Snow AND a Pony ride? Lucky girls...

Dear Castillo Children,

What a fun and wacky week we've had! It started out a little rough but had some really cool things happen to us this week. Let's get started!

Last Sunday, the choir (which I lead for my church calling) sang in Sacrament Meeting. We got there a little early to help people warm up and go over the song. While in the parking lot, about to walk into church, Annalise coughs and throws up in the parking lot. I have to admit I was rather impressed that she missed her dress and just threw up on the ground. I'm not sure many 2 year old could do that. So props to her. But with that we decided to sing for choir and then head home since she was sick and we didn't want to deal with transportation issues. Annalise proceeded to throw up again after lunch so we started to get worried. Annalise is notorious for her weak stomach (I have driven in a vomit smelling car a few more times than I would like to think about). I was hoping she was just coughing and throwing up because of that. The main concern was we were planning on attending the Arizona Renaissance Festival up in Phoenix that following day. Todd had worked on Saturday so he could go for President's Day to the Festival with Uncle Keith and Aunt Marcie. The girls were suppose to stay with their cousins with a sitter while we played. I was looking SO forward to a day away from the kids, playing with my husband and family. But Monday morning came and Annalise had thrown up again in the night. We decided it would be best to stay home. I went up to my room and pouted for a little while. My friend joked that kids ruin everything, to which I said it's fair if they do because I'm bound to ruin their lives when they are teenagers.

So Monday Todd was home and it threw off my whole week! I kept thinking that Tuesday was Monday and then we didn't have preschool this week because of some made up holiday called Rodeo Days, that is just a weird Tucson thing. They get Thursday and Friday off of school, so we take a break from Preschool for the week so people can travel if they want. ANYWAY, Monday I did chores and Todd did some projects in the backyard. I asked him to help me hang my curtains in the Master Bedroom and to hang my candle chandelier over the bath tub. While doing that he decided to fix a plumbing issue I've had in the bath tub, the hot water didn't work. There was a part that didn't work anymore...? Something that Todd was convinced would be an easy fix. But nothing is ever easy, is it? After a good hour of trying to get the thing out to buy the part we needed and turning off the water, we needed to eat dinner. So we went to Taco Bell for a bite and then Lowe's and Home Depot. Got home and I put the girls to bed (daddy's usual job) and Todd worked for the majority of the night on the stupid bath tub. Frustration! He had to give up for the night and we had no water since the spout was all torn up and we would have had water everywhere. I slept in the guest bed since Todd didn't want to wake me up early since he needed to fix it before he went to work. I woke up the next morning to running water, my candle chandelier hung and hot water out of the tub. That man is amazing!

 

PS. Annalise didn't throw up again all day and we extremely happy and running around. We totally could have gone.

 

Tuesday was a blur honestly, so let's skip to Wednesday!!

 

The most magical thing happened on Wednesday. It snowed! In our backyard! All of Tucson really. Even Phoenix got a little snow. It got really cold for just that one day and it was cold enough to snow. It's funny that it snowed since Nora had been talking about making snow angels (and practicing on the floor) for weeks. It was almost like her child like will made it happen. We were playing up stair when Todd called me from work. He asked if I noticed that it was snowing. I hadn't noticed any snow but when I looked out the window it was starting to come down. It had snowed where he worked and he called me to let me know so I could experience it too. I love that he calls me about random things like that. I told him we were going to go outside to play and that I would take pictures. It was SO fun. And cold. I'm not use to cold.

 

 

Enough snow to powder the ground for a few snow angels.

 

In this picture you can see how much was coming down.

Annalise looks like she's waiting for the train in Dr. Zhivago.

 

Nora was in heaven and loved every minute.

 

I kept calling Annalise Anna Karenina because of her gorgeous coat she got from Auntie Geneva.

 

They tried to play on everything but snow was everywhere. (they had some wet bottoms when we went inside.)

 

Annalise wasn't so happy about this wet, cold stuff that kept hitting her. We also only had one pair of child size gloves and Nora got those. (Since Annalise got the warmer coat) Anna wore a pair of my gloves but they kept falling off. She was crying when we went inside because her hands were cold. (Love the look on her face as she looks at the snow. I feel the same way, Annalise)

 

Nora, however, was completely delighted and was sad to go back inside.

 

Sorry for the ton of pictures, but how often does it snow in Tucson! ?

 

Thursday was a blur too, I just remembered I made leek and potato soup for the first time and it was really good! I just need to clean the leeks better since they are sandy little plants. There might have been some grainy-ness to the soup.

 

Friday Todd let me sleep in (love!) and then we went to a few stores looking for different forms of flour. I'm still not 100% sure if it's gluten but I do better when I avoid it. But man, I wanted a cookie. SO BAD. I went on a quest to see what I could make with alternative flours. We went to Trader Joe's and I was disappointed with their selection. (Plus all the customers where super grouchy looking, to which Todd replys: "Of course, they're snobs." Made me laugh). At Sprouts we had better luck and I found some rice flour and some gluten free cookies. We made cookies today with the rice flour and they tasted pretty good. They were flat and a little grainy but still totally cookie worthy. We went to Bookmans and then to a Chinese buffet where they did Mongolian BBQ and the buffet. I thought I was good with rice noodles but I still got sick the following day. Learned there is gluten in soy sauce.

 

Saturday was one of the Rodeo Days here in Tucson so our community had a little family event in honor of it. We decided to go out for just and hour and the weather was beautiful. (Really funny since it SNOWED only a few days before) There was a Petting Zoo:

 

 

Annalise brushing a cow.

 

 

Nora and a pig.

 

 

They got to jump in a bouncy castle and go on an inflatable obstacle course.

 



 

BUT, the best thing ever for the girls were the free pony rides!

 

 

Annalise's horse was named Popcorn. They waited a full 15 minutes for their chance to ride. (15 minutes to a 2 and 3 year old is basically an hour and a half of adult time. They felt like the EARNED that ride)

 

 

Neither girl stopped smiling and Nora got to the point where she would wave at random people watching, like she was a princess.

 

 

I didn't catch the name of Nora's horse but I think he was one of the prettiest.

 

 

All in all, not a bad way to spend an hour.

 

 

I love you, my beautiful girls! You make me laugh so many times a day with the funny things you say. I should write them down so I can remember them when I do the blog! One last picture for the road!

 

 

 

All My Love,

 

Mom

Valentine's Day is here again!

Dear Castillo Children,

Oh, my beautiful girls, how I adore you. We've had another fun week and lots of fun stuff is coming up as well.

Last Sunday I got to teach in Relief Society. Our normal teacher had sicks kids that came down with RSV. Neither of you have had that so far (knock on wood) but I have heard it is really hard and one of her kids was put in the hospital for it. Kind of scary! I felt so bad for her so I told her not to worry about her class and I would teach it. This happened on a Tuesday and I completely forgot about it until Saturday night. At midnight. Oops! I scrambled to get my thoughts down and luckily the class really seemed to like the lesson.

We talked about Lorenzo Snow and his conversion to the church. He gave his account about how he didn't have a witness to the truth until after he was baptised. I compared the conversion of him to Joseph Smith and the first vision, and then to us today in our own conversion. I noticed a pattern. First, we start with acting in faith. President Snow got baptised and J.S. looked into churches and studied it out. How can we start with faith? Second, they went somewhere to be able to feel the spirit. Snow went for a walk alone and J.S. went to the grove. Third, they both felt "darkness" befor the manifestation. This was important since Snow felt really depressed and didn't want to pray since he didn't receive his glowing moment of knowing the church was true. J.S. was attacked by a dark spirit trying to stop him. We discussed that perhaps depression and difficulty were a part of the process. That the Lord still loves us and doesn't abandon us simply because we are going through difficulty. Fourth, we pray in faith for an answer and finally, we can be ready to receive. I loved how these example of two great prophets can show up how to receive our own witness.

On Monday, we cleaned the house. I know, so exciting for you! We went through all your toys and I packed away all the "baby" toys and but aside a lot to donate. Of course, as soon as I put them in the give away pile they were AWESOME again. I'll have to sneak them out while you're not looking. Also went through all of Annalise's clothes and realized that I need to put away all the little girl clothes! I didn't realize how hard that was for me. I kind of hate that I need to store all these clothes just in case. We'll see if we'll add another sister someday. My friend Cindy stopped by with some cupcakes to say thanks to your dad for fixing her ice maker. Nora was super excited and talked all about them all through dinner and FHE. She even stopped playing games early so she could eat her cupcake. (Please note that she is wearing her shirt backwards in this picture and like it that way.)

 

 



On Tuesday we had Preschool here and we learned about the letter R. The best part of preschool was where we painted Rocks and make them into our Pet Rocks by gluing googley eyes on them.

Preschool has gotten really easy to do now, but I think that is mostly because I'm missing three students! One moved away, another is having potty training issues so he took a break and the last one came only two of the six times I taught. It was so laid back and fun. I really enjoyed doing it this time around. Honestly, it could be the smaller class size or that fact that I know what I am doing. The less I stressed about it the easier and fun it was for me. However, I am also REALLY excited that I don't have to teach for the rest of the school year. Hopefully I can find some more people to teach with next year. I'm not really worried about Nora being ready for Kindergarten, she's extremely bright and I know she'll do well.

Wednesday we went to the library to get some books and meet up with my friend Cindy to eat at McDonalds, lovingly referred to as Old McDonalds in our home. At the library there was a group of teens outside and as I walked out with my 2 and 3 year old one of them dropped the f-bomb. Seriously?! I said, "Hey, I have little kids here!" and at least they apologized. Come on people! I also took a dance class on Wednesday evening. It's a mixed dance style/exercise class and it was awesome. And hard. And I hurt for like two days afterwards. Seriously, couldn't move. I really like doing it but it made me feel old in the worst way! I can remember being able to move around on the ground and jump up. Yeah...not anymore. I plan to go again this next week. I think I'll survive. The only picture I have for Wednesday is a cuddle/wrestling that happens almost night between my girls and their daddy.

On Thursday was Valentine's Day! Your Daddy always does something nice for his special girls. We woke up to candy milk shakes! One for each of us. I got red roses, Nora got a little unicorn and Annalise got a little puppy.

 

After breakfast (and taking the candy away from them by force!) We got ready for a Preschool Valentine's Day party at our house. These are the Valentine's Nora gave her friends (she gave them special Cinderella cookies so the blue on the cookies are little slippers):

 

 

When her classmates came over they made some Valentine's for their Mommys, decorated heart cookies and played upstairs in our playroom. It was a success and my last day of teaching Preschool!

 



After the party the girls helped me set up my surprise for Daddy. I made a sign that said: I Could KISS  You All Over the Place! And then laid down pink material on the walkway to the front door and covered it with chocolate kisses. The girls loved helping to sprinkle the chocolates and then they liked sneaking out the front door to eat them while mommy was busy.

Daddy loved it! He came home early to make an amazing steak dinner (filet mignon!). He even made chocolate sorbet. (I think because I might be Gluten intolerant so no cakes or cookies) Nora and Annalise seemed to enjoy the whole presentation. (Nora wanted me to take this picture of her)

I got another present, an ASU sweatshirt! I've been wanting one and Todd got it for me, but it was from the girls. Now I can represent both of my Universities (and not get kicked off the beach when I'm camping with Aunt Cheryl...which I almost did a few years ago while wearing my UofA one)

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Which is a perfect way to introduce my play idea I've been working on. I decided to dedicate an hour every Tuesday and Thursday night to writing. Mostly since I need something to show to my writing group. My play is a modern retelling of St. Valentine. The story goes that Valentine was in prison for marrying soldiers against the order of the Emperor. He was eventually killed for his crime but not before he gave back sight to the jailer's daughter. He wrote her a letter before his execution that was signed, Your Valentine. This story most likely wasn't true, but still has a nice ring to it. My story is set in the future where marriage has been outlawed. Society has decided that marriage is something that is unnecessary and religion has been reduced to something for the mentally unstable. A young man starts to marry people in secret in a religious ceremony and is caught. He stands trial and his lawyer, a woman who believe in the letter of the law, starts to question the purpose of law. There is a little side love story with the woman's daughter as well. I wrote my first scene last Tuesday and I'm looking forward to writing more. It's funny. The first scene I wrote it actually the third scene but I had to start somewhere and that seemed more comfortable for me. Nothing might come of it but it's a fun hobby. :)

I've had a nice, relaxing weekend, complete with a dinner at Texas Roadhouse last night. I have eaten SO much steak this week! I know, feel sorry for me. :)

To my girls, I love being your mother. I love playing with you and I especially loved that you wanted to make a tent and watch a movie on Friday night.

 

 

With All My Love,

 

Your Mother

I'm back, per many requests...okay 2

Dearest Castillo Children,

Your momma got lazy. I just couldn't get into the habit of writing every week. I just get distracted by a butterfly or something and flit off in either direction. BUT your Grammy and Pop Pop are serving a mission in Spain for the next two years and this little blog will let them know all the amazing things you're doing and allow them to see your pictures. So I'm trying to get BACK into the habit of writing...or at least create a habit. Here's what we did the beginning of February 2013! (Small side note - the year 2013 seemed like SO far in the future and here it is, happily starring at me. You'll know what I mean when the year 2031 rolls around. Seriously. Weird)

Last Saturday I bought my dream bike! It's a beach cruiser style bike and... wait for it... it's pink! Nora was in love at first sight and was sure that the bike was for her. Sorry, little girl, you'll just have to watch your mother riding off with the coolest bike ever. My super nice neighbor down the street happened to randomly ask me if I needed a bike since he was selling one. I didn't "need" a bike since Grammy left her bike for me, but it's a mountain bike. Honestly, I can only see me riding a bike on a mountain if that is the only way for me to escape zombies. Which could happen. I try not to discount anything. ;)

My new beauty of a bike!

 

 

On Sunday we drove up to see cousin Ben Wach get blessed. I'm really glad we went since it was a family event and I just love your dad's family. I feel like I was raised with them sometimes. It was nice to see the family. I'm so glad the two of you are so use to the 2 hour drive up to Mesa. You're usually so quiet and sweet. Give you some snacks and a drink and you're good. Love you SO much!

 

 

Monday I went to a Dr. appointment to talk to him about possibly having a gluten allergy. Gluten is in everything, like bread and even random places like soy sauce. I honestly hope that I don't have a problem but I feel so much better when I avoid it. We'll see what the test says probably this next week. Nora has also found a new favorite place to stay! I bought an armoire (sp?) from someone in my community for $20 (awesome!) that matched my furniture set in my bedroom. I LOVE it and I plan to use it for storage since I'm cleaning out a big portion of my closet to keep food storage (my big goal for the year and to build my year supply). I wanted somewhere to keep all the other stuff. Then Nora found it. I can usually find her there.

 

I don't know if you can tell but I also painted my bedroom recently. (yay!) I somehow talked my Home Teacher to come over and paint my bedroom. He says he likes to do it...and he IS serving us... :)

 

Annalise also received a package in the mail for Grandma for her birthday that came a little late. It was like she got two birthdays. She was so happy. She got some cute clothes, some toy cars (she is OBSESSED with cars right now) and a Minnie playset. All of her favorite things. Nora also got things for Valentine's Day like a Minnie shirt (Anna also got a matching one) and I got some truffles from my mom. Mmm... It was very sweet of her to think of us.

 

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa!

 

Please excuse the underwear showing in all the pictures. Annalise is still doing wonderfully on her potty training and as long as she doesn't wear pull ups for too long she doesn't have accidents. She's so smart, she knows that pull ups are basically a diaper so she uses it as such. I'm not ready to go completely without the pull ups yet (naps, bedtime and outings). But other than that she's awesome. Goes without me asking. Does all the business herself and then yells for me to come see so she can get some candy.

 

 

I've been teaching preschool at my house this week and we learned about the letter Q and that's been a lot of fun. At first teaching preschool was stressful but now it's totally easy and relaxed. It does help that I lost two students because one moved away and another is taking a little break. After next week I won't have to teach preschool again at my house until the next school year. Awesome. I also starting teaching voice lessons! I have two students and I LOVE it. I am amazed how much one of my students has improved! She's doing so well after only a month. It's exciting to see so much progress in her. It's really fun to see how much I know. I've been doing choirs for years and read a lot once I got my choir calling. I am amazed how much I have to give a new singer. It has been such a great thing for me. I honestly think it makes me a better mom because then I want to instruct my own children instead of just telling them.

 

Thursday our preschool class went to Pump It Up, which is a big bouncy castle place with a huge slide, obstacle courses and crazy jumpy rooms. We're talking about the body so I thought that would be a fun field trip for the kids. They played for 90 minutes and the played HARD. They were so tired at the end, which was kind of awesome.

 

 We learned about bodies and drew life size pictures of their bodies for preschool.

 

 Nora going down a giant slide.

 

 Annalise landing after sliding down. She could climb all the way up all by herself. So proud!

 

 Nora getting ready to go up again!

 

Friday morning Nora had her friend Theresa's birthday party and then I went to my writing group meeting. I joined a group of LDS writers where my friend is a member. Kaylee actually has a really sweet LDS book that got published called Meg's Melody. I've been kicking an idea around my head for about a year and I'd really like to turn it into a play. I'll share more as it develops. I decided if I ever really was going to write it then I needed someone to be accountable to and this group is perfect for that. I'm hoping to start really working on it this week so I can have something to show them in a month. After that your Dad was so AWESOME. I was late getting back from my meeting and I had told someone I would watch her kids so she could clean her house in peace. She's due with her third in a few weeks and just feeling a little worn out. So she comes to drop off her kids and I'm not here! Todd is awesome and says he's fine watching them and that I had told him before hand. I'm glad she was comfortable enough to leave them with him since I was late! When I got home he had everything under control so I asked him if I could go over and help her clean for an hour. I helped her clean buy doing dishes and mopping her floors, and the whole time my husband watched all the kids. He's so wonderful! Love that man!

 

Saturday was a fundraiser for another ward at church. The Young Women put on a Valentine's Day dance every year with dinner and free babysitting. What?! Sold! We went last year and LOVED it. I love any excuse to dance with my husband, really. It was funny, during dinner the DJ for the other ward remembered us from last year and said he was looking forward to seeing us on the dance floor. Yeah, there's a reason for when I realized I was in love with my husband while we were dancing. :) It was western theme so Todd wore his cowboy hat and I wore pigtails. The girls had a ton of fun and we got to eat dinner with friends, try out roping and dance for an hour and half. Todd even requested our song "The Way You Look Tonight". That was the song that I realized I was in love with him. We got a family and couple picture but we'll have to wait for those to come. The girls just wanted to wear daddy's hat. 

 

 

 

That's our week! I hope to keep doing these...so please leave me a message to let me know someone is reading this...so I can be accountable to someone for writing!

 

And to my beautiful little girls, everyday with you is magical. I see the world in a whole new way when I'm with you. I've decided my new philosophy is that I get to live my 2nd childhood. I'm taking piano lessons (learning Moonlight Sonata right now, SO hard!) and I get to play with my best friends everyday. Sure I have chores, but I did when I was a kid, too. My homework is paying bills, and sure, I have to make dinner most nights but at least I get to pick! And another reminder why childhood is awesome, check out Annalise's gorgeous style. You wish you could look this good!

 

 

 

With All My Love,

 

Your Mother