First Snow and other Happenings

We got our first snow last week.  Natalia was sooooo excited.  Unfortunately, there was never really enough to play in.  Natalia did get to go for a walk with dad in it though.  Hector worked nights all last week and not the nights with the great schedule like he did over the summer.  This time he actually had to work all through the night, which meant he slept during the day.  It felt like we hardly saw him at all, but he is back on days again now.  I read The Help and then watched to movie with some girlfriends while he was working.  Loved it.  The girls and I have been having fun.  Natalia loves to play with her friends and asks about her buddies all the time.  She always asks for play dates; it is very cute.  Sienna is acting so big these days.  She eats like a teenage boy who plays on the football team.  I made chili the other day and she loved it.  She ate more than Hector.

Natalia, on the other hand, has become a finicky eater.  Some days she likes chicken, then the next day she acts like it is the worst thing in the world.  Sometimes she loves her vegetables, other days she misses out on desert because she refuses to eat them.  Last week, peas were candy.  She walked around with this bowl of peas for two days straight whenever she was in the kitchen or dinning room.  She hoarded them like it was the best treat ever.  Who needs chocolate when you can have cold peas?

When Sienna is eating Natalia loves to pull her chair over and play with Sienna.  She tickles her toes and the two of them just laugh together, sometimes Natalia eats Sienna's food too.  I guess they are learning to share.  I cannot say that principle is being practiced on a regular basis, so I will take it when I can. 

Sienna loves to stand; she has gotten really good at pulling herself up on the couch and chairs and pretty much anything she can grab onto.  Thankfully she has not learned to climb the stairs.  She got up on one stair a couple months ago, but I think she forgot about it.  She loves to follow Natalia around and she wants to play with whatever Natalia is playing with.  Most of the time this results in some possessive behavior from both girls, but when everyone is in a good mood, they are super cute playing together.  Natalia has been really into taking care of her baby dolls lately.  She also wants to color and play with play dough everyday.  Those are definitely her favorite things right now.  Well that and reading books.  We love books and we read everyday.  Natalia likes to read to herself as well.  She remembers the stories from when I read them to her and then I will hear her flipping the pages and retelling the story (minus a few details) just like she is reading. 

I played in a volleyball tournament last weekend.  I am so glad to be back on my team again.  I missed playing last season; it felt really good play again.  I was not near as sore as I thought I would be.  I have played several times since I had Sienna, this was just my first all day tournament with the club team.  I was actually more sore from playing dodge ball earlier in the week.

Happy New Year

We had a fun New Years with friends this year.  Natalia stayed up way to late.  She eventually fell asleep on my lap...she was very cute.  The other kids were super loud at midnight will all of the excitement of the new year,  but my girls slept right through it all; it was great.  We stayed up till almost three in the morning and while it was super fun, we were feeling the pain the next day.  On New Years we went down to Hector's parents' after church to welcome in the new year.  Both Hector and I at some point in the evening fell asleep on the couch.

2011 seemed to fly buy, but it was a great year.  The best part of the year was welcoming Sienna into the family.  She is the sweetest little thing and we love that she is part of our little family.  We have enjoyed watching her learn to sit, eat, crawl, and stand.  We have loved watching her make funny faces, giggle and start to babble.  2011 had many sleepless nights at the end of the pregnancy and the beginning of Sienna's life, but the second half of the year Sienna allowed to us to get lots of sleep.  Sienna has truly been a happy for girl in 2011.  Natalia turned two in 2011.  She has grown up so much over the year.  She went from a shy little quiet wallflower to a social butterfly.  She is a chatter box and we love to hear all the funny things that she comes up with.  She has really gotten into the world of imagination.  She loves to play pretend and it has been so fun to see her develop this side of her personality.  She loves to read books and play with her friends.  I could go on and on about her accomplishments.  We have had so much fun with her this year and I cannot believe how big she has gotten.  2011 has been great for Hector and I as well.  I finished teaching, enjoyed another season of coaching volleyball and have really enjoyed switching into my role as a full time mother.  Hector is still working hard at his job.  He has some good opportunities to shine and he seems to be receiving more recognition for his expertise.  It has been a great year for us and we are excited to welcome 2012.

I also found a little gem that someone had thrown out in the trash.  I picked up this cool antique stroller a couple days before New Years.  I think it is from the late 1800s or early 1900s.  When I saw it getting ready to be crushed by the garbage truck, I had to pick it up.  Mom, these pictures are mostly for you so you can see what I am talking about. 

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so much fun.  I knew that Natalia would be so excited so I couldn't wait to see it all.  For some silly reason Natalia thought she should be able to eat marshmallows for breakfast.  She asked really nice and was very set on the idea.  I guess all the talking about how special Christmas morning was in her head meant that we should be eating marshmallows.  So of course we let her have some. 

After we feed our cute little munchkins we let them into the living room to check out the stockings that Santa brought them.  Natalia saw the candy canes sticking out of her stocking and she was so excited.  She kept saying, "cany canes, cany canes!"  She was so excited.  If that was all that Santa had brought her, she would have been perfectly happy.  Then she saw the Barbie Doll in her stocking; "a Bobby, a bobby, I have a bobby!"  I just love the cute things that she says.  We had fun watching her open everything in the stocking.  Sienna grabbed hold of Hector's phone and she was so interested in the phone that we could not do much to interest her in any of the presents.  Natalia did not really have a problem helping Sienna open her presents though. 

We had another train set hidden under a blanket and Natalia ripped that blanket off so quick.

My friend Jodee joined us again in the morning and it was so enjoyable having her there.  Sienna came around to the idea of opening presents after she discovered what fun things were in the gifts. 

There were many gifts that Natalia was excited about.  The Piano was one of those. She started playing the piano before Hector could even get it out of the box.  Then she sat it on her lap and started playing and singing.  So cute.  Jodee also got us a singing and dancing Teddy Bear.  Natalia loved it and played it over and over.  I am not sure if I am grateful for that gift or not.  She is so cute dancing with the bear. 

We also had a doctor kit that I picked up at a garage sale a couple of years ago.  I thought it would be perfect for her this year and she loved it.  She walked around and started giving everyone shots. 

I got Hector some great camping/emergency preparedness stuff; a tent, a stove, etc.  I also had to add in a portable toilet just because it was funny. 

We were a little rushed in the morning because we had to get ready for church at 10:00.  I like the idea of having Christmas on Sunday.  It helps to keep a day dominated by gifts and Santa focused on the Savior and the many blessing in our lives because of the gospel.  Church was packed and that made it take over 30 minutes to pass the sacrament.  It was really hard to keep Natalia settled.  Needless to say, she just couldn't last the entire hour and thirty minutes of church.  Even though church was a bit of a struggle and it definitely wore me out, I was still glad that we went.  After church we left our home in chaos and headed down to Hector's parents' house.  I am so glad that we could have Christmas morning in our own home, but I am also glad that Hector's family is close enough that we could spend the rest of the day with them.  It was so enjoyable to spend time with them, eat more food (way to much food really), open more presents, and play lots of games.  Santa even showed up to bring more presents to the kids. 

Natalia wanted nothing to do with Santa, but Sienna thought he was cool.  Natalia just wanted to watch from a distance. 

Sienna and Elijah were so cute playing together.  They were sweet with each other and we had so much fun watching them crawl over each other, share toys, and giggle.

Natalia was so excited about her new dishes and fake food. I knew that she would like it.  She made all of us lots of yummy food over the next couple of days.  She would get rather upset if any of us would try to eat it before we blessed it.

I was excited for Lourdes to open the family calendar that I made this year.  I had so much fun making it.  I hope everyone enjoyed them, because I plan to do it each year now. 

Natalia made homemade painted ornaments for everyone.  She had so much fun painting them, picking who would get each one and wrapping them. 

Hector's Cousins Maribel and Jaime got the girls these cute little headbands.  Natalia is trying to start a new fashion trend.  I think it will catch on. 

We stayed at Hector's parents' through late Monday night.  Our house looked like a tornado had wrecked havoc on it.  There was wrapping paper everywhere, all the presents we opened Christmas morning, a few that we did not have time to get too, plus all the stuff that we brought back from Hector's parents.  Hector worked on Tuesday and I spent all day cleaning up while the girls played with their new toys.  Natalia LOVED putting on her new apron and Sienna had fun eating all the food that Natalia made to eat. 

By the end of the day it really hit me that Christmas was over.  We really enjoyed the season and and all the fun that came along with it.  We had a blast starting some fun traditions this year.  We are so grateful for all the gifts we received.  Our girls had a great time. They both slept so well Tuesday at home...They had been over tired from all of the excitement.  We loved Christmas this year.