Marbles

Looking attentively into my eyes D says " Mommy, your eyes look like marbles, ...with me inside them." And back he goes to play with his cars.

Sleep little Kaila

"Mommy, you know what? You know when I'm at school and I don't have anyone to play with I sometimes will sit like this in the swing (rocking slowly back and forth) and sing "Dorme Kailinha do meu coração ...". I'll sing it very softly, nobody can really hear me. I like it."

Dorme Kailinha is a lullaby that my mom would sing to her when she was only days, weeks old. I continued to sing it to her into her toddler years as I put her to bed. To this day, when Kaila is having a hard time falling asleep she will ask - Mommy, can you sing Dorme Kailinha? She will drift off to sleep within minutes...

What a sweet and special gift on Mother's Day.

May 08, 2011

Bath time

Daniel has the cutest way of asking for a bath:
"Mommy, can you take me a bath?"

We've all tried to tell him that the 'correct' way to say it is Can you give me a bath? No success, he is convinced his way is the way, so we just let it be.

It is cold today!

The cold is down here in Houston, too! Brrrr....

100 Days of School

A challenge from Kaila's teacher...write 100 things you learned in the first 100 days of school! I'm helping Kaila with her project this weekend. She is looking back at the material from the past few months and wow, I can see so much change from when she started the school year. The handwriting, the spelling, the concepts taught - quite amazing how quickly kids can learn.

Back to school, back to work

It was back to school and back to work today... we just wished we could've had many more days of vacation. The kids and I were not really quite ready for it to end.

Happy New Year!

Starbucks' brown bag.

A "Big" Christmas Tree

I decided this year that I'd get a small 5.5-foot Christmas tree so the kids could trim it and reach all the way to the top. They were super excited when it came home a couple couple of weeks ago. We set off to decorate it together with small ornaments, ornaments they had made, we added lights, a few red globes and we were mostly done. Over the course of two weeks we've added a few more pieces as they've made additional ornaments at school and at home.

Yesterday, I was talking to Daniel's teacher and told her that I had chosen a small tree this year. Well, she told me that Daniel said that he had a BIG Christmas tree at his house. I guess it's all a matter of perspective and relative size!

Daniel is responsible for supplying the tree with water every morning. Our tree drinks about a cup of water a day.

Happiness

There is nothing like hearing your kids laugh spontaneously and worry-free. We had a great weekend!

Skating

Kaila found a new love last night - ice skating! She is all excited about going out to the rink again...

Martha Stewart Punchers

Quick note cards are easy to make with edge punchers. I used a monarch butterfly figure and bubble punches for the kids' birthday "thank you bookmarks".

I just discovered while shopping this weekend the new "punch everywhere". The top and base separate allowing a punch to be made anywhere in the page, not just at the edges! There is a heart that will be really neat for Valentines and a set of stars that I fell in love with (and, of course, not to be found at the store!). Will check back in a couple of weeks...

Better than chocolate

I love those moments just before Kaila falls asleep when she just has to share something that pops in her head. A couple of days ago she told me:

"Mommy, I love you more than I love chocolate..."

"I love you too, sweetheart", I replied and she drifted off to sleep.

First Day of School

Kaila loved the first day in her new school.

Giggles

Just as Kaila was going to bed on Sunday she told me:
"Mommy, my favorite part of the day today was spending time with Eden. I like her and she likes me, too. I made her laugh :))
Just like Connor. He likes me a lot and I like him, too."

Both Eden and Connor are 1-year olds. Kaila just loves playing and spending time with the little ones. She loves to make them giggle!

All Pink

I took this photo of my glamourous princess on the left a couple of days before receiving the postcard on the right from Melissa in Ottawa.

Too funny...

Why are words so long....?

That seems to be the question on Daniel's mind this week. He has been experimenting with shortening the words as he talks. Tomorrow became "tomah", Lightning McQueen is "Light", guacamole is "guacamah".

- Can I watch Light tomah? I don't want guacamah today.

It's been a fun couple of days, deciphering his new shortened language.

I vaguely remember Kaila going through this same thing a couple of years ago. I wish I had made some notes of her expressions then.

Who are you??

The things you see on the road... minivan license plate: "IAMGOD".

I wish I had my camera ready for a snapshot...for real, as my 5-year old says. Who thinks of doing something like that!?

Good fortune

We closed the weekend with dinner at Pei Wei. Some days the fortune cookies seem to have just the right message for each one of us...a positive thought always comes in handy.

Daddy - "New and rewarding opportunities will soon develop for you."
Daniel - "Your eyes will soon be opened to a world full of beauty, charm and adventure."
Kaila - "A dream you have will come true."
Mommy - "You will get what your heart desires."

Glass roof

Literally, Kaila wants a room with a glass roof so she can go to sleep watching the stars. Our architect to be, for our house to be, already has special requests to incorporate in his plans. My requirement, if the glass roof makes it, is a self-cleaning glass roof!

The initial seed for this conversation was today's school nature walk and checklist. From there, Kaila wanted to live outside and have the insects live inside. A better compromise once we thought about the cold and the rain on her books among other things was to have a room without a roof or an attic. But rain was still a problem, so the glass came into the picture.

Holidays

It's that time of year again when families get together and children get totally spoiled by grandparents. My kids are certainly enjoying the all the attention and new experiences that only grandparents can provide. There is a bright light in their eyes when they smile and a deep innocence in their laugh - these are priceless moments.

Being with my family and enjoying it are part of the true blessings of the Holidays for me!