Busy Week!

We have had an incredibly busy week! We had two guests from Sunday to Wednesday, Renée Elizabeth and Jacob. Monday we stayed at the house until the swim meet. Alicia did her best swim yet. She has really surprised us with her determination. She won two first place ribbons in freestyle and backstroke beating out 2 6 year olds. Aquiles won 2nd and 6th place ribbons; he would really like to win a 1st place ribbon and is finding the adjustment to his sister receiving a lot of attention difficult. I assured him he has his own talents and has received several accolades at school while Alicia has stood by. I hope she finds school as easy as Aquiles.

Tuesday I thought we would get out of the house, so I planned swim practice, movie (there a free movies which play during the week at a local cinema), library, and Witte museum (hands on science museum which is free Tues afternoons). Oh yeah, and I invited Zach and Morgan to come along. What was I thinking? I was so exhausted that I called Jamie when we were leaving the museum and asked him if he could pick up pizza on his way home. After the pizza we put a movie in and I laid on the floor and was asleep by 7:30.

Wednesday was FISH camp day at church. I was in charge of crafts and Renée Elizabeth was volunteered to help out with a group of kids. The kids has a great time. Needless to say today I am taking it easy. After swim practice we came home and I have done some light cleaning and taken a nap. I love summer!

Alicia's surprise

About a week or so ago Jamie and I woke up to a fabulous surprise. Alicia had gotten up earlier and I could hear her banging around in the kitchen. When we got up, Alicia had made toast for everyone and sliced up two bananas. Everything was on separate plates served with glasses of cold milk. She was so proud of herself.

The kids won ribbons at their swim meet; Aquiles won a second and third place and Alicia a first and second place. We have another swim meet tomorrow.

We haven't seen much of the kids this weekend. They have spent Friday and Saturday nights at Scott and Kandi's. However, today we will inherit a group. Jacob and Zach, as well as one of my best friend's daughter's who is visiting San Antonio, will be coming over for a night or more.

2nd swim meet

We had our 2nd swim meet tonight and Pam, Clyde, and Nancy attended. The kids did a great job. They are sure to get ribbons tomorrow.

I included a pic of the living room because it was on the camera.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Jamie. The kids bought him 2 new fishing shirts. Yesterday we hosted a b-day party for Michael. He and Alicia are having a guitar jam session. The bottom picture is birthday boy Zach who turned 8 last week.

Am I Mexican?

Summer is here, but I thought I would share a fun story. Aquiles goes to Dual-Language school and speaks Spanish and English. If you haven't spoken Spanish with Aquiles I know you are thinking, Oh that's nice; he knows numbers and colors. No, his teacher only speaks to him in Spanish and he can ramble back to her and yes he is getting all this in public school. He is aware that most kids in his class are of Mexican descent and knew he also had a Hispanic name. Therefore, after picking him up one day, he asked, "Mom, am I Mexican?" I got such a kick out of this. I can't wait to take both him and Alicia to Mexico one day. Alicia will also be in the same program in Kinder this fall. It is such an enriching education both linguistically and culturally. Aquiles is a clear minority as 90% of the student body is Hispanic, but he fits in just fine and I think exposure to diversity at this age is only positive.

Shelby and Scott had their baby today! He came in at 9lbs and 7 oz! That is a BIG baby. Congrats guys!

Google Results

Well the kids have been googled. Interestingly, after googling Aquiles' first and last name we found several results. The first link was a Florida page listing marriage licenses to people named (first or middle) Aquiles. There were 156 entries including one whose middle name was Aquiles and last name Alonso. I wonder how many Aquiles exist in other US states. Is it predominantly in FL? That is where the original Aquiles, Jamie's grandfather, came from. We also found the obituary for Aquiles Alonso (Jamie's grandfather). It was neat to tell Aquiles that is who he was named after. I think he felt some kind of connection or perhaps a little bit famous being that this is worldwide. Next we googled Alicia. This resulted in pages upon pages of results for Cuba's first prima ballerina. We checked out a few of the pages and Alicia wanted to know if she would grow up to look like the ballerina since they shared the same name. What is neat is that Alicia Alonso, the ballerina, came from Cuba and our Alicia has Cuban heritage. Don't you love that google has now become an accepted verb not just a number (googol) ? I wonder if it is in a dictionary used as a verb. In French it is "googler".

Swim meet

The kids had their first swim meet on Monday. Aquiles won 2 ribbons and Alicia 3. They really enjoy swim team. Today they had FISH (Fun in summer heat) camp at church. It is similar to a mini vacation Bible school. They had a great time. Kandi took them and I went to her house for dinner and just arrived home. I am so lucky to have her. I am ready to finish my current job as a teacher assessor and spend summer with the kids. I will be one of the teachers at FISH camp and am teaching VBS in July. However, I must go because Aquiles has asked me if I will Google his name. I don't know where he got this idea, but I must admit it is interesting to see if you "exist" in cyberspace. Have you ever googled your name?

Our Village

Friday night Jamie and I hosted Aquiles' baseball team here for the end of season party. The kids had a great time splashing around in the pool. After swimming Jamie set up the big screen outside and the kids watched The Sand Lot. Saturday we hosted Zach's 8th birthday party. Scott and Kandi came over, got the house ready and barbecued. The kids had a blast as usual.

Today was our pastor's last sermon. He is moving to take over at a church in Corpus Christi. We will greatly miss him. He inspired us and was a lot of fun.

Thank you to our village her in San Antonio: Scott, Kandi, Victor, Anne, JP, Dawn, Brent, and Dana. As soon as our friends found out we were pregnant they have offered us a crib, car seat and maternity clothes. Thanks to Kandi and Anne the kids have had more opportunities. Anne has picked Aquiles up from school for 2 years now. We will greatly miss that blessing as she looks for full time job next year. If you knew how far away and in what traffic he went to school you would want Anne as a friend too. Kandi is making this summer possible by helping me get the kids to swim team and church camp these next 2 weeks as I work for an extra 2 weeks being an assessor the the National Board for Teachers. Thanks everyone; we couldn't do it without you!

Catching Up

Here are some pics of activities we have been doing recently.

Morgan and Alicia. Double best friends heading downtown to celebrate Fiesta.

In May we had a surprise birthday party for miss Dawn. JP bought the crawfish and Jamie cooked them. The kids had a great time decorating her cake.

Here is our new patio. Jamie and the guys worked HARD digging dirt and creating a new living space. Thanks to everyone who helped!

This picture is too cute! Alicia graduated from pre-K and they had a celebration with certificates, fun activities and a picnic.

Baseball 2008

Closing Ceremonies

Last night the kids had closing ceremonies for baseball and tee-ball. They have had a great season and improved a lot. After receiving trophies, we went to one of our favorite local restaurants, Papa Dantes.

Great Ultrasound

Many people don't even know we are having a 3rd baby. Honestly at 37 I wasn't sure everything would go smoothly. I was excited when I made the first trimester milestone but wanted to wait until I had my first ultrasound before making the announcement. Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and had a great ultrasound. I am sixteen weeks along and the baby looks great: brain, heart, kidneys, measurements. I felt so blessed! With Aquiles and Alicia I just took it for granted that they would be fine. I also found out we are having a girl. I had a great tech who made the baby flip (she was breach) and quickly spotted that she is a girl. It didn't matter either way. I have prayed hard just to have a healthy baby. Of course, I am not out of the woods, but so far so good. We are going to name her Carmen. My mom has been assigned middle name duty. She really wants a Scottish name since the other names are hispanic.