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.