Almost gone

hard to believe we've come again to the end of a year.. a whole 365 days passed by in which we cried, laughed, fought, hugged, kissed, cursed, blamed, forgave, fell, broke, fixed, stood up, discovered, enjoyed, endured, learned, forgot, screwed up royally, pleaded for forgiviness.. and on and on.. every day a new battle, a new defeat, a new victory..
So here we are, waving good bye to a year that brought a lot of good, and possibly a lot of bad.. but a year nonetheless in which we grew and learned.. and for each one of those 365 days me and my family are infinitely grateful. For each new experience and for each minute we were gifted with LIFE, with HEALTH and with LOVE.. Thank you 2009!

Now God has a new challenge for us, another year with brand shiny new 365 opportunities to be the best we could be, to do the best we could do, to change, to love, to smile and to prosper.
... so here's the Gummy family screaming out loud..

BRING IT ON 2010... !!!

Holly Jolly Christmas Morning

after the kids went to bed and the friends left.. 2 busy elves had to clean up the house, a pile of dishes and wine glasses, finish assembling "the big present" and get the presents ready under the tree.. the whole operation kept us up until 5am.. worried sick that the impatient little girls sleeping upstairs would wake up at 5:15am looking for their presents..
But... A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE..!! Everyone slept in... the Gumster (who had been very sick the whole week and was still a bit sicky) woke up at 10am.. while the big sisis were up way earlier, they, sweet as they are, knew we were tired and let us sleep as long as Rodri was asleep.. so.. the tired elves got a good 5hrs of sleep... Isn't that grand..
Now that was Santa's first present.... SLEEP!!
Then...there was no more waiting.. we had to unveil what was under the tree..

We found "the big present".. a train table, gracing the living room with it's wide and large presence.. the older kids stared for a few seconds and off they went to scavenge under the tree for their stuff..
It was fun.. it was really fun to see the excitement on everyone's faces as papers got ripped, bows got discarded (if they knew how long it took to get those presents all purty .. sigh) and the surprise inside was unveiled. The little man was smitten, he was glued to the table and nothing would have gotten him away.. nothing except.... his most recent addiction.. the one.. the only.. the intergallactic Space Ranger.. Buzz Lightyear!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy doesn't describe the expression on the Gumster's face... he couldn't believe he was in the presence of the Buzz himself.. he kept singing "you've got a friend in me" and saying the infamous expression "to infinity.. and beyoooond".. He was in heaven.. He took turns between the table and Buzz ... There were a few other presents for him, but Gummydaddy and I decided he had enough with those 2, and will be giving him the others probably for the "Tres Reyes Magos".
Even Nelly got her special present from the big guy on the red suit.

The mess in the house was royal.. but everyone was happy
We had Cinnamon rolls for breakfast.. We spent the entire day in our pajamas watching Toy Story 1 and 2 (nothing new here since we've had to watch these movies probably 50 times in the last couple months) and several Christmas specials.. Gummydaddy and I finished the day with "Love Actually" which has become our Christmas day tradition.. and we went to bed grateful of having healthy happy children, dreaming of Barbie dolls and their wigs, brave Space Rangers and choo chooing engines.. all with big smiles on their faces...

Nochebuena

In the Dominican, the big day is actually Christmas Eve, la Nochebuena... That's when everyone gets all dressed up, the house is all decked up and the table is overflowing with yummyness.. Santa doesn't make it to the Caribbean.. but Baby Jesus is the one that delivers a small present for the kids.. and at midnight.. everyone wishes each other "Merry Christmas" in celebrations of Jesus' birthday. (the big presents come on the day of the Wise Men, "Los 3 Reyes" on January 6th)

We set the table with a dominican menu (roast leg of pork, moro de guandules, empanadas, and more yummyness) and we gathered with good friends to celebrate our Nochebuena.

The kids got to open a small present that evening..

And look incredibly cute in front of the tree (the little ones avoiding the camera of course..!)

We read the Christmas story for the kids, gave them their new pajamas.. forgot with all the crazyness and excitement to leave the cookies for Santa and sent them off to wait for the next day, when the spirit of giving of Christmas will manifest under the tree for them..
We, the adults, indulged on conversation, memories of our Christmas back home, a few games, some toasts and the joy of being able to celebrate our friendships.

Feliz Navidad

The faith of knowing deep inside your heart
That Heaven holds more than just some stars
Someone’s out there watching over you
That’s the kind of day I wish for you….~

.. The Wish, by Faith Hill

What a lovely occassion to remember that we're loved, that we're deeply loved and that there's something that truly knows about love and decided to show us love in the most unusual, but for those of us that are parents, most beautiful possible way.. Through a child.. Through an innocent child.

I love how the birth of our Savior brings such an interesting analogy to our lives. How tonight on Christmas Eve we should prepare our hearts to remember to receive once again that Love that humanity was given ages ago.. this present that is always available for us... for you.. for my Rodrigo... for me.

On Christmas Eve, I feel invited to reborn, to start afresh like a newborn baby, with no past, with no memories, with no wounds, clean, soft, new. I'm remembered to be humble and to look in awe at the thousand stars shining in the sky just for me.. If I manage to shut all the noise out, I can hear.... softly.. the songs of angels talking about a promise of Peace.. made just for me... I look at those around me with love and I feel surrounded by love.. there's silence but in the silence I feel Hope.. I'm invited to welcome with the same Joy, the humble shepards and their flock along with the rich Kings of the East and their precious gifts.. in the end.. we're all in this together.. we're all loved the same way. And we all together in awe wonder on how blessed we are..because we were taught the same lesson years ago.. and the Miracle of Christmas is just as beautiful and real today.

Merry.. Merry.. Merry Christmas.

Snow??

Last week temperatures dropped in the very low 30s in huge contrast with the mild winters Californians are used to.. (darn, there was FROST in my lawn one morning.. frost people.. frost!!) The Gumster was bundled in probably 3 layers of clothing (that's before putting his jacket on) and we, frozen to the bones, decided to check out the nearby Mount Hamilton, where word in the street said that snow had fallen.

SNOW? In San Jose ? seriously? we have to see this..

So we drove, up the hill.. just 15 mins from our very cold home.. and there.. low and behold.. we so patches of snow on the road and the pretty sight of snow cap over the mountain top.

Rodri refused to touch it (who could blame him.. that thing is cold) but he enjoyed looking at the white cold patches on the road and the grass.

.. do you see what I see...

...
Said the king to the people everywhere,
"Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light."

Gummylicious

These are some seriously yummylicious cheeks.. excuse me while I go plant some kisses on this deliciousness

Los tres que tiraron a Pedro 'entre un pozo

which translates literally as "the three that dumped Pedro in a well"..
I have no idea where the saying comes from, but it's very popular back in the Dominican Republic referring to a gathering of three who are clearly up to no good.
At Sofia's birthday last week, Rodri and his 2 buddies Tomas and Alejandro, graced us with some cute poses that point indeed that they may be up for some serious mischief in the years ahead.

Now.. I wonder.. who would be the poor Pedro??.. which.. by the looks of this picture, seems to fall on the Gumster himself..
oh.. and talking about the birthday.. how cute it is to have a costume birthday party at a place as fun as Gymboree.. this was genious.. and all the kids had a fantastic time... Here the happy ladybug on her first birthday.
And here's the Gumster.. on all his "ribbit" cuteness (still hating the costume but "tolerating" it thanks to the Gym distractions)

Christmas in the Park the 2009 edition

It's become our tradition to attend the local display of lights, christmas trees and holiday decorated booths in our city.. As our little elf gets older, the magic of the holidays becomes more real in his eyes.. now he's interested in the sights, the songs, the lights, the characters.. truly the holidays do take a special meaning and become more.. huh.. beautiful, when there's a child around who learns about them and enjoys these days with the innocence and the joy that we adults may have lost some time ago, back then... when we grew up..


When soap foam (fake snow) delights just as much as the real deal


We found Rodri's school tree display in the event and, as expected Rodri's masterpiece ornament was beautiful and... green.

On toddlers and smiling for the camera

There's so many parenting books out there on all sorts of topics.. There's how to soothe a colicky baby, sleep training for dummies, first foods and how to hide veggies on seemingly non-veggie meals, teach your baby sign language, how to potty train, teaching your toddler to read (yeah right), how to play with your kid (yep, there's such a thing), how to talk so they would listen, etc.. the list goes on and on and on.. (which makes me wonder, someone is telling us that apparently modern parents are infinitely dumber and uncapable than older generations as we clearly need a book, seminar or training for everything that has to do to raising our OWN children!). But . putting that aside.. some "expert" has not come up yet with a book, or method with a silly acronym, or 5 steps program, or CD course, etc. to get your child to smile for you on command... Would it be because such thing is an urban legend? Is it even possible? are there any parents out there that don't have this problem.. or is it me, silly ol' me who can't make my child smile for pictures?
I mean, seriously kid, would it kill you to just look when I say "Rodrigo sonrie" and just smile when you can easily smile on your own sleep? C'mon, peeing is apparently quite funny and makes you smile all the time.. but for your mother, yeah, the one that carried you for 9 months, that lady behind the camera who's desperately trying to catch your pearly whites and that adorable dimple....not so much right?
To add insult to injury, now the problem has taken a different dimension.
It may seem that after 3 years of "training" with the camera on his face, his "ignore and carry on" strategy has been changed by a "I'll smile, but you won't like it"
Or the worst version "I'm just going to look MAD!"...

The Gummy Bear song!!

I love this!!! Not only my Rodri is my very own Gummy bear ever since I first "met" him at 9wks pregnante, but it's GREEN! and that's Rodri's favorite color...
Purrrrfect!


Thanks Jaidean for the link!