Tuesday, August 23, 2011

DIY: Nut Milk!!!


My New Roots - How to Make Nut Milk from My New Roots on Vimeo.

Sofia is allergic to Milk, unfortunately and she can drink milk all day but she starts sneezing and her nose runs all day and it is no fun. Therefore, last year we switched her to Organic Almond Milk VERY EXPENSIVE and today I found this!!!! Make your own NUT MILK!!! I'm going to give this a try! and if Sofia likes it we are going to save money on our groceries every week!!!!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Conversations with Sofia

John was showing and explaining the Solar System to Sofia this morning, it went like this:

John: This is the Sun and is hot!

Sofia: Wow!

John: Yeah, it has fire all over it.

Sofia: Wow!

John: This is Mercury! Say Mercury.

Sofia: Mercury!

John: Venus!

Sofia: Venus!

John: and this is Earth, this is Mars, Jupiter (Sofia kept repeating the names) and this is Saturn, this planet has rings around it.

Sofia: Wow! Like your ring daddy?

John: Sort of, yeah. Now, this is Urenus. Now, say Urenus.

Sofia: MERENUS!

John: No, Urenus.

Sofia: Merunus!

We thought it was funny! Urenus, Merenus. She thought John was saying YOUrenus so in return she replied, MErenus.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Five on Friday - Evidence

1.What could serve as physical evidence that you sometimes lose focus?

Sleep deprivation.



2.What could serve as physical evidence that you are loved?

When I'm hugged several times a day.


3.What could serve as physical evidence that you’re from wherever you’re from?

This one is easy: My accent.


4.What could serve as physical evidence that you went anywhere this past week?

When I'm too tired to wake up to go to work on Monday


5.what could serve as physical evidence that you recently caved in to temptation?

When guilt kicks in...duh.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Help

Seeing Sin through Cinema
By: Chuck Colson
Published: August 16, 2011

Sometimes, we can look at sin right in the mirror and not recognize it. But when we see it through a camera’s lens, it’s easier to spot.

Sometimes we Christians we don't see the sin right in front of our faces; our culture, upbringing, or personal attitudes seem to block it. And that's where the arts can help us -- whether the sin is deep in the past, or very much in the present.

Last week a film opened that beautifully illustrates my point. It's called The Help, and it’s based on the bestselling novel by Kathryn Stockett. The story is set in the early 1960s, in Jackson, Mississippi, when the fight for civil rights was gaining international attention. The film tells the story of a young, socially prominent white girl named Skeeter who's just graduated from college. Skeeter wants to be a writer, and comes up with a dangerous idea: To secretly interview the black maids who raise the white children of Jackson, Mississippi, and find out how they really feel about their employers.

Their answers are a revelation. Skeeter's eyes are opened to the irony of white employers who depend on their maids to raise their children -- and yet won't allow them to use the same bathrooms. If a piece of silver goes missing, a maid can be blamed, based on no evidence whatsoever, and arrested. When a maid named Yule May asks her employer for a loan to help her sons attend college, she's treated like a simple-minded child.

Although the white employers are church-going Christians, they are often blind to the humanity of those who work for them -- blind to their right to be treated with as much respect as their white neighbors. Ironically, these same white Christians raise funds for poor African children, but aren’t concerned with the financial needs of blacks in their own area -- maids and gardeners who are badly paid for their hard work.

As Skeeter gains a greater understanding of how unfairly blacks are treated, she begins to rebel against the attitudes of her own friends and family. She ultimately pays a price for breaking the rules -- ostracized from social gatherings and a permanent breach from the boy she loves. When Skeeter's book of interviews is published, the town explodes.

The Help, of course, is a work of fiction and it is no indightment of the South; it is meant to illustrate how we all are so often oblivious to our own sins, and we are often better able to see them through fiction than by abstract theological discourses.

Biblical figures knew all about the power of a good story. Remember when the Old Testament prophet, Nathan, confronted King David about his affair with Bathsheba? Nathan didn't offer David a dry lecture on the sin of adultery. Instead, Nathan spun a story about a rich man who took the only lamb belonging to a poor man. In order to get past David's defenses, Nathan told an allegorical story.

The Help is a reminder of the racism in America's history, but more to the point, it reminds us how easy it is for us to be blinded to personal and societal sin.

The Help is rated PG-13 for thematic reasons. If you see it, discuss it with your friends over dinner. And then ask yourself a hard question: Are there any sinful attitudes in your own life that you have been blind to? Attitudes that violate the letter and the spirit of the teachings of Christ?

Sometimes we just need a little artistic help to see them.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Raquel's Godparents Announcement

We were worried we wouldn't be able to find godparents for Raquel and thankfully Yesenia and David are tying the knot so we decided who better than them! We are hoping to do it two weeks after their wedding! Pictures to come!

Movies We Watch

Movie: Captain America - The First Avenger

Everyone yawns when I say that Captain America is my favorite comic hero and after watching this movie, I have to say that I felt patriotic and Captain America is my hero. The other movie I felt patriotic was after I watched Rambo IV. If you feel hopeless about the situation our country is currently on and want to feel patriotic and full of hope that 2012 will bring a much better direction for our country Captain America will come and save the day!

At any rate, Chris Evans does a great job performing as Captain America (I thought he was hilarious as the Human Torch!)as the first super soldier against the evil Red Skull played by Hugo Weavins as the former Agent Mr. Smith in the Matrix movies (this guy is a great villain but I prefer him kicking butt against Neo.)

I LOVED IT! 5 Stars and an Oscar for the best torso! Oh, and this was a movie date night for John and I! Thanks Mom!!

Movie: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2

This final part of the final book was pretty good but I would like to say that a movie NEVER beats reading the book. At any rate, this movie was filled with action scenes and dramatic sequences and it moved faster than the first installment of the Deathly Hallows. It was sad to watch Snape die after he was judge like the bad guy in pretty much all the seven books! I felt because bad myself Snape reveal how much he had helped Dumbledore until the end. I didn't like how the book ended with....SPOILER ALERT!!!!!.... all them getting married to each other and having kids and all that stuff but I guess Rowling just wanted to put the last nail in her series.

4 stars! And this was another movie date night for John and I! Thanks Mom!




Movie: The A-Team

Having watched the ORIGINAL A-Team series with my Dad back in the you know, 80's, I didn't have alot of hopes for this movie but it was suprisingly good, it kept me watching and I was laughing! One member of the A-Team that didn't do it for me was the guy who played Mr. T. I mean come on! "I PITY THE FOOL!" The guy did alright but it is hard to play Mr. T. At any rate, it was well written, jokes left and right for some odd reason I found funny, lots of gun shooting, dead people and the A-Team gets set up in a crime they didn't commit. Bradley Cooper was hilarious!

3 Stars.






Movie: Kill the Irishman

Based on a true story based of Danny Green an Irishman who gets caught up working with the Mafia in the 60's in Cleveland then he goes on his own against the Italian mafia. Alot of dead people and A LOT of car bombing explosions. What was cool about watching this movie was that they will show off and on real TV clips of news reporting. The Italian Mafia hates Danny Green so much they try to kill him many times to no avail including blowing up his house. Former Batman, Val Kilmer plays the cop. John kept asking if that was Val Kilmer former Batman, I said yes everytime, he's just been eating alot of donuts with other cops to play this role.

3 Stars.

Happenings of Raquel and Sofia

My heart melts when they hug and kiss each other. All the sleepless nights are forgotten.

Raquel likes to mimic what everyone does and says including our dog Lenny Boy. 

Sofia practicing cutting a tomato with a butter knife...oh and wearing her princess tiara and tutu skirt. Priceless. 

Raquel's "Don't mess with me" look. 

That's more like it!

Two weeks ago, I started training Raquel on "solo" eating, meaning, I'm teaching her how to all by herself so Mami can finally eat at the same time everyone else eats and not be the last one at the table. This moment was bittersweet because the high chair is no longer in our kitchen for the first time in 3 years! I was sad. 


It's been two weeks of training Raquel and I have to say she's really getting the hang of it. I'm still supervising but it is becoming easier. 


We visited Eva and Sofia can't stop asking about her! 

Raquel is trying on every one's shoes nowadays. 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Sofia and The Adenoid Dilemma



After spending time and money on Sofia's reoccurring Sinus Infections, we decided to have her checked with an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) Specialist who checked her Adenoid and his own hearing after he declared that Sofia is a good candidate for the next Scream movie because of her high pitch scream when he inserted a very small camera tube from her nose to check her Adenoids. Dr. ENT declared her Adenoid gland was swollen and full of mucus, not a good sign because this certain gland needs to be free of mucus. So the parental decision was made and we decided that Sofia needed surgery to have her Adenoid gland removed.

at 9:05 this morning, Dr. ENT came to us and said surgery was a success and we could see our little screamer soon. However, waking up after surgery is never a pleasant experience. We were led to the waiting area where all small kids were taken after surgery and there was no child in that room that wasn't crying. John called it the "Wailing Room." The nurse laughed.

Sofia ate three Popsicles and dran an entire glass of apple juice and at 10:30am we were heading home.

Thank God everything went smoothly and Sofia came home ate her lunch and began to behave like her normal 3 year old self. God willing this will allow us to control her allergies better and this will definitely allow her to sleep better and not snore so loud.

I'm just glad this is over and I can start to relax again.

-Sandra.

Five on Friday - Lifelong Learning

1.What’s something you recently learned how to do on a computer?

-I think I leave that to the techies, just show me how to operate the program then leave me alone.


2.What’s something you recently learned in the kitchen?

-Not to mess or make John angry or there wouldn't be dinner that night.



3.What’s something you recently learned about the town where you live?

Shelter Offers More to Love Sale: Cats 10 pounds and over can be adopted for just $1 per pound at the Plano Animal Shelter through August.

Plano Enters Stage 2 Water Conservation Measures August 19th: At the direction of the North Texas Municipal Water District, the City of Plano will be entering into Stage 2 Water Conservation Measures on August 19th. A city-wide limit to landscape watering of only two days per week will be enacted

Outdoor Burn Ban in Effect for all Plano Parks: Due to dry conditions all outdoor burning is prohibited in Plano parks until October 12, 2011. “We’re asking patrons be extra cautious about fire safety, with the burn ban primarily focusing on outdoor grilling,” said Jim Fox, Parks Services Manager.



4.What’s something you recently learned from television?

It's full of reality tv trash shows. I'm so glad I'm a sports junkie instead.



5.What’s something you recently learned the hard way?
 
When I'm intolerant I can be the worst friend.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Where Have All the Girls Gone?

If John and I chose to have a third baby, I pray is another girl. I'm in love with tutus and fairies. But if God CHOOSES to give me a boy, I'll be just as happy. I don't understand people (moms) who do whatever it takes to select the gender of their babies either naturally or by a scientific method because they want to even out their offsprings or whatever reasons they have.

If my mother would have set out to do the impossible to have two boys and two girls, I would have missed out on meeting one of my sisters. I don't get people! Let God choose!

_______________________________________________

By Debra Saunders

Published August 02, 2011
FoxNews.com

The world is becoming unbalanced. In pockets across the globe, women are giving birth to too many boys. In China, the sex ratio is 121 boys to 100 girls. In India, it's 112 to 100. Sex selection also is a force in the Balkans, Armenia and Georgia. In her eye-opening book, "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," journalist Mara Hvistendahl estimates that ultrasound and abortion have "claimed over 160 million potential women and girls -- in Asia alone." That's more than the entire female population of the United States.

If you think that scarcity makes women more valuable, you are right -- but that does not mean females benefit. As "surplus men" have trouble finding mates, young girls are forced into prostitution. Others are forced into arranged marriages. On Taiwan's eBay, Hvistendahl finds three Vietnamese women for sale for $5,400.

Those women who do well economically in the new order sadly are more likely to abort daughters in favor of sons.

The results are equally bleak for men. Many boys grow up knowing they are unlikely to marry and start a family. In two years, 1 in 10 Chinese men will lack a female counterpart. The Chinese have a term -- fenquing for "angry youth" -- to describe the legions of young men likely to grow old alone. They find release in places like the Rising Sun Anger Release Bar, "where for the price of a few drinks, customers can pummel one of the bar's hired hands." In that equation, both men are losers.