Happy Birthday to Me

 

 

Sunday was my birthday and it was great.  Hector and the girls made me breakfast in bed.  It was definitely more entertaining than relaxing, but I loved it all.  Natalia and Sienna came up to my room every few minutes to whisper things in my ear ("Mom, we are making you breakfast, so you cannot come down stairs, okay") or ask me questions about breakfast (Sienna was very concerned that I would have enough water to go with my meal).  They were really cute and so excited to be giving me breakfast in bed. 

 

Hector had some nice gifts for me and cute little notes throughout the day.  He made an awesome cake for me and so did my friend Sarah, so I had two yummy cakes for my birthday.  It was great.  We had some friends over in the afternoon for cake and enjoyed spending time with them while the kids ran around and played.  It was a very enjoyable birthday.  I felt loved and appreciated all day long.  That is really all I can ask for.  Hector is amazing and I love having him for a husband.  Happy Birthday to me.

Valentine's Day

 

Valentine's Day was great.  Natalia finally got to go back to school Friday after missing three days of school for being sick.  She got to pass out valentine's to the all kids in her class and she was so excited about all the Valentine's that she got to bring home.  She was so sweet to share with her sisters and all three of them had fun looking through all of her stuff. 

 

The girls were mostly excited for our Fancy Feast on Saturday.  We did a lunch this year.  The girls had been talking about dressing up and getting fancy all week long.  They love it when I let them wear my jewelry.  They were so cute and excited.  We set the table all fancy and had four courses (very simple ones), the loved it all.  Natalia took it very seriously; she was adorable trying to eat all proper and ladylike.

 

Hector and I went out to dinner after the girls went to bed.  We had a nice time, but ate way to much food. 

Scripture Ice Cream Party

 

We finished reading the scriptures last week and so we had an Ice Cream Party.  The girls were really looking forward to it as we were winding down our scripture reading.  Every night when we would read, they would want to know how much we had left; they were very cute about it and we all love hearing Sienna say Ice cream with her C's as F's.  Natalia has now listened to the Book of Mormon twice and Sienna just finished it for the first time. 

 

This last weekend has been unbearably cold but we had a few days of milder weather that we took advantage of before the cold blew in.  Hector took the girls to the track the other day to play soccer and run.  They showed me all their soccer skills when they got home. 

 

Girls' Weekend

I went to Washington all by myself and it was so much fun.  I love my kids; they are super fun, but it is nice to get away for a weekend occasionally too.  My mom, sister Rachel, and sister in law, Heather and I decided to surprise my little sister Leah for her 30th birthday.  It was so much fun planning and thinking about how best to surprise her.  She has a six week old baby, so the options were somewhat limited, but I feel that we created the perfect weekend for a new mommy celebrating her 30th birthday.  

Surprising her the first night was monumental.  My mom and sister picked me up at the airport in the evening and we just showed up on her doorstep.  My mom had a cake and we made so much noise trying to get the candles lit, I thought for sure she would come out before we could knock.  She has columns by her door so I kind of stood behind one.  She opens the door and sees my mom with the cake, she looks happy but a little confused as to why mom is there, then she steps out and sees Rachel and clearly realizes something is going on.  Then I jump out from behind the column and her reaction is priceless.  She kept saying, "but you are here, you live to far away."  Fun, Fun.

We had lots of girl time.  We ate out, went shopping, did a girls' night in.  We ate junk food, played with babies and Leah's kids, laughed, talked and got way to little sleep.  It was so much fun.  I love spending time with my sisters and mom.  Joe was awesome and watched all six kids (their four, plus rachel and Heather's babies) while we intermittently went out.  

Surprising Leah

Eating at Natalia's cafe

Me, Rachel, Heather, Leah

Shopping

Playing funny girl trivia games

Heather and Lily

I spent another day with just my parents before coming home.  It was really nice.  The whole weekend was fantastic.  We got to spend an evening with Dan and Heather and their family too.  I wish I could get to Washington more often.

Sounds like my kids had a pretty good time while I was gone.  The got to spend two days with Grandma while Hector worked and Hector spoiled them over the weekend.  They ate out every day and I have an arsenal of nerf guns in my house now too.  Looks like they did a little shopping while I was gone.  It was fun to get away, but I missed my girls and Hector and it was great seeing them when I got home.  They were all sleeping but I woke them up and they gave me big hugs before going back to sleep.

The girls at Chick fil A

Bugs, Sleep and Cold

January was a cold month.  We had a couple of small snow days with one or two inches of snow. Estelle hates the snow but Natalia and Sienna cannot wait to play in it.  The girls made their own snowman, all by themselves and they were so proud.  HEHE, it may be the most pathetic looking snowman ever, but they sure thought they had created a masterpiece.  Hector helped them build a snowman when we got a little more snow this last week.  It is still partially snowman like and every time we come in or out of the house, Estelle points and exclaims, "NOOOOMAN".

The girls love to play outside, but it has been so cold.  They have been feeling a little cooped up, but Hector is awesome and still finds ways to get them out of the house.  He took Natalia and Sienna on a bike ride the other day in the cold.  They had lots of fun, but Sienna complained about her legs hurting a good portion of the time.  To her credit, her bike is too small for her and she has to peddle so many times faster to keep up.  

Hector took all the girls on a little winter hike as well to the duck pond.  The girls really wanted to feed the ducks; shockingly, there were not any out in the cold, but they found some birds to throw their bread at.  Sienna was just excited to use a walking stick...I think it is still sitting by our front door in case she needs it again.  

They love finding chunks of ice.  

And then there are the bugs!  Hector is working on remodeling/building a laboratory at Gallaudet University right now and sometimes he brings home random treasures that the university is throwing out.  Last week we got microscopes and this week we got bugs.  Five cases of dead bugs.  I was sceptical at first (dead bugs, can you blame me?), I really do not have room in my house for cases of dead bugs, but the girls loved it.  They studied the bugs, looked them up online and watched videos about them.  They ended up studying the bugs for at least two hours that night.  Sienna and Natalia wanted to learn about each one.  It was fun watching them be so excited.  Eventually the bugs will have to go, but it was the best at home science lesson.  

Last night our kids stayed up way to late at their bedroom slumber party.  After church Natalia fell asleep reading books with Hector, they were pretty cute on the couch together, both sleeping.  

I want a Shower

So, Estelle LOVES to take showers.  She gets really excited whenever presented with the opportunity.  This morning, Hector said he was going to take a shower and Estelle immediately dropped the toys she was playing with, ran over to Hector, started jumping up and down while chanting enthusiastically, "I shower, I shower, I shower!"  Oh, that kid can be so cute.

Sienna continues to be our most affectionate child.  She needs to snuggle and touch and she loves to make exclamations of her love.  Yesterday she told me, "I love you up and down and it will never ever ever ever ever stop."  She will often tell us, "I love you 100 times to the sky and more than that."

Natalia and Sienna have been looking forward to a birthday party all month; they finally attended last night.  Hector and I were hosting a dinner party that same night and the times conflicted so we had some friends bring them home.  We told the girls that when they got home, if they would go straight upstairs and get ready for bed without disturbing the party, they could have a slumber party and watch TV on the laptop in their bedroom and fall asleep on the floor in their sleeping bags.  They were so excited to do this and they did a great job.  We figured they would just fall asleep after awhile and all would be well.  It was so quiet, I kind of forgot about checking on them.  At 11:00, when I was getting ready for bed I decided to peek in and they were both wide awake, still watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  They must have watched 15 episodes; I couldn't believe they were still awake.  Sienna has been a little grumpy today; and by a little grumpy, I mean on the verge of crazy.