Summer left just as fast as it arrived and this year seems a little bit different. I, for one, didn't have reoccurring nightmares throughout the summer that it was the first day of school and my students had arrived and there were no desks, nor chairs, let alone planning done on my part. I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but it feels good. And it only took me 9 years to get here. I hope it's not a fleeting feeling of calmness. The Honduras trip was a good thing for me.
And the girls. They are getting so big. So independent. So helpful. Yes, I know this is just day 1, but I'm feeling appreciative of their proactive attitudes and their willingness to help more and more in the daily routine. They were excited last week to pick out their very own alarm from amazon and have loved getting up to that. Marcela made her famous breakfast burritos for all of us and Cecilia helped at dinner by helping with the salad and getting drinks for all of us after she saw that I sat down exhausted. Marcela even helped out by getting Armando to help her fill out the of the back-to-school paperwork with Armando while I made dinner. As Cecilia would say it was a Win-Win-Win-Win-Win. :)
Our 1st day of school photo ritual was adjusted a bit because Marcela, although willing to make breakfast for everyone, was not feeling too willing to pose for the camera. She was worried we'd be running late to school and just wanted to get out the door. Cecilia, on the other hand, would have loved to take a few more. Funny how they change. It has been the exact opposite in years past. I'll take what I can get. Sure love my girls. And watching them grow is hard and wonderful at the same time.
So, here's our little moment frozen in time. I'll blink and tomorrow they'll be taller. Our fifth and second graders:
The first leg of our trip was a red eye and even if I had wanted to look out the window, I was too exhausted to even try. I had barely slept at all over the past several days as we finalized preparations for our trip and finished out the school year. But when the sun rose and we began our next flight, I couldn't let much time go by without making my way to the window and taking it all in. It is against my nature. So I talked Ceci into letting me sit in her seat and she sit on my lap. We peered out together as the plane flew over Cuba and that is when I felt the first surge of summer. I was free from the preoccupation of school, work, and the rigor of our weekly routines. And I was present, just taking in the view with Cecilia and actually able to listen as she chattered along. "Mommy, I wish I could reach out and touch a cloud," she began.
"That would be fun! What do you think it would feel like?"
"A cotton ball!" she responded with an enthusiastic smile. And then her next thought came as she pointed to the wing of the airplane, "Imagine if you could walk out on the wing!"
"Do you think you could survive?" I questioned.
"No way!" she exclaimed. And without a breath, she continued into her next thought, "And that's what I've always wondered...what if we didn't exist? What if there was no world?"
At that moment I remembered having those same deep wonderings as a child, my mind not able to grasp the what-ifs and the hows of this grand universe. And as an adult I still don't understand everything, but at that moment, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the blessing of being a mother--her mother and Marcela's mother--the chance to journey with them in this life and to share the deepest of thoughts and questions, and especially to be able to really listen in the moment to her little mind and how it's processing everything that she takes in. These are the moments that invite true teaching and learning.
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Fast forward to a few days later as we were in the bedroom at Abuela Rina's house and I was brushing her hair, Cecilia said, "Mommy, this might make you cry, but why do you love me?" My heart smiled. She is so tender. And she knows that to express my love, sometimes I do cry. This time I didn't cry, but I told her all of the things that we love about her: how she is the comedian of the family, how her singing brings life to our house, how she is so kind-hearted, how she loves to read and how her artwork brightens our walls, how life just wouldn't be complete without her and the beauty and light that she brings to it.
I'm thankful to be a mom and I'm thankful for summer vacation where the daily rhythm of life can change enough that I can see, feel, hear, and touch these precious moments as a mother. The photos in this post came from one of those moments when I was free to follow Cecilia's impulse to venture into the quiet street in front of Abuela Rina's house and dance and spin in her Sunday dress for the camera. I love these pictures because they are her. I just followed her cues and her innocent, childhood beauty glowed in the setting sun. I need these moments to relish in the beauty of simple things that fill me.
Marcela turned the big 1-0 on Friday. How it is possible that Armando and I are now parents of a TEN-YEAR-OLD? I don't know! If someone could tell me how to turn off the fast-forward function on this show of life, that would be awesome. In the meantime, I'll keep feeling grateful that somehow within me I have had the drive and passion to record and remember our girls and the moments that make this life what it is. At least we will have little snippets here and there to remember it all. We all love flipping through the pages that make these family albums.
This is a peak into Marcela's mind and heart at 10.
The little things:
What is your favorite color: Any shade of blue.
Favorite breakfast: Crepes.
Favorite lunch: Hamburgers.
Favorite dinner: Pozole.
Favorite restaurant: Gardner Village Bakery, King Buffet.
Favorite book right now: Smile.
Favorite movie: Harry Potter and Star Wars.
Favorite television show: Good Luck Charly & Live and Maddy.
Favorite singer(s): Shawn Mendes, Flo Rida, Sofia Carson, Serena Carpenter, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber.
Favorite song(s): Stitches (Mendes), My House, (Flo Rida), Love is a Name (Sofia Carson), Sorry (Bieber), 22 (Taylor Swift).
Favorite things about 4th grade: I don't know why, but I like Greek Mythology. Whenever we have free time, we get to watch Greek Mythology movies. Zeus and Athena are my favorites. They're just awesome. Plus, in a play, I was Athena. I also love Social Studies. We have learned about the mountain men and Utah History. And I love recess, I love to play basketball!
Favorite sport: Basketball!
What got you interested in basketball: I just saw Hyrum playing one day and I thought he was lonely and I went to play with him and I shot a hoop and then I liked playing. So that's how I got into basketball.
Favorite family activity: Basketball (um, we haven't played that as a family!) I know, but it's basketball! (She just got a hoop and ball for her birthday so that will be something we do together soon!) I also love playing soccer as a family!
Favorite thing to do with Cecilia: Riding our scooters, playing Legos, and watching TV.
Favorite thing to do with Papi: Build stuff like Legos or anything that needs to be repaired like bicycle tires.
Favorite things to do with Mami: Cook, cook, and cook. I like to cook tortillas and anything she wants me to cook.
Marcela's specialty for the last month has become breakfast burritos. She started the week the final exams began to ensure we all had a solid breakfast and has been such a help to all of us in our morning routine with this skill. She is becoming momma's right hand girl!
Favorite thing to do in your spare time: TV, TV, and TV. (This doesn't surprise me because she never gets to watch cause we rarely have quiet days at home.)
What is your favorite thing to do outside: Ride my scooter!
Who are your best friends: Sarah, Lily, Hyrum, Nadia, Shannon, Brittany, Issac, and Yuri.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? You know that one Mami! PARIS!!!!
The Bigger things:
What do you want to be when you grow up? A babysitter.
Marcela loving on her baby cousin, Finn. Marcela loves all babies and always begs for me to ask mothers anywhere we are if she can hold their babies.
What makes you happy? My family.
What do you like to learn about? Mountain Men. Anything fun that is not math. What is interesting about mountain men? They live in the mountains basically. They're cool because they can just make traps and be successful.
What do you do really well? You're kidding me? You know what I do really well? I EAT really well. It's my talent.
Would you eat worms? Sure.
Your uncles might take you serious on that one! (Don't send it to Lance please!)
What is hard for you? Sally (name changed) and math and anything boring or dumb.
What makes you sad? Oh my gosh. These questions are so down deep! Hmmm...what makes me sad? Anything bad, like if someone kills someone, or anything violent.
What would you like to become better at? Handling peer pressure.
What do you want to accomplish before you are 11? I want to make and keep good friends.
Is there anything else you want to remember about you right now: Life is hard (laughing) which it's probably going to just get harder, so!
What make life easier for you when it gets hard? Love from my family and friends.
Dearest Marcelita, we love you too and life is hard and it does get harder as you grow and experience things, but you have hit it spot on that love from family and friends is what makes it all worth it and we will always be here for you--both when life is hard and when life is great!
One of Cecilia's gifts is art. She has taken to "sketching" and claims that the trick to a good sketch is making mistakes all along the way. The other night as I rounded the corner from the bedrooms to the kitchen I caught her kneeling in front of the picture of Christ that we have hanging in the living room. It touched my heart to see her kneeling to sketch this photo as if she were doing it with absolute reverence.
We always look forward to this program, but this year was extra special because both of the girls were dancing.
Marcela always looks forward to the annual cultural dance and this year she was able to learn a South American flute song on the recorder called "El Condor Pasa."
She and her classmates also danced "Potolos" from Bolivia.
I'm a happy and proud mom today! Cecilia did an outstanding job at her very first cultural dance celebration. Her class (first graders) danced to the Colombian "Pollera Colorá" and she made so proud because she is so much like me (timid and shy), but she didn't let that stop her from having fun on stage in front of hundreds of people! (Something I'd have a hard time doing today, not to mention when I was a 1st grader!)
Watch for her shimmy shoulder magic at about 1:30. She surprised us all! Go Cecilia!
Armando took the youth in our ward hiking to Donut Falls last weekend and they had a blast. This is a video that the president of the Young Women sent to me. Armando is working hard to teach the young men to be responsible and, of course, he is always finding a way to have fun with them too!
Cecilia and I ran with Marcela at one of her practices last week. I had to snap a shot of Marcela racing her friend, Brenna, as they practiced their running. Brenna's a really fast runner, but I think she was at a disadvantage against Marcela's longer legs.
Marcela was invited to participate in a program at our school called Girls on the Run.When the P.E. teacher first talked about it, I thought it was a simple running program, but after I attended the first parent meeting, I've learned that it's so much more.
The program lasts for 12 weeks (meeting twice a week) and consists of mini-lessons that teach the girls to understand themselves, value relationships, and the joy of teamwork as they exercise. At the end of the 24 sessions, the girls run a 5K with a running partner (me)! So it's time to get to work and get in shape!
It always feels weird to celebrate a birthday the weekend before and then not do anything at all on the actual birthday. So on the morning of Ceci's birthday, we put up the birthday banner and sang to her and Armando brought home a big cupcake for her that night so that she could blow out some candles on her actual birthdate.
One of the girls' favorite traditions is one where everyone sings in Spanish "Take a bite, take a bite!" ("Que lo muerda! Que lo muerda!") And of course if anyone is close, when the birthday person goes to take a bite, they push their face into the cake a little. In years past, this has brought tears when it was unexpected, but now they see it as a game.
I smiled when I saw this succession of photos.
And then Cecilia decided that in order to make things fair, Marcela needed a turn too!
I'm just glad everyone ended up smiling and there were no tears involved. Happy 7th Birthday to our spunky Koki! We love you!
