Mile Stone Monday & Movie Monday

I have been trying to keep track this week so Im not proof reading this and just posting it because Im really tired and pressed for time. Hope you enjoy!! Im also adding "Movie Monday" at the bottom of this blog. So you get a 2 for 1 today.
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Thais remembers everything. She was watching "diego saves christmas" (in august) and told me, "Nana's tree was too big last yr and it didnt have a star". She is totally right but what makes her remember that 8 months later, is amazing. My mom is now star shopping, lol!

I can hear thais telling her papa about how she fell in the dirt hole at the red play ground by nana's house. Again this is probably 6 months ago.

She loves to tell people how i dropped my favorite camera into the water. Every time i use that camera now, she tells everyone. Thanks Thais!

We were at the store sunday and thais grabbed some random bag of food. I told her to put it back and she said, "But mom this is my favorite. Dont you remember I used to eat it at nana's house all the time?" I totally shrugged her off only to look a few minutes later and she was right once again. It is an asian snack mix i used to buy at costco but since we dont have costco in NY, she hasnt had it in month. How ever she completely remembered it, so of course I bought it for her.

My aunt was amazed how much Thais knew also. My aunt was reading the harry potter book and thais has never seen this book or this movie and she says something along the lines of, "Tia, thats a magic book with magic spells". Granted the book cover gives some away but she nailed it on the head the entire point of the book, and thats a THICK book.

Thais just gets it. She is really starting to understand that people in our lives come and go and that we dont always live in the same place. She is sad when people leave but she has a good feeling she will see them again. She remembers everyone and talks about them weekly if not daily, like Tia Lulu but she is ok that they are not here. She understands people go home to see their family. She knows we will go back to San Diego and that her family is in San Diego and that her friend in New York will stay in New York, and that Linny and Tia Lyddie live in Utah and we are going on a plane to see Mely and baby Nela. Yes she is 3, almost 4 but its hard for me to deal with moving and not seeing my family and friends as much as i would like, yet my daughter deals with it like a champ.

At the movies the other day we saw Madagascar 2 where at one point, one of the zoo animals says, "This looks like San Diego" and Thais starts laughing and says, "Thats not San Diego, thats silly. San Diego belongs to Nino!" He loved that one!

Thais loves the moon, which we call Luna. The sun was setting probably 7pm so not dark yet and Thais saw Luna and is really worried because part of Luna is missing. She thinks Luna is broke, so Im trying to explain to her that all of luna is there but we can only see half of it. On another day we will be able to see all of it. Sounds simple enough, took me 30 mins at least to calm her down.

Only certain people will find this remotely funny, but one of papa's team mates was talking to us and as he walks away, Thais says, "Bye Jenny Earth". I have no clue what she is talking about, till i realized that our friends name is "Kenny Bertz" but over the course of this summer, Thais has understood it as, "Jenny Earth". This is a big, bald, mean looking, white guy... im scared to even tell him my daughter calls him Jenny Earth".

I know it seems im leaving tiago out but he just repeats anything and everything thais says. Sometimes I feel he is robbed off what a 2yr old should be doing because he does what his 3 yr old sister does all the time. How ever... dont count him out just yet. He has turned Thais into some what of his slave. Today papa was trying to bribe tiago and telling him that if tiago threw away papa's banana peel, tiago could watch his dvd on papa's computer. So tiago went over to thais and told her she had to throw away papa's banana peel in the garbage and thais not knowing any better, did it. So tiago got to watch his dvd on papa's computer. Tiago also has thais get his socks for him and she helps pick out his clothes, especially his shirts, she is always getting juice for him and she will clean up their room while he sits and pouts or plays with toys while she cleans. Dont get me wrong, I am very proud of my daughter for always willing to help her brother, but im also laughing because tiago isnt fooling anyone except thais.

Thais is still asking about Chewey and the "other dog" (bishop). Both of which are in heaven now but I dont have the heart to tell her. I have mentioned that they are in our hearts and always with us but then she asks, "Well where are they?". She thinks they are at my moms house but I have told her they are gone. Its just such a tough topic to deal with already yet alone trying to explain it to a 3 yr old. She sees Chewey's picture on my phone and on my computer, so he s in our lives daily, we talk about him daily and yet i have still avoided the topic at hand to a deeper extent. Maybe one day.. but not today.

I was just reminded that Thais had another cute conversation with my aunt. My aunt told Thais she had 2 options and then listed them and Thais came back with, "Well I want a 3rd option." Cant be mad at her for honesty.

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MOVIE MONDAY
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~ lady and the tramp- we all know this one

~ The name sake- indian movie of an indian man who almost dies and is saved by a book so he moved to america, brings his wife from india and they have children, one of whom is named after the author of the book tat saved him. This movie covers the life and death and every thing in between. Im a bit of a foreign film freak. I got it from my husband way back in the day, plus im always interested to see how other cultures live.

~ slumdog millionaire- this movie was cute but i am shocked that a movie based on a game show, won so many awards. I mean really?

~ A strangers heart- a married couple die in a car crash, their hearts are placed into strangers who end up falling in love and have a special bond with the original heart owners daughter. Strange but cute, i suppose

~ charlotte's web- for my son who loves to kill spiders, i thought this movie might help him, I was wrong. He killed one right as we got home. Granted he is trying to pick them up and show me, but they always end up dead.

~ in her shoes- this was a great movie, i was really surprised that it almost made me cry a few times. About 2 sisters who's mom died and while they drive each other crazy, they will always love each other.

~ 1st daughter- i had seen bits and pieces of this on tv before but watching all the way through was much better. Not a great movie but a sure twist i didnt see coming in it. All about being the presidents daughter and going off to college.

~ fever pitch- another movie i have seen bits and pieces of, but watching it this time hit me so much more. About a fanatic baseball fan who has problems dating because of his love for the red sox. The part that touched me the most was how he said while at the stadium, "This is my summer family". I couldnt agree with that statement more. I dont sit in my assigned seats at papa's games because I like sitting where I sat last yr with the season ticket holders. They have become my summer family. It is rare when someone in our group misses a game, we talk and laugh and share family stuff while we watch the game. We lose together and win together and then dont talk for 6 months during the off season. While this was about the fan, and i am a wife of a paid player.... i could still relate.

~ Sidewalks of New York - a movie where 6 people whos lives are all intertwined and they are interviewed about sex and relationships. Strange to say the least.

Day at the Park

I had so many things and errands to do but instead I sat at this park with my babies and just enjoyed the moment. It was chilly and windy but it felt so nice to just be outside and leave all my worries behind. Trying to pack and clean and run errands with both kids and no one to help me is getting old real fast but Im dealing with the best I can, because thats how I roll, lol!

Thais is in the box, trying to get Tiago to catch her finger

Tiago is slowly but surely getting over his fear of slides.

Flower picking time



My strong monkey's

Goooooooooooal!!!!!

I thought Papa should get his own post since this blog is always about the kids and I's adventures. You have to remember the whole reason we are on this crazy journey of life on the road is because papa is following his dream. He is living the dreams of thousands of children growing up. He is being paid to play soccer. Something his father wanted to do but couldnt because his father made him work the farm. So this isnt just my husbands dream, but mine and my step fathers dream too. We are living through Papa too. The past couple of years have been challenging to say the least. Papa has had 3 major injuries, one requiring surgery in the last 4 years, but this off season was by far the hardest and most rewarding at the same time. To come from not being able to walk to scoring his 1st goal since surgery yesterday is just amazing. There are so many things I cant talk about but the ones I will talk about are, how proud I am of my husband. No matter what happens at work, on or off the field, he is the same man I met so many years ago. He always has a positive attitude and is making jokes. Signing autograph after autograph, he still washes the dishes and changes poopy diapers. I know I am the luckiest woman in the world and I tell him thank you many times a day for the all that he does for us, big and small. In case he reads this from one of his hotels rooms on the road, I love you Amor and we are ever so proud of you. Congratulations on your goal, we know how hard you work and this is just one of many to come.





LINKS

Rochester Newspaper

Vancouver Newspaper

Rhinos's Website

Vancouver's Website

Staying Busy, Indoors without Papa

We are doing anything and everything to stay busy and deal with this horrible weather. Cant wait to get out of here and see our best friends in Miami and catch up with papa a few days early. So Saturday we woke to lots and lots of rain. I tried to find stuff to do but nothing real fun was going on, so I just made up my own stuff. We went to a mall I have never been too before because I heard it has a carousel and figured the kids would have fun riding it. Then I found a new McDonalds with an indoor playground, to do lunch and I had plans to go to Barns and Noble by our house for story time, but we spent so much time at the mall that by the time we were done with lunch it was way late. It worked out fine though because there was a Barnes and Noble in that mall too, but no story time. After naps it was really windy but the kids insisted on going swimming which worke dout because the pool is heated and its actually warmer in the pool than outside. We didnt last very long but good to get some fresh air. I dont like taking my kids on errands because i just dont think its fun or fair for them or me, to get in and out of the car for 5 mins then get back in, how ever like now.... I have no choice so we have been doing some shopping and errands too. Like I said just staying busy and trying to have fun while doing it.

We made chocolate chip muffins, like we do several times a week. Then for lunch the kid shad lunch meat and cheese, except Tiago combined them and laid the meat on the muffin, then took a bite.

So gross yet such a boy


Kids playing with their building blocks. Tiago had a kick proving me wrong. I would tell him, no more it's going to fall, then he would pile one more on top and then another and another.

My Lil architects

Tiago "skyping" with his papa after many, many tears

I even pulled out the candles to do shadow dancing and ghost stories

I learned how to take photos with no flash. I love my 3rd child!


This is Saturday morning, before we went out in the rain. These are their new jackets but as you can see they need new pants, lol!

The carousel, its 2 stories

Of course they want to ride on the 2nd story, who wouldnt?

Thais as usual picks the oddest things

Tiago got scared, so I switched the kids which wasnt easy as we were moving on a 2nd story. Talk about motion sickness.

Much happier there

Pretty mall flowers

and a fascinating fountain, to the kids anyways

In the store, Thais was in dress up heaven

Barnes and Noble, my sweet lil reader

Train table happiness

My crazy water addicted kids

Smiles is all I want for them

Thais is always back floating

Just chillin

Not in the mood for pictures

The kids were in their room playing, so i gathered all their stuff from the rest of the house and piled it at their door. They were shocked when they tried to come out of their room. Hilarious and I guess a bit bored, lol!

Another Day, Another Farm

Papa left this morning at 4:20am and Thais was in my bed by 4:45am. Thats my girl! We all woke up tired and with the sniffles, not to mention it was cold and rainy outside. We did nothing for a couple hours then I saw the sun break out so i researched some places and made some phone calls and out the door we went to another fun farm. This one did not have as many things as the last place, but it was closer, had a miniature train and a corn maze that was much, much smaller than the last place. I really wanted to do a corn maze but they are close to 2 hours long to get through and I knew the kids could not handle that and i cant find a sitter or friends to go with adults to do it myself. So I found a kid friendly maze and thats why we went to Wickham Farms today. They had a giant jumping pillow too that I got to jump on with the kids. Yet another unexpected great work out and tons of fun with my kids. I only took my small camera so I could get some video how ever the vieos are of us walking and jumping, so you may get motion sickness, dont say I didnt warn you.



My son's happy place

Tiago's hair is getting long, I asked papa to shave it before he left but Tiago threw a fit. Just had to throw this pix in there.

Thais and her real parents

Tiago thought this was a petting farm so he was trying to climb in and these hens were not nice, trust me.

They had mini golf but i think my kids are too little for it. We were already there for over 3 hours and mini golf would have just made it even longer.

The giant jumping pillow

Jumping video

In the corn maze

Thais took this photo, not bad at all

This is the one bridge in the whole maze

and the view from it, the farm is where the red barn is. We walked a LONG ways.

Back down to finish the maze

A video from within the maze. I asked for a "hint" and they told me, to follow the flags. Which helped but later I found out the next Hint was certain color flags meant certain paths were faster. Wish I would have known that. Tiago thought all the fallen corn was gross and said, "Ewww" about 1,000 times.

Now for the educational portion that we stopped many times to show the kids. These are the roots of corn stalk, I had never seen before. Those roots are so strong, they hold the stalk above the ground. I also showed them how the corn was inside and the color of the top tells if the corn is ready or not. It was fun!

On the way out we passed the pumpkin patch, Tiago was waving.

See this flower? Go back to yesterday's posts and in my flowers you will see some of these exact flowers. Thats means.... we have PUMPKINS! Im so excited to know a plant besides sunflowers that we are growing.

We found the way out of the maze and Thais was ready to be done. She didnt even wait for us.

Day 1 of 12 of papa being gone and only 4 more till we leave for Miami. Nothing but numbers now....

One More Day Gone By

Not that Im counting own days but them passing by as nicely as today did, doesnt hurt. We spent the morning dancing through a work out, then spending a couple hours at the pool, followed by lunch and naps then an evening outside in our yard. Im in a sort of funk right now, but with all the crazy stress going on, its expected. Papa is leaving in a few hours for a 12 day road trip, I really hate when he isnt here. The kids and I are leaving in 5 days to Miami for a week and while very exciting, very stressful to pack and travel alone with 2 kids even if they are veteran travelers. Then we get back and have 2 final home games before do or die playoffs. I am assuming we will pack up and drive all of our stuff to Harrisburg then fly to San Diego and have Thais 4th birthday party and Halloween, go to Utah for a week before flying back to PA to get our stuff and drive to an unknown winter city for indoor soccer for 6 months, then we get to do it all over again next summer. So yes stressful... do i have huge head aches? Yes of course but what better way to deal with it then the pool and park and family? Im enjoying these last few hours of our family of four.


On our way to the pool, using the back door

One down hill and we are at the pool. Talk about close.

I guess you swim faster if you stick your tongue out

We met our human friends there but we also had some animal friends




The kids got into papa's bag while he ran to the store and this is what he came back to.

Tiago was in heaven with all of papa's soccer shoes

He made me take this picture of all the soccer shoes matched


Our flowers, some have grown and died, others have just died and a few have grown.


Art at its finest

Tiago running in our "yard"

The kids love to race back and forth in everything they do. Guess thats the advantage of having siblings, always someone to race, i mean play with.