A Baby Shower For Annie!!!

Our dear, dear family friends, Annie and Danny...otherwise known as D'Annie by me.....a take on Bennifer and Brangelina.......are having baby number two! Their daughter, Sofia, is going to be a big sister! D'Annie don't like to find out the sex prior to the birth.....no way I could do that.....which shows you how patient, loving and kind they are. (what does that say about me?)
I gave Annie a shower and it was a ladybug, red, black and white theme because they call the baby doodlebug!
Annie was glowing! She looked so beautiful. She is due in March. Love ya D'Annie!

My Romantic Husband!

For Valentine's Day, Victor gave me a much needed spa day! Not to just any spa, but to Mokara Spa on the Riverwalk!

I stayed there from 9am until 5pm! I dined on the rooftop by the pool and ate an amazing lunch! I got a massage, facial and pedicure! I read a magazine in the quiet lounge, drank flavored spa waters, soaked in the whirlpool, sweated it out in the sauna, relaxed, showered, and shopped. It was a wonderful day at the spa and I thank my romantic husband for making it all happen! Next time, he's going with me! And the next time, some of you are going with me!

A Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls went to school on Valentine's Day, dressed to celebrate and excited to hand out those cards to the 7 Matties and 9 Pheonixs! Someone made these cute ladybug cupcakes for Liv's class. So creative!

 Our sweet Victor got us all roses! He also wrote us all love notes! He said some amazing things to our girls....things that made them beam with pride and me cry....I picked an amazing husband and great man to be their daddy!! I am lucky he's my valentine!

Mamaw and Papaw sent the girls gift cards to McDonalds. (A perfect gift for them!)The girls call it Old McDonalds. They took those gift cards to Old McDonalds and each ordered and paid all on their own! I am amazed at the self confidence these two little girls have. They are not afraid to speak up and do anything. I hope that never changes! To all of you....those we love so dearly....we wish you a happy belated Valentine's Day.

We have a fancy (said like Reba McEntire) Old McDonalds! The girls ordered happy meals and chocolate milk..........and promptly bounced off the walls the rest of the day!

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!