Our amazing babysitter is leaving us!  She's getting married in June and moving up north.  We're thrilled for her, but will miss her so much!

Our amazing babysitter is leaving us!  She's getting married in June and moving up north.  We're thrilled for her, but will miss her so much!

We has an overnight visitor on Sunday.  Louisa cane to spend the night while her mama had a baby!  Her dad dropped her off at 10:30p and she was so sad :(. She fell asleep at midnight and when she woke up at 6:00, she was happy and ready to play.  The kids were thrilled to have her here and she was a really good girl.  

Colorful dinner table!

Today was Alexia's turn to have the girls from her class over for lunch (all 2 of them!). Funny that they're both the minority gender in their classes.
She requested tea time and it was so much fun.  We had an assortment of sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad, nutella, PBJ), fruit and homemade scones.  I let the 3 girls sit by themselves while Kellie, James (Lila's mom and brother), Marco and I sat in kitchen.  Marco was thrilled to have James to play with!
The girls talked nonstop, giggled lots and played with their American girl  dolls.  
Love my girlie girl!!

If Lucia is awake, this is what Diego does before leaving for school.  Today he gave me about 9 kisses on my cheek before leaving.  Love that boy!!

Yesterday was a crazy day that had us out of the house for most of the day, something we just don't do much of.  Diego had a pool party for Ruby so the littles and I played at a park adjacent to the pool for 3 hours and thankfully enjoyed our time.
The water in all of our sinks was coming out brown in the morning and when we returned around 5:00, it was still brown so we went to Publix to buy water and have subs for dinner.  Only by God's grace were we able to have a fun and special dinner outside of Publix!  When we returned home, the water was clear...phew!

On Monday Diego invited the boys from his class (all 2 of them!) over for lunch after school.  I let him choose the menu and he really wanted Papa Johns pizza so obliged.  They were wild and ran around the house like crazy, played hide n seek, played football outside and were very sweet to include Alexia and Marco in most everything.  The cutest was when they did relay races and Luke and Diego were on a team and Edison and Alexia were on a team.
We teach them that siblings always come before friends and while most the time I don't think they'll ever get it, there are times like these that are a great encouragement to my heart.
It was a great afternoon for all!

Me to Marco: I love you so much

Marco: I love you so much. We'll never die. Never die. Never die....
Will we die?

Me: yes, we will die someday

Marco: when?

Me: only God knows and that will be a wonderful day when we get to be with Jesus

Marco: oh ya! Then we'll be alive again!

We went on to talk about heaven and being with God for an eternity and it was a really precious time. The deeper conversations get with him, the more grateful I am for his speech progress. We have so far to go, but he's come a long way!

Marco enjoyed wrapping his baby up in his gee-gees this morning :)

D and A had a method to share the duty of cutting up this watermelon.  As they slaved away, Alexia said "this is a symbiotic relationship."

Last night was sushi date night.  Ricardo took the three big kids to the farmers market to buy all the goods and we had so much fun making sushi together in the evening.  It was delicious!!  We had leftovers so Diego was thrilled to have his own roll that daddy made just for him.

Marco is slightly obsessed, no, really obsessed with the yard crew.  When they come he does nothing else but watch out the window.  
Added bonus is that the new crew is lead by Mr Lopez.  So all week he talks about Mr Lopez coming.

Alexia had a class pool party yesterday.  I dropped her off and then the boys and babe and I went to Chik for lunch.  Every time we go there now, I can't believe how often we used to go.  Not cool!

Happy morning: crafts, peonies and worship music.  An added bonus was a chat with grandpa and Mima!

Walking with the boy

Oh those cheeks and arms!

Lucia learning the ins and outs of the dot game!

Love this pic of Alexia and her class.  They spent time in the garden on this day and she brought home mint to put in our water for lunch.  So special!  

My family made me feel so so loved today.  At 8:40, they walked in with breakfast on a tray and it was a complete surprise!  They blessed me with precious cards, served my tray and then left the room!  I read the bible while I ate my breakfast and was humbled with gratitude.  What a privilege it is to serve these little ones and be their mommy!  My heart overflows.

Ignore me, notice the tray. My dream breakfast-two kinds of yogurt, papaya/mango/orange fruit salad, muffins, boiled eggs and coffee.  

Mothers day eve date night!  This spread of cheeses, breads, dips, dried fruit and nuts was divine!  All of my favorite things.

From Alexia

This is what Ricardo's office looked like Tuesday morning, thanks to Paola!

I just left school after a delightful Mother's day celebration in the classroom of this amazingly precious kindergartner!

Oh these two.  Melt.my.heart

Good morning!

A very loved daddy!

The kids found a dead snake in the front yard and each wanted to hold it. Ricardo took these pics.  I'll have nothing to do with snakes, dead or alive.

I think we officially have a thumb sucker and I could scream bc of how cute it is!!

I'll write soon about our super duper weekend of fun, but here's a picture of our Friday date night.  I surprised Ricardo with a lovely walk, symphony and wonderful dinner to kick off his bday celebration!

This baby is 3 months old!!!!

And this is why we have kids...!  To ease the load of household chores :)

I just need to brag about my husband. You saw the pics of our amazing getaway for my bday. I'm not sure what makes me feel more loved...everything he did to make it wonderful OR him packing for all 6 of us. I was so impressed with his packing job. None of my clothes fit me well so u always struggle to find something to wear. He knew just what pants, shirts, nursing bra...everything...he knew what I needed! He also packed my special face creams and make up. Alexia and Marco were in charge of packing for Lucia and she had absolutely everything she needed. D, A and M were each responsible for packing for themselves and they also had complete bags.  So cool to have responsible kids and thoughtful husband!
The hotel also went all out to bless us.  When we arrived we found a dozen red roses for me and a huge basket of gifts for the children.  We were all amazed!

So blessed!

Happy girl!

Headed to the pool!

The spread

After we went for a swim at the pool (well everyone except Lucia and I) we came back to our suite to an amazing high tea!  My very favorite thing!!

I am feeling wayyyyyyy too spoiled.  The family just surprised me by bringing me to the Intercontinental! Family sleepover!!!