Happy Birthday Chone!

Happy Birthday to the person who taught me what unconditional love is!

Thank you for being such a great person, a loving niece and a patient and caring older cousin. 

We all adore you and hope you have a wonderful birthday. 

Love, 

Tia Lissa, Tio Mr. Joey, Day-day and Lou!

7th Heaven

Today the twins of our family turn 7 years old! 

I can't imagine our tribe without you 2 in it. 

We adore you both. 

You are wild and crazy and funny and perfect. 

Happy Birthday Lili and Felix. 

Llama I am so proud to be your Nani. I love you forever.

Chavo, I would not only throw a (fake) grenade at you, I would catch (a real) one for you too. 

Timber

 So it was a normal night. The kids were in bed and Joey and I were sitting in the den. He was watching TV and I was working on a blanket and watching with him. The front door was open and I kept hearing a rustling outside. I finally put down my blanket and turned to Joey and said "What is that sound?". At first we thought it was the kids still up but it was coming from the front yard.

We muted the TV and Joey walked over. It sounded like there was someone in our tree. Or something big was in our tree. A neighbor from across the street started yelling for Joey's attention and he went to get shoes on to head out to investigate. I walked over to the front door and as Joey walked out the door we heard a loud noise and a very very big branch of our fruitless mulberry tree hit the ground.

We were lucky it didn't cause any damage to anything or anyone. There were branches all over the ground and street. The commotion brought out a few neighbors. Before this we had never met anyone on our street. But that night a few of the guys on the block came out to help trim back the branches from the street. It was nice and neighborly.

We knew that we couldn't risk anymore of the tree falling. This thing was big and old. The canopy of it reached from our neighbor's yard, across our yard and to our driveway. We knew that we were going to have to get rid of it. The next day Joey made some calls and a tree trimming crew come out and got to work.

It took 3 days and cost $1050.00!!! In the end there was a lot of mulch and a stump in our yard. It is so strange. It makes our house look so different. Joey and I were both sad to see it go. As much as we hated the little fuzzies it dropped in spring, or the millions of yellow leaves in the fall. It was part of the backdrop to our lives together. We have taken many many family photos in front of that tree. In fact just a few days before I had taken Phi's first day of school picture right under it. Now that it's gone we have a view of our street and it has left us feeling so exposed. Like people can now really see our house and us. 

1st Day of 3rd

Since Phi has been in school, she has always attended a religious private school. She had gone to school with the same group of kids for about 5 years. Last week The Phi started 3rd grade at a brand new school. Not just new to us, but brand new in general. 

As much as we loved the school she had been attending, they were really lacking in academics, extracurricular activity opportunities and technology. We knew that we were going to eventually have to move her somewhere different and last spring we saw an opportunity that we felt would work well for us. A brand new charter school was taking application for fall.

The Phi is now attending a public charter school. And to change things up even more the elementary grades are a home school type program. It's a little complicated but kinda cool.

So grades k-5 have 1 teacher and 5 students in each grade. That's right it is Phi and 4 other students in her 3rd grade class. At the beginning of the week each grade has a 3 hour session with the teacher. This session is for student and parent. During this time the subject of the week is discussed and taught. The teacher incorporates all subjects with one topic. So if they are talking about plants, they will do some reading, writing, math, history and obviously science all centered around plants. Then a packet is given to the parents with work that will need to be completed at home. Students also meet on Fridays for an hour and a half for a more fun, and social session. This is when they will do experiments and go on field trips. 

So that's it. 4.5 hours a week in the classroom. The rest of the work will be done at home with us. We really love the flexibility it gives our schedule. Joey and I are hoping to be able to incorporate family adventures with the subjects she is studying. So if she is studying the desert, we could take a trip out to Joshua Tree. Or studying sea animals might mean a whale watching trip. The school is very high-tech. Each student gets their own tablets where most of their work will be done. They have a system where parents can log-in to a site and review their students progress. The chalkboard has been replaced with a interactive promethian board. The small classroom sizes ensures that Phi gets lots of individualized attention and that her work load can be tailored to her skills.

The home school program is also set up to be family friendly. This means that there is a separate but open sibling room. An area with toys, books and movies for the little kids, and even a small "cafe" with coffee for the parents. Louie of course loves it and and now thinks she goes to school too. She even pulled out a backpack and is insisting she take it next session.

This is a big change for us. We are only in the beginning and still have not had any work sent to do at home. We are going to do what we can to be flexible in how and when and where work will be done at home. We are excited and nervous, but more excited. Phi was nervous about switching schools but after the first week she is so excited about it.

And heres to a new school year!

so this happened.....

You know at the fair and amusement parks they have those places where you can take old timey pictures? 

Yea my Mom is a fan. 

My Mom, Pops and my sister Cari did one back in like 1984. 

While at the fair last weekend my Mom wanted one with everyone.

And what Mom wants.......

Mom gets.....

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I don't think Louie's face could be anymore perfect. 

Boots and Banjos

The family met up at the Ventura County Fair last weekend. We hit up about 3 big county fairs a year. This is the fair I grew up going to so of course I love it. And of course I took lots of photos.

Louie was so excited to get to ride a bus! This was her face the whole ride. 

There is lots of things I love about my (hopefully, one day, keep my fingers crossed) brother-in-law Kelly, the fact that he tried out everything you could possible try and sample is one of them. Also I have video of this and it's hilarious but I am pretty sure Elaine would be pissed if I put her shaking booty on the internet. 

The Phi played with these wooden toys for about 20 minutes. I couldn't believe. No screen or batteries and she was still interested. 

She that look my Mom is giving Louie. Yea that look of pure love is the reason my kids will grow up to believe that they can do anything they want to. 

Elaine and Kelly had a little lasso lesson. The lady teaching told Elaine she was a natural. So naturally she is quitting her job and joining the rodeo.

In front of the Limoneira display with Miss. I refuse to look at the camera. And yes someone asked if she was a boy or girl. I can't help it. I love little boy clothes! 

The kids were having such a good time they even liked the floral section.

Seriously she purposely does not look at the camera. I have tried every trick in the book and if its a posed picture Louie is not having it. 

E loves K

For days before the fair all Louie could talk about was going on a car ride with her Felix. 

Luis' photo bombing skills are amazing. 

These 2 have the weirdest relationship. It's like they are both weird but the same weird. 

So these little kid swings had Dora on them, so Phi really want to get on. It had a weird height requirement. You couldn't be too short, but you couldn't be too tall either. Louie was just tall enough and Felix just made it under. So out of our family only these 2 could ride this ride. 

The big midway prizes were giant Bee-Do's. When Louie first spotted them she literally covered her mouth with her hand and then slowly said "OH.....MY.....GOSH". She didn't come home with a mega-bee-do, but Poppa managed to win her a smaller sized one. 

With those odd number of tickets left after rides we let the kids try for fish. Felix threw the last ball, it bounced off a ton of stuff and them landed in a bowl! His fish lasted exactly 5 days. (RIP Baraka)

My short stuff. 

My Felix, he is such a great kid. Not only did he have to sit with Louie on the ride but he had to keep one arm around her and keep her close to him so she wouldn't be sliding all around. He gave us a big sigh and and look that said "Do I have to?" but he did it anyway. It is easy to see why Louie adores him so much. 

These 2 love this ride, they get on it at every fair and usually multiple times. But I think Lili's face really just says it all doesn't it?

The table was for drawing your favorite fruit. Louie of course drew an avocado. 

It is nice to see that even our little city kids have some farming in their blood!

It was a great day. These 3 happy faces agree. 

Pendelton: Not Just Your Homeboys Flannel

When ever I thought of Pendelton, this immediately came to mind....

Last night I started down one of those weird internet paths. You know when you start searching for restaurants in Las Vegas and end up on the Pendelton website. I have no idea how this happens. I was surprised to see that, although they do still have some pretty gangsta flannels, they also have a ton of other striking and gorgeous things.

Gorgeous sweaters and skirts, dishware and even an adorable plush toy. Squeeeeee so cute.

But what really stole my heart where the blankets....

Ohhhh the blankets.....

I am so in love with these. Not so much with the price tag. The king size of these bad boys run in the $300's! My favorite is this new design called Coyoacan. Named after the city Frida Kahlo lives this blanket is inspired by the Tehuantepec area. The same style that Frida displayed in her amazing clothes. Swoon!!

I can't seem to get off the Pendelton website, I love it all!

Bass Lake Pics

We have been home from vacation for weeks now and I am just getting around to getting pur vacation pictures all put together! 

Bass Lake was a crazy ride this year. We tent camped this year and took a lot of our awesome family with us. The days were spent on the lake and the nights spent at the group site camp. 

Some of the highlights...

• My cousin Lori and her family hitting a deer. Thank goodness everyone was alright. 
• Seeing our Compadres the Quevedos enjoy Bass Lake for the first time with us!
• Louie's first jet-ski ride.
• The Forks Burgers
• Morning snuggles in the tent.
• The sandwich assembly line.
• Louie and her frog
• The second annual talent show (you can see a video of my favorite skit HERE) 
• Phi swimming all on her own.
• A cold Angry Orchard
• When it rained while we were at the store and Chone had to move ALL our stuff by herself!
• Family. Just being together for a week, rain or shine, house or tent. That it what makes our Bass Lake trips our most favorite time of the year!

Here are some of my favorite pictures.....

Bass Lake 2013 from Elissa Lerma on Vimeo.

Nailed It

When in the water lots of people try to get this photo........

We were no exception...

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TOTALLY NAILED IT.

Kleenex + Box Tops = Awesome

This post is brought to you by Kleenex, Latina Blogger Connect and the letter S. 

Box Tops are a huge deal in our house. We keep a designated bag where each and every Box Top goes. We totally horde those things. There is no shame in our Box Top Game. I will choose a brand that offers Box Tops over a brand that does not.

Another thing that is a big deal at back to school time is Kleenex. Most years my daughters teacher will send over a list of things we need to contribute to the classroom. Kleenex is always #1 on the list. So you can imagine how super stoked I am that Kleenex products come with Box Tops.

Sounds like a perfect pairing really. Each Box Top is 10 cents toward your school. And let me tell you, that adds up really fast.

Since 1996 Kleenex has given........get this.....

$525 MILLION

....to over 90,000 schools that participate in the Box Top program.

School starts for us in 13 days!!! I love back to school shopping and this year with my daughter going into 3rd grade we get to buy even more supplies. I can remember back to school supply shopping when I was going to start 3rd grade. My list looked something like this....

• A Lisa Frank rainbow trapper keeper
• The latest and coolest pair of LA Gears
• Every New Kids on the Block school item I can find
• Not just pencils, but bendable pencils. Yea they may write horribly but they are so cool. 
• A space shuttle backpack. I was way into NASA
• Scented markers so I can torture the other kids with the black licorice one
• And of course Kleenex

Yup Kleenex was important even way back then. When you are in a classroom with 25 other people someone is bound to need a Kleenex at all times. Imagine how fast one box of Kleenex sitting on the teachers desk gets used!

So tell me what is on your back to school list this year? 

Bass Lake or Bust

It is that time again. Time for the annual Bass Lake trip recap photo blog posts!! 

We left super early on Friday morning and met the rest of the family at the bottom of the Grapevine for breakfast. Then it was another 1.5 hours until our next stop. Over the last few years it has become tradition to stop at Bravo Farmers in Traver, Ca. It is a fun and perfect place to stretch our legs, let the kids burn off some energy, do a little wine and cheese tasting, filled up the gas tanks, grab some cold drinks and get back on the road. 

Here are a few photographs from our stop.....

Next stop.... Bass Lake