Sunday, March 30, 2008

easter dresses


So, it's only a week overdue. Here are some photos of the girls in their Easter dresses. They still didn't want to sit down and have a serious photo shoot. So I let them go outside and run around and dance and just shot a bunch of pictures. But these probably capture more realistic shots of my girls anyway. Here are a few of my faves.


I was happy that I actually got several good shots of Ella. She tends to shy away from the camera and hide her face.

Michelle loves to pose for the camera. She is always making silly faces or striking poses. Here is just one of her most common poses.

dr. ella




The girls have a little Elmo doctor kit that they enjoy playing with from time to time. On Friday, Ella was being my doctor... listening to my heart beat, giving me shots, etc. Then she held up the pretend thermometer and said, "Okay, mommy. I want to take your temper tantrum." Too funny!


January/February reads

Camel Bookmobile by Marsha Hamilton
Society of S by Susan Hubbard
Tutu Deadly by Natalie Roberts
Sarah's Key (this one was about the holocaust and was really powerful)
3 Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks
Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea
Dark Angel by Robert Kirby
Babylon's Ark by Lawrence Anthony
Freedom: The story of my second life by Malika Oufkir
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

cooking


Well, I spent all day yesterday cooking and freezing meals. (For those who don't know, about once a month I cook 10-20 meals to freeze so that most nights I can just throw the pan in the oven or microwave and not have to stress about dinner after work.) I haven't done a big cooking day since my break in December... I've been too worn out to even attempt it. But I'm off and I'm feeling mostly pretty good now, and so I planned a total of 17 meals I wanted to cook. I got 11 done yesterday. I seemed to go a little slower than normal. So this morning I did 5 more. I have 2 left to do tomorrow, but they are both quick and easy. So now my freezer is restocked and we have food to eat for the next month and a half. Here's a pic of my freezer. Everything in there I made in the past two days except the pizzas, popsicles and ice cream, of course.
For those who are wondering, here are a few of the foods I made: Manicotti, Tuna Tortellini Gratin, Taco Soup, Chicken with Red Potatoes, 5 Spice Chicken, Baked Ziti, Chicken a la King, and Broccoli Cheese Soup. Some of them I doubled so when I say I made 17 meals, I cooked about 12 entries but some of them were doubled.
I know what some of you are thinking. Do these foods really taste good? Is this like eating leftovers night after night? I was skeptical before I started. But then I started thinking about it. Sometimes I would buy premade lasagnas or pasta meals at the store that were frozen and overall they were pretty good. And they'd often cost $10 or more. And on busy nights, we'd end up eating fast food and that would cost $15 or more for our family and wasn't healthy. So if we liked the frozen foods at the store, why shouldn't we like the frozen foods I make at home. Wouldn't it be healthier and cheaper and make my life easier than having to cook every single night... especially after working all day? So I decided to try it out. I started small. I'll admit: we haven't liked every recipe. But I now have about 15 tried and true recipes and each time I try at least 2 new recipes. And you don't have to do it my way and take a whole day and cook, cook, cook. You can start small and just double or triple whatever recipe you're making and then freeze the extra(s). However, I would recommend getting a freezer cookbook because some modifications needed to be made. Most things you only partially cook before freezing. For example, pasta should only be cooked about half the time so it doesn't get too soggy. So like for lasagna or manicotti you cook the noodles briefly. THen you prepare it just like you normally would. but then before baking it, you cover it with saran wrap and foil and freeze it. Then you take it out and thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then bake it for the normal amount of time (about 1 hour). So there's your lesson in freezer cooking. Sorry!
By the way, here are the two freezer cooking books that I love most:
Dream Dinners: Turn Dinnertime into Family Time with 100 Assemble-and-Freeze Meals by Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna (This has yummy recipes and can be used for freezing or cooking the same day. They give you instructions for both. I love this book!)
Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell, and Bonnie Garcia also very good... although some of their meals are kind of spicy
Also, to get you started (if I've convinced you of the merits of this plan), you should take a look at
The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy by Tara Wohlenhaus and Nanci Slagle I personally don't like their recipes as well but they have a wonderful organization style and really helped me get started.
There are tons of freezer cooking books available. check out amazon.com or even the public library. :)
Now, this tired pregnant lady should go to bed. Or finish my book for book club tomorrow. I'm only half done. Oops.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Easter: Part 2

On Saturday we went to the Spring Fling at Winder Dairy.
I don't intentionally take/post more photos of Michelle than Ella.
But Michelle likes to pose and have her picture taken and Ella does not. Plus Ella was scared of the Easter bunny and the Star Wars guys.




At the spring fling, we saw our friends and neighbors Xaria and Tylan Espinoza. All of the kids got balloons. Michelle got Mickey Mouse and Ella got a butterfly. They had their faces painted (Ella as a tiger, Michelle with a rainbow). They hunted for an Easter egg which then gave them a prize. There was also a petting zoo. Michelle was brave enough to touch the snake... but only just barely. The petting zoo also had an albino hedgehog which was pretty cool. And a couple of ponies.

The kids had fun.



We had a fun week. I love being off work!!

I (hopefully) have one more Easter post... of the girls in their Easter dresses. They wouldn't let me take their pictures on Sunday. They were hungry and tired after church. So I'm going to try again tomorrow...

Easter: Part 1

We started our Easter festivities on Wednesday. I baked a bunny shaped cake. Michelle, Ella
and our neighbor Kodi decorated the cake. They had fun adding sprinkles, frosting, and cake toppers to decorate the cake. Michelle and Ella usually just eat the frosting and leave the cake, but this time they both had several helpings of cake and frosting!

Only Michelle wanted to color eggs. Ella wasn't interested. So Michelle happily decorated them all on Thursday. Good thing we panamenos like hard boiled eggs.



On Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt at West Valley Fitness Center. Michelle found plenty of candy. Ella clung to me and so I picked up a few for her. The whole event only lasted about 7 minutes. It was free and the candy was gone fast.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

surprise!

Our ultrasound was Tuesday. Everything looks good. The baby is developing well and according to the ultrasound, the due date is August 4th, just two days off from the doctor's estimated due date of August 6th. But, we were surprised to find out that our new little one is a girl! We really thought this time we were having a boy. I was afraid that Michelle would take the news poorly, but she jumped up and down and was excited. She even watched about 10 minutes of the ultrasound. She has asked a couple times why I'm not having a boy. But mostly she seems happy about the news and anxious for the baby to come.
Here are a couple of pictures of my tummy now that I'm showing and I'm half way along.

picture taken by Michelle... sorry about the smirk.
photo taken by Ella

I've definitely gotten bigger this past week. Clothes that seemed just slightly tight a week ago are now too small or at least uncomfortable.



Monday, March 17, 2008

Michelle's prediction

You've got to check out Michelle's prediction for the weight of the baby. (Go to www.expectnet.com and type in panamenobaby

I sure hope she isn't right!!! I tried to tell her that most babies weigh 6-8 pounds when born. She was determined that she was right.

fun with Bryce and Sylas

Bryce and Sylas came over to play Saturday night (and again today). They had a lot of fun painting. A week or two Michelle and Bryce decided to fish in the bathtub. Usually the girls "fish" while taking a bath, but Bryce and Michelle wanted the tub filled up so they could fish from outside the tub. Here's some cute pics.


Michelle collaborated on a joint painting. Bryce also did one of his own.


l

Sy really concentrated on his painting. I know it's not real

clear but he painted his cats and his family and you could tell who and what his pictures were of.
two little fishermen
Look! I caught a fish!

sleepy head

Yesterday about 3:00, Ella came and said she was tired. I gave her a sippy cup and told her to go lay down and that I'd check on her in a few minutes. She walked out of the kitchen and down the hall.
About ten minutes later, I went to check on her. She wasn't in her bed or Michelle's. She wasn't in my bed either. I thought that was strange, but Alfredo had been gone all weekend, so I thought, "Well, I guess she went downstairs and laid down by him." (He was watching tv.)
About 10 or 15 minutes after that, I went to lay down and rest in my room. After laying down for a minute or two, I thought I could hear a small snore. I got up and followed the noise. I opened my closet doors (which were shut) and there, curled up on the floor, was a sound asleep Ella! The girls and I often play hide-n-seek inside the house (especially during the winter) and this is Ella's favorite hiding spot. So I shouldn' t be overly surprised. But how cute is she curled up on the floor of the closet. :)





proud new owners



We have a new car. We bought this Toyota minivan from Alfredo's cousin for a great deal. It has 14,000 miles. The kids are way excited because it has a DVD player in it and 7 seats. (Bryce and Sylas, you can both fit legally in our car now! No one has to sit in the front seat.) Michelle has decided that she and the baby will sit in the middle row and Ella can sit in the back. And Bryce and Sylas can sit in the back when they ride with us. Nice of her to relegate Ella to the back, huh!


When the girls told my dad that it has a DVD player, he said, "Well, now you'll have to stay awake and watch movies while you're driving the car, not sleep in the car."


Ella immediately responded: "I don't drove. I'm not the daddy. (Points to Alfredo) He's the daddy."

Saturday, March 15, 2008

spring break

Hooray for spring! We are finally leaving winter behind (for good, I hope... I hope there aren't any more snow storms to come) and a few of my tulips are just poking out of the ground. The snow has almost melted, my kids can finally play outside; I love this time of year!!!

Best of all, it is now spring break for me! Two weeks off. I am, voluntarily (I'm crazy, I know), working for 1 1/2 hours each day this week to tutor six of my students that need just a little extra help to be on grade level and be able to pass the CRT's (the state mandated standardized tests). But essentially, I can read, relax, play with my kids and be stress free for two weeks. Hooray!

Tuesday is my ultrasound. I don't think I ever posted this but those of you who want to make a guess about this baby can go to www.expectnet.com. Then you type in the game name which is panamenobaby (no capital letters, all one word). You can enter a guess about the baby's sex, birthdate, weight and length.

I'll post more soon, now that I have a little time off.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

michelle's imagination

Last night while the girls were taking a bath, Michelle was playing with the lid to a razor (just the little plastic part that goes over the blade). She started talking to it and calling it Boobee. She had it in a plastic cup filled with water and was singing and talking to it. So I asked her about it. "Boobee" is a bear... he lives in a cup of water. He likes to eat grass and hair. He is very happy. She told me what kind of bear but the (invented) word has slipped my mind. She's too cute. She, of course, knows that it isn't real. But I love that she has such an imagination.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

baby news

I went to the doctor today. I had lost two pounds at my last checkup and gained 1 of them back today. So essentially, I've gained nothing so far. But I'm feeling good now, and I"m hungry and I'm starting to show just a little. I can still wear many of my regular clothes. I took my maternity clothes out on Saturday and was disappointed to realize that I had exactly 2 short sleeve shirts!! Both of my girls have been born in the spring, so the majority of my pregnancies has been in the winter. But this time my pregnancy will extend right through summer. I have several shirts that I absolutely love, and this may be my last chance to wear them. So I made an executive decision to start wearing some of my favorites now... even though I really could go a few more weeks in regular clothes. So I wore a maternity sweater yesterday and a cute top today. Tomorrow I think I'm wearing regular clothes, but sometime this week I have a very nice black top that I'm going to wear even though it's a little big.
Why let such lovely clothes go to waste?


Alfredo told the girls that I am pregnant a week ago. (I would have waited a little longer... it's still a long time away for them. Oh well.)

I walk in the door from work, and Michelle yells, "Mommy, are you really pregnant?"

Me: (Pause)... Did someone say that I was pregnant?

Michelle: Daddy did.

Me: Oh... well, yes, I am. We're going to have a baby.

Michelle (who has been asking for a brother for six months): Why? I don't want a baby.

Ella: I do. I want a sister. Can I see the baby right now?

Me: No. The baby has to stay in my tummy for quite awhile.

Michelle: Is it a brother or a sister?

Me: We don't know yet. We'll find out in 3 weeks (Side note: It's down to 2 now... 2 weeks from today. Hooray!)

Michelle: I do NOT want another sister. I want a brother.

Ella: I want a sister.

Now, Ella asks me almost daily if she can see the baby. Michelle keeps asking why I want another baby and what the baby will be like. She seems to have very mixed feelings. Sometimes she is excited and other times she says she doesn't want another baby.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Valentine flowers

These are the Valentine flowers Alfredo gave me.
I never got around to posting them, but they were so
beautiful I wanted to share them.

kindergarten

We recently applied for Michelle to attend the Dual Immersion Academy (DIA, a charter school right near my school) and the dual immersion program at Jackson Elementary in my district. We got a letter on Friday saying that Michelle had been admitted to Jackson. I have to submit our intent for her to attend (or vice versa) by March 21. I haven't heard from DIA yet. I'm not sure what to do. DIA is more conveniently located, but it's brand new (this was its first year) and I've heard rumors that they are barely making it. Too many kids dropped out. But I am glad to know that we at least have one option and that Michelle will be in a dual immersion program next year. Hooray!

little drummer girls

Last Sunday my friend Debbie Paur gave the girls a
drum set. They've had lots of fun beating out rhythms
on their new drums.


Look at her concentrate. My dad was sleeping

downstairs, so I told her that she had to play quietly. She played for most of an hour,

never getting very loud. (Although once my dad was awake, she showed us just how loud

could be.