I heart pianos

We were lucky enough to acquire a free piano a couple of weeks ago. It's been amazing. I haven't played the piano in forever so it's been nice for me, but it has been wonderful for Manny. Turns out he loves the piano. Well, I knew he loved music. But I love seeing him play. As soon as he comes home from school he goes to the piano, as soon as he wakes up, etc. I tried giving him a few lessons, but he didn't respond well for me. I was able to teach him the names of the notes...and that was about it. Despite his resistance to my teaching he has been sounding songs out. All the time. The first few songs were probably the worst (for me) because he only was working on those two songs, ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. But now it is quite pleasant to hear him practicing. In the future I'm going to want to remember these. So here is a list of the songs he has sounded out (he only plays the melody-one note at a time, but I'm impressed):
Oompa Loompa (this one got quite repetative)
Doe a Deer a Female Deer (at least that's what we call it)
I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus
"Ninja Song" (he insists that this is a real song he has heard)
I Am a Child of God
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry
Let it Go
And the latest he is working on is -Story of My Life

I am talking to a friend who may be able to give him lessons

Potty training

We are potty training at our house. I think Marcel is really ready. I came into the room the other day to find him changing his own diaper...   We are doing pretty good so far. It's been a week or two and he's even started pooping in the potty! Yay! We do a great job as long as he are naked. No accidents. If only I could figure out how to get him to wear clothes....

August -Trip to Iowa, Manny's 6th birthday, First day of School

I lost my job at the beginning of August, They said they needed/wanted someone full-time and knew that didn't work with my family and our needs. I had been working 3 days/wk. I was a little sad about it at first, but then I've been looking at it as a wonderful opportunity to spend more time with my boys. Luis just moved to a new position at work and Manny was going to be starting school at the end of Aug. So I wanted to get everyone settled and then I could look for a new job. But now that I am home more I am hoping I don't have to go back. It is harder financially (and honestly it's harder to be at home with kids emotionally, physically, and every other way possible), but I am noticing a difference in my boys and in my home and it's a good thing. We will see how things go.

So I had all this free time and thought, why not visit my family? I loaded up the boys and we drove out to Iowa. All 18 hrs... I get pretty sleepy in the car and since this was my first time driving this far by myself I decided we would stop for the night. I'm glad we did. The drive was definitely not as bad as I thought it was going to be. And it helped us to break out technology "addiction." (It seemed like the kids were always asking to watch a movie or play a game on the computer when we were at home.) We only listened to books on cd (which technically is technology...), colored, I made some puzzles, some music cds, etc. It was awesome. And Manny proved to be amazingly helpful.

We got to Iowa and I used my camera 1 day (we were there 11). Actually only one afternoon. We played outside. Manny took pictures of me and Sarah plasma car racing.

Look how fast we are.

Addison is such a great big cousin.

Weston and Manny racing.

Marcel the speedster

Kids on wheels

Kids on foot

The next best friends (Elliott and Marcel)

If you want more pictures go to facebook. Jessie brought her fancy camera for the 2 days she was in Iowa. So now I have a record of 3 of the days I was in Iowa.

Manny lost his bottom front tooth at Granny's.

We visited Grandma Schuerman, Grandma Bev (3rd grade teacher), Granny in Cedar Falls, Amy Fagersten Marshall on our way out of Iowa, and pretty much did nothing else but hang out with family. It was awesome.

Manny had a birthday. He is 6. Super crazy. We went and visited Abuela and Abuleo at the restaurant.

He really wanted a giant cookie for his cake.

 Manny wanted to get his hair cut. Every time we do it he cries so I was hesitant. But he had been asking for a couple weeks so I figured he was serious. Here are the before pictures.

I didn't have a mirror so I was taking pictures so Manny could see the progress (he is a mini Luis). Halfway through he starts crying saying my scissors are hurting him and he doesn't want me to do it anymore.

A little late for that, mister. 

Well, my scissors were pretty terrible, so I called my friend who has actually been to school for haircutting and asked her to finish it. He cried during it. Then he liked it for a day. Then he cried for days after saying he wanted his long, curly hair back. We will probably wait to cut his hair again.

First day of Kindergarten!

I can't believe he's so big

Flashback Jun-July

This post is super long. Looks like I was a good picture-taker in the summer.

I think the boys were firemen and these were their hats. Then they would race around on their "trucks."

This note came about a week after the running away incident. It was my first hate letter so I though I would take a picture of it. After I laughed a lot. 

Luis ran a half marathon. He's crazy.

Sadly, he told me the race started at 9am. But when I looked online about where exactly it was I found out it started at 7. So we hurried there and waited at the finish line, not knowing if he had finished or not. We waited about 30 minutes and when we were about to give up we finally saw him. See that person behind the pole? I didn't have my camera ready until it was too late. And this is the awesome picture I got.

Manny got his face painted with a snake on it.

We made gak (ooblek, whatever you want to call it).

We went to our 4th of July celebration. It rained a bit, but we still had fun.

Glowsticks.

Luis' parents opened a restaurant in June.

Manny thought it was cool that a curl of his hair was like an eye patch. Here's his pirate impression.

We went to the beach and Manny learned to ride the waves. He would squat down and let the tide lift him up and bring him back. He was pretty excited.

Manny lost the other tooth (that is a product of his "special" situation, still hadn't lost the front bottom teeth)

This is what Marcel mostly did

Then we went hiking and boating with some people from my office.

The boys found some bugs.

I've been watching Kahomey (my niece) sometimes since Lucila has been working at the restaurant

Somehow Luis managed to get a picture with all the kids.

There's us as a group

Luis has become a big selfie taker

Please notice I did Kahomey's hair this day, and it doesn't look terrible, even after hiking. I was pretty proud. I still don't understand how people do girls' hair every day.

Yay! We all had fun on the paddle boat. 

Flashback May 2014

Luckily (but not really) I didn't really take any pictures until May...

Manny lost his first tooth! Although it wasn't typical. Manny has a "special" condition (which I think just means super crowded mouth). His 6 yr-molars "ate" the roots of his primary molars (ones he's not supposed to lose until he's 10 or 11). Nobody at my office had seen anything like it. Nice. We're going to see an orthodontist.

Silly boys

Manny made a great poster for when he was spotlighted at school. He chose pictures of himself, his favorite toys, and drew pictures of his favorite food (spinach-really?), what he wants to be when he grows up (a race car driver-he's never said this before or since then), and things he likes to do (read chapter books-with me, of course). Then he added "I  HUOP YO LIK MI POSTR" (I hope you like my poster).

One of my favorite things about mother's day-the survey Manny fills out. Apparently I am 15 yrs old. My favorite color is the rainbow. I like to eat cinnabears, but I don't like sweet chicken. My favorite restaurant is the sweet chicken restaurant. I look pretty when I wear the striped dress to church. And Manny loves me because I let him read chapter books.

His class also made an amazing cookbook. Manny's contribution was "Brownies with Caramel Chocolate Chips." I hope you can read it it. It's great. And sounds delicious.

Then Manny graduated!

What a fun program. I think Manny is hulaing to "Surfing USA" in this song.

Manny was on another soccer team. But I got terrible pictures.

The team.

With a trophy and a magnet.