Cupcake Girl D and Dragon Boy T

It's only been 2 years...

2010-12-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

Feel the itch to blog again. Have missed being able to write. Stay tuned for a new look for the blog. My kiddos look a little different now!

Quiet Moments

2008-11-13T21:22:00.001-08:00

I am here with a quiet moment and I can't stop thinking where did the time go? My baby girl turns 3 tomorrow and I feel like I can reach back and touch the day we got her referral. The day we saw her for the first time, the ache of not having her home. She has blossomed into this darling little person that makes my heart swell. She completes our family in the most perfect way. She is funny, bright, kind, sweet and SOOO incredibly spirited. She has such a zest and love for life that really amazes me. Some things have happened recently that have made me want to pull my family in close and squeeze them so tight. I appreciate my daughter, stepson and husband so much and I know how lucky I am to have them.

We went to the movies tonight and it was the first time Dani has sat through a movie at the theater. We had tried awhile back but she wasn't ready. Tonight she watched all of Madagascar and it was really fun. I tucked the kids into bed and as I type this she is singing to herself the way she does every night. A medley of tunes that change quite often. She knows so many songs it boggles our minds. I am so grateful that my dream of being a Mom was realized through adoption. Sorry I am babbling on and on but I really just had so many feelings welling up in my heart tonight with her birthday being tomorrow and seeing all of the changes in her lately that show me she is growing up. Not really a baby anymore! So....I want to wish my big girl a Happy Birthday and say Mommy and Daddy and Tyler love you with all of our hearts and you are the best doodle bug in the whole wide world!

I will post more pics this weekend!

HERE WE ARE!

2008-11-10T22:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm back. It's been 7 months since I last posted according to blogger and we have been busy just living life. Dani will be turning 3 on Friday and we have had one birthday festivity after another. My Grandparents are in town and the big family birthday bash will be this weekend. I can't believe our baby is turning 3 years old. Time is flying by and we are having fun. Tyler is doing great and really improving in school this year. He has a great teacher who seems to be doing a good job with him. Last year before middle school has us shaking in our boots but we are trying to focus on the positive! LOL

Here are a few pics from the last few months. I will try to start posting regularly again. I miss blogging.

At my cousin Judith's wedding in Houston. I love this pic of us. Just too bad Tyler wasn't in it or we would have our holiday card!

Tyler and Dani at the Pumpkin Patch

Big T

Mommy squeezing her ass into the ride because Dani was freaked out by the horn. Oh the things we do for love. My head was spinning when we got off but we had a happy kiddo!

Mommy and Dani riding the train at the pumpkin patch

More posts and lots of pics to come....

FFF and I don't mean Favorite Foto Friday!

2008-04-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

FOREVER FAMILY DAY!

I can't believe it..it flew by. 2 years ago today Daniela was placed in our arms FOREVER. On April 6, 2006, with tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts our daughter became a part of our family. She is the perfect daughter for us and she completes my life and heart in a way I never thought possible. She amazes us every single day and I thank God with all I am for blessing our lives with this child.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

FFF

2008-04-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

These were taken on Easter Sunday. Love some of these shots. This one is my new wallpaper on my desktop:

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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FFF - Tagged

2008-03-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of recent pics to post. I took Dani to see her favorite band this week...The Wiggles. It was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed it (ok, I did too). I will say thought that the couple behind us went beyond enjoying it with their kids and freaked me out a little bit. Mom and Dad and small girl were all in full Wiggles getup. Dad looked like a stand in for the wiggles. It was hard to keep a straight face as we took our seats. I really wanted to whip around and snap their picture for my blog but alas, I was too chicken.

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As you can see Carebear goes EVERYWHERE with us. Here she is when the show started. I think she was a little taken by all the lights, music, people etc.

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Here you can see she has gotten into it. She pulled some serious moves out of her bag of tricks. I have no idea where she gets them!

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Su Novio! Out of the blue she sat next to this boy. They were soo cute together

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Note to the Wiggles. The new Wiggle "Sam" is ok but the other guy was way hotter!

This weekend I will post some pics from last weekend. For the mean time Dani has been TAGGED by Candy and Kya Blu. So here goes:

The directions are to post 10 random bits about yourself and then tag 10 more people.

1. Daniela was given her name by her birthmother. Steve and I didn't agree on almost a single name and we had agreed she would be Zoe. When we found out her name was Daniela we both loved it and decided to keep her given name. We gave her a middle name Marisol which means "sunny sea". Somehow her nickname Dani has stuck and this is what we usually call her.

2. Dani loves to EAT. She loves almost all foods especially carrots, fruit, green beans, pancakes, macaroni and cheese, pizza and ice cream. She will not eat anything fried. Not even chicken nuggets or french fries. She eats more at most meals then her big brother Tyler. We are not sure where it all goes!

3. Dani's first word was "up". As in pick me "up" out of this crib.

4. She loves the Wiggles, her Care Bear, Dora and Elmo. When she says Elmo it sounds like "Homo". This is sometimes embarrasing for her Mommy when she says it out loud shouting and pointing in public. It's especially offensive since we live 35 minutes from San Francisco!

5. Daniela recognizes the letters D, M, O, S, X and Z and knows their sounds. This makes her mommy really proud. This is mostly attributed to the Leap Frog Fridge Alphabet. We spent a whole evening with my Grandparents where she walked around asking "Where's the Ass?". We later found out she was looking for the missing Letter 'S' for the fridge!

6. Dani's favorite place to be is the park. She loves swinging, sliding and climbing.

7. She is a morning person and loves giving hugs and kisses to her family when she wakes up.

8. Daniela is crazy about music and enjoys Laurie Berkner and the Music Together CD's most. When we are in the car music is required and it has to be HER choice. She is not interested in anyone elses music.

9. She has a great sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time. She is silly and gets jokes.

10. Ms. D loves to talk on the phone. Her favorite thing to say on the phone (repeatedly) is "heyo" (hello).

This weekend I will post a tag for Tyler. I am going to tag the following people:

Wendy - www.adoptingahren.blogspot.com
Alleen - www.santanaadoption.blogspot.com
Carrie - www.year2luvu.blogspot.com
Ellie - www.guatangels.blogspot.com
Kelli - www.kalebp.blogspot.com
Kelly - www.skyliesmiles.blogspot.com
Sarah - www.lilyanasmom.blogspot.com
Tracey - www.nugglebug.blogspot.com
Karen - www.abbiefaith.blogspot.com
Ginger - www.meandmygirlmaya.blogspot.com

FFF - Easter Pics 2007

2008-03-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

These were taken one year ago. We did a little Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard for the kids and some friends. Dani had only been walking for a month and it was so much fun seeing her look for the eggs. I couldn't believe how much she had changed since last year when I pulled these out last night. Have a great weekend everyone. Enjoy celebrating with your families.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Bubble Beard Girl

2008-03-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

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She was so cute tonight in the bath. She kept making beards with the bubbles. It reminded me of being a kid. I used to love doing that. We played the sneezing game where we pretend to sneeze and the bubbles fly everywhere. I have quite a mess to clean up in the bathroom now. I am doing this instead!

I have been sick for a few weeks now and not taking the best care of myself. I catch everything and have sort of latent asthma which requires inhalers when I get sick and the gunk all goes into my chest. I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest yesterday afternoon and ended up in urgent care last night. They put me on a course of Prednisone which I HATE taking but man those 'roids work wonders! After two doses I am already feeling a helluva lot better.

I am hoping to continue to get better so I can take the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt with some friends this weekend. It's a lot of fun and I know they will both have a great time. Last weekend I had seen the post on Kelly's blog (Skylie's Mom) about taking her to see Horton Hears a Who. I was all inspired and thought maybe Dani was ready for the movies. We chose a morning matinee to take the kids too so that there would a lot of kids and noise in the theater. We brought raisins, lolipops and popcorn to keep her busy. SHE IS SO NOT ready for the movies LOL She sat for the first 25 minutes (including previews and opening credits) then stood and paced back and forth between the three of us in the row. She ocassionally tried to lean over the chair in front of her and say hello to the unsuspecting moviegoer. The last hour was spent climbing the stairs in the theater (Stadium style) she would walk two stairs and then jump the third. 30 freakin minutes people she went up and down and up and down and I slowly followed behind her so that Tyler could watch the end of the movie. It was quite comical and thankfully the people seated in the aisle by said stairs were very gracious. She was almost more of the attraction. So as I said to Kelly on her blog...props to Skylie. Dani just can't sit still.

SBP - You ROCK!

2008-03-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

I had a difficult day at work yesterday and arrived home to a package from my SBP. This was a fantastic start to our weekend. SBP whoever you are, you really outdid yourself. It was a great package! An awesome stretchy ball with a light inside that both of my kids are playing with, a little chicky for Dani, a huge jar of bubbles with fancy wands, a whoopee cushion for Tyler (not in the pic as it's with him right now at a birthday party LOL) and Twizzler bites for me :-) We all enjoyed the package and THANK YOU SBP!

Tonight we are going to celebrate Steve's B-day. We are meeting our friends at Blowfish Sushi for dinner. Steve LOVES sushi, me not so much but I will take one for the team now and then :-) I have tried to eat it so many

times but I'm just not feeling it. Yes, I've tried the California rolls and the non-fishy rolls but it's the seaweed I can't stand. Teriyaki works for me and of course a cocktail or two hehee. Have a great weekend!

Shoe Love

2008-03-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

So, I am a a self proclaimed shoe whore. I love shoes! I saw these today and had to do a post about shoes. I think I gravitate towards shoes because they are pretty, you can never have too many and they don't ever make me look fat! Well, maybe those strappy sandals if they are too narrow. But, you get my point! These however, speak for themselves and don't need any commentary. Ok one word HEINOUS! LOL

The "High Tide Shoe"

The Marc Jacobs Backwards Heel Shoe

And the one I love to hate the most "Heelless, Heel Shoe"

FFF (my first actually)

2008-03-07T07:44:00.001-08:00

Yah, I gave her jello because I wasn't in the mood to clean up a popsicle or ice cream mess. Folks, jello can be REALLY messy!

Fondue for 2 and Tahoe

2008-03-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

Steve and I went out for Fondue to celebrate Valentines Day a few days late :-) It was a lot easier this year to plan it for a weekend and not on the actual day. It's crazy to try and get reservations on the actual day around here. Then you need the sitter etc... So...we delayed it. We had a great time and Fondue is yummy. We had a pepperjack cheese fondue and a Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate for desert. They give you a huge plate of strawberries, bananas, snickers bars, marshmallows, cheesecake, rice crispy treats etc. all cut into bite size pieces to dip. It was outrageously sinful and delicious. You feel nasty afterwards for eating all that but it's fun every now and then.

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Self Portrait with my baby girl

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This completely cracks me up. They look so hysterically dorky right here

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T getting ready for the big slide

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My friend Deb and her daughter Marlowe and Dani

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We bribed them to sit next to each other in their matching jammies. Completely coincidental that we had the same pair but it was worth promising them cookies to sit together on the couch and pose. It half worked. They sat there and stared at Barney instead of us.

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D and T shared the sofabed at the hotel. Too cute.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Dani loved the snow and both times when we suited her up in all the snow gear and went out it was snowing pretty hard. She played, threw herself face down in it, sledded in it and made snowballs. It was too cute. She didn't care how cold it was or how wet she got. She wanted to play. At times it was up to their waists and they couldn't even move. I guess my girl is already a snowbunny and a beach bum. The place that we stayed was perfect with the kids. Our friends have a timeshare there and they invited us to come. The room was a suite with a livingroom and then you walk through the bathroom which has these Shoji style screens instead of walls and doors. The tub was this enormous thing the size of a small hot tub. The shower was over it and you close up all the screens around it for privacy. The room had those little rope lights under the stairs to step up to the bathroom and down to the bedrooms. Mirrors everywhere..very 70's it was hysterical. They were nice and big and we had adjoining rooms with our friends so the kids had a blast running around and in the huge tub. We joked that when the place opened back in the day it was probably a really happening party place. It was still nice and quite clean, just dated in decor. We were smack across the street from Heavenly the place the guys were snowboarding so it was perfect. We had a great time and hope to go back with them next year.

Roll Call

2008-02-28T14:41:00.000-08:00

I finally added a blogroll of my fave blogs on the left. If I missed your blog and you want to be added please leave me a comment. If you want to be removed, please let me know that as well...although I will be sad and want to know why LOL! I added it because I am sick of having to find other blogrolls to link and update on everyone's blogs :-) I also like to read blogs about other types of adoption or just bio-kidz to so if you read my blog and you want to be linked and you are not a Guatemomma that's great too.

D

Weekend Update

2008-02-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks for listening to me b*tch the other day. Feeling a lot better now. I ended up talking with the principal, school secretary and T's teacher. Apparently the state is now requiring these letters and it's more protocol then anything else. They bang out a whole batch of these letters a few times a year and out they go. I am still pissed the principal didn't say anything to me at our meeting. She could have phoned or email me too. Just didn't like that at all. They have had soo many parents upset over this so I can imagine they don't like sending them out very much either. I think it's crazy that the policy is so narrow and not meant for pupils with serious delinquency issues. I found out that one of the teachers at the school put in for vacation and notified the school(where her child also attended) that they would be on vacation for a week. Guess what! They got one too (rolling eyes). It's so ridiculous. Ok, moving on...Thanks for all of your kind words and appreciate the moral support.

We went to Lake Tahoe last weekend with some friends of ours and their daughter over the weekend. The guys went snowboarding and we got massages :-) Had fun with the kiddos playing in the snow and hanging out. We got about 2 feet of new snow while we were up there and it was just gorgeous. I didn't get a chance to take any pics of the lake itself but it's amazing. I found some pics online so you can get the idea. I LOVE Tahoe and the beauty of the lake and mountains takes my breath every time I go there. It's about a 4 hour drive from here and I wish we went more often. I will post pics of trip tomorrow night. They are still loading on my computer and it takes foorrevverr.

TRUANT

2008-02-20T22:05:00.000-08:00

tru·ant : one who shirks duty; especially : one who stays out of school without permission

Today when I arrived home there was a sealed manila envelope on the table. It was addressed to us from the school. Curious, I opened the envelope and found the following:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. R:

Many studies have shown that regular attendance is essential for a pupil to gain the most from his/her educational opportunity. On the other hand truancy has the potential of diminishing a student's chances of meeting their goals and graduating.

It is my responsibility to inform you that, according to our attendance records, Tyler is a truant from school......

etc etc etc

etc etc and so on and so on

A copy of this letter is being sent to the district's Child Welfare and Attendance Liason as a notice of this serious problem.

Sincerely,

Principal _____

WHAT ?????????

Did I mention our son is in the 4th Grade???? Did I mention we take him to school every day? Did I mention that he goes to school except when he has thrown up or has a fever? Did I mention he reports to extracuricular homework club every day after school. Or how about the fact...here is the kicker folks, I was in a meeting with the principal, his teacher, the district psychologist, the resource specialist and my husband on Feb. 14 2008 and NOOOO mention was ever made of this little issue? Tyler was recently diagnosed as having ADD (another extrememly long post as it's been an ongoing battle with the school)and we had a meeting last week where the school finally acknowledged that he should qualify for special services. THE EXACT same day that the principal then signed and mailes us this very letter. SAY WHAT???!!!!

Upon further investigation it appears that my son is a truant because in October he missed three days of school for an extended weekend trip to Houston to visit his elderly Great Grandparents and all extended family. While in Houston we visited the Museum of Natural History, The Butterfly Gardens and several bookstores. He saw the dinosaur exhibit, a mummy exhibit and an IMAX film about ancient Egypt. He saw an insect exhibit and learned about Lucy's Legacy and the History of Ethiopia. Probably far more educational than what he picks up on a day to day basis. Apparantly this trip which we notified the school about and his teacher (that no one ever made mention of as being a problem), got my son labeled as a truant.

Can you tell I am a little mad? I will be at the school bright and early tomorrow. My friend was kind enough to investigate this for me with her friend who is a Vice Principal at another public school in our district. Apparently this is protocol for our state now (don't you love CA, the most expensive state to live in and some of the worst schools in the country). They have to send these letters out if a child has more than three non-medical absences. This still makes me livid and I think the principal might have mentioned it in one of our many recent meetings. I am hoping Tyler never catches wind of any of this as I don't like the idea of labeling a child for something they had no control over.

Unfortunately after coming home to this we then caught Tyler in a whopper of a lie and needless to say he is going to be grounded for quite awhile, then my husband and I managed to take the whole thing out on each other and got in a whopper of an argument. So...my day SUCKED!

Thanks for listening.
D

Somewhere in Texas a Village is Missing its Idiot

2008-02-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

HAHA! My favorite bumper sticker about Texas. We just got back from a great visit in Texas. My family mostly lives in Houston and we try to go a few times a year. It was great seeing my Grandparents and cousins. I actually love it there and would consider moving there later in life. I would prefer if they had a few more liberals and mountains but you can't have it all right. It would be nice to sell our tiny box of a house and buy a beautiful house there for 1/3 of the price!

Here are some pics of Dani at the Museum of Natural Science. We love their butterfly exhibit and visit everytime we are in town.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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My Grandpa Len

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A visit to Herman Park

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This one might need a little explanation. My grandparents next door neighbor own two chickens which live with them in their yard and also in their house. Weird??? kinda, but quirky. I like quirky.

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Here is my girl showing off her new backpack. Tyler has a similar full size model (not a tiger I might add) Dani loves to steal it from his room and drag it around the house. We found this perfect mini model at the Oakland Airport. It's hysterical she drags it around everywhere. We turned a lot of heads with her wheeling her own luggage through the airport. She cracked us up.

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I paid over $130 last week to get my hair done. How come it never looks like this! WTF???!!! I am so jealous.

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Dani hiding in the cat tunnel at Auntie Marjorie's house

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My Grandma Lisel

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Auntie Marjorie, Penny the dog, Milo the kitty and Dani

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Milo "hiding"

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Not the best pic but how can you resist 4 generations :-)

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My cousin Cary, Tanya and baby Emmy

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Auntie Marla and Dani with Chancey

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Playing with Uncle Kennard

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If you are from Cali this is always a surprise when you go to feed the ducks. Steve saw the pics tonight from our trip and said "Why did you let her get so close to the water. She looks like a snack to an alligator!" Marjie assured me they have never actually seen an alligator in her neighborhood.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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"Pee Pee Poo Poo Potty"

2008-01-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

Yep, that is what Dani has to say lately people. Lately Dani's mind has been well, on the potty. She has been more interested in trying to go. Not a lot of success yet but heading in the right direction. Her biggest fascination currently and frankly the way she spends the better part of her day now is diapering her babies. She diapers them and then shreaks "baby poo poo potty". She finds this hilarious and then proceeds to take the diaper off. At this point she prefers that we further inspect the situation. She usually says "Yook Mama, baby pee pee poo poo" or "baby poo poo potty". "Yook" is her way of saying look and we hear this word a lot. Too cute and I seriously hope she says 'y' instead of 'l' for awhile becuase it warms my heart in a way I never though possible.

We had a nice weekend and spent time with my parents and my cousin who was visiting from Texas. Last night we went out for Chinese. My Mom and I thought it would be too cute if Dani wore her Chinese Cheongsam (sp?) to dinner. The ladies at our favorite Chinese place were over the moon when they saw her. It was pretty funny.

Here she is after we got home:

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

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Caught scaling the coffee table on Sunday Morning!

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Tyler recently started taking tennis lessons. His coach was really impressed with his ability and he was chosen out of his group to represent his site at a tennis tournament. Here he is rallying during warm up:

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THis cracks me up. Dani was wearing her monkey pj's and robe. Muggin the camera.

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A little happier when she found out she was going to play with her friend Erin.

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Oh Blokus How I Love Thee...

2008-01-17T16:36:00.001-08:00

This is my new addiction..my new favorite thing to do with my husband and Tyler. Want to know why??? Cuz I can beat the pants off of them that's why! Never before have I been so good at any game. I NEVER win people! Seriously. I now have the ability to challenge them to a game that I have been winning every time. I am sure they are sick of my gloating and sheer excitement since my Mom gave Tyler this game last weekend. I can't get enough.

It's just a game of strategy involving tetris shaped pieces. Simple to learn and play. I have never really been a game person but I have been known to become a little obsessed once in awhile with Bejeweled and Tetris. Once a year or so I will have down time at work and play Tetris or Bejeweled on the computer. Then I become an addict and have to wean myself off. I get bored and forget about it for ahwhile. This game reminds me of those and man it's fun. Ok, yes I'm a dork!

I will post some new pics over the weekend. We are going to see Aisha Tyler tomorrow night at a comedy club. I think she is pretty funny. I had wanted to go last week because Anjelah Johnson was playing. I hadn't heard of her until recently when I saw this. Hilarious...not meant to offend anyone. She seriously has that accent down pat!

BTW is it at all fair that she is that pretty and funny??? If she is that funny that probably means she is smart too. Ughh JK :-)

Hooky Day

2008-01-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

I played hooky today and spent the day with Daniela. Our sitter had the day off so I got to spend a great day doing fun stuff with my little chica. We went to Picture Perfect Party for open play in their big playroom which was great. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and played in the kids area and read books. The bookstore I found is a particularly enjoyable place to go for FREE!

Not too much else new. Please leave me a comment as I am going to make a blogroll and need blog addresses. I am always using other people's blogrolls to access blogs so this way I can have my own.

We went with our local Guat Adoption Group to a Guatemalan restaurant in Oakland recently. The food was actually great and it was a fun outing. My daughter ate like she was in the "mother land" let me tell you. It was too funny. I don't know what it is but she LOVES Guatemalan food. She was covered in black beans from head to toe. She managed to get it all over my pants as well. Black beans on your jeans doesn't look right.

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Our friends daughter Gabi. Gorgeous!

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Wearing T's helmet. It was even better when she was wearing it backwards and running around the room. Kind of reminded me of that scene from Parenthood with Steve Martin where the kid was running around with the bucket on his head.

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A video from today's outing. More pics to come tomorrow.

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Extreme Makeover 2008 and Holiday Rewind

2008-01-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

So, I did it! I jumped on the bandwagon and got a blog makeover. I wanted to keep my same old blog but then I started looking at everyone else's pretty new blog and I got SO jealous. So the fantastic Nikki (www.madebynikki.blogspot.com) gave my blog an extreme makeover. Do you like it? My kids sure do.

Thought I would play catch up from the holidays and include some pictures. We had a great Christmas and NYE. Christmas was at home and pretty low key. It was so fun watching Dani open presents this year. SHe really got it and enjoyed unwrapping the paper and finding a surprise in each package. NYE we did a progressive party with some of our close friends/neighbors. We are great friends with several other families on our block. We started at one end of the street and worked our way house to house for different food and drinks. With kids in tow we made it all the way until 12:30AM and it was a blast. I told Steve I had more fun this year then any of the years we went out and partied at clubs/bars. The kids had a blast (watching your parents get drunk and dance around is probably pretty entertaining). The night ended with my daughter dancing on the coffee table (video below) as the ball dropped on TV. We got her in bed at 12:30AM and...NY Day? Don't even ask..my head throbbed and my daughter whined. WE made it through though and it was so worth it. The only bummer was that Tyler was not here to celebrate with us. HE usually spends NYE with his Mom. He was here for Christmas though and that to us is more important.

Here are some pics to recap the last month. ENJOY!

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This is what happens what a small person tries to spy on parents in the living room watching TV. Small person fell asleep during covert operation!

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Our 2007 Holiday Picture - Taken by my cousin Jody at Campo Di Bocce. We had the best night having yummy Italian food and playing Bocce Ball.

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Sunol Canyon Train of Lights. This was more fun in theory than in reality. The kids had a good time so that's the point I guess. Note to Sunol Canyon Train of Lights...When you have an old train and a lot of switchbacks that involve lurching. DON't FREAKIN SERVE PIPING HOT COCOA TO KIDS!!!! Now let your imaginations run wild with the thought of burning hot chocolate all over our pants and seat ;-)

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Kids with friends Ian and Erin

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Dani and her friend "M" after a fun day of play at Habitot

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T and D cheesin on Christmas Eve. Love this pic

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Dani helping her Daddy put together he new wagon on Christmas morning

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Dani loves her wagon!

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Steve hit the motherload this Christmas and won't be getting any visits from Santa for a few years! Yep, a new TV and stand. Check out our cat. Chili loves the LCD and HDTV picture I guess. She watched it for hours that first night. It was pretty hilarious! Our cat is nuts and doesn't make too many appearances on my blog. She is why they call cats "Scaredy cats"

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We went on the Hornblower SF Bay Cruise with our close friends Laurie and August. It was fun but the food sucked. For that much money you should be getting a decent meal.

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NYE Pooped out with Daddy at the end of the night

OK, here is the video on NYE. Please ignore my disgusting shreaky voice jabbering over the video. ALso, I apologize in advance for Kanye's use of the F word. I didn't realize how many times he pops that off in this song. Good thing none of the kids noticed LOL

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Stuffed Like a Turkey

2007-11-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

My title about sums up how I feel. We had a great Thanksgiving at my Mom and Dad's this year. We always have a Pajama Thanksgiving. It's been a tradition now for about 5 years. I pretty much use it as an excuse each year to buy new pajamas. It is such a cozy thing to do. Spend the day in a warm house, eating tons of food and watching TV or hanging out with family in your PJ's. I highly recommend it. My Mom got Dani the cutest little Nick and Nora PJ's from Target with sock monkeys and bananas on them. Truth be told if they had been in my size I would have bought them too. Funny though, Steve didn't think they were the hottest look :-)

I love the holidays and this time of year. I love all the lights, music and family traditions. I am not one of those people that feel depressed when the weather turns cold. We also live in CA though so I guess cold is a relative term right? HOpe everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

My Bebe is 2

2007-11-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it on November 14th Dani turned 2 years old. The birthday, well it didn't go quite as planned. We had a family party for her last Saturday. About 15 minutes after we walked into her party at Nana's house she started throwing up everywhere. It was awful. She is just now getting better. She was sick all week straight through her birthday. We were supposed to go to the Happiest Place on Earth this week, that had to be postponed. We planned the trip months ago and our friends The Kings had to go without us. Really bummed. However, we are all recovering from this nasty stomach bug and thankful for that. Dani has slowly started opening her presents now that she is feeling better. I am going to share the video below of her Nana, Papa and Great Grandparents singing Happy Birthday to her on the phone. She sings to herself too which cracks me up. She LOVES to talk on the phone. I swear she will be asking for her own cell phone soon. It's too funny. If you are reading this today (Friday 11/16/07 and it's before 8PM EST) please go to www.giaandnino.blogspot.com My friend Holly is hosting a raffle to support two terrific families trying to bring home children in great need of being adopted from Guatemala and Azerjbain (sp?). There are some great prizes. Check it out if you can. Hugs, D

Busy Times

2007-11-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Once again it's been eons since I posted photos. I am going to put a few different posts with various happenings of recent months. Dani is closing in on 2 years old. We can't believe how time has flown. She is an amazing little person and we are so thankful to be her parents. The light that she has within shines so brightly in her eyes, spirit and her little laugh. She is spunky, fiery, sweet, charming and seriously hysterical. She has such a personality and she is wild.

Tyler is doing well in the 4th grade, struggling some with the homework and math, likes his teacher and is enjoying tennis lessons a lot. He is so great with his sister; loving and patient. He was a football player for Halloween, with the pads and everything. TOo funny. Both kids had a great time trick or treating this year. It was so much fun to watch them together. We are going to celebrate Dani's birthday this weekend with family and then we are headed to Disneyland with some friends next week.
Once again it's been eons since I posted photos. I am going to put a few different posts with various happenings of recent months. Dani is closing in on 2 years old. We can't believe how time has flown. She is an amazing little person and we are so thankful to be her parents. The light that she has within shines so brightly in her eyes, spirit and her little laugh. She is spunky, fiery, sweet, charming and seriously hysterical. She has such a personality and she is wild.

Tyler is doing well in the 4th grade, struggling some with the homework and math, likes his teacher and is enjoying tennis lessons a lot. He is so great with his sister; loving and patient. He was a football player for Halloween, with the pads and everything. TOo funny. Both kids had a great time trick or treating this year. It was so much fun to watch them together. We are going to celebrate Dani's birthday this weekend with family and then we are headed to Disneyland with some friends next week. So excited to enjoy the park with both kids this time.

Hugs,

D

Hangin at the Farm

2007-08-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

We have been busy enjoying summer and having a lot of fun. We had a great time at Clear Lake (still need to post photos) and learned how to wake surf which is amazing and I can't wait to get better at it. Here is our annual trip to Emandal. Nothing fancy just a down home kinda place to let your kids run around, catch up with friends and family and RELAX. A working farm on a river that hosts family camps several weeks a summer. Same families have been going for years and it's such a treat to have a place where our kids can be kids, running around and getting dirty. We have been going there as a family for 17 years. I have to go to bed but wanted to post some pics from our most recent trip. Hope everyone is doing well.

OMG! Has it really been that long since I posted?

2007-06-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

I just looked at the date on my blog...the last time I posted was 5/17??? Holy crap, that went fast. I am so busy lately I have not updated my peeps. So..Steve is still on the job hunt. Keep your fingers crossed as there are a couple of opportunities that may possibly present themselves in the very near future. We are hoping and praying that one of them comes through very shortly. I have been super busy with work and we have been enjoying the nice weather at the pool and lake near our house. We went to San Diego on a family vacation weekend and got back on Sunday. The trip was great and we all had a good time. We stayed in the Gaslamp area of downtown SD right near the ballpark. There were Padres games all three days we were there! The area was a lot of fun. A ton of restaurants, shops (yes, it was terribly hard to control myself) and nightlife. It was funny to walk by nightclubs/bars carrying Dani on my back in a soft babycarrier in my jeans and sweatshirt watching fancy people all made up going into fancy places. To be honest, I had fun back in the days doing all that but I love being a Mom way more.

We went to Seaworld the first day, The San Diego Zoo on the second and hung out on Coranado at the beach the last day. Tyler's favorite was Seaworld, Steve and I loved the SD Zoo and the beach. Their zoo is phenomenal and I highly recommend it. The highlight of the trip though for sure was my feisty firecracker of a daughter assaulting the TSA security in the airport for patting down the baby carrier that she was in on my back. It was a smackdown heard 'round the airport and everyone was cracking up. The security officer was mortified and said something like "it's a good think your so damn cute!" She is something else. Here are some pics, I promise it won't be so long until the next installment.

Love that baby body!

2007-05-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

My girl loves being in the buff. Here she is strutting her stuff. She is so into books right now. It's great she loves to take books from her bookshelf and then bring them to her little couch. She reads half the day. Of course it's waayy better to read when you are naked. Especially when you are sooo cute.

I took Dani to the SF Zoo last weekend and met up with some other Guat Tots and their momma's. I got to meet Carrie and Grace who also have a blog. Grace is gorgeous and her sweet Mom Carrie took these pics for us.

Brother has an ice cream cone

2007-05-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

So...I have been MIA I just realized it has been two weeks since my last post. I apologize for being such a terrible no good blogger. Things have been hectic around here. Steve is doing better. The job search is on and he is hoping to find something soon. IN the meantime our yard is looking really good :-) And all those little projects around the house are finally getting done. Lovin my hubby!

We leave for San Diego in three weeks and I am really looking forward to our long weekend getaway. We will be taking the kids to Seaworld, the Zoo and the Beach. We really need this break and I think it will be much needed fun and relaxation for everyone. Wait...who am I kidding a vacation with a 18month old? Ok, maybe lots of fun but I doubt relaxation is in the cards.

These were taken last week when Tyler got an ice cream cone and Dani found herself feeling a little left out. She promptly tried to help herself to her brother's cone. He did share some but it took a lot of fight and effort on her part.

Big shout out to Julia on her new beautiful girl Abby Grace. You are such a beautiful bunch! Also, happy that Corey and family got to visit their little baby Addy. I talked with Dani's foster Mom in Guatemala last night which was great. It was a thirty minute conversation all in Spanish. I caught about 70% of it so that was good ;-) I also did a lot of "si" and "si, yo entiendo!" even when I had no clue. I would like to take Dani back to visit but I know it will be awhile before we can take her. I want her to be a little older so she can get it and enjoy the trip.

Grey days and a little sunshine too

2007-05-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well folks... it's been awhile since I posted. Last week was pretty sucky to say the least. Steve was laid off at work. Completely unexpected and a huge blow for all of us. We work for the same company so things are obviously rather awkward at work right now as you can imagine. After a truly icky week and then Daniela being sick we decided to make the best of our weekend. On Saturday we took Dani to the park in the morning where she proceeded to trip and fall landing face first on the edge of a park bench. The result is a nasty bruise along her left cheekbone. In the afternoon we went to Baby Loves Disco. If you don't know about Baby Loves Disco then google and find a location near you. They are awesome events for families held at local nightclub or lounge venues. They have a DJ playing fun pop and dance music for kids of all ages. Think mom's with babies in slings to toddlers and older kids. They serve snacks and drinks for the kids and yummy grown up drinks too. They have bubbles, hula hoops etc. Tons of fun. Do you think my daughter wanted to dance though? No!!!! She wanted to run up and down the ramp leading to the lounge area and then alternate jumping off of the little stair at the top. Making Mom thoroughly crazy and in need of one of those grown up drinks I mentioned before. Sunday we headed to the beach which was completely socked in but lovely anyways. It was Dani's first time at the beach this year and she loved it. We arrived home Sunday night to a cranky little girl who had a 103 degree fever!!! I guess she was still sick. Monday called for a trip to the doctors office and today we are hopefully on the mend. Please send good vibes people. We could use them LOL

On a lighter note, we received a fantastic package from our SBP. Thanks SBP you are wonderful and we were very surprised to note that you also live in CA. Can't wait to find out your identity so maybe we can chat sometime. Your timing could not have been better. We adore the book and the outfits are too cute. I also really like the lotion. Thanks!

Dancing and a singin!

2007-04-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Dani and I went to a playdate this evening and then came home and put on her favorite cd of the moment and went to town. We love to dance together. Here are some pics of her dancing and playing. She likes to get on the little brick area by the fireplace and boogie. Maybe she thinks it's her stage!

April Pictures

2007-04-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

I did a photo show because I had so many photos to share from the last week. I was able to cover T's birthday party, Easter and some extras this way. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter and good Passover. Enjoy....

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Our lives changed forever one year ago today....

2007-04-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, actually right this very minute. We were on a plane with Tyler and my Mom flying to Guatemala to pick up Daniela. Tomorrow will mark one year from the day my beautiful daughter was placed in my arms FOREVER. I am swelling with pride over these thoughts and the adorable little girl she has grown into over the last year. We adore her and my life is full in a way that it never was before. Thanking G-d today for all of the blessings in our lives. No time for pics as I am playing Betty Crocker right now and making cupcakes for T's birthday party this afternoon. Did I mention how much I suck at baking??? LOL

Walking, Talking, Clapping and Singing

2007-03-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is what we have been up to lately. Dani started walking (no longer just taking steps) early last week. Such a joy to see. We can't get over how she has changed over night. My back is seriously messed up now. Oh man! We spent a long weekend in Lake Tahoe at a beautiful house we rent every year. We enjoyed several days of nice weather and then a snowstorm came in which was awesome because Dani got to see the snow and play in the snow for the first time. She absolutely loved it. We are terrible and had no camera to capture the moment. My brother caught a few pics on his cell phone so hopefully we can figure out how to retrieve those LOL We are not so technically minded around here. Daniela is now running all over the place while talking, shouting, clapping and singing. She is so much fun right now. We got to snowboard for the first time this winter in fresh powder which was a blast. Tyler learned to snowboard and is now after two short days better than me. Urghhh...how are kids so freaking good at this stuff. It was so fun to see him out there on the board. He has been skiing for several years but we decided we would let him try snowboarding this year. He LOVED it. Here are a few pics of Dani tonight. T was at basketball practice with Steve.

Fun in the Sun

2007-03-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

Lately we have been having some really nice spring weather. No more being cooped up. We have been in the yard and at the park almost every day. It's been wonderful. Dani finally got to try out the little gym in our backyard. She loves it as you can see. We also tried out the sandbox at the park after a hiatus from sand. The last few experiences involved eating more sand than playing so we took a break for awhile. This time she tasted it and realized it wasn't very yummy. So...now we can play in the sand again! Today is Steve's birthday so tonight we will go with Grandma and Nana and Papa to dinner at Nijo Castle (think Benihanas, Shogun) hmmmm I am getting hungry already. Tommorrow we have a sitter and I have something fun planned for hubby. Photos to come. For now here are some pics of kiddos...

Some wine with our whine! Mom's night in with the kiddos. My friend Tammy and I having a grand time.

Live from Cali it's Saturday Night!

2007-03-03T21:05:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun day today. Steve took Tyler to play golf and Dani and I went to the park with our friends Jen and her daughter Sydney. Sydney is only 11 months but she is already walking. Dani is so intrigued and is trying so hard to walk around Sydney. She is now able to take 7-10 steps at a time. We all went to dinner at Chevy's tonight and the girls ate cheese quesadillas. Dani loves Chevys. It's not exactly good Mexican food but a good family restaurant. Plus, I don't mind their margaritas! LOL

When we got home we goofed around with the camera. Steve as usual refused his picture and preferred to stay behind the camera.

Oh...and to all my blog pals. Please tell me how to get in on the SBP. I would love to be someone's SBP and it wouldn't be bad to be on the receiving end either :-) I saw the same question on Savannah's mommies blog but there was nowhere to leave comments.

Ciao and have a good weekend!

Happy Days and Rainy Days

2007-02-27T15:42:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been raining here a lot. So, I thought I would post some pics from a few weeks ago. We had a weekend of glorious weather. My good friend Kija came down and took some pics of Daniela at the park. I love these. She is a great photographer if anyone wants pics taken of their special event or children. You can leave a comment if you would like her contact info :-) Anyhow, Dani started taking 3-7 steps on her own on Valentines Day. It appears that Steve won the family poll of when she would walk. She is definitely NOT walking yet, but hopefully she will keep trying. I have been joking that she may crawl down the aisle LOL. She has also become an accomplished climber. Kind of amazing that a person can scale a ladder or jungle gym but not walk yet. Post more pics soon. I promise!

My Funny Valentine

2007-02-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

Daniela and T were playing the other night and I had a chance to snap a few pictures of her being silly as usual. Here she is mugging the camera..

Ms. Silly Face

Getting ready to ride her new Zebra. Love this jumper!

What Zebra ride would be complete without a Duplo Block in hand?

And for the Grand Finale....

She rides the Zebra while holding the Duplo in her mouth and humming a tune!

Say Cheese

2007-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

My T is always cheesin for the camera. We were having fun last night and playing with the camera. Here are some pics!

Daniela and a Spoon

2007-02-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

Lately Dani has been wanting to feed herself with a spoon. She of course being the little ham that she is decided to crack herself up (and us too) by doing some tricks with her spoon....

Getting ready.....

Ta Da

Bravo! Bravo! Encore!

Odds and Ends

2007-02-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

Poor Dani was kind of a Ms. Cranky Pants today. She is either teething or getting a cold. Maybe both? Mommy also felt cranky today. Grrrrr.....

Here are some random pics from the last month:

We had a big family sleepover when my Grandparents were visiting. Grandma and Grandpa slept in the office, Tyler was gone that night so Nana (my Mom) was to sleep in his bed and Papa (my Dad) took the couch. In the morning Papa was nowhere to be found. Apparantly the couch was lonely and it was worth squeezing into a twin bed to be with Nana. How cute. This is 28 years of marriage folks!

Dani is practicing standing and using the telephone here. She is SO talented! Getting the phone away from her took major talent on my part.

Love this one. Her hair is now long enough for the two pony's.

Here she is kissing her Great Grandpa. His 80th birthday was the week this was taken. She loves her Great Grandparents. Grandpa make her favorite paddy cakes (pancakes) just like he did for mommy.

Playdate with Ms. Gabriela

2007-01-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

We had our friends Susan and Gabi over for a playdate on Sunday. They have become great friends since we met them through our adoption agency at the beginning of our process. Gabriela is another adorable Guate Princesa and hopefully a lifelong amiga to Dani. We love playing with them. They discovered how much they like to give eachother besos (kisses) yesterday and it became quite the scene. TOO CUTE. We were in stitches. Here are some pics of the kissing fest :-)

Dani helps her Daddy

2007-01-27T22:35:00.000-08:00

We had a great day today. Finally had a free Saturday to just get stuff done around the house. Daniela is such a blast right now. I am loving every minute with her. She is pointing to everything now and trying new words. Some a little easier to decipher than others! She threw a little fit tonight (think terrible 2's) when I was putting her PJ's on and now has a little lump on her head. She got angry at mommy when I wouldn't let her have the little bottle of pediacare and threw her head back right into the edge of the changing table! OUCH. I freaked out and wanted to call the Doctor. But, Steve pointed out that she was no longer crying and was dancing while throwing the remotes off of the end table. I guess he's right. I have to learn that she is going to bonk her head from time to time. Enjoy these...

So, tonight Steve was finally mounting our new picture over the fireplace. Dani of course saw the ladder and immediately wanted to help Daddy. She has become a little climber. She is not even walking on her own yet but thinks she can scale just about anything. I think I owe this new found love of climbing to Gymboree. Oops!

Taking a break from climbing to do a little cheezin!

Here is Daddy checking to see if it's nice and level. Mommy is also checking out his butt :-)

Daddy is done with the ladder now so don't mind if I try this out...

See, here is how ya do it. Pick one leg up and then stretch the other one out like so....

Mom, why are you telling me to get down? I am good at this!

Dani's First Birthday Party From November 2006

2007-01-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

Daniela in outfit #1 getting ready for her friends to come for the party

"Mom, put that thing away! Geez it's my freaking party"

Making silly faces with my Daddy

Playing on her new Elmo couch, one of her now prized posessions

Here she comes!

Small children could get lost in this mess! SO many gifts!

Dani washing with her cake (she didn't think eating it was all that interesting)

Some pics

2007-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

I thought I would add some pics from the last few months since I just started blogging. I have to put something to keep ya'll interested in coming back right?

Here is T hammin it up with the stick on brows.

Um...hello the camera is over there. Dani can't help but stare at Tyler!

Ms. D in her wagon

This was actually just minutes before I put my back out! OUCH....

Welcome

2007-01-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

I decided after reading everyone's blogs (both Guat. parents and others) to stop being a lurker and start participating. This blog journals my life with my rockin husband Steve and my two wiggleworms Tyler and Daniela. Tyler is my stepson and he is 8. He has always been our little stinker. An amazing kid. Daniela is my Guatemalan Princess born 11/14/05 and came home 4/05. She is now 14 months and she has made our family whole.