The Motzi...kind of

Today was a really ugly, rainy day out so the girls and I decided to make pizzas and cookies and have a picnic in the sun room.

We had the majority of the picnic on the picnic blanket on the floor but when it was time for dessert, Ella decided we needed to say the Motzi, the blessing over the food, for our cookies, at the table.

Here she is (kind of) saying the Motzi. A future Rabbi, perhaps? An American Idol superstar? Ummm, most likely not. Poor thing-a speech articulation issue + trying to speak in Hebrew isn't so easy.

Memorial Day 2009

Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time with friends and spent some nice quality family time as well.

On Monday, we went to our town's parade and then in the late afternoon headed over to the Goldstein's house for a BBQ. As usual, we had a blast. The standard crew was there (Goldsteins, Briefs, Bernsteins and us, the Martinezes) but also Erika's neighbors came by as well as their friends Jordan and Heather and their adorable kids.

Erika is seriously the best hostess and always has the best food and the most beautiful presentation. I should have taken pictures of it all. It was fabulous!

The kids played nonstop for 4+ hours!

Ricardo, Andy, Sammy, and Sofia

Ella, Sofia, and Jordy on the trampoline. We really need to get one of these. Ella was on it for at least 3 hours. What a great workout!
Sofia on the swing-kindof
On the bouncy swing
Charming Rich
Aydan and Sofia
The Ladies-Jess, Erika, Mer, Me, Heather
Jess, Sammy, and Me. I love them!
Ella riding Harrison in the trampoline. I often found her on either Harrison or Bennett's backs. They are such good older brothers and Ella adores them.
End of the night dance party. This picture just sums up little girl summer fun!
I tried to get a video of the dance party but by the time I got the camera out it was as cute. But still fun!

I just watched this video again and had to laugh. It's so "Office Space". I love the little white (ok, one not so white) , Jewish, suburban girls dancing to Flo Rida. Gotta love it!

6 Flags Great Adventure

This past Saturday, Ricardo's work had a special discounted family day for 6 Flags in Jackson, NJ. It was pretty cool because for the low low price we got parking, admittance into the park, lunch, and admittance into the drive through Wild Kingdom Animal park which was super cool. We calculated that if we were to do all that on our own, it would have cost over $300.

Of course, we spent the majority of the day at Wiggles World but towards the end of the day we discovered that Ella can now ride a lot of the rides in the main park as well, which she was beyond excited about! We went on one spin ride that went so fast that when it started Ella and I just looked at each other. I wasn't sure how she would reacted but the most amazingly happy squeal came out of her. It was so cute to hear.

It was in the low 60's when we left our house but when we arrived at 6 Flags it was upper 70's and HUMID. Poor girls were sweating up a storm but it didn't seem to bother them, me on the other hand...

First ride was The Big Red Airplanes,
The ride operator must have been new and was a total stickler. He wouldn't let Sofia on because she was 1 inch below the line. We were so worried that poor Sofia would get the short end of the stick, but luckily it was just that one operater.

Poor, pathetic Sofia...let me in, pweeessse.

Ella felt badly that Sofia couldn't go on the ride so she suggested we go to the Looney Tunes ball pit area so they could both play but I forgot how loud it is in there with all the air guns that shoot the balls and the buzzers, etc...this was pretty much how Sofia looked the entire time in there:

Which really surprised me because when Ella was Sofia's age, she couldn't get enough of this area:

Ella really loved watching the balls "float" in air

After lunch, and a quick outfit change (they were filthy) we headed back out to play and headed over to the The Big Red Cars.

Wow! Can't you see F-U-N written all over their faces?
They really were having a great time, it was just super hot. Oh, here's the happy faces!

Dorothy's Balloon Ride-Sofia was so bossy and wanted to steer...

We then headed over to the Wiggles Show. Ella was so excited to see the Wiggles. We spent about 80% of the 1 1/2 hour drive down hearing, "Mommy, are the Wiggles real? Is Captain Feathersword real? Is Wags real? Is Dorothy the Dinosaur real...."

Sofia (and a little Ella) dancing

Ella (and a little Sofia) dancing.
This cracks me up because Ella's shorts were too big and she had to keep pulling them up.

After the show, Captain Feathersword stayed to talk with the kids. Ella was so shy. She wanted to say hello so badly but couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with him.
When she finally got up the courage, she went up to him and said, "Hi, my shirt's pink."
Captain Feathersword meet Captain Obvious...
No but really, it was cute. It was her little 3 year old way of trying to make conversation.

She was still a little nervous when it came time to take her picture. I don't think she thought she could touch him.
After the show, we went on more rides. This might look like I was having fun but really, this ride made me want to bomit (Ella speak for vomit).
Speaking of bomit...Ella sure looks like she was close to bomiting on the tea cups.
Ricardo and Ella went on a roller coaster while Sofia and I rode a little airplane ride. My sweet, hot, sweaty little girl.

At this point it was almost 4pm and the Wild Animal Kingdom was close to closing so we headed back to the car so that we could go through.

The girls loved it. It was amazing how close to the car the animals got. Ella kept yelling, "be careful ostrich/elk/giraffe you're going to get hit by a car!"

Sofia kept yelling, "Zebra, zebra, zebra, Mommy look, zebra!"

Here's some of the animals we saw, you can see how close they are to the car, because you can see the reflection from the car window.

We saw this mommy come up to the fence with her baby holding on tight. We thought it was so cute but then realized the baby was breastfeeding. So cool to see that bond in the animal world. Mommy was stroking her baby's back while he/she was nursing.
Sofia was so excited to see the tigers and lions. Excuse the paci, it was a long, hot day. I felt she deserved a little relaxation in the car.

5 minutes after we pulled out of the Animal Park-too bad it was 5pm.

When we got home, both girls were wired (thanks to the 5 pm nap), so we hung out and then the girls played in the tub together. Sofia was riding Ella like a horse....it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt...

Both girls were surprisingly in bed by 8:30 pm. It was a really awesome day.

Move Over Ella, There's a New Princess In Town...

Sofia tried on one of Ella's princess dresses this morning and couldn't get enough of herself. I don't know how to feel about the fact that #1-the dress pretty much fit her and #2-she wore a pair of Snow White heels and had no trouble walking around in them. I mean, sure, she shuffled around like a geisha, but she didn't trip....

I present, Barbie Island Princess/Fairy Godmother/Snow White played by Sofia Martinez

Checking herself out in the mirror
The royal wave
Her high heels
This picture just can't capture the Geisha walk that was happening here.
I should have put it on video.
This is what she did when I told her to smile for the camera and say cheese. Obviously, I've been blinding her with the flash.
Then her royal status got to her head and she really started acting like a real princess...
Needless to say she is now in a Royal Time Out....

De Piero's Farm

I forgot to post these pictures from De Piero's farm. I do a mommy and me preschool class at the community center with Sofia and one of the other moms was saying that De Piero's had some baby chicks right now, so on Friday, I needed to get some veggies/fruits so I decided to take the girls with me there to look at the chicks.

Well not only do they have baby chicks right now, but they also have pigs (helllooo swine flu), goats, sheep, and calves.


It was pretty cool-but VERY stinky. Sofia loved it, but Ella was not amused.

This was how she stood the whole time we were at the stables, saying, "Ewww, it stinks, I don't like it. Can we go back inside? It's gross. I don't like this smell..."
You can see the disgust on her face behind her arm...I guess Old Macdonald's Farm is much cooler in theory.
Sofia on the other hand, couldn't get enough. So Ella was forced to stick around a little longer than she would have liked to let Sofia get in her fix.

We then went inside to see the baby chicks and ducks, which to my dismay, were there on display from a local poultry farm...EWWW. I really don't like to equate live chicken with the chicken on my plate. I mean I know in reality that's where the chicken on my plate comes from, but I prefer to pretend I don't. But they were still very cute!
Little duckies drying off.
Hey kid! See that sign that says don't touch? It's there for you. ;)