life according to the diaz's

Here it comes!! Oh No!! Another end to another beautiful summer vacation is upon us. No worries...I'm almost all talk when it comes to a new school year approaching...yes, I said ALMOST. I absolutely love this time of year of renewal with a new school year. BUT...It's just so truly bittersweet because the beauty of being a summer bum comes to an end. I actually have to put on real clothes and look presentable come Monday...that means mascara and some lip gloss again...look out world!! Ha!
Elena gets to go see all of her friends that she's missed over the last month or so that she's been away from daycare and I know she'll be very happy to get back to them. Juan and I keep talking up how she gets to go next week...we're hoping to get her excited. She's just had such a wonderful summer that it's hard to see it come to a close.
Over the last few weeks, we have just been enjoying our time together...trying not to schedule a lot of things on the calendar like we sometimes tend to do. Our one big outing came last week on our family road trip to Florida to visit my sister! Juan and I took Elena on a drive and along the way we made sure that we visited a Diner's, Drive-In's, and Dives spot, which we love to do now on long road trips! We decided on Marietta Diner in Marietta, GA which is just north of Atlanta. It was SO worth the stop...I wish I could go back there right now. There are so many things to try. Hopefully we can go back one day. After making our stop in Marietta, we continued our drive the next morning to Florida. Juan, Elena, and I were able to enjoy some beach time together as a family and Juan and I even got away for an evening at the same hotel we spent our honeymoon in 10 years ago in St. Petersburg, FL. It was a dream come true to go back to where our marriage began. It was just as beautiful and relaxing as I remembered. What a way to celebrate 10 years of marriage. I don't think I would've wanted to be anywhere else. The beach, sun, ocean, pool, bar...yeah, it was a great time :)
So, here we go on another school year! I'm beginning my 12th year as a teacher and Juan is beginning his 4th. Time is really flying by. I'm hoping to be better about checking in and posting pics here on the blog, but we all know how that goes...I may not be back for a few months...lol. Enjoy the pictures below!

Trying on daddy's shoes

This noodle had grass on it, so Elena refused to eat it.

Swimming with Meagan after a morning photo shoot

My nephew, Blake...precious boy!!

Runge Nature Center...she really liked that frog!

Leaving STL on our way to FL

Naptime!

She was waving hello :)

Beautiful, winding roads in TN

Marietta Diner!!

We made it to FL! Wishing the sign was bigger...

Naptime on the beach...with a binkie of course.

Macy was happy I came to visit

The sun was so bright, but you can see our message in the sand...10 years!

Homer was on vacation too while we were in FL

These photos were done by Meagan Dalton, one of our dearest friends. Elena was NOT at all in the mood for pictures this day, but Meagan somehow got some beautiful photos of our girl. Here are some:

Wow, has it really been since May 30th since I last posted?! Seriously, the time gets away from me faster and faster these days. I can't believe we're already heading into the last few weeks of summer. It's been busy, but very fun. To begin, I got the most wonderful opportunity in June to teach Summer Expeditions with Columbia. Juan has been teaching this summer program for a few years now and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to teach fifth graders the entire month of June. It was an absolute blast and I am forever thankful each day that Juan helped me get into this teaching position for the month. I made some great connections with students and just had an all around great time. I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat!
Once Summer Expeditions was over, we were onto Independence Day! We spent the holiday in St. Louis with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and some of my most favorite neighbors in the whole world, the Reinagels. Elena enjoyed doing a few sparklers and "pop pops" to celebrate once the sun went down. It was a relaxing time, which was nice coming off from a very busy month of teaching summer school. Since then, poor Juan had jury duty, but has managed to get in a few rounds of golf here and there with a good buddy of his. We have made it out to fish at a friend's house and even snuck in a youth baseball game in which we were introduced to the most wonderful drink in concession stand world...Gatordew...all I can say is YUM. Among the fun, I have had a few school inservices to attend, but it was nice to catch up with teacher friends during the days at school. We have definitely not been bored these last few weeks since summer school let out...this week should be a bit more relaxing :)
Elena is still growing up before our very eyes and Juan and I continue to be in awe everyday. She gets smarter and smarter. The things that she says and does are remarkable. We love to just sit back and watch her play. The best is when she's playing with a doll and the doll is bad and Elena puts her in time out...Elena says things Juan and I say when Elena is in trouble and spending a few moments in time out as well...it's very comical to watch Elena. She even puts her stuffed animals to bed, covers them up, gives them a binkie, and "shushes" them to sleep just like a mommy would. So.dang.cute. Our primary struggle still remains with Elena and that's the whole eating thing. She doesn't like it. Very picky and only wants certain things...my mom says I was the exact same way. So, I won't fret too much because I turned out alright, I suppose! Elena does love her "squeeze fruits", hard boiled egg whites, peanuts, greek yogurt, noodles, mac n cheese, pizza, crackers, milk, water, and her beloved fruit snacks (which she calls "Georges" because the very first fruit snack she ever ate was a Curious George fruit snack and that name has just stuck). There isn't much else beyond that she likes. Oh yes...I almost forgot...she will eat a scrambled egg, hashbrowns, and home made biscuits...we do "brinner" a lot because we know she'll eat well. She appears to be thriving, though, so we won't worry too much. She's full of love and energy, so we are going to keep going and just hope she eats more as time goes on.
Her favorite show right now is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on PBS...I find myself walking around the house humming songs from that show...YIKES. Elena loves to watch her PBS Kids shows on my Ipad...I would say that's probably one of her most favorite things to do. She has gotten into Legos as well. We build the same princess castles daily...she has a blast and is getting good at getting the pieces where they need to go.
So, like I said, E is just growing up...she says things she shouldn't already, gets in trouble, falls down and skins her knees, yells, screams, smiles, laughs, hugs, kisses, prays, sings, and so much more...this whole parenting thing has been so utterly beautiful...what an amazing part of life to experience...