London is 3!

Last weekend we went down to Newport to celebrate London's third birthday! I can't believe my precious niece is three already! As always, Auntie Anna had a really cute theme: ladybug. Very nice. In fact, if you see some of these decorations resurface at Sonia's 2nd birthday party, don't be surprised. Probably not the "Happy Birthday London" sign though. 

 London had a good little group of friends over!

 The kids made personal pizzas, which was a big hit. Isaac actually ate his. Actually, he is pretty good about eating pepperoni pizza. It took a few steps but he is eating it now. Maybe some day we'll try for Candian bacon and pineapple!

 Look at this cute display! I think I can claim to have helped with about 5% of it. Not bad, huh?

 The birthday girl decided she did not need a shirt. I suppose when you have a party at home with close friends, shirts can be optional. 

 In addition to really enjoying riding the rocking horse that has been passed on, Sonia likes to get on this pink dog thing. She can get on it all by herself and is starting to be able to get off of it. The tail in the back poses a problem sometimes.

 Sonia had a cute little baby friend to play with!

 I love how London and Isaac get along so well. They were so happy just to sit by each other to eat their pizzas. Best buds for life. (Although you guys can't get married - we will be reminding you of this periodically.)

 Ladybug cake! Cute, just like everything else Auntie Anna makes.

 Make a wish, London!

 Mmmmm, cake and ice cream. No complaints about that...

 I did take pictures of some of the other kids, but they didn't all turn out great.... The flash kept coming on and I don't really like how the pictures look with a flash. Only in select circumstances. 

Anyway, it was also very stormy that day, so we went down to Jump Off Joe to check out the huge gusts of wind and what were supposed to be 35 foot seas. 

 We didn't stay too long. Auntie Anna wanted to walk out on some ledge for a "cool picture" but I opposed that idea. Mostly because I only have one sister, so I can't really afford to lose any. I guess if she had fallen, she probably would have made it... but better not to take chances. Plus we were getting sandblasted, which isn't very fun.

 "Hooray," said Sonia, "Fresh air! My face is getting pulled back by the wind but I don't mind."

 We stayed overnight - actually Sonia and I stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's house, which was peaceful and quiet. The next day we went to Mass and Nana got more time with her little loves. 

I don't think Nana ages. I saw a picture of her from high school and she still looks almost exactly the same. I want to have that problem. 

Thanks for such a fun party, Auntie Anna and Nana! We will see you again soon!

Christmas season

Here are a couple more pictures from the rest of the Christmas season, no day in particular.

Superheroes:

 Sleepy girl

 Helping  feed Sonia some yogurt

 Sonia so happy when Titi and Ahmed came to visit!

 And when Alain and Victorien came to visit with their friend Michel from Niger. Tonton Alain is a Compaore but not actually related. Still, Sonia knows a Compaore when she sees one, and she went straight to him and loved being held by him!

 We took a few walks to the park too. Isaac is such a big helper pushing Sonia in the umbrella stroller. 

Christmas 2013

Christmas this year - for some reason I couldn't locate my camera until halfway through Christmas day, which is kind of a bummer since we usually celebrate a good amount on Christmas Eve. Well, this year was a little different though. Instead of going to mass at 5:30 on Christmas Eve, we went to 10 a.m. Mass on Christmas Day. It just made more sense because we were able to all go together. 

Here are Isaac and London with some of their presents. It might seem like a weird thing for Christmas, but Isaac got a Spiderman costume and a police uniform, and he really enjoys dressing up in both of them! I guess he is just at that age where he likes dressing up. 

 Uncle Craig sent this adorable baby doll for Sonia (thank you, Uncle Craig!!), but for some reason London got very attached to it. So much so, that I think it did not find its way home with all the other toys. Luckily we are going back over there next weekend so we will recuperate it at that point, when we bring a birthday gift for our favorite American cousin, London! 

 London got a princess costume too. I like the combination of the princess costume and Xtra-Tufs. Very London.

 Little Sonia got only a few presents (THANK YOU everyone for not getting her a ton of things that are just going to make a mess in our house….) but was content with things that were not even her presents. 

 Sonia wants to Go Pro. 

 "First selfie!" says Sonia. This was not really taken by Sonia, but it kind of looks like it was, doesn't it? 

 Then we went over for Christmas dinner to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Yum, yum, yum! 

 Boompa becomes more technology-saavy. 

 For some reason I don't have many pictures of Uncle Mikey, Uncle Greggy, Uncle Chris or his friend Ricardo who came to visit from Cuba. It was nice to meet Ricardo! Now we know someone to visit if we go to Cuba. Apparently he was a little sick though, so I am blaming our present sickness on a special Cuban strain of cold (just kidding, Ricardo - obviously Sonia was already sick, as evidenced by the above "selfie").  We all have sore throats, congestion and a cough. Sonia had a sinus infection too though, and is taking antibiotics for that now. In fact, that is a different (short) story. I think I will tell it on Sonia's blog because I am pretty sure I have a picture of her eyes stuck shut (I know, I am a mean mama). What Sonia got that she really has appreciated is a hand-me-down rocking horse. She will sit on this thing for a long time and rock, but she wants the sound effects to be on. You have to push a button on the ear, which Sonia can't quite coordinate herself just yet… 

It was a good Christmas, and good to see everyone! 

Zoo Lights

We went with Auntie Anna and London to see the Zoo Lights at the Portland Zoo on December 22nd. It was actually really fun! I wasn't sure how it would be but I think it was worth it. You don't really see the animals, but the lights are pretty amazing! And, we had been waiting for a long time to go to the zoo with London, so this was perfect. The traffic was a little crazy right up by the zoo though. And, of course, I took a wrong turn prior to this, so we went across a bridge to the wrong side of Portland, then had to go back. The kids said they had to pee really badly, and so I was a jerk and went up as far as I could in the other lane, then cut in front of someone waiting to go on the exit lane. But hey, when you have two kids under 5 in the back that are saying they have to pee for 20 minutes, well, I am not going to be the one to say, "Well, you'll have to hold it another half an hour, kiddos."

So, without further ado, here are the pictures:

Best cousins

 My little love!

 This was a really cool tunnel of lights. We couldn't understand why people were so slow moving in and out of it until we got inside ourselves and took a million pictures.

 Even Sonia was fascinated.

 It was pretty chilly that night though, so after looking at lots and lots of lights, we were ready for a...

 I love these two; they are so precious! 

I'm so glad we went, even if it was busy!