Sofia's Arrival: 2011

Happy Holidays to all our family and friends!

Thought I would provide you with our first update for the year. Joe has adjusted well in school and is enjoying all his independence. He has studied hard and survived finals week. It is so nice to have him home for the holidays, bags of dirty laundry and all! Mike got his learners permit and now attends driving school. Oh mi dios. :) And believe it or not, little Miss Sofia turned 4 on Thanksgiving day.

Take my picture mommy

I got this

Let's buy this pumpkin!

Aarrgh Matey!

Miss Kristina & Miss Amanda

We have enjoyed a wonderful fall with lots of fun parties. We celebrated Sofia's birthday a little early with a Halloween Costume Party bash. The kids got their faces painted, enjoyed a hayride, picked and painted pumpkins, rode the Fun Slide, whacked the piñata, and ate yummy smores and cupcakes at the campfire. It was a great day! Sofia also enjoyed going apple picking with her friends and trick-or-treating as a kitty cat.

Yay, a princess cake!

My big girl friends

My little friends

Still competitive

Say cheese everyone

Martha as Buzz Lightyear

Trick or Treat

One of our favorite gifts that Sofia received for her birthday was an Elf on a Shelf. It is the best invention EVER. It is a cute little elf that Sofia named, "Simon." It comes with a book that explains how this little elf watches over the children and reports both good and bad behavior to Santa each night. After a few reminders that, "Simon is watching," Sofia declared him public enemy #1. We found poor Simon hidden underneath the sofa. Sweet little Sofia had taped his mouth shut. She is some problem solver huh?

Simon has been rescued

Little Miss show off

Sofia had been telling us for weeks all the things that she was going to ask Santa to bring her. A Barbie Power Wheels car, roller skates, clothes from Build-a-Bear, and the movie, Toy Story 3. Over and over, she repeated the list. When we went to visit the big guy himself, poor Sofe choked. She told him she wanted pajamas. It reminded me of Ralphie from the Christmas Story. At first she was upset with herself but, we corrected the glitch by writing Santa a letter. Luckily, Sofia was was able to mail it straight to the North Pole. We stopped to sip a little hot chocolate and admire Macy's beautiful tree. The fairies sprinkled us with magic dust and we made a few wishes before calling it a day.

Santa, can you bring me.......... pajamas??

Santa's mountain has a slide

Our holidays were very enjoyable. It will be hard to go back to work after a two week break. Sofia experienced a couple new "firsts" since my last update. She went to her first children's theater presentation to see Jack and the Beanstalk. We also learned she really loves bumper bowling, especially their stylish rental shoes. We are now preparing to settle in for a long, cold winter season. Hopefully, we will make time to have fun in the snow.