February Friends

As usual, we've been out and about lately, hangin' with some friends. We've even had a few friends over to play with us. Esperanza is much more social than I am, and always asks to go 'bye-bye'. Every now and then, I give in and we leave the house.

We went to Val's daughter Annabelle's 9th birthday party recently. It was pirate themed! As Annabelle opened her gifts, Esepranza was right next to her. Val had all kinds of games and yummy treats for the kids. Esperanza was feeling a little under the weather, so she spent most of her time snuggled on my lap and occassionally got up to steal a little girls stuffed horse and burn off energy she didn't have.

Happy birthday!

We had a very brief dusting of snow early in the month that melted at our house shortly after we woke up. Fortunately for us, it was on a day that we planned on heading to a higher elevation to visit with my friend Sarah and her 2 year old Michael. Michael was already outside playing in the little bit of snow when we got there.

That same Michael came to visit with us one day while his mama went to work. He's such a sweet little boy...if I have a boy half as easy as he is, I'll be one happy mama. A little wild, but completely drama and attitude free.

Mando takes Esperanza over to his sisters house often to play with her cousins Rafael & Sergio Jr. When they go, I usually stay home and use the opportunity to have 'me' so I rarely get any pictures of these 'play dates'. Mando had my camera for some reason one day thoough and snapped this photo of his cousin Lucy's baby that was over there (we can't remember her name but she'd be Esperanza's second cousin I think). She's a cutie - half Mexican & half Korean. This is the usual crowd. Esperanza and her stuffed friends playing together at home. She's getting really good at playing by herself (I mean, with her 'friends').
We went to visit a good friend Alisha and her daughter Adalaide this month also. Adalaide is about 4 months younger than Esperanza (and born at home with the assistance of the same midwives). She's just as spunky as Esperanza and is even taller by just a hair. When they get together they battle a lot over everything, but still end up having a good time.

See, they do love each other

We also stopped and visited with Jai, Yasmina and Jenny after a prenatal visit with my midwife last week. Jai is also about 4 months younger than Esperanza. He and his little sister were also home birthed with Catherine as the midwife (and there you have the connection between Alisha, Jenny and I). I didn't get any photos of Jai and Esperanza when we were there recently, but I did decide to borrow this beautiful shot from Jenny's FB page. Love you!

Hope to see all our friends again soon. We love you!