Visit from Santa 2007

So maybe we need to have Christmas a little more often. Sure makes for easy blog material. Now if I could just get a lesson on formatting pictures and adding words I would be ever so grateful. Until then, you will just have to deal with my formatting fumbles which truly give me the grumbles.

Yes, I did allow Mateo to eat his breakfast at the drive-in. Kind of like Sonic or Hires right? Park and eat . . . then drive away. Or Mateo's version, park, eat a bite, ride a lap around the house, park, eat another bite, ride another lap around the house, etc.

Yes, that is a DISNEY PRINCESS glove. It also came with the princess bat and princess ball. Sarah is in Disney Princess Heaven!

Yes, the gift from Santa said it was To: Tino, but I think that Cristian must have thought it was for him. He even busted out with a "How to Play Pool" dvd that he had checked out from the library on Christmas Eve. The missionaries had a grand time playing pool. And I enjoyed speaking portunol with Elder Silva from Brazil. Actually, I speak Spanish to him and he either responds back in Portuguese, Spanish, or portunol (mixture of Spanish/Portuguese).

P.S. Thanks Jessica for my gift. I planned to post pictures today, but I was out with the kiddos picnicking at the park and geocaching. Maybe tomorrow I will get around to putting on makeup and looking decent enough for a quick picture. :0)

Tino's Tree

So it is with a very saddened heart that we will be saying farewell once and for all to our little Charlie Brown tree. This was a gift to Tino for his first Christmas. For the last several Christmases we have said "this is the last Christmas" for Tino's tree. Last year, every time a branch fell off I would just throw it away in the garbage instead of trying to reapply the branches as I had done for the previous 2-3 Christmases. Last year, we decided to keep Tino's tree for one more year "just in case". So glad we did. The kids would have been very bummed to have a brand new tree with absolutely NO gifts under the new tree. Instead, we opted for Tino's tree one more year so the kids could have a gift or two.

Tomorrow Tino's tree will go where ever little Charlie Brown trees go that tilt to one side, are missing more than half its branches, etc. (And NO, unfortunately Tino's tree will not be around when Los Tres Reyes Magos /3 Wise Men visit us on January 6.) Now a moment of silence to ponder all the Christmas memories Tino's tree brought to us. Farewell, adieu, and may we meet again.

P.S. Sarah was the guest "undecorator" of the bottom 3rd of the tree. It got to a point that when she took ornaments, bows, etc. off the tree and handed them to me, instead of me putting them back on the tree, I just started putting them away in the storage boxes. It has made the after-Christmas clean-up a whole lot easier.

Christmas Eve 2007

We spent Christmas Eve with some friends from the branch. We enjoyed food, food, and more food. We ate pernil (roasted pork), tamales, moro de habicuelas negras con coco (black bean rice with coconut), and yuca with red onions. After dinner came the dancing. And some more dancing. And just a little bit more dancing. After the dancing . . . it was karaoke time. We had fun singing Grease and other tunes. Tino was TOTALLY into it, but he wouldn't let me take any pictures. Mateo had fun too. At about 10 minutes to midnight, I took Mateo and Sarah home because they were starting to brawl. I didn't want them to have black eyes for the Christmas morning pictures from punching each other out. They were asleep before I even pulled out of our friends' driveway. Cristian and Tino stayed for more karaoke until slightly before 1:00 a.m. Then Cristian and I had a fabulous time getting everything ready (if you catch my drift) until 2:15 a.m. We were awakened at 8:15 a.m. when Tino, Mateo, and Sarah were sitting on our bed. Mateo said "Mami, hurry up because I want to go ride my bike. " The way our house is set up the kids' rooms are one one side of the house then the great room is in the middle and our bedroom is on the other side of the house. The kids' have to walk through the great room (where the Christmas tree, presents, etc. are) in order to get to our bedroom. So much for the Christmas morning surprise factor. It looks like the kids stopped off at the tree to survey their loot before coming into our room to wake us up. Big giant cheaters!

Ramirez' Family Virtual Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!
Or is it Bah Humbug?????

With Love,

The Ramirez Family
Cristian, Heidi, Tino (9), Mateo (4), and Sarah (2)

P.S. Make sure you click on BOTH links. And for the record, it was Cristian that contributed to today's blog entry. Thanks Cristian!

Friendly Holiday Greetings to my Blogging Buddies

Dear Heather, Jessica, and Gab,

Last week Tino told me he wished I was one of "those moms" that loves to bake. I used to be one of "those moms" . . . until two other Ramirez children were added to the mix. I don't enjoy the mess, the drama, fishing out egg shells from batter, the salty taste of baked goods when Mateo decides to use salt in a recipe instead of sugar . . . (it looks the same right???) So I guess what I'm trying to say is next time you decide to bake fun Christmas cookies . . . or anything for that matter, my eldest son Tino would like to be adopted and be in your family. Or at least remember to invite him to come to your house while you are doing your baking so he can pretend that he has one of "those moms". Because this is what holiday baking looks like at our house.




















With sugar and spice and everything nice,

Heidi

P.S. Tino asked me if I would please follow the recipe next time I try to make sugar cookies. But I know you won't have distractions in your kitchen when he goes to your house. Thanks in advance for following the recipes. :0)

Mis Queridos Hijos 12/10/2007

Editor's Note: Just realized I never posted this last week. And since there's not a lot to report for last week other than the fact that Cristian was in Brazil . . . I'll just go ahead and let this be the update for 12/17/07. Yes, I know I am such a cheater. And P.S. The pediatric neurologist said if I didn't get a phone call or a medical report in the mail within the next week, that would mean that the results of Sarah's EEG were not within the "normal" range. They don't like to send those reports out and freak out the parents. Needless to say, we haven't heard anything . . . which means something wasn't normal on Sarah's EEG. We won't find out details until we meet with him in January.

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

Tino: I bribed you during baseball season to try pitching. If you tried pitching ONCE, I promised you a game of your choice. You pitched at least 4 games. So your Mario Kart game arrived in the mail on Thursday. (Yeah, that silly game cube that you had to have for your birthday a couple years ago is now obsolete. There is no such thing as going to Target,WalMart, or Best Buy to get game cube games. It's order online or BUST.) You have enjoyed riding your bike to school every day for the last couple of weeks. Although on Friday afternoon you didn't come home promptly at 2:55 p.m. At about 3:15 p.m. right as I was loading the kids into the van to go look for you, I got a phone call from school. You had fallen off your bike and were pretty banged up. I knew you felt banged up too since you went the whole entire weekend without playing kickball, football, or baseball. And yes, you were wearing your helmet. Thank you my obedient son! Mateo: You have been very excited for your upcoming birthday. We celebrated a little bit on Friday, a little bit on Saturday and we will continue the festivities on Tuesday when you take cupcakes to school. When we got your cake on Saturday night, I completely forgot to get candles. I was exhausted and didn't want to go to the store. You told me not to worry and that you had a great idea. I always get a little nervous with your "great ideas". You stuck four matches on top of your cake and asked me to light them for you. Although I was reluctant, papi stood by with a fire extinguisher in one hand and a camera in the other. At least this time I would be the one to attempt burning down the house and not you. But it all worked out just fine. The whole birthday party thing has been postponed for another year. Don't worry, we'll throw you a big birthday bash for your 5th party since you still have never had a birthday party other than a family celebration.

Sarah: You helped me care of one of my Kindermusik students on Saturday night. You had so much fun playing with baby Ella. You loved her, hugged her, and found lots of toys she could play with. It had been a LONG time since a baby had been inside of our house. You have been looking for her every since she left. "Where Ella go?" is now one of your phrases you have added to your repertoire. You've been saying that almost as much as you've been saying "Where Papi go?" This morning you had your sleep-induced EEG with sedation. It was not fun. You had to stay up until midnight and I was supposed to wake you up at 5:00 a.m. this morning We settled for 6:30 a.m. instead. I had to hog-tie you as they were gluing the 60+ electrode things to your head. I literally had to lay on top of you and then hold down your arms and hands. You were mad that I was laying on your legs and feet. You are one strong little girl. Finally you fell asleep. And I did too. As we got home, your sedation wore off and you were ready to go for the day. You brought the entire zoo (all your Discovery Channel animals) into bed with me and made sure I had blankets, agua, chocat milky, and a sammich. Unfortunately you did not let me sleep.


Papi is in Brazil this week on business. My business this week will be Tino, Mateo, and Sarah so we will bid farewell to blogging until next week.

Love you!

Mami

Dad and the Depot

So my sister Heather gets a little weepy and teary every time it comes to cooking a turkey. Why? Because my dad always tells her how long to cook the turkey. And lately, he isn't readily available to tell her how long she needs to to put the turkey in the oven. What does this mean? Either RAW turkey or WELL, WELL DONE. It's enough to make you want to cry. In the frozen food aisle of Smith's. Every time you think about turkeys.

My wahhhhhhhhh and weepy teary "dad moments" have to do with Home Depot. Every time my dad comes to visit he works on projects around my house that haven't been completed (or even started for that matter) since his last visit. He loves frequenting Home Depot and Lowes multiple times . . . per hour . . . I mean per day. We have a new Home Depot less than one mile from our house that opened a couple weeks after dad's last visit. I have only been there three times since they opened. And it's very difficult. How do you explain to the helpful Home Depot guy in gardening or in the toilets and bidet department that you're crying because you miss your dad and he's not here with you to help with all the projects? I was going to try and not go there until my dad could visit again and go with us as a family bonding moment, but the convenience factor slightly outweighed the sentimentality factor. So needless to say, I went again to Home Depot this morning. And got teary eyed. And a little sentimental. And had a slight melt down in tools and hardware.

I love you dad! And I miss you too!

P.S. Don't worry, all of your projects are still anxiously awaiting!

What is a . . . .

ZOO??????

Yes, that was question of the day from Mateo who will be 4 years old tomorrow. When Cristian is out of town, I let the kids take turn sleeping with me. Not that they are going to be able to save me from the boogy man, but it just helps me sleep better when there is someone else in the opposite corner of my California King. Anyway, as I was clearing off all of the animals from my bed that Sarah had left for me while I was trying to nap earlier today, I mentioned to Mateo that I would go ahead and clean up the zoo so he could have a place to sleep. He looked at me perplexed and then said, "Mami, what's a zoo? What does that mean?" YIKES. Mother of the Year Award goes to MOI. My kid has been to been to Disney's Animal Kingdom at least a couple dozen times that I can think of. But he . . . has . . . NOT . . . been . . .to . . .the . . .zoo . . . since we moved from Sacramento 3 1/2 years ago. And yeah, the last time he was at a zoo he was barely 5 months old so he probably doesn't remember it anyway.

This is kind of a double whammy for me. #1 It brings me to an awareness that maybe I should focus on the SIMPLE things in life . . . like taking my kid to the zoo. And #2 As a former Kindergarten teacher in an inner-city school, I could not BELIEVE the fact that there were actually families with children IN MY CLASSROOM that had NEVER BEEN TO THE ZOO. We lived a hop, skip, and a jump away from the zoo people. Maybe 7 mile car-ride TOPS from my little inner-city school to the zoo. This has just come back to bite me in the judgmental BUTT for giving all those other parents grief for never having given their children such an enriching experience as going to the zoo. Guess where we are going when Cristian gets back from Brazil???????

Mateo's Birthday

Since Cristian is going to be in Brazil for Mateo's 4th birthday, we decided to celebrate a little early. Mateo got to open his birthday presents on Friday night. And P.S. what drugs was I on when I happened to be picking out the perfect presents for my birthday boy?

• Deluxe Marbles over 160 marbles + shooters
  
• Lego Spider Man/Super Heroes set 75 pieces
• K'Nex for Kids Footed Friends 50 pieces
• Jenga game 48 pieces

He was delighted with his presents. And he has been occupied for HOURS. We haven't hardly had the t.v. on (not that we have a vast selection on the weekends since we only get PBS kids), but anyway, you get the point. Mateo has been very busy playing, building, constructing, etc.

On Saturday afternoon, we went bowling for Mateo's birthday. Cristian and Tino wanted to play at least 2, if not 3 games. I insisted we only play 1 game. (Might I add that the last 4 times we have gone bowling, "we" has been the kids and I so my insistence that we only play one game had much more muster and power than Cristian's opinion and/or desires). After about the 5th frame and at least 1 1/2 hours later, Cristian agreed with me that bowling one game was plenty.

Hell on Earth

Just in case ya' all were wondering if there is such a thing as Hell on Earth, let me tell you there is. And it is a big box store just across the street from where I work on Thursday mornings. It starts with Wal- and the second word rhymes with Fart. Why oh why don't we have any Targets close by????? The closest Target is either 15 minute drive to the South or a 15 minute drive to the Northeast. What's up with that??? It's great for my hubby because I save our family lots and lots and lots of money by not frequenting Target often. It's been 3+ years since I have lived here and I still can't get used to shopping at the big giant fart. It drives me absolutely nuts. I think the cute little smiling greeters that stand at the doorway and give you a dirty cart should also hand out lexapro . . . or valium . . . or other such drugs to make the shopping experience a little more pleasant. How long will it take me to truly appreciate whatever it is that everyone else appreciates about this store????

Beyond Echolalia

Sarah is progressing. Sarah is speaking. On her own. Without parroting back random phrases that she has recorded in her brain. Is there such a thing as moving beyond echolalia?

Yesterday when I went to pick her up from daycare, she came up to me and gave me a big hug and kiss. Then she whispered in my ear: "Mami, I be really really hungy." I wasn't sure if I heard correctly, so I asked her to repeat what she said. And she repeated, "mami, I be really hungy." And then continued "I want agua." O.k. thirsty, hungry...the point is, she was able to convey her message using WORDS and the words she was using were in the correct context with the given situation. This is HUGE.

And this morning when she woke up, she was looking for her lego blocks that she had left in Mateo's room last night. First, she told me "Mami, I be very very cold." And then she said, "where da bocks go? Where is she? Come on mami. Help find da bocks. Where she go?"

What Not to Wear

Conversation with Tino before bed:

Tino: Mom, I am going to wear long pants to school tomorrow. (Long Pause . . . waiting for me to gasp since my kid knows that I know he NEVER wears long pants unless it is absolutely necessary. I make him wear long pants to church on Sundays and he wears them for no longer than 3 hours and 1 minute. Actually 3 hours 21 minutes to allow for travel time to/from church).

Mom: O.K. Sounds good to me.

Tino: Well, mom . . . I only have three choices for school tomorrow. (Long pause again. I fail to comment because I am so not in the mood to see where this conversation is going).

Mom: (Taking the bait . . . only to humor my son) And what are those choices?

Tino: A. Long pants B. Walk around in my underwear all day long at school or C. Wear my dirty shorts that I have already worn a couple days in a row.

Mom: Great. OR, you could go ahead and put away your PILES of folded CLEAN laundry that have been stacked neatly on the corner of your bed since Friday afternoon.

Mis Queridos Hijos 12/2/07

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

Mami has been on a blogging hiatus over the last couple of weeks. Here are the highlights of the last week. And yes, I WILL buy a new battery for my camera this week so I can capture your highlights through digital media.

Tino: You have been riding your bike to school for two weeks now. You PROMISED you would wear a helmet and you wouldn't trick me by taking off your helmet once you went around the block. I told you that I was going to check up on you to make sure you are being SAFE. So far, I have enjoyed the freedom of not having to yank Mateo out of bed in the morning to take you to school or yanking Sarah out of her bed during prime nap-time so we can pick you up from school. Just beware, I will be checking up on you soon.

Mateo: You have enjoyed the Christmas decorations around the house. And you really enjoy running up the electricity bill by making sure all the lights are plugged in and "ON" 24/7. With this comes a compromise. Since you are helping to waste so much electricity, you have to make a sacrifice. No baths during the Christmas season. You can only take showers because you use way less water taking a shower. It has been hard since you LOVE taking at least 2-3 baths per day, but as they say, sacrifice brings forth the blessings from heaven.

Sarah: You are FINALLY pooping on the toilet about 5 times per day. And you even pooped in a public toilet this week. I think you are well on your way to potty-training success. Now I just need to figure out a way to keep you within the confines of your room during nap time, night time, etc. BUT also give you the flexibility to leave your room and go to the bathroom if you need to. You were super duper upset yesterday when you wet your bed. It was 10,000% mami's fault. I was enjoying my nap and heard you calling for me. I even heard you knocking on your bedroom door so I would open up for you, but I wasn't quite ready to wake up from my nap. So, you had an accident since I still have the child-proof door knob on the inside of your bedroom door and you couldn't get out of your room. My bad. I'm sorry.

That's all for now. Peace out.

Love ya,
Mami

Sensitive Topics

There is one SENSITIVE topic in my marriage with Cristian (o.k. besides finances, sex, family, and other stuff like that). It's the fact that I do not like to entertain. I do not enjoy it one bit. In fact, it stresses me out. If it's my parents, siblings and their kids coming over for dinner . . . no big deal. But inviting friends, co-workers, neighbors over . . . it RARELY happens. Maybe once a year. TOPS. I invite the missionaries over for dinner about 6 times a year . . . and that's only because I feel guilty because I know what their food budget is per week ($35) and I know they probably don't have time to shop the sales or clip coupons. And I don't want them to starve to death. Or have to have to fast from Wednesday through Monday until they get their food money again.

About one month ago I decided to have a Ladies Night Out on Friday, November 30. At my house. With me being the hostess. And Cristian taking the kids out for the night. While I entertained. And hung out with friends. At my house. Cristian about had a heart attack when he found out I would be entertaining. He ALWAYS is the one to initiate inviting people over and if he doesn't invite, I most certainly won't invite people over.

Last night I found out that Cristian's trip to Brazil that wasn't approved all of a sudden got approved. Which meant he would need to be at the Brazilian consulate in Miami this morning to get a visa to go to Brazil one week from Monday. Mileage wise, Miami isn't THAT far. But traffic and travel time is equivalent to traveling from Danville to L.A. Bottom line: He wouldn't be around to take Mateo to/from pre-school today, take the kids during my Ladies Night Out, or help me get the rest of the Christmas decorations out of the attic. I had a MAJOR panic attack last night. And again this morning. And again this afternoon. Then I just took a second, said a little prayer, felt guilty for saying a prayer since I had been neglecting God the entire day since I was caught up in party preparation stuff. About two minutes later, the phone rang. It was one of my Kindermusik moms that lives a couple houses down the street. She wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help me with tonight. She brought a fruit platter. And a veggie platter. And she saved the day.

So, now my Christmas tree is up. The house is semi-decorated (minus the two boxes of Christmas decorations that are still in the attic). The guest bathroom toilet is sparkling clean. There are no dirty dishes in the sink. My floor is mopped. And I had an enjoyable Ladies Night Out. Too bad Cristian wasn't here to be able to witness it. Maybe next time I'll have a party and he will be invited.

A-HA Moments

Tino and I just spent a lovely week in Utah. So lovely, that I didn't have any time to blog. Or go to the store and buy a battery for my camera that has needed to be replaced for the last couple weeks. We will forego the Mis Queridos Hijos letter of the week once again. Instead, let me present some a-ha moments gleaned throughout the last week.

Cristian's A-ha moments:
#1 Kids (Sarah and Mateo) and Father of kids (Cristian) can survive for 6 days with only using the stove/oven ONCE thanks to Boston Market, Giovanni's Pizza, frozen corn dogs, and cold cereal.

#2 Whatever you prepare Mateo for breakfast, lunch or dinner it is wise to also give the same thing to Sarah to reduce the drama factor and competition/fighting over the food that the other sibling has.

#3 Sarah es chismosa. (Loose translation: Sarah LOVES causing trouble and stirring the pot.) Insert Heidi commentary: I received at least 2 phone calls in Utah while Mateo was crying and 1000% inconsolable. Sarah took it upon herself to tell Mateo that she was Mami and Papi's girl and she wasn't going to share mami and papi. This statement left Mateo thinking with his 3 year old reasoning skills that he was . . . fatherless and motherless. The HORROR!

#4 Taking care of Mateo and Sarah is a lot of hard work. (Insert Heidi commentary . . . Ya think?????)

Heidi's A-ha moments:
#1 "BIG GIANT SARAH" is still . . . BIG GIANT SARAH as compared to her cousin Mia-Mia.

#2 Once again, comparing the two cousins that are 3+ months apart . . . (yes, I know you aren't supposed to compare, but if I was to compare which of course I WILL NOT) . . . it is VERY apparent after being with Mia-Mia for one week that Sarah is DEFINITELY developmentally delayed as compared to her same age counterparts.

#3 Baby Max and Baby Hal are the cutest babies EVER. And they are super lucky that I didn't pack them in my suitcase and bring them home with me. Where was Tino this week and what was he doing almost every time I turned around???? Holding or caring for a baby cousin.

#4 Split holidays . . . (mom and dad . . . skip past this part cause I'm going to use a garbage word) . . . SUCK. No more Heidi/Kids and/or Heidi/Tino and Cristian/Sarah/Mateo or any other version of a split up family during the holidays. From now on it's the entire Ramirez family OR the entire Ramirez family spending the holidays together.

#5 Sarah is the MASTER MANIPULATOR. She kind of "forgot" about going potty on the toilet while Cristian was taking care of her. Funny how she all of a sudden remembered how to be a big girl once mami got back home. (And yes, she has even POOPED in the toilet multiple times since I have been home).

Saturday "To-Do" List

1. Wake up at the crack of dawn (8:15 a.m.). Check.
2. Freeze my bazookers off at Tino's 9:00 a.m. baseball game (54 degrees). Check.
3. Rush to the bank to cash paycheck before they close. Check.
4. Go to Publix and buy red wine to season Dominican turkey (that should have been seasoned 24 hours ago but I was too tired to function or do anything once Cristian got home last night at 9:00 p.m.) Check.
5. Throw a few extra things into cart to hide the red wine, just in case I run into the Branch President or anyone else I know while at the store. Check.
6. Season/marinade turkey for 1 hour and pretend that it's been in the special marinade for 23+ hours. Pop into oven. Check.
7. Decide I can't go to Utah with unibrow. Wax my eyebrows. Check.
8. Figure that while I've got the waxing supplies out, might as well give myself a Brazilian. Nope . . . where do I think I'm going? A tropical island paradise? UNCHECK.
   
9. Settle on a simple bikini wax. Check.
10. Realize that bikini waxing is not a job to do solo. Call Cristian and ask him to help. Check.
11. Unable to carry out above-mentioned job. Pick up phone and make a crisis phone call to sister-in-law (who is a licensed esthetician and KNOWS what she's doing and can get me out of my bikini waxing mess). Check.
12. Decide that since I'm flying in the morning it would be nice to not have a raging sinus headache. Hop into van and head to nearest Minute Clinic. Check.
13. Count 10 people ahead of me on Minute Clinic sign-in sheet waiting to get flu shots and 2 people ahead of me waiting to be seen for sick visit. Check.
    
14. Do the math and realize the solo nurse practitioner will not be able to see me before she closes at 4:00 p.m. Check.
15. Drive to the next nearest Minute Clinic (20 minutes further away) and be seen just minutes before closing. Check.
16. Rush home and finish cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Check.
17. Take all the drugs that the nurse practitioner prescribed me for raging sinus infection. Check.
18. Sit down and eat Thanksgiving Dinner with the family. Check.
19. Start to do laundry . . . then realize that if I just pack all my dirty laundry in the suitcase mom will do laundry for me when I get to Utah. Check.
20. Go to bed promptly at 10:00 p.m. so I will be able to have a good night's rest since sister-in-law will be picking Tino and I up to take us to the airport at the true crack of dawn (5:00 a.m.). Check.
21. Toss and turn in bed for 3 hours since all the cold meds have me completely WIRED. Check.
22. Instead of lying in bed thinking about what a crazy day it's been and how I only have 3 1/2 hours left to "sleep", get out of bed and go blog about it. (1:16 a.m.) Check.
    

Dearest Mom, Heather, and Anne,

In less than 3 days Tino and I will be there. Please look for Tino's package that is being shipped from Old Navy. He will need that package because it has all his long pants AND socks. He might get a little cold wearing shorts everyday in Utah. And he doesn't have any socks left because it's the end of baseball season and I've thrown away all of his clay-stained, holy socks.


I have several food requests:
#1 Peanut butter sandwiches with that yummy WHITE bread.
#2 Costco tortillas (with anything inside . . .)
#3 Halloween party mix with plenty of peanuts (But we can call it Thanksgiving Party Mix since we'll be partying it up at Thanksgiving.)
#4 Lots and lots and lots of cinnamon bears . . . or cinnamon turkeys . . . cinnamon Santas or whatever cinnamon shaped things are being sold right now.
#5 And a few more cinnamon bears etc. for the plane ride home.

And since B---- is so far away, can I please visit your gym a few times to help burn off calories and avoid fighting the holiday bulge? (I had my class do some extra ab work today in preparation for the holidays . . . but I don't know if what we did today will carry over into all of next week's eating.) And P.S. Just for your information, I can't use the name of the place where I teach the "active adult" cardio/muscle strength/range of movement class anymore because the memo in my last paycheck said we are prohibited from using the name in any personal e-mail, phone calls, blog, etc. or we could be TERMINATED).

Can't wait to see you!

Love,
Heidi
Your FAVORITE daughter and favorite oldest sister

Dear Papi,

When are you coming back home? Why are you working at Oracle in Cali-forn-YA? I want you to work at this Oracle. Cause it's close to my school. Just across the street. I want to eat Mr. Butterball. But Mami won't let me eat that silly big big big giant turkey in the fridge. Until you come back home. When you come on the plane.
I made you this special turkey at my school. It was a Tuesday. Not a Friday. Because I only go to my pre-school on Tuesday and Friday. It's not school days yesterday or tomorrow or on Saturdays. Only Tuesday and Friday.

Love, MTO

First is Best!

Yes, you read that right. Being the first . . . or in other words being firstborn is the BEST! You can ask my blogging buddies Brooke, Celia or Gab their insights about being first after reading my blog. Of course, their entries will be way more funny and amusing, but just to balance things out a little bit . . . here is the serious post from the very serious poster.

According to the PBS kids website, anything “a first-born child does is a big deal, simply because it's a first for his or her family”. Actually to mix things up a bit, I have included my big deals along with big deals of my other siblings. Please answer true or false to each "big deal". And if it's false, you need to tell me which of my siblings this "big deal" pertains to. Have fun!

1. First to have 3rd birthday party cut short due to mom going into labor with 2nd born child of the family.
2. First to learn how to slalom waterski at age 7.
3. First to go to Australia and Europe.
4. First Hazen to use the slogan “Don’t be a Raisin, Vote for Hazen” as part of campaigning for class officer in high school.
5. First to receive evil looks from everyone in public while in high school because they thought that Anne was "MY BABY" and not my little sis.
6. First to climb the Great Wall of China with younger sibling and his/her 7th grade geography teacher.
7. First to be asked to move out of the house (accompanied by a swift kick on my fanny) and/or an invitation to go ahead and run away when I was being a 13-14 year old BRAT rebelling because it wasn't FAIR that I couldn't go to Homecoming Dance because I wasn't "old enough" to date.
8. First to speak at High School graduation. (Nope, not Valedictorian, just Senior class officer speech).
9. First to go to Rhode Island for a summer to be nanny for a former San Francisco 49er family.
10. First in immediate family to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
11. First person in immediate family to serve full-time mission in Argentina.
12. First in family to attend a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game in Toronto one week after the grand opening of the SkyDome. (Also visiting a family that I used to nanny for that played baseball for S.F. Giants and had been traded to the Blue Jays).
13. First to receive AA degree from Ricks.
14. First to receive bachelor’s degree from BYU.
15. First to learn how to skydive.
16. First to attend an all-Catholic institution of higher learning (St. Mary’s College of CA) for master’s degree.
17. First to have well-meaning sister place a personal ad in a Rexburg, ID newspaper in dire search of my eternal mate.
18. First to get married.
19. First to move away from the San Francisco Bay Area.
20. First to open my own business.
21. First to start blogging.
22. First to spend the most holidays with the HAZEN side of the family as compared to other siblings who split their holidays with the in-laws.
23. First to still be best friends with someone I've been best friends with since elementary school.
24. First to meet Jason Lee (Anne's hubby).
25. First to be actively involved in politics at the School District, Port Commission, City Council levels. And first to teach my firstborn how to picket, canvas neighborhoods with political flyers, and be interviewed for the 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. news regarding stories relating to above-mentioned political involvement.

Hope you have fun taking this little quiz! And I would like to say that I will offer a prize for the first person that gets all the answers right, but go ahead and ask my sister's Anne or Heather how successful that would be. Please don't hold your breath. It's all about having fun. Right? Right?!?

Mis Queridos Hijos 11/11/07

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

There's not a lot to say that hasn't already been said, so this week's installment will be short, sweet, and to the point. And since the camera still has no batteries, we'll have to add the pictures from papi's cell phone later on.

Tino: Super Star-You had a once in a lifetime opportunity this week. You got to play ball on a real live, honest-to-goodness major league baseball field. You got to play where the Washington Nationals hold their Spring Training. Your coach also let you go in to the locker room, where he had put all your names and numbers on the lockers, just like MLB players.

Mateo: Super Smart???- This week your new trick was tying your shoe laces from the two shoes together, so you couldn't walk and you were "stuck". I don't know if I am more amazed at the fact that you learned how to tie your own shoelaces several months prior to turning 4 years old, or the fact that you are playing shoelace tricks on YOURSELF. You are a funny kid.

Sarah: Super Sick/Super Sensory- This week you have been sick. And you do not like the feeling of the runny nose goop . . . running down your face. Nor do you like to wipe your own nose. And as for the sensory processing disorder, we learned that the way your brain processes the sensory experiences is out of whack. Think of a kink in the garden hose. The sensory messages that get sent to your brain take a little detour on the way to the brain. By the time that message gets there, the sensory experience is either minimized or maximized. When we go into a crowded place like the mall or Costco and you have a meltdown or when your brother comes up behind you and taps you on the shoulder without you expecting it, those blood-curdling screams and tears are not you being naughty. It's just that the background noise and commotion is too much for your brain to handle. And that unexpected touch is as if you were truly being attacked and those screams of pain are truly screams of pain and not you just being drama queen.

Papi and Mami: Super Samba-less. Date night to the Samba Room was a BUST. Dinner reservations were for 9:00 p.m. (a.k.a. order an appetizer and diet coke). They were on to us. We have been discovered. After three years of living in Orlando, we know how to work the system. We get reservations for the last possible dinner seating time before the club opens so we don't have to pay cover charge. (Who wants to pay between $10-$20 per person???) This time the system beat us. The club was closed for a private wedding party. We headed over to Universal CityWalk and guess who didn't bring their purse OR i.d.? Yep, no dancing for us. But since we had the babysitter until 1:00 a.m., we enjoyed walking around CityWalk and talking . . . and thinking about all the fun we could have been having if we were inside Latin Quarters dancing. We'll try it again.

Love,
Mami

Scouting for Mateo/Scouting for Clothing Deals

We just had a lovely morning. "We" means Mateo, Sarah, and I. Today was the second part of Scouting for Food. We were assigned a neighborhood in an older part of the city. That territory should have been given to Boy Scouts and not to a hyperactive Wolf, Bear, and two monkeys (Mateo and Sarah). The area wasn't filled with tract homes. Each home had a different entrance (some of them multiple entrances) and since it is an older neighborhood there was a good 50+ years worth of oak trees, bushes, etc. surrounding the houses. It got a little nerve-wracking having Mateo and crew disappear for minutes at a time as they went to the front doorsteps to collect food bags. Anyway, we collected 45 bags of food. Sarah and I enjoyed rocking out to Disney Radio. Every time the boys got out of the van to collect more bags of food, I would try to be sneaky and change the radio station. They caught me in the act EVERY time and they would then ask me to change it back to Radio Disney. Will I receive extra blessings in Heaven for being obligated to listen to 2 hours of Radio Disney?

On another note, one of the boys is a nature lover. He collected a very funky looking spider while collecting food bags. That spider was trying to defend itself and kept shooting out spider webs. Every time he would open up his cupped hands to show us his spider, the spider would fling a web. My van is filled with 1 1/2 hours worth of spider web strings. How much spider web making ingredients can a little tiny spider have inside of it? It was icky knowing that the boy had this spider inside of MY van . . . but I'm sure there is a Wolf achievement somewhere about taking care of nature or making sure that nature comes along for the ride while we are collecting food for the homeless and hungry.

I'm off to ROSS to try and find a good dancing outfit for tonight. Cristian and I are going to the Samba Room. May the forces of Celia's clothing gods and goddesses be with me. I really need to find a good outfit at Ross because the thought of going to Florida Mall on Saturday is not on my list of fun or pleasurable activities to do.

Parent Leadership Council

Last night Cristian and I attended our very first Parent Leadership Council Meeting. The purpose of the PLC is to educate and motivate parents of children with special needs. The topic of the meeting was how to integrate sensory experiences into daily learning. I feel like I'm on information overload. Although lots of the things I heard last night I have learned through my own research AND through blog-lurking (somehow finding links to other moms that have special needs kids), I kept fighting back tears the entire night. Once again, I had to ask myself "what is going on Ramirez?" Here I have been the advocating for my baby . . . so it's not like I'm one of those moms that is in super duper denial. It was just a completely new experience to be in a room full of parents who had children that had delayed speech, behavior issues, sensory processing disorders, etc. They could relate. They knew what we were going through. Because they had already been through it or were on the same path as us. So I don't know if those tears that kept welling up in my eyes and making it nearly impossible for me to read the notes I was trying to write were tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of relief, or just plain old tears.

Sarah's new Occupational Therapist is amazing. And yes, she was able to confirm through her own observations AND through the developmental testing that Sarah does indeed have a sensory processing disorder. Now we just need to figure out how to help Sarah properly receive the sensory input she is seeking out. (Can we say TRAMPOLINE for Christmas??? Or electric toothbrush??? Or Sarah Sandwich???) My digital camera has dead batteries. But I do look forward to posting pictures of us doing OT homework.

Priorities

So as I completely STRUGGLED to get out the door last night to go to Cub Scout den meeting that my son would not be attending (since it's baseball season), I had to remind myself continually to have a good attitude, put a smile on my face, and PRETEND like I am having fun. Oh yeah, I also had to remind myself to not forget to load Mateo and Sarah into the van because they too are unofficially inducted members into Cub Scout Pack #30. (I am now on strike and REFUSING to shell out another dime for babysitting while I do my church calling. If they want me as den leader, my two little ones will be coming along . . . at least until baseball season is over.) Anyway, I got inundated with a double dose of GRIEF from everyone that I happened to pass in the hallway at church for letting Sarah wear her princess costume AND for not putting a jacket on her. It is a very modest Children's Place princess costume . . . in fact it was her Halloween costume from last year. Is there something written in the Church Handbook of Instructions that states a two year old girl is not allowed into the church dressed as a princess? I don't understand, since it was perfectly acceptable last weekend for the Fall Festival. What am I missing here???? AND, if my children wear jackets or ski parkas when the temperature is 65 degrees, what are they supposed to wear when the weather really does get cold?

Finally after hearing the comment regarding Sarah's attire for the bazillionth time, I turned to the well-meaning brother and asked,"What is more important in the eternal scheme of things . . . that I am here at den meeting tonight dutifully magnifying my calling OR making sure that my daughter doesn't come to den meeting dressed as a princess?"

What's your input?????

Bombs Away

Bombs Away . . . . literally. EVERYONE in the entire Orlando City Police Department and Fire Department decided to visit the master planned community where I live. We have had some interesting news over the last couple months. You know the declarations when you buy a new house? Funny how the home builder FORGOT to mention that our homes were built upon an old World War test bombing site. Another live bomb was found this morning. In someone's backyard. Right behind Primrose School. Publix is considered a safe haven. I guess the safe place/shelter had to move across the street. You see, Odyssey Middle School is the designated safe place . . . but it is built right smack dab on top of the key bombing site that was used back during World War II. Fun times.

Medical Team Memo

Memo to Sarah's Medical Team:

Please be aware that Sarah reacts to i.v. sedation like her mother does. It simply does not work. If the doctor says it will take anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes for her to metabolize the drug, that really means a minimum of 2 hours and 15 minutes. She will start to laugh out loud uncontrollably, sing silly songs, and walk around like she is drunk within 15 minutes of administering the oral meds, but in order for her to fall into a Sleeping Beauty deep sleep plan on a minimum of 2 hours 15 minutes. Whatever you do, DO NOT ABORT the procedure. Stick it out. Because if you abort the procedure, you will have to deal with Sarah and her mother yet again. Not good. And definitely not fun.

And please remind Sarah's mother that from here on out, she is to be accompanied by Sarah's father in tow. Sarah's mom isn't much help when she is slouched over in a corner chair. Apparently Sarah's mom doesn't do well with hospitals, labs, OR imaging centers.

Sincerely,

Nurse Laura
(The nurse that cared for Sarah AND her faint/queasy mother for 5+ hours today during a procedure that was supposed to take no longer than 1 hour tops.)

P.S. Yes, Sarah is wearing a PULL-UP in the picture. But Sarah's mom pleaded for you to not mention ANYTHING about this to Sarah's Behavior Therapist, Ms. Erika. Sedation AND Potty-training DO NOT go hand in hand. Unless, of course you want to witness buckets of pee dribble down Sarah's leg and onto the floor. Thank goodness she had her accident on the linoleum floor. It was a lot easier to clean up that way. And by the way, I don't remember that cleaning up other kids' bodily fluids is part of my job description. Shouldn't her mother have cleaned up that mess????? --Nurse Laura

Eviction Notice

There have been two huge boxes sitting on the floor of CRISTIAN's office for the last 18 months. (And those boxes are bigger than the boxes that were sitting in the corner of Sarah's room for the last 6 months that finally got shipped to Utah a couple weeks ago). Today, I got my 30 day eviction notice. Cristian is evicting me from HIS office if I don't get my stuff cleaned up. I tried to explain to him that my Kindermusik business conducted in HIS office serves as a tax write-off, but that argument was not convincing enough. I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to go through the contents of the two boxes. Now I have everything condensed in to one box.

And, I was able to get all of Sarah's medical records, prescriptions, IFSPs (Individualized Family Support Plan), evaluations reports, etc. into ONE location. Now if we have to evacuate due to a natural disaster (i.e. Hurricane Heidi), I will be able to quickly locate all of Sarah's important papers. I will post pictures of my progress tomorrow. (And if you need a visual in the meantime, my Kindermusik Korner looks equivalent to Lenore's bookcase.)

Mis Queridos Hijos 11/4/07

First off, since other people read this blog and they don't necessarily know Spanish, "Mis Queridos Hijos" is a term of endearment. It sounds super cheesy if translated directly into English, but it means My dearest/beloved children. O.K. now that we've had the Spanish lesson for the week, let's review the week.

Tino: You are growing up. And I don't know what I think about that. Isn't the photo of your Halloween costume lovely? Oh, you can't see the photo? That would be because you were OFF trick-or-treating BEFORE I could get a picture. And once you returned home from trick-or-treating, you had showered and changed into your p.j.s before I had the chance to take your picture. You went trick-or-treating with Nicolas, Chris, and their mom Kimberly along with a couple other friends for about half an hour. Then, you Nicolas and friends went to the other two streets ALONE. For one hour. You dutifully went back to Nicolas' house to check in with his mom every 15 minutes and I gave you my cell phone so I could call you every 20 minutes to make sure you guys were o.k. You got home around 8:10 p.m. You have been helping papi with the outdoor stuff. You mowed the lawn in the backyard and edged. You are doing a very good job (way better than your mami does at those tasks). Keep up the great work! In other news, there are only 3 weeks left of baseball season. You were the starting pitcher in the game yesterday. I don't know what kind of pitch you do, but it's really sneaky. You strike people out EVERY TIME. From the batters position, the ball looks like it is going to be a strike as it is heading to the plate. Then,when it gets to the plate, it curves down towards the dirt. The batter would swing right through it. (Tino wrote the italicized part. Thanks Tino).









Mateo: You slept in your bed 5 nights this week. THANK YOU MATEO! Tino still doesn't even begin to relate to the concept that you leave the comforts of your warm and cozy bed in the middle of the night and then crawl into bed with mami and papi. You learned how to spell another word. C.V.S. You had fun at the Silver Sneakers Halloween party and trick-or-treating with Sarah. But you missed your brother and kept asking when he would join us. Last night we went to your favorite Mexican Restaurant. You ordered a casadilla. (Thanks Napolean Dynamite for butchering that word for us.)

Sarah: You had a lovely Speech session with your new speech therapist Miss Lauren. She brought lots of fun toys. You still don't understand the concept of colors. When I ask "What color is that?" You dutifully repeat "What color is dat mami?" We are working on identifying two colors this week. So far EVERYTHING is boo (blue). We'll keep working on it. We are also working on one-to-one correspondence with a field of two items. You helped me clean the house this week and you were all geared up to tackle HURRICANE HEIDI that had hit the house. I'm so glad you were able to wear your bike helmet to protect your head from anything that might come tumbling down into your cleaning path. Tomorrow morning you have your MRI with sedation. You need to go to bed late tonight and I get the pleasure of waking you up EARLY in the morning. We will then make the trek across town where you will be sedated. If you cooperate and go under fast, it won't take long at all for them to do the two MRI studies. But, if you are stubborn (as you usually are), we will plan on being there the better part of the day. (Here are some pictures from when you had your first seizure and when we really started to investigate autism, PDD, etc.)
Cristian: I surprised you this week for our Friday lunch date. I told you to meet me in front of Chipotle. I didn't dare tell you where we were going because I didn't want you to back out. We then went a couple doors down to the nail salon. We ate Chinese food and had pedicures. You got a really good nail tech. My nail tech was highly annoying because she kept turning OFF my massage chair. Every time I would get it to the setting that I liked, she would take the controller out of my hands and turn it OFF. We repeated this massage chair on/massage chair off process for the entire hour. And to make things worse, she didn't speak a lick of English, so even if I told her to keep her hands OFF the controller and let me enjoy my MASSAGE, she wouldn't have understood me anyway. I am glad you were able to relax and enjoy your spa pedicure AND your General Tso's chicken from the new Chinese Restaurant.

Heidi: There was no Cub Scouts this week due to Halloween. (YIPPIE). And No Scouting for Food bag distribution because YOU...... ARE. . . . . TRYING..... TO......LEARN.......HOW.....TO.....SAY ......NO.... and/or give service opportunities to others in the branch. The Silver Sneakers Halloween party was super fun. And, you gave your first official KINDERMUSIK BIRTHDAY PARTY yesterday. You are now ready to start expanding your Kindermusik business and will offer music and movement birthday parties.

34 Acts of Service

Cristian and I have been reading Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages together. My dominant love language is Acts of Service. And Cristian's dominant language is Words of Affirmation. So here is a big SHOUT-OUT and THANK YOU to Cristian. I LOVE YOU BABY!
Here is a list of 34 acts of service Cristian has performed for me the last week:

1. Cristian took Tino to his baseball game on Saturday.
2. He coached for Tino's baseball team AND stayed another 3 hours at the baseball fields to Umpire. (Little League parents need to volunteer their time. Since Cristian is volunteering, I can cross that off my list of things to do.)
3. He called to tell me the above-mentioned game had been cancelled BEFORE I schlepped Mateo and Sarah over to the muddy baseball field.
4. He attended the Fall Festival/Cub Scout Fundraiser with the kids and I.
5. And pretended he was having FUN at the Fall Festival.
6. He let me sleep in on Sunday morning.
7. He got the kids bathed, dressed and ready for church.
8. He took the kids with him to pick up investigators and less-active members.
9. This allowed me to play prelude music at church in PEACE.
10. Cristian did the Sunday dinner dishes.
11. And the hand-wash only dishes that had been sitting on the kitchen counter for who knows how long.
12. He kept his excitement to himself and didn't wake me up after coming to bed at 1:00 a.m. after the Bo-Sox won the World Series. (If I get awakened, it's the kiss of death for me. So much for having a good night's rest because I will spend the next 2-3 hours trying to get back to sleep.)
13. He took Tino to get a haircut on Monday.
14. And made it on time for Sarah and Mateo's Kindermusik class.
15. He jump started my car Monday evening.
16. And Tuesday morning.
17. Since he couldn't be there to help me jump start my car each time I needed to go somewhere, he let me borrow his car so I could get to class on time.
18. Even though he is ANAL about keeping his car super duper clean and tidy, he let me bring all of my stuff into his car.
19. He also let me bring my storage container full of different drums, 12 pairs of maracitas, 24 pairs of rhythm sticks, 24 egg shakers, 12 tamourines, one 12-person parachute, one 8-person parachute, and ghetto box from the early 90s into HIS car.
20. And he took Mateo into preschool so I wouldn't have to get out of the car dressed in my pirate costume one day BEFORE Halloween.
21. He spent his one hour lunch break taking me back to the house so I could change out of my pirate costume AND
22. He helped me jump start my car again.
23. And he followed me to Auto Zone to make sure I got there o.k.
24. He reminded me to ask if our battery was covered under warranty which it WAS, so with that money saved of not having to buy a new battery, we were able to go across the street
25. To eat pizza for lunch. Thus, turning his one hour lunch break into two hours. And he even pretended like he had time to take such a long lunch break.
26. #25 counts for two items because we only eat pizza on the weekends. Eating pizza mid-week is a super duper treat. Thus qualifying for another act of service.
27. He put Mateo to bed doing his batman-superman-spiderman rendition.
28. And put Sarah to be doing wonderwoman-spiderwoman rendition just to make her feel special like her brother.
29. Yesterday, Cristian showed up at the Silver Sneakers Halloween Party to surprise me.
30. And to surprise everyone else. (My class has wanted to meet Cristian for a long time now).
31. He offered to clean all three bathrooms when he got home from work.
32. He got home early enough so we could eat dinner together as a family AND
33. Go trick-or-treating with Mateo and Sarah.
34. To commemorate the Halloween occasion, he dressed up in his basketball shirt/shorts and was #34 (SHAQ).

Spelling

As a child, I was the QUEEN of spelling. My favorite time of year was when we would have the class spelling bees (which I would win), followed by school level (which I would also win), and then on to district level, county level, etc. Unfortunately, I always ended up missing a silly word. I never made it to the SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE. Mateo is already practicing for the days when he will be Spelling Bee champion. He just learned how to spell two new words. And he is super duper proud of himself.

The first word, he learned last night. We went to Wendy's before going to Skate Night and he ordered his favorite mandarin orange cup. After eating his oranges, we had this conversation:
Mateo: Mami, I know how to spell empty.
Mami: Empty, like what?
Mateo: You know, empty. My mandarin oranges is empty. It means NOT FULL mami.
Mami: How do you spell empty?
Mateo: Like this (he then proceeded to draw the letters M and T in the air) Get it mami? M-T. I spelled a word.

And then he picked up a new word this morning.
Mateo: Mami, I know how to spell Anne. She's my aunt Anne. She lives in Cali-forn-YA.
Mami: How do you spell Anne?
Mateo: Like this ("N"-"E").
Mami: Great Mateo.
He actually says Anne more like (Eh-Nee) so his phonetic spelling of her name is right on!

Mis Queridos Hijos 10/28/2007

Dear Tino, Mateo, and Sarah,

This week we were busy getting ready for Halloween festivities. We were trying to get costumes rounded up, Halloween candy bought, etc. Don't worry, even though Papi got the Halloween box of stuff out of the attic several weeks ago, it is still sitting on the garage floor. I'm still not good at doing projects. It's just not my thing. But, I promise I will let you help decorate tomorrow night for our Family Home Evening activity. That way you can thoroughly enjoy the Halloween decor for ALMOST 48 hours.

Tino: It's report card time.
YOU ARE GROUNDED. Just kidding. You got As in all subject areas except Reading . . . which was an A-. You also had a Cub Scout Pack meeting this week. You didn't go because of baseball practice, but you were excited when I brought home all of your latest belt loops for table tennis, wildlife conservation, language and culture, and collecting. On Saturday there was a cub scout fundraiser. The tri-pack raised $1243. In other news, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. We sent you to bed before the game ended because you were getting really grumpy. Then we woke you up so you could see that last two outs. It's still debatable whether you would have been more grumpy had we not awakened you to see your Bo Sox win or the fact that Papi woke you from a deep sleep.

Mateo: You enjoy writing letters and numbers on everything in sight. You have also started to make the connection between letter names and beginning letter sounds. Just because I'm a Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach, I have not pushed you to achieve in the area of reading. Everything you have picked up so far you have learned from pre-school, your Leapster games, the new reading show on PBS kids, or who knows where else. I am not pushing the academics nor have I sat down with you to really work with you. You had so much fun at your Halloween party at school on Friday. And Buzz Lightyear did come to the rescue on Saturday night. At the church party I did you a favor by eating all of your peanut candies (Snickers, Reeses, etc.). When we got home from the party, I dumped out your candy, read labels, and took out any other peanut offenders. THANK GOODNESS you know what you are looking for. Because even after I had went through your candy twice, you found TWO peanut candies that I had overlooked and handed them over to me.

Sarah: You have been happy for two weeks now. You smile. You laugh. You joke around (even though we don't understand what you are saying). The most important thing is that you are laughing at your own jokes. At least you think you are funny. And we are happy that you are happy. YEAH! Both special needs pre-schools are FULL until next year . . . as in August of 2008. You are on both waiting lists, but it isn't looking too promising for this school year. You begin speech therapy on Wednesday afternoon. You had a lot of fun at the Halloween party on Saturday night. I didn't get any pictures of you because you were with Hna. Yasmin the entire evening. I don't know where you guys were hanging out, but you got the very best candy out of all three kids. I know because I have been eating all your candy. Thanks for sharing your Kit Kats, Snickers, Reeses, peanut m and ms, and junior mints with me. Oh and thanks also for the bazooka gum. It brings back childhood memories. You are very excited that you have a BIG GIRL BED. You keep going into your room and climbing into bed about 55 times a day. Now if you would just reflect upon those days that you loved taking naps. Wouldn't it be a lot of fun to take a nap in your big girl bed? Humor me and try it. I guarantee you will like it.

That's all for now. I love you!

Mami

P.S. I write this stuff in a blog. When you kids are older this will probably really date me. Blogging will most likely be a thing of the past. (Kind of equivalent to when I tell people that your papi and I had a long-distance relationship Dominican Republic to California and we communicated via- faxes.) Anyway, people read this blog. And a blogger friend has asked for updates on papi and mami as well. I think she got that idea from one of her friends. I'll be thinking about some stuff to write about us from now on. Stay tuned for next week's installment of Mis Queridos Hijos.

The Spanish Police

Mateo always likes it when you SPEAK and only sometimes enjoys "cuando hablas". He is the funkiest of all three kids when it comes to speaking Spanish. It's like a deep dark skeleton that we hide in the closet. According to Mateo, we can only speak Spanish when he decides it's going to be cool. Or when he just wants to be a smarty pants and tease his abuela/grandma in Utah that doesn't understand ONE WORD he is saying when he speaks to her in Spanish. Every now and then he will come up to me and say "mami hable espanol". So then we proceed to speak in Spanish for the next hour or until he gets bored of the Spanish game. When abruptly he will announce MAMI, IT'S TIME TO SPEAK (translation: Speak English). We have just been playing the Spanish game. He also likes to quiz me to see if I really do know Spanish. It goes something like this:

Mateo: Mami do you know how you says "star" in Spanish?
Mami: Estrella.
Mateo: Very good. O.K. How do you says telescope?
Mami: I have NO IDEA. How do you say telescope in Spanish?
Mateo: It's called "te-le-sco-pi-o" telescopio like that mami. Now you say it.
Mami: Telescopio. (Rolling my eyes and thinking, yeah whatever Mateo.) Muy bien Mateo.

I wondered if he was just adding an "o" ending to make it sound Spanish. I just rushed to my Spanish-English dictionary. Guess what? If you are ever stargazing in a Spanish speaking country and you need to know how to say telescope in Spanish, it is indeed telescopio.

Too far from the Mothership

Living in Orlando has been a very interesting CHURCH experience. I've seen things happen in church that never even occurred in the 3rd world country where I served my mission. There have been times when Cristian and I look at each other and say in disbelief "Did you just see that? Or did you just hear that?" Sometimes things from the Church Handbook of Instructions get a little bit lost in translation. I've just learned to chalk it up as we're a little bit too far from the Mothership a.k.a. Salt Lake City, UT. That, and we live on the edge of the bible belt so sometimes beliefs and/or customs/cultures get a little bit intertwined. Sometimes church functions as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints-Southern Baptist Style". But I do have to say it's getting A LOT BETTER than it was 3 years ago.



Anyway, I recently left the community Cub Scouts and transtioned into a pack chartered by our branch. Tonight is the fundraiser for our tri-pack (2 English speaking wards and the Spanish speaking branch). We have NO money in our budget. For some reason, the customary popcorn sales do not go over well in the church tri-pack. You know, the cub scout equivalent as the Girl Scout cookies . . . except for the popcorn costs 5 times as much. But, I do have to say that for the last couple years I was involved in the community pack, we PROFITED between $3000-$4000 on popcorn sales alone. We didn't even have to do the Spring Family Fest fundraiser. Basically the boys had to take two 1 1/2 hour shifts standing outside the supermarket selling their popcorn. And if they wanted all the prizes that go along with being overachievers, they could sell popcorn to next-door neighbors, family members, parents' coworkers, etc. En fin, the cub scouts actively participated in the fundraiser. n my opinion, something is WRONG with the picture in tonight's fundraiser. I spent Wednesday getting the things ready for the Kindermusik gift basket I am donating for the silent auction, Thursday at the store buying stuff to make chili (fundraiser dinner) and cookies (musical chairs style "sweet walk"), yesterday making chili so it would have an extra day for the spices to set or whatever the cooking term for it tastes way better the 2nd day, and this morning I get to make dozens and dozens of cookies. Noon is when all the parents will meet at the church to decorate for the Fall Carnival/Cub Scout Fundraiser. And 5:00 p.m. is when we are supposed to be across town (a good 45-minute drive) so we can support our newest cub scouts at their BAPTISM. Followed by rushing back across town, getting kids dressed in costumes, warming up the chili, and being ready for the Fall Carnival at 7:00 p.m.

Is it just me or does it seem like the adults are putting WAY too much on their plates for today AND not really making it conducive so that the kids can actively participate in raising funds for THEIR fundraiser??? The kids are going to be running around playing carnival games, visiting the "Haunted House", etc. If we're not truly following the counsel of the brethren by OVERSCHEDULING our families and the B.S.A. states "it is best if the Cub Scouts earn their own way" in raising funds, wouldn't it have been a heck of a lot easier to just ask the parents to open up their checkbook, write a check for pack dues/den dues and call it a day???