Yes, you heard it right, there was a frog in our toilet today. I was always worried about animals crawling up the toilet since we live in an area where they are plenty full and of course you see it in TV shows all the time. I opened the lid today and luckily it was only a frog and thankfully I saw it before I sat down. Unfortunately the little guy did not allow us to catch him and decided to go about his journey back down the pipes. We wish you well little froggie and hopefully you'll be our last and only visitor through the toilet.
After all the excitement in the morning we headed off to church with Cristiana dressed in her beautiful festive red dress, which we took lots of pictures of her in. You'll notice in some of the pictures that she's smiling really hard and has her eyes closed, well...that's her version of "Cheese." Every time we ask her to smile and say "cheese" that what we get.
Luckily the rain had stopped by the afternoon and after her nap we all headed off to enjoy the rest of the day @ Downtown Disney. Cristiana rode the train and the carousel there (she would NOT take no for an answer as was VERY impatient as she screamed her head off while we waited in line). None the less she enjoyed riding both and seeing all the lights and the people. She also had a good time in the stores trying on different things, our crazy child!
Luckily the rain had stopped by the afternoon and after her nap we all headed off to enjoy the rest of the day @ Downtown Disney. Cristiana rode the train and the carousel there (she would NOT take no for an answer as was VERY impatient as she screamed her head off while we waited in line). None the less she enjoyed riding both and seeing all the lights and the people. She also had a good time in the stores trying on different things, our crazy child!
This years Christmas morning was an exciting one since Cristiana would now be able to enjoy opening gifts and seeing the surprises behind the wrapping. It was so much fun to see how excited she was about unwrapping the gifts and even better to she her different reactions once she saw what was behind the paper. Her top of the list this year were anything Jojo's Circus related and of course her tricycle (thanks Tia!) and her very own outdoor cabin (thanks Abuela!). We all had a great time and can't wait to see what next Christmas will be like!
There's 2 videos to watch...one with her unwrapping her gifts in the house and the bottom one (under the slide show of pictures) of her "unwrapping" her outdoor cabin. Make sure to pause the music on the right hand side of the Blog before playing the videos. ENJOY!
We had a great Noche Buena together. My sister did the honors of cooking (thanks Jacks) and Cristiana did all the entertaining of course. I came down w/a stomach virus a few days prior so I was unable to fully enjoy the good food, but Cristiana really enjoyed it, especially the rolls.
If you're wondering why Jaime has a tie on over his shirt, the explanation is quite simple, my mom asked him "Aren't you going to dress up for dinner?" and so he added a tie to his attire. 
While my sister was here, she was able to take some great pictures of Cristiana bouncing on our trampoline and of course wrestling with daddy. Make sure to move your mouse over each picture to see it in detail.
As previously promised here are the cookie bouquets I put together as Christmas gifts. I was really happy with the finished products. I even had some people say they would have purchased some from me as 
gifts...definitely an idea for the future.
On Tuesday the ladies of the family headed out to bear the crowds of the holidays @ Animal Kingdom. Kristin and Ava met up with us as well. We took the girls on the Triceratops Spin, very similar to the Dumbo ride they both loved @ Magic Kingdom and of course the infamous Safari which they've rode on previous occasions. The girls also took pictures with Baloo and King Louie from the Jungle Book. King Louie was quite the "character", he took Cristiana's monkey blanket out of her stroller and wore it on his head the entire time we were there. Again pictures are courtesy of my sister's awesome camera.
Here are some pictures of Cristiana being silly at home. The sticker pictures show how much she loves them but unfortunately these stickers had stronger adhesive than any of us 
thought,
hence the removal process was quite painful for everyone.
Lesson learned!
While my mom and sis were in town, they had to chance to see Cristiana participate in her My Gym class. Lucky for us my sister brought her awesome camera with her and was able to capture some great moments. It's hard to get pictures of them at My Gym since you're constantly running after them and participating as well, so it was nice to have my sister there. Ava and Kristin also came to class that day so we were able to get a lot of picture of the girls playing together and being their silly and goofy selves.
On Sunday the family headed out to the Maitland Art Center where they were hosting an Aloha Holiday Extravaganza. They had vendors with yummy food, Polynesian dancers (poor girls, it was cold!), and even a surfer Santa. Cristiana was a little confused w/Surfer Santa so we didn't really get any really good pictures of her and Santa this year but we did get some great ones of her running around and being her silly self around the art center gardens. Cristiana and I had the chance to work on a lei craft together (she did really well sticking the flowers through the string) and then we all enjoyed the music and the dancers that were being showcased. We ended the day with 2 bags of kettle corn (mmm...yummy!)
Pictures were courtesy of my sister.
Saturday night the Family hit Hollywood Studios to enjoy the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. It was quite crowded and a bit nippy but I really wanted Cristiana to enjoy a huge Christmas light show since she LOVES all the lights this year. She decided to grace us with a cat nap before we got to the studios which as you all know is not usual, but having Lela and Tita in town seems to be tiring her out. I think she was a bit overwhelmed at first by all the lights and the crowd, but really seemed to soak it in and enjoy it. She was clapping during the music and would clap after the lights would do their music show. She even got to enjoy fake snow, I think she was a bit confused by it, but nonetheless was able to experience it. After the show we walked around and even gave Cristiana her first 3D show experience. I thought she would be done with it half way through, but she actually sat in Tita's lap the whole time and even reached out to grab some of the effects (yes, I did put her 3D glasses on and yes she did keep them on the entire time!) We drank some hot chocolate and ate some yummy brownies and had an absolutely perfect night.
Pictures courtesy of my sister.
While my mom and sister were in town, we all took Rusty out for her morning walk and Cristiana had more fun during this walk then she's ever had before. She LOVES having Lela (grandma) and Tita (Auntie) around. Even more, she likes to pose and show off for my sister as she takes pictures of her (she never does this for me of course). Cristiana was running around like a crazy nut on our street (no worries, no one but it's inhabitants drive down our street) and throwing her arms up and laughing with Lela. It was truly a very fun and memorable walk. Poor Rusty was probably starving by the time we finally made it back home to feed her, but it was worth it. Here are the pics my sister took that day. Can you tell Cristiana had a blast?
On Friday daddy had the day off and we headed for a few hours of fun @ Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). We were able to catch the playhouse Disney show which Cristiana seemed to really enjoy but best of all she was able to meet and take a picture with her favorite clown and lion, JoJo and Goliath. Jojo's circus is one of Cristiana's favorite things to watch. They don't give her show on TV anymore but we do have the 2 DVDs that exist of her show and Cristiana loves them. She went through a phase that all she watched was Jojo's Circus both in the morning and afternoon;NOTHING ELSE. We've grown out of the phase and she now watches other things, but she was very excited to see them (mommy was too since I am forced to watch it with her as well as listen to the CD in the car). We hung out a a bit more, spent some time in the playground and surprisingly enough Cristiana fell asleep after lunch in her stroller; you heard it right, she fell asleep in her stroller, even slept right through the loudness of the parade.
We'll be back one of these evenings to show Cha cha the spectacle of lights that they have during the holiday season.
Here are some things I've baked over the last few weeks for different reasons. The snowflake lollipops and the cake (red velvet with yummy cream cheese frosting and filling, trees are sugar cones dipped in frosting and covered in coconut) were made for the mommy and me holiday party we had. Kristin, Monica, and I were in charge of hosting it and I took care of some of the sweets as well as the crafts. Unfortunately Cristiana grew very ill over that weekend and we were unable to participate, hence the lack of pictures and no post about the party. The cookies were made for my lovely friends Kristin and Monica. I took a Wilton Cookie Bouquet class and learned how to play with fondant and was given a really great sugar cookie recipe that keeps its shape while baking. I plan on making a few cookie bouquets for Christmas gifts this year, so as soon as I have one baked and completed I will post it as well.
Here's a cute picture of daddy spending some very special time w/Cha cha. She loves to lay on her couch and will cuddle w/daddy as he reads her a story. SO SWEET!
This is the way Cristiana greeted us on Thanksgiving after her nap. We have no idea how she ended up this way, maybe she took off her shirt and attempted to put it back on or maybe she just pulled her shirt over her head, who knows, but as always, we can count on her to do something crazy that makes us laugh and smile and remember how lucky and truly blessed we are to have this little monkey as our child. We are Thankful for everything the Lord has blessed us with with, our families, our friends, health, happiness, love, our beautiful Cristiana, and of course each other.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
My friend Toya came to visit this past weekend. Cristiana knows Toya, she's seen her a few times in the past yr and she's been our only babysitter thus far as well, but she was quite the shy one for the first 5 min. or so, but that was all it took, about 5 min. Cristiana quickly warmed up to her, so much so that she brought over a book for Toya to read to her. After that Cristiana was her crazy and rambunctious self, running around, showing Toya all her toys and even showing her dance skills (keep in mind that no music was playing!).
Thanks for visiting Toya, we'll hopefully see you again in December.
A few days ago, the mom's that originally started our mom's group decided to get together for a reunion/update picture opp. It's crazy to see how much these little girls have changed in 1 yr. It was definitely nice to get together and play a little bit of catch up with a few of the moms I don't get to see very often any more. The last 2 pictures are for comparison of now and then. What a difference!
Mommy celebrated her birthday @ Boston Market during the reunion of the original 6 that started our mom's group. The ladies were so thoughtful and brought mommy a yummy cake with only 10 candles (love you girls)! Cristiana practiced blowing out the candles w/mommy. Getting ready for her big day that's only 2 months away!
Thanks Ladies for remembering my birthday and thanks for the pics Kristin!
Cristiana LOVES all animals, and it's really evident in the way she treats her pets (though these days Cristiana does 
seem to yell at Rusty (our old dog) more than anything, especially when Cristiana is eating and Rusty comes anywhere near the vicinity. Here's a picture of her with Rusty, Gollum (our leopard gecko that she loves to poke), and Lady Galadriel (our Bearded Dragon, which she's still not allowed to touch; Lady's temperament is a lot more edgy than our very complacent Gollum). And if you were wondering, yes, we're big Lord of the Rings fans.
On Monday morning we headed to Magic Kingdom with the gals for some cool weather fun. The girls enjoyed watching a show in front of Cinderella's castle (it's so surprising how much their attention span has grown), they had a great time on the Winnie the Pooh ride (Cristiana clapped @ the ending of it, so cute!), they enjoyed the playground, It's a Small World (Cristiana clapped after this one as well), Cinderella's Carousel, and Dumbo which was the biggest hit of the day, the girls were NOT happy getting off the ride. The weather was great and the crowds weren't too bad which made it all an awesome day!
On Sunday, Erin, one of the mom's from our mommy and me group hosted the Thanksgiving Celebration for our little ones. The kids had a great time playing in the playground and with all the toys she had set out for them (Cristiana seemed to really enjoy the Little People's May Flower Play set). Cristiana also reallyliked the wagon rides (pulling, courtesy of daddy and Joe (Ava's daddy)). The food was quite yummy and dessert was even better. Erin's sister baked an AMAZING pear cake, which I still need to steal the recipe for. The kids had fun crafts to do (hand print turkeys) and the best part of the event was the picture we took of all the kids together and actually still. We couldn't believe that they actually sat still for a few min. so we could all snap some pictures, but who could blame them, since they had an all mommy chorus of the Wheels on the Bus. Thanks for hosting Thanksgiving Erin, we had a great time!
On Saturday we ventured to an Owl Fest the Avian Reconditioning Center of Apopka was hosting. Cristiana LOVES birds and she LOVES too hoot like an owl so I had to take her to see the birds. They actually had a really cool falconry demonstration going on as well as all the birds out on their perches to be viewed by the public. Cristiana had the chance to meet all different types of owls (including the Barred Owl which we hear at night by our house) she also had an encounter with a real life scare crow. I asked Jaime to sit her down next to him for a picture, well he didn't move, so Cristiana must have thought it was a doll or something lifeless, but then all of a sudden he decides to wave hello and Cristiana freaked out (she lounged off the hay stack and was terrified), he must not know how to deal w/little kids. They also had a cute little kids station where Cristiana colored some owls and made an owl mask (which she likes to play with at home at hoot). The weather was beautiful which made a great day for bird watching.
On Thursday, Cristiana met up with her two favorite friends, Ava and Amelia at the park. It was a little chilly but it was great park weather and the girls seemed to enjoy it. The girls were all over the 
place, and pretty much on their own. It's crazy to think back to the first time we took the girls to this park, Cristiana was learning to walk and we were all so cautious about what they were doing. Now they go on the playground and down the slides all on their own. They had an even better time in the sand box as you can see in the pictures.
Cristiana and Ava seem to enjoy throwing sand up in the air and on each other (gently throwing, nothing harsh) and they both crack up when the other one does it, it's the funniest thing. Needless to say both Ava and Cristiana were full of sand and it made for an interesting shower that night trying to get all the sand out of Cha-cha's hair (thanks daddy!)
It's so nice watching t
he girls grow up to
gether! Thanks for the pics Kristin!
