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.

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Girl Priorities

It looks like Alicia has established her priorities early. Chocolate Cake, Vampire movie, and a glass of milk in that order. We usually throw the paper cover of DVD's away, but Alicia snagged this one and takes it with her everywhere. She was looking at the cover when we served dessert and she set it up like this. She was very happy with her cake, moomie, and milk!

Pirate Santa

According to Alicia, Santa says "Yo Ho Ho". That answers the question about what he does the rest of the year. He's a pirate sailing the high seas in search of hidden treasure! Hope everyone in Colorado is looking forward to a White Christmas, we certainly are!

Alicia's 2 Year Old Pictures

Sarah took Alicia to the studio a few days before her birthday. When they got there Alicia didn't want to have her pictures taken at all, she threw quite the fit. After a good time-out and a stern discussion with Mommy she said "I'm done mommy” (meaning she was done with time-out); and she was ready to have these shots taken.  Sarah said it was her best photo shoot yet after that!  It is amazing the determination of this two year old, she will not do something until she is ready and when she is watch out!

Alicia's Birthday

Alicia recently celebrated her second birthday, she is very proud to be two and she gladly states that she is “fours” when you ask how old she is. She has heard her sister say she is four for the past year! We had local family over to celebrate her day and we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast for her meal as Alicia really loves pancakes! Especially the fun shaped ones we make.

Alicia waited patiently in her chair for about an hour before the guests arrived. But she finally got the eat her panCake.

After eating the kids enjoyed riding the roller coaster in the basement. Alicia had a blast opening her presents and we finished the night off with some Wii games.

Birthdaygirl and Sleepyhead ready to square off!

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!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roller Coaster Crazies!

Alicia Go!

Every little girl and boy needs a roller coaster in their basement.  The girls and I played in the basement this day after Christmas trying to burn off some energy and calories from all the Christmas goodies we’ve been enjoying.  Here is a cute video of Alicia riding the roller coaster.  I love her smile at the end, and her sister rooting her on in the background: “Alicia go!”

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.

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!

 

Cute, cute, cute!

 

Is it any wonder why she has me so increadibly wrapped?

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.

How to eat a S'More

During our vacation in New Mexico we made S'Mores and Alicia showed us the proper way to enjoy them! All over your hands and face!

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.

Balloon Fiesta

We made a quick family weekend trip to Albuquerque for Adrianna's Got Day (Oct 5th). We came to visit our close friends who moved here from the Springs last year and to see the Balloon Fiesta. The balloon festival was amazing, we went for the opening day mass ascension. It is increadible to see that many balloons and spectators. The kids were just in awe during the entire launch. They had a lot of fun balloons from cathedrals, to stage coaches, to bumble bees, lady bugs, and even robots. It is a sight I would recommend to anyone to see.

Uncles

What are uncles for if not to throw you around and get hyped up?

At a recent family dinner both girls enjoyed getting thrown around by their uncle David and uncle Zane.  Alicia is a little trick though, she will latch onto you for dear life if you try to throw her too high!

Little Things

I would have never thought that the act of putting on socks and shoes would ever be so cute. But when it clicked for Alicia to sit down and stick her feet out so someone can put on her socks it just gets you. I am amazed at the little things Alicia learns from each of us, especially from her older sister. Usually it is those little things that touch your heart.