Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Crazy?????

You be the judge!

A visit from Toya

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.

And a year later

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!

Happy Birthday Mommy

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!

Crocodile Hunter Cristiana

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.

Magic Kingdom w/the gals

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!

Little One's Thanksgiving Celebration

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!

Owl Fest

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.

The trio at the park

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 the girls grow up together! Thanks for the pics Kristin!

Florida Aquarium

During our vacation in St. Pete, we visited the Florida Aquarium in Downtown Tampa. Cristiana had a great time looking at all the fish and animals on exhibit as well as touching a cow-nose ray in their touch tank. She LOVED the ducks that were in the Wetlands exhibits. As Cristiana watched the ducks up close, one duck decided to shake right in front of her and splashed both Cristiana and Jaime. Cristiana thought it was the funniest thing.
It was a nice aquarium, but unfortunately they don't have any big mammals on exhibit which was disappointing since the last time I took Cristiana to an aquarium (in Chicago), their large mammal exhibits were closed due to remodeling, so she has not had the chance to see a big whale yet, and I can't wait to see her face when she does. The best part of the Florida Aquarium is the HUGE splash park they have outside for the kids. Cristiana had a blast. They have a little toddler area sectioned off, but Cristiana didn't want to stay there very long and headed to the area with the big ship and slides. Wish this aquarium were closer to us, I would definitely opt for a yearly pass.

Make sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before playing the video below.

Treasure Island Vacation

In the beginning of October we took a nice week long vacation to St. Pete's Treasure Island (sorry it's taken so long to post, more that a month late). We stayed at a beachfront 2-bedrm, 2 bath vacation rental. One of the reasons we stayed here was because they were one of the few places that actually had a kiddie pool in St. Pete and having a bedrm and kitchen were a must as well. We had a great time enjoying the sunny week (no rain and great weather(Yippiee)). We went to the beach practically everyday, which for some reason Cristiana was a bit apprehensive about, which was strange since she use to love the beach. Most of the other time was pretty much spent in the kiddie pool. Needless to say we all got a lot of sun and Vit. D this week (Cristiana got really dark by the end of the week) and of course no more sleep than usual. We enjoyed bike ridding around the area and doing lots of window shopping and even flying a kite. We did enjoy a visit to the Fl. Aquarium which will be placed in another post. We did have a very interesting experience at this vacation rental. The fire alarm went off 2 times in 1 night throughout the entire building. Surprisingly Cristiana slept through the first one (don't know how, since when we're home a pin drops and she's up), unfortunately we weren't as lucky the second time around.
We had a great time just relaxing and spending work free time as a family and on our way home Cristiana gifted us with a quite ride back (she actually took her nap in the car, woohoo!)

The video below is a little long, but it shows Cristiana having a great time in the kiddie pool.
Don't forget to pause the music @ the bottom of the blog before playing the video.

Cristiana's various smiles

Here are the many smiles of Cristiana. I've actually been able to get her to smile for the camera (when we're at home of course) and sometimes she even says cheese (hence her cheesy smile on the left.
The other 2 are more natural smiles.

Blizzard Beach

On Saturday we headed to Blizzard beach for a little bit of water fun. Cristiana had a great time going down the slides and playing with the water. She of course LOVED the lazy river just as she does in Typhoon Lagoon, she even laid down in her little inner tube and relaxed. I'm glad we were able to make it this weekend, because it seems that it may be too cold the rest of this year to take her. We'll have to wait till 2010 to go back, unless we have an unusually warm fall/winter day.

My Gym Halloween

On Friday, My Gym had their Halloween party and apparently it was such a big hit they ended up hosting 2 (one in the afternoon and one in the evening) and both were at capacity. Cristiana had a great time there as usual. Lately her favorite things to do are the trampoline, which of course is no surprise since that's her favorite thing to do at home as well, and she's really taken to the big ball pit. She always liked the ball pit, but lately she wants to cover herself with the balls (as you'll see in the slide show) and stays there for a good while. She also LOVED the Firehouse grilled cheese they gave the kids, I mean she was stuffing her face, and who can blame her with all the butter they throw on it. She never gets butter at home so I'm sure she was really enjoying it.
She's had quite an eventful Halloween season this year.