Great Finds

Have I ever mentioned that our Mr Hugo l-o-v-e-s his airplane swing? He says swing now and "peass" for please. Once in the swing all we hear out of him is "Weeeeeeeeeee!" and "Again!" or "More peassss!"

What a great buy I scored in this airplane swing. While in Providence I went shopping at the awesome Savers with my Mother-in-Law when Hugo was small. Much smaller, infant like. I found this swing, his slide, and a brand new rocking horse on that shopping day. I also run, not walk, to the back wall where the books are kept. Can't keep from grabbing up books to add to our collection. People in Providence read super books and donate them to Savers to share with families like ours. Nice.

Oh yes . . . we have reached a stage in life where removing our monkey, fire truck, or in today's case - rocket pajamas, is a tremendous tragedy. Hugo wore his rocket pajamas until late in the day when he woke from his nap. At that time I was able to bate him with swim trunks for the pool and we thankfully had happiness.

4 Grateful Things

I am grateful for rain. To feed our earth, replenish our seas, and to quench our physical thirst.

I am grateful for my eyes. To see shapes and forms, patterns, colors, and my dear loved ones faces.

I am grateful for the beauty of the sky. I love to watch clouds move, shift in shape & color, look at the moon in all it's many fazes, and star gaze.

I am grateful for love in my life. I receive love from many sources. I receive love from my family, from girlfriends, from guyfriends, from young friends, from old friends, from my Chihuahua's Rodrigo and Bella, from my neighbors, from fellow church goers, from passersby, from a past boss or two, from blogging friends, from my son Hugo, and from my husband Cesar. Most surely and truly and completely I receive love from my Heavenly Father.



I photographed these flower images tonight a little before Hugo's bedtime. I wanted to share them on my blog with you. I thought I didn't have much to say tonight. Nothing of note really happened today. So began my copying of Millie's grateful topic idea. The rain, my eyes, beauty of the sky, and love in my life all flowed out of me as I watched/listened to an interesting television show on light and science with Cesar.

Rereading what I had written made me sit up and take notice. My 4 grateful things had come full circle with my acknowledgment of the Lord's love for me. I didn't plan to write this! It is simple and truth.

I know that our Heavenly Father designed and created this world for us to live upon. I know that he set in motion the elements which would not only sustain life here on this planet but would do so in such a way to give us, his spiritual children, much happiness and joy in his creations. I know that the Lord loves us.

President Thomas S. Monson said,

"God our Father has ears with which to hear our prayers. He has eyes with which to see our actions. He has a mouth with which to speak to us. He has a heart with which to feel compassion and love. He is real. We are his children made in his image. We look like him and he looks like us"

John 13:34-35 reads,

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Alissa believes and knows:

Life = Heavenly Father = Love = Heavenly Father = Happiness

Blue Dolphin

Since devouring the Twilight book series I've been longing for something else to capture me. I thought about checking out Stephanie Meyer's new book The Host but ... I don't think so. I did read the book The Other Boleyn Girl. I liked it. I wasn't swept away with it. In a way that was good. I was able to read and enjoy the story while still able to do housework and feed my son while reading it. I liked it. I also liked that fact that it wasn't so racy, especially considering the subject matter.

The Twilight books being targeted at a younger reader than myself, have me remembering books from my youth. My sister Maggie and I loved a book and its trilogy called Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce. I believe they were the last books I read before I graduated from the young adult section at the library. Every couple of years Maggie and I will remember back and say, "How about those Darkangel books. Read them lately?" Maggie owns them.

I bought this blow up dolphin at the dollar store for Hugo. He loves it. Plays and plays with it. I didn't think much of the blue dolphin while we were at the pool besides the fact that Hugo and every other kid there, wants to ride on it. Tonight as I download these photos into the computer I finally saw the dolphin. A blue dolphin. I can't recall the number of times I read the sweet book Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. I read it over and over and over. I wanted to be Karana's friend. I wanted to keep her company on her island and play with her wolves. I wanted to learn from her. I don't remember reading the sequel - I might have to check it out soon.
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Pool Time

Our town has this terrific toddler pool that is 6" at one end and 20" deep at the other. We have gone nearly every day this week. We've been experimenting with our arrival time. Sometimes we show up around 10 am. The water can be a little chilly at this hour. Sometimes we show up to the pool after Hugo wakes from his nap. I like this arrival time best. The water is warm. The sun isn't so harsh. Many kids are gone elsewhere for late lunches and naps.

The later arrival time doubles as an excellent bribe. The two of us motor about the house and yard during the morning hours with chores, playtime, and momma school. While eating our lunch I've been talking to Mr Hugo about the pool. Our conversation is repeated many times and goes something like this, "When we finish our lunch Hugo, it's nap time and then guess what??! It's pool time!!" Hugo will yell out, "Yeshhh!" So, naps have been nooooo problem at all. He just about runs to his bed once his hands have been washed and pulls his sheet up and over his head and makes pretend snoring sounds. I'll then creep out of his room backward, close the door and hear no more from him for an hour and a half or so.


Today a new twist was added to our pool time. We met with friends at 11 am. We claimed our spots poolside and raided the lunch coolers in shifts as the kids came up for sustenance breaks. Hugo is such a lightweight that he'll start to shake and shiver and climb into my lap to warm up. It doesn't matter how hot the temperature, all the running and jumping burns up whatever he devours and leaves him empty and cold, cold, cold and skinny, skinny, skinny.

I love to see Hugo with his big boy friends. He copies whatever they do. And it warms my heart to watch the older boys truly pay attention and include him.

The big boys love to put their backs against this fence and run the short distance of concrete and leap into the "deep end." Hugo copies their movements in his own fashion. He'll back right into the fence just like they do and count, "One, two, one, two!" and then run. At the edge of the pool he'll halt and crouch and wait. He'll gauge the water. He'll check out where the boys are. Then he'll leap. He pops up out of the water like a little cork and is thrilled with himself. Sometimes he'll scramble up the smooth concrete wall and out of the pool water. Sometimes he'll walk over to the two steps that lead the way up and out of the deep end.

Family of 3 Weekend

I am grateful for my family. My parents, my siblings, all of their children, my in-laws, my husbands vast extended family... Most of all I am grateful for my husband Cesar and our son Hugo. I love our time together. Be it fun filled and busy to the gills or slow and chill playing in the yard and fooling around with our new phones.

We got iPhones!!! this past Friday. Yeah!! I should really almost honor them with their own separate post but, nope. Hugo and I stood outside an AT&T store for 3 hours Friday morning. We were second to last to get the phones before they ran out! I would have died on the spot to wait that long and with a 2yr old mind you, and not have been able to purchase a phone. But I got um! "Whooped em again Josie, whooped em again" are the words I can hear in my head voiced by Cesar from his favorite Clint Eastwood movie - Outlaw Josie Wales. Did you know that my Father once dated Clint's X Sandra Locke? Well he did, so I guess that makes me 2 degrees away from said Mr Eastwood. 2 degrees right? Or does Mr Eastwood himself count? So, I would actually be 3 degrees away from Mr Clint Eastwood? Anyway, we are iPhone people now and loving it . . . well, except for the high AT&T pricing structure. And I am really missing Sprints free evenings after 7pm. AT&T makes you wait till 9pm. Pretty stinky of them if you ask me.

Yes, your eyes have spied correctly. Mr Hugo is wearing his pajamas outside while sitting and gliding through the air in his airplane swing with bug boots covering his feet. It was a Sunday. After his nap I took off his church clothes, we didn't have plans to go anywhere cause we were too busy wanting to play with our new phones (there was a car show in town!) so pajamas I grabbed. After a fabulously delicious dinner of blueberry muffins and fruit salad I went outside to water my garden. The boys followed. Cesar and Hugo walked around and talked and talked. Poor Cesar had to explain and name everything in the yard to our growing Hugo 24,000 times. Once Cesar got him into the swing I couldn't resist stopping what I was doing to run inside and grab my camera. I snapped a few shots for us to share and remember this afternoon by.
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We were happy. It was warm and breezy again. The sky looked stormy but no rain appeared until late in the evening. We always plan on relaxing and keeping still but it never seems to work out that way. Something interesting always seems to creep up on us and tempt us off and out. Like the car show.

We were together. We ate. We watched Backyardigans. We read books about a crazy Siamese kitten who thinks he is a Chihuahua. We napped. We talked. We sang songs. We played with cars. We helped each other. We looked at photos from the past. We made plans. We were together.

';[l/ (Hugo's Mark)

The weather has been beautiful the past few days. Warm with no humidity and breezy, breezy, breezy. The nights have been cool and perfect for summer sleeping with the windows open wide.


During daylight hours, Hugo thinks of our bed as his personal jungle gym. He rolls about across its surface. Daily perfects his jumping technique and somersaulting posture. He hides among the pillows all ET like, waiting patiently for me to spy him. He also constructs tunnels under the quilt and leaves little boy toy treasure behind for me to discover.


With the windows wide open Hugo has learned that the sheer curtains blow over the bed with the wind. He hasn't spoken the word wind yet. When the wind blows and he feels it against his skin he'll tell me that, "It's cooollld" and hug his arms to his chest, even if its hot out. Silly boy. Hugo doesn't understand that the wind is moving the curtains. He gets pretty upset when he tries again and again to right the curtains or to simply keep them from covering his current line up of cars. I wonder what his brain is telling him about these pesky curtains? Could they be alive? Could they be possessed? Could they have it out for him and his cars? I find it pretty amusing to watch him battle with the blowing curtains. He bats at them with his hands and arms. He'll yell at the sheer curtains saying, "Stop!". If they continue to persist for too long he'll even use his monster voice.


This week Hugo expressed something new about himself and I've been provoking him ever since to hear his words again.

Tuesday night after Hugo's bath I wrapped him up in his towel and carried him to his dressing table. I hugged him close and set him down to towel him off. He likes the towel to remain covering most of him as I do this because he thinks he's cold. So anyway, I started to massage lotion into his skin like I have after all his previous baths. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by his littleness and how he is my son. Memories of his baby self flooded in and I felt so much love for him. I began to tell him that he was my baby, my special baby and how much I loved him and I'm sure I would have gone on and on except he interrupted me. He said, "I boy!" I stopped and starred at him and went wow, how did he figure that out? I told him he was right, that he was my baby boy. Nope. He didn't like that. He piped right up again with, "I boy!"

Raspberry Picking

Our berries are beginning to ripen.
What a nice surprise it was to discover the bonus of having delicious raspberry canes already planted for us on the property when we purchased it. They grow about here and there almost like weeds around the house. Weeds which we love and won't ever complain about. We have shared some of our raspberry plant stock with friends. We have shared the tart and juicy berries with friends, interlopers,
many a rabbit and family. I would
like to one day transplant the canes
in such a way that we can walk
around the bushes to pick more
cleanly. I'm afraid that we leave
many a berry for the birds. I don't
mind feeding the birds, just am a little
greedy and want more for myself and to share. Want all the berries I can
get to eat now, bake, and freeze for
later. Maybe even some raspberry
jam. Haven't tried raspberry jam
yet. Better start looking for a recipe.

We Three

A car lover, a fire truck lover, and me.

I don't remember what was on the television at the time of this photo being taken but it certainly had our attention. Here we three are huddled together on the couch in Providence. I love how Hugo is crouched, with knees bent and hands folded between us.

He nods his head now in agreement as he says, "Yeshhh". I love it. For so long he has shook his head no to everything, even when I knew he meant - yes. Aaahhhh...... progress.

Small Miracles

This photo is of Hugo and a certain tow truck. Hugo really likes to play with this tow truck at his Vovo's house. I believe I have even mentioned this tow truck before. It is kept in a basket full of toys near the television in the living room. I have picked up this truck and tossed it into the basket full of toys numerous times. So has Cesar. Hugo hauls it out of the basket and plays with it. When he moves on to his next favorite toy at Vovo's house Cesar or I pick up the tow truck and toss it back into the basket full of toys near the family television.

You may be asking yourself right about now - What is all this fuss about a tow truck? Well. The fuss about this tow truck in the basket full of toys near the family television is huge business to me, the Momma.

A few months back, on Easter Sunday to be exact, I/Hugo lost my favorite ring. I was dressing for Easter Sunday service at a cathedral with Cesar's parents, his brother Raphael and his children. Hugo was pestering me. He wanted this and that and I kept saying no over and over. Finally he asked to wear my ring, a special ring given to me by Cesar. He raised up his pointer finger and said, "Ungh, ungh, ungh!" I gave in and placed my special ring on his finger. He heard Cesar on the stairs calling for me and took off running, ring still on finger, or so I thought. I hollered to Cesar that Hugo had my ring and to take it from him please. A few minutes later down the stairs I went and there waiting for me were Cesar and Hugo. I casually asked Cesar for my ring as we walked to the door. He said something like, "What are you talking about? " Oh boy. My heart sank down to my tippy toes lickety split.

We searched and searched the house. We looked under couches, beneath tables, inside of urns, flower pots and the bathroom garbage, and under the beds. No ring anywhere. I asked Hugo where was Momma's ring?? He blinked his long lashes at me, blink, blink, blink. The ring is kinda big. It should have stood out if it had been casually dropped on the floor or stairs or in the couch cushions or into Hugo's pockets. . . No ring. It was sad, sad, sad to drive away from Providence without the weight of my special ring on my finger.

Fast forward to the evening of July 4th - Hugo was playing with his trusty tow truck in the next room at the feet of his Tio and our new friend Kelly. I was bouncing around from room to room at the time, unsure what to do with myself. Then my ears heard Hugo say some magical words, "Momma's ring, Momma's ring!" At first I thought that he was commenting on something pretty which Kelly might be wearing. I had never heard him say the word ring before. I went to investigate further out of curiosity. Then I saw it! My ring! My ring! I swear I thought I'd never see it again! I snatched it off of Kelly or Raphael's finger, I'm really not sure which and I apologize for my rudeness here. I simply could not believe that I was looking at my ring again!

Raphael explained to me that when Hugo said "Momma's ring" he was pointing to the tow truck. He lifted it up for his Tio and showed him that Momma's ring was nestled inside the crane part of the tow truck and he needed help to get it out. My ring, Momma's ring had been before our eyes all this time. I had picked it up surrounded by its hiding place and tossed it with little care into a basket full of toys over and over and over without ever knowing.


This is a super yummy Portuguese desert called Molotof. My mother-in-law makes it all the time for the family and I eat as much of it as I can! I finally paid attention as to how it is made this past weekend. I stood behind my mother-in-law and peered over her shoulder as she very quickly whipped it up! I took a chance and whipped it up myself today. All went well until I flipped it upside down and out of the bundt pan. Half slipped out neatly onto the serving dish and half remained for a minute more in the pan. Oh well, I smooshed the two sides together and dressed the molotof with more sauce and called it good.

Ingredients:

Egg Whites
Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a bundt pan on the stove. Cook 6-7 tablespoons of sugar into a syrup. Twist pan so that the sauce coats sides of pan.

Beat 7 egg whites with 7 tbls of sugar as you would for a meringue. Scoop into sugared bundt pan, don't smooth the meringue too much. Bake for 15 minutes or until the meringue peaks are a light brown.

Allow to cool a bit. Flip pan upside down onto serving dish. Place bundt pan back on stove top. Add another tbls of sugar or so and a bit of water to soften and melt remaining sugar in pan. Pour over the molotof. Can also add a prepared caramel sauce between layers of burnt sugar.

Serve at room temperature and watch it disappear!

Independence Day

A bar-b-que with the Baptista's began our Independence Day weekend in Providence. Hugo fell in love with Chourizo, a Portuguese sausage made of pork meat and spices.

Hugo spent time with his Tio Raphael. They walked outside around the block together talking about colors and waving at the cars passing by. They ran circles through the house laughing and laughing all the way. Hugo would grab his Tio by the hand and say, "Run!" and they would run once more, round and round in circles. What a fun Tio Hugo has.

Hugo played at frightening his Vovo with a pretend snake made of beads. They also hugged and kissed and played games together.

Hugo loves his cousins outgrown duplo blocks. One of his favorite toys to play with at Vovo's house.

Lots and lots of Papa time! Hugs, bath time, stories, singing, cartoons, cars, peanuts, and much silliness.

New friends came to visit.


Chalk drawings of fish, elephants, boats, the sun, waves, bunnies, pigs and more fish (lots and lots of fish) passed time quickly for our busy little boy.

Pink Cashmere

I knit this hat for a young friend of mine. She is a new friend. Each time I've seen her she has worn some shade of pink. She will be returning home to Korea soon. I wanted to say thank you and remember us with this pink hat.

Pink, pink, pink. All girls seem to love p-i-n-k pink. What is it about pink that draws us to it?

Car Transporting Options

Just want everyone to know that Mr Hugo is still very much in love with his cars. Every single day the car drawer is pulled out and dumped. Dumped across Hugo's bedroom floor, our bedroom floor, the living room floor or the kitchen floor. The dumped out cars are gathered up a few times a day back into the drawer and put away in Hugo's room. Then they venture out again. Sometimes I think they might be escaping the confines of the stacking drawers all on their own, seeking out Hugo's affection.


New ways have been adopted to carry multiple cars around at once. Pockets work but he's moved on from pockets. He uses an old easter basket sometimes. A multi colored hot pink basket given to him by our friend Ms Sheri. A never used Huggies Wipes container was being tried out in these photos. Not his favorite. Too many opening options for Hugo to navigate. Hugo's most common choice for carrying his cars about is one of his bug boots. Yep, his puddle splashin, mud stompin, made for weed wackin wearin bug boot. And both boots are not car worthy at the same time. Just one boot at a time carries his precious cargo. These boots haven't been worn by his feet in awhile because one or the other is never in it's place and when found, is always full of cars.