Park Fun

We have made several trips to the park since the weather has been good, and Daddy has needed some quiet rest. The older girls are so sweet with Anastasia (when their friends aren't there to play with)!

Anastasia is proudly wearing her Hello Kitty boots from Lito and Lita (and Mariana in the background has on her pink and white cowgirl boots).

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas eve, all three choir girls sang at the children's vigil mass. Here are the two oldest ready to go...

Allia has been interested in fancy hairdos lately, so Christmas morning I did a circle french braid ending in a side bun for her.

All ready for mass

 Then home to open some of the gifts

 The two oldest girls received these neat sewing boxes from Lita. They were very excited!

Unfortunately, Daddy woke up sick Christmas morning and has been in bed ever since. :( So our Christmas has been a little quieter than expected, but we are still enjoying it!

Vaseline anyone?

Anastasia is definitely one for mischief. It comes in waves, and she is in one right now. Today, she quietly disappeared for a bit and climbed her dresser for the first time, retrieved the vaseline from it, found a baby doll and this guy....

He is lovingly called "Benjamin Bear" by us. He comes out during Advent as we read stories about a little bear named Benjamin and his journey to Bethlehem. He was actually my grandmother's bear before she passed away. She had a whole collection of these Holiday bears. But it looks like this is his last year, as he, the baby doll, a few patches of carpet and Anastasia all ended up well coated in vaseline!

She also removed her clothing and diaper during her nap and then put her pants back on halfway and upside down. We were actually wondering all day how she got the vaseline, but she disappeared up the stairs again this evening, and Austin followed her. By the time he went in her room she had climbed almost to the top of the dresser! What a girl!

Happy 4th Birthday, Stephen!

Four years ago I had a baby boy...

 
He has been looking forward to this day for months! We started the day with a cinnamon roll breakfast and family gifts. Manah was here but left shortly after breakfast. Then, we headed out to deliver the Advent giving tree gifts to families in need. We took him out to Panda Express for lunch (which he has also been looking forward to for a long time)! After nap, we had friends over for a Star Wars party. What fun! We are blessed to have such a sweet boy to celebrate and family and friends to do it with!

(He actually opened this gift from Pawpaw and Manah a few days early when Manah arrived.)

Bashful birthday boy

The party food (I made the cake with Anakin and Obi Wan fighting on Mustafar in Star Wars Episode 3, and Han Solo is there in the carbonite-aka Jello)

Balloon light saber fighting (we had a full house, and it was safer that way!)

The two Stephens battle it out...they both love sword fighting!

A surprise appearance by Darth Vader, "Stephen, I am your father."

Pass the death star game

 Time to sing

 I had to include this photo. He got so bashful with all the attention that he had to turn away! So cute.

 A sweet little moment with Clare and Anastasia...kindred spirits I think. ;)

The children received glow stick sabers as a party favor at the end. So they turned off all the lights and had some real light saber fighting. As I was putting Stephen to bed, he hugged me and said, "Thank you, Mommy, for my birthday." That's my sweet boy!

Advent Concert

The three older girls participated in the Advent Reflection/Concert at church tonight. Here they are singing the Angel Gabriel song (pardon the shakiness...Anastasia kept trying to climb on Daddy and see the video in progress). The music was really beautiful, with the adult choir and orchestra doing an amazing Vivaldi piece.

Park Time

We went to the park, and Anastasia asked me to take photos of her swinging. So here she is. Her little neighbor friend came, and they were so funny swinging next to each other and just staring.

Christmas Piano Recital

The Christmas piano recital was Sunday. Allia played the Nutcracker March, and Mariana played Silent Night with Miss Amy accompanying and Austin singing the second time through. I stayed home and napped with the little ones, but it looks like both girls played well!

Allia


Mariana

OUCH!

Poor Stephen wqke up this morning looking like he was in a fight. He didn't nap yesterday, and I guess he was sleeping really hard. Apparently he fell out of his bed but somehow banged up his mouth on the way down. Austin heard him cry in the night, but it was just for a bit, so he figured he was having a bad dream or something. Sweet boy! He has had extra special treatment today including three bowls of ice cream and a movie! He can barely talk!

Anastasia-isms

I just love toddler talk and like to record some of the cute things they say before they grow up (too fast)!

Some of Anastasia's funny sayings:

Wega bug (lady bug...she is slightly afraid of them but very curious)
Piggy Market (she wants someone to play "this little piggy" on her toes)
Choke it (I just choked on something)
Wook at Desus (Carry me all around the house to kiss all the Jesus statues)
An a one, an a two, an a bed! (I want Allia to throw me on the bed)
Wock it (rock in the rocking chair)
Baby Dulian (her cousin Julian)
Maio budus (Mario Brothers)
"Oh, my, it's Wito. It's Wito!" (she says this anytime the man with dark hair and a mustache lectors at mass!)
Uncah Tubuh (Uncle Trevor..which sounds like Uncle Trouble when she says it and makes us all laugh)

There are probably more, but that is all I can think of for now!

Packing Playdate

Some sweet friends of ours will be moving in a few days. We had two of their three little girls over to play yesterday morning so they could get some packing done.

My two biggest girls were very helpful in keeping them happy and entertained, especially when Anastasia got a little feisty with Clare (their 2 year old)!

Allia and Violet worked on bead crafts for a while together.

Lito the runner

Lito ran the BCS marathon this morning. So after morning mass (where Allia cantered beautifully!) we quickly changed clothes and headed to the finish line to cheer him on.

Waiting excitedly...

There he is!!!

 Talking with his fans afterward

 What a happy crowd. So proud of Lito/Papa! Now for a yummy brunch at our house...

Crazy girl!

Anastasia and Daddy are here warming by the fire. This is because she has been fighting her naps a few times a week, and today was one of those days. She screamed and threw a fit in her crib after I left her room. When she settled down I heard a few whimpers but figured she was fine. Then, when Daddy went to get her up, he found her asleep, pants and diaper completely off, laying on her tummy with her naked hiney in the air. She had to be freezing. Our high temp was 37 today! So he took her to warm up by the fire (after he dressed her!).

P.S. Happy 11th Anniversary to us! A very sweet friend volunteered to come watch the children so we could go out for an early dinner together. We went to our usual anniversary place, Cenare (where our rehearsal dinner was held) for some absolutely delicious Italian cuisine and pretty good company too. :)

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

We just barely started Advent, and now we celebrate St. Nicholas day! The children have been looking forward to this, and enjoyed finding their treats and new ornaments this morning. Then, we had our usual park group over to the house for an indoor playdate and little baby shower for one of the members having her first girl. Lots of fun! We have children's adoration tonight where St. Nicholas is supposed to stop in to offer treats and hot chocolate. Yummy!

Waiting for Jesus...

We went to daily mass at St. Mary's last night. We usually arrive just as mass is starting at 5:30. So as usual, we scurried into our pew, right past the nativity scene. But that did not keep Anastasia from noticing it. As soon as we settled in our seats, she started pointing back to the foyer of the church and saying, "It's waiting for Jesus" over and over. I was so impressed that she realized the nativity was for Jesus but that he wasn't there yet; And she was able to verbalize that on her own, I couldn't even bring myself to shush her. It was so sweet throughout the mass to watch her point and remind us all that "It's waiting for Jesus."

Thanksgiving weekend

We had lots of family to celebrate with (Lito, Pawpaw, Manah, Uncle Matt, Tia Nana and Julian) and lots to do! I think I finally succeeded in getting all of my Christmas shopping done before advent started, Pawpaw and Austin worked on the fallen gates and fence, I had a few outings with the girls, Allia went to a soccer clinic (which she really enjoyed!), plus the big Thanksgiving meal and the last Aggie game of the season to watch.

Pawpaw snuggling "baby" Anastasia after her bath

Gloria playing the bee game at Chuck E Cheese (she is really good at this one...I can't even do it!)

Nook time with Manah

Final touches on the gates

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving... and Happy Advent now!