Chocolate dipped pretzels

This is what we do while the boys are gone on a playdate! :) Clarissa learned the joy of dipping pretzels in chocolate and then eating. Look at the smile on her face. This morning she was asking for a chocolate chip granola bar and I said no because she needed to eat something healthier. Haha and this is what we ate instead. Should have given her the granola bar.

 
The boys have spring break this week, so we went to my sister's house for a playdate. I love having her live here for days like this. I was bored and we just went over to hangout. Clarissa thinks she's a big kid sitting at the table with the other children.

Last but not least, Tom and Lori (Cory's brother) were in tow last week. The boys had tons of fun playing with their cousins. I never got a good picture of anything we did. This is the best one I found of all the cousins having lunch at the children's museum.

 This is what I was talking about on my last post The door on the left is the boys' room, the one on the right was for Cory.

                                                                                       

 

Phone Post

I am trying to figure out how to post from my phone. I wish I posted the things the kids do and say more often, but I feel like I can never get to the computer. Maybe this will help me a little.

I have been in a cooking craze lately. Not sure what's up, but I've been "baking" a lot. During Halloween I cooked and pureed all the pumpkins we bought (4 in total), so since then I have made several pumpkin recipes (cookies, muffins, pancakes, soups and and AMAZING pumpkin Alfredo). The kids don't seem to mind, and I feel good about sneaking in the vegetables (I try to forget that it's mostly coated with sugar and butter, but hey, I'll take anything). Recently I have been on a chex mix addiction. I make chex mix treats a few times a month. I have lost track of the number of times I have made muddy buddies. My favorite one was a super rich chocolate drizzled buttery chex mix with mini Reese's peanut butter cups. I am yet to make a savory mix, but I think that is in the plans for next week's chex mix recipe.

For valentine's day I got some help from Pinterest and decided to "heart attack" my bedroom door for Cory. I wrote reasons for why I love him in each heart and it turned out really cute. The boys saw me do it and said they wanted it too, so I made them a mini version and wrote in their hearts things I like to do with them (read books, build forts, play tickle monster...). They loved it!!

Sometime back in February I sold Cory's old Honda Civic and bought a Nissan Sentra. That poor little Honda was going to die any day. I woke up one day and just decided to post it on craigslist to see what would happen. I used a photo of the car I had on my phone, and didn't thing anything would come of it. The car was sold in less than 1 hour. I received so many phone call and texts that I couldn't keep up with it. It was seriously crazy. Poor Cory was at work (with the car) when I called him and said " there are about 5 different people coming to your office to look at your car, I am on my way to meet them." By the time I got to the office Cory had taken the 1st customer on a test drive and sold the car. CRAZY, but we feel very blessed to have a more reliable car now.

Christopher
Christopher continues to be Christopher. Active, creative, always getting into something he shouldn't. I still love that little guy to pieces. I have been getting glimpses of how this won't last forever, so I try to breathe deeply during the hard times and enjoy it, because it will end all too soon. He goes to kindergarten this year and I'm excited and sad all at once. I remember the first time I held him right after giving birth and feeling the spirit so strong. The veil was really thin and I could feel a huge connection with heaven. That day seems like it was yesterday, and yet it has been almost 5 years.

Andrew
Andrew is our sweet heart. He loves to have us tickle his feet and tell him to focus so he won't loose control. He will ask us "mommy do focus" as he shoves his foot on my face. My dad did this with him during Christmas and Drew has loved it ever since.
For journaling purposes I am going to write a really old story. When Drew was learning to talk he refused to call Christopher, Christopher. He was Drew. So I had 2 Drews for a couple months. My mom and I were talking about Clarissa and she brought this Drew story up. I had totally forgotten it, and now I have it written forever.

Clarissa
Clarissa is talking. I can't keep up with all her words. Anytime we say "who's turn is it to pray" she always yells "me". So now we have 3 kids rotating turns for prayers. She's still my accessory baby. When she sees me changing in my closet she ALWAYS asks for a "poose" (purse). Then she carries it around and won't leave the house without it. She loves to wear shoes and boots -"booooots" according to her. She goes to nursery without any problems. She cries a little, but by the time I leave the room she's already done.
Wow, got way winded. Did not expect to post this much from my phone.

 

We had fondue for dinner this week. Christopher called it "fonduedue" 

 

The impossible  happened. Christopher fell asleep watching TV

 

She did her accessories by herself - boots, hat and purse. Love it!! 

 

 

We've been busy

Somehow January always seems to slip away before I can get a post in. We've been busy around here these past months. I managed to go through the holidays without taking 1 picture of my kids. I hate it, but luckily my siblings took some (my family is bad with recording moments) that I'll have to hunt down one day.
My parents and brother (with family) came down for Christmas again this year. My sister is now living in Mesa, which definitely makes Arizona the place with the most Camargos, hence we all met here. We spent the holidays in between both places and the kids had a blast being able to play with their cousins and grandparents.
This year my sister booked a "Cowboy" dinner and show for us to go and I did manage to get a picture of Drew riding the pony. The food was yummy, the show was okay (not my style) but we enjoyed each others company.
I got a WEIRD infection under my thumb nail right before the New Years which landed me at the ER 3 days in a row. Ahh, I had to go to the year on the last 2 days of the year!!! If only I could have waited until January 1st I would have met my deductible for this year, but no, I me my 2012 health insurance deductible December 31st!! Anyway, to make a very long story short, after 3 weeks on antibiotics, 6 different doctors, I finally got my nail pulled and the infection cleaned out. My thumb looks ugly, but at least it doesn't hurt and I can use it again.
On New Year's Eve we went out to dinner with my family to the Cheesecake Factory. We waited 1 hour and 20 minutes to be seated (what were we thinking, taking 19 people out to eat on New Years?) The food was great as usual, but the night ended with an EXPLOSION!! And I mean, a diaper explosion from Clarissa. It totally caught us off guard to see poop falling on the table, booth and us. Luckily we were all done eating and getting ready to leave. I do have to give Cynthia a HUGE thanks for cleaning Clarissa all up since I had an infected thumb and needed to keep it as clean as possible (and plus I couldn't use my hand anyway).
The boys had preschool off for the whole month of January, which definitely kept me busy. They've been saying and doing the cutest things, but I can't seem to remember any right now, but here's a try.

Christopher
He's still the BEST escape artist I've ever met. The kid can jump our backyard wall and run out the front. I can't do that. He hates playing with toys, but is constantly coming up with a new (and dangerous) activity. The picture I posted is of him pretending he's a Salvation Army guy collecting money for Christmas. (You know the ones that ring the bell outside grocery stores during the holidays.)

Andrew
He's at that age where kids say funny things. The other day we were at church and there was an African American giving a talk. Andrew turned to Cory and asked "Is he Chocolate? Looks yummy!" Haha, I couldn't stop laughing at his innocence. Here's another Drewism.
Drew: Dad, what's that?
Cory: My Adam's apple
Drew trying to move it with his hands. "Does it hurt?"
Cory: No. You have one too.
Drew: Yea, but your is REALLY big.

Clarissa
My baby is learning to talk!! She has all of a sudden discovered the world of words. She can say quite a few things now, that only we can understand. Some of her latest are:
Baby - yells it every time she sees one.
Uh socks - I want socks
Ouside - outside. She loves going outside.
Shoes
Uh juice - I want juice. She says this specially if we give her water.
She still LOVES playing in any water. Yesterday we found her in the tub all dressed in her pajamas) playing with the leftover, drained, water on the tub. She's great at following commands. By far our most obedient child. I just realized I have no pictures of her to post now. :(

Playing Salvation Army

 Pony ride

 3 year old pictures (never posted them)

 4 year old pictures

 My cute boys. this was the easiest photo session ever!

 Infected thumb (the black thing under the top part of the nail)

 Cured, ugly, thumb with nail growing in.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
The kids have been saying some really cute things lately, but I just can't get to the blog to post it. I've been having horrible migraines since the end of October and it gets REALLY bad when I look at the computer screen. It's been very hard to get anything done without being able to use the computer (Christmas cards, blog, gift tags for the treats I made our friends...). I last about 5 minutes max, and then need to get off because I'm about to lose it. :(

So I'll just tell 2 quick things about the boys so I don't forget them.

Christopher: He wants to grow his hair out like a girl. I told him boys have short hair. A few days go by and we are on the same topic. He turns to me and says "but mom, Jesus has long hair and he's a boy." Smart cookie, I didn't know how to reply so for now he's growing it out.

Andrew: It's finally "cold" here in Phoenix so I've been forcing him to wear pants. He dresses himself every morning in a t-shirt and shorts and I have to make him go change. Yesterday he comes down stairs wearing shorts, looks at me and says "mom I just want to wear these little pants today" (get it? they are little pants, not shorts, so he can wear them, right?)

Clarissa: We are working VERY hard in getting her to talk. She's 16 months old and has very few words. The one she uses the most is "doh" for dog, followed by a barking sound. She loves seeing Christmas lights. She's by far our kid that gets the most excited when she sees them. We got it on video, but we are having a hard time getting it transferred from Cory's phone to the computer. I'll post it once we get figured out.

Letters from Brazil

So, way back in August we took a family trip to Brazil. I've been meaning to post about it, but never got around. I still want it posted for journaling reasons. At this point I know I won't ever get to it unless I just copy and paste the 3 emails I sent back home to keep everyone here updated. So hence, "Letters from Brazil"in 3 parts.

Part 1
Hey everyone, how are you guys doing? We're doing great here in Brazil. I thought I would send everyone a quick email, since I can't text and I don't like blogging when I'm out of town (my blog is public, so I don't post things until later).
Christopher left the US with a virus (throwing up, fever...) which made him really calm and obedient during the trip. Some blessings come in disguise (poor kid). Itt's taken him almost a whole week to recover, but he's now back to his normal self.
We spent the first 4 days of our trip in Sao Paulo. My parents have a beautiful home there, its large, in a quiet neighborhood with a really fun park. We (I) really enjoyed our time there visiting with all my relatives and celebrating Clarissa 1st birthday. The weather is mild (on the cool side), just perfect!! Cory felt caged in and couldn't wait to leave to come to the beach.
on Monday we got a flight to Natal (on the north of Brazil). My parents live here. Their home has a beautiful view of the beach and we are at walking distance to the pools and beach. The kids and Cory are in heaven (I can't wait to get out of here. I remembered how much I hate the beach, humidity, stickyness... Ahhh, 20 more days of this, not sure I can survive). I realize I don't want to go to Hawaii or Cancun (ever). I'm a city girl!!
I miss you guys, and hope you are all enjoying the back 2 school time (haha).I'm attaching a couple of pictures. The one of Clarissa and my mom needs a little editing (don't mind the women in a thong sun bathing).

 

 

 Me with the kids in front of the 1 st house I  lived. I was born in this little town on the North of Brazil called Caico. We moved from there when I was 1 and I had never gone back to see it until now (27 years later).











Part 2
I'm starting to enjoy Natal a little more. Maybe it's the fact we are spending less time @ the beach and more time in the pool and shopping. The kids are just loving everything. we are getting more tanned and having lots of fun.
My cousin is spending this week here visiting us is she lives 3 hrs away and has 2 kids the boys age. 
Attached is a picture of all the kids when we visited the largest cashew tree in the world (the thing is a whole block wide).
And a picture of the kids @ a water park. Since it's "winter" here we were the only ones there. The kids had a blast. They had a really yummy restaurant attached, so the adults enjoyed the good food. There's also a picture of Clarissa passed out by the pool while big brothers splashed away.
Miss u guys!!

Part 3
This is my last week in Brazil. I can't believe my "vacation" is coming to an end (moms never really go on vacation, I should say Cory's vacation is coming to an end).
I spent all last week in Natal (the beach city) and couldn't handle it any longer, so I bugged my parents enough to switch my flight plans and we headed back to Sao Paulo on Friday. It was a 3 hr flight and the boys were out of control. One of my worst flight experiences ever!!  Christopher became friends with a young couple sitting behind us and next thing you know he was crawling under his seat sitting on the woman's lap. Drew soon joined and the poor girl spent 1.5 hrs with both my kids on her lap entertaining them. Her boyfriend was super nice too and he didn't really seem to mind. I was super embarrassed (forgot to mention that before becoming friends with this couple I caught Christopher @ the emergency exit trying to pry open the door. Pure panic!!)
We are now in Sao Paulo and I'm loving it again. The weather is nice and cool, the house is big so the boys have plenty of room to run around and play. We went to an indoor amusement park this weekend and the boys had a blast.
Clarissa has been walking for about 2 weeks and she's now running.
Miss u all and see u guys very soon!!

Halloween

Halloween is by far my kids favorite "holiday". This year they got an insane amount of candy, it should actually be illegal to give kids that much sugar. There was the church trunk or treat, preschool trick or treat, and then the regular night time festivities. I bought all our costumes last year, but could not convince the boys to wear them. So I had to buy new costumes for them.
Hope you guys had a happy Halloween, and thank goodness it's now all over!!!

                                    She's the cutest witch!

 

Our friends the Timothys come trick or treating with us every year, this is their cute little girl Livy. 

This big boy was VERY HAPPY with his candy (he only got half the amount Drew got, because on Halloween day he actually got into so much trouble that we took away trick or treating from him. He could only go to the houses right on our street. - We weren't so mean to take it all away).