Merry Christmas

Cesar's work has an awesome Christmas party for the kids! They have the BEST Santa and Mrs. Claus ever! The kids had fun frosting cookies, doing crafts and finally seeing Santa. Isabella was excited to see Santa, until it was her turn, then she was terrified. But, she is still talking about Santa. Lauren asked for a desk and make-up, while Samuel asked for Star Wars Lego game for the Wii. Now, if we had a Wii, then that would make more sense. Maybe Santa can finally bring us a Wii for Christmas. ;)

Sweet Babies

I often find Isabella reading or feeding or doing something with her babies. She loves her babies! She has to take them everywhere with her. She tucks one under each arm, along with a purse on her shoulder. She feeds them, puts them nigh-night and tells them to not cry and to not be sad. She loves to have them wrapped up in something, either a blanket or a towel. (Her baby took an unexpected bath with her one morning, so it was wrapped in a towel all day, so she still thinks that it needs to be wrapped in a towel.) My baby is growing up so fast!

Time Out x4

A lovely evening in the Rodriguez household with an almost two year old....

6:33 - time out for dumping her food off the table and onto the floor.
6:35 - off time out, said sorry and gave mom a hug.
6:36 - time out for coloring on the walls. "gook, cooder"
6:38 - off time out, said sorry and gave mom a hug.
6:39 - time out for hitting Lauren in the face.
6:42 - off time out, said sorry and gave Lauren a hug.
6:43 - time out for hitting mom while trying to get jammies on.
6:45 - off time out, said sorry and gave mom a hug.

Can we say BED TIME! That one minute thirty seconds goes by too fast,. She isn't learning very quickly.

Snow Removal Anyone?

Can you believe this kid?!? Cesar is out of town, and this kid wanted to be outside for a while during the big snow storm. I was busy in the house with the girls, so I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing outside for so long, even though I kept looking out the window at him. After about thirty minutes he asked me to bring him some hot chocolate, but, he assured me he was okay and didn't want to come in. After another fifteen minutes, I looked outside to see what he was doing and this is what I found....

He had shoveled about 9 inches of snow off of our driveway! Seriously! He wanted to go down the street to help the neighbor shovel their driveway and he wanted to help shovel the road, but since it was dark, I had to say no. :) Needless to say, he was tired and ready for bed when he was done. And, he asked me for a dollar for all of his hard work. :) I was happy to give him a dollar. I told him I would give him a dollar anytime he shovels the driveway for me. :) Such a good heart!

My Darling Dad

My dad is so darling! We are so fortunate to have him close, although I would like him even closer. He has had a lot of trials in his life, yet he is upbeat, and happy most of the time. We love having him for dinner each Sunday. We got home from church one afternoon and found my dad had raked up most of the leaves in the back yard. The kids had a blast running and jumping in the pile of leaves. He is always saying what good kids he has, but I remind it that that is all his fault. If he wasn't such a good dad he wouldn't have to worry about that. :) We hope that someday he can come and live with our crazy family. Wouldn't that be fun?

Halloween Costumes 2010

Is Halloween over? After what seemed like endless costume parties, I am totally okay with Halloween being over! Samuel made a fierce Storm Trooper and Rock Star. Lauren made a great scary witch and a mean princess. And our sweet baby Bella was a happy pink dragon.

For one of the parties, Cesar and I dressed up as Lucy and Desi from "I Love Lucy". Cesar looked the part...I on the other hand HATED my look. So, for the next party, I went as
a Zombie mom. More fitting. :)

Cesar took the kids trick or treating this year. He dressed as a Rock Star. :) Love that look, especially the hair. Isabella insisted on having her face painted. She had to match the mean princess who also insisted on having her face painted.

Halloween Pumpkins

We love Halloween!!!

Carving pumpkins gets more fun as the kids get older and their creativity comes out. Samuel insisted we had a Sponge Bob Square Pants pumpkin for our dog Bob. Cesar wasn't sure how to do that, so Samuel drew him a picture. Lauren wanted a witch pumpkin - of course! She even had Cesar carve a hat. Too funny!

Student of the Month

DISCLOSURE: This is my way of keeping a journal, so I am documenting....you can skip this post. :)

Samuel received the student of the month award for his class. Each month, the school honors a student from each class, and it was Samuel's turn this past month. This was a surprise, (sort of) because just a month ago, he was telling me that he keeps getting in trouble in his class and that he even had to go to a time-out type thing where he had to go to another teachers class and put his head down on a desk. I know that Samuel can be silly, but this was unusual for him to be getting in so much trouble. At this same time, we were having a bit of a problem with him at home. Nothing serious, just more emotional i.e. increased tantrums, crying and generalized increase in fit-throwing. I wasn't that worried about it, because, I am sure that being in a new school, all day long, is hard for him. Anyhoo, when he expressed that he was having problems in class, I became kind of worried and felt that I should intervene and talk with his teachers about his behavior and see if I could do something to improve the behavior at school and home. Not really sure, what....good thing I have some really good resources around me in regards to behavior management. :) So, I emailed both teachers and this is their response.

I really appreciate Sam being so honest, but he really isn’t a big problem. He just has to be reminded of the rules (like sitting quietly at his desk/rug) but nothing major at all. He is such a delightful boy. He participates in class and is very active during class discussions. Maybe just remind him when it is appropriate to talk in class and when it isn’t. I will keep working with him also, but honestly he is doing awesome! Natalie Day

It’s great to hear that Samuel is letting you know of his behavior here at school. Honestly is a good thing. He is a great student at completing work and task assigned and does the quality work I expect. The only trouble Sam get in my class is that I remind him to sit at the rug quietly in the mornings and at the end of the day. I think a great thing you can do as well is before school remind him of those things so he can remember that once he comes into class, turns in everything he needs to turn in, then he’ll sit on the rug quietly to get the day started. Anything you feel will best help him. Thanks again for letting us know! Estephanie Maiava

Why is he such a story teller? His Sunday school teachers ask me all the time if we are going on vacation, or if we are moving or some other crazy story! I just laugh and remind them that he is a good story teller. I then have to remind Sam that he can't be telling those kind of stories and that it is like lying. He always apologizes and says he won't do that again, but it happens again and again. How do I stop this behavior?

Back to the Student of the month, here is what his teachers wrote about my sweet Samuel....

He is always doing quality work. He takes his time and works well with others. He helps out his classmates without being asked to. He is respectful and is constantly following Silver Mesa's High Five Rules! Samuel is a wonderful student! Natalie Day and Estaphanie Maiava

My Samuel! Good job buddy! You surprise me every day!!!

p.s. it was crazy hair day at school :)

HELP!!!

So, as I was in another room for only 3 minutes, I became worried when I couldn't hear Isabella. As all mom's know, that can only mean trouble. The bathroom door is still closed...(she likes to sit in the sink), my bedroom door is still closed...(she likes to talk on the phone or use my lotion). Not in Lauren's room...not in the living room with the others. Where could she be?! To my great surprise, this is what I found...not good! She had dumped out a full bottle of cumin and most of a bottle of Santa Fe spice stuff that I never use. Luckily, she had just found the food coloring and hadn't figured out how to open it. Wouldn't that have been fun? Red food coloring everywhere. Non of the other kids have been such a climber as her. I find her in her chair at the table, on the table, the back of the couch. I put all the little chairs up or anything that she can use to climb with, but she seems to find anything in order to get where she wants.

After I had it all cleaned up, I found her again in this position. I had forgotten to put the little chair away. I let her struggle a bit and cry for help. I want her to be afraid of doing this! NOT SAFE!!!

Go Red Real Piranhas!!!

Samuel doesn't have a girlfriend yet this year at his new school, but he is totally IN LOVE with soccer!!!! He is in the back yard before school and after school kicking the ball around and trying to learn new tricks. This makes his father so proud! :) Not sure what Cesar would do if Samuel didn't like soccer...we will try not to think about that.

Cesar is coaching Samuel's soccer team this year and totally loves it! They are both doing so well. They are undefeated, although who is keeping score? It makes my heart happy to see these two playing together. Samuel reminds his dad to not play too easy. He likes a good challenge, although he really gets his feelings hurt if his dad scores too many goals. I am thinking that soccer will dominate our Saturday's for a long time to come. I am so glad that Samuel and his dad love something together. I know that this love of soccer will continue to help them stay close to each other.

Random Summer Pictures

We had a great time with the Houston Smith cousins this past summer. My brother even baptized his son while they were here. It is so fun to spend time together and for our children to be building relationships and memories with the cousins.

Of course we swam a lot this summer. Kids are like fish! Especially little eighteen month old fish. So tiring to take her to the pool! She doesn't understand that she could DROWN!!!

Hiking the Y. A yearly ritual that we try to do with our Houston cousins. That is a hard hike! The kids did great! Lauren had a piggy back ride most of it from my bother, but Samuel ran most of the way. Bella stayed home with me. :)

Summer BBQ's are the best!

Random...

Totally the summer fav are Real games! The boys love their soccer!

Can't forget all the Star Wars battles that were fought this past summer. There sure are a lot of fierce fighting scene's that need to be re-enacted.

Isabella in her favorite spot with her favorite blanket, otherwise known as "Babbu."

Cecret Lake

A good fiend of mine took me to Cecret Lake earlier this summer. I had never been and totally fell in love with it! I made my brother and his family come with us to Cecret Lake the day before they went home so they would remember how beautiful Utah is. We all loved it and we all hiked without complaining!

Here they are...Preston (4), Cameron (10), Lauren (5), Chandler (8) and Samuel (7).

Happy Birthday Samuel Thomas

Samuel finally turned SEVEN! It is so fun to see the excitement of Birthdays with our kids. Unfortunately, he has had the worst birthday-itis I have ever seen in him. The night before his birthday, he went to bed alright around 8:30pm. He had to go potty at 10:15, so he got up....AND STAYED UP UNTIL AFTER 3:00AM!!!! He was up and down and crying and upset. It was a long night for all of us! He just couldn't wait to open up his presents. How is Christmas going to be? Seriously!

We had planned a swim party with some neighborhood friends. A swim party in August...no big deal. Hot, hot, hot August. Right! I think it only got to a high of 65 that day with a breeze. Too cold for swimming. Seriously! Is it August or October? At the last minute, with my great friends help, we improvised to a serious Lego party. We had Lego's everywhere! It was a lot of fun! At least I think the boys all had fun...the girls, I am not too sure. :) We have had a hard time returning all of my friends Lego's..........can we keep them? ;)