Spring? Summer? Spring?

It's unclear what season we are in right now. Though I suppose it is typical for Virginia that we have two weeks of beautiful Spring weather and then straight into hot, humid Summer. This Spring has been a really lovely time for us, we've been able to enjoy our yard and all of the hard work we started putting in to it last Fall. While we didn't take too many pictures of the backyard before we started working on it, it is SAFE to say that it needed as much work as the inside of the house. We hauled out ONE TON of trash (seriously the dump weighed it) from the yard. Part of the yard was set up like a farm, with very deep rows and needed to be dug up and levelled. It was back breaking work, but we did it, and now that part of the yard is the most beautiful. The grass is coming in so nicely. We've been working in the yard every weekend. Which actually made me totally forget about going to my Aunt's house one evening to see another Aunt that was in town...eek (and if you know me, forgetting engagements like this is totally unlike me!).

The weather has also been so lovely that the girls have been in the bathing suits and running through the sprinkler. I have had some really special moments just watching the girls laughing and running around the yard. The other day I was just watching them running all over and laughing so hard, it brought to tears to my eyes. It's so nice to have them outside running around in our nice big yard. And the scenery is pretty nice, our forsythia's bloomed really nicely and the honeysuckle is just about to bloom. We've mulched and landscaped and planted flowers, and seeds for wildflower gardens. I can't wait to see everything just pop up. And next year the yard will be even nicer given all the work we are still putting in to it...but we're having a great time doing it!

And it's official, we are now "Southerners," I planted a Saucer Magnolia. Though it's small now, it will grow to be 20'-30' wide, and 20'-30' tall! BEAUTIFUL!

Spring Break

We had our Spring Break two weeks ago and we had a great time. Monday was a bit drizzly but other than that the week's weather was beautiful. Oscar's sister and her family were in town at the beginning of the week. Oscar took Monday off and we all met up at the zoo for the morning. The rain wasn't bad at all, just some sprinkles on and off. The best part of the rain was that it scared off all the people and the zoo was pretty quiet. The animals were easy to spot and we actually went into a few places i hadn't been in on my other visits to the zoo, like the invertabrit house!

The kids had a great time running around and being together. It's really nice getting the cousins together so they can have good memories and grow up knowing each other. When we left the zoo we were off to Mama Eisha's for a yummy Mediterranean lunch. Before we left we took some cute pictures of the kids in the Zoo sign.

Other fun Spring Break activities (that I forgot to bring my camera to) were: Tuesday I brought the girls to the school I work at so they could see and know where I am. Yes people do work on Spring Break at schools, most office personnel and all administrators work even when the school has snow days. Another thing I learned on the job! In the afternoon we all had our Dentist appointments. For Fiona it was her first time, and she did great. She actually had to do it all by herself because I was at the same time, very brave gal! On Wednesday we went to our friends house for a playgroup, which was actually a surprise Baby Shower for one of our preschool mommy friends. It was a lot of fun, and so great to get to see all the ladies (and kids) again. Thursday was a big day for Luli, she had her 5 yr well check up which meant her kindergarten shots. She was very good, took the hearing test, vision test and blood pressure. She answered all the doctors questions and then cried for the shots. I have never cried for the girls shots, I've always just felt they were necessary. But I cried this time, it was heartbreaking to hear her begging to stop. But four shots later and a quick hand-off of the present bag from the nurse and tears were gone- well Luli's tears were anyway. Then we were off to lunch with Daddy. Friday we ended the week by going to the movies to see How to Train a Dragon. It was really cute and a fun little adventure for us.

I didn't have any pictures from Spring break, but this pic of the girls laying in my bed together is really adorable, and totally unstaged, this is how they cuddle. And then another in their St. Patrick outfits.

Playing in the Snow!

This is me getting ready to go for a ride in the Subaru, isn't it made for this? HA. You can't even see the cars, it's insane! The snow is higher than my knees, which of course means Fiona managed to stay out for a total of about 10 min. It's still snowing pretty hard and we're expected to get another 7-10 inches today.




Fiona did play in the snow for a bit, but she preferred to be in the garage where she could stand on the ground and the snow wasn't blowing in her face constantly.

Unlike Luli our little adventurer, who trudged through the snow around the house, and down to the neighbors to play. I'm pretty sure the only reason she came inside was because Oscar and I came inside. If it were up to her she'd stay out all day, and only come for glove changes.


While both girls were outside, and before I started shovelling, we did manage to get a family picture in the blizzard. Although with the timer, it was tough, Oscar had to run through the snow, and for some reason Fiona and I are a bit hidden. Maybe we'll try it again later for a better version. It was an ideal place for Fiona because under the Holly tree the snow was shallow and she could walk around and was somewhat sheltered from the snow in her face.

We took lots of pics this morning so I'm working on getting an album up on the blog for it.

What's happening with work...

Subbing proved to be very unsatisfactory. I received one phone call, that one that came at 7:51 for biology. I did have a very good interview for an English Language Learner position, I went through two rounds of interviews and was their second choice for the position. I asked the principal for feedback on my interview and she had really positive comments, basically it came down to my ESL license not being complete yet and the other candidate was.

During this process I had contacted the Asst. Principal at the middle school I had done my internship at. She's one of my reference letters and has always been very supportive. When I sent her an email giving her a heads up that someone may be calling for a reference check, she emailed right back for me to call her. I did, and she offered me a clerical position at their school, the idea being that hopefully a position would open there that I could move into, or at the very least I'd have a more consistent job until I found a permanent teaching position. In the end I did take the clerical position and I think it's the right thing. The school where I interviewed at is undergoing a lot of changes and made me a bit nervous. Whereas this school that I'm working at now has a very confident, comfortable administration.

So it has been my first week at work, and it's been unusual. The work is easy and definitely not stressful. They are very flexible if I need to take time to take care of the girls, etc. The unusual part is the Monday was a teacher work day, so I didn't work. Tuesday was my first day, Wednesday was a snow day, Thursday I worked, and today is the blizzard of the century - so who knows when I'll work again.

The girls seem to be adjusting well, they love going to where they are being cared for. And we're really happy with the situation. Though this morning Fiona made two pictures 1. a picture of Princess Lourdes and Princess Fiona and 2. "This is a picture of mommy at work, she's not with the princesses" hmmm, at least she was chipper telling me about it.

Tea Party

A few weeks ago we had our very first "real" tea party. I'm not sure why we haven't had one sooner, we've had pretend but this one was the real deal. The girls enjoy drinking chamomile tea and one day asked for some around lunch time. I just happened to think, hey let's have a tea party for lunch (gimmicks also help more food to be eaten!). I brewed some tea, made turkey and cheese sandwiches and PB&J sandwiches. I cut the sandos up small, along with some slices of cucumbers, grapes, and carrot sticks, then arranged them nicely on a plate. For desert I cut up two of our Alfajores from Argentina, one traditional white and one chocolate, and then assembled on another serving dish for after the sando eating. To make the event even nicer I pulled out our cortadito china cups from Miami to serve the tea in. They were the perfect size for little hands (and luckily no breakage).

This was Oscar's first tea party ever! He's now officially a father of girls (well maybe that also happened when he donned some clip-on earrings, necklaces and tiaras). The whole thing was a lot of fun, we had the party at the girls table in the playroom and we ate all of the lunch, and of course all of the dessert. It was a wonderful time to spend as a family and just laugh and enjoy. I can see many more tea parties in our future. The one I'm most excited for is having tea at the Mayflower Hotel!

The girls were in charge of clearing off the table and setting it with napkins. They did a great job and even washed the table with a washcloth. Luli's finishing touch, which you can see in each of the photos, is the "flower" in a vase - which is actually their play coffee pot. But I loved how she curled up the bottom so it fit perfectly, and was just the right touch for our tea party table.

Playing So Cute

We recently moved the playroom into the eventual dining room to prepare for demolition and renovation of the basement. This morning the girls were playing so nicely that I was able to sit down, drink my coffee and read a bit of my book. But most of the time I just sat watching them and listening to them talk. They are pretty hilarious and their imagination is just amazing right now. For the most part they are so well behaved and just best friends, exactly what I hope for. While they played I snapped this adorable picture of them and I just love it, it warms my heart. And they are doing well at cleaning up the new playroom.