Truly a dream view from the kitchen window. 3 big kids playing a game of baseball. Mama joy!

My cuddly company for the night :)

Baby girl speeding away!

Marco is FIVE!!!!

Marco Andres turned five this past Saturday, June 6th. Wow!  It is truly amazing that this boy is five and that this boy is ours!
Marco is a treasure of a boy and Ricardo and I are so blessed and humbled that the Lord has chosen US to be his parents and that we get the privilege to raise him.
He has blossomed so much in the past year and it is really exciting to see the boy he is becoming.
Some fun facts about Marco:
Favorite foods: watermelon, pineapple, pizza, yogurt, Mexican food and Indian food
Favorite activities: anything with his siblings, playing board games, riding his bike, jumping on the trampoline, taking care of Lucia, helping out
Favorite color: red
What he wants to be when he grows up: a pilot

These posts are out of order so it starts with dinner:



His dinner request was Circle Sushi...not for the sushi (although he did swipe 4 pieces of my rolls), but for the chicken tempura.  We had a lovely waitress who treated him to this amazing dessert of tempura bananas and green tea ice cream. We all enjoyed it!

He loves to make silly faces for the camera!

I think this boy has a future in the culinary arts.  He wanted to invent his own cake so I let him request his heart's desire and I made it exactly how he requested.  He made sure I knew his cake was to be made from scratch.  It was blueberry/strawberry cake with maple frosting and real cherries on top.  It was to die for!  We all agreed that it was the best cake we've ever had and it will be the new birthday request of all!

And back to breakfast and our special outing!

The birthday boy's breakfast request was...pancakes!  We had delicious pancakes with all the toppings imaginable: nutella, applesauce, syrup, butter and peanut butter.  

He was allowed to open one present at breakfast and he opened a new bike helmet which he loved!

The birthday outing was a rafting trip down the Chattahoochee river and it was amazing!  We left Lucia at home with a sitter and headed out around 10:00am for our adventure.  

We took our time and just floated down the river for over 2 hours.  We took breaks for the children to jump in, but the water was so crazy cold that they could not swim around, but had to jump right back into the raft each time.  I was the only wimp who did not jump in.  It was way too cold!  The weather was just glorious!

Marco loved jumping in with his arms tightly wrapped around daddy's shoulders!

The joy!

FIVE!!

After we worked up an appetite we headed home for baguette sandwiches, presents and cake. 

A remote control helicopter!!  He has been asking for one for months!

The children were asked to raise money to send to Bobbi Jo in Germany.  We decided to have a lemonade stand to earn some money.  The children had a blast selling lemonade and were pretty successful.  We did it two days in a row and they are asking to do yet another one before summer is over.  

Diego's sign

Alexia's sign (her lemonade has an umbrella and a straw!)

Marco's sign (notice the lemonade is sideways)

Marco and Callen - best buds at VBS!

VBS!

We had VBS at church at last week and it was a fantastic week!  It was the first year that Marco could fully participate in the big kid class and he loved it!  I had 11-year old kids and really enjoyed  my time with them.  

Crazy hair day!

Diego and Addie.  We have pictures of these two munchkins together when they were just 1 year old. They look so grown up here!