Princess in Da House!

The YMCA we attend was having a princess party so, of course, we had to sign up. Siena had not yet entered the "princess phase" but was starting to show some interest after receiving a set of Disney princess books from Uncle Harper. I figured that the little girlie-girl would love the excuse to dress-up, and as luck has it, I was right. Despite her crazy dance moves and perma-pout, she remembered it as the BEST time she's ever had at the Y (...this I know because for being an extremely distracted three-year-old, she's still talking about "todos de las princesitas en el gimnasio.")

Not quite sure about the princess crown craft. Right before the party, she helped Mommy make a sparkly crown with jewels so she would look like a "real princess"; the craft foam crown was a little anticlimactic.

The leader was asking what princesses liked to do. I could tell that Siena wanted to speak up, but all the other girls were giving such good answers and I think our little princesita got a little intimidated. (She got a Silly Band anyway.)

Once the music started, her cloak of insecurity left the building. She and her friend Ashley (Cinderella) danced from one side of the room to the other until Siena discovered the Ho-Hum shuffle and Ashley discovered some breakdance moves.

After the dancing they had a tea party with cupcakes and juice, and finished the fun with a grueling game of musical chairs. (Siena kept trying to sneak back into the circle, the little chamaca.)

First Day of Preschool!

Siena is officially too grown-up and Juan and I are officially too old. Little Nena started preschool yesterday and both of us just LOVED IT! Qiana and I ran some errands, Siena had fun--it was a win-win.

So I was watching CNN this morning...

...and the topic of faith vs. religious knowledge was up for discussion. Read the whole article for an interesting next few minutes. Oh! And take the quiz.

Qiana is ONE!

I can't believe how fast this last year has gone by. She is ONE! Numero UNO! She is walking, talking (only "Mama"), waving, singing, dancing, and can blow the biggest snot bubbles I've ever seen.

The thing that surprised me about Qiqi is that she is so active. She is not, nor ever has been a cuddly baby and if you try to sit down in the rocking chair with her, she'll screech your ears off. She just likes to be where the party is at!

Some of my favorite Qiana-isms are that she tips to one side of her chair while at the dinner table and likes to look at people sideways; she also likes being chased around a room; she eats more than Siena on a regular basis; she is very adept at climbing stairs but still hesitates on the way down (we still have time for that...); she is a girl of routine; she blows forcefully out of her nostrils or mouth to entertain herself; her birthmark on her forehead matches almost exactly to the one on her knee; she still can't bend those knees while walking, but sure does while dancing; she has a really low voice for an itsy bitsy girl but her screech is definitely ear-piercing; her thigh rolls are still plentiful; her eyes go from hazel to grey to blue from the outside-in; and my favorite of all time--THE CRAZY CURLY HAIR!!!

Feliz Cumpleanos Qiqi!!!
(...or Qeekers, as Siena calls her.)

The birthday song (I don't know what light setting I had it on for it to turn out yellow?!)



No more sugar for you, or you won't sleep tonight...
"It's not fair! My parents hate me!"
"It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to."Okay, okay, you can have a little whipped cream...
Happy again.

"Okay Siena, go stand by Qiana so we can get a sister picture..."

Outer Banks Trip #2

(Marin took this amazing pic.)

Picture this: there I was, lying on a straw mat laid out over the hot sand with the light breeze blowing to the North. The Qeeks was fast asleep in her stroller while the Nena was giggling with Blake in their man-made sand swimming pool. Juan was out on the boogie board with his crew and all I needed to care about was reapplying sunscreen in an hour or two.

Now repeat that thought three more times, adding hours of boogie boarding and a few attempts at skim boarding, and you have captured just a little glimmer of the week we just had.

The last full day was spent out on the docks, crabbing. We caught some feisty little cangrejitos and had a blast watching the boys try to get them untangled from the crab net. Once we made it home with all our fellow crabbers, the boys cleaned the crustaceans and threw them into boiling hot water. Little did those 10-legged hot-tubbers know....

I'm proud to say that I ate four whole crab legs, but I have to admit that the last bite was pretty difficult to swallow. Have you ever seen a crab when it's first cracked open? Let's just say that I wish I would have been spared the scene of the sloshy, green innards which, as it turns out, are called the tamales.

(Following two pics are also courtesy of Marin)

The whole fam came home with tans (even though we applied SPF 30-50 every day,) and I'm pretty sure that I gained about 10 pounds over the course of one week (each family took a turn cooking dinner for the group and every night was a feast!)


Worth.

It.


(Trip highlights: boogie boarding in massive waves, date night (Juan and I went to Roanoke Island to a little cafe and walked along the marina,) watching Siena play make-believe Peter Pan and Tinkerbell with her friends, crabbing by the lighthouse with friends, hindering Qiana's millions of attempts to walk into the ocean without Mommy or Papi, Duck Donuts, the FOOD!, bike-riding with the family, playing at the sand dunes, and floating in the ocean, chatting it up with the girls.)

In the theater room, getting ready to watch The Princess and the Frog

No beach pictures were taken with our camera. I snapped these before we left for the beach the first day.

Zumba class

While we were there, my sis-in-law organized an extra Zumba class so I could attend. I had done Zumba once before in preparation for her class, but I had no idea what I was really in for. She is AMAZING! (...and I'm not writing that just because she might read this.) I loved every minute of it and by the end, my whole body ached.

Cooks in the Kitchen

We got a lot of kitchen time in during our trip. It was so nice to be able to cook with and for family. We like to make one big meal for each family when we visit, and this year was a little disappointing because neither meal was as big of a hit as we had hoped. We steered on the healthier side for Juan's family by preparing a Lemon-Ginger Cod with Ginger-infused Rice and Fresh Pineapple with Limed Coconut and Ginger Syrup. Sounds delicious, but the fish needed a little more seasoning. For my family, we made an Indian-inspired meal of Tandoori Chicken,Garlic Naan, Roasted Potatoes and Pearl Onions and finished with a Thai dessert: Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango. The dessert and side-dishes were great, but I think that the chicken could have been better. Oh well, we have four whole months to decide what to make next.

But wait, there was even more fun dicing, boiling, searing, and garnishing!

My Mom's Relief Society has an annual Bake-off and this year it was while we were visiting. We entered two dishes: Juan's family's Pastel Azteca (a spin on Mexican Lasagna) and my favorite summer dessert, Apple-Pear-Cranberry Crisp.

Guess who won Second Place? We did-- Woot Woot!

Juan's family wanted to have Asian cuisine, so we all took a part in creating it. One day, Sandra (J's little sister) taught us all how to make sushi and tempura vegetables. It was so yummy! Another day, we all whipped up our own Asian dishes for everyone and had a feast of Egg Drop Soup, Spring Rolls, Bubble Tea, and Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango (yep, we made it twice. Soooo worth it.)

...Qiana really liked it. She probably ate as much as anyone there.

Cousins!

...if only they were all smiling at once...

"Ava's Zumba!"--Siena thinks that's what it's really called.

I think Siena is singing along with the music in Tinkerbell. (Still her favorite movie ever.)

Well, Siena got to see her only first cousin, Ava, again this summer. It turned out how we expected: worst of enemies one minute, best of friends the next. Ava is quite the little Zumba dancer (under the unsuspecting tutelage of her mother, a Zumba teacher) and it rubbed off onto Siena. All they wanted to do was shake it! When we got them distracted enough from that they played Princesses, cooked in the little kitchen, hung out with adorable Neveah, and were chefs at their backyard playhouse restaurant (taking orders for everything at $10,000/plate.) It was great to see their imagination at work.

The Flowers...

My job was the flowers... which I have to say turned out just perfect because Tristan has good taste. The pictures don't really do them justice because they were taken after the bouquet had been in the hot sun for hours. Oh well, they capture the idea, at least.
Vintage flower pins are stuck in there along with garden roses, Cattleya orchids, Queen Anne's lace, Magnolia leaves, dusty miller, tulips, ranunculus, lisianthus, hydrangea, stock, feverfew, and freesia. Aaaahhh! It was so fun to work with all those flowers!

The table arrangements were all similar. My dad and brothers went to the mountains and harvested some beautiful Manzanita branches for me and we laid those on their side over some rugged sheet moss. Then my grandma and uncle helped build little nests from angle vine to lay beside the branches. Inside the nests were some wedding favors (which were all put together by my mom, Siena, David, Sierra, and Jerica. You rock!) Scattered around the mess of nature we replicated were vintage vases of billy balls, scabiosa pods, lisianthus, tulips, freesia, Queen Anne's lace, ranunculus, roses, feverfew, and button mums... which were all laid out by the cousins and Juan's sister. We didn't have any time between the luncheon and reception, but thanks to all of those majorly nice volunteers the set-up was all pulled off in less than ten minutes! To anyone who helped, you were all amazing and THANK YOU!

A little twist from the traditional, Tristan had pies instead of a wedding cake. My talented grandfather made those cake stands from an old oak tree in his backyard. Seriously, we have the best family, ever!

I loved this painting as a backdrop. It was painted by a family friend of the groom.

The Big Day...

Pre-makeup and she still looks beautiful... (jealous!)

Getting her hair all gussied-up was Sierra's task, which she did quite well.

T's Bridal Shower

Tristan's bridal shower was to the theme of "Tea Party" which I thought was so cute, especially since she wanted a vintage vibe to the wedding reception. The food was delish, the take-home handkerchiefs were a nice touch, and the company was perfect. I loved seeing everyone again and it was nice to get the girls together to celebrate T's last few days as a SINGLE LADY!

Little Miss Housewife-y!



Shanelle and Erin, you girlies did a great job!