Birth Days

We celebrated several more birthdays in the family over this past week. I wished I would find the time to dedicate a seperate post for each individual that had a birthday, but I gave in knowing it would never get done and settled with lumping them all into one. Maybe we could all find something better to do a certain time of year so we don't end up with even more birthdays in the summer time...

First, our niece Clarissa turned 3 years old! Wow, how time goes by - it seems like just yesterday that I watched the miracle of her birth. Now, she's grown into this adorable little angel with a very spirited personality. It was painful for her to have to pose for the picture above, and while she isn't looking at the camera or smiling (nor is it a very clear picture), at least she isn't looking away. At her birthday party, the kids played games, tossed water balloons at each other, ate lots of food & cake and opened up gifts.
As we were getting ready to leave Clarissa's party, we decided to stop by Armando's sister Eva's house. Eva wasn't able to go to the birthday party because she was still celebrating the birth of her son who was born the day before. He was born at home and weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds! He does still have that precious newborn look and aura, but he's as big as a 2 month old.
On Thursday, our niece Angelica turned 15! None of us can believe it has been 15 years since she arrived and changed all of our lives. She continues to amaze us and often will make us caulk our heads sideways, looking astonished and wondering how the heck a 15 year old could possibly have said that. I really do need to dedicate an entire post to this girl, but for now I'll end her brief birthday recognition with this great picture of her with the frog she caught in a stream while at the beach on her birthday...
On Friday, the day after his sister Angelica's birthday, was our nephew Antonio's 12th birthday. Antonio has always been a sweet, cuddly boy. And even at 12 years old, he will wake up in the morning, sit or lay next to you, wrap himself around you and just cuddle while you both wake up. What a sweet boy! And just for proof, below is a picture of Antonio snuggling with his new baby bunny rabbit he named Penelope...
Today is my stepdad George's 60th birthday! We celebrated yesterday as the family gathered at my house. George has been battling with various serious health issues for many, many years now (a special thank you to the soulless/heartless people that sent him to Vietnam). At 60 years old, he is still full of life, love and a strong will to fight through each obstacle that tries to physically and mentally pull him down. He is a beautiful soul, a loving and gentle man and a great father to all of us girls. Below is a picture of him, his daughter Cyndi and his grandson Roman.
This coming Thursday, my sister Mary turns 26...oh, I forgot, she's staying 25 from now on. Mary travels a lot but has stayed in the area for a few weeks now, traveling only from Geneva's to my house. Though she'd rather be in California with her man for her birthday, we are thankful she isn't going to make it. Maybe we'll be blessed with warm weather so we can go up to the river with some cold beer and sit in the sun like we used to...

Happy Birthday Everyone - I love you all and will look forward to many, many more birth days!

Singing Stuffed Animals

Esperanza got two different stuffed animals that talk/sing for her birthday. As you'll see in the video below, she LOVES them! And since they are so entertaining to her, I must admit I kinda love them too.

And here's a few photos of her playing with the singing dog...
Thank you Tony for this doggy one and thank you Aurelia & Gary for the teddy bear one!

Pancake Face

Here's a few cute photos I took the other morning while Esperanza was stuffing her face with some yummy homemade whole wheat pancakes...Mmmm!

All Aboard!

Esperanza and I took the train home on Tuesday morning. I was very excited to take the train and after the experience, we will definately do it again when I want to go visit Geneva and the kids. It was very convenient and about the same price as gas is to get there, maybe cheaper. And it was fun! It was comfortable and not too packed so we were able to take over two seats instead of just the one paid for. We walked through the cars a few times, ate munchies I packed for the ride, played with all the suprise toys Geneva and Anycia helped pack us for the trip and had a great time. Esperanza fell asleep about half way into the ride and Armando picked us up at the train station when we arrived in Portland.

Geneva & Mary seeing us offJust before we got on the trainEsperanza going through the goody bag of toys

As far as my car goes, I did get it in to a mechanic shop but the part needed is a week and several hundred dollars away. Just what a broke stay at home mama and unemployed full time student dad could ask for right? What choice did we have though? It's getting fixed and I'll take the train back to get it when it's ready. Another great excuse to visit with my sisters and the kids again!

Chillin' With The Kids - Part II

Esperanza and I stayed with Geneva and the kids for about a week. Their new home is cozy, comfortable and homey. I think though that when you have a bunch of kids in a house, it's hard for it not to feel that way. Our week long visit flew by. We spent a day wondering around downtown getting to know the area and on another day we strolled though the Saturday market looking at all the arts, crafts and produce. One of the days we spend driving around visiting the schools the kids will be going to this fall. It was so nice to be part of that, to have not just a connection with the kids' home, but to also know where they will be spending their days during the school year. The rest of the time we pretty much hung out around the house cooking, cleaning, playing with the kids and watching Geneva organize her new life and home.

On Saturday, I decided it was time for Esperanza and I to head home. Our sister Mary was on her way over to Geneva's so I felt a little torn between staying and going since she's been in California for the past 5 months and I missed her. I was getting home sick though and figured she'd eventually find her way to my place too. After our stroll through the Saturday market, Esperanza and I got on the freeway expecting an uneventful drive home. After 20 minutes on the road, Esperanza was fast asleep and I was cruising along daydreaming of being home when all of the sudden my jeep started making odd noises and eventually died by the time I pulled over to the side of the freeway.

To make a long story short, Geneva and the kids picked us up, I had the car towed back to her house and we stayed a few more days. It was the universes way of forcing us to stay and see Mary!

Chillin' With The Kids - Part I

Last week I convinced Geneva to leave her kids with me for a few days and head home without them after they were all here visiting for Esperanza's birthday party. Geneva's kids include Anycia who is 7, Antonio who turns 12 this month and Angelica who turns 15 this month. While they were here, Anycia made friends with the 6 year old girl that lives next door, Antonio was put to work with Armando and Angelica was more than happy to practice the domestic life and help me out with Esperanza. We had a great time with them. These kids are amazing! And not just because they share the same blood as me...well, maybe that has something to do with it. But really, they all are exceptional in more ways than I am capable of explaining. And having them around for a few days made life a lot easier in my daily routines, as they were so helpful with Esperanza - plus, they are all potty trained, can walk, talk and are pretty much self sufficient with a little guidance. Older kids are way different than babies!

Anycia helping cook (the older two are much harder to capture on camera)

I took advantage of having them around by taking them blueberry picking since my freezer is already thinning from the last blueberry picking. Only this time, I left baby at home and took the older 3 little helpers which made the picking much faster and the results more plentiful! Mmmm, now I'm set with berries for the winter (oh, wait - I haven't picked blackberries yet - come back kids!). Anyhow, I highly recommend using nieces and nephews as child labor for berry picking.

We also went to up to the Washougal river one of the days they were here. Anycia ended up wanting to spend a few hours with her Grandma and Grandpa instead of going to the river so we dropped her off at my moms house and headed up the river road to my favorite spot on the river where the Angelica, Antonio and Armando swam. Esperanza and I waded in the water but didn't feel up to getting all the way in. Unfortunately, I must have left my camera at home that day cause I just realized I have no pictures of that adventure. Oh well, we have the memories.

After a few days, I packed up the kids and headed back to their home.

Check in soon for Part II of Chillin' With The Kids...

Birthday Celebration

Yesterday (Sunday) we celebrated Esperanza's first birthday with friends and family at our house. Her birthday was last Monday, July 27th. We had originally scheduled the party for the Sunday before her birthday but the weather man predicted 107 degree weather (of course he was wrong though - that came later in the week). So, the party was yesterday and it turned out great. We had a ton of food, friends, family, fun, gifts, laughs and sunshine all packed into our little home and yard.

Here's the birthday girl clapping while eating her yummy zucchini cupcake

Esperanza was a little overwhelmed by all the people who were gathering around her to sing happy birthday. She didn't want to sit in her high chair for it. So, I held her.

That morning, Geneva, her daughters and I baked a carob cake, a zucchini cake and zucchini muffins and topped them with yummy cream cheese frosting - they were delicious! Esperanza wearing a super cute fairy princess tutu birthday dress (thank you yai-yai)

Geneva feeding Esperanza a really sugary popsicle (at least it was home made though)

Opening bithday gifts - Thank you all so much!!!

And whats a birthday party without a few tears from the birthday girl?

Happy Birthday Flower

Yesterday was Esperanza's 1st birthday! One year ago I saw this precious face for the first time.

And this is her today

As a cruel reminder of what I was doing and feeling exactly a year ago, I came down with the flu or food poisoning or something terrible the night before her birthday at about the same time my labor pains started the year before. As crazy as this sounds, I would much rather have been going through labor pains again instead of dealing with the stomach flu. I spent her birthday sick and miserable while my mom and Armando hung out with her. Armando took her up to his uncles house and they picked green beens and my mom came over later in the evening to feed her dinner and make me some egg drop soup and tea. For the most part though, she didn't have a very exciting first birthday. We do however have a little celebration planned for her this weekend.
Happy first birthday my little flower!

Geneva's Home!

Ah, Together at Last

After 5 days on the road, Geneva and her kids Angelica, Antonio and Anycia pulled into the driveway of their new home Thursday morning. My mom, Armando, our nephew Isaac, Esperanza and I went there the night before to meet the moving truck, help unload it and await Geneva's arrival. Geneva's friend Tyler drove a moving truck from Ohio and arrived at the house Wednesday evening at the same time we got there. We spent the evening unloading the truck and making a big mess of Geneva's new place. Geneva and the kids were really excited to get in on Wednesday evening but they ended up stopping to take a much needed nap a few hours away and got home instead at about 8am on Thursday morning.

It was a pretty chaotic day with so much stuff scattered everywhere as all of us tried as much as we could to organize, put stuff together, find things and go about our day all after a sleepless night for most of us. The kids still managed to have fun though - Geneva's kids met their cousin Esperanza for the first time and entertained her throughout the day, Antonio played basketball in the park across the street with Armando and Isaac, Anycia played with all her toys acting like it was Christmas in July as they were unpacked, and Angelica loved on Esperanza and was in awe of how adorable she was (she talks about how much she doesn't like babies and younger kids, but apparently it's different when it comes to her cousin Esperanza).

Geneva and her baby AnyciaGeneva, Esperanza, Angelica, Anycia, Antonio and their dog MestizoGeneva and EsperanzaAntonio and Angelica rough housing alreadyPlaying on the floor of their new homeGeneva & Tyler being silly - 'Yay, we did it'! Not an add for Penske - though Tyler sure was proud of his truck driving abilities

I can't express in words how surreal it is to have my sister, nieces and nephew living so close to us now. As we said our goodbyes yesterday, I felt like it was another 'goodbye until next year' because I haven't fully grasped the reality of it. Though they don't live close enough for me to stoll on over as often as I want to, it sure beats the hassle and limitations of living thousands of miles apart. We will see them again soon and often!