She's Hit the Double Digits!

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!

Marcela Dances Potolos from Bolivia

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. 

Girls On the Run

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!

My Ski Trip

Marcela took a field trip with the entire 4th grade to Park City Ski Resort a couple of weeks ago. Read below to see what she had to say about it!

My experience skiing was amazing! One of the things I loved is my instructor. I was so thankful that I didn't have the instructor that my friend, Leora, had because when she fell he would yell at you and pull you up by the hood. Another thing I loved is that you can do french fries to go really fast and then pizza to slow down. I was doing that and I kept falling because I couldn't have balance. In fact one time I ran into the fence because I didn't stop in time. This experience is one of my favorite experiences and I hope that YOU can go skiing one day and enjoy it as much as I did.

**After original post: One of the 4th grade teachers sent pictures of Marcela taking ski lessons. Thanks, Ms. Ford!

Thanks to Ski Utah for this fun opportunity!

Field Day June 2015

 Last June, on one of the final days of school, Marcela's class (my class) was watching a movie and having field day in the afternoon, so I decided to let Cecilia come along and enjoy the fun with her sister and friends. They had a blast going through all of the field day games and getting wet.

 Running through the sprinkler after playing water tug-of-war.

 Double Twister painted on the grass.

 Wet sponge relay.

 Gigantic soccer supposed to be played in crab-walking position.

Riding the Four-Wheeler

Growing up, we had a four-wheeler that provided some pretty exciting entertainment and great stories to tell and retell as the years have gone by. This summer when we went to Oregon, little Ollie had a four-wheeler (that he isn't big enough to ride yet) and the girls were very anxious to give it a spin. I think I passed them some four-wheeling DNA through their genes. ;)  It's a battery-operated one so they had to wait a day to charge it and they had so much fun when it was finally ready!

 Lilly, Grandma Brenda and Cecilia -- all plugged in as Marcela took her turn on the 4-wheeler.

This little cutie just loves being outside. 

Ollie has a love for technology:

Thanks, Aunt Lilly, for letting the girls enjoy Ollie's toy before he does. 

Didn't School Just End?

It seems like last year just ended and we took a long weekend and here we are at it again. Cecilia started 1st grade and Marcela 4th! Oh, my goodness, they are growing too fast! Cecilia was insistent that we put curlers in her hair the night before and was extra excited about her owl backpack (with wings that flap) and an owl lunchbox. This is her first year getting to go all day and she gets to take a lunch. 

A family friend who has a daughter just between the ages of my girls offered to make all three of them t-shirt dresses and matching jewelry for the first day of school. They picked out the fabric and wondered why their mom doesn't take them to the craft and fabric store more often. If only we lived closer to their Grandma Brenda! I just don't have the patience for sewing. 

Marcela wasn't quite as excited as her sister to get back into the swing of things, but after the first day (and now the first week), she comes home every day with new things that she is loving to do in her class and new reasons to love her teachers. Each day she gives me ideas of new things I should implement in my classroom and today she surprised us with an entire poem that she has memorized in her Spanish reading class. When I heard it, I wanted to cry. She is growing into quite the helper and really is her mom's right-hand gal, both at school and at home. I am so grateful for her willingness to pitch in and help and hope it doesn't wear off anytime soon.

After a few pictures around the school, we dropped Cecilia off in her line. Even though she didn't have any friends, she was happy to stand in line. It's always hard to have to leave them when everyone else's parents are standing in line with them. But they are stronger than their mama and do just fine.

Marcela was welcomed by a group of her friends and they really picked up as if they had just come back from a long weekend. They've been in the same class since 1st grade so they all know each other really well. :)

Here's to a great, healthy school year! And high hopes that the girls won't get sick too much. High hopes because it's day 5 and I'm home with Cecilia who vomited all the way to school today and I scrambled to find someone to take her and cover my class. Tomorrow we'll be laying it low and hopefully she'll recover quickly. Not the way any of us like to start a new year.