Living, Loving, Learning, Sharing

Elena started preschool today. I was thrilled to have found a Spanish Immersion Preschool for her and was actually surprised that there were several to choose from. As I predicted, Elena was more than ready to begin school and had no problem leaving our side. I wish I had that same quality and took change with ease. Marisa on the other hand had separation anxiety from her sister. As I buckled her into her seat to head home she whimpered, "Nena" (Elena) pointing to Elena's seat, then, "uh oh" thinking we must have forgotten to bring Elena back to the car. Luckily my explanation that we would return sufficed and she didn't begin to cry.

Elena was Jesse the cowgirl from Toy Story 2

watching some ducks
When Marisa realized the routine she would say "moa" (aka more) when they brought out the candy. No worries though she didn't forget her manners and said "Tah you"

Wish this one was not blurry.

We had a lovely time at Dora's (Omar's sister)beautiful wedding this past weekend. The girls were flower girls and Omar walked Dora down the aisle with his mom. The cutest thing happened as the girls headed down the aisle with their baskets. Elena and Erin, the other little flower girl, did just as instructed and dropped their flower petals one by one. Meanwhile Marisa followed right behind them, but she had a different agenda. When she noticed that the girls were dropping their petals she began picking them up one by one right behind them and putting them in her basket. It really was adorable, and I wish I had it on video. Instead I had to intervene otherwise the bride would've never made it down the aisle since Marisa is excellent at "picking up." In hindsight I should not have been surprised since she enjoys picking up after herself and Elena often. Congratulations and best wishes to Dora, Doug, Briana, and Annabelle!!















Later that afternoon we had an early birthday party for Elena. She had been insisting on having a pinata for her birthday and we didn't know how we would have one without invitees here in Austin since we just recently moved so we took advantage and had it in Brownsville with all her cousins present. And her cousin Andy also has a November birthday so we made it a double birthday party. Luckily Elena loves Cars so the theme was liked by both.








Finally, Mark Chesnutt had a concert that we had planned to attend Saturday night. We didn't make it, but he was staying in the same hotel we were and ran into him during check out so of course I asked for a picture with him. Two celebrity sightings in one year, I wonder who I'll run into next? ;)

making tortillas
enjoying playing with real looking food

I took the girls to the Austin Children's Museum for the 2nd time expecting to see the same thing but instead, I was surprised to see most of the exhibits changed. This truly motivates me to come back. I especially liked the exhibit In My Family. The exhibit was completely inspired by one of my favorite books, Family pictures. I think this exhibit was the girls' favorite too. There was Tejano music in the background for dancing, instruments and the cutest set ups for making tamales, tortillas, and traditional Mexican food. If you ever make it with your kids to this museum check out this exhibit and experience a little bit of south texan culture--through a child's eyes anyway. It really did have that feeling when I entered it. And as it turns out, it is a permanent exhibit that I missed previously because it was touring other Children's Museums. Oh and I love how not only this exhibit but all the other exhibits in the museum have all the literacy for each exhibit in English and Spanish. It gives me the chance to brush up on my technical Spanish.