Xmas 2010

Xmas Morning 2010:

Tio Gabi (“Moose-tache”) & Kitty Cat, Papa & Gamma, Tio Javi, Moco & Bubba, and Louis Armstrong

Opening presents:

Bubba got a Spanish National Team soccer uniform… Tio Gabi and Kitty Cat got tea.

Tio Javi got his annual pear.  Moco got SmartWool socks and the American Girl Feel Better Kit (as modeled by Emilee).

Louie got a new ball.

Festivities:

We had Belgian waffles for breakfast and a beautiful crown roast for supper with the Iowa State gang.

We spent a good portion of the day preparing for the festivities, and it was well worth it.

The highlight of the evening was Trivial Pursuit — “kids” vs. parents.  We “kids” are 18 to 32 years old.  Almost all of the parents have PhDs in Chemistry.  There is a physician among them, and after all the ob/gyn questions that he missed, we’re glad he’s a podiatrist.  The parents blew a couple chances at winning, which allowed us to catch up, but in the end, their combined years of experience gave them the edge. There was no shortage of jokes, cheesecake, coffee, laughter, and pumpkin pie this evening.  (Well, maybe there was a shortage of cheesecake — Bubba ate three slices all by himself!!!)

Another wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, food, and fun!!!

Xmas Eve 2010

Gamma brought the kids to NM from IL last Sunday.  Tio Gabi and Kitty Cat arrived on Monday from CO, and Tio Javi and I both arrived on Xmas Eve (he drove from CA, I flew from IL).  The kids helped put up farolitos around the house.  (This Southwestern tradition symbolizes the journey of Mary and Joseph from house to house looking for shelter in Bethlehem before Jesus was born.)  We had a late supper (lobster tails, jamón serrano, chorizo, manchego, and olives) before the kids left Rice Krispies treats and milk for Santa an a couple of carrots for the reindeer.

The weather in NM is beautiful — clear skies, sunshine, and high 30s/low 40s.  We wish there was more snow for skiing and snowboarding, but we’re thrilled to be visiting and spending time with family.  Just wish Daddy could have joined us.  He spent two days in IA before heading back to IL to work!

Our Polo

Two years ago, on June 25th, we lost Moco and Bubba’s bisabuelo (great-grandfather) who we called Polo.  I have been thinking about him a lot lately, so I wanted to share some pictures of Moco, Bubba, and Polo from 2006 when we went to Spain and the Canary Islands to visit family.

Moco gave Polo his nickname when she was a toddler.  She couldn’t say abuelo. But during a discussion about popsicles in Spanish (“polos“), two-year-old Moco pointed at him and said “Polo!” — and the name stuck.

This picture of Polo with Bubba is the last time we saw Polo (April 2006).  We were at a café prior to flying back to the States.  As usual, there were tears as we separated.  While I’m glad that we have these memories captured from our last visit, it still hurts that he’s gone.  Polo loved, loved, LOVED his children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren, and he always let us know how much he loved us and how proud he was of each of us.  Polo was very affectionate; he never hesitated to hold a hand or put his hand on your arm or sit close to you, just to let you know he was there and that he loved you.  Tío Gabi recalls the story of when he went to Spain by himself at age 11.  He was scared and nervous when he arrived, and it didn’t help that he didn’t know much Spanish and Polo didn’t speak English.  On the ride from the airport to the apartment, Polo reached over and just held Tío Gabi’s hand the whole time, to comfort him.  He was a great man.

While we were in Spain, Moco and Polo celebrated their birthdays (April 1 and 2) together at a big family meal in Soto de Real, north of Madrid.  It was, as usual, a raucously fun time.  Papa’s youngest brother, Tío Juan Carlos, brought his laptop.  He had prepared a slideshow of family pictures that he had contorted and warped, with a whole collection of memories and funny stories.  Let’s just say, the drinks were flowing, the food was delicious, and we were crying and hurting from laughing so hard.  The only things missing from that trip were that Daddy wasn’t able to join us (he had been in Africa for 10 days just prior to us leaving for Spain) and that Kitty Cat wasn’t in our lives yet.

Our family grew quite drastically between December 2005 and February 2006 with the arrival of (left to right) Adrián, Lucía, Grayson, and Edhay.  In fact, Adrián and Edhay were born on the same day, in the same hospital, and they are cousins!  Polo and Papa are on either side of Papa’s older sister, Tía Mari (aka Nona Elena) — three very proud grandparents!  Polo couldn’t pronounce “Grayson” or “Edhay” because they are not Spanish names.  We told Polo he could just call Bubba “Gris” (“gray” in Spanish), but he never really did.

The kids and I haven’t been back to Spain since 2006, and it’s probably time to start thinking about a return trip now that they are older, although it will be really hard knowing that we won’t see Polo.  We have only the best memories of him though — his love for us, his sparkling blue eyes, his laugh and his sense of humor.  Polo loved the wildlife in New Mexico when he would visit us, especially the deer.  When we have been back to Papa and Gamma’s house, deer have quietly come to visit in the yard.  I like to think that Polo is among them, stopping by to catch a glimpse of us and letting us know, in his own way, that he’s there and that he loves us.

1/13/10

Hi!  Happy New Year’s!  It has been a couple weeks since I have logged on to blog about our adventures, so I’ll try to catch you up…

Moco, Bubba, and I rang in the New Year with family friends at Papa and Gamma’s house in New Mexico; Daddy and Deacon spent a quiet evening at home in Illinois.  A couple days later, we travelled back to Illinois — with the long lines and the busy holiday travel day, we missed our flight out of Albuquerque, which set back our entire travel day by about 10 hours.  That was not quite the way I had anticipated for us to get back into our regular routine, but c’est la vie!  So, we’re back to work, back to school, back to Sherry’s… just back to our regular non-vacation, non-lazy days life.

Today we have several things to be excited about:

1. Today is Tio Gabi’s 29th birthday.  We wish we could be celebrating with him, Kitty Cat, and Louie today.  Only 364 more days until he joins the 30-something club!  :)

2. Today Papa’s research in algae biofuel received a boost.  A big boost.  To the tune of $44 million.  Papa has been working really hard for quite some time on coordinating the proposal and research for the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.  To read more about what they’re doing, check out this article.  You can also read the announcement from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Stephen Chu on the DOE’s website.  But the best article I’ve read so far gives a shout out to Papa specifically… and we are so very proud of him!  The other perk from this is that the Danforth Center is in St. Louis — less than 200 miles from us!  Papa will be making regular (as in possibly several times a month!) trips to St. Louis, so it looks like we’ll be making some trips to St. Louis to visit.  Gamma has already said she’ll be traveling with Papa from time to time, especially for the chance to see the grandkids more frequently!

3. Today Moco shot a new rifle at her air rifle club practice.  This is a really big deal because she is standing up with this gun (she had previously only been able to shoot from the prone position).  She brought home her target paper, which was impressive, and Daddy informed me that the words “junior air rifle competition” were discussed.  Uh… what?!?!  There is a part of me that is incredibly excited that this is a real possibility for Moco; the other part of me is incredibly nervous and hesitant that my seven-and-three-quarters-year-old daughter could be in air rifle competitions!  The coach (Joe) that she is working with leads up the college club here.  He’s one of the top NRA Certified Rifle Coaches in the nation, and the ISU team was second in the College Club Category of the NRA’s Intercollegiate International Air Rifle Competition 2009 Indoor National Sectional Championships.  My second grader is training with a very successful college air rifle team and one of the best coaches in the country!!! What started off as something to do a couple days a week after school, down the hall from Daddy’s office, to see if she’d be interested, is quite possibly turning into something more serious.  I’m sure we’ll have more news to share as decisions are made about Moco training for competitions.

So… there you have it… our first post of 2010.  We’re excited for what 2010 has in store for our family!!!

11/5: Today I Am Thankful For…

…my “sisters”!  Growing up, I was the oldest of three, with two younger brothers.  I always wanted a little sister and obviously never got one.  Little did I know I would eventually end up with three older “sisters” and three younger ones!!!

Auntie Sheila and Auntie Therie are Daddy’s older sisters; Auntie Sasheen and Auntie Mariah are his younger sisters.  Catherine is Tio Gabi’s wife, and Margareta is Tio Javi’s girlfriend.  While I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with each of them as I would like, I truly appreciate the love, support and friendship of each of them.  They span the country, from California to Washington D.C., from the cornfields of Iowa to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Four of them are the women who helped shape the man that Daddy is today; two of them are the women who love and support the men also known as my “little” brothers.

Auntie Sheila always makes me laugh, and she has such a big personality.  One time I was flipping through a Working Mother magazine, and her face was staring out at me from an advertisement!  And we’ve had the great fortune of watching her work on a couple different TV shows — she is our very own family celebrity!  My favorite memory of Auntie Sheila is her telling a story about running through a giant spiderweb — and as she reenacted the scence, the look on Moco and Bubba’s faces was absolutely priceless!

Auntie Therie has always been a great supporter of our family.  She is such a great friend and an amazing woman.  She will do anything for her family, and we appreciate her love and support.  My favorite memory of Auntie Therie involves Chinese food on Christmas Eve.  She made the trip up to Prairie du Chien with us last year to spend the holidays in a hotel room.  I don’t know what it was about that trip, but it was so much fun and so special to spend the holidays together — and now we’re hoping Chinese food in a hotel room on Christmas Eve will be an annual event!

Auntie Sasheen and I were pregnant at the same time with the four kids between us.  We don’t get to see her and Cousins Gabriel and Zora very often, but it is great that Moco and Bubba have cousins right at their very same ages!  One of my favorite memories of Auntie Sasheen is when I took Moco and Auntie Mariah down to Kansas City for Cousin Gabriel’s first birthday.  We went to the Hallmark Crown Center to walk around and let the kids play, even though it was a miserably hot and humid day!

Auntie Mariah is, and always will be, the little sister!  Moco and Bubba love, love, LOVE their Auntie Mariah!  She is so great with them!  Auntie Mariah spent a summer with us when Moco was three.  Those two spent the summer hanging out at the children’s museum, making daily trips to the public library, and hanging out on the quad on-campus while Daddy and I were working.  We are so excited that she is a graduating senior this year, and we’re looking forward to her college adventures!  There are a lot of great memories with Auntie Mariah — lots and lots of good laughs… throwing away her ratty, beloved sandals… Spongebob Square Pants birthday cake… I met her when she was nine years old, and I have loved watching this little girl grow up into an amazing young woman!

Kitty Cat is the newest addition to our family.  While she has only been in our lives for less than two years, she is a very special person to all of us.  She completes Tio Gabi, and I applaud her for putting up with him every day!  I am in awe of her travels and her firsthand knowledge of the world… and I love that she is one of five sisters — and she brings that many more sisters into my life as well!  My favorite memories with Kitty Cat are in New York City, when she and Tio Gabi got engaged but we also had a great summer of wedding celebrations!   I’m looking forward to many more memories to come, especially in a few years when she and Tio Gabi add to their family!

Margareta is such a sweetheart.  She looooves Moco and Bubba, and they love hanging out with her too!  I remember Moco putting on all of Reta’s bracelets — in fact, Moco’s first spiked collar necklace was purchased by Margareta!!!  Reta is hard at work these days studying to be a nurse.  She is smart and her passion for helping others is undeniable.  One of my favorite memories of Reta happened in Benahavis, Spain, during comida… she didn’t know what pate is, and we tried to convince her it was chocolate.  ”Pate, pate, chocolate!”

I’m blessed to have such amazing women in my life on account of the wonderful men in my world!

Celebrations and Recollections

The past couple weeks have brought about a flurry of announcements of weddings, graduations, new babies, and other big events in our family:

• My brother Gabi married Catherine on Saturday.  Another reception is planned in New Mexico at the end of July to continue the celebration!
• My cousin Doan and her husband Chris had their first child, Alexis, on Tuesday morning.
• Daddy’s niece Mallory graduated from high school and will be attending Drexel University in the fall.
• My cousin Quang and his wife Shana announced that their son Nicholas is going to be a big brother this winter!
• Daddy’s cousin Adam will marry Erin in August.
• Daddy’s cousin Abbye (Adam’s sister) graduated from cosmetology school, and she and Brad just had their first baby (Kayley Ann) and are now planning their wedding!
• Gamma retired from her position as a curriculum coordinator and will spend this month keeping up with Moco and Bubba.
• Gabi received a huge scholarship to the University of Denver Sturm College of Law; he starts their evening program in the fall but will likely continue into their full-time program after this first year.
• Javier’s girlfriend Margareta is recovering well from gall bladder surgery.
• Grandma Lavera will be having knee replacement surgery in a few weeks.
• Auntie Mariah started a great summer job at Effigy Mounds National Monument, and she just found out she did well on the ACT!

We are blessed with an incredibly diverse, amazing family that stretches from Washington, D.C. to Iowa to Seattle to Vietnam and Spain.  They are lawyers, chemists, farmers, teachers, entrepreneurs, police officers, construction workers, factory workers, mailmen, business managers, software developers, and engineers.  They are white, black, Vietnamese, Spanish, biracial and multiracial.  They are Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, practicing, non-practicing, believing and questioning.  They drive pick-up trucks and sports cars, motorcycles and bicycles, Chevys and Fords and Hondas and Toyotas.  They are as different as they come, but they are our family all the same.

I am so proud of our heritage and the experiences that have shaped and influenced who we are as a family today.  Some of the stories are sad, frustrating, tragic; others are funny and inspiring.  There has been talk about creating a website to record the stories from our family’s journey from Vietnam, but perhaps I need to designate a space to record the stories from Iowa and Spain as well.  I already have a potential name for this site: The Adventures of Moco and Bubba’s Ancestors.  Blogging has been a way for me to capture every day life with Moco and Bubba, but I hope that we can also use it as a place to capture the stories of our family history as well.  What an amazing gift to our youngest family members: the story of our family from all different angles.

What do y’all think?  How can we set this up and get everyone to contribute?

The Monkey and Kitty Cat

This morning my brother Gabi (aka Tio Gabi, or “He’s a monkey!”) and Catherine (aka “Kitty Cat”) were married at the Denver LDS Temple, followed by family pictures on the church grounds and a luncheon and ring ceremony.

The Bride and Groom

Mommy, Daddy, Javier, Margareta, Gamma, Gabi, Cat, Papa, Bubba & Moco

The Summers Siblings & Spouses

The Olivares Siblings & Our Other Halves

The Guys with Ties

Gabi, Cat & Their Gaggle of Nieces and Nephews

Daddy, Mommy, Moco & Bubba

We still have a reception tonight… will post more pix later!!!