And a few more.....

Lily stayed the night at my moms

I should be cleaning,

but this is much more fun.

2 reasons I love vacation

I have time for my hobby!

Scrapping makes me happy

more to come I am sure!

Christmas 2010

Lily spent the night at Nonnie and Papa's.

She woke up at their house on Christmas Eve.

Papa went to the store and while he was gone Santa came for a visit.

She was willing to sit on this particular Santa's lap.

He brought her some toys and some chocolate bunny milk.

When I asked her about it she told me that Papa was inside Santa.

I said you mean Santa ate Papa.

She said NO, I mean santa was a papa. Well a different Papa.

A Santa Papa.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house.......

well these creatures were stirring at Nonnie and Papa's.

Where we got to open presents first!

After dinner we decorated some cookies for Santa.

Then we drove home the long route and we looked at all the sparkling lights.

Some were timed to music and some were just, well, just plain tacky.

I mean really they were featured on HGTV's tackiest lights episode.

I could sure see WHY!!

To see click here

Santa came and was good to Lily.

He couldn't help but leave Wally and Stuey a little something.

Stuart woke bright and early and could hardly stand that his girl was sleeping in.

He just knew this was gonna be his!

The girl eventually awoke.

She needs her beauty rest you know

she can't be bothered to awake early even on Christmas morning.

Santa listened she got her fire dragon and her Deadly Nadar.

The only two things on her list.

One happy pink tutu wearing girl surrounded by dragons.
It just doesn't get much better than that.

Christmas baking

I've been a bakin and a steamin'!

A certain little someone has helped every step of the way.

We've made plenty of cookies and

too many tamales.

I think the secret is in the sauce.

Each year I try a new pepper in the search of tamale nirvana.

This is the first time I've tried dried peppers.

I think perhaps I've done it.

I think I say that every year!

But, each year, I'm a little hesitant to actually share them with friends.

This year I think I'll gladly share.

It is Christmas Eve.

Lily is bursting at the seems with excitement.

She's tried to coerce anyone who will listen to let her open her presents.

Part of the fun is torturing the poor girl.

It's so much sweeter when you wait!

Merry Christmas

Wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas

and a happy start to 2011!

Christmas catch up

We've been busy around here lately.

Last night our friends had us over for a gingerbread house party.

It was a lot of fun.

Last weekend we headed to art beast and played with some of our friends.

We also took cousin A. to a place called Santa's secret adventure.

We had a horse and carriage ride.

Listened to some elves read us the night before christmas.

And helped Santa decorate his tree.

We also helped the elves wrap some toys.

It's been a busy few weeks around here and now we are all ready for vacation!

Our Little Christmas Performer

I am so proud of my Lily.

She does not like crowds or new places or noise. The place she performed was a spot the children had not been before, it was packed to the brim, and loud.

I knew that if I could get her with her teachers she would perform.

She put up a slight fuss when her teacher came to get her but once I was out of sight

she decided to go with the flow.

At the beginning of the performance the children held flashlights and walked down

the center of a packed room.

Some children smiled and waved and hammed it up.

My girl did not want to walk down the aisle, but she does what she is told when at school. She is a good girl. I almost burst into hysterics when I saw her coming down the aisle. She had a huge scowl on her face and she marched as fast as she could down the aisle without running into the person in front of her.

Obedient she is happy about it not so much.

I am happy to report once on the stage and shoulder to shoulder with her friends her spirits were uplifted. At the end of the show

she bounced off the stage and into our arms.

Papa sped through rush hour traffic with heroic speed to

see his girl sing her heart out in the Christmas show.

I think it was well worth the harrowing trip.

Only have eyes for eachother!

A little Feliz Navidad for your enjoyment.

Polar Express

We took a ride on the Polar Express this Thursday.

A certain someone was in a bit of a mood.

Well to be honest this mood has struck our fancy quite a bit lately.

She had a good time despite her efforts to not crack even a hint of a smile.
This is our friend Jake.
I am happy to report that after our train ride Lily stated,
"Did you see my friend Jake. We had fun on the Polar Express"
What a relief!

My camera ran out of battery mid ride.

So there is no photographic evidence

but let me assure you that we are still not a fan of ol' St. Nick.

Now let me clarify that we are a fan of him bringing us presents and sticking them under the tree and inside a stocking as long as he doesn't come near her door, but even a glimpse of him sends us into ear piercing shrieks. We covered her with our sweatshirt while he was aboard and accepted the first gift of Christmas on her behalf. Now the ghost was also aboard the train and he was not scary. (I assure you he looked scary to me!) He asked Lily if he could have her bell and she handed it over. He gave her his coal. Then he proceeded to walk up and down the train car and rant about how her bell didn't work. He gave it back to her and the next time we saw him Lily stuffed the bell in the pocket of her jammies as quickly as possible. This is the one and only time she forgot she wasn't supposed to be having a good time:0)

Sneak peek at some christmas shots

It's a bird its a plane....It's Santa Clause.

Some Wally love.

And some love for Lily.

THANKFUL

We traveled to the bay area to spend Thanksgiving with Peter's side of the family.

I didn't take any pictures, but we had a nice time and ate plenty of yummy food.

Grandma Norma gave us her bed for the night.

I woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to an unfamiliar Walmart in an unfamiliar city to get Lily a Leapster. It was on sale for $25 dollars. Apparently I was not the only one with that idea on black Friday. Who knew :0)

I did get started on my Christmas shopping, but came home

without a Leapster. After my early morning shopping we drove to San Fransisco for the day. What a beautiful day. It was sunny and crisp and there was no need for a jacket at the end of November.

Help!!! I'm being eaten!

We stopped for a little chat.

This child

makes us

oh so very

very

THANKFUL!!

Happy Thanksgiving

An Interview~ Age 5

What's your name?

Lilyana Rubi



Where do you live?

At home



Where are you from?

Guatemala



What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to do a lot of stuff at home.



What is your favorite color?

blue and red



Who's your best friend?

Gabby



How old am I?

36 (I would like to point out I am not on the back end of my 30's for a few more months)



What does daddy do when he goes to work?

He works the trains



What does mommy do at work?

She goes and plays at school



What are you thankful for?

Mommy and Daddy



If you could change your name what would it be?

Lilyana Rubi



What is your favorite thing.........

to do at school?

Play in the kitchen



toy

baby tiger



food

apples



movie

Robin Hood



What makes you proud of yourself?

I can climb the jungle gym



What do you like to do with mommy?

play games What game? Zingo



What do you like to do at Nonnie's house?

tickle papa



Are you going to get married?

Yes



Who are you going to marry?

Mommy

Five Little Turkeys

From one turkey to another.

School pictures

Lily's school had a photographer come and take pictures of the kids on the school grounds.

She captured some wonderful shots of my big girl.

Yesterday I went to my first ever parent teacher conference for her pre K class.

I remember that the adoption agency told us that adopted children with delays usually catch up really quickly.

I remember thinking that it seemed as if catching up was taking forever!!!

I do think my girl has caught up to her peers.

She knows almost all of her capital letters and some of her lower case letters.

She can write her name and she knows all her shapes and colors.

Although she did say that a rectangle was a big square!

She has some trouble with number recognition but can count to 20.

My favorite part of the conference was the one thing Lily needed to work on:

she growls at her friends and sometimes startles them.

Not that I think scaring her friends is funny but Lily spends a lot of her time here at home as her favorite dragon Toothless from the movie How to Train your dragon.

When I shared the information with her Daddy his response was

"Well, you can't stop a dragon"

Today we went for our well check up.

I asked the Dr. for a prediction of her height.

Just for curiosity sake.

She said Lily could be 5''2" or 5'3" which was my prediction too.

She is also all set to start kindergarten next year.

Sniff Sniff.

Halloween

We went to our friends neighborhood.

We have two sets of friends in this neighborhood.

Little Sofia as Lily refers to her was an adorable dragonfly

and Jakey was an awesome Buzz Lightyear.

They were kind enough to let one little witch join in their fun.

They may not be able to shake us for future Halloween's.

Wonderful food, lots of laughs, and candy candy candy.

We set off on foot friends in tow.


We picked up treats along the way.

We made sure to say thank you at each and every stop.

Then we came back and dug in.

And then the woopie cushions came out and the sugar induced hilarity ensued.

Thank you to the R. and Q. families for letting us join in the fun.

Fun was certainly had by all!!!

Happy Halloween!

There is some serious excitement in the air today!!!!!

The costume is prepared.

The pumpkins are spookified!

Now all we have to do is wait.

A certain little witch is ready NOW!!

So she indulged me in a photo shoot.

The lighting wasn't particularly cooperating
but........



We sure had fun!!!

Tonight we will be joining our friends for some festivities.

We can not wait!!!

Happy Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mama

and my babies favorite Nonnie!

Thank you for helping us raise the sweetest little witch in town.

We are truly blessed to have you!!!!

I love YOU!!!!