international night

I've always thought it would be fun to have a llama.  

Well, if you can't have a real one, a cardboard one is the next best thing.  It was tricky trying to figure out how to make it stand all by itself.  (And, yes, that's a placemat on his back.)

We made this for our Bolivian booth at Diego's school's International Night.  Families with ties to foreign countries were invited to share cultural items from those countries.  I immediately thought of  the llamas of Bolivia, but we only had a small stuffed one.  A quick pinterest search turned up some creative costumes for llamas that I quickly modified into this.  The head was just taped on to the body, and just after finishing it at home, Diego kicked a ball at it and knocked the head off.  Yes, I was in shock that he would do that, but it was fixable.

This display of pictures was slapped together on my break from work.  We also wanted something for people to DO at our booth.  JP thought of play dough.  So I whipped up several batches of homemade play dough the night before, and we had them try to make replicas of stone statues found in Tiwanaku.  But mostly they just punched and squished it.

Check out the real live cholita.  Isabela represented with her bowler hat.  She did a great job telling people all about Bolivia!

Can you believe this little one has never been to Bolivia? She finally fits in Isabela's first cholita skirt.  She had droopy eyes by the end of the night, but we really had a great time sharing all about JP's home country.  We hope they do this night again!

(I'm still looking for a perfect place in our house for our new llama to live.)

American Ninja Warrior

Diego got invited to an American Ninja Warrior birthday party.  Since this is the main show we watch over summer, and since we all want to be ninja warriors, we couldn't miss it.  

It turns out there's a gym in Richmond that has most of the same obstacles as the show.

Including a warp wall!

The boys, and some of the dads, were determined to get to the top.  Joaquin almost made it a couple of times, but I guess it's a lot harder than it looks.  The wall on the left, even curves backwards a bit, just to make it a little harder. Not really necessary in my opinion.

Diego is a beast at monkey bars, but not going up backwards.

Joaquin couldn't really do it either.  I was secretly happy, because once you got up to the top and your arms were tired, then what?  All that protected you from the hard floor was one tiny mat.

JP finally gave it a try.  There was a little pressure because two of the dads had already made it, but whew! he did, too.  

I think he's doing the "YES!" signal, not flipping me off here.  Although it was hard to tell.

And this was pretty much the state of us girls the whole time.

Isabela strategically wore flip-flops, then complained the whole time that she couldn't try anything...and I wasn't about to hurt myself at a kid party.  I still have a ways to go before I become a ninja warrior.

mini golf statues

We had big plans for spring break.  JP and I both took off of work and thought we'd have a real family vacation.  Only it never really got planned.  And it helps if you take the SAME days off.

So I decided to make the best of it and brave mini golf with four kids by myself. 

We had driven by this place many times but never stopped.  So I piled us in the car and didn't tell them where we were going.  Joaquin's question was, "Does it cost money?"  (He HATES when I take them to free things.  He figures it must be some park if it's free.  What's wrong with a park?)

I said, "Yes. And it's outside."  I knew they'd never guess.

Everyone was very excited when we finally pulled up. (FYI--they don't open until noon, so we had to make a little detour to Short Pump to pass the time.)

This mini-golf place is the coolest one I've ever seen!  Each hole has some random statue obstacle.  Humpty Dumpty?

The giraffe was the coolest.  So HUGE!

Isabela started out trying to keep score.  I warned her that was not a good idea.  Tears are always shed at putt-putt with my kids; the boys mostly.   Especially when it takes more than three swings to get it in the hole.  She gave up keeping score at the second hole.

Watch out, Carmen!  There's an eagle about to snatch you up!

Carmen was a ball thief and a club thief.  Diego was adamant about do-overs, despite the fact that there were people behind us.  I gave up even putting after about the fifth hole so I could just keep the peace.

I love how Carmen posed with my club in front of the unicorn.

Some of the statues were a little scary.  I think Carmen still remembers this blue bear when we talk about this trip.

There was a sign that said, "Don't climb on statues."  But how can you resist?

Don't mind that bunny, Diego.

There was a nice breeze that day.  I can imagine it would be boiling in the hot summer sun, but despite all the bickering that goes along with mini-golf, it was a beautiful day!

I didn't get a shot of the last hole, but if you make it in the right spot, you win a free game.  And wouldn't you know, Joaquin made it!  The nice man at the counter gave him his free pass, then gave one to Carmen since it was her birthday, and then gave one to Diego so he wouldn't be sad....so we are destined to come back.  With Daddy this time.  We wouldn't want him to miss all the fun!

3...7...13

We have celebrated three birthdays over the last couple of months.  Diego was first and is now seven years old!

He is all about Minecraft so we celebrated with a Minecraft party at home with just his family.

He didn't want to invite friends.  I think he is still traumatized from his Army birthday when a guest smashed his face in his cake.  But we still go all out with decorations and a theme.  Unfortunately, my computer ERASED all the photos I had taken of his party!  I was left with just a couple random shots from my iPhone.  *sad face*

Diego hit the jackpot at Chuck E. Cheese and brought home a gumball machine just like Isabela did many years ago.

Carmen was up next.  Three years old!

It was a toss up between Elmo and Micky Mouse for her.

I found the cute little toy figures at the grocery store when I picked up her cake and couldn't resist them.

Her highlight was a build-a-bear stuffed animal.  (She's hugging it before she stuffed it.)  It's a cat, which is funny because she hates our cat.  This one smells like cotton candy though.  

And just a few days ago, Isabela turned thirteen.  This is a RARE shot of her beautiful smile.  I had to take it on the fly with my undercover camera, which is why it's so grainy.

This colorful decoration took WAY longer to make than expected, so I may just have to keep it up all year long.

And where do you shop for a teenager who hasn't said one thing that she wants for her birthday?  Kroger!  We picked up gift cards for some fun stores.....from World Market to REI.  And being the quote-loving mom that I am, I tried to share my limited wisdom with her.

1.  A smile is the best makeup.

2.  Be yourself.  Everyone else is already taken. Oscar Wilde

3.  If you never did you should.  These things are fun. And fun is good.  Dr. Seuss

4.  It takes courage to grow up and be who you really are. E.E. Cummings

5.  Don't be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try.

6.  We love you.  Always have. Always will.  Mom and Dad

school projects

I am taking one graduate class this semester called Content Area Reading.  That's fancy talk to me. Someone asked me what my content area was during orientation, and it took me a few seconds to respond with "Spanish".  Whatever happened to, "What do you want to teach?"

Anyway, we've done three projects in this class so far.  This video is the last one I did, briefly summarizing a book I had to read called 51 Wacky We-Search Reports, full of ideas of projects for kids.  What could be more appropriate than using all the creative projects my kids have done over the years?  They've had some great teachers, and these projects are what they remember most.  (OK, so there are some Halloween costumes thrown in there, too, but they went along with an egypt unit study and children's books.)

Taking this class has been inspiring.  I'm still the one sitting in class wondering what the heck they're talking about when they use words like paradigm, pedagogy, and scaffolding techniques.  But we've been reading lots of great picture books I can't wait to read to my own kids at night, plus I am getting to observe some real middle school Spanish classes!  The teachers I've sat in on are amazing,  hard working, creative,  and willing to share everything they've learned over the years with me.  I've still got a long way to go, but so far, I'm enjoying being a student again.

maymont in winter

I think Maymont will always be our favorite playground.

Even in winter, it's beautiful.

Another New Year's resolution...get these four kids outside more.  I think the blog makes it look like we're outside a lot, but we're not.  Just because I often imagine we're camping and hiking and having fun in nature, doesn't mean we're actually doing it.  There's always some cajoling to get these four to agree on anything, but we just need to remember that Maymont is usually the meeting point.

I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to do this.

Isn't Carmen growing up fast?  That's not allowed either!

A view from above.  They convinced Carmen and I to take the steep bamboo trail, came and rescued Carmen, then left me to fend for myself, so I stopped to take a picture.  I was really glad to have my camera back around my neck.  With my new iPhone, I often decide not to bring the big camera, then I forget to take the pictures!  

JP's pretty good about taking pictures with his phone (since it's always attached to his hand....).  Some of them are even better than the ones taken with the real camera!

This one never gets old.  Carmen can't even remember the last time she went across these stones.  We definitely need more trips to Maymont this spring.

Looking up.  This is the part that always scares me.  They scurry up these steep and jagged rocks, and I stay at the bottom hoping and praying.

Is that angry bird looking at me?

We had a quick little picnic at the top of this trail.

I told them not to do this.  I thought I'd document them not listening to me one more time.

I didn't even bother to tell him not to do this.

last minute valentines

I know it's March, but this blog is like our family scrapbook.  We've used it to reminisce and for school projects...instead of searching loads of digital pictures, we simply search the blog.  So in that spirit, I'm late sharing our valentines.

Two of the kids have aged out of valentines.  And one of those was pretty bummed about that.  Can you guess who?

But Diego still needed to make 22.  And Carmen also had to make 17.  And then, literally on the day of my own class's party, I decided to make 18 for my two-year-olds.  What kind of teacher doesn't give valentines to her own class?

Carmen's were a two step process.  She had painted some red, purple, and pink circles all over some paper for fun one day.  I decided to cut that into hearts and then drew these cute little bears to deliver them.  These are the same bears that were at her first birthday.

Diego's valentines were a little harder.  Our first idea bombed.  I had printed off some from the internet, and all he had to do was write his name and who they were to.  I had left it all out on the table for him to do while I was at work, and he did.  But when I got home, I saw that he had written his name in the "to:" spot.  What?  I just couldn't have him give those out.  Plus, we decided we didn't like them that much.  

Plan B.

The same ninjas Joaquin had made in fifth grade.  But we didn't have the time to draw and color all of those at 7pm the night before.  And brilliant Isabela simply offered, "You could make a stamp."

And so we did.

Using craft foam, I just cut it out a ninja shape and pressed it onto our ink pad.  I traced it, Diego wrote who it was to and Daddy cut the slits for the fighting stick.  With that team effort, we knocked them out just a little past bedtime.

And then the next morning, I had Carmen paint her hand  blue 18 times! Pete the Cat is my class's favorite book right now so I was pretty sure these would be a hit.  I ended up writing, "It's all good, valentine!" on them, and they were finished at school by party time. 

 Whew!  For a brief minute, I hated valentine's day.  But then they were finished, and we were all in love again.  

We'll try not to wait so long next year.

ps.  It was Joaquin that was bummed about not making valentines this year!  I told him to make them for family and send them out.  Did you get one in the mail?  I guess he didn't go for that.