Normal humans, martial arts, diarrhea

We went to our first pack meeting last night. Manny was in the group that was walking the flag up the the front of the room. In the audience we put our hands over our hearts, but anyone who is a scout does a salute. Marcel commented, "Ohh. So anyone who is a scout does this (as he does a salute), and all the normal humans do this (hand over heart), right?" Yes. That's right.

Manny was so excited to tell me he does martial arts at school.

Me-Wow. Martial arts. Really?

Manny- Yes. 

Me-Martial arts. Like karate? 

Manny-Well, maybe it was something else. Something arts.

Me-Okay, what does it involve?

Manny-Reading, writing.

Me-Maybe you mean language arts?

Manny-Yes! That's it. I really love it

Me-I'm glad.

"I can't wait until I go to heaven and I won't have to poop anymore. I'll go to heaven and get all fixed up, right?"-Marcel while having diarrhea

Making the world a better place

In school Manny's class has been talking about what makes a good citizen. Manny often likes to tell me that when he grows up and has kids he won't give any consequences, will give his kids whatever they want, and let them do whatever they want. And that is how he will make the world a better place.

Apostles, gift of hunger, babies, flowed, praying for Satan

Marcel saw me reading a general conference talk and it had a picture of President Uchtdorf. Marcel pointed and said, "Remember that guy?" I thought-how cute he remembers. But then he said, "We get candy with that guy." He remembers alright, but he just remembers we play conference bingo and get to eat candy.

Manny was asking me for something to eat. I said it wasn't time to eat yet and he cried, "But I have the gift of hunger!....and music."

Manny cried that boys have the boring part and girls have the best part in growing babies.

Manny shared with me what he thought was a revelation. "I know why you and Papi aren't having a baby." Oh, really? "It's because Papi doesn't spend enough time with us as a family and with you."  Luis has been working a lot lately... Sad.

"Look a bird!" I turn around and Marcel says, "Oooh, sorry. He already flowed." Past tense sure is tricky.

Manny frequently prays that Satan "will feel the spirit" or that Heavenly Father will "keep encouraging Satan to make good choices." At least he's caught on to my teaching of not giving up on someone, that you can always be better/make better choices. Manny likes to remind me that Heavenly Father still loves Satan, just not his choices.

Stories I want to remember

This was all forever ago, but I need to record them before I forget them...

My Chemical Shelf-Manny made my medicine cabinet in my bathroom (which was empty, thank goodness) his chemical shelf. He would mix things (soap, lotion, contact solution, anything he could mix) and make "potions." He even made a sign saying  "My Cemicool Shelf" and drew pictures of beakers.

"I'm gonna kill you"- said very calmly.   "Fine, nobody like you, nobody play with you"  Quotes from Marcel

I had chaperoned a field trip for Manny's class to a science museum. They had a fun demonstration with animals explaining what they eat. One of the animals was a cockroach-yuck. Well they described how cockroaches are the world's garbage can, they eat really old stuff and help the earth/world. Later that week I asked Manny to help clean up food that was spilled on the floor. He told me he wanted to leave it for the cockroaches. I said no way. I clean up to keep cockroaches away. If they want to eat my garbage they can eat it out of the garbage at the dump. Or they can just eat outside our apartment. Anywhere but in my apartment please. Then he tried to convince me not to kill them if I saw them in our house...

"You don't clean up you're not getting a treat" "Okay you're not getting treat"-more threats from Marcel.

"Just do it!"-Marcel would sometimes yell for me to just do something. We would be in the car and he would say he wanted a drink. I would say that I didn't have one and he would yell-just do it. Come to think of it I don't remember if this was supposed to be for Manny or Marcel. Sometimes Manny would insist I knew something (a story or where a toy was hidden) and when I said I didn't know he would yell-just do it.

"Let the dogs say whoo whoo whoo whoo whoo"-how Marcel would sing "who let the dogs out"

 "I'm annoying!"-Marcel is still learning English (not that he knows Spanish any better). When Manny would be crying/yelling/throwing a fit Marcel would yell this.

We read the book Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. All about a woman who has positive cures for special problems talking back or never wanting to go to bed. It was really funny. We had been having some of the same troubles. "The Never Go To Bed-ers" especially caught our family's eye. Manny thought it would be a good idea to try the cure she recommended. The cure was to let the kids stay up as late as they wanted for a few days and then when their friends wanted to do something the kids would be sleeping during the day and supposedly the kids would want to go to bed on time eventually. We gave it a try. Obviously the results were horrendous to begin with. We did this during the summer. My house was a disaster after the first night. It only lasted a few days-the cure did surprisingly work. But
it apparently doesn't last forever. We come back to the same problems. No way am I doing that again though.

We also read a book called "Bunnicula" about a bunny the other pets of the house think is a vampire because he sucks the juice out of vegetables. Funny book. But there was a kid who had the privilege of staying up as late as he wanted to on Friday night as long as he was reading. Naturally Manny wanted to try it. He had me go to the library and get tons of books the day before the fun night. When it was time to go to bed he brought all the books in his bed, covered them with a sheet and had a countdown. On your mark, get set, go! And then he uncovered the books and they read for a long time. Manny lasted until 10:30. Ridiculous.

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