New Peach Words

Belly button and back pack.  She still doesn't say no.  I couldn't love her more :)

Beautiful

G bear is a beauty.  She loves skirts and shoes, make up, and dolls.  Oh she will get dirty and wrestle with the boys but she loves being a princess.  Yesterday I was in the bathroom putting on some makeup.  For the most part I leave this out of my routine but I was going to enrichment and in an effort to avoid hearing the, "Wow you look tired." comments I was putting on some mascara.  G bear came in and asked me to put some makeup on her.  I told her she didn't need any makeup.  She was beautiful little girl, perfect just the way she is.  She said, "But I want you to make me darker.  Darker is beautiful.  Mom you have darker beautiful hair."  It was a shocker of a moment for me, full of joy and sadness.  I think most children see their mother as their first example of what is beautiful and I'm glad to know that I live up to a standard that my daughter feels that about me.  I am saddened though in the fact that love has her feeling slightly unsatisfied with her own looks.  As the Mexican daughter of a white mother I have always felt a little uncomfortable.  I recognize a sort of hidden desire in myself to mesh more closely with my mother's family, the ones who predominately raised me.  I also felt a little uncomfortable in the dating realm.  There was definitely a lot of blond to blond pairing up at my college and there were times when I wondered if people saw my coloring as a liability.  In the end the opposite ended up being true.  My hair caught the eye of my husband, and my winning attitude kept it, and so brown married blond, and little miss blond hair, blue eyes was born.  I have two blue eyed, blond children, I have one brown eyed, brown haired child.  They are all adorable.  I'm a very lucky mom.  I often feel blessed to be the mother of such photogenic children.  I hope they can always be happy with themselves.  I realize that isn't always possible.  Woman, even baby woman sometimes find issues with themselves.  It is my job as their mother though to always let them know how awesome they are.   

Summer Birthday Parties

 Some sumer slide and painting fun.  I'd like to point out this was one of the hottest days of the year and I was sweating up a storm.  Thank goodness the pictures are only of the kids :)

Momma Visits

My momma came out to visit and then a few weeks later my mother in law was here.  I miss my family and having the mommas in town was balm.  When my mother in law was here she did tons of things for me.  Clean out the limt trap, check.  Clean out the lint trap on the second floor, check.  Clean out my drains, check.  Clean out the bathroom fans, check.  We did fun stuff as well but you've got to love clean and fun :)

Peach and her namesake...

This girl loves fruits but she wants her fruit whole, no piece meal fruit for her.  And yes she has some chompers.  Does anyone recognize where the rounded front teeth come from?  My sister's daughter has teeth like this as well so I'm thinking it must come from my side of the family.  Anyway they are cute.  I just wondered if they came from my mom or my dad's side. 

Magic House!

We have a museum pass that lets us visit children's museums all over the country.  One of the coolest we've seen is The Magic House in St. Louis.  If you need to kill some time in St. Louis,while you are waiting for a spouse who is in the temple and it is 100 plus degrees so the zoo is out...it is the perfect place.  OK honestly even if it isn't 100 degrees it is still pretty perfect.  So when you are taking three kids through a huge museum with no backup, pictures are not high priority but I did manage to snap a few at this gigantic electric ball.  Can I just say it was a little scary but the kids loves all the wattage!  Go kiddos, GO!

Baby Voice

Peach's Newest Words:

Toe, toes=toes (she'll point for this one)
ba=ball
drin=drink
wawa=water

As usually Dr. McSteamy was gone late.  At 7:30 we got a call to wish everyone goodnight.  Captain E took a turn.  He mostly giggled.  G Bear had more to say.  Then I took the phone and walked into the kitchen.  Peach came toodling after me, yelling and reaching up.  I hung up the phone and she got really upset.  "Nigh, nigh dada, nigh, nigh dada."  So I called back and gave her the phone.  I told her to say hello and she waved.  Then she started laughing.  She was happy and I could hang up the phone.

Currently Covetting....

Yes I dream about cameras...I can't help myself. I love taking pictures of my kids and am always disapointed in the limits of my camera. Should I ever find myself with a couple thousand dollars, this baby will be mine...along with a couple thousand more dollars worth of lenses. So I'm thinking in something like thirty years from now...when Dr. Steamy has a job and our loans are all paid off.....:(

Pretty

Something pretty to look at...I seriously love etsy.  People with talent can make beautiful things and then those of with no talent can buy them :)  If you are interested in this piece check it out here...

One More Fish in the Sea...

I live in a hot place...add some humidity and it can be unbearable.  That is why today after picking E up from school we headed to the pool.  Oh glorious water!  It is a sentiment held by all of us.  At the beginning of the summer the kids were hesitant about the water.   Everyone witnessed Peach's breakdown her first trip to the pool.  Since then there has been a quick warm up.  Peach loves the water.  She kicks her legs, blows bubbles, will let me lay her down to float, and will say, "Dun, dun!  Dun, dun!  Dun, dun!" as we chase the other kids around the pool.  Apparently dun dun is what sharks say before they eat children :)  G bear uses a yellow baby pool float to keep up with all the big people.  She run from the baby pool to the big pool.  She holds hands with other girls and jumps in.  She puts her hair under water but tries to avoid putting her eyes in.  She loves motor boat.  And then the big news.  Today Captain E STARTED TO SWIM!  He put on his goggles and went all out.  He swam around me.  He swam to the side.  He swam to me.  He did cannonballs off he side screaming "Cannonball!"  He started slipping off the side head first.  Then he started diving into the pool and swimming to me.  It was so fun!

The end of an era...

Last year Peanut Butter was the word on the street.  Every day but Friday it was PB & J.  That was last year.  Today right before we left for school Captain E said, "Mom can you stop putting peanut butter in my lunch box.  When I have peanut butter I can't sit with my best friend Gavin."  There is a peanut free zone for the allergy kids.  And so at the last moment today I pulled that peanut butter sandwich out and switched it with pop tarts.  Hey it was a last minute emergency!  And there you go, no more peanut butter....

Sad day...

We helped pack up some good friends today...ok when I say we I really mean Dr. Steamy McDreamy helped load the van and I basically just sat around eating donuts and drinking OJ.  I think I was in a state of denial, now it is real.  Our good friends are leaving in the morning.  They got a job and bought a house.  We are happy for them.  Really we are.  We are sad for ourselves.  They were totally made for us.  They've been here almost as long as we have.  They are the same age.  The fathers could be body doubles for each other.  We share similar politics and foreign interest.  Most importantly we have three children a piece that perfectly match up in age.  Hopefully this is the last set of friends we have to see leave us here.  Goodbye Wheelers...WE WILL MISS YOU!

Tillets...

Peach-Our other two children were not early talkers.  Captain E was pretty quiet until 2 years old, G bear until almost 3.  After G bear I decided it had to be me.  I must not be talking to them enough/singing/letting them watch Baby Mozart/it must be genetic.  Then came peach and finally I have an early talker.  Yesterday dear friends of ours took her to the playground.  They put her in the swing where she promply freaked out.  She doesn't like to feel out of control, but when she realized she wasn't going to fall she relaxed and began to enjoy.  When the hubby took her out so they could move on, she reached her little arms up and said, "Swing."  Later on in the day she brought me an Itsy Bitsy spider book (her favorite) and said, "This book."  Hurray.  She is adorable.  She also will start kissing on comand.  If you say kiss she starts puckering.

G Bear-G bear continues to love all things girl.  On Saturday I came home with a matching Gap dress and shoes (courtesy of a rocking garage sale).  When G bear saw them her eyes got super big.  "I love the shoes!  I love the dress!  I LOVE THEM!"  Then she ran over to me, gave me a hug and said, "I love you mom!"  Yes I know I am in trouble. 

Captain E-Captain E continues to be settling into school.  He seems much more comfortable this year.  Is it the teacher or just the fact that he's done it all before?  He comes home every day and tells me, "Mom 1st grade is so much easier than Kindergarten."  Well sweetie I'm glad you think so.  I've volunteered to help out at the school every Tuesday.  Monday the teacher said, "Guess whoes mommy is coming tomorrow."  Then everyone  cheered.  E was so proud :)  When I got to school he was on the corner with his two best buds, G and C.  Now here is the interesting thing about it.  E goes to a incredibly diverse school.  Twenty three percent Asian, 26% black, 3% hispanic.  It is a fairly good mix of kids.  He two best friends...look like they could be his brothers.