Critter's Place

Our "Little" Lady of Lourdes

2006-11-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Luly dressed up as Our Lady of Lourdes for her school's All Saint's Day celebration.

From the mouths of babes (this morning before leaving to school):

Luly: Mami, I know why God made me so beautiful!
Me: Why?
Luly: Because he wanted me to be just like her
(as she pointed to the image of Our Lady of Lourdes).

What could I respond to that?!

(she's the one in the center back, holding her veil that is falling off!)

Blast From the Past!

2006-09-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

Alex and I went to a Retro 70s/80s Wing-Ding at St. Timothy last night. As I was getting dressed I could remember actually dressing like this (okay, minus the bobby socks!) & wearing my hair this way (I definitely have 80s hair; it took me 2 minutes to do).

Although we felt TOTALLY ridiculous, we had an awesome time! (Open bar, unlimited wings and GREAT music!, all for $10 each--not bad!!)

All in all, it was a FUN night!

September, 12 on 12

2006-09-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

8:11 am-Here's Achi working not only from "home," but from "bed." !Que buena vida!

8:38 am-Luly's off to school already and here's Victor playing peek-a-boo as I come into his room to greet him!

10:09 am-Elena and Victor getting ready for a walk around the neighborhood. We were able to see birds, ducks and even a HUGE iguana by the canal (which we don't get too near now b/c of the alligator scare!)

11:21 am-Mami comes over for a visit. Here she's flipping through the first fundraiser Luly brought home from school (we're trying to get the Abuelo's to help out!).

3:46 pm-Here I'm on route back home (going East on Sunset Drive). Mind you, when I left to pick up Luly at 2:30 I packed up the camera to get some cool shots, but of course FORGOT. By now I've picked up Luly, picked up Ana's cantina, dropped it off at her house and I'm on my way home--notice the times of the next few pictures...I panicked that I wasn't going to have my 12.

3:47 pm-The next two are of Luly singing a song she learned in Music class, "Let us go to the house of the Lord."

3:48 pm-We pull up at Abu and Ala's house to drop off a tupperware and a beautiful picture Luly drew for them. If you look closely you can see Abu walking back out of the house with Luly.

4:26 pm-Luly works hard on her homework.

5:40 pm-Miren and Victor splash around in the kiddie pool and say "cheeeeeeese!"

7:11 pm-Victor plays while I prepare dinner. Notice how he lines up his cars!

7:12 pm-Luly plays "school." Notice the happy face and sad face on her board. She's already getting ideas from her new kindergarten teacher!
BONUS: break

I think my only "break" today was when I took a two minute shower and closed my eyes for the night at 10 pm. Love that darkness!

Kindergarten Here I Come!

2006-08-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Luly began Kindergarten yesterday at St. Timothy Parish School...look at her face. Do you think she was excited? The anticipation was incredible! That morning she woke up on her own (a miracle within itself!) and told me she had a "good" dream (usually she likes to describe in detail her "bad" dreams and on occasion dictates them to me so that I can write them down). Her dream was that her new friends in school were all wearing the same shirt, but it wasn't their uniform. For her that constituted a "good" dream-ha! :) Innocence and simplicity!

Here's Luly with her Barbie backpack and Princess lunchbox, ready to go!

Here she is flipping through a book in her classroom. Mind you she chose to sit at the "girl" table (of course!). I left a little on the nervous side because a mom introduced herself AND the other 5 girls at the table, which made it obvious that the girls were already friends. Thoughts of "I hope they're nice to her," "I hope they include her," etc bombarded my head. Then I remembered Luly will talk to anybody and has been known to simply say "You want to play?" and even "You want to be my friend?" So I stopped worrying!

When I picked her up she gave me the run down of her day and sometimes even with specific times (ex: I had lunch at 11 and snack at 2). I asked her if she had homework and she told me she had already done it in class. I'm not sure she gets the difference between class work and home work, but I think she will in the next few weeks. She told me she made a lot of new friends but didn't remember their names. She told me she would let me know tomorrow what they were. She did remember that one of the girls that sat close to her's name began with a "G." She also saw "Ceci" from Impacto at lunch but she's in another class.

Here are the flowers Alex brought his Princess for her first day of Kindergarten (his Queen will get some next week ;) )

Weekend with Cousins

2006-07-31T01:43:00.000-07:00

The Morera Kids (Anna, Daniel & Lucas) joined us for a weekend full of fun.

Pinecrest Gardens on Friday July 28 & Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday July 29

JULY, 12 on 12 (late...!)

2006-07-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I actually took the following pictures on the 12th but because of technical difficulties, I couldn't post them on time!

Sometime after Noon I checked my email and Bego's blog and then realized, ah! it's the 12th! It had been such a LAZY morning because of the non-stop rain, that to tell you the truth I didn't even know what day of the week it was. We originally had plans to go to Pinecrest Gardens with the kids and splash around. I thought it would make GREAT 12 on 12 pictures, but thanks to the rain, that didn't happen! So I started a little later in the day:

1:25 pm

Luly and Victor play with the Puppet Theater (a loaner from Patty)

1:26 pm

Alex takes a lunch break and catches a few minutes of Lois and Clark

(thanks to Ana :) )

2:57 pm

Luly and me play around in bed while Victor naps; we read, lounged and played "Go-fish"

(mind you, I'm still in my pajamas!)

3:02 pm

I am happy to see Hector is here to mow the lawn (even in the rain!), especially since our neighbor told Luly we would soon have to get a cow as a pet (guess who?)

8:32 pm

Picking up Nat for a coffee date with Sara and some girlfriends

10:30 pm

Here's Sara...she has a way with words, kept us cracking up in the midst of everything going on in her life! We love you Sara and are HAPPY you're here!!

10:33 pm

Ana and Sara

Ana is pregnant with #3...how exciting! I'm glad you made it despite all the nausea!

10:35 p.m.

Dania, Ana, Sara, Nat, Whalky, Noelia, Cristy, Me, Anna

11:15 pm
They kicked us out, but we continued talking outside for about an hour!

They can't get rid of us!BONUS: My poor baby Luly, had an unfortunate accident at the beach a couple of weeks ago. She stepped on a broken beer bottle (shame on people that litter!!). She got two pretty impressive lacerations and had to get 7 stitches! She's been a trooper and is all better now!

12 on 12 (minus 1)

2006-06-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, I totally missed last month's 12 on 12. I actually took a few pictures that day but got busy and never got around to posting them. So here I am.

My day actually began today at 5:30 a.m. (my first picture was taken 6 hours later!)-took a shower, did a load of laundry, picked up a bit, drove to St. Matthew's to drop off a check for Luly's teacher. Then I was back to greet the kids when they got up at 7:45 a.m. I got them dressed, had breakfast and left by 8: 35 a.m. Luly had her speech class at SPEC at 9 a.m. with Mary-Ann. On our way home we stopped at the bank which was closed "temporarily" and had two police cars outside. The blinds were closed...very weird. Stopped at my in-laws to pick up my nieces, Alyssa and Amanda, who are spending the day here with us. Then, headed south to another branch of the bank, only to be told that the deposit was done but cannot be cleared immediately because there is some restriction on the account...huh? I was told to call the banking officer at the branch where the account was opened. Whatever. Finally, we arrived at home at about 10:30 a.m...after having 4 kids "singing" (more like screaming!) songs from High School Musical in the car.

So here's my first picture:

11:24 a.m.

Luly & Amanda play with Polly Pocket and Princesses

11:25 a.m.

Victor & Alyssa play, while I get a chance to vacuum and mop!--thanks to Alyssa being a WONDERFUL mommy-helper!

12:45 pm

Lunchtime

1:57 pm

Miren (our NEW neighbor...yea!) and Victor -- aren't they cute?!

1:58 pm

Alyssa & Victor (before Victor goes down for his nap)

4:34 pm

Me--don't I look HAPPY?! I've been on the phone for 45 minutes TRYING to get a refund for a credit I have on a credit card!! I finally give up and will pass the torch to my hubby.

5:30 pm

Luly, Amanda, & Alyssa

watching High School Musical

7:30 pm

Dinnertime!

10:30 pm

Cristie, Martha, Mari M., Christi, Ana, Mari A.

at Casa Larios for our final FAMILIA dinner...we completed the 4 year program!

11:45 pm

Alex and who's that?...Luly! (aren't moms supposed to be the suckers?!)

Pobresita Luly...she had set out her trundle thinking her cousins were sleeping over, so Daddy offered to ease her disappointment by having her sleep with us.

Midnight

Uploading pictures to blogger...wait, wait, wait!
This is unbelievable. Last time I had a hard time deciding which pictures to use because I had too many...this time I don't have enough! I'll definitely start taking the pictures earlier next time. Until then!

Luly's Pictures at PETCO

2006-04-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, April 18 Luly's class had a field trip to PETCO...these are the pictures Luly took!

And FINALLY, here's one by me...YES! That's a snake in Luly's hands. Look at her excitement!

My First 12 on 12

2006-04-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

April 12, 2006

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7:10 am

This is what I woke up to in the morning...last night's dishes! I took care of it sometime later.

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7:12 am

Then, on my way to the computer to check my email, I decide I should probably put in a load of laundry!

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7:31 am

I hear the sounds of my little one Victor through the monitor. It sounds more like a jungle than a baby's room (his latest is to squeal and jump up and down on his mattress in the morning). I'm reassured when I see this face as I opened the door of his room.

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7:46 am

As I'm starting the dishes and getting breakfast ready for my son, I hear a moan from the living room. My daughter Luly made it into the living room in stealth mode and then decided she wanted to be greeted (or not!).

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8:20 am

Breakfast is ready...Publix whole wheat waffles and milk!

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8:32 am

Here I'm boiling some eggs for the Easter egg activity planned for the afternoon.

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9:29 am

We're finally out of the house for a morning of ERRANDS! Ah--I need gas!! (that's an understatement!)

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11:17 am

After going to Total Bank, then Bank of America, then Dollar Tree, then Tropical Supermarket, then Navarro, we finally crashed at the park for a snack and some play!!

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12:01 pm

Then we made our way to "Conchita" (as Luly would say), to pick up Nico (my Godson) for an afternoon visit at our house.
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2:55 pm

After having lunch (bunny macaroni-and-cheese & jello), Victor went down for a nap. Luly and Nico played, and then painted and decorated their Easter eggs. They also helped me bake some sugar cookies. They played outside and had cookies and milk in the clubhouse. We had a GREAT afternoon!

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5:14 pm

I had to get dinner ready early so that we could eat as soon as I got back from dropping off Nico at his house. We had turkey meatballs and rice for dinner.
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7:51 pm

After having dinner, the kids were bathed and walked over to my parents' house, where they would stay for a little while. Then Abuela was going to bring them back home and put them down for the night (that didn't happen, but that's another story).

Here, Alex and I are ready to go to the Post-CAMINO meeting, which was EXCELLENT!