The boys birthday party

Since Mario and Rio's birthday's are 10 days apart we do a birthday party for them together. Which at Rio's age doesn't mean much because most of our friends have kids his age or close enough for him to tag along.
The party started at 4PM Sunday the 23rd and didn't get over until 2:30AM the 24th...it was a loooong party, but LOTS of fun. It's times like that that remind me how many great friends and family members we do have, even if we can't get together as often as we'd like.
Rio got a ton of gifts and loved opening each one of them as they came in the door...there was no "gift time" it was: The party goers came in, he saw the gift, he opened the paper, and we opened the gift. No time to say "Lets wait to open this one to make sure we don't get duplicates"...which we did get a few items super close to each other. But hey a boy can never have too many bath balls right??

We have been eating off of the left over food since Monday...and honestly probably could eat off of it until next Monday. I do need to clean the carpets, our house smells like a brewery to those with a sensitive nose...and its not pleasant.

Other than that not much has happened this week. School, homework, and cleaning the house. School is going well. CNA is zooming by, 25% done! We are done with hand washing, bed making (occupied and unoccupied), bed baths, and the vitals (temperature, pulse respiration and blood pressure.) So far so good. Not sure actually working in the field as a CNA though...hopefully just a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

I guess its all a learning process that no one has the answers to.

I'm terrible

So clearly by now you realize that I am an awful blogger. But let me give you a summary of what has happened in the past 8 months.

In July I turned 21. And Rio got his Big boy bed.
In September we ventured out to visit Bill and Sue again and helped them sell things at their garage sale before moving.
In October we welcomed a new cousin to the family, Baby Marcel was born. Rio was a cow for Halloween.
In November we moved yet again, spent quite a bit of time visiting family and celebrating birthdays and Thanksgiving.
In December we finally got family pictures taken! (Previous post) And celebrated Christmas.

NOW it is January and Mario's birthday is today! Rio and I made him a birthday cake, vanilla with a strawberry buttercream frosting. Rio is getting a very big attitude as he approaches the 2 year mark. And I am preparing for his birthday party, this Saturday by cleaning the house and cooking like crazy. Also, I started school again! My first CNA class starts this afternoon at 4. 7.5 weeks of craziness!

Here's to updating a bit more often ;)

Family Pictures

May

The end of April we went to Davenport and saw Sue and Bill. We spent two days and explored a little bit. Rio loved the bridge to no where. The floor was pretty cool to the touch and Rio would stop on each plexiglass box and lay on it...he was one dirty boy.
The Dylan showed up at Sue's. Dylan and Rio played for a while, it was a great first meeting.Now that the weather is improving we have been making our mark on the park. This was a special day, we were able to get out on Mario's day off and enjoy the park.With both Mario and I at the park we were able to let Rio go down slides and play on attractions that are near impossible for me to take him on when I am by myself. He enjoyed the slides, the horses (merry-go-round) and this tunnel which is suspended in a jungle gym.At the end of our time at the park Rio was worn out. He met a few new kids, had a blast with Papa, and fell a few times. (note the busted lip)
We then decided to check out Tulip Time in Pella. It was a chilly windy day. But we made the best of it and of course devoured some of the local pastries. Rio's first bite of a fudge macaroon.

Rio has been getting super close to Mario over the past few weeks. This is how he shows his love :)
We left for Pella around Rio's nap time, he didn't fall asleep on the ride like we thought he would...so we had a crazy toddler...who wouldn't sit still for anything.
He did like the Dutch girls though ;)
At the end of clog dancing and before the parade they clean the streets, kids and parents walk down the street with buckets of water and brooms. Here's Rio checking out the water from the street cleaning.Well now that I've brought you up to date here are the latest photos. Yesterday we finally did our garden. We planted corn, tomatoes, jalepenos, Fresno chiles, cucumbers, red onions, yellow onions, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, green beans, and asparagus. He's Rio with his sombrero that doesn't seem to fit him anymore.



We kept Rio out of the way by keeping him in his sandbox. He is covered in sunscreen which he didn't enjoy on bit.


My brother-in-law, Marco, tested out his skills with the tiller. It was a quick process getting the ground broken up. Mario and I spent over an hour one day two weeks ago with a shovel and hoe trying to make the ground usable...that didn't work. But this magic little machine made quick work out of the space we had.

Mario and Marco planting onions. Mario had forgotten how to plant. I didn't ever know. SO it was a good thing Marco made his way over to assist.
Here is our finished product. I hope to have pictures of flourishing plants to show you soon!

April

Rio really enjoyed Easter this year. He had his own Easter Egg Hunt on the deck at his great grandparent's house. I made the Bunny Cupcakes and they went over really well.



Then we went out to Mariposa Park and celebrated Easter with Mario's co-workers. Rio got to go swinging. And really enjoyed being outside.


Then Rio got sick :( He got a double ear infection and has been under the weather for 6 days now. It's a heart breaker seeing him sick.

St Patrick's Day

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

I made Leprechaun hats, corned beef and cabbage, and we are all sporting GREEN!

Here's Rio enjoying his marshmallow from the Leprechaun hat

And my goofy boy saying "cooookie!"

Our St. Patrick's Day feast

Up close of the cookies. Much easier than I had originally thought.

Seeing as Mario gave up drinking for Lent (and has surprisingly stuck with it) there is no drinking in this household. But we had a great St. Patrick's Day nonetheless.

Videos

Cowboy Rio
Walking at the mall