Congratulations to my Big Girl who finished Kindergarten!!
I can't believe how she has grown, just in the last year!!
And the cupcakes came out good too!
Friday, May 4, 2012
I Can Make Anything with Candy...
Self-torture.
I made 52 cupcakes last night (they smelled soooo good).
This morning I took the Air heads, Reese's and Hershey's that I bought last night and made graduation caps for said cupcakes (now down to 50, as two were casualties named Jack).
I took the rainbow airheads and sliced them by color, also giving two little slices on the end to make a tassle. They came out cute.
Then the mini Reese's and snack-size Hershey's(1/2) became the cap.
And voilà, a graduation cap.
And voilà, a graduation cap.
Ok, to be fair, this was the guinea pig, so he looks a little rough. It kind of melted, so I put the chocolate in the freezer before doing any more and did them in batches of 20...then stuck them back in the fridge/freezer...But it's going to look really cute on top of the cupcakes!!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Fairy Birthday
Happy 6th Birthday to Our Fairy Princess!!!
She is our in-house comedic routine. She's sassy and knows when Mami is supposed to be stern but is fighting a snicker. She does things, like wear rainboots with sunglasses and polka dot shirts with plaid skorts and doesn't get why it doesn't match. She hunts bugs with the abandon of an entomologist in the Amazon. Her love of bugs is only second to her love of My Little Pony.
She's an intercessor. She prays every night whether Mami remembers or not. And she remembers prayer requests. God is going to use this child one day, sooner, rather than later, I think!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Books...
Now that I no longer work outside the home full time it's harder to justify buying them, but no less tempting.
I picked this book up last year on a whim and never got around to reading it. I had gotten placed in a bag that I found in my closet, but I found it recently and sat down to read it. It's actually a pretty good read. Not too heavy, but interesting enough to want to go get more information! We like those kinds of books. I saw one online for Columbia, so I assume they have them for most cities. I think it's a great way for kids to get to know the history of the cities near them. We're not exactly in Charleston, but close enough to visit often. I'm going to sit down with the girls this week and read it, since Our Princess is not allowed (or able) to write...
Super Princess!!
Ok, seriously, some days I feel like a really bad parent. Yesterday was one of those days. Friday night we left all four blessings with some friends so we could go to a council meeting at church. They went out for a walk and while running, Our Princess fell down. She didn't really cry and didn't complain so we went home and she slept no problem. The next morning she didn't want to feed the dog because it still hurt. I had her hold out both arms and saw no irregularities, no swelling. I thought she was trying to get out of her chores. I told her to do the best she could. Then she complained about pouring milk into her cereal. I checked again, but didn't see anything.
Fast forward to Yesterday evening, 24 hours after the fall(I'm such a rotten mommy) and she says something again. This time I see a little swelling from the wrist toward the elbow. We decide I should take her up to the ER and the entire time I'm thinking, Am I overreacting?
Maybe, but better safe than sorry. We get up there and our ER is relatively fast (comparatively, I think we waited 45min). We saw a lady who had severed her index finger with a kitchen knife and a guy with a compound fracture of his arm.
Again, I'm thinking, am I overreacting? We get the X-rays done, which was really cool, because we had just talked about X-rays last week. The radiologist lets me sit behind the window and watch the x-ray appear on the computer screen. She immiediately says, "Yep, there's a fracture."
I felt horrible. My poor baby. But she had been using it all day, twisting it and bending it. She even put her weight on it to scoot up onto the bed. The Doctor walked in when she did that and said, "Hey, didn't anyone tell you that arm is broken?"
I'm in awe that she wasn't complaining more. She was more upset when she heard what she would have to wear for the next 6 weeks and that she wouldn't be able to go in the pool.
Fast forward to Yesterday evening, 24 hours after the fall(I'm such a rotten mommy) and she says something again. This time I see a little swelling from the wrist toward the elbow. We decide I should take her up to the ER and the entire time I'm thinking, Am I overreacting?
Maybe, but better safe than sorry. We get up there and our ER is relatively fast (comparatively, I think we waited 45min). We saw a lady who had severed her index finger with a kitchen knife and a guy with a compound fracture of his arm.
Again, I'm thinking, am I overreacting? We get the X-rays done, which was really cool, because we had just talked about X-rays last week. The radiologist lets me sit behind the window and watch the x-ray appear on the computer screen. She immiediately says, "Yep, there's a fracture."
I felt horrible. My poor baby. But she had been using it all day, twisting it and bending it. She even put her weight on it to scoot up onto the bed. The Doctor walked in when she did that and said, "Hey, didn't anyone tell you that arm is broken?"
I'm in awe that she wasn't complaining more. She was more upset when she heard what she would have to wear for the next 6 weeks and that she wouldn't be able to go in the pool.
This is her, "Are you kidding? I have to wear what?! For how long?! It doesn't hurt that bad!!"
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Adventures in Cake Decorating...
I've begun a new hobby.
Along with scrapbooking, drawing, blogging, walking/jogging........I'm learning cake decorating.
Probably, like scrapbooking, it won't be one I use very often.
I figured with four wonderful blessings, all with birthdays within a three month period, it would be beneficial if I learned to decorate cakes. At least as well as the $30 sheet cakes you get at Walmart. I figure surely I can do that. At least. Maybe.
I actually came to the decision after seeing one too many ugly cakes at parties.
Please, don't get me wrong. If one of the ladies in our church had decorated a cake I would give her props and tell her it's lovely. I'm talking about birthday cakes that people paid money for. That look like a child decorated them. Breaks my heart every time. Cause most of them are expensive cakes.
So, some brave lady friends from church went with me to a cake decorating class. Being the good Hispanic group we are (I know, I look it, right?) we arrived late. Thank goodness, it was a class just for us, so the teacher was understanding (I knew I should have told them 5:30, not 6:00...we were all there at 6:30...*sigh* If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?)
Panamá
Along with scrapbooking, drawing, blogging, walking/jogging........I'm learning cake decorating.
Probably, like scrapbooking, it won't be one I use very often.
I figured with four wonderful blessings, all with birthdays within a three month period, it would be beneficial if I learned to decorate cakes. At least as well as the $30 sheet cakes you get at Walmart. I figure surely I can do that. At least. Maybe.
I actually came to the decision after seeing one too many ugly cakes at parties.
Please, don't get me wrong. If one of the ladies in our church had decorated a cake I would give her props and tell her it's lovely. I'm talking about birthday cakes that people paid money for. That look like a child decorated them. Breaks my heart every time. Cause most of them are expensive cakes.
So, some brave lady friends from church went with me to a cake decorating class. Being the good Hispanic group we are (I know, I look it, right?) we arrived late. Thank goodness, it was a class just for us, so the teacher was understanding (I knew I should have told them 5:30, not 6:00...we were all there at 6:30...*sigh* If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?)
Panamá
Bolivia
We had a blast! So many new things I never knew! I'm sure I could have mucked through it enough and eventually gotten the hang of it, but it was so much easier just to get the information in a two-hour class than to trial and error it at home!! If you haven't had the opportunity to take a class, go to your nearest Michael's or AC Moore and try one of their cake decorating basics classes. It's a skill that, as a Mom (or super Dad), will come in handy. I mean, who knows when you'll have to ice 2 dozen cupcakes for a school party? Or grab a cake from Walmart after the bakery is closed and have to write the inscription yourself?? It's also just fun.
And on Monday, we're making roses!!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
What about the Children?
Oliver and I spent the weekend in Atlanta at a NAMB conference geared at the Hispanic Church. I went expecting to sit through more meetings on how to evangelize to the immigrant community, what materials to use, what other churches were doing...Who am I kidding? I really had little expectation, I was just happy to have a little vacay without the blessings (Thanks Maga and Papa!!)
I was blessed with a revelation.
Now, while I speak the language and almost all of my friends do as well, I still feel different. I'm not an immigrant, I don't know what it was like to grow up with want, to move to a new country with a new language and expect to thrive. My husband does.
There is a whole new generation growing up like me. Maybe they speak language. Maybe they (perhaps not I, though someone did ask if I was Puerto Rican) look the part. They don't know the want though, the desperation that had their parents seek a better life. They are, for all intents and purposes, American.
They are the Second Generation. They are my children.
I know the importance of my children learning the language of their father. The difficulty of trying to learn it in school. He sees the importance of learning english and bettering themselves. Most First Generation Parents don't see how important it is to raise their children to learn spanish. They send them to school, where they worry about whether they will be able to keep up and excel, not knowing the language. They may send them to stay with family one summer, so they get an idea of what their parents grew up with, but they push them to speak english. The children do learn English and they learn it well. So well that they no longer use Spanish. They answer their parent's questions in English. Then they grow up, get married (maybe to an american who has no Hispanic connection) and have children.
The Third Generation. My grandchildren.
Who grow up not speaking any spanish except a word here or there to talk with their abuelos. Who know nothing of their grandparents' country.
Who are lost at sea in their grandparents' church.
This information was a revelation. I never really understood how alienated Second and Third Generation Hispanics feel. How my children may one day feel. It's our God-Given responsibility to teach them to serve God. But these children don't really understand the Bible lesson. They may speak the language, but they were never taught to read it. So we begin doing Sunday School in English.
Then they grow up. They go to the main service and are lost.
What do we do now?
Oh, you speak English, find an English-speaking church to go to? Reject them? It's given us as a church much food for thought. In the next 10-15 years, this will be the problem our church faces. Right now our concern is will our children worship, but soon the question will be, Where will our children worship? Will we accomodate them, or remain stubborn, clinging to tradition? I suppose, on some level, it's a question every church faces, even English-speaking ones, but it's one that truly effects immigrant churches. I don't just speak of spanish-speaking, but I know of several other churches, Korean, Filipino, Brazilian...
We are a country of immigrants. It's a valid question.
I was blessed with a revelation.
Now, while I speak the language and almost all of my friends do as well, I still feel different. I'm not an immigrant, I don't know what it was like to grow up with want, to move to a new country with a new language and expect to thrive. My husband does.
There is a whole new generation growing up like me. Maybe they speak language. Maybe they (perhaps not I, though someone did ask if I was Puerto Rican) look the part. They don't know the want though, the desperation that had their parents seek a better life. They are, for all intents and purposes, American.
They are the Second Generation. They are my children.
I know the importance of my children learning the language of their father. The difficulty of trying to learn it in school. He sees the importance of learning english and bettering themselves. Most First Generation Parents don't see how important it is to raise their children to learn spanish. They send them to school, where they worry about whether they will be able to keep up and excel, not knowing the language. They may send them to stay with family one summer, so they get an idea of what their parents grew up with, but they push them to speak english. The children do learn English and they learn it well. So well that they no longer use Spanish. They answer their parent's questions in English. Then they grow up, get married (maybe to an american who has no Hispanic connection) and have children.
The Third Generation. My grandchildren.
Who grow up not speaking any spanish except a word here or there to talk with their abuelos. Who know nothing of their grandparents' country.
Who are lost at sea in their grandparents' church.
This information was a revelation. I never really understood how alienated Second and Third Generation Hispanics feel. How my children may one day feel. It's our God-Given responsibility to teach them to serve God. But these children don't really understand the Bible lesson. They may speak the language, but they were never taught to read it. So we begin doing Sunday School in English.
Then they grow up. They go to the main service and are lost.
What do we do now?
Oh, you speak English, find an English-speaking church to go to? Reject them? It's given us as a church much food for thought. In the next 10-15 years, this will be the problem our church faces. Right now our concern is will our children worship, but soon the question will be, Where will our children worship? Will we accomodate them, or remain stubborn, clinging to tradition? I suppose, on some level, it's a question every church faces, even English-speaking ones, but it's one that truly effects immigrant churches. I don't just speak of spanish-speaking, but I know of several other churches, Korean, Filipino, Brazilian...
We are a country of immigrants. It's a valid question.
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