Oh yeah - my birthday

This year the RRHS Theatre Dept was putting on A Midsummer Night's Dream during the week of my birthday. Of course theatre - free theatre especially tops my list of great birthday ideas! So I made plans to go to dinner and the play with some friends and my husband of course. Seeing no way around taking Jessica - she got to come too. We went to the Tokyo Grill which was quite a show in itself and rushed back to the school to see the show only to discover it wasn't there.

We missed the opening curtain at the PAC which was at another high school in the district so we went home. Jessica and I went to the show the next evening and ended up getting home VERY late, but it was so worth it. The kids did a fabulous job and it was HILARIOUS! We both laughed like crazy and Jessica thoroughly enjoyed the show. I was proud of her that she was so attentive to Shakespeare so late at night.

Consequently, on Sunday Jhonny reminded me that we hadn't had my birthday cake with the family. So I whipped up a cookie cake and we sang an impromtu version of Que Noche Tan Preciosa and I blew out my candles. To demonstrate how last minute this was - I have to let you know that I am NOT 39. I'm 38. But we couldn't find an 8 in our stash. Jhonny suggested doing a 93 or putting 38 candles on the cake - I said 39 was just fine. My I feel old! But really - I've been anticipating this birthday all year. 39 is kind of fitting since I've already been thinking about how next year I will be 39 - oh my - 40 is on the horizon. Yikes!

Random cute pics

Lily still loves to pretend and dress up. Much of the time she is in her own imaginary world where she gets to make up all the rules! The dress is curteousy of Mom's handywork at the sewing machine and the shoes are from Grandma. Fancy Lily!

Lily is making a lot of friends at school. This one is of her "best" friend's birthday party at Pizza Hut. She was pretty sad the day we went to visit Grandma's house because she missed a birthday party for her friend that is a boy, but that she can't date til she's 16. She did get him a present that she gave him the next week.

We happen to have two monkey costumes - 1 that I got and 1 that my sister gave to me in some handmedowns. Gavin and Lily were being twinsies. They certianly are my little monkeys some days.

This is the epitome of the Marcano home at 6:00am every morning as we all get ready for school.

One day I found Gavin in the dryer. He was playing hide and seek and thought it was a good spot to hide. And yes - we did have a conversation about safety and not hiding in the dryer!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday, we celebrated another Halloween out at the Ferguson Farm. We brought along our jumping castle and the kids had a blast playing carnival games, eating Hot Dogs and chips, velvet cupcakes and trick or treating around the campfire until all the candy is gone. Lily was inspired by the BYU tailgate party a few weeks ago and decided to be a BYU cheerleader. Gavin made the cutest little pirate and Jessica went with her fav disney character Alex, from Wizards of Waverly Place. They had a great time and were zonked on the way home. They couldn't even manage to wake up long enough to eat any of their candy. This morning we made a deal that they had to wait until after church. I was having visions of them bouncing around during the Primary program in front of everyone. Fortunately they were very good. Needless to say they've been enjoying candy all afternoon. Here's the before and after pictures from last night.

A quick visit to see the Carreños

The Carreños are a family that we have known since living in Venezuela. Alejandro and Beatriz were in the primary when I was in the Stake Primary Presidency and their dad was in the high council. They traveled with us 3 Sundays a month and so I got to know the stake leaders' children pretty well. Now the kids are all grown up. The Carreños are now living in Irving. It's hard to believe these kids have only been in the states for 5 years listening to their English. We had a great time visiting with them this past month! Gavin especially loved their little dog, Casey.

Visit from Great Grandma Wickham!

It was such a pleasant surprise to have Great Grandma Wickham come down for a surprise visit. We were summoned to my mom's home to enjoy her company. Lily was especially excited to see another Grandma. She loves her grandma's. We had to take the opportunity before church to catch everyone in a four generation shot!

Making cookies with Mom

This is our favorite Sunday afternoon activity. Making cookies with Mom. Gavin especially loves to help me out. Lily just doesn't want to give up the spotlight of attention or maybe she just wants first dibs at the batter. Jessica is typically the most help - but then she has the most experience.

Golden Girls Mini Camp and Texas Football

Jessica and Lily got to go to the Mini Drill Team camp this summer. As part of the camp they were invited to go on the field with the Golden Girls and do the camp dance, walk around the track and stand on the field as the football players ran through the Tiger. They also got to sit with the Golden Girls during the first quarter. Gavin loved the Tiger mascot the most. This was our family's first football game. We've been to a RRHS game since then and a BYU tailgate party this month. I thought - wow - this is a lot of Football for the Marcano family in one year. So for those who know us at all - you can be proud that we've made it through two half times this season!

First Day of School

All the kids are in school this year. Gavin especially was excited about a backpack like Dora has and Lily is excited to go to school with her Daddy. Jessica is on a different schedule in the district where I work so her first day was the day after Lily's. We're all getting used to getting up at 5:30am-6:00am to get to school on time.

Baptismal Days

On July 11, Jess was baptized and confirmed. The week before we attended a baptism of the son of our friends that is about her age. They came to hers the next weekend. In addition we had friends from up to 7 hours drive in for the event. It was very special for her. The spirit was strong although I was emotional regardless. I'm very proud of Jess and her decision to be baptized. She reports that it was "the best day ever!" I'm sure she won't forget it.

Summer Time

Two weeks without a nanny. Phew. We've survived, but we miss Brianne. She's where she needs to be though so we support her.
Meanwhile - I'm full time mom again for the time being. It's nice having Jhonny around for a long weekend. We got the kids a wading pool yesterday and got it home with the help of a neighbor and their truck. I didn't want one that would "pop". The kids are enjoying it. Lily has decided it's her "special" day and she gets whatever she wants. Not true, but it's nice that what she wants and what we've given her are one in the same.
We saw Karate Kid yesterday. Two thumbs up. Different with hints of the original storyline. Jaden Smith is a lot like his dad. Kind of fun to watch a minnie Will.
Jessica's baptism is in three weeks. We're looking forward to it. I hope it will be nice for her. She's growing up so fast.
And so is Gavin. I can't believe my little boy is two. He is so sweet and cute. I love his language and the new words he comes up with every day. He loves to say, "Here you go," and "It's stuck" and "thanks!" and "I want that."
I'm gaining a couple of kids this week for some friends and losing one for a few days to Grandma's house.
Tomorrow is father's day. So I've got my work cut out. Back to making more. . .well that's a surprise.

Jhonny brought home a puppy and other Spring Updates

Spring Break in Dallas

Lily's hero!

Fastest wagon in the west!

Pretty in pink!

Farmer Lily (Children's Museum)

Paleontologist Gavin

Buddy, the newest member of the family

Lily's Easter Egg Hunt at Discovery Days

(Here she is dressed in her birthday outfit she picked out from Kohl's that she couldn't wait to wear.)

Lily and Savannah comparing their finds

With my crazy schedule I rarely get to blog anymore. However to keep the journal for posterity alive in cyberspace somewhere here's the latest happenings since our snow day.

I finished up three homebound students and subbed at the high school and intermediate school. I picked up another homebound student last week and it looks like I'll get one more before the year is out. I'm still looking for a "real" job next year. I had a good panel interview in Houston to keep my options open. It was so nice to be wanted. Makes trying to stay here even tougher. Rockdale better call first or I will have an extremely hard time turning down an offer. Not to mention my parents aren't exactly voting for our extension in Rockdale.

Over Spring Break we made our postponed trip up north to visit our friends. The kids had fun playing, Jhonny had fun watching Back to the Future, and I enjoyed relaxing and visiting with our friends. We also made it to the Children's Museum and exhausted ourselves there. Thanks so much to our wonderful hosts for putting us up!

Jessica is getting ready for her baptism in July. July 11th to be exact for anyone who wants to drop in for that. Maybe you should call so I can give more details.

Lily is getting ready to turn 4 next week. Lily has been planning her party since Christmas and it's finally upon us. It should be fine if we can afford her wishes since as you probably guessed from the title above - Jhonny brought home a dog.

It was "free" and he fell in love at first sight. I've tried to reason with the poor guy about our finances and inability to provide this work and sport dog with all it's needs - to no avail. He won't let me place Buddy anywhere else. He's playing oblivious to the recent dog bite I sustained in January (still have that scar). Oh no. He's part of the family now. Maybe when we are making more money my heart strings will lighten up.

Anyway - we had to outfit the thing with a few essentials to avoid destruction of the backyard that added up until wow - Lily's birthday money was gone. We told her she got the dog for her birthday. She said she still needed presents. After some thinking, Jhonny sacrificed his Kohl's gift card for her. I took her with me to Houston on Wednesday and she had a good time shopping. Of course she wouldn't let me wrap up her outfits and has already gotten plenty of use out of them in the past few days. Happy Birthday my sweetheart.

Gavin is finally starting to talk. Phew! I was getting a little worried. He's copying everything we say - okay it's a little mumbled and abbreviated, but at least I can almost make out words. "Puppy! Outside! Cereal! Breakfast! Juice! I want that! Dora! Backpack! Uh oh, Yeah!"

Easter is upon us. This is Lily's favorite holiday. Maybe cuz she associates it with her birthday. We went to eat at Chick-filé on Wednesday for her birthday. There was an Easter sign hanging over the register. She was sure it said, "Happy Birthday Lily!" well "Happy Easter" is close enough, right? Thursday Lily had her Easter egg hunt at school. She was an expert and grabbed up 34 eggs. We had to redistribute the wealth and cut back to her favorite 12 eggs to be fair. Yesterday we invited some friends over to hunt eggs and play. They had so much fun!

We've got conference planned for the rest of the weekend. April will fly by just like the rest of the semester has already. We're looking forward to visiting Houston next weekend, the temple the next weekend and the branch campout towards the end of this month. Then it's just one more month and school will be out. I really hope Jhonny gets to teach summer school otherwise. . .well I don't want to think about that.

Snow Day!

Just to show the disparity- Sunday it was 80, today it's 30 and we've had 4 hours of snow flurries coming down and sticking! Wierd!!

Daddy Daughter Dates

Jessica attended the Father Daughter Dance in town last night. She wanted her dad all to herself, so to make it up to Lily, she got her own special date with Dad tonight. They went to her favorite place - McDonalds of course! Both girls got to do their hair, makeup and paint their nails. Dad gave them flowers and treated them like little princesses. They both had a wonderful time.

Jessica had a romantic candlelight dinner for two before heading off to the dance. The highlight for Jessica was getting to show off her dad to her friends from school who were there with their fathers. For Lily it was playing on the playground at McDonalds. Both ended their date with rootbeer floats at home. What a treat!

Jessica's Date

Lily's Date