B- O- O- B

Today was my niece's birthday party and she had a Cinderella cake made by Grandpa.  Everyone started requesting which part of the body they wanted.  Miriam wanted the face.  Becky and Emma wanted the hair.  Some of the adults joined in and wanted her arms.  What was left over was the bust.  I blurted out to the next person in line: "Sorry but you get the boobs."  And then I realized what I had said, so I apologized for saying "b-o-o-b".  Becky quickly says back, "b-o-o-b"??  I know what that is, that's "boob"  because 2 o's make an "oooo" sound.  "B-o-o-b spells boob mommy."  She didn't understand why everyone was laughing so hard.  I guess I can't spell things anymore if I want to hide it from my oldest daughter too.

Times for myself.

I'm learning that taking short cuts on how I care for myself has been very detrimental to my emotional health and my mothering.  Yes my kids are young, and apparently, as I've heard from many people it will #1: get better, #2: go by really fast, #3: not last forever.  Well how does that really help me as I parent, I mean really?  I feel like basically you're telling me, suck it up and don't whine, we've all been there, treasure these times while you have them.  Great, but its really hard when you're looking at these little people, who belong to you, and are your responsibility, and they are screaming, and fighting, and whining.  There are good times, but as human beings, its natural for us to focus on the bad and remember the ugly.
I know this season won't last forever, but I'm still going to take time to regenerate myself (which means time away from my kids *gasp).  I want to remember this time in 10 years as a time in my life where I was smart, had wisdom in training my kids, and used tools to self soothe--- rather than remember it as surviving or not even remembering it at all.  When the good times happen I want to be able to take them in like a breath of fresh air, slow and deep, not as a sudden gasp.  In order for that to happen I have to take my "me" time seriously.  I'm no longer taking short cuts.  I'm taking care of me, so that I can take care of my beautiful girls in a more healthy way.

New look to my blog!

I haven't blogged for a while and I decided to motivate myself I would figure out how to make it look "prettier".  Here's what's happening in our neck of the woods:
The Good: The girls are loving school/daycare.  God is so good, he provided an opening at Christ Lutheran for all three full time.  They have done an exceptional job adjusting to school/daycare life and love being with other kids and making new friends.
I have 2 part time jobs now.  They are intertwined during the week.  My first job that I've had since Sept '09 is as a Spanish interpreter at a children's pediatric clinic, Capernaum.  My newer job that I recently got in April of '10 is an office assistant for an Insurance Broker, I'm also using my Spanish there for Hispanic clients.
The Bad: Adjusting to our new journey has brought out the worst in all of us at time.  Depending on God's grace daily to help us through crying and tantrums.  This is also a beautiful thing as I get to see the kids evolve in their faithfulness and love towards each other.
The Ugly: I have more weeds BY FAR than anything that I actually planted in my garden plot.  I guess all of the above has taken precedence over my inner green thumb (which is probably a good thing since every time I'm out there I'm hit with allergies.)

Becky'isms

Help me carry this, I'm not an octopus.

singing: our God is an awesome God He reigns, from heaven above with twins and power and love our God is an awesome God.

does Becky predict the future?

Becky to Emma: "Emma when you're 8, I'll be 10 and Grace will be 6 and we'll have a baby brother by then too."

He didn't sweep me away...

I was at a Christmas concert practice this week and I brought Becky with me to watch. During someone else's turn Becky wanted to go get a drink of water. I told her where it was and let her go. She came back a few seconds later and said she couldn't find it. I told her to walk a little farther. So a couple minutes later she comes back.

"Did you find it?"

"Yes" she whispered. "A boy helped me."

I play gasped... teasing her.

"But don't worry mommy, he didn't sweep me away." She assured me.

Jesus Did

When Becky woke up this morning she said to me: "Guess who touched me last night mommy?" "Who" "JESUS!!!" "Did he... tickle you?" "No, He was very gentle and nice Jesus."

awww!

Super Mommy!

Becky was supposed to be resting on the couch. I could hear her talking to herself quietly from the kitchen. "Becky, stop talking."

"How do you know I am talking? How can you hear me?"

"Because I have super mommy powers."

"How?"

"Because I'm a super mommy!"

"No you're not, you don't have a cape!"

Proud Mommy Moment

We visited a new church yesterday and we were late getting Becky to her class. We slipped her in her class and went to service. When we went to get her the teacher asked me if our last name was Cerezo. I said yes. He said that they had asked her and she told them "I'm Becky Cerezo, C-E-R-E-Z-O" Awww, she can spell her last name! And she says it better than mommy!

Dora Impressions...

Emma has become a HUGE fan of Dora, to the point of using it as a reward or taking it away for a consequence. Her new specialty is to say: "oooohhhh maaaaannnn" when she doesn't get her way, like Swiper the Fox. It cracks me up every time~~!!! LOL

Honesty

A few weeks ago Emma was throwing a fit in the kitchen about something she wanted.

So I asked her:

"Emma why are you crying??"

"I'm NOT crying, I'm whining!!!"

Well, at least she was being honest!

Hey you!

We've taught our kids not to talk to strangers. Today, a neighbor girl was walking her dog and invited Becky (who was playing outside) to pet it. Just then we called her inside to eat dinner. She came in, but then ran back out to tell the girl that she couldn't pet the dog. This is what she said: "Hey stranger!" (we gently told her not to call her that...) Becky then says: "I mean uh, Strangeeerr! I can't pet your dog, some other time ok Stranger?"

Um yeah, I'm glad I was in the house--- because I would've been really embarrassed.

The Gospel according to a 5 year old!

Me: "Becky, why don't you play with Grace while I do her hair so she doesn't cry."

Becky: "Ok! Here Gracie, I'm going to show you something." Becky got a sock and put it on her hand to do a puppet show! (Very creative I think BTW.)

"Jesus loves us, Jesus died on the cross for us because He loves us so much. And when you're 5 you don't get spankings anymore because you learn to obey. Jesus doesn't spank us, He loves us."

Modesty...

Yes so, we are tying to teach modesty to our girls.

Emma still needs help in the bathroom... she calls to me:

"Mommy, I need help- but don't look at my butt!"

Um, how am I going to help you if I can't look at you? ROFL

Much to my mother's disdain, I have regretfully taught my girls how to do this:

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Chicken butt!" hahahahaha

and to sing this song:

"Naked butt, naked butt, you have a naked butt (or I have a naked butt)."

Poor Grandma tells the girls that different families say different words to refer to their bottoms. Bottom of what? Exactly.

Becky's Birthday recap

Becky woke up on her birhtday and exclaimed that she could now read, 'cuz she's 5.

(Here she's in her Indian outifit from Shae and Lisa)

Let the Messy Pary begin: (a FEW pics from this VERY messy pary!)

~silly sting'n it~

~wall painting~

~shaving cream~

Pizza cake!!! An actual cake, that looks like a pizza, but it tastes like cake ;)

Grandpa McCowen does a great job!

Fun opening presents!

A rainbow for the Birthday Girl~!

Princess Becky in on of her Birthday presents!

It was a great day, I can't believe I have a 5 year old!!!

Emma's Birthday recap

Emma turned 3 on Tuesday. She woke up singing

"Happy Birthday" to herself. She was very

excited. We got her a Dora Lego play set, a

Magna dootle/ double sided with chalkboard and

a Hello Kitty beach towel. Emma talked non-stop

about our trip to Chuck-e-cheese that we were

going to be taking to celebrate her birthday day.

(We had a family party on Sat the 13th.)

Becky was also

excited to go to

Chuck-e-cheese and fell asleep on the floor in the corner when I threatened

that she would not be attending if she didn't take a nap.

Grace was the first one to explore at Chuck-e-Cheese.

She walked right over to the bus to go for a ride.I helped her in and she was happy as a clam.

This feeling only lasted until I turned the ride on and it started a slow back and forth movement. She did not like that at all. In fact, Grandma tried putting her in it again later without knowing

what had happened and got the same reaction without even turning it on. I guess she remembered. LOL

Happy Birthday to my sweet 3 year old! Love you!

Well, when I'm a mommy!!!

Emma has been immitating Becky all the time. Well this time she said it first.

We were leaving the park, but Emma didn't want to leave so she informed me:

"When I'm a mommy, I'm going to DRIVE by myself to go the park to play!!!"

Can we do it tomorrow?

If I say no to something, Becky's next question is always: "Can we do it tomorrow (or get it tomorrow) ??" Cracks me up every time.

Speaking of "tomorrow" if it isn't happening today, then in Becky's mind it'll be tomorrow. Anything past today, whether in 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years... yep you guessed it- it's tomorrow. Becky is excited to learn how to read. She keeps finding her phonics books and shows me while saying, "This is for me when I turn 5 tomorrow and learn how to read."

When school got out a couple weeks ago, the next morning, Becky woke up and said: "Are we going to do school at home today now?" She was so excited to start, she just wanted to skip her summer.

God made that!

As I was changing channels this morning, looking for something for Emma to watch, I came upon a worship/music channel. It was quiet worship music with calming forest and water scenery. I left it on that channel for a second and Emma, as a matter of factly shouts out: "GOD MADE THAT!"
"You are right Emma, God did make that!" I responded.

LOST

Lost is one of Mommy 's favorite shows. Becky knows it. Everytime it comes on and the letters L-O-S-T appear at the beginning of the show she asks what it says. Recently she remembers and will just shout it out "ooo that says LOST". LOL
Well while driving the babysitter home, she was having a pretend phone call with her. Soon the conversation went like this:
Jayme: "What are you doing Becky?"
"I'm watching TV."
Jayme: "What are you watching?"
"I'm watching LOST!"
"What did you say?"
"I'm watching LOST!"
(mommy in the front seat laughing her head off...)
Jayme: "Oh, well that's kind of a grown up show..."
Mommy: "Becky, do you know who's lost?"
"Oh yeah, the people are lost..."
Mommy: "Where are they lost?"
"They are lost on an island!"
Mommy: "Who's your favorite person from LOST?"
"The lost people, because they are lost and they want to go home."
(Mommy laughing so hard she can't breathe.)