A walk in the woods.

Girls with girls, boys with boys....there's been way to much of that around here lately. So Isabela went off on a playdate with dad while I tried to figure out what to do with my two boys. The weather has been so nice, I wanted us to be outside. But I was also exhausted, so something like Maymont was out of the question. And Diego's on this sometimes nap, sometimes not kick. Yesterday was a no nap day, which means possible meltdown at any moment...definitely not taking him anywhere indoors. That would just seal the deal.

So we ended up at Rockwood Park. I usually avoid the playground there and head straight for the trail. The playground is overcrowded and boring for me. I didn't want to have to worry whether or not my kids were sharing with others, being polite, or getting pushed around themselves. Plus the trail is an adventure! You never know what you'll come across.

Like what the heck is that guy doing on the sign?


We spied this bright green piece of fluff and thought it was a caterpillar. Then realized it was just a piece of moss. Come to think of it, I don't think we saw any wildlife. It is still winter even though it's warm.


Diego found this walking stick quickly on and pretty much used it as a gun the whole time. He's my Lord of the Flies boy.


I had to teach him not to shoot at other joggers or passersby. He was so proud of himself..."Look ma, I didn't shoot the guys!"


The stick came in very handy when Joaquin kicked the soccer ball into the creek. I finally convinced him to brave the slight embankment covered with leaves and use the stick to bring the ball close. He did it, then threw the ball up to me and I watched it roll right off the other side of the trail into an even steeper creek bed. This time, I had to be brave and risk slipping into the mud. It's a funny story now, but I was fussing the whole time. Way to ruin a memory, mom. I'm going to try and remember that the next time something goes wrong.

Some of the exercises along the trail are really difficult....this is supposed to be like the pole vault...up and over the bar.


Some required a lot of concentration.


Joaquin was quick to help his brother. But Diego's fighting for independence now...no more helping for him.


And he did do it all by himself!


He's so proud.


We made it a mile and a quarter around the trail. I had brought the wagon in case Diego got tired, but I ended up pulling Joaquin most of the time. It turns out Diego's my cross country runner, while Joaquin is the sprinter.


A day out with my boys can be exhausting, but it's also invigorating. Here's to boys!

God made a world out of His dreams
of majestic mountains, oceans and streams,
prairies and plains and wooded land,
then paused and thought...

"I need someone to stand
on top of the mountains, to conquer the seas,
explore the plains and climb the trees.
Someone to start out small
and grow sturdy and strong like a tree,"
and so...

He created boys, full of spirit and fun,
to explore and conquer, to romp and run,
with dirty faces and banged up chins,
with courageous hearts and boyish grins.

When He had completed the task He'd begun,
He surely said, "That's a job well done."
(author unknown)

simplifying

Simplifying has been the motto around here lately.

Another closet cleanout was due. This time, I was a little more ruthless. If I hadn't worn it, even if I liked it, it went out. (Really, I think there are some t-shirts in a drawer that snuck by me, but I'll get them on the next go round.) I have my favorites, that I feel comfortable in, and they're in the weekly rotation...everyone I see knows it...so I'm only fooling myself into thinking I have more options with a closet full of stuff I don't wear.

Juan Pablo did it, too. I think we had four bags of stuff. And when I get around to the rest of the house, there WILL be more. It's shameful, and I'm not sure how it happened considering just four years ago, we moved back here with only 8 suitcases to our name. (It might have even been six!)

After blog hopping for awhile, I came across one talking about simplifying your time. What are the things that eat up your time? She mentioned Facebook. I've never been on it that much, but I would call myself 'checking' it and there went 20 minutes. So I joined her and deactivated my account. Now I've filled up that 20 minutes clicking around on Pinterest, but when I quit doing that, there really is much more time in the day!

More time for important things, like reading.


And house projects. When we first moved here, we had taken the ugly wooden shelves out of Isabela's closet, and even took the doors off to make more space in her room. But recently, she said she wanted a closet like Joaquin's. What a great idea! We used the direct mount shelves from Lowe's, got them cut to the size we wanted, and it took an hour or so to install. (Not to mention it's about $50 cheaper than the boxed kits they sell.) Now she has more space than ever and can see her clothes! Goodbye, dresser.


We have since pulled the old doors down from the attic. Juan Pablo and the kids threw a new coat of paint on them, and now we've got a great, new hiding place, too.


Which reminds me of a game of hide and seek we played the other day. SO FUN. Just when you think there are no more spots, someone comes up missing and can NOT be found. I hid under two pillows on Diego's made bed. The kids must have come in there at least three times, even touched the bed to check in the drawers underneath the bed, and didn't see me. The hardest part was trying to remain still and silent while laughing uncontrollably.

Back to simplifying. It's refreshing, uplifting, gratifying....and unending. If you're interested, here's some links that got me started:
small notebook
farewell facebook

fighterman

We're knee-deep in super-heros around here. There are bad guys and monsters around every corner. Any random lincoln log, stick, or paint stirrer becomes the weapon of choice. And believe me, he knows how to use it. He wields it around as fast as a knight from King Arthur's Camelot. If you see an armload of toys high up on the refrigerator, you know why.



He discovered these goggles about a week ago. He calls himself "Fighterman" and I thought he was so creative to think up his own super hero name.


It turns out he just can't pronounce the 's' sound. He's really saying 'Spiderman'. F's instead of S's are really hilarious, so you know we're asking him to say all sorts of things, plus he volunteers many on his own. One of our favorite, Diego say--"I'm smart!"


The other day, he kept asking to go out on the playground. I made many excuses and tried to entertain him in many different ways....why? because it was COLD. Finally, I realized I was going against everything I stand for, so I bundled myself up (afterall, it's me who's cold, not Diego) and we headed out.

How could I deny this happiness?





Is this the making of a superhero, or what?


He's able to leap tall buildings in a single bound....almost. Well, he definitely has a creative way of getting from here to there.


Outside time in winter is just as important as any other season. It's good for him. It's good for me.


I'm a slow learner...but he's teaching me.

5 days left

Be a part of something great here.

bulletin board crafts

What boy doesn't like to keep score? Joaquin is definitely at the score keeping age...whether it's how many scoops of ice cream or how many soccer goals.

For some reason, he really wanted a baseball themed room. Funny because he plays basketball and soccer...but it works because Diego's favorite sport is now baseball....any game where you can swing a bat around and hit things, he's in.

So I finally hung a project I'd been hoping to finish for months, but never got around to it. This was an old brown bulletin board I picked up in a yard sale awhile back, and now it's a scoreboard. I painted it with chalkboard paint, and the letters are stickers except for the few I had to stencil in.


Eventually, I want to put up numbers for the innings, but I'm not sure when I'll get to that.


Another easy bulletin board we made yesterday...a feltboard snowman. I made this for a preschool class one year...the idea was to cut out lots of mittens and have them match them to put on the snowman. They always loved this center, and I thought it would be fun for Diego, too.


He liked decorating it, but only wants it to stay a certain way. Don't put the cowboy hat on the snowman, he definitely doesn't like that one. (And yes, he's wearing goggles in this picture.)

recycled card box

This is a great, easy craft to recycle cards....birthday, Christmas, greeting, get well....any type of card. We discovered this over Christmas here and I thought about all those advent calendars with cute little boxes to open each day. Using your Christmas cards you received, you would have all sorts of sturdy, seasonal boxes to use. (That's if you still get Christmas cards...we only got four this year!)

Here's how to do it...you should know, it's addictive.

First, separate the two halves of your card along the fold line.


Use a pencil to draw two diagonal lines, corner to corner. This will give you the middle point of the card.


Fold in two sides so that they meet in the middle at the point.


Do the same for the long edges, too, so they meet in the middle.



Take some scissors and cut four slit along the folds, like the picture, to make the tabs.


With a little help, the box comes together almost by itself. Fold the sides up, the tabs go in and the outside tab folds up and over. I use a little tape to make it stick.


Follow those steps for both halves of your card....and here's the finished box. I wasn't very careful when I folded, so the edge is sticking out a little. But it's still a cute little box to leave a small treasure in...or maybe for the tooth fairy?

hospitality

I've scratched resolutions. That used to be the highlight of my New Year's Eve. Sad, I know. But this New Year's was great, and now I'm trying something different.

One word.

I've chosen one word for the year. It came to me in December. I had started reading my Bible regularly...a great idea, by the way...first thing in the morning, before I eat, before I check email, before I get dressed. If I do anything else before reading, the reading doesn't get done.

So I kept coming across this word: HOSPITALITY.

My Bible has commentary, which I love. It helps me understand things so much better.
Like at the end of 2 Timothy, Paul is sending out final greetings:

"Greet Priscilla and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus."

Not very moving, right? But the commentary says, "Like Paul, we should take time to weave our lives into others' through close personal relationships." Now that was interesting.

Then it was on to Titus. A short book with this cool verse:
"Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined."
The commentary said, "We would benefit from inviting people to eat with us.....Giving hospitality is very important today because so many people struggle with loneliness. In our self-centered society, we can show that we care by being hospitable."

And then this famous verse:

In Hebrews 13:2 "Do not forget to enterain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it."
The commentary had this to say, "Hospitality simply means making other people feel comfortable and at home."

It couldn't have been more obvious. This year, I need to focus on hospitality.

And honestly, I've never been really good at it. I forget to offer people something to drink. I never have amazing snacks. My house is often in shambles, dishes piled in the sink, or more often scattered about any surface in the kitchen, clothes waiting to be folded in a pile in the hallway.

But I'm hoping hospitality is more than a clean house. Plus, I'm going to try and use closed doors more....I can throw all the junk in a room and close the door, right?

On New Year's, our pastor gave out a study guide for Bible reading for the next few weeks. I was shocked when I read the summary for week 1: "....Our God is a God of hospitality, creating a place for a people, a place where all life can flourish...."

So there it is.

2012. Hospitality.

We welcome you to our house.

grey's anatomy

We had an unexpected anatomy lesson this past weekend when Isabela had to get her appendix taken out. It was a whirlwind of a weekend that seemed to pass in slow motion. There was an amazing calmness to the whole experience. We joked that Isabela does this every January right before my birthday (thinking back to her stay in the hospital for pneumonia several years ago). I said her present to me is her getting all better...but that next year, she can just buy me something :)

Here are the FAQs:
How did it happen?
I woke up around 4am on Sunday to her crying in her room, saying that her stomach hurt. I don't think there were actual tears, just that pained face that something is wrong. I thought at first it was that she might throw up or needed to go to the bathroom, but that wasn't it. I woke up JP and told him what was going on...and he suggested his solution for most ailments : Make her a cup of tea. It seems to work for him, but I was never a tea drinker and that answer always seems strangely ridiculous to me. I did start to heat up some water in the microwave, however.

How did you know to take her to the hospital?
I'd say that was probably motherly instinct, but I did have a few clues. First, she was kind of rolling back and forth on the bed, usually described as writhing in pain. I remembered doing that when I had my gall bladder taken out. And the second clue was when she said she felt "pressure" in her belly. Many people I told were surprised to hear that an eight year old said pressure...and as soon as she said it, I knew something wasn't right. I'd say we were in the car, headed to the hospital, not more than five minutes after I woke up. The cup of tea was still sitting in the microwave when we got home from the hospital the next day.

How did the doctors know it was her appendix?
Initially, they didn't. She did throw up in the waiting room when we arrived, but seemed to get a little better while we were there. She and I were joking, telling stories, laughing...we were in the ER room for 10 hours before they transported her to a different hospital...no TV and nothing to do except talk. Despite the circumstances, it was great bonding time.
After an Xray, they ran a blood test...she had an elevated white cell count which was a surprise to me. I had thought they'd be sending us home anytime. They decided to do a CT scan and that's where it showed up. Isabela was brave throughout all of it...the IV, drinking the CT nasty stuff, the hot flash during the scan...she is quite amazing.

Why did you go to another hospital?
The closest hospital to our house, it turns out, does not have a pediatric surgeon. Ever? I'm not sure. But they transferred us to their sister hospital for the operation. Meaning....she got to ride in an ambulance! A huge one. With a TV in the back. She watched part of Happy Feet on the way over. I rode in the front, second row. It was a slow ride over...I kept checking the speedometer because it felt like an old grandpa was driving, but he was doing 60 on the highway.

How long did the operation take?
Fifteen minutes after we arrived, they were taking her down for prep. This was where I just had to trust that everyone involved knew what they were doing and were who they said they were. There were probably a dozen people asking questions, telling me information, reassuring Isabela. It was hard to know who was actually going to do the operation. I was pretty sure it was the guy who shook my hand, but I wasn't positive. It was probably Isabela's calmness that helped me remain calm during this time. In all, it took about an hour. A nurse even called me on my cellphone, from the operating room, to tell me how things were going!


Where was Juan Pablo?
We are so thankful to our friend, who may as well be family, Liz, who offered to watch Joaquin and Diego. Juan Pablo dropped them off at her house and headed over to the hospital as we were being transferred. His GPS led him somewhere else, of course, and then there was parking and a huge hospital for him to wander through. We'd never been to this hospital before (although it's where I was born). I was standing in the prep room as they're wanting to wheel her out, talking to him on his phone, trying to find out where he was. He sounded utterly dejected like there was no way he'd reach her before the operation. But the nurses were so nice! They told him to find any elevator and hit G and someone would meet him there and lead him back. He made it just in time to kiss her head and hand her a sweet teddy bear and crayon drawn cards from Liz and her kids. A wonderful moment to witness.

How long before she'll recover?
They sent us home the next day. Isabela was sad to go...she misses a TV in front of her bed. Plus, being that she seems to go to the hospital right after Christmas every time, they always have a lot of presents to give out. This time she got a penguin pillow pet. This is a prized possession. I have not fallen for those things yet and had been successful keeping them out of the house until now.

She should be back in school next week and has a follow up appointment after two weeks. She's already been walking around a lot and hasn't taken any tylenol for two days.
The biggest challenge is keeping her two active brothers from bumping and jumping on her. I have recruited Joaquin as a helper in Isabela's recovery...with the promise of a reward if he does a good job:
A pillow pet. Ugh!

Joaquin put everything into perspective the other night at dinner. He asked what would have happened if they didn't take out Isabela's appendix. I said, "Well, she would have died." We all fell silent, and then quickly changed the subject. (This is the same boy who asked Juan Pablo when the doctors were going to put her appendix back in.) Children ask the best questions.

Thank you God for watching over our sweet Isabela, and thank you to all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

first day hike

First Day Hike, a great collaborative effort between the state parks to get us active once again, starting on the first of the new year. We chose a local park, instead of a state one, but the intention and result were the same....a gorgeous day spent walking outside and some amazing photos. I took the old saying, "Take only pictures, leave only footprints," to heart.



I had Isabela take this shot in case I didn't make it into any of the pictures...just to prove I was actually there, too.


Joaquin ran across these jagged rocks that lined the path as if he was running on a paved track. He really has an amazing athletic ability and I'd love to see him use it a lot more this year. Joining the circus has been suggested and crosses my mind regularly.


The paths life leads us down are so amazing. I was never an outdoorsy girl, never liked hiking or climbing. Then I married a man from the Andes Mountain chain. Add in some kids, and hiking just fits now....plus it's great exercise.



Diego found a little chair carved into a rock. What a perfect seat.


This pose is from a cartoon that I never would have let my children watch if I held any weight in this family...it's called Kick Buttowski. Enough said, right? But I do love the pose.


"Remember that time spent on a rock climb isn't subtracted from your life span."
-- Will Niccolls
I think it was here that I stopped watching and had to walk away, just to preserve my own life. Watching my two year old scramble up on this round rock in the middle of a river made my heart lurch. Juan Pablo couldn't get up there as fast as him, but I give him credit for taking the kids on an adventure that they won't soon forget.


“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
-- John Muir





This was the only way across the river at one point. And it was Isabela who crossed it first...she is my brave one.


"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go."
-- T.S. Eliot
I'm married to one of those...and I'm the opposite of one of those. It's a perfect match.


Look at Joaquin perched on the slope of this rock. It's like watching Spiderman.


“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”
-- Frank A. Clark


We all have different strengths. I can't watch my kids teetering on the edge of steep prefaces overlooking rushing currents, and Juan Pablo, strangely enough, cannot carry Diego in his arms for more than a minute. Joaquin can climb like a mountain goat and Isabela is brave, pensive and talkative, at the same time. Diego loves to investigate things from the tiniest bug to tall trees. Walking with the family in nature has something for each of us to enjoy.

“After a day's walk everything has twice its usual value.”
-- George Macauley Trevelyan


“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.”
-- Raymond Inmon







"It's always further than it looks.
It's always taller than it looks.
And it's always harder than it looks."
-- The 3 rules of mountaineering.

Definitely true on the way home ( although Joaquin could have gone another five miles). If you could only have heard the whining.... and not by me, I might add. But if we took a divergent path towards the river, they were back investigating again....proving that it's purely mental.


Here's to more happy hiking days.