Happy Turkey Day

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

- Dori from Nemo


Just a few things.


Allie is a ballet school drop out. This is one of those 'I knew it' moments. Little girls in pink tights and tutus are oh so cute, but come on, really? That's a lot of moolah for playing dress up. And don't even get me started on the fees for a recital. Sorry, crazy serious dance instructor of four year olds, but my kids need clothes for the winter. So, other than money, I knew Allie would get bored and want to quit ballet and guess what? We had a major melt down last Monday because she didn't want a bun in her hair and couldn't be dragged kicking and screaming to ballet class. Se la vie, ballet class.

Benjamin's teeth are out!!!!! And now life can commence. Good grief I forgot how you cease to function when your baby teethes.

This week is school tour week where we look at all the schools Allie could go to next year for kindergarten. Someone just shoot me. I'll have to survive the bullshit and "super-duper" annoying parents before I can share my misery with you. So if you don't hear from me by the end of the week, please send help because I might have taken all the school applications and paper cut myself to death.

Apple

On of the most embarassing things about being Mexican American is that I don't speak Spanish. Really this is one of the only things that I'm embarassed about; I handle it one of two ways when people ask me about it: I ignore the question or make a smartass comment. The truth is that my parents raised us in a city that didn't embrace being bilingual -my how times have changed- so we were taught English in order to be successful in the place where we lived. I AM successful and so are my brothers. Growing up with a smack across the knuckles from your teacher for speaking Spainsh, my parents could never in a million years have imagined that not speaking Spanish would be such a pain. But it is.

In a city where I think the majortiy is Hispanic (it's hard to tell because in the census my race is white, but ethnicity is Hispanic. So white is the majority, but that includes Hispanics) people assume that my kids and I speak Spanish. Talk about pouring salt on an open wound. But while I'm in a corner licking my wounds my brillient daughter who so desperatly needs to relate to every person she encounters has just closed the gap on her lack of knowledge. If mommy isn't going to teach her spanish, gosh darnit she'll just make it up! Nothing will stop this child from making friends!




When she first starting doing this I would run and hang my head in shame, but I've had a change of heart and now I just stand next to her and smile like I understand everything she's saying and the person she's talking to is nuts for not understanding. **We are currently looking for Mommy and Me Spanish classes.**

A week at home

Well it definitely wasn't uneventful. It was mostly nice but I can't say calm or relaxing were on the list of adjectives I'd use to describe my week.

Slow breakfasts

Time to practice crawling

Time to be goofy

And of course, time to play with some of our forgotten toys

There was also time for lots of not so fun stuff for mom:

Martin pooped in the backyard.

Allie then had to pee outside, except, you know, on herself.

The one time we did go out to the park, my car was broken into.

Doctor's visit because of code red crying but it turns out it was just Benito getting his first tooth.

Allie and Martin ran away on their first adventure without me. A heart attack and two spankings later we now understand that adventures can only happen within the confines of the safe and boring backyard.

Allie reorganized her closet.

Martin decorated his new (read: $$$$) bunk beds with stickers.

Four swine flu shots,

Three screaming kids,

Two runny noses...... and a yard full of dead t-r-e-e-s!!!

Come on sing it with me...... and a yard full of dead t-r-e-e-s!!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

but lucky for me, the words your mind is evoking are chalk full of happiness, smiles and maybe some laughter. Yeah, isn't funny how the pictures of our life seem to blur out the yelling, fighting, tantrums and headaches?

And now it's Mommy's turn...