Carmen's 1st Birthday Party

Carmen's 1st Birthday party was a huge success!  Filled with a ton of friends and family!! 

Carmen herself was a little tired by the time the her cake came out.  On top of that, she is not being a huge sweets fan and really wasn't interested.  Vince happily blew the candle, making it look like Carmen did it!

Even though she wasn't interested, I tried to help her out by putting her hand in the cake so she could taste it.  Carmen proceeded to wipe her face and make a mess... so at least it looked like she was enjoying the cake when she wasn't!! 

It was a beautiful day and the backyard was perfect for all the kids to run around and play in.  The jungle gym my dad bought for Vince got some good use!

Carmen just loves walking in and out of the triangles.  She switches between that and the trampoline back and forth and back and forth! 

We had a pinata that Carmen (and grandma) could not break...

neither could Vince despite his best effort!!

As predicted, cousin Jacob got the job done after all the kids had their turns!

After the pinata, we had an egg hunt with all the cascarones we made the day before... why wait until Easter when we can have twice the fun?? 

Vince and some of his friends posing for the camera... !!

And last but not least, a picture of Carmen and her favorite person in the world (no, that is not mommy right now!).. it's Grandma!! 

A great day with great family and friends.  What else could a baby ask for??

Happy 1st Birthday Carmen!!!  We love you so much and are so happy you are in our lives!! 

Carmen's real birthday

My 1st birthday fell on a Friday.  Mommy said it was family day and I was going to have a party with lots of friends over on Saturday!

It started off with mommy following me around with a camera to try and get a good birthday picture... she really wanted to put this funny thing on my head called a bow, but I thought it was a necklace...

not on my head mommy!  on my neck!   

I think she got what she wanted... hope she's happy now!

Then I got a wardrobe change and got a princess crown... now that's what I'm talking about!! 

My best friend/cousin came over later to help me celebrate... is that my outfit she's wearing??   

We played outside later in the day when other family came over... I love walking around the grass and swinging!!   

I especially love sitting in these cool chairs!  My new thing is climbing in them myself!

Everyone then sang a song to me around a cake!  I don't like cake much, don't they know!!   

I love my family!!  They make me smile all the time for the camera!!   

My brother and cousins helped my aunt and grandma make cascarnoes.. I don't know what those are yet, but I can't wait to find out! 

Grandma and auntie really did all the work though.  But Myca really really wanted to help!!



I had a great 1st birthday!  With my family... just the way I like to spend my days!  

Spring Break 2012 - Ruidoso Skiing!!

David, Vince, and I took a last minute trip during spring break to Ruidoso to go skiing!! My sisters had the trip already planned, and allowed us to join them in the beautiful house they rented. I grew up skiing in Ruidoso. My parents started taking us when I was in kindergarden and we skiied there, or other New Mexico resorts almost every year until I graduated high school! Skiing brings back so many good family memories, I'm glad I am able to start sharing new ones with my own family now. Carmen was too young this year and stayed behind with my parents. But we look forward to many many years of ski trips with our family and extended family!!

It was a little rough showing Vince how to ski at first (since it was close to his normal nap time).  But in no time, he was moving right along!  Next time he might master the bunny slope (like Daddy did this trip! :)

Vince's favorite party of skiing was going up the Gondola.  To get Hot Chocolate at the top restuarant! 

My sister's extended family also came and learned how to snowboard.  We were a big group!! 

Aside from skiing, we also had a tubing adventure.  There was a tubing park that had several different paths, some had bumps that sent you flying in the air!!  Cousin Warren came with us.  You could do singles, doubles, triples, or even use a family tube - which was the first one we did!  David, Vince, Warren, and I all had several trips down the hills.  There were adult hills that were steeper, and I flew down that one, head first on my belly.. quite exciting!!  There was a conveyor belt that took you up so you didn't have to put in too much effort!   

 

A great trip!  Can't wait to go back when the kids get a little older to enjoy more! 

Vince, old Videos!

I found this post in my drafts... they are of Vince, a long long time ago!!  He must have been 18 months or so.  Love seeing old videos of Vince!!  He is so grown up now.  It's crazy to see how baby he once was! 

Here, he was learning to talk I guess... In my old post, I said "he started saying cake, cake, then something else. It took us a minute to figure out he was saying "happy birthday to you"... which comes out "hppy bbay tu tu". It's a bad video, but you can hear it... "




This next video is an oldie but goodie for us. Vince loves dancing on this one pole in our backyard. Even when there is no music. Here David is grilling, so he juggles dancing on the pole with eating pieces of meat from the grill...

Family Portraits

I am late in blogging and now going out of order!! But posting nonetheless. Here are our Christmas Portraits, taken in late Nov 2011. Carmen is 8 months old here, and Vince is still 3!

I love the shots of Vince and David!!

Vince's 4th Birthday - in the Diego Treehouse!

It was Vince's 4th Birthday at the end of January, and we had a great Diego birthday party at a nearby church's play center, called the Treehouse!! It is a 3 story playground!! Perfect for Diego!!

Vince loves wearing the Diego mask below.. and his Diego cake was a big hit!

All our family came out to celebrate... including Gampa and cousin Noah!
Carmen wore her wild pants for the occasion!

All of Vince's friends came out to play!!! Pictured here are two of his best friends...

and even more best friends!!

Everyone gathered to see the birthday boy blow his candles in the neighboring cafe!!

an attempt to get everyone in the picture!

One of Vince's favorite things to do now is recount something that happened a little bit ago... and he follows that up with "but that was a long time ago when I was 3 years old!", and he has a little tone that goes with that, it's great. He also says he can do something now because he's 4, like eat turkey sandwich meat or something, funny guy. Immediately after his party he started talking about his next one and telling me where we were going to have it. You got a ways to wait buddy!!!