Family DEAR Time!

Thank you Parkside for a wonderful new development in our family - Family DEAR Time! Fer's class (and maybe Wendy's too, but she hasn't talked about it) has DEAR time during their Reading block. DEAR (for those among you who haven't been in elementary schools lately) stands for Drop Everything And Read. Many schools have a time during the day in which everyone, even the teachers and administrators, stop and take some time to silently read a book of their choice. Fer has referred to it a few times and when I mentioned that I thought we could do it at home, she really liked the idea.

So, we've started doing Family DEAR Time! You can imagine how much I love it. We all gather in the living room, everyone with their book (or books, in Wendy's case - she usually looks at 5 or 6 during the time), and just read. We've only done it 3 nights so far, and the time has varied from 15 minutes to 30, but it already seems like it could be a great ritual to end the day.

No pics today, sorry! But the girls went through their toys this week and we have 3 shopping bags to try to sell at the Tivoli Day tag sales this weekend, so I should be able to post a few shots of our young entrepeneurs trying to earn some cash to go shopping at the other sales. Clutter out, clutter in . . . oh well. Hopefully we'll come out ahead overall.

Brunch with Marisol, Vivian and Magali!

We had a great weekend with Vivian and Magali visiting. They brought their dogs, which sent the girls into transports of delight, especially the chihuahua. As well, they brought us yummy Colombian food -- arepas and empanadas -- from a bakery in Jackson Heights that we need to go find! La Panaderia Nueva. On Sunday, Marisol and her husband Edgar came over for brunch. The girls loved seeing her again - it had been almost a year!

Tea with Doodle!

I think the pictures say it all -- thank you Doodle for such a lovely time!

Grandad's Birthday!

We had a great weekend celebrating Grandad's Big Day! Tia Barbara and Tio Larry were visiting from Colorado and we loved catching up with them. The girls also enjoyed time with Tia Amy, Tio Aaron, Henry and the twins, including a trip to the Poughkeepsie Children's Museum followed by lunch at the Eveready Diner in Hyde Park -- they looooved the milkshakes! And we loooooved the unexpected time off -- thanks Amy and Aaron!

Grandad's birthday dinner was a delicious feast, thanks to Gigi! And the grandchildren helped Grandad blow out the candles!

Camp at Parkside!

Wendy and Fer have had their first few days of summer camp at Parkside, Gigi's school. All the teachers and staff there are wonderful -- so warm and kind. Every week the groups go on two field trips and then have three days of school, doing academic work and also specials like yoga, art and gym. The girls have been very pleased, though sometimes I do think they must feel like they've been dropped into an alien world of some kind. For example, today Fer was explaining to me that in her class if they are good, they get a "moneda" (coin) and if they are REALLY good, they get two, and once they have a lot, they get a pizza lunch with a teacher. Apparently the monedas are brown and kept in little jars. She doesn't know how many she has, but seems very pleased with the system. I don't think that was the usual approach to discipline at San Mauricio! It kind of reminded me of the day they came home a few weeks after starting St. Peter's describing with great excitement that a bell rang, teachers were clapping, classes lining up, they left the building suddenly in the middle of the day, waited on the street with no talking, then came back in again. A fire drill! But their first, so all new and different.

They have had so many firsts in the past year -- it's amazing to think it's been a year since we met them. Every day I am so impressed by their bravery and ability to experience and enjoy new things. Many adults who had gone through the changes they have would be curled up in a corner somewhere, but they amazingly take it all in and take it all on and keep going. We are so blessed!

Summer Vacation I

We began our vacation with a trip to Newfield to see Grandpa Jack and Grandma Deb, and Grandpa Ray. We were joined there by Tio Terrill, Tia Kathy, Jasmine, Monica and Marcus, so the girls had a great time seeing their cousins again and playing. We went to the Glass Museum and the Museum of ther American West in Corning, about 45 minutes from Newfield. We also had a delicious cookout to celebrate Ray's birthday. On Sunday after the Gosas went home and Papi and Grandpa Jack headed off to see a golf tournament, the girls and Deb and I did some shopping and took in the fourth Shrek movie. It was a wonderful way to start off our vacation. Terrill is really the family photographer when we get together with Chris's family and he got some amazing shots, but here are just a few pics from the day at the museums.







We went on to have a great time in Tivoli, with some exciting firsts! Wendy learned to ride her bike, and Fer rode on the street with me all the way to Gigi & Grandad's house (2 miles!). The girls also rode horses for the first time -- we went with Henry and Grandad over to my cousin Sandra's house and the girls had a fabulous experience riding with her and her husband Val.







We also had our friends Jim and Patricia and their daughters Jillian and Jessica up for Fourth of July weekend, and a great time was had by all. The children (aka the Four Musketeers) swam, rode bikes, played tennis, chased the dogs, and generally had a lot of fun together. We also went to see Toy Story 3.







The final event of the weekend was brunch at Gigi & Grandad's -- our honorary tias Renee and Alli were visiting, as well as Tio Van and Tia Alice. Amy, Aaron and the twins came over for the weekend as well, so most of the family was together (shout-out to Matt, Christine and Jack -- we miss you!!).