Thursday, December 30, 2010

Family Christmas


After church on Christmas Eve.

I'm back at work, still so happy about our Christmas break. I love Christmas because we spend so much time together as a family. A few weeks ago, Maya and I flew to Denver for a Mother/Daughter party that my sister hosted. (It's not really a tea party; more like a cocktail party with juice for the kids). Maya wore a shiny silver outfit for the occasion, an outfit, like most of her others, that came from Lily. My sister said it brought tears to her eyes to see Maya in the outfit as she remembered Lily in it just a few years ago.


Dad and Maya at Julie's


Ya Ya and Maya

Then, on Christmas Eve, my parents flew in for the week and we had a great visit. Guillermo shared with them his e-mail from Santa on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, they watched as the kids opened their presents and then helped set up everyone's Mii and helped decorate our train cake. The rest of the week, we went shopping, played a lot of Wii bowling and just hung out. My parents watched Maya and Guillermo while Will and I spent an evening away at the King's Daughters Inn in Durham. It's a beautiful bed and breakfast across from Duke University.

And when my parents left, it was the four of us and we had such a nice few days together. I wasn't ready for it to end, but I was happy that each of us went back to our daily non-vacation routine happy that we spent it together. Next year, we need to get Jen and William here to celebrate with us as well!

Maya, Will and Guillermo

It was a Wii Christmas

Merry Christmas!

At last, we have a Wii. And Guillermo couldn't be more happy. It was a Christmas present to him and Maya from my parents and Guillermo is over the moon. He's had non-stop Lego Star Wars and Super Mario Galaxy 2 on our television since Christmas. Yes, he's had breaks and my parents have been especially good about making him take a break so we could have family bowling tournaments. Last night, we attempted wake boarding, table tennis (Will is really good at that), and fencing. Maya's game is Just Dance Kids, but she isn't totally into yet. She loves bowling though. After she throws the ball, she runs up to the tv and watches and when the pins fall down, she jumps around as happy as can be. It's adorable!

Guillermo bowling

Maya's big gift this year from Santa was a box _ a giant white card board box shaped like a castle. It's too big for our living room, but she likes it and so do her friends. Today, she and Guillermo started coloring it in and they named it the "Princess Yellow Striped Castle." Santa also delivered a package of princess dolls for her. My parents also gave her a silky pink nightgown and robe that she adores (she calls it her pinks!).
In her pinks!

Guillermo's big gift from Santa was a new bicycle, one that shifts. It's awesome!
Guillermo and his new bike!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Gingerbread/Cannon House

Adding the cannons to the house

We made a Gingerbread house the other day. Guillermo picked the theme of our house: Cannons. He convinced Maya to decorate the house like it was a military house, which was pretty hard since we were using a bunch of candy in primary colors. Nonetheless, he clued cannon launchers and cannon balls all over the house. Later, Maya decorated the Santa gingerbread man with red frosting. He looked like he had been torn apart by cannons. I think it turned out pretty good and, more importantly, so did they.

Girls Weekend

Julie, Lily, Me, mom & my mom at the Mother's Tea.

Julie, Maya & me


Lily and Maya every morning during our stay in Denver.

Maya and I just returned from a girls weekend. We flew to Denver to attend the Mother/Daughter tea that my sister hosts every year before Christmas. It was such a fun trip, except poor Maya was sick the whole time. She had a fever one day and the rest of the days, she had a pretty bad cold that swiped most of her energy.

The trip marked the first airplane ride in years for Maya. She couldn't even remember the last time she had been on the plane. She was so excited and she did great, despite the fact that I forgot headphones for her video player, hadn't changed the batteries for her Leapster and kept falling asleep on her every time she opened up her I-Spy book.

My friend Michelle picked us up from the airport. We hadn't seen each other in two years. We spent the afternoon catching up and then picked up her kids from school. It was so fun watching Maya and Michelle's daughter play together. The last time they saw each other was when they were 2. But, they got along famously.

The tea was Saturday and we went to see Christmas lights and How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Sunday. By these two days, Maya definitely wasn't feeling well. She clung to me most of the tea until her motrin kicked in. She wanted to leave the lights early on Sunday because she was tired. But, when she was feeling well, she had a great time. And, so did I.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Santa and Tears

Guillermo has been hinting to me for a few days that he isn't sure Santa Claus is real. "Is Santa Claus real, mom?" "You would tell me the truth, right?"
I pretend I don't hear him.
He and one of his friends say they are going to stay up all night to see if it's Santa or the parents who set out gifts.
Yesterday, he told me one of his friends said his mom gives him presents, not Santa. I followed quickly with "of course we give you presents. I still need to wrap them before I put them under the tree."

Well, today, he decided he wanted to go see Santa at the mall so I told him I would take him tonight.
"I'm not going to tell him what I want because he's not the real Santa," he said matter-of-factly.
"We don't have to go," I said.
"I want to," he answered.
But Maya interjected.
"I don't want to see Santa."
"Why not?"
"I just don't."
"Ok," I said, hoping she would change her mind.

We were the only ones in line when we arrived. Guillermo skipped right over to Santa and sat on his lap. He seemed pretty happy. Maya clung to me. (She's never been scared of Santa before).

The Santa was really nice and friendly. He kept trying to get Maya to talk to him or come sit with him but she wasn't having it. I even walked her over to him but when I tried to get her to stand next to Guillermo, she started crying. I felt awful. She was really upset and it took awhile for her to calm down.

But, when she did, she helped make Guillermo smile a perfect smile for the photograph and then as we were leaving, she even gave Santa a high-five. Maybe next year.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Snow Days

It snowed! It snowed a lot, for us, and especially for December. As one young neighbor said, "this is like January snow!"



Sunday, November 28, 2010

When You Were A Kid


"Did you live in this house when you were a kid?" Maya asked me yesterday.

"No, I lived in a different house," I answered.

"OK, tell me what your room looked like," she said.

"It had yellowish/gold carpet and I had a white and yellow bedspread with flowers and a doll on it," I answered.

"Where was your bedroom?"
"Upstairs, first door on the left."
"Which way is left?"
"This way."
"OK, tell me about your house. When you first walked in the house," Maya asked. "What did it look like?"
"You were in a foyer and you could either go upstairs or downstairs."
"If you went upstairs, what did you see?"
The living room was this way, the dining room was this way and then you could enter the kitchen. Or, you could turn the other way and go up another set of stairs, where the bedrooms were."
"What did the upstairs look like?"
"The first door was the bathroom. If you kept walking, ya ya and grandpa's bedroom was at the end of the hall."
"Wait, which side of the hallway?"

And on and on and on, she asked questions, just like a reporter. :)

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving started with a Kids Fun Run (not with the adults 8K because I wasn't up for it) and ended with us watching Pokemon on the big screen at our house. In between, I went for a run, Will, Maya and I cooked and baked (maya made cute little pumpkin pies), we all ate a wonderful meal and I introduced my kids to Elle Woods. Maya adored her. Guillermo liked the story, well, just a little bit, he said. (To be fair, it was Legally Blonde 2, definitely the lesser of the two movies). It was a perfect day. And, I'm now fired up to run the 8K next year.

Go Guillermo!
Showing off their ribbons
Maya with the two pies, apple and pumpkin, that she helped me bake. Her little pumpkin pies were in the oven.

Guillermo chose the leg. Since we had just bought a turkey breast instead of the whole turkey, we decided to buy legs just for Guillermo, and then we made a "Medieval marinade" for them. The legs turned out pretty good.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Once There Was a Boy


Maya found an old baby photo album, the soft, padded kind you give to babies, from when she was a baby. It was one we gave to her. Unfortunately, we had put only a few photos in the book even though it held up to six. I do remember taking one out for something so by the time she found it tonight, there were only two photos. She wanted to know where the other photos were and when I told her we had lots on the computer, she decided to make up a story using the photos in the book. Here it is:

For the first photo of just Guillermo: "Once there was a boy. His name was Guillermo. One, he was good. Two, sometimes he was bad (hee hee, hee)"

For the second photo, with Guillermo and baby Maya peering over the couch: "He met a girlfriend. Her name was Maya and she was a little tiny baby. He took good care of her and that was when Ya Ya and Grandpa and mommy and daddy were there."

Then, she turned to a blank page: "And then they died."

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Nice Leopard


There was a lot of dancing and singing and acting at our house this weekend.

It started Friday night, when Will came home for work. He started spinning on his new DJ table and we turned our living room into a dance floor and the kids took turns dancing and spinning.

Later, Guillermo found the box under his bed that I use to store some of his artwork and some school papers from the past several years. In it was his popsicle stick set of the three pigs and the big bad wolf. So, we all took a character and played, four rounds, so each of us could be each pig and have a chance to play the wolf.

Tonight, Maya promised she would perform her ice cream dance after eating her Sunday sundae. As we were cleaning up, she and Guillermo came up with a play. It started with Guillermo pretending to be an ice cream cone. Then, Maya came on stage and started to try to lick him (this after today she somehow pinched the frenulum of her tongue in the bathroom door, causing it to bleed and really hurt. And please don't ask how that happened. I have no idea why she had her mouth in the door in the first place.) So, when Maya tried to lick him, the ice cream cone came to life and ran across the stage and the chase was on. Maya danced and Guillermo performed some martial arts moves.

They were so excited about their performance, the did two more for me after Will left for work. The first, was called "The Leopard and the Princess" and the second was called "The Bear and the Princess." And they both featured a princess walking through the forest and finding an angry animal who tried to attack her and in the end, knocked her unconscious. They loved it.

They already are planning their Thanksgiving show for us. And, they let the title of the upcoming performance slip: "Underwear, Underwear and the Princess."

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Athletes

The whole Vizuete clan competed in races this fall.


G and M with me before the Ramblin Rose Triathlon

Will and the kids before the Pancreatic Cancer Awareness 5K

Maya taking a tennis lesson. This picture was in the local newspaper.

Maya showing off her medal from a fun run. Guillermo ran it too, but he wouldn't pose for a photo.

Fall Festival

This fall was extremely busy for us. Between the election and co-planning the Fall Festival, it was a little crazy around here. But, helping organize the festival was fun, and the festival was a great for the school community and raised quite a bit of money for the PTA. Here are a few photos to show how much fun the kids had. Well, maybe the photos just show how much they love donuts.

This is their favorite game at the festival.


She couldn't wait to try the donut game.

Celebrating at the festival

Catching up

I've been MIA. I apologize, but I've got a lot of photos to post and a few things to tell you about but I thought I would start with these photos. Aren't they sweet?



Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween

Maya went from this last year, a bad butterfly:



To this, this year, Belle in the golden dress."


"Don't you want to be something scary?" I asked her when she told me she wanted to be "Belle in the golden dress, mommy."
"You don't have to be something scary to get candy," she told me.
She really wanted to wear the golden dress.

Guillermo wanted to be a ninja again


And, I got into the act this year, too:

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

One Tooth Less


He's missing a tooth!

Guillermo lost his first tooth! He lost it Saturday, after it had been really loose for a few days.

As he was wiggling it earlier in the day, he had started talking about the tooth fairy, or, rather, that he didn't think the tooth fairy existed. Here's his theory:

"Maybe an activation device in your tooth goes off when you lose it, and it triggers a dollar."

Either way, he woke up the next day at 5:30 a.m. to check to see if the activation device had gone off or if the tooth fairy had visited. I'm not sure what he thinks happened, but he was pleased to find money under his pillow.


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Weekend Wedding


Before the ceremony.

He hands off the ring.

Maya was playing with a friend here today and I was sitting on the couch, reading the paper, zoning out. I could hear them playing but I wasn't paying attention to what they were doing until I got up and saw Maya but saw that Guillermo's room was closed.

"Maya, where is your friend?" I asked as I moved toward Guillermo's door.
"He's in Guillermo's room. We are getting married and I told him to go in there and practice dancing for the wedding."

I listened at the door, smiling, and heard the sound of Legos.
"Are you sure he's practicing?" I asked, nearly laughing.
"I told him to. Let's check."
Her friend wasn't dancing, but instead filling a play tea pot with Legos.

"I'm making coffee," he said.
"We're getting married. You are supposed to practicing dancing," Maya told him.
"OK," he answered happily. "I need a costume, too," he added, checking out the golden yellow satin dress Maya had on.

I searched Guillermo's room and found his old angel costume. In retrospect, it would have been cooler to give him the Batman costume, but he was pretty pleased with what I came up with.

Maya made me pretend to drive them to the wedding outside. On our way the door, Maya's friend said "this is the sweetest thing I've ever done."

I did the ceremony quickly, awkwardly, because I don't want Maya to start playing wedding with every neighborhood boy, or any neighborhood boy, and when they finished, they asked what next?

"The bouncy house!"

And they jumped for in the bouncy house for the next 20 minutes.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Abracadabra


Guillermo has signed up for the Principal's Challenge again this year. We left it completely up to him, but I'm glad he decided to do it.

Last year, I thought we had convinced him that this year's topic should be food. It would have been so easy to come up with 25 activities related to food. I had it all mapped out.

This year, he couldn't remember that we had even discussed having food as a topic. He asked me to give him some ideas so I did: North Carolina, Spanish, Space, I think I named a few countries, including the United States of America.

"How about magic?" he asked. "I want to do it on magic."

So it is settled. Today, for our first activity, we had a brainstorming session where we talked about what we know about magic, some magicians we know (real and fiction) and what their magic powers are.

We're also finishing up a book from one of his favorite series, "Secrets of Droon," and are going to make a magician's cloak together.

I think this is going to be a great topic.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Texas Fighting


Maya gets all of my neice's hand-me-downs and boy are we lucky. Maya is the best-dressed kid around, if I do say so myself. She always has been (Thanks Julie!).

The latest box of hand-me-downs came yesterday. A big box full of 4T clothes. Maya helped me unload the box, until she found a pair of cowboy boots that fit her perfectly. Then, she was done helping. She was ready to play.

We went outside so she could show off her "Texas" cowboy boots to Will. Then, she picked up the noodles that we use for light saber battles, and wanted to fight, "Texas style."

"Let's pretend that you don't know me and you want to fight me and you see that I am really good at Texas fighting," Maya says to me. I agree and get into character and we battle.

"Wow, you are good," I tell her. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"My whole family is good at Texas fighting. My papa, my brother, my mama. We're really good at Texas fighting," she told me as the battle ensued. She later won and declared herself the champion of Texas fighting.

Today, she asked me to help her put her boots on again. "Now I'm ready to go to Texas with papa one day. We could all go as a family vacation. Does everyone in Texas wear boots like this?"

"Not everyone wears boots," I answer.

"Only the really good people do, right?" she responds.

I think it's time we get Guillermo a pair now.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

LIttle Things that Made Me Laugh and Smile


Guillermo told me last night that his teacher was going to be gone today and that there would be a substitute teacher. He mentioned a few boys from his class and said they were thinking ... "well, wouldn't it be cool if our substitute teacher was an Army guy!"

Sadly, the substitute wasn't dressed in uniform today, but Guillermo said the day went well anyway.

Maya was angry with me the other day and said this: "You are crazying me down!"

But she also said this: "When you are angry with me, I'm going to give you a paper heart." Now how could I be angry after that?

Camp Out



We finally took our not-so-new tent out last weekend. It works great! Goodbye pup tent! Hello, giant tent.

We went to the annual camp out at the Farm. We went about a year ago with friends and Guillermo, Maya and I crowded into that tiny little tent. This year, Lisa and Charlie joined us and Maya's friend from preschool was there, too. It was really fun. Guillermo and Charlie befriended a group of kids and they took off for the playground and the woods. I took Maya on a hike with her friend and then we all met up for a group marshmallow stick hunt and then to roast marshmallows. While stick hunting, a 6th grader befriended Maya and became her "babysitter" the rest of the night. It was wonderful. Will, Lisa and I just hung out and enjoyed the beautiful evening. This is really the way to camp.

By 10 p.m. the kids were worn out and they fell right to sleep. So did we. After breakfast the next morning, we packed up and headed out of our campsite by 8:30 a.m. We all needed naps.

Guillermo the biker


guillermo is a bicycle rider.

On september 23, 2010 I came home and guillermo was home wanting something to do. As always i suggest riding his bike. He usually says no, and when he says yes it consists of me helping him start and then he rides a few feet, stops, and doesn't want to try it anymore.

9/23/2010 was different, I could feel a breakthrough. I say, "Guillermo let me teach you today how to start the bike on your own. Step on the pedal that is up and push off with your other foot on the ground. When you start push down on the pedal with your other foot and you are good to go."

After a few tries he got it and then he was off. Around and around the "sac" he went. i hopped on my bike and started following him. We immediately played start wars he was red one, i was red two and we blasted the giant mound of mulch in our "sac". Lets try to make it down to the stop sign, now the second one down the street, how about up the hill to max's house, now over to the gazebo. Then he insisted to go his elementary school, done. what a champ.

the next day i suggested he ride a slightly bigger bike since his was a bit small now and probably harder to control. He agreed and away he went. bigger faster bike was way cool. since then we have gone to school twice, and he wants to ride bikes with me everyday. We even did it at night before bed, don't tell his mama.

we went to the store yesterday to get new tires, chain, and a brand new helmet for guillermo.

He is one proud boy.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Sounds on a Sunday Afternoon



Will is napping after a late night last night, I'm supposed to be folding laundry, and the kids are playing, Maya in the living room with her magnetic drawing board and Guillermo in his room, undoubtedly staging a battle, likely with his Bionicles.

Besides the air conditioner (it's supposed to hit 96 this week!) and the washing machine, this is what I hear:

Maya signing the story she is enacting on the drawing board: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." "Stop, celebrate, the cannon sounds." "The captain has a problem." "And our instruments worked in our music class."

Guillermo: "rwwwww, fsk fsk. ... There it is. Pshhhhh. Pshhhh." ... "Yaaaa Boom, boom. Hummm, hummm, hummm, Pffsst" ... "Wooahhhh."

It's music to my ears!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I Caught a Fish

"Look at my fish!"

"I caught a fish!"

We ended our summer with a wonderful vacation to Will's uncle's house on a lake in Georgia. The last time we were there, I was pregnant with Guillermo. This time, we had both kids with us and Will's father was there too.

The kids had fun from the start. We parked on one side of the lake and Will's uncle picked us up on his boat to take us to his house. Guillermo and I swam in the lake and Maya played on the dock with Will and Big Papa. The dock itself was incredible. Will's uncle built it himself: boat lifts and built in ice maker and refrigerators. The best part is the 62-inch flat screen tv that folds down from the ceiling. When Guillermo and Maya got tired of playing, they sat on chairs and watched cartoons while we hung out. It really was cool.

The best part was after dinner when Guillermo and Maya went fishing. I don't think Maya has ever been fishing since Will and I have no interest in taking the fish off the line if we would ever catch one. Big Papa helped them, though. Guillermo went first, didn't catch anything. Maya went next and within a few minutes, her line started to pull. Her face lit up. "I caught a fish! I caught a fish! I caught a fish!" She was bouncing around and for the rest of the night she sang "I caught a fish!" Guillermo was up next again, and this time he caught one, too, and he was pretty proud.

The next day we went for a hike, took the boat out, hung out on a little island and swam. Guillermo went for a ride on the four-wheeler with his cousin and uncle and I took him out on the Jet ski. They played horseshoes and bean bag toss (I hate the other name for that game). It was great.

Maya was pretty wimpy on the way home Monday. "I wish we could stay there more days!" We promised her another trip next year.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

We're Going on A Trip to the Lake and We're Taking ... Princess Slippers and a Magic Wand?

I'm a little heavy on Maya this week, but this girl is cracking me up.

On the way to school today, she told me this: "I don't want to be a cash register girl when I grow up because then I have to give away all my money. Oh, but people would give me money, too."

Then tonight, I told her to pack for an upcoming road trip to visit family at a lake in Georgia. It's a seven hour trip to so I told her to pack things that will keep her busy in the car. Here is what she came up with: a pair of dress up high heels, a skirt for her leotard, a red and black dress up dress, a magic wand, a crown, a few headbands, a purse, and the game Rush Hour, which has at least ten small cars.

It's going to be some trip.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Maya's First Day of School



Maya started school yesterday and boy was she excited. She now goes five days a week, instead of three, "everyday that Guillermo goes, I get to go, too!." She is now in the Frog class and she is so proud. She didn't have too much to say about school when it was over, just that she had fun. She came out wearing a new necklace and holding a letter that a friend made for her.

This morning, on her second day of school, she woke up at 6:30 and gave me a hug in the living room. Then she asked: "I was noticing that I might be late for school. Am I late?"

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

More Jokes


Monday was Maya's turn to tell jokes, and she had the perfect audience in her good friend, Sophia.

Sophia went first but I can't remember Sophia's joke because Maya's was so good.

Here it is:

"Knock Knock," she started.
"Who's there?"
"Peach," Maya answered.
"Peach who?"
"Peach aren't you glad I didn't say orange."

Harharharha ha ha.

Well, Maya laughed. Sophia looked a bit confused for a few seconds before she joined in the laughter.