Post

Alas, I fear that I have alienated all of my readers by my lack of posting. I have just been so busy. I bought a movie a week ago and haven't even opened it to view it. I sits above the TV waiting for me to have an hour of free time. I think it might sit for a while.

And here I sit, late at night, knowing that I will suffer because I am not sleeping. But, I figure you should all know that I am still alive and being taken over by Box Elder bugs here at my house.

This is a sweet pic from my husband's phone. We were able to take the kids out for a little walk. My youngest was able to sit in the stroller instead of riding in the sling and her brother couldn't be happier. She is now 8 months old. I just don't believe it.

Summer

It has been cooling down here in our neck of the woods. I keep wondering if summer is drawing to an end. I wasn't ready for it. I have had to dig through boxes to find long pants for my baby complaining all the while that I don't want to break out the fall attire yet. My son keeps asking to go and swim, but it is cool and the change of weather has given both of the little ones stuffy noses so I have held off. Maybe we will get just one more really warm day and we can break out the pool one last time.

Here's to hoping!

Camping

We went camping on the 4th of July weekend. This time we only had a brief bout with the rain. We have been rained on the last three camping trips. All in all we enjoyed ourselves.

Haircut

When my son had his first birthday, I paid to have his hair cut. It was $10. I thought that was pretty good deal. However, I found that his hair grows REALLY fast. It wasn't more than six weeks that I noticed his hair had grown to his shoulder blades. You couldn't really tell because he has curly hair, but when I washed his hair, I was suprised. I started calculating the cost of hair cuts and decided that I would have to teach myself how to cut his hair.



I thought I did a pretty good job the first time, but I realized that he had these long spots throughout. The second cut was better, but after a couple days of looking at him I realized that he had a slight mullet. I believe that over the last year, I have done progressively better. And, I am happy to announce that I cut his hair again last week. This is my best work yet!!! yea!!



I hope my baby's hair is curly and forgiving too. But, I used to cut my oldest daughters hair until she wanted to get all fancy. I still say my cuts are good, but (ya know) it isn't cool to have your mom cut your hair unless she is a "real" hair dresser, which I am not.



Here, see for yourself.

The kids

My little baby is 3 months old. I can't believe how fast time has gone and how much she has grown. She laughed for the first time last Friday. She loves to interact with people. She is a very happy child. She watches everything very seriously, but when you talk to her, she eagerly responds and has a lot to say. It is so cute. Here she is talking to me, she must have said something funny.

Here is her watching look, she is trying to figure out what papi has in his hands. What is that black thing with the light?

The boy is so active. He loves to explore and is still obsessed with skis. I'm hoping we will have a bit of a vacation from talking about and watching anything to do with skiing during the summer (no snow). Here he is following some turkeys and peacocks. Serious business.

My oldest just go a haircut, and she is very proud. She had bangs cut, but she has been nervous about wearing them down. Today she made the plung. We will see how well it went. Bangs, are a big move for a 14 year old.

2 year old speak

I have been wanting to record my son and his cute vocabulary for a long time. Today I finally got him when he was in a mood to talk with me. He says a lot of funny things, but these are some of my favorite for as long as I could keep his 2 year old attention.

Smile

For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to capture my baby's huge gummy smile. She looks so very cute! But, she isn't interested in smiling when I pull the camera out. Her focus immediately shifts from my happy face to the big black thing that I can't seem to hide from her view.

After lots of coaxing, I managed to get something out of her. This was the closest thing I could get to her big smiles that she usually flashes very liberally.

Looking at the picture is cute, but it doesn't do her justice. Not only does she like to smile, it's an interaction. She coos and talks and has lots of very fun little noises as she smiles. I can't help but let out my own little laugh. I just love this baby thing!

Birthday Boy

My son has been asking to go skiing since his first trip up to the resort this year. Each venture up to the canyon we hear the words "no" (snow) then "skeen" (skiing). He and his father have been pretending to ski around the house, jumping side to side and making the sound "choos". So, for his second birthday, we gave him a lesson. I was a little nervous, I wasn't sure he was old enough, but they assured me that children his age have taken lessons.

It turns out that he is a decent little skiier. The instructor told us that children his age usually can't balance their own weight, and she has to hold them up as they learn. As you can see, he did very well and enjoyed himself immensely. He hasn't stopped talking about it and we often find him jumping around saying "choos".

We love you little skiier boy!!!! I can't believe you are already two.

I can move

We went out to sled this weekend. I have been feeling cabin fever and I just wanted to get out. There aren't too many places to go around here that don't take some driving, so we decided to stay close. We loaded up and headed up the canyon. The baby was content to sleep in the car while we took turns out playing with my son. I was so happy to be able to sled too, even though I can't fit into my snowpants yet. We kept it tame.

I don't much like sledding. The only injuries I have ever had have happened while sledding. But, my kids should be able to experience it, so I am a careful freak on the sled and they get to enjoy the experience.

Adventures in Photography

Here is the best result of my photo shoot on Saturday morning. I could not get my son to even try to cooperate so this was the best I got. I can't believe my baby fell asleep with all of the noise and then her brother decided to poke and prod her. At least I can get great pics of the oldest. She listens when I tell her to smile or look down.

However.....

He did decide that it would be cool to wear his helmet the rest of the day. He saw his dad and sister getting ready to go skiing/snowboarding and decided that he needed to wear his helmet. I could not get him to take it off. So, here he is safely eating icecream.

Baby

Here are some recent photos of our newest little family member.

I have been suprised by how calm and patient she is. She actually sleeps at night (I hope I didn't just jinx that). She is definitely much more accomadating than her brother was.

In this week following her appearance, I have found that I appreciate being able to bend at the waist. I can actually pick things up off the floor.

My son is VERY heavy. I carried him around up to the day that I gave birth and didn't think anything of it. Now when I pick him up, I can't believe I did that.

I am suddenly cold all of the time.

Is there such a thing as a relaxing shower? I used to love showers. I'm not sure I'll ever get one of those again....

And lastly, I am amazed at how much I love each one of my children. Wow they are cute.

Sledding

We went for one more fling with mom before the new baby.

Antony tried sledding with "Lala" and "Papi" as I watched. It was very cute.

He enjoyed it very much!

Daniela

We are fortunate to have a very busy holiday season. Not only do we have Christmas and new years, but we get to squish a couple birthdays in between.

Today is Daniela's birthday

She is 14

And, today's post is dedicated to her!

Daniela has always been a very independent child and has her own little mind. She definitely is her own person.

As she has grown it has been a bit of a challenge for me to understand her likes and wants and allow her those, as I am very different in many areas.

She is my little diva and I try very hard to give her that independence.

Daniela is very caring, thoughtful, hard working, and beautiful. I am so proud of her many accomplishments and I don't tell her enough how much she means to me! She is a great sister and Antony ADORES her. I am greatful that they have eachother!

She is her father's daughter in many ways and it is fun to see how their relationship is growing and changing as she gets older.

I can't believe the young woman that she is becoming. This is the same child that used to love the playground, and roughhousing. Now, she might break a nail or mess up her hair. However, I still see the little girl, especially when she and Antony play together.

Dear little Daniela, I love you! You will always be my little girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas this year.

As Daniela has gotten older, and Antony is now starting to understand Christmas, I have been trying to establish and start our family traditions. So far, I have Christmas morning all set. The kids come into the family room while we film. We have music in the background and I make orange rolls and eggs with orange juice for breakfast. Next year, I believe that I will have more energy and we will try to stick to some Colombian traditions for Christmas eve, as that is the big day down there.

This year Toño decided to take Christmas eve pictures of the kids. And, much to his dismay, Antony didn't want to take pictures.

However, we did manage to get a few decent shots.

Antony is actually laughing at me showing him my belly.

We hope everyone had a very nice holiday celebration and wish all a Happy New Year

Trick or Treat

Yes, I did it. I put it off to the end, but I made the costume. I started with some fur and felt.

Toño suggested that we dress Antony as a viking. So, I made a viking costume.

Once I figured out how to make the hat, it came together really well. I just used a baseball cap that I bought at the dollar store and cut the bill off. I sectioned out the fur and glued it to the hat. The horns are made of felt that I stuffed. I wasn't going to make the little cape and arm bands, but I think that they put the finishing touches on the costume.

Daniela dressed in Halloween colors. She also had a tail and cat ears that she decided not to wear.

Trick or Treating with Papi.

HOPE EVERYONE HAD A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!