Me and The Girls

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

2012-02-09T17:22:00.000-08:00

Abuelo Y Abuela

Tio Jose (Juan's bro) I think it's pretty obvious! His Sister Virna is in the back.

Tio Jose and Marieli

This year was super fun, and filled with family. We spent Cristmas at Grammy's and New years with Juan's entire family at our house! We have never had his brother and parents at the same time.

We had our first ever New Years party, and it wasn't that bad because Juan's Mom is awesome at helping! She did almost everything! I was able to relax a lot, and that is something pretty rare around the holidays!

Annelise wanted:

a wuggle pet (a pet you stuff)

More magna tiles

and a lego mini figure

Julianna wanted:

Strawberry shortcake itty bitty city

Fall Part II -Happy Birthday Annelise!

2011-12-28T18:57:00.001-08:00

Happy 5th Birthday sweet Annelise!!!

You love to draw pictures of you and your sisters.

You talk like an adult, but with a disney character voice.

You sing all the time!

You are very sweet to your sisters (even when Julianna is not being nice).

You can read and write short easy words.

You love to smile at Marielle.

You crawl into our bed at least three nights a week around 3am.

You are a big time Dada's girl.

You like bacon, pizza, carrots and ranch, all fruits, pb and J, meatballs and nuggets.

You have a very creative imagination, i'm always blown away by the things you make and say!

I think you are an awesome kid!

I LOVE YOU-

Mom

Thanksgiving Day 2011

The town we live in hosts a Grinch "Who-Ville" in early december and the girls had their hair done complete with styrofoam inserts.

Annelise had a low key birthday party at the house, then a surprise party at Auntie Didi's on Thanksgiving Day.

Annelise lost her first tooth. . . A second is soon to follow!

Julianna had her first school Christmas party. She skipped the pizza and ate the cookie.

Christmas Dress-up

2011-12-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

Every year I do a formal style Christmas picture for our card, but this year I decided to do a really fun "dress up" card.

The girls loved twirling around the backyard in pretty dresses! I LOVE my card this year because it is a reflection

of my little girls and their fun attitude!

Fall part one

2011-11-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

Fall has finally cooled down, so we made our way to San Antonio for Sea World!

Julianna was very upset that she didn't get to go on the raft ride.

Both girls loved feeding the dolphins.

We stayed in an awesome country hotel near the park.

The hotel had smores by the fire. Julianna just liked to let her marshmallow burn!

On Saturday we woke up to noises in the kitchen and to our surprise it was Annelise setting the table for a family breakfast! She even cut the cake from a cake stand with a heavy dome lid!

Halloween 2011.

Annelise: Bride

Julianna: Strawberry Shortcake

Graveyard hunt

The Flintstone Family

Juans Parents came to visit and the girls kept them very busy!

The Girls at the schools fall festival

Pumpkin painting.

I just want to eat you up Julianna!!!

Marielle LOVES tummy time!

Annelise had her first field trip to the pumpkin patch and she got to ride on a big yellow school bus!

Stay at home kids

2011-08-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to embellish some hair clips since Annelise is growing her bangs out. The girls were so focused on helping out.

These are some brads that Julianna was obsessed with organizing.

All finished. . .much better.

All that crafting desevers a treat! Normally I insist they eat this outside but it would melt before they were finished.

Marielle still is the most exciting thing around!! The few monments that she is awake the girls are all over her making her smile!

Julianna's painting

She had to stay home this day because of a runny nose and hives on her checks. Annelise got to go swiming with the neighbors.

More time at home means more mess! So I am getting the girls into cleaning!

Visitors!

2011-07-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

Marielle has been keeping the house buzzing with company!!! Juan's parents have been amazing at helping me out during this busy time! My Mother in law cooks "dinner style" lunches everyday and picks up the house every night . . . it's awesome!

The picture above was the best one (getting this many people to stay still was no cake walk!)

The picture below was the awesome breakfast a girlfriend brought over! It was so yummy for the eyes and the mouth . . . and she has three kids of her own!

I was blown away by all the Moms in my playgroup that brought over dinner, we are sooooo lucky to have made some awesome friends here.

A sweet moment between sisters!

Titi Virna holding 3 week old Marielle.

Julianna has been very loving to her Abuelos!

Fun with bubbles.

Marielle at Three weeks!

Marielle Loren!!!

2011-07-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the third of July, Marielle finally decided to join us. . . on her due date that is! She is the sweetest thing we could ever ask for!

She was 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 in. She has a full head of light brown hair, that I call blonde (in this house, that IS blonde)!

The girls and Juan are fighting over her constantly.

So far she is very easy going and only cries when she needs something. I hate to count my eggs before they hatch but I have a feeling she is one of those "good babies" I always heard about.

I swear Marielle is smiling at Annelise in this picture.

Annelise says that she loves her "the most", even more than Julianna or us!

Julianna wants to hold her all the time and is surprisingly gentle with her. She gives her sweet kisses and says "I love you Yariyelle"

Juan holds her for hours, and is CRAZY about her!

I am also obsessed with the little monkey!

She has made an impact on this house, but not in a way I was expecting!?!?

I was expecting a madhouse with no peace, but it has not been bad at all. She has made this family more loving!

We all LOVE you Marielle!

p.s. please stay sweet!

Butterflies and Bragging

2011-06-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Every Spring I visit my neighbors butterfly garden. They spend hours (retired) making their garden a magical place. I even gave them the iron arch that Juan and I got married under, and it has a coral honeysuckle growing on it!

Well I figured it would be nice for the girls to have a butterfly garden on the side of the play house, so my neighbor sent me to the nursery with a shopping list. . . no butterflies came! Next I went online and bought some caterpillars. At the same time my girl friend Jessica went to the lake and got FREE monarch eggs off of milkweed and had a completely different experience!

When our painted lady caterpillars came in the mail they were cute little balls of lint that did nothing. Then the very next day. . .they doubled in size!!! Julianna went crazy over them! Every morning she would run downstairs to see the "aterpillars".

Soon after , they were DISGUSTING!!! The picture can't even capture the digustingness! They are in this tiny urine sample jar full of their own poop, they are spiky, and they fight!

Once they went into their chrysalis they could be moved into the butterfly house (much better).

See the red stuff on the paper? That is what sprays when they come out of the chrysalis. Apparently the lovely monarchs don't do this.

Finally we had butterflies (4 out of 5). We would release them soon after they were done opening up. Although I wanted them to stay in my new garden, they quickly flew away to my neighbors garden . . .sigh. They knew how repulsed by them I was during the caterpillar stage!

Now comes the bragging!

Annelise has some artistic talents! I wanted to document them since my memory is terrible and I really do love bragging about my kids!!!

It all started with the ED Emberly books from her graphic artist uncle and now has spun into a real passion.

Next is her 3D art. . .

About a month ago she begged for some cheap modeling clay from the checkout of hobby lobby. I wanted nothing to do with the mess so I tried to encourage her to stick with a different craft, but she insisted. I let her have it because it was $1.99!

WELL I was wrong! She will stay at the table for hours creating these really cool sculptures!

Above is a butterfly on a flower.

Below is a birds nest with a snail on the edge. I gave her a toothpick for poking the eyes.

This is a snail again (she likes snails, I guess)

A crab.

$1.99 worth of clay and about 2 hours of productive quiet time!

WELL WORTH IT!

Next time I will buy the clay that gets hard in the oven. This is modeling clay and never gets hard. This is why taking pictures is so important!

Dancing Queen!

2011-05-27T18:23:00.001-07:00

Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to dance ballet! Well I never did, but I knew if I had a girl that one day I would see if she shared my same dream!

So far Annelise LOVES to dance! She was so excited for her second recital in which she was going to be in two numbers. The first was the tap dance, and the second was the ballet. She definitely preferred the tap over the ballet.

We gave her flowers and a little gift bag with a princess crown and a necklace charm.

This was her and her friends running around dancing at rehearsal.

This year was sooooo different from last year. Her confidence in herself has blossomed, and that is what I was hoping for from taking the classes. I hope she wants to dance for many more years to come so I can live my dream through her... no pressure sweetie! besides I have 2 more girls and Julianna's love of music and dancing looks like we might have two little dancers!

The Good Life!

2011-05-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

Years ago Juan was pretty surprised to find out I have never been to South Padre Island, so we decided to go there one day . . .

With the new baby on the way we made a decision that this spring was the best chance we were going to get for a good long while!!!

This is the view from the condo balcony. I was very scared of Julianna jumping off the balcony, so we booked the condo on the lowest floor available! I was smart for insisting on this because as soon as we arrived she pushed a chair to the rail for the big jump into the pool!!!

I know what she is thinking!

Oh we had a great time! I was super relaxed since we were in a small two bed room apartment with very little to clean! It made me realize that all the clutter in my house should disappear if I ever want to feel a fraction of that relaxation at my own home!

I also reconfirmed that I really love Mexicans!!! They are by far the most easy going people ever! I felt the same way we lived in El Paso !

The condos were filled with families from Monterrey and I had a chance to chat with some ladies by the pool. Most of the families had 3 or more kids and ALL had nannies with them. So out of curiosity I asked one of my new friends how much they paid for the nanny. My jaw dropped when she said that the nanny lives with them, cooks, cleans and does laundry for $150.00 U.S. a month!!! No wonder they are so laid back!!!

Easter

2011-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

We live in a pretty awesome neighborhood! Every year since Annelise was one I have had the neighbors over for a little egg hunt in the backyard.

This was two years ago.

This picture was taken at Annelise's school Easter/Spring show. She really sang her heart out!

Happy Birthday Cupcake!!!

2011-04-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we celebrated Julianna's second birthday. I decided to stick to the "age plus one" rule and only sent out 3 invitations.

It was hard to leave a lot of good friends out!!!

I did it mostly because I am in my third trimester and feeling exhausted.

I almost did nothing!

I loved how easy it was to plan and execute a small party!

A little look back. . .

This picture was taken on Easter Sunday. Julianna was only 4 days old. Annelise was super happy to have a sister!

Thanksgiving 2009

Below is a picture of me about the same age.

She is "mini me"

She crawled at 6 months, then knee hopped at 7 months until 16 months!

Julianna's First birthday was close enough to Easter that it was a party/egg hunt. That party was 20+ kids, a bounce castle and 5 dozen eggs!!! It was a lot of fun!

I love this picture! She is about 18 months old here

. . .same for this picture!!!

Julianna has a serious sweet tooth, so I thought a cupcake party would be perfect for her.

I let the kids do the decorating.

I set up a hand washing station since icing can be pretty messy!

Thanks for the appetizer C.B. it was yummy!!!

The look on Julianna's face was precious! She did not realize the party was for her until she heard her name in the song!

Mrs. Erika gave her this super cute bathing suit, which she wanted on right away!!!

Overall it was a great day full of good food, good friends and good times!

Dear Julianna,

You are so much fun! You light up at the most simple things.

You love chocolate ice cream, good cheese, pickles and cookies (sounds like what I ate when you were in my tummy).

You hate to be told what to do, and almost all fruits!

You have some serious energy!!!

You can climb things like a monkey. You are VERY friendly to everyone, mostly men and elderly. You like to play with the typical "boy toys" such as cars, trains, and dinosaurs.

You love to draw, only if it's with a pen or marker.

You run away from me A LOT!

I now know why they have those leashes for kids.

You don't talk very clear, but I understand you. You can recognize all the letters of the alphabet.

You LOVE music!

You like to play with your sister, but I can tell you would rather play alone.

I am so happy to have you, because you challenge me everyday!!!

I love you Julianna, you really are a firecracker!

Love,

Mom

Disney 2011

2011-03-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

My sister likes to go to Disney World every year at spring break. So this year when she had no one else to go with, I thought it would be fun to just take Annelise and

make it a first trip with my sister!!!

Annelise had a blast ... me ... not so much?!?! The entire state of Florida along with half the country was in Disney World that week!!! Oh well, live and learn! I still had a wonderful time watching her face light up!

Day one, Magic Kingdom!

We stayed from open to Fireworks!

Day two was Animal Kingdom.

We were so thankful to see a Rain Forest Cafe steps from the exit of the park, since our feet were killing us!!!

Day Three Epcot!!! I love Epcot!!! We started the day with a princess breakfast. She loved the up close interaction with the Princesses, definitely worth the $$$!

Epcot also has this building you can go in and meet Mickey, Minne, Goofy and Donald. She gave each one a huge hug first, then posed.

Last day MGM Hollywood! Not too many pictures in this park ... because I was beat!!! We sat down to eat a lot in this park! Annelise got on some pretty serious rides in this park! One called the tower of terror! She also rode roller coasters in the other parks! She is super brave! Both Juan and I are into roller coasters, we couldn't be prouder!!! I sadly was not able to get on the rides with her since I was 25 weeks (six Months), pregnant.

After four days of going from park to park we met up with my Uncle, Aunt and Cousins that live in FL. We had decided to meet at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Ok, so it was Friday night in Spring Break, just guess how long the wait was ... 2.5 hours!!! So we meet at 7 and did not eat until TEN!!! I had to belly up (literally) to the bar and order nachos and food for Annelise. She was exhausted this last day , and I didn't make a big deal about her being a little whinny... she earned it!

Look at those sleepy eyes!

Overall a great trip and I can't wait to take all my girls . . .

when they are 10!!! (and in the Fall)

Artsy Fartsy

2011-03-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Annelise has always been into crafts, but lately she is obsessed!!! She wants to draw from the minute she wakes up, and I love it!!!

Julianna tasted the paint, or maybe she was trying to put on "makeup". ( I put my makeup on with brushes).

Our friends were visiting and this is their adorable baby Joseph.

I love this picture!!!

Snow day, Grandparents, and Parties!!!

2011-02-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a perfect little snow day! Juan got to stay home and the kids had so much fun playing in the snow! I have a picture just like this one with my sister over 20 years ago! It never snowed in San Antonio when I was a kid, so we are pretty lucky to get some snow two years in a row!

Julianna's face was looking pretty bad but she did not want to go inside!

Juan's parents were in San Antonio visiting so the kids got to play with Abuelo and Abuela for the weekend.

This is Annelise making necklaces with her Grammy. Grammy did not want to be photographed first thing in the morning! Annelise makes some pretty cute things at my Moms house.

This was a nice warm day out side where I decided to trim the dead plants in the pots out back. Annelise was awfully busy during the fourty five minutes it took me. I saw her bring stuff from the playhouse into the main house. When I get inside I see this tea party setup, and she said "oh, Mom you are just in time for the party!"

I know this picture looks scary but it has a cute story. I was clearing out winter cloths getting ready for the warmer days ahead. I found this dress my aunt made for my cousin almost 30 years ago. I asked her to try it on to see if if fits and she looked in the mirror and say "I look French." I dont knoe where she got that Idea but I busted out laughing!!!

Confessional: Annelise liked, no LOVED to drink from bottles until recently!!! She would drink two eight once bottles of milk a day, so I figured if is was the only way to get her to drink milk then it was fine with me. I stopped buying her toys when ever we went to a store and let her know that if she wanted to say "bye bye bottle" that we would return to that store and buy the toy. It never worked!!! She would drop that toys and say, "ok I will come back when I'm ready!" So when she woke up one morning two weeks ago and tells me she is ready to give up the bottle I offer her a party to celebrate!!! We had her two best friends and our neighbor Mason over for a "bye, bye bottle" party. It was lots of fun.

No party is complete without favors!

She wanted to be dressed beautiful for the Valentines day party at her school. She even slept in foam rollers!!!

Julianna got in on the party action, getting to sit with Everett.

Annelise was cookie decorating and Julianna was the quality control!

Even Everett got to get some of Annelise's creations! He mainly just ate the icing... actually, most of it was on his face!!! -so he probably didn't get that much icing, Erika!

It's a . . .

2011-02-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

I am nineteen weeks pregnant.

A look back at some things I did the last 19 weeks:

This at the pumpkin patch... I have no idea I am pregnant!

This is at a birthday party and I was feeling queasy, but I just thought it was the girls night out I had the night before.

The test below is one I purchased while at the dollar store buying stuff for our annual Halloween party. I was pretty sure I did not need it! I was running a lot those days and I figured that was why I was three days late.

The news was too shocking to hold on to, so pretty much everyone at our Halloween party knew. Annelise's birthday party was pretty much when I started to feel terrible.

Ahh... the holidays + first trimester = fast weight gain!!!

The Inteligender test reveals that we are having a BOY!!! We are happy with the news but we know that it is not 100 percent accurate so we are optimistic for the time.

Oh yes the Train ride! I am smiling in this picture before the ride but I wish someone had taken an after picture ... Ugh, I was sick!

Took Annelise to see the Nutcracker. My pants were extra tight!

The Holidays were such a Blah because I felt pretty sick.

And lastly the 18 week sonogram. We were pretty confident we were having a boy so when the nice tech passes her wand through the legs and finds nothing, we pretty much knew! It's a girl!!!

Juan just sat back and says "oh, well I make beautiful girls". I am over the shock of being pregnant and now I am getting used to the idea of a third girl!

Dear Baby,

Let me just start by saying that you are soooo lucky! You have two of the best sisters and a Dad who loves them so much! You also have me as your Mom, who can't wait to have the three of you girls dressed up like princesses!!! I really think you will love it in our family. We have every toy a girl could want, and it's almost all pink around here! We can't wait to meet you and we hope you come on the 4th of July so that we can have some awesome parties for your birthday!

Love,

Mom

Fun Times

2011-01-27T12:47:00.000-08:00

We have been recovering from the hectic holidays and it couldn't have come at a better time! I am just ready for extra boring!!! But our little life is anything but... so here are some fun pictures from my phone.

We have been having some cold days here lately and Annelise can't wait for the warm days to come back. We recently had a nice day when my answer to the "can I go outside " was finally "yes" . She must think high fifties is "warm" because she ran upstairs and put on all the summer things she could find!!! She then takes this lawn chair out and sunbathes!!!

This is a at Cabella's outdoor store. We stop almost every time we go to San Antonio. The girls love it! Juan Loves it too!

We took the Borden boys in our van to do a lunch play date... or was is so we Moms could enjoy some time together before the busy school schedule... hmm. Notice the purse hanging on the Armadillo's ear!

So now can we get back to "plain vanilla" life?

I have a feeling we are more "Rocky Road" kinda people!

Christmas Day!

2011-01-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

Annelise has been counting down the days, and finally it was here! Christmas morning she ran into our room and yells "Santa came!" She wanted three things

1.) A sewing machine

2) Beauty and The Beast Movie

3) a camera

She got all three, but sadly her sewing machine did not work :(

Baba her rabbit and his friends also got gifts. She had very spesific gift requested for them too but this is what Michels craft store had in the doll section. I told her that Baba told me that he wanted ice skates instead of pink boots and since I wrote the letter to Santa that is what he got. She bought it.

Julianna got a train set that she loves!!!

She also got a baby that talks.

Overall it was a great day. We had a house full of family over for lunch and they stayed until night... it was the perfect ending to the perfect day!

This is a funny picture of the day after Christmas. Annelise gets the chair and moves it to the candy, and Julianna took advantage.

The Nutcracker

2010-12-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

I always knew that if I had a daughter that I would make it a Christmas tradition to go to the Nutcracker. My Mom did this with us, and I loved it!

We were able to share a ride with our neighbors Molly and sweet little Gwendolyn! I don't know if we will be going again next year since I think she was a little too young, but I am sure we will attempt this tradition again in a few years.

Her favorite part was "the scary mouses". My favorite part was getting to go out to eat with Molly afterwards!

Good Times!

2010-12-12T18:06:00.001-08:00

This weekend was super fun and filled with good times! Saturday morning Annelise had a princess tea birthday party to go to. She loved getting all dolled up, and had a blast! Later on that night we went to a Christmas party were Annelise got to stay up very late and play with her friends! The kids even put on a show and I have a feeling it was her idea.

This is her the next morning!!! Need I say more?

After parting all night we went for a much anticipated train ride with the Borden's!

Julianna was not into the Santa.

The kids got train whistles from Santa and cookies from Mrs. Claus. Julianna loved the train ride, but she spent most of her time in the Borden side enjoying their snacks and affection!

Overall a great weekend!!! We are so lucky to have such great friends to create wonderful memories with!

Christmas Stroll

2010-12-12T08:48:00.001-08:00

Annelise had a supper cute show in the downtown last weekend. She sang a Christmas song that is stuck in my head permanently!!!

This is her with some of her classmates getting ready to go on stage. They were all so excited I could not get her to stay still for a decent picture.

Annelise and Maddox loved the Bethlehem Village.

It was a great weekend with good friends! I love Christmas time with kids, it gets so much better every year!

Circus Friends!!!

2010-12-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks Erika!!!

You gave me the inspiration to get this done!!! I think you are just the down to earth friend that every overachiever needs!!!

This post is just for my blogger buddies! I am getting ready for holiday post and wanted to get the rest of the circus pictures posted before I move on. She suggested I just forget about it, and that gave me a challenge to FINISH!

You are the best!

Circus Party

2010-11-23T12:12:00.000-08:00

About six months ago my friend Valerie asked if I could help out with her son's circus invitations. I thought, what a cute I idea so I stole it for Annelise's 4th birthday. She lent me some super cute signs and gave me lots of inspiration!

This post is just party details, the next post will have pictures of the kids having fun!

This sign was at Old Navy. The manager said they would just throw it away when they were done with it!!! I asked for it, and she said if I put my number on the back of it that they would call me when it was time to get rid of it! I could not believe it when she really called, so I took Annelise to say "thank you" at the pick up.

I got these giant balloons were at party city in a six pack. They were soooooo cool!

The kids had 10 tokens to play games for tickets so they could pick out thier own prizes. This was a huge hit.

Ariel was our clown and she was so good with the kids. She made some pretty cool balloon animals and painted some neat things on the kids faces. I heard a few Moms saying that their kids did not want their face washed that night!!!

This tent is the best thing I have ever sewn! I have no idea how I did it, so I can never repeat this again.

This is a 1960's vitntage clown game I got on Ebay.

Duck pond game with Em.

Ring toss game in an old soda crate purchased at the Flea market.

Just look at that face!!!

Annelise,

You are so fun, sweet and easy to love! You crack me up on a daily bases and always look on the bright side! I love watching you mature in to someone that I would consider my best friend. You love to do crafts, bake and you are asking Santa for a sewing machine!!! You also try to make sure your friends are happy when they come over to our house, you are quite the hostess! Your latest thing is to whip out of bed, make it, then dress your self!!! Your taste in clothing is something we do NOT have in common! You like loud bold prints that do not match! I like the way you wear it though, as if you look good and you know it (which is like me ;) ). Happy Birthday my little princess!

I LOVE YOU,

MOM

Halloween 2010!!!

2010-11-03T11:16:00.001-07:00

Dora and Diego are two of our daughter's favorite shows. They are supposed to be cousins so I guess me and Juan are the incestuous versions of our characters! Hehe. The idea to be them came from Annelise insisting that she wanted to be a hyena?!?! She is a big Lion King fan. The Hyena made me think that we could do some kinda safari theme and then Diego hit me then ...duh, Dora hit!!! So that is how I came up with the ideas.

Julianna is a "Baby Jaguar" who is Diego's side kick on the show.

The food spread was AWESOME!!! Thanks to friends that came with some really good things to eat! (and drink, Thanks Jess)

The Micky Mouse came with her little mini and she was the winner of the Mummy costume prize.

Arrrg!!! This Family was so cute! The Mom said she looked through her son's stuff, but I think they have this stuff for themselves! :)

Cool picture of the kids hunting for candy in the graveyard.

My Sister came three hours early and worked her butt off!!! I love you D, you saved the day!

The winner of the Daddy costume prize was a storm trooper.

Awesome costumes HANDMADE by an Awesome mommy!

The "Outlet and Plug" got a lot of votes.

Got to love the Hockey players!

We had a awesome time this year having everyone over. Too bad it is our last in Georgetown... it was by far the best!!! Thanks to all who brought food and drinks and big thanks to all who dressed up you made it extra special!

Now I am off to get ready for Annelise's Circus party... oh boy, it has some coat tails to ride!

Fall Fun

2010-10-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farms.

I love this place!!!

Annelise woke up that morning and wanted to dress in full cowgirl gear!?! Play gun included!

I rode the first round with the girls and thought is was safe to let Julianna go with just Annelise. I know this is crazy because she is such a climber, but I let her go. I was on the ready to run like a lunatic to the kid driving had she started standing, but she never did!

Julianna loved this boat.

It was an Awesome day!

Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

Fall is here!!! I love FALL!

The girls and I joined our playgroup at the Sweet Berry Farms in Marble falls today. We took along our neighbors and had so much fun! Annelise is posing so cute next to her BFF Maddox.

This is the neighbor's son M.M. He is Julianna's little "boyfriend". Both my girls are already boy crazy!!!

Julianna

2010-09-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post pretty pictures of Julianna since my blog has been

"Annelise Heavy" lately!

I was just testing my new camera, and she proved to be very difficult to capture since she NEVER stays still!!!

I LOVE you Julianna, but you are wild!

Firginia Beach

2010-09-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have been to Virginia beach twice this year and both times we take just Annelise, she calls it "Firginia Beach".

The main reasons we went were

1) Meet baby Joseph

2) Juan and Rob were running in the Virginia beach half marathon

3) Juan had a job interview

PLUS...We LOVE going, because we LOVE Rob and Katie (and now Baby Joseph) so much!

We had a short stay there but still managed a trip to Bush Gardens.

On the Last day Rob and Dada took her on the boat to see dolphins jumping in the ocean!!!

She was so excited to tell me all about it!

I am so happy that she loves "Firginia Beach" so much because Juan's interview went well and it looks like next summer all the fun things we did on our short vacations will be part of our "regular" weekends!!!

Thanks Rob and Katie!

We can't wait to be neighbors and be a part of your beautiful son's life!

SB convention in Vegas...An Inauguration!

2010-09-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Being a stay at home Mom has made me realize what a jerk I was all those years that I thought stay at home Moms were "Lazy"! I was in serious need of a break,when Dina from my Moms playgroup asked if I would like to go to Las Vegas for a short trip..."Yes I will go...well hold on, let me run this by Juan." He of course wanted me to go and have a good time with the ladies, so that was exactly what I did!!! We had sooooooo much fun! We are all already planning for next year!

The picture of the luggage is just a reminder of how much stuff that Jess and Jen packed for a three day two night stay (you can't see it but Jen in back has a big one behind Dina).

(That face on Jess is because we were already pretty happy since she gave us all drink coupons on the plane! (8am), thanks Jess!)

Sunday morning in Vegas was pretty dead since everyone is sleeping or flying home. So we took it easy and got massages at the spa. After dinner I was so sleepy I took a nap (7pm) then woke at 9pm to go down to the casino to find the rest of the gang in a crowd at the craps table!!! They were all super excited because they were all up a hundred or so!!! I quickly get out my $50 I budgeted for gambling (I know pathetic) and got $10 in chips on the craps table! It doubled ... bam..again bam! This was exciting!!! Dina was the one throwing the dice so we were all screaming and the crowds were coming. I have never gambled before so I was pretty out of the loop on what was going on, but I knew I was winning because the dealer kept doubling my chips!

That first night in the casino was so much fun for all of us because we were all making money.

After that night we all started to slowly lose money but still had a ton of fun playing the games shopping and EATING at the buffet for 24 hrs!

My time with my family is precious, so when I spend time away from them I want to be sure it is worth it! It was!!! Girls, thank you for an awesome time!!! I got to know each one of you sooooo much more in this three days, then in the last three years of play dates. You are amazing Moms and I can't wait until next year!

BUSY Days of Summer!

2010-08-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

We have been super busy this summer! It seams like we are never home! If we are home, we are just packing to go somewhere else. Abuelo and Abuela came to visit for a week and they

had so much fun playing with the girls. This picture is the only picture I had from the visit. We were at the Austin's Children's Museum and they were playing with Julianna.

Annelise got to go on a "Dada Date" to the Dora live show! Juan and I agreed that Julianna is way to active to sit for a performance, so I stayed home with her. She loved it again this year and we can't wait to take them both next year!

Our good friend Harper turned 2 with the cutest western party on a real farm! Annelise just had to have these super cute pink cowgirl boots! Check out Harper's red boots!

In August we had an awesome time in Dallas for The Hottest Half Marathon. We went with some good friends and were actually able to go to a nice place to eat while the kids played in a playground (thanks to Amanda's research).

Today's high 101! YIKES!!! We have been doing many outdoor things and getting wet most of all! We have tried to go to the lake as often as possible since Julianna is old enough to go this year. We love to go with our new military friends that also have 2 kids. They have a son named Maddox and he is Annelise's new BFF. Today we had them over for a play date and I overheard her tell him "Maddox, this is our newborn baby!" OH Lord help us! I will have to post a pic of him next time because he is as cute as can be with red hair!

Julianna is walking!!!

2010-07-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Dear my sweet Julianna,

You are 15 months old now and you still love to hop on your knees!!! Everywhere we go people stop to ask me about your knee walking/hoping. I looks painful but you clearly are in no pain!!! So can you imagine how excited I am now that you are taking steps all over the house! I am so proud of you and I love you!

-Mom

Annelise has drawing on the brain!

2010-06-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Annelise loves to draw! She always wants to make cards for people and she has been drawling the same family of four for a while. In this picture she said the pink thing is a carrot.

This book was a gift to Annelise when she was one from her Tio Jose Daniel. Needless to say she was not ready for a drawling book back then but her uncle was a graphic artist (now he is a psychologist) and I am sure he knew she would be ready to draw pictures soon.

She wanted to draw the bear and I did not help at all (which she asked every step for help!!!). When she finished I asked what was the thing coming out of the right ear and she said "that is his brains!" Gross brains??? I don't know where she gets her obsession with brains? Maybe the zombies Vs. plants game she plays on Juan's phone?

I think I liked the nice family of four better?

San Diego Marathon

2010-06-10T17:42:00.001-07:00

We have been told by my Mom since I was pregnant that she would not watch the two girls at the same time! So when I asked her if she would watch them BOTH so that we could go to San Diego for the Rock and Roll Marathon, I was surprised when she said yes!!!
The temperature in San Diego was perfect for running (a little chilly in the am and pm). The morning of the race was cloudy but nice. This is Juan and Darrell at the 7 mile marker.

The San Diego Zoo was super nice!

We ate a majority of our meals in Little Italy. It was two blocks from the hotel and had the best burger joint ever. I know we were supposed to eat Italian food in Little Italy but Juan always wants a burger and beer after a run and we were hooked!

Virginia Beach Trip 2010

2010-05-30T09:56:00.001-07:00

Rob and Katie are our good friends for years and we try to take a trip once a year together. Now that we have two kids and Katie is 7 months pregnant the idea of taking a trip seems not likely! So Juan and I decided to take Annelise to their house in Virginia beach! We got there early in the day so we wasted no time and headed straight to the beach after a gourmet lunch from Rob's Grill (sounds like a restaurant and it really is, he is an amazing cook)! The guys did some fishing and we did some chilling out. The next day we went to Bush Gardens. It was so beautiful with a European style and lush landscaping. It had more kiddie rides than I have ever seen in one park! Annelise rode everything, she really had a blast! Juan had one of these nice birds come onto my head and I received a not so pleasant scalp treatment. . .Annelise found it hilarious.

The stuffed animal in the picture was "Scuba" the pink Scooby doo that Rob had won for her in the "Guess you Weight" game. She sang scooby dooby doo took a poo all weekend and took it everywhere.

The last day we went to the Aquarium and saw some pretty neat things. They had a lot for kids so Annelise had a great time as well.

We always have such a great time when we are with Rob and Katie we can't wait for them to have their baby so we can go on family trips!!! They have chosen not to find out the gender of the baby, so for now we have been calling it baby flowery since that is the name Annelise gave it (of course she thinks it's a girl).

Pictures

2010-05-12T20:08:00.001-07:00

The recital

2010-05-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

Annelise had her first dance recital on mother's day weekend. The rehearsal night went horribly with her acting like I was going to throw her into a pit of fire as I shoved her out on stage. The day of the recital we had a birthday party to attend for my neighbors twins at The Children's museum. That helped take the edge off the fear about the recital later on that evening. My friend Sadia went all out and had a lovely Mary Poppins party for her girls with a work of art as cake! Annelise had a blast and I thought she would be ready for the recital but on the way home when I asked "are you excited about tonight?" she would say "No, I won't go! I won't do it."

For the recital my good friend Amanda and her husband offered to take care of Julianna. That made me a little more relaxed and focused. When we first arrived (super early so I could be first row) I let her run around on the stage and I could tell that made her feel comfortable. So later on backstage I get her dressed and the energy is good! I have a pretty good feeling she will not freak out, but I decide to say goodbye and let someone else push her screaming onto the stage. I went and sat next to my husband in the front row and as I sat waiting to hear the whaling they opened the curtains and there she was happy as could be!!! She did great and at the end she took a bow and stayed in a bow for so long that all the other girls left and she encouraged the crowd to clap for her longer!!! I could not believe my eyes! She just wanted the stage/audience to herself! I am so proud!

Happy First Birthday Julianna!

2010-04-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

This Easter weekend was so much fun because I chose to combine Julianna's birthday party with the annual egg hunt I like to do for the kids in the neighborhood. I decided to do a garden theme because Julianna truly loves being outside and birds. Also my crafty friend Crystal gave me the inspiration I needed to plan the party.

I made the cupcakes with an idea from cakecentral.com. The flowers are made from marsh mellow fondant and was actually easier to do then using icing to decorate. I loved the way they turned out!!!

We had a bouncy castle and the kids had a blast! they even had a flower to plant and take the flower home and a bird house to paint.

Disney 2010

2010-03-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Juan was lucky enough to get a course in Disney World where his work paid for his hotel and flight! We took Annelise for a "trial run" of Disney with a three year old! To my surprise there were lots of families with tiny little babies! That made me feel bad for leaving Julianna with my Mom, but then on the other hand I know she was having more fun being smothered by my Mom than being strolled all over Orlando until 9 for four days!!!
Annelise could barely handle it and at Animal Kingdom day three she said "I hate Disney, I want to go home!" but in the end we had a blast and I can't wait to go back! The lines were very short so we will definitely go in spring Mon-Fri again next time. We will most definitely do the "Princess Breakfast" again! Annelise loved it when the princesses actually came to talk to her. . . although she was speechless! That's right Annelise actually went silent for a moment, she was so star struck it was cute!

She also loved the character visits. In the Donald Duck picture she said that she was being a baby penguin.

side note (she is obsessed with animals that crack out of eggs. She loves to pretend she in a baby penguin that the daddy keeps between it's legs)

Crazy End of 2009!

2010-01-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving here at home with family. We ate Turkey and my brother in law William brought a pernil or pork prepared Puertorican style. The food was delicious and the company was great! Annelise had a blast with her cousins playing guitar hero and just plain hanging out. Julianna was bouncing on her cousin Etienne and Uncle's knee. She was so entertained with her cousins! ANNELISE TURNS THREE!!!

With Annelise's birthday so close to Thanksgiving I held a small neighborhood princess party for Annelise. When I asked her who she wanted to come to her third party she said "Max, just Max!" I opted to invite the kids from the neighborhood that she has spent all three years growing up with: Max, McKenzie, Melody and Jessica (A.K.A. "the twins"). I asked the guest to come dressed up like princesses because I knew how much these girls love to dress up.

Annelise described the cake she wanted and it sounded more like a wedding cake for Cinderella! I did the best I could with a box of Betty Crocker, tub of icing and a handful of colors. I added jewels to just about everything and put costume jewelry all over the table.

It was a big hit the kids had a blast and I was much less of a mess!

December came to an end with my cousin Eva Marie A.K.A. Bebita coming to interview in San Antonio for a medical residency post medical school. We are hoping she gets it so we can keep her here in Texas!!! Annelise and Julianna loved playing with her!

Finally Christmas was a big deal this year for Annelise with the movie Rudolph being her all time favorite and a tea set that was not breakable at the top of her list. We made cookies for Santa but she was far more interested in the apple we left for Rudolph, and was so excited to see the apple was gone in the morning and did not even notice the bite in the cookie I/Santa took. We spent the morning playing with the new toys then took off for San Antonio to pick up Juan's brother Jose Daniel and his new girlfriend Marielly (sp?).

In San Antonio we had a blast going to Sea World and just spending time together.

New year's day was one I will remember forever!

Annelise fell and busted open her chin around 7:00 pm. Luckily her Aunt Virna was able to take us to her clinic where she very skillfully sewed up her little niece with her first four stitches!

Annelise was super brave! She watched as her Aunt sewed her up and was more interested in the stickers she was going to receive afterwards then the fact that she was stitched up!

Happy New Years! Oh and we found out we might be moving to Kansas?!? More to come. . . I hope 2010 is ready for us "me and My Girls"!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-11-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

We had a very fun filled weekend with lots of Halloween activities. On Friday we had our Third Annual Halloween party that was over the top and tons of fun!

This year we had such a fun crowd so we asked the parents dress up and they went all out!!! Here are some of my favorites. . .

Octo- Mom and Eighties High fashion

We had a scavenger hunt in the graveyard that was such a big hit! I think the kids did not even notice the skeleton bones, they were too busy looking for loot!

Nashville

2009-10-24T19:10:00.001-07:00

I went to see an old girlfriend and her adorable son in Nashville last weekend. Thank You so much V.C-A. for opening your home to me with your southern hospitality! I can't wait to return!

Girls at the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

Our town has an amazing historic downtown with one of the old churches having a pumpkin patch on the lawn. So on our way home from Annelise's Mother's Day out we stopped and I got some pictures with my phone.

Busy Days!

2009-10-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

We have been busy lately
and I have been super cafty making all sorts of things this week! Thanks to you Crystal!!! Here are some pictures of Annelise in the bandanna dresses I love to make her.

This is Julianna looking super scrumptious!I made her this giant fabric flower headband.

It has been raining this last week and Annelise loves any excuse to get out her umbrella and rain boots!

Annelise is a really good help in the kitchen! I love to bake and she love to lick the beaters, We make a good team!

She loves ballet! She had a "take a friend to class day" this week and I took Max from down the street with the girls in the car and all I remember thinking was "What was I thinking???" But they had a blast and I have recovered so it is all good!

My dropshots page for pics of the girls

2009-09-30T20:43:00.001-07:00

http://www.dropshots.com/ArleenDiaz

A visit from Abuela Hirma and Tio Chuy!

2009-09-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

My Mom brought my 82 year old Grandmother and my Uncle Chuy for a visit today. They are visiting from Puerto Rico and were on their way to Dallas to check out some museums. My grandmother just held Julianna the entire time while they just smiled at each other. She says she only likes babies until they can walk then she does not like to take care of them anymore!

Halloween Decorating!

2009-09-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

These are random things I had around the house that I thought would look nice in flat black for my "Haunted Mansion" theme.

I think they turned out pretty cool! Can't wait to add the spider webs for the finishing touch!

The Waco zoo with the Jacksons

2009-09-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today was an awesome trip to the Waco Zoo! The kids were outstanding and had a ton of fun! Annelise is in love with the Jackson boys! Thanks J for letting us use your van!

2009-09-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Halloween bandanna dress I made for Annelise. She picked out the bandanna.

The Girls

2009-09-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at blogging! I am so excited I have wanted to do this for a long time! I think it is a great way to journal the wonderful times with my girls!