Last Week of Summer Fun

Happy Friday!! Next week is Diego’s last week of summer vacation. There will be no soccer, no play dates, just us. It is his last summer before he starts his real academic life! I can’t believe my first baby is starting kindergarten. Wowsers. I still have two little ones to enjoy at home and we will all have our last summer hurrah next week as a family. So I will be taking a little time off from writing but I hope to practice a lot of photography and finish a couple of books that I have started. The most important part of taking a little time off? To enjoy Diego and the rest of my boys of course. I’ll be back in about a week!

Here are some new discoveries I want to share with you before I go:

A cool photography site: Humans of New York

Another great photography blog: dustjacket attic

A blog about an American family who sold everything and decided the world will be their home: A King’s Life

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Your friend,

Betty

Ready to Read?

I had a dear friend email me yesterday with the news that her little one was expressing an interest in reading. Her exact words were, “Mami, show me how to read.” OMG. I. Love. It!!!
But how does one really do it? I’m not an early-childhood teacher or an elementary teacher but an English teacher for the secondary grades (disclaimer: yes, I make grammatical mistakes here and there…my passion is literature. ha!) but Diego started reading right before his fourth birthday (humble brag…now I’m being a mom) and these are some of the things that worked for him. “Worked for him” in the sense that he also expressed an interest in reading very early and these were the materials that I noticed he enjoyed. Did they teach him to read? I don’t know but they surely can’t hurt if you use them for your child. [Read more...]

If I Had a Classroom

Many of you already have the kids back at school or are preparing them to go back any day now. I know a few of you are teachers and are setting up your classrooms for the new school year. How exciting! As I mentioned to you before in my “Back-to-School Tips for You” post, a lot of bookstores and libraries have the back-to-school displays out and ready. I am preparing Diego for Kindergarten so on Friday we took a trip to Barnes and Noble and had an abundance of books to choose from to help ease those first day jitters.

Of all the books to choose from, we came across How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills and we loved it! I thought about how if I was still teaching middle school, I would totally read this book to my students. I would read this book to any child. Rocket is an adorable puppy and a hesitant student at first. He chews on sticks under a tree and wants to nap instead of joining a little yellow bird who has set up a tiny classroom. The little bird decides to start lessons and begins by reading a story but pauses, creating a cliffhanger and leaving Rocket wanting more. Once this little teacher realizes that Rocket can’t read, she is determined to teach Rocket and Rocket starts to learn letters and begins to love stories. The beautiful pictures depict the changing seasons and the “school breaks” where we see Rocket waiting patiently yet practicing what he has learned, and excitedly awaits the return of his teacher.

What a great book for a reluctant kindergartner! I think that it would be great for older kids too so they can remember how amazing it feels when something new is learned. Check it out! I promise you and your little readers will love it!

Do you have any back-to-school favorites? Maybe we saw it at our bookstore? Would love to hear…and read!

Your friend,

Betty

Be Nice to Yourself

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? I had a lot to think about this weekend because I took a lot of time for myself (thanks to my supportive hubby)! It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day craziness that can leave you irritable and crabby and perhaps even saying, “I’m so tired. I feel fat. I haven’t had time for myself…” Do you recognize the negativity with which we fill ourselves EVERY SINGLE DAY? Here’s me raising my hand. I heard something over the weekend and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It’s not the first time I hear it but it was a well needed reminder, “Be nice to yourself”. We are not showing ourselves gratitude.

Why are we so mean to ourselves? Not just the working moms or the stay-at-home moms but all of us. Why can’t we be more gentle? So another reminder: if we can not be nice to ourselves, we can not be kind to our children, to our significant others, to our students, and to the baristas at our coffee shops! We mirror each other and without that positivity floating around, well then…we are all just walking Negative Nancys. Hmph.

I have 7 tips for you (and for me) to practice the niceties on ourselves. You can do one a day or you can do them all over a weekend. I did them all this weekend and feel amazing. Challenge yourself. Be conscious and see what works and what doesn’t. Most of them don’t take much time at all and they don’t have to cost a thing! [Read more...]

Where Shall I Sit, Gentlemen?

This is our kitchen. It’s a modest size and I love the appliances. The fridge is the best but you can’t see it here. The problem right now is this…

Not the kids!! The table! This table is from Japan. Jose and I started off in Japan as a family of two and had a nice tiny apartment. We bought this table with 2 chairs and it extends so we placed Santi’s high chair at the end and we dragged in a dining room chair when we were four. Now we are five! We just attached the space-saver high chair for Jordi that both Diego and Santi used. I’m not dragging another chair in AND I really don’t want three meals a day done in the dining room. I grew up Mexican…the dining room is for special occasions, unless I put plastic covers on my cloth seats…jajaja! Sorry mami! So I’m shopping for a table and I think it should be white. I know, I know! With three boys? BUT, look at my cabinets. They are white. The table must also seat five. So I found this from Crate and Barrel

and this from Pottery Barn

and then I got a little crazy (and distracted) and just wished for this from someone’s dream board on Pinterest

I’ll let you know what we end up getting. Jose might just veto the whole thing. We always plan to re-do a room and then forget about it. It isn’t easy to shop for furniture with 3 boys! But maybe you have a store recommendation for me? Something on-line?? Help!

Have a great weekend!

Your friend,

Betty

To Quote the Famous…#2

“I have no time to be in a hurry.”
Henry David Thoreau

I came across these words as I was looking for the Albert Einstein quote for my back-to-school tips. It really made me stop to think. I feel the most stressed out when I am rushing. I’m always rushing. It’s hard not to when I am balancing three little lives apart from Jose’s and mine. I need to get things done a certain way, in a certain amount of time, by this time…it’s killing me. Literally. I wonder if that’s what Thoreau meant?

What’s your interpretation of the quote? By the way, have you read Walden? I know I had to in college but I can’t remember it anymore. Shame on me! It’s a classic!! I’ll add it to my list of books to read.

Your friend,

Betty

Wordless Wednesday: The Tiniest #1 Cubs Fan

Your Friend,

Betty

P.s. The Tiniest #1 Cubs Fan was photographed in three days. Day #2 was the day Mom had the most time to capture Cubs Hat and Santi’s adventures. Cubs Hat was never propped against Santi’s wishes. Santi did with Cubs Hat as he wished. Cubs Hat was most likely harmed in this project.

Back-To-School Tips For You

image: dustjacketattic.blogspot.com


Hi! Did you have a nice weekend? I did as I had a wonderful birthday! Having a summer birthday opens up the opportunity to do something summery on my special day. But because it is in the middle of August it always reminds me that it is almost the end of summer. With that thought comes the realization that school is about to begin! There is nothing better than the kiddies having a fresh start in September but I’m seeing now how it is also good for the parents to be ready.

The preschool schedule was a bit to keep up with and now that we will be watching Diego start Kindergarten, we wanted to start off right. As a family, we spent a big part of our weekend organizing and thinking about what we need to get done before Labor Day. As a former teacher, I thought about things that we could do to make everyone’s job a bit easier. Here is the list I made for us to help prepare for the first weeks of school.
[Read more...]

The Best Gift

It’s my birthday this weekend and look what arrived in the mail this week! Yes, the author of Jordi’s Star, Alma Flor Ada sent us books! Autographed books!! Bilingual books!!! Just like she said she would! I know they are for the boys but because they are for the boys…it made me so happy. [Read more...]

Olivia Theme Birthday Party

This is Olivia! She is my precious goddaughter and she turned 2 in March! Tiz (one of my BFFs) sent me these pictures to share with you. How I wish I was closer to celebrate with Tiz, Olivia and their family and friends. Tiz, as my guest blogger, included her party tips inpired by the book character Oliva. Enjoy! (By the way, Olivia is fashionably wearing a top from TJ Maxx, a skirt from Old Navy and Converse shoes from Nordstrom). [Read more...]