first day of swimming

in our pool was yesterday.
the kids have been talking about jumping in the pool for a few weeks.
after playing out front for awhile they asked if they could jump in the pool.
they were so excited to get their suits on.
ella was the first one to fully go in - she is one tough girl...

and the only one to go off the diving board.

but soon enough they were all in, having a great time in that cold pool.

andrew remembered how good he got at diving last year.
and wanted to show off his skills.

and the boys took turns holding john in the water.
they love doing this, and so does he.

john went to town drawing on himself that afternoon as i was making some phone calls.
and, yes our pool needs a little skimming thanks to that beautiful breeze we had yesterday.
so, they were all pretty tough and happy swimmers.
i just love to see them all having fun together and getting along!

proud to be an american

tata became a u.s citizen on friday.

although he goes by tata, he's actually from canada.

i took the kids out of school early and we headed downtown for the ceremony.

actually, we surprised tata - he didn't even know we were coming.

it was fun to be downtown

and in the us district court building.

there were testimonies of those becoming citizens, some very touching stories.

all the candidates got a little american flag.

and they played the song 'proud to be an american' with the words up on flat screens.

although it was a little cheesy, i got teary at some of the words and the freedom we have here.

"and i'm proud to be an american, where at least i know i'm free"

"and i won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me"

that second lined got me a little choked up as i was singing.

we went back to nani's for a nice surprise celebration.

yes, we are lucky to be in this country and we will never take that for granted.

and as a mother i am most fortunate that these smiling faces get to grow up in this free country.

i cannot even imagine having to go through the hardships that mothers in other countries do.

let us pray for those mothers and their children and remember how lucky we are.

happy birthday, hubby

it was chris' birthday a week ago saturday.
 the kids and i had big plans to make him breakfast in bed, but since john was asleep in our bed we decided to do breakfast at the bar.
everyone helped, it was great - ella made everyone fruit salad cups as a starter...

andrew unloaded the dishwasher and christopher shredded the potatoes for the hash browns.
 i made open faced egg sandwiches on french bread with avocado and tomato...

we went to watch ella's baseball game and then grabbed lunch.
chris and i  got to go out to dinner just the two of us.
it was so nice, we really had a lovely evening.

on our way out to dinner

then we had dessert back at his parents' house with his family.

it was a fun day and i am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband 

and father to our children.  

i do love this man.

feliz cumpleanos, mi amor.

st. patty's day - a little late...

here are some pics of the kids on st. patrick's day.
it is a big day at their school since the school was started by the loreto sisters - an order of nuns from ireland.
they have a carnival for the second half of the school day and all the $$ raised goes back to the order of nuns who started the school.
the kids have a blast.

this year ella made a leprechaun trap...

at the end of the carnival the entire school goes into the gym to watch irish dancing and sing classic irish songs they've learned in music class - it's awesome.

this is the school gathered in the cafeteria last year...

ella danced in the show last year...

it is a fun and festive day and we always look forward to it.

feliz cumpleanos, tio pat

today is my brother pat's birthday.  we celebrated last night.  here he is dancing with john john as we are singing to him...

i noticed a picture of my brothers' and i from when we were  young in my mom's dinning room as we were eating dessert.  i picked it up to look at it and started laughing uncontrollably...to the point of tears.   i couldn't even say what i thought was so funny about the picture as i was laughing/crying so hard for like two minutes straight.

i tend to laugh like this around my brother pat.  we would get silly and giddy like this often growing up, and still to this day just the smallest comment, look, gesture, etc. involving this younger brother of mine can really get me cracking up.  it's some special bond we have and i am so thankful for it because it really feels good to laugh like that.

happy birthday, tio pat - have a good one, and thanks for all the good laughs!!!

milestone morning

on a recent morning john john wrote his name all by himself...

he has been able to write a 'j' for awhile, but we really haven't worked on anything else.

i decided to show him the other letters in his name.  i wrote each one first at the top of the board and he then copied them to make his name.  we were both pretty happy with it...

its been a few weeks, so i guess we should practice again soon!  we'll get to it again eventually...

biztown

is a mock town run by 5th graders.
they have been preparing for it for 6 weeks.
they had to write resumes and apply for jobs a few weeks ago.
they went through an interview process and were selected for a job position.
they have learned how to write checks, apply for loans, and keep track of money.

yesterday was the big day.
the field trip to biztown.
christopher was the sports shop manager (his first choice).

the kids worked in their assigned positions for the day.
there were all kinds of jobs and businesses.
each one had a ceo and a cfo.

here is christopher with his ceo.

they received paychecks.
and had to go to the bank to deposit them.
they were responsible for keeping track of their time and money.
they had job duties they had to fulfill and meetings to attend.

merchandise was donated by businesses who sponsor this program and the kids were able to go around on their breaks and purchase items from businesses by writing checks from their checkbooks.
they had to keep a check register and log of their checks and deposits.

parent volunteers were there to help, but the kids really did it all themselves.

there was a town mayor, christopher's good friend matthew (pictured below).

and at this morning meeting all the ceo's had to get up and give a speech promoting their business.

i was assigned to help in the tv/news station.
there were reporters, and photographers, editors, and a camerman.
the kids could purchase tv & news ads.
here is a reporter interviewing a customer on whether she likes justin bieber...

it was pretty funny.
these aired live on flat screens throughout biztown.

ashlyn was the dj...

and these boys started dancing to the cha-cha slide as it was playing during their lunch break...

it was such a great learning experience for these 5th graders.
and so neat to see them so hard at work doing their jobs.
man, they are growing up.
hard to believe but awesome to watch how wonderfully they are maturing.