Happy 3rd Birthday Lucia!

The morning of her birthday after we sent off Papi and Violet, I took a few pictures of her.

I can't believe what a big girl she is now.

I had fun showing her how to make a 3 with her fingers.

At her 3 y/o check up she weighs 25 lbs, 5 percentile. She is 35.5 inches and in the 10 percentile.

Lucia likes to stays up late at night with a flashlight reading books.  

She loves Curious George and gives out the biggest belly laughs when he does his antics. She also still loves Dora and Boots.  She continues to be our big eater.  Lucia is always saying to me "Mami I'm hungry."

This girl has style and knows how to pick out her own clothes.  She also loves shoes.  

She loves to laugh at funny pictures or jokes her joke is always.."Knock, Knock, Who's There?  "Scary Monster", Scary Monster who, "AHHH". 

She loves to do anything her big sister is up to. 

She is always willing to say prayers.

She is trying to go potty all by herself.

She loves to color and draw.

She is able to do a 25 piece puzzle without a problem and has worked on a 100 piece one with the help of Violet.

She loves monkeys and all sorts of animals.

She always wants to help her Papi with different projects.

She loves to go get donuts with Papi.

Because I am with out an oven, we went to the grocery store and she had fun picking out her cake.

It was between a lion or a cute white dog and Lucia picked the Lion, she was so excited.

As soon as Papi got home we sang Happy Birthday.

Make a wish!

Lucia we love you so very much!

You make us laugh and bring lot's of fun to our family.

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet girl!

Part 2 Violet in Kindergarten

 I forgot to post these pictures of Violet in her "Kindergarten" post!

These were taken by Gramma Jan when she was here in July.

 Class of 2026

 I still can't believe that she is in school.

So far it is going great no complaints!

Benicio is 5 month's old!

 5 month's have flown by.....

This little guy adores his sisters, and gives the biggest smiles when he sees them.

He has found his feet and loves sucking on anything he can get his hands on.

 He rolls himself around, and can move from one area to another.

Pretty soon here all the little toy parts will have to be put away because it will be going straight into his mouth.

 He loves blanket's.  The girls never got attached to them, but I think he will end up having a favorite. 

 Benicio loves to have conversations and loves to hear songs and rhymes.

 No more wobbly head here.  He also loves his bath time.  Enjoys being in the outdoors.

 Right now as I am writing this he is on all fours and moving along, not full on crawling but so very close.

 He adores his Papi and can't wait to be held by him.  

I know he is probably thinking," thank goodness some testosterone has arrived."

 This boy loves to eat.

 He is a little spoiled and likes to be held when possible.

 His favorite thing right now sitting in his bouncer he kicks his legs so hard that he bounces it all on his own.

 Now he wants to hold his different toys.

 Go Gators!  All ready for football season.

 Hi, My Name is Cute.

This month he also survived his first double ear infection and he is sick again as I write this.  Guess this is what happens when you have a sibling in school.

 I can't believe my baby is 5 months old.  

Benicio we love your sweet personality, you are a perfect addition to this family and we love you!

Violet goes to Kindergarten...

 It's hard for me to believe that I am writing this post, how could I already have a kindergartner?  

Five years goes by so fast.  Papi's biggest concern with Violet going off to school..Have we equipped her enough to go by herself into a crowd of people, will she know to ask for help to find her class etc?  No worries though this smarty knew where her class was by the third day.

These pictures were taking the week before school. 

I wasn't sure how crazy it was going to be on the first morning of school.

 Lucia decided that she wanted to go to Kindergarten as well.  But she says she wants a puppy lunch box.

Violet's actual first day of school!

 The whole family hoped into the car to send Violet off on her first day.  It was raining as you can see.

And so our life/vacation time dictated by the school system now begins.

I only shed a tear or two,I thought I would be crying a lot more.  But maybe I'm too busy with two little ones at home, or maybe Violet and I are ready for this next step, but it's definitely bittersweet.

She hasn't really talked about school too much. She doesn't come home gushing about it but at the same time she doesn't say that "she doesn't want to go."  So I guess it's a good thing over all.  She does give me bit's and pieces of information here and there so that's good.

I just had to post a picture of  one of her new back to school outfits.

She also decided to wear a headband to school, she kept it in her hair the whole day.  I could not believe it!

Violet we are so proud of you and know that you are going to be a great student.

We love you to pieces!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lucia!...The reinforcements arrive! Abuelo, Abuela and Bisabuela Elsa are here!

Abuela and Abuelo were a huge help this visit.  Because we ripped out the old cabinets there was bare concrete and the thinking was that we should put tiles so that our cabinets will be more even.   They even ripped out some of the original tiles that were going to be hidden by cabinets to put them in places were there were cracks or missing tiles.  We also got a laundry sink installed to my makeshift kitchen and that has been a tremendous help to me.

Bisabuela Elsa did a lot of this during the visit, keeping Benicio very happy!

tile in place where the new cabinets will go...

Like my sink? It is totally functional and I am surviving in my current kitchen.

Tiles in place that match the rest of them, this is where there was a built in book shelf that we had removed.

Abuela also gave the girls some new haircuts.  Really cute bobs.

Violet is up!

Lucia is next!  She sat so still and let Abuela do her thing.

First of many family photos on the steps....

and the girls pretty much had it here, but Benicio looks happy!

After a lot of hard work we were able to have some fun.

Here we are at the Moody Garden's aquarium.

A very neat place, we had a great time.

Back to work, Abuelo changing all our house locks.

Violet had her "meet the teacher" the Friday before school started.

I can't believe that she is a Kindergartner now!

She loved the classroom and immediately went to the books.

Mrs. Verstrate

Mrs. Garcia 

That night we headed to the Kemah boardwalk...

We only had one tragedy,  Violet lost one of her croc shoes to the Galveston bay....it was really tragic for her but at least she didn't go for a swim.
The beloved crocs.....

When we got home we had a surprise family party for Lucia.

Violet was VERY excited.

Lucia couldn't believe it either.

It was a fun party.

Oh and this little man found his foot!

Abuelo, Abuela and Bisabuela Elsa we cannot thank you enough for everything you did for us in the short time you were here.  We love you very much and look forward to future visits that will hopefully include much more fun activities.  Love you!!