Say...

Diego is in the cutest phase of repeating words. That can be dangerous depending on what you're saying...but usually we like to try out other languages on him.

I thought French might be fun.

So I said, "Bonjour!"

And he responded with the cutest little French accent, "Bonjour!"

The kids thought Chinese might be fun.

"Xie xie." And out comes, "she, she" with a precious little toddler voice.

Of course, we emphasize Spanish in our house, but some words are just better in other languages.



Take 'ball'. Diego's favorite word and one of his first. But in Spanish it's a little longer....'pelota'. So he prefers 'ball'.

This morning, while we were trying out all these languages on him, I went back to 'ball'.

Me: Diego, say 'pelota'.

Diego: says nothing

Me: Say, 'pe'.

Diego: 'Pe.'

Me: Say, 'lo'.

Diego: 'Lo.'

Me: Say, 'ta'.

Diego: 'Ta'.

Me (smiling proudly): Say 'Pe-lo-ta'.

Diego: BALL!

Well....at least he knows what it means.

march kites

The rain held off.

The wind was strong.

And if you can forget the hour of traffic and parking nightmares that we sat in just to get there, kite day was a lot of fun!



Kites dancing to music...


Loved this one of just a guy walking his kite.


Dragon kite coming in for a landing.


A circle kite!


And a rainbow in the sky.

green spring

It's such a relief to know that spring is right around the corner. I know there's always a chance of snow in March, and there's still some cold winds coming to chill us to our bones....but the signs are there, so it can't be too far off. I always imagine those poor Pilgrims and their first winter here and wonder if they thought it would ever end. It does.

And so...pictures from a wonderful park in Alexandria, VA called Green Spring Gardens. It's similar to Lewis Ginter, but on a smaller scale...and best of all...it's FREE!


Out back is their children's garden, with cute tables...


...winding brick pathways for little feet to follow...


...colorful pastel mailboxes to open...


..and all different types of little gardens. I liked the sign in this one.


There's also remnants of last summer.


And cool benches made out of branches that you imagine having in your own backyard.


This precious bird spied us before we even noticed it.


And I always love this serious expression on Joaquin's face. (I had to crop Isabela out because of hers!)


And this, it turns out, is Witch Hazel. I never knew what it looked like and love that I can learn right along with the kids.

a tree for many seasons

A friend recently celebrated her 40th birthday (I'm not sayin' who) and I whipped up this wire balloon tree since I didn't have any helium balloons. It's made out of a wire that is wrapped in brown craft paper. It's very flexible, but sturdy and fun to work with....we also made some of these yarn hearts with the same wire that turned out nicely.

I haven't made a tree for myself yet, but this same friend had a great idea to use it for easter eggs...or really you could decorate it for any holiday. It's a fun way to brighten up a table.

you first

We've had two tires sitting by the house for at least a year.

We tried to sell them. No one bought.

We tried to throw them away. The trashmen wouldn't take them. Actually we have three, and there's one still sitting out by the road that they'll never take away.

So this past weekend, while we were tackling the MOUNTAIN of leaves we never raked in fall, I thought of using them as swings over by the tree fort. I mean, we used to have a wooden stick swing there, so why not do it again? Hmmmm. Maybe because it broke?



And like he usually does, Juan Pablo makes it WAY more complicated than I was thinking...which was tie the rope around the tire and tie the rope around the tree.



This involved drilling. And washers. And certain knots.


We read that the heaviest person in the family should test out the swing first, and while he and I debated about who that might be, Joaquin jumped on it and it seemed to hold.



My thinking is, if it breaks, the tire will bounce on the ground first and cushion the fall.


It's still up....anyone else want to try it out?

Happy President's Day!

I'm so excited to share this project!! These president shirts were very easy to make. The idea comes from MADE, a creative, amazing blog with many easy to follow tutorials.


You can find out how to make these here, but this is what I learned from making them:

1. You have to buy freezer paper...not wax paper. I've had freezer paper forever, waiting to do this very project, but I thought it would be too hard. It's not! The shiny side irons on easily and peels right off.

2. My printer would not take the freezer paper. Not a problem. I just printed it on regular paper and put the freezer paper under the printed paper when I cut.

3. It would be much easier to cut out with an exacto knife. I didn't have that either...so I used a regular sharp kitchen knife. It didn't cut through the paper, but made an impression on the freezer paper, which I then cut out with sharp scissors very carefully. (This is not really a craft kids can do.)

4. You could print them right onto a plain t-shirt. We had some old ones I was saving for pillows, so I cut out the plain back, printed the image on that piece, then sewed it onto a shirt (that fits them!) over an image they didn't really like. It's one extra step, but I like the contrasting fabrics.

5. You can make two shirts out of one image. They will just be reversed.

6. So here is what the kids CAN do: pick out the design...you can make these stencils with anything!! I was thinking of doing their own silhouette profile, or even me or their dad...Isabela wants one with a woman, Helen Keller, so I'm still working on that. They can squeeze the fabric paint out for you (that's what Isabela did, I wasn't ready to get it all over the room yet) and they can use the hairdryer to help the paint dry faster. The black fabric paint dried much faster than the white. Probably in five minutes with the hairdryer!



Joaquin's riding around saying, "Comin' through! I'm the President, on my little tricycle."


Notice the messy house in the background. Whenever I do a project, it looks like this. This is only a small fraction of the mess...I had a hard time finding a spot to take pictures for exactly this reason! Oh, well. I do love the shirts, so I'll save the cleaning for another day.

"We've never seen anything like it. Ever."

It's being called a genocide. Killed by the thousands...entire communities. So many, that those that are walking around can't help but step on their bones. They are freezing to death in the snow...dehydrated and starving.

And it's not happening in some far away place, but right here in the United States...right here in Virginia.

To thousands and thousands of BATS.

They have a bad reputation...maybe from movies, and maybe because they're quite scary looking...but they are good for the environment. They eat the bugs that we all can't stand. They also help pollinate. And with the bees disappearing as well, this is becoming serious.

But what can we do?

The first thing, and easiest to do, is support funding for more research on White-Nose Syndrome, the fungus that is killing them off. Go HERE, fill out your zip code, and you can email a support letter to elected officials in Congress.

But something a little more fun might be to put up a bat house. I saw a nice one here on amazon...building your own is probably just as expensive. I did read that they should NOT be mounted on trees, but on buildings (like your house) or poles.

Batworld has some great information to learn more about bats and about White-Nose Syndrome.

You can also read this article from the Richmond Times Dispatch to find out what's happening here in VA.

Anyone ready for mosquito season? I think it could be worse this year.