Pumpkin Carving

We had some friends over last night and they helped us carve pumpkins.  Pumpkin carving is one of those traditions that if fun for the parents.  Natalia gets into it, but she still does not get to do her own knife work.  She did try to convince us that she was big enough this year, but she lost that debate.  Needless to say, she was still good at getting the pumpkin guts out.  We had fun and Natalia and Sienna were very proud of our finished products.  Since it is so rainy outside, they are all still sitting on the kitchen table.  Every time Sienna sees them she says, "pumpum."

Silly Sienna

Sienna wanted to sit on the potty the other day.  She has shown some interest, but she did not do much once she got on there.  I do not think she is ready yet...I know I am not.  But she is our silly girl. 

She went to the doctor a little while ago for her 18 month check up.  She is doing really well and is very healthy.  She is in the 93rd percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight.  She is starting to talk so much more.  When she is in the right mood she knows and uses many words.  She likes to mimic what we say and she loves to make funny noises.  If she hears a noise outside, she puts her finger to her mouth and shushes everyone.  She no longer sits in her booster chair.  She still needs it, but she wants to sit like everyone else...so she does.  She has become a little moody lately.  One day she will only drink from a sippy cup and then the next day she is repulsed by sippy cups and will only drink from a regular cup.  It is funny.  She has also learned about tantrums.  It is hard to not laugh at her sometimes when she decides to throw a tantrum.  She gets mad and throws herself down on the floor and then slowly puts her head back and then proceeds to cry.  If I ask to wipe her nose while she in the middle of the tantrum she will sit up and stop crying so I can wipe it and then she goes back to the tantrum when she is all wiped up. 

 

Other silly things:  Sienna loves shoes.  She is obsessed with them.  She puts on every ones shoes and thinks she is so funny.  She loves to walk around the house in shoes and she takes them off then on, then off, then on.  She loves socks but refuses to sleep with them on her feet. 

 

She loves to brush her teeth.  Anytime I am in the bathroom she hops up on her stool and points to the toothbrushes and says, "teesh, teesh."  She gets the biggest smile on her face when I get her toothbrush for her.  She probably brushes her teeth a good five to six times a day (Uncle Tyler will be proud). 

 

She is still a good little eater and sleeper and these things make mommy so happy.  She loves to give hugs and kisses to us at bed time...this also makes us very happy. 

 

Both girls hate to have the sun in their eyes when we are driving in the van.  They are so funny about covering their faces.  This is how they rode in the van the other day.  Should we tell them that sunglasses or maybe a hat would work better?

Sienna shading herself from the sun

Natalia keeping the sun out of her eyes

Decorating Pumpkins

Since we received pumpkins at our day at the farm, we decided we better decorate them.  The girls and I had fun making silly pumpkins Saturday morning while Hector was at soccer.  The girls loved the eyes and hair.  They did the rest of the faces themselves.  They were so proud of their work and could not wait to show their daddy. 

The Pumpkin Patch

Hector took the day off Friday and we went to a pumpkin patch with the girls.  To say that we had fun is an understatement.  We went with our friends who also have two little girls.  Both girls had a blast.  When Natalia woke up the next morning she told me that she dreamt about the tractor.  We got to go on a hay ride pulled by a tractor and Natalia just loved it.  There were all kinds of things to look at while we rode.  We stayed for almost four hours at the pumpkin patch and never ran out of things to do.  There we tons of slides that both girls really liked.   I must say, I found them quite enjoyable myself.  There were all kinds of farm animals to look at and fun activities to try.  Sienna attempted to brave the rope swing, but would just throw the rope and stay on the platform.  She thought that was great fun.  There was a fun Corn Field walk.  At first I thought it would just be a really easy corn maze, but it was filled with fun activities that both adult and kid found fun.  We really did have so much fun and we were so glad that Hector could take the day off so that we could go during the week. 

Sienna trying the rope swing

Natalia getting ready for the rope swing

Natalia's brave dismount from the rope swing

Mom and Sienna enjoying a slide together

The bus was part of the corn field walk.  Natalia still loves buses, so she was excited to go.  Then when she realized it was dark and somewhat scary inside, she got nervous, but I convinced her to go through.  The walls feel like they are moving and it was really hard to keep balance.  She decided it was fun and went a second time. 

Natalia really likes pirates.

Natalia petting goats

Sienna wanted to stay outside the fence

We ate free apples and cider.  Both girls...and parents...loved the cider, it was soooo good.  Sienna really loved her apple and would not release it for the life of her.  We left well after nap time and after only a  couple of minutes in the car Sienna was out.  We got to pick pumpkins on the way out and Sienna just loved hers.  She held it all afternoon. 

Sienna on the ride home

The Car Wash

A couple of weeks ago my volleyball girls did a Car Wash to raise money for a Dig Pink event we do.  Hector was working on that Saturday and the girls and I were bored so I decided to take the girls to the car wash.  They thought it was the best Saturday activity I could have come up with for them.  Natalia bossed the high school girls around and did not break for a moment from washing cars.  Sienna even got into it at the end.  She kept trying to wash the wrong cars.  We stayed for about an hour and half.  Natalia did not want to leave; she kept saying, "but I have more cars to wash mom...I cannot leave yet."  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me so I had no pictures of them washing cars, but then the other day our neighbor was out washing her car and the girls got so excited.  Our neighbor is great and the girls really like her so she let them help and this time I got pictures.  I love how little kids think that some of the more simple things in life are so much fun.  I just love my girls. 

Birthday Parties

 

Natalia has gone to two birthday parties in the last couple of weeks and the first one Sienna and I got to come too.  We had tons of fun at the Wizard of Oz party!  My girls are not familiar with the story, but that did not matter to them.  Let loved the games and the party hats.  Sienna would have eaten cupcakes all morning had I let her.  Sienna just loves my friend Sarah.  If Sarah is around then I become a second class citizen.  Sienna wanted to have Sarah carry her and play with her the whole time. 

 

Natalia putting a crown on the Lion

Sienna putting a crown on the lion

Natalia throwing a sponge at the witch

 

 

Natalia still marches to the beat of her own drum and I love it.  She does things the way that she likes.  She will join the crowd when it is something that she wants to do, but she does her own thing too.  The picture above is where all the other kids ate their cupcakes and the picture below is the spot Natalia picked to eat her cupcake.

I love watching my kids play with other kids.  They are so cute.  This is Owen in the picture with my girls.  He and Sienna have a love affair with each other.  They both just light up when they see each other.  It is so funny. 

 

Super Heroes

Natalia decided that she wanted to be a superhero the other day so naturally, she put on her rubber boots and asked me to make a cape for her.  I, of course, had a to have a cape too and we went around rescuing animals from trees...apparently, according to Natalia, that is what superheros do.  Of course we had to do ninja kicks while we rescued the animals.  Next thing I know Sienna has found a blanket and rubber boots and is rather insistent that I tie the blanket around her neck too.  We three little superheros had a good time. 

Sienna's superhero stance

Natalia's ninja moves

Natalia has started to display her active imagination and I am really enjoying watching her.  I love seeing her little mind work.  It is fun that Sienna is willing to join in even thought half the time she does not get what we are doing.  She just likes to do what the big kids do. 

Farwell Jodee

 

My friend Jodee moved to California a couple of weeks ago.  We will all miss her so much.  Both my children just love her.  Sienna's face would light up whenever Jodee would stop by and Natalia loves Jodee like she is one of the family.  In fact, when Natalia says her prayers at night Mom, Dad, and Sienna are always mentioned and then Natalia usually says she is grateful for Jodee too.  She has asked a couple of times when Jodee is coming over and then she is bummed when I remind her that Jodee moved far away. 

 

 

The Olympics

I had some extra boxes from a trip to Costco, so Natalia decided to make chairs for her and Sienna.  The couch pillows worked perfectly and these chairs stayed a structure in the house for a couple of weeks and those two little girls sat in them everyday.  Natalia loved to read her books in "her couch" and Sienna thought it was a good place for a snack; however, Sienna thinks that every place is a good spot for a snack.

We had so much fun watching the Olympics at the end of August.  I was really busy with volleyball tryouts while it was on, but I would get home and watch the Olympics while I should have been doing other things, but I could not stop watching.  I would watch till midnight...or later and finally force myself to sleep because I knew how busy then next day would be.  We let Natalia watch a little with us.  Mostly just the volleyball games if they were on during the middle of the day while she was up, but she also watched a little rhythmic gymnastics, or ribbon dancing and she likes to call it, and she just loved it.  Every scarf that I own has now become a ribbon used for dancing.  It was so much fun watching her practice, try to imitate what she watched, and then perform for us. 

We were sad that the Olympics ended, we really did have fun watching and cheering for our country.  What a great tradition the Olympics are. 

 

 

The hiatus is over

I realize that it has been a good couple of months since I last blogged.  The hiatus is officially over.  I always get really busy during volleyball season and without fail every Fall I post less than the rest of the year.  I will try to do better.  I will catch up on what is going on but details are missed when I wait this long to write.

All is well with the Noriegas.  We have been busy with the girls and volleyball.  Hector has been really busy at work finishing up a project.  Last week went to the grand opening of his building, The New York University Washington DC campus.  The building is beautiful and we had fun sipping our sparkling water with a bunch of wealthy donors and over educated university officials.  Actually, I do not think that anyone can be over educated and we had a really good time.  It was fun meeting all the people that Hector works with.  It makes the stories he brings home more meaningful.  We went out to a fancy restaurant with some of Hector's team from the University after and stayed out way to late for a Monday nights, but mostly we were mighty glad someone else was picking up the tab at dinner.

Volleyball is going really well for me.  I am having fun with my team.  They are doing really well and it is enjoyable to see how much they have improved this season.  I love my coaching staff, so that just adds to the fun as well.  Hector and Natalia come to the home games; Hector drops Sienna off at a friend's house to sleep.  Natalia has fun at the games and I love to hear the funny things she interprets from the games.  Her favorite parts of the volleyball matches include, putting her hand on her heart during the national anthem, the treats that Hector gives her and staying out past bedtime. 

Hector, in his usual fashion, blabbed to everyone that I was pregnant before a normal waiting period.  Regardless of his premature announcements, we are all really excited.  It is still early, so no due date yet or sex of the baby, but everyone knows I am pregnant.