How to Learn Spanish…Again

Ingredients to reteach yourself Spanish:

1. One mom with dark hair so it's difficult to tell if you're American

2. One super cute babe (blue eyes preferable)

3. One trip to Wal Mart @ 8:00 at night in McAllen, TX

Mix these ingredients together and everyone just north of the border will come up to you and start spouting off many compliments on what an adorable baby you have... all in Spanish. 8:00 at night or later(the later the better) is a preferable time because that is when EVERYONE (little children included) comes to the store so you will have many opportunities for Spanish conversations. You won't be able to leave the place without your baby being oogled over and vocabulary words like preciosa and nino bendito will come right back to you.

*Thanks little chicito for helping me get some Spanish back!

Week 33

Our poor little Graham cracker is teething again..or still (he's about to break his two front teeth) and even though they are clearly irritating him, he has tried to be a tough little boy. I guess you've got to be when you've got 2 older siblings that oogle over you and sometimes don't know how to be soft in all their oogling. Anyway, he's a champ and hopefully his pearly whites will break free and he'll be a happier Gus again.

Art Fair Friday

I have a friend who always showcases some sort of her children's artwork on her blog on a weekly basis. I have always loved this idea and in the back of my mind have wanted to do the same thing, if for nothing else, to lessen the guilt when I throw the papers away. Anyway, I figured I just need to start doing it. I can't make any promises that I'll be up to date or that it will even be weekly, but at least I can put up a few that I like this week.

This is Porter's very first family portrait. He has gotten so much more dexterous and it is showing. It makes me smile every time I look at this. He's the top right, then Brighton is holding his hand. THen there's mom on the bottom left (with my glasses) holding hand with dad and his crazy hair, and then baby in between us. I love it.

Brighton actually did this almost a year ago but I took the picture the day we moved from AZ because it was the last thing to clean out of the house. She made it for Porter and we kept it on his wall until we left. We are a big Monster Inc. family so you can clearly see that's Mike Wazowski. Porter was so happy that Brighton made it for him that he wouldn't let us take it down until the very end. For some reason this one was one of my favorite pictures she drew. Anyway, I'll try to continue to post more of their work as summer is a time for coloring and crafting at home. But if we really get bored of those things I guess we can always practice for the play Take that thing back where it came from or so help me.

To The Rescue

I woke up to these two superheroes zooming passed my bed and yelling at the top of their lungs, "TO THE RESCUE!" My first instinct was to yell back, "Be quiet! People are trying to sleep!" But I had to smile and grab the camera before the moment was gone. Sometimes they just make my heart happy.

Week 32

Graham has had quite a few teeth coming through all at once. He has been an angel baby up until this point which makes me feel so bad for him when he gets fussy and sad. I know he's in pain. Poor little guy. He's still our sweet, happy boy though and we love him at 32 weeks.

South Padre Island

One of the perks about living so close to Mexico is that we actually live about an hour away from the Gulf of Mexico so that means the beach is not far away. It's a place called South Padre Island which is a big tourist island. It's a major spring break destination but luckily we didn't have to worry about that. It's been so nicebecause in the few weeks we've lived here, we've been able to go twice. The kids have never experienced the beach before (B went when she was too little to remember.) so they had a BLAST! The older two couldn't stop running into the waves with Kyle. They kept wanting to go further and further out while Graham got to hang out with me on dry land. The only down side was a hurricane came in about an hour and a half after we got there so we had to make it a shorter trip than expected, but all in all it was a great family day.

Dad with his kids. It's some of the first authentic smiles I've seen from them (while taking pictures) in a while. They were in heaven.

They built a sandcastle with a moat and everything. The construction crew was very proud.

What beach trip would be complete without burying someone in the sand? Porter was a more-than-willing volunteer.

We were also lucky enough to go with some new friends from the ward the week before. The kids had fun but not nearly as much without dad.

It's a good thing we have another rotation by the shore (we're moving to Florida in a few months) otherwise I don't know what these beach bums would do!

Sea World & Week 31

I'm still playing catch up so excuse the lateness of the post. During our break and on our way to our new home, we went to SeaWorld to reward the kids for sticking it out this past month. Life has been rough with the packing and moving and Kyle finishing school and everything coming to a close in AZ so they've been real troopers throughout and we wanted to let them know that. Anyway, these pictures are from a few weeks back. Excuse the abundance and low quality of pictures, but I was too nervous to bring my nice camera to a place covered in water. These were all taken with Kyle's phone but I still wanted to share the experience because it was a memorable one. It was amazing. The kids loved it. They were the perfect age to go (minus the breastfeeding baby but he's so easygoing I can take him anywhere). We loved it. I can't really say much else other than the fact that it was awesome. Here was our day in pictures:

They had a whole splash park/amusement ride park themed with Sesame Street that the kids loved. We went on all the rides at least once and the lines were super short. It always makes me happy when I don't have to wait for things. Blame it on my impatience inherited by my dad.

We saw all the shows. This was right after we saw the Shamu show. The 3 of these guys wanted to sit in the splash zone so they got doused pretty good by Shamu's tail while Graham and I sat at a comfortable distance and had a laugh watching them get soaked.

B right next to the tank at the Shamu Show. Obviously it was pre-show due to her dryness.

The kids loved this show! They had a little story while the animals (sea lions, sea otters, and walruses) did tricks. This was the walrus actually doing sit ups! We were amazed because he was pretty chunky. Anyway, it was cool.

This was probably our favorite show. It had a beluga whale and dolphins and parrots and trapeze artists diving in the water. It was breath-taking. Brighton did her first book report in kindergarten at the end of the year and it was on dolphins. She has become so interested in them. If for nothing else, we went to see the look on her face when she saw the dolphins. I'll never forget it. She loved it so much she almost got teary-eyed. Such a sweet girl. And the beluga was majestic. Not too many pictures though because we were too enamored with the show to pull out the phone.

Pre-dolphin and beluga watching.

They had all sorts of animals along the paths to each stadium or ride. It was fun to see the alligators and flamingoes and penguins.

Porter was being his normal cool self. I think he was rapping or singing in this one while we waited for a turn on some ride.

They had a 4-D Elmo show which was entertaining. The only reason I put this picture up was to prove that yes, Graham was actually there with us.

After a long day of watching, playing, being amused, and just loving their lives, they posed for one more shot. And they were so good the whole day that daddy broke down and bought them a dolphin and whale to remember their special day. (And little G got a sting ray cause Kyle thought it was cool.)

Anyway, we seriously had a great day and couldn't have asked for better mems.

On another note, I've been kinda slacking in the weekly pic department so here is Graham @ 31 weeks. I thought I'd kill 2 birds with one stone. 2 blogs posts in 1.

This is Graham. He is cute. We love him. Enough said.

Another Year Older and Wiser Too

It was Kyle's birthday on the 7th and I won't tell you how he is now because I don't want to embarrass him, but when he woke up that day, he looked at me and said, "I am definitely feeling my age." We're just so lucky that 32 years ago (oops!) this man came into the world! We love him and all he does for our little fam. Unfortunately, it was his 2nd week of clinicals so he got home late and we weren't really able to do much for him, but we did decorate the wall with a birthday sign Brighton made all by herself. And at work for his birthday they gave him a new nickname: Juno. Everyone there thinks he looks like Michael Cera from that movie. I don't see it but whatever. Anyway, we love him and can't wait to actually enjoy a birthday when we are out of school and have the time to celebrate. Happy B-day sweets!

Clippings

No I'm not talking about gross toenail clippings. Graham got his tongue clipped the other day at the doctor's office. Both our boys have gotten their tongue clipped when they were babies and I'm so glad they did. I wish I had pushed getting it done by B's doctor when she was little because I know she's probably going to need to get it done when she's older like my sister and I had to. Anyway, Graham did a great job and only cried for a bit after it was done. I had to hold some gauze under his tongue that got a little soaked with blood, which always makes me sad. To see your little one in pain or bleeding is never a happy thing, but I'm relieved that he got it done and now he can stick his tongue further than me (which isn't saying much)!

Week 30

Little Graham Cracker is growing by the minute and is such a sweet little boy. He's started eating solids and can't put them down. He hasn't tried anything he didn't like or want seconds of for that matter. His chunky thighs are the cutest and he is an angel. We'll see if I'm still saying that a year from now when he hits 18 months.

Squishy Stuff

The other day the kids and I were talking about the earth and how Jesus created everything here on the earth. Brighton said "And Jesus created us out of flesh and blood." I said that's right. Then Porter chimes in and says "And squishy stuff too. Right mom?" I couldn't help but giggle and say yes. So that's what this family is made of. Flesh. Blood. Squishy stuff.

*This picture was taken on our first trip to the Beach and clearly my kids have never gone to the beach before because the second we got there, Porter was completely covered in sand and couldn't figure out how to get it off. What a goober.