Basketball

Basketball has been Diego's new love these days. He asks daily if we can get a basketball hoop because he is always the first one out at speed when they play at recess and he says it's because he doesn't have a hoop to practice on. He may have a point. :) He does practice in our driveway, but when he's shooting with no hoop, I think he has a valid argument. :) Anyway, today a neighbor stopped by and they decided to play basketball. The next thing I know, they are using our garbage cans as a hoop and when they make it in, they just tip the can over, crawl in and grab the ball. ugh! (It was garbage day today so the cans were empty, but still...) We told them that they couldn't use the garbage cans as their hoops and they were very disappointed. Even though I was grossed out, I had to give them credit for making the best of what they have!!

On a side note and totally off the subject....My daredevil daughter decided to try and jump from the couch to the chair. I'm sure she has witnessed an older brother doing this and since she seems to be as daring as Diego when it comes to thrills, she tried it on her own. Lets just say she has a nice bruise on her head. It has been an interesting day!!!

Playground

A couple of weeks ago I was at Costco with Luca and Mia getting some groceries. They have a nice big playground displayed, so when we walked past it Luca wanted to play on it. I explained not only is it too high to get to, but that is just so people can see if they want to buy it. He then asked if we could buy it. I told him no, and of course he replied with "Why?" So I told him we didn't have money to buy it. This past weekend (about a week later) he went there with Udine. He saw the playground and told Udine "I like that. Mommy doesn't have money to buy it, do you?" hahaha, that made me chuckle when Udine told me about it. I love getting glimpses into his mind to see what he is thinking.

He did it!

Today was the first day Alessandro has gotten back on his bike since he broke his leg when he fell off it back in May!! I'm so proud of him!! I had to help him and "hold on" even though I wasn't doing much holding, I knew it made a difference mentally for him, he thought I was holding the whole time and that's what mattered. He was very wobbly and you could tell he was very nervous and it only lasted about 5 min. BUT, that is huge!! This was the second time he asked to ride his bike. Last week he asked, but kids were sleeping and I couldn't pack the bikes up to take him somewhere flat so we didn't go. When he asked to go today kids were sleeping again, but I didn't want to miss another opportunity, so I took him outside on the flattest part of the road near our house. I don't like him doing it there because that is where traffic is, but I figured I'd be there to help look out for cars. When he was done I told him he'd be back up and riding his bike by himself in no time. His response was "yeah, until I break my leg again". His brother agreed with the statement. Thanks for the confidence builder Diego!! Sheesh. :) I'm just glad he's willing to get back on. That is great progress for him.

Pants on the ground

I was making dinner the other day and the next thing I know Luca was singing this as he walked around the kitchen. hahaha

Happy Birthday Alessandro!

Alessandro's birthday was Feb 15th and he turned 7 years old! It was a great day! He ended up having no school because it was Presidents day, which meant Udine had off work as well. So we got to spend the whole day together! It was a lot of fun! He was so excited all day! He had some cousins come over for cake and ice cream that night. Always a good time.

He wanted a G-Force cake, so I tried making a big G on the top. Not my best cake, but he was very forgiving and loved it anyway.

If someone got him to talk while eating his cake, he'd have to eat it under the table. He was quick to talk...hmm, I think that defeats the purpose. Aren't you suppose to NOT want to go under the table? :)

Happy Birthday Luca!!

Happy Birthday Luca! 3 years old on January 29th!!! Luca LOVES Dora so we got him a big Dora balloon that he carried around all day. We also got him Dora party hats because when we would ask him what he wanted for his birthday he'd say party hats. :) We had such a fun day. Mia, Luca and I just played and had fun all day. The day was totally about Luca and you could tell he really enjoyed it. We went out for some treats, met up with Udine for lunch at McDonald's, it was great to be able to do fun and out of the ordinary things with him that I normally don't get to do with him. I have never seen him so excited and so happy. It was great. I'll write in another post about his milestones and what he's like as he turns 3 because right now he and Mia won't stop bugging me on the computer. :) Anyway....here is his birthday summary.

I love this picture because it captures the joy and excitement in his face. Pure happiness.

Mia

Luca and his Dora cake. Udine couldn't stop teasing me and saying that I made an African Dora not a Hispanic one. (I couldn't find the right coloring for the skin and after looking at 3 different stores I decided brown would have to be good enough). He didn't seem to care at all. Although, I did hear Alessandro say "ooh, she has brown skin" after he looked at it for the first time. :)

His birthday was a Friday so we offered to watch the cousins for cousin night that day so he could have his cake with his cousins. He was in heaven.

On Saturday some of Udine's family came to celebrate birthdays. Brian and Julio's birthdays are on the 28th and Luca's is the 29th. So they invited some people over and we had dinner, cake and broke a pinata that they brought from Guatemala. It was Ben 10 and he was bigger than Luca! Good times.

Leadership and Responsibility

Alessandro received another award at school. This time it was a Leadership and Responsibility award. Way to go little man!

I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see how he is at school. He's so shy around here with people he doesn't know, but maybe he's more outgoing than I give him credit for. Either way, he is a great student and does well in all his classes. We're proud of you little buddy!!!