Hide & Seek

Nothin' like a good game of hide & seek!

Found you Javi!!

This sweet little girl came to visit me in my room

as I was getting ready to go out.  I just had to stick this on

here because I like it.  :)

We definitely have our silly moments...Brienne started it!

This little man thinks his sister is quite amusing...

He decides to try it on too!

CHEESE!!!

Of course they had to see how mommy looked in the funny "hat"!

All the kids love this little Animal Hospital toy. 

 I found it at a thrift store the other day for

a dollar or so.  All the little doors open and close

and each door has its own little keyhole so you can

lock the doors.  The kids have been playing with it

all the time.  They put their little animal toys inside

the doors and play.  I love toys like this.  It really holds

their interest and the possibilities for play are endless.

Too bad I didn't bring my camera

   Have you ever experienced the regret of not bringing your camera with you?  It would have been great to capture the some of the moments we shared on a special evening this weekend.  I'll just share with you some of the things I would have snapped a picture of...

• us and others making our own personal pizzas to be baked in an amazing outdoor wood fired oven.  I even got to put avocado on mine...avocado is one of my favorite things.
• my five year old son, Javi with a huge smile on his face as he and other children climbed into a golf cart to take a ride.  I laughed when he stood up and shouted "All aboard!" in his very best conductor voice.  As the parents stood on the deck to watch the action we could hear the children in the distance screaming with delight.  It sounded like they were on a roller coaster.
• the chicken coop, where a group of children went to watch the chickens walk around and peck at their food.  Brienne was inspired and decided to pretend to be one.  She never misses an opportunity like that.
• the children all happy and excited as the big orange fish in the pond were fed their evening meal.
• Amera inside the dove aviary.  She would love to have a parakeet aviary someday.  I had never even heard of one until she started researching them.  I'm sure seeing this one will be a treasured experience.

   The children ran and laughed and played, and were exhausted by the end of the evening.  The adults talked and laughed and did their best to keep their children from hurting themselves.  And I think we were exhausted at the end of the evening too!  We had a great time!

A fine mess

The kids had a blast playing in the water!  We have a dirt path along the fence line that was made by our dog as she runs back and forth with the dogs next door.  The kids decided it would be fun to "make mud puddles" and jump around in them!  These kids are not hard to please.

  

Clara wasn't at all interested in getting wet...

But Manny loves the water!

Of course EVERYBODY wanted a fudgesicle!

And now to clean up this fine mess we've made!

After an afternoon out...

I had to go out for the afternoon to shop for groceries, so the children spent a quiet afternoon at home with Amera.  When I come home from a long afternoon out like this one, I love to get down on the floor and spend time with the kids.  Amera and Joelle are very helpful and they bring in the groceries and put them away while I spend time giving attention and hugs to every kiddo in within my reach.  Manny enthusiastically asks for books most of the time.  It's such a refreshing time for both of us.

I love little moments like these.

When family comes to visit...

We were so excited to have Javier's parents here for his graduation.  We had such a good time, and I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbors heard our laughs as we sat around the dining room table.  They arrived on Friday evening and as soon as Brienne mentioned that our little blue guitar needed strings, Abuela offered to put them on and tune it as well!  Thank you Abuela!

We enjoyed spending time together at our house, but we also spent time eating out!

We enjoyed this lovely dining area!

Manny was a happy little guy at first, but soon he was not feeling well at all.  It was quite unexpected to have him "get sick" at three different times during the course of the meal.  Poor little guy, we think he just had way too much apple juice.  Thankfully we had a change of clothes and the grace of God to take it in stride.

Love that smile

We decided against dessert and headed home for Manny's sake.  Manny was feeling better as soon as we got home.  He was full of energy and spunk.  We enjoyed the ice cream and sprinkles that Julio and Cynthia had gotten for us and settled in for the evening.

Abuela brought us a strawberry plant that needed planting as soon

as possible!  So, even though it was dark out, there was no stoppin'

Abuela (or the kids) from getting this plant into the ground.  The kids

held the flashlight and watched Abuela dig and plant.  Amera cleaned 

out the area on Monday, to make room for it to spread.  We can't 

wait to see what happens!

Thank you Abuela!  We love you!

Little Clara in the kitchen

This sweet little girl walked into the kitchen as I was cooking and I just had to stop what I was doing and have an impromptu "photo session".  I love her little three year old self!

She had heard that Amera was about to make pudding (one of our favorite desserts), so she asked if she could help rather than go outside with the others.  Sure Clara!

...such concentration

Time to pour the milk...

Oooops we have a spill folks!

Thanks for letting me help you Amera!!

(We all complimented Amera and Clara on the delicious pudding)