Tackle It Tuesday!

Today was a very good day! After we dropped off Erico at school we went to the library to drop off our books and then we went to a dollar store that was HUGE, so I bought some new teaching/learning supplies. Sometimes when the kids see new books, they get excited to work in them.

About 12:00 we finally got home and I knew that I had to do some organizing, so I decided to make it a Tackle It Tuesday. I worked in the kitchen. I know it might not make too much sense because we will be tearing out the cabinets and gutting the kitchen in a few weeks, but I figure why keep procrastinating and just get it organized until we start the remodeling.

utensil drawer before AFTER

Cup/dishes cabinet before AFTER

cookbooks/misc cabinets before AFTER

Tupperware cabinet before AFTER

Happy Tackling!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD (AKA ABUELO)!

WE WANT TO WISH MY DAD A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

rule!

LOVE, THE BARBOSA CREW

STUDENT OF THE WEEK!

Hard work does pay off! Erico has been working every day and he got Student of the Week today! We are so proud of him and we are going to take him out for and let him pick out a special treat! Anything he wants!

Activities during the week....

During this week we have done a number of crafts and finished a few things that we have been wanting to do.

Erico, Elkin and Esai painted a bird house a few months ago, and we finally hung it up in the back yard.

On Monday the boys and I painted my Terra cotta planters, so I can plant my herbs. I finally filled them with potting soil and the seeds today. And I made a strawberry ice cream and mango sorbet.

Wednesday the boys and I emptied out their piggy bank and jar of money that they have been saving, and it added it up to $47.63! So I told them that they can keep $10.00 to spend and the rest will go into a savings account at the bank. Hopefully we will open the savings account during next week.

Today, Elkin and Esai made a pine cone bird feeder, which we hung up in the same tree as the bird house. I made whole wheat bread.

Enjoy the slide show of the activities.....

Don't talk to strangers!

Yesterday was a big wake up call for me in that I need to remind the boys about talking to strangers!

We has soccer practice, but it was only Lore, me and the kids. Gil was not feeling well, so he stayed home with the boys. We had a great practice, we ran 3/4 of a mile around the track and practiced some soccer drills. Lore's dad, Vinicio, helped us with a drill called keep away.

Then about one hour after we started our practice Erico, Elkin and Mia went to play on top of a little hill, which was not far from where I was sitting. And I told the kids that they had to stay on top of the hill so that I could see them. Well...... I see them start to go down the hill and then they disappeared to the other side where there was an older couple walking there dog. So I get up and go over there and have a few words with the older couple on how scary it is that my kids went to pet their dog without even saying anything to me.

So after the couple walked away, I knelt down by Erico and Elkin and I asked them in a cheerful voice, "Hey guys, did you know who those people were?" and Erico cheerfully responded back to me "no, who are they?" then I said "they were strangers." The look on Erico and Elkin's face looked like if they had been caught doing the worst thing ever! So I quickly explained to them that not all people are bad people, but we do not talk to strangers or go to strangers even if they have animals with them.

We will talking to them gain about the strangers thing and that sometimes bad peoples use animals to take kids away from their parents. Gil and I have talked to them about this many times, but it has been at least a year or so since we have. We will be working on this.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY!

I just want to wish my big bother a HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! Yesterday was his birthday and tonight he is going out to dinner with my mom and family. Unfortunately we are not able to go because Erico has school tomorrow and he has a test,so he has to be in bed at his bed time (8:30pm).

Crazy Week

I have not posted much this week on my blog because it has been a crazy week. Since Esai has not had his bottle all week, he has been pretty cranky at times and he is not taking his early afternoon nap like he usually does, which leaves me little time to clean up the house and spend time with Elkin studying. He does take naps as soon as we get in the car to pick Erico up from school, but that doesn't help me out much. The evenings have been gradually getting easier, but he still asks for his bottle and I tell him that it is all done, no more.

My stress level has been pretty high, but I am trying to deal with it.

Erico got his report card on Wednesday, it was good, at least what we had expected. His teacher told me that during the Christmas break he made a big improvement in his math and reading skills. She said that she noticed that he is more confident and he even raises his hand now to answer questions or even to read what she has written on the board! That makes me feel really good, because it shows that what I teach him at home is paying off at school and with his self confidence. What Gil and I tell Erico is that in all aspects of your life whether it is sports, school, etc. you always want to practice while everyone else is resting. So you can be better for yourself! So during the Christmas break I had him doing math and reading work at least twice a day, except for Christmas day and New Years Eve.

I hope everyone enjoys themselves and has a great weekend.

Here are some pictures of when we went to Universal with Cameron last Saturday.

PUT TO THE TEST

Well, this morning did not start out very good.

While the kids were at the table eating their cereal, Esai dumped all of his cereal on the floor and laughed like if he had done the best thing in the world, so I told him that was "not nice."

Elkin could not find his shoes, actually he could find one shoe, but from two different pairs of shoes. So I put the kids in the car (which is in the garage) and I went inside to make Esai a bottle, so he wouldn't cry on the way to drop off Erico at school. So when I went inside, I could not find the nipple for the bottle, so at that very moment I decided that I would finally take the bottle aways from Esai. So I put his milk on a sippy cup and off we were to school!

I should have known better to at least wait until the weekend or a day I didn't have to work to start this task that I have been wanting to do for a few months now. As soon it was nap time, which usually is about 11:00, I gave him a sippy cup to see if it would settle him down, well......it didn't! He cried for at least 30 minutes even though it felt like hours. Finally I went to the car and put him in his car seat and turned the car on. I sat there for about 5 minutes and off to dream land he went.

With Esai, he has to be somewhere that he can not just get up to play when it is nap time, or he will not fall asleep. So I went back into the office and laid him down and tried to finish the 1 of 3 things that I had to get done. Finally at about 1:45 I finished my first task, which usually takes me 30 - 45 minutes! Then my mom got to the office and when the clients got their for the documents I had prepared, I had made some mistakes, so while I was trying to fix them, Elkin drops an empty can of Ginger Ale on the floor and woke Esai up. Eventually my mom had to make the corrections and thank goodness that she was not upset with me (she must have seen how stressed out I was).

I finally left the office in a hurry to pick up Erico from school. We went to the park after we picked up Erico and I relaxed for a few minutes watching them all play when it started to rain.

Well, I finally made it home and my house is a mess and I have to start cooking dinner and cleaning and have Erico sit at the table to start his reading work. As soon as Gil gets home, I am going to try to squeeze in some Yoga so that I do not go crazy!

Things will get better, I know they will and tomorrow will be a new day!

HAPPY MONDAY!

Fiday evening and Saturday plans

I am not sure if I have mentioned it yet, but my nephew Cameron is in town on vacation. Erico and Elkin think he is the coolest kid in the world, he is the only older cousin that they have, so they look up to him like if he is a God. The good thing is that he is still at an age where he's not too cool yet to hang out with them. Actually, even if he thought he was to cool, he doesn't have any other cousins to play with, and that will listen to every word he says!

Cameron is a good kid, and when he goes back to Pensacola with his mom, we will miss him very much, as we always do! Maybe one day he will live back here with my brother so we can see him more often.

Well, Cameron is spending the night tonight and he is going to bunk with the boys. they are going to let him have the top bunk bed and Erico and Elkin will be on the bottom. So far this evening, they have played NFL football on this thing that Santa "Grandpa Gary" got them for Christmas, they have wrestled, played Mario Party, ate pizza and now they are playing Candyland.

The 8:30 bedtime rule has not been in force tonight, but I will make them take a shower soon (very soon) and watch a movie in bed.

Tomorrow, we, meaning, me, Erico, Elkin and Cameron are going to spend the day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Gil is going to stay home with Esai. The kids are looking forward to spending the day with each other. I am sure that I will take many pictures and I will post them on Sunday. I hope that everyone has a great weekend, I know that we sure will!

Love, Jodie

Back To School

Today was Erico's first day back to school and I miss him very much. I got used to him being with me and the boys during the holiday vacation.

I think that he gets his report card today, the good thing is that being in 1st grade is that you don't get a good or bad report card. It really is just an update on what your child is struggling with or what they are doing well in. Erico struggles a little bit with reading and math, but we have been working with him over the break, so hopefully he will feel comfortable when he returns to school and not behind. All I know is that he is very well behaved and he does not get in trouble, which is also very impotant.

Erico has a grat teacher and I get to talk with her everyday on how Erico is doing.

We miss you Erico, but we will see you at 2:00 pm!

New Years Resolutions

Well, I have come to only a few new years resolutions, which I did the same for last year. I try to come up with only a few that I know that I can and will accomplish and that are very important to my everyday happiness and well being.

First and foremost, I have to stay healthy, both physically and mentally because if I am not, then it is hard to teach my children the same lifestyle.

Our Tuesday soccer is about to start on January 23rd, so that takes care of the physical part. And for the mental aspect, I am going to make sure that I get a break from the kids and play my Sudoku, is a logic-based placement puzzle, and to try to start each day with a positive outlook.

Second, to stay organized, especially with the household finances, the boys schoolwork and homework.

Third, to try to find a babysitter, so that Gil and I can reconnect as husband and wife instead of only Dad and Mom!

Pretty much that sums it all up. Everything else that I accomplish throughout the year will be an added bonus.

In about one month we will start to remodel the kitchen, formal living, formal dining, and family room. It will be A LOT of work and stressful at times, but it is something that we like doing. I will post pictures during the entire process.

I hope that if you make any New Years Resolutions, that you can stick with them, and I would love to hear about them too!

New Years Eve and New Years Day Events

For New Years Eve, we went to Todd and Claudia's house. Todd made fajitas for dinner and I brought a homemade strawberry ice cream and mango sorbet as a surprise dessert. the reason that it was a surprise is because Claudia was my secret santa and she bought me a Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream & Sorbet maker, so I decided that for my first ice cream and sorbet, I had to let Claudia try them. I think that everyone liked them, because they did say that it was good.

Then we went outside and let the kids enjoy the fireworks and we also played a new Uno Attack game, it was fun while it lasted until Esai started getting cranky and we had to go home to put him to bed.

We all laid in bed and were watching Tom & Jerry while we waited for midnight, but we fell asleep 2 minutes before and I woke up 3 minutes after and woke up Gil and we all kissed and said "happy new year" then went back to sleep!

On New Years Day, Gil went paintball fighting with my brother Joey and my nephew Cameron and some other friends, and afterwards we went with Abuelita, Roberto and Pablo to Narcoosee to try out the new fishing boat. It was fun even though Mariela, Esai and I weren't able to get on the boat. Their were some technical difficulties that will hopefully get fixed for the next time!

We had a great new year, we ended the year with each other and started the new year the same. Off to a good START!!!

Enjoy the slide show of the activities!