Happy Birthday Hector

We had so much fun celebrating Hector's birthday!  Hector's company gives the day off on his birthday so we took full advantage of having him home all day.  We started our celebrating the night before.  Hector and I went to see a play in DC.  We saw, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  It was so funny.  We laughed from start to finish and had so much fun going out in the middle of the week.  We started the next morning with chocolate waffles and candles and gifts.  The girls made him cards and even found a used pencil to wrap for him.  They were really excited about this.  It was funny.  

We dropped Hector and Natalia off to do some shopping while I took the other girls to their doctor appointments.  More to come on the doctor appointments.  

Hector was instructed that he had to buy new clothes.  He has been working hard and loosing weight so he needed some new clothes.  After shopping we went out to lunch, then we sent Hector off to get a massage.  He told me it hurt, but it was a good experience.  After Hector got home we headed to the park to fly kites.  It was a perfect day for it and we all had fun.  We went out to dinner...the girls loved that we went out twice in one day.  After dinner we put the girls to bed and then went to the movies.  We kept Hector busy all day.  We all had fun and we enjoyed spending the day together as a family.  We love you Hector; Happy Birthday.  

Happy Birthday Estelle

We decided to celebrate Estelle's birthday on Easter since her big day is just two days after Easter and we were already going to be with family.  I made her an Easter cake for her birthday and of course she loved it!  It was very yummy too.

We sang to her her and Eli and Natalia helped her blow out her candles.  

We had fun watching her eat her cake.  She was not hesitant and went right at it.  She ate the whole piece.  All four layers of the cake.  

She got to open a couple of gifts too.  Natalia was a good little helper and they had fun opening and looking at this book together.  

And this is what Sienna did when she was told she could not open Estelle's gift.  She did this for about a half hour...she almost did not get any cake, but we relented and let her have a little after her tantrum ended.  It is hard being three sometimes.  

Estelle is an awesome little one year old.  She is not walking yet and I think she will be my latest walker.  She moves along the couches and walks well when I hold both her hands, but she has little desire to do it on her own right now.  She can crawl crazy fast though.  It is impressive to watch her.  She is definitely my fastest crawler.  

She climbed half way up the stairs about three weeks ago and thankfully has not tried it again since.  

She loves to eat cheese and broccoli and pears and noodles.

I love getting her out of bed in the morning because she is so excited to see me.  She has the best smile and she jumps a little and starts breathing funny.  I love it.  Then when I pick her up she starts shaking because she is so excited to play.  

She loves having the attention of her sisters...as long as they are not taking toys away from her.  

She can say, "dada" and "mama," but usually only says "dada".  I think she says, "uh oh" and she mimics lots of things we say.  She learned to wave a few weeks ago and she is cute sticking her arm out straight and then rotating her wrist.  She gives high fives...sometimes and smiles at anyone willing smile at her.  She is an old lady magnet when we go to the store.  

She is a good sleeper, when she wants to be.  She gets up more nights than I would like, but she is teething.  

She is funny and cute and I cannot believe that she is one.  I feel like I just had her, yet it is hard to remember life without her as part of our family.  We all love her cute chubby checks and legs.  We love her smiles and giggles and funny noises she makes.  She likes to grunt and growl sometimes. She makes us all a little happier.  

Photo Shoot

This is my attempt at taking and editing pictures of my kids.  

Happy Easter

Another Easter has come and gone.  We sure had lots of fun this year with our three girls.  Both Natalia and Sienna were good about reminding each other and us that even though they were excited about Easter egg hunting, Easter was really about Jesus.  I love that they pay attention.  We made our Easter baskets the Monday before and talked about Easter the rest of the week.  

Hector took Natalia and Sienna camping Friday night: they loved it!  All Friday Sienna would say, "I am just ready to go camping."  She told me this at least fifty times on Friday.  I kept explaining she had to wait for daddy to get home from work, but that did not stop her from inquiring when it was time to leave every few minutes.  

Saturday morning after returning from camping we went to a friend's house for an Easter Egg hunt and brunch.  It was a perfect morning.  The girls had a nice and time and it was rather relaxed and such a nice way to kick of the Easter weekend.  

We spent the rest of the day around the house and then Natalia and I went to late night Easter egg hunt!  The idea was to hunt for the eggs by flashlight.  The kids couldn't wait quite long enough for there to really be a need for flashlights, but it was fun watching them and Natalia had fun using her flashlight anyway.  It was nice doing something just with her.  She was excited to stay up later than her sisters and we had fun chatting in the car.  I did not get any pictures but it was a nice little party for her and I.  

Sunday morning was great.  The girls put out their Easter baskets the night before and they were rather excited to see what the Easter bunny would drop off.  Both girls were a little sleep deprived come Sunday morning.  A couple late nights in a row will do it to them, but the morning pictures are priceless.  I laugh each time I see them.  These first two pictures are the girls waiting to come see their Easter baskets.  After a hearty discussion about whether the bunny is a boy or a girl (we did not come to a conclusion on this topic) the girls headed down to see what was in their baskets.  

We do not have much time on Sunday mornings with Church at 8:30, but the girls had fun examining the fun and practical gifts the Easter bunny brought.  Some how that bunny knew the girls needed new glue sticks and fresh play-dough and shoes!  That Easter bunny rocks.  

After church and naps we headed down to the grandparents' house.  We ate and watched the kids play together and did another egg hunt.  My kids are convinced that one cannot do too much egg hunting.  They loved every moment of it.  

Eli asked Natalia to play with him as soon as we arrived and she informed him that she had to read the paper first.  haha...but she was dead serious.

I love how excited Sienna is every time she finds an egg.  

Estelle loved putting the candy in her mouth, she just missed the part about taking the wrapper off first.  She was entertaining with her wrapped candy in her mouth all evening.