Los Primos, Octubre 2011

 I'm ashamed to admit that although we went to the Balloon Fiesta this year and had a lovely time, we forgot the camera.  Seriously.  Can I write a blog about a child in Abq and not have a blog about the Balloon Fiesta in Oct?  Is that legal?  What made it even more fun was that Jonah was in town!  We saw him at the Balloon Fiesta and then he and Isaac came over for a play date along with Allie and Bella.  It was sheer craziness.  I thought Kara, Rachel and I could talk through anything, but with each of us balancing two children is was definitely nutty.  We actually had a great time photographing all the kids together as you can see.  Even I (the non-photographer) got pictures with everyone actually looking the same directions.  And Joaquin's faces are fantastic (especially during the silly picture).  The picture of Joaquin and Jonah playing tag around my coffee table is a little blurry, but they got up an impressive rate of speed for the limited space.  My favorite activity was actually all the boys playing the piano.  Jonah started by just playing a few notes and then singing "Row, row, row your boat".  It was actually super cute, but once Joaquin and Isaac got in on the action it became mostly banging on the keys.  Joaquin told me, "we sound like a tornado, we sound like a thunderstorm!"  Not an inaccurate description really.  It was especially adorable to see Bella and Isaac interact as well.  Just because they aren't our personality-loaded firstborns doesn't mean their personalities aren't just as well-formed.  I look forward to many more years of getting to know these cuties.

La Piña Que No Era Ratón

I unfortunately don't have a picture for this particular post.  But this story is too good to be forgotten for lack of photographic evidence.  So it starts with a thunderstorm early last Wednesday morning.  Joaquin was woken up and he came into our room complaining of a bright light.  I told him it was lightning and we snuggled until the brief storm ended and Joaquin waltzed happily back to his room all by himself.  Congratulating myself on a good mommy moment where everyone was happy and I didn't have to get up, I rolled over and went back to sleep.  A few moments later I hear, "Mommy, mommy!"  Daniel nicely got up and went to shush Joaquin before he woke Jamie.  I relax and then I hear, "Bethany, Bethany".  So I get up and walk to Joaquin's room.  Joaquin is huddled on his bed and Daniel is leaning over something on the floor.  "Get a cup" he says, so I get my glass cup from my nightstand.  No he needs a plastic cup.  Finally I bring a cup he's satisfied with and he slams it over a dark shape on the floor.  Then he asks for his glasses (the order of this is important).  We close the door and turn on the light.  Apparently when Daniel came in Joaquin had seen something moving and they thought it was a mouse.  Joaquin was even standing on his bed pointing in a classic avoid the mouse pose.  So we flipped the cup over and discover a....... pinecone.