Palm Springs

We decided, rather suddenly, to take off to see my Sita and Fred in Palm Springs for the holiday weekend. An unplanned trip turned out to be the perfect thing for all of us.

Making wishes in the fountain. I made a wish for a very special friend.

Hanging out at Shanghai Red's. Yes, it's a bar (outdoors). Yes, we took the kids. Yes, we danced a little. How do YOU spend time with your grandparents and kids? Mine dance in a bar. :)

We went on a horse and carriage ride through downtown P.S.

We also ate at the Casino Morongo Buffet and had an enjoyable dinner. We all ate everything in sight and the kids loved it too! A little gambling (I won $12 on the slots) and a lot of swimming in Sita's pool...was just what we needed.

Look how long it had been since we were in Palm Springs last...

(June 2010)

Little Mermaid

Valentina loves her bath time. We call her the "little mermaid" with her swift kicks and graceful moves. She tries to put her face in the water...so brave.

Or so I thought. Reeeeaaaally, she just wants to eat the bubbles. Constantly. Kind of gross, huh? I've been trying for four weeks to get her on whole milk and she flat out refuses. But bubbles seem to look appetizing to her. And she either puts her face forward into the bubbles or brings them up to her mouth with her hand. Now, I call her "Santa Baby".

Look how long her hair has gotten!

Pretend City

This past weekend, with the so-so weather, we decided to play indoors at Pretend City in Irvine. It was a bit expensive, but worth it. We lasted for a few hours. My dad had his military I.D. and they offer the discount to everyone in your party. $8 a piece and we were all ready to pretend. I highly recommend one adult per child ratio. We spent most of our day in separate spots with occasional meetings over snacks in the middle.

Salvatore LOVED: the grocery store, the PVC pipes, the little house, the water station, the restaurant, the fire truck, the music and the dispatch center.

He had little to no interest in: the garden, the building blocks, the art center, the stage for costumes or the post office.

Baseball in the back room. We had the room to ourselves and Sal ran the bases several times as Lolo pitched.

Valentina LOVED: the little cars and push bikes, the grocery store, the little house, the music and following Salvatore around where ever he went.

Valentina went nuts for "Benny" as we were leaving.

When he sat at the dispatch center, he really came alive. I watched him closely as he immediately started answering the phones, pushing the buttons, and shouting directions and instructions to his "personnel". He was acting like it was his real job-even looking stressed at certain times- while he wheeled around on the chair and continued "helping everyone". The kids played so well together. It was fun and worth it to check out.

Happy pretending!

Confirmation

Last weekend, two of my favorite people completed the sacrament of confirmation in the Catholic Church. Paige asked me to be her sponsor. Sean asked his friend Michael.

Yes, we were all dressed up for the church service, but changed once we got back to the house.

It was a blessed day. The priest gave a wonderful sermon about how just seeing God in others makes Him so happy. He wants us to see Him in everyone. If we do, we are doing our best. The rest comes naturally. As I was sitting in the church, surrounded by the excitement and energy of today's youth, I felt...inspired. I remember liking what they like and laughing at what they laugh at. I remember feeling how they feel...These young adults were good people who are surrounded by good people. Made me a touch less scared to face the teenage years with my own children. I was happy and excited for them to all move forward, to expand, to seek, to explore...

But how could I not also remember when they looked like this...

Sean, Paige and Sara have been a very special and important part of my life for 13 years now. While sitting in the church, we joked about Sean being a sponsor for Salvatore and Paige being a sponsor for Valentina one day...Will you read about THAT post some day? :)

Valentina 1.0

Our sweet baby girl is ONE!!!

What a blessed year this has been...

Seems like just yesterday that we held you for the first time and bonded instantly...

What great joy, patience, gratitude and love you have brought us all...

I am so proud to be your mommy...

You have the best family around...

I love that you have your daddy's dark hair and eyes and my baby face...

I love that we have already begun to match our clothes (I promise to stop this before it embarrasses you, but we can start again when you think it's cool again)...

I love how your face lights up and you kick and squeal with delight anytime that I walk into the room...

I love how you love each and every one of us...

and our love for you will never stop...it will just grow and grow and grow!

Calling All Baseball Fans...

When you LOVE the game that much...

11 Months

Valentina in her 11th month.

(Sorry, Auntie Tracy, but the stickers are destroyed in mere seconds now, so we can no longer use them in these updates.)

We are planning her first birthday party and we hope that you will join us to celebrate!

Don't you just love her sweet ponytail?

What can I tell you about Valentina in her 11th month?

She is a great eater and a horrible sleeper.

She now prefers to take her baths in the kitchen sink.

She says "mama", "dada", and "agua" all day long. "Agua" was her first official word.

She waves at David's helmet and says "Hi, dada!" even if it is sitting on the counter.

She goes crazy for Salvatore and wants to be right next to him all the time.

She got her first taste of chocolate the other night and now goes crazy everytime she sees a See's Candies box. (Like I don't know how she feels.)

She still points at everything and is curious about everything.

She would rather play with Salvatore's toys than her own.

She is standing on her own now for 5-10 seconds at a time, but no walking yet.

She LOVES to play peek-a-boo with anything and anyone at anytime.

She also loves to read books, turn the pages, and she tries to read them back to us.

She can fuss and throw a fit like no other, but she is my sweet little precious baby girl and I wish this time in her life lasted longer. For me.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!! (The Angels Version)

David took Salvatore to an Angels game the other night, and while he didn't make the JumboTron this year, he did dance to the delight of the crowd to the "It's Peanut Butter and Jelly Time" song that they played late in the game. David said that Salvatore was dancing on his seat and everyone was watching and cheering him on. So, of course, we had to You Tube the song when they got home so I could see.

Warning:

This song WILL get stuck in your head and your body WILL naturally try to imitate Sal's slick moves.

Thank You, Miss Hannah

for being a nice first teacher for my son. Salvatore's karate class is over, but we have many great memories and lots of laughs. He really did learn a lot while attending this class and walking there and back each week gave me a good workout too. Salvatore was always eager to participate and learn new things. He really made us so proud!

Hot

With the temperatures soaring this weekend, we retreated to our backyard. Salvatore loves squirting stuff with the hose.

Dips in the mini pool.

Benedict joined us. Drank from the mini pool. Laid around. Drank more from the mini pool. Which meant that Salvatore got to use the hose again to fill it back up.

Little Valentina in her swimsuit. Working on three new teeth slowly pushing their way through. She loved to be outside with all of us. Can't wait to celebrate her first birthday in a few weeks. It will be Sunday, May 15th. If you have read this, please consider yourself invited. More details to come soon.

Salvatore making me proud. He is so neat with his talking and describing and explaining and showing...I love to hear him go on and on about stuff that he loves.