Little Java's

Yesterday we went to a play center called Little Java's, it is located in Weston, FL, about 20 minutes from our house...

I must say the place is great for kids; it is incredibly spacious, clean and colorful. It has 12,000 sq ft of play area along with a cafe for the parents. It is safe for babies and toddlers; with an awesome play area for the smaller children.

For the older kids, there are many bouncy houses to choose from. Admission is $7 and it is open until 7pm, which is great for working moms like myself.

Also, it offers free wi-fi, you feel freed to bring your iPad or laptop to entertain yourself while the little ones run around...

I give it 5 out of 5 stars. If you're a local, please visit this wonderful place.

Wordless Monday...

Ezequiel's birthday party

Today we attended Ezequiel's 3rd birthday party, which was held at Jumping Jack's in Naples, FL. Ezequiel is the son of our good friends Jicham and Alejandra, and brother to little Cecilia.

We drove there around 2pm and got to the party right on time... I'm battling laryngitis so I almost didn't make it, but I felt bad for the girls since they were so excited about the party...

The party was great and the girls had a wonderful time; they played around with all the kids and even cried when we had to leave because they wanted to play some more...

Happy Birthday, Ezequiel! We're glad you enjoyed your party!

Paintball

Today, I had my first paintball experience and let's just say, I won't be doing it again anytime soon.. ha ha!

It was quite interesting and I had a great time with some friends, but I'm definitely way too girly for this kind of adventure...

I went in the field and lasted all of 5 minutes.. I was hit in a matter of seconds and ended up with a huge bruise on my butt.. it still hurts and it's only getting worse! ouch!

It's great to try out new things and I feel proud of myself for even doing it, but I must say it was way too rough for my liking! ;)

"Alegria"

Cirque du Soleil's "Alegria" is in town so it was a great opportunity to get out and enjoy a good show.

We saw the show last night and I was mildly satisfied. While it was good and very artistic, I must say that I wasn't impressed by it. I thought the producers were "stingy" with the big acts and the show was too short.

"Alegria" has some of the famous acrobatic acts, combined with silly clowns, artistic gymnastics and some awesome music that are typical of all of cirque's shows, however, I still felt like it was missing something...maybe a grand finale, that was actually grandiose? I'm not sure what it was..but it left me feeling incomplete...

I give it 3 out of 5 starts.. definitely the weakest I've seen by Cirque du Soleil (this was my 7th show)...but it was still a nice night out! ;)

The show will be at Bank Atlantic Center until July 31st, go see it if you get a chance!

Birthday Party

The girls' birthday party was a HUGE success...we had a great turnout and everyone had so much fun.. Every little detail was taken care of and all the food and cake were delicious...

Olivia and Gaby got to play with all their little friends and enjoy the spotlight for a few hours...they also got a TON of gifts and wonderful toys...it was great!

We took so many pictures and capture some great moments.. I'm really happy with how the party turned out... very very very nice!

Thanks to everyone who came and I hope to see you all next year! We had a blast!!

Here are a few pictures of the party...there's more on my Facebook page if anyone cares to see!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!!!

My other beauty is 4 today! Wow! I can't believe that 4 years ago I became a mother to such an amazing little person...

Olivia is like the perfect daughter...she's smart, sassy, loving and so beautiful...she makes me smile every day...and then some!

She loves music and is a fantastic belly dancer... loves to dress up, loves make up, dresses and anything girly...(she has taught her little sister well)...

She is a great big sister, so protective of little Gaby and sets such a good example for her (for the most part)...

She has a mind of her own and can be very stubborn sometimes..

She knows all her letters and can write them very well..She's also starting to ready two and three syllable words...it's pretty neat..

She is now 40.5 lbs and 42 inches..so big and healthy!

I love her more than words can say and I'm so proud to be her mother!

She will be starting VPK in August and I'm sure that'll be so fun!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

I will update more later, after her big party!

Happy Birthday, Gaby!!!!

The day is finally here! My little Gaby is 2 years old today! She is such a blessing and important piece in our family, such a joy to be around!

Gaby is incredibly smart; she can sing, knows her shapes, some colors, most letters and most importantly, she has an amazing vocabulary! She has been talking in full sentences for a few months now, it's very fun to hear her stories!

Gaby loves to color and seems to have an artistic side, which is great! She also loves to dance and loves to dress up; loves hair accessories, bracelets, necklaces.. so she's all girl! :)

We will sing "Happy Birthday" today with a little cupcake and then have a party tomorrow! I can't believe my baby is TWO! It feels like I *just* had her! wow! She is now 24 lbs and 34 inches, still petite.. but very healthy!

She will be starting school next month and I'm sure she will only learn more and more so it's very exciting!

Happy Birthday, Gaby! We love you!!!

Needless to say, I'm super emotional today, especially since I now know that she is our last baby! :(

Crazy week, sick house!

As if it wasn't enough with Gaby's ER visit, this weekend we also had to deal with Olivia's sickness as well as Iggy's and my own! It was crazy!

Gaby is doing MUCH better.. the swelling in her eye is gone now and she is acting fine.. totally ready for her birthday party this Sunday! She needs to be on antibiotics until Monday, but she should be fine!

Olivia had a fever for 2 days straight.. she had a crazy cough and her temperature reached up to 103.. not fun at all! She even missed school for those two days, but she's much better now.. again.. just in time for her birthday party!

Iggy is also sick.. he has no voice because of a throat infection and has had a temperature for 3 days now.. He's on the way to recovery and hopefully will be fully healthy by the weekend...

.. and last but not least.. ME! I'm super sick as well.. got a crazy stomach bug two days ago followed by nausea, congestion, headache and overall sickness... I took some time off from work to recover by the weekend and be ready for all the festivities!

I hope we're all fine by Sunday! Wish us luck!

Wordless Monday...

Hospital Nightmare

Today was a bit of a nightmare, which included a hospital visit and two little girls that were less than well behaved...

We went to church around noon and they did horrible.. I think people were looking at us like we were some crazy parents with even crazier kids.. ahh! it was nuts!

Before we even went to church, I noticed Gaby's right eye was a little swollen and pinkish... it got progressively worse during the day and it was even watery and started getting smaller and even more swollen..

We decided to take her in to the ER and it turns out she had a horrible infection from a mosquito bite..Her skin was very irritated and the swollen area had pus in it...

The doctor told us that if we had waited longer, the infection could have gone to her eye and even her brain.. needless to say I was freaking out...

We were told she is highly allergic to mosquito bites and bugs.. nothing surprises me considering Gaby has super sensitive skin...

She was put on antibiotics and allergy meds... I hope she starts to feel better soon!

Here's my little one in the ER..

...and this is a picture of her swollen eye.. although the picture doesn't really show how bad it was...
Hopefully she will feel better for her birthday this coming Saturday! Please pray for her!

Gaby's first haircut

Yesterday little Gaby had her first haircut ever! Of course we had shaved her hair off when she was 6 months old, but that doesn't really count as a haircut, right?

We took her to "Cartoon Cuts" at the mall and she did great! She didn't even blink while the lady was cutting her hair.. she was so serious and focused... I was impressed...and so were other people at the salon... (especially after seeing a screaming kid sitting next to Gaby, ha!)

Here are some pictures of the process....

This is what her hair looked like before cutting it..

...this was taken while the lady was cutting her little hair... look at her serious face...

...and this is what Gaby looked like after the haircut... too cute!

She even got a certificate and I got a few of her locks to put in her baby book!

Congrats on your first haircut, Gaby!

South Florida Montessori Academy

My best friend is about to inaugurate her new school. It is a Montessori academy, located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

She has put a lot of effort and money into this business and I wish her all the luck in the world. I am sure she will do great and all of her students will get the best care and education possible.

If you are a local, please check it out. She has a business page in Facebook; click here to visit.

There will be an open house on Saturday July 16th, 2011 at 4pm, please stop by if you can!

The school is scheduled to open its doors this coming August and it has a capacity for up to 23 students...

Good luck, Martyna!

Iggy's 35th birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Iggy's 35th birthday... It was a happy day for him and all our family..

We had a little get together in our house, nothing big, just cake and a few snacks...

Our close friends and family came over and we spent a couple of hours celebrating Iggy's big day.

I baked a pineapple cake, made a flan and also a "Cilantro Lime White Bean hummus", which was a hit... I strongly recommend that one.. Find the recipe here! Super yummy!

Anyways... Happy Birthday, my love! Many more to you!

4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! Such a special day for America! We came here 15 years ago and I'm proud to call this my nation...

We enjoyed a family day...and watched fireworks at night... Such a fun day!

A day at the beach

Today was such a fun day for us! In the morning, we decided to take a day trip to Naples to spend some time at the beach...

We got there around noon and instead of going straight to the beach, we had lunch because the weather was horrible.. we thought our day was ruined!

Well....when we finished having lunch, the sun came out so we headed to the beach... what a fun time we had! The girls loved playing in the sand and bathing in the sea... it was so nice!

It did rain some more while we were at the beach... but we found a way to make it fun... Olivia (and I) had SO MUCH FUN swimming in the rain... it was amazing...

Mia's birthday

To begin our craziest month of the year, we attended Mia's 5th birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese in Kendall.

Mia is the daughter of my good friend Sandra, who is expecting a baby boy this month...

The party was fun and of course the girls enjoyed all the games and million tokens they got... it was fun!

Happy Birthday Mia!!!

July will be a fun month....we'll start off with a wonderful July 4th weekend, followed by Iggy's 35th birthday on the 5th and then the girls' birthdays on the 16th and 17th... fun, fun, fun!