Proud to share...a poem by Chris

Christian goes to a humanities magnet high school, and a lot of his core curriculum has him and his classmates thinking outside the box and looking at the world around them in many different ways. They are taught to be critical thinkers and he is becoming a very reflective person and the work that he has produced over time has impressed us on more than one occasion and this is one of those days.

He had an assignment to sit down with his wonderful, loving grandparents, (Jerry's parents and my mom and aunt) to talk about where they came from, and how they lived so he can get an idea of where he comes from. Watching Chris sit and listen to them and and ask questions and laugh out loud at some of their childhood stories is always priceless. More so is to see him take all those stories and combine them so well into this spoken word poem, so being the proud mama that I am, I would like to share it with you today...

Desvergonzado (Shameless) By: Christian Camacho Yo soy un descendiente del pasado de mi familia y yo soy orgulloso (I am a descendent of my family’s past and I am proud) My family is one of oratorical traditions We love sharing stories, Though that tradition is slightly, sadly starting to fade Because none of my first cousins, or my brothers, nor I can speak the language of these stories Yet, there is always a story to share to bring out a smile in the family Where I’m from, smiles are born regardless of what job your Mamá o Papá have. Regardless of whether you were living it up in heart of Medellin, Colombia Or living off of arroz, frijoles, y frutas from this mornings crop I AM A COLOMBIAN MEXICAN MAN I come from the Nylon strings of the guitar that my Tita played Those strings are like my Latino roots that I strum with pride I am not ashamed to declare where I’m from I am not ashamed of my Mexican Tito Quien era travieso, pero lograba reírse (who was naughty, but always laughed) Who lived in poverty, with income de un Zapatero and from selling homemade tortillas I am not ashamed because I can say that my great uncle Carlos Owned a zoo, a helicopter, a jet, and has a street and school in Mexico named after him He was an influential man whose influence and admiration have past on to my Tito Who I hold to be one of the most admirable men in my life. I am not ashamed of my Colombian great grandparents Who lived in a shack and slept on beds of bamboo I am not ashamed I am not ashamed because though they lived in the mountain dirt The smiled They were content, not because they were poor But because all they needed were each other They didn’t need money, Granted there wasn’t quite enough dinero to save my grandma’s parents’ lives, But they beat out what the system tried to do I am not ashamed because they survived and were happy doing so Where I’m from, happiness cannot be too far from family We could be living in sewers of Manhattan We could be living at the epicenter of Skid Row We could be living the tightest of spaces but for all we know is that where I’m from Love Is just a smile or two away.

So proud that my baby is proud of where he is from, and Chris' smile is always full of LOVE!

BTW- This baby of mine will actually be turning 17 on Monday!!!
OMG! is all I can say :)

I hope you enjoyed my share piece today :)

From my corner to yours...Thank you for stopping by!

The first day of school is just not the same anymore...

For us, this school year brings-


A Junior, an 8th grader and a 5th grader
3 different schools
3 different start times (7am, 8am, 8:30am)
(are you tired yet?...yes, me too!)

So that meant I had to take 3 different "1st day of school" pics instead of the customary 1 picture of all 3 of them I used to take every year. Hmmm, that was different...and kind of sad?

Then as I walked in Danny last week and Mikey this week to their new classes, I realized that the first day of school is just not the same for our family anymore.  We have no more babies, no more pre-schoolers, or little boys who need us to be there to hold their hands on their way in. Shoot, its our last year in elementary school for goodness sakes! There is no longer anymore the pomp and circumstance of the first day- the colorful name badge on their shirts, decorated desktops, no more pictures of them in flag salute line or in circle time, no more waiting for the teacher to close the door for their 1st day to start.

No, now its more about just making sure they have what they need, dropping them off at the gate, if you get a picture on your way out, you got lucky! Or like leaving Mikey on Monday with him very nicely letting know it was ok for me to leave, and saying something to the effect of "I'm ok, Mom. I got this." Lol!

Ok...

Siggghhhh.....

Listen, Its not that I'm even sad about this. I'm not... at all. I'm fully aware, better yet- I love that my boys are growing up and I appreciate and admire their need for independence...its what they're supposed to do.  It was a simple observation that hit me as I was driving home, about all the little things that as a mother, I can't help but miss.

Do you feel the same? Do you still have little ones starting school? If you do, enjoy it! Enjoy every minute about all those little things that the first day of school means to you and your kids. It goes by too fast, and things change even faster over the years, but that's ok...each change brings its own joy!

From my little corner to yours...Have a wonderful 2013-2014 school year!

 

Project Life catch up Weeks 19 & 20...

Hi there! How was your Memorial Day Weekend??

I have to say that we really enjoyed and took advantage of ours. We did a little bit of everything- we relaxed, lounged, visited old friends, then we worked hard around the house, got quite of few things taken care of, saw lots of family, enjoyed lots of music and even some little league baseball.  My hubby was enjoying this weekend so much, he kept wanting to freeze time...no, he really did! But how? Impossible of course, but his childlike disappointment was heartbreaking. (I wish I could do that for you Babe!)  It was just a really nice weekend and we're always so grateful when they're that nice, and we're looking forward to the next one.

For now- we're on Week 22, but I will be bringing you up to speed on my Project Life's weeks 19 and 20 today.

Week 19- As I had mentioned in my previous PL post, weeks 18 and 19 ended up being one page layouts. Not a lot of pictures, but not a lot of stress...just the way I like it.  I am really enjoying making my weekly title cards by combining text on a picture that I'm not always sure how to include but want to get into my page somehow.

• This week included the boys 2nd week of TaeKwonDo and earning a few stripes. They were soo excited.
• I received my pretty Autism necklace I had ordered in the mail and I'm wearing it for my Danny.
• I registered for the Culver City 5/10K for Autism (check out my site here for more info or to donate)
• Mikey had a Gold Mining field trip at Riley's Farm
• Chris & I watched Silver Linings Playbook and we loved it! Super powerful and inspiring! Hence I had to include that picture as my title page this week!
• And we ended the week with a nice Mothers Day with my boys and spent time with both my Mom and MIL. 

 Week 20-  This week proved to be A LOT more photo driven than the weeks past, and I enjoyed it. Aside from using my new camera, I felt like I was actually more mindful this week about what I was taking pictures of and everything seemed picture worthy even including a new kitchen gadget that gave me some new organizational control of my drawers. Go figure!

 This Week included:

• A heat wave and some great water play for the boys,
• Starting my 5K training with the help of some phone apps and internet schedules
• I tried out a Banana Chocolate Chip bread recipe that turned out fabulous.
• Got my camera upgrade in the mail (soo excited) and tried it out the rest of the week on anything I could including some of Mikey's beautiful artwork and the rest of the week's pictures.
• Finally feeling the vibe and made Mikey's costumes for his drama production of the Lion King and I was excited to see how it came out.

This week's pictures worked out for me as it seemed like each of the boys got their chance to shine this week.

• Danny is really showing some nice talent in TaeKwonDo and the pictures I took really depict a focus I've never seen in him which makes me more excited than you could possibly understand. He is really enjoying this and that is awesome for us to see.
• Mikey had his Annual Project about Math Skills at school to present and it always amazes me to see just how much he get out of doing these projects. I love that it hones in on his presentation skills and he is always so good at this. I can see just how he will carry these skills out later in life.
• Christian had his final Cleveland High School Baseball game and we took advantage to take as many pictures of him in action as possible. We're not sure if he'll be playing baseball next year...High school baseball is just another beast all together and unfortunately,we can't say its been too positive an experience either for any of us, but more importantly for Chris so he might be moving on to something else. Jerry loves baseball so it was kind of hard, but it was important for me that he get to see his son play his final two games of the season. Christian will always be our little slugger though!

So that's it! I think I'm in a good spot now with catching you guys up, but I don't want to jinx myself. School is almost out so the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty busy so we'll see how it goes.

I'll be sharing my post on The Mom Creative  and from my corner to yours...Thanks for stopping by!

First Day of School is Here!!

So here it is again! This day can be so exciting for most and yet almost just as dreaded by some at the same time. It means a new year, new classes, new school supplies (always fun), and even new friends and adventures. But it also means, new schedules, waking up early, making lunches again, carpools begin...that old routine is back! But its what we do, right?! Its all part of what we live for and love.

I had a lot of fun with the kids this summer, so I wasn't entirely ready for them to go back. However, now that the day is here it is nice to know that the kids are back in school, and that I can resume somewhat of a normal routine again (whatever that means)!

Mikey started school yesterday, and is starting his 4th grade year. In taking his picture yesterday morning, I realize how much he is changing and growing up. .

One thing that struck me was that HE noticed how much things are changing. He made a comment about how in Kindergarten everybody played together and were all friends, and that now its not like that and that made him sad. After hearing my heart break, I had to somehow tell him that unfortunately this is true, and that it was normal because he and all his friends were growing up and that his friendships were going to change, but that he should be looking forward to making new friends that had things in common with him. He agreed and was happy. He's not only growing up, but is getting to be almost too intuitive for his age.

Nevertheless, he had a great day. He liked his teacher, Ms. Leonard, which I honestly don't know very well, but we've been very lucky at CHIME so far. We've had some great teachers for all our boys, so I'm hoping for another great year. So far she made a great impression with all of us as we walked into her classroom which she decorated in a Rock-N-Roll theme!! What a perfect match for us, Lol! It is very clever and each student table center is named after a specific rock band. Mikey is sitting at "the Doors" table, but there was a Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Beatles, and Metallica table. Each table has 4 students and each one is given a band member position to play, so Mikey is the "drummer" of his band/table. She had rock-n-roll lyrics that applied to school all over and the library was given a cool "Rock-N-Read" theme because reading is meant to be cool, of course!  It looks like its going to be a very fun year for him, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else she has in store for them. Teachers can make such a difference in how kids see things and these are the things teachers do to make school interesting. I Love it!!

Daniel and Christian started school today. Danny is going into the 7th grade and Chris starts his Sophomore year of High School!!! OMG! Its hard to believe, but in no time Chris will be graduating and he has had a great time this summer making sure I knew that because he knows it scares me soo much that he's growing up soo fast.








We are excited and nervous for Danny as 7th grade is always that transition year where things get a little harder anyway, and then add to boot that puberty kicks in! But he showed us this morning he was also maturing as he let us know that he didn't need us to take him to school today. Oh ok! He said he was perfectly ok to go in his carpool with his best friend Zachary, and could figure out his schedule on his own. To be sad or very proud was my question?? So we giggled nervously but encouraged him and we knew that he had his friend to help or he'd figure it out. Soo proud of him!

For Christian, this was old hat for him this year, and instead it was his turn to help out and welcome a new Freshmen into the school. Our friend Jacob starts out today at the Cleveland Magnet that Christian attends, and being that he was very nervous about the whole deal, wanted to drive to school with Chris. So they both walked in together as casual as could be, and I know that Christian will be there to help him figure things out too.



So it looks like we're going to get settled in pretty well, and we're still buying last minute school stuff but otherwise we should be back in the groove by the end of the week. And that includes me too! Part of me needs to get focused back on work, the house, and myself!! But I'm taking this week to get things in gear for all of that.

For now, I will enjoy all the stories and mishaps that might come from this new week of school and I'm hoping you all will too!

From my corner to yours...Happy Back to School Week!