real life

juice of the week? 

freakin' delicious. I made enough for the boys and it also lasted me a few days. this totally brought back taste bud memories from mexico. on street corners, you get jugos {juices} made by hand totally fresh right in front of you. so good. so cheap. unfortunately, my kids will never know that, unless I make it for them. andrew already knows what a juicer is. he gets excited when i pull it out, and goes into a frenzy searching for fruits to juice. while he knows very well that green juices don't taste good, i hope it instills a sense of benefits for when he's old enough to realize, 'hey, this stuff if actually pretty tasty!' and doesn't grab that dr. pepper like someone who I married does. 

jonah, of course, loved it. he tries almost anything i give him. and i love him for it. 

remember when we played restaurant? well, we've been playing tea party lately too. the boys insist on taking out my stoneware {is that what it's called? it's def not china, whatevs, just go along with it} and make an event out of it. just like in restaurant, we go all the way. andrew insisted on daddy changing into his best clothes, and he obliged. we make sure to set up a towel for protection, because somebody always spills something. this time, we had poptart smores as our dessert and english accents to go along with our tea. i need to get sugar cubes though, i think it would be a much better idea than stirring in a teaspoon of it...good grief! 

there's been a few popsicles but lots of wagon rides this summer. our times outdoors occur often, but are quite short and sweet.

...and a ton of silly faces.... esas lonjas hermosas!

there's also been chalking the ground with neighbor friends. i got the chalk paint recipe HERE but I didn't make enough for 4 little kids because I ran out of the main ingredient--corn starch! 

but it was definitely a win project and immediately wrote that on my shopping list so I can make sure to get it next time.
all the weird kids paint rocks, don't they?

there's also been a lot of movie watching, lego building, swimming, wrestling, and ipad gaming. life is good.

andrew also experienced his first vbs {vacation bible school}. he loved going to his 'class' and jonah was quite sad the first day i didn't leave him because he wanted to go to 'class' too. their theme was a rollercoaster and everything was a bit silly, and not to mention, enormous. this was a mega church vbs and i wasn't too keen on it after the first day. whatever happened to small church vbs where the total of the kids was like 70 and crafts were made, songs were sang, you brought a friend, and a bible verse was memorized by all? i don't know what the heck the kid did all 3 days of it, but he didn't come back with any of those things. it was kind of a let down, but you live and you learn. 

anywho, i've been busy too. with my new nephew almost getting to come home after great progress, i have been busy sewing and pedaling {get it? pedaling? i crack myself up} to the finish line with his custom crib bedding and i can't wait to finally get to hold baby leo.
happy hump day everyone!

simple moments: found in the morning

Ahhhh the simple moments. Moments in the morning. 
When I come down the stairs after waking up, I literally stop to smell the {roses} flowers. 
Never mind the mess the kitty cats make, never mind that there are dishes in the sink. Never mind that I feel crumbs on the bottoms of my feet from last nights failure to sweep. What I love most is opening my door to 'check' on my garden and plants outside. I love seeing these new geranium blooms. I feel like most flowers I love have a Mexican tie to them. One memory of geraniums that I can remember, was back in my home country Mexico. Our car garage in the house was lined with huge geraniums. I hazily remember my mother showing me that their petals were edible, bending down and picking off a few, then sticking them in her mouth. Now, I can't help but pick a couple and stick them in my mouth. They're tangy and fiber-y. It was something quirky, that I now treasure. I'm sure most people don't eat geranium petals. But I loved them. I think I bought my first geranium last spring, and then I abandoned it during out move across Texas. And now, I have it back. Oh how it makes my heart happy!

this morning was extra special for me. I made a licuado de mango, a mango smoothie

and added strawberries to it. I wanted a pretty swirl of both of them mixing together, but it didn't work. 

So I settled on a blend of the two beautiful colors.

I loved it, even without adding extra sugar. My kitty cat, Prim, did too. 

 And {squishy bear} Jonah woke up and came stomping down the stairs and took over.

So I made him his own little smoothie. 

And then we took an impromptu photo of us (for this post). With Rue, our other kitty cat, photo-bombing us. This is how we look after we wake up. Messy hair, raw, and wack-job of {sans} clothes.

And guess what I found in my back patio again? Mushrooms! 

Andrew's little grass he got from church keeps getting invaded by mushrooms! 

This time 5 umbrella-like mushrooms and of course, I had to photograph them. 

They grow and go away so fast.

 Simple moments. 

I am an observer of things. I love to watch.

So I've been noticing how these tiny little plants have been making my heart so happy lately. I could stare at them and my garden all day, making sure they grow. Measuring them. Criticizing them. Taking care of them.

It's kinda silly, really. Since the other people in my home (three boys, 2 little, 1 big) could care less about the details in growing plants except 'wow! that has grown!'

But I'm not complaining. 

I think it's a phase of mine. I hope it sticks. I hope to get more space and greens in the near future. 

I'm participating in Brooke's blog series, Simple Moments.

simple moments is about finding the small things that make up our everyday, things we want to remember and be thankful for. it's the little bits of our lives that might not be remembered when we are gray and old. so we document it, on paper, with a photo, in a journal, through a blog.  

Happy Thursday errrbody!