Thursday, September 26, 2013

Bugfest 2013

Here are the pictures of Manny at bugfest. Luis was in the car with Marcel (who was sleeping) so it was just us at first.

Cookies and brownies with crickets. Also some lemony crickets (the small white things).

Jello with worms, super worms that tasted like potato chips, spicy crickets, and something with curry in it.




"I'm going to kill you with my teeth!"

This guys was awesome. Dressed up as a roach and his hat said "Roaches Rule."





As you can see Manny got his hair cut. I will slowly be updating pictures and ridiculous stories from the past 6 months

Monday, September 23, 2013

I'm going to kill you with my teeth

If you couldn't tell by the title, we went to Bugfest again this past weekend! Yay! The first thing Manny asked to do was to wait in the giant line to eat bugs. The line was really long, and as it was lunch time I asked Manny if he wanted a snack while we waited. He yelled, "No!" He didn't want to ruin his appetite. Ha! Ha! And then as he was eating them he would say, "I'm going to kill you with my teeth!" Funny because they were already dead, but whatever he wants to do. There didn't seem to be as much variety in bug dishes this year, but Manny tried them anyway. On the menu were brownies with crickets in them, spicy crickets, lemony crickets, cinnamon sugar crickets, super worms that tasted like potato chips, jello with worms in it, and cookies with crickets in them. Manny liked the sweet ones. I will try to post pictures soon, but I needed to write these down before I forgot.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Sidekick, Swimming in the Sea, Erasing

So...it's been a while.
Here are a few funny things that have been said/have been happening around here.

Manny, like most kids, is terrible at sneaking around. He tries to do things behind my back, and I magically know it (he's actually really loud and clumsy). I am encouraging the myth that moms have eyes in the back of their heads. Because it's funny. And he believes it. But my favorite has been when he asked, "How do you always know?" I told him, "I'm psychic." He responded by saying, in a very wishful voice, "I wish I was a sidekick." And now when he asks, he answers his own question by saying, "It's because your a sidekick, isn't it." And I say yes.

Marcel is continuing his terrible deceitfulness. He has now (and quite some time ago) mastered the art of bothering and tormenting his older brother. He knows exactly what to do-what toys to touch, to steal, which lego robots to destroy. And he does it all with a smile on his face. One night when I was trying to help the boys go to sleep I was in their room, and Manny left the room to go get something. Marcel immediately got up and hid Manny's blanket and stuffed animal-and I mean he stuffed it down the side of the bed, in the crack so it was hard to see and hard to reach. I said, "Marcel, what are you doing?" He just looked at me. And then when Manny came back Marcel went and got Manny's blanket with a concerned look on his face and gave it to Manny like, "Look I found your blanket. It was lost." Like he was being really helpful.

More nighttime terribleness. The boys share a room. We recently moved this summer and things seemed to have gotten worse. I had a feeling we might have some troubles at night so when we set up their room I told Luis I wasn't going to put anything in their room. All that is in there is a bed and a dresser. And somehow they still can't seem to go to sleep. One night I went in there and they had taken all the clothes out of the drawers. It was a huge mess. And they were rolling in it. I asked what in the world was going on. They told me they had made a sea and were swimming in it. Creative, but not helpful to me. And you should know that the lights are off. They now know they aren't allowed to turn the lights on. They have amazing night vision. Maybe they are part cat. (They also like to lick people, cuddle, and bite. Hmmm.)

I also thought it was always Manny and he would just blame things on Marcel (which he does a lot). But turns out they are really good at taking turns having bad ideas. I stayed in their one night to try to help supervise/monitor. This night Marcel was the one with the bad ideas. He would try to pull Manny out of bed. And then dragged him around the room pointing at things. Manny fought it ( this time, probably because I was in there) and tried to tell him he was trying to sleep. But Marcel was persistent and tried to get him to turn the lights on, take things out of the drawers, etc. He would point and if Manny wouldn't do it he would yell at him. And then he would take things out of the drawers himself. What a devil.

One last one for now. Manny had sadly been sick so was a little more emotional and dramatic than usual (which is already pretty ridiculous). I was laying in the bed with the boys. Manny was crying. I was trying to rub Manny's back. Marcel came up to me so I caressed his head. Manny then insisted that I, "Erase Marcel from your heart!"
Me-What?
Manny-"Erase him from your heart!"
Me-"Why would I do that? Why do you want me to?"
Manny-"Because you love him and not me! Your petting him and not me!"
I then told him that I couldn't erase him from my heart. I need both my boys.
Manny-"Fine! I erased him from my heart! And I erased Papi, too!"

Where does he get this garbage?

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cole Brothers Circus! The World's Largest Under the Big Top!

Surprisingly not as amazing as it sounds. "Under the Big Top" means everyone is under a tent. A small, enclosed space with stinky people and stinky animals. All the animals looked kind of sad. The people were interesting. And they had kids in the acts. Really? I don't think I would like my kids prancing with dogs or elephants, traveling the country. I'm sure Manny would love it. But maybe I don't think it's the best for him. And I thought the kids would be excitied to see the animals or the exciting acts. But they couldn't have cared less. Manny only cared about the people walking aound with food on their heads. "I need a popcorn! Cotton Candy! " And Marcel just wanted to eat anything he saw. We got Manny 1 ( or 2, who actually remembers) treat and then he saw the guys with the glow swords. "I really need a glow sword! Please! Please! Please!" I told him "Okay, but this is the only thing you get. No more anythings." He promised. I told Luis those dumb glow swords are probably worth a dollar. I am not paying more than $10 for it. (I think we should let our kids pick ONE thing. Period. Luis is of the mentality-if we're going to do something let's go all out. Let's do it all. I say we should never go anywhere if that's what we do. We are compromising.) Luis went to pay for it. And when he came back I asked how much it was. $12!!! What a rip off. (And it curently doesn't work anymore-7 days after we bought it. And Manny even tried to "save the batteries" by only using it every once in a while.) Later the man with the snow cones on his head came by. Manny turns to me, "Can you just return this? I REALLY want a snow cone." You're kidding, right? If I would've just held out a little longer about the glow sword....I had to tell him that sadly that's not how it works. I can't just retun it. Lots of crying followed.
Well, we saw some sad white tigers, a baby elephant playing with a little girl, some jumping dogs with another little girl, a "family" of Colombian tight rope walkers, a lady swinging by her hair, more ladies twirling/doing tricks on pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling, and some clowns. Manny did say he liked the clowns. Success!
We might have even left at half time (if there is a half time). We couldn't quite hear what the ringmaster was saying ever so we just assumed it might be over (although not that many people were getting up to leave). And we weren't sad about it. We most likely won't be going to another circus. Ever. Unless the one from Madagascar comes to town.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

List of things to blog about

I have been terrible at blogging, but I've been trying to write things down when they happen and I will "blog about them later" I always say. So here is the list. I'm blogging about them (kind of).  Most are about Manny

"Please bless Mama's dad to come alive."   (One of Manny's prayers)
Lion Witch and the Wardrobe  (I don't actually remember why I wrote this down. We read the book I guess, but no funny story comes to mind)
How to pray-"Put your arms out like this, give yourself a hug, close your eyes like you're not looking for someone to get you"     (Manny was trying to show Marcel how to pray. Marcel is now successful and folds his arms and closes his eyes. It is very cute)
Sent a balloon in the air to "make Heavenly Father happy"    (Cute that he was for serious)
"You're just like a lifeguard!" Because I am always saving Marcel's life  (True dat. Every day of his life)
"I probably don't need a life jacket now that I've had swim lessons." He's had 2 lessons that have included things like blowing bubbles and putting your head under the water (which he was hesitant to do)
"Please don't let the ants know it is a trap." (Another heartfelt prayer) "I'm nice! I'm really nice! Come here bugs" (He called to bugs as we were trying to catch them)  (We had to catch a bug to bring to class for Manny's homework.)

New Year's

Funny story. Lucila and David and Kahomey came to visit. Everyone had 3 days off so everyone said, "Let's take a roadtrip!" First suggestion-Miami (12 hours driving). I said no. New York City (9hrs driving)? No. Washington DC (5hrs driving)? Maybe. Actually I told them they could go anywhere, but I didn't really want to go. A short in days but long travel with kids didn't sound fun to me. They finally decided on Atlanta, Georgia so they could go to the aquarium. They all wanted to go together. We had just bought our van (which seats 8). They were convinced we would all fit (there were 9 of us). Luis kept saying, "4 people can totally fit in the back!" They all agreed they wouldn't complain, someone might even sit on someone else's lap, and someone (not me) would somehow deal with a ticket if we got one. I reluctantly agreed. We decided this at 8:30 at night and left at 2am the next morning (so the kids would be sleeping). I have a great talent for falling asleep. Maybe the hours upon hours of car travel I did as a kid with my family, but I really do think it is a talent. So I am in the back, with 3 other people. I am turned on my side so we can almost fit. (Just so you know, 4 people CANNOT fit in the back.) I tell myself, "Just go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep." And it works! I wake up and we are at a gas station. Not surprising. What's surprising is that this happens probably 3 more times. Atlanta is 6 hours away. Why do I keep waking up at gas stations? It's because someone's face is numb, someone's legs hurt, someone needs to walk around, someone needs to go to the bathroom, etc.  It takes us forever to get there, but we get there and it is amazing. Here are some photos.

















 What we couldn't take pictures of was the dolphin show, which was really cool. It was a musical. Manny loved it. I also didn't get pictures of anyone touching anything because Manny was too afraid to. They had tons of places where you could touch the animals. We stayed until about 3pm when the aquarium started to get more busy. We went to a Peruvian restaurant. And then drove home. We started driving home and the driver kept falling asleep. We stopped at a gas station...and I got in the front seat and said I was good to drive. I drove straight home. The end




Saturday, February 16, 2013

Randoms and Christmas!

So here are a bunch of random pictures I haven't put in



Cooking

Marcel chasing me
 
Acting out the Nativity. We had to act it out probably 4 times before he would go to bed
 
Sweet Baby Jesus laid his head on a bunch of costumes, right?
 
 And I need to remember to somehow take better pictures of actual Christmas. Everone looks sad, but they really were happy. I promise.
Manny's toothbrush that "makes silly noises"-electric toothbrush

Marcel asking for candy


Books, books, books. We love books

Thanks Jessie! Ha ! Ha!

Thanks Mom!
 
 

Aunt Sarah made these awesome masks. And Manny had to try them all on and look in the mirror. Amazing that they went along with the costumes I gave him for Christmas (from Halloween Clearance)

 
Then we went to the Abuelo's and Abuela's where they got spoiled rotten
Luis with my first NIECE. Yay! Isn't she so cute? Kahomey smiles a lot, but I could never catch it on camera.






I forgot to put a picture of Lucila and David and Kahomey. What a cute family