Oh, no he didn't?!

Oh, yes he did!


As a mama, you would think I would have learned this lesson already. No scissors just hanging around, accessible to my little barber.

But, noooo, lesson not learned.

And, now, Anabel's little curls are GONE!

Well, there are a FEW left...

**sniff**

I am going to have to take her somewhere to get this fixed.. it looks bad. Really bad.


This is what I heard from the other room - "You are going to look so beautiful..." I thought nothing of it. Then it was just too quiet. I went to check on them and there she was ~ totally trusting her big brother.
I can see this may be a problem in the future. Her totally trusting him. She will blindly following him into all kinds of trouble.

Ok, now off to pout in my coffee.

love this!

I found this picture the other day lying on the floor. I asked Enrique about it and here is the story...

The dude on the left is ladybug. Enrique is on the right. It is ladybug's birthday and they are having a party.
The best part? "The hearts are coming out of our brains because we are so full of love."

self portraits by chubbas

Oh, yeah, he is pretty much a silly head. I now have hundreds of pictures like these!

hockey and hats and songs

Well, I just went through and organized my pictures and downloaded everything that was in my camera. I normally sort through my pictures about once a week, put them in folders, etc. But, I have not done any picture organization since November. November! Can you say a little behind?

Well, I am caught up now. Which means I can hopefully get back into a regular blogging groove. Yay! Here are a few pictures to catch up on some things we have been doing lately.

Anabel is loving her new kitties. Here she is reading one of them a story.Too sweet.

We took the kids to see their first hockey game. A good friend of Don's was in town playing, so we went.
Enrique was totally captivated like this. Until the game started. Then he was done.

E has been stealing my camera alot lately. There were over 100 pictures on there that he took! Everything is fascinating to him. Here is one that I really liked...

A little art making..
But I am so out of the habit of capturing our days with the thought of sharing stuff here that I never took a picture of the finished product. Bummer. It was a fun painting for Don's mom that both Don and the kids did using some pictures I took.

Me thinks we need to be making more art around here, don't you?

We have been loving getting to play outside after way too many days cooped up with colds and freezing temperatures.
See that cute sweater she is wearing, my sis made it for her and I love it!


This is what pirates would look like if they could sail their ships into Colorado...
Gotta keep that head warm, which the pirate hat alone doesn't really do.

I never did show and tell of all the goodies we made for everyone for Christmas. So, here is one picture I managed to take of a couple of hats I made for the kiddos. E's is too big, I need to fix it, but I think they are pretty dang cute!


And lastly, a song for you from my goofballs...

A song for you from Lisa Delzer on Vimeo.

i heart homeschooling

Today Enrique came up to me and said, "Mom, I want to be doing school right now. Will you be my homeschool teacher so I can learn something?"

Adorable.

Of course, I obliged. He wanted to learn all about the world (hmmm in one afternoon?) by talking about his brand new globe that he got for his birthday from Grandma. She also got him a United States puzzle, so we also spent some time putting that together and talking about the names of all the States.

Enrique is a certifiable NUT!

He does not just sit still all calm and cute wanting to learn. No, he is wiggly and jumping up and down and dancing around and singing songs. He cannot sit still for more than 2 minutes. I am for sure going to have to do some research on kinesthetic learning styles. Because that is so him and I have no idea what to do with this amount of energy! No. Idea.

Check it out for yourself. A little song he was singing while putting the puzzle together today...

Enrique's Learning Tune from Lisa Delzer on Vimeo.

See, a nut! I love him so.

Five!

A love note for Enrique, who today has turned 5. Five!

5 things that you love right now:

1. Your kitties - Isabelle and Penguin.
   
2. Teaching things to Anabel.
3. Pineapple Pizza.
4. Playing dress up (which gets its own category).
5. Building giant forts, though you don't call them that. They are space ships, castles, boats, etc.
   

5 great thoughts we have heard from you recently:

1. "What do you love more? Santa Claus or Rock 'n Roll?"
2. "I am going to shrink so big"
3. "When I grow up, I am going to be a present seller" (referring to his obsession with being Santa Claus.
4. "I want to be a rock star, go get me my bongos!"
5. "Did you know Santa Claus turns into Superman?"
   

5 dress up characters we have come to know well:

1. Santa Claus. This one is serious. You ARE Santa Claus. We are your elves. Anabel is Mrs. Claus. Totally was not sure what to do about Christmas, because when we asked you want you wanted you would get mad because YOU are the one who brings presents.
2. Superman. Not getting as much action these days because of #1, but just yesterday for about 5 minutes we got to hang with Superman again.
3. The Mexican Chef. Complete with crazy, wacky Spanish accent.
4. The Magician. Who gets in the cupboards and makes scary looking "poison" concoctions that probably are actually poisonous and your mom should not be letting you do this. But, it's cute.
5. Cowboy. Boots-check. Hat-check. Rope-check. Bandana-check. Cowboy lives in the southwest.

5 things that make me proud to be your mama:

1. Your imagination. It is off the charts fabulous.
2. Your eagerness to help and participate in whatever we are doing as a family.
3. The strange, intuitive, brilliant things that you say when you first wake up in the morning (and I should right down because I always forget.)
4. The way you love your sister and want to teach her things (when you aren't fighting!). Seriously it melts my heart the way you speak to her.. so lovingly.
5. How excited you get about just about anything. You experience life thrillingly.

5 things I wish for you in this next year:

1. That you get your first loose tooth because you really want one.
2. That you get to experience your first sleep over with one of your little buddies.
3. That you discover the joy and excitement of reading.
4. That you continue to make new discoveries that dazzle you.
5. That we get to meet many new interesting characters that you think up.

Happy Birthday today my Creative, Imaginative child.
You are amazing.
xoxoxo ~Mama

welcome back!

Some random pictures from the past few weeks...

superheros

Well, a little late.. but here are my little superheros!

Enrique, of course, was superman. Kinda funny because he wears this outfit most every day lately, so it didn't really feel like dressing up. But, he played the part really well, I think!

So serious...

He was so friggin' excited to go trick or treating!


Anabel was Rocket Girl. According to Enrique - All us girls are Rocket Girl! He created this outfit for his little sister. I made it, but it was all his doing. Pretty cool, huh?


Anabel was totally cute trick or treating! She would just point to her bag whenever someone opened the door. Too cute.

Happy Halloween (a little late)!

enrique

This is my boy and a few of his silly faces.

Really, what is not to love? Goof ball all the way. My kind of boy.

Oh, and a snap shot of the lovely little hair cut he gave himself.

Silly indeed.

fall nesting

I don't know what it is about this time of year, getting ready for winter I suppose, that makes me just want to stay home, organize stuff, make things and do boring things like clean up my family notebook.

But that is what I have been doing lately. Staying home alot, making food, and reorganizing things. And I don't really feel like doing much else.

It has been cold, snowy in some parts of town, which makes me just want to stay home even more. We've had our fireplace on and we've been doing a ton of snuggling the past few days!

I have been doing some canning the past few days and I don't think I am very good at it. You have to really be organized, which I normally am.. but I seem to be having things boiling at all the wrong times and stuff all over the place! My kitchen is a serious mess. And, hubby is home from work with a whacked out back, so his turn to do the dishes I don't think is happening. Bad timing on his part to hurt himself, doesn't he know that all those dishes piled up are waiting for him?

Anyway, we have some yummy peach jam, zucchini salsa, apple butter and jalapeno jelly waiting to be gobbled down in the future. I think that is all I can handle this year. Sometimes, I have silly farm girl dreams of canning a whole ton of food every year, but I don't think that is ever really going to happen. I'm not a farm girl, ya know?
Enrique has been busy in the kitchen as well. There is a whole new independence streak happening with him right now. He does not want help with ANYTHING!

His new trick is to go into the kitchen to make something "all by myself." The other day I wandered in to discover him making peach and apple muffins "all by myself." He had used a real knife to (sort of) chop up the peach and an apple. Then he poured a TON of baking soda on top, a little sugar, and some salt. "I got all the ingredients all by myself!" When I came in, he was up on a stool putting the muffin tin into the oven, trying to figure out the timer.

Yeah, he can eat these all by himself!
(But oh, how cuted out am I seeing him becoming his own little person!)

saying yes

I have been a grouch with my kids lately. They have been driving me crazy. Fighting. All.The.Time.

It's been making me nuts and my patience levels have been super duper low.

And I know that when they are all wacky like this what they need is me. 100%. Paying attention. Present.

But, it is a vicious cycle. They need more of me. I want to go do my own thing and not play with them. They get more wacko. They need me to pay attention. I just want to check out and avoid them. They get more insistent that I pay attention to them by acting up, and I get mad and angry with them. Around and around it goes.

Well, after our art group this week (paper mache), I had a big bag of torn up paper sitting on the floor waiting for me to do something with it.

Enrique discovered it. I was working on the computer (trying to escape my nutsy kids) when I looked up and saw that he had dumped the WHOLE BAG out onto the floor.

My first reaction was to yell. Scream. Get mad. Clean that up! Don't do that! NOOOOO!

Instead? Instead, I took a moment to breathe, to watch him and the pure delight all over his face. This was a MAJOR DISCOVERY!

And I let go of all my annoyance and frustration and said YES!

So all three of us - me, Anabel and Enrique had a confetti party. We tossed, we rolled, we laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

It is good to just let go sometimes. To be a yes. To let these goofy kids be kids. And in doing so, I fell in love with my little poops all over again.

forgiveness is a good thing

So Enrique and I had a little fight. Well, it was more like mama getting kookoo crazy mad. I was not feeling too hot and decided to lay down with Anabel for a nap. Enrique was watching a movie. Then he came in and woke me up and started whining about something.

I just wanted to sleep. Really, really bad. And I totally lost it with him. I was so frustrated and upset I started crying and yelling. I had my hands on his shoulders, looking him right in the eyes screaming, "Leave me alone.. p-l-e-a-s-e!" It was not very pretty. Enrique got a little freaked out. I wanted to throw him outside and lock the door. I say it like I'm joking. But, really, I did. I don't think I have ever been this upset with my son and I, for sure, was having what I think was my worst ever mom moment.

About 10 minutes later, I was finally fully awake and feeling a little more sane. I apologized and we got on with the day.

Well, that night, while putting Enrique to bed, I came back to that moment of our day. Horrible, awful feeling. Laying with E in the bed, I pulled him super cuddly close and just looked into his big brown eyes. "I am so very, very sorry I got so mad at you earlier today." And he just looked at me with the saddest eyes. "Yeah, that was not very nice. You were really mean to me. I didn't like that." Oh man, break my heart! Then I said, "Please forgive me. That was not a very good way for me to treat you." "Ok, mommy, but don't ever do that again."

Deal.


The next night, before going to sleep, he asked me, "You aren't going to get mad when you wake up in the morning?" "No. I am not. I promise." I think I cried myself to sleep that night. I hate that I made my son feel this way. Not some mean bully down the road, but me, his mom.

Last night, before falling asleep, he rubbed my cheek and said, "You are my best super hero mommy in the whole world." Forgiveness is a good thing.

split personality or imagination in full bloom?

Enrique has been so funny lately with his imaginary play.

Yoda

Little dude is obsessed with Star Wars these days. In particular he constantly talks about needing to go to Yoda's for a sleepover.

For over a week he was totally focused on building a space ship and flying to the Dagobah System to see yoda.

He packed this bag of supplies that he might need on his journey.

Baseball, check. Money, check. Water glass, check. Shovel, check. Ok, now we can fly into space to see Yoda!

Bacon Tawon

The most craziest imaginary play is the creation of other personalities. He is so good at it that Don and I are beginning to wonder?!

Most recently, he has become Bacon Tawon. He will leave the house and then come back and knock on the door. When I answer, "Hello, I am Bacon Tawon, what is your name?" And then he makes this funny face that I have not been able to capture with the camera.

The deal on Bacon: He is a treeman (not sure what that is) that lives in the southwest. He is also a cowboy. He has a gun, which is a spiderman pez dispenser. (I am not a big fan of guns, but have decided boys will be boys, so I let it be). He is super duper polite, calls me Lisa and Anabel "little princess."

The funny thing is that once he comes into the house, Enrique is not here. If I say, "hey, Enrique, come here," Bacon will just ignore me. I have to address him as Bacon (or whoever he is being at the moment). And he asks about Enrique... Who's shoes are these? What is he like? What did you and your son do today? etc. He DOES NOT go out of character at all. It is kind of amazing really.

And this will last FOR HOURS. The other night, Bacon ate dinner with us, brushed his teeth and went to bed (in Enrique's bed). Then, in the morning he was still here. He had breakfast and then left.

When he leaves, he goes out the front door and spins around a few times then comes and knocks on the door again.. "Mama!! I missed you, I am home!" Lots and lots of kisses and hugs. Then Enrique goes around and ask questions about Bacon. Who's gun is this? Was someone here? Was he nice? What did he call Anabel? etc. And he tells me all about being at Grandma's, which is where he was this whole time.

Makes me wonder if we have a fine actor on our hands. It is fascinating (and a little strange) to watch!

a perfect weekend :: thrift, food, mountains, firsts, garden

Don had his first official weekend after going back to work, and it was packed full of everything we love..

- Thrift store shopping ... (I'll share our scores later this week.. good stuff!)

- Dinner party ... We host a "Natural Family Potluck" at our house once a month. I only took this one picture of the kids sitting so patiently and quiet waiting for food. This is a new tradition we are loving.. Lots of good conversation, yummy food and a little chaos!


- A trip up to the mountains to go fishing ...



Hanging out at the lake means we get to do lots of our favorite things:

Hiking ...

(like my makeshift baby carrier? I totally forgot mine and used our picnic blanket!)




Climbing ...



Digging in the Mud ...




Discovering ...

We saw this tree that had been struck by lightening.. amazing!


Fishing ...


I FINALLY got to see my husband catch a fish! I seriously was thinking I was bad luck.. he never catches fish when I'm with him.. but not this time!

And the big highlight of the day? Enrique caught his first fish!!!

Look at how proud he is of himself!

But, I think Don was even more proud! This was a big day for our little dude, but an even bigger deal for his fisherman papa.

And then, fueled by the excitement of the first fish, Enrique hiked all the way out ALL BY HIMSELF! He usually needs to be carried.. but not today. And, it's quite a hike!



After we got home from the mountains, we went to water the garden. Hanging out in the sun with our kiddos giving a little love to our vegetables, both Don and I had one of those perfectly happy moments where all feels right in the world.

It was a perfect weekend!