The Blog is BACK!

I did not really expect the blog to take such a backseat when I started working. Really, it's a combination of factors, the job and Facebook. Posting pictures and status messages on Facebook has kind of taken over my blogging. But I really do miss the blog and want to make a point of getting it back up and running. Normally I would try to get it all caught up but that's just too much and most likely we're friends on Facebook and you've seen/read it all already. So I'm just going to pick up and start running it again. So enjoy and try visiting us regularly again!

Sky Meadows

It is a definite, Sky Meadows is our favorite park. Gosh that place is so gorgeous! We went a couple weekends ago and had a lovely time. The weather was beautiful, they were having "war of 1812" demonstrations and the girls did great on the hike. The demonstrations were really interesting, but even more so because I'm reading the Little House on the Prairie series with the girls and the houses there were very similar to the house the Pa just built in the book. It was great for Luli to see it, and see the fireplace in action cooking a meal, seeing the people dressed, and what life was like. She loved it.

We did our usual hike there and the girls hiked the entire way...almost 3 miles. They did wonderful, no complaining, and no carrying.

I love that picture of Oscar and the girls. He's a wonderful father and I think this picture is a perfect representation of that.

Educator's Night

Have I told you I love my job? Maybe not, seeing the posts have been few and far between! Well I love it, like love it a lot. It is nice to be working and really be using my brain intellectually for what I'd been studying forever. Not only do I love my job, but I think I'm pretty good at it. I love the people I work with, I love the building, I love my students, and I'm just overall feeling very happy with life.

Along with being a teacher now I finally get to attend the Smithsonian's Educator's Night! I have been wanting to attend forever, and finally I could. And not only was I excited about this in general but this year it was held at the National History Museum...oh god! So if you don't know about this event, it is for educators only (except apparently 19 yr old nursing students who crash it, act like idiots and sit on me...seriously, literally sat on me!) Ok anyway... The Smithsonian is closed, except to those registered educators, I really thought it was going to be a limited number but it was pretty darn crowed. They give away lots of free education stuff (score!) and it's catered ...food and bars on each floor...FREE (score!) --Side note: seriously people do you really need to get drunk and act like an ass here? ---ok --Outside of the catered food and bars the exhibits are totally open, and lots of docents eager to talk about each exhibit. These areas were considerably less crowded and very enjoyable to peruse. I took my brother to this museum years ago before it was renovated and it was a horrible layout...much better now!

I went downtown with the librarians from my school and met up with one of my co-teachers and her mom. It was a good time and a lot of fun to do something different for the evening. I miss going into DC all the time! Kids and the burbs, they change things! Anyway I think my Dad would totally love this, so I'm going to register him as a retired teacher next year...hey, if 19 year old nursing students can crash it for the free food and bar, I can get my history loving father in (who by the way went to college to be a teacher, so he has a lot more right than those girls, and I'm positive he wouldn't sit on anyone!)

Fiona goes full day...

With a full time job comes the need to have the kids someplace all day without me. Man that's a hard adjustment. Not knowing exactly what they are doing, who they are playing with, how they are behaving, what they are eating, etc. is a really tough adjustment. Oscar and I did a lot of research on where Fiona could go to become really prepared for Kindergarten next year, and be stimulated for the entire day. For us Montessori seemed like the right fit. Did you know how many Montessori schools there are around here? Well I didn't before we started looking, and there's A LOT! Thank god for Oscar, he did most of the research and leg work here. Again, perhaps I was in some denial on my baby going full day, me not being there all day, and just all of the change that was happening all at once. Thank god for Oscar, he's a rock. We decided on a school and for the most part we are very happy with it. Unlike our previous preschool, we receive a monthly newsletter about the curriculum, we get weekly emails from the director and teacher about special events, and they go on field trips. Fiona is very happy there and usually cries when I come to pick her up because she wants to continue playing with her friends! But she's a happy camper and man is she hilarious!

Holy Smoke's KINDERGARTEN

I mean really, Kindergarten? Really? Oh God. This is both exciting and extremely sad for me. I remember giving birth to this beautiful (stubborn) little gal. I remember holding her teeny lil body in my arms and wondering what she'd be like at five, and what she'd be like when she went to Kindergarten. Then five seemed like a lifetime away, Kindergarten seemed like an eternity. And now it has come and gone and I have held off for so long on this post. Yes, I've been busy but I'm also in denial. My baby, my little tiny 6lb 13oz baby girl is in Kindergarten! Somehow I've blinked and five and a half years have passed. Can I just get one week to rewind and relive just one more day at each age, so I can really remember it forever? Nope, not gonna happen. So I'm moving forward, with a big proud mama smile, because my gal is in Kindergarten and she's rockin the crap out of it.

Now for awhile I had been preparing myself for missing the first day, because as you know I went back to work this year, and it was my first day with the students also. But really quickly I learned that the school I work for is freaking awesome! Some places talk the talk of being family friendly, but this place walks the walk! I wasn't going to ask for the morning off, but several co-workers told me I would be wrong to miss this and that I should ask for the time. Well I'll be damned, they let me come in late! And it was one of the most amazing moments of my life and I thank my school for allowing me to have it.

Luli was ridiculously excited...I mean you know her, she's usually a body of energy but this was 100 times more! She was ready to go to the bus at 6:30am! When it was time we walked hand in hand, the three of us (Fiona was off to her new school already). We waited for the bus and Luli told all of the kids "I'm in Kindergarten, I'm going to ride the bus." The bus came rolling down the street and my throat closed up, oh god I can't do this, I can't let my baby get in a vehicle with someone I don't know, with all the big kids, oh you're letting go of my hand, oh god I'm crying, keep it together, don't get the cry face, Luli will get upset, oh god keep it together. Man that kid just marched up those bus steps and went for it! The bus driver told her to turn around so mommy could take a picture. And that was it. She sat in the first seat and looked out the window. I tried desperately to smile and not look emotionally twisted. She just smiled her huge smile and blew me a thousand kisses. Later that night I asked her how the bus was and she told me "at first I was nervous because I didn't know what it would be like. But when I got on and saw that the seats were comfy I was ok. Did you know I didn't wear a seat belt? And that's ok?!"

After the bus left, I was sobbing uncontrollably, Oscar held me and we walked back to the house. A few of the veteran mothers had sympathetic faces but I felt ridiculous and emotional. Oscar took the day off of work and followed the bus in to make sure she was OK and help her get settled (and bring her BAGS of school supplies.)

But now that the school year is in full swing, we've had her first parent teacher conference (yes I teared up there also). Man this girl is doing great, she's writing sentences, she's starting to read and she loves it. I couldn't be more proud of her. And back when I was holding that lil baby in my arms my wildest dreams could not have shown me what an amazing girl she has become. Yes she's a spaz, yes she's stubborn. But she is also the kindest child, she is the most inquisitive child, she says the most amazing things. I am more proud of her every day, and I love her.

Add the basement to the list

The basement is now completed! Wow what a project! It started a while back when we ripped out some rooms, pulled down some sheet-rock and pretty much just gutted the whole room. The open part of the room was two toned with dark blue and light blue, and again with the chair rail, shadow boxes and ridiculous amounts of crown molding. The bedroom we ripped out was the lighter blue, and the hallway by the back door was a salmon color...lovely combos here people, LOVELY!

Oscar did a beautiful job repairing the sheetrock, hand sewing the carpet back in where the wall used to be, laying linoleum, matching the baseboards all around, and drilling the edging into the cement. We painted the room and it just looks so amazing. There are still a few small things to do, but overall we are really pleased. Since this picture, the playroom has moved down...yea for a lot less toys around the house! Boo for a perpetually disastrous mess of a basement! But now that the playroom is out of the dining room, remodeling of the dining room has begun (woohoo, and shopping for furniture has begun also :) don't tell Oscar).

August Visit from Abuelo & Finks Move to the U.S.

During August we had the pleasure of a few family events on the Santiago side. Abuelo came to visit, help with the house, and help Helen move to the U.S. After thinking about the move for much time Helen and her family finally made the big move over the Atlantic and are stateside again. During their first week and hotel living we got together several times. During the weekend we visited Glen Echo Park in Maryland. It's a really great park that I've meant to visit many times but had not yet been to.

The girls and Oscar and I enjoyed a turn around the Merry-Go-Round, and very old one at that. The horses were beautiful and it was a nice little ride.






After lunch Oscar and I took all three girls (Luli, Fiona and La Luz) into the puppet show. It was a really cute show with really beautiful puppets. We had our picture taken with one of the puppetteers after the show.

Another night that weekend we went out to dinner to a Spanish restaurant in Bethesda. The food was very good and the paella was lovely. But the food was just a lovely side to the family time together. It was a very nice evening to welcome more family to the area, the girls were relatively good, but could have been a wee bit better. This is the best picture we could get of the group before the battery died.