A Child's Prayer

I love to listen to Sophia pray. She is very sincere and you can tell that she really is thinking and pondering when she prays. These are some of the things she prayed for tonight:

Bless that I won't be naughty to my daddy anymore.

Bless that my mom and dad can get married tomorrow (?)

Bless that Gigi will have a good birthday.

Bless that mommy will name our baby Moses.

As I'm writing this my memory is failing me, but these are the things that made me smile. When she prays, you can get a good look at what goes on in her mind. She has been praying that Miguel and I will get married in the temple for months now. We've explained to her time and time again that we already got married, but she still continues to pray for it.

The naughty thing...well she was really naughty to Miguel tonight at bedtime. This is usually the case. They never want him to help them get ready for bed and put up the biggest fits, but I had gone downstairs to tuck Gabriela in and it was his night to tuck the other two in. Anyways, when I came back up to say prayers with her, she was feeling a bit remorseful.

As far as baby Moses goes, the girls have an obsession with the story of Moses right now. Last Sunday they watched the Prince of Egypt video and then turned around and requested to watch the entire Ten Commandments movie. We then had a Moses puppet show for family home evening and now she wants to name our baby Moses. Yeah, we'll see about that.

I'll keep you posted on some of the good ones I hear in the future.

Los Reyes Magos

Yesterday was the Day of the Kings in the Hispanic community. This is one of our families favorite traditions. Gabriela woke up in the morning, so excited, and proclaiming, "today is the day we get to find baby Jesus!!!" Yes it was. In the hispanic community, Santa doesn't come on Christmas Eve. The children wait until Jan. 6 and then the three wise men bring them gifts. Well we mix the two traditions. Santa comes to our house just like everyone else, but the wise men leave them a little something on the sixth as well.

This is the hightlight of the night. The Rosca de Reyes. You can get them at the little Mexican shops around town. It is a large circular bread that has little plastic babies hidden inside. You know, the wise men were seeking baby Jesus and you are seeking him out of the bread.There is usually a prize associated with finding one of the babies. But in our house we like to make it interesting. Last year, you had to wash the toilet if you found it. Gabriela really liked the idea of a punishment or chore because that meant she wasn't sad when she didn't find one. Miguel suggested we give a prize this year instead and she refused saying, "No, then everyone will want it!" So we decided on a chore and a prize.

If you find it you have to wash the toilet and you get a date!

Miguel bought the biggest one he could find, crazy guy. This thing was enormous. It's shaped into the crown of one of the wise men, or maybe the thing that holds the turbon on.

 We went to Grandma's house to share the tradition and she made a yummy pot of homemade hot chocolate to go with it.

 So, you get to tell Papi where you want him to cut.

 And can you believe it. Julianne got one on her first try!

Yeah, Gabriela found one too. She was not happy about it and pouted until she gave it away to Sophia.

That's o.k., it just means that Julianne, Sophia, and Mami will go out for ice cream sometime....after we wash the toilet together.

At night, the girls leave one of their shoes out and in the morning they get new books from the Wise Men. In our house, "the wise men make you wise." So this is our kitchen table this morning with the kids enjoying waffles, green smoothies, and their new books!

Our Chickens

Remember when I posted this . Well those baby chicks grew into these crazy things. That little bity one on Gabriela's shoulder grew into that big fat black and white striped one in this photo.  I have a love hate relationship with these birds. I thought I could be a farmer, but I was wrong. At least not a Utah winter farmer. I do not enjoy freezing my tail off every morning going to feed them. The girls do not help at all. So I think it's time to get rid of the chickens. The girls loved them when they were babies, but now that they are too big to pick up and carry around, they have lost some interest and can't really help take care of them. Sounds like the usual puppy saga. So maybe in a few years we will be ready to take a crack at it again. We did eat some yummy eggs this morning though.



 This is the Foxy, the one who I brought back from the dead a few months ago. Miguel calls her Einstein.

 This is Pocahontis and Daisy. Pocahontis rules the roost.

 See my little rooster there in the middle. He really does drive us crazy. He crows at 4:30 in the morning and doesn't stop until 7:00.

This is just too good to keep a secret

O.k. everybody, listen up, have I got something to tell you. My good friend Amy shared something so remarkable with me last week that I just can't keep it a secret.

Do you have a problem with getting your kids under 5 to eat their fruits and vegetables each day?

Do your kids gag at the site of anything green on their plate?

Do your kids go limp and lie on the floor moaning when there is a piece of lettuce on their plate?

If so, this post is for you.

Solution.

GREEN SMOOTHIES

That's right. Do you see those faces in this picture. No one's gaging, complaining, or dying on the floor. In fact they are smiling. They helped make it and know exactly what's in it. Did you know that their entire daily allowance of fruits and vegetables is contained in that cup that they are drinking. They are drinking SPINACH.

Look at Julianne's face. My grin is almost bigger than hers, because she is the one who will not under any circumstances eat a vegetable. So I give her one of these and she sucks it down like it was a milk shake and even asks for more. So what's in it you ask.

Here's the secret:

Fill your blender with raw spinach and a cup of water.
Blend till it's turned into spinach juice.
Add a banana.
Then fill it up again with all the frozen fruit you desire. Strawberries, mangos, peaches, pineapple. Whatever you can find at the grocery store. Be creative. (This is the part the kids love doing. I just let them go for it.)
Top it off with some honey to sweeten it a little and blend away.

There you go. Watch your babies drink away in pure bliss. Totally natural. Totally healthy. Just note, that the color is a little off. Blueberries turn it purple if they are still opposed to the color.

Now keep putting those vegetables on their plates anyway, but in the back of your mind you can feel at piece knowing that they've really already gotten all they need.

Can you tell I'm completely sold on this. Thank you Amy, this was the best Christmas gift ever. Knowledge is Power.

What happens when you turn your back for a second.

This is what waltzed in and greeted me in the office this morning. Miguel has just asked me to send him a file through email and I was seriously on the computer for no more than five minutes when she came in like this. The worst part is, I just gave them a bath. Notice the wet hair. I was furious, because we had plans to go to the store after we picked Gabriela up for school, which was in like ten minutes.

If you can't tell what it is, it's greesy play lip gloss from Gabriela's makeup set from Christmas. She knew she was in trouble and she and Sophia took off and hid under the bed. While I'm cleaning her up, the truth comes out. She didn't do it afterall. Sophia did!!! I had just told her to go put the stuff back and stay out of Gabriela's room. Not sure what was running through her head when she thought this would be a good idea.

Happy New Year!!!....and a look at our traditions.

We were invited to a party with friends on New Year's Eve, but had already decided last year that we wanted to be home to ring in the new year at 10:00 so we could celebrate with New York and do our own special traditions.

The party was great, with good friends, good food, and an air hockey tournament. We came in 2nd. So at about 9:45 we raced home (more like ice skated home in the truck since it was a whopping three degrees outside) and turned on the t.v. to get ready. The girls danced to the music on t.v. and we got out the silly horns. We didn't even bother taking our coats off, but you'll see why in a minute.

We were really shocked when the New Year's Eve specials turned off without showing us the ball that drops. LAME. But we can always rely on the spanish stations to come through for us, so we counted down on Univision. Good thing we like spanish t.v.

 Some of the latin american traditions for new years eve are

1. You have to eat 12 grapes at midnight, 1 representing each month of the year. You are supposed to say the name of the month and eat the grape with each stroke of the clock. If the grape is sweet, that will be a good month for you that year, and if it's sour, well you better beware. We had jumbo grapes and knew the girls couldn't do it, so we made it a family effort with twelve grapes in a bowl to share. (I didn't find out the purpose of this tradition till the next day, so we'll do a little better than this next year.)

 2. We drank the traditional sparkling grape juice...and the younger kids didn't care for it.

3. We gave kisses at midnight, but I spared you the pictures of those!

4. One of our favorites, the hispanics get a suitcase and run a circle around the outside of the house. This is supposed to bring you good travel throughout the year. Gabriela was most excited about this tradition. Since we can't really make a circle around the house because of the fence, and because of the ice and snow, we thought it best to make a run from the garage door, down the driveway and up through the front door. Once inside they all wanted to do it again. But we whisked them all off to bed instead.

SO THOSE ARE THE GOOD ONES!!!

Now let me tell you what happened on New Year's Day. In the South, and apparently it is only in the South, you have a traditional dinner with blackeyed peas, collards, and cornbread.  The peas bring you luck, the collards bring you money, and the cornbread brings you prosperity. Well I never ate the collards growing up. Just can't stomach the boiled leafy vegetables like that. Perhaps that's why I've always been broke. But that being said, I did attempt the black eyed peas, with brocolli casserole (that's still green right?) and pork chops. I didn't realize I was supposed to have cornbread until it was too late. I had prepared the girls for what was to come and why were eating it, but you would have thought I was torturing them when we sat down to eat.

They gagged.              They whined.            They cried.            But, I made them eat it!

I realized watching them, that some traditions are not worth keeping. I felt bad for them. So unless your kids have an adventurous pallete. Don't try this at home. We'll have to figure out something new for next year.

Anyways, Happy New Year to everyone. Hope it's a great one!

I love a new year, and I love to make goals and resolutions. I think the start of a new year is exhilerating in fact. Refreshing. You get the idea. Well my goal for the year is to be on a strict budget and save every nickel and dime I can to remodel my home in the near future. It's kind of a long term goal but you have to start somewhere right?

Isn't she quaint and cute. And she's the perfect matchup with our current home. We would just be adding a second floor with bedrooms on top and redoing the main floor.

Love it and I'm super motivated to keep my goal.

Onto my kids. They too have goals this year thanks to this inspirational read. I'm not big on parenting books, but this was the most enlightening thing I've read this year. It's all about raising your kids to be REALLY independant when they decide to leave home and all the while building self confidence in themselves. I could go on and on, but just read the book. It is totally opposite of how I was raised.

Anyways, it gives you a chart with things kids can do and should learn at each age starting at age 3. We are going to give this a go this year. So here is what my kiddos will be learning this year.

Julianne: Dress herself, Use potty, brush teeth, pick up toys, say prayers, clean the table.

Sophia: all of the above plus, make bed, make own breakfast, make sandwiches, and clean room.

Gabriela: all of the above plus, vacuum, empty garbage cans, set table, clear table, make own lunch, warm up canned food, get allowance($5), take shower, dust, clean sinks, run microwave, water plants, and make and answer phone calls.

I know Gabriela's list is extensive, but she's playing catch up a little bit, but I think she'll do just fine. Besides, she's going to start getting an allowance and learning about tithing and savings and stuff, so it should be good. I've got a lot of teaching to do this year.

So what are your resolutions or goals for the year?