Las Fotos

Before Allie left, Kara and I had fun doing a photoshoot of the cuties dressed in semi-matching outfits. Are we ridiculous or what? So here's a blog devoted (mostly) to pictures.

Jumping shoots are exponentially harder the more people involved. Especially if two of them are small. It's a lot easier with just the mommies!

Oh how sweet, but hey look we can jump down from this too!

These two pictures are actually very indicative of their personalities. As you can see from Allie's shot we actually shot until it was quite dark and most of the pictures are wildly entertaining (at least to a mother). I have to say it's sad how good both of them are about pictures, they've both been photographed within an inch of their lives.

Camión de Volteo (?)

Obviously, the bigger the dump truck toy the more fun it is. We had a great time pushing these around the Schuberts back yard. Unfortunately toys are never as fun in your own yard. Still Caleb loved it in the sandbox yesterday. I guess I can count that as a win.

Señor Maravilloso

I finally got a CD of the pictures Kara took while she was here so I'm sharing a backlog of photos. These are just a couple where Joaquin looked really beautiful and a really interesting one of him and Daniel in the pool. To go along with a blog solely devoted to how wonderful Joaquin is, here are my favorite Joaquin moments lately.

1. In the tub the other day, as he was mixing Daddy a cup of pretend tea, "When I get older Daddy, I used to like tea". I think he was trying to say "When I older Daddy, I will like tea", but mixed up his future and past phrases. Totally cracked me up.

2. Tonight in the bath (we do a lot of chatting while bathing) he told me that my name is 'you' and his name is 'me'. When I told him I thought my name was me (my idea of a joke) he was very insistent that my name was 'you'.

3. Today when he told me three times when he needed to go pee-pee. Yeah!

4. When he sings 'You are my sunshine' and stops in the middle to tell me skies aren't grey, they are blue!

5. When he amends 'Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes' to knees and feet and then laughs uproariously.

Toboganes Dos

Ahh, the thrill of the forbidden. The more times I tell Joaquin not to climb up slides the more he (and every other child in the known universe) wants to. Taking turns is so last season. Anyway, the straight slides are actually quite hard to climb up as many of them are relatively steep. And the bumpy ones are ridiculously difficult. However, yesterday, while playing at the park on base, Joaquin discovered that twirly slides are much easier to climb up. He did this several times despite interruptions where he had to slide down to let other children have a turn. I think my favorite is his fixed smile that indicates concentration. He's having fun, but very serious fun. Still we conquered in the end. He made it all the way up to the top twice on his own. Veni Vidi Vici. Plus we got have lunch with Daddy and play on a playground without sweat running in our eyes. How often does that happen in August?

Trozos de Duplo

Joaquin is going through a most severe block phase right now. He is sooooooooooo in love with Duplos. I cannot possibly express how how important they are. These pictures show Joaquin moments after waking up yesterday morning. He arose and immediately went to go and play with his blocks. Notice the tongue sticking out of his mouth in this first one. Apparently the need for tongue out/mouth open to concentrate starts early. What does he build you ask? Well months ago it was towers but now we build one of two things. First, a pile of blocks on a base as 'food' for the Duplo kitty. What is really entertaining is that the kitty apparently likes peaches. Joaquin will search through the blocks for an orange one and say, "Oh, peach blossom, my favorite", quoting from his favorite cartoon. Of course the line is referring to bubble bath, but still. He also builds innumerable fork lifts. They used to be extremely top heavy and very tall and very unique, but now he has the formula down. What you see him building in these pictures is the engine (yes that's what he would tell you too). This is made of the black and brown blocks (b/c duh, that's what color engines are). This spans two little cars, connecting them together. Then two long pieces for the 'forks' are placed on the other ends of the cars. The most precarious part is the 'window/smokestack', which is a tower of clear blocks with a large Duplo window on top. Needless to say this falls off at the drop of a hat and frequently breaks while being attached to the forklift causing crying and hysterical fits. (We're having a fit throwing stage, joy!) To tell you just how serious Joaquin is about forklifts, I tried to use his blocks to build a bus the other day and he almost went crazy. (I was just tired of the everlasting forklifts, but I realize that was stupid of me, nobody say anything.) He literally tried to pull blocks out of my hand and was screaming at me. I had to punish him since he can't treat me like that, but mommy definitely learned a lesson too. Forklifts forever!

Zapatos y toallas

Ahh, the birth of more little troublemakers. Considering it doesn't feel all that long since Kara and I were running around the church screaming at the top of our lungs, I was very touched to watch Joaquin and Allie run around the lobby this morning. Admittedly the foyer/lobby is a nice open space after people start going home and as there is very little furniture in the way it is definitely an ideal spot for some serious running. I'm just impressed that Allie can run in flip-flops. That child can wear any shoes; there is nothing too difficult if it involves shoes. In fact earlier during Sunday School (I was helping in the 2 yr old class) she was wearing my 4" patent-leather black pumps. She looked fabulous! Anyway, watching Allie and Joaquin both run is a study in contrasts. Kara and I have decided that Allie scampers (we debated over prancing, but it really is more of a scamper) while Joaquin chugs along.

But just to prove they aren't complete juvenile delinquents, here's a picture of them with their swimming lesson completion certificates. Joaquin had every skill checked off, not b/c he was taught them during lessons but because mommy works with him, it still counts! They're also eating their celebratory fruit snacks for the end of swimming lessons 'party'. Amazingly enough they look this cheerful even after swimming lessons ended with Daniel dropping Joaquin off the diving board into his teacher's arms. He was actually relatively cooperative and only seemed freaked out at the last second. When I pulled him out of the diving pool to tell him how brave he was all he had to say was, "I got water in my eyes!". Then he jumped off the side of the pool into Daddy's arms and they swam around. Guess he's not too traumatized.

El Esé

This is Joaquin the gangster. We had a little fun the other evening styling Joaquin's hair a little different. Turns out that he looks very gangster-y with his hair slicked back. He liked it though. He's actually beginning to get a few opinions about hair lately. He definitely prefers it a little mussed. If I comb it too perfectly straight he whines and poofs up the back with his hand.

Since this is such a short blog, I'll squeeze in one goofy Joaquin moment. He'll probably stop saying this in another month or so, so I have to remember it! As is usual for Albuquerque in late summer we've been having our afternoon

'monsoon' rains and thunderstorms. Joaquin is quite the fan and actually likes to sit on the porch and watch. He calls it, "Thumpter and Lightenening". I love it!