Our life in Charlotte

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T20:11:00.000-05:00

I am going backwards in time so I am going to start with our wonderful weekend. Alex had to work on Saturday but got off early enough so we had an awesome Christmas Eve dinner with friends. Before this though, we got some carolers who were our Secret Santas for the 12 days of Christmas (we had gotten gifts at our door every night for 12 nights, ranging from art gifts to homemade bread and jam but we had no idea who it could be). It was nice to see who it was. After this we went off to our friend's house. Cordelia, Jaime, and Manny had a wonderful time..roughly all the children were or around Cordelia or Manny and Jaime's age so they enjoyed themselves immensely! Dinner and dessert were very good and I have some new recipes that I need to get plus I know where to get tamales in Charlotte. After we got home we set our plate for Santa..we left him some wonderful cookies from Alex's relatives and a sticky bun brought from our Secret Santa family and a glass of milk. Then off to bed while we waited for Santa. Rock (our Christmas Elf) was going back with Santa so off Rock went too.

A couple of more days left in 2011

2011-12-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in forever so I needed to at least put up some photos..We just celebrated Christmas, however most of my pictures are on my phone since the camera doesn't have batteries and we kept forgetting to get more. The last few days have been very busy! We all enjoyed Christmas together as a family and Manny actually stayed still in Sacrament and started drinking the Sacrament water, which is very hard sometimes! We only had it for a hour since it was Christmas but I enjoyed the songs very much and explained Cordelia what was going on..I need to get some books or cards or something so they can look at while we get sacrament so they can understand why we take the bread and water. The kids enjoyed their presents very much and I am very happy that they are still playing with them! We saw Santa on Wed at Concord Mills and was very happy that even though there was ten million cars in the parking lot we only had 4-5 families in front of us. Cordelia made a card for Santa in which he read and put it in his red mailbox next to him. Jaime was extremely shy and didn't want to talk or sit anywhere near Santa and Manny was great in line but didn't like the idea of sitting on a "stranger's lap." So I ended up in the photo too since I didn't want Jaime to regret not at least getting a photo with Santa later on. And I still need to mail our Christmas,now New Year eve cards..

Okay now I need to make some breakfast :) Will write more later

Busy couple of months!

2011-02-24T19:53:00.000-05:00

Not doing that great with blogging but we had a couple of busy months! After Christmas was New Years then Alex's birthday then Cordelia's birthday and in between all of this lots and lots of snow!

Jaime and I ended up being sick for New Years so we didn't end up doing anything but resting for that day. We did though make little hats and decorated little cookies...none of the kids made it to midnight, I ended up falling asleep a couple of times too!

Happy New Years!

Alex helping Manny put the icing on.

Jaime: Skipping the middleman and going straight for the sprinkles

They turned out great!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T21:33:00.016-05:00

This year we had a very quiet Christmas. Due to the risk of snow and Alex not feeling well, we stayed in this weekend. The kids and I made rings to countdown to Christmas earlier this month..they were very happy when there was only one ring left (with a picture of Santa.) We were also receiving little gifts from a Secret Santa so they enjoyed getting little gifts each day. The last day someone had given us little reindeer hats and reindeer food so the kids enjoyed going out in the yard and sprinkling the food out! Thank you Secret Santa!

Then it was time to put out food for Santa..we did it a little different this year. Instead of cookies, on our plate was a cinnamon roll and a banana nut muffin with a glass of milk. Rock (our Christmas Elf) was going to be picked up by Santa that night too so he got to sit out to wait. Cordelia was sad to see him go but she knows he will be back for Thanksgiving to watch the kids and report back to Santa every night till Christmas Eve. Maybe next year he will find his lost hat!

After we read about the First Christmas and checking NORAD on where Santa was, it was off to bed. Santa arrived with lots of presents from the elves as well as presents from family and friends,ate some food and left a cute note. The reindeer promptly ate all the reindeer food on the grass and went on their way to our neighbors.

Jaime, our early riser, was the first one to wake up. He came in our room, which I thought was interesting, since he totally passed the tree. But he quickly realized what day it was and then everyone else woke up as well. They liked the note Santa left, but since Santa didn't finish his muffin, Cordelia thought he didn't like it. I guess no more muffins for him then! The kids loved their presents and we spent the rest of the day playing with their toys, playing with each others presents, eating food,cleaning, eating snacks and making our little gingerbread houses
.

We used graham crackers this year but they loved decorating them! I loved their ideas!

Gingerbread Lane

And that was our holiday weekend. Alex is feeling better today and we are thankful that we have a restful weekend and that we got to spend it with each other. We hope everyone had a great weekend too. Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

Going to post soon about the last year..hopefully will post about Christmas tonite :)

Snow snow snow!

2010-12-26T15:32:00.017-05:00

So.. we haven't posted in a very long time so I finally decided that instead of trying to post a millions pictures on Facebook, I should really start up the blog again. The snow started last night and I was very happy that it kept snowing and wasn't melted like the other times. I wasn't sure when it was going to actually snow, there seems to be a bubble around the Charlotte area where the winter fronts start at the mountains and jumps over the RDU area. This morning it was still snowing and so pretty outside! We learned that church was cancelled and later that day we went out to enjoy the snow.

The kids loved the snow, it was perfect snowman packing snow. The year before it was just powdered snow with a layer of ice so this was great. Cordelia was all about it, she starting to throw snowballs and walk around in the snow, Jaime followed quickly behind her but I had to quickly remind them to not throw the snowballs in each others faces. Manny was kind of wary at first..the snow was deep and he didn't like that the snow kept covering up his feet but he then loved making footprints in the snow and waving to the cars driving by. Alex got some baskets out and they all started filling up the buckets with snow to make a snowman which then became a snow monster. After making some snow angels, it was time to go in for some hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Look at the snow!

Cordelia watching the snow fall.

Jaime starting on the snowballs.

Manny shaking the snow everywhere.

Cordelia starting the snowman.

Manny looking around.

Jaime looking around as well.

Manny running and helping Cordelia with the snowman.

Jaime joins in to help.

LOOK AT THE CAR!

Cordelia giving Jaime some snow to help.

Snow angels and showing Daddy how happy we are!

Our view...

And a picture of our family.

.

Going to add new posts soon.

2010-04-10T17:26:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted anything in forever but I should because so much as happened in a year! Going to post more soon.

Yummy new meal

2009-05-09T20:28:00.004-04:00

Alex had invited a touring band called Red Collar over to our house to eat when they got into town. I really wanted to make a new recipe so I made these tofu stuffed shells. I HATE olives and I actually ate them in this.Plus there is spinach, lemon juice, pine nuts, onions and portabello mushrooms. Also you can't tell it is tofu, it looks/tastes more like ricotta cheese. I served it with garlic bread and salad, so excellent meal. There is a lot of filling so you have to squeeze them in the pasta shells that go over pasta sauce so the picture looks a little odd. But very yummy!

However since they were driving out of town they had to go straight to the club but Alex brought them the meals and went to go see their show and I got to relax and go to bed early :).

Easter egg hunt adventure

2009-04-20T22:40:00.005-04:00

We decided it would be a great year to try to experience an easter egg hunt. I went searching online and found out that there was going to be an Eggstrangnza event in Matthews hosted by a local radio station. I had heard that it was one of the larger ones in the Carolinas and best of all free. Let's just say it was more than an adventure just getting there!

There had to be 10,000 people there based on the lines..I felt like I was at the fair but without any super rides or fried dough treats. The kids got to experience a shuttle bus ride to the park (the twins first ride on a bus) and the added treat of waiting in super long lines. Cordelia got to meet the Easter Bunny (before he got whisked away), the Chik-fil-a cow and someone dressed up as a moving truck. I think she was more excited meeting the cow and truck than the Easter Bunny. She also got to go through a tunnel tube and feed some goats and a ram.

The Easter Egg Hunt was crazy and the line for that was even crazier. They had 3 hunts but tons of people. It wasn't really a hunt but more of a "when we say go, pick up as much stuff as you can!" All three kids got to have fun with this. We really didn't have any luck getting to the eggs but the kids enjoyed picking up necklaces and lots of candy! This was their first hunt with other kids (and parents) so I am sure they will pick up the speed next year.

It was a fun day, we got back on the shuttles and all of us got a lot of good sun that day.

Manny and Jaime watching the animals.

Cordelia and I feeding a goat.

The line in front of us for the egg hunt.

And the line behind us going way down the hill.

Getting ready to go...

Radio people, Cow and the Easter Bunny in front of all the candy.

Manny eying a necklace to put in his bag.

Manny's haircut

2009-04-20T22:30:00.002-04:00

He got his done about a day or so after Jaime but just forgot to put some pics of him. His was a closer cut than Jaime but he seems to enjoy not having all that hair in the way. All three kids need a trim again, their hair grows super fast!

Cordelia's haircut

2009-04-20T22:24:00.003-04:00

Alex cut Cordelia's hair super short and she loves it!

Green Pancakes

2009-04-20T22:15:00.002-04:00

We celebrates St Patricks Day with some Green Pancakes and Green Eggs and Ham (and also a favorite book of the kids) the green eggs didn't look so great even though it was just food dye but it was a yummy "Breakfast for Dinner" dinner.

Update on the kids.

2009-04-20T21:34:00.002-04:00

Well it seems as though it takes me a while to update this blog. I usually end up taking a bunch of new pics and just need that couple of hours to process it all to form a coherent statement of some sort. Here it goes...

March was a good month and as well as April. Manny is hanging in there with the therapies and seems to enjoy all the new therapists that come over to help him out. His favorite activity in Occupational Therapy is rolling on top of the yoga ball, stacking blocks for Speech, and the books for CBRS. Right now we are working on him sitting at the table for a period of time without trying to run off, and trying to get him to start using his signs. He has been taught the signs for more, Mommy, Daddy, water/juice, please, no (which is used a lot and he is starting to say the word), byebye, and a couple more. Right now he only signs them if they involved seeing the drink or a hyper activity for him to sign "more" He is seeing them a lot during the day from me but Jaime and Cordelia also use them during the day so he sees them a lot. He is also blabbing a lot more and using more sounds like Bla and Da and Ma so he is starting the process of forming words. He has on and off days and transitions at nursery at church are still difficult but it is a lot better than a couple of months where he would just start crying at anything. He is also starting let his siblings be near him more and he will actually start playing with them now.

Jaime has now entered the terrible 2's early. Jaime has always been Cordelia's shadow and now that he has seen Cordelia's tantrums in action, he decided that now would be the best time to use them frequently. It starts with a crying and a stomping and then a graceful (let me look behind me so I can fall without hurting myself) fall on the ground. Besides that, he is learning words left and right and can usually copy whatever I or Cordelia is saying to him. I am not even sure how many words he knows because they keep popping out everyday. Potty training is put on hold till the move and when I buy a potty just for Jaime.

Cordelia is doing better, we are now going out a lot during the week and Cordelia was really good when I took all 3 to the mall by myself. Her attitude is getting better and she is talking a little bit more and is starting to explain herself and her actions a little bit more. However, she is on a Cinderella fix right now. She has to wear a dress most days and wear her Cinderella shoes (her church shoes) and loves to sing the songs from the movie. We are trying to limit the tv watching so her treat for being good is to watch parts of it. She sings a lot more when no one is listening, when she knows I am listening, she'll stop and act all shy and giggle at me. She does this with Hannah Montana as well. She loves being my little helper, she helps me with putting clothes in the dryer, and putting them away in her drawers. She'll sweep the floor too so she is learning a lot of responsibilities right now. One of her favorite words now is "help."

Snow!

2009-03-02T20:49:00.007-05:00

It was great to see snow again..this time we had a ton of snow and it basically snowed for most of the night. However it is almost all gone and it might be 70 next weekend so this was probably the last snow of the season.

30 minutes in...

The kids had a blast outside. Cordelia loved the snow but the boys at first were wary about it, it was really hard for them to walk in such high snow! I went in with the twins for a bit and Alex and Cordelia made a snowman outside. Due to the high temperatures he is already melted.

After watching Cordelia outside, the twins wanted to go back out and enjoyed exploring the yard and seeing the tall snowman. Jaime enjoyed walking and eating his Fruit Loops and Manny got tired of his gloves and wanted to touch the snow with his little hands. Soon after we went back inside to warm up and enjoy the snow from indoors.

Jaime's haircut

2009-03-02T20:34:00.004-05:00

Last week Alex gave Jaime a haircut with his electric razor. It took a little bit of time but now he looks like a little Alex, so cute! Jaime seems to like it as well.

Potty Training

2009-03-02T20:26:00.003-05:00

We are starting to potty train Jaime. It has going okay so far, he was really eager to start so I am down to 1 in diapers :) I took some pictures of him on the potty and Cordelia wanted to make sure he got his privacy so this happened...

Aviation Museum

2009-03-02T16:03:00.006-05:00

Last last Saturday we took a trip to Carolina Aviation Museum. Before we went, we stopped to have a quick lunch. The museum was truly an "Alex trip" since I know nothing about planes but it seemed like a place that Alex will visit again. Cordelia liked it the best, Manny wasn't having a good day so we didn't stay there as long as we liked plus it was a bit cold and most of it was outside. Jaime just hung back in the stroller, looking around in awe at the huge planes surrounding him. We had a quiet trip home as they all fell asleep soon after getting back into the car.

Here are a few pictures at the museum...

A replica of the Mercury capsule.

F-14

AV-8 B Harrier and F-4 Phantom II

OV-1 Mohawk

Cordelia and Alex in a CH-53

Another birthday celebration

2009-03-02T15:31:00.009-05:00

Alex's parents couldn't make it out on her birthday but were able to come down that Sunday. We all enjoyed seeing them again and Cordelia got even more presents and clothes which she loves. She also got even more cupcakes so she was very excited that her birthday kept on coming! Grandpa and Grandma also brought us some wonderful Valentines Day roses which lasted for a while. The kids were all really sad to see them leave the next day.

It's snowing!

2009-03-02T00:21:00.002-05:00

More posts to come...

Another birthday party,Potty Training Jaime, Jaime's awesome haircut and SNOW and much much more!

Appointments

2009-03-01T23:33:00.003-05:00

This month was also filled with medical appointments. Manny isn't really talking yet and we were concerned about his staring spells so after an evaluation from a few therapists, we are starting Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Community Based Rehabilitative Services (CBRS) which helps us as parents teach him how to play and learn with his toys at home. It is a lot of therapies but hopefully it will help him communicate better and enjoy playing with his siblings and other kids a lot more. We went a little while ago to check his hearing and vision and they are great so far so we don't have to worry about getting him glasses just yet. We have had more people coming over and so far he has been doing good. He still has bad days where he doesn't want to do anything but other days where he is smiling and laughing at everything. He has started to understand the sign for "more" and has signed it himself a couple of times so hopefully this will continue and he'll start to sign "food" and "drink/juice" that we have just started to teach him. The other kids are catching on too so with more people signing, maybe he'll catch and want to practice them more.

Cordelia has also gone for a Speech Therapy evaluation. All the kids and I went out to the appt in the rain :( but she did very well. Of course she wanted to walk by herself down the hallways with the evaluator but she followed directions and stayed with the evaluator for about a hour while she asked her questions about various things and objects. I was a room over with the twins so I could hear her but I was glad that Cordelia didn't try to run out back to our room and also sat through a hearing test as well (her hearing is great). We are hearing back from them to see if she is going to start Speech Therapy.

Manny also had his EEG this week to check to see if he is having seizures. I had never dealt with an EEG before but he did very well considering what he had to go through :) He was only allowed to sleep from midnight to 4am and his appointment was at 8:30am so it was exhausting just for us to keep him awake. I am sure he was wondering why we kept him up, he was only getting tired when he got in the car but by singing and talking to him, he stayed up! I am also thinking he enjoyed being the only kid up and having all the toys and parents to himself! After we got to the hospital and got situated in the room, he started to get a little cranky and even more so when they placed glue spots all over his head and then little wires with gauze. They then wrapped his entire head with gauze so he looked a little sad there but as soon as they turned off the lights and started to play classical music, he started to fall asleep. With his blanket from home, his Curious George doll and Mommy by his side, he fell fast asleep. Then they added little wires to his wrists as well. The room was basically set up where the technician was on one side of the room with some computers with a half wall and a pane of glass separating us with Manny on a small hospital bed/stretcher and I sitting next to him. There was also a camera watching Manny as well. I got to sit down next to Manny for a moment-as soon as I got relaxed, it was all over and time to wake him up. I felt so bad because he just wanted to sleep and he looked so peaceful, but it was time to go. They took all the wires off at the same time and that of course woke him up with a start! They managed to get most of the glue off his face and hair with a warm washcloth and with a comb so the bath that night wasn't so bad. His hair was wild afterwards but I combed it so it looked somewhat nice. When we got home, he enjoyed a nice long nap and after about a day he got back to his normal sleeping schedule. And now we wait from our pediatrician to see where we go from here.

Cordelia's birthday party

2009-03-01T23:00:00.006-05:00

Since Alex had to work that first weekend, we had Cordelia's birthday on Valentine's Day. We got her a little pin to wear that day that said "It's my B-day" that she loved. She had a wonderful party with some family and friends. We decorated the house with streamers of pink and red and I made a little Happy Birthday sign for her as well. She was really surprised in the morning but she of course knew it was her birthday party again! She was really happy to see all the people and super enjoyed opening all of her presents. We had an assortment of food and Aunt Ashley brought the yummy chocolate cake. The kids also decorated cookies so everyone had a surplus of sugar!

Manny and Jaime also enjoyed Cordelia's party!

Cordelia's birthday

2009-03-01T22:41:00.007-05:00

Cordelia got three little birthdays this month! Her first one was on her birthday. She got a wonderful surprise present from her grandpa from TX--some balloons and a pink teddy bear. They all loved the balloons and one is still inflated and floating around the house. We got her some Princess birthday cupcakes which she enjoyed a lot! On top were little rings which she loved to wear. She also enjoyed all the frosting and blowing out her candle a bunch of times--she knew that she got to blow out candles on her birthday so she was awaiting this for about a week. She was really excited the whole day, singing the Happy Birthday song to herself multiple times and stating it was "Cordelia's birthday" or "my birthday." We got her some ABC and number puzzles that came apart to so she could match the letters to the right place on the board. Overall a wonderful birthday!

(I managed to get a bow in her hair but that didn't last that long)

Manny wishing Cordelia a happy birthday!

Updates

2009-03-01T22:41:00.002-05:00

I am really behind on posts, so much has happened this month so I'll be posting more and more...

Orchids

2009-01-25T04:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we went to the Stowe Botanical Gardens in Belmont. However when we got there, I discovered that there was no memory card in the camera so no pictures. The kids enjoyed it a lot and I have to say they were very good and didn't complain at all. Cordelia and Jaime got to hang out in the stroller while Manny was in a sling on me made for toddlers-he enjoyed that very much! The grounds were huge and had many fountains including one that acts like a bridge and goes over you. There were also some colorful birds that the kids got to see. Alex loves Orchids so this a a great trip for him because they have a large Orchid Conservatory with tons of different flowers in a large greenhouse. The kids loved all the flowers and got to see a banana tree and chocolate tree for the first time and many cacti. We are going to go back when the whole place is in bloom, it is going to look very pretty!

Snow!

2009-01-25T03:47:00.004-05:00

It snowed on the 20th for the first time. However it was all gone by late afternoon so not much fun. But we did get to play in it before Alex had to go off to work. The kids were cute little snow bunnies and loved the snow!

Manny excited about going out outside!

Cordelia jumping for joy

Jaime taking a breather.

Alex pushing Manny in our makeshift shed.

Cordelia helping out.

"I like snow!"

Cordelia likes to clean!

2009-01-25T03:44:00.001-05:00

Cordelia helping me sweep the floor and happy for a job well done!

Alex's birthday

2009-01-25T03:42:00.002-05:00

Alex's birthday was on the 6th but it was very low key since it was a workday. Cordelia helped me make a card for him and they all enjoyed the birthday cake. Alex is now 31!

Off to Beaufort

2009-01-25T03:29:00.002-05:00

A couple of days later we went to Beaufort, NC to see Alex's family. It was a nice trip and we got to see many relatives! The kids enjoyed their many presents and will become the first ever keyboard, guitar, and xylophone band.

Out in Charlotte on Christmas Day

2009-01-25T03:07:00.004-05:00

Nothing much going on on Christmas day so we went to Uptown Charlotte to explore. At first we were going to go see an animated Christmas bear band ( I had seen it years ago while in college) but it was closed for the day. But it was a nice day and we walked around the area. It was really quiet, there were only a few people out so the streets were empty with cars and it was really peaceful. The picture above is the Lynx Light Rail. We have yet to ride on it but will hopefully soon since there are a lot of stops in Charlotte!

The kids and Alex in front of the Blumenthal Theatre.

Cordelia enjoying the fountains.

There are four statues surrounding Spirit Square. Not sure why one was wearing a Carolina jersey.

The kids and I in front of the super tall Christmas tree.

Christmas Day

2009-01-25T02:46:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Above is our little tree, this will be the last year we can use it,The whole tree was covered with ornaments but I don't think it can fit anymore. It worked out well because I didn't have to worry about the kids trying to grab ornaments off it all day or worry about making sure the tree did not dry out. The kids woke up at their same early time but they were very excited about their gifts from Santa and others. They got some lego's, a bunch of assorted blocks, new shoes, pj's and some other things.

Santa's note to the kids. Cordelia helped out put out the cookies and carrot. She didn't totally understand why were doing it but was happy that Santa came.

Rock, our Christmas elf, went back home to the North Pole and will be coming back around Thanksgiving next year. Cordelia still remembers him telling me that "Rock's with Santa."

Here are a few pictures of the day.

More Christmas photos

2009-01-25T02:37:00.003-05:00

This year I decided to just take pictures for the Christmas card at home. They were all very good and I got some good pictures out of it. Here are a few of them.

Trip to Raleigh and Cary

2008-12-21T16:55:00.004-05:00

While the kids are asleep and waiting for dinner to finish cooking, I'll write a little about our fun weekend. We went up to see my family. The kids were really good and had a lot of fun running around and exploring each house and yard. Cordelia got to see some cats, which thought was really exciting. I enjoyed being able to see everyone and I am sure the rest of the family enjoyed it as well. We got a few pictures, the camera was on low battery so it kept turning off. So hopefully we will get some more later on from everyone else. :)

The fog.

Manny wanting to hold everyone's hand.

Now tilt to the left...

Jordan Lake

Manny talking to Grandpa.

Everyone hanging out and Cordelia giving a smile. They loved those stairs!

Grandpa and Manny.

Jaime and Cordelia playing piano.

Rock the elf

2008-12-18T13:57:00.005-05:00

Meet Rock.

One of my other presents from my birthday was a gift set of "Elf on a Shelf." I had heard about it before and it sounded like a cute idea. Basically someone had asked, how does Santa know if you been good or bad? The answer is in the form of a tiny elf who comes to your house and "spies" on you throughout the day and reports back to Santa. He only comes out during the holiday season. The set included the childrens book and the elf. I read the book to the kids and Cordelia was allowed to then name the elf, which she named "Rock." Rock gets in trouble sometimes and is somewhat mischievous so I'll be reporting on his adventures. Since Rock comes back from Santa in the early morning, he likes to explore the house while we are asleep. Today we found him trying to steal a diaper, possibly to make a blanket or a house. He went to Time Out in my room and then he disappeared, probably hiding away where we can't see him.

Cordelia understands that he will be reporting back to Santa so whenever she misbehaved today, I told her that Rock was watching her and she has to be good. If Rock tells Santa she's good, she'll get presents for Christmas! It seems to be working really great, she had less tantrums, shared with her brothers and helped clean up.

I made some pictures for the kids to help them understand Santa and the weather. Here are a few, Alex thought they looked good enough to put on the blog.

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

2008-12-18T13:42:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. The day started off normal with me cleaning a lot but when Alex got home, I had a lot of surprises! He bought me a bunch of books which included Twilight and the last Harry Potter book written called The Tales of Beetle the Bard and a little Max doll. I can't wait to start reading them. The kids had also written me a super birthday card as well. There were some other gifts too, but that will be included in another post. He also got some takeout sushi (my favorite food), which I liked and a ice cream cake.

All the kids went to bed at the same time quite early without any complaints from Cordelia. So, we were able to eat our sushi in peace and watch Dr. Strangelove, which isn't a date movie of any means, but still a good film. Then we got to eat some yummy cake that was shaped like a giant Peanut M&M which had tiny mini M&M's in it.

So, it was a great birthday!

Some of my presents.

An awesome card I got from a friend.

Santa and the park

2008-12-13T22:34:00.007-05:00

Two days ago I managed to bring all three to a checkup for the boys. Cordelia did very well considering she had to sit there while the doctor looked over the boys. They got some blood drawn which they didn't like. This office doesn't write down what their weight and height were :( but Manny is in the 5-10 percentile and Jaime is below the charts. He said that they were fine though because they are both short as well so their weights match their heights. They are following Cordelia's lead so I guess I only produce short skinny kids :)

Today was a fun day we went over to a park where they were going to have a tree lighting festival with Santa and a hay ride. The park here is beautiful and there were a lot of people (some with twins and an older sibling too) and all the kids enjoyed it even with it getting cold. We managed to leave before the lighting but it was getting pretty cold and everyone was getting tired.

It was fun though, there was a band playing and Cordelia got to see Santa. I forgot to super hype up Santa so she only knew a little about him. She was excited in line, but then when he said hello she didn't want to get near him. It reminded me and Alex of that scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphie waits all that time to see Santa and when he finally sees him, he blanks out and almost wastes his opportunity to talk to him.

The same thing happened with another character there. He had to do with the Parks and was a gigantic Sun. Cordelia liked him from far away and enjoyed it when he was dancing and gave her a ball (her favorite toy) but didn't want to give him a hug either.

Alex hung out with the boys to listen to the band and Cordelia and I took a hay ride around the park as well. She enjoyed it and was very good on the ride.

We then drove around Uptown Charlotte. It was really pretty with the christmas lights everywhere. This was a quick trip, I took all the pictures in a fast moving vehicle so some came out pretty blurry. We are going to go back down there and take some more pictures next week.

The train at the park.

Our whole family together.

Cordelia's picture of Daddy.

Picture of us on the hay ride.

The band.
Cordelia and I on the hay ride.

View from the park.

Cordelia getting a ball from Mr. Sun.

Manny yawning :)

One of the Christmas trees.

The twins looking around at all the excitement.

Daddy and Cordelia and Santa.

Waiting in line to see Santa.

Cordelia with some cute antlers.

2008-12-13T22:17:00.004-05:00

Alex wears a cap to work sometimes. Either Alex has a small head or it shrunk because both of the boys can wear it well.

Alex's sister Ashley cut my hair over the Thanksgiving break. Here is one of the picture that I took later on. I like it a lot and it is really easy to take care of!

Some of my friends came into town, Carrie and Sebastian. They were able to drop by for a bit and luckily Alex got off work early enough to see them too. The kids enjoyed seeing them and us as well. And we were able to get some family pictures too.
Me with Carrie and Sebastian and the kids.

Memories and Cookie Time

2008-12-03T11:42:00.005-05:00

I forgot to put these pictures up from last week. Alex and Cordelia made cookies together, they enjoyed that a lot. Although it was hard to explain to her that she couldn't eat them just yet, she had to wait 15 minutes to eat them.

I use this board to write out our meals for the week, Cordelia wanted to draw a picture before I got started.
Cookie Time!

We had gotten these newborn to toddler chairs before the twins were born. When we moved here the kids just wanted to stand in them, not sit so I put them in the closet for a bit. I brought them out again and it was like whole new chairs for them, they are now using them in the toddler mode so it is basically a kid comfy chair. Looking at them in their chairs reminded me of when they were so tiny, 1 month old babies. I searched on this computer to see if they were in the files and I found a few :)

So here they are in November 2008

And now in June 2007

Forgive my face, I had just thrown out the trash from down the street in our apt and my face got flushed.

Then I looked some more and found an even older picture....

Back in July 2004.

Time really flies away.

Thanksgiving and others

2008-12-03T11:08:00.004-05:00

Alex's family came down for the Thanksgiving break, here are a few pictures.

2008-11-11T14:18:00.005-05:00

Not much going on today, it is Laundry Day so I am doing laundry all day. Today I made ham and cheese pockets. Everyone tried to help me today, with Cordelia trying to roll out the dough and all three trying to grab some of the ham off the table. They turned out really good. They are all gone so no snack for Alex today :(
Manny in awe.
Jaime upset at the world.
All better.
Cheese!

Cordelia fell asleep but as I tried to move her, she woke up and went back to eating.

Leaves!

2008-11-10T15:16:00.007-05:00

Since all the kids are taking their naps right now, I am able to write down what we did today. Alex is away at work but we still had a good time.

For lunch I made bagel pizzas with apple slices. Cordelia helped me with the pizza, she poured some of the sauce on the bagels and sprinkled the cheese on top. However, she did eat some of the sauce and cheese. I made cookies last night and she couldn't figure out why she couldn't eat the raw cookie dough. It was funny today because after the bagels were done, she thought they were cookies like last night and was running all through the house yelling "Cookie time! Cookie time!"

Everyone enjoyed the bagels, there is one left over so Alex can have it as a snack while I am making dinner. Here is a picture of them right before putting them in the oven.

Took it during Cordelia's mid-spin.
Later we went outside. I raked the other week but there are sooo many leaves that they are now covering our whole yard! The first picture in this post is one I took outside looking up. There are a bunch of trees! They enjoyed it a lot, kicking the leaves, running around and throwing the leaves in the air. It was hard to get a bunch of photos, they kept running around.

Manny having fun in the leaves
Jaime stretched out.
Cordelia resting

Like I said, they were too quick for the camera. I think this is Jaime at full speed.

Voting

2008-10-31T19:56:00.002-04:00

Today I (Johanna) voted today. NC has early voting so I decided to take advantage of it at the last minute. It ends tomorrow and I figured the line would be shorter since it was a weekday before people got off work. The closest voting place didn't really have any parking (everyone parked on the street or parked at stores where they got towed) so I walked. It was 1 1/2 miles and I ended up in line for a long time about 2 or maybe 3 hours. I tried reading a little of Nicholas Sparks and someone passed out little bags of M&M's.

Outside

2008-10-30T15:44:00.003-04:00

Today we finally got some pictures of the kids with our pumpkin, Manny was really good at sitting but Cordelia and Jaime couldn't stay still and were running all over the yard. So I took a picture of Jaime and Me.

Cordelia showing off the pumpkin.

Manny :)

One of the huge piles of leaves in our yard.

Cordelia in her pumpkin outfit looking very cute.

Jack the Pumpkin King

2008-10-29T14:25:00.005-04:00

Today we carved out the pumpkin. We decided to have Jack the Pumpkin King on it from Nightmare before Christmas. Cordelia was a big help, she helped Mommy get out all the seeds and watched as Mommy carved the pumpkin. Her favorite words now are babies and pumpkins. She watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown last night and she pointed to screen every second either saying "pumpkin!" or "Snoopy!"

I thought it turned out great, I haven't carved one in 2 years, the last one was Homestar Runner from Homestarrunner.com. I am letting it dry outside and then I'll get some pictures with the kids with it.

Cordelia helping me get out the seeds and pulp.

Lots of seeds!

Done with the carving.

Spooky!

And for something totally unrelated, here is Manny wearing his hoodie, he is the only one that likes hats.

2008-10-25T10:54:00.002-04:00

We decided to eat something different and I made black bean burgers. Alex didn't know what they were at first because they don't look like normal burgers and are coated with cornmeal. But the kids and Alex loved them so I will be making them again. Alex also got a plant to eat bugs that was on sale. Some are the venus fly plants which you can kind of see in the lower left hand corner.

We know who Cordelia is voting for....

Pumpkins!

2008-10-20T21:25:00.010-04:00

Our church ward had a mini carnival thing the other week. Cordelia had a lot of fun since it involved inflatable bouncer things. Some people brought their dogs too so she enjoyed that. Everyone ate hot dogs and Alex and Jaime(or Manny?) won some cupcakes in the cake walk.

For the past couple of weeks we have gone to a really pretty park here called Freedom Park. It has a playground as well as a train that the kids can walk in. There is also a HUGE pond full of ducks and fish that you can walk around. You are really close to downtown but it feels like you are far away in a town somewhere.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. Cordelia really wanted to do her own thing, including not following directions so we didn't stay for as long as we have liked. But it was a lot of fun. It was a big farm and we took a tractor ride down to the hills of pumpkins. We past goats, sheep, cows and some bison. We got a really nice pumpkin too. Now we just have to make a jack o' lantern. It will be on for next year.

Cordelia not liking siting down but we got a good pumpkin!

Family picture on the wagon ride.

Bison!

Cordelia pointing at all the animals.

Mommy and Cordelia finding a pumpkin.

The boys checking the sights.

Daddy finding a pumpkin.

The boys looking around ( we just got to the farm)

Cordelia exploring

Daddy with the boys.

Cordelia in straw hut.

Manny trying to get in the inflatable at the Y.

Cordelia climbing.

Cordelia at the farm.

Walking around.

Cordelia in Daddy's uniform.
Manny getting out of the inflatable thing at the Y.
Jaime and Cordelia.

Lunch time!

2008-09-22T20:32:00.003-04:00

I added a little cat application. I was doing a search and Cordelia was watching me and fell in love with this cat. Now she keeps telling me to go back to the cat so I am going to stop typing now :-)

2008-09-22T05:14:00.003-04:00

Cordelia's bangs were too long so I cut them. She is looking at herself through the camera display. She likes to make faces.

2008-09-21T09:16:00.010-04:00

We had a nice Saturday, it was in the 70's finally so we played out in the grass and then went to the airport. Manny figuring out the grass.

Jaime and Manny looking at Daddy.

Daddy holding Jaime's arms.
Cordelia getting tickled.

Off on a trip.

Jaime trying to enjoy Cordelia's juice.
Alex, Manny and Cordelia watching the planes.

Jaime enjoying his front row seat at the airport.

The view of the city from the airport.

PLANES! The observation area is really close to the planes. Here are a few pics that Alex and I took.

Mommy and Cordelia watching the planes.

The city.

All the kids in the grass outside our house.

Cordelia saying hello in her sweatshirt that Aunt Ashley gave her.

Outing

2008-09-19T11:42:00.005-04:00

Today was a really nice day so we all went to the playground. Alex had to go to work so I took them to a really nice playground and park by myself. Cordelia was really good at staying near me while Manny and Jaime played on the little kids part. They loved this one blue tube, they kept crawling back and forth out of it. Cordelia loved going down the tube slides and tall twisty slide. Everyone walked around a bit then I took them on one of the trails where we found this huge field. It had cement raised seating but I wasn't sure what they used it for. Cordelia walked and ran everywhere while the twins walked around on the grass. When Alex comes with us we can explore some more of the trails. I regretfully didn't bring the camera for this trip, I thought they were going to be a handful and didn't think I would have time taking pictures.

I didn't realize that we stayed there for quite a bit and we went home and then picked up Alex and went to watch the planes. A lot of them were taking off and landing today, the watching area is really close to one of the landing strips so they were really close and you could see the Charlotte skyline in the background.

I realized that I hadn't taken pictures of Jaime walking so here are some I took Wed. I also took a picture of the chicken I made!

Playground and airplanes

2008-09-13T19:53:00.002-04:00

We are probably going to be stuck in the house this week so we went to the playground and airport today. We went to a new park today, it was really big and had a nice playground but no swings. Cordelia had a lot of fun going down the various slides and tubes and Jaime and Manny played on it as well! Jaime is now walking too so they walked around and played too. Jaime liked to climb up the slides and Manny hung out in one of the tubes and went down the slides. It was getting hot and Jaime started to get red cheeks so we went to the airport to watch the planes. Alex really wanted to see this one plane that was going to land today, it called a 83-40 plane. It came from Germany and it is a long plane. I don't know that much about planes but it looked like all the other passenger planes to me. We sat on the benches while the twins hung out in the stroller. It is a lot closer to the planes than the RDU one so Cordelia got to see lots of planes landing and even taking off. She loves planes so it was PLANE! a lot. Even the boys liked the planes as well.

Their paci's started to break so we now have NO paci's. They are now asleep for the first time without the paci so perhaps the weaning process won't be so bad. Jaime has two molars now, one is really big so it looks like he has a wad of gum in his mouth. Manny is suffering again, he has a lower pain tolerance so it was Orajel again for him. It will be an interesting day in church tomorrow.

The gas thing is not going well here. While driving in town gas stations either didn't have gas or it was 4.29 or above. There is a 10 gallon limit and one place had a makeshift enter and exit because people are going insane and buying as much gas as they can. It is bad that the gas thing is going on now, there are a ton of free festivals in Charlotte this month!

2008-09-13T19:33:00.002-04:00

This is a video I made the other day. Manny is asleep so it is just Jaime and Cordelia. I made it off the webcam so she is looking at herself in the computer.

Jaime has a new tooth!

2008-08-31T19:26:00.002-04:00

Sometimes i just write so I have a recording of things that I need to put in their baby books. Today is the day. Jaime has a new tooth on the lower left side of his mouth, next to his two little bottom teeth.

We went to church, Cordelia being her usual hyper self and Alex cooked brats on the grill with baked beans and french fries. Yum! And they all had a super bubble bath with the youngest two asleep in their beds.

MAFFs 2008

2008-08-30T23:03:00.007-04:00

A dam in the Sierra's don't know which one.

I think this is an ammo storage facility for the Army in Utah.
This is the canyon lands in Colorado.

The windmills in NC.

Our tent.

The Telegraph fire.

"The Ocho" in Pit 2.

The hat from the forest service. MAFFs 2008!

Where do I start? Well i guess I could start with the 6 hour flight to KMCC or Sacremento, CA. I thought we would be going to Channel Islands in So Cal, but to my dismay or stay was in Nor cal!

It was a good trip on the whole. It was cut a week short. That really stunk i wanted to finish my orders out there. At least I was able to help California. But according to the LA Times, we were just a waste of time and money.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-wildfires29-2008jul29,0,3486219.story

That is the article. After we read it we weren't to happy with it. We were trying to help that is why we were there. But that is for another blog. We were dropping on the telegraph fire. The pics of the fire are from 5 miles out. The telegraph fire was near yosemite. We felt good about helping out with it.

I was excited to be part of a real world mission. It was get 'em in and get 'em up. The crew I was on worked on #8 or as I called "the ocho." During the day we would stay in our tent until the Hercs came in. We would either hear it on the radio or just see it on the final leg on final.

When she came in it was game on. Everyone had their palce and so did the plane. We would marshall her in and load her up. Power on, chocks in, and go go go. Only after the props stopped moving. I usually refueled, man the smell of JP-8. You got to live for that. Just two daps behind your ears and yeah man. I would refuel on on the port side of the ACFT they would load the Phoschek or fire retardant. All that within 15 minutes. The days were long but great. We waited on launch orders and bam, it all happened. Everyone knew what to do.

I got a bunch of initiatories on the trip 'cause I was the Airman. not only an Airman, but a 30 year old Airman. It was all well deserved. It came with the territory. the biggest thing was everyone wanted to know how I didn't have to use the bathroom on the way there. They were amazed I held it. All of it was worth it when they said I was a "Crew chief."

A couple of days the DC-10 came in to load up. I got a pic of him. He was big.

I did not get to go to In&Out the whole time. It was on the oppossite side of the city I was so bummed. we ate a lot of Hooters and Sushi and a lot of Mexican. I want to go again.

On the way back I got some pics from 20'000 feet. Got a Dam and some canyons and some wind power generators in the Appalachian mountains.

It was a good trip. I learned a lot got to meet Aircrew and the crews i will work with in the future.

2008-08-30T18:49:00.003-04:00

(Young Manny pictured)

Today wasn't much but we all played outside in the yard for a while. Jaime crawled all over the yard but Manny just wanted to stay on the blanket. Cordelia loved it, she played with the ball with Jaime and Daddy and colored the sidewalk with chalk but it was sooo hot and very sunny so it wasn't long before the kids started to get red faces. This is from my genes' as the same thing happens to me. It isn't sunburn, just my face gets super red when the sun hits it and I look overheated but I'm fine. In any case we all went inside and had a yummy dinner of tacos. Cordelia is watching Cars with her daddy while the twins are sound asleep. I managed to do some laundry today and clean the bathroom but I still have to scrub the floor so I am feeling better now.

We watched Amadeus last night and I am going to try to get Alex to watch Sense and Sensibility tonite for the second attempt...Alex saw the first 5 minutes and told me to "send it back."

Funny picture

2008-08-28T16:20:00.002-04:00

I changed the picture on the main screen of the computer yesterday, this picture made me laugh. This is Cordelia's potty (it is clean here!) and the twins were so interested in it for a while. This one is from a while back but it is still funny to me.

Flooding and Sickness

2008-08-28T07:06:00.004-04:00

Everyone is getting sick here. Cordelia was sick earlier this week and someone was coughing last night as well, one of the twins. I woke up with a really bad sore throat and I feel really bad so I am just resting before everyone else wakes up. Alex was sick earlier too so I think it is making the rounds.

In other news, it was raining and raining for the past couple of days that areas in Charlotte were flooded. Alex had to go to work during one of the storms but I was really worried that we were going to be evacuated. Two days ago there were tornados in a county near us and a Flash Flood warning in our area. I am glad we are getting lots of rain due to the drought but I wish it would come in even amounts...not "clear skies forever" and then all of sudden it can't stop raining for 2 days.

Well back to bed..

Lazy day

2008-08-25T16:51:00.002-04:00

Cordelia is still sick but she more active today. Still has a cough. I let in a fly yesterday and Cordelia ran around the house saying "gettit!" and "katk it" Jaime was walking more today, Manny walks more than crawls now, across the rooms. They have awesome appetites though. I made the max amount for pancakes from the mix, 6 eggs with cheese and sausages and there was only 3 lonely pancakes left last night. I might have to buy my own grain and make batches of bread when they get older.

Right now the twins are asleep and I am listening to the rain fall. And now they are awake so off we go....

Cordelia sick :(

2008-08-23T22:49:00.003-04:00

The other day she had a fever and now a runny nose. She was more active today but she wanted me to hold her a lot. Haven't done that much today other than cleaning. I watched Shrek2 and The Golden Compass. I had heard a lot about TGC so I was interested to see the film and I also forgot the ending (yes, I read spoilers online so I know the ending of a lot of movies that I have never seen. Alex doesn't understand how I know whole actors' resumes without seeing a single work). I understand that they had to make the ending that way but it seems as though they are not making a sequel or it is still up in the air so "ugh" about that! Cordelia watched a little bit with me as Alex fell asleep on the love seat before the plot started to reveal itself. She likes bears so I tried to get her excited about the polar bear that is featured in the movie with saying " Look at that bear! What is he doing? He is mad!" However she fell asleep too but that is fine as well, she needs her sleep and is started to get scary.

We got the boys a Raffi cd. They listen to it while they take their naps and it has some pretty good kid songs on there so I need to put it in the car when we go out.

Moving the rooms

2008-08-19T15:39:00.004-04:00

Everyone is taking a nap so I decided to change the layout and I also moved all the rooms. I moved our room into the play room and moved Cordelia into our old room. So she has her own room with a window overlooking the backyard. We have more space now, I just have to wait till Ikea opens because I have to buy everything in their store. And I itching to paint the rooms too. Then it will start looking like home! Alex hasn't seen it yet since he has been at work all day so he should be surprised!

Jaime lost his paci yesterday and I gave up looking for it. I thought I could wean them off it together but with the teething Manny was biting everything, like the furniture. I ended up giving it back to him because he would not go to sleep without it. I found Jaime's today so he got his back too. Their pacis are their security blanket so they get really anxious when they couldn't find it. It might be a while before I attempt that again, Cordelia went off the paci around this time but she was fine after a day so I'll wait when they don't care less about it.

Manny is a walking pro now and Jaime has started to take a couple of steps alone. I try to get him really excited about it so he'll attempt more but I know it is all up to him to get up and try again.

Molars Coming In!

2008-08-18T10:50:00.003-04:00

The twins have been waking up in the middle of night. They now both have a left side molar coming in. Jaime is doing better with it but I brought out the babyOrajel for Manny last night. That stuff is strong, I put it on my gums to see how effective it was and it felt like half my mouth went numb! So far Manny has 8 1/2 teeth(4 on top, 4 on bottom)and Jaime 6 1/2 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom.) Cordelia seems to have all her teeth!

We rented The Little Mermaid the other day, Cordelia loved it and said Ariel all day wanting to watch it. Sadly it is now gone but she has still can play with her Ariel doll.

Cordelia has been saying "My turn" when she is playing with the boys today. Working on the sharing thing, everyone wants to play with the same toy at the same time.

Monkey Joe's!

2008-08-16T11:15:00.009-04:00

Yesterday we all went to Monkey Joe's, which is a huge building full of those inflatable bouncer toys. We had a dinner of pizza and everyone had a great time. We stayed for a while and even with going late in the day, Cordelia wasn't at all tired when we left. Alex was tired. Cordelia wants to go again.

They had the playsets for various ages, some for younger than 3. Cordelia tried those out first, we didn't have to go in with her. We tried to put Manny and Jaime in, Manny wasn't having it at all, he cried to get out. Jaime liked it a little bit but wanted to just be pushed around the stroller instead. Cordelia loved the whole place, especially when either Alex or I went in with her. Some of those things were huge! They also have an area where you can chalk on the walls, she did that while the pizza was being cooked. I put her in pigtails but at the end she was back to her messy hairstyle. We also met Monkey Joe, at first Cordelia was curious but then gave him a hug at the end. He also waved to the twins, who just stared at him in disbelief.

Cordelia giving a hug to Monkey Joe.

Trying out the Toddler area.

Jaime enjoying another toddler area.

Alex and Cordelia in the bouncy room.

Going into the tunnels and Alex getting tired.

The huge stairway up to the super long slide. Cordelia has no fears!

Meeting Monkey Joe.

Hanging at in the stroller.

Huuuuuggggg.

Mommy's turn with the slides. It was a lot of fun but very hard to walk anywhere.

Lots to do

2008-08-16T11:03:00.003-04:00

We have had quite a busy couple of weeks. So far we have gone on playdates, a playgroup, been to the children's library and gone to the huge mall a couple of times.

The children's library was okay. It is in uptown and has a kids library, a theatre, and a bunch of other stuff. Cordelia went crazy there because it was 3 levels with ramps. Alex watched the twins and played with the interactive computers while Cordelia played on the trolley, the kid's stage and ran up and down the ramps. We didn't get any books this time because Cordelia was on a 1000% energy level and wouldn't just sit and look at the books. I assume that since it was a new area, she had to explore the whole place. Perhaps she will calm down after we go again.

The Concord Mills mall is huge here. It has "neighborhoods" and a merry go round in the middle of the food court. We have gone a couple of times, it is all one level so we don't have to worry about elevators or anything. Plus it is good to walk around.

We also went to the airport the other day and watched the planes take off and land. Cordelia likes planes so everytime she saw a new one, she shouted "plane!" We had a little picnic there since it was a little cooler that day. The twins also liked to watch all the planes and eating all the food!

The boys together

2008-08-16T10:57:00.004-04:00

Sometimes it is hard to get them both in the photo looking at me, both happy. Here are some to enjoy!

Box+crayons=Car

2008-08-16T10:45:00.005-04:00

We were trapped at home so I thought they would have fun with one of the moving boxes that we have. They all wanted to jump right in. Then I thought they would enjoy it more if I gave them some crayons and colored pencils. Cordelia LOVES to color but the twins rather eat the crayons than try to write with them. Here is the new car! I helped out a little bit but Cordelia helped a lot. The twins managed to color a little too.

Travels

2008-08-16T10:40:00.003-04:00

Alex came back on from his journey early. He took a lot of photos but I'll have him write about that later. Stay tuned...

No pictures for a while...

2008-07-31T16:45:00.002-04:00

Since Alex took the camera with him on his trip, there is not going to be any new pictures for a while. I took everyone in the car and we went to a playdate the other day. Cordelia had lots of fun there and the boys got better as time goes on. I think they are entering their aggressive stage because they are constantly irritable about something and will bite anyone in their way. They are truly boys. They like to tackle each other too, but that results in laughter for the both of them. Cordelia tries to play along with them but I have to be careful because she is so much bigger and they think it is funny when she tries to tickle them. I am not sure how I am going to deal with this when they are both walking and trying to tackle each other.

Cordelia can now say Manny and Jaime and I think she knows who is who (She needs to give Alex pointers since he still gets them confused) . For example, sometimes one will still be asleep and she'll point to the empty high chair and ask "where's jaime/manny?" during lunch/snacktime.

I think also that Jaime said thank you when we were on our playdate, but I am not sure of that.

It is superhot here so we haven't explored the backyard that much. I have to invest in a slide or plastic gym thingie so everyone can play on that and not try to throw rocks or eat some wierd plant. It rained today but it really needs to rain more constantly so we can have nice green grass. I also think someone stole Cordelia's ball from outside, it doesn't seem to be anywhere.

I will be happy when Alex gets back, I have been searching the internet and there seems to be a lot of cheap things for kids to do here and outside the area. A lot of involved outside stuff so there would have to be two adults supervising.

Cordelia is doing really great with Potty training. I had her start with just a shirt and underwear and now she is wearing shorts so she will independently go use her potty. But she always lets me know with saying Pee or Poo or Potty! I am so proud of her. Apparently there is a small toilet for the kids so she can go during church now. But I still need to buy that fold up seat so she'll learn that she can go in public areas.

And I have realized that I have to start looking at Preschools for Cordelia. She is only 2 1/2 but it is recommended that they go for half days at 3 years old, full days at 4 and be ready for kindergarden at 5. Plus it would be good for her to see kids her age a whole lot more as well as letting me have alone time with the twins. I was just looking around on the internet and I am totally overwhelmed, there are super expensive ones where the circulum is language/music/arts immersion, montessori schools, and just plain schools at various churches. None of them give them a price online so I would have to call and ask how much and so on. I would love to find one that dealt with a lot of music since she loves to dance and sing random parts of songs. And it is the only part of church where she stay still for a second.

Well that is all for now.

Wedding Aniversary

2008-07-24T12:06:00.014-04:00

Our days are pretty routine here now so I started to not post as much anymore. The weather has been really hot and thankfully the storms came in and cool us off. This is a picture of the dark clouds engulfing the sky outside our house. Scary!

The other day Cordelia had NO accidents. NONE! I was sooo happy for her, she uses her potty in the hallway by herself. However she is so proud of it that she takes the potty apart and brings me her pail that she just made in. Ew and funny at the same time.

I just have to buy her a folding potty seat for her so that she can go at church. The toilets are a lot wider there so she couldn't hold onto the seat and was scared. They need to put a little kids toilet in all chapels since there are tons of kids everwhere.

Manny is a biter, he thinks it is funny but he bites everything, particulary my legs and arm. He laughs about it. He is taking a lot of steps now and likes to stand up all the time. Manny also likes to empty all the toy boxes. One by one. The playroom is a mess at the end of the day because of that.

Jaime still dancing...he'll stomp his feet and wiggle thru the whole song. Or shake his arms while sitting. He is the messy eater, he pushes some of his food on the table like mashed potatoes and peas or chicken. He is also standing up too, I just haven't been able to take a picture of it yet!

We also changed out the paci's for new ones. They get gross after a while and worn so they got replaced. I always have to buy a couple of packs at a time since they only use a certain brand and it has to be boyish colors.

These pictures show otherwise but Alex cut all of his hair for his upcoming trip. He looks a lot better now.

Oh and I forgot to add that today is our 4th wedding anniversary. We celebrated yesterday due to Alex having to go to bed early for early work tomorrow. We didn't do that much this year but I got flowers and we got to watch a movie together after the kids went to bed. That hasn't happened in a loooooong time. I picked out Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf since Alex's hadn't seen it before. He is not sure what to make of it, it is one of those films that everyone has to see and there are tons of critiques of it over the web about it about what it really means.

Hanging at the house

2008-07-18T20:54:00.007-04:00

Potty training is going well, we went back to Pull-ups today but she knew they weren't diapers and still knew when to go. Daddy is proud of her. Her treat is a m&m and that seems to be working out. However with that one little candy she eats it in little pieces causing a mess. Alex is not sure how she can get blue dye on her hands and face by eating one m&m.

Alex took various naps today and the kids liked to bother him. Cordelia was not amused by the nap.

(Don't worry, she was happy a second later)

Jaime is starting to stand up by himself today. Alex calls him MiniMe. They are starting to look alike. Manny has learned to scream in high octaves. Alex thinks he sounds like a pterodactyl. He also loves the wind in his face and likes putting his face near the fans and vents for a second.

Here are some more pictures of today....

Potty training

2008-07-15T21:09:00.002-04:00

Not much is going on here, except we have started to potty train Cordelia. She is doing really good with it so far, some accidents but overall really great.

Manny is super teething too, he is getting a lot of teeth but this might be a molar since it seems to be hurting him more.

Thursday

2008-07-10T20:43:00.004-04:00

Recharging the camera batteries so no pictures today. Cordelia read lots of books and fed her Rudolph spaghetti. We have a lovely dinner of beef and beans with biscuits and cheese. Alex is learning how to play the children hymns in our kid's songbook on the guitar. Manny is taking more steps and was trying to knaw on everything today. He was in a happy mood for most of the day but near the end his new tooth was bothering him more and he got a tasty treat of Baby Orajel. The first day is always the hardest for him :( Jaime can now say Uh-oh when something surprising happens or when prompted and "Alex" when I say Alex to him.

And for anyone who wants to learn the origin of the word "thursday" (from wikipedia)

The contemporary name comes from the Old English Þunresdæg (with loss of -n-, first in northern dialects, from influence of Old Norse Þorsdagr), meaning "Day of Thunor", this being a rough Germanic equivalent to the Latin Iovis Dies, "Jupiter's Day". Most Germanic and Romance-speaking countries use their languages' equivalents: German Donnerstag, Dutch donderdag, torsdag in Scandinavia, Italian giovedì, Spanish jueves, French jeudi, Catalan dijous, and Romanian joi.

In Latin the Genitive or possessive case of Jupiter was Jovis and as such in most Romance languages with the exception of Portuguese it became the word for Thursday: Latin Jovis Dies, Spanish Jueves, Italian Giovedi, and Rumanian Jiuvidi.

In most of the Indian Languages the word for Thursday is Guruvar, with Guru being the Sanskrit name for the planet Jupiter. In Slavic languages and in Chinese, this day's name is "fourth" (Polish czwartek, Russian четверг, pronounced CHET-vierg). Portuguese, too, uses a number for this day: quinta-feira, "fifth day", (see days of the week for more on the different conventions).

The Urdu name for Thursday is Jumeraate (eve of Friday).

2008-07-09T17:59:00.005-04:00

From relaxing to dressed up

2008-07-09T15:53:00.002-04:00

Manny likes to stand all the time now, he can take a couple of steps before laughing and falling over. Jaime seems to take an interest but rather climb to him point of destination.

Wednesday Fun

2008-07-09T13:20:00.011-04:00

Everyone is taking their naps right now so I decided to write a little of what we did today.

After a breakfast of pancakes, the kids got to play in the playroom. Cordelia loves her high chair and feeds all her babies in there. They include Barney, Boo, and two baby dolls. Today Barney was the guest of honor and got the delicious meal of a carrot and orange juice.

Jaime loves to cook too, maybe he is making more carrots for Barney?

Jaime also loves to swing his legs back and forth on the Time Out Bench. He is not in "Time Out" but loves sitting on the bench. He also loves talking on the phone to all his friends.

Manny helped out Cordelia and gave Mommy a big smile :)
Afterwards we watched a little of Barney the tv show. With Barney

Well that is all for now, someone just woke up and I am going to go see who it is.

Dinner tonite: Chicken nuggets, beef stew with corn and green beans.

2008-07-09T00:14:00.001-04:00

I realized I only have like 2 pictures of me so here is a picture of Cordelia and I.

Dinner time!

2008-07-09T00:05:00.002-04:00

This image won't happen again. I am not talking about the messes but rather that we have all moved to the dinner table. Manny or Jaime sits in Cordelia's booster seat and Cordelia and whoever else sit in the high chairs. Only I take off the tray and voila! comfty dinner chair. Everyone is learning to eat off the real dishes and enjoying eating as a family. And no more dirty trays to clean :)

2008-07-08T23:56:00.000-04:00

Loves the camera.

2008-07-08T23:49:00.002-04:00

They love this toy! Nick and Amanda gave it to us when Cordelia was little but it has managed to stay in one piece and we didn't lose any of the plastic balls. Basically it has a vaccum in it and it pushes the balls out of the tube into the air. It plays music too. As I said, they love this toy and it works out great on the hardwood floor, the balls fly out and roll across the floor with 1 or 2 or all of them racing to get it to put it back into the tube. They have all figured out the idea of it so they laugh and scream when the toy is on. Here everyone is trying to put the ball in the tube.

Rain Rain

2008-07-08T23:27:00.002-04:00

It seems to be raining everyday here this week. I don't mind it, it makes it a lot cooler and I like the thunder. For some reason it always sounds like lighting is hitting right outside the house. I am trying to get a video of Cordelia dancing to one of the songs of Yo Gabba Gabba but it is taking FOREVER to load. All the other sites want only 100mb to load but this is 109 so apparently those 9 thingie whos are messing it up.

We have the playroom set up now but I would like to paint it one of these days and make it really look like a playroom. They enjoy it though, toys line the walls and I am using their old changing table as a book area with Cordelia's comfty chair to form it into a relaxing reading area for her. She enjoys looking at all the books and reading from them. She can almost name all the animals in "Brown Bear" and their sounds that they make.

What we had for dinner tonite:
Mac and cheese and sliced peaches. Cordelia also had some cottage cheese. No leftovers!

Starting this blog

2008-07-08T21:57:00.000-04:00

Everyone is asleep so I am attempting to put a lot on here in a short amount of time. I am also working on my Facebook which has a lot of pictures on there as well. So check both of them out!

2008-07-08T21:53:00.001-04:00

It was an enjoyable holiday but it almost wasn't. After Alex got home from work we were going to go see the fireworks uptown. But a huge thunderstorm came rushing in and we decided to stay home. However, upon watching the news it appeared that the storm was leaving and that the fireworks were still on. After a rush of getting all the supplies needed for our trek, we left in the rain. We stayed in the car for a while, I thought we might end up watching them from there. But 30 mintues before the fireworks started, the rain stopped and we walked over to Memorial Stadium. We got a place to sit and Cordelia became fussy, she wanted to see all the kid stuff on the grass but they were starting to deflate all the bouncy rides and the fireworks were going to start soon. The mayor said a few words and someone sang The anthem and the fireworks started. I filmed the entire show but would film the kids and then back to the fireworks. Manny fell asleep during it and Jaime wanted to get into Alex's lap to watch it. Cordelia liked it a lot and clapped at the end.The show was really great, the fireworks had some smilie faces and ones that looked like little firebugs buzzing around. It was about 20 or so minutes long and we plan to go next year. Hopefully it shouldn't rain and we can go to all the kid things.

Our life in Charlotte

Christmas Eve

A couple of more days left in 2011

Busy couple of months!

Merry Christmas!

Snow snow snow!

Going to add new posts soon.

Yummy new meal

Easter egg hunt adventure

Manny's haircut

Cordelia's haircut

Green Pancakes

Update on the kids.

Snow!

Jaime's haircut

Potty Training

Aviation Museum

Another birthday celebration

It's snowing!

Appointments

Cordelia's birthday party

Cordelia's birthday

Updates

Orchids

Snow!

Cordelia likes to clean!

Alex's birthday

Off to Beaufort

Out in Charlotte on Christmas Day

Christmas Day

More Christmas photos

More Posts coming soon!

Trip to Raleigh and Cary

Rock the elf

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Santa and the park

Memories and Cookie Time

Thanksgiving and others

Leaves!

Voting

Outside

Jack the Pumpkin King

Pumpkins!

Outing

Playground and airplanes

Jaime has a new tooth!

MAFFs 2008

Funny picture

Flooding and Sickness

Lazy day

Cordelia sick :(

Moving the rooms

Molars Coming In!

Monkey Joe's!

Lots to do

The boys together

Box+crayons=Car

Travels

No pictures for a while...

Wedding Aniversary

Hanging at the house

Potty training

Thursday

Wednesday Fun

Dinner time!

Rain Rain

Starting this blog