A break from summer break

This week we took a little break from Camp Keep Mom From Going Batpoop Crazy! I am surprised that even with a break I didn’t completely lose my marbles! Here is a little of what we did:

We did A LOT of fighting and bickering over absolutely nothing and absolutely everything.

We went to the library and learned all about working out and being healthy. We even got to do a mini workout (which is always easiest when you stick out your tongue).

 

When we were finished working out we got to decorate our own personal water cups and enjoy a glass of ice cold water.

We spent some time at the pool (three days!).

We did some art projects using the fridge as an easel.

We finished off the week by going to the Independence Day Celebration, not winning a car, barbequing and watching fireworks with some great friends.

And Mom watched almost an entire season of Real Housewives of Atlanta and played candy crush got a lot accomplished around the house. The little break from summer break was nice but we are excited to get back to summer camp next week!

Wingman

The past two weeks in my perfectly boring life have been pretty busy and kind of not boring! Camp keep mom from going batpoop crazy continues to be kind of epic, as far as summer camps go. Last week we started the week by going to the library where we learned about recycling and then made some awesome Father’s Day cards out of recycled magazines. We also did something (not sure what) that made Ceci mad enough that she didn’t want to be in the picture!

For our weekly epic field trip we went to Oxbow Meadows, a local creepy,crawly,scary animal reptile rescue. We had planned to attend a class but the class ended up being canceled. The awesome staff made our epic field trip even more epic by giving us a private class where the kids got to learn about several animals, touch a snake and take “shelfies” with this cutie!

This week we went to the library and then wore the kids out so they would sleep took the kids to the swimming pool for some fun in the sun. For our weekly field trip we went to the Columbus Art Museum.  They had a really fun and interactive scavenger hunt for the kids to make sure the kids don’t touch things keep them interested and let them learn about some of the art. Once we completed our scavenger hunt we got to spend some time in the children’s room which was WAY cool! They had several art projects the kids could do, funny mirrors, a puppet stage and puppets, dress up costumes, a light up lego table and more.

Before I go I have to tell you one story that made me laugh! Orlando and Joshua have become pretty good friends. Orlando even told me one day, “Mom, oshua (Joshua) is my best fren.” One day at lunch they were sitting together away from the rest of the group. I overheard part of their conversation. Joshua asked Orlando, “Do you know what a wingman is?” And then they caught me listening! I would have loved to see where that conversation was headed!

Three weeks done and I’m still only a little bit crazy:)

Mom is Not Crazy

Well the first full week of summer break is over and I haven’t gone crazy yet. This is mostly because of the most epic “Camp Keep Mom from Going Batpoop Crazy” ever! Every summer camp has an awesome t-shirt. In an effort to be awesome (and not lose any kids on outings) we made some awesome t-shirts of our own. I decided it was best if we left the name of the summer camp off of them. We are lucky to have some of our good friends doing summer camp with us this year.

The week started off rough with a pretty epic terrible three tantrum.

Once that was over we went to the library where I almost went completely batpoop crazy. My own kids were angles pretty well behaved. It was some other brats unsupervised children that were climbing all over the adorable furniture that made me twitch a little. Oh and I can’t forget the rude obnoxious adults that lack manners and entirely missed the life lesson, “Library is a quiet place!”

The next day we took advantage of the Africa hot weather and hit the pool. Don’t let the sad faces fool you, they had a blast. I forgot to take any pictures until it was time to leave!

What’s summer camp without field trips? Today we took a pretty epic field trip to Krispy Kreme for National Donut Day!

And then to help the wear off the twitchiness, spasms and high excitability caused by the sugar covered sugar circles donuts we took them to an awesome park!

We survived week one and we are not completely crazy yet! I would call that a success!

 

End of year interview!

It’s that time of year again! School is out for the summer and the kids are doing their best to make sure I go crazy! Since my blog is pretty much dead and has been since this time last year I almost forgot to do the end of year interviews. I have some great news for you though, I remembered and even better the Bieber fever is over!!! You can see the interviews from last year and the year before here: https://jessdmaldo.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/yearly-interview-3/ and here: https://jessdmaldo.wordpress.com/2012/06/

Skyla finished first grade this year. Here is her interview:
• What is your favorite food? Broccoli (Big change from pizza last year)
• What do you want to be when you grow up? A mom
• What is your favorite color? red
• What is your favorite movie? Despicable Me 2
• Who is your favorite person? Hunter Hayes (swoon)
• What do you want to do this summer? Go to the pool and go to Cici’s Pizza
• What are you going to miss about school ? Reading and Miss Messer
• What is your favorite book ? Just this Once, it’s about this hippopotamus
• If you could do anything what would you do? Get a phone (Lord help us all)
• What is your favorite cartoon? Arthur
• What did you dream about last night? About us going on a boat and then I heard a fire truck and Orlando wasn’t coming only Ceci was
• What are you looking forward to this summer? Going to a birthday party and having a sleep over and going on field trips (This year “Camp Keep Mom from going Batpoop Crazy” is going to be epic)
• How big are you? Uh that’s a tricky one-I’m big
• What is your least favorite food? Cauliflower
• What is your least favorite chore? Cleaning the toilet (funny thing- Skyla has never actually cleaned a toilet!)

 

Ceci finished pre-k this year. Here is her interview:
• What is your favorite food? macaroni
• What do you want to be when you grow up? An artist
• What is your favorite color? Purple
• What is your favorite movie? Frozen
• Who is your favorite person? One Direction
• What do you want to do this summer? Go eat ice cream
• What are you going to miss about school ? Miss Wells and my friends
• What is your favorite book ? Phineas and Ferb
• If you could do anything what would you do? Go play at the park
• What is your favorite cartoon? Calliou
• What did you dream about last night? We went to the park and played.
• What are you looking forward to this summer? Going to Grandma’s
• How big are you? Uh I don’t know
• What is your least favorite food? broccoli
• What is your least favorite chore? Cleaning the dishes (funny thing-Ceci has never actually cleaned the dishes!)

 

Orlando isn’t in school yet but he does go to speech once a week and has done so well! SO just for fun here is his interview:
• What is your favorite food? Hot dogs
• What do you want to be when you grow up? Play with big toys
• What is your favorite color? blue
• What is your favorite movie? Calliou
• Who is your favorite person? My fireman
• What do you want to do this summer? Play at my hockey game
• What are you going to miss about school ? Me miss you at school (??)
• What is your favorite book ? Hockey is my favorite book
• If you could do anything what would you do? Play hockey game
• What is your favorite cartoon? Calliou
• What did you dream about last night? Me shoot my big gun and bubbles
• What are you looking forward to this summer? Playing with kids
• How big are you? This big
• What is your least favorite food? Me don’t know
• What is your least favorite chore? Cleaning

 

 

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 570 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 10 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Yearly Interview

Today is Miss Skyla’s last day of kindergarten. I am so extremely proud of her and the progress she has made this year. As is tradition I did the end of year interview with her. Here are her replies from last year: https://jessdmaldo.wordpress.com/2012/06/

I am amazed at how much she has grown and changed. It would be nice if we could bust out of the “Bieber Fever” craze though. Here are her replies from this year.

Skyla on the first day of kindergarten

Skyla on the last day of kindergarten

• What is your favorite food? Pizza
• What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher
• What is your favorite color? Purple
• What is your favorite movie? Horton Hears a Who
• Who is your favorite person? Justin Bieber
• What do you want to do this summer? Go to the pool
• What are you going to miss about school? Doing work
• What is your favorite book? Green Eggs and Ham
• If you could do anything what would you do? Color well actually paint
• What is your favorite cartoon? Sponge Bob-
• What did you dream about last night? I dream about Justin Bieber.
• What are you looking forward to this summer? The beach and the pool
• How big are you? Uh like six pounds
• What is your least favorite food? peppers
• What is your least favorite chore? Picking up dog poop

And since Ceci wants to be just like her sister I interview her too.  Here are her replies:

• What is your favorite food? Pizza
• What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor
• What is your favorite color? Pink
• What is your favorite movie? Barney
• Who is your favorite person? Franklin (the next door neighbor)
• What do you want to do this summer? Play at the park
• What are you going to miss about school? Mom I don’t go to school
• What is your favorite book? Princess and the Frog
• If you could do anything what would you do? Color
• What is your favorite cartoon? Angelina Ballerina
• What did you dream about last night? iCarly
• What are you looking forward to this summer? My Biri coming to visit
• How big are you? As big as Caliou because he is a little kid too
• What is your least favorite food? Broccoli
• What is your least favorite chore? Cleaning up my room

I just can’t write a blog post without including Mr. Orlando so here is a picture of Mr. Almost Potty Trained Terrible Twos.

I have renamed our yearly summer camp to “Camp Keep Mom From Going Batpoop Crazy” Stay tuned for updates…..

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Maldonado Family!!!

We hope that you and your families are all doing well and having a great holiday season. Here is what we have been up to the past year!

SKYLA~

• Turned 6 this year
• Is currently in kindergarten and is learning so much. She can read more than 100 words and is constantly spelling things.
• Has kept the tooth fairy very busy over the last few months and is missing all four of her front teeth
• Is STILL obsessed with all things Justin Bieber
• Donated 12 inches of her beautiful hair to Locks of Love
• Has a tad bit of an attitude that makes me terrified for when she is a teenager
• Loves to work with Ceci and come up with new ways to make me crazy everyday

CECI~

• Will be turning four on Sunday
• Loves Barney
• Watches the Justin Bieber movie all day everyday (if I let her)
• Loves to pretend to be a dog trainer
• Is really really really good at making Orlando cry and scream
• Goes to imaginary school. Everyday when I ask Skyla how her day at school was and she is finished telling me Ceci says, “Today at my school we…..” She gets pretty creative
• Tells Carlos, “Daddy I didn’t have any bad dreams,” as a way to convince him to let her watch Walking Dead with him

ORLANDO~

• Is celebrating his 2nd birthday today! Happy Birthday Handsome!!!
• Is most certainly a Daddy’s boy (he cries like the world is ending every time Daddy leaves)
• Loves “fixing” things with his tools
• Is best buds with our dog Randy
• Loves to be the dog when Ceci is pretending to be a dog trainer
• Carries his blanket EVERYWHERE
• Thinks he needs to sleep with Daddy at least for a few hours EVERY single night
• Kicks, hits and punches in his sleep-but only me not his Dad?!?
• Has a growing vocabulary: no (which is his answer to everything), mine, more, Mommy, Daddy, eep (Jeep), owe, ball, dog, wow, knock knock, nine (instead of 1,2,3, go he says 9,9,9,go), hi, bye, ook (look)
• Loves cherry tomatoes and eats them like Ceci eats candy

RANDY~

• Is 9 months old and is a hound dog that joined our family when we moved to Georgia in September.
• Is spoiled rotten
• Lets Orlando torture lay on him and play with his floppy ears
• Loves to jump the fence and play “run away from Mommy”
• Plays fetch really well in the house but his hound nose gets him too distracted to play fetch at the dog park.
• Hates the vacuum cleaner and thinks it is going to attack him every time it comes out of the closet

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love The MALDO’S

I’m sure you’re all dieing to hear about the last month or so of our never-ending move from Texas to Georgia (hahah I’m funny)! Here’s some highlights:

• It took us a week longer than planned to leave the “great” place (the Army’s name for Fort Hood) Luckily we had awesome friends (thanks Tony and Lindsey) that let us and our very well behaved somewhat rambunctious children and us stay at their house.
• We decided at last minuted to go and visit my Aunt Gerry and my cousins in Texarkana. Since they are so awesome we decided to stay an extra few days. My husband was determined to leave with my cousin’s mustang but we left without it!
• We stopped at a Bass Pro Shop somewhere in Missouri. The plan way to get new tires on the car at the tire shop next door but we decided against it (bad decision).
• In Alabama we blew a tire. It damaged the rotor and we had to replace it along with the brakes. A whole lot of money later we were back on the road and made it to Georgia, where we found a house right away still haven’t found a house.
• Since we didn’t have much luck finding a house off post we have decided to live on post. The big huge giant downfall is that we won’t have a house for around a month.

Yes, that’s right a month! So in the meantime we are living in a motel. The kids are spending half their time going crazy and the other half driving me crazy. The good thing is the my husband doesn’t have to go to work until October 1st so we have been exploring the area. It’s different but seems great so far. Here are some random things I’ve noticed:

• There is no shortage of fried chicken places or waffle houses.
• There are lots of lizards.
• I haven’t seen any dollar stores but I have seen a 49 cent store and several 98 cent stores.
• They sell boiled peanuts everywhere. I’ve never heard of them so of course I had to try some. Have to say I’m not a huge fan.
• There is an amazing running store here called Big Dog Running. They have you run on a treadmill, watch how you run and then recommend the best shoes for you. Orlando decided to try on some new kicks while we were there.
• With the killer mosquitos bug spray is a must if you’re going to be outside much.
• We ate at a fun little place called the Pickle Barrel (who could resist with a name like that?)
• Even though I am extremely stressed out the kids are always saying/ doing funny things that make me laugh.
• The time changes on the state line. It can be very confusing because half of the houses we looked at are an hour behind Fort Benning time. We were told that pretty much the whole area runs off of Fort Benning time but a watch comes in handy because my phone automatically changes based on where I am and it gets a little confusing.
• Piggly Wiggly! It’s real and of course we had to go. Ceci says “iggily iggly”
  
• We stumbled upon a book sale which was amazing. It was $3 to fill a grocery bag full of books. I loaded up because my B.F.F. Nina is not here to lend me good books. I miss you NINA!!!
• It might take me a while before I will be able to understand the southern accent most people here have. I had a sweet old lady at the Piggly Wiggly ask me, “How old dey are?” (referring to the kids)
• If you are ever in Georgia you should visit the National Infantry Museum. It is pretty darn amazing. They even have an Imax theater inside. The kids loved the family room too!
• I am so excited because they have amazing running paths here. Today I ran along the river while the kids and Carlos fished and it was outstanding.
• They have an awesome farmers market here. We checked it out and I am happy to say I got some delicious honey to have on my peanut butter and honey sandwiches. The kids had a blast too!

Since I have the pleasure of am going to be staying in a hotel for the next month or so, I might bore you all with several more blog posts soon:)

NO, the world is not ending

Two blog posts this close together; the world must be ending, right? Nope I’m just REALLY bored! My devil adorable kids were being unusually well behaved today and did my morning workout with me, without making me 10 kinds of crazy. Here are some highlights:

• I would say, “Ready” before each exercise and then Orlando would say, “GO”

•  I got a 3 awesome high fives after every exercise.
•   Skyla was the queen of squats and reverse crunches.
•   Ceci was my burpee partner (as always).
• Orlando’s version of a mountain climber is SO hilarious. I wish I could have gotten a picture because it’s so cute but he’s too fast so they were blurry.
• Skyla stopped for a water break and said, “I’m going drink some water so I can get sweaty like you Mom.”
• Orlando thinks it’s hilarious to push on my back when I’m doing planks. It’s NOT!

Here are a few pictures from our awesome workout:

Me and Orlando planking it out!

The girls doing some squats! Don’t mind the messy hair. It was chose your own hairstyle day and Skyla choose upside down pigtails and Ceci chose a mow hawk!

On another not HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME SISTER!

This is us before the 5k we made up when ours got canceled due to rain! We love you Lela and can’t wait for you to come visit again!

Skyla says, “I miss you and can you invite us to your party? Happy Birthday and your stinky.”

Ceci says, “I want to go to the park. Happy Birthday and I love you because you stinky and I need a candy for you and I’ll give you a dollar for your birthday.”

Orlando says, “hhhhhhaaaa” and then he laughed!