Having a Great Time at Camp! The girls are having the time of their lives at Camp! I'll write more later, but wanted to at least get some photos up there! Enjoy!

Joli rocking her camp sweatshirt -- it is COLD up here!
Jada has found a new "sister". This little girl has Rb and was diagnosed at 1 day old (but doing well now). The girls are on the 'wheelchair' swing because they couldn't stand to be separated on 2 of the baby swings.
Miss JoJo during "costume night".

Summer Birthdays

Not sure how it all happened, but many of the Talusan-Vega-Lacanlale-Nichols men were all born in a 6-week time span of each other (in different years, of course). So, we decided to start this year with the Summer Birthdays for the Men Celebration.

Happy Birthday (in order of birthday date) to Jon, Jorge, JP, Andy (Vega), Paul and Alonso!



The weather finally broke out of the 90's and we had a beautiful sunny day in the mid-70s for our birthday celebration. What's missing from this picture is that Mia and Jada are about to ram into Uncle Paulie....they look very serious here!
This picture is hilarious! Joli is looking reflectful and praying (what do you expect from a Pastor's granddaughter) and Mia is looking to party down! I'm gonna love this photo when they hit their teenage years ....
Yeah, that's our Mia. Sassy frassy.
A rare appearance by Uncle Paul (Uncle DooDoo) doing wheelbarrow with Gavie.

We're heading to Camp so look out for some great stories when we get back!

A great time....

It's been mighty, mighty, mighty hot out here. We bought a little kiddie pool the other day and the kiddies had a great time. Miss Joli was very spoiled and spent the weekend with her friends Hayley and Brittney. Really .. insanely spoiled. They stayed at the hotel, went swimming, went to the beach, out to dinner at a restaurant even Jorge and I have never been to, and played, played, played! We missed her!

Joli's eye seems to be bothering her a bit. I think it's all the pollen. She's gotten SO GREAT at just advocating for herself and taking out her eye and washing it. I still have to put it in, but it's so easy these days. Joli is SUCH a pro (and I also think I've gotten better at it. In retrospect, I think I was really poking her socket too much. Now, I know just how far to slide it in, etc.).


We're gearing up for Camp Sunshine next week. Joli is so excited! It's really such a wonderful place that just absolutely affirms her as a beautiful young person. She knows some of the kids there who don't like to take out there eyes, and when Joli took hers out she said to me, "Mommy, I'm going to tell my friends not to be scared of their special eyes." We also have been preparing her for how to behave around blind children. Some of the things include:

• Never grab the arm or hand of a blind child. Instead, say, "Hello! I'm Joli. I am standing in front of you."
• If they touch your face, do not move. They are trying to see what you look like by feeling your face.
• If you see something that could trip or hurt someone, move it out of the way or call that person's name.
  
• If you are answering a question, you have to speak the answer. You can't just nod your head.

It's all the little things that we take for granted as sighted people. And, I'm so glad Joli (and Jada) are learning it at this age.

Looking forward to blogging about camp!!

It's Sleepover Time Again...

Happy Birthday to Jonathan! His present was that we had Mia sleep over. It's always a crazy adventure when you get these girls to sleepover....

Jorge successfully put them to in their separate beds after a nice warm bath. Then, I heard lots of gigging and found this:

That bed is the size of an infant crib.

Why do I get the sense this is the beginning of a long night?
(as I type this, I can hear the girls yelling, "Give me that bra!!")

A Moment in History (hopefully lasting years and years)
Barack Obama has secured the nomination for the Presidency. We even let the girls stay up until 11:00pm in order to see him speak. And, yes, there is a mighty mighty difference between "Yes, we can" and "Yes, she will." Quite appropriate that Jorge's shirt says, "Got privilege?" on it...

Even Jada realizes the historical importance of today.....

It's been a crazy week!

Last week, I had breakfast with Deval Patrick (and 400 of his closest friends, of course) to talk about diversity in Massachusetts. That was awesome....


After a very long week in Orlando, I came home and spent a wonderful day at the beach with Joli and Jada. The water was freezing but the girls didn't mind one bit!
Jada sat on this rock and kept saying, "I'm a mermaid! I'm a mermaid!"
Action shot of the girls playing in the water.
I didn't go to any of the Disney parks, but I promised the girls I would take a picture with Sleeping Beauty. So, here it is, girls!
I am SO happy to be home and incredibly thankful for Jorge who spent time with the girls doing the daily routine!

Pretty cool...

I was cleaning out my office (long overdue) and found this notebook I had with me from when I went to NYC in March 2007 (last year). While in Times Square, I saw Donald Faison. The next day, I went to ToysRUs with my mother in law and saw Donald Faison again. I remember saying to her, "Wow! That guy is the one who Jorge looks like! He's an actor!" So, in a quiet moment, I snuck and asked Donald Faison if I could have his autograph because my husband was a big fan....

That May 2007, Jorge entered the Comic Book Challenge. And, in July 2007, he met Donald Faison. Little did we know that in a few short months, Jorge would be the winner of Platinum Studio's comic book challenge and get to work with Donald Faison.

Circumstance? i think not... :)

How We Sleep

It's no secret - we like snuggling. The girls always ask for us to "snuggle" them at nap time (during the weekend) or at night. Jorge and I are pretty good about just sending them to bed, but the truth is, we also like spending time with our girls. We work such long hours, the morning routine is so rushed, and by the time we all get home from work, it's very close to bedtime. While I do love to sleep, I also love when the girls come into our room at 3:00am and want to snuggle between Jorge and me. (I don't like, however, when the come in at 3:00am and ask for a cup of warm milk.... )

Jorge always falls into this trap. Here's how conversations after 8:45pm in our house go:

Joli or Jada: "Mom? Dad? Can someone snuggle us for 2 minutes?"
Jorge: "Yes, okay, fine. But ONLY for two minutes!"
Liza: "Shall I wait to watch XYZ show? You'll be out in 2 minutes, right?"
Jorge: "Yes, yes, I'll be out in 2 minutes... wait for me! DO NOT start the show!"

... 2 minutes...

... 5 minutes...

... 10 minutes ...

... Yep, Jorge has fallen asleep....

So, it was no surprise when I walked by the girls' room that I saw Jorge fast asleep in Joli's bed. The BIG surprise, though, was that Jada was ALSO in the 1 tiny bed. Keep in mind -- it's a TWIN BED. If you look at the picture, Joli probably has 1 leg in the crack between the bed and the wall and Jada has 1 leg hanging off the side. Jorge is squished in the middle.

So cute....



Sunday was a beautiful day.. here is Jada at the college graduation ceremony.
Miss Joli, posing.

Happy Birthday, Jenny!
Happy birthday to the youngest of the siblings! Jenny is a quarter century old (young)! Oh, and Joli picked out that shirt for Jenny. She INSISTED that Aunt Jenny LOVES shirts with blueberries on them!!

The girls getting ready for the ice cream sundaes!
Okay, this is hilarious... Jorge likes to tell people that I can do weird thing with my toes (which is NOT true) like picking up things off the floor or writing with my toes or anything he can imagine. As we were watching television the other day, Jada just went for it and started to itch her nose with her toes!! Hilarious!!

We let Tita Grace babysit for a few hours. When I came home, I found Jada sleeping on a bench. Grace kindly said, "Yeah, Jada smells like urine and she is sleeping on a bench. Oh great."
After nearly 6 months, Jorge finally got around to mowing the lawn.

Happy Birthday, Teetah Grace!

Thanks for all the art classes, music classes, gardening days, trips to see neglected animals, literary outings to Chinatown, philosophical lessons about death/dying/birth/life, writing a retinoblastoma book, teaching us about fake boobies, letting us get messy, and for encouraging us to feel our emotions as authentic extensions of our soul... seriously. No, really, seriously...

WE LOVE YOU!

Teetah Grace with all the nieces and nephew - May 11, 2008

Grace and Jada at camp - July 2007
Just before Joli's diagnosis: July 2005
April 2004 - Grace and Mari visit Joli on Long Island.... Mari refused to get in the tub.
Meeting Joli -- July 2003

Happy Mothers Day!

I first became a mom on July 17, 2003

My first Mother's Day - May 2004
Mother's Day 2005 - that's when I used to sleep in a little bit!
I became a Mom a second time on April 22, 2006
Mother's Day - May 2006


Mother's Day - May 2007

And here we are ... Mother's Day 2008!



I am so incredibly thankful for having two beautiful and healthy children. We've been through a lot as a family, and I begin and end every single day with the best gift in the world -- kisses from my two girls!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!!

My baby is growing up...

Where is the time going? Last night, Joli went on her very first sleep over. Not to Lola's house. Not to Grammy's house. Not to Mia's house. No, Joli went on her first "non-family" sleep over last night! She had a wonderful time with her friends from school (sisters). I dropped her off at school on Friday morning at 8:00am. The arrangement was that Joli would go home with her friends after school and then sleep over there. I was certain that I was going to get a call around 10:30pm or so asking me to pick up Joli because she wants to come home. Well, 10:30pm came and went ... Joli was fine.

The next morning, the mom invited Jada and me over for breakfast. So I fully intended on bringing Joli home after breakfast - reasonable thought, right? Well, breakfast came and went, and the girls decided they were going swimming in the indoor pool. So, Jada and I went and did some errands, figuring we'd be back to get Joli around lunch time. The mom said that she'd call us when Joli was ready. Noon came and went. Two o'clock came and went. Four o'clock. Six o'clock. The girls' mom called me at that time and said, "Joli is having fun. She doesn't want to go home. What do you want to do?" I said, "Nope. She's coming home. I miss her!!" Jada and I drove to pick her up around 8:00pm - a full 36 hours after I had dropped her off on Friday! I had to fight her to come home!

Truly, the fact that Joli didn't want to come home actually made me feel good because I know she had fun with the girls and was treated well.

When I was there for breakfast, Joli's friend, Haley, was getting her braids taken out. Joli saw all of the synthetic hair coming out, and she was surprised. She asked Haley's mom what that was, and her mom explained that Haley needed "fake hair" to make her braids. It was SO awesome to hear Joli asking questions and being exposed to differences in something as simple as HAIR. I didn't understand the whole process of braids/hair until well after college. And, it's great to see my 4-year old already gaining this knowledge about differences. The girls' family is from Nigeria, and I love that Joli is learning at a very early age how we are all different and beautiful. Growing up, I didn't have any black friends (or Latino friends, gay friends, etc), and it's been such a priority for us to make sure that our kids experience diversity in many ways in their lives.


Joli's best friends at school!
Joli had a fantastic time with the girls, and we're sure to do it again!

I'm simply posting this for memory sake:

It's now 9:12pm and Joli and Jada should absolutely be asleep. Yet, twice, Joli has yelled philosophical questions from her bed. Now, imagine, she is YELLING from her bedroom to me as I sit at the dining room table....

"Mooom!!" (yes, Joli?)
"When you die, will you be BONE DRY?" (what, Joli?)
"I said, when you DIE will you be BONE....DRY???" (will I be BONE DRY??)
"Yes! And will you have no skinnnnn???" (Joli, we can talk about this in the morning)

"Oh-KAY, MOMM!!"

(silence.... for 15 seconds)

"MOOMMM!!" (yes, Joli?)
"I just have ONE more question." (okay, Joli, what?)
"What's it like being a grown up?" (it's fun, Joli)
"Okay, but would you rather be a kid or a grown up?" (we'll talk about this tomorrow, Joli....)

Enjoying Spring!

We've had a few days of great weather and the kids and all certainly took advantage of it!

Mia outside ... she ALWAYS wears this crown....



Jada "The Scowler" upset about something


Best friends! (taken just before Joli went to the beauty parlor)


Joli has had her hair done a few times in her life. We like to wait until we get to NY, but it was just getting so heavy that we had to get it done here. Thankfully, Joli had an awesome time!

Joli getting her hair done - 1st step: Shampoo and Conditioner


Sarah (the hairdresser) working with Jo's hair - she thinned it out A LOT and it feels so great!


Miss Fashionable with her final results!


Jada and Jorge giving their hardcore faces

Jada is famous for her "scowl" -- she was not happy I was taking her picture here....


Tita Elma helping Gavin on the scooter

Jada surprised when I caught her picking flowers from the garden!


Jada hugging Gavin -- they call each other "honey"