Random vacation pics

David, Vince, and I got to spend almost a whole 2 weeks together at home during the holidays. It is so rare that we all hang out with no obligations and was a real blessing. During this time, we celebrated my birthday, Christmas, and New Years... got a ton of chores done, painted and decorated baby Carmen's room, frequented the movies a couple times, and potty trained Vince!!!

Here are a couple random pics from this precious time we had together...

Vince's New Years...

Us, as the clock just passed 12...

My birthday morning, at my mom's house... she made me homemade tortillas and tacos and then we had cake that Vince helped make!

Can you believe I went back to work refreshed? QT with my family, a clean house, nothing on my to-do-list, what else could a mom want?

Christmas morning!

We unexpectedly spent Christmas 2010 at home. It was Vince's 3rd Christmas. We were supposed to visit David's family in California but packed flights had different plans for us.

It gave us a chance to spend some quality time at home. Santa visited us Christmas morning and gave Vince some much wanted presents. He got 5 trains that he wanted, the "shake shake bridge" from Santa. Mommy and daddy bought him a neat basketball net that's a little too tall now but daddy likes playing it :). Grandma and Grandpa bought him a the V-tech Mobi-Go which is what I equate to a gameboy for 3-year olds. It has a touch screen and Vince is able to play most the games by drawing shapes and using the keyboard to find letters. Tia Jess bought him some tools. He tied the toolbox truck to his tricycle and rode it around the house making a ton of noise.

My parents came over Christmas morning and we all had a wonderful time watching Vince open and play with his toys. When all was said and done, he said thank you to us all and gave us kisses. I love that he understands Christmas now, well, as much as an almost 3 year old can!

Baby Myca

My first little niece was born on Dec. 14th, 2010. Vince and I headed to St. Louis the day she was born to meet her! She's a cutie and now takes after her father mostly. Vince stayed there all week and had fun seranading her with the guitar and running around with his older cousin, Myca's brother, who is almost 10.


Jessica and spent the weekend in St. Louis (yes, that's 3 trips there for me in a 3 week period!). It was nice just hanging around with family!! You can see I'm getting bigger as we are waiting for baby Carmen's arrival in 3 months. (I think this name is sticking!)

Ho Ho Ho!

Vince has been fortunate enough to see Santa 2 times this Christmas!!! Can you believe the first one was at the mall before Thanksgiving?? That was his first time to see Santa and not cry hysterically! We weren’t really ready to meet Santa and told Vince to tell him what he wanted.. as he walked up to Santa, probably from about 5 feet away, he started just saying “Shake Shake Bridge… Shake Shake Bridge” which is what he wants. He kind of mumbled a few trains out that we don’t have while he was on his lap too. I’m so happy he didn’t cry!!

Then, today Santa visited Vince at his school for breakfast. We were ready this time and rehearsed what he wanted to tell Santa that he wanted… various trains he doesn’t have… Hero, Stanley, Duncan, Ferdinand, and Hank as well as the Shake Shake Bridge! He was very shy and kept saying he didn’t want to meet Santa but he did well once he was on his lap.

Vince (almost 3 years old) and Santa – Xmas 2010

Looking back, I like Santa one better!

Our newest tree decoration

Can you see our latest tree decoration???

David took Vince to Home Depot and came home with it. "It" was almost a Thomas the Train blow up thing for the front yard, but instead, it was a train that goes around the tree... high on the tree... so Vince can only look, but not touch...

Now he can play with his trains next to his train table, next to his tree with the train on it! A little ridiculous I know... he'll only be our only child another three and a half months though :)... we are enjoying every minute of it while we can...

Six Flags - Holiday in the Park

We went to Six Flags Holiday in the Park this past weekend with friends and Vince. It was chilly! We got all bundled up and Vince rode his first rollar coaster! It was the Mini Mine Train. You only have to be 36 inches to ride and Vince cleared that by a couple inches. David rode with him since I am almost 6 months pregnant.

We asked Vince if he liked the train... he said Yes! Then, when we asked him if he wanted to ride it again... he said No! lol... it cracked us up.

He then proceeded to have a ball driving a little truck ride around...

Then had not so much fun on the "school bus" ride that goes up and down and all around!! He told me later it was real scary and daddy was holding him and took care of him... awww...

Then we headed to the swings. He was hesitant to get on... and really never warmed up to it the whole ride. He had the face below on for the most part. (Maybe he was having schoolbus flashbacks)..

But I did catch him smiling for a sec!

This is on the real train around the park. He just loves being on a train!!

And one more pic of Vince and pregnant mama. We are leaning towards the name Lia now... since we have seen how popular Mia is....

Thanksgiving 2010

We spent Thanksgiving 2010 in St. Louis... waiting for my sister's baby Myca to show up earlier than expected! She has not come yet, but we still had a great time hanging out for the holidays. Both my other sister's family and parents all joined us. There is nothing I like more than having our whole family under the same roof. Another thing I like is taking pictures of us when we are all together...but unfortunately, time got away from us and we just didn't do that.

I did get a few shots of Vince throughout the weekend. He loves his cousins Warren and Noah and had so much fun hanging out with the whole family. Here he is dancing up a storm!

On Thanksgiving day we also got to celebrate daddy David's birthday! Unpictured, but still in the picture, is baby Mia... Mia Carmen? (that may be her name). I'm 22 weeks (5 1/2 months) pregnant here. Mia should be about one pound. She starting to move more, although I cannot feel her from the outside, just thumping around in there.

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we all headed to a nearby park. It was very cold out there but that didn't stop us from having fun. Vince still loves swings. He laughs with excitement the whole time while riding! He's wearing his "blankie hat". It's made of the same material as his beloved blankie, and it cracks me up that he calls this his "blankie hat".

The older boys played some football while the girls went for a walk, hoping that would help Myca want to make an apperance... it didn't work!!

While everyone was busy playing... Vince found a bridge, he deemed, the "shake shake bridge". It's a Thomas the Train thing. The newest movie has a shaking bridge in a far away island and Vince is in love. He tells Santa he wants the shake shake bridge. Little does he know mommy went black friday shoping at Walmart at midnight and already bought it!

Later that night, V got ahold of a guitar and began seranating us with Jingle Bells, Head/Shoulders/Knees & Toes, and some songs I would rather him not sing, including a certain Sir-Mix-A-Lot song.

He hold the guitar so perfectly and uses his hands correctly. A musician maybe?? Nah... we are still set on him growing up to play a professional sport :)