(Early) Birthday Fun!

I had a wonderful evening last night with my dear girlfriends for an early THIRTIETH birthday celebration. We went to Eclipse di Luna and had delicious tapas and fun drinks. It was such a treat to get out with the girls and enjoy a fabulous evening together. Thank you friends for making it so special!!!!
Ricardo is out of town this week and will return on Friday night. Since he won't be here for most of my birthday, he gave Diego $1.00 to buy me a birthday cake on Friday. Diego has his little dollar bill all crumpled up and in his pocket, just waiting for Friday to come so he can buy me a cake...so sweet!
We dropped my mom off at the MARTA after bible study this morning. We were so sad to see her go. We had a wonderful time with her and got SO much done. Tomorrow I will take pictures around the house to share all her projects.

I love this picture! We had so much fun! If we had all of our children in the room, there would be 18 of them!

These three ladies and I made it a late night. We left the place at 11:00pm which is very late for mommies!

Gee-gee update

My mom is in town so we have been on-the-go with very little down time so that's why there haven't been any posts. I wanted to give an update on the previous post...
The next night Diego did ask for his gee-gee and Ricardo went to his room to talk to him for awhile. He ended up laying down with him and giving him a long cuddle since Diego was missing the security of his blankee. The next day at naptime he asked me for his gee-gee and I gently said no and he accepted that. SO...no more gee gee, but that has also meant no more naps. He also takes much longer to fall asleep at night since he has to get comfy on his own and does not have the convenience of simply soothing himself to sleep. We are so happy that he has done such a good job with this transition!
Our friend BobbiJo came over to take pictures of us on Saturday and we have only seen a sampling of the session, but love the pictures. Here is a sneak peek. I'll post the link to the whole session once it's available online.

My lil' boy is growing up!

Today was a big day here in the Lopez household. For those of you that don't know, Diego is a thumb-sucker. He has sucked his thumb since he was about 1 month old and has always relied on his thumb to soothe him to sleep. He has one trigger and one trigger only...his "gee-gee" (blanket). He has never put his thumb in his mouth without the gee-gee in his hand, ever. He has had his gee-gee in his crib (and now in his big boy bed) since the day he was born. He has never known a day without his gee-gee.
We've been gradually working on him giving up his thumb-sucking habit and he was at the point where he would only suck his thumb after we left his room in the evening. Ricardo has been very committed to the effort and has prayed with Diego about it and had lots of talks.
Well, today before nap time he asked if we could do our prayer routine (which we usually only do before bedtime). After we read the bible, recited our catechisms and sung our songs he prayed and said this:
"Padre, gracias por este dia. Por favor cuida a mami y a papa y a alexia y a mi. Y porfavor ayudarme no chuparme mi dedo. En nombre de Jesus, Amen." (Father, thank you for this day. Please take care of mami and papi and alexia and me. And please help me not to suck my thumb. In Jesus name, Amen."
I tucked him into his bed and went downstairs. A few minutes later he called me to his room and asked me if his other friends slept with gee-gees and animals (he has a tiger and a kangaroo on his bed also) and I said that not all of them do. And he said, "Mami, ya no necesito mi gee-gee ni mis animales porque ya soy un big boy. Llevalos." (Mami, I don't need my gee-gee and my animals anymore because I'm a big boy now. Take them away.") WHAT!?!?!?!? I could not believe my ears -he was asking me take away the one thing that had been with him for his entire life. I was so happy that he was taking this step...but so sad too! I gently tucked them away in a drawer in his closet and tucked him back into bed.
The big test was at bed time. I was wondering if he would ask to have his gee-gee back. But he didn't. I think this is it. No more gee-gee. No more thumb. This darling boy is growing up!

Festival Fun

Ricardo was away all day Saturday on a men's retreat with church so I decided to keep the kids busy and wear us all out! We went to the Dogwood Festival at Piedmont park in the morning with some friends, ran home for Alexia to take a nap and then headed straight out again for the Lemonade Days festival at Brook Run Park. The Dogwood Festival was great because we arrived before it was too crowded and we were able to stroll around a bit, have a nice lunch on the grass and let the kids play at the playground.
The Lemoade Days festival was awesome. It was like a real fair with rides, games, yummy food, etc. We met up with some friends there which was really nice so I was able to leave Alexia with them while Diego and I went on his first roller coaster ride. I am sad I don't have a picture of us on the roller coaster, but we got some other good shots.

FRIDAY!

We have had a super busy and fun week. We've had play dates and/or lunch dates every single day and have really enjoyed the fun-filled busyness. Unfortunately, today was the first day that I took my camera out with us all week so I don't' have many pictures to share.
After I posted on Easter Sunday we went to our bi-weekly home fellowship group for dinner and the family there had set up a little Easter egg hunt for Diego, Addie and Alexia. It was their first real egg hunt of the season and they really enjoyed it.


We ended the week in a wonderful way, by spending this morning with our lil' gang at Megan's house. I took my camera with me because I really wanted a group picture of the kids, but they were all so busy that there was no way it would've happened...maybe next time!

Diego, Luke and Ella Ann racing down the hallway.





Taking a break from play to have a little snack together


It is fun that she can now stay in the room with the big kids and I don't have to worry about her (too much)...





...until her little attitude comes out. Ella Ann was trying to give Alexia the remote control that goes with the car she's holding and she did NOT want to be bothered!

This a "group in action" shot. Each mama holding a baby and the big kids running wild!

Anna Grace and Emma helping Diego open the Easter eggs.

Addie and Diego

Happy Easter!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

I Peter 1:3

After a magnificent church service this morning, we went out for an impromptu brunch with some friends. The food was outstanding and the kids did awesome, especially considering we were there for almost two hours.




They even had a kid's buffet with mac n' cheese, chicken fingers, fries, etc. This is Alexia eyeing the yummies!




Diego went to the dessert buffet and found this wonder of a dessert!

The only family shot we remembered to take!

Diego was getting antsy sitting for so long so we let him down to play with Alexia while she stayed in her high chair. He decided to express his brotherly love and shower her with cuddles and kisses on her cheeks!

Running outside in the gardens with Morgan. Notice Alexia trailing behind, doing her best to keep up!

WE'RE BACK!!

Thank you to my dear brother-in-law, I have a new computer!!!! He works at DELL and helped us get an awesome computer for a great deal - I love it!!!! Thank you Tio Robi!

Well, where do I begin?

I will begin by uploading pictures and take it from there...The first pictures are from our trip to Orlando this past weekend. We took a 4 day weekend and drove down for a little family vacation. It took us 9 hours to get there (due to terrible rain storms) and 8 hours to get back (due to Diego being sick)...but the kids were outstanding in the car. They over-exceeded expectations and we actually enjoyed the drive there and back which was a real treat. We just read lots of books, ate yummy snacks, played silly games and watched the scenery. While in Orlando, we spent a lot of time at the water parks of the resort, hanging out in the condo, going to Downtown Disney and just cherishing our time together. We did not go to Disney World since we didn't think it was worth it with the kids at such a young age...maybe next time. Ricardo's mom and her husband drove up from Miami to spend the weekend with us and we had blast!

The cool dudes walking around Downtown Disney

I thought this was a cool, artsy picture taken by my hubby.

Getting ready to stroll Downtown Disney

This was definitely a highlight. It is a lego store with a play area and lego car racetrack outside. Diego and Alexia spent most of our time at Downtown Disney in this shop both times we went. Here Diego and Mima are racing lego cars with other kids.

Opa enjoyed racing those cars just as much as Diego :)

Happy with Mima

There were really cool lego structures outside of the store and this was Diego's favorite

Whenever we get ice cream we just get Alexia a cone and she's content with that. Well the new thing is that she likes to dip the top of her cone into our ice cream so that she gets a little taste. As you can see, we were having chocolate ice cream and she thought it was the best thing ever! She kept saying "mas! mas! mas!"


He finished off this cone almost by himself. I had to lick the edges for him when it got too drippy, but he downed that thing FAST!

Enjoying Saturday morning at the pool.

Notice the water slide in this picture. When we told Diego we were going on vacation, we told him we were going to a hotel in Orlando that had water slides. That is all he cared about and all he asked for the whole week leading up to our trip. He was the happiest boy in the world going down that slide!

Friday morning was stormy so we had a lovely morning inside, hanging out and playing games. This is Ricardo and Diego doing a Cars puzzle.

We taught Diego how to play Candyland and he loved it!

We went to the aquarium with my friend Gwen and her three children two weeks ago. Diego had not been in over a year and it was Alexia's first trip so it was a lot of fun. Diego, Asher and Adeline explored the place at top speed. Alexia was more interested in running around and being silly than seeing the fish, but it was fun. Notice Diego's adidas outfit. Tio Robi and Tia Dani sent it to him from Argentina and he wears it at least 5 times a week. Ricardo and I love it just as much as he does so we're thrilled that he always wants to wear it!


I'll have to look back through my old pictures, but I have a picture of me pregnant with Diego and one of me pregnant with Alexia in this same spot in the aquarium. And here I am with my two precious treasures in my arms!

Diego and Israel enjoying a hot cup of tea together.

This is my sweet friend Angie who came to visit a couple of weeks ago. We met when Ricardo and Rob (her husband) were classmates in business school. She lives in Kansas and her wonderful husband took care of their son for three days so she could fly down to visit us and meet Diego and Alexia. We had such a special time and I was sad to see her go.

Our friends, Josh and Taylor are moving to Bosnia in September for a long-term mission with Campus Crusade for Christ. We hosted a dinner for them to introduce their ministry to more people and we cooked a fabulous Bosnian meal. Taylor and I had a blast shopping for the goods and preparing everything together.

Taylor and I

Diego and Israel (Josh and Taylor's daughter). This was around 11pm on the night of the dinner. We let them stay up late and hang out and they had a blast. They were perfect together b/c they both get silly when they're tired so they were being hilarious. We joke that we have an arranged marriage planned for them! Aren't they adorable together!?

That's it for now. I will give some more general updates on the kids and take more pictures this weekend to share.

Happy Easter!!!