Unexpected Christmas Guests

There was a little bit of excitement at the Perez home today.  During Christmas dinner our carbon monoxide detector went off.  Mario kept pushing the silencer button so we could finish our dinner, but it kept going off.  So finally Mario sent us all out of the house and the fire department was called.  

My poor dad has been dreading coming to Monterey because it is so chilly here.  We assured him we would keep the house nice and toasty warm.  Within a few hours, we had all the windows open and we had to vacate.  He was so cold.   Good thing we are moving to a warmer climate soon. 

Our house was fine.  We don't know if it was a false alarm or a problem with our oven.  But the firemen came and were gracious enough to pose for pictures with Erin and then let her climb into their truck.

Early Christmas Present

We normally sit towards the back of the chapel.  With four young children, we don't want to disturb anyone.  Today, I got a phone call from Mario who was already at church.  He asked if I would mind sitting in the 2nd row today because President Henry B. Eyring would be in Sacrament meeting today.  He was in town visiting his cousin who is a member of our ward. Wow, a prophet attending the Monterey Ward.  I was so excited.  I quickly explained to our young twins the importance of being extra reverent today during church.

President Eyring was our concluding speaker.  He bore strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The Spirit was very strong.  Then when the meeting was over, I was disappointed to have to go to Primary.  I figured that President Eyring would either leave or stay behind and talk to the adults.  But a few minutes later, President Eyring came to our Primary and again bore strong testimony of our Savior.   I have never seen a more reverent Primary.  Those children obviously knew the importance of this man's calling.   

What a great early Christmas gift, a visit from a prophet.   

Sweet notes

Here are a couple notes that my boys wrote. The first one is from Zachary to Nathan. For those who have trouble reading it, it says, "Dear Nate, Sorry to bother you but I love you Nate."

The second one says, "to Mom from nate, Happy Christmas. I love you."

Nathan told me this morning that Happy must have two "e's" at the end because the first one is silent. So you need two. I guess its time for me to teach him the "y" spelling rule. They are so cute with their writings.

Mario and I decided that we wanted the twins to be together in kindergarten. So after Christmas, Nathan will move into Zachary's classroom with Mrs. Shugars. Normally the school would not let us make requests like that, but the kindergarten teachers should not have more than 20 students each. Nathan's teacher was over 1 and Zach's teacher under 1 student. Since I volunteer a lot at the school and have a pretty good relationship with the principal we decided to ask for the change. He was fine with switching Nathan. Hopefully the switch will go well. It will make my life a lot easier since I will only have 1 kindergarten class to volunteer in now.

Kids and Santa

Our ward Christmas party was last weekend.  Fortunately my friend Lisa brought her camera with her to take these shots of our kids.  Santa was very generous and gave the kids Lula's Chocolate.   

Wanna Trade?

I have been making homemade bread for the past few years.  I don't make it all the time, but as often as I can because I was amazed after seeing the list of ingredients on the average loaf of bread.  High Fructose Corn Syrup, etc.   At first Eric was mortified that I would pack his sandwich for school with homemade bread.  It was bad enough that he had to always have wheat bread, but now homemade wheat bread!   He was so embarrassed.  I felt a little sorry for him, but also a little unappreciated.  

Yesterday he came home from school and he said that his friend saw his sandwich.  He asked Eric what kind of bread was on his sandwich.  Eric responded that it was his mom's homemade bread. The friend said, "Wow, that looks good.  Do you want to trade?"  Eric quickly glanced at his friend's sandwich and saw white bread.  He asked what kind of meat he had.  The kid responded that he had bologna.  Eric quickly answered, "No."  

 I have never given my kids bologna. To be honest, I didn't even know it still existed.  What is bologna anyway?  

Hopefully now Eric will be a little more appreciative of my homemade bread. 

WOW!

We finally made the switch.   I have needed a new computer for a couple years now.  In fact, I bought a Vista a couple years ago and loved it.  The problem was it crashed whenever I tried to use video editing on it.   The program I was attempting to use was even pre installed on the computer and it still crashed.  So, I returned the computer and kept using my 5 year old PC.  That PC has been running poorly for a while now.  But we weren't ready to fork over money for a new one.

We move in May and Mario always depends on me to do all the research on housing and schools.   Of course, I need  a good working computer for this task.   I was getting so frustrated with my old computer.    We finally broke down and bought what everyone has been recommending for years now, an Apple imac.   WOW!  WOW! WOW!  I can see why everyone raves about them.  First of all, there is no bulky CPU.  The entire computer is contained it its monitor.  The screen is large and very bright.   I no longer need to run anti virus software.  We have never had an easier setup.  It was literally attach the plug, the keyboard and the mouse, and the dsl line into the back and we were online immediately.  

I have only had this new computer for a few hours, but I don't see our family buying another Microsoft Windows computer ever again!

I passed!

I took my certification test on Saturday for the Barton Reading and Spelling System. I have been volunteer tutoring with this system for about 7 months now. I will always be grateful for Amy and Amanda. They were my first students. I am also grateful to a friend, Rebecca Whitecotton who sold me the first three levels of this system for a fraction of what it would have cost me new. She was just glad that someone could use them to help others.

I am grateful for this time in my life that I can help so many kids who suffer with dyslexia or other reading problems. It has brought me much joy to help nine children so far. I am grateful for a husband who supports me in this endeavor. He doesn't complain even though I have done all my work for free so far. Now that I have my certification, I feel more comfortable charging parents. But I will wait until we move next summer before I take on new students. I have my hands full with the students I currently tutor.

5th Birthday

I can't believe my boys are five. It seems like yesterday that I was pregnant with them and close to 200 pounds! What a joy they are to our family! They add a lot of excitement. I can truly say life would be dull without them around.

We celebrated the big day with a trip to Jumpin' Around. They have several large blow up toys in the building where the kids and parents can jump. They have a large pirate ship, slide, boxing ring, and obstacle course. We have a family pass for the month so we invited a few friends to come with us. Then we all went back to our house for pizza and cake. I have kept up my chocolate fast from a couple weeks ago. I was very tempted to have a piece of chocolate cake. But I kept telling myself that if I can make it through Thanksgiving without chocolate, I can make it through their birthday.

I love you Nathan and Zachary!

Christmas

With Thanksgiving out of the way, we can now concentrate on Christmas. I think Black Friday is my favorite day of the year. I was a little disappointed this year though. There was nothing in the ads (that I wanted) that made it worth getting up early. But it was still fun to look browse through all the ads.

Mario scanned the Home Depot ad and came up with a few gifts he would like for Christmas. They were all inexpensive so I got him each thing on his list. Then when I got home, the twins helped me wrap presents for daddy. Later I heard Nathan tell daddy about the new tool box and Zachary telling daddy about the new stud finder I bought him. They thought it was so fun to ruin my surprise. Then Zachary asked Mario if he would tell him his gifts. Mario asked if Zach could keep a secret (which we all know he can't as illustrated by the above story.) Then Mario was a mean dad and said, "So can I."

We have a family tradition that we try to remember to do each year. We find all our Christmas stories and wrap them up. Then we open one each night for a bedtime story leading up til Christmas. Nathan and Zachary decided they wanted to help me wrap the books. It took a while to wrap 25 books but they did an amazing job. Nathan takes after Mario. He is a perfectionist when it comes to wrapping. Zach takes after me. He just does it as quickly as possible.

It is fun to have twins and see their different personalities even though they are the same age and raised exactly the same way.

Very Thankful Boys

With their birthdays only one week away, Eric and Erin decided to wrap the twins birthday gifts. Yesterday morning Nathan and Zachary saw their neatly wrapped presents. They have no idea what the gifts are yet, but they are extremely thankful-especially to Erin. Check out her door full of thank you notes. Each one has a picture inside that they drew for her. Eric got a few less thank you notes, I think at last count it was 3! I am not quite sure why they are more thankful to Erin. The two gifts are identical and they each put in the same amount of money. Poor Eric.

This morning when the twins were practically on top of us and we needed a little space, I reminded the twins that daddy and I got them gifts too. They quickly left with art suppies in hand and started some thank you notes to us. So far, daddy and I have 1 each. Maybe I shouldn't feel sorry for Eric after all.

Fox News and Chocolate

I gave up two very hard things this past week-Fox News and chocolate. I have become addicted to both. So I decided that I needed to take a week off from them

I thought once the election was over that my addiction to Fox News would end. I was wrong. Now I had to hear all the commentary about our new President-Elect. I couldn't believe they were already taking polls about his approval rating and about how American's felt about Washington being so one sided-democrat. According to the media, we are all ok with the Congress and Presidency being all democrat and Obama's approval rating is sky high. Amazing, is this the same media that was rooting for Obama all along? Do we actually believe all these polls? Now I realize I am off on a tangent.

I have always had a chocolate addiction. But I usually try to limit it to a small piece daily. Unfortunately with four kids trick or treating, my house is filled with tons of chocolate. I found I needed a piece after each meal. So, the only way I know how to break my bad habit of eating too much chocolate is to give it up cold turkey. Lately, if I have just one piece, then I want more.

My week has ended and I am contemplating going another week without tv and chocolate. Mario doesn't care about the chocolate part, but he loves when I give up tv. I think he has become a little addicted to Fox News as well. This is bad since Mario rarely watches any television. He thinks there is always something better to do. When I started this fast I thought I would get a lot more done around the house. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I just went to bed earlier. It actually made getting laundry done harder since I hate to fold laundry without watching tv.

The 2nd Ammendment

Mario recently decided that we needed to start thinking about protecting our home and family. He has since become what his friends call "a gun enthusiast." He wanted me to get my own hand gun. But the ammo can get quite expensive for target practice. So Mario got me a 22 hand gun to practice on. Mario took me to the range to try out the new gun. We pulled up and I didn't want to get out of the truck. I was so scared. There were several men shooting these loud guns just a hundred yards away. I told Mario I couldn't do it.

Anyway, I finally mustered up enough courage to walk up to the range. Maybe the sign helped that said only children ages 6 and up can shoot. What, they allow 6 year olds here! Thank goodness my twins are only 4, turning 5! If 6 year olds can go and shoot, then surely I could do it too. I jumped everytime I heard a shot for the first few minutes. But then I relaxed a bit. I am sure the guys around us were amused by my fear.

I learned how to load the gun and to fire. I didn't do too badly. I hit the target on most of the shots. It actually was a little fun. I hope when we move to Arizona I can just go out in the desert and practice shooting.

I can now see why my sister enjoys shooting so much. It was pretty cool once I got over the fear that someone was going to flip out and "shoot up the place." This has become Mario's new hobby so I guess if I want to spend more time with him, I will have to get used to going to the range.

Still proud to be an American!

There was one bright moment yesterday. California's Prop. 8 passed! Thank you Mario for all your hard work in helping that pass. I am ready for him to spend his Saturdays at home now instead of knocking on doors and holding up signs.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of the division in our country. I am ready to put this whole election behind me and pray that Obama will govern as a moderate. Who knows what will happen with Obama, Reid, and Pelosi in charge. I will be doing a lot of praying!

I look forward to 2012. I am hoping Mitt Romney or Bobby Jindal will run.

How Sweet

Look, they really do love each other! Today in primary, the teacher was teaching how we are all different and how none of us look alike. Zachary raised his hand and told the teacher that he and Nathan look alike because they are twins. I had to laugh. They may be twins, but they sure don't look alike. In fact, if I didn't dress them alike, most people wouldn't know they were brothers.

ha! ha!

Thanks Missy for sending this to me. Too funny!

Fireproof

Mario and I went to see the movie "Fireproof" last night for our date night. I didn't know much about it other than it looked like a love story and was rated PG. After reading some reviews I found out it was a Christian movie. We have enjoyed other Christian films like "The Ultimate Gift" and "Facing the Giants" so I figured this one would be good too. It starred Kirk Cameron from "Growing Pains." In an interview, Kirk Cameron said that he refused to kiss his costar in the movie. He said that he believes in the sanctity of marriage. So his real wife stood in for the scenes that required him to kiss his wife in the movie.

Anyway, the movie was terrific. It was low budget and so the acting was so so. But the messages were for every married couple. The movie was about a couple that was headed for divorce and how the husband, with a little help from his dad, found ways to change his life and become a better husband. They talked about how parasites like gambling, drugs, and pornography will destroy marriages. Mario told Eric that he wanted him to watch the movie when it comes out on DVD.

I cried through much of the movie. Mario was a good sport to sit through yet another love story with me. But he liked it too. I am grateful for the gospel and to know that marriage can be eternal. Throughout the movie they kept saying that marriage is for life. How happy I am to know that I can be with my husband through the eternities as well.

I love you Mario!

What a Relief!

The kids went back to school today after being home for their 2 week fall break. I have to give parents who homeschool a lot of credit. I don't know how they do it. I was very excited to take them back to school today.

We did have 2 great weeks. First Erin and I went to LA. We had a lot of fun. Erin got her ears pierced and she bought a new American Girl doll. The picture is Erin and her dolls having lunch at the American Girl Doll Cafe. It was a fun weekend. Then last weekend we went camping as a family to Mount Madonna in Watsonville. It was a beautiful park with nice trails and also paved roads for the kids to bike ride and use their rip sticks. The weather was perfect. We had a great time and are planning our next camping trip. I am lucky that Mario does most of the planning. He has all his camping stuff very organized and he plans all the meals. I just have to pack for myself and the twins.

Nathan scored his first goal in soccer. He and Zachary had a game within an hour of us getting back from our camping trip. So we were all exhausted. Nathan didn't want to play. He didn't even want to put on his uniform. After a little pep talk, he went out there and played more aggressively than I have ever seen him play. Maybe I need to give that same pep talk to Zachary. I thought the five dollars Mario gave Nathan for his first goal would make Zachary try harder. Nope, he seemed happy for Nathan but not concerned at all that he didn't get five dollars. He is so aggressive at home, but not the slightest bit aggressive on the soccer field.

Beware of impersonators

I will be leaving my blog unattended for a couple days. So if anything is posted between now and Saturday evening, you can assume Mario got a hold of it again! Don't believe anything he says. I think my mom is the only one that fell for the last time Mario got a hold of my blog pretending to be me.

Salad for Sale

Today, after being inspired by some young children with a lemonade stand, my boys decided they would sell some salad. Salad? Who would buy salad? They came and asked me to make a sign for them. I made the sign after they told me it was just for pretend. Then as soon as I handed Zach the sign he went outside and started yelling "Salad for sale." Nathan was nudging him to go down to the street to advertise. I had to stop them at that point. We don't even have any salad in the house to sell. I told them we didn't have any salad and then they pointed down to two salads they have made from the bushes outside. Interesting. Maybe I should bake some cookies or bread and let them have a real stand. Unfortunately for them, we don't live on a high traffic street.

Maybe I have 3 little entrepreneurs in the house, referring of course to Erin and all her little business ideas. I just hope one of them makes a lot of money to support Mario and I in retirement since we are watching our retirement accounts dwindle because of this financial mess our country is facing right now.

Mom and Daughter trip to LA

Erin and I are going to LA for the weekend. We are so excited to break free from a house full of boys! We are going to have lunch at the American Girl Place, ride scary roller coasters at Six Flags, and then visit a mission in Santa Barbara for a 4th grade history project. To prepare for our trip, I made Mario a to do list like soccer practice, games, reading with twins, meetings, etc. This morning he wrote his own list. I will share his list since it is more entertaining than mine.

Dad's To Do List

• Say goodbye to Terri and Erin (try to hold back tears)
• Mope
• Call Terri
• Mope More
• Call Terri
• Make dinner (trying the best I can to hold it together)
• Mope
• Call Terri
• Meeting (try to focus despite depression)
• Call Terri
• Mope
• Go to bed (lie in bed hopelessly missing Terri)

Friday

• Wake up and resume moping

I am sure he and the boys will have a great weekend. But it is nice to be missed so much.

Cheater

Recently Eric came home and said that his friend had cheated on a homework assignment. His friend showed the teacher his twin brother's work because he forgot his at home. Eric tried to convince his friend before he did this that it was wrong and he would get caught. Apparently this boy has done this in the past. Even though Eric and this boy are good friends, Eric alerted the teacher to what was going on.

After Eric related this story to me, I asked him if his friend knew he had told on him. He responded yes, but he isn't mad at me. I was shocked. I had lots of friends in high school that cheated but I would have never told on any of them. I guess Eric has a lot more courage than me. I wasn't quite sure what to say to Eric. I felt bad that he betrayed his friend, but at the same time happy that he knows what is right and stands up for what is right.

The next day, after the mother was given a note from the teacher, Eric's friend was mad at him. He had to face some severe consequences for his actions. Fortunately he only remained mad at Eric for a day or two and they are once again friends. His twin brother hasn't been so forgiving of Eric though.

Eric has a strong moral compass. Mario and I pray that he never loses it! We love him very much and he is such a great example to us.

Most Recent ER visit

As parents of 4 kids, we have been very lucky. We haven't had that many trips to the ER with the kids. No, instead it has been Mario or I going to the ER. Last year I had to go in with a possible concussion from hitting my head while tubing down a river. Then a few months ago Mario had to go in when he was experiencing bad chest pains. Fortunately he was just fine and has had several follow up tests to confirm that he has a great heart.

Last night, Mario was back at the ER. Try not to laugh when I tell you this story. He was at church last night for an EQ meeting. When he left the church about 10 pm last night a moth flew into his ear. He came home and was frantic. "Terri, Terri, I need your help! A bug flew in my ear and I can't get it out. It is still fluttering around in my ear!" If he weren't so panicked, I would have fell over laughing. I tried to shine a light in his ear but couldn't see anything. I quickly googled what to do if a bug flies in your ear. Apparently this happens more frequently than I would have thought. Most of the posts online said go to the ER and not try to get the bug out yourself. You could easily damage your ear drum. So, here it is almost 10:30 pm and Mario was off to the ER. He was lucky though and the dr got the moth out and Mario was home around midnight. I had a good laugh with the kids this morning as I told them the story of a moth fluttering around in dad's ear. I am not sure any of them believed the story.

Soccer

The boys had their first soccer game today. Judging from their personalities at home, I thought they (esp. Zach) would be aggressive on the soccer field. I was wrong. Zachary stood around most of the first quarter. Nathan was a little more aggessive than Zachary and by the fourth quarter, he actually almost scored a goal. Our team completely dominated the game thanks to Jesse, my boys' best friend and the girl who they both want to marry. She scored too many goals to count.

New Hobby

After being home alone for a month and being nearly bored to death, I have taken on a new hobby. I thought once my kids were all in school, I would take up sewing, scrapbooking, biking, or something just for myself. But I just couldn't motivate myself to do any of the above things. I haven't even had the desire to get all my closets or digital pictures organized like I promised myself I would do when my kids were all in school.

It was such a rewarding experience to teach my four children to read. It has been kind of sad for me to finish up my boys' reading lessons. We aren't planning to have anymore children, so it made me sad to know this would be my last time teaching kids to read.

So what is my new hobby? Tutoring. I know it doesn't really sound like a hobby. But I love it. Over the summer I tutored a friend's set of twins. They were going into 6th grade and having a lot of trouble with reading and spelling. I borrowed the Barton Reading and Spelling program from a friend I knew in Hawaii. It gives step by step directions to teach children with dyslexia or other learning disabilities. I found teaching these twins to be very rewarding and the program greatly improved their reading, spelling, and confidence.

I would like to become a certified Barton tutor after I get more experience. So I volunteered to tutor children at our local elementary school. Now I have four new students to work with. I am excited to finally have something to do with all my "free" time. I hope to eventually make money with my tutoring, but for now I will just take another form of payment, the happiness I get from seeing these children finally succeed.

Too bad one was so darn cute!

Eric ran for Student Body President of his school last week. Armed with lots of candy, he set out to do the impossible-- break the streak of an all girl student body presidency for the last several years. He thought he had a good chance to win since there was only one other boy running and there were 5 girls running. He thought that the girls would split the girl votes and the boys would split the boy votes. Unfortunately for him, one of those girls was an adorable little blond girl that apparently half of the 6th grade boys have a crush on. Maybe things would have turned out differently if he could have run in 2nd grade when boys and girls still hated each other.

Anyway, we are very proud of him. He wrote and typed his entire speech himself with no help from us. Then he had to get up in front of several hundred students and give his speech. He did a great job. We are proud of Erin too. She showed Eric where her loyalties lie. She had a friend running for president also. But she became Eric's fourth grade campaign manager. She filled many treat bags, made posters, and tried to get her friends to all vote for Eric.

The following is Eric's speech

Hi, my name is Eric Perez, and I'm running for Student Body President. I'm running because I think I can make La Mesa a better place to be. I am responsible, respectful, and I don't like wasting any time. I also have several ideas. I think instead of class representatives voting on an idea, they should ask the class and the class should vote. I would also like to get a group of kids together to become hosts. They could show new kids where everything is and help them when they don't know what to do on a class assignment. When I was new to La Mesa, a few other students were a big help and I want everybody to have that experience at a new school.

At lunch time, when you finish eating you could go to a table and play board games. For recess I would like to get a big basket with ball, jump ropes, and other playground equipment. Also, I'd like to have a party day, where you have almost a full day of parties. We could also do a wall painting where everybody helps paint. It would be a good time to get to know each other and be creative. Another thing we could do is troop care packages. We could all write letters and draw pictures to send to the troops.

We could also do a mini-Olympics. There could be events like farthest kick, most baskets made in one minute, and other events like track and field. We could also give out prizes for spirit wear. Everybody who participates would get a piece of candy or a similar prize. At recess we could sell Popsicles and other desserts.

I would also like to donate money to fifth grade science camp. Science camp is a great place to learn and to have fun and I want all the fifth graders to be able to go.

So vote for me, Eric Perez and I'll make La Mesa a better place to be.

Politics

Mario says my blog should be about family and not politics. But I just have to say that I love John McCain's new running mate. She is no Mitt Romney but she is a strong woman with strong moral values. I love that he picked a running mate that shares my same conservative values. Way to go McCain!

McCain/Palen 2008

Hopefully we'll see Mitt again in 2012 or 2016!

What now?

My four kids have been in school for about 4 weeks now. They are all doing great. So by now, you would think every closet in my house would be organized, the bathrooms cleaned, all my digital pictures from the last 5 years put onto a portable hard drive, and several scrapbook pages completed. Unfortunately I haven't even touched all those "projects" that I have been putting off for years saying that I would get it all done when my kids go to kindergarten.

I can't even really account for most of my "kid-free" hours. I know several hours have been spent in kindergarten with my boys. Mario tells me to cut the apron strings. But I know that the teachers need lots of help. At first when they went to school, I wanted to be selfish with my free time and not volunteer more than once a week at the school. But as the days went by and I found myself volunteering more and more, I realized that is where I want to be. I want to be at school with my kids. The teachers appreciate the extra hands. So for now, I am content with pushing off all my projects and just spending lots of time with my kids in school doing whatever I can to make kindergarten great! I know that by fourth or fifth grade (maybe even earlier since they are boys) they won't want me to come close to their class. I may embarrass them with all my hugs and kisses in front of their friends.

So if any of you have been wondering what I have been up to since all my kids have gone to school......kindergarten and loving it!

Not as quiet as a mouse anymore!

Today after school, Nathan's kindergarten teacher came to tell me a funny story that happened in her class. Up until the last couple days, Nathan has been very quiet in his class. He rarely said a word unless the teacher called on him. With several rowdy boys in the class, I think she was glad to have one quiet boy.

Nathan's true personality came out today in class. Nathan had to use the bathroom. When he came out of the bathroom, the class was very quiet and sitting on the rug listening to the teacher. Nathan snuck around the corner and made a great big lion's roar as he pretended to pounce at his class.

Nathan's teacher told me she had to control herself from laughing aloud. She said it was so unexpected from such a quiet child like Nathan. I was crying from laughing so hard when she told me this story. It sounds like something he would do at home, but never at school. I guess it is good he is feeling more comfortable at school. But maybe he is a little too comfortable now.

Thank goodness his teacher has a lot of patience. I guess you have to when you teach a bunch of kindergartners.

Mario

That's what happens when I don't sign out of my blog and I go out for the evening. Mario got a hold of my blog.

Crush

I think about him day and night. I don't talk about it much, but I am so lucky to have Mario for a husband. He is simply the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me-a gift from above. Yes, he's helpful, friendly, kind, charming, witty, brave, thoughtful, reverent, courteous, thrifty and well liked throughout the community and ward.

But that's not all. He is so incredibly smart. He can do complex mathematical calculations in his head. He has a superlative command of syntax, not to mention quite an extensive vocabulary. He simply chooses not to employ them. He would never want anyone to feel inadequate.

Which leads me to his next, and perhaps most endearing attribute. He is very humble.

Tucson

We found out today that we will be PCS'ing (military lingo for moving) to Tucson, Arizona next summer. We are all excited about this next chapter in our lives. I am also excited about the warm weather!

School

Missy commented that I didn't put any details about the first day of school. That was because I put those pictures up before the kids came home from school. So here is a run down of how the first few days have gone.

Eric-loves 6th grade and the teachers. He is a little disappointed that he is still in elementary school and not in middle school, but he was happy to find out that the teachers treat him like he's in middle school. He doesn't have to stand in straight lines and he can talk while doing his classwork (with the understanding that whatever he doesn't finish in class becomes homework.)He has about 35 kids in his class so its way too large but the teachers seem to have pretty good control. I got a call from his teacher on the second day. It brought back memories from preschool when I used to get called everytime he bit or hit someone. Fortunately this was not that kind of call. She called to thank me for getting all the paperwork back to her and said that Eric is well prepared for 6th grade.

Erin-she wanted to be homeschooled when she found out there would be almost 40 students in her class. But she loved the first day and her new teacher. I was relieved to hear that I wouldn't have to homeschool her!!! She has made some new friends and is enjoying her new class. I am excited for her because she needs the social part of school. Plus, I doubt she would like hanging out with me all day while I run errands, clean the house, and volunteer in the kindergarten classes.

Nathan-loves kindergarten with the exception of lunch time. He has been getting sad everyday at lunch. He thinks that it is time to come home. That is probably my fault because I went to the lunch room to help out the first couple days. So the first day when he saw me, he thought it was time to go home. But he does fine as soon as lunch time is over. He likes his teacher and is excited to go to school everyday.

Zachary-loves kindergarten also but won't admit it if you ask him. He gets dressed for school as soon as he wakes up. I think he has a crush on his teacher, Mrs. Shugars. I bought him an adorable giraffe folder and he hated it. I guess it was too babyish for him. But as soon as Mario told him that Mrs. Shugars would like it, he immediately took it and said he couldn't wait to show it to her. Mrs. Shugars does a lot of art and Zachary loves art. All summer he told me that he wanted to be in Mrs. Shugar's class. It probably doesn't hurt that she is a young, tall, pretty, blond teacher.

I talked to both kindergarten teachers and they said the boys are doing great. I guess their young age has been fine. They are well behaved and eager to learn. What a relief! I have been second guessing my decision to send them to kindergarten almost everyday. But now I guess I can relax and know that they are ready!

First Day of School

Zachary has Mrs. Shugars for kindergarten
Nathan has Mrs. Jimenez for kindergarten
Erin has Mrs. LeWarne for 4th grade
Eric has Mrs. Chavez for 6th grade

Camping

We took all four kids and the dog camping last night. I can't remember the last time our entire family went tent camping but I am pretty sure it was when we lived in Hawaii and the twins were infants and we had to lug all their baby gear with us. It already takes a ton of equipment to camp so adding baby gear (for two) to it is really a lot more effort than really it is worth. So that is probably why we haven't been tent camping since. We have stayed in countless cabins though which is more my idea of camping.

At least this time camping, we didn't need baby stuff. But I guess Mario thinks that I am the baby of the family now and that I need to have luxury when I camp. He stuffed Eric's futon mattress into the back of the van along with heavy blankets just for me. Camping in Monterey in July is not the same as camping in the rest of the country in July. It was chilly. So here I had the warmest blankets in the house while I was worried that my kids were going to freeze with their thinner blankets. Fortunately they were all fine.

The camp sight was only a few miles away from the house so Mario and Eric went early and got everything set up for us. When I arrived with the three younger kids, Mario set up a chair for me and told me to sit down and relax and that I didn't need to lift a finger (a statement I think he regretted later.) He did pretty much everything including all the clean up while I relaxed. Later I commented that the lady at the camp sight across from us was doing all the work while her husband was no where to be seen. Mario got a laugh out of that since he was doing all the work at our camp sight.

We finally got the twins to sleep a little after 9 pm. Anyone that knows us can tell you that we put them to bed by 6:30 or 7 pm every night. We work our whole schedule around their bedtime. If not, we pay the price the next day when they are dragging and whining. So it was frustrating to us when they were still not sleeping and it was approaching 9 pm.

Did I mention that this campground was right next to the military's defense language school? So at 5:45 AM, I was awakened by a drill Sergeant screaming. He kept counting to ten. I wanted to scream myself. Finally at 6:30, the entire family was awake and making lots of noise (which wouldn't have been so noticeable if the drill sergeant was still screaming.) So I am sure all the campers were happy to see me load up my two little 4 year olds and take them home this morning. Mario, Eric, and Erin decided to stay one more night. As for me and my little boys, we are home and happy to sleep in our nice, warm beds this evening. (well at least I am.)

Zach and Buzz

Eric and Erin "Ripsticking" or as Mario calls it "Dipsticking" or as Zachary calls it "Ripoffing"

Nathan practicing soccer

Thomas

Friday was a big day for Nathan and Zachary. They finally got their big treat for working so hard on their reading lessons. We went to see Thomas the Tank Engine and take a ride through the redwood forest (to me that was the best part-seeing the beautiful redwoods!) To make the day even better, they got to go with their best friend, Jessie. Too bad Jessie isn't a twin (she has twin sisters that are Eric's age) because they both want to marry her one day. I see some future fights over girls in their future!

Once in awhile when Zachary didn't want to do his reading lessons, I would remind him that he had to work really hard on his reading so he could go see Thomas. His reply, "Why do I have to do reading lessons to see Thomas when all those other kids that go see him don't have to!"

Ripstick

Erin started her own little business a few months ago. She collects bottles and cans from the neighbors and then takes them to the recycling center. She has earned over $100 since starting her little business. Mario is trying to teach her what it is like to run a business and so he charges her $1.00 to drive her to the recycling center. He did that to discourage her from wanting to turn her bottles in weekly. Then Erin decided that she really doesn't like to sort the bottles, so she hired Eric to do that job for her. But that partnership didn't last long. Eric decided that he was doing all the hard work while Erin was earning more money.

Until recently Erin would never want to spend a dime of her own money. If we (mom and dad) weren't willing to buy it for her then she wouldn't get it. Last week she told me that she wants a "Ripstick." It is like a skateboard but with two wheels instead of four. So she spent $75 of her own money and bought a bright pink one online and then anxiously awaited the UPS truck to deliver it from Amazon. I tried to discourage her from a bright pink one since she has 3 brothers. But she was spending her own money and she wanted pink.

It finally came last night and here are some pics with her new toy. Eric is enjoying it also (despite it being pink). He plans to get a silver one for his birthday. I think it will take a few days for them to learn how to ride it. But after that, I am sure it will be lots of fun for them both. I can't complain, it is good exercise and much better than sitting in front of the wii or the television. Now I just have to sit back and pray that they don't hurt themselves!

The Joy of Reading

Nathan

Zachary

It is great to have big siblings to look up to. Recently I told Nathan and Zachary that they can be like Eric and Erin and read in bed. They thought that was the coolest thing ever. So now they bring "Bob Books" to bed with them. Pretty soon I will probably catch them with flashlights reading under the covers way past bedtime. But as Mario reminds me, if reading past bedtime is the worst thing we catch these kids doing, then they are doing pretty well.

Speaks for Itself!

In protest to the high gas prices, I bought myself a new bike to ride all around Monterey.

Alaska

Mario and I just returned from our Alaskan cruise. We celebrated our 14th anniversary while in Juneau. I think it was the best vacation ever. In fact, I now realize that all those family vacations we have taken over the years were really no vacation at all for Mario and I. They were vacations for our children! I mean, I enjoyed all those trips and we have had some great ones due to our military assignments, but none were relaxing.

We took naps almost everyday and ate tons of good food (now I need to go on a diet and lose the 6 pounds I gained after eating cheesecake everyday.) We didn't spend a dime on all the excursions that the ship tries to sell to you. We did rent bicycles from a local lodge in Juneau and took a 26 mile bike ride to see the Medenhall glacier and waterfall. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. The people that took the tours only got to view the glacier from about 1/4 mile away. Mario and I got so close that he was able to drink from the waterfall next to the glacier. He said it was the best water he ever tasted and filled his water bottle up.

The next day we went to Skagway and it was raining. We decided to take a hike to the Gold Rush Cemetery and the bottom of Reid Falls. That was a four mile easy hike. Then we went back to the ship and dried off, ate and thought about a nap. But instead we decided to go back out hiking and hike to the top of Reid Falls. This was a much more challenging hike but absolutely beautiful. We were so glad we skipped that nap! And the afternoon turned out to be nice and sunny. This was my second favorite day.

Next our ship took us to Tracy Arm where we were able to view another glacier. We had a perfectly clear day as you can see from the picture. We were told that there are only 10 days a year where the visibility is that good. It was windy and a little chilly so we sat on the deck wrapped in a blanket drinking hot chocolate looking for bears or whales. Unfortunately we didn't see any. But it was beautiful. We saw many beautiful waterfalls.

We went to Ketchikan next. It was neat to see where my dad once lived. We got off the ship about 6:30 am and had to be back on by noon. So we didn't have much time to explore. We were hoping to find bike rentals but couldn't find any. We walked around town and visited the city park. Then we went shopping for jackets for our kids. We couldn't come home empty handed (and Erin asked as soon as we saw her-"What did you bring me?") One of the most interesting things I saw there was a boardwalk with a street sign on it. Check out the boardwalk and the street name on the mailbox.

The last night we stopped in Victoria, British Columbia. We got in an hour late so we didn't get off the ship until 8 pm and had to be back by 11:30. So we again just walked around town and got some photos of their government building all lit up. It looked like a pretty town. On the way back to the ship we stopped at a gift shop and Mario spotted a wooden nativity made from cedar that he knew I would like so he pointed it out to me. I ended up getting that for my souvenir. Not really a souvenir that you would expect from an Alaskan cruise, but I loved it.

We owe my mom a million thank you's for coming to Monterey and watching the kids for an entire week. She was their taxi cab to all their camps, she took many bike rides, walks, and scooter rides, played alphabet bingo, gave reading lessons, gave many baths, did lots of laundry, played tennis, took them out to lunch, read lots of books, played wii with Eric, weeded my garden, saved all my dying tomato plants, planted flowers with Erin, cleaned the house, and many more things that I probably don't know about. She has so much more energy than I do. Hopefully she will go home and take a long nap. She deserves it. We couldn't have made this trip without her and we really appreciate all her sacrifice (and my dad too since he had to be without mom for a long time.) Thank you mom and dad! We love you both.