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!
