Sorry for the long delay

Hi family and friends,
Sorry for the long delay between posts. I am back at work and we're all trying to just keep the kids dressed, feed, and on a really good day- clean. Cesar is talking a mile a minute and repeats everything we say- everything-so we are all working on cleaning up our language (a hard task when you are suddenly attacked by flying cardboard on IH35 while going 75 miles an hour and the cardboard attaches itself to your front bumper!) The other problem is that you just can't help but giggle when your exact words come out of the mouth of babes. Gracie is smiling and perhaps laughing (jury is still out on that skill) these days, while she has made best friends with the fan (it's a wonder). More pictures are this needed long weekend.

An Ouwie On Our Heart

This past Thursday April 24th Rene's mother, Edelmira Sanchez, past in her sleep. She was remembered throughout the weekend by the large extended family that she molded with her gentle, loving, and always humble ways. If you know our small family than you too have benefited from her life's work because in many ways we are who we are because of her.
It is hard to explain death to a 2-year old, so in an attempt to prepare Cesar to greet Rene when he came home from work on Thursday I told him that he needed to give daddy lots of hugs and kisses because daddy had a big ouwie on his heart. When Rene got home Cesar ran up to him hugging and kissing his leg and when Rene sat down on the couch Cesar looked him all over and asked, "where is heart?" It was so sweet.
The little man also made history at the funeral when he took his one chance to escape my grasp, ran down the pew, up the side aisle, banked right at the front of the church, ran in front of the pallbearers, banked right again to avoid the coffin, and shot up the center aisle, all while thinking this was the greatest maze in the world! I was mortified, but as Rene remarked later, his grandmother would have loved the laughter and we could all clearly see that he has a promising base running career!
The younger one is getting cuter by the day, can hold up her head (sometimes), and is starting to smile with purpose : )

The liitle ham

Hi friends and family. It has been a busy couple of weeks because mamma is totally recovered and fully enjoying the wonder of Cesar’s language explosion, Gracie’s evolving cuteness, and a hyper drive to nest before going back to work. Check out the new pictures of Gracie in the beautiful Texas wild flowers. It was an adventure both finding the perfect spot and then getting the pictures (what you don’t see in the picture of me sitting next to Gracie is the extreme agony of multiple stickers stabbing my palms and even making their way through my jeans and into my butt! Ahhh).
Cesar has found yet another way to get his father to do all the work while he fully enjoys the benefits- check him out as he anticipates his first sunset bike ride. C has also fully accepted the fact that being a ham is his ticket to adoring attention. To fully appreciate his quotes of the week you need to reenact them in the proper intonation and voice (while remembering that this is coming out of the mouth of a babe.)

Quotes of the week
This one is said daily when Cesar wants to hold his baby sister. You need to say it with a very deep, manly, and guttural voice, “Mamma, give me my baby!”

Last week C cracked me up when, upon receiving his apple juice, he spun around, raised his hands in the air, and in a very high pitched voice said, “Thank you mamma” and then, in a flirty way, tilted his head and spun back around.

Finally a few days ago C got very mad at me because I closed off the back area of our yard. I explained to him that the only things back there were dangerous and dirty: the garbage, recycling, yard tools, and rocks (big blocks of granite left over from building the wall). Cesar looked at me with the most serious face a 2 year old could muster and said, “but I NEED rocks.”

He keeps all of us fully entertained. More quotes soon.

Spring Break

We all knew it had to end, but none the less we were sad to see Sunday slip into night because it meant the end to a very fun and productive Spring Break. Jean started the week off right by leaving Rene in charge of both kiddos for the day while she and a girlfriend spent the day recouping at a spa....ahh.... Alas, Rene always the multi-tasker that he is, decided that he would also embark on painting the fence that day. Lucky for him Cesar cooperated and took a hearty 3-hour nap. Mid-week was spent down in the Rio Grande Valley with Rene's family. While there, Cesar got his first hair cut receiving the compliment, "he wasn't the worst we've ever seen." The trauma was tempered by a cookie and a trip to the park with his daddy, but all was completely forgotten when his Uncle Arnold took him to the new house they are building and he was allowed to climb up on the front loader parked in the yard! Cesar is your true boy in his obsession with dirt, rocks, and all types of "yellows" (construction vehicles). Gracie met the whole family and spent some quality time with her grandmother and we all survived the 5 hours drive both ways.
The rest of our break was dedicated to hanging out and working on the yard. All in all, it was a wonderful break and I think that Rene may actually have caught up on a small percent of the sleep he has lost this year.
Three cheers for Noni's 89th birthday!

Fun Family Weekend

We just got back from a check-up for Cesar (but I had them look at Gracie as well) and we are happy to say that Cesar is a big solid 2-year old (75th percentile in both weight and height) and Gracie weighs in at a healthy 7lbs 3oz! We all spent a fun-filled weekend in which Cesar made very good use of his new sandbox. Jean and Gracie built the sandbox last Thursday as a special surprise for Cesar and he loves it. On Saturday night we had a family cookout in our local park with Mimi and Noni and then spent much of Sunday running around exploring a local college campus. All in all we took solid advantage of the beautiful weather. Enjoy the newest pics taken this past weekend.

Cesar wants to introduce his new baby sister

Welcome to our new blog. With the arrival of our newest additional we thought it important to find a better way to communicate all that goes on in our world.

Quick catch up: Cesar had a fun cake filled 2nd birthday and he was gracious enough to share his birthday party with his old ma. We had a beautiful Christmas, which we happily spent at grandma house with Noni, Miles, Felicity, and Keenan.

The big news of this month was the birth of our new baby girl- Graciela Susana Sanchez- on February 5th @ 8:11 pm. She weighed in at a tiny 5 lbs 4 oz, but she surprised everyone at 19 inches. By her 2 week check-up she almost inched into a new weigh category at 5 lbs 14 oz and we are all sure she is safely into 6 lb category now. Cesar is a very proud big brother.
Cesar is doing very well in his new toddler classroom at "school" and his vocabulary is exploding. We are very slowing working on potty training and the transition to a big boy bed, but it is all good- I'm not ready to let go of the baby in him quite yet : )
Have fun checking out pics of the family.