun time. This year I decided to go simple and I bought cookies and decorations and let the kids decorate and munch to their hearts content.

In the morning we went to Dekalb Farmer's Market and had a blast doing our grocery shopping there. We bought a whole fish, shrimp and veggies for the bbq for a surprise dinner for Papi. He came home early and we all played outside together and then ate a delicious meal on the back terrace. It was the first time we had a "valentine's" dinner as a family and we had a really fun time. We had cupcakes for dessert, danced to some fun tunes and put the kids down around 8.

Alexia entertained Marco while taking breaks from the soccer game with Ricardo and Diego.

We asked Diego to take a picture of us before dinner and this was the best out of 3 attempts.

Diego is not a big fish fan and has not had it for months and months. We told him he had to eat fish (red snapper) and shrimp for dinner. He spit out the shrimp (I love it, but can definitely understand why he didn't) and he devoured his fish. Alexia couldn't eat her fish fast enough (with her hands) and lil' Marco ate almost half of my serving of fish. I gave him tiny pieces and he would complain between bites because I wasn't serving it fast enough. His other new favorite is pureed spinach, yep, just plain ol' spinach.

Sunday at the park

We've been thoroughly spoiled the last few Sundays and have been able to go to the park right after church to enjoy a picnic and play time. This Sunday we picked up sandwiches at Publix and headed to Piedmont to enjoy the gorgeous day.
The favorite part of lunch was the watermelon:


Alexia ate hers right down to the rind

I had to post this because it is a typical, silly face of Diego's and I want to remember it!

Aldo, Eliana and Cami met up with us after lunch for a quick game of soccer...

...and to introduce us to their new dog. Diego was so excited to "walk" the dog!

Marco was soooo happy!

We've had a busy week. Ricardo departed for London last Saturday and returned home last night. I always miss him when he leaves, but I think Diego missed him more this time than he ever has. He kept saying how badly he wanted him to come home, how he didn't want him to leave for 7 days again, how he just wanted to see him and on and on. He never cried or was upset, but just expressed his desire to be with his daddy.
On Monday we went to Ruth's all day (documented in previous post). Tuesday was a great at-home day with school, cleaning, playing games and hanging out and then gymnastics in the afternoon. On Wednesday I had an open house at a hybrid school that we are considering for next year for Diego. It's called Veritas and they have a program where Diego could go to Kindergarten one day a week (9am - 2pm) and I would home school him the other 4 days of the week. It's a great option, but we still have to pray about it and discuss it some more. The open house was at 10am so I dropped D & A off at a great drop-off care place in Roswell for 3 hours and they were thrilled. They had an awesome time and kept asking when they could return. My friend Rebecca also attended the open house so we took advantage of the childcare (she also has 3 kids) and we went out for a wonderful lunch at a nearby Greek restaurant. Marco was with us, but having super baby along no big deal at all. I think it was the first time we had ever hung out without our older kids so it was such a treat to have 1.5 hours of uninterrupted conversation!

The kids were beat from the active morning so they were ready for an early bedtime. I put them to bed and then got things ready for Ruth to come over for a very belated birthday dessert night to celebrate her birthday. She came over around 8pm and stayed until 11:30pm. We had such a blast! It was also the first time that we were together without children so we relished the uninterrupted conversation and indulged in delicious desserts. It was a real treasure to have her here and to spend such a special evening together. Thank you, friend!

Thursday was another at-home day and on Friday we went to our regular playgroup. It was a gorgeous day and the kids were thrilled to be outside!

We were so excited for Ricardo to come home on Friday night. We all had naps so that we could stay up late to have a special dinner and play time with daddy.

Today (Saturday) we had some friends over for lunch and then went to Thomas' 1st birthday party in the afternoon.

Ricardo is watching Lord of the Rings right now, but I am not interested in it so he gave me the ok to do a blog post while he watches the movie :)

While Diego was practicing his writing, I had Alexia do this activity of transferring beads with tweezers. She loved it!

Diego says that now that he is 5, he would like to have more chores to do around the house. I am working on a list for him, but let him start by washing the dishes. Can't beat that desire to help out!

This was Diego's favorite part of the park on Friday afternoon. He is close to the top, wearing the black shirt.

Alexia and Evelyn swinging, with Marco hanging out on the grass.

You may wonder why our darling boy is always dressed in jammies. Comfort and coziness. I just love him to be cozy and warm and you really can't beat these jammies for that!

Love those happy faces!

Deven and his parents came over for lunch today. Diego and Deven have been buds since they were babies and it is amazing to see this pictures and to see what big boys they are! It has been almost a year since we've seen them so it was such a treat to have them here!

After they left, we washed up, let Marco take a 40 minutes snooze and then headed to Marietta for Thomas' 1st birthday party.

I missed the chance to get a picture of the actual battle, but here's Alexia and Thomas, post-sword fight. It was adorable!

Alexia's maternal instinct was very strong and she hovered over Marco, protecting him from the two dogs that were roaming around. She was so intent on her efforts to protect him.

Marco and Thomas have matching sweaters. We've always said that the two of them slightly resemble each other and it was so cute to see them dressed the same! Thomas is 6 months older than Marco, but is not a whole lot bigger.

Sweet buddies

Diego and Alexia go to gymnastics every Tuesday. Their two classes do warm-up together and then they split up for their individual classes. They always stay very close to each other during the warm up and it makes me smile. Can you find them?

Here is Alexia in her typical attire. She LOVES short-sleeve shirts so always asks to put one on over her long sleeve and Diego does the same. My mom sent her this tu tu for her bday and I love it when she wears it!

Super baby is cutting a tooth on the top so he has been gnawing at anything he can get his hands on. This comb did not leave his mouth for over an hour this afternoon.

We're here! :)

At bedtime tonight Diego asked me, "Does God know if I will like yogurt for the rest of my life?" "He sure does!" So, I had to document this picture of a shelf full of yogurt so that Diego will be able to look back and remember just how much he liked yogurt as a young boy. They were on sale at Publix, so we stocked up. We're down to about 6 now.

Well, the past three days were fabulous. Ricardo's little sister, Alessandra (Tia Ale) and her fiancee (!) Benoit came to visit from Friday to this morning (Monday). They arrived late Friday night so we had a special meal with them without the kids and it was so great. On Saturday, Ale and I went wedding dress shopping and SHE FOUND IT!! It is absolutely gorgeous and it was such a privilege to take her shopping and to be with her when she found THE ONE! Of course we took Alexia along and she thought it was just so much fun!


On Saturday night we had family pizza movie night and watched Planet Earth


On Sunday we went to church where we enjoyed an fantastic sermon and wonderful music. It was great to introduce Ale and Benoit to so many of our church family. After church we went to Jason's for lunch and had a fun time...



...then we made a quick trip to the mall so they could buy some luggage...

...and then on to Piedmont Park for the afternoon...

We dropped them off at the Marta early this morning and we miss them already! Tio Benoit and Tia Ale, thank you for such a wonderful weekend!

After Marco woke up from his morning nap this morning, we headed to Ruth's house for an all day play date. It was just what we all needed, to say the least!

Having some school time during our day at Ruth's house

And of course cookie time!

An action shot of Ricardo and the kids playing soccer last weekend. Yes, it was warm enough for shorts!

Remember the soccer ball pinata we made? Well, here it is! It was so much fun to hit b/c it broke to pieces in no time!

LOVE this picture!

Photo taken by request of the happy big bro

Could he be any sweeter?!