A Spooktacular Weekend

Carving jack-o-lanterns began the festivities for the week.  The kids drew the faces while Dave and I carved, filling each with a candle.  We saved the pumpkin seeds, which Dave cleaned and roasted.  Lizet kept muttering, "This smells no good."  No, it doesn't.

Xavier drew monsters all week.  He is ridiculously good!

Last night's Trunk or Treat at the Church of Christ was fun!  Lizet was Wonder Woman, Xavi was a green alien, and Angela who wasn't keen on dressing up, went from car to car gathering all kinds of goodies.  

After returning home, they changed and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. While many were glued to the giant screens watching the Rangers, several were viewing football.  Fans were whooping and hollering at the screen.  Lizet leans in and asks, "¿Personas especial?"  Dave says, "No, just OU fans."  

Lizet immediately took inventory of all her candy with paper and pen. She sorted out all the colors and types.  She counted 80, ate two, and said there should be 78 tomorrow.  

We blew up the air mattress for our night of scary movies and had popcorn, a few pieces of candy, and lots of cuddles.

Angela has been practicing her magic on me by making my money disappear and retracting it from my ear or back pockets.  She credits Padre Ron with this skill.  

    

Pumpkin Patch

Dave and I met one another for Lizet's parent-teacher conference on Thursday.  We received a good report about Lizet and feel confident about all the kids' experiences in school, even though I occasionally do have to raid Xavi's locker for missing homework.  I never wanted to be one of those moms, but here I live and breathe. 

I have also now experienced using this phrase... "Sweetie, did you cut your bangs?"    

The other day Angela was playing the piano and turned around to me and said, "¿Bien?"  I said, "¡Muy bien!"  She smiled from ear to ear.

Since there was no school on Friday for the girls (K-6 conferences), I took them to lunch at Señor Salsa.  Lizet repeatedly raised her hand if she needed more lemonade;  or in one instance, change for her dollar.  (She had eyed the toy dispensers upon entering.)  But then this happened: She asked to go to the restroom.  She was gone a while.  Angela says to me, "Mira, Mamí."  I turn to see Lizet in the kitchen talking with the cooks.  She returned happily saying she got to stir a pot of beans.  After picking up Xavi from school, we went to Braum's for a chocolate-vanilla swirl waffle cone.  I didn't want him to be left out of anything fun!

We celebrated Dave's birthday last Sunday.  After church we had lunch at Tumbleweeds.  The kids loved it!  They all had big lunches requiring boxes.  Lizet asked for hers by saying:  "Please, I need a box, b-o-x," to the waitress.

Xavi was able to cook with his friend, Parker.  Their assignment was to make something from a Spanish-speaking country;  they chose an almond-rice drink.  They made a 100.  

This afternoon, Dave took Angela to Tulsa to select frames for her glasses since seeing the optometrist.  Dave bought her two frames;  pink and blue.  She loves to coordinate.  Then they had Chick-fil-A.

Tonight we had dinner with Dave's colleagues from the bank at Shay's Pumpkin Patch. None of the kids were too thrilled about it, but by the end loved it!  We had hamburgers and hot dogs, with Dink's catering the potato salad and baked beans.  There were also Halloween cupcakes and candies and a variety of drinks.  They played on play equipment, played football, soccer, and jumped in the giant pumpkin bounce house.  Then we took a ride on bales of hay on a tractor bed and drove out to the pumpkin patch to select our pumpkins. Lizet also added pine cones to our October motif.  After paying (with our Arvest discount) for our pumpkins, we drove to Wal-Mart to pick up Lizet's order:  pink roller skates.  We also chose a few comedies from the $5 bin.  We soon discovered after arriving home, Lizet needs a helmet and knee pads.  

They enjoy getting mail.  Tía Cathy and Tío Marty sent them gift cards to Braum's and Halloween t-shirts.  

The girls also have become fans of Mel Brooks.  They love Robin Hood: Men in Tights!  Their favorite scenes are:  a man falling in a shallow moat and screaming that he can't swim;  a man slinging his swords into his pockets causing his pants to fall down;  and an ugly woman praying for a man to come into her life while a knight falls through the ceiling.  

Now we're watching Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.       

Piercings

I now have two daughters with pierced ears!  Angela pierced one of her ears by herself.  I guess this was a sign we should get this done professionally, so we headed to Claire's. She so desperately wanted to wear some earrings one of her great-grandmothers gave her.  We are now caring for their ears, three times a day, for six weeks.  

Lizet also now has a Hannah Montana reversible comforter.  It's quite cute!  She is such a fan. She says Hannah fine, but adds Montaña (for Montana).  

One cute activity that took place at Xavier and Angela's middle school on Thursday:  The new students were invited to a social in the library during their lunch.  This was a time to meet other new students, teachers, and have refreshments.  There were about nine or ten in attendance, according to Angela.  Well, there was a drawing for a Bruins letter jacket.  (Yes, I'm aware it looks like Ruins.)  Not a leather one, but one that is made from the baseball uniform material. Still durable and very nice.  Well, lo and behold, my girl, Angela WON!  She really needed that since I had to encourage her to go and be "social".  She is still a little timid.  Xavier was so proud of her!

Friday was Xavier's appointment for a haircut with Papí.  After I picked up my middle-schoolers, I drove them to Dave’s office.  We chatted with some ladies in the office and then Angela and I left to head to Braum's for a chocolate-vanilla swirl waffle cone.  I told her it was our secret and we don't want to hurt feelings.  So, as we ate our cones in line at Lizet's school, we chatted and laughed about other things at school that day.  As Angela finished, she gathered up the "evidence."  She threw the napkins in my console after wiping her face and checking mine.  I also suggested to Angela that we pretend we forgot Xavier at school, if Lizet asked. Sure enough, Lizet did just that!  "Where's Xavier?"  Angela grabbed my arm and said, "¡Mamí...  Xavier!"  You should have seen Lizet's eyes!  "¿Qué?" was Lizet's response.  It was more of a drawn out qué... Like KAYYYY? Anyway, she got a big laugh out of our little joke. In no time, I turned around to go pick up Xavier with his darling haircut.  

Every time we see a bright yellow car, the kids call out “plátano” (banana).  

Lizet's English is improving every day.  She says certain phrases a lot.  “You okay?”  “I like peepsa.”  (That's how she pronounces pizza.)  Well actually, they all do.          

 

Milestones

Tonight Lizet lost a tooth!  She walked through the house to our room with her flashlight in hand, accompanied by Xavier - her partner in crime - to show the gap in the back of her mouth, and the tooth secured in tissue.  Dave had her rinse her mouth out with saltwater and she will now await a visit from the Tooth Fairy. She's quite excited and couldn't wait to hug me.  How exciting!  She's been working on that tooth all week.

I also found out, through Angela, Xavier has a girlfriend.  I asked him about her and he grinned, grinned, grinned.  He won't say much, but last night he did ask me to write out "I love you" on a piece of paper.  He did tell me tonight that she looks like me.  Same skin and same color hair.  I think I'm flattered.  

They had a great week!  Although, it was accompanied by mood swings, hormone changes, and manic phases.  Welcome to adolescence!