THE THINGS THEY SAY (crumbs) / LAS COSAS QUE DICEN (migas)

That is, the things my kids say.

I regret that I haven't been writing down the things that my kids say that I want to be able to remember in the future because what they say makes me laugh, think, learn, happy and sometimes cry. So I decided that when I want to record something they have said on my blog I'm going to call it THE THINGS THEY SAY and in (parenthesis) I will write a word that refers to what was said. But before I go ahead and write what was said today let me explain something. In our home, Mac and I, try really hard to speak just Spanish so the kids can learn it but the kids speak English most of the time. I am not going to get into the whole English-Spanish situation in our home right now. That will have to be another post. But I need to say that when I write what was said I will write it as it was said which means that sometimes it will be in Spanish or English or Spanglish. But I'll do my best to translate it so that it can be understood. Sometimes when you translate something, it doesn't mean the same in both languages, or sometimes you have to explain things so people can understand the meaning.

So here it is the first of so many to come:

Lili:-I'm hungry (Tengo hambre)

Mac:-Bueno, vamos a comer algo chiquito y despues a dormir. (Ok, we'll eat something small and then to bed)

Lili:-Is it a crumb? (Es una miga?)

Mac and Priscila:-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!!!!!!!)

I have no idea why Lili would even think that we will feed her just a crumb and she was serious when she was asking. Funny how kids take thing literally sometimes.

Las cosas que dicen mis hijos.

Me arrepiento de no haber estado escribiendo las cosas que mis hijos dicen que me gustaria recordar en el futuro porque las cosas que dicen aveces me hacen reir, pensar, aprender, feliz y aveces me hacen llorar. Asi que decidi que cada vez que quiero escribir algo que ellos dicen en mi blog lo voy a llamar LAS COSAS QUE DICEN y en (parentesis) voy a escribir una palabra que tiene que ver con lo que dijeron. Ahora, antes de escribir lo que hoy dijeron dejenme explicar algo. En casa, Mac y yo tratamos de hablar solo español a los chicos para que asi aprendan a hablarlo pero los chicos la mayoria del tiempo nos hablan en ingles. No me voy a poner a escribir del tema del ingles y español aqui en la casa en este momento. Ese sera otro tema para otro momento. Pero necesito decirles que cuando escribo lo que se ha dicho lo voy a escribir en el idioma que se ha dicho y eso quiere decir que aveces sera en ingles o español o una mezcla de los dos pero voy a hacer lo posibe para traducirlo de la mejor manera para que se pueda entender. Aveces cuando uno quiere traducir algo de un idioma al otro las palabras no tienen el mismo significado o tambien aveces no se puede traducir solo con una palabra sino que hay que explicarla.

Bueno aqui les presento el primero de muchos que le seguiran:

Lili:-I'm hungry (Tengo hambre)

Mac:-Bueno, vamos a comer algo chiquito y despues a dormir. (Ok, we'll eat something small and then to bed)

Lili:-Is it a crumb? (Es una miga?)

Mac and Priscila:-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!!!!!!!)

No tengo ni idea de donde saco Lili de que le dariamos de comer solo migas y ensima lo pregunto seriamente. Es gracioso como los chicos aveces toman las cosas literalmente.

Day out with John

Today it was John's turn to go on a date with me. It just happened that he also had a doctor's appointment today so after that we went to Burger King and got a chocolate shake. After he was done eating he played in the playground they have there. Then we went to Bicentennial Park in East Brunswick where we read some books, had a sucker and played in the playgound. It was perfect because nobody was there and we had the playground all to ourselves. After that we went home. We really enjoyed our time together. John was loving it and he didn't want to go home.

Of course we had to read a Thomas the train book.

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A month ago we bought our first digital camera. We used to have one that we borrowed from Mac's dad but it died on us last last year. We bought a SAMSUNG TL205 Dual View so John could see himself when we were taking the pictures and he loved looking at himself and making funny faces.

There is always room for a sucker.

John loves to swing and he likes to pretend he is a goose flying. Every time he gets on a swing he says faster, faster, faster.....

Weeeeeeeeeeee

This is how our date ended.

Saturday in Central Park

Today after almost 2 years of living so close to New York City, we finally made it to Central Park with the kids. That is what happens when you live on a student budget. It was really fun. The kids played at the water playground and Lili especially was loving it. We had a ride in the carousel. And then Mac and I spent the next 4 hours walking around the park pushing the kids in the strollers. It was really nice and I really liked it. I especially loved to watch the people. We heard people talking in so many different languages but the ones we heard the most was Spanish from Spain. I really felt like I was in a movie while I was there.

Mac: Don't forget that we got ripped off by some hotdog vendor guy. He overcharged us on every item: [us: "The price says $2 per pretzel" him: "No, that is 'Jumbo' pretzel" (not on price chart) us: "And the hot dog? Isn't this the jumbo dog?" him: "No, that is 'Spicy' dog" (also, not on the menu) me: "So what does the 'jumbo' dog look like?" him: "like this" (he quickly takes out a hot dog that is the same size as the small one that we bought for Lili and then quickly puts it away and pretends to be annoyed at us because there are other customers waiting) me: "Que manera de estafar!" (rough translation: "What a rip-off!") and then we just keep walking until we find some shade to eat our expensive hot dogs and to feed our expensive pretzels to the pigeons.]

Lili playing with water. Have I ever mention how much Lili likes to play with water?

Sam giving it a try.

Lili and John coming up from their hiding place

I love this picture. After the carousel Lili was complaining because she wanted to do it again. I love how John and Sam are looking at Lili. She might have been pretty loud because even the guy at the ticket booth is looking at her.

View of NY City from the park

Bethesda Fountain

Say cheeeeeeeeeesse..... or not.

Always so curious

Acting like a true princess at the Belvedere Castle.

View of the Turtle Pond from the Belvedere Castle

Nap time 1

Nap time 2

Nap time 3. Forget it. Lili enjoying a popsicle while her brothers are asleep.

Taking a break after walking for 3 hours

Our wonderful friends Emily and James. They rode with us in the car and attended the Manhattan Temple while we went to the park (a block from the Temple) and then we all met up again at the park when we were ready to go home.

Manhattan Temple. I love how this picture makes it look like there is nothing around it.

THE END

What a sweet little girl...

Lili that is. Today Lili gets an A++++++++ for being so caring and so loving and such a little mommy. Let me tell you what happened. I had a meeting this morning and my friend Emily was watching my kids. When I got back, Emily and the kids were outside at the playground so I went to get them because it was lunch time. John was on the top of the slide and he threw a truck down the slide and it landed right on my left foot on my tendons. It hurt really bad. I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. I couldn't put my foot down because of the pain. I waited for a little bit and then we walked home slowly.

When I got home my foot started to hurt even more. I gave the kids some grapes and I couldn't stay standing up so I sat down. I couldn't make lunch. I called Mac and told him what happened and he asked to speak with Lili. After we hung up the phone, Lili told me that it was better if I lay down on the couch and put my foot up. I was surprised. So she helped me get to the couch. Then she went to get me a blanket and covered me up. Then she went and grabbed a ziploc bag and I asked her what it was for and she said to put ice in to put on my foot. She got on a chair and opened the frezeer and got the ice tray, with my help we put the ice cubes in the bag and then she put them on my foot. She then brought me one of her stuffed animals to make me feel better, put my cell phone next to me and gave me a big hug. I was really touched by her service at such a young age (or at any age really).

Of course the kids still needed to eat so she went an gave John and Sam some crackers, a yogurt and an apple and some water. That was their lunch today and she was doing it all without me saying a word. I just laid down and watched. I told John and Sam that they needed to be good to Lili because mommy couldn't walk. Sam even spilled all of his water and she just went, got some paper towels and cleaned it all up. Then she pulled a chair next to the sink to do the dishes but I told her that I would do them later when I felt better. After Lunch time, it was their nap time so Lili took John and Sam to the room gave them some books set the timer on the microwave and went in the room with them. I could hear the rocking chair and her singing. Then she came out and said that she was trying to put Sam to sleep in her bed now because in the rocking chair it was hurting her. I can't believe she was trying to hold him in the rocking chair. What a sweet little girl. The kids actually didn't sleep but at least they were in their room playing and I could have some rest. I will never forget this and if I do this is the reason I'm writing it.

I'm feeling much better now and I can actually walk. I walk a little bit funny because still hurts but I can do things now. I LOVE you Lili! and THANK YOU for your loving service to me and your brothers today. I asked Mac later what he told Lili over the phone and he said he told her:-"Mommy's foot hurts, she can't walk very well. She needs some help so please be good and help John and Sam be good too and be extra nice to her". And that she was indeed.

Since this post is about Lili, I'll share some pictures my wonderful sister-in-law Carly took of Lili when we visited Utah this last May. Thanks Carly for the Beautiful pictures. you are so talented.

Lili you are beautiful and I love your smile and your sense of humor!

Sam's got talent

Who can eat and sleep at the same time? Yeah! I know that's talent!.

This is what happens when Sam doesn't take a nap. He falls asleep during dinner. Enjoy!

Mommy-Daughter Date

A while ago Mac and I had been talking about spending some time with each of the kids and doing something together to build a good relationship and build memories for the kids and we thought that we needed to have some one-on-one time with the kids. Time went by and it was hard to figure out the time to do it. A couple of months ago we attended a church meeting where Elder Jay Jensen from the Quorum of the seventy spoke. Somebody asked him how he made time for his family and one of the things he shared was that he always went on dates with his kids every week. I thought that was great and that it is what I wanted to do if I want to build a close relationship with my kids. So Mac and I decided that each week one of us would take a child on a date. So last month was Mac's turn an this month is my turn. Today was my time with Lili. Of course we can't afford to spend money every time so we try to do things that won't cost a lot of money or nothing at all. Today we went to pick up some vegetables at the Student Sustainable farm at Rutgers thanks to a friend from church who is a member of the farm's community group and who was on vacation and she asked me if I wanted her vegetables for this week since she couldn't pick them so I had a fun time with Lili and it was for free and I got free veggies. After that Lili really wanted to go to a toy store so we went to Toys R Us and told her that we were not going to buy anything but that she could look around to get an idea of what she wants for Christmas. Of course she wanted everything she saw but I told her that Santa Claus has to buy toys for all the kids so she can't ask for too many toys. After Toys R Us we went to get some ice cream at Magnificos. On our way home we had to stop at the grocery store for a few items because we had our friends Emily and James coming over for dinner and then we came home. I asked Lili what was her favorite part of our date and she said having ice cream. I agreed.

Lili amazed with the Lego star wars

Lili was realy enjoying the section were they have all the instruments.

Lili enjoying MY ice cream. She liked mine better than hers so I had to eat her Neon Italian Ice which turned my lips blue.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I just watched this video from the church website and it filled my spirit with hope and strength. I just wanted to share it with all those mothers out there. I know that motherhood is hard. Sometimes exhausting, tiring and patience-trying. But on the other hand I feel that I have become a better person since I became a mother because having to raise my kids helps me improve myself because I strongly believe that the best way to teach our kids is by example. That doesn't mean I'm perfect because I'm not even close to being perfect but my kids help me become the person I want to be. I have been reading and studying a talk from Sister Beck that she gave in April 2010 at the women's conference and I encourage all of you to read it. It has been a great help in my daily planning and has helped me understand the importance of being a good mother. I know that we are daughters of a Heavenly Father and that He loves us as mothers and if we put Him first in our lives He will guide us and help us with our kids and everything else in our lives. Enjoy the clip.

Hello Family / Hola Familia

This is at the Argentine airport when we got there. The pictures are not the best but I still wanted to post them because they are really important to me. And yes I cried when I saw everyone. It is really nice seeing my family again. I love my family.

Esto es en el aeropuerto de Argentina cuando llegamos. Las fotos no salieron muy bien pero igualmente queria ponerlas porque son muy importantes para mi. Y si, llore cuando los vi a todos. Es re lindo volver a ver a mi familia. Amo a mi familia.

Getting to Argentina / LLendo a Argentina

For those who don't know, me and the kids are in Argentina. Mac will be joining us later in December after school is over. We will be here until middle of January. The kids did really well in both flights from Newark to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. During the first flight I kept them entertained with some new toys. I didn't want them to sleep so that they would sleep in the next flight. The second flight they slept the entire time. I was the one who didn't sleep, because I had Lili and John sleeping all over me. I was really uncomfortable but I was willing to stay like that as long as the kids would continue to sleep. Here are some pictures of our flights to get to Argentina

Para aquellos que no saben, los chicos y yo estamos en Argentina. Mac estara viniendo en Diciembre cuando terminan las clases. Estaremos aqui hasta mediados de Enero. Los chicos se portaron re bien durante los dos vuelos de Newark a Atlanta y de Atlanta a Buenos Aires. Durante el primer vuelo los mantuve entretenidos con algunos juguetes nuevos porque no queria que se durmieran asi me dormian en el proximo vuelo. En el segundo vuelo, durmieron durante todo el vuelo. Yo soy la unica que no dormi porque tenia a Lili y John ensima mio. Estaba re incomoda pero estaba dispuesta a estar asi siempre y cuando los chicos sigan durmiendo. Aqui hay algunas fotos de los vuelos.

From Newark to Atlanta

From Atlanta to Buenos Aires, Argentina

I'm Here / Estoy Aqui

I'm still alive. Good night.
Todavia estoy viva. Buenas noches.

Christmas Tree / Arbol de Navidad

Today we got our Christmas tree. Let me tell you that it SMELLS REALLY GOOD!!!! It is 8 feet tall. It was actually 9 feet tall but we had to cut a foot off because it was too tall for our place. It was really cold outside. Here are some pictures.
Hoy compramos el arbol de Navidad. Dejenme decirles que HUELE RE BIEN!!!!. Mide 8 pies. En realidad media 9 pies pero tuvimos que cortar 1 pie porque era demasiado alto para nuestro departamento. Hacia mucho frio afuera. Aqui hay algunas fotos.

The kids on our way to get our tree.

Los chicos en camino a comprar el arbolito.

After we bought the tree.

Despues de que compramos el arbolito.

At home and the tree is ready to get decorated. I'll post pictures after it is decorated.

En casa y el arbol esta listo para ser decorado. Pondre mas fotos cuando este decorado.

6 Months Old / 6 Meses

My little Sami turned 6 months old on December 1st. I can't believe it. Where does the time go? It almost feels like I just had Lili and now she is 3 and a half years old, I have John who is going to be 2 years old next month and Sam is already 6 months old. It is a lot of work having 3 kids, so young and so close in age, but at the same time I wish they would stay just the way they are. When I think of all the bad things that exist in the world it scares me to know that they are going to grow-up and have to make their own decisions. That is why I feel I need to teach them what's right while they are young and hope and pray that when they are older they will make right choices. Anyway I'm getting away from what I wanted to post about. So Sam is a really good baby. He is so cute and always so smiley. I love him so much that words can't express it. I'm so glad he is part of our family. He brings us so much happiness.
Next week I have to take him to the doctor for his regular check up and shots but 2 months ago when I took him to the doctor he was 11 LB 14 oz. But he has gained a lot of weight and has gotten much bigger since then. I stopped breastfeeding him a month ago because I didn't have much milk and I had to start supplementing with formula. At least I feel good that this time I was able to nurse longer than with Lili or John. Sam has also been army-crawling for a month. He started crawling a week after he turned 5 months old. I'll do another post about his crawling soon. That is all for right now.

Sami cumplió 6 meses el 1ro de diciembre. No lo puedo creer. ¿Donde se fue el tiempo? Casi parece como si ayer tuve a Lili y ahora ella ya tiene 3 años y medio. Tengo a John que va a cumplir 2 años el mes que viene y Sami ya tiene 6 meses. Es mucho trabajo tener 3 chicos tan chiquitos y tan juntos, pero al mismo tiempo desearía que se quedaran así. Cuando pienso en todas las cosas malas que hay en este mundo me asusta el saber que van a crecer y tomar sus propias decisiones. Por eso es que me siento que es ahora que son chiquitos que debo enseñarles lo que es bueno y esperar y orar que el día de mañana cuando sean grandes tomen decisiones correctas. Pero bueno me estoy yendo del tema de que quiero escribir en este momento. Sam es un bebe buenísimo. Él es tan lindo y siempre sonriente. Lo amo tanto que palabras no pueden expresar lo que siento. Estoy tan feliz que él es parte de nuestra familia. Él nos trae tanta felicidad. La semana que viene tengo que llevarlo al médico por su visita regular y vacunas pero hace dos meses atrás cuando lo llevé pesaba casi 6 kilos. Pero ya subió un montón de peso y está mucho más grande desde esa vez. Deje de amamantarlo hace un mes porque ya no tenía mucha leche y le tenía que suplementar con la leche en polvo. Por lo menos me siento bien que esta vez pude amamantar más tiempo que con Lili y John. Sam también empezó a gatear como soldadito hace un mes atrás. Él empezó a gatear una semana después de que cumplió los 5 meses. Voy a poner videos de él gateando pronto. Por el momento esto es todo.

Lili the Ghost / Lili el fantasma

This was Lili this morning. She is so funny. She makes me laugh.

Esta era Lili esta mañana. Es tan graciosa. Siempre me hace reir.

Uncomfortable? / Incomodo?

So Lili has this thing where she plays with something for weeks and months and sometimes wants to take them to bed with her. The last couple of days she has been wearing her sunglasses and her Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) dress. This is what she looked like this morning when I went into her room and she was asleep. She was wearing her Belle dress, wearing her sunglasses for which she woke up in the middle of the night to get and came to my room crying because she couldn't find them. She's lying down next to her Strawberry Shortcake doll and the pumpkin box her grandma sent her for Halloween. I don't know how she can sleep with all of that stuff all around her. The other day she went to sleep with her angel dress and she even wore the wings. When she woke up the next day she was still wearing the wings. I wish I had a picture of that. Anyway I just wanted to share that with you and also save the memory. Enjoy the picture.
Lili tiene esta tendencia de jugar con el mismo juguete por semanas y meses y a veces se los lleva a la cama con ella. Estos últimos días estuvo usando sus anteojos de sol y su vestido de Bella. Así es como ella estaba esta mañana cuando fui a su habitación y todavía estaba durmiendo. Tenía puesto su vestido de Bella, sus anteojos de sol por los cuales se despertó en medio de la noche y vino a mi habitación llorando porque no los podía encontrar. Como pueden ver al lado de ella esta su muñeca de frutillita y su cajita de calabaza que le mandó su grandma para Halloween. La verdad es que no se como hace para dormir asi con todo eso. El otro día se fue a dormir con su vestido de angel y hasta se puso las alas. Cuando se despertó al día siguiente todavía tenía las alas puestas. Me hubiera gustado tener una foto de eso. Pero bueno, solo quería compartir eso con ustedes también escribirlo para nuestro recuerdos. Disfruten la foto.