Jamie, you're a great Father to our kids and such a kind husband. Even on Father's day you helped me out with the kids, cleaned the bathroom and helped me with dishes after a fun Father's Day dinner. Thanks for all you do for us!Sunday, June 21, 2009
To: Jamie
Jamie, you're a great Father to our kids and such a kind husband. Even on Father's day you helped me out with the kids, cleaned the bathroom and helped me with dishes after a fun Father's Day dinner. Thanks for all you do for us!
Kids Photos
Do I need to say anything about these? Christian is 7, Nico 5 and Izzy is 9 months. These were taken sometime in May.
Father's Day
I have a great Dad. I have so many memories with him, even from the time I was little. He called me "dulce" and I always felt so loved by him. He taught me to work hard and work through my problems. He taught me to drive a stick shift, to thread a Wire EDM machine, run a molding press, assemble furniture, mow the lawn, he gave me confidence in all that I did. I have been so blessed with such an amazing father. Hope you had a great Father's day Pa!We had a great father's day today. We had dinner at our house and were able to enjoy Jamie's Dad, Jamie and Todd. I have great in-laws. They are so kind and patient with me and love me even when I'm not perfect.
My favorite memory of Pop is when Jamie and I got engaged and he said, "you know Caro, if you marry Jamie, you marry Steve." He just wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. Good thing Steve turned out to be a rad brother-in-law.
Anyway, Happy Father's Day Pop!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Economics 101 with Nico
I know I've written about Nico a ton lately, but this kid just has so much going on in his life right now. The latest is his Lemonade stand. I bought this cute lemonade stand at a garage sale a couple of saturdays ago and Nico had been dying to try it out. Finally, I let him go at it one day. The kid made 4.25 in almost 1 hour selling lemonade at 25 cents. One lady just gave him money for being so cute and drove away. Everyone else gave more than 25 cents. (I'm beginning to think he should charge 50) Anyway, at the end of the day Nico and I had this conversation:
Caro: Nico, I think I'm going to charge you taxes for selling your lemonade. I'll take half your money.
Nico: What?!! No way, it's my money
Caro: Well, I have to pay taxes, so you should too, don't you think?
Nico: But mom, it's my money
Caro: Alright, I'll settle for tithing at 10 percent. That will only be 40 cents.
Nico: Okay, I can totally do that (he says this with a smile-fills out a tithing slip and I swear the kid couldn't be prouder).
After the incident, Jamie and I began brainstorming on ideas to teach Nico about some basic economics. So we did, this is what we came up with:
Caro: Nico, you were very successful with your lemonade stand and made some good money, but the other 2 lemonade stands in the neighborhood didn't do as well as you did. They didn't make as much money, so we're going to take some of your money and give it to them. This way they can be happy because they also have money.
Nico: Ummm, okay, they can have 1 dollar. (at this point I'm thinking, maybe if we were all like little children we could live in a utopian society, but the conversation continues....)
Caro: Okay, go get your money, I'll take 2 dollars.
Nico: Wait, no, not my money. That's my money, I don't want to GIVE AWAY my money!!! (aaah, basic economics understood by a five year old....so simple, yet so hard for so many politicians, darn)
Jamie and I also thought of scenarios like forcing Nico to hire Christian to work for him at $7 an hour, while Cesar down the street would do it for only $1. Or how about just giving Christian some money because he didn't work, he was too busy playing video games so Nico (who now has money) is forced to give money to Christian who sat around all day playing video games. I would say Nico would quickly quit working and join his brother at video games if he knew that other lemonade stands would subsidize his income for him. Aaaah, so many possibilities. Jamie and I had fun with this one.
Caro: Nico, I think I'm going to charge you taxes for selling your lemonade. I'll take half your money.
Nico: What?!! No way, it's my money
Caro: Well, I have to pay taxes, so you should too, don't you think?
Nico: But mom, it's my money
Caro: Alright, I'll settle for tithing at 10 percent. That will only be 40 cents.
Nico: Okay, I can totally do that (he says this with a smile-fills out a tithing slip and I swear the kid couldn't be prouder).
After the incident, Jamie and I began brainstorming on ideas to teach Nico about some basic economics. So we did, this is what we came up with:
Caro: Nico, you were very successful with your lemonade stand and made some good money, but the other 2 lemonade stands in the neighborhood didn't do as well as you did. They didn't make as much money, so we're going to take some of your money and give it to them. This way they can be happy because they also have money.
Nico: Ummm, okay, they can have 1 dollar. (at this point I'm thinking, maybe if we were all like little children we could live in a utopian society, but the conversation continues....)
Caro: Okay, go get your money, I'll take 2 dollars.
Nico: Wait, no, not my money. That's my money, I don't want to GIVE AWAY my money!!! (aaah, basic economics understood by a five year old....so simple, yet so hard for so many politicians, darn)
Jamie and I also thought of scenarios like forcing Nico to hire Christian to work for him at $7 an hour, while Cesar down the street would do it for only $1. Or how about just giving Christian some money because he didn't work, he was too busy playing video games so Nico (who now has money) is forced to give money to Christian who sat around all day playing video games. I would say Nico would quickly quit working and join his brother at video games if he knew that other lemonade stands would subsidize his income for him. Aaaah, so many possibilities. Jamie and I had fun with this one.
Family Night and Uno Attack
"You-know" is how I would pronounce it, but anyway, we played Uno with the kids for family night tonight and I laughed so hard I was crying, here is why:
Caro: Nico, it's your turn, play a card
(with this look of I've got something you wont believe, Nico lays down a wild)
Christian: Nico, don't say Green! What ever you do, don't say Green!
(I've got one card left-a green card. This is known to everyone because Christian had my hand before we exchanged cards. Nico has all his cards face up and has 1 wild-which he played-and 2 yellow cards)
Nico: I say, GREEN!
Jamie and I can't help but bust out laughing. He had no idea why Christian was saying "don't say green," but it seemed to be the thing to do. With this look of, I'm going to do something tricky, he says "Green".
Another play is Nico wanting to push the "Uno Attack" button which gives you cards. If it was his turn to push the button, he would almost be happy about it, even though we told him over and over the object of the game is to get RID of all the cards. If he got a wild card in the process, you'd think he was just handed a bag full of candy. He would lay his cards all face up, except for his precious wild card, and then say, "I'm not going to show you this card because it's a surprise!" Wow, I wonder what that card could be, hummm????
We must have played almost 2 hours. We had a blast. If anyone is looking for a fun family game, this one is great. Even Isabella sat in her high chair and watched while we rolled in laughter over Nico's comments/plays. Moments like these are seriously priceless!
Caro: Nico, it's your turn, play a card
(with this look of I've got something you wont believe, Nico lays down a wild)
Christian: Nico, don't say Green! What ever you do, don't say Green!
(I've got one card left-a green card. This is known to everyone because Christian had my hand before we exchanged cards. Nico has all his cards face up and has 1 wild-which he played-and 2 yellow cards)
Nico: I say, GREEN!
Jamie and I can't help but bust out laughing. He had no idea why Christian was saying "don't say green," but it seemed to be the thing to do. With this look of, I'm going to do something tricky, he says "Green".
Another play is Nico wanting to push the "Uno Attack" button which gives you cards. If it was his turn to push the button, he would almost be happy about it, even though we told him over and over the object of the game is to get RID of all the cards. If he got a wild card in the process, you'd think he was just handed a bag full of candy. He would lay his cards all face up, except for his precious wild card, and then say, "I'm not going to show you this card because it's a surprise!" Wow, I wonder what that card could be, hummm????
We must have played almost 2 hours. We had a blast. If anyone is looking for a fun family game, this one is great. Even Isabella sat in her high chair and watched while we rolled in laughter over Nico's comments/plays. Moments like these are seriously priceless!
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