6 years old and already a dancing queen!

I know that I teased everyone with the idea of posting the video of her school dance, but that was just too long to post, but I took this sweet video of the girls dancing one morning and I HAD to post it. Enjoy.

A cha-cha and more

Ali's Kindergarten class learned ballroom dancing, and then they put on a performance for all the parents. Not surprising, but Ali was amazing.

This is her partner, Parker.

They ended the number with a big "dip." Ali and her partner did such a great job. Not sure if you can tell very well from the picture, but the couple in back have a strangle hold going on. I have a video of the whole thing, and maybe when I have an hour to download it, then I will put it on the blog, but for now just try to imagine them dancing flawlessly around the room.

Here are a few picture that show a bit of what else has been going on at our house.

Kat is normally very, very loving with Jack, but I think he was getting too loud for her this time.

On the Jack advancement front, he played with toys for the first time today. Yesterday he discovered he had hands, so now he is eager to use them. Unfortunately he only has sisters, so his first toy is a doll. Sorry Nick.

He found his hands, he can play with toys, but he is not ready for the bumbo yet... maybe a few more weeks.

giggles

I took out my camera to record him smiling, and I caught his first giggle!

Sorry about the bad camera angle and the lack of editing, we need a new video camera and I just used our regular camera. If you want to skip right to the giggle skip to about second 30.

Party! at 3 months

This weekend we went up to Bakersfield to celebrate my nephews' birthdays (Trevor 7 is on the left and Gavin 2 is on the right).

Jack didn't get to go on any of the bouncy houses, but he got lots of snuggles.

The girls had loads of fun!

Cake and ice cream was a big hit. At the end of the day I asked Ali what she liked best, and she couldn't decide which she liked better, the cake or the bounce houses. I think she just wanted to sit on the birthday throne!

Jack turned 3 months old today! He is such a sweetie boy.

I told him to smile, and already he is sticking his tongue at me!

What's in a name?

Since I had Jack, I have been trying to enjoy every minute of his new babyness. I know that he is changing so fast that I try to hold on to each moment, and yet he still seems to be growing so fast. Because I have been so focused on his growing over the last 2 months, I have overlooked one important little girl. This little one is also growing so fast, and today she just reminded me of that fact. I came into her room after she had been playing quietly by herself (which is almost always a bad thing), and found her writing on her white board. Apparently she can write her own name. I wonder how long that has been going on.

I immediately got my camera and when I held it up to take the picture she told me she wanted to do a funny picture. She is so spunky.

On a related note, Jack is starting to hold up his head. He is not a super fan of tummy time, but at least he doesn't scream the whole time like Ali did.

Also my mom visited me for a week and a half! It was so great to have her here. She never let my sink get full of dirty dishes, and she probably read about an hundred books while she was here. The girls and I miss her already (Nick was on night shift for almost all of her visit, so it was especially nice to have her here). For some reason the only picture that I took with her and the baby was when my dad also visited (he visited for about 5 minutes on his way to a conference).

Last, random poll question. What color are these eyes? Try to ignore the blue shirt as a bias. If you look at the tummy time picture you can also see his eyes.

A Blessing

I named this post, because not only did we have Jack blessed this last week, but he truly is a blessing to us. He is a good baby! He sleeps all the time, and through the night, and he is snugly and content most of the day. I really couldn't ask for more.

Nick's family was able to come for the blessing, which was also a blessing! Jack is the one in the blessing gown. The cute chunker in Nick's arms is Dominic, Jack's twin cousin. Can you believe they are only a week apart!?!

There is something about a bowtie on a baby that is just too adorable. I was worried about boy clothes being ugly, but I am really having such fun dressing him.

Today Jack turned 2 months old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like he has been in our family forever, yet at the same time just yesterday he was born.

Also this week he started to smile. I have yet to get a good picture of it, but here he is about to smile, so you kinda get the idea. His smile is adorable!

A little bit of everything

To start I want to announce the birth of my little boy. On November 8th at 12:45pm I gave birth to this beautiful boy. 7lbs. 8oz and 20 inches. This boy makes my heart melt every time I look at him.

We got some professional pictures taken of him.

He is such a sweet boy, and my favorite part is that he is already sleeping through the night. (most nights anyway)

A photographer friend of mine was amazing enough to come over a week after he was born to take some family pictures. Isn't she amazing?

I know I shouldn't put up a million pictures, but I just can't get enough of this guy.

The girls are equally in love with him, athough Ali informed me that even though she loves him and he is cute, he is boring because all he does is open his eyes.

Surprise, surprise, this is one super proud daddy.
More things happened while I have been blog-shy.

Ali was star of the week.

She played a brick wall in the "Three Piggy Opera"

Jack turned one month old.

And of course... Christmas!

Christmas season started this year with a wonderful present of a gingerbread house from our (mostly Alicia's if you ask her) dear friend Jim.

A few days before Christmas we headed out to spend a little time with family. Abuelita and Abuelito had some big fans.

While there we managed to find a mountain with some snow on it. Ali, showing her Boston roots, loved the snow and never wanted to leave.


All three little cousins loved playing, but Jack stayed snuggled in the Bjorn.

Nick turned 32 while we were there, and so we had a little cake to celebrate.

Maybe too much cake. Is it worth it to clean your child's face if 2 seconds later some other Christmas treat messes it up?

Christmas morning was full of family and presents.