Forgot to send this one to the blog

Ricardo climbing the magnolia 

Date night BBQ!

After dinner last night

Decorating cupcakes for Evelyn's birthday

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Diego, "Today I prayed that we would be good kids and that you would be a good mommy.  And I prayed for protection for all of us.  And that God would teach me how to pray better and help me pray more often."

I need to remember this as a daily prayer myself.  How amazing that the holy spirit stirs the heart of a 5 year old in such a way.  Thank you dear Lord!

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After picnic plau

We took a meal to a friend on Monday morning and Marco was in love with their dog. He is "barking" in this picture. He absolutely loved the dog and was all over it. Alexia, on the other hand, buried herself in the couch behind my back and would not get let the dog get near her.

Brothers watching sisters

First day of ballet!!

Making and enjoying whole wheat biscuits 

Ricardo is awesome!!  I was the coordinator for an event at church this morning so he had serious daddy duty.  I left at 6:30am, before anyone was awake and met them at chik fil a at 1pm.  He took them out to breakfast ( no small feat), went to the funhouse and took them out to lunch.  He said everyone was on great behavior and they all had a blast!  He texted me these two pics of Marco:

Marco and I with Laura and Thomas

Story time 

Math lesson

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Making granola 

The boy loves his shoes and even asks to wear them to bed.  He wanted them on shortly after waking up this morning.

Crazy kids in a box

At Fernbank Museum with our buds 

First day of School!

Today was Diego's first day of Kindergarten. How can that be?! Kindergarten?! 5 years old!? Really!? Wow!!

It was a wonderful day! Yesterday I told Diego that I would have to wake him up to get ready since we had to leave the house at 7:20am. He came into our room at 6:30am, ready to have breakfast and get ready for school. He was so excited. This will be quite an adjustment for us since the kids and I are never dressed, fed and ready any time close to 7:30.

On Monday we went to a "meet and greet" where he was able to meet his teacher and classmates which was so neat. Ricardo and I had a conference with his teacher where we were asked to answer some heart-probing questions about who Diego is. The teachers really want to get to know the children and learn about their strengths, weaknesses, abilities, areas to be trained, characteristics to be shepherded. It was wonderful to spend time with Ms Hite and see her genuine interest in Diego and excitement for the school year. After our conference, Diego attended the "meet and greet" and had a blast. There are 10 other students in his class, 3 of which he already knows.

Heritage has a tradition of letting balloons go on the first day of school. So after we dropped him off in the carpool lane, we parked the car and walked around to the front of the school for the celebration. The Head of School greeted everyone, read scripture, prayed and then asked for the balloons to be released. It was awesome. I could write for pages about the amazing ways in which we have been immensely blessed in just these few short months of being a part of the Heritage community.

When I picked him up I asked him what his favorite part of the day was, "Recess!" was the answer. Diego is not overly chatty, but he shared a lot with me about his first day:

- He loved painting with the primary colors in art class. He smeared the paint all over his hands so it looked like he was wearing gloves

- They read a bible story about creation

- They read a chapter book about a boy who had a really bad tooth ache and finally let the dentist, ("or maybe it was a doctor?") pull it out

- There is a tarantula in the classroom and he thinks it lost a leg

- He told the class his favorite color is blue

- He was dripping with sweat on the playground. He had drips on both sides of his face (this is a BIG deal for him!)
- On the playground the girls were horses and the boys were bad guys and the boys captured the girls and put them in jail

- He sat in his chair like he was supposed to

- He tried to explain to a boy that he (Diego) speaks Spanish, but the boy just didn't understand

Other moms that I have talked to/emailed with say that their kids were too tired to share much about their first day so I am grateful that he was eager to tell me some details.

After we dropped him off, Alexia and Marco and I went to Panera for a special breakfast date. Alexia ate the entire chocolate chip bagel that you see pictured below. She was hungry!

After our bagels, we went to church for bible study. Alexia is in the big kid class this year so she was so excited, with her backpack and all! Marco was not too thrilled to go to his class, but after his initial meltdown, they said he did fine.

We decided to have a first-day celebratory lunch at Chik Fil A with some friends after school. Diego was thrilled!

I didn't want to leave this one out. This is at Heritage. Notice Alexia wore her new backpack with her purple cup sticking out. Sweet Marco had to go in his jammies and had a box of raisins for breakfast. I had to wake him up this morning so we could leave on time and he was all smiles the whole way there.

From Caitl

On a date with daddy

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Unloading the dishwasher 

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Blowing kisses

Diego's turtle 

Diego's cat

Playing school 

Good morning!

Back to blogging

I was just going through old posts on the blog and I realized how neat it was when I used to actually write posts! I love going back and reading about the kids and what we were all up to. I print the blog into books each year so also for the book's sake, I would love to start writing more on the blog. I love the convenience of texting photos from my phone, but I will try to do more writing now.
I can't believe summer is over! Diego starts school next week! We are all so excited for him to start Kindergarten. I ordered new back packs for him and Alexia so their favorite to do the past two days has been "play school." I am usually their teacher and Marco is my baby, not their brother. We had planned on Alexia doing a 1 day/week preschool program at our church, but for different reasons, I decided to cancel her enrollment. She keeps talking about how she will do home school this year and how excited she is. Diego will go to school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 to 12:30 so I am looking forward to having those mornings with Alexia and Marco, although I know we are going to miss Diego so much.
We have had a great summer and have been busy, but it has also been really enjoyable. We have a social outing or friends over every day of the week which has been so nice. Tomorrow is Friday and we have no plans and I am excited to have a quiet day at home (well, as quiet as a day can be with 3 kids!)
I am enjoying the kids so much these days. Every day has its share of challenges, but God is giving me an abundance of grace in mothering these three precious children. There is no way I could do this on my own, in my own strength or with my own joy. Just as these kids belong to Him, so do all of the steps I take in my days, longing to be the mother He wants me to be. I fail often, so very often; but when I do, He picks me up and carries me on.
Ricardo was away for 8 days and returned last night so we are all so happy to have him back. Marco attached himself to Ricardo as soon as he walked through the door and would only come to me when he knew it was time to nurse for bed.
A chat between Alexia and I today:
A: Is daddy going to church with us on Sunday?
Me: Yes
A: Really!?
Me: Yes
A: He is!?
Me: Yes, he is.
A: Daddy, our daddy?
And then she just started to giggle. So sweet.

Eating with daddy.  

First time he eats his oatmeal all by himself!

Turned my back for a minute!
I should probably clarify that he is not walking yet, but is a total climber!

The finished product! Papi, please don't be mad at us :)