Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today is my Dad's Birthday! I won't say how old he is but let me put it this way......as a gift ...I checked into having his Titanic ticket framed for him.....HAHA....not really.

Sorry we couldn't be there Dad but we thought about you, talked about you and wished you a very happy day....you deserve it.

Thanks for being the absolute best Dad ever and Happy Birthday!

Ok, you and Mom go eat a buffet on us.

We love you all the way around.

Happy 4th of July!

Ok, we had a different but good 4th! Can't say I have ever had a July 4th like this one! We haven't had water in 2 days.....yesterday we found out at 7 am that there would be no water until sometime last night........today was just a bonus, I suppose. There has been no water today either! Fortunately, we have large drinkable water bottles (and we keep a couple in stock just in case days like today) but that doesn't help for showers and dishes. SSSSOOOOO since there was no water.....we headed out to a mall about 15 minutes from our house to eat and see Kungfu Panda.

Cultural note: This theatre has a "VIP" entrance and 3 "VIP" theatres. Cost a little more but the seats are leather recliner-like and they bring you your food!!!

About our July 4th BBQ...hopefully tomorrow......if we have water!

P.S. It just wouldn't be July 4th WITHOUT hearing Lee Greenwood so I posted it to my playlist.

New pictures!

The girls graciously posed for a couple of new photos tonight.

Olivia is preparing for her big "stage performance" coming in September with her ballet school. This is serious stuff! She has decided that she doesn't like to be called "Liv" .......only "Olivia".

Ok, don't say I didn't warn ya!

Claire is excited because she has finally learned how to write her ENTIRE name.....ok...except Elizabeth but no sense in stressing out the cutie. Just recently she started including the I and R because she said there just wasn't enough room. She is a true lefty with the old marker!

Mark has finally learned how to introduce himself in Spanish and we are so proud of him. "Baby steps!" I always say....who could say this has been a wasted 6 months? Seriously, Mark is doing good with his language. I'm just teasin'.

Thanks for looking!

WOW...I love my new counter!! It is the simple things in life that fascinate me, I know, but it is so cool to check out who's checking us out. I had no idea that people actually read this besides my parents, of course!
I will have to try to be more entertaining now that I know people are looking in on us HAHA....which I guess means more stories about Mark and his Spanish.....always a joke in the making there!

Thanks so much for watching our life. This is one of the easiest and most efficient ways of staying in touch with you all and we really appreciate the interest you take to see what is going on here in CR. My girls are always asking me to take pictures and post them and THEY check in as well to see who is looking at our notes. It means alot to them to know people are interested in our family life. GRACIAS!!!

Graduation!!

Olivia graduated to 1st Grade and Claire has graduated to the 4yr old class (we are making a big deal of this because she doesn't want to leave Teacher Tatiana!). Olivia had a really nice graduation ceremony .....it was so sweet. This is a huge month.....Uncle Jamey came for a visit, we graduated from Kindergarten AND SHE IS ABOUT TO LOSE HER FRONT TOOTH!!!!

Vanilla?

"Mommy, I am the only vanilla girl in my ballet class." I anticipated having to confront many parenting issues because of having "MK's" but this was not one that had crossed my mind! Olivia has discovered that all of her friends (in ballet) are not only more "chocolate" (skin color:)) but also they have different names like Gabriella, Fabiolla, Esmeralda, etc. and she no longer likes her name because it doesn't "sound" Latino enough.

Wow, I didn't see that one coming! It is a real juggling act to help our girls understand who they are and where they come from while living and learning to live with people who are different, in some ways, from them.

Look at my precious babies sleeping....I couldn't resist snapping this picture! I can't believe Claire is graduating to the four year old class and Olivia is graduating from Kindergarten tomorrow!!! It is so hard to let them grow up...........although they promise to always remain my rock-a-bye babies!!!

Uncle Jamey is here!!!

Last Friday, Uncle Jamey arrived for a visit and to be here for Olivia's Kindergarten graduation on Wednesday. The girls are excited and have plans to entertain him all week although I think his plans include reading and laying on the hammock out back under the porch!

On Saturday, we all went to the amusement park for some outdoor fun.