Easter dresses

Our family is in the middle of a dispute over Easter dresses. Jorge wants one that she has in her closet the he picked out last year. Adreana wants one she picked out while Abuelo Leon was here and I want one I found at Target. I lost. Mine is to be returned at Target soon, but I just had to take pictures of her with it. I am pretty sure Jorge will lose too but he can be more convincing than I am, and I actually also like the dress he picked. Jorge and Adreana both hated mine.

 

When I asked her to put it on for the pictures. She began pouting so we took her pick for pictures also. We still have to take pictures of Jorge's pick but it is soon to come. 

 You can see more of my photoshoot in my photography blog.

I am still editing more from this shoot. She picked what we would take and lots of her poses. We sure had fun.

Powder Puff Derby

A's cars for this year. Benjamin decided he didn't want to enter a car in the open category this year so Adreana asked that the extra car be made to look like a popsicle. I really wanted to glitter it up but she is against. She did tell me recently I can so be on the look out for a sparkly popsicle!

 

The Iphone 9 was Jorge's and A's idea. J decided to see if he could make it play music and he did by adding a shuffle ipod to the back and attaching it to some speakers. No it didn't make sound while it was speeding away but it sure was cool to look at. Adreana picked all the apps herself and she even came up with an AHG one. They won most imaginative design and 2nd place in her division. Very fun!

Daddy Daughter Dance 2013

Yogurt

Last year we told Adreana that we were no longer doing piñatas for her birthday. It is what happened for us as kids so we thought we would continue as our culture would. It doesn't mean we don't celebrate her but this year we headed out for vacation the day after her birthday so we didn't get to do ANYTHING with friends. So after my mom left and soccer was over she came to me about her birthday and had a wonderful idea of frozen yogurt with a couple of friends (it turned out to be 3 plus siblings) and pipe cleaners to create with. I asked her about gifts and she was fine with no gifts which made me so proud of the girl she is becoming.

Adreana's Birthday - Last Year

Just like I did with Benjamin I thought I would post Adreana's birthday from last year. We invited her friends to the pumpkin patch! If I could convince her I would do the same thing every year. It was so fun. I have sooo many pictures that it was hard to not make more pages. :)

Spring Soccer 2012

Adreana is still playing soccer. These pictures were snapped the last soccer game. I didn't get any other pictures than these and maybe not the best game to do it at. It was a game that her coach calls a learning experience. The girls do pretty well but this team was amazing and their coach needs to find themselves a different league than the noncompetitive Y. Even though they were beating us 2, than 3, than 4 he pushed his defense to the offense to try and score even more. He knew we had no subs and he could have cared less. He himself had a full team to sub in and out.  For a non competitive league, I thought it was uncalled for but I have to say my girl proved to be a tough one. She played liked those girls weren't double her size (literally double her size!) I am so proud of her for playing so hard. They actually only got two goals in the 1st half but with no subs the first half and only 2 the second, our girls were exahausted and in the last 4 minutes of the game that they scored the last 3. It was a tough 6-0 but our girls could be proud and so could our coach.

Palatal Expander

So I was talking to a good friend that has recently started reading my blog and we talked about how I haven't really been posting. I also realized I haven't really been telling all of you about my kids and that is why I started the blog to begin with so with that in mind I decided to copy my good friend Marleny and grabbed a few templates to use to tell the kids story and end up with a book at the end of the year. We will see how it goes. Hopefully you will get to see the kids more and see what they are up to...

Adreana got her palatal on Monday and we have had to get used to it. If you look closely at the bottom picture you can see the wires on the bottom picture. The hardest thing for me has been to acknowledge that my child is old enough to have orthodontic work done already... that and cutting up her food in tiny pieces!

Adreana's 7th Birthday

Incredibly enough my girl is 7!!! She is a first grader and reads. For her birthday she wanted a movie party and so it was... Here are the pictures of her party:


First the decorations:
I wanted to make sure the party still had a girly feel so we made a name banner and flowers that I had been seeing on line. Adreana loved the flowers so much we still haven't been able to throw them away. She helped make them and I think it added so much to our space.

We found a director's frame piñata and that was part of our center piece like usual. We also used a lot of red yellow and black to go with the theme.

I was supposed to make cake balls by petition of the birthday girl but I ran out of time so I only made one for her. A little popcorn box. Adreana cut up the marshmallows to look like popcorn as part of the decoration. You saw that the rest of the cake balls became ghosts and mummies for Halloween.

Jorge was in charge of the movie theater look so he printed some posters and put them around so it looked like a real movie theater. As you can tell they watched How to train a Dragon. He also set up a projector and used my photography background stand with my white background for the movie. It was pretty amazing. The party was at night so we didn't have to worry about making the house dark.

On the picture above you can see her invitation: A yellow ticket. I didn't get pictures of this either but I still have one so I can get one and add it later.

Here are the kids watching the movie. The picture isn't great but it was dark and so the flash hurt our eyes!

I didn't get any pictures of our concession stand but when the kids arrived they got money (that I printed of the internet with Adreana's face on it :)!) and then they could go to the concession stand and order hotdog, pizza, nachos, candy, drink (about 6 different types of juice and soda pop), and caramel, butter or white chocolate popcorn. Adreana was the cashier and she was speedily asking everyone for their money. It was a bit chaotic so I didn't get any pictures which is pretty sad as I think this was the kids favorite part of the party. Jorge made a price list to put on the wall and one on the ipad which the kids loved. If it hadn't been for Angie we might not have served everyone :)! So thanks Angie! We even charged for refills. Luckily for the kids we had a grandpa (Dave) at the theater and as you know since grandparents like to spoil kids if they ran out of money they could go get some. A few took advantage of the fact when they used the last of their money, just in case they needed more. They were also only allowed to purchase 2 candies because I was afraid some might not eat and only have chocolate!

After the movie we had the piñata and cake:

Happy Birthday Adreana!

The cupcakes were pretty special. If you know Adreana you know she is a food network junkie like her mother and in summer they had a cupcake challenge show where it seemed that they filled all the cupcakes so for her birthday she wanted them filled. So I went online and searched until I figured out how we were going to do that. We ended up using hershey's already made caramel to fill chocolate cupcakes and then I made a caramel buttercream that was delicious. I normally don't like frosting but this one was yummy! The cupcakes ended up being a bit too fancy for some of the kids but my little girl loved them. Thankfully I had made some without caramel inside for some (including my Benjamin).

The favors were popcorn bags. I usually make bigger favors but since we were feeding them I decided to not spend much on them and thankfully Marsha had done this before and I was able to get them ready in no time.

This is the first party we do where parents didn't have to stay (I mean we do that for the valentine's party but it is only about 4 girls so I don't think it counts). This was a great party for this because after they ate and the movie started we didn't have to do much. I actually almost fell asleep for a little bit.

And at the end of the day this is how I felt. I wish I was Molly and could actually have done just this.....

As usual I wish you could have all joined us!

6 year photo shoot?

So Adreana is more like 61/2 but I never took pictures of her so on the prettiest spring day I decided it was time to go out and get some. She was all for it (after an appropriate settlement of her fee :).)

What caught most my attention is how big she is getting. She is quite the lady and as usual in the 1/2 years we are dealing with quite a bit of 6 yr old attitude. It has gotten her in trouble more than once. The other thing I am enjoying about her is how much she remembers and can talk about people that are not around us like my parents and Dave and Nay. She remembers what they say and laughs at things they did together. She is still extremely detail orriented and is starting to talk about some friends more than others. Some of her favorite people are Hayden and Maura which is a surprise this year since before now her favorite people were always boys. She still loves to create and draw and now loves to read. She has finished 3 early readers and I have found her more than on one ocassion reading her piggie and elephant and frog and toad books to herself.

I know that this isn't the most technically perfect picture. I mean my crop was horrible and there is hair all over her face but it is a picture that makes me think of her. Her crazy hair and sweet smile I had to make it a keeper.
After Adreana saw this next picture she asked me who it was of. I told her it was her and she said, I look older in this picture. I agree.

She wanted some pictures with her brother and I decided it was a sweet request and obliged. I am so glad I did because I love this one. Maybe my fave of them I have gotten in a long time!

Adreana and Tio Manolo

One of my very first memories is of my cousin Carola and me getting filthy with a chocolate dipped cone in the backseat of my moms car with ice cream dripping all over. And Manolo (my brother) was a bit overwhelmed with the filth. He kept telling us that he asked for milkshakes so he wouldn't get dirty.

And I always thought it was strange. To get a milkshake, not because you prefer it but because you don't want to get dirty. I always considered it strange and still do because you know I would rather get what I want and clean up later... if I felt the need to clean up. Being dirty was not high on my list of concerns as a child. But since I love my brother I decided I would accept him as is, wierdness and all.

And then Adreana came along. She has always been particular about having her hands clean but nothing drastic. And then about a month ago she started asking for donut holes instead of her favorite chocolate donut. I first thought she just had learned to like something else but she would always say something like: Benjamin's donut looks yummy. So I did it, I asked... a little afraid of what I would hear but I asked anyway.

me: Adreana, Why did you start ordering donut holes?

Adreana: Because I don't want to get my hands dirty.

Something to think about, Could weirdness be hereditary??

Christmas Programs

I have been kind of silent in our blog but mostly because we have been BUSY! I mean really busy. I feel like we are finally getting ready to breathe and then it dawns on me Christmas is right around the corner. The good thing about not having family around is that besides the kids we really don't do much Christmas shopping.

But getting back to my post: Adreana participated in our church's Christmas production... Lost and Found. She was the cutest snowman out there and danced her little heart out!

They practiced for days and she did great! No fear and all smiles.


But that is not all! The Awana program our kids participate in had a program and the Cubbies (Benjamin) and Sparks (Adreana) but on the Nativity... Here are the kids...

My shepherd boy

Up on the stage... he actually did pretty good!

My cutest little angel. She actually also had a line and performed beautifully!

My little angel. This was suppose to be a picture of both of them

but he insisted he needed to hug her. He loves her sooo much!

In the Awana program they also said their theme verse and sang away in a manger with sign language. They were so cute! I wish you could all have been here.

New Haircut

On Wednesday, Adreana and I got a haircut! She let Kelle straighten her hair after they cut it. We were laughing with Jorge that night because her hair looked longer than what I took her in with. She looked beautiful... Check it out for yourselves:

I love how her hair looked all straight. By the morning it was gone though!

Not a shot of her hair but couldn't help posting. She is so cute :)!

Adreana's gifts

I took pictures of Adreana with her gifts from Tia tete (and tio Nery) and Abuela Ruth (and Abuelo Leon) since I buy them for them and this is the only way they get to see them. She actually picked them out herself so of course she loves them.


Gracias por querer tanto a nuestra chiquitina tia y mama! Las extraño!

I thought it would only be fitting to get books from Tia Tete (she is a librarian for those of you that don't know her). Her favorite books, from her favorite author: Mo Willems.

And from abuela ruth a Barbie with a doggie and a Tiniest Tyniest Pet Shop play set. She loves her tiniest most of all.

Thanks again!