Life Lately via My iPhone

Boy, it has been a minute since I have posted here. Sorry folks, but for some reason, I am having a hard time staying up past 10pm. Ugh! Plus we are watching House of Cards (soooooo good!) and the blogging is just not finishing itself.

We have been back from San Diego for a month now and we are enjoying the [not-so-humid] Atlanta heat. And although you can't beat San Diego weather, I really did miss the emergence of Spring.

We did still catch all the azaleas in bloom, but I missed the redbud and cherry trees, and [my favorite] the wisteria. My garden had already popped up and I didn't get a chance to divide things up or mulch before it got so full...and now I may not ever get to it.

Since everything was in full swing, I just had to get my pots planted.

Succulents, succulents, and more succulents! Besides the plants I shlepped home from CA, I picked up a nice 6 pack of Hens & Chicks from Lowes for $8 and then I popped into Ace Hardware and they had a GREAT succulent selection! I came home with....wait for it....more Hens & Chicks...,,but different varieties. So addicting. I HAD to go buy a couple more blue pots to accommodate them. Ha!

Only three new ones this season, nothing too excessive. Do you think owning 36 blue pots is excessive?

Our house trim was all painted when we got home. The bright white makes the whole house look better. (although better would be ...the body painted a non-army green color) But, really, what a difference paint makes!

Also, what a difference plants make. Remember my Carolina jasmine that covered the railing? Well it was cut down to almost nothing before painting and now it is going crazy again. Which way do you prefer?

Railing covered in green or clean and clear?

You KNOW which way I am leaning, but Ernesto likes the "new" railing showing, so I think I am just going to keep it around the mailbox this Summer. We will see if I can keep up with it's growth. It is quite vigorous and I am slow to prune.

In other news, this little girl is 7 MONTHS OLD in a few days!

Can. Hardly. Stand. It.

She is starting to scoot around now, and in just a matter of days has gotten very fast. Let the baby-proofing in begin!!!

She is always smiling. Did you see this video where she kisses her papi on demand? Yep, she is a smart one that little mexi-cana!

Can you believe it's going to be Summer already? These cuties had their school pictures last week.

This is one I snapped with my phone and it's cute so I can't wait to see what the "professional" shots look like. Ernesto and I actually were able to get into a couple photos with them (Paloma too, of course) which would make that our first official "family photo session." Let's see how they turn out.....

Their school (The Language Garden in East Atlanta) is located on a HUGE organic farm. The strawberry plants are so full, we were able to test a few.

We both agreed they were delicioso!

We have made it to the zoo a few times. We had not been there since before Paloma was born. Almost 7 months ago! What what?? Since it had been so long, the kids were excited to do everything like it was new.

By the way, have you ever noticed the beautiful colors of flamingos? Talk about gorgeous shades of pink and coral! My boys noticed that the zookeeper was picking up poop.

I can't remember where Ernesto was that day, but you could be about 90% sure he was golfing...which means I was single parenting with these rascals. Always an adventure!

We had fun riding the train...

Learning about elephant tusks...

Brushing los chivos...

Feeding the giraffes...

Oh LOVE on a train...have you read that one?

It's about two brothers who share 30 seconds to 30 minutes of sweetness per day. Their mother captures the sweetness which gives her hope that these boys will one day play nice ALL the time.

We always check out different playgrounds around the city [to change things up] and the Old 4th Ward park is one of the best. The other day is was 88 degrees so we grabbed some treats at Krog St Market and started down the Beltline.

This is an all day adventure that we have grown to love and look forward too. It feels so good to be outside and the kids can run with [almost] no boundaries.

One day Mateo brought his skateboard and wore his pads to practice at the skatepark. We bought him this board last year after stopping at the skatepark several times and observing all the tricksters.

Mateo was determined he was going to do it too. He could not even stand on it without falling off at first. Then in San Diego he played around with his cousins board. I had no idea of the progress he had made out there.

When he stood on the board and started pushing and RIDING on the Beltline, my jaw dropped! Wow! My little skater!!

Of course Grant Park is the closest park to us. We are there often and we love it!

Our farmers market can't be beat. If we are in town on Sunday mornings, we are at the market.

King of Pops is a must every week for the kids. (We have been "loosely" implementing a "Sunday sweets" policy, which is just as much for the adults as the kids) They eat as many of my homemade pops as they want during the week, and then they get a REAL popsicle at the market.

To beat the heat one day, Ernesto filled water balloons. They were a big hit! (pun intended)

So much so that Ernesto filled up a whole basket of water balloons for these guys.

These are the neighbor girls and they are outside all the time. The boys are wanting to be out there with them, and it's really wonderful. I definitely prefer them to be outdoors. I guess they are at the age where they can do that.....except Marcelo....Marcelo is not ready. Marcelo is fearless, just like his brother, but in addition, Marcelo is a wanderer. And that is a bad combo. He is known to just take off and not tell anyone (duh!) Sounds like someone else I know. (Papi!)

Everyone was playing chase around the neighbors house. Adults were outside chatting/guarding the road, but when the girls came back around to the front, Marcelo did not. A neighbor on the block behind us, walked him over and said he was about to cross the street over there. UGH! Needless to say, that freaked us out. I'll be playing chase too...unless my neighbor ever fences in his property (come on Mark!)

Back to the park. Paloma really likes the swing. She was all smiles her first ride. (Man, was this her first ride? Ugh! Maybe her second? Bad mommy blogger!)

The sweetness kills me.

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KISSERS!

This lucky girl is smothered covered in kisses everyday by her brothers.

And, if you are still reading....I just have to share this. (also I because I don't want to forget this EVER) Mateo isdrawing a lot now. I have seen a lot of art coming home from school, but a lot of it is abstract. I guess that is why this surprised me so much.

Its a portrait of mami & papi (like you couldn't tell!) This is a keeper! Maybe the first "people drawing" I have seen. it's going to be fun watching him turn into a little artsit.

Anyhoo, when I don't blog for a while you get run on, never ending, sometimes random blips into the world of Cindy. Thanks for staying tuned.