Fun at the Park!

During our stay at my mom's house we took Collin and my cousin to the park because they needed to run and be free from the house. My moms backyard is only so big for one child let alone two so we went towards downtown Merced. This park was gorgeous! It had so many leaves on the ground and constantly falling down from the tree. The boys had a blast running, playing with the leaves and kicking a ball around.

It was very cold outside and Collin was very excited because he was able to wear his new gloves that he got for Christmas.

Playing with the leaves!

was worried that the leaves would get in his eyes.

Finally was able to get him to look up at the leaves, well sort of!

taking a breather with the leaves.

He really wanted to take a picture next to this tree.

he was playing hide and seek with the leaf. he still thinks if you cover just your eyes everyone else cannot see you. i love their way of thinking.

I love the sport feature on the new camera!!!

He cannot wait to play soccer, he has to be 5 years old to join the city team.

waiting for the ball from my cousin.

he likes to take a running start for he can really kick the ball!!

Collin had a blast at my moms house and a little bummed that we had to leave but excited to come back. Seeing as next semester is Jed's last (yippee!!!) it will be another hectic one :( I am not sure how I feel about the reality of another hectic semester, we barely survived the last one. At least we have a short break from school to recuperate. Then back to the books. We cannot wait for the new year.

xoxo
veronica and jed

Merry (very late) Christmas!!!!!!

So I know this is extremely late but I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!! We went to my mom's house in Merced, CA to celebrate Christmas like every year. Collin was so excited because it was difficult to make it out to my mom's during the semester; it was actually our first time back to Merced since the summer time. Decemeber is usually Christmas time the whole month. We are either celebrating it before, on or after Christmas. A lot of family and we like to be equal with everyone.

So we started with the gingerbread men decorating project. It was Collin and my cousin Leonardo's first time decorating gingerbread men. Collin has eaten his fair share of gingerbread (thanks to starbucks) however, it was my cousins first time decorating a gingerbread with the full spread of candy and icing.

Seriously looking on to see which bowl of
candy he wants to add on to his cookie.

sweet reward after the
decorating

My cousin Leonardo Antonio
having a blast

My mother every year changes the color of her ornaments.
Last year was all silver, this year was all gold, next year all red and
the following year after would be traditional where it is a hodgepodge of colors and
ornaments. She even has wrapping paper to match each year.

My mother's beautiful tree!

Our family tree. We like to use blues, silver and clear glass ornaments.
Jed and I both like the combination of the colors because it just
reminds us of winter and snow. Jed loves the snow but not enough to
go live in the snow full time (thank goodness). Don't get me wrong
I love the snow, however, I love being able to drive away from the snow and
go home to the beach and clouds or sun depending on the day it is .

We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you all did too!

lots of love
veronica and jed

New Camera!!!!!!

So we got a new camera!!!!!! I am sooooo excited as you can tell with the amount of pictures I have taken in one day, in a span of maybe 20-30 min. Who should I take pictures of???? Collin of course, at least as long as he lets me.

Of course he had to do some funny faces first.

Look at his face!!!
He could do no wrong right???

Eyelashes to last a lifetime!!!!
Why can't us women get eyelashes that long.

Pearly whites!

Is my nose clean?

Say Cheese!

more pictures to come soon

lots of love
veronica and jed

Gatorade Ad or Security Guard?

So this is very old, however I love these pictures. This was when we were having the random heat wave during November and December. It was probably a good 80 degrees in Salinas this afternoon and Collin loves drinking Gatorade (i'm sure it probably is not the best for him but we already drank the two water bottles we had.). So I think this can totally be a Gatorade ad.

Gatorade. Even refreshing for kids!

If you need a security guard for your next party
just let Collin know. He may be able to help out!

lots of love
veronica and jed

Collin and Golfing

So Collin is all done for the year with his golf lessons. He starts back on the 9th of Jan. These are a couple of pictures of his last golf lesson. Towards the end the instructors would allow the children decide what they would want to focus more on, whether it be putting or the driving range. Collin has really enjoyed the putting greens. I am not sure why, it could be because he has to slow down and really take his time or because he does not have to hit the ball as hard to make it fly up in the air? Nevertheless, he has enjoyed his lessons and cannot wait until they start again.

So close to getting it in the hole. He just hit it a
little to hard and it went past the hole.

Second try was a charm. I shot the
picture just in time, before it went in.

Cannot wait for the next year of new lessons and more pictures.

xoxo
veronica and jed

Thanksgiving!!!!

So I definitely know this is really late, however I do think it is better than never. Just keep in mind the very hectic schedule we lived during the semester. Thanksgiving was great with a lot a food and with family around. It was my aunt and cousins first thanksgiving ever in the states so we made everything you could think of.

The wonderful spread. Basil-garlic mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole (Jed's favorite), and rolls.

The main attraction......the 14lb turkey. This big old turkey and only a little left behind. First time we did not really have left overs to last for at least a couple of weeks. 10 people can eat a lot.

Collin is thoroughly enjoying his big old plate of food.
Yes he does eat that much on a good day!

Needless to say Thanksgiving was great full of good food, company and of course the football games. Still bummed about the minimal amount of leftovers, however we did survive ;).

lots of love
Veronica and Jed

Another Golf Lesson

This past Friday, Collin started the final session of golf before they stop because of the holidays and new year. The weeks lesson was learning how to properly introduce yourself so you can meet someone new the right way. In the two pictures above you see Collin introducing himself to Jed. (Jed is a volunteer at the first tee and sometimes teaches the classes throughout the week). In the picture where he is taking a knee they were discussing about the exercise they just completed. They had to run up the hill, introduce themselves to their instructor with the proper handshake and eye contact.

Then they were able to decide on two options: practice putting on the putting greens or go see a real golf hole. Now I know that the second one does not sound too appealing, but some of these kids have never been on a real golf hole. Not Collin of course, so of course he was going for the putting greens.

In this picture, he was putting from behind the cones. He putted it and he had to double check that it did go in the hole with 1 stroke!

Here he is confirming that yes it did go into the hole with just 1 stroke! He was so proud.

with lots of love

Veronica and Jed

The Day After Elections

Hello everyone! Now I know that this post is rather late but remember our hectic schedules? We are getting down to the last couple weeks of the semester, so it has been nothing but papers, papers and more papers.

So the elections were amazing! The outcome was phenomenal and of course Collin surprised me once again. Let me give you some background info. In the morning while we are getting ready for the day, we always watch The Today Show because if we watched cartoons we would never leave the house. So of course everyday leading up to the election Today would always discuss about the election and whatever new controversy has come up. Every so often would Collin say, "Mommy look, it is Barack Obama!" Sure enough it was him on the screen.

Then came election day. We all got up extra early so we could be in line by 7:20am. When we got there Collin again had another question, "Mommy, why are we here? What are all these people doing here?" So I went into the explanation of the fact that we were voting for the next president and so on. Of course he chimes in "Barack Obama right mommy." Now I know everyone knows the rule of no election pooling withing 100ft of the building, so as soon as he said Obama and not very quietly, the people around us kind of turned around and realize that this little boy was talking about our next potential president.

So when we finally went in, voted, got our stickers and were on our way out Collin asked, "Mommy why are we leaving?" I told him that we were done voting and it was time to go to school. Then he said, "Then Barack Obama won right?" I could not help but laugh because he thought the voting process was that fast, so I explained to him that we would find out by late that night or maybe not until the next day.

We woke up the next day, and I already knew that Barack Obama won because I watched the amazing speech he gave. So when Collin's alarm went off, he came into our room i told him, "Guess what? Barack Obama won, he is going to be our next president.!" With his reaction you think he just woke up on Christmas morning. He screamed and was so excited about Obama being our next president.

On our way to work and school I decided that I wanted to get the newspaper for I could save it for the years to come. When bought both papers Collin said he wanted to look at them. I told him that it would be okay but that we had to wait until we got to the preschool. When we arrived I set him at a table with both papers and he continued to read the paper like a grown up.

So when I finally got the camera ready he moved from the front page of Barack Obama to the back page which were the comics. Nevertheless he was reading the paper like he could read and understand what it was saying.

I love this picture because he gave me this look like why are you watching me read the paper or more like do not read over my shoulder. Our son the 4 yr old going on 20.

with much love

Veronica and Jed

Halloween!

Collin knew what he was going to be for Halloween since last year and surprisingly he did not change his mind. I got his Hulk costume as soon as Target had their Halloween section up. I of course went to go see what they had for decorations and his eye went to the costumes. He spotted the hulk and I decided that if he knew since last year, than why not get it right then and there. He of course was so excited but it quickly left when I told him he could not wear it until Halloween. So when the 31st finally arrived he knew he could wear it, not at school though. As soon as school was done we raced home and he put it on so fast.

Before we left to the mall to go trick-or-treating I asked him to show me his muscles and of course he started posing like a pro.

Thanks to Stephanie and Addison for letting Collin use the gloves, which were not only a total hit with him but also with the other 5 Hulks we saw at the mall without it.

Of course he had to test out the gloves on daddy and of course he is such a good sport about it.

We had such a blast at the mall. It is such a wonderful experience for families because you know the candy is safe, they have a giant pumpkin being carved right there and the kids can run around to each store to get their candy. I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween.

with much love
Veronica and Jed

Golfing at Home

We are so fortunate to be able to live in an area where we do not have to go to a golf course with our son to practice his swing. However, we did have to move from the backyard to the park across the street. Pretty soon we will have to leave the park across the street to go down the road to the soccer field. Eventually we will have to completely stick with the driving range because sometimes he even amazes Jed with the power of his swing.

Here he is making great contact with the ball.

He has such a blast golfing with his daddy and daddy has such a blast watching him hit so well.

with much love

Veronica and Jed

Swimming Lessons

So Collin started his new section of swim lessons yesterday, he is officially a polar bear. It is the last step of swim lessons in the preschool program. He is constantly amazing me with his athletic capabilities whether it be swimming or golfing or even messing around in the backyard with a soccer ball or his tee ball set. He started his swim lessons over the summer and have just continued throughout the fall. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the lessons over the past couple of months.

This was one of his favorite things to do. It is basically the noodles and it has two handles in the front and it helps support his kicking.

When the instructor is helping another student, the rest of the class has to stick by the steps.

He absolutely loves his goggles.

We have the best time at his swim lessons. I truly believe it is a boost in his confidence because he has to rely on himself for learning and listening to the instructor. When he finally gets the lesson for the day and he does it on his own, he gets so excited that he always finds us at the bleachers and gives us a thumbs up! He is just so awesome.

with love
Veronica and Jed

Putting Lessons

Hello everyone! Well the second lesson of golf for Collin was all about putting. Truth be told I was nervous because he has not had much experience on the putting greens at all. There is both the practice putting green and the actual green on each individual hole. Surprise! Surprise! Of course he was a natural on the putting green, however, he did have an issue on counting how many strokes it took to sink the ball. What did the instructor expect though, he is only four years old and is concentrating intensely on sinking the ball, expecting him to also count how many times he hit the ball while concentrating was a lot. When he wouldn't count he did great, when he started counting I think he was too concerned on remembering how many times he hit the ball, that he would not give his full attention on aiming and sinking the ball.

After the lesson, we let him go to the driving range to hit as many balls as he wants.

Look at the contact with the ball and his head is down!


Nevertheless, he did fantastic and he even won the little contest that they had on who can sink their golf balls, on the practice putting green with the least amount of strokes for all nine holes. We are so proud of our little golfer.

This was what he won, a model race car and a First Tee Hat. He shot a 33 for the nine holes on the practice putting green. He did so awesome!

lots of love
Veronica and Jed