Popcorn

When I ask the kids who wants popcorn, they both yell, "Me! Me! Me!"

So much excitement for popcorn! Samuel was patient while he waited for it to start popping. 

Elena jumps for joy!

Samuel didn't leave the bowl until it was all gone. Good times.

These Two

I just love these two. Need I say more?

Preschool

Elena started preschool this month. Technically it's pre-k, but I still consider that preschool. She's at a different school this year. It's an in-home one and Elena just loves it. She loves her teacher and seems to be doing well. She bloomed so much last year, I can't wait to see how much she grows throughout the school year. I took these pictures on her first day.

Random

Some snapshots of the last few weeks.

I love that they play together!

Playing doctor

Elena's hair. She loves it down, but most of the time it's up because it's so hot. Her hair had waves from a braid.

Samuel's First Haircut

Samuel got his first haircut! It's kinda long now, which we love, but he had a patch of hair in the back that grew a lot longer than the rest of his hair. And in the front it was starting to get in his eyes. So we decided that it was time.

I took this picture before the trim. His hair was especially messy because he'd just woken up from a nap.

He did pretty well. Mickey Mouse was playing on a little TV in front of him but he was still distracted. He kept looking at a teenage girl next to him. 

See how adorable the back is after the cut? No long patches of hair! Just beautiful curls.

His certificate

They grow so fast!

Summer Vacation

We hadn't planned a summer vacation, then we decided to take one practically at the last minute. Luckily Jorge was able to take the time off work, and it was the last week before Elena starts preschool. We went and stayed with Amy for a couple days in Temecula. That was a blast. The kids loved the pool.

I absolutely love her pool! It was warm and relaxing. And the hot tub was also amazing. The water wasn't too hot during the day so Samuel got in with me.

And because she's an awesome sister she surprised me with a birthday cake since I wouldn't be with her on my birthday.

And then we had more pool time.

 

That Monday Amy left for her trip to Thailand and we drove an hour away to a resort in Carlsbad. It was awesome. It had several pools. Elena had lots of practice swimming and it was nice to see her having so much fun in the water. She's come a long way!

We were about a mile away from the beach, so we spent a couple of days there, after the kids' naps. The weather was awesome. It was really warm outside and the water wasn't freezing cold. The kids didn't play in the sand as much as I expected, they both preferred playing in the shallow water, waiting for the waves to come in.

 

 

My birthday was on Wednesday and when I woke up there was a card sitting on the table for me and Jorge surprised me with a cake. I'm so lucky to have him. Surprisingly, turning 30 wasn't a big deal. In my twenties I got both college degrees, got married, and had two babies, so I'm just thankful for those blessings and excited to see what the next several years have in store for our family.

Silly Kids

These kids. They're a handful. They're adorable. They're awesome.

They play together a lot now. I love that. In the picture below, they were "having a picnic."

Little builders

Elena loves to color. She colors every day, and Samuel enjoys it too.

 

I walked into the house today and this is what I saw. He looked just like Jorge, so I had to take a picture.

Elena's so silly. 

Samuel loves his bear. He carries it around all the time, takes it with him in the car when we leave, and has been refusing to leave it in the car. This is how he sleeps:

And this morning when we were getting him ready for his early nap, we couldn't find it anywhere. Jorge, Elena, and I went from room to room going through everything . . . dresser drawers, blankets, cabinets, toy boxes, under the beds, etc. Looked everywhere. We looked in the dumpster, the fridge, the garage, everywhere we could think of. We probably looked for 45 minutes and we couldn't find that bear anywhere! Samuel had only been inside so we were at a loss. He fell asleep after a lot of crying and I felt sad for him. After his nap, when I was on the phone, he walked up to me with a big smile and said "Bear!" He had it in his arms. I was on an important phone call and couldn't get off for a couple minutes, but all I wanted to do was hang up and figure out where he had gotten it from. I asked him, and even though he can't give long explanations I figured out that he somehow smashed it into a metal lunchbox and somehow managed to close it (Elena denies helping him). So he had his bear back, and he was a happy boy.