Santana's Birthday!

The party was celebrated in the park near their house. This is a shot of the festivity. We got there in time to eat: arrachera, beans, rice, pork chops, hamburgers... It was all very good. Tony was face painting all the kids. The girls were butterflies. The boys were either a pirate or a shark eating his eye. Arianna was afraid of her cousins in the beginning until she realized that they "were" her cousins!

Everyone that knows our baby knows that Arianna takes a little to warm up before she starts screaming, dancing, and going away with the other kids. So, when we got there, Mike was making towers for her. She likes them.


Oh, I see your intentions! Not even 2 seconds after the tower was history!

I finally found the birthday boy. The party was next to a baseball field so all the kids were happy getting dirty of course!

Scarlett is showing her butterfly make up!


Proud father!
How about us? Phoenix was in line to get his painting as well.


Oh, let's take a rest. No, they are not sleeping. Sometimes, we wish she could sleep somewhere else that is not her crib.


Santana came to inspect who was taken a nap on his birthday. Come on, we are having a sack potato race! Wake up! (Sorry, trying to keep up with the baby, I missed taking a picture of the race, sigh)


Santana and his car's pinata. He loves cars!

Ok, it looks like Arianna was crying. She was not. But, she wanted me to hold her. So, she kept saying "mama, mama". But, it is hard to hold her and take a picture at the same time!


Time to open the presents! Lots of clothes. Always needed. Not that Santana was to thrill with that!

Now, we are talking. Trucks and cars. Yippee! His parents got him this gift (red truck) and we got him the other 4 cars that go with it (but that are sold separately).


Cake time. Of course, cars and more cars. The cake was vanilla with bananas.

Happy Birthday to you, lalalalalala, Santana, happy birthday to you!

They also gave us this super cool acrylic balls that open in half filled with candy. Now, the eerie part is that I was looking for those just a few hours earlier for Arianna's birthday! At least now I know were they are sold. Thanks guys. It was a cool party.

New Birthday Card Invitations

I made the invitations for Ari's birthday. There are 2 kinds. The one with the pictures, and the one with the train. I was going to make all of them the train style, but I felt bad that I never sent the first picture that was taken of her (well, sort of professionally) since Mike took some the day she was born. But, the one that the hospital takes for you. I decided to use it this time. I also decided to do a blog since I forgot to take pictures of the handmade cards I made for her 1st birthday and her baptism. I can't even remember now how they looked. So, with that in mind, I decided to do this so I can remember!

Happy Birthday Santana!

Wishing you lots of happiness, health, and love. Enjoy your Birthday #2!!!

Mike's Graduation Party

Let's see. Mike's party was a big deal to us. I mean he went to school (part time) for a long time even though he was working full time, and also giving us time to all his family. And that includes more than just Ari and me. Anyway, anyone in my book that can accomplish something like this is worth of a good party, right?

So, I asked my mom to help me so we could celebrate a Mexican Theme Party. I have to say that my mom did amazing as she did most of the cooking. But, my sister cooked an amazing barbacoa from scratch! and made a yummy horchata (rice water). Tony did the rice (puertorican style) and helped us with the grilling. (SO , thanks to everyone that cooked for us).

Here is a list of the menu:

Pozole, pork stew in green sauce, barbacoa, beans, rice, salsas, arrachera (grilled steaks), guacamole, and all the trimmings.

For drinks:

Horchata, sodas (about 4 different kinds), and for those that drink we went with 5 different types of beer: Pacifica, Corona, 2 XX, Negra Modelo, Tecate, and we bought Mike's hard lemonade. We had tequila as well, but no one went for it. Maybe next time.

For desserts:

I bought two cakes. One chocolate, and one was lemon fluff. And here I have to thank the following persons for bringing desserts:

Michelle (yummy cookies and brownies) Please, I want the recipe for the cookies! And brownies too :)
Jen (cookies) - my daughter eats at least 2 and I have to hide the container! Need recipe as well!
Tiffany - brownies! Likewise for recipe.
Tiffiney - cheesecake! - I love that you do this for me!

And we have different fruits with the chilli powder, lime, and salt.

We were soooooooooo stuffed. It was a good day. Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate such a special time for us. Mike was very happy and amazingly he did not get a hangover!

Finally, thanks to everyone for the wonderful gifts and for everyone that helped me clean at the end. All of you are amazing :)

Ann do not hide. I can still see you!

I got you!

Whose peeking there? Oh, Santana!

Hi Glenn!

My mom.

Here we were at the dessert stage.

Ari picked that bear for his daddy.


Mike opening the presents.

Brownies!

No need for explanation except delicious.

Alma and Tony.


Jen and Michelle.
Dave and Tiffany.

Debbie and Velana that just escape me!

Jen, Mike, Michelle, and Francisco.

Phoenix and Logan.

Scarlett and Raven.

p.s. Ari was asleep and when she woke up, I did not have the camera, but she was there too!

p.s.2 I was just reading a comment from my friend Jane and I realized that I did not take a picture of the food! grrrr. I was too busy heating the tortillas and making sure everyone was having a bite. Next time for sure!

Miscellaneous

About two weeks ago, I saw a very dear friend of mine from middle school - her name is Daniela. We had not seen each other since 1998 so it was very nice to finally get together. I did not take a picture of her with her family. I have to do that next time. We went to a Thai restaurant that is located in downtown. The food was really good. Yums! Hopefully, we will see each other again soon.


Here is the thief. Well, they did give me some really nice sunflowers. I guess they think that makes it fair for them to get my tomatoes. Next year I have to do a better job with my tomatoes. So, I don't mind them eating them this time :)


Daniela gave me a Lego's train for Arianna. Her grandparents were helping her with it.


She loved it. Thanks, Dany. Ah, the umbrella that comes with the train was her favorite part.


Oh, here is the umbrella that I was just telling you about.


The next day we went to Brookfield Zoo. I took advantage of the free pass from the library. It is amazing how much they are charging now days. It is 24 dollars per adult with all the extras, or 19 dollars with 3 extras tickets to things like the carousel, butterflies, or the bus/train tour. And for kids, I think the cheapest I saw was 14 dollars. I guess the best way to go is to get the membership, if you go 2 or 3 times will be a better deal.
Arianna's favorite part was the primates. Mmmm, I wonder where she gets that from! Although she called them monkeys. Mike was trying to tell her the difference between monkeys and apes!


We stopped for a mini snack. We took our own lunch, just some peanut butter sandwiches and crackers. That way, we can have a nice dinner somewhere else.


I love the giraffes.

It was a very sunny day. We stayed for about 2-3 hours. Then, decided to go. Arianna was getting tired and the place was getting super crowded. By the time we left, they had closed the entrance since there was no parking spaces anymore.

Love to take pictures of trees. What do you think of the light coming through?

I almost did not notice the peacock. It had 2 babies following her.

New post to come soon

So, we had quite a bit in our plates lately. Mike got me a new laptop since my old one is pretty much dying. The poor thing worked for a long time. So, it was screaming for retirement. So, as soon as I get connected to the motherboard where all the pictures are I will post a few outings that we did and Mike's graduation party. It was super so before I forget I want to thank everyone that cooked, baked, cleaned, etc.. Your help is immensely appreciated. I will be more detailed in the actual posting of the party. But, thank you!!! Also, due to the new computer and somehow I lost tracked of some blogs that I used to follow. I was able to save most of the links, but about 3-4 are lost forever :( Oh, well. Such is life.
And last, I want to thank God for all the help that he has given us.