Sunday was a Funday!

We had such a wonderful family day on Sunday. Since it's been disgustingly hot here we decided to head down to the shore on Sunday to catch some offshore breeze. We headed down to Point Pleasant Beach (Exit 98 for you locals) and lucked out with very little traffic in both directions as well as balmy 85 degrees with nice winds vs 97 degrees in no wind in the BC (that's Bergen County for you non-locals).

We left the house at 9 am and we were sitting on the beach under our umbrella a little before 11 am. We spent a couple of hours on the beach, where both girls were so good. Ella loved playing in the waves and Sofia was having a great time just chilling out on the blanket and playing with sand toys.

Yummy Apple!
Sofia looks a little self concious in her bikini. I say, work it girl!

Hi! My name is Happy Chub Chubs and this is my mom...

Daddy and Ella eating lunch

Are you looking at my pooch?

After lunch we headed to the Boardwalk and Ella rode a bunch of rides ALL BY HERSELF! What a big girl.She also requested to ride a rollercoaster and cried when it was over! It's a little bittersweet (albeit cliche) to watch Ella become a little girl.

Riding in the boats

It's takes serious concentration to drive this boat, you know

The Fishy RideThe Roller Coaster, which she had to go on twice!

This was a pretty serious rollercoaster for a 2 year old. Ricardo took a video of us riding it. I was even a little bit nervous but Ella loved it!

Always a sign of a succesful trip-two sleeping kids!

We got home around 3:30 pm, which was just enough time for Ricardo and I to get ready to go to USA v. Argentina soccer game at Giants Stadium. This was Ricardo's Father's Day gift and boy, did he like it.

We got there at 5:30pm and were re-routed to the parking lot by the race tracks. The gates to the parking lots had been open since 2:30 pm and we were told they filled up right away!

We set up shop and tailgated with our friend Pete and a couple of his friends (all Brits-try talking gas prices with Brits. We got no sympathy).

Self Portrait

The boys tailgating (it was about 96 degrees at this point)

There were over 78,000 people at this game-the largest number of attendees to a US Soccer home game EVER! We were a part of US Soccer History, and I promise you by the time the girls are 10 years old they'll be sick of hearing Ricardo tell them about it.

This is what a sold out game looks like (yes that is a red, white and blue mohawk in the corner of the picture. We picked a great section to sit! Whistles, drums, body paint, red white and blue pimp hats...really helped us to forget how hot it was)

Singing the National Anthem

Toward the end of the 2nd half we started to hear some thunder, and then the lightening started and then the pouring rain. The rain was actually welcomed by all-including the players-since it was so hot. We tried to get video of the rain but it was so humid that the camera started fogging over.

It was insanely hot and humid and there was no breeze. It was crazy, but the energy was high and the US played great. The final score was 0-0 which to non soccer fans sounds pretty lame, but Argentina is the #1 team in the world and the US is ranked #21. I really thought we would get creamed so it was quite exciting to watch such a good match.

And really, I just enjoyed watching Ricardo. He was like a kid in a candy shop.

What a great day

My trip with Liisa

This weekend was a nice vacation for me. I got to spend Saturday and Sunday down in Moorestown with my good friend, Liisa. Liisa and I have known each other since we were about 6 years old. We were pretty much attached at the hip until our Sophomore year in high school when her family moved from California to Virgina.

Right now we both live in New Jersey, which is pretty funny and pretty random, so we've been able to spend some time together.

Moorestown is about 15 minutes from Philadelphia, PA. So we got to hang out in Philly quite a bit.

Saturday night we went to a fabulous restaurant, Positano Coast. Wow, amazing seafood.

Liisa and her boyfriend, Paolino have two adorable pitbulls, Molly and Nate. I didn't have to sleep alone on Saturday night, Nate shared the bed with me. He's such a sweet dog, except for the fact that he decided 6:30 am was a great time to wake up and stood over me licking my face until I woke up...good thing he's cute.

On Sunday we went back to Philly and enjoyed a fabulous brunch at Farmicia. Then we walked to Historic Philadelphia and saw Independence Hall, Christ Church-Where Benjamin Franklin is buried, and the Betsy Ross House.

We then found Jeweler's Row which we were quite happy about and spend some time looking at pretties. :)
Next stop was Reading Terminal, which is an indoor food market and really cool, for some ice cream. Very yummy!
Last stop was a trip to the famouse "LOVE" sculpture.

It was such a fun trip, but of course I missed Ricardo and the girls. I'd love to go back to Philly with them for a weekend trip this summer. I'm sure the girls would love it!

Oh, I'm trying to get Ricardo to send me some of his pictures from his work trip to Bangkok so I can post about it. It was really great trip for him.

Happy Memorial Day!!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

We had a really nice weekend. On Sunday we hosted a BBQ. The weather was perfect, the girls were in good moods, the food was yummy and the company was excellent.
We had about 14 kids and 30 adults. Here are some pictures.

My American Flag Fruit Pizza, and Red and Blue Cupcakes...ok, the red are pink but I used 2 whole things of red food dye and it just wouldn't turn red!

The host and hostess

Daddy and Sofia (chub chubs)

Ella and Su-Su/Su-Rick AKA:Susan, our awesome next door neighbor

Mia and Ella playing Baggo-Baggo was a hit with both the adults and kids

Baseball?

The Grill Master

Jordy liked my cupcakes!

Ella and Mia eating dessert

Today. Memorial Day, our town had a little Memorial Day Parade, and when I say little, I mean little.

This is what it looked like when we arrived for it 10 minutes before it was supposed to start...can you hear the crickets?

Luckily, it got a little more crowded by the time the parade started but not much more.

Our gang (minus me)

The parade only lasted about 20 minutes and then we went to the town park for some fabulous music (sarcasm) and some speeches, etc...

Ella and Mia-I love that they put their arms around each other

Trying to pose with Mia and Ella...at least Mia gets it...Ella just shoves more food in. :)

Adorable Ben Ben. Ella used to be so obsessed with Ben when he was a baby, so much so she named her baby doll that she sleeps with every night, Baby Ben. Now that Ben isn't so little anymore, she wants nothing to do with him. She's crazy! Look at that face!

On our walk home, Ella tripped and skinned her knee. We had to go home and get her a band-aid, right away, as she is obsessed with band-aids.

She was so excited. When I told her to show her band-aid to Abuela and Gaga she got very excited.

Now both girls are napping and we're eating leftover food from the BBQ. What a great weekend.

Sofia's 9 Month Pictures

Sofia is waving!

Once again, my eyes look closed. I have come to the conclusion this is just what I look like at the end of a loooonnnng day. Plus it probably doesn't help that I only take my contacts off like once a week so my eyes are dry. I really need LASIK. Additionally, Ricardo was sitting at the table shooting up (hmmm, that sure comes out like a drug reference) so I look like an Amazon...an Amazon who doesn't wear make up and squints her eyes


But I regress, this post is not about me, it's about Sofia our waving 9 month old! Yippee!

Oh and yes, Ella is drunk...I'm kidding, but man, she sure does sound it.

Another Ella Oldie but Goodie

Ella and I are looking through her old videos again and came across this one.

Sorry it's so grainy.

Happy 9 month Birthday Sofia!

I can't believe my itty bitty baby is 9 months old today. Where does the time go?

We had her informal 9 month visit yesterday and she's growing like a weed...ok, maybe like a tree.

Height: 28.75 inches

Weight: 20 lbs 14 oz!!!!!!!

Poor girl also got a really bad ear infection for her birthday. She's starting to feel better today but the last two nights were really rough. She wanted to sleep so badly but she was just in so much pain. She was such a good girl though, still smiling and saying hi to all the nurses and the Dr.

She's pretty much growing out of most of her 6-12 month clothes and wearing 12-18 months.

Sofia is doing so much more at 9 months than I expected. I really think it's because she's trying to keep up with Ella.

At 9 months Sofia:

~crawls like a maniac

~she pulls to standing

~cruises the furniture a little bit

~loves to "walk" around while we hold her hands

~eats a ton of finger foods-her favorites are bits of chicken, cheese, peas and carrots

~drinks her water from a straw sippy cup

~babbles and talks all the time. She copies sounds we make to the T. Like today I said, "Yeah, yeah, you're feeling better!" and she looked at me and said "Yaa Yaa!"

~Has already learned if Ella takes a toy away from her she should scream really loudly to get my attention and get her toy back (oy vey!)

She's also a very sweet, pretty easy going little girl. She loves to go for walks in the stroller and loves to people watch.

She's a joy and we're so happy she's a part of our family.

Today is Abuela's last day here with us (so sad) so after Ella gets done with school we're going to celebrate at Chili's!

It's the Sofia Show!

Ok, I feel like a horrible parent because I have no pictures or videos of Ella but I try, I really try, she just refuses. We are now at point where she actually covers her face and yells, "no pictures mommy!". Geez. You'd think I'm the papparazzi or something.

So anyway, this will be the Sofia post. This post is as much for Daddy as it is for the grandparents, since he's in Thailand (has been there since last Friday and won't be home until this Sunday) and he wants to see his girls...well girl.

This is so cool. SOFIA says HI! She really does. I'm not just being a crazy mom. She's been saying it for about a month but I couldn't ever capture it on camera but everyone who heard it swore she was saying hi too. Tonight, Maggie (who's in town visiting) and I got it on film!

She's also a crawling and cruising machine. She'll be 9 months on Wednesday and she's already cruising the furniture. This is crazy to me since Ella didn't even crawl until 10 months and I don't think she started cruising until 11.5 months...Sofia just wants to keep up.

Well she's not going to keep up if she keeps trying to crawl under the sunroom couch. Excuse the blurriness...someone who's name starts with an E and ends with an A got her grubby little paws on my camera.

As mentioned above, Abuela (Maggie-Ricardo's mom) has been in town visiting since last Monday. She's been such a HUGE help and the girls really enjoy having her around. Unfortunately, both girls took turns being sick while she was here. Ella is all better but now Sofia has a stomach bug and has graced but Maggie and I with the contents of her stomach on seperate occasions.

But she is such a trooper because even being sick she's still mostly all smiles.

And look! I have one picture of Ella! Amanda actually took this one while we were playing at Nicole's house on Monday afternoon. It was the one spilt second that Ella actually looked at the camera and said cheese and Amanda caught it...no wonder she's the one who always has her camera out!

Anyway, we're enjoying our visit with Abuela and just counting down the minutes until Daddy gets home. Ella told me today she wants to drive to Thailand to help Daddy on his business trip. She misses him so much it's breaking my heart. She's old enough to know he's gone and miss him but not old enough to really understand why he's gone and how long he'll be gone. She's going to be so excited when she wakes up Sunday morning and sees him here!

Sofia has her 9 month WBV on Wednesday so I'll be back with the stats but I can tell you this much-she is defintely over 20 lbs!!! Holy MOLY! :D

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers, Grandmothers, and Great Grandmothers out there!

A special Happy Mother's Day to GaGa, Abuela, and GG.

We love you very much

BIG GIRL BED!

It's a big day in Ella's world today because she moved from her crib to a BIG GIRL BED! She's soooo excited. She started asking for one earlier this week so today we decided to convert her crib to the toddler bed functionality.

I'm a little diaspointed and not sure what to do because as you can see from this picture, the toddler rail that goes with the crib (although it was an additional $60) doesn't do a thing. It barely even goes an inch above the mattress so it's pretty useless.

We have put a regular bed rail on

But all bed rails say they are not for toddler beds and should be used only on twin size are bigger. Getting a twin is not an option right now, so we aren't sure if we should just stick with the mesh bed rail or just use the one that came with the bed but isn't very high? What do you all think?

Ella has just wanted to hang out in her bed all day-we had to drag her away to go to Target. She's even been inviting everyone to join her, including Mikka.

She's so proud of herself. She's upstairs taking a nap now, which is a total miracle and not something I'm expecting to be repeated (she was exhausted) and as she was falling asleep she kept saying, "I'm a big girl! I'm a big girl!" Too cute.

She's so proud of her big girl status that today at Target she even asked for and picked out some of her own big girl underwear (Cinderella and The Little Mermaid). We're not going to pick back up potty training for another month or so since it seems to stress her out so much, but this is a step in the right direction.

I just can't believe she's in a big girl bed...she just keeps growing up.