A Name and a Blessing

Joseline, all dolled up for her special day!

The Russell Rowley Family

Russ, Becca, Joseline, and Vincente

Mamãe and Joseline

Papai and Joseline

Grandpa Victor and Joseline

Grandma Pam and Joseline

Aunt Sisty and her Babies!

My dad recorded the blessing, and as soon as I get that from him, and get Russ to translate, I will post some highlights from her blessing. Russ blessed Joseline in Portuguese (since he speaks to Joseline and Vincente in Portuguese). This time, several of the guys who stood in the circle spoke Portuguese, so they understood the blessing entirely! Russ is always good about telling people what he said after the blessing, so they don't feel so out of the loop. It was kind of nice to have a smaller to-do about Joseline. Since we don't live so close to all of the Rowley AND Smith relatives, the blessing-party only consisted of the grandparents and Aunt Barbara and Uncle Abe from San Jose, and Barbara's daughter Mikila and her husband, Connor. A few friends of Russ from the DLI stood in the circle as well, but the after church part was much smaller - and it feel cozier somehow. I think it's because when I was growing up most of the "family" gatherings consisted of my immediate family, and my mom's sister's family and her kids. Having less family around gives things a more intimate feeling, I think. Although I love LOVE my JTSmith family and I have been really missing going to the reunions. I hope we'll be able to make it to the next one! 

Play Date

Today I watched Stevie and Allie for a friend while she had a Dr's appointment. Yay for having friend's kids to watch! They were awesome, and played really well with Vincente. I was actually really impressed with all of them for how well they played together. 

There was very little fighting, and the only tumbling happened on the trampoline, with everyone really enjoying knocking each other down (and being knocked down!!) I thought at least one of the kids would be a wuss about wrestling on the tramp (and I actually assumed it would be Vincente), but they all just got back up after being knocked down. Allie didn't even mind having the boys all sit on her at once. She thought it was hilarious. 

Mostly Allie liked playing with Joseline ("Baby!") but that required a lot of supervision, since Allie is just under two and was very determined to pick Joseline up off the floor. And yes, Joseline is in this picture... she's just kind of covered by Allie. You can see her head poking through Allie's arms.

The area behind our house is very grassy and shady. Perfect for little boys to go exploring. After they had their fill of the trampoline, they took off down the hill into the shady backyard mostly to throw dirt and run through the tall grass. 

    

    

They each had their spills and tumbles, and at one point Vince decided it would be more entertaining to throw his camo crocs into the tall grass than to wear them... and then he couldn't find them... since they are camo... Anyway, I took off down the slope to retrieve them for him, and in the meantime, Allie decided that she wanted to explore, too, but her balance isn't quite as developed as the boys. I'd been trying to keep her at the top of the hill so I wouldn't have to explain a concussion to her mom, but before I could get back to the top of the hill, she had already taken off down the hill. I got to her just as she face planted down the hill. She was fine, and it actually looked like she wanted to do it again! 8-o But I think we ended up going back inside at the point.

We had mac and cheese for lunch with Laurel when she got there to pick up the kids. After a fun time chatting and eating, the kids picked up the toys, our friends left, and Vince and Joseline crashed for a nap. They both had more fun than they've had in a while. Joseline was thoroughly entertained by all the commotion, and Vincente seemed to enjoy having someone to jump with on the trampoline.

I was very impressed with myself for taking care of four kids under 4 for two hours by myself - and one of those being a nursing baby! She actually only nursed once the whole time the kids were there, and slept for a lot of it, and chilled on the living room floor for the rest of the time. If she hadn't been so mellow today I don't think it could have been done.

But having other kids to play with Vince definitely seems to be a good thing for me. Even if there are more little hands to keep track of, the fun is totally worth it!

From Her Point of View

What we see...

What Joseline sees...

Ghiradelli's

There is a little Ghiradelli's ice cream parlor on Cannery Row. I've been there twice now - and it's always yummy. Russ knows the owner (an Italian guy - you know how Russ always likes to find people to practice his languages on). 

Last time I went I got ice cream, but I was so cold this time that I got hot chocolate. 

   

   

You can see how much Vincente enjoyed his single chocolate scoop. After he finished off his ice cream he had a lot of steam to burn off, so while the rest of us sat an enjoyed the view of the ocean and the smell of chocolate, Christy and Grandpa took off to run after Vincente.

   

A Blessed Weekend

There are so many picture from this weekend, I picked some of the best shots (these are combined pictures from my collection, my dad's collection, and my FIL's collection - so I'm not taking credit for all of them. If I have time, I'll go through and give credit where credit is due, otherwise, just know that not all of these are my shots). I'm going to give the actual blessing day pictures and the ice cream parlor pictures their own posts, so check back later for those posts. I'll do them today if I have time. I'm also not planning on writing much as far as captions go - these pictures are from various locations - Del Monte Beach, Cannery Row, our house, and possibly a few other places.

    

   

Vivolo's Chowder House - recommended by a friend of my sister - and now, recommended by myself! I had a delicious Salmon something or other with a lemon butter sauce, and of course a cup of clam chowder. I think the thing I will miss the most about Monterey is the seafood.

   

en cima ................. para baixo