Feliz Aniversario

the number: 7 years

the outing: seafood at McCormick and Schmick's followed by some French Open style tennis at our local clay courts

the gift: a new oven (yeah, try not to be too jealous)

mini obama

Ed's aunt, known affectionately in our house as "Abuela", insisted on keeping the boys' hair really short this summer. Since she graciously cared for the boys while I worked this summer, I didn't protest.

When I met the boys and Ed at the airport in early July, they were sporting their new dos courtesy of an old school barber shop off Cesar Chevez Ave. in East LA. I got used to the look quickly and I must admit it is a very practical style for little boys made to endure the heat and humidity of a NoVa summer.

A few weeks into her stay, Abuela explained to us why she wanted the boys in short hair. "Barack Obama....OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!" she exclaimed. "Los ninos paracen a Barack Obama con pelo corto." She LOVES Barack and wanted them to look like mini Obamas.

Well, Asher definitely has Barack's ears and the short hair cut does accentuate them. Other than that...I'm not so sure of the resemblance! It also makes me grateful all over again that Ed's family are die-hard Democrats so my boys weren't styled into mini McCains or mini Romneys.

PB&J

Noe tends to cycle through foods. His latest "it" food is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every single day.

There are just a handful of foods that I have never loved. PB&J is on the top of that list. The slightest scent of PB&J sets off my gag reflex in full force. If I unearth even a speck of peanut butter inside the jelly jar, that jelly is deemed contaminated and forever banished from my kitchen. Same with jelly in the peanut butter jar.

My hatred of PB&J is one of my life's biggest mysteries. I love a toasted bagel with crunchy peanut butter, topped with honey. I also love warm bread and jelly. It's just when they hook up...the whole chemistry goes bad for me.

Back to Noe.....besides the fact that he is obviously punishing me for some unseemly deed (maybe all of those hours of language therapy I make him endure?), from a nutritional standpoint, pb&j definitely isn't the worst food he's obsessively cycled through. Whole-grain bread, organic peanut butter and low-sugar jelly is a pretty nutrient-packed punch, in my book at least.

Other far worse foods that had their 15 minutes of fame in Noe's life: french fries, cookies, french toast, chicken nuggets, life cereal, hamburgers, rice and, by far the very worst, fruit snacks.

Spanish Immersion

I guess our plan to have "Abuela" (Ed's aunt) teach Asher Spanish while nannying for us this summer, was half-way successful.

The other day, Asher announced:"Fuchi, fuchi...huele malo mis feets!"

Translation: Stinky, stinky...my feet smell bad!

Since Ed's family tends to converse in spanglish...heavier on the span than the glish...I have a feeling this might be the best we can do for Asher.

Creekin' in the Hood

This morning I took the boys creeking in the neighborhood pond. When we go to the creek, our main intention is always to find tadpoles and other critters, but we tend to make our presence known and those wild animals ain't nobody's fool.

I did see a couple of tadpoles this morning, although we weren't quick enough to catch them. They are in that cool half-fish half-frog state....teenagers without the attitude, I guess.

All About The Bike

Noe has been all about the bike this summer. His autism just seems to disappear when he is riding his bike. He exudes such a pure joy- as if he just won the Tour de France- every time he puts on his helmet and puts his little feet on the pedals. Yesterday Noe and Ed took an (almost) 2 mile bike ride along the W&OD trail.

Here he is....digging in for the final hill of the day.

We just hope we can keep up with him once we take his training wheels off.

Conditions & Limitations

Because I am a little obsessive about my writing, the desire to start a family blog has not been strong. Plus, I write for this other great blog. I am still a little hesitant to jump in, mostly because I'm not sure exactly what I want from this project other than to have a family record of our happenings. Maybe that is all it needs to be.

However, I do know what I DON'T want this blog to become....including a rant-fest, a year-long Christmas letter or a blog so overtly edited that the truth of my family completely disappears. I'm sure I'll do some ranting and some bragging and some editing along the way.....unless you really want to hear about how Asher picked his nose all through primary last Sunday or how Noe used a white hand towel for toilet paper the other day....but I'm guessing not.

So here we go....the Guzman family enters the world of blogging!!! Wish us luck and don't forget to check in with us once in awhile.