Day One: May 19th

The love of my life and best friend went off to the Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSE) Conference at the University of Texas at San Antonio today. Its a 3 day conference with scholars and educators across the country. I attended the conference last year when it was at the University of Utah and this year it's Flor's turn to listen to Critical Race theorists :)

She will be presenting a workshop along with some of her colleagues from Venceremos. Venceremos is a Chicana/no Newspaper at the University of Utah. She will do great and I am proud of all the great work that she did in order to build this springs Venceremos issue. If you want to read it then let me know, i will gladly send you an issue.

She left at 130. Mi Suegra showed up a bit before and she helped watching Andrei and Adrian as Nati and I went to drop her off at the airport. The whole ride I was already feeling sad she was leaving. We got to the airport and walked her to the security thingy. Nati and me watched her walk away. Nati really missed her mom too.

We got back in the car and Nati says, " I miss mom."

" I miss her too." I reply.

"You miss her alot huh dad?"

"Yeah, she is my best friend."

(Later on my lil girl will ask me, "Hey dad, want me to always remind you of mom so you don't get sad?" lmao)

Right as we leave the airport Nati tells me, "I wanna cut your hair bald again. Ima do it today. Lets go shopping too." I shuddered in fear knowing that now Nati was the woman of the house and was gonna be unchecked by her mama. When we got home mi suegra had made some lentejas and arroz for us to eat. I love all types of beans so i got my munch on quickly. Nati, Andrei and Adrian ate alot too. Then I said to the kids, "Ok, we got some chores to do. Then we can do something fun."

"What we got to do dad?" Andrei asks

"Buy food for the Rabbits, Chickens and Turtle."

"We have a turtle!!" Andrei was so happy.

"No. I meant fish. Sorry."

(P.S. I forgot to buy the fish food now i hope they

survive me getting their food tomorrow.) I got the kids ready (which means all i did was say, "Get your shoes!" like 50 times) and we headed to our favorite corporate fat cat superstore, Wal-Mart. First we went to get lil Adrians milk since he was hungry (again) and we had run out of milk. He was in a good mood today and kept talking to Nati and Andrei. As we kept walking Nati reminds me I had promised her a Justin Beiber shirt. I told her if we found one i would buy it for her. As I was saying that there was a collection of JB shirts on sale on a rack to my left. Nati got herself a cute hoodie T and since i had to buy Andrei a shirt too he got a Cars shirt. We went and got the filters for the fish tank and some other odds and ends.

We then went to CAL Country Stores for the Chicken feed. Apparently one has to feed chicks the Chick Starter feed until they are 12 weeks. Our chicks are only 8 weeks. I got some rabbit food too.

We went home and dropped off all our stuff and we headed to the movies, which is where the kids wanted to go. My homie Jarred is back in town and joined us at Valley Fair. We got tickets to see Diary of A Wimpy Kid (which Andrei pronounces 'Diarrhea of a Limpy Kid' )

Before the movie started we played in the mini arcade and ate some food at a little Hawaiian spot (in which Andrei got a Corn Dog)

The movie was real cool and Natalia loved it. She was all into the Limpy kid's "Hate My Life" moments, as Flor and the Olivo sisters would put it. Andrei was kinda fidgety in some parts. He mentioned he felt kinda bad and went to the bathroom twice. (I know this doesn't sound like something important but it is vital to what happened at the end of the night.)

The movie was over and we said peace to Jarred and headed home. We got home and went to Wal-Mart again. We got some food and things for the next couple of days. I served the lil ones some cereal and they ate. Then they went to bed. They both had this story about how they where scared and so they got to sleep over on the big bed. We said the prayer then goodnight. I tried to get some chores done but to no avail. A few seconds later we hear crying, Maggie and I go to the room. The kids miss their mom :(

Maggie calls Flor. I didn't have my phone with me so I hadn't noticed she had called me a bit earlier. We decide to let the kids and Flor chat it up for a bit on Skype.

As they are all talking Andrei starts to say his stomach hurts. We tell him its ok and it will go way. Out of nowhere it starts to reek and Nati, Maggie and me start looking around for the source of the stench and we find a huge puddle of puke on the floor. Then we take Andrei to the bathroom to clean up then back to bed. A few minutes pass and Andreis bolting to the bathroom and vomiting along the way. We have him take a shower and he lays down. He is still sleeping well.

Right now I am doing laundry as I write this post for the love of my life. I miss you Flor and I hope i was able to share the kids and mine day for you. Have fun tomorrow and dont worry. I learned from the best, you ;) Tomorrow i will spend less time with the kids but i will still let you know what happens. God bless you Flor.