Bix Box full of goodies

Here is a big box that we found one day when we came back from work (September). 

 Then, I was surprise to get one beautiful bird house.  I thought it was a squirrel's house, but I was more surprise to find out that was a woodpecker's house.  How cool is that! I still need to paint it, but I am trying to decide what I want it to be.

 Some cool LP's.  Mike's favorite song.

 Arianna had just awoken to an unusual nap.  Her hair was all wet and messy, but she loved the candy ball!

Thank you!!!!!!!

The opening of presents -3rd year.

Normally, we opened the presents in the party so everyone can see what she got.  But, she was under the weather and did not want to do it then.  We opened the presents the next day.  Everything was beautiful thank you!

 She loved the polka dot box.  She used the box for awhile.

 This is the one gift that she has used the most.  She loves to paint! 

 She was waiting for us to set her easel.

 The first time that she used it.  Needed papa to be next to her ;)

 First easel's artwork!

 Who does not like leggo?  She does!

Gift, tree and bow ties

We received a gift through the mail and did not know who it was from? Then, we found out that it was from Margarita (Mike's friend in CA). Thank you!! She really likes it. Puts the letter and sings. Repeat. (Her hair was a mess because she had just waken up from her nap).
We bought this beautiful copper tree about 2 years ago when we went to TN and Mike finally put it up. Isn't it wonderful? Now, when we paint the walls eventually is going to look even better :)

We also brought down Ari's desk from her room. We bought this an antique store that was going out of business because the owner was retiring and had everything 50-60% off. So, we got a super deal on it. We loved it right away too.

This is a new recipe that I got from Fine cooking magazine. They are soooooooooo good! And they are not hard to make:

Bow Ties ( or Kolackies )

It says it yields about 70 cookies, but I got about 50ish (the 2 times I made them). Maybe I am making them bigger?

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup unsalted butter, softened

21/2 cups unbleached all -purpose flour, sifted; more for rolling (I did not sifted)

1 12 oz jar good quality apricot preserve (about 3/4 cup). Tried normal preserves and they worked - I used pineapple, strawberry-rhubarb, apricot, and a mixed mango - peach preserve.

1 large egg, beaten

Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Mix cream cheese and butter on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 mins. Scrape down the bowl and paddle. With the mixer on low gradually mix in the flour until a smooth dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough gently to form a ball. Divide the ball in thirds. Wrap each in plastic or waxed paper and flatten into squares. Refrigerate at least 4 hrs. or overnight ( I tried after 4 hrs and it worked, but it was better overnight)

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat at 400 F Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment. Remove one piece of dough from the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a 1/8 in thick rectangle. Use a pizza cutter or something similar to trim the rough edges of the dough so the sides are straight and then cut into 2 in squares. Spoon about 1/2 tsp. of preserve onto the center of the square. Fold one corner into the center, dab with the beaten egg, and then bring the other side into the center and pinch firmly together to seal the corners. Transfer the cookies to the sheet. Repeat with the other dough.

Bake one sheet at a time until golden and very lightly browned and puffed - 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely and then dust with confectioner's sugar.

(You can freeze these cookies in freezer bags for up to 3 months)
Done :)

Trike and Green Puppy

Mike finished building the trike the 26th in the morning and looked really good.


Arianna liked it right away, but she still is a little short on the legs. I think for the summer this trike will be perfect. Just look how happy she is on it.


The green puppy story. Arianna loves Blue's Clues (it may not be her favorite show anymore, but she still likes it). Her favorite character is Green Puppy. A lesser character, not many things sold are green puppy. Mike wanted to get one for her for Christmas and went to many websites. Nothing. Except for one site that will sell a green puppy for about 145 dollars. So, he said you can make one right? He bought a pattern for Blue and I made the changes so it will become green puppy.

Managed to finish on the 25th and gave it to her. When she realized that was green puppy she was so happy.


She said where is Blue and Magenta? I gave them to her and she started to introduce them to green puppy and they kissed.

Then she said picture time, lined them on the pillow and smile.

I was so happy that she liked it!

Pablo's cookies

Hi Pablo and family, here is the package. We received it the same say that we were celebrating Ari's second birthday. What a timing!


Very good oatmeal raisin cookies. I made sure they lasted 2 days :) so we can enjoy them a little longer.

My daughter loves cookies. It is Mike's favorite cookie, and I just love all cookies. So, thank you. You have some cute little chefs in the making :)

I forgot to take a picture of the empty container. But, believe me it was empty! :)

Arianna's Second Party!

I tried to do a sort of Blue's Clues Theme. Sort of because they really don't sell Blue's stuff anymore. But, I found these balloons that had paw prints on them and I added some other ones that did not. Ari loves balloons so she was happy. She kept saying "Thank you mommy, that is nice". After each balloon was inflated and ready to go on the dining room.

For party favors for the girls, I did these dolls with help from my mom (I found the pattern in Martha Steward's website, but the pattern came from Emily Martin from The Black Apple, although I changed the legs to small and chubby in most of them) Thanks to my mom for all the help, and my sister for cutting the fabric for the monsters. I know she does not like that so more kudos to you! For the boys, I forgot to take a picture, but it was a "doggy, sort of alien, monster plushy toy" made with a very soft fluffy fabric that had paw prints all over. I heard Phoenix when he said "That is exactly what I needed." I thought that was so funny, but I am glad that he liked it. The dolls or monster where inside this plastic ball that was 1/2 blue, 1/2 transparent with a pen, candy, and stickers.

In this picture, she had just woken up from her nap so daddy was taken care of her until she was brave to go on her own.

Hi Jenny! My mom's goddaughter came to celebrate as well. She is 2 too!

All of the kids were wearing their party hats including Raven that was posing for the picture.


My sister was so happy that she did not have to cook this time. It was a pretty laid back party. Lots of pizza, chips, salad, sodas and beer.


Hi Dave and Tiffany!


I liked this shot. Raven was about to hit the ball. I like the movements and how you can see the balloons.


Blue's Clues. We were supposed to play the "put the paw print", but I opted for no. I had one prize winner, but I did not want the other kids to feel bad so it was for decoration purposes only.

Pinata time. It was so funny, we could not find something good to hit, so we used a bat, a brush, a branch, until we found a broom's stick, but only to have the pinata destroyed the next time. It was sooooo heavy, so I knew it was not going to hold for a long time. Many of the kids could not hit it, but no one seemed to mind when they saw a bunch of candies!


Getting ready for the cake. Here is Raven and Santana.

Blue's cake! I know I was going to bake the cake, but after Mike got sick time just flew by so I ordered it. I still will bake with the cake pan that I bought.



My mom is so hard to picture, always turning away. So, here she is with Santana.

A few post of Ari opening her presents. Thanks to everyone. All gifts were very lovely!





Tony had to leave to go to work so I snatched a family picture before he did. It is sort of tradition that I am trying to keep.


Thanks to Myrna and her girls for coming to the celebration!

Hi Glenn. Here he is with the party favors that I was telling you about.

Everyone else was waiting for their ball!


Thanks to Michelle for some wonderful cookies. Yummy!

Rosalva and Family. Always so nice, thanks as well.

I finally got myself in the pictures. Tiffiney and Jeaneth (and Amparito) so nice to come. The party was just amazing.

I have to keep working at it, Valana and Debbie turned when I was about to take the shot, but we still see you. Thanks !

We ate and drank. Now, it was all about talking and having a great time. Francisco helped us clean. That was nice :)


A nice shot of Tiffiney.

Logan about to open his candies.


My brother's family. (Carlos, Eli, Santana)


Which picture is better? I cannot decide. But one of them will be our picture for this year's birthday.

After everyone left, Arianna was going through her presents. Here she is reading to papa.

I know I had lots of thank yous in here, but we have so many people and so many reasons to be thankful. So, please forgive my repetitiveness, but I wanted to make sure everyone knows how much we love you and appreciate all the things you do for us. Thanks to everyone and here to a great year!