What can you do with a Tio?

Joseph's family was in town this weekend for the blessing of our
newest nephew. The girls especially enjoyed visiting with my older
brother who stayed with us a couple of nights. The girls love
visiting with their uncles, and they kept uncle David constantly
entertained. Meeting our nephew was a lot of fun as well, and we
enjoyed being able to have everyone together to welcome him.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Goooooaaaaaalllllll!!!!!!!

Adrianna scored her first goal yesterday!  It was also the first goal for the team this season so everybody was jumping and screaming, especially her mommy!  I managed to capture a couple shots of the event.  Adrianna managed to get the ball out of the pack and went straight for the goal.

T-Ball

Every time we drive by a baseball field Adrianna tells us that she can play baseball there.  Since we took her to a Sky Sox game last year she has been wanting so badly to play baseball.  So we signed her up for T-Ball this summer and she loves it.  Pretty much anything where she can be active she loves doing, especially if there are boys involved.

Birthday Party

Adrianna & I celebrated our birthdays yesterday.  We grilled up hamburgers and Sarah and I decorated a Shamu cake for Adrianna.  She had initially asked for a baseball cake and then she changed her mind a few days later asking for a “Shampu” cake.  Sarah does an amazing job decorating our cakes.  And she was rewarded for her hard work by a gleeful expression when Adrianna saw her “Shampu” cake. 

I can’t imagine a better person to share my birthday with.  I’d even say I enjoy getting a year older, because I get to share an extended celebration with my daughter!

Birthday Hug!

Today is Adrianna's fifth birthday! She very excitedly woke up this morning with a big grin knowing it was her special day. I just want to let her know how special she is to us and how she has changed our lives for the best! Here is a big gigantic hug for our special girl! Happy Birthday Adrianna!!!

I love this sequence of pictures from California Adventure when Adrianna got to meet Sully from Monsters Inc. She ran up and received the most engulfing hug you could imagine. Disney does such a great job at making these moments perfect for their guests!

Preschool Graduation

Adrianna completed Preschool in May and is now ready for Kindergarten. Technically she was ready for kindergarten after she came home from her first day of preschool.  She would ask us if tomorrow she was going to Kindergarten.  Both Sarah and I are shocked that we will have a kindergartner in August.  Adrianna loves school and she loves making new friends.  We had great teachers at Falcon Elementary where she went and we are very grateful for the Colorado Preschool Program that she was a part of.

Though the outdoor events at the graduation were rained out we enjoyed celebrating with Adrianna’s preschool friends.  Adrianna and I especially enjoyed the egg walk and three-legged races.  It was a lot of fun for both of us.  We are so proud of our little student!

Missed Photo Op!

With camera phones, digital camera's, and everything else these days you would think you would always have a camera handy to capture those magical moments that you experience with your kids. Well Sarah missed one the other day when she paused with the girls to ask a team of firefighters at Albertsons where the truck was so she could show it to Adrianna (who loves firefighters, fire trucks, fire stations, etc.) One of the firefighter's didn't just show her the truck but he let Adrianna get in, turn on the lights, put on a suit, pretend to drive, and he let her spray the fire hose!!! She was thrilled! Adrianna called me afterwords and said "Daddy! I put out a fire."

After all that Sarah did not have a camera to photograph the moment, but I am sure Adrianna will enjoy that memory for a while!

What makes you happy?

It is important to learn young to be happy. Alicia latest saying is "I Happy", which is a wonderful thing to hear from a little one, especially because she means it. One thing that makes both of our girls very happy is Chocolate. And with a cake like the one Sarah made today who wouldn't be happy! I think we will call this one "Death by Chocolate Candy Cake". It is a chocolate cake with mini chocolate chips in it, topped with a decadent chocolate frosting, the sides are kit-cat bars and it is topped with M&M's. Amazingly delicious! Below is the girls reaction!

Hand in Hand

Here is a painting Adrianna and I made this past weekend outlining our hands.  I painted hers in green (her favorite color), and she painted mine in blue (my favorite color).  I really liked the outcome so I thought I would share it.  Maybe someone can make an award winning poster of this!

Why do you have kids?

My parents used to joke with us that the reason they had us was so that we could do chores around the house. At least I thought they were joking until Adrianna and Alicia took up laundry in our house. Though a front loading washer and dryer may be too low without the ($200 each) pedestals for an adult back, they are the perfect height for little ones to switch-out laundry from. All Sarah has to do is start the load and fold the load. They have even mastered the button pushing on the dryer. And the best thing is: at this age they love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading to Sister

Adrianna and Alicia love to read at night. They love to read to each other. Usually they each have to have their own book or it can get rather unruly. But for the most part we enjoy our evening ritual of a book before bedtime. I especially love how Alicia will snuggle down into Adrianna’s bed as if she were going to sleep there!

Santa

As you can imagine Adrianna is very excited about Christmas, and though she will tell you that Christmas is when we celebrate Christ’s birth, she is very excited about Santa Claus. Santa was at the store the other day so we got the girls ready to go see him. We kept it a surprise for Adrianna, since she has been asking about him since Halloween we thought she would be so excited to see him. Unfortunately when we saw him Adrianna didn’t want anything to do with him, she isn’t the best with surprises. After a lap around the store she was ready to see Santa and tell him what she wanted. Alicia on the other hand did not want anything to do with Santa, though she did let us get close as long as I was holding her. It wasn’t quite the picture perfect visit we had imagined, but it was much better than waiting hours at the mall or some other contrived experience.

What do you think Adrianna asked Santa for this Christmas? Well, Sarah’s cousin Bobby convinced her some time ago that if she could ask Santa for something she should ask for a pony. A big pony that she could ride. (He owes us for this one!) So, when Adrianna built up the courage to talk to Santa, she asked for a pony; specifically a pony that she could ride. Santa just laughed and smiled! Hopefully she’ll settle for a pony ride from her cousin on Christmas day.

Adrianna's photo shoot.

In October we had my sister take some pictures of Adrianna for her 4 year old pictures. We would have taken these closer to her birthday but we had a few haircut mishaps, that we do not discuss. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites. Thank you Tamera!

Field Trip

November 19th, 2008

Adrianna's preschool class went for a field trip to Whole Foods last month. It was very exciting because they got to ride on the bus. It was all very exciting, and she still talks about going on the field trip. Adrianna was not shy at all about asking for samples. After the trip they went back to the classroom where they enjoyed snacks. I love Adrianna's smerk as she makes herself a peanut butter cracker!

Pics around the lake

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the Broadmoor outing.

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too!

Our girls dressed as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger for Halloween. At first Alicia didn’t like her outfit, but once she realized that she could take it off and snuggle with Tigger she grew quite fond of it.  She now gets to have Tigger in her dress-up clothes to enjoy whenever she wants to feel tiggerific!  Adrianna nearly outgrew her Pooh outfit, but she willingly squeezed into to it to eat candy!  They were both very cute, but if you know our girls you also know their personalities match their sister’s costume.  Adrianna is very much a bouncety, bouncety, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun girl; while, Alicia is much more thoughtful, and reserved, and willing to do anything for honey (food)!  We had a lot of fun this Halloween and we are ready to enjoy the rest of the upcoming holiday season!

   

Dresses

With cute girls come lots of cute dresses. Adrianna is growing so fast that she has outgrown some of her dresses without wearing them much. So we try our best to take pictures of them in their dresses every chance we get. The negative side effect of this picture taking is that every time you pull out a camera Alicia starts saying “cheese”, and puts on her cheesy grin! Luckily we got one of her natural smile as well.  So here they are in dresses that their Grandmother gave them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Mom for the dresses!

 

Playing with friends

Adrianna and Alicia had a blast playing with their friends during our trip to New Mexico. Thank you to Tyler & Ashlyn for being such wonderful hosts, especially Tyler for taking care of Alicia. Adrianna especially enjoyed dressing up as a soldier. Alicia really enjoyed pushing around Patches in the baby stroller, and being pushed around herself in the baby stroller. We all had a great time watching them play together, we didn't have such a great time getting them to sleep at night. All in all it was a really nice trip.

Return Trip

October 6th, 2008

Rather than come back via I-25 we chose to enjoy the fall scenery in the mountains North of Sante Fe.  We stopped for a quick rest near Taos and enjoyed the scenery on this Bridge over the Rio Grand Gorge.  Sarah refused to come out with us as she is not fond of heights, especially being 600 ft above the river on a pretty narrow (2 lane) bridge.  Even Adrianna freaked out a bit as a semi drove across the bridge and had the whole structure vibrating.

Sarah did get out at a nearby rest area and she took these wonderful pictures of some sunflowers there. It really was a nice fall drive along the Rio Grand. Though we didn't get any pictures the trees along La Veta pass outside of Walsenburg were spectacular.

Gotcha

Three years ago today we got Adrianna in our arms and we knew our life would never be the same again.

For her Got Day this year we made a weekend trip to Albuquerque to spend time with our friends whose children fell in love with Adrianna when we brought her home. She returns the favor every chance she gets. I cannot believe it has been three years already, Adrianna is an amazing girl who always has an will always keep us on our toes and enjoying life as it flies by.

Happy Got Day Adrianna!!