The Lopez Family Blog

This week has ended up being very busy, but so fruitful and special. So Monday was the birthday brunch, dentist appointments and a cozy afternoon at home. There have been two super fun events that I don't have any pictures of :( On Tuesday, my friend Katie came over with her two kids, Benjamin (2 1/2) and Evelyn (8 months). We had planned on doing breakfast and play date, but we were enjoying our time so much that we extended it to be a whole day thing. They were here from 9:30 to 4:00pm. Her daughter took 2 naps here and her son took 1. We had a lovely time just hanging out, chatting and really sharing the day which just does not happen enough with friends these days. She was here when Diego came home from school so she was able to enjoy our afternoon routine with us and all the kids had a blast together.

Ricardo left for Puerto Rico yesterday morning so we had a yummy steak dinner together on Tuesday night and then Marco and I spent yesterday morning getting ready for Laura's baby shower. Steph, Christy and I hosted a shower for Laura (who is expecting her third boy any day now!) and it was a wonderful evening. Having a third baby is no less exciting than a first so I believe it should be no less celebrated! We had lovely evening of coffee, tea, desserts, giggles and special conversations.

Today (Thursday) Alexia had gymnastics class at 9:30. She really loved it and Marco had a grand time playing at the train table that is in the waiting area. Brilliant idea on their part!
From there, we went straight to her friend, Lila's house for play date and lunch. Alexia and Lila are in the same class at school and had a wonderful time playing together. She has a little brother named James who is 2 1/2 so Marco had a playmate as well. I am bummed I don't have any pictures b/c it was a really fun day with them.

We had a fun visit from Kylie this afternoon and then we took our time reading, enjoying the gorgeous afternoon and getting ready for bed.

Now my big project is to get us all ready for the church retreat! We leave tomorrow afternoon for two nights away with our church family and we are soooo excited! The kids and I are heading up right after school (we're going to caravan with Ruth and family) and a friend is picking Ricardo up at the airport at 7:00pm to head up. Diego and Alexia each packed their own suitcase all by themselves and for "independence building" reasons, I am not going to unpack or add anything to their suitcases. I might take a peak to make sure they remembered socks and underwear!

Yes, that's right...47 pictures to follow. I know! But hey, that's what I need to do to get it done. And I have many more to share...!

We ventured to Scott's Antique market one Sunday after being at church from 9:00 to 1:00 while my mom was in town. Yes, the kids were wiped out, but they did great. We found this great buffet for the dining room so Ricardo set the kids up to play restaurant and they entertained themselves for almost an hour. It was precious!

Seriously, it just hurts sometimes...the cuteness, that is.

I have to upload the pictures from the rest of the day, but last Monday Ricardo took the day off of work and we kept Diego home from school (which his teacher totally supported) and we went apple picking and pumpkin hunting. We started the morning off with a fire in the fireplace...

...pumpkin pancakes...

...and daddy reading "Boxcar children" It was wonderful to have such a leisurely morning on a weekday!

My girl peeling apples for our apple pie. She is in the kitchen almost as much as I am these days. She is so eager to help and I love it!

Ricardo and I looked down at the kids the other morning and Marco was watching a video with Diego, with his arm around his shoulder...he moved it right before we snapped this shot, but this is still precious.

Today (Oct 1, the day I'm writing this post) I hosted a little birthday brunch for Christy and Hannah who share the same birthday. It was totally last-minute and low key, but it was so much fun! We had 13 children between us and 7 kids were at school so it would have been 20 kids between 8 of us!

The beautiful birthday ladies and their babes.

Alexia loved having so many of her friends over at once!

After dinner tonight the kids shared a bowl of melon. Not sure how, but it turned into the sillies and I just love these pictures of them.

Ok, now we get into random order. This is a picture from Tio Diego's last night in Atlanta. We went out to a fabulous dinner at Rathbun's and had a great time! Diego had won a gift certificate so it was his treat :)

The crew making pizza

When school started I thought my snack ideas were just so much fun so I took a few pictures. Doesn't feel so exciting anymore, but thought I'd share the picture anyways :) (that's mango in there, the kids absolute favorite)

I took this picture of us. I cuddle Marco before his naps and bedtime and I know these precious cuddles will end soon so I wanted to capture it. He is such a cuddle bug and Ricardo and I both soak it up :)

Scrubbing a tire so some friends could make it into a tire swing

A Saturday afternoon hike by the river. I'm freaked out by snakes so I didn't do well here.

Building towers with pegs

My mom came for a visit in September and we had a great time. We took Marco out to lunch on Saturday while Ricardo was at Rock Ranch with Diego and Alexia and other Heritage dads. The next two pictures are from there:

A coffee date at Alon's with Grammie

The kids wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses with Grammie so she was happy to oblige. Alexia sure adores her grammie and loved having a buddy to enjoy this ice cream bar with :)

Redeeming their tickets

This is Mrs McCarthy, Alexia's teacher. We ran into her at Mellow Mushroom one night and invited her to join our family for dinner and it was incredibly special for Alexia. She could hardly believe it!

We took a trip to the farmer's market and Marco LOVED the fish!

The kids requested a zoo outing for grammie's last day with us. Holden is one of the boys that we carpool with so we took him along and everyone had a blast!

This is very typical of Alexia. She loves smoochin' and lovin' on her brother and it's precious...until he doesn't think so.

My mom made us her incredible cioppino (fish stew) while she was here and it was oh so good!

Marco insisted on Alexia giving him cuddles before nap which turned into a 15-minute cuddle fest and Alexia was over the moon!

Ricardo and I had a rare opportunity to have a date with Alexia one Friday so we took her to the Flying Biscuit for breakfast and then to play at Piedmont Park for 3 hours. So sweet!

We participated in a fundraiser for one Diego's good friends who has Cystic Fibrosis. We were the purple power team!

My 5 cute lunch dates two weeks ago. I was taking care of Jack for the day (his mama was in the hospital with baby sister while she had some testing done) and Diego had a play date planned with his sweet buddy, Helen (the one with Cystic Fibrosis). I took them all to lunch at Chik Fil A and...survived! They were all so good and I couldn't believe how pleasant it could be to take 5 kids to lunch!

Diego and Helen

Jack and Marco. Jack was with us all day and was so well behaved. He even skipped his nap and didn't have one meltdown. I was impressed. He calls me "my lady friend Andre"