July 4th weekend

We had a good Independence Day.
We started it off with a breakfast at church.  We ate pancakes and scrambled eggs.  
Then Cesar set up his new TV.  He has been wanting a TV for downstairs ever since we moved in.  He finally got it for his birthday.

 Sandra came over and she cleaned the kitchen for us!  I'm so grateful because it was so dirty.  It was very nice of her.
We went to dinner at a BBQ restaurant.  It was good and fun. Ruby and Sandra were having fun dancing while waiting for our table.

After dinner we watched a movie downstairs on the new TV.  Then the boys and I walked over to the Central Park hill and watched fireworks.  It was fun.  I've always liked fireworks.
















Sunday we had Cesar's sister and her family over for dinner. They live in Englewood, but we don't see them very often.  We all had a good time.  Here are all the cousins eating outside.

Toy Exhibit

We went to the Colorado History Center today with a family pass I checkout from the library.  They had a new toy exhibit that we explored.  It was fun and especially nice to be there as a family.  I had some memories of toys that I used to play with when I was young. 

 

 

Ruby's tutus

Ruby loves wearing dresses, skirts, and tutus.  If I put pants or shorts on her sometimes she takes them off and puts her tutu on- even if its in the dirty hamper.  She is pretty persistent sometimes.  Here are some cute pictures of her:

 This is at kidwatch at the rec center.  For a few weeks, everytime I would come get her after exercising she would be wearing this tutu that they have in the dress up clothes.  She never wanted to take it off either.

 This is one of her favorite skirts that is now getting a little small.  She gets it out of the dirty clothes a lot!

 She wears her tutu even to the park.  My friend Noemi and her daughter Ava came to visit for a day.  They live in Texas. The girls are only 2 weeks apart.

This is Ruby playing with our neighbor.

911 call

Today I called 911 because I thought Eli was choking.  We were in the family room together and I noticed that he was chewing on our toy vacuum.  I told him to get it out of his mouth and then walked into my room.  I called my mom and Ruby was talking to her on FaceTime and then Eli walked in my room for a second and was holding his mouth and neck like he was going to throw up.  We went to the bathroom together and he spit some stuff up in the toilet.  He was still breathing, but I thought that he had probably swallowed a piece of plastic from the vacuum.  I tried to give him the Heimlich maneuver, but nothing came out.  I was really scared that he was going to stop breathing and that there was something that needed to come out.  I hung up with my mom and called 911.  They told me to not hit him on the back and just stay on the phone until the EMT came.  Eli was continuing to throw up some and coughing and gagging.  I directed Diego to go downstairs and open the door for the EMTs.  He did and they got here quickly.  I screamed for them to come upstairs.  They checked Eli out a little and didn't think anything was obstructing his airway.  They asked him some questions and then asked him to go downstairs.  We waited a few more minutes for the ambulance to arrive.  The firemen left and then the paramedics took over.  He listened to his breathing, took his pulse, and just looked him over.  Everything was normal. 
We figured Eli had just inhaled some dust and dirt from the toy.  Poor guy.  I was pretty freaked out and I think he was too.  I asked Diego if he had gotten scared and he said no and Ruby barely even noticed anything.
I'm so thankful for 911, EMT's, ambulances and paramedics!   

1st grade and preschool

The boys finished another school year!  I'm proud of both of them for their hard work.  Eli did great in Spanish immersion and learned a lot of Spanish!  I'm happy for him, and hope that he can learn more and not forget what he already knows.  He won't be going back to the language school next year.  Cesar has had some great conversations in Spanish with him lately and is impressed by how well he can converse.

Eli at field day

Crazy hair day

 

Bowling at field day

science project

 

In May Eli had a big Spanish Heritage program at school.  They practiced for months; he was actually glad when it was over so they wouldn't have to practice anymore. :)  He did a great job dancing like a mariachi!

 

Diego enjoyed his half day preschool in Ms. Atlanta's class at Swigert.  He is very smart and reads some already.  He is also good at math and is well-behaved at school.  He complained sometimes about going to school, but always had a good time once he got there.  He is excited to be in Kindergarten next school year!

The made apple pie one day at school.

science experiment

graduation day

Ms. Atlanta and Ms. Emily

Poke-mon cards

The boys have really gotten into Poke-mon cards.  It started with Eli and then Diego got involved too.  The have binders that they put the cards in.  Eli likes to take his binder to school so he can trade with his friends on the bus ride home.  Last summer Diego got a Poke-mon book from the library summer reading program.  He has gone through that book so often.  He loves to study all the Poke-mon and sometimes he draws them.  It has really kept their attention pretty well, so I don't mind it.  Eli got some cards stolen (or maybe he lost them), but he claims they were stolen from his backpack at school.  He was pretty upset about it, but then decided to spend some of his money to buy more.  Then, one time Ruby stuffed all of Eli's cards into a fish bowl full of water.  Eli was so upset when he found them all water damaged.  After that we bought him some new cards.

A Poke-mon playdate

36th birthday and 9th Anniversary

I had my 36th birthday on March 30th, 2015. 
I am feeling pretty old now.  I am getting more and more white hair, more wrinkles on my face, and it's not so easy keeping my weight where I want it anymore.  I have to work harder to take care of my body, but I know it is worth it.

Cesar and I went on the weekend for my birthday, we also got to go out earlier in the week for our 9th anniversary.  My friend Mindi offered to babysit while Cesar and I went out to eat- she even gave us a coupon for the restaurant! It was very nice of her!  We went to La Sandia a Mexican food restaurant in the neighborhood.   When we got to the restaurant Cesar noticed his wallet was missing.  We went back home to look for it, but didn't find it.  We were so worried.  He actually had a lot of cash and checks in there that he hasn't taken to the bank yet.  After we picked up the kids, Diego went to the bathroom and came out with the wallet!  I guess Cesar had left it in there as soon as he got home from work that day.  We were so relieved!