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Saturday, December 24, 2011

The Christmas Photo Shoot!

Trying to get the perfect photograph for our Christmas cards!. Baby had a different plan.
Merry Christmas!  Feliz Navidad!
Ok, get me untangled and ready for pictures!

I can't sit still.  What are you talking about?

I see Mommy!  She has a cool thing that has a bright light coming from it!

Oh, that light!  I am so tired.  "I just love this picture!!"

Ok, now I am making my brother laugh!!  My sister does not look impressed.

Ok, time to escape.  Why are we just sitting here!

Here I come Mommy.  What?  Smile?  OK!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Fall is already gone?

Hi!  It has been a while, right?!   Three months to be exact.  We have been doing great!  The kids had a great Fall.  The weather turned to a very comfortable temperature that had us outside every day.   This fall the kids enjoyed:

carving pumpkins

Trick-or-Treating


celebrating their 8th and 6th Birthday
and Thanksgiving with my husbands Family in San Antonio.
Bella is excelling in word building and reading.  She is in Kindergarten and reads better than most 1st graders.

Sweet Boy loves the zip line,  gardening, the ducks, fish and chickens at his school

and is excelling in writing, spelling, and took off with reading this fall!




Saturday, September 17, 2011

Baby is Standing and Signing!

Sweet Baby is standing!  He is now 17 months.  He will stand for long periods of time and play while holding on.  He has pulled to a stand but I have yet to see it!  He does pull up to stand from a sitting position.  We just went last week to get him orthopedic shoe inserts that help children with low muscle tone get the ankle support they will need so they do not turn in their feet when standing or walking.

Sweet!

I was saying with a high voice "look at you, sweet boy!"  I was all excited which got him to start laughing!

This is the most delicious baby EVER!  I can't begin to explain how sweet, how snugly, how happy he is ALL the time.

He is now also starting to use his hands to communicate with us.  We are teaching him sign language and he is doing a great job picking it up.  I teach him different finger plays and songs with the use of our hands and body.  He will now ask for "itsy bitsy spider" by doing the spider part.  He knows milk, more, food, and give me.  He has also started to say the word "bye," which is so exciting to hear. 

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Neighbor's Chicken Coop

Our neighbor went on vacation this summer and we helped to take care of the chickens!
 



We live in a very cool area.  It is the city but in our corner of the world we have a big population of crunchy mamas, chicken lovers, garden growers, environmentalists!  In October, there will be a Chicken Coop tour in our hood.  Can't wait!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Lego's, Organizing and Building!


My son told me this summer he wanted more lego sets.  He said he was "bored!"  I told him if he re-built all of the Lego sets he already has that I would buy him more.  WEEELLLL, my husband and him with a little help from Bella got to work and they built many of the sets.  Not ALL but many!  He said to me "Wow, I did not realize I had so many!"  Yes, well, I DID!


Here is a picture of how we organized Sweet Boys Lego's a few years back.  Organizing by Color makes re-building from instructions super easy.  The little red box contains the little people and accessories (swords, animals, treasure boxes, etc...)  This allowed Sweet Boy to easily find all those little people and little things for them.  Sweet Boy loves this system for building but not so much for sorting.  We all pitch in to help him sort back out once in a while when he has built all kinds of stuff and is ready to break it all apart. 

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The 10th Aniversary of my 30th Birthday!

Well, I turned 40 a month ago.  My  husband threw me a big party and called it the 10th anniversary of my 30th birthday!! 
Notice the cake says "Happy 10th Anniversary!"

Thank you my sweet love for a great birthday!

My sweet love!

And for a challenge, I started P90x workout program.  Have you heard of it?  Yes, it is pretty popular.  I bought it used from a friend and started right away.   I am two weeks from graduating from the program!  I was not in great shape when I started, so I plan on doing it again.  The program is for 90 days and I really love it.  It is so great for me because I just do not have the time to go to a gym.  I don't like the daycare at gyms and since I am hardly ever without one child or another, gyms just do not work out for me.

I did not think I would like doing DVD's at home, but I actually enjoy it because it is something different every day.  I also have some friends that are my virtual workout buddies (we text each other when we workout, how we did, and basically motivate one another if we are not feeling like working out that day.)

So my goal is to be fit by end of year!  




Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Baby Update

Sweet Baby is Crawling and Pulling up to his knees!! He is doing amazing.  He is now 15 months.   He is doing lots Blabbing, Loves Books, swimming and is exploring EVERYTHING!  


Playing with the tops to the glassware.

Tasting ice cream for the first time!  Not very sure about it!

He loves to swing.

He loves to observe our guinea pig.

Putting the cylinder in the box.

Getting the cylinder out.



Opening the drawers and getting out the blocks and putting them back in.


At crawling class!  He has crawling down now and is working on pulling up to a stand.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Montessori Training Resumed and Teaching




I went back to finish my Elementary Montessori Training. I had a class in June and will have another class in July. I am almost done!! It feels GREAT to be back. I have also been teaching in a Montessori age 3-6 classroom half days for the summer and REALLY loving it! The co-teacher I am with is AMAZING. I am learning so much from her. I have asked the school to see if they have anything part-time for me in the fall. If not, I will at least sub for them so I can be in the classroom learning until I am able to do my internship.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Feliz CumpleaƱos Andres!

Sweet Boy is now one years old!!  

We had family over to celebrate.
Andres had a great time eating cake and getting lots of attention from Grandma, Abuela and Tia!


Andres dug into the cake before we even started singing!  That cake was sooo delicious!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

World Down Syndrome Awareness Day

March 21, 2011 marks the 6th anniversary of World Down Syndrome Day and each year the voice of people with Down syndrome, and those who live and work with them, grows louder as we celebrate the abilities, talents and accomplishments of people with Down syndrome.

Almost one year ago my life changed.  3-30-10, not the birth of my son but the day after, the day we were told he was born with an extra Chromosome, number 21, called Down syndrome.   A moment in my life that I will never forget.   A moment that I cannot fullly describe but the word fear and grief come to mind.  I feared how he would be treated by this cruel world and I grieved my baby. 

On this day of awareness, I want you to know that my son is amazing, he is so sweet and brings so much joy to our lives.  I want you to know that not a day goes by that I don't think about a milestone, am I doing enough, and what will he do or not do.  I want you to know that I don't want you to feel sorry for me because I feel lucky, blessed and proud.  Do not be afraid to ask me questions.  I love to talk about my son and do not mind talking about Down Syndrome.  And from what I read, many parents of children with Down Syndrome feel the same.

My life is filled with purpose and joy! 

Such a Big Boy!

He LOVES water!  
With Daddy a week ago, in need of a haircut!  How he LOVES his daddy!
And the hair cut!  Haircut number 5 and not even one years old yet :-)!!!



Jamming!  Look at that beautiful posture! 

Saturday, March 19, 2011

School Week 26, 27, 28

Art Class

Picasso Sculptures




Bella talking about her sculpture




Some of the children's work not including the Angel!



Geography

This is an animals of the world work.  Most works around here are put together while we work on them.  I do not have any time to prep so I got the map, a book with animals of the world, our tub of little animals and some Geography Kid Magazines and we got to work!



We stoped when the kids got tired.


Here the kids made a mountain out of sand, rocks and mud.  They then slowly poured water on top and discussed their observations on where the water ran, the landforms formed and erosion.

Religion
Stations of the Cross Work discussed here.



History

Presidents Day.  I loved these presidents cards from the $1 section of Target.  The kids were very interested in hearing about all of the presidents.  Surprised me!
Baby trying to eat the cards!

Language
Sweet Boy spelling.



Geometry
I found a page in a workbook that used the same shapes as in this work.  they were even the same color.  It was great.  Bella really got into this.


She is basically finding different ways to make hexagons.


Sweet Baby working!  This is the Object Permanence Box with a tray.  This material develops hand-eye coordination and indirectly allows the child to experience object permanence.