Photography Challenge

I recently found a blog that is doing interesting weekly challenges. 

This week is a hand challenge. 

Here is my entry: 

Loved that my son helped me clean the corn off...such a little helper.

Step in the Journey

I'm gonna start exercising...

pssshtt, yeah right.

The other day, I walked into Goodwill expecting to not find anything that I really needed and browsed through used and dirty things organized into neat rows and bins.

In other words, organized {shitless} shit. Pardon my French.

Anyone else feel like you have to wash you hands after shopping there? Yeah, here to. 

I am always on the lookout for rollerblades.

I remember as a girl owning a pair when we moved to the good ol' U.S. and my sister and I loved them. Now thinking about it, I don't think she's touched a pair since we were that age and neither have I.

Sure I've gone to the rollerskating rink and wore the old fashioned, roller-derby style skates but they just aren't the same. These in-line skates are wicked fast.

When I came upon what seemed a pot full of gold in the rollerblade department at Goodwill, I saw these babies: 

Insert suprised 'OH' here.

 I LITERALLY jumped up in the most minimal way.

Not only are they girlified, they were in super great condition.

To all who know me really well, I am not the girly type: I don't close my legs when I wear a skirt. I don't "oooh" over jewelry and I certainly don't wear heels...

So I was excited that because 

1. They were women's and 2. Because they fit perfectly; I didn't have to settle on men's gross, over-sized ones!

It was like they were waiting for me to come and buy them!!!

So after browsing what else they had in that nasty used section, I discovered they also had KIDS ROLLERBLADES and I saw the perfect ones for Andrew--Playskool blue & orange adjustable skates.

I said, "This is it! It was totes {short for totally} meant to be!"

After some debating on whether or not I would use them and wondering how much they would cost, I laid them onto the counter and asked the nice lady how much they were {no pricetag anywhere!}

I was prepared for the worst and she excitedly said, "Oh, they're $2.99!". I'm like, "No really, how much?"

I busted out of there with a grand total of $6 for two pairs of awesome skates.

When I got home, I could hardly contain my excitement and showed Andrew's pair to him. He amazed me by putting his skates as soon as I showed them to him--like he knew what they were and what they did.

The kid's a genius. He loved them and skated all around our house. He kept asking me when we could go skate outside...

The very next day, I made sure of a family outing. OH YEAH, we totally 'bladed...

I hardly put videos on the blog, so this is a rare treat into our little Witty world. 

Andrew loves this place. Once he knew where we had come, he decided running was preferable.

And Jonah kept crying and chasing me around. I finally picked him up and did a few rounds without falling!

And I encouraged Gary to try the skates on. He quickly found out ummm NO they don't fit. 

It got to thinking that he desperately needs his own pair--he told me he never rollerbladed before {just skates} and I said "what?!!!"

So I went back to good ol' Goodwill and got a pair for him. 

I also got another pair for grown Andrew.

Yep, I'm thinking ahead. 

I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy skating on his own once he gets the hang of it.

So for a grand total of $12, I've invested in Sunday afternoons family time.

...and I couldn't be more pleased.

Chalk-scotch

Here at the Witty household, there's always somethin' to do. 

We never get bored and we have fun.

For the past couple of weeks, the temperatures have been bearable, almost heavenly. With gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, 80-90 degree weather, and beautiful cloud coverage, I thought we'd take advantage of this relief that He provided for us this beautiful afternoon. 

'How?' you ask. 

Well Andrew's been exploring the many forms of leg-usage.

Hopping, skipping, dancing, walking, running, awkward jumping--you name it, the boy is exploring!

So I remembered hopscotch. I remembered that when I was a little girl, we used to draw it everywhere we went. And since I hail from Mexico, all we had was cheap white chalk ;) and guess what entertained us?

HOPSCOTCH!

And we LOVED it.

Andrew, Jonah & I went outside and carried our box full of sidewalk chalk that we enjoy so much.

Let's get to it! 

First, a quick sip of Mommy's water. It's good to stay hydrated!

Then I sketched it out and showed Andrew how to hopscotch.

He pretty  much just looked at me as if I was the biggest weirdo, but couldn't wait to try it.

He didn't get the hang of it at all. But it was hilarious to watch ;)

So come to find out, Jonah enjoys eating chalk. And while on that subject, he also loves to eat crayons.

 Slobbered chalk, like #5.

See? He must have a chalk deficiency.

 Andrew grew tired of hopping and skipping with 1 leg, 2 legs, jump, thingy-majig. He just couldn't quite jump with 1 leg.

I loved watching him hop and Jonah eat chalk and once in a while they would actually draw with the chalks like they are supposed to.

By that time, Andrew came over to me and I managed to snap his pictures.

We are thinking of sending this one to the Abercrombie & Fitch people.

While I was taking pictures, Andrew wanted to see the pictures on my LCD screen. I had the grand idea that maybe he could take some pictures of me.

Us moms are always behind the camera--our useless photographer husbands are no where to be in sight (cause they bring home the dough, you know).

Recently, I read an article from Clickin Moms to sorta influence us behind-the-camera-moms to be more active with kids in the pictures we take. Meaning that in order for our children to remember us for how we were with them, we must be included in the pictures as well.

I mean seriously, if my mom had taken over 2,000 photos of just me at 3 years old, I'd get pretty tired of seeing my face after a while.

So because of this, I totally handed Andrew the cam.

And he LOVED it.

He took about 50 more pictures than the ones I've included...

I didn't include them for the sake of your scrolly button.

You are welcome ;)

Supper Time

I want to show you something.

Something extremely beautiful, messy, and exasperating. 

You see, I'm a firm believer in NO HIGHCHAIRS. Why? Because they limit a kid. They limit the kid in exploring and being treated as a person. To me, it's like digressing their growth to be little, adult people. 

{By the way, this made me laugh out loud you should seriously click the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLVfBYwnXq4}

T'was pretty funny wasn't it? 

Anyway, so every night come supper time, each boy gets a plate with food.

Andrew gets a fork and Jonah gets a spoon for easy scooping.

Even though both kids eat with their hands most of the time for the sake of ease, they attempt to eat with utensils. 

And most of the time, Jonah is the only one that is messy and Andrew does pretty good.

{Note: Jonah is the MESSIEST frickin' kid on the planet, I just feel that you need to know that to sympathize and have pity for me for having to clean him up. EVERY. SINGLE. MEAL}

Andrew even goes as far as putting his plate in the sink without being told!

But tonight seemed to be special for them. Somehow both boys decided to...well....see for yourself...

 I keep the broom, dustpan & a trapo (rag) nearby...

 They were proud of their 'food art'

 Andrew loves slurping noodles...

So you can guess what happens immediately after these shenanigans....

That's right--BATH TIME. 

Get them fishies out of the water.

Brush them teeth.

Read three books.

Get sippy cups & blankie.

Say Goodnight.

Give them besos.

ZZzzZZzz.

If ya already didn't know, we're a pretty goofy family. 

I mean, we breakdance to LMFAO, come on now!

So when I bought some discounted goggles...my son became a pretty darn good photographer: 

And Gary took this one of our budding photographer:

{{That's an inflatable sword. It's awesome}}

This is how the New Witty's roll....

How does your family roll? Would love for you to share your pictures with us!

summer rain

For all of you who live in the U.S. and watch the news, you know about how hot n' dry we've been here in good ol' Texas. 

If not, it's been H-O-T, HOT people.

Not an ounce of rain for days. 

Fires everywhere. People losing their homes because of them.

100 degree temperature for like 100 days...not kidding.

And while we all put on our sunblock and wear our Daisy Duke skin-tight shorts when we really shouldn't, it still is frickin' hot, you can't peel off those layers fast enough when you get home. 

A/C's always blowing. In my car--in my house. They have been on every single day since like May. 

The past two days, we've had tons of cloud coverage. At first it was just a tease. NO RAIN. And again, just teasing us, as if it wanted us to get down on our knees and beg...

And while I managed to only get about 5 little, tiny, insignificant sprinkles on my windshield, I was thankful for those. So I just kept praying in my head, for sure knowing that rain was not coming down. 

It's ridiculous how much we thrive and live off of water.

And our house got really dark yesterday afternoon. It was such a surprise to open our back door and hear that lovely sound rain makes when it's coming down. We were in the middle of dinner and we just had to break to go look outside at this sporadic event. 

Our back steps were wet...

We looked up and noticed our backyard birds going wild! Flying in the rain and going in circles and chirping and flying some more! They were happier than we were, it appeared. 

Thanks sky. Thanks clouds.

Now fall and winter, please get here and let it be C-O-L-D. There's nothing worse than wearing shorts on Christmas Day.

A-Z About Me...

A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Cooking. I can't stand the clean-up afterwards...
D. Dogs: Anti-dog. Pro-cat.
E. Essential start to your day: Facebook and coffee w/milk
F. Favorite color: An olive green.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5′3 1/2!
I. Instruments you play: I used to play the trumpet, but now I play the "raspberry" on my sons' stomachs.
J. Job title: Creative Enthusiast
K. Kids: 2
L. Live: in a beautiful, small and outdated duplex.
M. Mother’s name: Martha.
N. Nicknames: Nenet, flaca ('flaca' for all you non-Spanish speaking folks), and wera ('blondie')
O. Overnight hospital stays: Two times. Once because my newborn had bad jaundice (after a home-birth) and the second time because my second newborn had a fractured humerus (after a home-birth) :)
P. Pet peeves: My husband blowing his nose in the shower.
Q. Quote from a movie: from Cry Baby, my most favorite Johnny Depp movie, Hatchet-Face says, "There's nothing the matter with my face. I got character!" She's my favorite character...*sigh* I love that movie...
R. Right or left handed: Right handed, although the official "holding arm" for my infant is the left. The right just feels too weird and weak.
S. Siblings: 1 sister, 1 brother, 1 half sister and 4 half brothers :)
T. Time you wake up: About 7am
U. Underwear: Got 'em.
V. Vegetable you hate: Veggies are good for you!
W. What makes you run late: The interwebs and my poor skills at time-management.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, Ankle and Pelvis
Y. Yummy food that you make: Tacos--I'm an expert.
Z. Zoo animal: Monkeys--we go ape for the monkeys! Although the giraffe's are pretty rad...

Just a fun thing to do :) 

Copy and Paste onto YOUR blog--it's fun, I promise!

In the meantime, I leave you all with this: 

The boys loved beating up on Daddy at Rosa's Cafe here in town.

He suffered minor injuries and his recovery is slow but steady.

Out back...

I'm on the iPad and while I can appreciate it for its wonderfulness, this will probably be my only post from it. You see, the keyboard is { } this small and the Blogger app is extremely limited.

So, me no likey.

BUT, I'm just basically trying it out and wanted to share with you these pictures. And I used the "hefe" filter on Instagram on the picture of all 3 of us ;)

Big Country Fair in town--Feria!!

Last Saturday--

...we had a blast.

JoJo at the GSC

You guys. Like. I'm so. Happy. Joyful. And like. So. In love. With Blogger. Righ now. I can't breathe.

You see, blogger used to have this horrible interface that made blogging such a chore. It was crowded, ugly and plain outdated.

Until today. They've finally updated the look and I have to say, it looks awe.some.

Ahem!!! Continuing on....

Here in town, they have a gymnastics center and I'm sure you remember Andrew's ventures out there a long while back. And I was happy to get an opportunity to take JoJo out there (this time by himself since Andrew is in school).

Foam Pit!

Babies interacting... 

JoJo has only been walking for about 3 months and is still finding his footing on rough floors sometimes. The Gymnastics Sports Center has a very changeable floor which means, a lot of holding on and crawling on all fours for JoJo. 

Jonah had fun. Hope you enjoy!