Claire = 7

Favorite food: Mac and cheese

Best friend: Sybil
Favorite movie: Wizard of Oz
Favorite song: Somewhere Over the r\Rainbow [She just played this song at her piano recital but I'm not sure she's ever seen the movie completely]
Favorite thing to do: gymnastics
Favorite memory: first day of school. I thought no one was going to play with me and then I prayed and they became my friends.
Favorite animal: zebra
What you want to be when you grow up: dentist, soccer player, gymnast, ballet teacher, doctor
Where you want to live when you grow up: in a grave or in Disneyland
How many kids will you have: 100 million
Favorite book: the one GG just brought me
If you had one wish: for a fish that makes all my dreams come true
Best thing about being 7: play more with Sybil and won't be the youngest in my class
Best thing about being 6: being friends with everybody

GG!!

GG came for a visit for Claire's birthday and to meet the new addition.

A Solar Halo

Today there was a rainbow circling the sun in Mexico City.
A solar halo.
The picture doesn't do it justice.
It was ginormous. And beautiful. And spectacular.

I can't help but draw a spiritual parallel. The sun gives us light and life but how often do we look up? We almost never see it nor think about it, but we know it's there bc of the warmth we feel on our skin. I looked up when someone told me to and then I wanted to tell 21 million people to look up, but only managed half a dozen.
Stepping away from the spiritual podium, I will say that I wouldn't mind if we don't have one of those for a while. That sun may have burned a few extra holes in my eyeballs. Straight through to my brain. Ouch. But I just couldn't stop looking.

In other news...

Have you ever wanted to put a cast on your child's face? Specifically the mouth region?
If so, shame on you.
Can you buy medical-grade cast in the US? It seems like it should be illegal for some reason, especially in the wrong hands. But it was easily obtained and applied for a school project.

A little corner in heaven

I am convinced that at least a corner in heaven is purely dedicated to

napping with peaceful, cuddly babies.

And there might be a corner somewhere else where insane men run after busses and then kick the doors and windows to smithereens when they finally stop at red lights. 

Where could that corner be?

David, any clues?

Perhaps Veracruz?

And here's a gem my mom found.
I haven't changed one bit.

CHOCOLATE ZOMBIES

Last night the boys went camping.

This morning I had scary visitors.

The lick-able kind.

First Vaccines and UniKitty

Right now is the second time ever that Sybil is sleeping by herself without touching my body. I'm not sure this is a good thing for the following reason. Two days ago an article on CNN.com reported that after 52 babies in Chiapas, Mexico received a vaccine, 31 of them went to the hospital and 2 of them died (http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/10/health/mexico-vaccine-deaths/index.html). The report said the batches that the vaccines came from were suspended. Not true. Sybil received a vaccine today. I had expressed my concern to the doctor and his response was that thousands of the vaccines are given daily in Mexico and if all of the cases were isolated to one area, it was obviously an issue with the location, not the vaccine. Then right before the needle was inserted into my baby's bum cheek, he told me it came from the same batch.
But no worries, she's breathing.
I just checked a minute ago
and the minute before.

In lighter news, Claire and Iris made a "How to draw UniKitty from the Lego Movie" video. So, if you've ever wondered how to draw this character, you probably should NOT watch this video. Not because my girls' skills are lacking, but because the camera woman was more interested in the girls than what they were drawing.

Newborns and Old Men

All newborns look like old men.

Very cute old men.

That's why we are working on the art of the comb-over. 

We will tackle the dandruff next.

Veracruz youth temple trip

David took the kids and met the others at La Parroquia while I recovered from the trip. 7 bouts of sickness with 4 of the 8 people in our car afflicted (me and the 3 older kids) made the trip slightly traumatic.
I apologize that all these pics were taken with my phone. Now that I'm always carrying a baby and diaper bag, a camera bag is beyond my capabilities.

I had some beach time with the kids while others went to the temple.
Claire has been infected with the Latin American soccer fever. This was the first thing she wrote in the sand (Messi).

E spent the night with the youth.

The next day I was able to go to the temple and do 3 of David's family names. Maria Caridad Garcia Menendez was born in Cuba 1923; I felt a special connection to her since my daughter shares her family name. I love the temple! I almost didn't want to leave and certainly didn't want to forget the feelings nor the promises that were given. Soon after, I realized that holding my babies in my arms mimics the feeling pretty closely.

Some more beach time.
The baby bikini may be one of the most useless items ever, but it was so cute I had to at least give it a try. I used the opportunity to teach Sybil a valuable lesson: "beauty is pain."

And she saw the light

The kids worked on his hole for a while.

Iris maliciously tried to fill in the hole

But when the others retaliated, she decided to run in circles instead. Iris can be a bit contrary. She screamed, "Papi" at David for quite some time after he told her he didn't like the name nor screaming.

Generalization alert: Mexicans are in-your-face-nice. That means there are friends everywhere.

David flexed for the young men. They were impressed.