Welcome baby Julieta!

Congratulations to my friends Roberto and Pechy who welcomed baby Julieta today at noon!
She was 7 lbs 10 oz and was born via c-section. Mommy and baby are doing great!!
Julieta joins big sister Melissa, who will turn 4 next month!!
Welcome to the world, Julieta! You're a beautiful baby and we all love you very much!

Regression happens...

I've you've been following my blog for at least three months, you might remember this post, where I proudly announced that my beautiful 4-YEAR OLD had stopped sucking her thumb after years of that horrible habit...
Well, this mama is proud no more, because dear Olivia has decided her thumb is way too yummy to stop sucking it! Yeap.. that's right.. she's back to sucking her thumb with a passion.. even more passion than before...
This regression happened way faster than I expected.. She started sucking it around bedtime and now she's back to a full sucking mode.. she sucks it for EVERYTHING.. at any given time...and gets so mad when I point it out!  Why, oh why?
I'm so frustrated about this.. I really thought it was over.. but I guess she had a different plan in mind...

Shoot me now! ha ha! Who knows when this will end!

Wordless Monday...

Melissa's Birthday Party

Yesterday we attended Melissa's 4th birthday party.. (her actual birthday isn't until Dec. 11th, but her mom is expecting baby #2 this coming week so she had an early celebration)...

Melissa is the daughter of one of my best friends; I've seen her grow into a beautiful little lady (she was one of Olivia's first friends ever) and soon  will see her become a big sister..

The party was at Kid's Hub and the girls had such a great time.. Melissa thoroughly enjoyed her party and all of her guests and we got to spend a few hours with our friends before baby Julieta joins their family by the end of next week!

Happy Birthday Meli! We had a great time!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving fellow bloggers and readers!

It is such a great time to express our thanks for everything that God has given us and for the life we get to live every day...

I got to spend time with my wonderful family and eat some delicious turkey and desserts..

It doesn't get much better than that!!

...oh Christmas tree!!!

I don't care what anybody says... Christmas has officially started.. at least for me anyways...
What better way to kick off Christmas than buying a beautiful, fresh smelling, thick and tall CHRISTMAS tree??
Yes, yes.. some people would argue it's still a bit early for Christmas..but I don't think so!  It's never early for Christmas and I'm so excited to start decorating our house and putting up lights everywhere...
I just LOVE, love, LOVE, love Christmas... oh.. and did I say I LoVe Christmas??  yeap, yeap.. I do... let the fun begin!!!!

In the picture, you can see Iggy's excitement about the tree.. (I promise he really IS excited.. ha ha)

Ready, set...run!!!

So.. I'm back to running.. or at least pretending to run..which is always a great idea.. right?
My lovely husband has motivated to get my butt in shape by doing some sort of exercise.. and it doesn't get easier than walking/jogging/running.. so that's what I'm doing...
I started yesterday by walking/jogging a whooping 1.27 miles WHILE pushing the stroller with BOTH girls in it... impressive, right?...mmm.. I didn't think so.. My average pace was 16 min/mile, which literally SUCKS!! I ended up exhausted and with mosquito bites all over my (our) body (ies) since the run was at night, while it was 80 degrees outside... (yeap.. 80+ in November).. ah!
Today I had the bright idea (not) to run at noon... What was I thinking??  Well.. I guess I was NOT thinking.. Instead of 80 degrees it was almost 90 and super sunny... I still managed to walk/jog/run 2.1 miles at a pace of 14 minutes per mile.. a LITTLE better than yesterday but not much!
Either way, it feels great to be back on the exercising wagon.. MUCH needed...
Wish me luck!

Wordless Monday...

Samantha's 2nd birthday...

To add to our weekend fun, we attended yet another birthday party today.. This time was for little Samantha, who turns 2 years old today... Sam is the daughter of our good friends Sean and Daniela White; she is the most adorable little girl ever... and her party was just as adorable...

Daniela did an awesome job setting up Sammy's Hello Kitty themed party.. she even made some awesome cookies and the cake was home made... too delicious...

Samantha had such a blast and so did the girls.. what a great party!

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Jordan's 5th birthday party

Today we attended Jordan's 5th birthday party.. it was a wonderful pirate themed party that featured a treasure hunt and included games, face painting and a great play ground...
The girls had a blast with their friends and the weather was surprisingly really nice...
Jordan is oldest son of our good friends Alex and Giselle; he will be 5 this coming week and we wish him a very happy birthday! He's such a wonderful little boy!

Our 6th wedding anniversary...

Today..it has been 6 years since Iggy and I got married...6 years since we started our life together.. a wonderful life that I enjoy more and more every day...

We are blessed to have found each other and even more blessed to be able to love each other and grow together every year...

I thank God every day for putting this wonderful man in my life and for allowing us to leave a great life together...

This is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day.. I can't believe it has been 6 years since that amazing day!

 ...tonight we celebrated our anniversary at BRIO, one of my favorite restaurants.. We had a couple of drinks and enjoyed each other's company... it's always fun to go out on dates..and tonight certainly wasn't the exception...

Happy Anniversary, my love! I love you more than words can say.. Here's to at least another 100 years together!!!

Thanksgiving @ Open Valley

As Thanksgiving day nears, there's all sorts of celebrations going on...the holidays are so much fun and I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my girls...

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving at the girls' school and we got to spend some time with them during school hours, which is always fun...

Iggy and I took turns.. I attended Olivia's lunch and Iggy attended Gaby's. They were so thrilled to show us their Thanksgiving artwork and spend some time out of the ordinary... 

Olivia is beginning to understand the idea of being "thankful" for something and this is a great opportunity to teach her a nice lesson of love and appreciation...what a joy!

Gaby is 28 months!

Gaby is 28 months today! She has grown into such a beautiful little girl.. so full of life and extremely joyous...
She is quite the artist and loves making up songs and singing out loud.. She also loves the attention she gets when she dances or puts on a show...
Gaby has such a strong personality and definitely follows after my crazy mood, it's her way or the high way.. She enjoys playing in the water, watching movies and coloring...
She also has such a sweet tooth... always ready to eat chocolate or whatever sweet comes her way... just like her mommy! ;)
Gaby thoroughly enjoyed our recent trip to Venezuela.. she was able to spend time with her family and also got to know our country a little better.. always fun!
In a few months, she will be turning 3 and she will no longer be a baby! Time sure flies!
Happy 28 months, Gaby!

I'm back!!!

After almost two weeks away from my blog, I am back.. and so happy to be able to blog again!

We have done so much in the past two weeks..

We were in Venezuela from the 4th until the 14th, spending some time with family and friends...

During the trip, we attended Gustavo and Alexandra's wedding and had a great time with our family..

Here are the girls in their party dresses...

 ..here are the newlyweds....

 ..the girls got to spend some time with their grandpa and some of Iggy's side of the family..

...I got to see my aunt Laurita after two long years... it was great spending time with her...

.. we also got to spend time in Caracas... my hometown.. so much fun...

..and now it's back to reality... it feels great to be home and following our daily routines... even though it was fun, I was so exhausted from all the traveling... what a great trip!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom, who is turning 59 years old today...
I'm sad for not being able to spend the day with her since we're currently traveling...but I am happy that she gets to celebrate with her friends and the rest of our family...
I miss you, mom!...and I hope you have an awesome day!
Happy Birthday!!!

Making strides...

I'm back on the "potty training" subject and this time I'm happy to report that we're finally making strides in the poop and pee department! Yay!
I might be a bit obsessed over the topic but I REALLY, really, REALLY want to be done with the diaper stage.. they're so expensive, stinky, dirty, etc.. you get the point...
Gaby has started "announcing" when she has to pee, either while she is peeing or right after.. that's progress, right? (I'd like to think so)... Her teacher suggested with do just underwear at home and start taking her to the potty every so often.. she also said we should switch to pull-ups at school and start that way...
Since we're going to Venezuela soon and I will have some time, I will set my "naked potty training" plan in motion and try to finish this off... Wish me luck!

November is here!!!

Yay! My favorite season has officially started... I can feel it in the air.. Once November starts, all the fun stuff comes rolling in...
First our upcoming trip to Venezuela, then Thanksgiving and soon after that my birthday, Christmas, etc, etc.. you get the picture!
I just love this season.. hopefully I will get inspired to write some fun posts in my dear blog!!!