Happy Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentines.  Now that my girls are getting older I am having so much fun creating fun traditions with them.  This year we started a secret Valentine's tradition (thanks for the great idea Rachel).  Natalia really got into the spirit of it and Sienna had fun playing along even though she really did not quite grasp the concept yet.  There will be many years to come.  At Family Home Evening the week of Valentines we talked about Valentine's Day and about doing nice things for the people that we love.  Everyone got a secret Valentine in the family.  I gave everyone some coins (I had some good Mardi Gras ones just perfect to use) and they got to buy something each day for their valentine from my bad of gifts.  Then the gift where hidden for the person to find.  Natalia had Hector and she had fun hiding little notes and cards and pictures all over the house.  She always picked something from the bag that she wanted and then would say, "I bet daddy will share with me,"  or "Daddy will read this story to me after he finds it."  Sienna had me.  She followed Natalia's lead and would pick something from the bag and then hide is behind a pillow.  I would "find" it a few seconds later and she thought she was pretty sneaky.  I had fun leaving the girls secret valentine stuff too.  They would get so excited.  Natalia came to me one morning and said, "Mom, I looked and looked all over the house and I could not find anything from my Valentine.  Why could I not find anything." 

On Valentine's Day I made the day fun for the girls.  We had heart shaped pancakes in the morning and we had a special picnic lunch with a friend.  All the food was heart shaped and they got sit on the Valentine's blanket next to all their beautiful decorations.  We had fun making Valentine cards and hearts for the wall.  Sienna just wanted to tape hearts on the wall all day.  I told her she had to decorate the hearts first so she would make one small line with a marker and then come to me and say, "tape, tape, tape, me wall."  It was great fun. 

Hector had to work late on Valentine's so the girls were in bed by the time that he got home, but he had fun opening all the little surprises left for him.  I had a little book published for him of cute pictures of the girls and we had fun laughing about silly memories...and we ate lots of chocolate.

Mardi Gras

We held our annual Mardi Gras party last weekend.  The girls had so much fun helping me put up the decorations.  I let them tape some of the decorations on the wall (it was very apparent which decorations they put up).  I meant to move some of them before the party but then I forgot.  It just made for good conversation and the girls were happy to see their decorations again the next morning.  I even let them put a few in their room.  Natalia and Sienna both love the beads and they had tons of fun trying on all the masks.  They were really good during the party and did not get out of their beds at all.  The party was tons of fun and I am grateful that I can share my love of Cajun culture and food with good friends.

Becoming Buddies

My girls are becoming little buddies and it is so much fun to see.  They are really starting to play together and entertain each other.  This makes my life easier and it will be really good for when the new baby comes.  I love hearing them laugh together.  It makes me so happy when I hear them say kind words to each other.  I love that Natalia explains things to Sienna and Sienna is so quick to giggle and shriek with joy when she likes something that Natalia is doing or teaching her. 

 

Sometimes a snack time, the girls like to get creative with where they eat.  They made their own little tables with the stools  and thought they were hot stuff.  The day before that they ate under the table in their fort. 

They also love to take tubbies together.  Sometimes they get silly, but we love it.  They have both really been growing up. 

 

Sienna is talking so much.  She likes to have us sit next to her so she is constantly coming up to us and telling us to, "sit, sit, sit!"  Unfortunately she pronounces her S's as an SH sound so just imagine what she sounds like walking around saying, "sit, sit, sit." 

 

She also likes to tell us when she is done with something.  She says, "I'm done", but she pronounces done as dumb, so we hear here often saying, "I'm dumb, I'm dumb."  It makes us laugh every time. 

 

She still loves the camera and will say cheese anytime it is pulled out, regardless of whether or not a picture is being taken.  She loves to take off her pajamas in the morning and run around in her diaper.  She is always asking to go potty, but she does nothing once we put her there.    She loves her Daddy and is constantly asking, "were Daddy" throughout the day.  I say that he is at work (even though I just told her that five minutes ago) and she replies, "Ooooh."

 

Natalia is becoming a really good helper.  She has always been good at wanting to help, but now her help is actually helpful.  She loves books and it is so fun taking her to the library because she could endlessly flip through pages of books and never get bored.  We have been doing school time in the mornings and she is making some real progress learning her letter sounds.

 

She asks so many good questions about life too.  I never get sick of hearing them because they are not just the "why" questions.  She is really thinking about life and how things work and fit together in her little world.  I love getting a glimpse into what she is thinking. 

If I had 5 kids

Hector and I babysat this past weekend for our friends so that they could go out of town for a little get away.  We got a small glimpse of what it would be like to have five kids.  While the kids did great all weekend and were well behaved, I do not think that I will be having five kids anytime soon.  We did have fun with all the kids and they played well together.  My girls thought it was so cool to stay at our friends house, but we were tired by the end of the weekend. 

We went and watched Jackson play basketball with the five kids in tow, and Sienna loved it.  She is going to be my little athlete.  And all the kids...including Hector...had so much fun playing Lego's.  Hector literally played with Lego's all day Saturday.  I think he will be invited over for a play date again sometime soon.

Christmas in January

My friend Jodee sent us a package the other day and my girls were so excited.  The package arrived late at night so the girls did not see it until the morning.  They came down the stairs and it was like Christmas in January.  They were jumping all around with enthusiasm.  They kept asking which one was for them.  We all had fun watching gifts be opened.  Thanks Jodee.  

They each got some cute new cloths, which I really need to take a picture of because they look so cute, but I have not taken a picture of them yet.  They got these fuzzy vests and Sienna wore it nonstop for the next two days.  She would pet the vest and say, "soft, soft, soft, soft."  They also got this tool kit which they LOVE.  There has been lots of drilling in the house this last week.  It was a very fun surprise.

Snow!

Much to Natalia's dismay, we have not had much snow the last couple of years.  We are teased with a light dusting now and again, but this is the first time in two years we have had enough to play in...and it was barely enough.  It was a weekday, so Hector was gone at work and I knew by the afternoon there would not be enough to play in so we suited up in the morning and ventured out in the snow.  We tried to make a snowman but the snow did not stick together...we did make a baby one and then Sienna stomped on it.  We slid down the hill and went for a snow hike and made snow angles (Natalia made a snow angle...I was not about sprawl on the snow with my fat tummy).  Natalia was soooo happy to be in the snow.  Sienna was really happy to have her gloves and hat on.  She had mixed feelings about the snow. 

Sienna slid down the hill one time.  She looked like she enjoyed it, but she did not want to go again.  Natalia kept sliding until all the snow was gone from the hill.  Here she is crashing at the end.  She thought that was funny.  We have continued to have light dustings this last week, but still not enough to really play in, but I am glad we got a little and that we took advantage of it.  It may be our only opportunity this year. 

Sound Asleep

Hector and I went to check on the girls before we went to bed the other night and this is how we found Natalia.  She was sound asleep like this.  We laughed and watched her for awhile, but she did not move.  Who sleeps like that?  I had to snap a picture of Sienna too.  Sleeping kids are so cute.

 

Do I get to be a Sunbeam again?

Natalia LOVES primary.  The second Sunday in January Natalia asked me, "Mom, do I get to be a Sunbeam again today?"  She was very excited when I told her that she did.  Each Sunday she tells us what she learned about and what songs she got to sing.  She always has something that she made in class too.  She is so proud of her work or her coloring and she loves to tell us about it.  She also always tells me, "mom, I was really good.  I sat quietly and was reverent." 

Hello 2013

We are already a week into 2013.  I have not taken a pictures yet, but we are off to a good start with the year regardless.  Hector and I went out this weekend to Baltimore.  He got me tickets to Cirque Eloise ID for Christmas.  It was a great show and I am really glad that we went.  It was urban and amazing watching the talents of others.  I would highly recommend it.  We went to dinner beforehand and spent way more than we would normally spend on dinner but we had gift certificates that Hector got from work so we could splerge a little on someone elses dime. 

Natalia got to go to primary for the first time on Sunday.  She was really excited about going and did a really good job...or so I hear; I did not get to see her.  She was really happy though and told us all about it on the way home.  I was afraid that she would have a hard time with the change because I know she really loves Nursery, but to our pleasure she did not skip a beat.

It will be fun to see how the year goes.  We will be adding a third kid to the mix so it should be a year filled with fun and adventure and lots of changes.

Goodbye 2012

2012 was a great year but it seamed to just fly by.  Our girls grew up and it was a fun year of seeing them make changes.  We enjoyed watching Sienna learn to walk.  She went from being a little baby to a toddler.  It felt like every morning she would wake up and be able to do something new.  She is now talking quite a bit.  She knows so many words and some she says in the funniest ways; it always brings a smile to our face. 

Natalia has grown up during the year too.  She now has a love for art and creativity.  Natalia really came out of her shell in 2012.  I used to describe her as shy, but I think that she out grow that this year.  She is so much fun and this year has been filled with her observations and comments about life.  She will really surprise us sometimes with her comprehension.  She still often gets her time lines mixed up which can really change the outcome of story that she tells.

We enjoyed celebrating the end of the year with friends at a News Years Eve party.  Somehow we managed to stay up till 6:00 in the morning.  The kids were sleeping.  Hector and I were a little tired the next day, but we had tons of fun and we are grateful for good friends that we can celebrate with.