My Sunshine

My sisters will all attest to my ridiculously sentimental side...they have seen it take shape in many forms. So how appropriate would a "leaving for Kindergarten" post be? Very.

Oh, my love...these are some of my favorite pictures of you. When did you grow up? Sometimes I still think of you this way. I want to put 347 of your baby pictures up in that post, but I'll suffice with about 30.

I've thought about it all year and cried about it often...As I look back, every ounce of me loved you in every way I could. I am so thankful that I could be with you at every moment, to wipe each tear, hear every giggle and listen to each story. I had the privilege of being by your side as you discovered the world. Most especially, I loved sharing stories about Jesus and Mary and their love for you and see you try to do acts of kindness here at home. So I send you off...your childhood has brought so much happiness to my life.

I have relished every little conversation between you and Christiana and listening to your hours of playtime as you make up games with donkeys, little pig, cars, and trains.  I've savored each morning and afternoon full of baseball, basketball, and soccer.

The friendship between you and Christiana has grown deep and is my favorite thing to witness each day. You often ask if you can talk at night after we put you to sleep and you will tell each other stories or make up jokes just to make each other laugh.

You wake each other up and will always wait on the other to go anywhere. Christiana has developed a love for cars, trains, and fishing while you discovered you can enjoy coloring and dancing, each because of the other. I will always find you side by side and rarely do you fight. God blessed you with the gift of each other's friendship, the hardest part about you leaving for Kindergarten, is that she is loosing her best friend.

 So our little family life together will change, as life often does.
The upside is that Avila and Christiana will begin a new chapter together (when Avila grows out of her yelling and "I hate the world" phase)

I will especially miss all your little thoughts and musings throughout the day. Some of them lately:

"I'll be as quiet as a stone in church mom."
and
"It smells like Gaber, like yarn and honey."
and
"Mom, I just love you as big as the earth, I love you just too much."

Special Breakfast..."Mom, you're going to miss all the fun at school"

My heart aches to say goodbye, but I am excited for you. Nicholas, you are such a joy to my day. Like your father, you are always happy and in a good mood, quick to help if I ask. You try so hard to please us and are so full of goodness. You are my sunshine.


I told him to smile for a picture and he told me to wait because he needed to put his hands in his pockets.

You were so incredibly excited to start school and made it easier to send you! "Mom, going to school is more fun than staying at home."  Whelp...that made things so clear. So much for my sentiments...good to know he will be thriving ;)

Andrew wanted to walk him to school and wants to do so every morning.

I starred on the porch..shaking my head...it almost didn't seem real.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch....
It was very quiet...I walked with a heavy heart, his little chatter was missing, but I was happy knowing he was having a ball.


Christiana received a "First Day without Nicholas Gift" ...

She painted ALL DAY and I don't think noticed too much he was gone, but did ask when he was coming back.

Somebody....else found a perfect little niche for her fat squatty body. She contentedly emptied out the contents of the diaper drawer and proceeded to empty out the wipes.

She also blew out of her diaper down the legs and all....twice. Nice teething phase.

What a day...side note: It was Andrew's 33rd birthday today! That's a whole other post. And so we start again tomorrow.

The Annual Harvest Vegetable

Christiana could hardly contain her enthusiasm when I told them we were going to the Annual Harvest Festival. She jumped up and squeezed Nicholas, "We get to go to the Harvest Vegetable!!"
 Maybe I mumble?  But I definitely didn't correct her :) I loved hearing her say it all night.

Anyways...do not let these pictures deceiveth you. It was 2 hours of total misery, for me, but the kids had a ball. Avila....hmmm....how to accurately describe her temperament...loudly obstinate. She yelled really loud for two hours, it was 105 degrees with 105 flies on our hamburgers. I was trying to eat, swat at the flies, hold a the one year old who is arching her back and flinging everything I hand her to the floor while yelling, hand the kids their drinks, swat at more flies, did I just eat a fly? and pretend to smile to the 105 people who are saying hi....equals....Oh my gosh this is a death trap!! Every year.


We did manage in between, a cup full of lemonade, a cup of ice cubes, animal crackers, and then a large red tootsie pop that got swung in anger and covered me nicely as red sticky tack, to ride the merry go round for a few minutes.

Even though it is an event that requires virtual back bends in virtue, which I, regrettably, could exercise none that night, it is worth every bead of sweat to just see their faces light up. To be a child and see all the rides and cake and candy will be etched in their little childhood memories.

Waiting in line for the Ferris wheel ride. Oh the anticipation!

Oh yes, she knew she was big stuff, riding the merry-go-round all by herself.

She had a big smile for me every time she came around.

Well, looking at these pictures can easily make me forget all the misery, I would gladly do it all over again for them.  I just hope I can grow in more virtue before next year's harvest festival comes around again. :)

Impromtu Adventure to KC

We had a spur of the moment summer get-away in Kansas City. We started off the weekend with an NFP discourse dinner party that I blogged about here.  We were soooo blessed that Mech asked to keep Avila because traveling with one year olds is hazardous to your mental sanity.

All of the sudden we were like free birds traveling with the oldest two! We could go anywhere and not worry about schedules and stroller access. WHOO HOO!!

The weekend fun was made possible by these two:

Thanks to Tim's ultimate dining and site seeing skills, he planned the perfect itinerary for our weekend.

First stop: Kansas City Farmer's Market Downtown

Loaded with fresh fruits, vegetabes and best of all samples!!

Christiana's preferred method of travel was on top of Dad's shoulders

Sampling the fresh peaches

Spices galour...I purchased some pear pomagranite tea and mexican vegie dip mix.

Stop 2: World War I Museum 

Tim informed us this after the war, they placed it in Kansas, the middle of the U.S., so as to be more accessable to everyone. Who knew, not me, the WWII museum is in D.C. 

At the top of the tower



Stop 3: Lunch at Union Station

Nicholas and Christiana saw some real trains up close and were fascinated. We ate lunch at Harveys inside the station.

95 ft. ceilings and 3,500lb. chandelier

Stop 4: Naps We crashed and burned for an hour before heading back out!

Stop 5: KC Royals Game vs. Minnesota Twins...there is nothing like summer baseball!!!


Dutifully waiting in line.

Examining his ticket.

Not a bad seat in tho house...and players wore their old time uniforms. Royals beat Twins 7-3.

He held on tight to that ticket and glove the entire game.

By far the highlight of the weekend was watching Nicholas watch a real baseball game. He is wearing Andrew's childhood baseball KC hat and a KC royals t-shirt we found at a garage sale. He was amused when Billy Butler, 16, went up to bat!

The stadium had a mini baseball field where the kids could put on helmets, go up to bat and run the bases. He was in heaven.



Even Christiana got to go!

Stop 6: We walked to Sunday Mass just across the street.

Stop 7: Sunday Brunch at Classic Cup Cafe on the plaza.

Andrew ordered very average size pancakes ;) and I ordered an omelet with a giant piece of Italian sausage. We had fun...drinking coffee at a unique cafe has to be one of my favorite things to do!!

Stop 8: Last but not least, we got to visit Granlene and Mary and were entertained by their wit and wisdom to say the least!!

We packed so much in in one weekend and loved our visit with Tim and Hilary. So thankful they gave up their weekend to be with us after having literally just moved in. Lots of fun conversations and quality time. We can't wait to go back!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Nicholas and Christiana make me sing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from the movie Mary Poppins, in my nightly repitiore of songs before they go to sleep. Not sure how and when that got added, but none-the-less...I always tell them someday we will go fly a kite.


This past week, our community activiy center had a day to decorate and fly kites for the kids. If only I could have bottled their joy and excitement when I told them we were going. Priceless.

There were a handfull of us there. The kids (and moms who like to color) got to color and decorate them before they were assembled and even pick out the tails. Nicholas picked out a KU themed one, father's son that he is.

                        There was just enough breeze for the kites to take off; they absolutely loved it.

My Pseudo French Escape

One of my favorite places to eat was the La Madeline...a french cafe chain that featured classical music and brick fireplaces with authentic french cuisine that one could take to go or dine in. It was the perfect place for my love of food, music, and the quaint.

(side story)Andrew and I would frequent the one we lived across from in Houston. I tried to take Nicholas there when he was but 4 days old...a very naive first time mother - he screamed - we left - I got a breast infection...very low moment.

Anyways...The saying "necessity is the mother of invention" rang true here...since I'm sans restaurants and bakeries or a grocery store that carries french bread, I was forced to make my own ;)

I'm often found wanting a loaf of french bread around to add to dinner or for a more exciting lunch. Thanks to pinterest, found this easy recipe and made it. Wasn't sure how it would turn out or taste compared to regular bread, but the vinegar in the recipe gives it a little zing. It came out rather large...maybe because the heat made it rise faster?

So this morning, found the classical symphonic station on Pandora, and I had my french bread with homemade apricot jam and coffee and for a few brief moments, in between diaper changes and little people needs, La Madeline came to me ;)

Such a food lover...what most people would probably find mundane or try to avoid...cooking is usually therapeutic for me. I'm always thinking about meals and food and new recipes.

                          Lunch makeover with french bread.