Post-flu shot video time.  It was rough!

He now climbs up all by himself and sits like this, so pleased with himself.

Bye bye paradise in the woods

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We are in Highlands, North Carolina with the Graham family. The cabin is gorgeous and the setting is spectacular. We're all excited for a special weekend!

ROOOOAD TRIP!

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I wanted to write a quote here that I shared with the Facebook world yesterday, but want to make sure it gets in the blog book:

Diego, "Mom, I love you more than all the sand in the world, cut into quarters."
Alexia, "Mom, I love you more than your boots."

Alexia is so quick to come up with responses and phrases that it just cracks me up. I was not even wearing boots when she said that so it makes it even funnier b/c it is just something she threw out there.

I also wanted to share about Diego's reading. He is doing an amazing job. Of course he is slow and gets caught up on words every once and awhile, but he can read words like, sharing, mushroom, understand, bottom, make, etc. He can sit down with a book and read it through with minmal help. He is reading words anywhere and everywhere that he can and also stops to read things at the grocery store, etc. If he is quiet and has gone to another room on his own, it is most likely because he has picked up a book and is reading to himself. I cannot express the warmth that gives my heart. Heritage does not give any homework for Kindergarten, but there is one at-home requirement: 30 minutes of reading a day (parents reading to kids at this age). We usually read more than that a day, but it has been fun to write down every book we read and use it as a push to get our reading done on extra busy days. We read a variety of books throughout the day, but every night after our family devotion time, we read a chapter from a chapter book and the kids have come to cherish that time which is really special for us.
We have a book that talks about a worm having a nightmare and I have always said "bad dream" instead of nightmare. Now I have to make sure he is not looking at that page when I read it or else he catches me when I don't read the words as they appear!

We are going away this weekend with some friends so I told the kids we are going to the mountains. Alexia said, "Will there be a bed there because I don't want to sleep on the hard part of the mountain." Oh, she cracks me up!

Marco is doing great these days. As you've seen from pictures, he is a climber and is into everything. He still isn't walking, but gets around so quickly and gets anywhere he wants to be. His temper is really showing at this age, but overall he really still is a super baby. He gets mad if he can't have something the kids have or if he is tired and just wants to be held. We have a biting, pinching and scratching issue with him. Yes, super baby bites, scratches and pinches! We are really working with him on it and some days I see improvement, some days I see regression...day by day we go. Yesterday Diego had soccer from 5:45 to 6:30 and today Alexia had ballet from 3:15 to 4:00. Marco sat in his stroller the entire duration of both of those activities, without a single complaint. I tell Ricardo that his deposits into his "super baby bank" are so much heftier than his withdrawals, that I can cope with his temper much easier.

Tooo big!!

Rock Ranch

Ricardo and Diego went on a Father/Child retreat today with Heritage families. They left around 10am and it is now 8:30pm and they have not returned! Ricardo sent me several texts throughout the day so I am including the highlights:

The caption on the above picture was, "He hit the target!"

Caption on text, "I've always wanted to go fishing!" This was Diego's first time fishing and he caught a fish!

Not sure what kind of vehicle this is, but sure looks fun!

I spoke with them at 6pm and they were leaving the ranch, on their way to dinner with 4 other dads and their kids. I am so thankful for this special time that Diego was able to have with Ricardo!

While Ricardo and Diego were away on the retreat, Alexia, Marco and I had our own fun. I had made arrangements to drop Marco off at a friend's house so that Alexia and I could have a girl's tea date, but she insisted that she wanted Marco to come along. It just warmed my heart so much that she really wanted to include him on our special date. I took them to the Roswell Teahouse and she enjoyed their "Princess Tea." She loved the tea (it was apple and almond flavor and was PINK), the nutella sandwich, the vanilla cookie and the scone. She was also served a PBJ, cucumber sandwich, cream puff, apple strudel and lemon coconut cake. I helped polish off what she didn't care for :) We enjoyed our time there and then headed to Brook Run Park for some playground fun.

Friday dinner on the front porch...date night later for mom and dad :)

Alexia really wanted her nails painted and was so sweet and patient to let Diego do it for her!

Impromptu lunch by the river!

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His favorite spot to be!