Washington

Our trip to Washington was a ton of fun.  The kids did a great job on the flight over and we all had fun at Grandma's house.  Natalia got to watch a couple of shows in the plane, but the headset was a little too big so we shoved her jacket under it and then it worked just great.

We spent a couple of days up at Rachel's new house in Port Townsend.  The kids had a blast playing together.  We spent some time at the beach, ate lots of Popsicles, Rachel and I got a sunburn, the boys had some good man time and we all just had fun being together.

Back at my parent's house we got in some kayaking with my dad and some work around the house.  I helped my mom get some things ready for grandpa camp.  The girls slept like champs and were pretty happy most of the time.  We spent an afternoon up at great grandma and grandpa's house.  I forgot to take pictures of most things though.

The anticipation for grandpa camp almost killed the kids.  Rachel and Leah's families showed up the night before.  It was fun staying up till the wee hours of the morning chatting with the girls.

After grandpa camp ended, things quieted down at grandma's house.  Natalia got some good quality time with Grandma.  They had fun watching movies together.  I got in some volleyball with my dad and we had fun hanging out with Dan and Heather.  I even got in a girls night with Kathleen and Heather.  Hector got a few more man nights with Dan and before we knew it our two weeks were up and it was time to go home.  We are so grateful that we have a loving family that we thoroughly enjoy visiting.  We cannot wait until next year.

French Braid

I French Braided Sienna's hair the other day.  It cracks me up that it is long enough to braid.  It will be a long time before it is in a braid again though.  It was very uncharacteristic of her to sit still long enough to do this messy one.

Why has it been so long?

We have been so busy that I have not had a moment to blog these last few weeks.  Why have we been so busy you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  We were out of town for two weeks...more to come on that in a future post...and I planned to blog about the vacation as soon as I got back, but I did not have time due to an unexpected night in Houston.  Our flight home from Seattle had a layover.  We were in Houston for a couple of hours and about the time that we should have been boarding for our flight they announced that it would be delayed two hours.  The girls were getting tired, but what can you do but wait longer.  A couple hours later they delayed the flight again.  The girls were getting really tired at this point, but at least we knew that we would get on the plane in an hour and they would fall asleep.  Well, that plan was foiled when they announced that the flight was now cancelled.  By this point we had already been waiting in the airport for six hours.  As soon as they cancelled the flight, there was a mad dash to the service counter to try and book new flights.  Inconveniently Hector had just left for the bathroom before the announcement to I attempted the mad dash with the two girls and our bags.  Needless to say I was not at the front of the line.  After waiting in line for an hour I was told to run to the other end of the airport because a flight was leaving in ten minutes to another DC airport.  I carried Sienna and literally dragged Natalia while she screamed; they were both screaming at this point (yes, we were those people) and we ran.  We got to the gate to be told that our new tickets were not tickets to the flight but standby tickets.  Then the lady in charge of standby informed us that they were not standby tickets but tickets to get in the standby line.  By time we got to the front of the standby line there were only two tickets left and we needed three seats...so close, but back to the service counter for us.  Hector waited in a standby line at a gate with Natalia and Sienna and I waited at the service counter for an hour.  She screamed the whole time, yet pleasantly people in line were really nice to us.  The only time Sienna stopped crying was when this lovely Jamaican man played with her.  We got booked on flight for the next morning, we waited for the last standby of the night, did not make it and then headed to a hotel.  At this point we had been in the Houston Airport for almost ten hours. 

We had brought all our luggage carry-on so it seamed that we would have everything that we needed at the hotel, but ironically, while we were in Seattle, before the whole Houston fiasco, we ran into a crusty service agent at our gate for our Seattle flight who made me check my carry on bag because she thought it was to big.  The same bag fit just fine in the overhead compartment on our last flight but she did not listen to me.  So of course that was the bag with our deodorant and toothbrushes, my clean clothes and the girls pajamas.  That bag was also on its way to Baltimore and our new flight was to DC.  Bummer. 

Needless to say, we got home a day later and two more tired than we anticipated and then I had less than 24 hours before and my dad and two teenage volleyball players came to stay at my house for a week.  To busy to blog, but at least we made it home. 

Last week was volleyball camp.  I was at the gym from nine in the morning to nine at night.  It was so much fun but totally exhausting.  It was great having my dad come to help and it was fun having him bring a couple of his players with him.  After camp ended we all got sick, my dad and the girls left Saturday night and yesterday we just went to church and slept and finally today I feel like all is back to normal.  And now I have time to blog again.

Silly Sienna

Sienna has really been excited about folding her arms for prayers lately. She looks so cute when she does it. We used to try to fold her arms for her, but it just made her mad so we left her alone. Now she just does it on her own. She has also got the Family Home Evening bug. We play ring around the roses at family home evening on a fairly regular basis. Yesterday, before, during and after the opening prayer, Sienna just started walking in circles and randomly plopping on her bum. Sienna also loves to give kisses now...big open mouth kisses. It is so funny but we all love her slobbery affection.

The Performance

I took Natalia to see her first play on Saturday. We talked about it all week. At first I told her we were going to a play and she confused that with a play-date, so I started calling it a performance. She would ask me every day, "Mommy, are we going to see a formance?" There is a cute children's theatre near our house so we headed out with a friend and it was so much fun. We saw Rapunzal. The play was great. The humor was funny and even though it was geared toward the younger audience adults really enjoyed it too. I asked Natalia what her favorite part was and she said, "the monster." The two-headed monster was also my favorite part, so it is clear that Natalia and I will be able to enjoy many performances together as we have the same good tastes. Natalia definitely did not get all the jokes, but she seamed to really enjoy it. She was excited about everything they were doing on stage and she would ask some questions and she held onto her program for dear life. I am so happy to have a new little theatre buddy.

Natalia, Mom, and the Two Headed Monster

Doctor Visit

I took the girls to the doctor yesterday for their checkups.  Natalia had her three year check up and she is doing great as expected.  She was so well behaved at the doctor's and did everything that she was asked to do.  She is 38 and 1/2 inches tall which puts her in the 83rd percentile.  She weighed in at 32.5 pounds which puts her in the 69th percentile for weight.  She got to have her blood pressure taken for the first time and she thought that was fun.  She was really excited about the vitamin samples that she got.  Even though they are exactly the same as the vitamins that she has everyday, these ones are just so much cooler. 

Sienna also did really well at the doctor.  This was her fifteen month appointment.  She was grumpy all morning because she is a little sick and her morning nap was disturbed so I was worried she would be a real grump at the doctor.  Fortunately I was wrong.  She did great.  She was not happy about the three shots she had to get, but who can blame her for that.  Sienna is 31 and 3/4 inches tall which puts her in the 86th percentile for height.  She weighs 23 pounds 11 ounces which puts her in the 81st percentile for weight.  She is a real consistent grower.  She is eating and walking and sleeping well...I really cannot complain. 

I love watching my girls grow and learn.  Natalia, as a new three year old and is learning so fast.  She loves to sing and be sung too.  I especially love when she sings the ABC's because she get the order all mixed up and it is very cute.  Her favorites songs are, Popcorn Popping the Apricot Tree, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Stand By Me, and the Heavy Song by Florence and the Machine...at least she has good taste.  She LOVES to read books.  Her favorite right now is the Critter book that Grandma gave her for her birthday.  I find her sitting on the couch reading it every day.  She loves to go potty ( I knew it would eventually happen) and I am happy to say (happy is an understatement) that she is fully potty trained.  She loves to play outside.  She loves to run to Hector's truck when he gets home from work.  She can talk your head off if she is in a situation that she feels comfortable in.  Put her in a new place with new people and you would think that she did not know how to speak at all.  She cannot say her "Ls" and this makes for some pretty cute comments.  Just think Lions Licking Lollipops with the L sound replaced by a W.  Natalia is good at saying her prayers, she loves to go to Nursery, and does really well listening to the scriptures every night.  She is a good sleeper.  I am glad that she still takes a nap.  She does sneak out of her bed at night occasionally.  She is very stealthy.  The other night Hector and I were out on a date and when we got home we found her sound asleep...in the middle of OUR bed.  She is happy most of the time, but does not always show her enthusiasm with smiles.  She still has the same little bob hairstyle.  It is so easy to do...I literally do nothing.  I offer bows and ponytails, but she usually turns them down.  She LOVES all the road construction trucks.  Dump trucks, diggers, excavators, you name it, if it is big and dirty she thinks it is so cool and that is mostly what she talks about while we are in the car.  She loves to watch shows.  I am not sure that I am a fan of this, but we are figuring out the balance.  She loves Dora the Explorer and Dinosaur Train the best right now.  

Sienna is a fun little one year old.  She seams to really have grown lately.  She is now fifteen months old.  She is a good little walker, but still does the wobble and fall sometimes.  She loves to eat and she never ceases to amaze me with her eating abilities.  She has tons of teeth...I have lost count of how many...but even before she had all the teeth she could eat anything without choking on it.  She really loves noodles and cheese and blueberries and kind of berries...the list could go on.  Oh, green beans, she loves those.  She does not love milk like Natalia does.  She will drink it, but she prefers water.  She loves to play outside.  Anytime someone opens the door, she runs (walks slightly faster than normal) and grabs her shoes.  She is not a hoverer like Natalia.  I actually have to keep my eye on her when we go out.  She just goes off and plays.  At the playground she will climb to the highest slide and go down by herself.  She is very brave...to brave for her own good.  She thinks it is funny to try and run into the street.  Obviously this is something we are working to correct, but unfortunately she still thinks it is a game.  She loves music.  If Natalia and I are singing then she will wave her little hands as fast as she can.  It puts a smile on my face every time.  She likes to climb things but she HATES the swing.  She generally likes everyone.  She makes friends with all adults and then backs her little bum into laps forcing people to hold her.  She mooches food off anyone who will cave in and give her something.  She loves cookies.  At church on Sunday all the men where given a bag of cookies for father's day and Sienna was a hot mess until she got her hands on some.  She has a big smile and when she smiles her cheeks look super chubby.  Her hair is long and growing fast.  She hates it when I put it up, but she has to deal with the ponytail everyday or her hair is in her eyes.  I am starting to understand more of what she is saying.  She now can say, "what's that" and "all done".  It is not real intelligible yet, but I can understand her.  She is so much fun and silly as ever.

Summer Fun

We have been enjoying the summer weather here at the Noriega house.  The girls beg to "play chalk" everyday.  Natalia begs, Sienna just brings me her shoes and grunts.  We have a constant assortment of artistic displays on our front sidewalk.  The little ladies also love the sand box and pool in the back yard.  Hector worked this last Saturday and the girls and I literally played in the back yard all day.  It was great fun eating popsicles and spraying Natalia with the hose...she loves this.  Sienna was not so much a fan of the hose.  That is not entirely true.  She loved to stick her hands in it and splash...she was just not so much a fan of Natalia chasing her with the hose and drenching her from the head down.  They both love picking my raspberries too. 

Our summer days have been filled with outdoor fun, lots of friends and barbecues in the back yard.  We also had a nice Father's Day this weekend.  I took Hector to see Riverdance Saturday night.  Hector as been wanting to see it for years so it seemed like a nice Father's Day present.  It was really enjoyable and a perfect night for it; we had lawn seats.  Sunday after church we went down to Hector's Parents House and enjoyed time with the family.  We are so lucky to have such great family.  My girls are so lucky to have such a wonderful father and two wonderful grandfathers.  I could not imagine it any other way.  They are lucky to have such fantastic examples in their lives.  

I bought Natalia her Halloween costume at a garage sale the other day...this is a preview picture of what is to come in October.  She loves it and wants to wear it most every day.  She is just so cute.  I love that she accessorised the tiger with sparkling necklaces and a skirt (that you can not really see in the picture).

Latest Cake Design

I am having fun designing cakes, I just do not usually have a reason to make cakes.  I certainly do not need to make them for myself.  We had a party at young women's the other night and that was the perfect opportunity to try something new.  I think it turned out rather lovely.  I need people to start hiring me so I have more reasons to make fun cakes.  Natalia was pretty bummed that she did not get to eat any.

Birthday Fun Videos

Happy Birthday Natalia!

Natalia is three!  We celebrated her birthday on Saturday so that we could pack in as much fun for her as possible.  She loved her cake when she saw it in the morning.  It was really fun to surprise her with that.  She loved her decorations and she was excited to find out what was under the blanket in the living room.  I picked up the bike last weekend and I was so excited to give it to her.  She loved it!  She was happy to just sit on it in the living room.  She was so concerned about not having a helmet though.  As soon as she saw the bike she exclaimed, "I need a helmet...I have to have a helmet first."  Later in the day when we went to ride it outside she was still rather concerned about riding it without a helmet.  I have not taught her bike safety, so I am not sure how she got to be such a safety conscious biker. 

After she opened her presents we sat down to a pancake breakfast as requested by Natalia.  She was really excited about the chocolate smiley faces.  Once she was full of pancake she resorted to just licking the chocolate off the pancakes.  Very resourceful girl I have. 

 

After pancakes and morning bike rides (aka - Hector pushing Natalia on the bike...she thinking she is riding) we headed downstairs to watch the new movie that she got from Grandma.  She really liked "Booty and the Beast".  Hector and I mostly slept through Beauty and the Beast...which I really needed since I stayed up till 2:00 making the cake.  We loved hearing her call it Booty and the Beast.

After more playing in the morning and an attempt at nap time (so hard to sleep with birthday excitement in the air) we had the party.  We invited Natalia's friends and their families over for a back yard shindig.  It was much fun and the weather could not have cooperated more perfectly.  Sienna was a little cranky at first, but then she got into the birthday fun.  Eli was a trooper and hung out with all the girls!

Natalia loved the slip'n'slide.  She has not really figured out the most efficient way to us it, but I like her style.  She runs down the the slippy lane and then plops on her bottom in the pool at the end.  She laughs and then does it again.  Not much slipping or sliding going on, but she loves it. 

The pool was a big hit.  The kids were in and out all afternoon.  Hector barbecued and we all ate good food.  I think Natalia ate three hot dogs and Sienna loved anyone that would give her chips and hot dogs.

Natalia loves juice just as much as she loves milk and if you know Natalia then you know about her love affair with milk.  I let her have as much juice as she wanted at the party, but it did mean that she has a lovely joker looking juice mustache in all her pictures. 

This was the first year that Natalia did not cry when everyone sang happy birthday to her.  It only took her a couple of blows to put out the flames on the candles.  She war quite proud of herself. 

Natalia loved eating her cake...it was quite the hit amongst the kids.  I make cupcakes for the adults.  Sienna chummed up to Krystale and mooched cupcake from her. 

As the evening began to settle the little girls headed inside and had a dance party.  This was not even planned, they initiated it on their own and they were all so cute.  Natalia likes to have me watch everything that she does.  She had some really impressive dance moves to show me. 

Present opening was fun and crazy all at the same time.  I love the enthusiasm of the kids; I love that everyone wants to see what is inside, but it means that things are opened fast and then passed around and I am not really sure who gave what to Natalia, but she loved it all.  And...she got a helmet from Grandma and Grandpa, so that bike safety stress can be eliminated. 

The birthday was so much fun.  I think that Natalia had a great time.  She loved playing with her friends.  She loved having her family there.  She loved all the silly things we did.  She is so great.  She has changed so much this past year.  She has really come out of her little shell.  She is much more outgoing and social.  She loves to talk and tell stories.  She remembers everything.  Most conversations start with, "remember when..."  Natalia we love you so much.  I am so glad that we can celebrate your life each year on your birthday.  I hope that your birthday is always something that you have fond memories of.  We want you to know that you are special to us.  We love having you in the family.  You make us better.