Halloweeeeeen!!!!

You've waited long enough:









....wait for it....









....wait for it....

our little greek goddess

ABC's

This is what I have to look forward to as a mother and I'm so excited! For those who don't know, I babysit our neighbor's 2 year-old daughter, Hazel, three times a week. It is so fun to watch her learn:



And for those who care, I am publishing my "To-Do List" online so I will actually DO IT today! (Funny, I always seem to get more done after I tell someone I'll do it.)

1. Change laundry
2. Fax insurance info.
3. Make a deposit at bank
   
4. Buy groceries (H-Mart and Acme)
   
5. ---the other thing that Juan asked me to do, but I can't remember what it was at this moment in time---
6. Make caldo for Wednesday
7. Clean out the fridge
8. Vacuum and sweep (and try to shake Siena's rugs)
9. Ah! Do Siena's laundry
10. Blog entry (to make it an even 10 things to do)

"Round #2"

Siena has been teasing Papi a lot lately. She saves her spit-up until he has positioned her in such a way that she can let it loose ALL OVER HIM! He literally had to change all 3 PAIRS of clothes yesterday! Oh yeah, and we opened the 6-12 month box of clothes we have so we could look for a jacket, and lo and behold, another ENTIRE wardrobe appeared. WOW! We have toooooooooooo many clothes for this little monkey. Oh well, she is spoiled in the fact that she doesn't have to wear clothes with a little spit-up on them because we're desperate to make sure she wears everything at least once before she grows out of it. Why have them if you're not going to use them, right?

Este video es para mis queridos suegros.

Anoche: Juan con su nena bonita. Siena received her immunizations yesterday and wasn't loving life. It was heartbreaking to see her in such pain and Juan wanted to help her so much. So, he found a lot of songs from his childhood online and sang to her to calm her down. She ended up falling asleep in his arms. It had to be recorded for both of them to remember. (Luckily, Juan didn't know I was recording.)

Recipe of the Century... that everyone already has.

It's the closest I've tried to the REAL DEAL. We had a recipe exchange in the neighborhood yesterday and I made Cafe Rio Pork with Tomatillo Ranch Dressing. It's the first time I tried making it with a different recipe, and it turned out tasting the most authentic. For those of you who aren't familiar with Cafe Rio, it is a delicious Mexican-style restaurant in Utah. The specialties include smothered enchiladas, huge salads, and of course, the HUGE burritos! Many people have tried to replicate the recipes, but few have succeeded. However, this recipe hits the closest to the mark, so enjoy:

A Cutie with a Pout

Some days she is happy,

Some days she is not.

Today she was both.

House Tour #2

Now that it's semi-presentable...





The best way to view it is to click directly on the video. It will take you to YouTube where it will upload faster.

Check Back Tommorrow...

... our video isn't working.

A Secret Message...

F33l Fr33 t0 C0mm3nt. W3 want t0 h3ar what p30pl3 th1nk ab0ut th15 gam3.

Okay, soooooo........

Last night Juan and I opened our game of Skip-Bo for the first time. Yes, we received this as a wedding gift about 2 years ago, and somehow neglected it. We have so many other games that we love to play, we just were too lazy to start a game we had never played together before. When I was younger, my family played Skip-Bo a lot, but for some reason, I always was too intimidated to play it when I was older. (I guess the piles and piles of cards seemed too complicated.) Anyway, I played Skip-Bo with some friends while the guys were at the Priesthood Session of Conference, and LOVED it! So, I dug through our closet and pulled out the unopened box of Skip-Bo. Those cards would finally see light! Juan couldn't remember how to play (he had only played it once or twice before,) so I started explaining. Well, knowing me, it took forever to explain and after that, it didn't even make sense, so we just started playing.

Juan won.

We kept playing and because he let me cheat a little, I won the next round... but that didn't count. We played another round.

Juan won again... flagrantly.

Maybe the Skip-Bo cards will go back to the caverns of the closet.

A Poem for Juan

Out the door and on the train, by 6:50 each day,
If I was asked to that, well, I'd have to say "No Way!"

Token, token, in the slot, then on to find a seat,
Pull out the books and study, with a granola bar to eat.

Half an hour later, nearing to the station stop,
Pack up the books and take a breath, that study helped a lot.

Walk up the stairs and through the doors, show your school ID,
Into the room and in your chair, no time left to study.

Take a test, and then a quiz, and then onto the lab,
And to the bowl of plaster, the water you will add.

Set the teeth aside for now, it's time to say "goodbye",
To all the friends that you have, sitting by your side.

Back to the station you will go, make a quick phone call,
To me who cannot wait to come to meet you with our doll.

We see you walking toward the car, a smile upon your face,
To see you makes me happy that we are in this place.

Driving back unto our home, we talk along the way,
Face-off with parallel parking, it never is my day.

Unlock the door and walk inside, it always feels so good,
To have you home has made my day, again just like it should.


I LOVE YOU!!!

So Alike

Like Father, Like Daughter...

How accurate is this???

Portrait of Chavez

Aaahh, Saturday Mornings

How do you spell RELAX? W-E-E-K-E-N-D. Last night we decided on the spur-of-the-moment to go to the King of Prussia mall and go window shopping. Before we left, we got to open up the box of 3-6 month-old clothes to dress Siena up in because she's growing like a weed. We found some fun treasures, like a pair of jeans and a beanie.

This morning we all slept in. (I'm not surprised... we do that a lot.) Because it has finally cooled off for now in Philly, we all woke up in our comfy pjs with the big comforter swallowing us up. The thing that topped this morning off, though, was the smell of our house. We got an Autumn Pumpkin-scented home fragrance "thing" last night at B&BW and by this morning, our ENTIRE apartment was satiated with the smell. I guess the only thing that would have made this morning perfect would be a homemade breakfast. Well, we will have to settle for a homemade lunch.

(Okay, I forget our picture camera doesn't automatically
rotate the video... so, enjoy from the side view. :^)

Rain, Rain Come Again....Tomorrow Please.

Today it rained. And rained. And rained. We loved it. The End.

Vintage Value

One man's junk is another man's treasure, right? I remember hating the wallpaper in my family's old camper that looked like the pictures above, but what made that different? I didn't look at with one adjective in mind: vintage. I LOVE vintage things, but let's be honest, most of the truly "vintage" items still in existence are just someone's old property they never bothered throwing out. I, for one, am really glad this "vintage generation" is accepted as "cool"; there's nothing wrong with squeezing more life out of something that hit its stride a while ago. Thank heaven for yard sales and thrift stores so these "vintage" items can be re-discovered.

Bye, Bye Oso

Oso kept Siena up all night long, so he had to go back to the pet store. Bye, Bye Oso.

I'm jealous...

Going Retro

Siena loves Papi more than Mami. Well, I guess I would, too, if I had to stay home with me all day long every day. She has been crying on and off all day long and I couldn't do anything to console her (except feed her, of course, but let's be honest... that's not going to happen 24/7.) When we picked up Papi from the train station, she stopped crying; when I handed her over to Papi, she stopped crying; what is the deal? Anyway, she's crying right now because she really is hungry. I'm going to end this abruptly.

Her Conference attire...the hat's a bit BIG

Linvilla Orchards

Today we took a small trip to Linvilla Orchards. The original purpose was so we could take some pictures of Siena in the pumpkin patch, but it kinda got dark earlier than we thought, so we improvised. Well... the pictures can speak for themselves.

Just for Fun

We saw this on our friends' blog and couldn't help ourselves... we pretty much morphed everyone we had a picture of. Y'all should check it out-- but beware, it's addicting. (Colee, your morph was the most believable, so forgive me, I had to post it!)



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A Neighborly Welcome!

We absolutely love all our neighbors. We met Tyler and Janene the first week we were out here and have been friends ever since. Well, we got this huge package in the mail today and were thrilled not only to get something other than bills in the mail, but also with the contents of the package. Tyler and Janene ordered a bouncer seat for Siena as a "house warming" gift. What nice neighbors!!! As you can see, Siena will never go back to old-fashioned arm-rockin'... she's too happy with the chair.

Smiley the Human

Siena has a new nickname from her father: Cute Little Human. As per the request of many of you, we posted some pictures of Siena smiling. Enjoy!

Cootchy Cootchy Coo!

Yep, it's official... they are cousins. Both of them like to open their cute little mouths. We have already introduced Siena to Ava. We sat her on Juan's lap in front of the computer and opened every picture we were e-mailed so she could get familiar with her adorable cousin. You can totally see the cute Chavez nose in both of them. Anyway, I'm goo goo over these two precious babies.

A Niece!

Today we are really excited because we have our first niece on her way into this world. Triana is giving birth to little Ava and we wish we could be there with them so much. I'm sure knowing that Ava was coming today was what put the smile on Siena's face this morning. And if Ryan or Triana happens to see this (which I'm sure won't be the case for a while because of their new arrival,) CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Y felicidades a mis queridos suegros. Ahora, ustedes son abuelos de dos nenas bonitas.