The Twilight Zone!

You are about to enter the twilight zone with me! Get ready because what I am about to share with you will blow your mind!
I was helping Ava and Olivia do their Valentine's Day cards for their little classmates in their Mother's Day Out class when I entered the twilight zone! Go with me if you will.......
Ava's class: Madison and Mattison........Liv's class: Maddison and Matisyn....I need a tylenol!
Ava's class: 2 Sophias.......Liv's class: 2 Sophias......I'll wash it down with a glass of wine!
Ava's class:  Peyton........Liv's class: Payton......or two!
Ava's class: Naileni.......Liv's class: Noelanie......I'll have a shot of tequilla now!
Ava's class: Phoenix.......Liv's class: Phoenix.........I'll have a xanax!!!!!!!
How is it that two separate classrooms in a small town can have an almost identical roster where half the kids in each class have almost, if not, the same names!!!??? Phoenix? Was there a hippy convention that week and they all smoked pot and got pregnant at the same time? I'm seriously wigged out by this. The funny thing is there are no other Avas or Olivias.....two names on the top five list! Oh, yes, we went to the twilight zone and back!

Italian Cooking Lesson #1

I have met a new military wife/neighbor who is from ...wait for it....Naples!!! Yes, Naples...the place I've been to recently and the place we stayed last year for over a month. The place I gained 10 lbs eating the amazing pasta, bread and desserts...and let's not forget, cappuccino! I am obsessed with all things Italian! So today, I went over to Marina's house for a lesson on how to make homemade tagliatelle pasta and ragu sauce! Mama mia! It was so much fun!!!! I have never made homemade pasta in my life. It was a blast and it tasted so amazing!!! We even had a glass of real Italian wine......in the middle of the day....chin chin! I had no idea you had to hang the pasta to dry before cutting it into ribbons to boil. We hung it from a broom stick. Look at that big bag of flour! Marina means business. Her food is delizioso! She has promised to teach me how to make many more Italian foods. I'm thrilled because it is my favorite food in the world!

January 2012

 The girls got all dolled up to go to a Three Kings Day Puerto Rican Festival with their Abuelo, Abuela, and Minina....their great grandmother. They had a wonderful time and got lots of attention...their favorite thing!

Minina turned 80 this month! So Victor's mom threw her a huge birthday party. Here she is with some of her grandchildren and great children! She was so happy that night. It was a very special evening. Ava, who is not at all shy, sang happy birthday to her by herself in front of everyone!

Ava and Olivia got a special treat for being such good girls.....they got to go to the spa and have a manicure and pedicure. I let them pick whatever color they wanted. Ava picked bright pink and purple and Olivia picked bright pink and blue. They enjoyed it all a little too much! I have a feeling they will be bugging me about when they can go again.

Each morning I fix myself a big cup of cappuccino. Olivia always asks if she can have a cappuccino with no coffee please! I give her the milk froth in a tiny espresso cup with a tiny spoon and she thinks she is so grown up! It always makes people laugh and shocks them to hear the big word "cappuccino" come out of her little mouth! She tells people, "I had a cappuccino this morning for breakfast." and I get the strangest looks!

Victor and I were in Italy together for a few days this month. Shhhh. We did not tell the girls because they would have wanted to go. It was a very quick trip and they stayed with their Abuelos. We did not take many pictures because we did not want the girls to scroll through our camera or phone...which they often do...and  find out. I took a picture of the tiramisu and gelato that ended up coming back to Texas with me on my ass......one for each cheek!  Italy has the best food in the world! Love that place!

Right of Passage

Why is it that all children cut their own hair at some point?! As you can see, my girls both cut their hair! I was trying to grow their bangs out and we had made such progress.....and then they go and chop it off to the scalp! I looked at them and said "oh my gosh! what happened to your hair?" Olivia told me they hid in the closet and each cut their own hair, because "it was in our eyes." She said "no one was watching us mommy." I asked her where I was and she said "downstairs doing the dishes." I asked them what they did with the hair they cut off. Ava was all too happy to admit she had hidden her hair under my bed! I asked her to go get it and gasped when she brought what looked like a ponytail to me! She had cut her bangs and all over her head! Then I asked Liv what she did with her hair and she said, proudly, I threw it in your trash can in your bathroom. Sure enough, there it all was in my trash! It wasn't very smart of them to hide the evidence in MY room was it? And it wasn't very smart of me to leave them alone upstairs for 5 minutes while I washed a few dishes! They are truly proud of the job they did. It is funny because everywhere we go all the moms say "did you cut your own hair?" and then I say "no, I did it." and I get a kick out of the looks on their faces!  

December 2011

 We spent the first part of December having fun at home. We made gingerbread houses and it was funny to watch Ava and Olivia sneak pieces of candy days and weeks later.......when they were as hard as a rock! I once found Olivia hiding under the table eating hers!

Buela and I took the girls to the  mall to visit Santa for the first time. Ava was all about it! Olivia was a little bit hesitant. She put aside her fears to make sure she asked "the fake Santa" to tell the real Santa she wanted more baby dolls for Christmas!

Ava and I had a mother/daughter outing to go see The Nutcracker. She got all dolled up and was so excited to go see her first ballet! The most exciting part was that her babysitter, Sydney, was one of the gymnists in the scene that got the most applause of all! Sydney was amazing as she flipped backwards across the stage over and over! Ava had a wonderful time and was mezmerized by it all!

 

We spent the second part of December in LA with my sister and her family! Mamaw and Papaw were there also. Dalanie's husband, Ro, took this great picture of the girls and me in the park by their house! The picture above that one is of me with Ro's sister, Vi, and our friend, Jackie. Jackie runs a hot celebrity restuarant in Beverly Hills and she so generously treated us to an amazing meal and wonderful night of fun there.

Ro is an amazing photographer! Look at this picture he took of Ava. It was not posed! He just captured it happening naturally! This is one of my favortie pictures of Ava!

They had a fun time with their cousins, Sullivan and Etta. It is nice to see them play so well together and have such a great time!

Mamaw and Papaw with Ava and Olivia!

I have plenty of pictures of my girls with Dalanie and Ro and their cousins. I just have no idea how to upload them right now. I am a very basic girl when it comes to technology....be patient with me. I'll try to figure it out.

November 2011

The girls are showing their daddy mucho love by supporting his Longhorns! Ava even knows the hook em horns sign!

Have you ever seen guiltier looking dogs in your life? I have no idea what they did, but it was something they shouldn't have! Between the dogs and the girls, I have my hands full!!

Mamaw and Papaw came for Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful time with Victor's familia. My parents helped us put up our Christmas tree. It was Titi Denise's 40th birthday that week and her parents threw a huge Puerto Rican style birthday party for her. We all danced and had a nice time!

I wish I had more pictures of Thanksgiving and Denise's party. I only have videos and for some reason they won't upload for me. :) Oh well.

Long time, no see!

I know, it's been since August since I updated my blog!! I'm sorry! I have been super busy and snowed under. I can't say why on this blog, but most of you know why. If you don't know why, then email me and I can tell you. It has been challenging to say the least. It seems all I do is play catch up on this blog......so here we go......a recap of the past 6 months, starting with September and October.
 Ava had her 4th birthday in September!! It was a Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party and she had it at our local YMCA so she could climb the rock wall there. You have to be four to climb the wall. She was so brave and climbed that wall like nobody's business. Very much her daddy's sense of adventure!

I am not sure if this video of her climbing the wall will work or not.

Mamaw and papaw came for Ava's birthday. Olivia was in a mood and didn't want her picture taken.

Our little ballerinas. They took ballet class and loved it!!!! That is their Puerto Rican roots...loving to dance!

They had a great ballet recital and got flowers from Mrs.Renee, Mr. Tim and Sydney.....our best neighbor friends.

A rare moment of sisterly love!!

October!! Time for pumpkin picking and Halloween fun!!

At the pumpkin patch with our best friend, Sofia!!!!!!!

The girls went to Dallas to their cousins' annual Halloween Bash! Olivia wanted to be a ballerina "teacher". She would get upset if you left out the word teacher. Ava wanted to be Snow White. Gone are the days when I get to choose what I want them to be. But, I think they look cute! They certainly have little minds of their own! They are full of opinions!