Kids

One of Roman's most striking features is his big brown eyes.


Although his smile is awfully striking, too!



Quinton's fantastic smile!



Domenic and Roman



My three boys!



Oh my goodness! I actually was able to post a video!! I am coming up in the world!
Now to see if I can post that video of Roman from a previous post.

Quinton's Birthday

Quinton turned five on September 23rd. His birthday fell on a Thursday, so we had a family party on Thursday night. Saturday he was allowed to invite one friend to go to the train museum with him and then to McDonald's for lunch where we were meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa.

As I mentioned earlier, I definitely have an incorrect setting on the camera because every single one of these pictures is blurry. Stink!

Quinton is a keep-it-simple kind of kid. He likes chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and that's it!



Blowing out his candles.


A pack of playdough.



There is a store that I go to all the time called Kid to Kid. It is a consignment store where I buy the kids clothes as well as toys for birthdays/Christmas. Recently there was a Groupon for a $30 gift certificate, but it only cost $12. I got such a steal on a huge GEOtrax set complete with battery operated train and controller. He has literally played with it all day every day since he got it!



Roman is also becoming quite the train aficionado like his big brother. Although he likes cars and trucks just as much, if not more than trains.



Quinton invited his absolute favorite friend, Athena, to go with him to the trains. They are a great pair. Athena is a great influence on Quinton; they have a lot of fun together, but she helps temper his craziness.

Fun at Home

Antonio thought that Quinton looked like a thug in his hoodie, eating rice, while drinking mate. I thought it was pretty funny, so I took a picture. Quinton and I are mate buddies since Antonio won't drink mate with me. He thinks it looks illegal and used to say he'd be deported if anyone saw him drinking it. However, now he is a citizen, and still thinks it looks too shady to drink!



After I gave the boys haircuts, Quinton decided he wanted to give a haircut, too. Here is his keeping his teddy bear looking sharp.



Quinton showing off his cuteness! Although I am forbidden from calling him "cute." He is "cool" or "awesome," but never cute or handsome. On Sundays - the one day I insist he comb his hair - he always protests: "but I don't WANT to look handsome!"


I get the Betty Crocker recipes magazine (which I love), and last month's issue had cake pops on the cover. I absolutely had to try them. I happened to have some purple candy melts that I wasn't going to use for anything else, so I made little purple boys and girls. They were really fun to make.

Roman's Birthday

Well, I must have a setting off on my camera because all of my latest pictures have turned out blurry despite my efforts to keep very still while taking them.

Roman turned two on August 10th. His face has really thinned out over the last few months, and he looks like a little boy instead of a baby.

One of his very first words was "Doggie," so it seemed appropriate to make a doggie cake.

Sorry Dad, but this picture of Roman was so cute, even if I did catch you in the middle of saying "wow!"



Roman's cousins were able to come to the party. Here is Isaac playing with the pretend phone with Roman. We are really lucky that my nephews are very patient with my kids and are always super helpful. It takes a lot to be patient with my boys sometimes!


Grandma and Grandpa relaxing after eating some doggie cake. Mom is holding Domenic.

WARNING: This video clip is pretty vulgar, but I had to post it because, frankly, who hasn't thought the same thing while watching this infomercial???

http://www.hulu.com/watch/143264/saturday-night-live-shake-weight-dvd

Sometimes I feel bad because I post a lot about Quinton on Facebook, but talk very little about Roman. It is not that Roman is any less important to me, it is just that he doesn't really talk yet, so I don't have all of the funny stories like I do for Quinton. Not only that, but Roman is a pretty mellow kid and therefore less likely to do something "post worthy." This is certainly a good thing since "post worthy" often means writing all over the walls or flooding the bathroom. So in honor of Roman's cuteness and general sweetness, here is a video!



Happy Domenic!




Quinton's graffiti. As you can see, Dad was on the good list, and Mom was not.



Roman playing in the sandbox.




We took the kids to Day Out With Thomas in North Carolina a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful drive, if not a particularly pleasant drive (three boys sitting in close proximity for 3 hours each way). They had a blast and didn't seem to notice that it was over 100 degrees outside with the heat index.

Here they are waiting to be called on to board Thomas.



Boarded and waiting for departure.



Strategically, you entered the Thomas area through a big tent full of Thomas toys. The great thing, though, is that they had all these different stations set up with activities and train tables that were free for the kids to play.




Happy boys on the ride home. You'll notice that Roman is definitely my son. I rarely get a picture of him with his eyes fully open.



Quinton holding Domenic.



Here is Quinton holding Domenic again, but a few weeks after the previous picture. Coincidentally they are wearing the same color shirts. You'll notice that Domenic is significantly chubbier. He certainly is a chunk!



"Doctor" Quinton



Happy boys!



Me holding Domenic. Quinton loves taking pictures. Unfortunately, most all of them are terrible of me. This is in part to 3 things: a - I am not particularly photogenic to begin with, b - I am really heavy right now so any picture of me is not my favorite, and c - the worst angle to take a picture of me is from below, and of course, every picture Quinton takes of me is from below since he is shorter than me. All that said and done, I had to post this picture because Domenic looks so cute!!

Not sure they know where babies come from...

While we were in the hospital after Domenic was born, I watched TLC's 19 kids and counting. Talk about putting my situation in perspective!!!

I really enjoyed the episodes that I watched, and the kids seemed kind and happy, and the parents seemed much calmer than I am with only 3!

However, the reason for this post is because of a pet peeve that I have regarding people who say that the number of children they have is "up to God" - making the case that each of their children came to being because it was the will of God. This idea is ridiculous from my viewpoint. I thought that God had created natural laws the govern this world, one of which is that children are a consequence of having unprotected sex. I will make it even more clear: if you do not have sex, you will not have children. If you do have sex (unprotected), you will very likely have children.

By the logic of the Duggars and others who use this argument, every child born on this earth is the result of God's will. Meaning children born to teenage mothers, children born to drug addicts, rape victims, etc.. etc...

Additionally, it means that if a couple cannot have children, it is the express wish of God that they not have them!!!

Really??? I would hope that anyone with a little common sense would realize that as miraculous as the birth of a child is, it is only made possible by biological means!

Okay, I think I am done with my soapbox now.

Follow-up on Avocado Trees

Yep, I haven't forgotten that I was going to update on how my little avocado tree experiment was going. Well, they are thriving, after Quinton's very diligent watering of them all winter long (we over-wintered them in the jacuzzi tub in my bathroom!)

Unfortunately, my cursory research of them when I first rooted the pits was that with two plants, they would cross-pollinate each other and I would have avocado fruit!! Upon more in-depth research, I have learned that almost no plants rooted from the pits will actually develop fruit - you have to graft in a branch from a producing plant. Plus they take at least 7 years to fruit, and they are a very large tree.

Hmmm... problem is, Antonio is very pro-tree, so he is determined that we should plant them, whether they fruit or not. I'm not sure we have the space for it (actually, I AM sure that we don't!) We'll see if we can come up with a compromise, assuming they can even survive a winter outside.

Fun with the kids

This is a project from my favorite magazine: Family Fun. I had been wanting to do something cute for plant markers, and then this idea was on the cover of their spring issue. I started saving the milk caps, and when I had enough, Quinton and I made them one afternoon. I love how the flies are "saying" what each plant is!



Roman showing off his great smile while eating his lunch.


Domenic at about 1 month.


Roman(pre-haircut) and Abuela.


Quinton and Roman playing "Piano Lessons."


Abuela keeping a close watch on Roman. She adores this little fellow and is very protective of him.



Quinton showing off his "big boy bike" skills!!! Way to go, Quinton!








Quinton frequently asks me how to write a number or a letter. After countless scraps of paper with the numbers on them, I decided that we needed a more permanent solution. I remembered that I used to put my piano music in sheet protectors so that I could write notes on the page protectors instead of the actual sheet music. I used this same idea for Quinton: I printed out free pages that I found on-line for all the letters and the numbers. Then I bought a zippered binder pouch for some dry erase markers. Now he can practice his numbers and letters as much as he wants. When he wants to start over, he simply wipes off the page protector and starts over!




This is a little project that I had been wanting to do with Quinton for a long time, but I didn't have the right container. Then one day we finished off the pretzels, and I said to myself - this would make a perfect piggy bank! So we raided my craft room and Quinton made the little bank with some help from Daddy.



Enjoying a well-deserved lunch after completing the bank. Miraculously, it is still in great shape (miraculous because you should see what that little piggy had been through!)




Roman and Quinton enjoying their water and sand table (I didn't put sand in it - I just put more water in the sand part). Antonio and I wanted to get them a toy as a special surprise after Domenic was born.