Summer Break: Week 7

Week 7 was a very eventful week, definitely fun and full of excitement. 

The girls went to Naples with their grandma for a few days and Iggy went away on a business trip, so I had some "me" time, which turned into some fun times with friends. 

I took a "Small Desserts" class with a few girlfriends and learned to make some delicious cakes, creams and other yummy stuff... such a fun time!

My mother in law sent me some pictures of the girls while they were away. 

I missed them so much, so it was great to get daily pictures of my two beauties having fun... 

They had so much fun at the beach and it definitely showed in their pictures...

After they came back, Olivia spent some time drawing and coloring, which she really enjoys. 

She has become quite the artist and I'm so proud of her for her creativity and vision.  I'm sure she will do great things with these skills!

And to close out the week, we went to Zoo Miami with my sister, niece and uncles. 

The weather was crappy and hot, but somehow we managed to enjoy it despite the dreadful sun (hello Miami!). The girls had a fun time seeing their favorite animals and we enjoyed the nice family time. 

It sure is fun to pedal a safari bike with the family!

It's crazy to see how fast this summer has gone by!

We have enjoyed family visits, parties, summer camps and many more things...and there are still 3 weeks left!

Tomorrow the girls will be going back to gymnastics summer camp and they are very excited about that. 

Happy Summer, everyone! ;)

Summer Break: Week 6- Birthday Party revisited

This week was all about birthdays and parties and all the excitement that comes along with two little sisters celebrating their special days!

I have already blogged about each birthday and what we did on each day, so there's no need to retell that...

Weather wise, the week was pretty crappy since it was raining nearly every day so the mood was just "gloomy".  I was very close to canceling the party due to the weather, but I'm glad I didn't...
Apparently the rain gods decided to be nice to me and there was not one drop of water during the girls' party.  The sun was shining and everyone was so happy about it. 

The girls had a great party with over 100 guests in attendance.  They were able to bathe in the pool with their friends and everything turned out so amazing!

Here are some pictures...

This is our beautiful cake, made by my friend Antonieta... such a cute creation!

The kids were scattered all over, so only about a quarter of them are in the picture.. We had over 45 kids, so you can imagine all the fun these girls had!

Thank you, everyone for coming to the party.  Thank you for your company and for all the beautiful gifts for the girls. 

With only 4 weeks left of summer, we're gearing up for school.  Most shopping is already done and the girls are enjoying their last few weeks of freedom!

This week, they will be going on a trip to Naples with their grandma and mommy will be resting a bit. 

Happy summer!

Movie review: "Turbo"

I will go ahead and admit that whenever I see a non-Disney movie, or a non-established franchise I am a little skeptical at first... Such was the case of "Turbo".
But it was Olivia's birthday yesterday and she begged me to take her to the movies so I obliged... and I'm glad I did!
"Turbo" was a great an AMAZING surprise.. wow! what a great movie.. one of those that will sure be added to our movie collection once it comes out in DVD... We loved it so much!
Turbo is about a snail that lived his life dreaming about being a racer; all his friend snails made fun of him for having this dream! Then something magic happens and Turbo finds himself racing in the Indy 500.
He meets some great people along the way, which make his adventure even better!
The movie has a great plot, which is fun and inspirational at the same time.  It is also simple enough for kids to follow and entertaining enough for adults to get into it.
The characters are flavorful and colorful and the soundtrack is really good.  This movie features voice overs by some awesome actors like Ryan Reynolds and Paul Giamatti among others.
It also has a great message "No dream is too big and no dreamer too small"... it was definitely a "feel good" movie... very enjoyable.
So although I will admit that I had my reservations (too boyish? too boring? too weird?), I'm so glad I listened to Olivia and saw it.. It gets 4 out of 4 stars in my book! So worth it! 

6

As if going through my kids' birthdays wasn't emotional enough, I get to go through them on consecutive days... and yes, I do cry every time my girls have a birthday because it's just so hard to realize how big they're getting and how fast time is flying...

So...yesterday my little lady turned 6 years old...it was a great day for her...

We took her to the movies to see "Turbo" (review to come), had a special lunch and then birthday cake at night...

Olivia is the light of my life...she is such an amazing little girl and a great big sister...

Olivia is also very smart... a great reader and very good at school.. She loves art and has made some awesome paintings for our house..

Olivia is also incredibly athletic and enjoys playing tennis and golf; she has enjoyed her summer camp which features both sports...

Olivia is very friendly and she is always the life of the party; super funny girl with an awesome sense of humor.. She loves to ask questions and get answers, so I call her my inquisitive soul.. it's great to know she's so interested in learning new things all the time. 

She will be starting 1st grade soon and she's so excited about that.. I'm so proud to be her mother...

She's currently 47 in and 60 lbs.. quite the big girl!

Here are some pictures of my SIX YEAR OLD!

...and a bonus baby picture... taken a couple of hours after Olivia was born on 07/17/07....

Happy Birthday, Olivia! We love you so much!!!

Movie review: "Despicable Me 2"

By now it is probably very obvious that I'm an "animated movie" junkie! There's just something about made up animated characters that really appeals to me...and the kids love them too so that helps a lot!

Yesterday we saw "Despicable Me 2", which is one of those movies we were waiting for... It is predicted to be a big summer hit and I'm sure it will be!

If you didn't see Despicable Me, then you should probably watch that first because it will give you a  much better insight of the characters and it will help you fall in love with Gru and his minions... 

With that said, let's go ahead and establish that "Despicable Me 2" was just awesome! The animation has come a long way since the first movie (2010) and the characters have certainly evolved a lot since then...

This movie's plot revolves around Gru's life as a father to his three adopted girls (Margo, Edith and Agnes) and how it conflicts with his desire to work with villains and have a more "exciting" life.  Gru is recruited by the AVL (Anti Villain League) and is asked to help with a special mission.  In the meantime, he falls in love with an agent and they develop a cute relationship...And of course so many funny things happen in between but I won't ruin the whole thing for you in case you haven't seen it...

The Minions are, of course, among the main characters of the movie and they play a huge role in the plot...they are so hilarious and add so much to the story... I wish all movies had minions in them! LOL

Some parts of the movie were slow and the plot might have been a little too complex for Gaby, but other than that it was a great movie...

I'll give this one 3.5 out of 4 stars! Good in my book!  

4

I won't start this post by saying "where did time go?" (although I already did.. oops!), but seriously, time does fly! wow!

I feels like yesterday I was blogging about Gaby's birth story and her baby life and here she is turning 4 years old! Mind blowing....I'm sure moms understand the feeling....

My little Gaby turned 4 years old yesterday 07/16 and what a fun day she had! We woke her up with balloons and a birthday gift and made her day extra special...

In the afternoon we saw "Despicable Me 2" (review to come) and then birthday cake at night...

Now let's talk about how awesome my little Gaby is.. she is just so much FUN!

Gaby is a very loving child but I'll admit that she also has quite the temper... She loves animals, My Little Pony, dolls, dresses and everything girly... 

Gaby has a mind of her own; she loves to do things her way and can be defiant at times.. She loves music, dancing, drawing and pretend play...

She will be starting PreK-4 this year and even though academics are not her forte, she does know her letters, numbers and all that good stuff.. she loves going to school too! (lucky us!)..

She is 34.5 lbs and 39.5 in, right on the 50th percentile for both... 

She's not much of an eater, but we're getting there!!

Here are some pictures of the birthday girl!

And here's a bonus picture for this post.. one of Gaby's first pictures.. taken on the day she was born 07/16/09... what a cutie!

Happy Birthday, Gaby! We love you so much!!!

Summer Break: Week 5

This summer week post will be all about mommy since I was able to make a quick trip to visit one of my good friends in Connecticut and naturally I want to blog about it!

The girls did their regular summer camps and Iggy was out of town for half the time so nothing too exciting in the home front. 

From Thursday to Sunday I was able to visit my friend Lauren and her family in Portland, CT. 

Lauren is one of my good friends from WTE (What to Expect), we met back in '08 when we were pregnant with Penny and Gaby and we've been close ever since... I had the pleasure of meeting Lauren and Jereme in person last year when they came down to Miami, but I had never met their awesome kids.

Lauren's kids (Penny 4, Genny 2 and Roman 4 months) are simply the most amazing kids ever... they are sweet, smart and very loving... I had such a great time with Lauren and her family and I loved that I was able to bond with their kids... What a great weekend...

Here are some pictures!

With that said, I can't believe we're already half way through the summer...

This coming week will sure be an exciting one for us since it's the girls' birthday week and their party is on Saturday... I can't wait to blog about it! I'm sure it will be a blast!

I hope everyone is having a great summer!  

Live it up, bloggers! 

Summer Break: Week 4

Another week of summer came and went and the girls are having the most fun they've ever had..

We're really loving these hot summer days and all the activities and outings..

We did face painting at Chick-fil-A and enjoyed "family night" with us...

Gaby started her gymnastics camp and she really had a blast with all the field trips and adventures at the gym. 

Olivia started her golf camp and has really improved her swing and form. 

Iggy is very proud of his protege and really enjoys watching her learn and play.  

Gaby has bonded with Lily and she really enjoys playing with her little kitty... I call her little "Elvira" since she can be rough and overly "loving" with the poor cat.. ;)

We had a wonderful 4th of July holiday.  The girls sported their patriotic t-shirts and posed for some pictures...

We went to the beach (bad idea!), it was packed and the day was hot as hell.  The girls still managed to have fun in the sand and the water, but I didn't enjoy our outing as much as they did.  Parking was nightmare and I learned that I will never go back to the beach on the 4th of July... either way.. it was great to have a day off! ;)

Of course, fireworks at night are always part of the holiday... a great ending to our day!

Next week will be rough since Iggy is out of town and we always miss him like crazy!

Thankfully, I've got a lot of help from my family, but it's always hard when daddy is gone!

This was a fun week! Now we're gearing up to celebrate the girls' birthdays and enjoy a fun birthday bash, scheduled for July 20th!

Happy Summer! :)

Happy 37th, my love!

Today we celebrated Iggy's 37th birthday...

It was a happy day, filled with good moments and lots of love from family and friends...

We ate a delicious cake from Edda's Cake Design, had a small celebration at home and the birthday boy really enjoyed all the love and attention he got. 

Thank you, God for another blessed birthday for my dear husband!

We love you so much!

Movie review: "Monster University"

"Monster University", the long awaited prequel to "Monsters Inc" came out about 10 days ago and has been one of the early summer hits...and very well deserved...what a great movie!
The story centers around Mike and Sully in their college years and it provides a great foundation for the story of how their "unlikely" friendship developed and how they became a team!
The movie depicts the younger version of the main characters and provides insight of why they are the way they are and how strong their bond is despite of a "faulty" start to their relationship....
I really enjoyed the fact that the viewer gains a better understanding of Mike and Sully's personality as well as more detailed background of the "Monsters Inc" idea...
The movie is colorful, fun, creative and very entertaining... it also features several other characters that add so much to the story...
It was fun to see the whole concept of "Monster University" come around and the girls had such a great time...
I think the story is perfectly written and the prequel makes so much sense to whoever may have seen the first movie....
I give this one 4 out of 4 stars.. Simply amazing! Disney does it again! :)