Pumpkin Decorating

Today Gabo and Nene decorated their pumpkin at home. They used stickers and markers... take a look...

Fall pictures

Here are a collection of pictures from Labor day to a couple of weeks ago. The first two are from out trip to DC. We did not take many pics, but these two, at the local Masonic Temple (what?)
A couple of weeks later after driving back from DC, we went to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, about 20 miles west of OP.
Then, there are a few pictures of our day at the Oak Park Oaktober Fest, (uhm... beer, brats, and corn on the cob). Our local paper took a pic of the boys in the fountain and published it, and we (of course) bought like 10 copies of the paper LOL. Finally, we have pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch with the Mendozas.
Here is the link to the album:
http://gallery.me.com/alfredo.santana#100026&view=grid&sel=0

Curriculum Night

Yesterday was "Curriculum Night" at the daycare center. They had special activities planned for every classroom, and the parents were invited to participate.

David's classroom activities:

The Toddler Unit focused on the fall classic Five Little Pumpkins for their theme. The toddlers were able to explore hay and pumpkin “guts” as a great science experience. The families were also able to paint little pumpkins to take home (art)!

Gabriel's classroom activities:

The Cheetah Classroom had a variety of stimulating activities centered on the book Caps for Sale. The preschool children estimated how many hats they could stack on their head and then documented the results (science and math). They also practiced tracing and cutting skills while creating a cap of their own (fine motor).

The Core area focused on a fall theme for families. Children were invited to sort leaves into numbered baskets and create leaf rubbings for art. We also provided a variety of fall themed books, a felt book story, and songs to use.

Here is a picture they took of Mami and Gabo creating some leaf rubbings and eating some apples!

Tons of Pics from the visit to Canada and from Canada

Daniel and Steph spent a few days with us in Chicago. We took bunch of pix, and since blogger is not particularly friendly uploading large amounts of pictures, I added a link to my gallery in my me.com account (where things are stupidly easy to do). Just click the title of the post to get there.

Cell Pics

Some more pix that I got using my cell. Some are from Oak Park and other are from (you guessed right) Brookfield Zoo. I get teased at a lot at work for going there so often, but the boys are ready for bed after a visit to the zoo, so I don't care if the monkeys become close friends by the end of the summer.

WATERPLAY!!!!

David's doctor visit

On Monday David went to his scheduled doctor's visit. He now weights 19lbs 7oz (he gained more than 2 pounds in a couple of months!). Dr. Fox says she cannot find anything wrong with him, meaning everything is fine. He did get blood drawn for a scheduled lead test. He behaved very bravely, he barely cried, although I think he was mad with Mami for not stopping the crazy lady with the needles (he also got two vaccines)!

On another note, Gabriel is re-inventing French... Instead of "siempre" (always) he says "todos los dias" (everyday), it's so funny!

Trip to the Zoo

I know that it seems I have almost abandoned the blog... but that's not true, I have just been very busy this summer.

Anyway, here are some cute pictures of our trip to the zoo with Gabo's friend from school Joey. The first picture is from Joe's birthday... the rest from the zoo...

One more pic

Aren't they the most handsome pair?!?!?

Various Pics

In the last picture we (Gabo & Mami - Papi is taking the picture) are at yesterday´s White Sox game. With us are the students from my Baseball Statistics class, as well as my co-instructor Steve. This is the second summer we are teaching this class and it´s been great! Nene stayed home, since it was a night game. Gabo fell asleep during the eight inning, and Papi had to carry him all the way home (we took the train!).