July

I thought July was pretty quiet and that we did not do much, but as I review pictures to prepare this entry I am amazed at how much we actually did. Yes we stayed put in the state of Virginia, but there is enough to keep us busy here!
4th of July was celebrated from the 1st. We did special crafts and I introduced the boys to the joys of the musical 1776. Our dear friends Amanda and Craig came over for dinner and "fireworks", what we did not count on was Vince crashing out at 7pm... so that cancelled our plans to go and watch fireworks live and I had to settle for watching them on TV, such is life with a 2 yr old.

our eagle handprints in process 

 the boys under their eagle handprints

 snakes

my stunning boys

 July 5th, awake and enjoying sparklers

We got to visit with the newly weds and play on the river on a hot day.

We had fun with our primo baby Alonso. And yes his name is Baby Alonso. I wonder how long that will last. Will he be 15 years old and my kids still call him baby Baby Alonso like we call our primos the nick names we dubbed them as little kids like Faci, Nanu, Tatata?

July 14th was the annual Decades Party in Atlanta. We had planned on going but traveling in June used that budget. The boys and I dressed in our yellow for the party to show our support from VA. And then The boys had a boys night with daddy and mami headed north to watch a former student permfor the lead in Legally Blonde and reunite with some of her girls:)

Our local library has a story time for preschoolers on Fridays, and so we have taken advantage of this program and made it part of our routine. We go to Alphabet Soup and check out books every Friday. This particular day the kids had dancing time with ribbons, and they had a blast.

 

this day we were joined by some friends and after Alphabet Soup was over they ran around playing Spider-man and his Amazing friends!

 After the library we had to run an errand to the John Deer tractor store. This is never a quick stop. As we walked their grounds we found Frank!

Our evening routine includes daddy reading 2 or 3 library books to the boys before putting them to bed. I took a quick picture of this special moment. The librarians have no doubt that our house is all boys. Our books are trucks, trains, planes, and a random animal book that mami throws in for some variety!

June

June was a blur. My dad stayed with us for a week. During that week we also traveled to PA for Stephanie and Mark's wedding... while I was running around with the bride the boys were enjoying the trains. The 4 day trip ended with the amazing wedding of the year! Here are a few pics.

After that weekend Eddie said to me "Carmen, please do not make any new friends that are single." I laughed back and said "Honey I hang my gloves up with Cleatus, that type of dedication takes years to build, you have nothing to worry about!" 

We only had a couple of days to recover from the wedding before we went camping with our dear friends Amanda and Craig.

While we were camping I was getting calls and texts that my grandma was not well and getting worse. Then I got the call on Sunday morning, I needed to get to Atlanta. Like a cyclone Eddie and I packed our site. Our friends took care of the rest. I made it home to shower the boys and I and throw together another suitcase. By 2pm that afternoon the boys and I were on the road to Atlanta. We drove straight through and the boys were AMAZING!!!! Pulling up to the hospital at 11:15pm that night. I was able to say goodbye to my dear sweet abuela. The example of love, dedication, patience, education, decorum, and service she set will live on in the many lives she touched. 

After a week in Atlanta we returned home... it was now the end of June and our best-friends were leaving for 7 weeks and we had one day to see them!

There were some bad storms, bad damage in the are. Lost power for a day but were able to find refuge at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's.  And this is the Cliff's Notes to our month of June.

Some Videos

2 quick videos to share. The first is of Vince, who is fearless. sliding into the "deep" end of the pool all smiles:

The 2nd is of my adorable nephew, and quite the dancing machine.

Back On

Sorry for the silence... Will be posting highlights of the summer shortly. Here is a sneak peek

Speedy

Conversations this morning about why are babies born. Especially different types of babies. Even Speedy babies. Yes.

"Even speedy babies like me mami. I am speedy cause my nickname is speedy." Sebastian informs me.
"Your nickname is speedy? really? Who calls you speedy?" I asked?

"I do. Cause I have a secret speedy button!"

Snowflake

Vince likes to be in the buff. Please to not worry that he was cold cause the house was toasty warm.

What's in a Name?

Vince is repeating everything! His language skills are really taking off! For the most part I can make out what he is saying.  For a week or so we was saying "kamai" and directly to/at me. I thought that he had heard my name in use and was calling me by my name... which will not float in our house. So every time he said "kamai, choo choo train" or "kamai, baby" etc. I would lovingly correct him and say "Mami, choo choo train" or "Mami, baby."  It wasn't till one morning when the boys were watching Praise Baby while I was making breakfast and Sebastian kept shout out in joy "Look Mami a butterfly",  "Look Mami a cow", etc and Vince would repeat it as "kamai, butterly" or "kamai, cow" that it dawned on me... Vince has never said Mami he says Mai. Ka is look.  Kamai = look Mami