Christmas Vacation

As previously mentioned, we had a fabulous time in Florida with the family for Christmas. We were there for 6 days and every day was a blast. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed with presents for the kids. Mima and Opa had bought a soccer net and soccer ball for Diego and a ride-on firetruck for Alexia to keep them entertained during their time in the house. Alexia mastered climbing on the firetruck and making it move by pushing her feet on the ground - I'm bummed I don't have a picture of her on it. Diego had a blast spending a little bit of time each day playing soccer in the back yard.
On Tuesday we took a day trip to the Everglades which was gorgeous. Diego was enthralled by the alligators and Alexia impressed us with her keen eyesight in picking out the animals amidst the camouflage of the brush. She barked at the alligators and birds and absolutely loved the walk. On our way back to town we stopped by a wonderful fruit stand to buy milkshakes and Alexia downed almost half of Ricardo's milkshake - her first real taste of ice cream. That evening we had dinner at the house and then Roberto and Daniela came over to hang out and we played a game of Cranium which was so much fun.

On Christmas Eve we cooked, hung out, listened to Christmas Carols and got the house ready for the big party in the evening. We went to church service in the evening and then headed back to the house to wait for the guests. The invitation was for 8:00pm, but being on Latin time, the first guests arrived at 9:00pm! We had an exquisite meal and a really special time with family and friends (Diego and Alexia missed the party since it was too late for them).

On Christmas morning Ricardo and I got up early with the kids and had breakfast and opened a couple of presents before anyone else got up. Once the family was up, Diego and Alexia tore into all of their presents and loved every second of it. They scored big time with all of their treasures and had a blast playing with their new toys.
Shortly after opening presents, we packed up all the leftovers from the night before and packed our bags and drove south to Key Biscayne to spend the day with Roberto and Daniela. We have started a tradition of doing a photography contest where each family member brings their best 10 pictures of the year and we choose the best scenery picture and the best people picture for a grand prize of $50 each. It was so much fun to see everyone's pictures and to recap memories of the year. We also sang karaoke, went to the beach, ate delicious leftovers and just enjoyed hanging out as a family. Ricardo, the kids and I spent the night at the condo and the next day hit the beach again. Diego and Alexia were absolutely and totally in love with the beach and swimming pool - it was definitely the highlight of the trip for them.
Our vacation came to a close with a fun dinner out on Friday night at Las Olas Blvd in Ft Lauderdale and then a day at the park on Saturday.

Diego mastered the concept of looking through the binoculars to see the alligators.

In the Everglades

The crazy number of presents under the Christmas tree

Getting ready to open the present from Tio Robi and Tia Dani

His first set of golf clubs - a hit with them both!

Ricardo's grandmother (in red), mom, siblings and cousins

A very happy boy at the beach!

Alexia sat in one spot, playing in the sand while Diego played in his hole

Mima and I jammin' to "Love Shack"

Diego stayed in this same position the entire time we were all singing karoke - he didn't know what had gotten into us!

We set them up in their boosters to enjoy the karoke show!

Hanging out with Tia Majo and Alfredo - he is in love with them both!

This was just a small sampling of pictures, click here to see the full album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=199120&l=9abc5&id=678120522

Alexia Marie

We had a fabulous Christmas vacation in Miami with Ricardo's family, but today we decided we wanted to write a post dedicated to Alexia, a wonderful sunshine. A Christmas post will be along in the next couple of days, but today is all about our 1 year old princess:

Alexia has always been a source of immense joy for Ricardo and I, but she is blossoming so much right now that we often find ourselves in pure amazement. I used to often fear that our second-born wouldn't bring us as much wonder as Diego, but it's amazing how God has designed our hearts to grow in love instead of dividing it and to love them each in their own unique way.

Alexia has a contagious smile and is incredibly social. She notices every person around her and makes each person feel special and loved with her glances, smiles and kisses. Yes, kisses...she is a kissing machine! She blows endless kisses with her hands and gives kisses on cheeks on cue and sometimes on her own if she is feeling especially affectionate.

Her vocabulary consists of the following words: Up, Ball, Wow, Uh-oh, Papa, Mama, De-De (Diego) and a ton of other sounds which I'm sure mean something, but we just haven't figured them out yet.

She has a great appetite, as long as she is eating foods of her choice. She actually eats better than Diego does on most occasions. Her favorites are: cheese, black beans, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, cucumber, chicken and pasta. She likes drinking from her sippy cup, but much prefers sucking her liquids through a straw (see below and Ricardo asked that you excuse his face):

Her favorite activities are: playing with Diego, flipping pages in books, dancing, taking things out of containers, boxes, bags, etc and putting them back in again, eating and her latest discovery, coloring:

I've always heard that girls are attached to their daddy's, hence the phrase "Daddy's girl." Ok, this girl is Papi's girl beyond belief. Unless she wants to nurse (which is less often these days), she prefers to be with her Papi. She says "Papa" at least 25 times a day and is always on the lookout for him. I am afraid she will go through withdrawal this week now that he has to go back to work. She showers him with kisses and is so expressive and funny with him. Her love for him also carries over to her sensitivity around him. When Ricardo disciplines her, she immediately melts down with tears. We've always known she would be tough to discipline (because of her independence and strong will), but now we're really seeing it in action. It warms my heart in an incredible way to see the bond that Alexia and Ricardo share and I pray that they continue to grow closer together as the years go on. Here they are lounging at dinner on Friday:

We call her our lil' firecracker -- she blows kisses when she's in trouble and she tells Diego neh-neh (no). She loves to play peek-a-boo and barks at all animals that she sees. She pounds her chest like a gorilla, moos like a cow, smacks her lips like a fish and can point to the following body parts: head, mouth, ears, nose, feet and hands.

Here are a couple of cute shots from the week. We thank the Lord for blessing us with Alexia Marie.

Looking at presents at Mima's house.

Enjoying her time at the beach, seated on Tio Robi's belly.

Splashin' around with mom in the pool

And here are some moments of joy that she brought to family members during our time in Miami: (Tia Majo, Opa and Alfredo, I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures of you with Alexia)

Mima (Ricardo's mom)

Tio Robi (Ricardo's brother)

Tia Orli (Ricardo's cousin)

Tia Dany (Our sister-in-law)

And of course her dear brother, Diego. I have to mention how sweet their relationship is. In this picture you see they are both chewing on toys. That is because Diego does everything she does and imitates her every move. They play so well together and Diego is always watching out for her. On Christmas Eve we went to church service and we left them in the nursery at a church we had never been to before. When I went to pick them up at the end of the hour, the ladies told me that they had played right by each other's side the whole time and that they were happy and smiley the whole time.

A peek at our week

Some friends came over this week and we really enjoyed catching up with them, Jonathan and Beka Hastings

On Monday Ricardo and I celebrated 8 years of marriage!!!! We had our big celebration on Friday night with a night away at an area hotel. A very dear couple came over to spend the night with the kids and Ricardo and I had a fabulous time away. We had never spent the night away together since Diego was born so it was a much-needed mini vacation. We returned feeling refreshed and reconnected. On Monday night we had a quick dinner out at our favorite Mexican restaurant with the kids. It was special to have a family dinner out on our anniversary.

On Tuesday I attempted to take the kids to see Santa Claus, but it didn't go so well. So bad in fact, I didn't even buy the pictures. Alexia freaked out as soon as she saw Santa and Diego would not even attempt to crack a smile. I think we'll try once more this weekend. I had them all dressed up in the adorable outfits from Roberto and Daniela's wedding so I snapped some shots at the mall and when we returned home. Diego was ecstatic to put his wedding suit on - he received so much attention at the mall!

On Wednesday we drove out to visit our friends Nina and Deven. Diego had a blast playing with all of Deven's vehicles and Nina and I enjoyed catching up. Alexia also enjoyed exploring all of Deven's toys and tried her best to keep up with the big boys.

Today is a very warm day so we spent a good part of the morning outside playing ball and blowing bubbles. It had been so long since we'd done that so it was a lot of fun.
Tonight we have Ricardo's holiday office party which we are looking forward to.
I'll have more pictures to post tomorrow because we are going to a Birthday Party for Jesus at a friends house with cake and all!

After Alexia's tears were dry, we tried to take a few pictures at the mall.

This is an intentional pose for the picture. He was cracking me up because he kept turning his body this way and that...just so I could get the perfect shot!

Diego went through a stage where he didn't want to give Alexia cuddles, but now he is all about cuddling her, especially for pictures.

Enjoying Deven's toys

The boys waiting patiently for lunch

The rest of these pictures are from our morning at home today. It has been a wonderfully lazy day and we were in our jammies until noon.

The kids love playing hide and seek together. This is Alexia looking for Diego under his bed...

...and here she is looking for him behind his chair.

Alexia still isn't walking, but this week she has learned to stand on her own. When I say "How big is Alexia!?!?" she throws her arms up in the air like this...so cute!

Pictures, at last!

My dear husband spent some time cleaning up my computer last night so I could finally upload some pictures.
They are all out of chronological order, but for naptime-ending-soon reasons, I will leave them as they are.
We have been busy, busy lately and love it. We hosted a housewarming open house a couple of weekends ago and had 63 people in our house (including kids)! It was so special to have our house full of wonderful people. We invited neighbors as well so it was fun to get to know them better. I made dozens and dozens of cookies the week leading up to it and we just served cookies and coffee, which was perfect for a chilly winter morning.
I would love to write more about the children (like how Diego is a superstar with potty training and how Alexia is saying so many words), but the kids are now up from nap and dinner needs to be cooked. So, I will leave you with the pictures and hope to post soon...!


Last night we had dinner with some very special friends. Diego is sitting to the left of Bennett, the birthday boy and the other three cuties are his siblings.



Diego is learning how to cut with scissors, and he loves it!



Diego absolutely loved decorating the tree this year. He hung a ton of ornaments and was such a big helper.

Ricardo helping with the Thanksgiving turkey carving. That's Jim, the awesome host. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of Emily, the awesome hostess.

The beautifully set table and the delicious food awaiting us.

Stella and her parents came over for lunch the day after Thanksgiving. Diego and Stella ran WILD in the leaves and had a blast.

A new favorite way to spend the evenings is roasting marshmallows in the fireplace.

This is the playroom on the day of the housewarming party. The rest of the kids were outside playing.

A cozy shot from the housewarming party. We didn't get any good pictures that captured the fact that there were 60+ people in the house. We'll just have to do it again!

Diego loves to help Ricardo work in the yard. I love this picture of them both hard at work!

One of the cookie recipes I made for the party had hershey kisses in the middle. I gave Diego the task of opening 50+ kisses and he was incredible. He placed all the wrappers in one pile, all the tags in one pile and lined up the kisses in the bowl. I let him have one kiss before the job, one in the middle and one when he finished. I love his helping spirit, it really makes a difference in my days.

Quick update

I must apologize for the lack of posts lately. I have a couple in draft that I will post in the next few days, but for now just wanted to quickly check in...if there are any remaining readers out there :)
My computer will no longer allow me to upload pictures since it has reached it's memory capacity so I have to erase some files to free up some space. So...no pictures for now - sorry!
We are doing great. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends and are very excited that Christmas is soon approaching.
Diego is potty-training and he has me amazed at how quickly he is learning. We just started on Saturday and this morning he woke up with a dry diaper from the night. That's our boy!
Alexia is as cute as ever. She has learned to say "tree" since our Christmas tree is her favorite part of the house.
That's all for now...but will have a better update and more pictures soon...!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXIA!!!!!!!!!!!!

One year ago today, we were blessed with the arrival our amazing baby girl. This year has been simply wonderful and Alexia has brought an abundance of joy and blessings into our lives every day for the past year. We can't believe that she is already ONE!!

We had a really special day as a family...I will let the pictures tell all about it...

When she woke up, the three of us paraded into her room singing "Happy Birthday" and Diego gave her a bouquet of balloons which she LOVED

She had pancakes and watermelon for breakfast...

...and tried whole milk for the first time (which she wasn't too crazy about)

Diego decorated cupcakes for her

One of the things Ricardo and I were most excited about was putting her in her big girl carseat that now faces forward! She definitely loved it.

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There are no pictures from 10:00 to 4:00. During that time she played, took her morning nap, went to the mall with Diego and I, had lunch at home with Papi and took an afternoon nap.

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After naptime we headed to our favorite park.

We set up the self timer on the camera - not too bad!

She had a blast on the slides and crawling all over the place. We took 100+ pictures, but am trying to keep this short for times sake so will create a separate album and send it out :)

After the park we came home for dinner. It doesn't look too appetizing here, but I made one of her favorites - tortilla pie.

Singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

She loved the part of the cupcake with frosting and didn't eat much more once the frosting was gone

One of the best pictures we have of them together!

After eating her fill of cupcake, she proceeded to pick up as many crumbs as possible and hand them one by one to Ricardo - it was so cute.

And that was our baby girl's birthday day! She was most definitely spoiled and doted on all day long and Diego was really excited to celebrate her special day. We praise God for the blessing of being her family!!