Carlos turns 4!

On January 11th Carlos officially turned four. This year he requested a Nemo cake, which of course is not the Disney character of the moment. I was not able to purchase a new Nemo shirt for him, but I did find a Nemo costume on clearance at the Disney Store in San Marcos. He was ecstatic to wear a costume.
I was ambitious with his cake and decided to make a Nemo shaped cake. I used two circles and got to work cutting out the shape. I was quite pleased with the shape of the cake. I made some buttercream frosting and didn't get the orange bright, but overall I was quite pleased with how our Nemo homemade cake turned out. Thanks to Jules for all the help!
We were able to find a small clown fish pinata, that Julie and I tried to convert into a pullstring pinata. The pullstring part was a fail, but the kids enjoyed the candy, and Carlos has a Nemo pinata fully intacted for a souvenir. Thanks to Sammy we also found some Nemo fruit snacks.
Carlos is very lucky when it comes to presents for his birthday. A lot of toys are on clearance and he can generally fill in the rest of his christmas list. When you asked what he wanted for his birthday he would mention all the Toy Story characters, especially Buzz. He got a talking Woody for Christmas, but no Buzz. By looking at his presents you would think he had a Buzz party. His favorite presents were Buzz rocket, Pooh, rc car, kid laptop, two Buzz figures, and pocket bacs.

Birthday food for the day:
Breakfast...papas and eggs with catsup.
lunch...chicken nuggets and mac & cheese
dinner...sopa and spaghetti

Memorable quotes of the day:
Carlos woke up and I was downstairs. He came to the rail and said "Good Morning mommy! Today is my birthday, right?" I answered "yes, it is birthday boy." He got the biggest smile on his face said "yeah" and came down as quick as he could.
Sammy was upset when Carlos picked Nemo when I said they could watch a movie, and said "the birthday boy doesn't get to pick everything." John David replied "yes he does!"
Emma talked about a princess party all day...had to keep reminding her that it was Carlos' birthday and it was a Nemo party. This is her attempt to play with Carlos: Emma "I Cinderella. Nene, you prince. Dance with me"
Carlos "humph"
Emma "ok I dance by myself"
then she proceeds to tell me "Nene don't wanna dance with Cinderella."

Patience while having fun!

Patience is definitely a virtue. This past weekend we had to work on this together as a family. My brother and Simran had a Sikh wedding ceremony. We all had to work together as a family unit to get everyone dressed and ready by 9am at a hotel in Houston. Then we all patiently waited at the Guduwara for the event to begin. Then there is the actual ceremony. That was just like getting the kids to be quiet, respectful and pay attention to mass every sunday. Leave it to John David to make it clear that it was not sunday. Big thanks to Simran for having flower petals on the floor. That was enough entertainment for Carlos, Emma, Gavin and Ivanna. JP was sitting with the big boys, so do not know how they made it through. Despite all the comments about the long ceremony it was actually speedier than anticipated and must admit that thanks to the flower petals I was able to enjoy most of it, and take plenty of pictures and videos.
For dinner we left the hotel for a quick walk around downtown Houston and to pick up some food for the little ones. Emma and Carlos enjoyed a serving of ribs, while the brothers had brisket and bread. The kids were having fun, and enjoying the weekend of traveling and staying at two different hotels.
By reception time...the day had gotten long, and as parents our patience had decreased. We then turned to help from Nintendo DS, and Color Wonder. The kids enjoyed this while we waited for the reception to begin. The long day ended early for Emma. She fell asleep in my arms as we were waiting to enter the reception. She was passed around to daddy, and abuelitos for the rest of the evening. Very thankful that this wedding was attended by my whole family....hehe! Carlos was definitely not in best spirits either. After dinner he wanted me stay at the table with him so he could color. When I would go out to the dance floor, he would follow and give disapproving looks. Sammy was content dancing in his chair while he played Nintendo. The only little dancer was John David. Occassionally he would put his game down and join daddy or uncle Marcos for a quick dance.
Sometimes at a formal event it is easy to forget that kids are just that...kids. At the same time I feel a need to educate my kids on how to behave at these kinds of functions. The hard part is finding the balance for four kiddos of differing ages. I think overall the day went as smooth as it could have been considering it was an 18 hour day. Lucky for us we can continue to practice and teach patience this coming weekend at part 2.

2011...wohoo!

I have decided that it is time to get back to writing. JP always says that I can make the time for anything I want, and he is right. I am going to make the time to keep all of you updated on what's going on in our family.
2011 is off to a great start. We had family and friends over on New Year's Eve. Sammy was the first kiddo to fall asleep around 8 pm, but in his defense he was sick. Carlos and Emma asked to go to bed around 9pm, and crashed quickly even with other kids still awake and playing in the house. John David stayed up until the last guests left. He was soooo excited to be up until 3:30 am. He was awake for almost 24 hours, since he was up at 5am on New Years Eve morn. I guess it caught up to him because the boy that rarely sleeps in actually slept through lunch on the first.
After all the kiddos got baths/showers we headed over to my parents house to celebrate Julie's 20th birthday...crazy how time flies.
Today started as a pajama day, which according to Sammy and John David we have had a lot of them lately. I was the only one to get dressed since I was fortunate to get to go shopping with my mom and my sisters. Overall it was a good trip...lots of good finds at VS, and Sak's.
Have more typing and updating to do, but my hubby goes back to work tomorrow. Gotta go spend some more time with him as his 2 week vacation comes to an end.

I will miss you

This past saturday the big boys packed up and went to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's house. Carlos has only spent the night once and has not really declared an interest in sleeping over, so he just stays with us and Emma. He always goes out to tell them bye as they are leaving. This time he also told each one of them "I will miss you." He said it in a very sincere voice, and he was sad to see his brothers leave. I can only wonder if he will tell them the same thing when they leave to go to school every morning.

Daddy Dirty

So JP was laying around in bed the other day, and both Emma and Carlos were awake and hanging out in bed with us watching their cartoons. Emma pointed at JP's shoulder and said "daddy dirty." I corrected her and told her daddy was peeling. She then repeated again "daddy dirty." The funniest thing was the tone she stated it in and how she would jsut point, but not touch. It was like she was grossed out by looking at it. I guess a two year old does not understand sunburn and peeling.

Emma turns 2

Emma turned two years old a week and a half ago. She is definitely a cutie who likes to play and definitely knows what she wants. She thinks that duck, duck, goose is the funniest game ever...she can't even sit still from all her giggling. She also loves to play with her baby dolls. I even caught her bouncing at her knees and patting the doll's bottom like she was trying to rock her to sleep...it was sooo cute. She loves to cook in her kitchen, and has gotten into making tea. She will bring cup after cup...good thing it is pretend. She is quite verbal and to me understandable for a two year old. She has also mastered the tantrums, but she is still in the process of learning that all the screaming, and crying doesn't get you what you want. Well at least not in this house when you are the fourth child.
So we are working on learning that other colors exist beside pink and purple, numbers, ABC's, and of course potty training. She always tells you right after she goes...we just need to get it before she goes. She is still learning to run and jump, but she is a very cute fast walker.
I'm sure this year will be filled with many more milestones, and super fun times!

Oh my, Carlos is three

It is hard to believe that my baby is now 3 years old. He got an early start and was a bit fussy, but he was all better by the time we hit the stores to get his birthday stuff. He was very excited to help look for Wiggles stuff for his cake. We didn't find any...so mommy had to do with some internet research. I think the cake turned out pretty good, considering that I put it all together around three in the afternoon. He even took a nap with his Elmo hat on.
When people started arriving he was very excited to see everyone. Gavin helped him open his presents and there was no drama. He was quite excited when he got some jammies, Elmo video and a fishbowl. He also enjoyed sharing his mcqueen checker board with Sammy and Ethan. We had a hot dog party with chili for frito pies, and of course cake and ice cream. He kept asking about his cake, and enjoyed that quite a bit.
There was a rough end to his day. By the time he went to bed it was almost 9pm. SO he was definitely tired, and he was sad because I took off his necklace he had been wearing all day. I told him he could have again in the morning, but he was not very happy about it.
I want to wish my cutie a fabulous year! He will continue to grow leaps and bounds this year and i look forward to enjoying those moments.

Elmo gets dissed.

Yesterday I went to work, and when I came home my hubby told me that Carlos requested a Wiggles cake. I was shocked and asked how this happened...apparently his brothers asked him if he was going to have an Elmo cake and he replied no Wiggles. I had pulled out the Elmo cake pan, and was ready to make an Elmo cake. I originally thought no big deal...but apparently it is a bigger deal...I can not find Wiggles even online. I was trying to figure out my options before I headed out....but there are no options. I called a couple of places with no luck today, so now I am like a deer in the headlights trying to figure out what to do. wish me luck in my search tomorrow.

How many gifts do I get

On the drive home from school John David told me he had a question..."how many gifts do we get from the Wise Men?" I aksed him to clarify himself...he then asked "do I get 3 gifts since there are 3 kings?" I told him that it is one gift per person. He was not too thrilled with that answer, but I'm pretty sure he will be one of the few in his school that celebrate this holiday. Or at least that is the way it was when I grew up.
Later in the afternoon I started thinking, I wasn't sure if he figured that out on his own or if he had helped. I called my sister and verified that she does 3 small gifts...so who knows Ethan could have clued him in. I guess in time we will find out where that question cam from.

I love trash by Oscar the Grouch

I think this is Carlos' favorite song...I'm sure you are asking why. Mondays are our trash days...so he essentially runs to the window all day to check to see if the trash has been picked up. Once it has been picked up he is eager to bring in the trash can. Then when we are out in the car, he is always on the look out for trach cans...he will scream "trash" everytime we pass one and let me tell you he doens't miss one.