Benjamin's Birthday!

The Piñata

The Cake (cupcakes)

Elmo Theme

Hooray!! Benjamin is now 2 years old! And Terrible 2's here we come! Well yesterday Benjamin turned 2. And in case you couldn't tell... the party was an Elmo theme. He loved it! First of all, I just have to tell everyone that I made the cake and the Piñata! Can you believe it?! I can hardly believe it myself. But yes I did. I am very proud of myself. However, I think the mouth needed to be a little taller. Oh well, next time. So why did I do it myself (besides to save money)? Well, when I was a little girl, my mom always made us a cool cake and a Piñata. And I remember thinking I had the coolest mom in the whole world. So I want to carry on this tradition. Also, I love it! Throwing Birthday parties, and making a fun cake makes me feel like a mom. Last year I made Benjamin a Basketball Cake, I had so much fun doing it.

Anyway, so Benjamin had been looking forward to his "Happy Day" (he can't say happy Birthday yet, it comes out Happy Day) for weeks now. He loves watching the home videos we have saved on our computer and there are a couple where we are singing "Happy Birthday." He plays those over and over and could sing the entire song by the time his Birthday came around. He was so ready. Well, we decided to have it at one of his favorite places the park right by our house. He had a ball! Family came as well as a few friends from church and the neighborhood. We rolled our grill over to the Park and had a yummy picnic followed by the Piñata, cake and Ice-cream and then he opened presents. He got a lot of great gifts. Thank you everyone who came. Oh and did I mention... he loved the Elmo theme so much that he wore his Elmo birthday hat the ENTIRE time. It was so cute. There is a video at the end. Enjoy!

Camila, Aroncito, Benjamin, & cousin Shannon

Grandma and Abby (Thanks Grandma for all your help today!)


Some of our friends who came with their kids

Aunt Missy gave him an Elmo that Blows bubbles! His new favorite toy. This is great because now Mommy doesn't have to blow bubbles all day like he would have me do if he could.

He is also wearing the cool Apron Kate made him. He loves it!

The day after, enjoying one of the leftover cupcakes

4 Year Anniversary

At 6:30 this morning we wake up to Benjamin calling for us to take him out of his crib. He's been waking up early lately. My baby lies sleeping in the bassenet next to me. As I lay there wondering where am I to get the energy to get up, My sweet husband quietly gets up, closes the bedroom door and goes and gets Benjamin. I'm soo greatful that he took the day off and that he is a morning person. I roll over and go back to sleep... bliss. At around 7:30 Abby wakes up. I get her out of her bassenet lie her in bed next to me to nurse her and doze in and out of sleep. Just as she finishes nursing on one side Isaac comes into the room with a bed tray and a hot breakfast. Breakfast in bed! He holds Abby as I eat breakfast, of course Benjamin wanted some too, not because he was still hungry, but because he thought eating in bed was pretty cool.

I finish breakfast and then finish nursing Abby. As I am looking down at my sweet daughter I hear music start to play in the other room... "When you say nothing at all"... one of our songs from our wedding. I start to cry. The song describes him so well. I love Mr. Granados. I cried through the whole song. Then I hear Josh Groben's song "You Raise me up"... another song from our wedding (we have 4). By the third song Sin Bandera's "Entra en mi Vida," I finish nursing, go into the other room and we start to dance. Just as we start to get lost in each others eyes, our toddler wants in on the dancing. Isaac picks him up and the 3 of us start dancing. Abby starts to fuss in the other room... I go get her, and the 4 of us start to dance. What a beautiful little family we have. It's amazing how two people in love multiply into 4 people in love. Love... there is so much love in our home. I am a lucky woman.

After that we watch our wedding video. It was soo fun to look back on our wedding day. Benjamin loved it! He had never seen it before. It's his new favorite video. After that we got dressed and went to the Rec. center to work out. It was fun going for a run with my love. (FYI, the jogging stroller fits in the trunk of our Corrola) Then back home to get cleaned up. Later we dropped the kids of at Grandma's house and went to a movie and dinner. Perhaps this may not sound that exciting, but it was the first time we had been to the movie Theatre in over 2 years. So for us, this WAS exciting. We saw X-men origins, Wolverine. It was awesome and dinner afterward was yummy. Granted our Anniversary wasn't out of this world, but for me it was perfect. I love my sweet husband. Thank you Isaac.

Here are a few of my favorite wedding pics. and the video from the song that made me cry.

Cute Babies and my Resolution

Well, I haven't told many people but I have made a RESOLUTION to reclaim my body. And part of that resolution is to go running every morning. Last Friday, we pick up my new jogging stroller! I love it! Saturday we took it out of the box and then Sunday (yesterday) after taking a few cute pictures of the kids in their Sunday clothes we decided to take a Sunday evening walk and try out the new stroller.

(We finally convinced Benjamin to sit with her for a picture!)

(Trying out the new stroller)

Then today I started! I went for my first run/walk. The stroller did great and the kids surprised me... they fell asleep. I got a good sweat and I'm pretty sure I will be sore in the morning. But I plan to do it again.... and again, and again. And then I plan to take some classes in the eavings at the Legacy Center. Zumba, Aerobics, Spinning... we'll see. I'll let you all know when I get to that point. Anyway, having babies is well worth it, but now it is time to lose the baby wieght. Wish me luck!

Rachael Ray and Benjamin

Pancetta-Wrapped Shrimp all’Amatriciana

Rachael Ray and Benjamin??? That's right. He loves the Rachael Ray show. It's the only talk show he'll let me watch. If it is anything else, he'll cry and complain until I put on Sesame Street or Barney. So why Rachael Ray? Benjamin loves to cook! He loves helping me cook and he loves watching other people cook on T.V. It's sooo funny, he claps when the audience claps and he sits quietly and watches ever soo intently while she explains and cooks whatever is "for dinner tonight!" I just think it is soooo funny! He's not even 2 yet and while other kids like cartoons he likes cooking shows. Maybe he'll be the next chef Ramsey. Anyway, I love that he likes this show, because I love this show. And I love trying out many of her recipies. My favorite so far is the one above. I created a link that will take you to the recipie and video of how to make it. It is sooooooooo Yummmmy! Honestly, it tastes like something you would get at Olive Garden.

Just a couple of tips if you decide to try it. If you can't find Pancetta just use thin sliced regular bacon. And (for all you Mormons out there) use chicken stock/broth instead of the white wine. And if you prep your shrimp in the morning or anytime before you actually cook dinner, then, when you go to cook the dish it actually is very quick to make. And if you don't like shrimp... use chicken instead. Enjoy!