To Indy and back...

It was the smoothest road trip ever.

We drove to Indy to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jeff's cousins.  

This year for the ride, we rented audio books.  It was awesome, because they were long, engaging and took up a bulk of the time!  

We arrived about 12:30.  Dyleva was wide awake, so we decompressed a bit, and then fell asleep.

We woke up to cousins next door and the Thanksgiving Day parade.  We hung out in our hotel room a bit, and then made our way to the house.

The gang followed us back to our hotel for an afternoon of swimming.  Too much fun doing tricks in the water!

Later, we got ready for dinner and then returned to the house.  It was a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!

That weekend we also took all the cousins to a magnificent children's museum in the city.  It was lovely; but we could have used an entire week to explore it!

We left Saturday morning for another eventless drive.  That is my favorite kind!

Tiny, Tiny Balls of Water from Tiney

There must be more than 1,000 little mini water balls that have grown in the past week.

There are no bowls left in my kitchen.  They are all around the house filled with balls.

Dyleva is playing with them.

They play with them everyday.  They are a great distraction during homework.  

Eva put a bunch in her Barbie hot tub.

Dylan squeezes them all over the house.  

Jeff just walks by and shakes his head.  "I just don't get it," he admits.

It's a sensory thing.  Right Dyleva?

Incredible Moments

This is the evidence of success.

Gatita y Raptor

From the tent

Innocence

Peaceful playing

Be a goat; not a sheep

It has been brought to my attention by a close friend, that what I have is highly coveted.

As much as Dyleva and others drive me nuts and stress me out, it is better than have, than to not have.

Here are some simple shots of the beauty in my life.

Growing up.

There are some days, I just can't wait for Dyleva to become more independent.

Tying shoes.

Putting on gloves.

Getting....anything themselves, really.

Cleaning up.

The list could go on.

Today was not that day.

Today was our annual Halloween party.  Because they are getting older, I stepped up some of the games; made them more challenging.

But today Eva had her first friend sleepover.

This is a milestone!

We got her bed all ready.

Pulled out extra blankets; Eva cleaned her room!

But when it was time to go to bed, they went to bed. 

We snuggle together every night.....I was unprepared for this!



I was downstairs processing, when Eva comes running down.
"Mommy," she asked "Can we say the rezas together?  
I held her in my lap, and we quickly said our nightly prayers.
I kissed her goodnight; and then she ran back upstairs.

I was happy I'm not completely out of the picture yet.  


And as Jeff pointed out, there is always Dylan.

He'll be sleeping with Mommy till he's 30.

Fall Festival

As much as we abhor the end of summer, we truly love autumn.

Apple cider, pumpkins, scarecrows, football,

football?

Anyway, we went with Tia Linda to a fall festival with our cousins.  We took a beautiful walk through nature to get there.  Then the ninos trick and treated their way through vendors.  Then, Dyleva got to ride in a lift of a fire truck- how stinking cool is that!!!

We ended the afternoon with sawing off a log, and a hayride.  

Never a dull moment with Tia Linda!


https://plus.google.com/u/0/113530525965696642919/posts/LzBs4DDATbM

Little Picassos

I really wanted to take a nature walk.


It was a long weekend, the weather had been beautiful.  
Things just kept popping up that we needed to take care of.

So we postponed our nature walk to Sunday.


Sunday morning we woke up to cold and rainy.


I told Dyleva; it will pass.  We will go after lunch.


No such luck.


What a great day to paint!  I miss painting!

And that's what we did.  We put the music on, opened all the windows to listen to the storm, and painted all afternoon.






And I must say, Dyleva has gotten pretty good at painting!


Just look at my little Picassos!