Chop Stix

We went to eat at PF Changs recently for our 5 year anniversary. As usual, our sitter didn't come threw so Esperanza joined us. Along with chop stix, crayons and the childrens menu, they gave her a little plastic tool. It works amazingly well at keeping the chop stix together so the user (child or adult) can actually eat. Esperanza loved it and I was able to get a couple extra to take home. Here she is at home, eating lunch with them.

A Real Spring Day

As I write this, some very dark clouds are dumping loads of hail outside. And the thunder that literally just shook the house will likely wake Esperanza from her afternoon nap. Spring in it's idealistic form, still seems far off in the distance most of the time.

Yesterday, however, we had a nice little tease of warm & sunny Springtime weather which lasted the entire day. A bright & pretty Spring dress found it's way on Esperanza then she and I spent some time outside soaking in some real vitamin D (the drops just aren't the same). She picked some flowers and ran around barefoot in the grass. We listened to some very happy birds singing from the trees. I eyeballed my little veggie garden and noticed the peas I planted the beginning of March finally sprouted. All it took was a whole lot of rain and a little sun. Later in the day, Armando, Esperanza and I took a walk around the neighborhood together. Esperanza picked some flowers that we later put in a vase and set on our nature table inside. She had so much fun running up and down the sidewalks and in random open fields screaming & laughing with joy as the sun shone down on her (and I thought she loved the rain - watch out Summer!). For dinner, we had hot dogs and brussell sprouts! The sun convinced me that the pellet stove would be most useful as a table over the next six months so I re-arranged my living room to accomodate all the baby stuff that will likely be taking over soon. Even the tote with all the wool hats, scarves & gloves made their way into the garage. I looked threw all the veggie and herb seeds that have been waiting for me to plant them, then decided to put them back in the basket until next year when I'll have two extra sets of little hands to help with the garden. This year, I'm growing something different.

Picking flowers I tried convincing Esperanza to go ahead and poop on the grass outside. Hey, it would have been a step ahead of the diaper thing...no luck though.

Notice the dandelions in her pigtails - so cute!

More Princess Pictures

Here are a few of my favorites...

Okay, too many favorites. Looks like I'll be digging up some change to buy a print or two.

Still Lovin' The Rain

I think it's been about 6 or 7 months since I announced our love for the rain last fall. With very few sun breaks since that time, we do still love it, but we sure are looking forward to some sunshine. Until then, the rain boots stay on.

Birthday Parties

'Tis the season...for birthday parties that is. Last month we went to Gavns 3rd birthday party as well as Sofies 3rd birthday party. So far in April, we went to Esmeralda's 12th birthday party and Brandons 9th birthday party. I'm already partied out and it's not even summer yet! I only took pictures at the first two parties.

Esperanza and Gavn playing with baloons at Gavns b-day party

So thankful Mando suggested I take off her sweater before she ate this cupcake. Sofie had a Dora themed birthday party. They had face painting, beaded bracelet making, a pinata, Dora everything and of course a colorful cake.

Birthday girl and her pinata

Come June, we'll be sending birthday cards instead

Potty Time

Everyone said it would happen when she was good 'n ready. And that it did. Every few months for the past year and a half, I've put a little potty out for a few days and encouraged Esperanza to use it, with very little expectation. She'd get excited about something new and would use it a couple of times. Then she'd realize that she really didn't like it all that much and away it would go again for another month or two before it would make an appearance again. Around the beginning of this month I brought it out and Esperanza used it a few times...and she kept using it every single time she had to go potty. Sometimes I wouldn't even know she needed to go potty and she'd just go use it all on her own. For the first week or so, we'd go through 6 or 8 outfits a day because she'd have an accident as she was learning how to control things. It's been about 3 weeks now and she's basically 'potty trained' with fewer and fewer accidents. One exception though is that she absolutely will not poop in the toilet. Pooping has always been an issue for her ever since she was a newborn. Every time she has to go poo, she asks me to put a diaper on her, and I do. That will be a process but I don't make it a big deal...maybe I will in a few years if it's still an issue. But everything else goes in the potty! We can leave the house with no diaper on, and she even has dry diapers when she wakes up in the morning and from naps, usually. Cheers to fewer diaper changes...at least until Blue arrives.

And like most of us, she likes her privacy

Cousins Clarissa & Brandon

Newlyweds Nino & Cathy came over for dinner the other evening with thier kids Clarissa & Brandon. Esperanza loves it when she has 'friends' over. In this case, cousins. We usually visit other people at their homes, so it's a treat when little ones are over at her house to play with her and her things. Even at almost 9 years old, Brandon had a ton of fun playing dress up with the little girls. Clarissa taught Esperanza that she could in fact jump off of the chest and land on her feet without getting hurt...silly me, I've been telling Esperanza all this time not to jump off of it because she'd get hurt.

Princess Photo Shoot

For purposes that I had originally thought would be a fun & free way to spend our morning, yesterday Esperanza got to be a model. We were contacted by a friend of my sister in laws who is a photographer and needed a 2 year old girl to model a dress for a designer. Why not exploit Esperanza while she's young and give ourselves something different and entertaining to do at the same time? I had no idea that the dress was so...

...over the top? And yes, insanely beautiful. I also hadn't taken into account how exhausting it would be for both Esperanza and I. She had a few major breakdowns, she had an extreme case of the runny nose, it was freezing, rainy and windy outside, she was cold and she kept asking to take the dress off and go home to daddy. Oh, and I was hungry! Why do parents do these things to their children I asked myself the entire time. I felt really bad but continued on with what we had gotten ourselves into.

There were however a lot of good moments too where Esperanza 'owned' the dress with ease. She spun around laughing, ran up and down the ramps of the post office giggling as the feathers on the dress bounced up and down, she jumped in mud puddles (I'm sure that dress will take a trip to the dry cleaners before it's sold), eagerly accepted the colorful lolipop as a bribe to keep the dress on & played the princess role really well by showing off to random strangers who were gawking at her and the dress as she hopped, skipped and jumped along the sidewalks of downtown Camas.

So, was it all worth it? Sure, it actually kinda fun. I've only seen one photo so far but will share more when I get them. We're probably not going to actually buy any pictures, as professional photography is above and beyond our budget these days...but we'll see if I fall in love with any of the shots. Here's the one sneek peek shot...

Shopping at the antique store downtown Camas.
To give credit where credit is due...photography is done by Tami with Artistic Cliques Photography and the dress is by MelissaJane Boutique

Bouncing Cousins

Yesterday we went to visit one of Armando's sisters Araceli and her youngest kids, twins Sadee & Andy. They are three years old. Among the various toys they have are a few of those bouncy balls with handles on them that kids sit and bounce on (yes, long explanation - someone please help me out with a name!). It was soooo funny to watch Esperanza learn how to bounce on it and then the three of them tear threw the house on them. I shot a short video of them laughing and bouncing about...

And of course a few photos

At the end of the day, Araceli (but not Andy so much) was kind enough to send one of the balls home with Esperanza. She has the time of her life with it, even by herself.

Raining Cats & Dogs

One of our many rainy day activities includes driving a short distance to the local Humane Society to visit the dogs and cats. Esperanza and I took a trip there last week for a little browsing of the animals. It had been awhile since our last visit so I was a bit surpised when we were greeted by a woman as soon as we walked in. We told her we were just looking, something fun to do on a rainy day. She wasn't impressed. She provided us with some fairly strict rules: make sure to disinfect your hands after you touch a cat and before you touch another cat! I could swear she smirked a little as she looked down at Esperanza. For a 2 year old, this means constant disinfecting! The lady followed us around like a hawk, glaring at me the few times that Esperanza's hands were quicker than mine and she touched a cat without disinfecting her hands first. So, I carried a gallon of their disinfecting goo around with us and squirted a dab on Esperanza's hands every few seconds, or just whenever that woman was looking...if anythings gonna get those kitty's sick, it's that goo!

Despite the rules, we had a good time and met a lot of furry animals.

If we were to have taken any animal home, it would have been this sweet girl. Too bad I don't like dogs.

I Love Lucy

My Very Own Cinderella

As I was replenishing my containers & bottles of home made cleaning supplies this evening, Esperanza got excited about getting involved in my little project. She loves to clean, cook and do laundry. I do hope this phase lasts her awhile because she's got many, many years before she's allowed to go to the ball and meet some fairy tale prince. About 25 actually. And don't think I won't lock her up. Still a princess though.

I gave her a few squirt bottles of water, a rag and a towel. For the next hour (yes, it was at least that long) she cleaned the table, the bench and parts of the floor.

Lucy disappeared not long after the squirt bottles came outAnd all her hard work was rewarded with cookies