Christmas 2009 - Part I

Christmas was amazing this year. It usually is, but it just keeps getting better because of Esperanza. Kids definately make the holidays more enjoyable. This year Esperanza was able to have fun, understand and be part of the season and all that comes with it much more than she did last year. She loved trying to sneak over to the tree to play with the ornaments, she helped me wrap gifts, she entertained herself with pushing buttons on the remote controlled Christmas tree lights, she danced to Christmas music, was able to open most of her gifts by herself & then was able to express opinions about prefering toys over clothing.

On Christmas Eve Esperanza opened up a few gifts. The first was the music table she fell in love with that her cousin Roman has (we had to get it for her). She did great opening it up! Both Mando and I were surpised that she caught on so quickly and got the paper off. We took it out of the box, put it together and let her dance and play with it for awhile. Then I wanted her to open up another gift. The idea was that if the first thing she opened up was something she loved, then she'd want to open up more. The next gift were her Christmas jammies. She got half way done opening them up, saw it definately was NOT a toy or anything comparable to the music table, and went right back to dancing. Eventually we got her in her cute jammies and managed to get her to open up another gift, a toy.

The music tableIn her Christmas jammies, playing with bath toys & water on the living room floor The first part of Christmas morning was slow and ralaxing. Since Esperanza isn't old enough yet to get super excited over Christmas, we didn't open gifts first thing. We lounged for a bit, ate breakfast and watched Esperanza dance to music in her jammies...then it was on to the presents!

Hmm, which gift should I start with?Trying to walk in Armando's new shoes
A gift to Esperanza from my aunt & uncle - Thank you!
Yummy toothpaste in the stocking!
After we opened all the gifts and Esperanza was tired, we got her dressed up and put her down for a short nap before we ran around town visiting family

Mija

Tonight as I was going through Esperanza's room, organizing her clothes, I came across this skirt and top outfit (I really wish my photo skills had been better for this picture)Armando's sister Eva brought it back from Mexico last year for Esperanza but it was way to big to even attempt to try it on her at the time. So, I put it away and kinda forgot about it until tonight. I had asked Eva when she went to Mexico if she would please bring back a colorful, big and poofy traditional little girls Mexican dress for Esperanza. She covered all my wishes and then some! After putting it on Esperanza and watching her run around the house in it, I was amazed at how much of a 'big girl' she looks lately. It'll fit her for a few years I think, so you'll see more and better pictures of her in this outfit in the future...FYI - Mija is Spanish slang for mi hija, which means my daughter

Festival Of Lights

This evening we joined my bff Val and her family on a festive outing to The Grotto. There were a ton of people there but it was still enjoyable. It's always a little scary when there are a bunch of people in one place and you have a toddler that wants to run away from you to explore. Esperanza loves kids who are a little older than her, mostly little girls. She'll follow them as if they are her big sister or something. If my eye is taken off of her for a second she'd be lost and more than happy to be part of someone else's family. I try to give her a little bit of slack so she feels some freedom, yet I also try to let her know it really isn't okay to wonder away from me. Val's youngest kid Carter is 3 1/2 and is just as happy to wonder away from his family too. Needless to say, we spent most of our evening chasing our little ones around. It was fun.

We did manage to catch a few minutes of a puppet show, take a few pictures, visit the small petting zoo, walk in then right back out of the sanctuary where the chior was singing, get some hot spiced apple cider and of course stroll (I mean chase the kids) through the paths lit with Christmas lights.

Here are a few pictures I took of Esperanza earlier today. She's growing up so fast and I'm super excited to see how she handles Christmas morning this year. Hopefully she'll enjoy it as much as I'm hoping for.

She loves these snow globes!

I love this picture

I re-introduced 'the potty' today. She just thinks it's a toy right now...thats good I guess

Longest Night, Shortest Day

Happy Winter Solstice!

Today is the perfect day for welcoming back the sun. Esperanza and I did the sun dance this morning as our way of welcoming back the sun (though it was dark, cloudy and really wet outside). Yes, we still have months of winter ahead, but our days will get longer and Spring is just around the corner. Time to start planning my Spring garden and think about what seeds will be sprouting in my window sill in the coming months. I like to try growing at least one new veggie each year...any suggestions?

Doggy!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in the past, but Esperanza loves doggies. She loves kitties too. But she loves doggies so much that she calls kitties doggies. I correct her each and every time she calls our cat Lucy doggy. I never let it go. She doesn't care. She used to say kitty, but maybe doggy is easier to say, or maybe she really does like dogs more than cats. On more than one occassion I've even heard her say doggy in her sleep. We don't even have a dog! And no, we aren't getting one either. My mom has dogs, my sister has a dog, there are dogs in the neighborhood, dogs at the parks, dogs at friends' houses, dogs in stores, etc...sheesh, they are everywhere!

The picture above is Esperanza laying on my moms dog Daisy. They adore each other! The picture below is my moms dog Maddy on my moms lap (probably trying to get away from Esperanza). He's not as fond of Esperanza, but he's warming up and even let Esperanza play chase with him the other day.

Nutcracker & A School Winter Celebration

Earlier this month we went to a couple of kid events. My best friend Val's daughter Annabelle was one of the lucky ones chosen to be in the Vancouver Dance Theater's production of The Nutcracker. After a couple months of some serious practices, the little kids put on an amazing performance! We sat in the second to the front row and had a wonderful view of all the little kids on the stage. I debated on bringing Esperanza to the event but eventually decided to. She absoultely LOVED it! She was in awe of the lights, music, dancers and the entire show. The majority of the time she just sat on my lap or Mando's and watched closely. She did try a few times to climb up on the stage with the dancers (maybe we have a future ballerina on our hands). Towards the end she did get a little stir crazy and I had to leave the auditorium to let her run around with all the other toddlers who had the same urge. We kind of left in a hurry and missed seeing Annabelle and taking some pictures of her. The pictures below I borrowed from Val's Facebook (thanks!).

Annabelle in her mouse costume

In her Arabian costume with her mama ValCongrats Annabelle! You're a great dancer and helped make this perfomance of The Nutcracker one of the best!

A few days later our niece Gizelle and our nephew Brandon had their winter school program for Sarah J. Anderson. We've gone to a few events at this school in the past and I have to say that this is a really neat school from what I've seen! Especially considering it is a public school. For the Winter Program, each class was dressed up differently for one of the many holidays that occurs during the winter season. The classes danced and sang songs for each holiday: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Los Posadas, Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice and New Years Eve. It was a beautiful performance! My camera isn't great for taking long distance shots of kids dancing, but I did my best...

Brandon Gizelle
Esperanza laying on her cousin Addy's legs enjoying the performance

Arctic Blast '08 Baby Turns 1

My nephew Roman turned one earlier this week. He was born at the beginning of our big snow storm last year. Because the media around here makes such a big deal about any elemental extremeties, this time last year was considered the 'Arctic Blast' in the northwest. So, I can't help but call little Roman the Arctic Blast '08 Baby.

My sister Cyndi had a birthday celebration for him on Saturday. Due to Esperanza's nap, we got there a little bit late, just as everyone was leaving and after all the fun of cake and gifts. We still had a great time though. Esperanza and Roman played with Roman's new birthday toys. Cyndi and Tony got Roman this music learning toy table thing that they played with and had the best time. Roman was 'popping' his knee while Esperanza busted a move to the music. They were quite the dancing team. As much as I can't stand these type of toys, it's a pretty entertaining piece of plastic for little ones. I'm actually convinced we need one for Esperanza.

Don't let this little girl fool you. She may be cute, but she's plotting something...

Below is a cute video of cousins Roman & Esperanza. Roman is about 5 months younger than Esperanza but is already bigger and stronger than her. He's gonna be a big boy! Note: If you're viewing this on my actual blog, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and pause the music before you play the video...if you got this as an email, I don't think you need to do anything (and I appologize for sending it a few times too many).

Happy 1st Birthday Roman. I think this was the last birthday of the year for our family!

Eight

Last weekend was my niece Anycia's eighth birthday. Esperanza and I drove to her house and spent the weekend with her, Geneva and the other kids. For her birthday, we loaded up Geneva's mini van and headed East in search of snow. It was a really, really cold day and the sky was clear and blue. After driving for some time, we did begin to see snow on the peaks of the mountains, but it was at an altitude much too high for us to get to. I think we were a little too early in the season to find snow in the area, and even though it had definately been cold enough for snow, we really haven't had much precipitation. Instead of frolicking in the snow, we took a stroll through the forest and enjoyed the amazing beauty of the Oregon forest.

On the way back home, we stopped by a cute little pizza place. We ate some yummy pizza, the kids played some video arcade games, then we broke out the layered german chocolate birthday cake I made for Anycia. We sang happy birthday, Anycia blew out her candles (after making a wish) and we ate the best german chocolate cake ever made!

Happy Birthday Anycia! Hope you enjoy and love every day that you are eight.

Until Next Year

My little sis Mary and her boyfriend Yoshi took the train out of Portland today and are back to their travelin' ways.

Not sure where they are in the picture above, but I figure I have all rights to the pictures Mary uploaded onto my computer from her camera - he, he.

Though they will probably say they were here over the past couple of months just for the purpose of helping our parents move, truth is, Mary can't stay away from us for very long. Good thing. It was great having them around. They'd stop by for breakfast and coffee in the mornings, dinner and beer in the evenings, we'd go to the park to play with Esperanza, we hung out at Powells book store one morning, Mary did my dishes more times than I can count and they both are so good with Esperanza. They are funny and silly kids themselves, which goes over very well with Esperanza who needs constant entertainment. For me it was nice to have other adults around on a regular basis. The world around me tends to warp just a bit when it's just me and a toddler day after day after day. Mary and Yoshi are still very 'kid' at heart, but somehow they are also adult enough to bring me back and remind me that the world isn't completely controlled by my toddler.

And since I have them on my computer, here's a few cute pictures of Mary to share...

Have fun in Conneticut this Christmas (or was it New Hampshire? One of those states on the east coast I sometimes forget even exist) and wherever else your travels take you.
Thank you Mary for being you. Love you! And Yoshi...you better bring my sister back soon!