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.

Summer of Pokemon

I thought this would be the summer of four square. Guillermo came home from the end of last year ready to play. We bought a ball, played a few games, and then Guillermo sat on the ball, deformed it and our game playing suddenly slowed.

Instead, this year turned out to be the Summer of Pokemon, with Will leading the way. Guillermo started getting into Pokemon last winter, but it was horrible to play with him. We didn't know what we were doing, and neither did he, but he and his friends had come up with a game based on a bunch of different rules they had come up with. The problem was, the rules always changed and Guillermo always won.

Will got tired of it, so he read the game the instructions (RTFM is one of his favorite sayings). And, he started playing and he liked it. So, after our summer vacation to Florida, we bought Will his own Pokemon deck. And soon, one of Guillermo's friends kept coming over to play Pokemon, with Will. I even learned the rules, but I'm still not that good.

Maya would watch and now she knows the names of the Pokemon characters, too. In fact, over the weekend, Will and Guillermo bought Maya her own pack of Pokemon cards, too. She was so excited that after we played a tag team match the other night, she replaced the jewelry in her jewelry box with her Pokemon cards.

Guillermo goes back to school on Wednesday. I don't know how much he is looking forward to it, but I know he does love his new backpack and lunchbox. It's Pokemon, of course.

Living Room Sleepover

We are settling in for another living room sleepover. If Will is out of town on a weekend night, Guillermo, Maya and I plan a family sleepover: Movies, snacks and living room tents.

Guillermo and Maya started setting up this morning, loading all of their blankets, pillows and stuffed animals to the living room. When I got home from work, Guillermo had filled his tent with midnight snacks, plastic lemons.

I made the mistake one time of sleeping on the floor with the kids and barely got any sleep. The next time, I planned to sleep on the couch but both kids wanted to join me, so we ended up in my bed. Tonight, Guillermo has made a tent behind the couch and Maya has spread out in front of it.

I'm in the middle. Let's hope I get some sleep or I'll have to cancel the tradition.

(Update: I slept all night and woke only once because of terrible animal screams coming from the forest behind my house.)

T-Ball Saturday

At bat: Guillermo drives one past second base.

Guillermo played his first T-ball game today. He had two home runs!

Ok, I'm not sure they were both home runs, but because of the YMCA rules for 5-6 year old t-ball games, he hit grand slams!

The games are cute. All the players take the field, half in the infield, half in the outfield. Then, half of the other team bats during each inning. There are no outs, even if the team in the field actually makes an out. But that doesn't happen too often. Mostly, the ball is hit and then some of the players in the field run after the ball and some of them tackle it, and then they throw it to first base. The batting team advances at least one base. A few of the players slid into home base. That was pretty awesome.

In Guillermo's case, he was the last batter on his team to bat both innings he batted. That meant that no matter where he hit it, he got to round the bases and head home. But I think the first time he hit it, he would have had a genuine home run, regardless of the Y rules. No matter, he was pretty proud of himself and had a great time.

Beach Vacation

We just returned from a week at the beach!

We did everything, from jump in the waves and play with our cousins

to roll around in hamster balls

and fly in the sky.

We were able to ride on a horse,

and swing on the beach

and admire a rainbow over the ocean.

Thank you for a wonderful week, ya ya and grandpa. We love you!

A Kiss or a Tackle

Maya is a total snugglebug. She wakes up each morning eager for a hug and loves to lounge in our laps. She tries desperately to get Guillermo to snuggle, too, and occasionally tries to kiss him. He usually sneaks away. But, she is getting pretty rough these days; lots of hitting, periodic biting and lately she's been scratching. So this conversation that I overheard between Maya and Guillermo didn't completely surprise me, but it did make me giggle.

Guillermo: "I will kiss you if you do it," Guillermo taunted. I'm not sure what he wanted her to do.

Guillermo: "Maya, do you want a kiss?" Guillermo asked again.

Maya must have ignored him.

Guillermo: "How about a tackle? I'll tackle you," he asked again.

She ignores him some more.

Guillermo: "Do you want a kiss or a tackle," he asked one more time.

She finally relented.

"TACKLE!" she said and then another wrestling match ensued.

I'm still not sure if she did what he wanted her to do, or what exactly it was that he wanted her to do anyway.

Happy Birthday Big Girl

Happy birthday, birthday girl.

Maya turned four on Saturday and boy was she proud. You see the smile above? She wore that for days before her birthday, telling everyone she saw, friends and strangers alike, that she was 3 and three-quarters years old. Now, she has a goofy, proud, giggly smile when she declares that she is 4.

Maya wanted a butterfly-themed birthday so we did it up. We gave the kids cardboard butterfly wings to decorate when they arrived at the party. Then, I read to them the "Hungry Little Caterpillar" and when it was over I had them crawl around the living room like they were caterpillars, find food to eat (from Maya's play kitchen) and then curl up in a cocoon (or as one kid said, raccoon). They burst out of their cocoons after we placed their butterfly wings on their backs. Then, we sent them outside to find baby butterflies we had hidden in the front yard. Back inside, they made butterfly necklaces, ate lunch (butterfly-shaped peanut butter sandwiches, etc.), cake, ice cream, then a pinata and the party was over. It was fun and chaotic, but Maya had a great time. Tonight, at bedtime, she asked if we could still say it was her birthday when she woke up on Monday. I wish it was.

Make a wish, butterfly.

A butterfly on the outside, a rainbow on the inside. (I am so pleased with how this turned out!)

Showing off the Silly Bandz that Guillermo gave her for her birthday.

Soccer

I'm a bit late, but Guillermo finished up his soccer season a few weeks ago. He really enjoyed the season. It was a low-key league with just one team, only practices and scrimmages at the end of the practices. His coach, our neighbor, was wonderful with them. I think he'll play next year, but now he's getting ready for t-ball. He loves to play baseball these days.

Mother's Day

I woke up groggy on Mother's Day 2010 to two restless kids who had slept peacefully on either side of me, crowded so close to me that I could barely move. One had even refused to sleep under the covers, which made any attempt to turn over nearly impossible.

I put on my best face: "Good morning!"

I took them to the living room for one of our usual Sunday routines of getting them set up with the video players and then going back to bed. As I helped Maya, I told her that since it was Mother's Day, I was going to go take a quick nap.

Her face lit up as she remembered. "Hold on." And she took off, zooming around the room, and came right back with a card she had made herself and hidden behind a bookshelf. On the front of the card, she had drawn a person carrying an umbrella in a rainstorm. Cute. On the inside, she wrote "Natalie to, Maya From" and had drawn three people.

"Oh, that's you, papa and me," I said. "No, that's Guillermo, me and papa," she answered.

When I asked where I was, she said: "I forgot to draw you. Why don't you get a marker and draw yourself in the card."

Then she ran over to Guillermo and told him to get his surprise for me. "It's under the bed. Can you get it mom?" he asked, barely looking up for his video.

I obliged and Maya was hot on my trail. I pulled out a Lego creation (I sort of had a hint about what to expect). He had made me a rose out of Legos. It was lovely. I told him thanks, opened a few more cards with Maya breathless behind me and then snuggled in for a nap. It lasted 15 minutes before I was summed again.

Later, we had a picnic that Maya had made for me at her preschool. She even designed the picnic bag. We sat on a blanket and had juice boxes and popcorn, and that was really special.

Music and Skates

Dancing at Family Music Night at her preschool.

Determined and working hard at Family Skate Night. (I could not get a good picture of Guillermo at either event!)

Guillermo has about one month left of his first year of elementary school and Maya finishes up her first year in preschool at the end of May. The calendar is already filling up with lots of school-related activities as the school year wraps.

On Thursday, Maya's school held Family Music night with the music teacher, Ms. Chris, and many of the schools' teachers. Maya was beaming, just like she is every time she goes to school. She loves her preschool so much. The director at Maya's school is called Ms. Mary and Maya loves to say it in a loud, high-pitched voice and then giggle like mad each time she sees Ms. Mary. Ms. Mary seems to like it, too.

Anyway, music night was really fun. They sang songs and did dances and skated on paper plates around the concrete floor. Even Guillermo had fun.

Tonight was Skate night at Guillermo's school and that was awesome, though I do question the DJ's decision to play O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature at an elementary school event.

Guillermo was a little nervous when we arrived because he thought he would be too slow, but he found some friends and took off without me. Maya found a friend, borrowed a three-wheeled scooter and took off, too, though she was easier to catch. She was so nervous and proceeded with great caution. She made it almost 3/4ths of the way around the track before she decided to run to catch up with a friend. But, she loved the scooter. I now know what to get her for her birthday.

10 minus 10

The conversations between my kids crack me up these days. I have to laugh or I'll shout at them for acting so ridiculous and fighting all the time. Today's conversation was typical of what I hear often. I tuned in only around the time Maya started yelling at Guillermo.

"Guillermo, quit singing that song," Maya shouted.

"I like it. Fish, fish, fish with your fish, fish fish," he sang. "Maya doesn't like this song. Maya Maya Maya."

"GUILLERMO!"

I interject. "Maya, please don't yell in the car. If you don't like the song, please ask Guillermo not to sing it and tell him it hurts your feelings."

"Guillermo, please don't sing that song. I don't like it," Maya says.

Guillermo ignores her.

"He won't listen to me!" she shouts.

"Then ignore him," I say.

"Guillermo, if you don't stop, I'm not going to listen to you the rest of the day," Maya told him.

That got his attention.

"Oh yeah, well, if you don't listen, I won't tell you what 10 - 10 equals," he answers.

Maya has a quick change of heart.

"Ok Guillermo, I'll listen. What is 10 - 10?" she asks in her nicest voice.

"I'm not telling you until the end of the day," he answers, and I cringe. He goes on: "You can guess. Minus means take away. Ten take away 10."

"OK, I'll guess. Is it 9?" she asks.

And back and forth they go, as nice as can be until she gets the answer right.

And now, they are sitting nicely together on the couch playing a game. We'll be back in the car in a few minutes and the fighting will start up right away.

Chia Pets

So, you can see from this picture that Maya's chia pet is slowing getting its "hair" in. Slowly.

And, Guillermo's, well, his has some crazy hair.

As Guillermo likes to say each morning when he looks at his chia pet "What the ???" Maya will pipe in right away "What the heck?" The other day they had a discussion about which was the best way to use that phrase. They couldn't agree so now Guillermo says "What the?" and Maya adds the "heck" to her exclamation.

Maya's Songs

I need to do a better job of writing some of these things down. Maya sings about what she is doing all the time.

The other day, she was singing this:

"I am Maya, the Guillermo Catcher Superhero." She then paused and pointed to Guillermo. "You are a menact." He ignored her and luckily didn't correct her mispronunciation, and she pretended to fly away. Later, she sang "I am Maya, the Fetcher."

Today, she convinced me to let her wear her "favorite dress in the world" to school (a sun dress that she never paid much attention to before). She went to brush her teeth in the bathroom. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she sang "My teachers are going to say this is a very pretty dress. Yes, they are. I am pretty. Now I am going to brush my teeth."

On Two Wheels

Look at him go!

Guillermo can ride a two-wheeler! Hooray! He's been practicing the past few weeks and he really stepped things up this weekend. He circled our cul de sac three times in a row tonight. Last night, he went about half way around before he stopped. He also learned how to skid when he stops. "How many sparks did you see, Papa?" he asks each time.

Soccer Ninjas

Guillermo has joined a new soccer league and a new soccer team. The best part is our neighbor is his coach.

Yesterday was his first practice and it went really well. There are seven kids on the team and they spend 75 minutes practicing and scrimmaging each other. At the end of the season, they'll go to a tournament, where they will play other kids in the area. I was told they'll even get trophies.

Guillermo hasn't wanted to play the past two seasons so I was happy he wanted to try again, or at least try something. He says it's because it will help him learn to kick harder for when he is a ninja.

His team name, appropriately then, is the TFC Soccer Ninjas.

Justin Rocks

Justin Roberts

Maya dancing at the concert.

I took Maya to see Justin Roberts' concert yesterday and she rocked out! She danced and danced and danced on carpet set up in front of the stage.

I try to never miss a Justin Roberts show. He is my favorite children's musician. The past few years I've taken Guillermo, but this year he decided to go to Robot Rumble at the Museum of Life and Science with Will. So I took Maya instead (you can't just go alone, without a kid. That's sort of creepy)

She wanted to sit on the carpet in front of the stage and she sat in my lap for a few songs first, but by the third she was on her feet and dancing. Well, it was more just jumping. She and several other girls jumped up and down over and over. Later, she did some twirling and swaying, but mostly she just jumped and jumped. She crashed in my lap for last song of the regular set and stayed there through the next two encores, but she kept smiling even as she fought to keep her eyes open.

I couldn't convince Maya that she needed to get her picture taken with Justin. But, we did pick up a new-to-us CD.

"I Don't Want to See Ramses"

Maya, getting a lesson from the UNC women's tennis coach.

Guillermo with a strong forehand.

Guillermo and Ramses.

The UNC Women's Tennis team hosted the UNC faculty-staff family day on Saturday. Guillermo and Maya had never seen a real tennis match and Guillermo seemed to really get into it.

We arrived in time to watch the doubles matches first. Guillermo took a break to pose with Ramses but Maya didn't want anything to do with him.

Between the doubles and the singles matches, UNC set up prizes on one side of two courts and invited the kids to come down and play. They stood on the opposite side of the court as the prizes and hit their ball over the net. If the ball landed on a prize, they could claim it. I'm not sure either of my kids hit any prizes, but we came home with three UNC hats and two pairs of sunglasses. The head coach even helped Guillermo and Maya hit the ball over. After all of that, they even served us pizza.

The whole time, Maya was careful not to look at Ramses or go near him. "I don't want to see him," she said many times. This was the first time she said she was scared of characters. Good thing Disney isn't among our vacation plans this year.

After Guillermo showed so much interest in the game, and really paid attention to the matches, I offered to take him to play sometime. I was quickly denied. Rats.

Snow Days

Snowflakes started falling Friday and by the time we woke up Saturday the ground was covered in snow. I wish I could say we spent the entire weekend (plus two snow days) playing in the snow, but that isn't true.

Saturday was cold. Really cold. Guillermo went out shortly after 7 a.m., before we were ready to go, but he didn't last long. I was still getting my coat and gloves on when he came back in a few minutes later because it was too cold. Both kids went a few more times in the morning, but only for 10 minutes or so each time. After lunch, we tried to go sledding. I went with Guillermo but used my feet as brakes, causing snow to blow into his face the whole way down the hill. He wanted to go home right away after that.

We played outside a bit more on Sunday, but by Monday, when it was warm enough that I was fine in a light jacket and a sweater, they were ready. We built a snow fort and had a snowball fight. Yesterday, it rained most of the day and rained away a lot of the snow, but we still built a tiny snowman. The snow was pretty icy by then but we managed to stick a few chocolate chips in the snowman's head for eyes.

Today, Guillermo went back to school and by the time school finished, most of the snow was gone. Lucky for both kids, more is expected this weekend.

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!

Church and George

George and Maya snuggling with Will after a hike in the woods.

Maya and George before church

Maya has been asking me to take her to the church where her preschool is located so today I did. We went to the service and Maya was intrigued for about 20 minutes or so, which isn't too bad. She was interested initially because when she leaves preschool she often hears music coming from the sanctuary and wants to listen and today the music is what captivated her the most. She was amazed when the choir sang its first song and it was a perfect introduction for her because it started with just singers and then the organ and other instruments were added in later. Her eyes got bigger with each sound she heard. I liked the church for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that there are bags filled with paper, colored pencils, stamps, books and other things for kids to pick up before they enter the church. Maya did a pretty good job of staying busy during the service.

We've been babysitting this weekend, too. Maya's preschool has a stuffed monkey named George that gets passed around every weekend with different kids. This weekend was Maya's weekend to watch George so even though we have had a low key weekend, we've been trying to entertain George. He sat on airplane (as part of an event at Maya's school), went on a hike, met some of the other monkeys at our house, sold beans at the Alternative Gift Market, and went to church, of course. Tomorrow, he's headed to the library and maybe he'll help us make cookies to take with us for Thanksgiving.

George selling bean soup at the Alternative Gift Market at Maya's preschool.