parenthood

Sometimes I just stare at my kids. I cant believe how time flies. I came upon old babies pictures of both the princess monkey and the angel-monkey boy. They are huge now. Franklin is almost (cross my fingers) fully potty trained. Bella will be starting 1st grade in a few weeks. I feel so super fortunate to be a mom. This realization makes me appreciate my mother more.

mi guapeton

Bella on a mountain road

comtemplating lifeH.S. MusicalQue cara, valgame los cielos!

Washington

June has been a busy month. On the first weekend of June, we took a road trip to Washington to go visit Uncle Nacho and go to my niece's high school graduation.  My oldest nephew, Alfredo took an even longer trip up there (driving) with his whole family to have his little baby baptized. I saw this trip as a mini family reunion since all my sister's children were going to be together for a little while. The trip was nice. On the way up Mr. Franklin 'tossed his cookies' which delayed the trip a bit longer.

It was so nice to see family and old acquaintances. There was lots of eating and lots of catching up.

Something somewhat miraculous happened to me just before I got into the car to head south to Idaho. On Saturday, I was chatting with Leno, I was admiring his cool ring and I even tried it on. That's all I remember. Later in the day I realized I wasnt wearing my own wedding band. My wedding band is so plain, white gold  no rocks nothing fancy but to me it's special. I looked in my pocket, nothing I looked in all my bags, I looked and looked in the lawn where I knew I last had it. Nothing. So the whole evening I was a bit sad that I lost my ring (*note I have lost that darn ring a good 5 times and everytime it turns up) This time however I gave it up for lost forever. So as I had the kids strapped in the car, I went to start the car and DEAD, the battery was old and it died every other week. I walked to some of friends  that were parked behind my car to ask them if they could help me by giving my car a jumpstart. They happily agreed. As I walked back to my car, looking to the ground, still bummed about losing my ring; I saw a perfect circle  about 3 centimeters from a big pile of sand/dirt. I reached down to see what it was and VOILA my ring. I screamed and jumped. People around thought I was drunk or crazy. I dont care. I was so happy to have found my special ring. I am going to take care of it a whole lot better. How's that for a miracle. Yeah!

The Graduate,

These pictures were taken by my friend Kelli. She has a son in Bella's class. Bella is the tallest girl in the class. Tyler, Kelli's kid is super tall.

Today, June 2nd was a mini stepping stone in my daughter's life. She and her little kindergarten class had their "Kindergarten Celebration" which is kind of a graduation from K. I sat there as they practiced their program, and I was so emotional. They sang "What a Wonderful World"...bwahh booo hoo. It was so sweet! I am so proud of her. She's a sharp monkey.

The children who bring a whole lot of joy to a whole lot of people:

Adorable!

Bella and her personality, always camera ready!

Happy child, Franklin turn around!

"I love what you have done with your garden, Chabela!"

Going to Grandma's house thru the woods, :o) Jesse and Danny

Beautiful Boise

Eventhough we've been having major cloudy skies and light rains, I decided to go to Boise and show Danny and Jesse how pretty Boise is, well its parks. Check it out, we had fun.

Franklin showing us the rainbow trout. He gives them a 'thumbs-up'

Silly owls. I love the little chicks.

Bella's 6!

Bella scored some fun gifts: Gramps and Granny sent her a super cool card with beaucoup money, as much as I am years old., Papo got her walkie-talkies and a video game, tio gave her a super cool movie and her favorite singer/barbie doll. Franklin gave her a hard time and a little winnie the pooh watch. He also helped her blow out the bday candle even before the singing was over.

Holy Sticks! Bella's finally 6. She's been bugging and bugging us about her birthday and finally it's come and gone. She is the cutest 6 year old in the planet. She had uncle Danny visit her and our friend Jesse. We had a very sudden bday party, thanks to my procastination skills. It was fun.

                                                     this looks pretty mild compared to how it really appeared!  His scrape is scabbing up. I hope it doesnt leave a scar. I need to wrap this little guy in bubble wrap!                                                  

Little Franklin fell right on his gorgeous face! Ouch! He also scraped the back of his hand. (He was holding his Curious George doll and didnt let him go)

playing in the yard

I believe Spring has cold feet about fully jumping into it's own identity. It's COLD! We had a couple of days with lovely weather. I played with the kids outside. It was simple fun.
We laid a blanket on the grass, read a couple of books, I tied Bella up  and had her get herself untied. She did it!

To All You Mothers Out There:

Happy Mommy's Day. Whether you are expecting or have a great big bunch of grandkids, enjoy this day.

As I worried about the lesson that needs to be given today to my girls at church, I came across this video. Please watch it. I feel very grateful for my 2 little monkeys. I feel grateful for my healthy body. I need to remember this when I feel a little 'whiny'.

Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday was "Cinco de Mayo" which in reality is more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. At least that is what I remember. As a kid I never heard of crazy celebrations on May 5th...overhere it's a big deal. For the youth I decided to do a cultural night. I had the girls bring treats from other countries to share. Only 3 of the 13 complied with my demands, 1 brought crepes with a raspberry spread that looked divine, I say looked because I didnt get to eat any. And the second girl brought a small container with pozole (hominy soup with shredded chicken). The third brought a bag of tortilla chips w/ a jar of salsa and a can of frito lay's bean dip....mmmmm, authentic mexican! The salsa and the bean dip were gone, snap! like that. I had the girls make corn tortillas from Maseca. I had them make their own dough. They got to use a tortilla press and cook the dough into a tortilla. The end result was not pretty but it was delicious. They wrapped their tortillas with tomatillo salsa and monterrey jack cheese. We had fun. I think, though, the best part of the evening was sneaking into the gym to see the other youth's Cinco de Mayo show. They had traditional dances performed. The dresses were so beautiful. My heart was dancing with joy when they did the 'Jarabe Tapatio'. All my girls were very interested. And even the yappers were paying attention at the display of mexican culture. So that was my Cinco de Mayo. Hope you all had a fun one. By the way, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico's independence day. It commemorates the day the French were ran out of Puebla by the people there. It is significant because it was the ever so inspiring 'underdog' triumph!