Quack attack

I enjoy taking my kids to the pond and feed the ducks. A few days ago, I was not feeling sick so I quickly put them in the car and drove there. It was hard to find a parking spot but after a few rounds around the block I parked right across from the pond. The pond was full of ducks and we were so excited to feed them. As soon as I threw the first bits of bread all the ducks from the pond came to us and eagerly waited for more bread as they loudly quacked. Gavin was a little startled by the loud noises so he just stood still, as I threw the bread and dropped some crumbs around us the ducks started closing in and pretty soon they were pecking on my boots and too close for my kids comfort so Ethan and Heidi started screaming and running away and the ducks just started to chase them. Some geese were there and were almost as tall as Gavin; I was amazed by his reaction. He did not cry, he just stood there immovable. I had a good loud laugh at the sight of ducks chasing my kids, I had to pick them up and stand them on top of a bench. Suddenly, I noticed a police car next to our van, so I ran towards it with the kids. To my great horror, I had gotten a parking ticket. Apparently I was supposed to park at least 20 feet away from the end of the road. I was steaming mad. A perfect fun afternoon ruined by the parking Nazi that gave me the ticket. At that point I decided to end our spoiled afternoon on a sweeter note so I bought some doughnuts and chocolate milk. It was sure fun while it lasted.

A happy, joyful, hopeful year

I can’t believe 2009 is here and that most of January is already gone. 2008 was a good year. I faced challenges, grew tremendously and learned a great deal about myself.
Two important lessons I learned last year were taught to me by my 5 year old son Ethan and my 2 year old daughter Heidi. I would often ask Ethan to put his socks and shoes on so that we could go out; after what seemed a long time, he would not be ready. This would really frustrate me and I would say something like, why are you not ready yet? you don’t have your shoes on. He would then look at me and say, I did put my socks on. I would then look at his feet and realize he had already put his socks on but I had not acknowledged this accomplishment. Sometimes I tend to focus on what is not done yet, not ready, not finished, or not there and not acknowledge what has been done and what is already there. Now I try harder to look at what is and not at what is not.
On a few occasions I would come into Heidi’s room and she will have made and absolute mess, I would then ask, why did you make a mess? To which she would say, because I wanted to! On other occasions I would ask her to do something and she would not do it, and when I asked why, she would matter of fact say, because I don’t want to. These two simple, short and very straight forward answers encapsulate a great truth of life. I realized then that most people do things because they want to and don’t do things because they simply don’t want to.
I think this will be a great year, I feel optimistic and hopeful. I know hard days may lay ahead but also brighter days lay ahead all of us. Although, I am facing some difficult challenges right now I feel that God has great things in store for me. Have a happy, joyful year despite the challenges and difficulties that may come your way.

Chistmas is already here

This month has gone by so fast. I can’t believe Christmas is already here. Dave put up our Christmas tree with Ethan and Heidi while Gavin took a long nap. When Gavin woke up and saw the Christmas tree his jaw almost dropped. We mostly decorate our tree with all the stuffed toys we have in the house so a tree full of toys must have been a surprise to Gavin. He stared and stared with great delight. Then he spotted what looked like a Popsicle. He worked hard to pull it out until he succeeded. I saw him trying to take a good leak out of it and great was his disappointment.


We love Christmas music. Heidi’s favorite song is Jingle Bells, Ethan’s is Feliz Navidad and Gavin likes everything. In this video they are dancing to “el burrito sabanero” song.
Ethan and Heidi were two singing angels during a Christmas representation at church. Neither one of them wanted to sing but standing in front of everyone was fun enough.
A couple of weeks ago during FHE Dave asked all of us what Christmas was all about. Heidi said: “gifts!” we had a good laughter and we did tell her she was right, because Christ was the greatest gift we could have received. The kids have watched a Christmas cartoon where the kids in the family only get one gift so I asked Heidi if she thought she would get any gifts and she said, “yes, one”.


It looks like Gavin did not like Santa at all.
Have a very Merry Christmas!