Summer Afternoon Fun

Since we only have one car right now, I work from home on Tuesdays since Michael has really long (and early) shifts at work. That means that Billa is with me on those days and it can be hard to keep her occupied while I'm busy managing my projects.  By the time 4:30 rolls around and I log off, I know I need to do SOMETHING to occupy the munchkin while Daddy takes a much-needed nap...she's usually bouncing off the walls!

On one such recent Tuesday, we built tall towers with our blocks.

Yes, that tower is nearly as tall as she is!

We went downstairs and drew with sidewalk chalk. Then we raced around the building and up and down the stairs several times.

Finally exhausted by all that action, we came home and sat on the patio to enjoy a popsicle.

(By the way, the tat on her arm is "giant purple horse" aka a purple unicorn–kid loves her ink!)

To my knowledge, it was Billa’s first ever popsicle and she was in LURVE! I bought a popsicle mold last summer when they were on sale and I know now that I need to start coming up with some fun recipes for us to try. I know she’s going to enjoy helping me making and eating them!

We had a fun afternoon killing some time and now that we live in a building with lots of shade around it, I’m actually looking forward to summer afternoons outside now!

Cheers,
Kelly

Kickin' It To The Man!

A sampling of Billa's newest obsession...soccer lessons aren't far off:



Happy Friday,
Kelly

Playdate at the Park

Today was another gorgeous day and time change be damned...even if we only had 23 hours today, we were gonna make the best of them!

We had made a date earlier in the week to meet up with Sybilla's godfather and his family to play at the park.  We've been talking about doing this for some time but for some reason or another, it never really worked out.  Until today!  And today couldn't have been better.  Summer time in Central Texas may look lovely, but in truth, it gets too hot to be outside for any extended period of time (read: more than five minutes).  So spring time is when we all go out in droves and hang out in the park for hours.

We met up with the Chris, Ericha, their kids Brick, Cable, and Gates, and their friend Shannon.  Running, sliding, climbing, running amok, kicking soccer balls, swinging, driving the car, throwing rocks, eating cookies and cheese, and lounging in the shade then commenced for a couple of glorious hours.

Sliding...

Climbing...

Swinging...

Running amok...

Eating cookies...

Kicking soccer balls...

Drawing...

...and driving a car, oh my what a day!

The Matthews also brought their dog Taos along too, and Billa just loved her.  She was very mellow and so sweet and gentle with the kids.  She let them love all over her and she reminded me of my childhood dog, TB.

Ericha and I kept trying to get a great picture of the girls together...even though her arm and camera are in this shot, I still love it!  And I definitely love the look on my daughter's face!

Puppy lovin'

Gates thinks Taos is the bees' knees.

Taos is such a great dog!  Billa just adored her and gave her a hug as she left.  She even said, "Bye, dog!" and  waved...so cute!

In the end, we hated to say goodbye, but we had to get home to get some things done and Billa was starting to get a little too pink for comfort (note to self: time to buy this year's supply of sunblock).

Hugging our godfather goodbye

I foresee a dog in our future someday too...Billa just LOVED Taos!

We had a wonderful and were so grateful to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.  I foresee many more park playdates in the future...

Cheers!
Kelly & Co.

Happy 2nd Birthday Sybilla!

Today our little monkey turned two!  It's so hard to believe, but there it is.  Time flies and before you know it, the little ones aren't so little anymore [sniff sniff].

To celebrate her birthday, we decided to make it easy and go someplace Billa really loves: the playground.  We live very close to Dick Nichols Park, and it's a great park with lots of swings and climbing equipment, and in the summer time, there's a pool.  There's also lots of running trails and picnic places too, so it's the perfect park.  And we couldn't have asked for better weather today!  I had to laugh, though; my best friend called me about ten minutes after I'd rolled out of bed and asked me what the backup plan was.  When I questioned her as to why, she told me to look out the window.  It was overcast and drizzling.  No worries, I said.  If it's still like this by 10:30, I'll make some phone calls.  Not ten minutes later the sun came out and stayed out, creating a 75F day that was gorgeous and perfect.

Setting up for the party...such a good (OCD) little helper!

Hey!  Who's driving this crazy ride!?

I love sliding!

Ninja Cameron and his sister Madeleine

The only thing better than eating playground rocks is to throw them all over the slide!

We grilled hot dogs and played on the playground and everyone had a great time.  I chose a Sesame Street theme for her party this year since she watches Elmo's World at school with her friends and loves him so much (although as of three weeks ago, Blue's Clues is now her most favorite thing in the world.  Oh well!).  Several of our cousins came and some of our friends too.  Not as many kids showed up though, because of all the illness going around, which was a huge bummer, but we still had a great time.  By the time the party was over though, Sybilla crashed for the best nap ever.  She was so tired that she slept through all the noise her uncles and aunts were making as we sat around at home later!

It's finally cake time!  Billa has seen me making them and wouldn't stop asking for cake.  Patience is a virtue, my dear!

Blowing out our candle (and yes, that is spittle hanging from her lips)

Daddy helps Billa dig into her cake

The kids eating cake

Present time! Present time!  Open it up and see what's inside!

All in all, Sybilla had a great birthday and had a lot of fun.  She ate a lot of cake and goldfish and got to play for two hours straight on the playground with all of her friends and grandparents.  Who could ask for anything more?  Sometimes I wish I could do that...

Sesame Street cupcakes; each character was a different flavor.  Big Bird was yellow cake, Elmo was red velvet, Cookie Monster was oreo cookie cake, and Oscar was chocolate with marshmallows

Instead of doing toys for the goodie bags, I decided to do cookies.  I made a tag that said "This party was brought to you by the letter S and the number 2.  Thanks for sharing my special day with me!"  Each bag contained an S, a 2, and an Elmo, which is Billa's favorite character!  Special thanks to my friend Anna for the use of her scalloped craft punch!

The party table with cupcakes, smash cake, and cookies

Happy Birthday, baby girl.  Mama and Daddy love you so very much and we are so grateful that we were able to share another year with you...may there be many more to come!

Love,
The Guerra Clan

Potting Soil Mishap and No More Pix

Well, bad news, kiddies. The printer/scanner/copier of the Guerra household has officially broken after three and almost one half years and I now have no way to upload my photos. Boo. And just when I was starting to get really good about posting pictures and regular blog entries! So until I figure out what to do in the meantime, my awesome amazing descriptive writing will have to do.

Also bad news is trying to get potting soil out of a toddler's hair. Well, actually, that's more bad news for me than for you, but whatever.

Sybilla and I ran some errands this morning in anticipation of a dinner guest (who never showed but it's ok; her excuse was she got a free ticker to the UT game this evening and let's face it, in this family, we'd have skipped out on any prior engagements to go to a UT game instead too! So, Emily, you're very much forgiven...but not completely, as we are also insanely jealous) and then spent the afternoon at home cooking and cleaning.

After Sybilla had been driving me crazy in the kitchen, I decided she needed a distraction. TV just doesn't work anymore--she watches for all of five minutes and then runs off to wreak havoc elsewhere--so I needed something stronger in appeal. Aha! OUTSIDE! She loves to play out on our balcony and it's nice because she can run and play without us worrying that a) someone will whisk her away beneath our noses or b) that she can run away. I opened the patio door and let her out. Even though I could hear her, and knew that she was fine, I couldn't see her and really, it was probably a good thing because I would have flipped out even more if I'd seen the mess in progress.

I stepped back outside and my patio is half covered in potting soil. Even worse, so was Sybilla. Apparently, she'd had great fun shoveling it out with a garden trowel and then dumping it over her head. Fine, I said. It's bath day anyway and she's already dirty, so we'll just let her stay that way until she's all done, then we'll clean up and go get a bath. That was a whole 'nother can of worms!

Have you ever tried to get potting soil out of a toddler's hair? First off, potting soil is more than just dirt. It's usually ground up mulch fibers and God only knows what else, so it doesn't wash out very easily. And with a toddler's baby fine hair, it looks like lice and is horribly hard to get out. So there I was, shampooing her head three times, attacking it with a fine tooth brush, mohawking and spiking, just to get every last little bit of potting soil out of her hair. She had some crazy waves in her hair afterward! I took pictures, but alas, you don't get to see them just yet.

So my advice to all you mommies out there...don't let your kids play in potting soil unless you like dirt in your house or inflicting pain and torture on yourself. Whichever.

Happy Saturday,
Kelly

Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought her back...if there is one thing my child does not lack it is curiosity! Last night she was fit to burst she was so full of curiosity, so I just let her run around and get into everything that she wanted to. Within safe boundaries of course! One of the things she found was an old pair of my eyeglasses. They're meant to be my backup glasses but my prescription has gotten so terrible over the last two years that they're really a moot point now. I really need to either have them retrofitted with new lenses or donate them, but I'll make that decision when I go for my yearly eye check soon. In the meantime however, they're so weak that Billa had a great time running around with them on. I was working a facelift for the family blog and she kept coming over to me every few minutes to have them put BACK on her face. Too funny. Even funnier though is that she actually put them away when she was done. No exaggeration! Here are some pictures of our studious one:

Happy Friday,

Pony Playtime with Papa and Mamo!

Hope you all had a relaxing Labor Day! I know we did. We got a lot of things done on Saturday and then spent Sunday being lazy until we got stir crazy and went to Lowe's and Target. On Labor Day we went to breakfast with Michael's mom at Kerbey Lane and then finished off a lovely morning at the Zilker Botanical Gardens. Naptime preceded a visit to my folks' house for an afternoon visit in which Billa got to play with the ponies!

One pretty pony...

Two pretty ponies...

Three pretty ponies...

...FOUR!!!

Four pretty ponies all in a line and the prettiest of all was mine!

These ponies belonged to my mom when she was a kid, and I played with them for years when I was a kid. Billa discovered them in a box in the kitchen (a lot of remodeling and organizing has been happening at their house) and had quite a fun time lining up Papa Palomino, Morgan, and the rest of the gang. When she gets older, they too will sit on her shelves for her to play with!

Happy Tuesday!