New camera

Nick's Birthday this year was awesome because his whole family was able to get together. His parents got him a great camera as a present, which I was not allowed to touch for a week. This was the day after his birthday when we got together and the battery was charged. Nick had fun messing with the camera, and the girls had fun posing.
Ali even stopped reading her book for a picture.
Kat was less sure about posing at first.

But later she showed some of her winking skills.

Abuelito had a huge fan base!

Then we all headed out to a nearby fountain where the girls and Dez had a great time splashing and jumping in the water.

For Paul

For Paul, because what father wouldn't be proud of this.

Back story for this picture : I was busy making lunch and the 3 kiddos were playing. I heard Dez laughing, and as I have wanted to catch him and Kat in their fun, I snatched my camera and ran around the sofa. This is the image I caught. Kat was no where in sight, and Dez was cracking up about his find. This is actually Kat's "special" toy. I think that he was very proud that he had managed to get her toy without her snatching it back and so that is why he was laughing.

I have been meaning to post this picture for awhile, well since the last post at least. I wanted to post a pic of Ali with her new friend. My brother Lutie got this for her at Sea World.

Skirts and tomatoes

My dad got the girls these really cute skirts, and they just couldn't help spinning with them. Do you think you could resist a spin if you put on one? Side note: Ali picked out both her own, and Kat's outfit.



I GOT TOMATOES!!!! I grew these from seeds!!! I know that it a lot of exclamation points, but in my defense, it is a HUGE deal that I was able to grow these. As a huge benefit, they actually taste really yummy. Side update: My avocado plant is still not a plant. It is just a seed with a small root system. Maybe I am doing something wrong there, but at least I succeeded with one plant.

I dyed my hair; what do you think?

Another look, plus a really cute picture of Dez.

Party and more

We had a birthday party for Kat at the San Diego zoo last weekend. It was a great success!

Kat got lots of presents. Thanks everyone!

Ali got to be the big sister and boss Kat around all day. And there was family and friends around to laugh with me.

Some people were sent to the little kids table :)

Who is this?

Just kidding! I love Auntie Misa!
Here is the "more" part of the post.

Dez' hair was just so crazy I had to take a picture. This is some serious bed head!

And last, but not least. Ali is so smart, though we all knew that. She wrote out her whole alphabet, so I had to share it. I think I have a genius on my hands!

Birthday post

I know that I have been terrible at posting, and I will try to do better, so here are 3 posts in one. I will start off with the fact that due to some really random scheduling and some real luck on our part, Nick got 3 weeks off of work. We decided to have some fun during that time. We started by taking a trip down to San Diego. We have season passes to the zoo and the wild animal park, so we used them.

The San Diego zoo is HUGE!!! And by huge I mean so big that we had never gone to the elephant exhibit before, so we decided to go. I recommend it! The girls loved these realistic statues that are meant to be climbed on.

Kat was a fan of this specific goat at the ever-a-winner petting zoo.

I know these pictures are super cheezy to put in blogs, but it took me about 10 pictures before I got one where they were looking the same direction, so I had to put it in.
After our trip south, Nick's mom, Malena came and stayed with the girls for 4 whole days while Nick and I took a cruise to Ensanada.

Here is me in the main part of the boat.

Here is Nick in one of our favorite parts of the boat.

Gettin' some sun!

We did a shore excursion to La Bufadora, which is a blow hole on the tip of Baja Cali. I didn't just want to look at the blow hole, so we decided to Kayak up to it. Here we are in our wet suits getting ready to head out. We didn't get any pictures while out there because our camera is not waterproof, but we had loads of fun and it was amazing to get so close to La Bufadora. (Link is wiki site of blow hole)
After the fun on the cruise we all headed up to Fresno for my niece and nephew's birthday party.

Here is Jasmine and Benjamin with their cake. There is Ali, planning which piece she is going to get. Every picture I took of this scene has her looking exactly like this one. Every other child is running around or looking different ways, but not Ali. She knows exactly which piece she wants and she is NOT going to look away and let another kid get it.

Me helping Kat hit that scary pinata. Maybe we will wait another year to have a pinata for Kat.
Right before Nick went back to work Ali had her first swimming lesson, EVER!!! (unless you count mommy and me, which I don't)

She was so brave the entire time. I think this girl should have been born a fish!

Here she is learning to float on her back. Just put your hands behind your head and chill!
Most of Nick's vacation took place amidst the terrors of June gloom, but the day before Nick had to head back to work the sun came out, so we did too.

We headed to the beach where Ali finally let Nick bury her. In this picture you can see her impatience to get out. You can even see the sand cracking in front of her where she had her arms out one second later. But I cannot believe she consented to even that. Just a few weeks before I would have had to bribe her an arm and a leg just to bury her feet. Anything for Daddy!
Last but definitely not least, Kat's birthday is today!!! Nick has been back to work for a week now, but he was able to skip clinic this morning to spend a few extra hours with us and watch Kat open presents.

Nick got her a candy bracelet which she refused to put on her wrist, but didn't want to put down either, so her mouth is where it stayed.

Until she found out about Pez!

Dez liked this present of Kat's the best! But maybe because we didn't let him try the Pez.

Why Crawl?

Why crawl when you can roll?

I apologize for my daughter's interference. She does not seem to share the same camera shyness that Ali used to suffer.

Dez

I think Gaby got my message about the clothes, because now Dez is always wearing properly fitting clothes. Gaby told me that she was upset because the clothes that were in that post were not especially cute, (fyi, the onesie in that post was a back-up from a blowout diaper that he had earlier). I think to make up for that he has been wearing especially cute things to my house each day. Or perhaps she is just making sure that in case I post pics of him, he will be in a cute outfit. Well, today he was dressed super cute!

And LOOK the knee pads are at his KNEES!!!! Plus look at his chubby, chubby, edible feet!

What a happy boy!

Dez

I get to watch Dez M-F now and we have loads of fun. Here he is growling at his playtop giraffe.