Back to School 2015-2016

It's that time again, time to send the kids back to school! This morning was insane and I can't believe I am actually posting this today and not ten weeks later (as I have been known to do!) This morning, JC and I split up handle the first day madness. He took Amberly and Gian to their new school and I took Adrian back to his. There is no way we can make all three kids on the same day. It's hard to miss being a part of these days for everyone, but thankfully we take lots of pictures!!

Adrian was not happy to start third grade....

Amberly was really nervous over the weekend but thankfully, she was in a great mood this morning...

Gian was the most excited to go back but this morning, he wasn't too sure to start second grade!

School security is at an all-time high in our schools and this was the only day we could walk the kids to their classrooms. I love to walk into their classrooms and see where they will spend their day. Amberly and Gian will be in those classrooms all day. Adrian's school has new scheduling where he will be with four different teachers so he will be moving around a lot. He is not happy about this and even though I tried my best efforts to get him to smile, this was how I left him:

I have a feeling the really big first day smiles are history for him, maybe I will get another one from him his senior year of high school! 

I really hope they each have an amazing first day! I can't wait to talk to them all after school, especially Ivanna who started middle school today and forgot to send me a pic!

Get To Know Us In 7 Pictures

I've given myself a little challenge. I've noticed some new readers lately (thank you so much!) and realized that I needed a re-introduction post. I wanted something different than just talking about myself (you can read that in The Girl page) so I decided to make it a little more fun. Now, in this post, you can get to know us, all of us, through pictures, seven to be exact. Why seven? I have no idea! It was the first number to pop into my head!!

Here we go!

{ONE}

Not your traditional storybook family here, we are a proud blended family! Pictured above, from left to right, there's me, Amberly, Gian, JC, Adrian and Ivanna. JC and I met in 2011 at work! When we met, I was already a mom to Adrian and he was a dad to Amberly and Gian. Ivanna is Adrian's cousin from his dad's side who I met when she was 2. She is being raised by her and Adrian's grandparents and I have pretty much taken her in as my own! 

{TWO}

We live in Miami, Florida. I was born and raised in Miami. All the kids were born here too. JC emigrated here from Cuba when he was eight and has been here ever since. We love living in Miami and honestly, cannot picture raising our family anywhere else!

{THREE}

These three are 9, 8 and 7 years old. Their birthdays are all at the end of the year (November 10, November 11 and December 27 to be exact. They get along 25% of the time and argue the other 75%, sounds like regular siblings to me!

{FOUR}

We are water junkies. Whether it be the pool, beach or a lake, we love hanging out by the water!

{FIVE}

We are BIG hometown team fans. We cheer for the Miami Heat, Miami Hurricanes, Miami Marlins and the Miami Dolphins. We are real fans too, no matter how many losing seasons our teams give us, we cheer for them!! 

{SIX}

We love Disney! We went on our first Disney cruise this year and then up to Magic kingdom in July. Disney World is always the best vacation spot for us!

{SEVEN}

Fourth of July is our family holiday. We have been together every Fourth of July since we became a family. We love all holidays but this one is it for me. I love our traditions of spending the day at the beach and then watching the most amazing fireworks at the Biltmore! I plan on continuing this tradition as long as possible!! Family Rule: The kids know that no matter where they are in the world, we are together on the 4th!!

This was quite the challenge because our family is so much more than these seven pictures but here you get a good idea of who our family is! Anything else you'd like to know, please feel free to comment below or email me!

5 Tips To Help Raise Confident Kids

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ConfidentKids #CollectiveBias

Raising my kids, especially the boys, to be confident is high up there in my must-do's as a parent. It's not easy and they are way more timid than Amberly is. I understand that each child is different and what might work for one doesn't work for another but I have gathered the ones that have worked and put together these 5 tips to help you raise confident kids!

1. Show affection and encouragement. When children know they are loved, they can take on the world. When a child doesn't receive affection at home, they become very insecure and can manifest their anger onto others. Hug your child often! Show love with a word, a smile, being attentive and listening to their needs, fears and desires. 

2. Encourage exploration and imagination.  Encourage your child to explore the world around them. Let them play outside and play with others. Provide your child with the tools to express themselves appropriately. Art, music and dance are excellent ways for your child to be creative and express themselves. Listen to their creative ideas. For example: last week, the kids wanted blue hair. They thought it would be the coolest so I went and purchased hair chalk. They waited patiently while I applied it and then they rocked their blue hair. They were happy, they weren't hurting anyone and they were expressing their individuality. This freedom of expression will build tons of confidence!

3. Challenge them. Life is not easy and I believe it's best to show them this at a young age. Children need to be challenged. Help your child see challenges as a learning opportunity to grow as a person. Cheer them on when they take on a challenge. When it gets hard, reassure them that they can do this and that you can do it together, whether it be extra practices for games or making a recipe ten times until they get it right!

4.Give your child responsibility. Give your child age-appropriate chores. Give each child a "special job" that only they can do. They will be so proud of themselves for getting it done. Create job charts where everyone can track their responsibilities. In our home, everyone has a job to do. Amberly helps with laundry, Adrian helps take out trash and Gian Carlo takes out recycling. All this is done after homework and practices. They take great pride in helping out and it teaches them responsibility.  

5.Do not shame them. Kids make mistakes, bad choices and bad decisions just like we do. They are growing and shaming them when they do something wrong will make them feel insecure. Did they fail a test? Don't call them dumb or compare them to a sibling who just aced a test. Did they spill their drink at dinner? It's alright, it's just a drink. Do you have an older child that wets the bed? It's OK. It happens to most children, especially boys in the 6-9 age range which my boys are in. They forget to go to the bathroom before bed or if they are like Adrian, sneak a water bottle into his bed and drink it before falling asleep. It happens at least twice a week in our home and they are really ashamed when they wake up and their bed and pajamas are wet. 

If they are having a problem, help them find a solution. For the bedwetting issue, I purchased the starter pack of GoodNites TruFit underwear at our local CVS. 

GoodNites TruFit are not diapers, my boys are too old for diapers. They are real underwear that works with disposable protection. I put them on my boys at night before bed and they help protect against any accidents! Need a coupon? Click this link and answer a series of 3 questions to unlock a $4 off coupon for a GoodNites TruFit starter pack. GoodNites make for great days!

Be sure to follow GoodNites on Facebook and Twitter for more info!

How do you help your children become more confident? 

I'm Happy With Providing My Kids "Options"

Parenting choices are very personal. Everyone parents differently and has different ideas on how to raise their children. As long as your children are happy, respectful and well-adjusted, I say, continue raising them as you see fit. I often get criticized by how I have chosen to raise Adrian because I give him "freedom to choose." This is not the norm for Hispanic parents. Hispanics tend to want to dominate over their kids. "You do as I say" kind of mentality. That is how I was raised and I always said to myself, the day I have kids, I will provide choices.

I have always provided options for Adrian, ever since he was a baby. I put out two different choices and he decides on what he wants. This goes with clothing, food, sports, games, pretty much everything. I figure this has allowed him to learn how to make decisions and I still get to pick what I think is appropriate for him. For example, every morning for breakfast I ask him "Adrian, would you like a grilled cheese or eggs and toast?" This way he isn't having pizza (his preferred choice) for breakfast and I can make sure he eats breakfast (which is quite the task, he is not a breakfast person!)

I read this the other day and it just felt so right:

I don’t want my kids safe and comfortable. I want them BRAVE. I don’t want to teach them to see danger under every rock, avoiding anything hard or not guaranteed or risky. They are going to encounter a very broken world soon, and if they aren’t prepared to wade into difficult territory and contend for the kingdom against obstacles and tragedies and hardships, they are going to be terrible disciples.

I don’t want to be the reason my kids choose safety over courage. I hope I never hear them say, “Mom will freak out,” or “My parents will never agree to this.” May my fear not bind their purpose here. Scared moms raise scared kids. Brave moms raise brave kids. Real disciples raise real disciples.” 
― Jen Hatmaker

My ultimate parenting goal is to raise good citizens. I want to raise, kind, respectful, brave, assertive, productive members of society. I know that the things I am doing now will help my kids in the future, even if they think I am the most horrible mom on the planet. I do not expose them to things I feel are inappropriate but I also do not shield them from the world around them. They are not always by my side, I let them walk ahead and explore. Like in the quote above "I don’t want my kids safe and comfortable. I want them BRAVE. I don’t want to teach them to see danger under every rock, avoiding anything hard or not guaranteed or risky."  I encourage them to ride the scary ride, to stand in front of the class and present their project, to defend each other, to wear what they are comfortable in even if others don't like it and most importantly to ask questions!

They know they can ask me any question and I will answer as best I can. I've gotten everything from "What is gay?" to "Why is this person in my class so mean?" to "When can I have a girlfriend?" and "Why is your skin brown and ours is white?" Yup all those from children who are curious. I answer their questions honestly and in a way an 8 and 9 year old can understand. They won't always be little, so I let them be little. I don't believe in gender-specific roles so they have been raised to know that anyone can grow up to be whatever they want. I'm a stickler for good manners though so I better hear many "Please and thank-you's" along the way! I'm happy with providing options and freedom of choice. It's worked for us so far and will continue to be our parenting choice in the future!

Yes Day Recap

This past Saturday we had our annual "Yes Day." This is the one day a year the kids get to choose what we do, what we eat and where we go (within reason). Yes, I know how insane this sounds and I might need to be medicated for agreeing to such a crazy idea but they really enjoy it. I believe that kids need a say every once in a while. JC hates this day, I'm alright with it and obviously, the kids love it! I will tell you one thing though: with three kids, Yes Day is one of the longest days in parenting history! You have been warned!

(all phone pics)

Yes Day started off early, like 8am early. Adrian had soccer practice and Gian Carlo decided to tag along, not before setting out his ingredients for breakfast. Amberly stayed in with JC and the boys and I headed out.

"Ida, can I bring my skates to the park?" Yes! So while Adrian and Ivanna were at practice, Gian Carlo was skating and scraping his knees since he refused to wear knee pads. 

We got back home to breakfast being made in the kitchen. Everyone wanted just pancakes and bacon, so pancakes and bacon it was. Breakfast was followed by playing Splatoon on the WiiU. 

When they got tired of playing Splatoon (i.e. the Gamepad ran out of charge!) it was time to head out. By the way, Yes Day also includes getting to wear what they want. Gian Carlo did alright...

but Amberly was a whole other story. She said it matched because her shirt and socks were striped. Sure kid! Oh and no bow in her hair. 

The kids wanted to go to Skyzone so of course we did. "Can I swing on the railing?" Yes! 

Unfortunately, Skyzone was packed so the kids decided they wanted frozen yogurt, so off to Menchie's we went. 

Then the boys wanted haircuts. Thankfully, our barber was able to squeeze them in. Everyone participates in Yes Day! I was still all smiles at 5pm!

Gian Carlo go rid of the crazy hair and got a "movie star" haircut.

while Adrian got a full on mohawk. He wanted a blue mohawk, but thankfully, the barber didn't have the blue hair dye!

"Can we go to Dave & Busters?" Yup! After spending $75 in playing cards (I know!!) JC and I made a beeline for the bar!

Moscow Mule anyone?

Amberly was the first one to go through her card and came back with a giant pencil. Of course the artist would come back with a giant pencil.

They are two peas in a pod.

Adrian wanted JC to play with him so I was left at the bar alone. When I decided to walk around I found JC playing Galaga.

We left Dave and Busters around 10pm. I thought the kids would be exhausted but no. When we got home, they didn't shower (Yes Day!), pulled out their Nerf guns and it was Hunger Games time. I closed the door to their room, took a nice long shower and went to bed. JC stayed up and told me he made them stop Hunger Games and go to bed at 12:01am because it was no longer Yes Day!

Life Lately: Crazy Saturday Weekend Edition!

Life is CRAZY busy around here lately. The kids have lots going on with school and getting ready for testing. JC has several Crossfit competitions during March and April and I am busy with blogging. It's insane but I am enjoying every minute of it!

Friday evening we picked up Gian and Amberly and got a cute surprise. Gian lost his two front teeth! I love toothless smiles on little kids!

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning (6:30am) to get to soccer, a Crossfit competition, art class and Cinderella's Royal Ball at the Disney Store! First, we dropped off JC at the gym where he was competing at Battle of the Machines IV. Pulls on the beard for good luck!

We waited around until JC was done with registration and rules.

I attempted a group shot but I guess it was too early. Look at Amberly's "over it" face!

Then we had breakfast at Dunkin Donut's and if you follow me on IG you saw that the kids had an intense Q & A with some police officers who were in the booth behind us.

Intense morning Q & A session with some police officers! "Do you arrest kids?" No! "Why do you eat donuts?" #kids #socurious

A photo posted by Ida Arias (@scggirl) on Mar 7, 2015 at 5:27am PST

Then it was off to soccer! Adrian was a little off his game but did manage to score a goal. He has a new love for soccer and will be attending an intense soccer camp during Spring Break!

After soccer we rushed over to art class and then made a mad dash to the Disney Store where Amberly wanted to attend the Royal Ball. We made it to the last session at 12:30 p.m.  Amberly went dressed as her favorite princess, Rapunzel!

This was a super cute event where the kids, most dressed as Cinderella, got an extended peek at the new Cinderella movie, learned about kindness to others and even learned to waltz!

After the ball and buying MORE Tsum Tsum's ( I need to write about my kids obsession with those) we were on our way back to the gym where we luckily caught JC in the last WOD (workout of the day)! Sorry for the blurry pics, he was racing through this WOD!

Buy in: 50 Box Jumps

AMRAP:

5 deadlifts

30 yd farmer's carry

5 Power Snatches

This was his 4th WOD so he was beat! I'm glad we caught him in action though. The kids love to cheer him on during competitions! After that WOD, we waited around for the closing ceremonies and I'm thrilled to announe  that my honey got 3rd place in the Men's Terminator category!!! 

This is the first competition where he podiums so it was a HUGE deal! We went to dinner to celebrate where everyone was so exhausted that we left half our food on our plates, went back home and passed out! EXTREMELY eventful Saturday!

Sunday was science project day! Amberly and Gian both worked on and thankfully, finished their science projects and then it was time to relax and play video games!

If you notice, we have yet to finish organizing after the move. If we continue with weekends like this, organizing might never happen!

Springtime is Playtime at P.S. from Aeropostale

Disclosure: I am a P.S. from Aeropostale VIP Blog Ambassador and was provided with a gift card to aid in this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Spring is right around the corner!!! Even though, we have nice weather year-round in South Florida, it's always nice to refresh our wardrobes come Spring. Spring is a time of renewal. For those of you that are stuck at home because of the snow, it's time to start thinking about Spring and all the fun you are going to be having outdoors once the snow melts and the temps rise. I've already gotten ready for Spring by going out and buying new and fun clothes for the kids. You guys already know how much I love P.S. from Aeropostale clothing for my kids and their new Spring line does not disappoint!

Spring clothes is all about bright, light and fun. During Spring, we are outside ALOT and I make sure to stock up on appropriate clothing for my kids. Think polos, T-shirts, shorts and skirts! For Amberly, my girlie girl, it's all about skirts and tees this spring:

Multicolor Stripe Scoop Tee / Skater Skirt 

Nothing says spring like bright colors. Amberly loves super colorful outfits and this outfit does not disappoint. Oh and the best part, skirt and shirt only $18. Time to stock up on more colors!

Adrian's look is a little sportier. He has been wanting jogger pants for a while now so I got him a navy pair and dressed them up with a polo. He was happy and comfortable in his outfit. I also made sure to get him cargo shorts and more polos. 

Jogger Pants / Multistripe Polo

Gian loves graphic tees. Anything with music or instruments on it. P.S. from Aeropostale has tons of fun graphic tees for kids. I paired his graphic tee with gingham shorts that can also be dressed up with a polo or button down. 

Graphic tee / Gingham shorts

Honestly, the best part of these outfits was how comfortable they were in them. I didn't get one complaint and they played outside for hours. Also, I spent less than $60 for all three outfits which to be is fantastic. It's not always easy to get age-appropriate and fun kids clothes for a good price but I can always count on P.S. from Aeropostale!

P.S. from Aeropostale's clothing comes in sizes 4-16 and at amazing prices. If you haven't checked out their new Spring line (hello, super cute dresses for tween girls!) you are missing out!