School's Family Day

Today was the Annual Family Day at school and we had an awesome time.  It was too sunny and too crowded to have my niece with us, so my nephew tagged along with us.

I love spending time with him without his parents because he behaves different when they are not around... He is more loving with me, he also respects me a lot and follows instructions... And of course, he cooperates with pictures (which he normally doesn't do).

There were some inflatables that they enjoyed a lot, but mostly it was the escalating wall that won them over. We also played dominoes and ate A LOT.  The sun was also unbelievable and that didn't help with the pictures, but I did get some good ones... Here are just a few... On the one just below, Mia is posing with her BFF.




One of childhood friends from school went with me and it was so nice to have her there. We also spent time with the daughters of another childhood friend from school and we took some pictures. Even though the girls are not in the same location I went to school at, it is still the same school...

Throwback Thursday #6

Gaby was in her current school for a couple of months when she was 3 years old. I knew I had pictures, and I was looking for one specific picture. It was the picture with Gaby with one of her friends back then. I took a new picture of them last month, and I knew I needed to do a "then and now"...

My 100 Happy Days: Day #35

I got my evaluation at work today, and it made me smile (pad on the shoulder for me)... Then, I was chatting with Gaby and she was telling me her grades and Mia's grades and that made me smile even more. Gaby got great grades but got a couple of 80's .. Camila is once again on the honor roll with everything over 90... Very proud! Mimi doesn't get monthly grades, so I have to wait until December to get her evaluation.

Off to school

Today was the first official day of school and the girls were really excited. They are aware of the many challenges each one of them will face this year and they are getting ready for them.

I wanted to get a nice picture of them together, another one with me and another one with my nephew.  I'm not very happy about the picture with me, but oh well, not much I can do when I can't be behind the lens myself.

The first day of school was a total success and they all loved their new teachers. Gaby has not meet them all, but ones she met so far are great ones.

I can't wait to see how this school year is going to be.


And here are the girls with my nephew...

Gaby, the 6th Grader

Gaby is ALL ready for 6th Grade. Just like her sisters, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and of course she also wants to be a veterinarian (she says that since she was 3), and also a photographer like mommy.

In our local school system, instead of being the first grade of middle school, it is actually the last grade of elementary. It's unbelievable to think that I have a child that will be 11 in just a couple of months.

This school year also brings changes for her. This will be the first school year where she will get different teachers for each subject. Up to now, it was just one main teacher for the main subjects, and the only subjects with different teachers were the special subjects like computer, PE, and such.

This means more homework because each teacher will be leaving their own homework. It's the start of her teen years, and I'm not sure I'm ready for this.



And here she is with her math teacher and then with the in-charge 6th Grade teacher...

Mia, the 3rd Grader

Mia is starting 3rd Grade, and she is super happy! For the "back to school sign", I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she said she wants to be a veterinarian to treat dogs and cats, and a graphic designer like her mommy.

In our local education system, kids from Preschool to 2nd Grade only get check marks for "accomplished", "in progress" or "not accomplished" (or something similar). This year, Mia will start getting actual grades and it means that it is the start of her real school years. Now she will get tests, grades with numbers, and the whole 10 yards.

All the way up to 2nd Grade, kids only need to have the correct age to move up from one grade to the other, but after 3rd Grade, kids can actually fail and repeat the year. I'm 100% that it won't be Mia's case, because she is very smart and dedicated, but it will be a huge change for her.

I can't wait to see how she adapts to be treated as a big girl... Many many changes for her, and also for my oldest nephew because they are in the same classroom. He's a little rascal at home, however at school he's very dedicated and a very fast learner.




Updated to add pictures of my nephew and Mia with their teacher...

Mimi, the 2nd Grader

I have always wanted to make "back to school" signs to take pictures of the girls on their first day, and I have never done it before. I started the tradition this year.

Mimi is 7 years old and this week she will start 2nd Grade. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she said "I want to be a veterinarian to be able to groom horses all day long" (her words).

She would always come up with the most unexpected answer to any question you may ask her. It's amazing what goes through her mind. I'm sure she will do awesome in 2nd Grade!!



Updated to add a picture in the classroom and another one with her 2nd Grade teacher...

My Prom's Anniversary - Part II

I posted last week about my 15th years anniversary of graduation school, and we had the second part of the celebration today.

We decided to do it at the school itself, because it was going to be the only place where we can have such a large group without non related people. We decided to do it like a "field day" and we had many attractions for the kids.

As my school is a Catholic School, first thing we did was to celebrate a Mass. The oldest kids present were selected to do the bible readings. Gaby was one of them (picture on the right). Every child did the reading with their parents and siblings.

Not everybody was present at the Mass, but during the day, lots and lots of people were coming and going and I took pictures of every family.  This picture was taken with the group that was at the Mass, and it is in the place where the principal and teachers are standing when they do the Flag Ceremony every morning before the school starts.


One of the things we had was an inflatable batting cage... All three girls did great, even though Mia didn't lose her "diva" attitude...


Face painting! Gaby said she was too old for that... too cute!


The biggest hit of the day was an Inflatable Climbing Wall... It was very high, so not all kids dared to do it... As Mimi is not any kid, she went up and down, over and over again! Gaby and Mia "tried", but that was about it.


And of course, they dared ME to do it... I couldn't say no to it. When I was on top, all I was able to think was in the amazing feeling that Mimi feels when she is all the way at the top.,,


And of course, a picture with my blooming buds...


Having OUR kids in the same grounds where WE ran around as kids ourselves was amazing, and we all look forward to do something like this again.

It's been 15 years...

... since my school years reached to an end!

It's really crazy to think that I have been an adult for THAT long.

We were a total of 125 at our senior year, and most of us were together since preschool. There were different classes, but every school year, they used to mix us in order for each one of us to have at least one school year together. At the end, all 125 of us are very close and we know each other well.

For our 15 years anniversary, we decided to do two different celebrations. One night out with just us, and a "field day" with our families. A few of us got together several times before the events to plan everything, and it was a total success.

I made an invitation (both events in one card) and here is the English version (some fake info for posting purposes)...


There are many out of the country, but almost a 75% of the ones in the country, were present at the first event. There are also many people that were part of our class at some point while growing up, but that didn't graduate with us. Some of them were present too. It was an unforgettable night and we look forward to the second event.

Another school year comes to an end

All the exams and last minute rush are over... The school year ended and it's time for summer!

The girls received their final grades today and I am VERY proud. All did great, however special kuddos to Mimi who got (once again) the Certificate of Excellence as she got the highest grades of her entire class. Her teacher even wrote a letter for her were she wrote that she is her best student and a lot of other beautiful things.

Mia is also, once again, in the honor roll as she got all her grades over 95. Gaby also did great with all her grades over 81, however she promised she will work harder next year to have her final grades in the honor roll too. I'm really proud of my girls and also very proud of my mom who works very hard to help us to make this possible!

Im officially the mom of a 2nd, 3rd and 6th graders!! Here is a card I made with the girls and their teachers. I made individual ones to give out to the teachers with a present and they were very thankful. For posting purposes, I put a fake logo... The real one had the actual school logo.

Gaby's First Holy Communion

Today was a beautiful sunny day, and Gaby was thrilled because she was getting ready to receive her First Holy Communion.

Not only she was getting the communion by a monsignor, but also she was getting it in the most beautiful church in the whole country... It's a minor basilica and also a cathedral: Basilica Catedral Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia.

It was done during school hours, which means the whole school was present. The Basilica was full.

We were sitting on the second row, right behind Gaby and she was so nervous, it was cute.


On the first picture below, the girls are with Monsignor Nicanor... And on the middle picture, she is with her 5th Grade teacher...


Here is my mom with all her girls...

Another bragging moment...

Not only Mia is still in the honor roll for this new period with all her grades over 90, but Mimi got once again the HIGHEST grades of all her class. She got the "Excellence Certificate" which is given to only ONE student... VERY PROUD!!! Gaby is not in the honor roll this month but most of her grades are over 90, only a few are between 80 and 89.

My school's annual Marching

At the school where I graduated, they do a big thing for our local's independence day. They do a big event that normally makes the newspaper where they invite some local celebrities and lots of other schools.

It's a big marching towards the national flag and one of the biggest things of the event is that former students would attend and also march.  I remember when I was a kid that it was so cool especially because there were a group of former students with a marching band.

My class was turning 15 years of having graduated and we wanted the school to feel our presence. It was a hard task because it was first thing in the morning, and not everybody was able to work it out around their jobs but around 15 of us attended.

It was nice to be back at school and it was funny how I was still on the first row while marching (just like in high school)... It's fun to be petite!

School's Christmas Play

This year the girls were not part of the Christmas Play at school.  Some kids worked on a play where they selected kids from every grade and for some reason my girls didn't want to participate.

Even if they were not part of the play, they still wanted to go.  I confess I was not really looking forward to go to a school's play to see other kids perform, while my girls were just sitting down... but they begged and begged and even black mailed me telling me that I was going to be able to take a nice picture of them.

And I sure did got my picture.  I actually got a picture that became one of favorites of them together.  Even when they cooperate, there is always something that is not perfect about the picture, and I love love love this one.

The show was also really good.  It was a full play and it also gave me the opportunity to meet the new principal.  They attend a school that is international and they switch principals from one country to another, and this is a new one in the country.

Here is also a picture of Gaby with some of her classmates...

Family Day at School

The girls had their family day at school and we all had a great time. Sun was shinning like there was no tomorrow and we ended up with sun tans.

The girls have been looking for this day since it was first announced and they enjoyed themselves a lot.

I also met lots of their friends and it was nice to see them interacting with them.  But, of course, they were more interested on spending the time with me and showing me everything they were doing.

I love how all my three girls a mama's girls.  It wasn't always like that, but it really feels amazing.  They have an special love for my mom, my brother and one of my uncles, but it is a different love.  When they look at my eyes, they spark in a way that goes directly to my soul.  I can't really describe it, but I can feel it and other people can see it.

Just a few more pictures of our day... The first two are Mia and Mimi with their main teachers and then the girls going down one of the slides.

And back to school we go

The girls are back to school and they are really excited. Gaby started 5th Grade, Mia started 2nd Grade and Mimi started 1st Grade.

I'm very excited also because I was able to get them into a school that I have been trying to get them in since last school year.  It is very hard to get spots in this school and we were blessed with a lot of help to get this done.

It is also the same school that my nephew is which means that Mia and him will share the same classroom.  Of course, they are thrilled about it and I can't wait to see how that will work out.  I'm sure it will be more than perfect.

I also got tired of purchasing backpacks every single school year and ordered three new backpacks from Land's End.  Gaby has one since she was 4 years old and even though she doesn't use it for school anymore, it is still around and it gets a lot of used.  I chose their favorite colors and I honestly hope to get the most use possible out of them.

My 5th Grader


My 2nd Grader


My 1st Grader

Bragging time... ahem, I mean Grade time

I received Gaby's final grades and I am really proud of her. She is really smart but VERY lazy.  She sometimes forgets that she can't just be playing around with her sisters, but she's lucky because she is so smart that her laziness didn't affect her grades.  The average for all main subjects are above 91.  She's officially a 5th grader now!!

Spanish: 94
Math: 93
Social Studies: 93
Science: 95
English: 91

Mia and Mimi don't get actual numbers for the grades. They just get "Acomplished", "In process" or "Not accomplished". They got ACCOMPLISHED in every single section, and Mimi's teacher wrote to her: "You are an excellent student. Very organized and likes to cooperate". Mimi is officially a 1st grader and Cami is officially a 2nd grader!!

And this brings a question to me... Why are my girls growing soooo fast? Now, I don't have a child in preschool anymore, they are all in Elementary School... It's hard to believe!