Chico ????-2011

Our beloved family dog Chico was laid to rest this week. We have had him before having children and before we got married. He's been in the family since 2002. That's almost 10 years! I remember adopting him as soon as I graduated college as a sign of my independence. I wanted to take care of someone as I felt like I was an official adult in the real world.When I adopted him, the SPCA didn't have an exact age on Chico but they estimated he was about 4 years old. That means he must have been real close to 14yrs old. Just the thought of seeing him go was really hard for our family. We had to have lots of conversations with Ati to prepare her for what was to come. Thankfully when the day came she handled it very well and surprisingly I did to. No tears were shed. It was a different story for my dear hubby though : ( He had to walk away several times to compose himself emotionally. I held it together pretty well until that night when everyone was asleep and laid in bed. I couldn't help but think how scary it must have been for him to be in a strange cold room and go out all alone like that with someone he didn't even know. Just typing this out is hard. We miss him dearly.

Chico, we miss you! I've had to sweep the kitchen floor after dinner every night since you've been gone...I am gonna miss you picking up the kids food scraps and crumbs. I never thought I'd say this but we miss you under the kitchen table waiting with anticipation for the kids to drop something on accident. We took that for granted! I miss hanging out with you after the kids are in bed and you lounge with mom and dad on the couch at night. I miss your bark when you hear something outside. And sadly I even miss the scratching on the patio door letting us know you need to go outside or need to come back in. We worried you would be jealous when we had our first child but you were so sweet to protect her and play with her as if you were an uncle. The same with our second. You were a part of our family and will always be in our memories!

Family Christmas Picture (before kids)

Chico keeping watch on driveway while Ati played

Chico checking out the snow here at home several years ago

Lounging on the couch

Keeping the kids company

Hanging out under the tree this Christmas!

Chico often traveled with us especially when we went camping!

Wheels are Turning

As a first grade teacher I sometimes catch myself thinking out loud in front of my students. Sometimes it goes right over their heads and they don't catch on but other times they understand every bit of it. Especially my really bright students read into my comments and catch me off guard when they respond to my think out loud humor. Take today for example....

We were having a whole class math conversation and I wanted an answer to a question that I had posed. I picked on a quiet little girl who usually doesn't raise her hand but wanted her participation so I asked her what she thought the answer might be. Others around her were anxious to blurt out the answer and looked like they were about to pee their pants with their little fingers reaching for the ceiling. I could tell they were disapointed that I hadn't called on them for surely they knew the right answer.

Usually I can tell right away when a student has no idea what I am talking about or even the slightest idea to what the answer might be. But she had been paying attention the whole time and when I called on her name I could tell she was really thinking about the math in her head. As she was looking off into the distance deep in thought, others around her literally were about to burst their little mouths open with anticipation.

I put my hand up to the others to calm them down as I looked intently at my little friend. As I put my hand up I said...."Hold on, the wheels are turning I can see it. She's almost got it." Usually a 6yr. old doesn't understand phrases that are meant as an analogy and so often those comments go unnoticed or they look at me totally confused as If I just didn't make any sense whatsoever.

As soon as I said "The wheels are turning..." she lost her focus and instead gave me a blank stare. At this, one of my other students replied...."The wheels aren't turning anymore!" Sometimes it's hard to keep a straight face when the little ones catch on to me. I was sure to encourage my little friend though as I was proud of her for really thinking hard there for a while. That's the best part of my job if you ask me. When you get to see with your own eyes the learning going on in a child's mind. They may stumble and fall and not have all the right answers all the time but how else do you learn to ride a bike if it not for all the practice! When you get to see the light bulb go off in their sweet face I swear there is a facial expression for that! Every time I see it go off in their faces it just makes me want to give them a big ole' hug. And I give thanks that I am given the opportunity to make an imprint like that on their journey of learning.

One Year Later...

So it's been about a year since I last posted. I took an unannounced, unplanned year off. And it's been great! I needed some time to disconnect from all things social media. Glad to be back! So much has happened since a year ago and I feel so bad that I have not documented it all! Oh well...no looking back just looking forward!

Maciah has gotten so big since the last time I posted a picture of him on this blog! This is the most current pic I have of him from this past weekend. He's such a stud...
And my sweet Ati...She's such a loving big sister but diva nonetheless...

I've been on Thanksgiving break from work and have had a great time resting and spending time with the family! I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish this week and so far so good...Take a look at my To Do List...

1. SLEEP IN!---- check
2.Start Working out again daily------check
3. Decide on a summer trip----check
4. Make a craft----check
5. Read my book more than just before bed----check
6. Take an afternoon nap-----check
7. Figure out fancy new camera----hmm.. not yet...feeling intimidated by all the features.
8.Start blogging again----doing it now!

Glad to be back!! Excited to start documenting all of the craziness that goes on in our beautiful family life!

Giving Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe the holidays are upon us. My how time flies! We have tons to be thankful for and I just love that we have a special day in which we can ponder on all our blessings to be thankful for. God is Good!

As I sit here on this Thanksgiving night, typing on my couch, I am enjoying the quiet of the house with our Christmas tree lit and all of our Christmas decorations illuminating a warm glow. Just one of the reasons I love the Christmas season. All I am missing is the fire in the chimney and a hot mug of cocoa. Not cold enough yet for that!

NEways, I must admit this is the first year that we put up the Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. We put them up the day before Thanksgiving, a first for us! We usually put them up after Thanksgiving. For some reason Johnny was excited to put them up so he took the initiative and made the trip up to the attic to retrieve the boxes.

As him and Ati were setting up the Christmas tree I was in our bedroom making our bed. The following conversation ensued as I listened from our room.

Johnny: Ati, why do we celebrate Christmas?
Ati: For Santa Claus!
Johnny: ummmm....good answer but that's not it. Let me give you a hint. C-H-R-I-S-T-mas.
Ati: Oh! For the Christmas Tree!!
Johnny: Nooooo. Ok, who do we bake a cake for every Christmas and sing Happy Birthday to?
Ati: uhhhhh...Santa Claus?
Johnny: No.
Ati: What letter does it start with?
Johnny: J
Ati: Jaime!
Johnny: Nooooo. Jesus!!

My and here we thought we were doing a good job of teaching her the real reason for the season! We're going to have to be sure to sprinkle these lessons a little more now that she is older and can understand. Just a little later that day, she helped me set up our little nativity. It's made out of glass so I had to take some time to explain that she was not allowed to touch any of the figurines. This was our conversation.

Me: Ati, I really need for you NOT to touch baby Jesus or his family or animals.
Ati: Mom, he's in his car seat so he's gonna be okay.
Me: Babe, that's not a car seat its a basket with hay in it.
Ati: Why is he in a basket?
Me: He was born in a barn and that's why there's animals here too.
Ati: So he didn't have a car seat?
Me: Nope. He didn't even have a crib to lay in.
Ati: Who are those three guys?
Me: Those are the wise men who brought presents to Jesus when he was born. It was such a special day!
Ati: Well, they should have brought him a car seat. Look baby Jesus is already missing an arm!
Me: Yeah, that was Baby Atianna that got a hold of baby Jesus a couple of years ago and was not careful with him.
Ati: Well, he DID die mom.
Me: Yes, but he was a grown up when he died,not a baby. Either way, PLEASE don't touch any of these. We don't need baby Jesus missing any more limbs.
Ati: (Let's the information soak in)

I'am sure we'll have plenty of these conversations this season as we will be more intentional with our little spunky Atianna. In the mean time Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly! They are offering 50 free holiday cards for bloggers. Visit here if your interested in this deal! Thanks Kelsey for the heads up via your post!! We love anything that is free,ninety free!!! Yay!

What do you do for a living?

As most of you know Johnny is self-employed and has a limousine business. This has allowed him the privilege to be able to be the stay at home Mr. Mom while I work full time as a First Grade teacher. He works mostly on Fri. nights and Saturdays. During the week he mostly does vehicle maintenance if needed, works on the administrative & marketing side of the business and answers the phones. On top of this he also balances the responsibilities of being the primary care giver to our little ones while I am at work.

So in order for us to not pull each other's hair out and to make some extra money on the side since I have been home on maternity leave he has been driving for his dad during the week. His dad also has a limousine business but has a Hirsch in his fleet that gets used for funerals. So herein enters a funny story.

After doing a funeral in the Hirsch Johnny decides to bring it home to grab some lunch since our house was on the way to the storage. Ati is used to running errands with daddy during the week and enjoys riding in the back of limos when they need washing at the car wash. So this day Ati decides she wants to go with daddy to drop off the car at the storage. So of course daddy would love the company and I of course would love the quiet time with Maciah. So off they go. As soon as she walks out the front door she notices it is NOT a limo. She doesn't think anything about it and is okay with her new seating arrangement up in the front with daddy in the passenger seat since there is no seating in the back. Only space for a coffin. I know.....weird. I've never ridden in one cause I think it's too creepy.

So the following conversation ensues on the way to the storage.

Ati (after looking in the back): Daddy, where do the people sit?
Daddy: Ummm....people don't sit back there. A person lays back there.
Ati (her little brain wheels are churnin'): How do they lay?
Daddy: Well they are in a box. And we put the box back there.
Ati: Why are they in a box?
Daddy: Well.........(long pause) Baby, they have died and I drive them to heaven.
Ati: This car FLIES?!?!?
Daddy: No baby, this car doesn't fly.
Ati: So you drive them there.
Daddy: (At this point he just gives up and decides the conversation will have to wait for when she gets a little older to understand or just let mommy do the cleaning up.)

When they got home I was washing the dishes and Ati runs in excited to share some news with me.

Ati: MOMMY MOMMY! Guess WHAT! Daddy drives people to Heaven!!
Me: He does WHAT??......(I look over at Johnny. And all he can do is shrug his shoulders, and gives me this face like what was I supposed to say?? Not that you drive people to Heaven! I wanted to reply. But Ati looked so proud of her daddy. We had to sit her down and explain that only Jesus can take people to heaven. But daddy helps with their earthly body.

BUT......she decided driving people to heaven was a much cooler answer and has since then decided that's what he does for a living. Weeks after this episode we went to pick her up from a Mother's Day out program she attends twice a week at a local church in which we are not attenders of. Since we don't attend the church they don't really know us. When Johnny got to her little classroom for pickup the teacher approached him with a concerned look. The following conversation ensued.

Teacher: "Mr. Garcia, I must ask, what do you do for a living?"
Johnny: "Let me guess, she told you I drive people to heaven?"
Teacher: "Yes, she did."
Johnny: "well...Let me explain....."

Ohhh....Our little Ati. We have had to do lots of explaining due to her vibrant little imagination. But we have also had to explain our own little mishaps along the way. I guess her daddy shares the same "vibrant imagination" she has. Just glad he had to do the clean up at mother's day out and explain himself. As a matter of fact we have had to explain ourselves lots of times. Hey, we're not the best of parents, but we're tryin'!

Our Lil' Pumpkins!

This weekend we visited a pumpkin patch with our dear friend Trina and her boys. We had tons of fun taking pictures and picking out a pumpkin. This day was a day of firsts for us. We had never taken Ati to a pumpkin patch before. And obviously this was Maciah's first time to visit one too. After the patch we came home, had dinner together then we carved our first pumpkin ever! With Trina's help of course. Then we ate pumpkin pie. Well never had that either. And I actually liked it! I think my taste buds are expanding as I get older. The kids enjoyed their afternoon of pumpkin adventures. Most of all I think they enjoyed taking the guts out of their pumpkin. Then they were off and Trina and I were left with the carving part. Afterwards, we had a pumpkin lighting ceremony. So fun! We may actually make this a tradition from now on. Here's to friends, new traditions, and pumpkins! Happy Halloween!

Joy of Declutter!

So my goal this past summer was to declutter our house. We accomplished it thanks to my nesting period during pregnancy. It feels so good to know that we can open any closet, drawer or cabinet and everything is organized. Everything has a place and a spot, so when we walk in the door with miscellaneous items we know exactly where they are supposed to go. Our house wasn't cluttery from the outside but if you looked behind closed doors it was a mess. Especially our attic and garage since that is where odds and ends got stored. Not anymore! I can compare our home in a spiritual sense to someone who looks great on the outside but deep down in their hearts there is some mess that needs dealing with. Ahhhh...it feels so good when you finally heal and let Jesus come in to your life to do his clean up in you. Oh the joys of his saving grace! Well that's how my house feels like. Just thought I would plug in a little bible lesson in here. ; )

So this weekend is our last and final step of the declutter process. And since I am on a roll with the whole living life simply theme I figured it was perfect for me to share online. Oh and a little advertising doesn't hurt either! All proceeds are going to our current Financial Peace baby step and what's left over is being donated. Best of both worlds! So come by and hang out with us, you can shop or just bring your "junk" and maybe you can make some cash while lounging on a lawn chair with a cold soda! It doesn't get better than that! Our whole neighborhood is having a garage sale weekend so I will be trying really hard to NOT walk around to visit the bargains down the street. Last I need is to add more clutter to my already neat home.

On the road to livin' the simple life!