THANK YOU,

thank you, thank you Mom and Dad. They came for the girls' party this weekend and brought me an early birthday present...a digital camera!!! It is Mom's "old" one (less than a year old!) because she decided she really wanted one of the new touch screen ones to make it easier to use. What a great gift! Digital world, here we come!

Birthday fun!

The girls had a wonderful party yesterday celebrated with family, friends, and water fun at the splash pad. Kudos to the CS Aquatics department...I went to make sure the splash pad worked on Thursday only to find out there was a leak and they had it off. However, they kindly offered to clean it out and turn it on just for our party. How nice! Everyone had a wonderful time, so much so that just as last year, they both wanted to keep playing with their friends instead of opening gifts. That makes me SO proud. We certainly appreciate the gifts, but the people are the most important. It is nice that they realize that...at least for now!


Mariana likes the ones that squirt from the ground


Building up courage to run through the rings...with some help from a friend


Allia aims the "water gun"


So polite...all waiting in line!

The cake photos will have to wait as those are stuck in my regular camera waiting to be developed!

Yay Mariana!

She went tee tee on the potty tonight before her bath with Manah! Who knows how long it will be before she does it again (she has been requesting to try unsuccessfully for several weeks now). But either way, we are so proud!

Mmmmm...

fresh pico de gallo. It is definitely one of my favorites, and I have been craving it for several weeks now. I finally mustered up the gumption to make some this week with tomatoes less than $1/pound. It was totally delicious and is now totally gone in only 2 days. I just may have to make another run to the store...although the girls' birthday party is this weekend so I have many other things to do besides dicing tomatoes and onions. At least I am having mostly healthy pregnancy cravings now that the 1st trimester is history!

I WISH

I had that digital camera this afternoon so I could share an edited version of the sight I just saw. Allia did not take a nap today, so she was having quiet play time in her room while I was browsing blogs. ;-) I heard her go into the bathroom and figured she had finished up and returned to her room. However, about 5 minutes later I heard the water running for a while. I decided to go check it out and found my sweet Allia facing backwards with her naked hinee sitting awkwardly in the sink and the water running on it. It was all I had not to burst out laughing, but I composed myself and asked what exactly she was doing. She explained how she had gone poopy, we were out of toilet paper, and she called quitely for my help so as not to wake sleeping Mariana (WHAT a GREAT sister!!!). Since no help came, she took matters into her own hands by removing her clothing and rinsing her rear in the sink! Hilarious! What a creative girl. I complimented her on her creativity and consideration of her sister then showed her where the extra toilet paper is stored. She was so cute...very shaken up by the incident, being afraid she was going to be in trouble! She constantly amazes me!

"Pleasey, pleasey"

This is Mariana's new phrase when she really wants something. I am finding it very irresistible. What is it about adding that sound to a normally plain word that makes it so incredibly cute? I am not sure, but for now she is hearing a lot of "yes" from Mommy. :-)

"That man is cute"

Allia said as we were parking our car for the church picnic today. The man rode past on his bicycle, and the look on my husband's face was quite a sight when she said this. However, I began laughing hysterically. This is because I recalled a few minutes earlier as we were driving down the street and passed this same man my husband had commented, "How cute...look at that man on his painted bicycle." The whole thing was spray painted a metallic gold. I am not sure why said husband found it cute enough to make the comment, but somehow in Allia's almost 4 year old mind, his comment translated to, "That man is cute." It was so funny to see his reaction, which would have been mine...shock, dismay that she could possibly be noticing the male gender already. Once I explained my laughter the mood lightened and we all had a little laugh together. Then on to the free hamburgers and of course the ever-popular moon walk. Yay!