Salutations from the Bunny

While dying Easter Eggs with Abuelita ( Grandma Escobar ), we learned that on Easter, in Guatemala, they celebrate Domingo de Resurreccion. They have floats come down a street, lined with dyed saw. It looks like a beautiful rug. There are statues of Christ set up all around the streets, and they spend the week giving Christ, the credit he deserves. The Easter Bunny came to Grandma Pack's house, so Brooke was lucky to get many gifts from Grandma Pack and the Easter Bunny.

We added something extra to the eggs this year. The story behind this actually comes from the Easter before Kevin and I got married. I filled up Easter Eggs with compliments for Kevin, and had him go on an Easter Egg Hunt. Most people would think this was corny, but Kevin is a true romantic, so he appreciated it. I came across an article this year. I was surprised to see my idea that I had for Kevin, for kids. It talked about building their confidence. This year, Kevin wrote some things down for Brooke. I meant for us to do it together. It was the night before,when we were supposed to be writing a list together about Brooke's nice qualities. We ended up watching movies and staying up until 3am and I totally forgot. I was glad that Kevin was able to make a list and print it, when he ran by his office the next day. Here are some of the things Brooke found in her eggs, along with bubble rings, eight balls, and candy. Brooke was very surprised to know how well the Easter Bunny knows her, and she thinks he is watching all the time now.

You are good at sharing your toys.
Your smile is infectious.
You are generous with your belongings.
You are a good sister.
You are your Mother's best helper.
You Can draw well.
You are a good athlete.
You are good at solving problems.
You can run very fast.
You are the smartest kid in the world.

Special Delievery of Love

One of the most exciting things for Brooke is receiving a package, or present. They say that there are different languages of love, and that gift giving is one of them. This is most definitely one way that Brooke shows love, and likes to receive it. Brooke is always coloring pictures, collecting her toys in her room, or finding some sort of rock and wraps them up to give people as a gift. On Thursday night, Brooke felt very loved when she got an Easter package on the doorstep from Grandma Turano. Even though we don't live in Kansas City, where she lives. Brooke knows that Grandma Turano loves her. Brooke feels especially, special when Grandma and Grandpa Turano come to visit Texas, every year on her birthday. She loves the greeting cards and packages she receives on holidays and on many times, for no occasions at all. Just to show love. Brooke knows that Grandma Turano prays for her, because she once told her on the phone, that she always prays for her, at her night time prayer. For about six months straight, Brooke prayed every night that Grandma Turano would sleep good. We have moved on from asking for Grandma to sleep good, but she still mentions her in every prayer, with out fail. Brooke insisted on opening the package herself, as she always does. She is very good with her hands and she have been using full size scissors for a year now with no problem. Also, Brooke insisted on sleeping with the package by her bed, and the stuffed ballerina bunny in her arms. I went in her room a few minutes after putting her to bed and had to threaten to take away the package if she didn't stop staring at it, and would not go to sleep.

Grandma from Guatemala visits Texas

We have been looking forward to Grandma from Guatemala coming to visit for awhile now. Kevin even ordered a " Learn to speak spanish " CD about a month ago. He started listening to it in the car on his drive to and from work. Now that Grandma is here, Kevin has had better spanish convarsation with Grandma than I have, hands down. I didn't know about the CD listening until a few days before Grandma got here. Alida de Escobar is my Grandmother's full name. She is eighty-five, and she is very healthy. Through geneology we have found some new relatives to be mentioned in our history. Grandma brought a very interesting gift from Guatemala as a result of this. She brought me a two hundred dollar quetzales. This bill has my Great, Great, Great Grandfathers face on it. His name is Sebastian Hurtado. Sebastian was one of the inventors of the chromatic marimba. In Guatemala, marimba music can be seen and heard everywhere, even in the remotest corners of the country. The marimba is, in fact, the national instrument of Guatemala, and has been an important part of holiday celebrations for hundreds of years.

Since Grandma has been here we have done some fun things, like dinner at Glorias, where I tried my first fried bannana. I made stuffed chicken for dinner at my house one night, and lastnight, Grandma Pack, Abuelita ( We call her that since it is Grandma in spanish ) , Brooke and I made cupcake bunnies for Brooke's Easter party at pre-school today.

Will absolutely loves Abuelita. He really has taken a special liking to her. He actually gives her big bear hugs when she holds him and lays his head against her cheek and closes his eyes. Today, after the Easter party we ate lunch at our house, and as Grandma Pack and Abuelita left, they waved and said goodbye. Will for the first time said, "Bye" and waved to them.

Be Kind to your Web footed Friends

Feathery friends have become a family affair for us. The first encounter with duck ideas for Kevin and myself came at about the same era, only we hadn't met at that point. Kevin had a fascination with rubber ducks and he decided that he would spend as much time as he needed on the games at Dave and Busters, in order to win 250 rubber ducks. After his accomplishment he filled his college apartment with these rubber ducks. They were in a baby pool in his living room. They would drop down with a pulley system he invented, as you walked into the front door, or opened a kitchen cabinet. Too bad Kevin didn't keep them. Brooke's favorite toy as a baby was as I am sure you can guess, yes, a duck. He ended up floating some of the ducks in 50's down a river, and some he donated to children of friends. In my home we had eight birds in the house at one point. My Dad had decided he was going to breed birds. We had a room in the basement dedicated to birds for a time. I loved the birds. "Cody", the Nanday Conure became a family heirloom. He lived the longest of all the birds. My sister Audrey actually had him in her home, until a few years ago, when he had a heart attack. Cody could say Hello and I love you. I liked carrying him around on my shoulder. He would always climb to the top of my head. Although, the birds we had were not ducks, I always wished for a pet duck. A few years ago my wish came true. When driving to Kansas City we pulled over to a Farmers Market on the side of the road. When you drive with Kevin, you stop at any glimpse of something interesting along side the road. So we ended up getting two ducks, and later stopped again, and got baby chicks too. We had so much fun with the duck that Brooke had named "Digity", that we just had to do it again. Well, I had too. I asked Kevin three or four times last week, and finally on Friday after another mention of it, he went to a few farming stores on his lunch break to see if they had ducklings. They even said they would take the ducks back after a week if we wanted. This is how I convinced Kevin into it. I rushed to meet Kevin after work to pick out some ducks. Will started laughing out loud the first time he saw them. Brooke has had even more fun with them this year, than the last. She has named them "Silly" and "Feathery". She cut her unicorn's blanket that she got to match the one that a friend Terri had made her, and she swaddles the duck up in it and actually rocks the duck. She has been re-arranging the toys in the backyard to make what she is calling a " hotel " for the ducks. Will is having fun with the ducks too, although it is hard to catch even a moment with them without Brooke getting protective of them. Watching Brooke have so much fun with the ducks is so much better than I could have imagined, when I imagined and wished for a pet duck as a child.

Lets go fly a kite, and hope to not get a spider bite

Before I was competing in gymnastics, one of the things I cherished the most as a child, was the early Saturday morning outings that my Dad would take me on. He would take my little sister Amy and me to the zoo, science museums, parks, a lot of pet stores and always to 7-11 for a treat and gasoline for the lawn mower. We planted flowers together in the garden, and he would teach me all the names of the flowers. We went backpacking in the Utah mountains and he would tell me all the names of the plants, teach me how to fish and tell me how you could survive out there if you had too. I always looked forward to Saturday for these events. When I started competing in meets for gymnastics, my Dad would then sit threw endless hours of the meets, even though I know it had to get very boring. As an adult you can appreciate these things even more, when you realize how busy the life of a parent can be.

I am thankful to Kevin that he does this same Daddy daughter type of date with Brooke for at least an hour every Sat. as well. Kevin and Brooke do local things, like going to the " Junk Store " to buy records, going on treasure hunts, swimming, and fishing at the lake near our house. Of course Kevin's fishing is quite different than Dad's. The first time I went fishing with Kevin, we used a stick and tied fishing string and corn to it. Luckily he took us to a place where you catch a fish every two min. ( We also took the fish we named Briley home and put in the fish tank, and kept it for one year ) otherwise the corn and stick method, would have been a fishing failure.

Every few months, I get to share my Daddy Daughter experience with my own daughter. Grandpa Pack comes over early Sat. morning and Kevin, Brooke and now Will as well, all hop in the car with my Dad and I, for activities like breakfast, local fishing derby's, fishing in the lake near our house, and Breakfast with Santa.

This Saturday we flew an Ariel kite that Grandma and Grandpa had picked up at a specialty toy store,( since Grandma is always shopping for her grand-kids) early this week. The weather was nice, a little too windy for kite flying, but no matter, we entertained ourselves well. Brooke and Grandpa went looking for a stick to fix the other kite we had brought that was broken. Grandpa actually did fix the kite with a stick, and made his own tail for the kite, out of some near by trash. Brooke always Carries some sort of container every where we go. whether it be a purse, or bug container in this case, for treasure. She was collecting treasure rocks, when we came across two holes in the ground about the size of my fist. We all were calling out what we thought might live in the hole, when I got a stick and started jamming it hard into the hole. I screamed at the top of my lungs, which actually woke Will up from his nap in the stroller, when a huge tarantula started crawling up the stick I was holding. I really freaked Brooke out with my scream. I was holding Will and frantic Brooke, as Kevin and Grandpa caught the tarantula. We would have taken it home for a pet like the last one that Kevin caught, and kept for a few months, but Brooke was too worried about not being able to collect more treasure in her bucket. Brooke warmed up to the tarantula and was carrying it for a min. Then she decided she was going to shake the bucket and the spider started jumping and she ended up frantic in my arms again. We had fun taking pictures. then put the tarantula back in it's hole.

It was a great adventure with Grandpa Pack. I am grateful that my Dad showed me what kind of qualities I should look for in a husband and father for my children. There isn't anything that money can buy, that are as precious as memories, that are created by time spent together.

Motherhood Moments

With Will Mobile a lot has changed. Brooke has always been very protective of Will. She used to just sit and play with him, and now she is following him everywhere on her own will. I haven't gotten used to his mobility yet, because when I sat him down with some toys to take a shower, I had high hopes he would just sit there and play. He did just the opposite and ended up holding onto the bathtub next to my shower. He was enjoying turning the water on and off, when Brooke screams, " Mom, I don't want Will to fall! " Then she sat down right behind him. Moments later Brooke is in tears screaming, " This is too hard, to control him I am taking him off this and I am going to make him sit." I am on my way out of the quickest shower you have ever seen by this point, but before I could step out Brooke had opened the door and Will was getting soaked and half way in my shower. Just then, Brooke said, " Mom, I don't want anymore babies because they are too hard, and then we would have to move again, or at least change the rooms in our house, like Jake did." I explained to Brooke that Will is going to be climbing up on things and that she didn't have to follow him everywhere. But she said, " I just don't want Will to get hurt. " Showers will have to be in a pack and play from now on.


A few things happened with the hairbrush today, one was cute, and one not so cute, but admittedly funny.

First, Will found a hairbrush amongst the toys and he actually picked it up and started to brush the little hair he has. He then paused, sat the brush down for a moment, then started rubbing the top of his head with his hand. Then he noticed his ear, and started pulling on his ear. Then again he picked up the hairbrush and began brushing his hair again. This was so cute I was sending a text to Kevin about it. Moments later, Will had made his way over to me, pulled himself up on my shoulder and started brushing my hair with the brush in his other hand!


Second, I was feeding Will his baby food because when Will is hungry, he must be fed immediately. I began hearing Brooke's little feet running all over the house. I started to wonder what was going on when I heard banging in the upstairs bathroom. As soon as Will was done, I found Brooke had captured Juma. She was curled up in a corner of the bathroom, and was soaking wet. Brooke said, " Mommy, doesn't Juma look pretty? I was making her pretty with a bath and brushed her. I wanted her to look nice for "Bring Your Pet to School Day" tomorrow. And I didn't want her to get my school dirty either." I am sure you can guess which brush she had used on the cat. Yes, it was mine. Hopefully, Juma will be as gracious as she was with Brooke grooming her tomorrow, when dozens of kids will be staring at her at the preschool for this "Bring Your Pet to School Day."

The uncommon crawl

Will finally gave in and started crawling last week. Make no mistake about it however, that this is not just a common crawl. He began the first few days by putting his hands out like and orangatain and swinging his bottem forward. Then it progressed into what is now what we call the " Gimp leg crawl. " He looks like a wounded soilder as he drags his right leg as if it has been shot in battle. He doesn't like the fact that he is crawling. He complains almost every second he is crawling, until he can get to some sort of furniture, or me and pull himself up to standing. He also can walk with the walker! Progression is good, but my days of running on the treadmill while he would sit and watch Baby Einstein are over. If he wasn't the cutest thing I have ever seen, I would mind being his personal walker.

Kindergarten Registration

To say that Brooke loves school would be an understatement. Whenever we get a break from school for Christmas, etc. Brooke actually gets sad that she wont have school that week. In just the past month some of the comments her preschool teacher ( Mrs.Cori , of two years at Little Saints Preschool ) has said, are that : Brooke is the quickest in the class. When reading stories and recalling the facts, the other children hardly understand the concept, and Brooke answers every question correctly and enthusiastically. Brooke knows not only every letter and sound, but also knows the difference between vowels and consonants. Lastly, when I mentioned that I hope Brooke gets a good teacher next year, she said that it wouldn't matter what teacher Brooke got, that she has a great time no matter what.
It was no surprise that when we registered Brooke for kindergarten yesterday, that she was thrilled. Baker Elementary school, that Brooke will attend is within walking distance from our house. It is named an Exemplary school, by the Texas Education Agency. Brooke was a little worried about having to get a couple more shots before she can attend. She asked me the whole way there, if she would have to get her shots today for kindergarten. When she realized today was not the day to finish up her shots because were on our way home, bandage free. Brooke said, " Mommy, when I do have to get my shots, I am just going to be brave." She also told me before bed time during our little talks on her bed after family prayer, " Mommy in the movie Mega Mind, he turned bad because when he was little, the kids hurt his feelings, and it made him want to be a mean person. I think they made that movie so that kids would learn not to be bad, even if your feelings get hurt." Why she is analyzing why movie makers made a movie, is beyond me, but if she keeps up with this kind of behavior, I am going to have to go back to college just to help her with her homework.