Let the Christmas fun begin!

We had an amazing and very full Christmas Day! And by full I mean tummies too! The four of us woke up to some presents Santa had left us. We leisurely opened some gifts and had fun playing with some new toys before we got ready for family to arrive. We spent the day with Grandma, Grandpa, Jonathan, Cynthia, Grayson, Marissa, Zack, and April. We were so blessed to host everyone at our house this year. Everyone was so gracious to allow us to purchase our Christmas dinner pre-made. (I wasn't ready to cook for 10 with two toddlers running around.) A huge thank you to Charlie and Kathy! The girls had a great time playing with their cousin Grayson and hanging out with all their aunts and uncles that they hear so much about.

Traditions

We had a blast for our third year in a row! We have started a new tradition of eating breakfast for dinner on the 23rd with Rick, Brisa, Benjamin and Nicolas. The girls insisted that this year we all wear our jammies, and the Ramos family didn't have a problem changing into their jammies as well. We all stuffed our tummies with pancakes, hash browns, bacon, fruit, quiche, and other goodies!

So Proud of our Sweet Pea

I am so proud of our little Sweet Pea. She had her Christmas performance today, and she was so grown up. She sat down with the rest of the class, even though she accidently sat on a couple of her classmates before finding the perfect spot front and center. Then she so calmly sang some songs including "Away In a Manger" and "S-A-N-T-A". My favorite was "Jingle Bells" which we have been hearing her practice after dinner while we bang along with her on the piano. She so happily rang her little bells while she sang so energetically. I'm not a weepy mother, but I could barely hold it together because I realized she's growing up so quickly. I truly think she was felt so special and loved to have her Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Brisa, cousins Benjamin and Nicolas in the pews to hear her sing. And her cousins even brought her some flowers to honor her performance. She loved the pink daisies so much that right before I put her to bed that night she asked that I turn her lamp on again so she could take one more look at her flowers before she went "night night".

Sisterly Bond

A few things have happened in the past few weeks that shows us the love that is growing between Isabella and Victoria.

• Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Isabella and Victoria slept in the same room while we spent time in Albuquerque. I was leary about having them sleep together because I thought they might wake each other up. But they slept great, and I really think they enjoyed being so close. And sure enough, when we returned home, Victoria cried for the next four nights because she was no longer sleeping with her big sis.

•  A few days ago, all four of us were in the car and Mark and I turned around to see the girls giggling and holding hands across the backseat.

• Yesterday, as I was upstairs preparing Isabella to come downstairs from her nap, she could hear Victoria crying downstairs. (Daddy was downstairs with Victoria and had accidently taken her snack away.) Isabella straightened up and her eyes widened and she yelled "Victoria! I was sleeping but I'm coming!" She was truly concerned for her little sister and wanted to let her know that help was on the way!! She just needed to get her diaper changed :)

• Today, as Isabella settled in her crib for her afternoon nap, Victoria stood on her tippy toes, peeked through the slats in the crib said "Nigh, nigh. I you." (Which means "Night night. I love you.")

A Little Girl of Many Hats

Sweet Victoria,

You crack us up with your hat fetish. Everything is a hat to you, from bowls and baskets to buckets. You love walking around showing off your new fashion for your head. So far, you're just like Mommy, you love shoes and hats.

Thanksgiving for 18

We all had a super fun time in Albuquerque. The cousins played so well together...watching TV, riding bikes in the driveway, dancing with Dora, throwing toys everywhere and visiting the Children's Museum. It was chaotic at times, but we all had so many laughs. A huge THANK YOU to Rebecca and Jason for being such thoughtful and giving hosts! And besos to Addison for lending Isabella and Victoria her beautiful room for three nights!!

Luv at Gate 8

June 2, 2004...at Dallas Luv Field...Gate 8. I will never forget that day, when I met my Prince Charming, my tall dark and handsome stranger, my soul mate and love of my life. My Superman! Six years later, and for the first time, we were able to pass by that gate again as we made our way to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving. Boy, how things have changed. What an amazing six years it has been!

Thanksgiving Perfomance

Isabella, your Daddy and I had a blast watching your very first performance. We were so excited to see you on stage and couldn't wait to hear you sing all those little songs you sing for us at home, like "Jesus Loves Me". We were so excited that we actually got there with plenty of time to pick the perfect seats...the front pew! Maybe that was a rookie mistake because you could hardly concentrate with us in the front row. You were so excited to show us your turkey shirt and the necklace that you had made! "Mommy, look at my necklace!" you shouted right in the middle of a song! Priceless! What a precious memory! We are so proud of you!

We make a better team!

These photos were taken at Zilker Park just hours before Mark and I headed to watch our team embarrass themselves once again. Our girls are playing better than the Longhorns! They found a ball that didn't belong to us and had a blast learning the game.

We're All Good with the Bathtub

We finally seem to be all good with the bathtub. For the past year it seems like there's always some little girl in our house that hates baths. For the first 6 months of her life, Victoria hated baths. And then when she finally began to tolerate them, Isabella would scream bloody murder if we tried to give her a bath without using the baby tub. When she finally learned to like the big bathtub, Victoria had her issues...and so on. After some short-lived drama from Isabella recently, we are finally all happy with bathtime! The new rubber duckies that cousins Benjamin and Nicolas gave them for Halloween seem to have put some fun back into bathing. Thank you! Phew!

A Cold, Rainy, Windy Day

Today was definitely the coldest day so far. Jackets were pulled out and put on. Hats and hoods were slipped on. And out we went as soon as we could find a moment when the raindrops stopped. I have a love-hate relationship with cold weather. I hate being cold, but I love jackets, hats, sweaters, sipping on hot chocolate, kissing cold fingers, warming up cold toes, oatmeal in the mornings, soup for lunch, and the smell of fires being lit. I could do without all the runny noses though.

A Fun Halloween!

The past week has been fun as we prepared for Halloween. I thought I'd share some photos of what the girls were up to.

On Thursday we all took part in getting Isabella ready for a fun day at school. She was excited to wear her Abby Cadabby costume and take part in her class's Halloween party!






On Friday, we decorated pumpkins.



And Sunday we had a great time in our old 'hood with some old friends. We all enjoyed some pizza and then we headed on home to trick-or-treat in our cul-de-sac. We have such awesome neighbors! Isabella was loving the whole concept of receiving free candy in her bucket and Victoria was perfectly content in my arms sucking on a Twizzler as we walked from house to house. Then the fun part was passing out candy and seeing all the other costumes.

Loving Little School

Isabella is loving her Mother's Day Out program. She is excited when she finds out it's a school day. So far I've heard that she's a bit of a chatterbox....hmmm...just like her daddy. Her latest highlights have been dancing to "The Monster Mash", learning the lyrics and hand-motions to "Jesus Loves Me", hearing the story of baby Moses in chapel, learning about bats and making her own to bring home and of course snacktime.

Birthday Photos

Last night while Mark very angrily was watching the Longhorns humiliate themselves, I decided to make a good choice and get out of his way. So I re-located myself to another room and read our printer manual to finally figure out how to scan. I am so excited about how easy it is. So here are some photos of our cutie pies that we had taken at the mall around their birthdays.