Mia's Dance Recital

So sometime in March, we enrolled Mia in a dance class. This was her first formal dance instruction and yet she did a pretty good job keeping up with the other girls who started months earlier on the dances and had been with this dance teacher for two years now. It was fun to watch as she tried out the new moves and would add them into her spontaneous dances at home. Last weekend she preformed in her dance recital with a little reserve and a whole lot of curly boof and hair spray (man she has a lot of hair). I was in charge of the music which was funny in and of itself. No one dared to tell me that it could have been a little louder. I couldn't tell. I thought it was plenty loud, but I was right next to the speakers.

Needless to say, the show went on. Fernando was there!!! and was the camera man while trying to hold Talia. Not an easy task. Things I would do different next time: Set aside practice time daily to help her realize that practice is a valuable and necessary thing; bring flowers or something else to help her feel more important.


Thanks for the entertainment girl!

Gardening

San Antonio has a perpetual growing season which means I am perpetually weeding. Big weeds and small seem to creep up overnight. I usually try to get the weeding in during the cooler morning hours right after we take Mia to school. Yesterday was no different. I sat in a patch of grass pulling little pretend grass out of my real grass. Talia and Tiago busied themselves about the yard and on the porch. I would periodically look up to see them playing cutely together and discussing many fascinating things about rollie pollies and what not.

I should have guess by the thrilled laughter that something messy was going on. When I dared to look up, I found my kids like this:





I guess after Tiago saved the rollie pollie from death by birds, he wanted to find him again which meant digging through the dirt and throwing it around. Talia wasn't about to let him have all the fun.




In the end, Tiago had to sweep up with a little help from me. He then said, "Thank you mommy for cleaning up. Now you should say thank you to me cause I helped too." Good point. So we had thanks all around and sprayed the rest off, sort of.

Being Little has its advantages

When we are really on top of things, we walk Mia to school in the mornings. I love doing this. Our kids never really get a good chance to exercise. It's usually too hot when they come home and by the time it cools down we are getting ready for bed.

Yesterday we had the chance to take Mia and slipped the garage door opener in the back of the stroller. I had a little slip of habit and started to open my side of the garage and stopped it when I came to my senses. I felt like a little morning breeze would do our garage good, so I left it about a foot open. I was so glad I did. When we came home, there was no garage door opener to be found.

I eyed the slit of the garage and talked Tiago into being our hero. He crawled under and opened the front door for us. Talia and I waited for our rescuer and when I pulled her out to thank our hero, the garage door opener tumbled to the ground. Tragedy averted. Thanks buddy.

Hidden Fees

So am I the only one who is sick of hidden fees? We have had some pretty awful ones lately. For example. . .Fernando's 5 hour car rental in Dallas was supposed to cost $18. Then, since Enterprise won't stay true to their advertised pick up policy, we had to pay an additional $50. No biggie, $68 for convenience is worth it. Well, not until we get the final bill for $90. The other money was for all the taxes one must pay.

Or like when you get airline tickets and they list the pre tax price to lure you in and then tack on almost $100 more in fees and taxes. Then you find out that you have to pay to bring your stuff.

The commissary with the surcharge and tipping of the baggers (sorry non military people. . .it's not worth the explanation. Not that I am capable of figuring out that issue).

Today I was told that the book I bought online to replace a book I lost from the library wasn't up to par. I needed to bring in a brand new book to replace the very used book i lost. Funny. . .when I called about the whole problem a week prior, I was told it just needed to be replaced. So online I found a library copy of the same book thinking that they would be thrilled. Wrong. The librarian was almost rude about it. I told her that it would have been helpful to have that information prior to my purchase. She just smiled and said, "Well, now you have your own copy." Hey, why do you think I go to the library! It's so I can get books we don't have at home. Oh, well. My bad. The sad thing is that I could have (and just did) purchased a brand new one that would be shipped free to my house for cheaper then the library edition.

Miraculous

On Sunday's, I force everyone to take a nap. This is mainly for my sake so I can feel better about conking out for an hour or so. Today was no different. Fernando had been crashing since he came home from work Sunday morning. Tiago and Mia were willingly laying in submission and Talia was placed in her crib. I decided to read some scriptures to catch any attempts at escaping. Finally, I felt safe enough to close my eyes.

Suddenly, I felt this presence and opened my eyes to see Mia staring at me. Kind of creepy, but my kids have been doing that to me forever and I still am getting used to it. I told her to find something quiet to do and closed my eyes again. Some time elapsed (I think it was only a minute or so, but sleep tweaks with your idea of time). Mia came back in confused about some weird things in Talia's crib.

At first I thought Talia had thrown up, but Mia would know what that was. I raced to the room to find the plastic garbage bag in her crib with all it's contents dumped out. I immediately grabbed Talia out of the bed and took her into another room since Tiago was still asleep in their room. I dropped to my knees that thanked my Heavenly Father fervently for protecting our little girl. For blessing Mia with a short nap and the intrigue to see what Talia was giggling about in her crib.

This scenario could have turned out in such a horrific way, but didn't. Earlier that day Fernando, with very limited details, told me of the poor child that lost it's life last night in the ICU. He and the other doctors see many things and could hardly bare this tragedy. I thought of the poor family that was told last night that their infant didn't make it out of the accident their child was in. I thought of how many times my children could have easily been seriously injured or killed, but have been watched over.

I am beyond grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has blessed us with His care. I know that for some reason she was saved. Some how Talia did not do what she normally does which is puts everything on her head. I hope that she is with us for many years to come.