Christmas Update

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! I can’t believe that it is already the middle of December! Christmas is in about a week and there is still so much to do. I guess that pretty much sums up 2009 for our family: busy, busy, busy. Our youngest, S turned 1 year in September. She is our little ball of cuddles. She loves to snuggle and give hugs and is always happy and loving. She tries really hard to keep up with her big brother and sister, always trying to play what they are playing. She is growing up so fast, and starting to become more independent day by day. I realize that she is not going to be a baby forever, and that makes me sad, but at the same time, it is fun watching her grow up and develop her sweet little personality.

S enjoying cake on her first birthday

V started Kindergarten in the fall. She is our cowgirl, drama queen and firecracker. She knows what she wants and makes sure everyone else knows as well. She loves to sing and play dress up, and has a very vivid imagination. She loves to help me at home, especially with her sister. V is also incredibly smart, she knows all of her addition facts up to 10 and is reading at a 2nd grade level. She actually cries and begs to do homework… we’ll see how long that lasts!

Doing one of her favorite things, riding horses at her Uncle Jimmy's

A is our protector and tormenter; nobody is allowed to tease or bother his sisters... except him! He is all boy, and has a lot of energy. He also has a very vivid imagination and is always playing star wars or power rangers. He loves to play on our Wii, especially because he can beat everyone in our family in Wii sports! He has struggled a bit this year finding good friends to play with. But because of this, we have spent more time together as a family, playing games, etc. I have learned that’s it okay to put my chores aside to play a game of checkers, or read a book, and it has really been magical. I have really treasured having this time with my children at home, because I realize that soon the time will come when they will no longer want to play and read and snuggle with mom. A is also very smart and reading above his grade level, but not quite as enthusiastic as his sister is when it comes to homework :) !

Our Jedi, ready to battle forces unknown, and get lots of candy in the process!

As most of you know Jorge was laid off at the beginning of this year. While it was a stressful time, we were also tremendously blessed. We received so many words and thoughts of encouragement from all of you and we are so appreciative of it. We also felt the hand of the Lord in so many ways this past year. In March he began studying to get his license to sell financial products such as life insurance, etc. He was able to obtain this license and in September began working for Citi Financial, which is the loan/insurance division of CitiBank. He is excited to back to work full time and it’s nice to have benefits again. I think the only person who suffered when he went back to work was S, as she is truly a daddy’s girl!

Daddy's little girl!

As for me, well I just try and keep it all together and stay afloat. This fall I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in our local production of “Savior of the World,” which is a musical play based on the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first act is about all of the events leading up to His birth and the second act begins immediately following His resurrection. After trying out for an ensemble/chorus part, you can imagine my surprise when I was chosen for the part of Mary!

It was an incredible experience. The part of Mary was the only one to carry over through both acts, and consisted of solos, duets, and of course acting. I was stretched and blessed in so many ways. It was incredibly time consuming, but my sweet husband really helped and supported me, and the kids loved seeing the production. They have such a love for the nativity and every time they see a portrayal on the TV, or even a crèche display, they say, “Look mommy, that’s you!”

Joseph telling me that Shepherds have come to see the baby.

In the 2nd act, after the Resurrection, now I am old & wise... ;)

It was definitely the experience of a lifetime, and one that I enjoyed more than I expected. Having never performed at that level, I wasn’t sure how I would react, with nerves, etc. But I was amazed at how comfortable I felt on the stage. In fact, I think I have found a new love, and I think now I want to try my hand at Community Theater, etc. So, expect more news to follow! Being in the play also helped me put this season into perspective, the story of our Savior’s birth and life have taken on new meaning and new depth. We love you and appreciate each of you and how you have touched our lives, and we rejoice with you in celebrating the birth and life of our Lord and Savior, and hope that you will all feel of His love, peace and joy during this time and through out the New Year.

And here she goes again...

Well, S has decided that crawling is not enough anymore... yep, she has started walking. Here is a sampling of what is coming too soon!

and part 2...

Summer Wrap-Up

Ooops... I've done it again, let many weeks slip by without updating the blog. My mom reminds me constantly that nothing new has been posted, but along with just being busy trying to finish out summer with a bang, our internet also sucks. It is so unreliable, always going down at the times when I actually have a few minutes to update. But hey it's only $16 a month... so I guess you get what you pay for! So here is a rundown of our summer, most of which was spent in California with my mom and sister. I just decided I needed a break from my so called life, so we crashed at mom's for a month, went swimming a ton, with me getting redder as my kids got browner (hence the T-shirt cover up), thank goodness they got Jorge's coloring and not their mom's pasty whiteness!!

At first, S wasn't sure about the whole pool thing, but quickly warmed up to the idea and has since become quite the water baby. These were taken while visiting my sister and her kids.

V jumping into my arms... looks like a future gymnast to me!

A is our fish! He loves the water and is becoming a great little swimmer.

Even the baby is darker than me!

My three babies at the coolest pool ever, zero entry with sand... all the benefits of a beach vacation, without the beach water!

Being silly with the cousins.

There goes life as we know it!

They say that the only constant in life is change. Well, life as I knew it has changed again. No longer can I sit S on the middle of my bed with a few toys while I shower. No longer can I set her in the upstairs loft area and turn my back to do laundry, work on the computer, etc. No longer can we leave little pieces of toys around. It means vacuuming and sweeping more frequently, and more vigilance in general... yes that's right S is crawling!! While I am proud of her accomplishment, I have to confess I am not really excited about her being mobile, and I have not really encouraged her in that area because of it. Of course, she is a Sanchez-Kennedy, so it was bound to happen anyway. Yet at the same time, it's impossible to not be happy when you see her growing up. So here is a video of her beginning to crawl. Next stop... well I guess there is no stopping from now on!

Finally a lost tooth!

I'm not sure why, but A has only barely started getting loose teeth, and he is already 7! When we went to the dentist a few months ago, I told him my concern, that he hadn't even started to lose his baby teeth yet, but he reassured me that it was fine, in fact he said it was actually better if kids can hold on to their baby teeth longer. Well, about two months ago we finally we noticed that two of his bottom teeth were getting loose. However, he didn't play with them (what a weird kid - right?), and he actually forgot they were loose, until about a week ago, when I noticed his first adult tooth coming in BEHIND his baby teeth. I knew that this could cause real problems, so I called the dentist and he said that it would be okay as long as the baby tooth comes out before the adult tooth is more than half way out. He explained that the tongue & bite will naturally force the tooth forward, if there is an opening. He suggested we give A a week or so to loosen the tooth and pull it out himself, because it is an important part of the whole childhood experience. But, if he didn't get the tooth out himself, he could come in and the Dr would pull it... for only $100. Are you kidding me? $100?! So I told A, you have until Thursday night to get the tooth out yourself, and if you won't pull it out yourself, I'm going to do it myself with a pair of pliers (and I'll do it for free!) Well he worked on it, but refused to pull it out himself, even though it was barely hanging on, so Thursday night came the moment of truth. Earlier, Jorge had said that when he was little, he wouldn't pull out his teeth either, so his dad would tie a piece of string around the tooth, tie the string to the door and then close the door. This actually made A excited to try it, so I put aside my pliers and Jorge tied some string around the tooth.

It was so loose, that he decided to just pull the string and skip the whole door thing. It was so cute because A didn't even know it was out, we just lightly tugged and pop!

My baby lost his first tooth, and the tooth fairy finally came to visit our house. He was so excited to see what the tooth fairy had left him that he was up at 6:30 this morning, which was not so exciting for mom.

Birthday boy.. & girl!

Spring also means birthday time at our house. Within our immediate family three of our five birthdays are within a two week spread between April and May. This year in an effort to scale back, we opted to not do birthday parties with a bunch of friends. So instead we went to Chuck E Cheese's as a family... twice! While their pizza is not my favorite thing in the world, I still love Chuck E Cheese's. I remember going there when I was a child, and how magical it all seemed. The excitement I would feel when I won tickets and then cashed them in for little treasures. I remember how real the big stuffed characters looked and sounded, when they rocked out on their little stage. What better place to spend an evening birthday. It is also nice, because the kids are old enough now that they don't need constant supervision, just give them a few tokens and let them go. Our visits were a big success, and hopefully we have now had our fill of Chuck E. for quite a while.

A turned 7 this year, here is his birthday cake & a picture of him enjoying it. He really wanted Star Wars, so I picked up this set of action figures and used spray paint to try and recreate his favorite scene, the ending battle in episode #2.

V, who turned 5 two weeks after A, wanted a butterfly, so here is the cake I made for her, along with a picture of her and Chuck E. Cheese. I was not as pleased with this cake as I have been of others in the past, but of course V thought it was the "Most beautiful butterfly in the whole world" and of course that is all that matters!

Even S got to enjoy a few rides on the carousel with her sister!

Spring has sprung... maybe?

After weeks of stuttering along, taking two steps forward and three back, I think Spring has finally arrived... just in time for summer! Honestly, you'd think we had just skipped it all together. So here are a couple of pictures of the house in spring. This is my favorite time of the year for my house, because it actually has flowers!

On the first Sunday of April, while we were watching conference, we heard chirping and scrapping right against our front door. After a while, we noticed that a pair of birds were building a nest right on the top of my wreath that was hanging on the door. We were so excited, but soon realized that birds against our door was probably not the safest thing for the birds, especially with the amount of traffic that goes through it. So Jorge decided to move the wreath onto the porch light next to the door, so that it would be safer for the birds to continue with the nest building. I didn't really like the idea of a wreath hanging on my porch light, but I figured the birds would not return, so I humored him. Well, they did return, they built their nest and the mom layed 4 or 5 eggs, which have since hatched. So we have a little family of birds living on our porch.

It has been so much fun watching the progress, and teaching our children. In the past we have had issues with neighborhood kids knocking down nests, so this has been a great opportunity to really teach ours about the sanctity of life, that all animals are God's creations and that we should protect them and not disturbe them, even if we are just curious. It has been interesting how protective they have become, and it has been wonderful to the joy on their faces when the mama bird comes to the nest to feed her babies. I worry everyday that something will happen to our little neighbors, that one will fall out of the nest, or that they will be disturbed, but then I realize, just like everything else, it is in the Lord's hands, that he is mindful of all of us, even the littlest baby birds. I am grateful for the blessing of spring and for the gift it has given us to help protect and nurture these little creatures, right along with our own.