Friday, December 17, 2010
Thanksgiving Pictures That I Promised
December!
Now it's time to catch up on this month...
Siena: still adoring preschool and all her friends there. They just had their Christmas party, which was a blast! They played games, gave gifts, played their food, and watched 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'... best preschool group to do this with!
She's also discovered a new favorite game: pull off all the couch cushions and pile them in the middle of the floor. This new mound is then used for either a cave, or a bed, or a trampoline. The fun never ends!... (neither will my nagging for her to clean it up afterward.) She is showing extreme interest in writing, now that her friend Hayden has demonstrated how people write their names (this kid is only 2 and can write his name!) Siena is a pro at a few letters, but mostly gets side-tracked and starts drawing princesses. Actually, she surprised me with a new drawing yesterday: Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. So Sweet!
Her favorite songs to sing at Christmastime are "Away in a Manger", "The Nativity Song", "Jingle Bells", and "Frosty the Snowman". We are lucky to have a growing collection of Christmas books, so that really has helped her understand the season this year. She got to go choose out a gift for Qiana which really made her happy and as we were wrapping it, I think she started catching on to why we give gifts. However, with all the excitement she had to open her gifts, we had to make a paper chain counting down the days until we got to open the gifts. It's actually worked better than I had expected it would. :^)
Qiana: Qiana, Qiana, Qiana.... What do you say about this little munchkin? She has definitely demonstrated that she has a mind of her own. This is such a good thing, as well as a test of my patience, on occasion. We've made HUGE improvements in the public arena; for example, she used to scream her lungs out when I left her at the gym daycare. Today, she screamed when I went to pick her up. Improvement! She used to cry incessantly at bedtime; now she just needs about 2 minutes of whimpering and she's good for the night. Improvement! She still does scream at the top of her lungs and at the decibel range of a heavy metal concert, but I have high hopes that that too will work its way out of her system. She's such an angel when she's happy, though. Very happy... just very volatile. Juan and I love her to pieces and know that it's just the karma that we deserve from our own childhoods. ;^) Qiana is speaking more and more and uses her imagination on a deeper level than we were aware of. She's already cooking and eating (yes, eating... a lot!) in their play kitchen and sings to herself whenever she hears music. Not only does she sing, but she shakes her booty at the first note of a song. (It must be the Latin blood in her.)
Okay, well that's the update.
Siena: still adoring preschool and all her friends there. They just had their Christmas party, which was a blast! They played games, gave gifts, played their food, and watched 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'... best preschool group to do this with!
She's also discovered a new favorite game: pull off all the couch cushions and pile them in the middle of the floor. This new mound is then used for either a cave, or a bed, or a trampoline. The fun never ends!... (neither will my nagging for her to clean it up afterward.) She is showing extreme interest in writing, now that her friend Hayden has demonstrated how people write their names (this kid is only 2 and can write his name!) Siena is a pro at a few letters, but mostly gets side-tracked and starts drawing princesses. Actually, she surprised me with a new drawing yesterday: Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. So Sweet!
Her favorite songs to sing at Christmastime are "Away in a Manger", "The Nativity Song", "Jingle Bells", and "Frosty the Snowman". We are lucky to have a growing collection of Christmas books, so that really has helped her understand the season this year. She got to go choose out a gift for Qiana which really made her happy and as we were wrapping it, I think she started catching on to why we give gifts. However, with all the excitement she had to open her gifts, we had to make a paper chain counting down the days until we got to open the gifts. It's actually worked better than I had expected it would. :^)Qiana: Qiana, Qiana, Qiana.... What do you say about this little munchkin? She has definitely demonstrated that she has a mind of her own. This is such a good thing, as well as a test of my patience, on occasion. We've made HUGE improvements in the public arena; for example, she used to scream her lungs out when I left her at the gym daycare. Today, she screamed when I went to pick her up. Improvement! She used to cry incessantly at bedtime; now she just needs about 2 minutes of whimpering and she's good for the night. Improvement! She still does scream at the top of her lungs and at the decibel range of a heavy metal concert, but I have high hopes that that too will work its way out of her system. She's such an angel when she's happy, though. Very happy... just very volatile. Juan and I love her to pieces and know that it's just the karma that we deserve from our own childhoods. ;^) Qiana is speaking more and more and uses her imagination on a deeper level than we were aware of. She's already cooking and eating (yes, eating... a lot!) in their play kitchen and sings to herself whenever she hears music. Not only does she sing, but she shakes her booty at the first note of a song. (It must be the Latin blood in her.)
Okay, well that's the update.
Catch up: Thanksgiving... continued.
So, picking up where we left off...
We went to NYC, had a great time. First, we went to Times Square and ate at Alpha. Great place, I highly recommend it. Afterwards, we walked down 5th Ave, stopped at F.A.O. Schwartz, and finished the Rockefeller Center and Times Square again. Long day!
The next morning we went to Battery Park, Ground Zero (temporary) Memorial, Canal Street for the obligatory purse perusal, and ate at the famous Lombardi's for the city's historical Margherita pizza. One word- authentic. Believe me, I've tried the classic pizza in Italy before, and this compares quite well.
That pretty much summed up our time there since we all had either a bus or a plane to catch. We said our goodbyes and headed in opposite directions after lots of hugs and 'Thank You's'.
Always such a pleasure having family come to visit....
We went to NYC, had a great time. First, we went to Times Square and ate at Alpha. Great place, I highly recommend it. Afterwards, we walked down 5th Ave, stopped at F.A.O. Schwartz, and finished the Rockefeller Center and Times Square again. Long day!
The next morning we went to Battery Park, Ground Zero (temporary) Memorial, Canal Street for the obligatory purse perusal, and ate at the famous Lombardi's for the city's historical Margherita pizza. One word- authentic. Believe me, I've tried the classic pizza in Italy before, and this compares quite well.
That pretty much summed up our time there since we all had either a bus or a plane to catch. We said our goodbyes and headed in opposite directions after lots of hugs and 'Thank You's'.
Always such a pleasure having family come to visit....
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Why no posts?
The reason I have been absent from the blog is because I really have tried to take the stress out of Christmas. Yes, it was starting to wear on my nerves. Thanks to President Uchtdorf's Christmas Devotional message, I feel justified in taking a break from blogging right now.
Read his message here.
Read his message here.
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