Sunday, July 31, 2016

Remembering Grandpa Nacho & Grandma Amparo

Yesterday would have been Grandpa Nacho's 90th birthday. To remember him and Grandma Amparo the whole family went to the cemetery to have lunch and visit. We sang songs and the kids played. We even had a happy birthday banner! Now who says you can't remember those in heaven with fun.
In the evening we took the kids to the beach to swim for an hour as Diego kept asking for the "beets" at least that's what it sounds like when he says beach.
And in monarch news we have 8 hatched caterpillars so far. Now I need to get more milkweed to feed all these little guys as they grow. Callie and I have been having fun watching the eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars. Just wait til they become butterflies!




Friday, July 29, 2016

Here come the Monarchs!

I wasn't really sure if this whole milkweed thing was going to pay off. Callie started asking the first day where our butterflies are. I tried to explain these things take time but she insisted they are coming NOW. Well she was right! I looked today and found 8 monarch eggs and 2 baby caterpillars already. I couldn't believe it! The egg is the tiny white dot on the leaf and the second photo on the back of the leaf is the tiny caterpillar. So that's the good news. Now the bad news. This little plant will likely only be enough food for 2 caterpillars. We need more milkweed! We will have to get more and soon!
Diego also impressed me today by stacking blocks into a tower. I've never seen him do more then 3-4 but today he was building much taller. Way to go big boy!




Heat plus busy = forgetful

I haven't remembered to post all week! I either worked at night, got too tired and fell asleep or was too busy. Sorry. The heat is getting to me too. I used to sit in ac at work but now I'm out and about in different kids homes so I often don't have ac or am outside playing in the sun. Phew I better start wearing shorts to work these days. It's been crazy busy as it's almost summer break #2 so I am squeezing in as many visits with kids as possible.
Anyways back to the kids at my house. In positive news Callies blood pressure results were good. They still haven't seen the drop they want at night but if she isn't sleeping deeply with the machine they won't see it. So she isn't full discharged yet, but not too worried. We go back to do it all over again next year. Third times the charm??
Callie and Diego got mail from their cousin Alexa who sent them stuffed toys from the zoo. Boy was Callie excited to get mail from Alexa.
Calle also drew these amazing super hero portraits this week. I only helped with the logos on each by tracing in pencil for her to color them in. I was very impressed with her improved art skills.
Diego has been wearing his big boy underpants with good success, for the most part. I think we are almost there!




Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The playground never gets old

Are you tired of playground photos yet? They will never end as the kids don't get tired of it. I get tired of the mommy push me, push me on the swings. I took this video of them saying push me so I can remind them when they grow up how many hours I spent pushing them and how many times I heard this a day.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Milkweed and Popsicles

A coworker of mine has monarch butterflies that come to her milkweed as eggs then go through the whole metamorphosis to butterfly on her single plant. We decided we needed one too! So we went and bought a "weed" for our yard too. After planting it I even saw a monarch flying in our backyard! Hoping we have some luck.
And we are still playing on the water slide and eating Popsicles. I made some as they eat so many we needed a healthier less sugary option. These coconut ones were a winner for sure :)




Sunday, July 24, 2016

Water slide!

It's still hot here. We had originally planned to do the beach this afternoon but then we came up with this great idea... Water slide at the playground! We moved the kiddie pool and filled it up for a splash zone. Diego liked it twice and then was done. Callie would have gone for hours. She had me sitting at the edge of the pool in the splash zone like at the Shamu show and she got me soaked!
I left it out so we can splash again tomorrow too. Who knew the playground doubled as a water park??


Friday, July 22, 2016

So hot we dance in the pool

It's been HOT! Like 90s and humid which we don't do well here in CA. So hot I slept in Callies room last night to be in the ac. By next week we will have ac in our bedroom too, but for now it's just the kids rooms. Callie doesn't have a window in her room only a door so I had to rig up a method for Diegos window ac to cool both rooms. I have a sheet and shower curtain nailed to the wall and ceiling blocking the air at their doors. Then with it open I have a box fan blowing the air from Diegos room into Callies. Well it works :) and it's better than them sleeping in the same room as they just big each other and wake up the other.
We swam in the shade of the umbrella it was so hot in the sun and Diego started some new dance move that reminds me of the swim dance move from the 70s (I don't really know the year that was popular). I tried to get it on video but was tricky. Hope you catch a peek.
The other video was the day before with the three cousins dancing together. They each have their own unique moves.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

New kicks and new haircuts

Callies been wanting Wonder Woman shoes, which are impossible to find. So Callie picked out some plain sneakers and asked Jeana to paint Wonder Woman on them. Wow! Talk about going above and beyond! Callie is lucky to have such a talented Aunt. She loved them so much she wore them with PaPas socks in 90 degree heat.
To beat the heat I cut Diegos hair off as he was always sweating and dripping from his forehead. It's not as cute as the long hairdo but it's much cooler and does the job for now.



Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Sneak attack water guns

PaPa KiKi hasn't seen the new watersquirters from CT yet. One was in the car full of water as we have been using them to wash off sand after the beach. So what else to do on a hot hot day but to sneak up on PaPa and cool him off?!

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Callies laughing!

Diegos new thing is to cry if Callie is laughing at him and yell Callies laughing! He used to laugh anytime she laughed. It's just recently he's realized that she is laughing at his expense and he isn't a fan. It's hard not to laugh at all this ridiculousness but I hold back.
Here some photos from the other day with Callie in another crazy dance costume with fancy bubbly water and strawberries in a margarita glass. She added the umbrella and sunglasses to be extra fancy... I'm in trouble.

And I just got this "family" photo from my friend from our beach trip the other night. Callie refused to be a part of the photo... Arrg Callie!




Monday, July 18, 2016

Playtime

It's always interesting to me the imaginary play we have on the playground. Today Callie was working at Denny's serving breakfast. Then she installed a phone and an atm to complete her playhouse. Diego was busting drawing on the chalkboard and eating all the breakfast items Callie was serving.
Then they played firefighters and Callie drove around the truck while Diego rode on the back. When they play nicely together it's very cute. Usually it ends in one of them crying or tattling on the other.

Oh and for those of you interested my tomato sauce is much much improved today after a long summer and some extra spices.



Sunday, July 17, 2016

Italian affair

We had a big Italian dinner at Jeana and Christians tonight. They just returned from their trip to Italy and brought back all kinds of pasta, sauces and breads. I tried my hand at making homemade sauce from our overwhelming garden full of tomatoes. Callie helped pick the tomatoes and wash them. Here's a shot of our harvest today. Unfortunately I must not be a great Italian chef as my sauce was just pretty bland. I think I need to add twice as much spices and garlic. I'll see if I can fix it up for round 2. Everything that actually came from Italy was delicious though and we are until we could hold no more in our bellies.


Saturday, July 16, 2016

Happy Birthday Matt!

Juans friend Matt was visiting from Vegas and it's his birthday! We picked up some cupcakes and Phils and went to the playground with the kids. Happy Birthday Matt, I'm glad we got to celebrate with you.






Friday, July 15, 2016

Photos for days!

I went back to work this week and have failed to post a photo since. I have an excuse for yesterday but not for T and W. Yesterday Callie had her follow up 24 hr blood pressure monitoring which meant I took the day off and spent a full 24 hrs, every single minute with her. That meant I didn't get a break even at night because I slept with her. So I didn't have time to post the photos of our day. We started with vegan donuts (the only kind Callie can eat), took a stroll around ikea, went to my work and visited, came home for a rest and to open the Wonder Woman costume I ordered for her special day, then went to nighttime zoo. It was a long day but we made it through. Now we just wait on the results.
Today after we dropped the monitor back at the doctors we went to the playground with Tia Mari and to the beach in the evening. I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight.  Hope you enjoy catching up with lots of photos.