We Made A Deal

We had a pretty big snowfall the day of Teresita's surgery in March, but after that, the snow in our yard started melting.  Every day it was less and less.

One day after playing outside for a while, Juan Pablo told me that playing outside made him think of how we used to go out for ice cream in the summer because he was so hot.  So we made a deal.  We decided that the day that the last bit of snow in our yard melted we would go out for ice cream.

And then we waited.

Teresita was ready with her new shades.

And she rediscovered her little car, which made her squeal and scream with happiness because she is obsessed with cars ever since she watched Jeff help the neighbors push their car out when it got stuck in the snow this winter.

 

Ana Luisa started playing outside barefoot and in a tank top as soon as it was about 45 degrees.

 

Finally enough was enough and Juan Pablo decided to take matters into his own hands.  He got a shovel and shoveled all the snow that was left around the shady edges of our yard into the sunny middle so that it would melt faster.

And that evening we went out for ice cream.

Dairy Queen Blizzards to celebrate the return of spring and the end of winter blizzards.

Of course now instead of snow we have mud.  Which means that Teresita ends up looking like this after playing outside for about five minutes:

Teresita's Surgery

Teresita had glaucoma surgery on her left eye in mid-March.  Her eye pressures weren't going down with the glaucoma medication she was on, so her doctor scheduled an eye exam under anesthesia to get a better look at what was going on.  Based on the exam, she would decide if surgery was needed or not.  The left eye has been worse than the right all along, so after measuring her eye pressures and getting a better look, the doctor decided to operate.

We were so thankful to have my mom be able to take care of Juan Pablo and Ana Luisa all day so that Jeff and I could be at the hospital together.  It was an outpatient procedure, so we got to go home that same day, which was also a blessing.  When we got up to recovery to see Teresita after she came out of surgery she was still fast asleep.  She wasn't waking up, so we started changing her clothes and trying to give her a little juice.  Nope.  Everything was stable, so the nurse took out her IV, thinking that for sure would wake her up.  Nope.  Finally they just sent us home.  I thought Teresita would wake up the second she was out of my arms and being buckled in her car seat but no.  She slept through that, through coming home, through Jeff and I eating dinner.

My parents brought the kids back home at bedtime.  When they walked in the door, Teresita didn't open her eyes, but she sat up in my arms and started reaching for Juan Pablo.  I gave her to him, and she laid on him for at least a minute before reaching back for me.

And then she slept again until it was time for her follow up appointment the next morning.

I just love how much my kids love each other.

So far her eye seems to be healing well.  It takes 8-10 weeks to heal fully, and we won't really know until then if the surgery was successful or not, but so far everything is looking good!

Winter 2014

January started off with a blizzard and -35 temperatures.

And for the most part, it was very, very cold (thank you, Polar Vortex) and very, very snowy.  But I loved it.  It was cozy.  We developed a routine of school in the morning, and snuggling up in bed under piles and piles of blankets to read in the afternoons.  And of course we were thankful for the days when it was warm enough to go play outside.

We were even able to go feed the birds!

It was Teresita's first time and I thought she might scare the birds away because she tends to scream when she's excited.  But since we were all quiet and whispering, she just whispered too.

In February, we celebrated Teresita's 3rd birthday!

My favorite thing about Teresita's birthday is how the big kids get so excited about making the day special.  They had been planning her gift for months- a giant stuffed animal, just like they each have a giant stuffed animal that they sleep with every night.

They were also the ones who made her cupcakes.

Since her birthday was on a Friday and Jeff had to go into work, we planned to do something special the next day.  We went to the fancy mall, Ana Luisa's favorite place in the world.  It was nice to get out of the house and do something different.  We had a nice lunch, and while the older kids checked out the Lego store, Teresita and I rode up and down escalators and elevators to her little heart's content.  I think we spent about two hours just going up and down and around to all the different sets of escalators and elevators.

Juan Pablo made us all some great valentines on February 14th.

And we of course got some great days to play in the massive amounts of snow in our backyard.  We started reading the Little House series in the winter, so most of our outdoor play was pretending to be the Ingalls family moving from the Big Woods of Wisconsin to build a house in Indian Territory.  Juan Pablo was Pa, I was Ma, and Ana Luisa and Teresita were Mary and Laura.  We ran into a lot of wolves and panthers and bears, of course.

It was a great winter of being cozy and reading a lot and playing fun games out in the snow...but by March we were pretty ready for spring to come.

Christmas 2013

On December 6th, we celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas with little gifts in the kid's shoes.  They each got candy canes, chocolate coins, clementines, and a book.

I just love how Teresita looks with her sleep cap on.

After the Juan Pablo and Ana Luisa ran their big 100 meter dash on the 4th of July, Juan Pablo decided it was too easy and he was ready to be challenged by a longer distance.  So we signed up for a Holiday Hustle 1-mile race and started training.  We went out running and he timed himself to try to get his mile time faster.  Race day was 18 degrees, but he still ran the whole mile and finished in 10:43!  Ana Luisa took a different approach.  She ran at the start, the decided she was too cold and hopped in the stroller so Jeff could push her.  When she spotted the finish line she hopped out and sprinted the rest of the way.

 The kids were excited to play in the snow again.  Though they may not have been so excited had they known what a long, cold, snowy winter we would end up having.  By the beginning of February Ana Luisa was already asking how much longer until summer.

It is hard to keep any Christmas decorations up with Teresita around...

We were very happy to have my aunt and uncle come all the way from Mexico to spend Christmas with us this year!  We were able to go to the zoo with them to see the lights display, one of our favorite holiday traditions.

Ana Luisa had a Christmas dance recital.  Her class did a tap dance to "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" and it was adorable.

Unfortunately, we all came down with the flu, starting with Juan Pablo on Christmas Eve.  Teresita was the only one who managed to not get sick.  Juan Pablo still managed to get out of bed on Christmas morning to open presents.

The next several days were spent in bed, or trying to keep Teresita out of trouble.  Though it was not the way we would have liked to spend our Christmas, we got through it!

Fall 2013

In September we started another year of school at home.  Juan Pablo is in first grade, and Ana Luisa is in preschool.  The first day Juan Pablo claimed that he was having trouble getting used to first grade, but I haven't heard any more complaints since so I think he got over it.

Ana Luisa is taking a ballet/tap class this year, and Juan Pablo is taking an art class.

We also had some friends over to help demolish our crumbling backyard deck and help build us some nice steps down to the backyard.

And then we packed up our little Teresita (and a few other things)...

...and went on a really perfect vacation.  We rented a house on a lake.

We played in the sand, waded in the water, tried out the rowboat and the paddle boat

Ana Luisa rocked the big crazy hair all week.

Friends came to visit and spend a night.

And so did Paulina.

We only had one day where it rained, so we went swimming at the clubhouse pool down the road.

We ended our vacation with a little trip to Frankenmuth, MI because I had signed up to run a race there.  The kids loved Frankenmuth and kept saying things like, "I feel just like I'm in Germany!"

This vacation was such a blessing for our family.  The kids were so happy the whole time.  We all had so much fun.  It was actually relaxing!   A vacation with kids: it can be done!

Then there was Halloween.  We went to the orchard like usual for cider and donuts, and the kids picked out their pumpkins.

They decided to coordinate costumes this year.  In keeping with their interest in Bible stories that they developed over the summer, Juan Pablo was Daniel, Ana Luisa was the angel, and Teresita was the lion.  Since then she loves to crawl around on all fours, roaring and pretending to be a lion.

And, that about covers the autumn season!