Randomness

So what kind of friend invites her friends over for a girls night and makes them move her furniture around!? I do! The least I can do is thank you publicly...Thank You Dawn, Amy, Laura, and Dana!

Isn't little Nolie cannoli cute with his pink paci! Nolan is quite the trooper, he lets me get my baby fix and snuggles as needed! Yummy!

What better to do on a snow day then go sledding with best friends!

When in doubt, do as the penguins do, right!?

A friend til the end...

How does one begin to sum up a 23 year long friendship? How many of us can say we even nurtured a friendship for that long!?

When I was 10, Heidi moved in a few doors down from me. It wasn't long before we were having sleep overs, playing on each other porches, and enjoying getting to know one another. Since we lived in a townhouse community one of our favorite night time activities was ding-dong-ditch! Little did I know this would begin our 23 year long friendship expanding through high school, college, til today.

The list of things I could be thankful for in my friendship with Heidi is without limits, but most of all I was blessed by her and her family for inviting me and taking me to church with them. If there was church, we were there...Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and anything else in-between. Really! God used Heidi, her family, and the church we grew up at to raise me up in the Lord. For that I am forever grateful!


It was quite obvious at her memorial service how deeply she was loved and will be missed by many. I pray God's words to her are...Well done good and faithful servant!

http://heidimac.blogspot.com/

http://www.simpletruths.com/dash/index.html

Holiday Catch Up

If most of you know us as you do...to say things have been dull and boring just doesn't seem to fit our life. God has thrown some blessings at us which we are grateful for...and also some heartbreak. It's been awhile since I posted so will do a little catching up.

Christmas this year was great! Jorge's brother Tono came to visit and brought along his girlfriend Betsy. We cherished our time with them and enjoyed welcoming Besty into our family. Apparently they want to get married! So definitely some exciting times are coming.

Santa brought both girls exactly what they were asking for, can it get any better!? Bella in particular wanted a "Baby Alive" that drinks water then goes pee pee! I suppose it's a girly thing to do...I remember asking Santa for one when I was little too.

We also FINALLY finished the basement AGAIN. Following an ice storm last January ('07), the neighbor's limb fell on our house, knocking out the power, faulting the sump pumps which allowed a more than generous amount of water to fill our basement! So, a lot of muscle, help, a back up system, new carpet, and de-humidifier we have basement again! Both the girls and their friends are loving it! Overall...a good holiday and a happy new year to boot!

One Daddy to go please

Isabella: "Daddy...where is your mom from?"

Jorge: "Peru!"

Isabella: "Oh ya, that's right! That's where we got you from!"

Yes, mommy got on the Internet and found us a Husband & Daddy all in one! Glad to know Bella understands how we do things around here!

let it snow let it snow let it snow...

For once the weather forecasters predicted a massive winter storm and we got it! Ok, it's not that massive, it could have been much worse. But the 10-12 inches outside is nothing to sneeze at! Since Jorge has a broken elbow, I was left to dig us out. Whew! Was thinking about just leaving it til spring, but knew that wouldn't fly. This of course also means a white Christmas and lots of fun in the snow in the coming days! I must admit that although I do not find much pleasure in the cold, I do enjoy watching the girls jump in the snow followed by some hot cocoa and cookies. More pictures to come!

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???