Mother's Day 2017

Mother's Day was a lot of fun. Pudge woke me up at a little before 6 to tell me "Happy Mother's Day" and then went back to bed. Papa got up with the kids a little later and I slept in until 7:30. When I came downstairs, Papa and the 3 older boys made breakfast. Pudge had made me a scavenger hunt with little notes that he wrote which was really sweet and Little Bear gave me his "About My Mom" present that he had made at school. (He had also given me a tree on Friday that we planted in a pot together and are hoping to transplant soon.)

Abuelo and Abuela came down in the morning to spend the day with us and Little Bear had a soccer game around 11.

 

 

 

After the game, we went to El Rey del Mofongo (a Dominican restaurant in Allentown). Everyone, except Little Bear,  ordered the Churrosco with various sides of rice and beans. Little Bear ordered a sandwich that had churrosco in it, and we got sweet plantains and tostones for appetizers. Everyone loved the food and even Cuatro ate a surprising amount. 

We decided to walk to get some coffee at the Tim Hortons nearby (the kids really wanted to go since they were excited that they had gone to them in Canada). Unfortunately, it was closed but we found a Starbucks nearby.

After getting our coffees, we went to the Rose Garden. While we were there, we took some family pictures and enjoyed the weather. 

 

 

 

A few headstands and cartwheels (by Abuelo and Pudge) were done. I wish that I had taken a picture of Abuelo doing a cartwheel! The kids couldn't believe that he could "still" do one.

The kids wanted to walk across the rock bridge... amazingly no one fell in!
 

 

We walked around some of the path and saw a few ducks paddling along. 

 

A little while later, we noticed that the sky was getting dark. Suddenly there was a downpour so we ran to the cars...most of us had nothing to cover ourselves with.

 

We decided to get dessert at Ice Cream World before Abuelo and Abuela needed to drive back home. 

We ended our night with a trip to Costco to buy a large amount of light bulbs and vegetables!

Mother's Day from Pudge

Pudge was really excited to give me his Mother's Day presents as soon as he came home from school and wanted me to open them right away. 

 

 

I told him that I will wear the necklace on Mother's Day.

 

Mother's Day Lunch with Pequeño

Pequeño' preschool class held a Mother's Day lunch this morning. He was so happy that I was going to be there with him. We dropped the kids off at their usual time and then the moms returned for 11 am. When I got there, the room had been decorated and tables had been set up throughout the room. Pequeño was waiting for me at a table near the back and excitedly clapped and swung his legs when he saw that I was there. Once we sat down, the teachers explained to us that the kids had each been able to make their own sandwiches that morning and pack their lunch bags (which they had also decorated) using snacks that they had set out for them. Inside his lunch he had put a peanut butter sandwich, potato chips, baby carrots, and oreos. On a buffet table, they had set out a lot of brunch food for the moms as well as desserts.

After we all are, the teachers read to us the little "About My Mom" sections of the books that the kids had made for us. They didn't read the names so that we could try to figure out which one our child wrote. I knew as soon as I heard "My mom is 4" that it was Pequeño's because he loves the number 4 right now. Then the kids sang a few songs that they had learned (Pequeño didn't want to sing though) and showed us the cute flower pots that the kids had decorated using their fingerprints. I asked him which kind of vegetable he wanted to start in it and he said that he doesn't want to use it "for real" because it will get dirty. So it will be a decorative pot instead!

 

 

 

Swim Lessons

Pequeño is doing fantastic at swim lessons. He has gone from being nervous and wanting the instructor to hold him in the water to loving going underwater, swimming short distances on his own to the instructor, jumping into the pool without any help, and not wanting his lesson to end!

This class, he started using the diving rings and it's now his favorite thing!

 

 

He can't wait to go back so that he can get more rings.

10 months old

 

 

At 10 months old, Cuatro has made his personality known. He is sweet and cuddly and loves to smile and laugh. 

Although he has been teething for what seems like forever, no teeth have popped through yet. 

He loves "wrestling" with Papa and always belly laughs which makes us all laugh. 

He has no desire to walk on his own but will use his push toy (or a box if available) to run around and cause mischief. He cruises along all of the furniture and walls and whenever he is caught doing something that he shouldn't be (such as emptying bins in our "out the door station" or throwing items from the coffee table) he quickly gets on his hands and knees and crawls away while laughing. 

His brothers have learned that if he is given a ball, he will always want to throw it, no matter what size. So they have a lot of fun playing "catch" with him. 

His nap and sleep schedule has gotten much more consistent and he will let us know when it is close to 10 am or 2 pm by wanting to be held and then rubbing his face on us. 

He is a wild breastfeeding baby and any attempts to modestly cover him with a blanket are foiled by his desire to pull the blanket off. 

It's hard to believe that he is this old already and we have just started planning his first birthday party. 

Another bug bite

 

Poor Pudge is our "little nature guy" and the only one who has swelling reactions to bug bites or stings. While playing in the yard in his open top shoes, he thought that he got bit by something. There wasn't any immediate sign of anything so we cleaned his foot off and he went back outside to play. About an hour later, he came in the house saying that it was itchy so I looked and sure enough it was swollen. Benadryl, Ice, few episodes of Sofia the first, and he was feeling good as new.

Weekend Wrap up

We had a fun filled few days this weekend. 

Saturday morning Pudge had an early soccer game and he was super excited that it was his turn to bring the post game snack (orange slices, baby carrots, cheese stick, and Capri sun). He did a great job being aggressive and keeping an eye on the ball. Towards the end of the game, he took a soccer ball to the stomach kick and, although you could tell that he was hurting, continued playing. As soon as the game ended, he lifted his shirt and we found that it had already given him a nice sized bruise. 

After the game, we had a picnic.

 

 Then, we enjoyed the park, played volleyball, and walked around a bit. There was a lot of poison ivy in a few of the places that we had wanted to go so our hike was cut short. The kids had a great time playing volleyball and trying to serve it over the net. 

 

 

 

 

Within a few minutes of getting home, Pudge found a toad on our porch. 

 

 

The kids watched the toad (and tried to offer him grass for a snack) for a few minutes and then put him back. He then found a new hiding spot on the porch where the kids were able to keep checking on him. 

 

We spent the afternoon cleaning the yard and then had a bbq. 

 

 

Cuatro tried plantains and loved them. 

By the time that we finished dinner, it was getting dark outside so the kids helped clean up while Papa started a fire in the firepit on the driveway for s'mores. 

 

Sunday Little Bear had a game in the morning. Papa was working from home so it was just the munchkins and I to cheer him on. His team played a great game and won! 

 

Afterwards, we walked on the bird watching path and then played at the playground. It was Little Bear's first time at that playground so the middle kids felt that they needed to show him all of the cool things that he could do there. They had so much fun playing together and Cuatro enjoyed watching them from the swings.