Christmas

Oh dear, I should not have let so much time go by in between posts. Now I have way too much to write about! Well, our Christmas week began on Sunday, December 20th with the arrival of Ricardo's mom (Mima) and her husband (Opa). The kids were really happy to see them and wanted to play with them right away. Mima and I took the kids out on Monday morning for some shopping at the mall while Opa stayed home to work. Ricardo came home at a decent hour in the evening so we all had dinner together which was great. On Tuesday, Opa and Mima took the kids to the Children's Museum and to Chik Fil A for lunch. I stayed at home and had my first 3-hour stretch of alone time in the house since we've lived here. It was fabulous. I got so much cleaning and organizing done that I wanted it to go on for another 3 hours! As soon as they got home (at 2pm), I headed out to do errands and to pick up Indian food for dinner. On Wednesday, Ricardo only worked a couple of hours in the morning and so we were able to all hang out together during the day. Tio Robi and Tia Dani (Ricardo's brother and his wife) arrived around 6pm that day and the kids were ECSTATIC!!! Alexia immediately attached herself on to Daniela and did not let her go until she left, 4 days later! Diego was attached to Roberto, but wasn't quite as emotional about it :) I cooked up a delicious meal of vegetable and fish tempura. We put the kids to bed and then we all enjoyed a grown up dinner together. On Thursday (the 24th) the real festivities began! I made eggs Benedict for breakfast which was a huge hit. Everyone headed out for a little outing while Daniela and I stayed behind to cook, cook and cook some more. One of the stops of the outing was to Michael's to buy canvases for Roberto to paint with the kids. The paintings turned out beautifully and are now hanging in the playroom. Maria Jose arrived around 5pm and we were finally a complete family! We had our huge turkey meal with all the fixings around 7pm, tore into the presents, had dessert and the kids went to bed around 10:30. The kids received lots of fun gifts from the family and were thrilled to open each and every one of them. It was a really fun night and we all enjoyed the festivities.
On Christmas morning we had a continental breakfast and headed out the door for church at 10am. 10am is not early for us, but when you're talking about getting 9 people ready, it certainly does not leave a lot of time. The Christmas service was beautiful and was the perfect time to calm our hearts and to reflect on Jesus' arrival to this world. Diego and Alexia sat in the service with us and Alexia did great sitting on Daniela's lap and Diego sat with Roberto. After church we went home for leftovers for lunch and just hung out and enjoyed being together. Maria Jose had to fly back to Miami in the afternoon so that is why we did the big meal on the 24th. We decided that we wanted to have a special Christmas dinner, but did not want to cook so we decided to do sushi takeout which was fabulous! Gwen and her kids came over for dinner as well as another friend from church and we had a really great evening. We enjoyed our sushi banquet and then put a movie on for the kids while the grown ups played a game of Cranium. We had a blast playing and almost continued on to a second round, but the little ones were getting cranky so the fun had to end. As soon as the guests left, Gracia, Freddy, Roberto, Daniela, Ricardo and I sat in the upstairs living room and played an impromptu game of "how well do you know your partner" and ended the night with tears of laughter.
OK, so I was going to continue on, but think I'll leave it there to spare you dear readers. Keep in mind that I am printing hard copy books of the blog so it is fun for us to have some of these details to remember in years to come. I will continue on with the week of New Years later in the week...


The kids watching Charlie Brown Christmas with Opa and Mima. They all loved being cuddled up together.


Diego and Mima


Tio Robi and Mima


Alexia all bundled up on Mima's lap

The painting started outside, but after the sun went down, we transferred the studio to the garage. Everyone had a blast painting!

Before we bought the canvases, we asked the kids what they wanted to paint. Alexia asked for a car and Diego asked for a house.

These are the finished products. It is hard to tell, but the kids contributed greatly to each painting. I just love how they turned out!

Alexia insisted on putting on Daniela's boots. Such a diva!

Roberto and Daniela after Christmas dinner

Alexia would have nothing to do with anyone while Tia Dani was around, not even me. She wanted to be with her at ALL TIMES! It was adorable.

Here we are on Saturday morning, enjoying apple puffed pancakes. Notice where Alexia is!

Tio Robi and Tia Dani gave Diego a remote control car which was the highlight of the week! Here he is maneuvering it around the dining room. Alexia is terrified of the car and must be held as soon as it is turned on.

Farewell cuddles for Opa...

...and Mima

Christmas week

I probably won't get a chance to post anything for the rest of the week so thought I would leave you with some sweet pictures of the kids decorating cookies. Ricardo's mom and her husband arrived on Sunday. Tio Roberto and Tia Dani arrive tomorrow and Tia Majo arrives Thursday. The kids are thrilled to have the family here. Today Mima and Opa took the kids to the children's musuem and to chik fil a for lunch. I have had a very productive morning at home!

Boston

Here are some pictures of our weekend in Boston. Boston is dear to us because we lived there for two years while Ricardo was in business school. It was wonderful to feel like locals!


Beautiful view flying in


We arrived around 1pm, dropped our bags at the hotel and headed straight to Harvard Square for a coffee and a long stroll around.


On Friday night, we went to our very favorite Italian restaurant and had a FABULOUS meal. I could have eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner there all weekend.

Yes, we did a lot of eating! This was my breakfast Saturday morning at the hotel. Divine!

Not a great picture, but the only picture of the two of us. This is inside the Boston Public Library which is a beautiful place. It did not make us miss our student days one bit!

In the Boston Commons. It was SOOOOOOOO cold. I was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, sweater, sweater jacket and winter coat and I was still freezing.

On Saturday afternoon we strolled around some favorite areas and this was near Faneiul Hall. The decorations were gorgeous. This picture was taken around 4:30 and it was already dark!

On Saturday night we went to our favorite sushi restaurant before the Nutcracker. I have been craving a repeat of this meal since we walked out of the restaurant :)

Weekend away!!

Yesterday was our 9th wedding anniversary! We had a very special celebration this year and we went away for the weekend...far away! We went to Boston and had the most wonderful time. We flew out Friday morning and returned Sunday afternoon. My mom flew in from Seattle last week and kept the kids for us. It was the first time that we have left them for two nights and the first time we have been on a plane without them. I was sure I would be anxious and that we would miss them terribly, but that was not the case. Of course we missed them, but every time we spoke to them on the phone, they were as happy as can be. My mom is awesome and had tons of crafts to do with them and kept them very busy. About two weeks before her arrival, she sent an 18 pound box in the mail, full of glitter glue, construction paper, stickers, pipe cleaners, beads, etc for the weekend. The kids were thrilled! She also brought them "big kid" legos which kept them busy for hours and hours.
Ricardo and I had a blast in Boston. It was FREEZING, but we still walked around quite a bit and spent a lot of time out and about. We ate at two of our favorite restaurants, went to the Nutcracker, shopped, walked and really enjoyed having our very own weekend, alone.
I have some pictures of our time in Boston, but I know our family is more eager to see pictures of the kids, so we'll start with those :) These are all from my mom's camera:


Diego playing with his old legos for a break from the little ones (which are the "big kid" ones)


Alexia was a champ at putting these beads on the pipe cleaner. She filled the whole thing with beads, all by herself.

Aaron and Helen came over for a visit on Saturday.

My mom gave them each a new book which were HUGE hits! Diego's is about a coyote...

...and Alexia's is about a princess.

These Christmas trees are gorgeous. All the little green pieces are cut-outs of their hand prints. They are hanging on their bedroom doors and are perfect!

They even made home-made Gak, which is like silly putty.

Alexia having her snack on her gee-gee. She is completely attached to her gee-gee and her squirrel.

Grammie let Alexia have her first dip into a makeup bag

A kiss on our actual anniversary! My mom and I cooked a special dinner last night and the 5 of us had dinner together.

A little catch-up

Alexia is napping and Diego has 18 minutes left of "quiet time" so I thought it was a good chance to do a quick post. I struggle with keeping Diego in his room during quiet time, but I think I've discovered the solution! Legos! I have these sweet visions of him quietly sitting in his room and reading books for 2 hours, but that just down not happen. He LOVES to read, but when he is alone in his room he likes to jump, do somersaults, play ball, etc. Today I left a big bucket of legos in there and I can hear him building away. We'll see how long it lasts!
We had a very cozy and relaxing weekend. It was SO cold out that it was the perfect weekend to stay home and relax. We had friends over for brunch on Saturday and then stayed in the rest of the day. Ricardo and the kids did a gingerbread house which was a huge hit. Diego and Alexia were allowed to lick their fingers if they got frosting on them while placing decorations on the tree. Other than that, they had to wait until it was finished to enjoy some candies. At one point, they each accidentally got a candy in their mouth while they were licking the frosting off their fingers. They both said "Uh Oh!" and pulled it out to save it for later. So cute! Alexia was very careful and precise with the placement of her candies on the house and did an awesome job.
Last Thursday we had Ricardo's team from work over for a holiday dinner. We had the event catered by Low Country Barbecue which was delicious. I couldn't enjoy much of it since it was mostly meat, but everybody said how wonderful it was. We let the kids stay up until everyone left so they had a blast being the center of attention and were on great behaviour (phew!)


I cut these berries from our garden and placed them as the centerpiece for Thursday's dinner.


The team dinner on Thursday. Diego loved hanging out with everyone.


They have this new game where they pretend they are sleeping lions and then they jump up and ROAR. They usually put their arms around each other when they pretend to sleep.

Our hawk friend that comes to visit us often

I couldn't resist posting this adorable face!

Putting the walls of the house together

Alexia carefully placing her gumdrops on the roof

It was great to see how well they worked together and they praised and encouraged each other the whole way.

EXCITING NEWS!!

We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our third baby in June!!! We are so grateful to the Lord for blessing us with this miracle of life and we continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Diego is thrilled and Alexia doesn't quite get it yet. I had my 12-week appointment yesterday and when my midwife saw that the kids were with me, she asked if we wanted to take a peak at the baby. It was so fun for the kids to see the baby on the screen and to see that he/she already looks like an actual baby! Diego was most excited to hear the heartbeat. I was so happy to receive a good report and to hear that everything looks great. We will be finding out the gender at the end of January.
I am also very excited because three of my close friends are due within ONE WEEK of our due date so it will be so much fun to go through our pregnancies together!
Diego and Alexia will get to share a room once the baby arrives so that is something that Diego is really looking forward to.
I am sure this pregnancy will fly by since I have two munchkins to keep me busy. I already feel like I have a belly which is much earlier than with the other two. I am excited to really pop out and have an obvious belly :)
Thank you for celebrating and rejoicing with us!

Thanksgiving and Chattanooga

We have had a fabulous holiday weekend. Ricardo and I started the festivities on Wednesday afternoon by getting a babysitter at 3pm so we could go to the mall together. I know this is funny, but he is my very favorite shopping buddy so I wanted him to help me pick out a couple of new tops. We enjoyed our alone time and picked up pizza on our way home to have pizza night with the kids and Aldo, Eliana and Camila. On Thursday we woke up to glorious weather and Ricardo took the kids outside to play in their jammies after breakfast and they had a blast. I started cooking around 9am and enjoyed having the windows open and beginning the day with a thankful heart for all of God's blessings. Ricardo and the kids decorated the Christmas tree in the morning and the kids were ecstatic. This is the earliest we've ever put it up, but we knew we'd have a busy weekend so it was a good time to do it. I spent most of the day in and out of the kitchen and cooked turkey, sweet potatoes with maple syrup, mashed potatoes with goat cheese, green bean casserole with mushrooms and cranberry sauce. I took two new short-cuts and bought the gravy and dressing at Whole Foods and they were really good. Aldo and family arrived around 1:30 with desserts and we were good to go! We ate around 4:30pm and had a really nice time. Alexia ate her weight in turkey and Diego would not even try it. We made him try everything else, but we know he does not like turkey so we didn't force that one.


The kids patiently waiting for everything to be ready!

Clockwise: Eliana, Aldo, Ricardo, Camila, kids. The kids love Camila and Alexia insisted on sitting next to her.

On Friday morning we woke up, packed our bags and hit the road for Chattanooga for an overnight trip. We drove straight to the children's museum where the kids were in wonderland. They have the coolest children's museum and there was so much to do. We had brought our lunch from home so we stayed there for a few hours, ate our lunch and then headed to our hotel around 2:30pm. We wanted to get the kids to nap so we could have a late night, but our attempt failed. They did not want to have anything to do with sleeping in a cool hotel room. So, after a 40 minute rest time, we headed out again to go to Rock City which is spectacular. It is a winding trail that goes through natural and man made rock formations and has gorgeous views. The kids had a blast and Diego was in awe of the caverns and enormous rocks. We took along the hiking pack for Alexia to ride in, but she would have nothing to do with it. She walked for over 2 hours and never asked to be carried and would actually get mad when we picked her up to speed up the pace. Diego, on the other hand, was wiped out so we offered him a ride in the pack which he gladly accepted. After our lovely walk we were all hungry so we headed down the mountain and drove by a fabulous Italian restaurant where we had a delicious meal.

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and met Aaron and Helen and Aaron's parents for breakfast. Aaron's parents live near Chattanooga so it was a special morning to meet them and hang out with our friends. Alexia was thrilled to start her day in their company! From breakfast we headed back to the hotel to hit the indoor pool which was a blast! We then showered, packed the car and headed to the aquarium. The aquarium there is awesome and the we all really enjoyed it. We had a fun lunch at Sticky Fingers, ice cream for dessert and we hit the road around 3:00pm. It was a really special family weekend and we are so thankful we were able to do it!

Pulling the levers to splash water. He was very into this!

Alexia could barely reach!

She was thrilled to camp out at the water table for a long time

Digging for dinosaur bones

Bad picture, but it has a purpose. I have a picture of Diego and I in this same frame when he was about 13 months old. I will try to upload it to share.

Very cool painting benches

A bubble capsule

And on to Rock City:

There were some pretty strange animals in the Rivers exhibit at the aquarium. I think they are looking at an alligator turtle here.

Lunch at Sticky Fingers. Ricardo got his fill of BBQ ribs, Alexia devoured mac and cheese and Diego and I enjoyed a salad.

I like how this picture depicts the streets of Chattanooga

Can't forget the ice cream!