We Give Thanks

Last year Thanksgiving our beloved friend, Chris, taught Bella how to properly eat black olives. First place each one on a finger, act silly, then eat them one by one. It's quite endearing to behold...really. Ok, maybe not...but ode to childhood. Bella has now passed on this ritual onto Abbey and we CAN NOT eat black olive's without this new family ritual. Yes, you read that correctly...we ALL must participate in this special event. It only becomes slightly embarrassing when in Olive Garden and all gaze upon us while entertaining them with this new family ritual.

Thank you Christopher Lindsey!!!

Uh Oh

Bella got some new lotion for her birthday and wanted to share with Abbey. So I thought I had gotten all of the protective seal off...apparently not! As I gently tried to put some in Abbey's hands it came squirting out...and says, "uh oh".

What you don't see is, it was all over the cupboards, her outfit, and floor as well. Opps!

Happy Birthday

Abbey is officially a 2 years old. She is growing and changing so quickly. It really is bittersweet. For growth she is 33.5 inches tall, a petite 25 pounds, and has an average size head. Cognitively speaking...she's pretty much on the ball. Gets most concepts appropriate for her age, certainly is a chatty one too...although I think we are still the only ones that understand most of it. But the important thing is we do understand. Her favorite snack is cheese or bananas, but will eat most anything you give her...got lucky again. She has a very sweet disposition...she likes to be playful wanting us to chase her, tickle her, play hide-n-seek with her blankie. Some of her favorites on tv are Dora, Backyardigans, Pink Panther, Tom and Jerry, and Hi-5. She loves to sing and dance. Pretty much easy all around. Of course we can't escape the occasional outbursts of defiance...fortunately they are quickly diffused and moves on pretty quickly most times. Happy 2nd Birthday to Abbey!

Bella is now 5! She was SO excited to have her birthday this year! Mostly because I told her we'd think about letting her get her ears pierced when she turned 5. So she did! She very bravely went through the ritual of getting her ears pierced. If you ask, she will tell you, yes she cried, yes it hurt, but not anymore and she'd would have still done it! She's very proud of herself. She too had her yearly physical and appears to be in good health. She is almost 44 inches tall, weighs 43 pounds, and has an average size head. Some of her favorites right now include anything princess, pink, and glittery! Happy Birthday Bella!

Both girls are doing well and we could not feel more blessed!

Fall Fun

Bella's Kindergarten class took a field trip to a local farm. It was rainy, wet, muddy, but FUN! I think it took me three days to warm back up. Burrrrr! They went on a hay ride, got to feed the ducks, saw an animal show, see some of the farm animals up close, and pick a pumpkin from the patch. I got to be a parent chaperon and enjoyed a peek into Bella's new world and friends. She is thoroughly enjoying her new school experiences and making some nice friends along the way.


Since Bella had snack so close to Halloween, we wanted to do something in honor of the season. She was so helpful in making these "spiders" for her classmates to enjoy.

Our first annual "haunted gingerbread house"

Bella and her kindergarten teacher at their class party.

And her most cherished boyfriend.

One of Bella's best girlfriends.

And although we are enjoying all that fall in MI has to offer, we are counting the days til summer already.

Happy Halloween

This year was fun getting into the spirit of dressing up and trick-or-treating. Bella fully got the idea this year and Abbey, well, lets just say she learned quickly the routine of smiling sweetly, mumbling something that resembled the traditional trick-or-treat and was overjoyed to get some sugary treats in return.

Fairy Bella

A not so compliant picture taking

pumpkin, but cute none the less.

Oma was Santa this year for Halloween...messed the kids up in the neighborhood a little.

M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e

What a slacker! I am WAY overdue for some updates. We've been quite the busy bees lately. October came and went...we took our first extended vacation as a family of 4! We've taken weekend trips here and there but this was far more extensive. And what better place to go then the happiest place on earth! Bella was on cloud 9 to say the least! Abbey could have done without riding in the stroller for two days straight, but enjoyed the rides and was compliant under the circumstances.

Seeing as the weather was BEAUTIFUL and near perfect, we also decided to venture over to the west coast of FL for some beach time. Spent two full days in Clearwater. The beach was covered in sea shells! Another dream come true for both girls! Was nice to be at the beach in the middle of October! Also, the picture with Bella...she had a VERY large dragon fly that kept wanting to hang out with her.

Obedience

We have tried a variety to disciplines and techniques to help Bella learn obedience. To say the least, very little works. Some time ago we tried a sticker chart without much success. Recently we thought we'd give it another go. So what we thought it would take a week or two, ended up taking almost a month to accomplish, but she was determined to earn all her stickers. We told her when all the spaces were full we could go to Wal-Mart and purchase a toy with her sticker page.

When it came time to chose a toy I told her some toys cost 1 page, 2 pages, and even a 3 page sticker toy! She had the choice to hold onto it or "spend" it now. Of course she had to spend it! We are very proud of her as she has taken a step forward with some incentive to obey and want to make the right choices!

Way to go Bella!

**note post blog...I did not know (but Bella did) this toy comes with treats to feed the dog, then you push his tail and he poops them out! Oy Vey!! Guess I'll look a little closer at the next toy.**

A Fair to Remember

Fair Admission: $25
Cost of Tickets: $20
2 Soda's: $6
Parking: $7
2 small Icees: $6
Scoop of blue ice cream: $4

Riding ALL the rides with your 4 year old: Priceless

*But who knew after a few years and few kids later all that spinning would make ya sick now...whew!



















The swings was one of her favorites...we did this one a few times. oy vey!






Abbey was not too happy about having to sit and watch all the fun. Believe me...can't with til she's 42"! Grow Grow Grow Grow!!!

Bella took this picture of the ferris wheel...pretty good shot!

And, uh, I'll let you take one guess at what has happened in this picture???

Where oh where oh where is Abbey?

So, one might wonder...what do we do without Bella at home now!? Well, Abbey has been coming in and takes off for her bedroom to play with her toys...by HERSELF! The other day I was finishing off the dishes and could hear her singing softly in her room, quite cherub like I might add. And so I went to investigate and listen without being seen. Well I got to her room and didn't see her in it, but could hear her. As she heard me make a noise, so began our new game...where oh where oh where is Abbey.

This first photo demonstrates how sufficiently she can now open her closet doors and hide inside. Somehow she gets it shut all the way without pinching those little hands.




And then she throws the door open, giggles and says Boo! And then we repeat of course!

After a few rounds of that...it's time for a snack and a break for one of her favorite shows...the Backyardigans.

1st day of Kindergraten

It's official, we are the proud parents of a Kindergartner! Jorge stayed home the extra day so we could see her through her first day. The night before she picked out her clothes to wear..note the purse as well.

She was pretty excited to get in there and check everything out...Abbey made herself at home as well. Of course she came home and we asked...did you have snack, go outside, color, listen to a story, learn the new rules, etc etc etc. All of which she said no to. So I then asked...basically, you didn't do anything at your new school today huh? Nope! I actually had to find out at the bus stop this morning from another mom all the fun things they did! Go figure!

She rode the bus her 2nd day of school. On the way to the bus stop I told her I wanted to take a picture of her getting on the bus and she said ok...then said, uh, no, maybe not. What!? Deny your mother a photographic moment! No way! Told her I was going to anyways! So this look is the "if you must humiliate me in front of ALL these people" look. Oy Vey...I am becoming my mother! (she was a picture freak!)

Also on the way home from her 1st day of school we stopped for cider and donuts...a fun new tradition perhaps!

All in all, so far so good! And so begins a new journey in the Flores family!

Pachelbel Bedtime

Anyone relate???

A little piece of Mexico

Last month we hosted Carolina in our home for a week. She was here to improve on her English skills. Seeing as I speak Spanish, I am not sure how much she actually "learned" but it sure was fun getting to know her. To start, we dragged her along to our church VBS and put her to work all week. What a trooper she was! Below are some pictures of our fun experiences with her.

We took her to Great Lakes mall and she kept saying, "I LOVE this mall!" We had a fun dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe as well.

Our next adventure took us to the zoo! We included her younger sister Valerie and enjoyed getting to know her too. They thought the Polar Bear and Kangaroo exhibit were pretty cool. In case you haven't been...you can walk through the kangaroo exhibit on a trail...very up close and personal!

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and look forward to having them back again sometime!

Carolina, in case you are reading this...Le Faltamos!