Snow Day

This is what happens when it's too cold to go outside and play.

Clay and Andy's Wedding

My baby cousin, Clayton, and his fiancee, Andy, were sealed for time and all eternity on January 8, in the Albuquerque temple. Aren't they a beautiful couple?

Getting the girls ready in the morning.

This bed was soooo comfortable! I think the pictures speak for themselves.

It was a fun little trip. The kids really enjoyed staying in a hotel.

Christmas 2010

Ok, so not only am I behind on my blog, but we have been terrible about taking pictures! With my re dedication however, this is going to change. I now am going to see the camera as being part of the family, a friend, as opposed to a mere object or extra thing to carry.

Here are a few shots I bummed off Lily, my sister in law, during Christmas. As always, it was great. We had family in town and could not have had a better time.

We took a million shots but the girls would not smile. I love Danny's smile though. Poor guy, he was so tired when we took these.

Thank you to my Tia Belinda for their traditional Christmas outfits. They looked so cute!

For Christmas this year, Santa went all out for Danny. He got him everything he wanted and a little bit more. He figured he had been such a good boy this year, with his sisters being born and all, that he deserved it. Well Christmas day, me and Cecilio were so excited to see his expression. We couldn't wait to see how excited he would be to get so many toys from Santa.

When he finally woke up and walked into the room, he just non chalantly walked over to his toys and started to just touch them. He had no expression on his face at all, almost like he expected it. We were so disappointed and sad. We figured it might have been because he just woke up, but some more theories started brewing after that.




Later that day we went to my aunt's house to open gifts. He was a little more excited there, but still not the excitement I had envisioned in my mind. Maybe it was just me and my crazy expectations. I just kind of let it go. Through conversation, my uncle started telling us about his Christmases as a boy and how he would get so excited over a pair of socks. That really stuck with me and stood out in my mind for some reason.

A few days later we went to a birthday party. When it came time to open gifts, something was just too familiar. The little girl, the same age as Danny, was just opening gift after gift, and not even getting excited about anything. She'd open a gift and look at it and then move on to the next. That's when it finally hit me (took me a while I know). My kid was ungrateful and not because he was a bad kid, the opposite actually. He's always so good that we buy him whatever he wants. While trying to make him happy and "reward" him we have actually been robbing him of those wonderful emotions you get when you are so thankful for something. He had no clue what that felt like!! That really made me and Cecilio sad. This feeling is so important in life. Being grateful is what makes us happy and content. We do not want Danny to miss out on this beautiful feeling so, we're starting to make him work for his toys, and trying to say no a little more. We'll see if this helps. Next year we have decided Santa can only bring him three toys by the way. After all, that's all the Savior received. We'll see what happens.

Santa and Cookies

Danny has been doing wonderfully in school. His teacher is amazing. She just always goes above and beyond for her students. This year she had a little party for Christmas and invited parents. Me and Danny had a lot of fun. There was a special visitor that came to the party too. Here's Danny's face when he walked in.

Santa Claus!!!

He was so excited to meet him!!

He even gave Danny an early Christmas present.

Next, we decorated cookies...

Yes, there are cookies under there, I promise.

Me and Danny hardly get to spend time together anymore, so we really enjoyed this alone time. I love you Danny!!

P.S. Neo enjoyed the cookies by the way. Ay Neo!!

Trimmings and All

Decorating a little late...again! This year I was so tempted to put the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving and then I talked myself out of it telling myself it was too early. Well here we are, decorating a week before Christmas. Better late than never right?!

Danny loves helping with the tree.

Ella and Emma confined to their seats. That was their way of helping.

We've started a new tradition in our household this Christmas. We decided to get the kids an ornament each Christmas hoping it might reflect what they were into that year, or something they like. Danny chose Toy Story of course.

The girls got "My 1st Christmas" ornaments

Me and Cecilio chose a key, which represents our first home.
We figure it will be nice to look back and reflect on as the kids get older.

Finishing Touch

Hope everyone has a special Christmas!

Happy Fourth Birthday Danny!

Four already!! Can't believe it. This year Danny had a Toy Story party with jumping balloon and all. He really enjoyed himself. Love you Danny!

Update on Danny

I am so behind! Anyway, last month Danny had his followup checkup for his ears and the doctor said he's doing great. His hearing is back to normal and the tubes look good. Thank goodness!!