Sunday Breakfast

My plan this Sunday was to prepare this delicious breakfast, take a picture and go and wake up Emily and ask her if she wanted to join me...it did NOT happen like that. Instead I had a car alarm wake me up and everyone in the house around 6:30 am. The car alarm will go on and off all till around 7:30 am. It was so annoying. I was soooooo upset. Anyway I went down there, wrote down the car port number and license plate and the office is definitely going to hear about it. The worst part is that this is not the first time it happens.

Emily actually helped me make this delicious breakfast: Crescent rolls, fruit plate (pears, bananas, grapes, oranges), omelet (cheese, sausage, spinach) and a delicious smoothie. It was good and we were full till about noon. Yummy! I wish we had family near by so they could come and join us for breakfast.

To our little Sam.

We made one video at 4 months for Luke (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=382496498428) and this one is for Sam. We absolutely love you.

Read to Me!

These pictures of my boys were taken today! Luke is 26 months and Sam is 4 months. Sam was wearing this "read to me" tee-shirt and I thought is was the perfect photo-op to take some pictures with some books!

Luke absolutely LOVES to read! I was thinking about how much a young child learns during the first few years of life and how much of the responsibility of this learning falls on the parent. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with trying to teach Luke the colors, numbers, letters, and growing his vocabulary. When we go to playgroup and I see children his age or younger with a bigger vocabulary or able to sing entire songs, sometimes I think, Am I doing enough? I should spend more time with Luke trying to make him the smartest in the group. Other days I think, It's no big deal! Who cares if he knows his colors yet. He WILL learn them eventually. He will learn to talk and read and solve problems whether I deliberately teach him or not. Do I really need to buy the "Your baby can read" programs or sit with him for hours to try to differentiate between his "p"s and "d"s?

Okay, so I keep going back and forth on this. Because NOW as I am writing this, I am thinking Yes, it is my responsibility to teach him these things. I am his mother and I will be teaching him for the next 16+ years the things that he needs to know. He will continually be learning and I need to be there for him and help him as much as I can. If I can get him a little ahead in school, that is great and it will only lead to more learning!

What are your thoughts on this? Do toddlers need to go to "Mommy School" and be taught school things before they even go to school?

Que Rica Comida!

Francisco has taken to photographing our delicious dinners recently. Here are a few of our meals.

Super yummy hamburgers with avocado and bacon and all the fixins! So good with fresh beef.

This is arroz con pollo (Chicken with rice). It is a traditional Ecuadorian fried rice that takes literally 5+ hours to prepare with an ingredient list that takes up an entire page! Yikes. Francisco says it's worth the time. The flavors in this dish are exquisite!

Francisco already posted about this, but Portuguese Chicken is a favorite in this house!

Here is one of Francisco's soups! Cream of Spinach. I had never had it before marrying him but I love it!

These are our Valentine's dishes. Yes they are different! I made Francisco shrimp because it is his favorite and I hate it! So I made his and then grilled some Tilapia for myself! Do you like his heart shaped rice? ;)

I am not real brave in the kitchen, but I do try to expand our recipes slowly to get some variety. I enjoy cooking but I despise my closet of a kitchen; especially when Luke is in there stepping on my toes! Literally!

And Sam JUST rolled over for the first time! Yay!

Loving life!

After school is always nice to spend a little bit of time with Luke and Sam. I love playing with my boys!

Luke building a wall! He loves building stuff

Seriously Sam is a happy boy.

Luke loves roller coasters, we kept playing this for half hour! I was tired!

I wish I could take credit for this, but all goes to Emily, our artist!

This week has been pretty busy at school, but I'm glad that I have an amazing wife that teaches me how to make awesome dinners. This is the recipe of an easy and soooo delicious. I guess I'll spread the love.

Ingredients:
I large frying chicken (at least 3 lbs)
2 Tb minced garlic (Use less with fresh garlic)
2 Tb dried parsley
2 Tb dried oregano
2 Tb salt (I don't think it needs this much salt, WE ONLY USE 3/4 of a Tbs)
1/2 c cooking oil
Pepper to taste

Wash whole chicken and dry welll inside and out with paper towel. Mix all spices and oil together and spread over chicken in side and out. Bake at 400 for 1 hour, basting frequently(we do it every 15 min). Serve over rice. Serve juice from pan over rice.

Seriously it's so good!

Quick update

Luke has decided to wake up at 3 am to check up on us..... it drives me crazy. He did it like 4 times last week. The worst part is that he wants to watch "Go Diego go" and trust me, it is not exactly what I want to do at 3 am in the morning. On top of everything I wake up with this huge headache and then have to go to go school from 8 am to 4 pm and come home and study some more..... This routine is already wearing on me. Hopefully Luke will go back to his old routine. Needless to say I still love him very much!

Dental school is going great, I think this semester seems that is going to be a bit easier than last one. Now we are drilling on teeth and all that dentistry stuff. This is my first dental cast, I think it looks pretty good. My first try I was too slow that the alginate set before getting the typodont impression, live and learn right?

We got a Book of Mormon for Luke and he loves it! Sorry that the volume on the video is bad. Now that he knows the alphabet he loves to point out his favorite letters. He pretends he can read, it is very cute. He is growing so fast and finally he's fully potty trained except for naps and at night.

The sound is super bad, so you might need to turn up your speakers.

Not only is he getting up early, but he wants to start shaving!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that Sam is getting his first mandibular tooth! Crazy he's only 3 months!

Pictures for the grandmas!

It really stinks not having family around, especially when I don't have school. Anyway we'll survive I'm sure and here are some pictures of Luke and Sam.

He is always smiling. We have a very happy boy.

2nd semester has started and I have developed the gift to fall asleep within 5 min!

It's hard to take a picture of both of them smiling,

Sam will survive.

Sam the Lamb

So I made a lamb costume for Sam for Halloween. Even though it was in a newborn size, it was ginormous on his little 5lb. body. He did wear the hat and pants for Halloween but the shirt swallowed him whole! We we re a little preoccupied and didn't get adequate pictures of the event. So a few weeks ago, I did a little photo shoot so that we could remember his sweet little costume. He wasn't very happy to have the costume on then or now. I guess it wasn't very comfortable.

King of the bed!

Sweet little tail!

I love the ears!

Here are some pictures of Sam from today! My mom wanted to know what he looks like now so here he is! He is a cutie and loves to smile! He also coos and talks to us a ton! We are still waiting for a giggle, but it is sure to come soon. and Yes, his eyes are still blue. :) We are so proud. haha

I cut Luke's hair

My sister in law Sarah showed me how to cut Luke's hair so I did it! I think he looks very handsome. I can't believe how fast this little guy is growing. Today as he was walking  home with Emily from play group Luke noticed the letters that labeled each of the carports, so he starting saying "A e e i i a b" meaning the alphabet. Then he noticed the stop sign had letter on it, then he noticed that all the cars have letters on the license plates; he was so excited to see that letters are everywhere. 

Just like papi he wanted to have gel on his hair. 

Not a great pic, but he is smiling...

                              

Ohh have we mentioned that Sam has a dimple in his right cheek just like mami. It is so cute. 

The Park

Luke loves the park and I love seeing his beautiful smiling face. He is so brave and fearless.... 

Enjoy winter weather in Dallas (We couldn't believe that it is so warm 76°)

Mi preciosa

I guess Sam didn't like the park so much

Gotta love his funny expressions

Mis amores!

Luke making fun of papi. I pretended to be stuck.