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!!!

Quick post!

Hi blog-readers...if there are any of you out there anymore :)

Ricardo has a work dinner tonight so I have his computer at home and as I was catching up on emails, e-bills, news, etc I thought I would write a quick update here. I have my camera connected to the computer as I type, but this computer is not cooperating in uploading the pictures, so I'm afraid I don't have any cute faces to share.

We have had an incredibly busy week and can't believe it's Thursday! We haven't seen much of Ricardo because he has been really busy too so we are looking forward to the weekend!

Since I don't have any photos to share, I will share a conversation from dinner tonight:

I told Diego that a man was coming to look at the roof tomorrow to do a little repair. This conversation followed:

D: "Podemos subir al techo con el senor?" (Can we go up on the roof with the man?)
Me: "No"
D: "Porque Alexia se puede caer y quebrar su cabeza?" (Because Alexia could fall and break her head?"
Me: "Si, no podemos subir porque podriamos caer" (Yep, we can't go up because we could fall)
D: "Y Dios le va a dar otra cabeza a Alexia cuando se quiebra la suya?" (And will God give Alexia a new head when hers breaks?"

I was a bit distracted as we were talking, but as soon as he asked that last question, I stopped what I was doing and had a great talk with him about getting hurt, God taking care of us, etc.
I love the questions that he asks and wish I could remember more of our recent conversations to share...

We have friends coming over in the morning, a worker coming around noon, neighborhood playgroup in the afternoon and (if we get a babysitter), date night tomorrow night. Lots to look forward to!

Wishing you all a happy weekend!!

No more computer :(

You've all bared with me through my computer problems, and now they're over because my computer died. :(
So, I am saddened to say that I will not be able to post to the blog until I get a new computer. Has anyone heard of the Netbooks? Any feedback/information would be appreciated!!
I get to quickly check emails from Ricardo's computer in the evenings, but that's about it.
Please don't give up on us because we'll be up and running in a few weeks again.
Love to all!

Dentist was a success!

Yeay! We had a great morning at the dentist office this morning. Diego was soooo excited to go and kept saying "Quiero ir a la dentista ahorita...ahorita mami...vamos!" (I want to go to the dentist right now...right now mami...let's go!)

Our babysitter came at 10:00 and our appointment wasn't until 11:30 so we went out to do a couple of errands. Amazing how easy life is with one child!

When they called us back at the dentist office, Diego wanted me to carry him because he got a little nervous, but I told him that he could walk and he agreed. He jumped right into the big chair and LOVED it. He said it was like a slide with speed bumps. They had a kids channel on the TV so he was engrossed in the program and was as happy as can be. Just before the dentist came into clean his teeth and do his exam, they called me to another room to start my X-rays so I missed his whole appointment...I was so sad! But they just raved at how well he did and how cooperative and sweet he was. I was a proud mommy! After my (18!) x-rays were complete I went back to his room and he said "Mami, yo queiro regresar aqui otro dia para que me limpian los dientes cuando estan sucios." (Mami, I want to come back here another day so they clean my teeth when they're dirty). He was just glowing with excitement and I think he was also proud of himself at how well he had done.

Then we had to go back to my room for me to get my exam and cleaning done. There wasn't a very comfy chair for him to sit in and he wanted to continue watching the kids channel so they said he could sit on my lap. I pulled him onto my lap, reclined myself back in the chair and he remained sitting upright on my lap for my entire appointment. He had a snack to keep him busy (apples, peanut butter and raisins), watched the TV and was very interested in what was going on in my mouth. Several times he said "Mami, estas contenta?" (Mami, are you happy?) He was worried that it was hurting me, but I reassured him that it wasn't. It was sweet to have him right there with me and I was surprised that he sat still for almost an hour!

So that was our morning at the dentist office. We went to Costco in the afternoon and I bought him a Disney Cars sticker/coloring book as a prize for doing so well at the dentist and he went crazy over it!

Here's the big boy in the dentist chair:

With his bag of goodies - toothbrush, toothpaste and stickers!

Mid-week greetings

I thought I would just upload some pictures from the last few days. I have a babysitter coming to take care of Alexia and Diego and I are headed to the dentist this morning. It is his first dentist appointment so hopefully it goes well! He will have his appointment first and then he will have to sit through my appointment.
I will let you know how it went when we return...!


Last week was a busy week and Friday was the first morning that we had no plans and no where to go and it was so nice. We just stayed in all morning and did fun stuff, including coloring and playing play-dough. It was the first time Alexia played with play-dough and she didn't even try to eat it...I was so proud of her!

We bought this new bird feeder this past weekend and we have all really enjoyed watching the birds come to eat. We are also having to fight the squirrels away because they love it just as much as the birds do.

This is what our yard looked like when we returned from church on Sunday afternoon - it was gorgeous!

Diego chowing down on his snack yesterday

Just being cute!

My awesome boys!