Friday Speaker

Posing pretty.

Last week, I was the Friday Speaker at Maya's school. Every Friday, the school asks a parent to come and talk to the kids about anything they want. The parents can read books or do an activity. One parent this year talked to the kids about airplanes and then invited the class to see his airplane at the airport. It was pretty cool.

I gave Maya's class a Spanish lesson. On colors. I'm sure I wasn't among the most exciting speaker, but the kids were good and listened and participated and when I picked Maya up, she handed me a rainbow that said thank you and had quotes from a few of the kids about what their favorite parts were. Here are a few:

Maya: "My pink and purple one."

Allegra: "Pink, purple and red."

Sydney: "Teaching us colors in Spanish."

Antonia: "Speaking Blue."

I'm already thinking about my next Friday speaker gig. Any suggestions?

Birthday Party

Trying on the 3-D glasses for his Star Wars pin the blast on the ship game.

We've finally reached a close to Guillermo's birthday posts.

Yesterday we hosted his birthday party at our house. Six kids, all boys, all 5-7 year olds. I'll say up front, this was not our finest two hours.

The party started off well, we played a few games. For the first, I taped a picture of a Star Wars character on the back of one kid. The kid then had to ask questions to the partygoers, who had seen the picture, and then try to guess the characters. They liked that game well enough. Then, we played some sort of Star Was pin the laser blast on the ship game. That was good. But the next game, a balloon game Will led, made guillermo break down into tears and he didn't really recover until it was time to break the Darth Vader pinata. That actually went well because he took a few swings at it and broke it open right away. (Other games included light saber training and Jedis and droids, our take on sharks and minnows.)

Next up was cake and then presents and then they were out. Whew! Next year, I'm hoping for a small sleepover or a party somewhere other than my house.

(Of course, the day started off well. We got to see Gustafter Yellowgold at the ArtsCenter!)

Not my prettiest cake, but they liked it. Well, actually they didn't eat much of it. Instead they loved Yoda Soda, a mixture of green sherbert and Sprite. They asked for seconds and thirds.

BINGO

Bingo!

The PTA at Guillermo's school hosted Bingo night yesterday.

At first, Guillermo didn't want to go because "they only have one winner." When we play Bingo or Zingo at our house, the rest of the players continue with the game even after the first winner has emerged. We convinced him that even if there is just one winner per game at his school, a lot of people win throughout the night. He decided to give it a shot.

And guess what. Guillermo won the first game. He picked a school water bottle for his prize.

Picking out his prize.

P.E. Class

Last week was "Take Your Parents to P.E. Week" at Guillermo's school. Will and I both had the chance to go.

Will went to the first class and did astronaut drills for warm up and then played PacMan tag. I haven't been able to get the details from them about the games.

I went on Friday and our warm up involved two large dice. Guillermo and I both rolled one and whoever rolled the highest number got to take a lap around the gym while the other exercised in place. Guillermo mostly rollled high and ran laps. After that, we played sharks and minnows. I ended up being seaweed in both games. Rats.

Happy Birthday, Guillermo

Blowing out the candles on his Lego cake.

Admiring the stacks of Pokemon cards Maya picked out for him.

YES!! He loves his new DS.

Guillermo couldn't wait for school today. All week long his class job has been to be the fish tail, you know, stand at the end of the line. Today on his birthday, he thought he would get to be the front, and even more important, he thought he would get to be first in line to the cafeteria because he was getting school lunch. It turns out, he was second in line all day, but he said it didn't bother him. "You know, some people are sensitive if you cut in line."

I love my kids birthdays and how excited they get because of them.

After school as a special treat, we picked up Guillermo's best friend from his afterschool program and they played at home for awhile before pizza, cake and presents. Maya picked out a large set of Pokemon cards for him and that captured his attention for quite awhile and he was pretty pleased with the Cardinals jersey my parents sent him. But when he opened the DS Will and I bought him, we lost him for the rest of the night. He played Lego Star Wars until bedtime and I imagine he will play for quite awhile tomorrow, too. He gets unlimited play for a few more days before I start imposing some limits.

For now, he's happy to be six.

Ice and Candy

Watching the zamboni.

Look at the skates!

Will took Maya to the candy store, while I took Guillermo ice staking this afternoon. It was Guillermo's first time in skates (of any kind) and I think he liked it.

The indoor rink we went to was packed and a bit intimidating, for at least for me. I hadn't been skating in years. Guillermo was excited to try, but he lost a lot of confidence once he got on the ice. He put one hand in mine and the other on the wall. A few times he put both on the wall and tried to pull himself along, but he nearly fell over doing that. We made it about a third of the way around the rink before we took our first break. But it was a short one and little by little he worked up more confidence and pretty soon he made it around the rink three times without holding on to either me or the wall. He said he really does not want to take lessons, or play hockey, but he'd like to go back again.

Maya, meanwhile went to the toy store and then to the candy store with Will. She picked up a chocolate covered marshmallow. Yum!

Go Texas

Today, when Texas competes for the BCS National Championship, I think it is fitting to share a conversation Guillermo had with a friend last night at dinner.

Guillermo: "Are you from America?"

Friend: "Yes."

Guillermo: "Oh, I'm from Texas."

Go Longhorns!

Holiday Fun

Serving up pizza.

Hiding out in his fort made from his new Star Wars sheets.

Not much else to add here.

The first sweet embrace I've seen in awhile between the two of them.

With ya ya and grandpa.

Winter break ends tomorrow, but I wish it would last a few more days.

We've had a lot of fun and today was a nice way to end the two-week break. We started with church, which ended with an Epiphany celebration of stories, crafts and king cake. Afterward G, M and I threw sticks across a frozen pond. I think that might have been the first time either kid had seen a frozen body of water and they were pretty amazed though I was pretty nervous one of them was going to fall in. Later, Guillermo and Will watched Star Wars Episode 1 on the big screen at our house (thanks Brad!) and Maya and I went to Kidzu and then out for latte and chocolate milk. "This is a fun day, right?" Maya exclaimed after she slurped up her hot chocolate.

I wish I had pictures from New Years Eve and New Years day. Maya started the celebrations at her friend's 3rd birthday party on the 31st. We ended the fun around 10:30 p.m. New Years Day after a fun open house at a neighbor's house. Guillermo unfortunately explored a creek near the house and ended up with wet pants in freezing weather but he didn't mind much. Maya ran wild around the house with one of her best friends and had her first pajama party (picking out her friend's ice cream cone pjs, of course) but was disappointed when she couldn't sleep over. In between those parties, we attended two more and had a great time.

The rest of the break they spent a lot of time with my parents, saw Alvin and the Chipmunks (which was pretty funny), had playdates and Guillermo played Wii at friends' houses. We saw a Christmas play and they sat on Santa's lap and went bowling.

Now, it's time to start planning Guillermo's birthday party. He can't decide between a Star Wars or Pokemon cake. I've suggested a Lego cake because I think that is one design I can make.