My (super)- hero

My little super-hero, he bravely goes where no 4 1/2 year old (that we know) has ever gone before!!!

Two days before this he watched the nurse poke two long needles in his thigh without crying at all, boldly setting an example for his little sister, merely stating that "it hurt a little more than last time.."

 

Then,  in this picture, after watching me get my teeth cleaned, our little man climbed up on his own chair and willingly got a dental scrub down.

My hero. xoxox

Baby Girl

The grocery store today:

She points to a princess crown and excitedly says "mommy can i have that for my birthday!?"

"yes."

Points to a Frozen picture on a juice carton "mommy can I have that for my birthday!?"

"yes."

Points to a package of candy "mommy can I have that for my birthday!?"

"yes, just remind me."

Points to an expensive package of berries "mommy can I have that for my birthday?!"

"yes"

Points to the raw green beans "Mommy can I have these for my birthday!?" 

"yes"

Points to a jar of green olives (which she has never tasted before) "Mommy can I have these for my birthday?!"

"yes"

Points to a gigantic bag of marshmellows "Mommy, can I have these for my birthday?!"
"yes.'

All I can say is that we are in big trouble next November.

How cute is that baby!?

Flying

 What little kid exists that doesn't try to fly? And what do you think when you see a pile of dirt just laying there? Does the desire to roll in it head to toe pass through your mind?

Of course, it makes a great landing spot when you're learning to fly...

I'll admit, I remember my flying dreams vividly. I remember flying dreams from high school, grade school, and I remember having a few in college. I have hoped that I would always have in my subconscious the desire and wonder to fly in my dreams. Sadly, I havent "flown" in a long time, but I still hold out hope that one night I'll fly again...

Yesterday, Josiah suddenly got really excited, he had some spiderman slippers from a hand me down bag and he put them on, then ran to his room to get his spider man costume...

"mom! I'm going to fly like Spiderman!!" He was 100% convinced that now that he had the final touch, the slippers, he would be able to fly off the living room couch.

He readied himself, frantically putting on his costume and checked with me,

"Mom, do you think I can fly?"

I thought about it and answered smiling...

"I can't wait to watch you try!"

He boldly climbed on the couch, spread his little arms and pronounced..

"To infinity and BEYOND!!!"

Then jumped, and fell the ground.

Confused as to why his attempts weren't working, his friend Audrey offered a solution...

"You have to flap your arms, like this!!!" She demonstrated confidently jumping off the couch.

"Oh," said Josiah and he pulled his elbows to his ribs, flapped his little hands like a chicken and jumped with all the confidence that little 4 year old could muster...

and fell.

Apparently they needed more practice today...

Testing out the improved van

Took the van out for a Thursday night overnight to Morro Strand.  Beautiful evening, warm morning, and an empty campground for the kids on their bikes.  Best thing is, I (Ryan), didn't even have to miss any work.  Felt like a mini-vacation within a hectic work week.

5 Generations

 Grandpa Freitas and his great-grand kids..

My grandpa was a cotton farmer in the valley, as was his father before him. Grandpa went to high school, then went to college for 2 weeks before a neighbor offered to let him farm 20 acres. Grandpa quit school and took on farming. I remember getting up at the break of dawn and riding in his old Toyota that smelled of pure farm dirt. We would speed along the rutted dirt roads that lined the edges of the crops. listening to old-time country and talk radio as he did the rounds to his different plots of land, checking the water, turning pumps on and off, shoveling canals...He did this day in and day out during the growing season.

This trip I got the opportunity to ask grandpa about some old photographs. Here are a few...

 My grandpa in High School is the one on the right, and the girl under his arm was a girlfriend at the time. (He seemed to have a lot of pictures of him and different ladies...he was quite good looking, and still is ; )

 

 This is my grandpa on the first cotton picker he ever bought.
If you look closely, you can see that this cotton picker has two prongs in the front. It picks one row at a time. Later my grandpa purchased a two-row picker...

 This is my great Grandpa, George Freitas, on the right. They are showing off elk horns. Hunting lives on in our family to this day. My grandpa hunted and my Uncle and cousins still do. There are 5 Generations between George Freitas, and my kids.

 This is a (partial) picture of the very first twenty acres that my grandpa farmed after High School. The small pink house in the distance, where the furrow ends, is one of the houses that my grandpa grew up in ( his childhood house was on this property as well, just about 100 feet away. It was in poor condition and had to be torn down a long time ago). My great Grandma Maime Freitas continued to live here after George Freitas passed away and I have memories of picking and canning apricots, peaches and making pies in her kitchen.

Fresno

 We took our van to Fresno, got a pop-top put on...and now we're ready to go! There's standing room when the bed is attached to the roof...

 ..and a cozy little space for Ryan and I to sleep with windows all around. The kids are already trying to claim it. No way! :  )

 The real highlight of the trip was seeing my grandpa. He hasn't seen much of the kiddos. We got to go through his old pictures and he told me who people were, and he absolutely LOVED playing with and spending time with the kiddos.

My grandpa was a cotton farmer in the valley, and his father also farmed cotton in the valley. We got some awesome old pictures I hope to frame...