More Christmas Pics and Memories

Playing with GiGi and Marla

I want to remember two things from Christmas eve mass this year. As they were carrying the baby Jesus up to the manger scene I whispered into Marisol's ear, "See baby Jesus?" and she said loud and clear "Baby!" Too cute. Then later in the service the priest was giving his homily and talking about how incredible it is that God became man and came to us as a little baby. Just as he was saying that Mary would have to change his diapers Marisol said "uh oh!" so that everyone could hear. Everyone laughed including the priest and he said, "Uh oh is right!" or something like that.

How come we always take two pictures -- and in one Mike looks goofy (look at the eyes above) and in the other I look goofy (look at my eyes below)? Either we need to start taking 3 pictures or I need to learn how to digitally alter pictures and take one of our heads off of one picture and transfer it to another!

New Year's Eve at Disney's Animal Kingdom

One of the highlights of our vacation was going to Disney's Animal Kingdom on New Year's Eve day. We had so much fun! My family has been to the various Disney parks quite a few times and we always have fun. At the end of this day I mentioned to my mom and sister that I think that this was the best time I've ever had. This is probably mostly due to the fact that Marisol really enjoyed the animals and we had so much fun watching her have fun! It was also our first time at the Animal Kingdom and it was so cool. Our favorite attraction was the "Safari Ride". We went on it right when we got there and liked it so much we did it again later in the day. Marisol was pointing to all the animals and it was great because you get so close to them! Mike got some great shots with the camera.

All of the women, ready for a day of fun!

Grandpa and his Girls

Pretty Pink Flamingos

HUGE Gorilla getting a drink


One of Marisol's favorites -- lots of Fish!

Two cute Meerkats standing guard

Tired Baby! Marisol took one 1/2 hour nap that day, but she did great!

Snoozing in the stroller.

The Safari Truck

Enjoying our safari!

This lioness was awesome!

It was so cool to see Giraffes so close up. This was a baby... Marisol pointed and said "Giraffe!"

Christmas - Home for the Holidays

We had a wonderful Christmas in Rochester. It was great to be home and see family and friends. We spent Christmas Eve and day with the Mays. Mike's family from Ohio and his sister's family from Chicago were there also. We ate tons of good food and had a great time just hanging out together. We were also able to see my family Christmas eve morning so we really made the most of a pretty short visit (only 4 1/2 days!)

GiGi and Marisol

Aunt Stephanie, Will, GiGi and Marisol making cookies.

McKenzie, Marisol, Sammy, and Dominic -- It was so great to see the Grillos and the Cowburns!

Stacie, BG and Marisol say "Cheese!"

"The Boys"

Ilya, Campbell, and Jonah

Aleida and Marisol

Marisol all dressed up for Christmas Eve Mass

Enjoying Christmas Eve :-)

Will - Christmas Morning

Will and Marisol enjoy a video between stockings and breakfast (and presents!)

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family research

hmmm... So this was kind of funny! I saw this on someone else's blog and decided to try it. What do you think? Everyone thinks Marisol looks like Mike, so this made me feel like there is some hope that she got some "Mommy genes" too! :-) ok, so I have too much time on my hands. Actually I don't, I just need to go to bed!

National Tree

We had a really fun evening on Friday. We went to see the National Christmas tree and some of the decorations around the city. It was a nice relaxed time and we got some food and hot chocolate to warm up afterwards. It made me appreciate how when you live somewhere you can do something fun for an hour or two and not feel the need to cram in a lot more like you feel the need to do when you visit a place!

Planets Aligned

We had a great day today. Well, I did anyways. The day passed by quickly and with lots of fun. We got out to the playground, came back to our apartment, both kids ate well, napped well, and I got to talk to other adults. We got fresh air, I got some exercise, and I'm almost ready for Christmas (which is only 2 short weeks away!) Anyways, you have to love days like this. There was nothing extraordinary about it, but it was just nice and sometimes that is even better. And they don't come so often... only when the planets are perfectly aligned!


Marisol after a long, hard day of hanging out with the boys.

Marisol Update

One of Marisol's favorite things to do lately is to be "in" something -

laundry baskets, diaper baskets, toys, mommy's underwear "drawer", the pack n' play. It is even more fun if she can get covered up!

Her favorite word is still "Bye bye" but we are adding quite a few more to the repertoire. One of our favorites is "push" - she often will say it while pushing Nils (or mommy, or daddy, or the kitty)! It is funny in a way, but we try to remind her that she doesn't like it when Nils pushes her! Nils has been very loving this week and bringing lots of toys to Marisol (especially when she is sad). Last week when she wanted a car he had she pleaded with him "please please please!" but he was unmoved. This week he has been much more generous bringing her cars, the ball popper, books, you name it. Marisol even said thank you one time!

We are also trying to get her to wear a barrette in her hair (so mommy doesn't have to think about cutting it yet). We have had mixed results. Marisol isn't sure that she likes them yet -- and Nils definitely doesn't like them!

We had our last Spanish class today and it was so fun. We have a lot of cute video clips to share, so when Mike is done with finals (Friday, yay!) he will have time to upload them. We have recovered from our fun Thanksgiving and are getting in the holiday spirit here. We can't wait for Christmas!