Allie and AJ turn 4

This year Allie and AJ had a Candy Land birthday party. It turned out really cute and was lots of fun for the kids. They wanted to invite a lot of friends and almost all of them ended up coming so there was a lot of excitement.



Allie and AJ are so big now. They are officially little people no longer babies. They say so many funny things and understand so much more than I can believe. They both love to learn and have so many questions about the world. Somedays I can't even process their questions. We are constantly surprised at the bits of information they have acquired. They both love to color, watch shows, play with friends, go places (especially Nana and Papa's house), make up new games, go to preschool and be together. I am bad at writing down the funny things they do and say, but here are a few from lately.

AJ: After watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and seeing the balloon for "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", AJ asked "Mom, can we watch the Wimpy kid with Diarrhea movie?" Also for Christmas he got the book called "Diary of a Worm" and they both call it "Diarrhea of a Worm".
Allie: At the park a few days ago Alberto was swinging and the swing was squeaking and Allie yelled, "Dad, No fat kids on the swings!"
Today in the car AJ said "Mom, my favorite farm animals are cows and bulls and my favorite bugs are cockroaches and ladybugs." Allie said, "My favorite bugs are crazy-mantis's and lady bugs and my favorite farm animals are rainbow unicorns".
Allie at 4:
Loves princess stuff, dressing up and pretending.
Still loves her thumb. Perhaps now more than ever.
Has a lot to say. Sometimes Allie will just talk and talk and talk even when no one is listening.
Loves to look in the mirror and pose or talk or make faces. She just loves seeing herself.
Likes to sing. Allie has a good memory and learns songs very quickly. I love when she learns the words wrong and sings total nonsense.
Allie is really emotional and will react to the smallest things in a large way. She can change moods in the blink of an eye.
AJ at 4:
Loves trucks, cars and guns.
Still loves his puppy and sleeps with it every night.
Loves, Loves, Loves to ride his bike out front with his buddies in the neighborhood.
Likes to eat and is always in the mood for a snack.
Does not want to nap or rest, ever!
Still loves all things related to Cars.
Is learning to enjoy watching sports with daddy. I think it is more because he knows once the TV is on it is more likely that we will let him watch cartoons.
Is becoming quite a brown noser. When he knows he has done something that makes me unhappy he will say things like, "You're the best mom ever" or "Mom, you are beautiful".

Summer and Fall in Review

I am frustrated with myself that I have missed blogging two whole seasons of this year. So in an effort to catch up, I am posting a whole bunch in one big post.
4th of July:
Hurricane Parade with friends and neighbors


Swimming and BBQ and Nana and Papa's


Fireworks at Dixie State College with family and friends


Anna's 1st Birthday:
I made Anna a caterpillar cake for no particular reason except that I thought it would be cute and colorful and it was. She loves playing in the water so we decided to have a party at my parents with sprinklers, kid pools and squirt guns. We also had a bbq, cake and ice cream and opened gifts. It was fun as ever to be with friends and family for her special day.






Dance:
Allie took an 8 week dance class at the community center this summer. She liked it so much that we signed her up for an actual dance class. She goes with her friend Ayla and is loving it.


Preschool:
In August Allie and AJ started preschool. I was not going to start them yet since they have another year until Kindergarten, but I decided to because most of their friends were doing it and they loved Joy School so much. Now that they have been going for a few months, I am really glad I didn't wait. They love it and look forward to going each time. They have learned lots of things such as coloring in the lines, the pledge of alligence, nursery rhymes and all the letter sounds.

Camping:
In September we went camping with our good friends and neighbors the Dominguez's. We had a great time in Pine Valley. The weather was perfect, aside from a bit of rain, and the kids had a blast.

Other activities:
Pine Valley picnic.

Outside movies-a few times this summer we projected movies on our neighbors house for the kids. It was a super fun way to enjoy the awesome summer nightsLots of water activities-splash pads, sprinklers, swimming and squirt guns.




At the end of September every year we go to Swiss Days in Santa Clara. My mom works very hard on Swiss Days all year as part of her job so we have made it a tradition to be there to enjoy the event and support her. A few highlights for the kids were eating breakfast at the parade, seeing Ariel and Eric from the Little Mermaid and AJ shooting a black powder rifle during the parade.

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SLC-During the first weekend of October we decided to go up north to do some business at the Brazilian consulate, visit Alberto's mom and have some fun as a family. Our first night there we decided to go visit our friends Fernando and Heila. It was an awesome night so we took the kids out back to play. AJ was zooming around on a tricycle and took a corner without looking. He crashed and busted out one of his teeth, loosened 3 or 4 other ones and banged up his chin. It was a frightening bloody mess. He was borderline hysterical, as was I. We ended up in the emergency room afraid of the thought of him loosing all his front bottom teeth. It turned out to be ok. He had to see the dentist when we got home and have the rest of his tooth extracted because it broke off leaving the root shattered inside his gums. It was all very traumatic, but AJ is a brave boy and handled it all like a champ. The rest of our weekend was really fun. We took the kids to Gardner Village to see the Halloween witches, ate at some of our favorite places and hung out with Uncle Wes, Cecilia and Dale.















Alberto's birthday-Alberto turned 30 in October so I decided to through him a last minute surprise party. I did it more than a week before his birthday so he had no idea. It ended up being pretty fun. He was surprised and we had a great turn out. We hope daddy enjoys his 30's.

Deer Hunt-as tradition, we went camping with my family for the opening weekend of the deer hunt. My parents always work out a way for us to have a trailer, which is really nice with the kids. The first night as we began to get ready for bed Anna got super fussy. I kept trying to convince myself she was just tired, but I had a nagging feeling that it was an ear infection. It was nearly impossible to get her to sleep and once we did she kept waking up. After what felt like the millionth time waking up, Alberto and I decided to drive down to my parents house for the night and take her to instacare in the morning. Sure enough she had an ear infection. She was a brave girl and still enjoyed the rest of the weekend. Allie and AJ LOVE to camp and had the best time exploring, playing, eating and roughing it.





Halloween-All the kids dressed up as pirates this year. They were SO CUTE! Nana made them each an awesome vest and I made the girls some crazy tutu's so they could be pirate princesses. In addition to Halloween night we had a neighborhood party and the kids dressed up for a preschool party. It was fun for them to get to wear their costumes more than once. On Halloween night our neighbors the Johnston's ended up in Santa Clara so they came trick or treating with us. That made it super fun for AJ and Allie.

Funny Kids

There are so many things I want to post about, but we all know life gets busy and blogging goes to the bottom of the list. Every year I forget how crazy my life is when school starts up.
I finally downloaded the pictures from my memory card in my camera tonight. 500 pictures between July 4th and yesterday. I thought I'd hurry and post a bunch, but it took me forever to go through all 500 pictures because they are all so cute. So, I decided to post a few random funny ones.
We love our kids so much! The past few weeks have been rough with work and I regret that I haven't appreciated these 3 for just being kids. Looking at these pictures makes me so grateful to know that they are so happy and so forgiving.
AJ is all about making crazy faces lately. He loves to see them in pictures too.
This is Allie being silly while camping last weekend. I was trying to get some smiling pictures, but she was insistant on keeping that grass in her mouth.
Ann is such a ham! She loves wearing shoes and recently discovered AJ's slippers and likes to wear them all around. I am surprised she can walk so well in them.
A tea party. I love this picture because you can see how excited Anna is to be included in the party and sitting at the table. She ADORES Allie and AJ.

Happy 1st Birthday Anna!!

Today our "Baby Anna" is official not a baby anymore! I know it is so cliche, but I genuinely cannot believe that a whole year has passed. One year ago at this moment I was all cracked out on what ever they give you in the hospital when you have a c-section, most likely nursing Anna while Allie and AJ sat at the foot of the bed watching cartoons with the rest of our family surrounding us. I remember that morning feeling so surreal as we woke up at the crack of dawn, left Allie and AJ sleeping in their beds under the care of Wes and calmly drove to the hospital. It was weird to know exactly when I would be having her and to just walk in to the hospital not feeling any contractions or anything. We arrived there at 5:00 am and Anna was delivered at 7:10 am. I will never forget the surprise I felt when I first saw her. She was so big and in that moment looked nothing like I would have imagined. It really feels like it was just yesterday, not a whole year ago!
Anna has been such a blessing and joy to our whole family. She is so smart and full of life! She is so brave and happy! We love our Baby Anna and wish her the happiest birthday and year! Here is what's new with Anna:
1. She is a walking maniac. She is so fast and practically running already.
2. She loves to be right in the middle of the action. She is not afraid to play with all the neighborhood kids, walk right into the middle of the splash pads or climb on anything. She has the strongest desire to keep up with Allie and AJ.
3. She is becoming a little more selective in her eating. While she still eats quite well, she is beginning to attend to texture and will spit things out if they don't feel right.
4. She is saying so many new things including: Cheese, Good Girl, Okay, Allie, AJ, Kitty, Doggy, Night Night, Stop it, Hi, Bye, goal (ball), Brad, Nana, Papa, Mom and Mommy, Dada, Boo and mine. I am sure there is more, but that's all I can think of right now.
5. She loves to play with balls. Alberto and AJ are always kicking around a soccer ball and saying, "GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" all loud and long, so when Anna sees a ball she says, "GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" it is pretty cute.
6. She loves Allie and AJ and will walk all around calling out their names, mostly Allie's though.
7. She is turning into a major copy cat. She not only copies what you say, but also what you do. She especially copies Allie. One day Allie was sucking her thumb so Anna started to suck hers too. Then Allie pulled her thumb out and so Anna pulled hers out. This continued for quite sometime and they both thought it was a funny game. If Anna sees Allie whining she will begin to whine and mimic her movements, such as hang on my legs. It is cute on one hand, but sad that she is already picking up on those types of behaviors.
8. She wants to do everything herself. Yesterday I gave her a snack in a little bowl. I was trying to get her to sit down and then set the bowl in front of her, but she kept reaching for the bowl and throwing this big fit. I finally just put the bowl down and she stands up, grabs the bowl and starts walking around with a big smile on her face. She just wanted to hold the bowl and walk around like a big girl.
9. She is still a great sleeper. She loves her crib and her blanket.
10. She loves to climb on things and to sit in chairs.
11. She is completely weaned as of a few days ago. I am sad because it feels like the official end of her babyhood, but glad that she transitioned well and is enjoying her sippy cup.
12. She is such a snuggle-bug. She gives these great hugs and will just lay her head on your shoulder and hang out for a while. All us grown-ups love that.
13. She really likes her Uncle Brad. If he is around she wants him to hold her and will walk around calling his name too.
14. She loves to give kisses, especially in the morning and before she goes down for a nap and bedtime. She will pucker her lips and say, "MMMM" and then as soon as you get close she opens her mouth and slobbers all over your face. It is delightful.
15. She likes music (especially kids songs) and likes to dance around and clap her hands or point to one hand (the "Mark it with a B" action from Patty Cake)
16. She loves bath time and playing in the water.
17. She is beginning to take a greater interest in books. She hasn't really cared much until recently. I am hoping she will love them as much as the other two do.

I could go on and on...We love this girl! We are having her party on the weekend and her 1 year appointment isn't until the beginning of August so I am sure I will have a few more 1-year posts to come.

(The pictures in this post are some that I took recently and then my great friend Tara touched them up with some Photoshop actions. I think they turned out really well, but truthfully Anna is such a doll that there is no such thing as a bad picture of her.)