Cristian's Graduation

Cristian graduated from UCF! Did you know that UCF is the fourth largest university in the United States? I didn't. Did you know that 4th largest universities also means 4th LONGEST graduation ceremonies in the U.S.? Cristian was on the second row on the right hand side, about 4 people in from the center aisle. This means he walked about 25 minutes into the 2 hour and 30 minute ceremony. By that time, the kids had eaten their popcorn, nachos, and drank all there was to drink. Once they heard his name called and did the cheering thing, they were ready to go. They were not too happy when they found out we had to stay for the entire ceremony and that Papi couldn't sneak out and meet us at Outback Steakhouse. There were 1500+ that graduated, but I really think it was more like 15,000.

We are very proud of Cristian for this great accomplishment. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pre-graduation ceremony pictures. The kids are hot, sweaty, tired, and SO OVER IT in all the pictures, but I wanted to record this for posterity.

For future reference and note to self . . . arriving 45 minutes prior to the graduation ceremony beginning IS NOT ENOUGH LEAD TIME. We were the 4th row from the TOP . . . definitely in nose bleed territory. Too bad we didn't bring any binoculars. Mateo and Sarah were amused for about 15 minutes. About 45 minutes into the ceremony, I had to take Sarah out to roam the halls. I am NOT brave like some of my blogging friends. I wish I could have captured the photos of people that were shooting her dirty looks or the looks shot in my direction that seem to say "what kind of a mother are you and why aren't you paying any attention to your kid that is having a meltdown"? Sometimes I think when Sarah and I go out in public we should have matchy matchy bright neon shirts that have messages ironed on like "My daughter has sensory integration disorder and YOU are freaking her out" or "My mom is TRYING to listen to all the advice that my behavior therapist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, neurologist, pediatrician, etc. have given her to IGNORE this negative behavior. Please don't REWARD my tantrums with offering me balloons, candy, etc."

Meltdown Moments/Outback Steakhouse

Tragic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom

Mateo, Sarah, Tia Millie, and I went to the parks on Saturday. Tia Millie just got a full-time job offer working over at Tragic Kingdom. She didn't want to show up on her first day on the job without ever visiting the place. So she took us there on Saturday. I showed her all the ins and outs of Tragic Kingdom. And yes, it was TRAGIC. I thought that with age, Sarah would outgrow her meltdowns every time she enters a Disney park. Wrong-o Bong-o. It was a terrible experience for her and for us. In fact, Tia Millie said she will never ever take her to the parks again. That's o.k. I am not going to try taking her there again until she's at least 8 years old. It's just not worth it. For kiddos with sensory integration disorder, the place is too much. Talk about sensory overload.

After going to Magic Kingdom, we headed over to my favorite park in the planet . . . Animal Kingdom. It was wonderful . . . once we convinced Sarah that if she stopped crying she would be able to see the real animals. I had never seen the Lion King show and finally got to see it on Saturday. It was incredible! I loved it! And believe it or not, Sarah did too. We have always gone on the safari ride the very first thing when we walk into the park. On Saturday, we waited until 20 minutes before the park was going to close. It was THE BEST! There was absolutely NO LINE and we were able to see some of the nocturnal animals as they were coming out.

El fin se acerca

Cristian has been going to graduate school for about 6 1/2 years . . . but who's counting? He has taken one class at a time . . . with sometimes a semester or two off in between. He is in the graduate program at UCF studying Spanish Literature. Last week he had his comprehensive written exam. Today he had the oral exam where all the professors in the program drilled him on his knowledge of anything and everything Spanish Literature . . . early 1300s to present day 2009. He passed both exams with flying colors. What does this mean????? He will be officially finished with school in less than one month. Graduation is on May 8th. Congratulations Cristian!

La visita

This is an entry for posterity purposes. A couple of weeks ago, Cristian went to Baltimore, MD to visit his biological father. He has had only a handful of brief interactions with him since he was three years old when his parents got divorced. Juan Carlos' health is not that great and Cristian has had a feeling he needed to get up to Baltimore to visit his biological father and to get closure. He spent the weekend with his biological father, two half brothers, and their families. All in all it was a very good weekend for all. I am so happy he was able to spend time with Juan Carlos and to learn more about his life. Although my children will most likely never meet him, we now at least have some pictures to show them of their long lost tios, abuelo, and primas.

One class down . . . only seven more to go.

Last night I finished my first class. Saturday I finish my Spanish 501 class. Then it starts all over again next week. I'm only going to take once class at a time from here on out. This five week per class is INTENSIVE! I can't believe I just completed an entire semester's worth of work in five weeks. I thought I could handle two classes at a time to crank it out quicker, but there is no possible way.

Funny how when mommy's go to school and work almost full time, they still have cooking, cleaning, homework help, baseball practices, cub scouts, and everything else that is expected for moms to take care of.

You must have figured out by now that your Christmas cards are STILL sitting on the desk in Cristian's office. Maybe I'll just hold onto them for a few more months so it looks like I'm really on top of things when you receive your 2009 Christmas card with the 2008 newsletter and picture of the kids the end of November.

Back to writing my 15 page paper . . . in Spanish. UGH!

Sick Sarah

So Sarah is sick today. Let me rephrase that. She has a fever which keeps her out of school, but she seems to be absolutely fine. This is a little recap of what my day has been like so far.

10:00 a.m. Sarah: Mommy, we gonna pick up Mateo now? He done with da school.

10:05 a.m. Sarah: Mommy, it's gonna be night time. We gotta pick up Mateo.

10:06 a.m. Sarah: Mommy, I don't have anybody to play wif me. Who gonna play wif me? Mateo misses me. We have to pick him up.

Do you see the pattern here? And today was supposed to be the day where I stayed home and did homework all day long. In peace. With no kids. No interruptions. Yeah, what was I thinking???

New Year , New Me!

So I had all these end of year posts planned . . . and the Christmas and New Year's festivities posts planned . . . but now I might as well save it for next year. (Kind of like I'm thinking about saving my 2008 Christmas cards that still haven't been sent out).

Anyway, tomorrow I go back to school FULL TIME. And if you want to know where I am going, you can visit their link here. The program is ACCELERATED. Five weeks per class . . . four hours class time per week . . . approximately 10 hours outside class time preparation/homework per week . . . TIMES TWO. I failed the Spanish entrance exam (for NATIVE SPANISH speakers) . . . so I have to take SPANISH 501. Five stinkin' percentage points more and I would have had 80% on the test and would have been exempt from taking any more Spanish classes. I am also taking a Curriculum Design class. I could care less about all the different teaching philosophies (my philosophy is the only RIGHT one) . . . and I'd rather leave the curriculum design up to someone else. Let me teach and I am one happy camper. But, it's a required course. So I will . . . TAKE IT.

Anyway, Turabo University (that's what it's called in English) is taking 15 semester units of my 102 semester units of graduate course work I completed in California. I should have that little piece of paper that says I have my Master's degree within 6 to 8 months. And please, don't give me any grief about why didn't I finish up my Master's the first time around. I know, I know. Now I know. But 10 1/2 years ago I could have cared less about finishing up my thesis. I was going to be a STAY AT HOME MOM for the next 20+ years of my life. Funny how Heidi's plan for Heidi and Heavenly Father's plan for Heidi are always a little bit different. Who would have ever thought in a million and one years that I would be attending a PUERTO RICAN University? Not me.

Dear Anyone and Everyone,

Not that you care, but just had to let you know what I've been doing the last 24 hours. I STARTED and FINISHED Christmas shopping (5 1/2 hours, 7 stores, and 12 presents), printed off the Christmas/New Year's cards, went to the grocery store with 3 children in tow, and am now doing my holiday baking. I never thought I would have been able to pull it off.

It's all about simplification.

• The 12 brand new boxes of lights for outside? Yeah, next year I am hiring that out.
• The brand new 100 foot tree? Yeah, it is all decorated. As for the rest of the decorations that usually are throughout the house . . . who needs them? I'll just have everyone come into my great room and see the beautiful tree. That makes up for the lack of Christmas decor throughout the rest of the house.
• Thanks Cousin April for the MARVELOUS idea of 3 gifts. I completely borrowed that idea and modified it to fit our needs. Three gifts= the three gifts from the Wisemen to Baby Jesus. For our family's purposes, one gift is from mom/dad, one gift is from the siblings, and one gift is from Santa. I just sent a memo to Santa so he would know that only one gift would be from him. Yeah, I couldn't get him to comply 100% because he already had some stocking stuffers for the kids' stockings.
  
• Thanks Paige for the idea of faux-baking. I am doing some real baking, but also borrowed your ideas for the brownies with my modifications (added red and green m and m's to one batch, will add mint frosting to the other batch).
• Thanks Heather for inspiring me to get it in gear and prepare for the holidays.

Now if only I could find my cable to my camera (that has been DISCONTINUED) so I could upload photos onto my blog of our cruise to Cozumel, Tino's band concert, Sarah and Mateo's holiday program, and our other holiday happenings.

Besos y Abrazos,

heidiram