Sophia is 11 Months Old!!

Dear Sophia,

I can hardly believe I am even typing this, but....you turned 11 months old last week!!! You are getting so big! I can't believe you will be one in less than a month!

You weigh 17lbs 14oz. You wear 12 month clothes, a size 5 shoe, and a size 4 diaper. You get 3 8oz bottles a day, and lots of table food. You very rarely ever eat baby food anymore. Not because I don't give it to you, but because you don't want it. Your favorite table foods are: Mac n Cheese, pancakes, hot dogs, and diced fruits and veggies. You prefer anything you can feed yourself.

You are love for us to hold your hands and let you walk. You cruise all over the place and I think you will start walking soon. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that!

You love to sing and dance! Anytime you hear music playing, you dance. I've even heard you sing a few times. You are saying a few words now: dada, daddy, mama, hey, hello, uh-oh, and bye-bye.

You are hearing the word "no" a lot lately. You love to play with things you aren't supposed to. Your favorite thing is the cords by the TV and the Wii controllers. You are very curious! :)

You have started playing the harmonica when we are at Grandma's house, you finally figured out how to make it make noise! You also love books! I read to you every night before bed, and you just listen so closely. I hope you will always love books!

Your first birthday party is in the works! I have decided on a theme, a date and time, and a guest list. I'm still working on decorations and other details. I can't wait!!

You get prettier every day, and we are so blessed by you! It is getting difficult to remember what life was like before you were born. We can't imagine our lives without you in them!

All About Aiden

Isn't that a catchy title? Original, I know. Just like my "Just Jenny" posts, I am planning to do "All About Aiden" posts as well. So, here goes....

Aiden is four years old. I will be registering him for Pre-K soon, and he will start Pre-K in August. I'm not sure how he has grown up so quickly. I heard someone recently say, "the days go by slow, but the years go by fast." Anyone who has children will tell you, that is so true!!

Aiden is my wild child. He is ALL BOY! He loves Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and Batman. He would play video games all day if I let him. His favorite game right now is his newest one, Lego Batman 2 on the Nintendo Wii.

Aiden recently started playing pre T-ball. It is almost the same as T-ball, but they don't keep score. It's just for fun. He has been to several practices and his first game was supposed to be last Saturday, but it was cancelled because it was too cold.

Aiden knows his ABCs, counting, and colors. He is learning to recognize letters and can recognize most numbers up to 10. His favorite letter is the letter A, which he points out whenever he sees it! He can also write his name. We are working on forming the letters better.

I feel like Aiden is going to do great in school! He learns quickly, and behaves well (especially when I'm not around). We are looking forward to seeing how he grows and develops!

On the Go!

We better watch out! Pretty soon we are gonna have a walker on our hands!! There she goes....

 

Pushing her baby doll in the stroller!!

 

I guess she really wanted to go bye-bye, because she even put herself in her carseat! This child keeps me on my toes, that's for sure! But, seriously, have you ever seen anything cuter in your entire life??? Her smile just makes me melt....and she knows it, too!!! :)

Just Jenny

As I said in one of my previous posts, I am going to try and document each of my kids' lives a little better. Lately my blog has turned into "The Sophia Show". Which is great that I am documenting her milestones and her growth, but I have two other children who also need their lives documented. So, I am hoping to do a post about each child at least once a month. I'm starting with Jenny, since she is the oldest.

Jenny will officially be 7 1/2 on February 30 (if February 30 actually existed). It's a good thing we don't celebrate half birthdays, because I'm not really sure when we would celebrate hers.

Anyway.... She is in the 2nd grade. She is a wonderful student, and almost always does very well! She got all A's and one B on her last report card, and she also got a 100 on her last math test! She just finished addition and subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers, and she just started adding and subtracting money. She is also learning about complete sentences, punctuation, and parts of a sentence. She is reading above her grade level. In science she has learned about states of matter, animals, and outer space.

She is currently involved in a program at church called Awana. She is also involved in Girl Scouts. This is her third year. She completed her first two years as a Daisy, and she is almost finished with her first year as a Brownie. I am the co-leader of her troop. We are going on our first camping trip in May, and we are both very excited!!

Jenny is a very sweet, loveable young lady. She is also an AWESOME big sister!! Seriously - she is probably the best big sister I have ever seen. She helps Aiden, as much as he will let her, and she is great with Sophia! She and Sophia already have a very special bond that only sisters can have. I pray that they will always be close and that they will grow up to be best friends.

Out of all three of my children, Jenny is the most loving. She loves attention, and loves to be hugged and loved on. She also likes when I do things like write her a special note in her school agenda or send notes with her snack at school.

Jenny isn't at our house all the time, but she is just as much a part of our family as Aiden and Sophia. We love, love, love having her here at home! We all miss her so much when she is not here - especially Aiden and Sophia.

That is pretty much everything going on in Jenny's life lately. I am looking forward to documenting her life more often!

Valentine's Day 2013

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I never know if it is spelt Valentine's with the apostrophe, or if it's just Valentines. Oh well, you all know what I mean.

Our Valentine's Day was so much fun! Jaime and I always get the kids a little something to recognize the day, and he and I usually have a nice dinner at home after the kids go to bed. This year, Jaime had to work a double shift on Valentine's Day, so it was just the kids and I for most of the day.

A few days before Valentine's Day, I helped Jenny and Aiden with their Valentines for their friends. Jenny chose Fun Dip Valentine cards, and Aiden chose Power Rangers Samurai. Jenny took her's to her friends in her class at school, and Aiden took his to his friend's in his class at Awana. Aiden even wrote his own name on a few of his! After writing his name on the first two, he said his hand was too tired and I had to finish the rest. At least he tried, and I thought his handwriting was very legible for someone who hasn't even started school yet!

 

 

On the morning of Valentine's Day, the kids woke up to a table decked out in Valentine decorations, and a few treats for each of them. We have never done a Valentine's breakfast before, but I have seen other people who do it, and I always thought it would be fun. So, this was our first year doing it, but I think it is going to be our new tradition. We had red pancakes and eggs, and each of the kids received a stuffed animal, chocolate (Sophia got cookies), and a balloon.

 

Keeping with tradition, we made our annual Valentine's cupcakes! This was probably my last year making them with just Jenny and Aiden. Next year Sophia will be almost two, and I'm sure she will want to help!

 

Aiden even made Jaime and I a little Valentine at Awana the night before!

 

 

It's strange how years ago my Valentine's Day was spent out on a date, maybe out to dinner and a movie, and we spent all of our money on gifts for each other. Now, here we are, six years and three kids later, and our Valentine's Days are spent with the kids making memories! Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way! I am thankful for a husband who understands that and who agrees that making memories with our children is more important than any gift he and I could ever buy each other. I am thankful for a husband who makes me feel loved and adored every day, not just Valentine's Day.



 

A New Look!!

As you can see, my blog got a little makeover recently! Jessica, from Diamond Doll Design, gave my blog a much needed facelift. Sophia's beautiful face has been added to the header, and all of the pictures in the header have been updated. I asked for something bright, but not too bright, and I am very pleased with the results!

I am still tweaking a few behind the scenes things, and trying to get all of the posts organized into categories. I also need to update the About Us section and a few other sections. So it is still a work in progress.

At the top, under the header, there are several icons (an envelope, a Facebook icon, Twitter icon, etc.). The envelope is one you can click to email me, the second one you can use to subscribe to my RSS feed (for Google Reader), the Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram ones are links to follow me on any of those sites.

She also made a "Grab Me" button for y'all to use on your blogs, websites, etc. to link back to my blog if you'd like. It is on the left hand side of the blog. :)

I am hoping to start blogging more often. If you look over at the archives, you can see that my blogging has become less and less frequent. I want to get back into the habit of blogging more often! This serves as my scrapbook and is a way for me to keep track of all of the things going on in our lives. I love to look back at posts from last year or the year before just to see what was going on at that time. It is crazy how quickly I forget things!

I have a few new things I am going to try so that I can keep a more accurate record of each of the kids and the things going on in their lives. I also hope to make this more of a journal for myself.

All of that to say, I hope you all like the new look of my blog, and I hope you all enjoy what you read here! If you are looking for a new blog design for your own blog, I would highly recommend Jessica from Diamond Doll Design. She is fast, affordable, and easy to work with! Tell her Katie from The Quiroz Family sent you! Happy blogging!

Father Daughter Dance 2013

Jaime and Jenny went to the Girl Scout Father/Daughter Dance again this year. It is so much fun going out and picking out her dress and helping her get ready!! I hope they will continue this tradition for a long time.

In the side by side pictures, the pictures on the left are from February 2011 (Jenny was 5). The ones on the right are from February 2013 (Jenny is 7).