WHILE MOMMY IS AWAY

What happens when mommy is away, daddy is in charge but very tired and the baby is looking for trouble?

The answer is below.

11 MONTHS AND COUNTING

It is hard to believe but Clark turned 11 months old earlier this month. He gets cuter and cuter by the day but more mischevious as well. He is crawling on his bum (Is it still called crawling if he gets around scooting on his bottom?). He is also pulling himself up on the furniture and walking around. Clark loves to play peekaboo and catch the ball but his favorite activity is helping mommy clean out the cupboards and drawers.

HOORAY FOR HALLOWEEN

Once again halloween was crazy this year. Not because I was busy making home made costumes and decorations but because like the past 4 years I was in charge of the church ward halloween carnival. Although this year was a lot less stressful because we didn´t invite the other two wards which meant less people and less chaos, nonetheless I had my challenges. As I am not the best at delegating, I was in charge of everthing: food, decorations, games, prizes and contests. Luckily Leo was a big help. Making this year even a little more challenging was the fact that we couldn´t set up the room the day before because there was a baptism only 3 hours before the activity and in a small church like ours, the sacrament room is the same as the cultural hall, so we had to wait to decorate until after the baptism. However, to make things easier, Leo and I and the kids went to the church Saturday morning and spent 3 hours blowing up balloons and getting all the games and candy ready. Then we went home and I made cupcakes for the cake walk. Every year I tell Leo that I am not going to be in charge of next year´s activity and every year I end up doing it because I know the kids really look forward to it and it is the activity when more people who are not members of the church come. Watching the families have such a great time makes it all worth it.

Even the Bishop helped run the games.

Charlie aka Spiderman and his good friend Dani.

Clark slept through most of the chaos.

THE MANY FACES OF CHARLIE

This is the result of when a four year old gets ahold of the camara.

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LOOK WHO IS TEN MONTHS OLD

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LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON

After I took these pictures I understood a little bit better why the people always say that Clark has his mom´s eyes.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

All summer long it seemed that Charlie was looking forward to starting his second year of school, but for some reason during the few weeks leading up to the first day of school Charlie started to say that he didn´t want to go because he was "worried". (The worries start at a young age these days). As a result, the first day of school was not the happiest for Charlie. (See the pictures below. ) Now, however I can happily report that he likes to go to school and he is no longer worried.

Since my shift starts later, I am able to take Charlie to school before I go to work. It is one of my favorite parts of the day because it gives us a chance to be together just the two of us. We live fairly close to the school so it is quicker just to walk and Charlie and I have some very "deep" conversations sometimes. For example, the other day out of the blue Charlie asked me, "Mom, why doesn´t Jesus have shoes?" I replied, "well, where Jesus lived it was very hot so he didn´t wear shoes or he wore sandals". To which Charlie responded, "But, mom, how do flip-flops fly?". Good question. Oh the things that make you go hmmm!

OUR SUPERHERO TURNS FOUR

This year Charlie decided to invite a few of his friends over for a superhero party to celebrate his birthday. Costumes were encouraged of course but it was so hot in the house they didn´t last very long. The kids had fun coloring and cutting and playing other games. We then had a snack and blew out the candles. Overall it was a big success and the only things Charlie said were missing were his cousins from the States.

Charlie and his guests coloring while they waited for the other guests to arrive.

Even Clark joined in on the superhero fun.

Charlie blowing out his candle. (Cake made from raw cane sugar, thanks to Aunt Ashlee)

We definitely had some super fun with all the superheroes.

THE REST OF THE STORY PART II

Here are the rest of the pictures from the trip.

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THE REST OF THE STORY THROUGH PICTURES

Since I couldn´t put all the pictures from our trip in my prior post, I have created a digital scrapbook with the rest of the pictures. This is part 1 and stay tuned for part 2.

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THE STATES REVISITED

It has been almost a month since we got back from our lastest visit to the States (as Charlie calls it) and I am finally able to post about the trip. I can proudly say that all the suitcases are unpacked and in their proper place. I have to admit it did take almost two weeks but I got it done. It was hard for the kids at first to adjust to the change of time which made going back to work for Mom and Dad even harder but good thing Grandma Yolanda and Aunt Cristina were willing to take shifts to be with the kids. Overall we had a fantastic time as usual visiting the FAM and Charlie is already talking about going back again. Originally our trip was supposed to be only a 3 week trip but it turned out to be almost a 4 week trip due to the fact that the day before we were supposed to leave, Charlie was admitted to the hospital because of unexplained high fevers. In the end it was only a combination of a bad case of Strep throat and Mono but he certainly was a sick little boy for awhile.

We love the States so much we don´t even mind traveling 28 hours to get there. Both Charlie and Clark were troopers during the whole trip. Even though we almost missed the first plane because we left the house too late, Clark had a major blow out on the second of 4 plane rides and I had poopy pants literally for the rest of the trip and we had to run to catch the plane in London and were the second to last people on, all in all I would say the trip went fairly smoothly.

We love so many things about our trip to THE STATES that I thought it would be best to explain it through pictures.

THINGS WE LOVE:

:
Parks in the backyard, cousins included

Being able to go to the temple open house

family reunions

hot dog roasts with the family

cousin bonding time

going to favorite Aunt Ashlee´s salon for a first hair cut

spikey hair

on the job training

business opportunities (AKA Bubble Show)

Going to the park with lot of green grass and not have to worry about dog poop

American ice cream

being able to sprawl out on the carpet to take a nap or just to relax

being able to play sports right out your back door

County fairs even the "small potato" ones

seeing pigs alive not just hanging in the store

fun carnival rides

visiting old friends

community softball games

attending the first grandchild´s baptism of the family

meeting new family members

excellent hospital bed manners

Welcome home comittees.