Litlte Superman

He received this shirt from Lito and Lita, and he asks to wear it almost every morning! Sometimes he even throws a fit if it is not in his drawer. :/ You can't really see, but it has a cape in the back. Super cool...you can't really blame the guy!

Swim lesson finale

I have no photos at all. :/ I had to miss their last day due to another sick child (who also had to miss the last day)! But Manah took the well ones, and everyone (including the sick one) passed their levels except Mariana, who was in level 5. To her credit, levels 5 and 6 are tough, and she missed several days due to this rotten illness. So she still did really well! And Allia has officially graduated from lessons since she passed the highest level! (sniff) I am super happy with their lessons this year in our neighboring city. They get 2 more days of lessons, the preschoolers get longer lessons, and the overall quality of the instructors is so great. They had some good ones before, but it was very hit or miss. If I can swing it with the new baby, we will definitely be back there next year!

Wedding weekend

We had the great privilege of taking part in the wedding of some close friends' oldest child this weekend, who also happens to be one of Austin's coworkers now. It seem so crazy because we babysat him in the church nursery when we first met many years ago. Even then, he was a pretty amazing boy, and now he has grown into an even more amazing young man. Austin and I were blessed to be he and his new bride's sponsor couple, helping to prepare them for a sacramental marriage in the Catholic Church. And though we didn't need to be at the rehearsal because we were only bringing up the gifts at the wedding mass, they generously included us in the rehearsal dinner. The whole weekend was just so beautiful!

Father and Mother of the Groom, followed by groom and bride in the Grand March

Our girls' first experience with the Grand March. Last time we went to a wedding that had one, they were teeny! (on a side note, you can see the flower girl there who is a good friend of the girls. She wore their first communion dress! She was supposed to wear hers, but it didn't fit anymore, so she asked to borrow Gloria's. It was so funny to see Gloria later in the evening, dancing with her own dress!)

 Of course, all the children had a grand time at the reception!

 Allia looked so beautiful and grown up (hard to see beyond the giant hand sanitizer bottle...I had to at least try and keep the germs under control!). She wore a dress of Austin's grandmother's, tucked by a pin in the back, that she found in my closet. It had grown a little too snug for me anyway! And she asked for lipgloss and a little blush, to which I slightly grudgingly obliged. ;) Growing up so fast!
And the little munchkin in the photo with her kept us busy. We kept having to retrieve him from the foyer area where he wanted to play, to which he would sprint as soon as we turned our backs!

Swim Lessons

We are in the throws of our 2 weeks of swim lessons, and it is going great. I opted to drive to Bryan for lessons this summer since I have always heard their lessons are better. Plus they offered the more advanced levels so that Allia and Mariana could take lessons too this year. I have not been disappointed. And the drive is really only an extra 5 minutes, so it is totally worth it!

Allia is really enjoying her level 6 class. She is swimming really well and getting some great tips from her teacher.

 I mistakenly enrolled Anastasia in Preschool 1 since she has never been in lessons before even though she swims like a little fish. For some reason, the teachers refuse to move her to a higher level, even though I have talked to them several times because it is obvious to me that she needs to move up. Oh, well. :/ At least she is having fun even if I am a little frustrated!

Gloria is super happy. She loves her teacher (I have to admit he is pretty great), and her whole class is girls!

 Mariana missed the second day of lessons due to a one day 4H camp. Then, she got sick in the car on the way home from the camp and had to miss the next day. Poor girl! But she was back in there today, just a little weak. Hopefully she can build her strength back up and keep learning. She has a great teacher!

 Stephen actually moved down a level after the first day. He was so terrified of not being able to reach the bottom of the pool (even though he actually can, it is just a little deeper than our regular pool). Silly guy! He is doing great in his new class, though!

Cooking adventures

Once past the first trimester, I tend to like cooking in pregnancy. Though I have limited energy, especially this time around, I am so hungry all the time and require so much protein. But I get tired of the same old stuff. I have been experimenting the last few weeks with a crock pot recipe book that I really like. Last night I made "Chicken Curry in a Hurry" that got rave reviews from my hubby. The kids said it was "OK" which makes it a keeper since at least they will eat it! Yay!

Stephen's 6 Year Old Trip

After our family trip to see Lito and Lita, we left Stephen for the rest of the week. It was his turn to spend a week at Lito and Lita's house by himself. Of all our children, he is more of a home body type, so he and I were both a little unsure of how he would do for a whole week away from home with no siblings, but he did just fine!

They started with a trip to the toy store, and he had lots of exciting finds to report to us that evening when we were all settling back at home!
The next day, he and Lita went to the Aquarium.
 

 His souvenirs, Tigger (Tiger shark) and Squidward (who turned out to be an Octopus!).

Then it was time for the big fishing trip. They were up and ready to go at 4:30am!

 They caught quite a few fish! Stephen had the first 2 keepers.

After a big morning of fishing, he conked out on the way home.

He had a pizza lunch date with Lita.

On the way home, Lito took him to Natural Bridge Caverns.

He was so excited to tell us all about his adventures and especially to show off and share all of his new toys with his siblings. We are glad to have our sweet boy back! :)

Baby girl

We had our big ultrasound this week, and baby girl received a clean bill of health. Yay! It is a little nerve racking for me to be in a "high risk" category, even if it is just age-related. So I was happy to see her healthy and strong!
Here is her profile pic, and the ultrasound tech was able to clearly confirm the blood test results...definitely a girl in there. We can't wait to meet her!

4th of July/Corpus Christi trip

It is time for Stephen's big 6 year old trip to Lito and Lita's. We ended up making a family trip for the 4th of July weekend to drop him off. We were able to visit with Uncle Matt, Tia Nana, Julian and baby Benjamin while we were there, which was an added bonus!

Lita was prepared with some backyard fun for the kids. They had such a great time on this slide!

 Our second day, we went with Lito to a nearby pool/splash pad for the morning. It was tons of fun!

 That afternoon, the cousins arrived. Benjamin was quite a hit...and so was Julian. Sebastian and Anastasia especially enjoyed playing with him!

 Sunday we all headed to the beach together. It was quite windy with some rough waves!

 The kids spotted this man of war before anyone stepped on it, thankfully!

Cousins

 And some afternoon movie time

 Happy 4th of July! We hung out at home for the morning since the cousins had to leave after lunch.

Then Lito and Lita took us to their church picnic.
This guy stayed out of the action

 But not the rest of them. They played on this giant slide almost the whole time!

 Check out this crazy girl on the water slide. She had many of the parents there in awe of her lack of caution bravery!

Her description "You jump at the top and slide, then fly in the air. Then you bounce and fly in the air again until you land in the water."
Quite a feat for a 4 year old!