Fun Fall Weather

The weather has been amazing and so we've been enjoying being outside.  We could actually carve pumpkins outside with Charlie and Diego's friends which was awesome except that Sofia kept trying to steal the knives.

Here is Charlie with his crew at the park last weekend.  It was so cute to see them go from equipment to equipment in a little happy herd.



.  We've had a week of late nights - mainly due to the World Series.  Charlie was desperate to watch part of the games and thanks to Tia Veronika, they were outfitted with Giants gear.  Clearly they are fair-weather fans.  Charlie told me that he now wants to play for the Giants first and THEN move to the Nationals....

We also had a comical late night trip this week to the Patriot Center to see Disney on Ice.  Our friend organized the special outing so the kids could all hang out, but getting to Fairfax on a weekday at 6pm is a recipe for disaster. And disaster it was!!  It took us almost an hour to get there in traffic and then the parking was insane and the lot we got hustled into turned out to be a mile walk from the center.  We rolled in about 45 minutes late. Getting out proved to be just as much of a disaster.  Diego couldn't deal with the bathroom wait and ended up having an accident so I changed him into pants.  We left and 5 minutes later Charlie tells me that he has to go pee so I tell him to find a tree...He does and then starts wailing....somehow in the process he ALSO managed to have an accident....so I changed him.  We walk the mile back to our car and then SAT in the parking lot for another 30 minutes before we could actually get out.  Seriously - I am never going to Disney on Ice again!  As you can see, the traffic and all didn't seem to phase them and they were happy as could be:


Diego started soccer class with other pre-k 4 kids and it has been wonderful for him.  I'm so happy to see him really like an activity because usually we have to bribe him to get him to do classes.  The first day he finished sweaty, red-faced and proudly told me that he scored "ALL the goals."  Charlie is the "assistant coach" and he verified that Diego indeed did score all the goals.  Being the assistant coach has been key to get Charlie to practice tying shoes.  He has been so lazy about it until this.  He is taking his role very seriously and thinks that he needs to be able to tie the shoes of the pre-k 4 kids.

We were asked to host a Literary Feast last weekend and because it sounded like a nice thing to do and because I'm not good at saying no, we did.  Carlos' wasn't shy about asking me his favorite question: "Is this really the best use of your time?"  It is a loaded question and is also code for don't-ask-me-to-do-anything-for-this.  We did a Gabrial Garcia Marquez themed dinner and it ended up being more work than our usual holiday party even though it was only for 20 people.  Given that people we paying a good amount of money to attend, I felt like I needed to make it nice.  Luckily Cici's mom co-hosted it with me and her Brazilian husband made everyone happy with strong caparinhas.  It was delightful, but very random to have 20 strangers in our house. Some of them refused to leave!  Of course, in my haste to get things ready while Sofia was screaming and Diego came home from a Halloween party with blood oozing out of a gash next to his eye, I forgot to take pictures.  Not sure we'll do it again next year....maybe just attend one!

The question of "is this really the best use of my time" has gotten me thinking, especially given the announcement that Coke is doing major restructuring.  This photo that some one recently tagged me in on FB also has me thinking.  Santa Barbara Middle School - I'd like my kids to go to this school.  What's the best use of my time to make that happen?

I'm in the bottom left and not smiling

Enjoying Fall Weather

Diego caught a monarch

Charlie's Little League team - the River Dogs!

The cheerleaders at Charlie's little league game

After we put the kids to bed and go downstairs, Charlie has taken to leaving us notes by our bed.  It is probably another delay tactic, but they are very sweet. We usually write him back a note and leave it by their door.  Here is the one from last night - written on a scrap of cardboard:

Bedtime - even with all the wild and frustrating delays and demands - may actually be my favorite time with the boys.  I've gotten even more lenient and so usually lay down with them and scratch Diego's back while we talk about the day and tell stories.  I don't always get a lot of information from them after school so at night, when it is dark and the are finally calm, we share 1 thing they really enjoyed about the day and 1 thing they wished went better.  Charlie carefully abides by the 2 things.  Diego, on the other hand, says that he has 20 things to share and rattles off random events that don't seem to fit in either category.

I find that is our best time to talk.  I am also beginning to feel that giving hugs and kisses and keeping them safe doesn't feel like quite enough. It feels like things are getting more complicated and they aren't even a decade old yet! Diego seems to have classic middle-kid issues and Charlie has various school influences that I can't really control.  Thank goodness for Sofia.  It is so easy to make her genuinely happy!  And when she gets individual attention she is such a joy.  She loves to color - especially the couch.  She loves her doll - but doesn't like to have any clothes on it.  And she has the cutest prance when she is in a hurry. She still can't say much so screaming is still part of her regular communication.  When she does talk it is in almost full sentences smashed into a single word, like "iwandis" is "I want this" or "iwannago" is "I want to get out of my chair and go" and "iwanmama" is "I want to nurse cuz I can't deal any longer."

This is classic Sofia - she is pivoting to see how she can run away from me....

And there she goes....

This weekend we went out to Middleburg and the kids loved running around the wide open spaces.  The place we went to had a giant chess board and a fire pit.  We ordered s'mores and even I managed to enjoy the chilly night.

Catching Up!

Looks like I am way behind...I'm not sure where to begin - we have 3 children who have some how gotten to be 6, 4 and 1.5 years old....Poor Carlos had to survive a long stretch of work travel recently and I feel like we are just getting back to normal.  I went to Atlanta for work and then was home for 24 hours before going to China for a week.  For good or for bad, budgets are cut in Q4 so there won't be any more big trips this year!

Charlie and the rest of us had our hearts broken by the Nationals who lost in the playoffs.  We did get to see a playoff game which was awesome for the energy (spent most of the time on our feet), but they continued the streak of losing games that I attend.  For the 2nd game, we decided to set up shop in front of the house and Charlie worked hard to make Nats Posters to sell to people walking by.  Between the posters and lemonade he and his friend, Ian, cleared about $40 in less than an hour.

 We are 6 weeks into school and it is nice to have the routine, though winter is fast approaching and threatening to ruin our nice mornings and evenings on the school blacktop or parks.  Carlos has been taking them to the park before school to play baseball which is a highlight of the day for the boys and it really helps get them out the door. Not sure what we'll do when the weather turns.  Diego struck gold in getting Ms Sadowsky as a teacher for a second year.  I'm literally already dreading when he has to move on. He has a nice core group of friends - (very boy oriented) who like build with blocks, destroy things and wrestle.  Diego's challenge is that he is athletic enough to play with Charlie's friends and more interested in their games but too shy to join.  After school while Charlie and Ian play catch, he usually plays catch with me or another parent.  I know it'll even out eventually, but for now he is stuck in between.  I signed him up for t-ball so that he could be on the same team as his friends, but it is kindof a joke.  He is used to hitting balls that are pitched to him so hitting off a tee ensures a home run every time or he plays 'down'.  

Tractor at the Waterford Fair 

Trying to get Diego to ride a bike. He can ride fine, but
as soon as I stop running next to him he flips out and stops

family day 

Charlie decided that he wants to be called Carlos in school so the teacher and some friends now call him Carlos.  I'm assuming that is a sign that he loves and looks up to his dad.  I'm still less than enthusiastic about his class assignment.  The teacher is nice, but she got a handful of poorly behaved kids and Charlie only has one close friend in class.  This friend also happens to be the "boss of the ball" - meaning that he is basically the recess leader (he is bigger, older and way more athletic than most of the other students) and we worry that Charlie is going to spend the year in his shadow.  He has been complaining of all sorts of aches and pains and doesn't like school much this year.  I took him out of class one day this week to join us at Diego's family day event and when it was time to go back he cried and clung to me.  It broke my heart - especially because ever since pre-k 3 he has always loved school.

apple picking with friends - $50 later
we had a lot of apples!!

Barracks Row festival

Sofia is as feisty as ever and has NO interest in stopping nursing.  She tests the limit - and sadly it is usually on Diego.  She will go up to him, grab his hair, cheek, arm - whatever she can grab hardest - and just stand there waiting for some one to react.  Poor Diego gets beat up by Sofia and Charlie!  She says a few words and phrases, but not much.  She LOVES her dad.  When Carlos walks in the door, she goes sprinting towards him repeating "daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy" and doesn't want to have anything to do with me.  Although I love 18 months, I think I loved it more when I had one kid, rather than 3 kids.  With 1 kid, this age is so fun, funny and charming.  With 3 kids, it makes balancing time of all three kids hard.  I rarely get to go do things that I'd like to with just the boys.  Instead Carlos will take them to play sports or go to a baseball game because Carlos and Sofia don't mix well for more than about 30 minutes.  When I have all three I'm usually just trying to maintain some order, rather than playing with any one of them.  

Sofia in a dress I brought from China (size 4t there!)

Sofia with her boys

This past weekend we went to Philadelphia which is always so fun for the kids.  They love to visit my mom's store and to go out to play at the Germantown Academy fields.  When I told Charlie we were only staying the weekend, he broke down sobbing saying "but we don't have a store to work in, we don't have a football field and we don't have a real baseball diamond at our house."  Those are all true things.  Here they are practicing their aim and Charlie working in the store.  

Charlie behind the register at Curio

China was super interesting and amazing contrasts.  The hotel where I was staying was attached to the fanciest mall I have every seen in my life - I couldn't afford anything there.  Handbags were $3,000+.  I made a trek to a more local market where the prices were more my speed.  I did get whistled into a few of the fake luxury brand stalls and was amazed at the depth of their inventory!  They had catalog after catalog of luxury handbags, watches, suitcases and every item was available!  To test them, I picked a random item in the middle of a catalog and 4 minutes later it appeared.  I'm dying to know where the wharehouse is and how these tiny stalls have access to so many goods.  The highlight of the trip was getting to spend an evening with my college roommate Sam in Hong Kong!  We had delicious food and old friends are the best.

I thought it was a cloudy day, but it was just the pollution!

A selfie-stick! Can't believe this is a real thing

I love the food in Asia.  As long as some one can tell me what it is made of....