Allia recently returned to soccer. Yesterday was her first game to play with her new team, and it was here in town. Most of their games are out of town, so it was a special treat. Our family went and so did a neighbor family and an extra neighbor friend so she had a huge cheering squad. She played well, and her team won 2-1.
Austin changed jobs, and although we celebrated his first week in his new position on my and Mariana's birthday, we are still on the old insurance until the end of the month. I *might* have jokingly told the children if they needed any trips to urgent care or the ER to get it out of their systems before we switch. Maybe that was a mistake?
Last Friday Sebastian was outside while Stephen and his friend were mowing the yard. He was shot with a rock bullet from the mower in his bottom. It split his shorts, undies and skin right open. So off we went for stitches.
We began our birthday opening family gifts after a special breakfast compliments of Austin. One of the kids' favorite things about being in a big family is the many gifts! Pawpaw and Manah even came over to join in the festivities.
At the end, we informed her that there was one more gift "too stinky" to bring inside. So she went outside to find...
A TRUCK!
Lito was getting rid of his old one so Austin took the opportunity to buy it for Mariana. He brought it back on his return from Abuelita's funeral last month. We went to great lengths to keep it a secret until now. I only let Allia in on it last night so she could be our videographer. The video she took is priceless. Mariana was so surprised and so thankful. It was really sweet.
Sadly, the DPS is really backed up due to COVID. We couldn't get an appointment for her permit until December, and that was in a neighboring town 45 minutes away! She will have to stick to parking practice until then. And Allia just may be asking her to borrow it occasionally. ;)
We three September girls had a nice lunch together thanks to JD birthday club, and we picked up enchiladas for dinner. I also received some nice cocoa butter lotion like the kind they had in our beach house last month and a Nutri Ninja blender since ours just broke. Mariana is a big smoothie maker so I teased her that the gift was really for her more than me!
As a little early birthday gift, Mariana got her braces off today. Yay! We love her beautiful smile even more now. :)
Before
We had these rocks delivered for a flower bed we are turning into a rock bed since it only likes to grow weeds. I thought it was so clever when I came outside, and Sebastian had his sword sticking up out of the middle of it like the Sword in the Stone. Creative little guy!
Mariana and Gloria have had some trouble sharing a room lately due to their different preferences as far as clutter and things out in the room go. After lots of begging and bargaining, we agreed to replace their bunks with these loft beds. Now they each have their own defined space (including a quiet space to study/do school). Gloria loves how hers is it's own little room!
We celebrated with a special breakfast, dinner and family gifts. Mariana also took Allia out to a favorite coffee shop to spend some time together, and the day was rounded out by a movie with sisters and a friend. I think she had a lovely day!
We took advantage of the long weekend for Allia's birthday party Friday night to Saturday. She originally planned to have a big party with all of her guy and girl friends at our pool and then a few girls to sleep over. But COVID prevented that idea. So she celebrated with a few good friends coming to swim at our pool, ice skate and a movie and sleepover here. They were a great group of girls, and they had a lot of fun.They were singing "I am 16 going on 17" from the Sound of Music. :)
