!!!!!!!!!FREEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!!

Today, I celebrate Freedom!!! Yes, in this country we are free to be who we want to be and have the resources to do it. Yes, we have the right of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which is awesome. But, it is not these freedoms that I choose to celebrate. Today, I celebrate a freedom much more personal and powerful. Websters defines freedom as "the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint." For several years now Adriana, and I have been the victims of this unlawful confinement and physical restraint . Our bedroom has been held captive by the Lords of the Sippy Cups. But, like our hero William Wallace, we have finally gained our freedom!!!!



We actually freed ourselves of the Lords two weeks ago, but I wanted to make sure that the treaties were honored for awhile before I announced our emancipation. Our strategy was simple:

1. We took the girls to the store and let them pick out their own room decorations.



2. We spent a whole weekend, cleaning, organizing, and decorating the room, all of which they helped with.




3. We gave up our bedroom T.V., and transferred it to their new digs. ( After all sacrifices have to be made in order for a revolution to work.)



4. We begged, begged, then begged some more.

Of course, as with any peace treaty , there have been some complications, and growing pains.

We still have to be in the room when they go to sleep.

We have enough night lites around the house, to light up the LAX runways.

Joey's crib is still in our room, but at least not in our bed. His room is our next project, we are just waiting for the budget department to give us clearance.

Every morning when I wake up, I find that the visitors have returned. They come down anytime between 2 and 4, sometimes together and sometimes make the journey solo.

Finally, and as a big surprise to me, I miss them. I do not miss trying to make it through the night on a quarter inch of sleeping space. Nor do I miss being woken up five times a night for JUUUUUIIICCCEE!!!!. But, I miss the closeness I felt with them. It also made me realize how fast they are growing up, and that they wont be my little babies forever.





All in all, it has been great, and we are super proud of our Girls!!!!!!

The Whitest Girl In the History of E.S.L.

Well we survived the first week of School!!! With all the well justified fanfare that Nicole has been getting, I thought that today would be a good day to pay some tribute to her baby sister, Nat Nat. Our green kangeroo turns 3 next Saturday !!! An official end to the Tender Twos, or so I hope !!! I only say that because as I am writing this, she is in the middle of a fit. I believe she is upset that here little brother is drinking juice from one of her sippy cups. Or as she calls it.. "Mi Teta Papi ....Joey toma mi Teta!!!

Yes it is true my little dirty blonde with the biggest blue eyes, does not speak English!!! She understands every word, but always responds in Spanish. Just imagine the look the on the E.S.L. teacher's face when Natalie walks in!!! Im just kidding about that, I am sure that by the time she starts school, the english will be there. I think it is actually very cool, and so important that are kids are bilingual. I get so upset when 20 year olds with the last name of Dominguez, or Vazquez come in and apply for a job, and can't speak a word of Spanish. I have had so many oppurtunities open for me, just because I am bilingual. I am actually hoping that because my kids are learning two languages at such a young age, that they will be able to learn more later on. I wonder what a fit sounds like in Manderin?












Well here are a few other things that are going on with Nat Nat:


Her Birthday party is going to be at one her favorite places: the Zoo!! Her favorite animals are the "wooofy", and the "O O Ah Ah " (monkey)

She still has not given up the Chupis (pacifier), though during the day she doesnt use it too much, she just likes to carry them around in a box, or in her princess purse.




iv>
I think that her pacifier addiction is being phased out by a new one.. Her blankie.. As she calls it her Coveja.. It goes every where she goes, and she will not even think about getting in bed without it. We have to steal it off her bed once she is asleep, to wash the funk off.



She has never been much of a T.V. watcher, but she does have a couple of movies that will hold her attention for a half hour or so... Her current favorites are Alice in Wonderland, and The Little Mermaid. I can also get her to watch soccer with me, for about 5 minutes. That beats anyone else in the house by 5 minutes, unless David Beckham is playing, then her Mom becomes the biggest soccer fan in the world. She yells at the t.v. every time the camera turns way from Beckham, and at least 3 times a game will ask the girls who Beckham is. They have been trained (not by me) to answer the same way every time ..... "Daddy!!!"


<

OK so he is rather fetching

School is the coolest thing ever...

BEFORE SCHOOL

Well the first week of school is going very well. Nicole loves it!!! She is even making us double the amount of pretzels we put in her lunch, I guess they make her quite popular!! Surprisingly, she has not asked us to double her fruit, or veggie portions. Every morning her and Adriana drop by the store on their way to school, and she still looks as excited as she did on the first day. The end of the day on the other hand, is an entirely different story.

The school day begins at 7:30, and ends at 2:45 - even for kindergartners! That compounded with the fact that she has to wake up around 6:00, and does not get a nap (as she puts it "cause I am not a little girl, like Nat Nat"), leads to a very tired girl. This is a bad thing, yet a good thing. The bad thing is that the only time I see her (if I get to see her at all), is during what we affectionately call her Chucky Time. This is the lovely time of the day when the exhaustion takes over her little body, and our sweet Cinderella turns into the evil step sisters. No, it is not a grammatical error that I used the plural there. I used it, to properly demonstrate the severity of the situation. The girl is the sweetest thing in the world, but when Mr. Hyde comes out, (or is Dr. Jeckle the bad one, I cant remember), watch out sista, cause it gonna be ugly!! I wonder where she gets that temper? Must be from Adriana's side, being that she has such a calm, laid back, and easy going Father!!! Lol

The good thing about her schedule is that she is comatose by 7:30. That means that for the first time in 5 years, her parents get some alone time!!!!! Don't worry Mom, not that kind of alone time, 3 is enough!!! We have actually watched more movies in the last week, than we have seen in the last 6 months. None of which are animated, or involve Hanna Montana in any way shape or form!!! It is has been great, though I know it will be short lived, once her body gets used to the schedule. We are however prepared for such a situation. I watched a sitcom once where the kids went to bed early one night and the parents had some good alone time. So good in fact that each night the parents keep moving the clocks forward to make bed time earlier. Eventually, it was 9:00pm (bedtime), as soon as the kids got home from school. See who says you can't learn anything from watching T.V.?!

AFTER SCHOOL

First of The First Days

The first day of kindergarten has to be one of the biggest first days in any one's lifetime. I still remember mine, as I am sure most of us do. I remember the excitement and anticipation as I walked into the classroom clinging on to my Superman lunch box with one hand and my Dad with the other. It was at that point in my life, my proudest moment. I felt like I was all grown up. The pride I felt however, is not even in the hemisphere of the honor I felt today, as I held on to the hand of my little angel Nicole, as she began the same journey!

As we walked through the school yard up towards the classroom, I was desperately trying to find the words that I would say when I left her. I wanted them to be inspiring, I wanted them to be perfect. I wanted the heavens to open and shine down on me as I spoke, so that I could share with her the secret of life. I wanted them to be so powerful that, she would use them in her Valedictorian speech from Harvard Medical School, 20 years from now. I pondered on the words of the poets, and the great speakers of our time. I even tried to muster up some Obama. However, when the time to say goodbye finally came, the message that I spit out was short, un -poetic and extremely heartfelt. I simply said " I am so proud of you, I love you, and I know you will do great! And how did she respond to my eloquent speech, you ask? She simply asked " Daddy after school today, can I have a slurpee?

As I was leaving the room I did the one thing all the experts say never to do, the Cardinal Sin of separation ,if you will. I looked back! To my surprise, Nicole had completely forgotten about me, and was busy sizing up all her new classmates. The enormity of the event, had not fazed her at all. She was truly exited to be there. That's when the tears came. Not from Nicole though, they fell like rain from her father. Thankfully, she never saw them. I wish I could say the same for the masses of parents in the halls, and the school yard. The school crossing guard probably thought I was insane. I cant explain the emotions that caused the display, except that they were not tears of sadness. I felt like the luckiest man on earth, and I realized that I was doing more than just dropping my kid off at school. I was sharing our precious gift with the rest of the world!!

5 uniform polos, 2 skorts, 2 jumper dresses, 3 t shirts, 2 pairs Baby Gap ( i know) jeans, 2 pairs baby Gap ( i know i know) shoes, 5 different kinds of sanitizer, 4 bottles of glue, 1 butterfly backpack, 1 Hello Kitty lunch bag, 1 Hanna Montana notebook, 1 Princess notebook, 4 other notebooks, 3 boxes of kleenex, one recycled school box, 2 packs of Great Job stickers, 3 boxes of crayons, 60 #2 pencils, 2 things of playdoo, did I mention hand sanitizer, and a partridge in a pear tree = $ 450.00

This look on my beautiful girl's face PRICELESS