Ward Party and the Seminario Twins (no this is not an announcement)

Miranda at the ward party!

The twins at the ward party.

Fernando's started a tradition the last few times of dressing the same as Sam.

He said he's going to figure out a sneaky way to dress the same as Sam for ward parties even when Sam's like 17 years old. I'll bet Sammy will LOVE that.

Miranda with her friend from nursery. Bad angle...Miranda is really not 10 times the size of her friend.

Miranda telling Santa she only wants her family for Christmas. Aww. But later she told Fernando she was kidding. She said she actually also wants a pair of jeans because hers keep falling down. (Why do they make little girl's jeans with hips??!) Plus her family. I think Santa can handle that.

Samuel saying nothing to Santa and hoping the visit doesn't last long.

Miranda shooting us one more coy look as she exits.

The twins leaving the party. Thanks for coming!

Notice I didn't even show up at the ward Christmas party. ;)

After being in the car too long Miranda sometimes looks like this...

this

and also this:

while Sammy looks like this

and this

reprimanded

As you can see by my husband's last comment I have been duely reprimanded for my bloglag. Great word, huh? I expect credit for that word if any of you reuse it.

I do have to say that some people (said husband) have finished their finals and can freely check the blog without a second thought while others (celebrated inventor of word "bloglag") still have a bunch of finals to grade and feel guilty spending any more time on the computer than the amount heretofore unmentioned toddlers currently complain about. THERE.

But here is a post as requested and I'll do better.

Since he was complaining, I will post a good dad moment by FerMANdo. There are a plethora to choose from, naturally.

The snow glittered down all day like tinkerbell dust but only a bit stuck.
Of course the kids wanted to go out.

Fernando got home. Perfect timing.

He went straight from his shirt and tie to boots and sweatshirt and coat. He still had his church socks on.

Somehow his magic worked with that meager snow to make a whole snowman, short--but we're okay with that around here--and perfect. He had pink bubble gum eyes, a classic carrot nose, and a fruit-roll-up mouth. (pictured below without mouth)

Miranda ate the eyes out the next morning. It must have been excruciating for the snowman.

The kids loved making the snowman with Fernando, but there's more!
The germ concious should stop reading here.
He took our snowcone flavoring and mixed it with snow in a bowl and fed it to the kids with a spoon. I even tasted some. It was scrumptious.


Here's two snowmen.


So, he's a pretty fun dad, I'd say. The kids agree.

issues

We've had issues.

I had grades for finals and Fernando had finals and I have been sick and our computer zapped to black.

Our computer is back from the computer doctor and seems to be fixed, Fernando and I still have some finals left, and I feel a bit better, although I haven't been anywhere but the house and a brief car ride with Fernando and the kids since SUNDAY. Basically, I've been wearing sweats, the SAME sweats, for that entire time. It's been scary.

So here is a make-up post. Thank you for hanging in there, anyone who is actually still checking on us.

Here are some fun things from the last little while.

The kids and I went to a movie for mom's Madagascar 2. I wasn't a big fan of the first one and there were some undesirables in this one now that I think about it, but I did laugh out loud a few times and the kids seemed to like it. And I like what they like.


I made these cookies for Fernando and he was actually happy to see them before, well, you know the rest. There's always next year.


Fernando took the double stroller in his trunk and I had to go somewhere in the neighborhood with the kids so we pulled out the single and went double-decker style. The kids loved it. I think they were warmer too.


Fernando and the kids decorated our fake tree (I am a real-tree purist but we thought it would be less hazardous to get a fake for our California years) and made what was a Charlie Brown tree beautiful and spirited. The kids were wonderful helpers.



We had a lovely Thanksgiving and loved, LOVED, loved having Fernando with us for whole entire and consecutive days. It was really something to be thankful for.

Finally, I will share a story.

Miranda, sweetly: "Mom, I would love you and sit by you even if you had bad breath."
She sits down by me.
Me, thinking, okayyy...: "Thanks, Miranda. That's really nice. Do I have stinky breath or something?"
Miranda, seriously: "Mom. Smell your breath."
Me, taking the hint, covering my mouth towards my nose and breathing. I can't tell how bad it must be: "Sorry, is it pretty bad?"
Miranda: "Mom, I'll still sit by you and love you."
Me, truly touched: "Thanks, Miranda."

in honor of the chinese

These are in honor of the Chinese people. They bought the squeaky shoes for us and own the hat...and they're going to have their own little squeaker soon!

stragglers

I found some great pictures of my sister's that I haven't posted here. So here they are, in no particular order:

Sammy trying on some bling.


Who says jewelry isn't manly?


Fern and Mimi singing along (con gusto) at the Boyz2Men concert.


Katie enjoying the concert and Sam evidently struggling with an I-just-ate-2-glazed-donuts/what-kind-of-horrible-parents-take-
their-little-son-to-a-late-night-concert hangover.


Becoming one with the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum


Giddy with himself that he fits in stuff.



What caption can I possibly use for this?
How about "Life as usual"


Series of us enjoying Katie's amazing "Fernando Pinata" which can never be topped. This was for his birthday.







This must be some sort of therapy...hitting your"self" with a whiffle bat.

And, of course...

a sweet little story

Yesterday we had to pick up some materials at the LDS Humanitarian Center. The sisters are making infant caps for newborn kits this week. Anyway, we had a fun time looking around in there...if you haven't been you should go. I read an article the other day by a member stating that the Church should start offering humanitarian service missions for people to serve. I was so surprised that people don't know that the Church already has hundreds of humanitarian missionaries all over the world.

I have trouble staying on topic lately.

So we carted the boxes of materials downstairs and out to the car...and I couldn't find the keys. (No my car did not suddenly heal, we were using one of my mom's cars for our errands.) I looked around the car, through the windows at the ignition, in the carseats, the floor, searched my pockets a few times, all while trying to keep the kids safe against the car and the boxes. I think my kids have pretty well figured out how to sense when their mom is stressed. Sad. I finally gave in to the fact that we were going to have to go back in the building and search.

We went in, and I said something like, "Please help me find my keys" aloud as we hopped in the elevator. Miranda said a real prayer then that I could find my keys. I was not as faithful as I should have been because I was still thinking, "What if we don't find them?!! Who is going to come help us?" Stuff like that.

Luckily Miranda has faith. We stepped off of the elevator and walked a few feet and there, on a little table, were my keys!

I said, "LOOK Miranda!!!"
She said, "Heavenly Father found them!"

It was a great moment.

The people on the bus

I really like public transportation. I think countries with no cars and lots of convenient public transportation/walking have it right. I STILL can't figure out why we can't have a European-like train system here.

Since I'm sorta getting off topic here already I will mention that I recognize that I lapsed a bit on my blogaday, and thank my brother for cajoling me back into blog activity. He also asked if our family in Cali are okay. The fires got SO close to their house...to the hotel we stayed at last time if you remember, Chinese people...but it's under control now. We have more details we will share later when we catch you online.

Another thing I should mention because I'm off topic. SAM did not sleep very well last night which resulted at us watching Lawrence Welk from 4-5 AM. I am also wondering why we don't have a Lawrence Welk type show these days. There are lots of talented people I would love to watch perform wholesome and fun stuff week after week. Why does every talent show have to be a competition instead of just for the entertainment? Wow I'm opinionated today. I did get to watch a women's conference talk that was excellent until 5:30, so thank you Sam. You could not have convinced me I would live to say that two hours before when I was trying to battle him back to sleep.

So, back to public transportation. I think I could figure out how to take it most places I want to go. Since the car I drive won't pass inspection I've been thinking about how to take the bus/trax places more often, and so the other night I decided to try it. The moral of this story will be that it is easier to take public transportation WITHOUT two toddlers PLUS a double-stroller that won't fold up properly, three jackets, two hats, milks, a binky...you get the picture.
The kids on the bus go up and down...



But we did have fun. We had to ride three different buses and walk a bit to get where we were going, but it was surprisingly quick and an adventure. And we only had one potentially unsettling experience with a guy offering the kids treats out of his backpack. I refused before he could produce said treats so we may have really missed out.
We got a bit crazy after a while. But that happens no matter what we're doing.

4 things

1. Happy Veterans Day. I'm thinking of my Grandpa Howell who served in Korea and my Grandpa Baugh who served in the military for a time here in the U.S., and my cousin Carter who is serving now and my friends and friends' husbands and so many others. Thank you so much. I think about how being willing and ready to die for your country makes certain kind of men and women. I worry that we have less and less of their kind as time passes. But I still have hope.

2. Does anyone know how to get this background off my blog?

3.
4.

a record

A class at Church today got me thinking about how sometimes the most lasting contribution we can make is what we write about, and what we keep written record of about our lives. I have some memories that are stronger because I wrote them down at the time EVEN MORE than because they were strong to begin with. Isn't there some saying about a life unrecorded is a life unlived? How scary to think there could be nothing left to remember us by if we don't write ourselves down. I have had and keep some ideas about writing and reading and the spirituality of both. Anyway, the point of my saying all of this is just to be thankful and glad that this blogging thing came along, because I'm recording our lives in ways I would not be otherwise. We're blogging ourselves into permanancy.

Fernando made a puppet show theater

In this play, the frog turns into a very, very handsome fellow.

snow clothes

I missed another day yesterday. Got a little cold. And the dog ate my homework.

But look at this little smidge tromping around in the snow. He's a little stayed puffed marshmallow man.


Sometimes he says bug "gub" and puzzle "zupple."

Privacy

Today my sister told me the funniest story. She said she went into the bathroom and shut the door then she heard Miranda's little feet speeding behind her and then Miranda started banging urgently on the door and yelling, "Wait! I need to help you with your privacy!"

I taught her the word privacy referring to the fact that people need to have the opportunity to be alone in the bathroom. Rest assured that she nearly ALWAYS bursts in when I am about to use the restroom, shuts the door behind her and says, "Mom, I came in to give you some privacy." She has to be there to make sure I'm having some uninterrupted alone time.

So now I'm wondering if privacy is something we actually give to people and if we do, isn't the very fact that someone else has to GIVE us privacy really not that private. Philisophical meanderings.

Anyway, this funny story told by Katie made Katie and Fernando both remember an even funnier thing our aunt told us. She said she used to retreat into the bathroom when both her kids were little and lock the door, and just breathe, or sometimes cry...it was her sanctuary. Imagine, the BATHROOM is your sanctuary. But the funny part is that her little boy would stick his hands under the door and reach for her while she was in there. Hah. I just love that story because it is SUCH a mom story and kind of a scary movie at the same time. THERE IS NO ESCAPE....

Leaf it to us

Yes I am aware this should be a political blog tonight but instead here we are playing in the leaves!!!

Can't get much better than this for a fall day...warm, slowish, honey-sunlight burning on the leaves, crunchiness, sweet crisp air, ahhh. Perfect. So much more beautiful because it doesn't last.

Childhood is a little like that, especially from the vantage point of a parent, so perfect you want to just hold on to every last second.