Martinez Family Blog

Independence Day Fun

2010-07-06T20:34:00.006-05:00

Ella loved to march around and say Happy Birthday America!

Ella, Sofia and Bianca

Sparklers!

Kailua town parade

I Need a New Camera!

2010-06-24T13:27:00.004-05:00

I am always inspired when I read blogs by our favorite photographer, Kelly Willette. We were lucky enough to have Kelly photograph Ella when she was one and then our family at the studio when the girls were 2 1/2 and 4 months. She is featured in this blog where she gives tons of great tips for photographing your children. Also, her website has great ideas and free giveaways.

Now I need to go get a new camera so I can actually perform some of the tips she gives.

Chef Mavro

2010-06-20T20:52:00.002-05:00

Mike just made a reservation for our anniversary at a place we've never been, Chef Mavro. I'm really excited to try it. Here's the menu, what should we get?

Chef Mavro menu

Updates

2010-06-15T20:32:00.011-05:00

Okay my mom reminded me that the family picture that I had on the blog was quite old so it inspired me to update some things. The picture you see is from Easter, our most recent family picture, and I have also updated what everyone's reading.

Looking back over the last few months there are some good pictures that I didn't post so I'll try to start posting more. Last month, Mike had a rare Friday off, and the girls were already in school, so we decided to hike to the pillboxes in Lanikai. It was a beautiful view and a decent hike (had to repel at the end going down).

The bunkers were built by the military during WWII.

It was amazing to be able to see all the way to Chinaman's Hat to the north and to the Lighthouse to the south.

Okay, this should keep Mom happy for a little while at least :)

Whaaaaa?

2010-06-10T18:52:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know I haven't posted in a while but I had to share this ad I saw that I died laughing over. The tagline is the best: The coolest you'll look pooping your pants!!

Really? Who is going to buy these and think "great, now I can just put a t-shirt on my baby and walk out the door"?

Cotton Candy

2010-05-06T14:15:00.003-05:00

Ella went to a birthday party a few weeks ago and they had a cotton candy machine. She got the tiniest little stick but she was in hog heaven. This was the first time she's ever had it and I think she's a fan!

Quest for Mai Tai

2010-04-29T13:48:00.004-05:00

I found another really good Mai Tai in Waikiki. It's at the Halekulani at House Without a Key. It was very tasty with good presentation. However the price, $12, was a little steep. I still prefer the Barefoot Bar at the Hale Koa. Very tasty and much cheaper!

Colorful Mess

2010-03-04T21:14:00.004-05:00

Sorry it's been so long, blah, blah, blah...I thought I'd post this colorful picture of the girls at a birthday party last weekend. This is the messiest I've ever seen Ella and I'm quite proud that I allowed it in their brand new dresses--Ahhh growth!

Happy Three Kings Day!

2010-01-06T20:27:00.003-05:00

So, Ella tells me after school today that she wants to celebrate Three Kings Day--thanks Dora! We haven't watched The Explorer in months and now I have to scrounge up some straw and small presents!!

New Fun Website

2010-01-02T01:58:00.003-05:00

Hello all! Happy New Year! I know it's been a while since we've posted but hey we've been busy! Holiday pictures are coming soon but for now I wanted to share this website. Ella received an authentic Bento box for Christmas (Lito got it in Japan) and we're planning on using it when she goes back to school on Monday. I think this web site has some great ideas for packing a bento box that I'm really excited to use. Have a good 2010!

Lunch in a Box

Mom and Dad in town

2009-12-18T17:34:00.001-05:00

Mom says she never makes it on the blog....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Keeaumoku St,Honolulu,United States

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T16:24:00.003-05:00

Lunch time

2009-09-20T17:22:00.001-05:00

-- Posted from my iPhone

Quinao

2009-09-20T13:54:00.003-05:00

Steve decided to go for the healthy choice as a side choice at Alan Wong's. While the rest of the meal was amazing I think his expression speaks for itself...

One more time at Alan Wong's

2009-09-20T02:27:00.001-05:00

We can't resist this place

-- Posted from my iPhone

Spending the day at Bellows Beach

2009-09-19T21:42:00.001-05:00

Ella and Kinzey, new best friends, having fun at the beach.
-- Posted from my iPhone

group pic from our day at the sand bar

2009-09-18T18:23:00.004-05:00

Steve, Amy and Kinzey are in town for the weekend. We went to the sand bar in K Bay this morning and had a blast. More to follow....

Fun at the sandbar

2009-09-18T14:36:00.001-05:00

-- Posted from my iPhone

Pirates and Pants

2009-09-16T19:34:00.007-05:00

Just looking through some recent pictures and thought I'd post a few of Ella playing pirate (notice her flag and "spyglass") and one of Sofia trying to put Ella's underwear on. Good stuff

Beautiful Day

2009-09-09T18:29:00.001-05:00

-- Posted from my iPhone

Over the rainbow

2009-09-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

We came across this stunner today while running errands

-- Posted from my iPhone

Sofie walking

2009-09-05T17:31:00.001-05:00

Not sure if I have posted any of Sofie walking yet....

-- Posted from my iPhone

Glee

2009-09-05T12:45:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since our last post. I have lots of pictures and things to post but don't have time today so I'll give you a song from our new fave show, Glee:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Fragua/videos/1/

A girl and her doll house

2009-08-16T20:51:00.001-05:00

Thanks Tia and LaLa!
-- Post From My iPhone

Party!!!!!!

2009-08-16T00:32:00.007-05:00

Today was Ella's and Sofia's joint birthday party. It was fabulous! Everyone who was invited attended and they all played so nicely together. The cake was so cute, food was tasty, nice weather (a little hot but I'll take it), no meltdowns, all in all a huge success. Thanks to all who came, my sweet husband for running all over town for cake and food this morning, Tia and Lala for helping even though they were on vacation and for the awesome balloon artist--she was a hit.

Here are a few pictures and I know I am so far behind on pictures. Stay tuned for Martinezes, Dunlaps and Saenzes take Hawaii!

Cool website

2009-07-20T01:37:00.002-05:00

As I work on compiling pictures for our "Martinezes take Hawaii" blog and anticipate our future "Dunlaps take Hawaii" blog, I came across and made a large order from this really great website. In Ella's parent communication folder last week, there was a supply list as big as Texas. Of course at the end, it mentions "please label all items". Since Ella has been in summer session these past few weeks, I've noticed how you have to label everything because otherwise it doesn't make it home. We had two casualties before I learned my lesson. Mabel's Labels has a ton of labels from regular stick ons to iron ons and they even have disposable safety wristbands to put on your child for field trips or if you take them to a crowded place. It's my new fave website. Now hopefully it won't take 6 weeks to ship my order out here to Hawaii!

Anniversary Pics and Dinner

2009-07-09T14:36:00.006-05:00

Our anniversary celebration was AMAZING. We had an amazing meal at Alan Wong's restaurant in Honolulu. We opted for the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings and it didn't disappoint. The appetizer course was our favorite--a duo of wonton wrapped ahi poke balls with wasabi soy sauce and avocado and a chilled red and yellow tomato soup (served in a martini glass) topped with a parmesan crisp and a mozzarella and foie gras grilled cheese sandwich--OMG!!!! That together with the glass of Tattinger Brut, I was in heaven. The remaining 4 courses were equally amazing. After 3 hours of drinking and eating we were embarrassed at how tired we were and could barely keep our eyes open to drive home. Thanks to Catherine for watching the kiddos (Ella made her snuggle before bedtime!)

Sunset and Full Moon at Hale Moonrise

2009-07-06T02:51:00.003-05:00

10 Years

2009-07-03T13:44:00.005-05:00

Yay! 10 years! It passed by so quickly and we look at these two kids and ask "who are these little people, where did they come from?" Being back in Hawaii now, I realize how long it's been since we've been here. When we arrived for our first tour, we had not yet been married a year! So after 10 years of marriage and 7 moves, we're still having a blast. Here are a few pictures I pulled off of our laptop--none of them recent since we don't have our Mac but I thought still some cute ones. Happy Anniversary Mike! To 10 more!

Summertime

2009-07-01T01:40:00.002-05:00

Ella started her first day of summer session at her school, Emmanuel Episcopal. She had a blast and it made me tear up a little because she just said "Have a nice day, Mommy" and then ran off to play. Boo hoo. Here she is with her temporary backpack until her Lilian Vernon one arrives in 5 WEEKS!!! (I guess I didn't realize they send their merchandise by carrier bird).

Sofia also did a first--she pulled up on her own on our first day in the beach house! Now she's trying to stand without holding on and she's taken a few shuffles to the left and right. I hope she doesn't start walking soon because our floors are concrete!

Knock Knock

2009-06-24T19:39:00.003-05:00

Since Ella could talk, Mike has been teaching her how to tell jokes. He found that it helped her overcome her shyness around adults and kids alike. She started with a few classics like "Why did the chicken cross the road?" (I assume you know the answer) and "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other SLIDE! (clever, huh?). But now she has started to venture into knock knock jokes and they really crack her up. Her favorite is:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Ya
Ya-who?
I didn't know you were a COWBOY!

So yesterday I heard her telling this joke to her dog:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Ya
Ya-who?
Lily, I didn't know you were a cowDOG!

She modifies it depending on the audience--cowBABY when she tells it to Sofia, cowGIRL when she tells it to me, and even cowDUCKY when telling her rubber duckies in the bathtub.

This kind of stuff makes me want to start a journal of Ella Says the Darndest Things.

Lanikai Hale Moonrise

2009-06-17T14:32:00.002-05:00

Here are the long-awaited pictures of "our" beach house. Bear with me since I haven't operated from a PC in quite some time. I'm not sure how to post these but I'll get there. This pic is of Mike enjoying his morning coffee in the backyard.

You know you are in Hawaii when...

2009-06-11T16:06:00.004-05:00

Took this at the local McDonald's. I cant begin to guess what Taro Pie would taste like. Must be an acquired taste. Saw a guy next to me with three of them stacked high on his tray, no kidding.

We made it to Hawaii

2009-06-09T04:34:00.002-05:00

As you can see by the picture we finally made it to Hawaii. We are having a good time and have lots of stories to tell, but I realized we hadn't blogged in awhile. So here is a pic of Sofia having a good time at the beach. More to follow......

Last Time

2009-05-25T06:38:00.005-05:00

Okay, here's the last of the Disney pics. We went one last time to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and hit some favorites and a couple of new things like the teacups and the Indy Speedway. We also saw some characters that we hadn't seen (Mary Poppins). In Epcot, we ate at an amazing restaurant, Marrakesh in Morocco and caught the late show from British Invasion, a Beatles cover band. Ella even sang along to "Shake It Up Baby" (Twist and Shout!). We saw all the characters again and this time Sofia was awake for it. Here are the rest of the pics.

That's it for Disney for a while. The movers come tomorrow and even though it's a partial shipment, I can't believe how much junk we've accumulated in the last six months here. This will be the last blog from the Mac for a while but we'll still have the laptop so we'll try to update on our arrival to Hawaii!

Deja Vu

2009-05-21T08:56:00.006-05:00

We shipped our car from Orlando to Hawaii last weekend so we decided to do one more day at Disney (the last of our 5 day pass). Friday went smoothly, shipping the car was a breeze. It was hard to cram all of our junk into Mike's rental--a Hundai Santa Fe--and as Ella pointed out, "Daddy's car doesn't have a video", but we managed. After check-in we headed to the pool, this time with Ella in her floaty, and took both girls swimming. It was really pleasant, a little overcast and cool, but the water was nice and warm. I also enjoyed the best margarita I've had in a long time.

After a quick clean up, we went to play mini golf at Winter Summerland. Sofia was not impressed but Ella had fun playing with her blue ball that she picked out. She liked throwing it better than hitting with her club but she was a great ball retriever for me and Mike. By the time we got back to the hotel, Sofia was out and Ella was begging to go to sleep. Mike and I stayed up and played Farkel by the light of the cell phone! Oh boy.

So it may look like you've seen these pics before but I promise they're new: mac gallery

More Disney

2009-05-06T13:02:00.004-05:00

One thing we learned to do this time around was to spend some down time at the hotel. These resorts are so great and we never spend any time there. This time we stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort and it was really cute. It had a Spanish theme, cactuses (cactii?), big rock formations, and a gorgeous pool. Both girls really enjoyed the warm water. Later that evening we took in a new restaurant in Downtown Disney called T-Rex. It's by the same people who do Rainforest Cafe. The girls loved the interactive dinos and Mike and I were actually impressed with the food. The only downside was the "meteor shower" every ten minutes where the lights would go down and thunder would crash and the dinos would all go crazy--neither girl really cared for that. Otherwise it was a great experience.

Saturday morning was spent in the Magic Kingdom hitting some old favorites--Ella rode Cinderella's carousel 3 times! However, she wanted nothing to do with her previous favorite, Dumbo. Instead we rode It's a Small World and Peter Pan. We also did Pooh's honey pots and a little playground that sported Pooh's treehouse. After a nice rest back at the hotel, we headed to Epcot to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. There was a new ride and then tons of interactive games and fish tanks. We had dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant which wasn't nearly as good as I'd remembered. Knowing we were already pushing it (7:30 pm by now) we headed to the World Showcase for some ice cream and espresso in France. We found a spot for fireworks but then Ella decided she didn't want to see them (she was exhausted and Sofia was already asleep). On our way out, we saw that the line for characters, which was previously a 50 minutes wait, was a 10 minute wait! Despite Ella being tired (and in hind sight, sick) we waited to see all the characters. She perked up when she saw Mickey and the gang. It was a great trip altogether.

Check out the photos from the trip on the mac gallery.

The Good Thing About Going to Disney so Often...

2009-05-04T18:01:00.003-05:00

is it's never the same twice. Ella was able to meet some different characters this time around including Anastasia and Drizella, the wicked stepsisters from Cinderella. (Isn't it scary how much the one on the right looks like the real thing?) I'll post more pictures later.

Errrrrr?

2009-04-29T12:48:00.002-05:00

My mind is blown: Scientists Spot Oldest Ever Object in the Universe

2009-04-26T07:44:00.004-05:00

This weekend we packed the kids in the car and headed south to Saint Augustine to check out the fort Castillo San Marcos and eat at our favorite restaurant down there, Columbia's. We had some great tappas at the restaurant, including a really yummy crab cake. When we asked Ella if she would like some she replied that she would like some "congrejito cake", which is Spanish for baby crab. I think she is watching too much Dora the Explorer.

When I downloaded the pictures one of them looked familiar to me. I think the similarities are obvious, although I am not sure how Jim would look in a Hawaiian print bubble outfit and flower sandals. Here is the link to the rest of the pictures which include some of Sofie having fun with trains.

Summer Camp

2009-04-23T17:02:00.004-05:00

We just got this schedule for Ella's summer camp in Hawaii and I think I was more excited than she was. Her new school is Emmanuel Episcopal in Kailua and she's getting excited about going (at least that's what she says!)

2009-04-20T12:26:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, Scott!!!!

Easter Video

2009-04-18T21:45:00.001-05:00

It's only a couple of weeks late, but here is a new video I put together from Easter this year. Enjoy.

Kitchen Fun

2009-04-18T08:35:00.003-05:00

I was looking at pictures of Ella when she was 7 months old and there was almost always a cooking spoon or pot or pan in her hands. I got some stuff out the other day and Sofia LOVED it. Funny thing, Ella got home from school and immediately joined the fun!

Aloha!

2009-04-15T19:10:00.006-05:00

Okay, I changed the background to get us pumped about our move to Hawaii--6 weeks and counting! We've been dreaming of how this whole thing is going to go and I know it's an extremely long shot but it looks something like this: We'll fly out direct from Florida, upgraded to first class of course, and our kids will sleep the whole way. We'll get to the island and have a fun-filled weekend in Waikiki. We'll call the housing office on Monday and they'll say "would you like to move into one of the new houses on the beach this week"? All that and our car will magically arrive that week, too. Oh well, we can dream.

In these pics, Ella is going to the "mall" with her baby and Sofia is showing me her new trick of putting her entire foot in her mouth!

More Easter Fun

2009-04-13T18:41:00.006-05:00

Since we're in transit this year, we decided to only make 6 cascarones for our egg hunt. I was worried that it would definitely not be enough because Ella LOVED crushing them on Mike's head last year. Well, she enjoyed the hunt but when it came time to crush the cascarones, she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She wouldn't hold one and she didn't want one crushed on her head. This kid has been talking about cascarones for an entire year! Oh well, chalk it up to strange toddler fears. Mike caught a few pics of Ella and Sofia with the confetti. Enjoy.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T12:11:00.004-05:00

Easter Fun

2009-04-10T07:57:00.006-05:00

Last weekend, we went to Ella's play gym to an Easter party. Ella got to do a petting zoo and even went in a bouncy house for 5 seconds before coming out in tears! Also, she was at the top of her age group for the egg hunt so she got lots of loot (I told her to share with the little babies, though, since they couldn't get their own). We had a lot of fun.

Morning Meeting

2009-04-09T06:56:00.002-05:00

Okay the first item on our agenda is...

Easter Photos

2009-04-06T21:25:00.002-05:00

Here's a scan of our mall Easter pictures from today. Boy is it hard to get a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 month old to smile at the same time! Check out this great blog by our favorite photographer, Kelly Willette. There are some great tips on how to take a good Easter pic and I for one am going to try to get some good ones with our many egg hunts and cascarones this year. Stay tuned...

Bathing Beauties

2009-04-03T13:01:00.005-05:00

The weather here is steadily getting warmer and nicer (if you don't count the last two days when the monsoon came through). So, we headed to the pool a few times last week. The water was still a little chilly so we just splashed around the shallow end. Sofia didn't think much of her first time in. Ella is getting braver in the water and the zero entry helps that. She'll walk in up to her waist. But mainly she likes playing "the spinning game" with Mike where he twirls her around skimming the water.

Back in the Crib

2009-04-02T08:29:00.003-05:00

Ella's new favorite thing to do is join Sofia in her crib when she wakes up. They lay together and stare at Sofia's new mobile.

More Disney (are you sick of it yet?)

2009-03-23T08:10:00.002-05:00

Last time I was at the Apple store, Mike had me get the upgraded iLife 09 for the computer. Basically, it has new options for video and pictures that are pretty darn cool. Mike had a great time putting this video/picture slideshow together and as you will soon see, it's just the first half of our trip! Be patient when downloading it because it is big and may take a while. Click here and enjoy!

Disney Day Three

2009-03-17T11:56:00.003-05:00

Our last day in Disney was a little hotter than the others which was fine by me! We got a slightly later start because of the time change but we got to Hollywood Studios in record time (after packing and checking out of our hotel, too). It was great. Mike, P, & L were able to ride Tower of Terror, which I will never ride again, while I took Ella to meet the big mouse himself. There were only two other people in line so we were able to hang with Mickey for a while.

After catching the High School Musical pep rally about 3 times, we went to the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster--by far my fave ride in the World. But my favorite thing at Hollywood was Playhouse Disney Live. For those who don't know, Playhouse Disney is the name of the morning lineup of shows on the Disney channel--The Wiggles, Handy Manny, Tigger and Pooh, Little Einsteins, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I loved this show purely because of the smile it put on Ella's face. She loved it.

I think the group of us collectively loved the newest ride at Disney, Toy Story Mania. Even the line was fun to wait in because of all the cool old game mementos. The ride itself was a big, 3D game. It was difficult to play with Sofia sitting on my lap but we still had a great time. After catching a pretty tasty lunch at one of the gazillion outdoor eateries, we headed to Animal Kingdom.

We arrived so late in the day and found out it closed at 5pm so we weren't able to to ride many things but we saw an amazing show, Finding Nemo. Ella LOVED it, mostly because she's crazy about the movie right now but it was really enjoyable for us adults, too. It was a mix of live actors and puppets similar to the broadway Lion King. It was great and nice and cool, too. After that we headed to the Kilimanjaro Safari where we saw lots of animals. I was worried about the bumpiness since I had Sofia but she quickly fell asleep and I was able to enjoy the scenery. Mike and Lawrence sprinted to Expedition Everest, a new ride, and got on quickly. They enjoyed it and were able to go through really fast since most of the people were headed toward the gates.

That's it, we had such a good time in Disney and I almost immediately went into a Disney Depression because I wanted to go back again. Since we have 2 days left on our 5 day pass, Mike and I vowed to go back in May when we ship our car to Hawaii. I'm already planning it!! Check out our day 3 pics on the mac gallery.

A Quick Break From Disney

2009-03-14T13:18:00.003-05:00

I still have Day Three of Disney to post but I just wanted to show a pic of Sofia in her crib (finally!). Leave it to me to wait until my daughter is 6 1/2 months old to get her her own bed! Poor kid's been sleeping in a pack n play this whole time. It's no wonder she slept until 8:30 this morning!! I would to if I had a real mattress for the first time in my life! Worst Mother Award right here.

Disney Day Two

2009-03-11T11:23:00.008-05:00

We started our second day in Disney bright and early. We were able to get to the park at 8:30 and saw the opening show with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and more riding in on the train. We sent the boys to get Space Mountain fast passes while Posey and I headed to the castle for our breakfast with Cinderella. On the way, Ella met her first "character", the Fairy Godmother. This lady was awesome. We were second in line and she spent so much time talking to Ella and even came over the stroller and played with Sofia. She even signed Ella's autograph book.

The Cinderella breakfast was great. When we entered the castle, we had our picture taken with Cinderella and then went to our table. The food was actually good and every single princess came by and sat with Ella and chatted and signed her autograph book.

We spent the day in Magic Kingdom riding pretty much everything we wanted to. Like I said yesterday, Dumbo was Ella's fave ride. She and Tia were able to bond a bunch while riding Dumbo again and then Cinderella's carousel.

We headed back to the hotel just before meltdowns and rested. Our babysitter, Katie, came at 6pm and I was so proud of Ella. Her lip quivered a little bit but she said "bye Mommy, bye Daddy" and did a great job. She and Sofia were so exhausted they went to bed at 7pm and slept through. Yay! In the meantime, we adults took the riverboat to Downtown Disney and ate at Fulton's Crab House. It was delicious! Mike, P & L shared the lobster and crab feast and I had a filet with delicious crab meat on top! We walked around after and got a drink at Rainforest Cafe. It was a great, exhausting day! Check out all the pics on the mac gallery. (make sure to scroll through all 3 pages!)

Disney Day One

2009-03-10T07:53:00.005-05:00

Our first day at Disney turned out to be a really great one despite getting on the road late. We arrived, checked in to our resort, Port Orleans Riverside, then took the shuttle bus to the Magic Kingdom. Ella had sensory overload when we got there, chattering away to herself about what she saw. It was great seeing Cinderella's castle for the first time. Since we arrived a little later than I planned, we missed our dinner reservation so we just grabbed a hot dog at an outdoor place. To our surprise, the hot dogs were great (Mike and Lawrence liked the chili and cheese options at the condiment station) and we had a primo spot for the nighttime parade. Mike and Lawrence took Ella up for a closer look while Posey and I stayed back at the table with Sofia. After the parade quite a few people left the park so we were able to head back and ride some rides. Ella's first ride was Dumbo and she LOVED it. Actually we were high in the air, flying Dumbo, when the fireworks show started (Ella's second favorite thing about the trip). Check out all of the pics from Day One on the mac gallery.

Disney, Whoa!

2009-03-08T22:19:00.005-05:00

Okay we just got back from our weekend trip to Disney and we're beat so all you get tonight is one or two pics. We're all exhausted and I got a cold right when we arrived on Friday (and I think Posey has is now). Anyway, we'll post pics as soon as we can. Here is Ella at the princess breakfast with Cinderella (they're comparing shoes) and the girls in front of the castle. Many, many, many more pictures to come!

Poor Sofie!

2009-03-04T09:45:00.006-05:00

Looking back at past blogs, I realized that Sofia has been getting the shaft. They are usually about Ella but that's gonna change. Here is what Sofia has been up to: rolling all over the house, chewing dog bones, eating squash, sweet potatoes, pears and cereal and sitting up supported (sort of). Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2009-03-03T07:32:00.003-05:00

Ella's play center celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday this week by making a Cat in the Hat hat and painting and glueing Green Eggs and Ham. She had a blast and loves her hat especially!

Much Ado About Books

2009-02-28T16:08:00.007-05:00

Today we loaded up the minivan and headed up to the Main Library in downtown Jacksonville for a really fun book fair. They had a bunch of booths set up which usually give you a bunch of junk but Ella collected really good Thomas and Dragon Tails books from them. She also made a bookmark, decorated a pirate eye patch, and made a tissue paper flower. We got to go to a reading by Diane deGroat of her new book April Fool Watch Out at School. Ella enjoyed it for a little while then rolled a ball back and forth with another little girl until it was over. The highlight was meeting Curious George. It was a really fun day--and FREE!!

New Skill

2009-02-27T07:35:00.002-05:00

Ella attempted something new yesterday at gym. She climbed the old school bars (you know the ones you had to hang from until your arms were going to fall off) all the way to the top. She wasn't as sure about getting down but kept climbing up several times. She also participated in the morning puppet show, which she had never done before, by putting the day of the week on the felt board. Go Ella!

I Scream For Ice Cream

2009-02-22T14:40:00.003-05:00

Ella has been attending New Grace preschool for the past month and a half or so and she loves it. Her teachers Miss Barbara and Miss Teresa put out a calendar at the beginning of each month to tell the theme of that month, Bible verses to be covered, color of the month and daily schedule. I told Ella last week that she would be talking about pink ice cream (the color this month is pink) and she insisted she wear her ice cream outfit to school that day. After I put it on her, she asked if I would take her picture so here it is.

Misc.

2009-02-19T20:04:00.005-05:00

Here are some cute photos from this last week. Ella had a Valentine's Day party at O2BKids and one at school the next day. The pics are of her decorating and enjoying a cookie at her party, doing a great somersault and a few cute ones of Sofia (notice she's growing some hair!) Enjoy.

Sofia Movie

2009-02-15T14:48:00.002-05:00

I just finished a little movie of Sofia's most recent milestone, her first solid food. Here is the link. If you load up the medium size of the movie, give it a second, it takes awhile to load. Otherwise give the small size version a try.

2009-02-14T22:35:00.000-05:00

Welcome Home, Daddy!

2009-02-08T12:44:00.006-05:00

We went to pick Mike up from the airport yesterday. Ella made him a sweet sign and Mike came bearing gifts--he brought three beautiful leis for us girls and various assorted fun things for the kids. I even got my favorite blue box! It's been so great having Mike back--Ella is attached to his hip which is great for me! She also won't really tolerate Mike spending time with Sofia--Ella threw a toy at her when Mike was talking to her and got a time out. All in all though we've had a great weekend.

Thanks, Posey!

2009-02-06T13:34:00.002-05:00

Construction is finished. Thanks to Posey for figuring out the template glitch and picking a new lighter background. I love it!

Under Construction

2009-02-06T09:09:00.002-05:00

Please bear with me while I try to update the blog--I'll be working on it today!

Good Morning, Sunshine!

2009-02-05T10:01:00.003-05:00

Sofia and I went in to wake Ella up the other day and she wasn't too happy. I love that Sofia has a huge smile on her face and Ella has her hand shielding herself from the media glare!

Dress Up

2009-02-03T08:45:00.004-05:00

When we go to our gym/art/storytime/play at O2BKids twice a week, Ella always chooses to play dress up over everything else. I haven't gotten her a dress-up set yet but it's coming!

Starting Early

2009-02-02T13:58:00.003-05:00

We are big fans of Eric Carle in this household (we even went to his museum in Amherst, Mass.) so we've been introducing Sofia to his books. When Ella was this age, she was already turning the pages by herself so we're realizing that we may have neglected reading to Sofia as much as we did Ella. Here she is with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It's her favorite so far because I think the little pages are easiest to put in her mouth.

All Bundled Up

2009-02-01T07:50:00.002-05:00

Here's what we looked like going on our daily walk yesterday. It's cold!!! I'm ready for some nicer weather so it doesn't take 30 minutes to prepare for a 20 minute walk!

Laughing Sofia

2009-01-30T20:25:00.003-05:00

I'm so lucky! Even though Sofia is only 5 months old, she already loves playing with her big sister. I can plop her down anywhere near Ella and she is as happy as a clam. Luckily, Ella has taken to her new role as entertainer. She is also sharing so well with Sofia right now which she had been struggling with previously. I can't wait to watch their relationship grow.

Here is a video from yesterday of Ella playing a new game with Sofia.

Crafty

2009-01-28T09:24:00.005-05:00

When Granny was here, she had the idea to make a peanut butter and birdseed bird feeder since we have a ton of pine cones sitting around. Ella had a great time putting the PB on and then dropping endless amounts of seeds onto the pine cone. Too bad that nary a bird has been near the thing since we had no choice but to hang it on this tiny bush that sits outside our lanai!

Miss Sofia Miss Personality

2009-01-26T19:37:00.003-05:00

These are just some cute pics I took of Miss S the other day. I think pink is definitely her color!

New Excersaucer!

2009-01-25T10:09:00.004-05:00

Sofia is approaching 5 months so Mom and I went to Target to get her an exersaucer. She loves to sit up and look around so I know she'll love it. Right now she doesn't fit very well and we have to prop her up with a blanket but she especially loves when Ella comes over and operates the toys for her. The best part is I got a screaming deal--$29!

Happy Inauguration Day!

2009-01-21T09:39:00.006-05:00

We had such a fun day yesterday celebrating and watching the inauguration. Ella had her art and gym classes at O2BKids so we were there during the oath and speech but they had it piped through the sound system. We seemed to be the only enthusiastic ones there seeing as Jacksonville is an extremely Republican city.

We watched all the festivities on Tivo when we got home. Ella even liked to see the parade. We did a few projects that she enjoyed, too. Ella made an Obama necklace with a picture and red, white, and blue beads. Then we decorated cupcakes to look like Obama's campaign picture (okay, that's a stretch!)

I'm really looking forward to reading about the first 100 days and seeing what this guy can do--no pressure, Mr. President!

O2B Kids

2009-01-16T11:04:00.005-05:00

I signed Ella up for classes twice a week at this great new place in Fleming Island called O2B Kids. Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to class which starts with a puppet show. Their mascot is Buzzy Bee and she talks to the kids about the letter of the day, number of the day, the day of the week, weather, etc. They also do Spanish with "Pollo" (yes he's a chicken). After a ton of songs and a little warmup, they go to gym class. First they stretch with Miss Brittany and then Ella spends most of her time on the trampoline though she occasionally braves the balance beam and the rings. At 11:00 we head to the art studio. Yesterday they made rain forest scenes with tissue vegetation, glue wash, and puffy stamps of monkeys, birds and butterflies. After that, it's storytime in the play village. There's a rock climbing wall, play kitchen, dress up studio, music studio, science lab and a big tunnel toy. We haven't even scratched the surface of what we can do there--Ella has stuck to reading books and playing dress up so far. The great thing about this place is it has kid-friendly bathrooms (good for us since we're potty training) and a cafe that sells healthy snacks and even lunches. Of course they also have the bad for you homemade cupcakes and brownies and cookies--we've stayed away from that so far but one day...

As a side note, I'm fiddling with the layout of the blog. I haven't figured out how to get the rest of my elements in sync with the background but I'm working on it. Mike doesn't like the paisley because he thinks it's too busy so I'll probably change that to. Bear with me while I change everything!

First Day of "School" (read A Mother's Agony)

2009-01-12T14:54:00.005-05:00

Well, as I suspected, dropping your kid off for her first "school" experience is more traumatizing for the parent. Ella didn't seem to mind when I left her at New Grace this morning with Miss Barbara and Miss Theresa. Apparently she fussed for about 5 minute then jumped right in to playing. Their theme this month is Winter Wonderland and today was all about snowflakes. She colored this picture and did some snowflake artwork. They also read some Bible verses about snow and the story of Samuel's clothes. They read books about animals in the snow and Olive's Red Toboggan and made a snow castle like the little girl did in the book. When I picked her up she chattered nonstop about what she did. I didn't understand much of it but I could tell she had fun. She kept saying two phrases that cracked me up: "Mommy went bye bye but she came back" and "Mommy, I'm so glad".

The Zoo!!!

2009-01-09T20:19:00.007-05:00

Ella, Sofia and I went to the zoo today with Becky and her 4 boys. The weather was perfect and the kids were all angels. We had a great time. Also, for some reason, the animals were all out in front of the viewing windows--what're the chances?

Christmas in Austin

2009-01-06T09:06:00.009-05:00

We spent 5 days in Austin for Christmas and had a great time. The house was decorated beautifully including eco-friendly lights lining the front and snowman lights (Ella's fave). We had several great meals courtesy of Scott and my mom and we even got to go see a movie at the famed Alamo Drafthouse (Valkyrie) and tea at the Four Seasons (delish). I also finally got to see Lisa's gallery and even picked out some goodies--thanks for hooking us up, Lisa; we love 'em.

Here are a few pics from the trip and you can see all the pics including ones from Houston at the .mac gallery

Christmas in Houston

2009-01-04T12:24:00.010-05:00

We celebrated Christmas a little early in Houston at Tia and La La's house. The house looked great and everyone had fun.

Sofia's Christening

2009-01-02T12:12:00.006-05:00

We were able to have Sofia baptized while we were visiting Tia and La La in Houston. I was so happy that it worked out--both of our families were able to attend and Sofia was christened at the same church that Tia and La la were married in! Tia also threw a beautiful after-party at her house. Sofia slept through most of the service but woke up to charm people at the luncheon afterwards. It was a great afternoon!

Stockings From the Reindeer

2008-12-31T13:12:00.004-05:00

As most of you know, Ella not only asked Santa to bring her something, she also asked his reindeer to bring something. So when we celebrated Christmas with Martinezes and Saenzes, the reindeer (Mike) stomped around on the porch and left Ella's stocking filled with a Captain Feathersword doll and Cinderella ornament. The reindeer (Tia) even left a note for Ella. Tia later wondered why only some of the 'e's were backwards!

8:30pm is my favorite time of the day

2008-12-30T20:22:00.004-05:00

Oh boy. It seems these days I don't get any breaks during the day because neither one of my daughters likes to take naps. Oh well, I have the whole night ahead of me (until Sofia wants to eat--2:30am--and Ella wants to "snuggle"--4:30am) We miss you Mike!!!!!!

Here are a few more pictures from our travels. This is a park Tia took us to in downtown Houston. Ella's favorite parts were the trampoline and the fountain park.

Awwwww

2008-12-29T21:39:00.004-05:00

We just got back from our holiday travels to Texas. We had so much fun at Tia and Lala's house in Houston and at Uncle Sid and Aunt Lisa's house in Austin. I have so many pictures to sort through but in the meantime, I thought these pics were nice of Ella and her grandfathers.

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-17T19:31:00.005-05:00

We went to see Santa this week and both kids did a great job. Ella went right up to Santa, sat on his lap and got down to business: "Want Thomas Blue Train" then hopped down. We got her back up there to take the picture. Here are her previous 2 pics. I can't believe this is her 3rd Christmas and Sofia's 1st (you can tell she's ecstatic).

Norfolk Friends

2008-12-13T08:16:00.005-05:00

Okay, these are a little old but when we were in Norfolk, Ella got to visit some of her first friends. It was so nice to see these little ones all grown up (well, sort of). What a difference a year makes.

Happy Baby

2008-12-11T22:49:00.002-05:00

Sofia doesn't mind being uprooted at all!

My Musical Family

2008-12-04T08:11:00.004-05:00

I may have to break down and let Mike get Rock Band because clearly I have a musical family. Sofia sat through several numbers by Dad including the longest Who song ever. Ella loved playing this piano, too.

We're Still Here

2008-11-30T22:01:00.003-05:00

As most of you know, we're in the middle of moving right now. The packout went great and the only thing that was tough was killing time with the girls while the movers were at the house and before we could check into the hotel. We stayed in Newport for a few days, had an excellent Thanksgiving feast with our friends and then headed down to Norfolk. We stopped the first night in Philly and went into town to get a cheesesteak. We chose Geno's because we'd heard good things but were weren't able to get a Pat's also so we can't pick a clear winner. The steaks were great though--I had a "provolone with" and Mike had a "whiz with"--don't ask. We arrived in Norfolk last night and have been wandering around our old stomping grounds. Tonight for dinner we went to Fellini's which is our favorite neighborhood Italian place. Tomorrow, I'm going to my good friend's house so our girls can play. It's so good being back in Norfolk. We're here til Saturday then on to Jax.

Moving Day

2008-11-25T11:25:00.001-05:00

The movers are here right now packing all of our stuff, so that's a lot of fun. More updates to follow.

Dress Up

2008-11-16T10:05:00.005-05:00

Well, the weather is getting cold and rainy so we've been stuck inside quite a bit. Ella has really taken to dressing up. Mostly it's just hats and shoes but occasionally she puts on her doctor's coat. Here are a few from last week.

2008-11-14T10:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Granny and Nanny!

Hope you have a wonderful day.
(can you believe all these Nov. birthdays?)

I Want Candy!

2008-11-12T09:43:00.003-05:00

This Halloween we let Ella have 3 pieces of candy, one a day for the 3 days after Halloween. That's pretty good considering she had never had candy until then. The first day, she picked a little Twix bar and loved it. The second day it was more chocolate. But the third day had to be her favorite--a fruit punch Dum Dum. It was just the perfect size for her, not too messy and I took it away before it was in danger of falling off the stick. She loved it. Now I know what to pack in my carry-on when I fly with my two angels by myself this Christmas!

2008-11-10T08:33:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Dad/Lito!

Hope you have a wonderful day

2008-11-07T16:12:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Lawrence!!

Brother-in-law is turning 30 today. Have a great day, old man!

Halloween Video

2008-11-05T22:46:00.004-05:00

Finally got around to making the Halloween video for this year. I also posted the pics on the mac gallery. We had a great time although it is still hard for me to believe that I have 2 trick-or-treaters.

Congratulations, Mike!!!

2008-11-05T14:46:00.005-05:00

Mike graduated today, with distinction, from the U.S. Naval War College. He now has a Masters degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. Congratulations honey--we're so proud of you!