Ready for Santa Claus

Sarah, to Tia Evis and Tia Marlenne:

Guys! Are you ready for Santa Claus? Guys! Are you ready for Santa Claus? Guys! Are you weddy for Santa Claus?

Marlenne: Sarita tu Tia Evis no te entiende. (Aunt Evis doesn't understand)

Sarah: Guys! What Santa Claus you wanna go? (Repeating)

Marlenne: There's only one Santa Claus.

Sarah: There's only one, two Santa Claus.

By Those Trees

Sarah, from back seat:

This is my place. I like this place! Over there is Grandma and Grandpa's house by those arboles. That's my place. I like that place. I want to go to Uncle Bo's and Aunt Wendy's house. Look guys! That's Grandma and Grandpa's house over there ceca de los árboles.

Stephen Dancing

Stephen was holding Tia Evis' phone up to his ear and dancing all morning. Then they put some music on the big stereo and he kept dancing, here while sitting in a chair, but without giving up the telephone. 

Guys, Quiet, Guys!

Sarah, from back seat:

Hey guys, be quiet! I'm trying to sleep! ... Stop talking guys! ... Hey guys, be quiet! ... Be quiet, I'm trying to sleep! ... Guys, don't talk, I'm sleeping!

Mama: Sarah, no-one is talking besides you.

Road Trip (Sleeping in the Car)

On our way to Mexico.

Sarah

Stephen

Let's Sing Everybody

Sarah, from back seat of car:

Ok guys, it's time to sing. If you wanna dance, that's fine. If you wanna sing, that's fine. But it's time to sing. Let's sing everybody. (Starts singing). Hey guys! Listen to me! Sing! (Sings, continues to try to get everyone to sing.)

Stephen: Aaaahh uhhhh uhhhh (trying to sing)

Tia Graciela's House

Stephen started a new variant on his favorite game today while at Tia Graciela's house: throwing the ball, specifically under the coffee table.

He was suffering from a bit of "mamitis" and looked like he just barely remembered his family members from that household but warmed back up to Tia Karen and everyone over the course of a half hour, until he was walking around the room confidently again.

Sarah stayed at Tia Evis' house, preferring to watch Dora on the television rather than leave the house.

Papaaaa

Mama: Stephen casi no dice Mama, verdad? No mas quiere decir Papa. (Looking at Stephen) Mama!
Stephen: Papaaaaa
Mama: Mama!
Stephen: Papaaaa
Mama: Mama!
Stephen: Papaaa (Grinning and stretching arms towards Papa)

Water Bottle

Sarah, looking at a slightly deformed bottle of water:

Esa botella esta como, "Oh my goodness, me estoy cayendo"!

(This water bottle is like, "Oh my goodness, I'm falling over"!)

Uncle Bo Friends

Sarah, from the back seat today:

Uncle Bo is my friend. He's a good friend. He's not Stephen's friend! He's MY friend. I have a lot of everybodies my friends.

I want go to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

My friends give me NICE things. The give me coloring things, fun things. I have GOOD friends.

Grandma's Pajamas

Thank you Grandma for the great pajamas for Sarah! They fit great! (Not at all small like you feared.) There is even just a bit of space for Sarah to grow into them. And she really likes them! Grandma and Grandpa are great at picking gifts - most of the kids' best and favorite clothes and books that they use every day were gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.

Oh yeah, Sarah also mentioned "Like the bear!" when she opened the pajamas, obviously referring to the bear with pajamas that Grandma sent a week or so ago.

Getting Enough Sleep

A good night's sleep makes all the difference! Sarah got up too early the other day and was fussy all day. She also had "peepeepoopoo" accidents all day, which are increasingly rare for her now. She just wasn't happy.

The next day, yesterday, she got her full night's sleep and it made all of the difference. She was glowing all day. But today, she got an extra extra long nap, and it is stacking up to be a little bit fussy afterwards.

Not sure what we are going to do when they get into school and have to get up at 7am instead of 10.

Nana!

We're getting ready to go down to Mexico and visit Nana for several days. We haven't visited since Easter so it is long overdue. We also get to visit Tia Evis and Marlenne and all of our other family near the border. Mama needs the break and hopefully it will be very relaxing and refreshing for her.

Shots

Both Sarah and Stephen had to have some vaccinations this morning. Stephen had one while poor Sarah had FIVE needle pricks! She was pretty brave about it. She did cry of course but didn't have fits as she could have. Stephen simply said AAA for a moment and then was fine. They are still taking their amoxicillin from last week when they were diagnosed with strep throat. 

Grandpa's Eye Surgery

We are very glad to report that Grandpa's eye surgery went very well. The cataracts were removed and in the process it looks like the astigmatism that he has suffered his whole life may be corrected, as well. Grandpa has described the astigmatism as looking at the world through wavy glass. It makes it hard to read, which Grandpa loves to do, so the possibility of having his best eyesight in 70 years is very exciting! The bandages may come off as early as today, and we will see how he is seeing. Also, we will find out soon if and when the doctor will be able to do a similar surgery on his other eye!

We love you Grandpa so much!

Stephen Sink Baths

At Home In Az

To Save And Pull Out When His Girlfriend Comes Over To Embarrass Him 

At Grandma & Grandpa's House in July

Sarah Owie

A couple of weeks ago Sarah stubbed her toe opening the front door and almost ripped her big toenail right off. She was pretty cool about it, especially considering how she can get much more worked up about smaller or less painful events. 

Warning: Injured toe pictures not to be viewed while eating.

Some of Our Favorite Books

Sarah:

Richard Scarry's Great Big Schoolhouse
Richard Scarry's Best Fire Fighters Ever
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear Brown Bear

One of the great books that Grandma and Grandpa sent us is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Eric Carle. It is a board book version where a succession of animals each looks at another animal. "I see a purple cat looking at me."

Sarah had some questions about the book and what she was learning. Specifically, why do sheep like to look at doggies? Why do fishies look at horsies? And why is that cat purple?

You never know what we are teaching our kids.

Talking Backpack

So Sarah got a talking Dora backpack as a gift for her birthday, which she loves because she loves Dora. But the funny part came when Sarah got confused, trying to have a normal conversation with the backpack.

Sarah asks Backpack a question, then hits the button and waits for an answer.

Sarah (frustrated): Why he's not talking?!

Note for future generations: This post was written in 2012, when Dora's backpack was a very simple electronic toy, and did not actually answer - it just played back a half-dozen preset recorded messages in preset order. Nothing like those awesome toys and super-intelligent animals you kids certainly have out there "now" in "the future".

Little Monkies

The kids, especially Stephen, love to climb up on things. This includes the stairs, sofas, chairs and the kitchen table. Grandma says that they are just following in the mold set by their Papa, who was known as a child as climbing up, well, everything.

At Home

Arizona Science Center

One of our favorite places to hang out is the library, and a special perk that the Phoenix area libraries have is the "Culture Pass", where they give you free passes to cultural places around the valley. We took advantage of one of these to get free passes into the Arizona Science Center. The kids are still a bit young to get too much out of it but we still had a pretty good time.

Fruit Plate From Mama

From Mama to Papa

Worst Salesman Ever

So when we went to the store to buy some cake toppers for Sarah's birthday cake, and Papa asks the sales rep if they have a Dora figurine that we could put on a cake.

Sales guy leads us over to the cake topper section, where he shows us a Dora figurine and tells us in a completely deflated tone and demeanor,  "Here's one, except it also has Boots."

It's Kinda Cold in Arizona

Snuggling in Bed

Sarah Dancing in Mirror

Thank You Grandma and Grandpa!

Sarah opening her gift package from Grandma and Grandpa.

Sarah's Birthday Party Pics

The Scene

(Where We Were Previously Attacked By Canada Geese)