Brace yourself for a long blog and lots of pictures. The sequence of the pictures is in reverse for the most part, so this is a backwards review of the events of the last two months. Before I start I would like to announce that our little Sophia started taking her first steps today!! She is turning into such an amazing little person!! Her ability to mimick sounds and behaviors is amazing, and she has proven to be quite flexible and is almost as skillful with her feet as she is her hands. Alex has been taking vacation for the past week and we have had a great time. He has really had a chance to bond with both the girls and we did a lot of fun stuff like the zoo, shopping, dinners out, the mountains, and more.
This shot of Alicia is from Christmas morning...She was all amazement as she checked out everything that Santa had done in her sleep; he ate his milk and cookies, filled the stockings and brought gifts...he knew exactly what she wanted and more!! Amazing!!
After a little practice Sophia started to get the whole gift idea...open the paper and find a toy! She found it to be a great new experience and Manny was right there to check out all the new toys as well.
Alicia got a new bike from her Abuelo's on Christmas Eve. It still needs a little practice, but she will be cruising the neighborhood in no time at all. We hosted Christmas Eve for Alex's family this year and had a blast with them!
Sophia was the star of the show on Christmas Eve...as her first gifts were opened she started to get crazy!! She was sooooo excited about her new stuff and got totally into it! We had never seen her so exuberant before and it was a blast to see her little personality shine!
This is just a shot from the family Christmas! Our girls were truly spoiled!!
Alex and I by our Christmas tree!
The girls and I in the backyard waiting for Alex's family to arrive on Christmas Eve
Alicia was in her first Christmas program at our church. You can see her performing in the next picture. She is in the bottom left corner...yes that's her seated on the riser and playing with a microphone cord while everyone else is standing and singing. She's always been little miss independent. This was after the curtain rose and she was missing and suddenly a little body was seen dashing across the stage in the background. Thanks to the kind teacher that snagged her and led her to her place.
Who would have believed that during the rehearsal she stood like a little angel and sang her little heart out!
Alicia turned 3!! If you want homemade cupcakes that taste like cornbread topped with marshmallow fluff, just let me know...I'll send you the recipe!
Alicia's playdoh set from Jenny was a huge hit and this is a picture of her making ice cream sundaes with Vanessa.
Alicia got to celebrate her birthday combined with her Abuela who's birthday is one week after Alicia.
Alicia thought that she was big enough to experiment with salsa now that she is three.
Alicia loves to help me in the kitchen and it is no wonder why...it usually ends with something like this!
We started a christmas tradition of a gingerbreadhouse...100% from scratch! Alicia took the task of applying the candy very seriously...so did daddy!
We hung lights outside for the first time and Alicia was thrilled to be out helping daddy do this!
Alex was thrilled just to find lights to hang since Costco, Lowes, Target, and Home Depot were sold out for over 100 miles. So where did we go? The big K...that's right Kmart...who knew? Alex hung them as soon as we got home...that is why he was putting them up in the dark!
Grandma Peggy, JP and Jennifer were all in town during Thanksgiving and the girls and I were able to spend a few hours with them. It was great, we don't see them very often, and we had a good time relaxing and picking pine cones, playing fuse ball, and more...Thanks so much to Kevin and Cindy who let us share in their Thanksgiving!
This is a shot from Thanksgiving with Alex's family. We saw more of the extended family than we do for the average holiday and had a blast. Alicia loves to play with Briana and Susi (the dog).
Briana takes very good care of Alicia and is truly a sweet heart. Alicia had a blast running around and playing on her swingset.
Here what would at first glance look like a happy family is actually...Jenny holding Sophia on the swing, and Joe (the host) standing behind. Thanks Joe and Iliana...we had a blast!
Alex's grandma really enjoyed Susi too, but I think she prefers Manny.
Alicia was able to help with the Christmas decorating, and only a few ornaments were lost in the process.
Grandpa Charlie came to town to visit for a few days. He was able to put a ceiling light in Alicia's room which made a huge difference!! This is Sophia and I when we were all out to dinner.
We took Grandpa Charlie to go see Santa with us, and Santa was at Bass Pro Shop so I think he really had a good time. We love to take the girls there, they love the big fish tank and all the animals...having Santa there really put it over the top.
Alicia got to check out the ATV's with Grandpa while we waited in the Santa line.
We celebrated Silvia, Vanessa and Alex's birthdays together. This is Alicia singing a very dramatic rendition of Happy Birthday to everyone!!
Don't miss the other post on our trip to the snow.
The birthday girl with her Tia Vanessa.
