Part 2

They spent two more days at Disney. Lito was quite a hero riding all of the rides with the girls!

Lita dressed them so well for the trip. I love the pineapple shirts with the neon tennis shoes! :)

 This was one of their favorite rides for sure!

They rounded out the day with dinner at Denny's. Yum!

Last Day!

 They finished early and headed back to the hotel so Lito could grab a nap...they wore him out! Then they had a swim before dinner.

 And now they are flying back today. We can't wait to see them. Thank you, Lito and Lita for giving them such a FUN week!!!

California/Disney Trip Part 1

They spent their first day recovering from travel and swimming at the hotel pool. Then, Friday they spent a full day enjoying Disneyland.

The girls had sooo much to say when we talked to them that evening. They really had fun! They went to a show where they saw Frozen characters, Sofia the 1st, Neverland Pirates and others complete with "Snow" bubbles falling from the ceiling among other things. It all sounded very exciting.

Then they spent the weekend with family...
Austin's Tia Eva and Uncle Steve live nearby, and Tia Rosa and Tio Quique also happened to be visiting.

Helping Tia Eva make lunch

A Boggle game with Tia Rosa

After mass Sunday

And crawdad fishing!

 They are headed back to Disneyland today and tomorrow for more fun!

Stephen wisdom

The other day, Stephen approaches me...

"You know what, Mommy." (this is a normal occurrence because the boy loves to talk!)

"What, Buddy?"

"I think I want to die when I am still little."

"Really. (insert tone of surprise) Why?"

"Because I can't commit mortal sin when I am little, and then I can go straight to Heaven."

"Wow, well that is a good idea!"

He has really been listening to our religious discussions lately! I have to admit, this one caught me off guard. I had no idea how to respond!

The Big Trip

The three girls have been gearing up for a surprise trip. Austin took them to Houston last night so they would be close to the airport. This morning, he took them to meet Lito and Lita, and they flew to California for a week at Disneyland! We sure will miss them, but I know they will be spoiled having a great time!

At the hotel with Daddy yesterday afternoon

At the airport this morning, ready to go!

Buddies

My oldest and youngest playing blocks together at a friend's house. Timeless.

He is a walker!

Sebastian has really taken off now. He walks almost everywhere. He still falls a lot, but he is very careful, so when he does fall he is able to catch himself. He just gets back up, balances for a few seconds, and keeps on going. He is really enjoying his newfound freedom!

Rib Boy

I have been expanding his diet since his birthday, and he had his first taste of ribs tonight. They were a hit for sure!

Happy Baptism Day, Sebastian!

His special day fell on Divine Mercy Sunday this year...what a blessing, and the morning mass was even offered for him by his wonderful Godparents! Austin was the only one there, though, since the schola was singing. The rest of us had gone to the vigil mass the night before.

We lit his baptismal candle after dinner. Anastasia was so concerned that it was her special candle at first. But I assured her that he had his own, and hers was safely tucked away. Sweet girl! We are so thankful for this sacrament for our precious guy!

And just for fun, a "then" photo...

Broken Wrist!

Allia broke her wrist Tuesday night in the very last few moments of her soccer practice. She was defending the goal, much like with Mariana's broken wrist a few years ago. I think we will get some goalie gloves! Thankfully, her practice was early enough that the urgent care center down the road was still open, so we headed there instead of home. They had her wear a splint for a few days while the swelling went down, and she just got her cast today! Thankfully, she only has to wear it for 3-4 weeks, so she should have it off just in time for her end of season soccer tournament!

Anastasia is really into being first these days. She ran out to meet us as soon as we arrived home so she could be the first one to "Sign" the cast.

Sebastian

I wanted to do an update on Sebastian at one year. I didn't get a chance with all the celebrating on his birthday!

He stayed on track with growth. He was 30 1/4" tall (70th %), 22lb 2 oz (65th %), and his head was 19 1/4" (96%).

He has started walking between things and off on his own a bit, but he usually falls after 8-12 steps.

He has such a sweet, gentle personality. I think he is probably our best behaved in mass at this age - we hardly ever have to leave with him unless he is way overdue for a nap/bedtime. He made it through Holy Week like a champ!

He loves books and turns the pages so gently and carefully. It is precious to see those chubby little fingers working so hard! He has started saying Allia's name (Ah-yah) and has several other words, his favorites being ball and uh-oh. He also says Mama, Dada, Nana (banana), Neh (no), muh (more), dut (that), Seesseh (Jesus). I think there are a few more, but they are very infrequent. Those are his most common.

He likes to be included in anything the older children are doing as long as it is not too rough. He is very cautious, which is why he is still not fully walking yet. That is fine by me for sure, as I am not ready to chase him all over just yet. His favorite food, by far, is banana. He will often crawl up to me in the kitchen and point to the banana holder with a grunt or "Nana" and get very insistent if I don't comply and feed him one!

We love our big one year old boy and just wish he could stay little a bit longer!

Easter fun with friends

We had some friends over for the afternoon and decided to use our Cascarones for an egg hunt at the park. They had great fun. It was a nice way to keep the Easter celebration going this week!

 Gloria ended up with a lot of blue and white in her hair, and we all thought it made her look like Elsa. The photo doesn't really do it justice.

Happy Easter!

We had a busy but wonderful Holy Week and enjoyed being able to go to the events at the church this year after missing them all last year with our new baby! Pawpaw and Manah even joined us, which was especially nice.

Turning our thorns into Jewels for the crown Saturday morning. Then they were off to Manah and Pawpaw's to dye eggs and have an egg hunt.

 Easter morning

Our sweet friends, the A family, came for Easter lunch and stayed the afternoon. We had fun hunting eggs, going on a nature walk, and just enjoying each other's company...and lots of yummy food and desserts!

Praise God for the Resurrection!

Cute little guy

The other day, all the children were using the new sidewalk as a raceway. Mariana asked if she could take Sebastian outside, and when I went to check on them I found this...

They were yelling "Beep, beep" when they got in each other's way. He picked up on it and was riding around screeching, in a high pitched baby voice, "Buh-bee" in imitation of the others. It was sooo cute!

He really likes this little playhouse, and frequently sticks his head out the window and yells.

He has been getting braver with walking, taking up to 10 steps on his own!

Car Wash Kids

The neighborhood gang of kids decided to try and strum up business cleaning houses, washing cars and weeding gardens. Pawpaw and Manah couldn't resist supporting their efforts and let them clean the house. Then they left town for a few days with a truck washing order, and this is how it was fulfilled...more like a party than work I think!

In other news...

Stephen had his first Hot Shots class of the spring Thursday morning. The class is almost all boys, which he was really excited about!

And Allia had a soccer game right in the middle of the whole project Saturday. So I hauled our crew to watch her in order to leave the workers without interruption. It was a great game. They tied 1-1, and everyone was SO well-behaved that we actually received a compliment from another parent!