My beautiful grandson, Sebastian Darby - you may call him Bash - just turned one. Back in the day, the Cuban baby's first birthday party was something you celebrated in a big way. I sometimes wonder if, after that first eventful year, it isn't a great collective familial sigh of relief. First Year - DONE! Yes! High fives all around. He's alive ...
Games
Hispanic Heritage, Kevin Bacon and… oh, yes… A winner!
We are serious and competitive when it comes to playing games. We play a lot of card games. My mom (yes, the 96 year old) is the most cut-throat of the bunch. If she's playing, I usually offer to just serve snacks. (I know. Coward. Shut up.) Of course, we play the Kevin Bacon Game incessantly. (Note: It's much easier to play this if ...
Pumpkins and Games and Googly Eyes – Oh My! (A Giveaway)
Yep, I'm still writing about Betty Crocker. I warned you I had a lot to share! Again, I want to reiterate that spending those few days with a group of proactive, excited bloggers in the Betty Crocker Kitchens will definitely be one of the highlights of my life. Seriously. I think maybe because all of us got to just relax and play. You know how ...
Today. April 26, 2010.
(Inspired by TheSimple Woman's Daybook.) I usually do this every six months or so, just to kind of "take the temperature" of where my life is at the time. I encourage you to do the same. It's a wonderful way to celebrate the extraordinarily ordinary lives we lead. Outside my window... a dozen birds are scrambling for the ...
From Varadero. With love.
I entered the list of names into Random.org. I hit send and came back with a winner. I was sad because I had twelve entries and only one sign. =( But I loved each and every story. And I suppose I could just make eleven more signs....or I could just name the winner. *sigh* Congratulations to the winner of the Varadero Beach sign, made by me with ...
Puzzling Evidence
We started it about a week ago.One thousand pieces.I think the puzzle was given to Jonathan by one of his friends back on his birthday, but that's not important right now. Being the uber-geeks we are, we just covered the puzzle at mealtimes and removed the tablecloth again after dinner. We worked on it for hours. For days.There was a ...
It’s time to play… “Who’s Got Stuff?”
These four people went to Las Vegas this past weekend and had to share a two bedroom/two bath condo:(Actually, Amy Kikita was also with us, but I don't know where she was when we were taking this photo and she kept her stuff in her suitcase so she doesn't factor into the following game, but that's not important right now...) So, ...
Rockin’ the house
So, Adam had a few of his buddies over the other night to play Rock Band. The big selling point (besides "My mom will feed everyone") was.... "My mom will sooo kick butt er...do well... on vocals!" And so they came and we played and took turns drumming and playing guitars and vocalizing. Out in the backyard, of course, with the ...
I feel the power.
8 superheroes.8 parents.240 grapes.1 murder. It was New Year's Eve at the National Superhero Convention.Sadly, the Blue Shadow had been found crushed to death before the convention started. It was up to the Incredible League of Superheroes to solve the crime. Back row: The Human Ape, Robotron, Supersleuth, The Brooder. Front row: Windstorm, ...
Pickles and Madness – an enduring Christmas tradition
I'm Cuban.I grew up celebrating Noche Buena. On December 24th we would rise early to decorate the house and put up the Christmas tree while the pig slowly cooked in its garlicky goodness all day long until we kids were driven mad from hunger and completely ravenous by the traditionally late dinner hour, but that's not important right ...
The Best and the Worst
I had an idea.A sort of getting-to-know-you idea.And then I thought it might make a really awesome Christmas present.And then I thought maybe I would take it out for a test run. And because I'm actually LOSING SLEEP over this, I decided I'd just go ahead and blog about it and see if you will play with me. (thanks for indulging me. ...
Bilingual brain fart
I like to own movies that I know I'll watch over and over. We have quite the extensive video/dvd library. Seriously, how else could we play the Kevin Bacon Game?? ;-)And as you already know, I'm really easily entertained. So, I'm cruising through Target the other day and I found this dvd on sale: Disney does ...
How an arcade game can double as a personality test or WARNING: Perfectionism can strike at any moment!
Our good friends, Gene and Pam were visiting this week, so of course we met them at Disneyland. ;-) My entire goal for this trip, besides spending precious time with my BFF, was to experience Toy Story Mania, the newest attraction at Disney's California Adventure Park. So, I call my niece:"Helen, I'm going to meet Gene and Pam at ...
Masquerade!
(Can you guess tonight's movie?) THE original suggestion was a simple one. PerHaps we can have AN end-of-summer barbecue for our residenT yOung thespians. They're here every Friday anyway. Maybe we can watch a Movie, too. Ah, but you know what can happen to the best laid plans OF mice and men... There was festive ...
Grounded
I'm grounded on Fridays. It's not really a bad thing. I just like that it sounds dramatic. =D It's not that I've done anything wrong or that I'm being punished in any way. It's just that on Fridays we have a group of young people in our home. That's right. Our house. Every Friday. This started well over a year ...
