re-vamping the backyard for spring

every year the kids get older, and so do the "toys". since we spend a lot of time in the backyard during the warm/hot season, we try to keep the backyard fun for the kids. our lot is a little small and i don't think a playground would fit well, and they've outgrown their small playset, so we decided to put a sandbox back there instead. i knew the kids would love playing in the sand, it was just the messy part i was worried about! but alas their interests won over mine, and i will just have to DEAL!

we also have an inflatable kiddie pool to set up and russ has plans to "build" a tire swing! i can't wait to see what happens with that!

in addition to the "toys", russ has been busy freshening up the back yard and making it look pretty. he is in the middle of freshening up the paint on the house trim and awning, adding new mulch to the front walkway, trimming the bushes, and my favorite part - buying new flowers for the front and back of the house, that russ, of course will plant :) his honey-do list is just never-ending!

take a look at our new sandbox:

thanks to nana and papa for helping with the costs :)

the random things kids do

i have no idea what inspired her to step inside a hanger and pull it up around her waist.

weekend update

another busy weekend to report...

russ ran in the jacksonville gate river run which is a very popular race here -- actually it is the largest 15k in the United States! the winner came in under 45 minutes (INSANE) and russ ran the race in 76+ minutes, which was a minute slower than last year but unfortunately he wasn't able to train like he wanted to. his goal was to beat his cousin michael in the race but as it turns out michael beat his time by 15 SECONDS!!! that was tough to swallow. there's always next year :)

later on saturday afternoon, my sister and i took the kids to a little park right up the street:

my aunt mildred flew to orlando to visit her daughter and fam. for the week and they all decided to drive up here to visit with us on sunday. we had a lot of fun catching up and of course ate lots of delicious puerto rican food thanks to mom and dad! natalie even helped prepare the tostones (tos-toe-nez) (fried plantains). she had fun being in the kitchen with us older girls!

it was russ's first time meeting my aunt mildred and now there are only two aunts (out of 9) to go -- mercedes (my mom's oldest sister) who lives in NY, and my dad's sister abby who lives in venezuela. rumor has it that we are planning a [soto] family reunion in spain some time this year and maybe they will have the chance to meet then. also, russ and i keep talking about taking a trip to NY since we both have family there so maybe that will happen one of these days!

so far this week has been busy yet, slow. i haven't had specific plans set but i've been busy catching up with things like bills/tax stuff and cleaning. looking forward to getting our tax returns...

for st. patrick's day the kids wore their green, of course, they had fun working on a holiday craft, and we ate spinach with dinner last night. it's the weirdest thing: both of my kids LOVE spinach!!! of course i mix in some parmesan cheese and garlic salt so i'm sure that helps, but even my picky natalie can't get enough of it! they must have inherited that from their mommy and daddy, b/c that is one of our favorite veggies :)

now that i have kids, i think it's neat to actually learn about each holiday and teach them what they mean, so they understand that we are not just spending money and celebrating for no significant reason, aside from the fun :)

so, because i just recently learned these tidbits, i will pass them along to you!

st. patrick is the patron saint who brought christianity to the country of ireland. he used the shamrock to explain about God and compared it to the Trinity. each of the 3 leaves represented the 3 devine beings, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. and we wear green to represent the beautiful green countryside in Ireland. plus we don't want to get pinched!

hope you all had a fun st. patrick's day!

playing on nana and papa's driveway

we attempted to go for a walk after dinner last night but instead ended up across the street at nana and papa's house...russell was having fun riding his bike down the driveway and natalie had fun chatting with her papa :)

p.s.

{click on the mosaic pictures to enlarge and get a better view!}

st. augustine

the weather was absolutely perfect on sunday so decided to take a ride out to st. augustine with my mom and dad. alex decided to join us too! we had lots of fun at the park and then walked around st. george street for some ice cream that was TO-DIE-FOR :)

chuck-e-cheese

we were invited to celebrate hannah's 4th birthday at chuck-e-cheese on saturday! it was the kids' first time going there but they knew all about the place and were so excited. since russ had to work, celena came along to help :-)

it goes without saying that the kids had a blast and i think we'll be planning a trip out there again, this time with daddy, who was sad he had to miss the event.

thanks for all the fun, Princess Hannah!

a day in the life of natalie

* she wakes up around 7:30 every morning and comes in the room to get her daddy to lay on the couch with her, AFTER he gets her her morning cup of strawberry milk, then they watch morning cartoons

* before breakfast time, she likes to change once or twice into her dress up clothes to be some sort of princess

* although i give the kids bananas with their breakfast, she hates to eat them, and hates fruits in general (just like her mommy...). i try to make her eat one little box of raisins every day to help with her BMs (isn't she too young to have this problem!)

* she has a love-hate relationship with her brother: loves to laugh and horseplay with him, loves to antagonize him for no reason while he's playing by himself, and hates when he comes within 5 feet of her playing with her toys

* she will find ANY excuse to laugh -- even if it means her starting random laughter for no reason. her laugh is contagious and you can't help but laugh with her, even if you have no idea what is so funny.

*her fake laugh sounds like the "Gonzalez" laugh! (my mom's side of the fam)

* she loves to be tickled - probably because she just wants to laugh

* she has become quite the chatterbox these days; asks all the "why" questions, which why i even bother to answer them, i do not know, because she always follows up with another "why?"...

* sometimes she likes to touch your face and get in your face when she is talking to you, and is so sweet she'll even caress your face (if you're lucky)

* she has the shortest attention span, and will zone out sometimes when you are talking to her (this worries me with her starting pre-school this year!)

* she doesn't forget ANYTHING. do not tell her something like "one day we should do this or do that together" because she won't rest 'til it happens

* natalie is not a fan of food. unless it is a cookie. cake. candy. and ice cream (which is always a treat for them, not something we eat a lot of in our house)

* she takes FOREVER to eat. while we're eating at the table, she talks, worries about the way russell is eating, or hugs and kisses on her daddy (who sits in the chair next to her). when we're done eating and realize that her plate is still full, of COLD food by now, we repeatedly remind her to finish her food, and we're lucky if we can get about 10 bites down...

*natalie counts down her bites of food she "has to eat" ("ten more bites left, mommy?...nine more bites left...")

* natalie loves babies. when she sees one (usually a stranger at a store) she says [loudly]: "is that a baby mommy? is that a girl or a boy? oh, she's so cute!!" and of course, i am forced to awkwardly look at the mommy (who i'm sure feels just as awkward as me) and smile.

* natalie's favorite movie right now is Monsters, Inc. even though the first scene of the movie scares her (and russell) so she turns her head to keep from watching it.

* her favorite movie character is Wheezy from Toy Story 2, whose role in the movie is very minimal (yet cute). finding a wheezy toy was nearly impossible, since he is not one of the main characters, so since he is a penguin i found every penguin toy i had and told her that it was wheezy. she slept with them on her headboard every night. she also turned wheezy into her imaginary friend and will talk to him at random times when we are out, or will pretend that he is next to her

* natalie's favorite book is a "step into reading" book called "what is a princess" that titi bought her recently. she does not yet know how to read but has that book memorized and acts like she is reading it like a pro

* she is very sensitive and cries easily if her feelings are hurt. if someone else is crying, she will go and hide because she doesn't like to be around that

* she LOVES to color and is REALLY good at it. she uses lots of different colors and stays within the lines, which is not something i necessarily taught her but i've always noticed her trying to do

* she is super clumsy and will trip over her own two feet if there is nothing else in the way. also, she runs into a wall just about once day, seriously.

* she has good manners. sometimes i have to remind her but usually she will say please and thank you all on her own :)

* her new thing is when asking for something that she really really wants, she says: PLEEEEEEEASE mommy [or daddy], can i have it? PLEEEEEEEASE?

* natalie stopped napping about 2 years ago but never acts like she needs a nap during the day (you know when you can tell your kid needs a nap...). her bedtime is at 8:00 and she never fights it, she goes right to bed like a good girl -- after she puts her jammies on by herself (god forbid mommy tried to help her!), brushes her teeth and says her prayers :)

ADDENDUMS (since my original post):

*natalie is TERRIFIED of bugs. whenever she sees something that she cannot identify, like a string, peice of lint on the floor, crumb in the kitchen, etc... she calls it a bug and yells for me to come get it. if she sees a REAL bug, she screams and squeals out of pure terror and cannot sit/stand still. this is definitely something i have to work on... i mean, i know i don't like bugs either, but her reactions are getting out of hand... lol

* natalie is overly-friendly with strangers. she says hi to, and wants to befriend any kid she sees just about where ever we go. and while we're out shopping, she likes to say hi to the people we walk by or who happen to be standing in the same aisle as ours. again, this is something i need to work on...you can never be too trusting of strangers these days!

*natalie somehow knows the days of the week... or at least she knows her fridays because that is the day we normally go eat at "brooklyn pizza" with the family. when she says its friday and mentions brooklyn pizza i think to myself, how on earth does she know that when i can hardly keep track of my own days!

the little things about natalie that i love:

- her beauty mark in between her right eye and her nose

- her eyebrows that she inherited from her grandma

- the dimple under her right eye when she smiles that she got from her grandpa

- her cute little pointy chin that she got from her daddy

- her hands which still look so baby-ish to me even though she is growing up so fast

- her smile.

- her tiny little voice and the way she accents certain words when talking

- the way she pronounces certain words, for example: "broken" for brooklyn [pizza]; "what's wrom?" as in "what's wrong"; and "grampas be-tired" as in "grandpa's retired"

- her big heart and fun loving personality

showing off her corky sense of style, this is how she gets herself dressed...

showing off her tooth crown (no pun intended) that she made at the library.

she loves crafts time!

celebrating "baby lauren"

on saturday i hosted a baby shower for my dear friend heather. when i found out she was pregnant a few months ago, i was so excited that she would be joining the "mommy-of-2" club :) i knew [and told her] immediately that i would be throwing her a shower. and just like everything else...there is a little story behind this:

back when she was pregnant with logan about 3 years ago, i told her i would plan a baby shower for her. i was so excited -- i mailed out the invitations, bought all the supplies and goodies and was getting into party mode. Then about 2 weeks before the date of the shower my gall bladder issues had worsened and were so severe that my doctor told me i should have my gall bladder removed immediately. they scheduled me for their soonest surgery appointment and it was to be on the day before the shower! i was crushed and didn't know what to do, but obviously my health was too important for me to postpone the surgery. so with a broken heart, i had to cancel the shower. i told heather (and this was extremely premature since she was still pregnant with her first baby) that the next time she became pregnant, I WOULD BE GIVING HER A SHOWER. needless to say, when i found out the news, there was no question in my mind, or anything i wanted to do more than to honor her with a shower in celebration of "baby lauren". yes, that's right, a GIRL! i must admit that finding out it was a girl made everything more special, because for one thing, now she would have a boy and a girl, and secondly, baby girls are so much fun to shop for!!! i got nervous about how i would pull off a shower when the week before i was terribly sick and out of commission, but somehow i managed to do it, and it turned out to be a beautiful celebration all around. i know she has told me over and over again how i "did too much" or how "good i am to her" but in all honesty, I felt honored to be able to host this shower for her, my dear friend who means so much to me.

a plethora of food -- don't you wish you were here!

celena and mom were also in attendance :-)

natalie was so excited about the shower!
and she was a good helper with opening gifts too

heather's kids are so incredibly blessed to have
ALL FOUR of the their great-grandparents with them!

i made this... ok just kidding

(YUM)

man it's good to be back!

i am fully recovered - hallelujah! since last week was spent with me in bed the majority of the time, this week has been a whole 'nutha story! i had "doctor's" appointments lined up for monday, wednesday and thursday, a never-ending list of errands to run, and a week-long neglected house that has seen better days! it's been great to get out, and i'm sure the kids would agree! after taking russell to his 2 hour "child find" appointment (for his speech progression), then running to the grocery store to order a baby shower cake (which i am so excited about!), we got home and hung out in the back yard to soak up the lovely weather we were having today. and it only gets better - tomorrow we should hit the 70's! boy, i can't wait for spring...

natalie rockin grandma's glasses

russell captivated by their new buzz lightyear bubble blower (a valentine's day gift)

here's russell "pop, pop, pop"-ping the bubbles

and natalie being a ham for the camera

says mommy to natalie: "smile for the camera!"

we took the kids to their MY GYM "free-play" tonight (which we had to miss last week no thanks to me...) and they had a blast. next week at MY GYM is bring a friend to class week -- any takers???

have you noticed?

have you noticed how many days its been since my last post? 6 days is almost unheard of! haha
i wish i could say that i've been busy with the kids or with running errands or something silly like that but the truth is, I'VE BEEN SICK. just when i thought i was getting better, a whole new symptom took over and i was back in bed. it's been one thing after the other, ever since thursday when it first hit me. i am going to start my new prescription of "stronger" antibiotics today but to be honest, i'm not even expecting THAT to do much. for the last 2 days i haven't been able to shake this nausea feeling off. it was really bad on wednesday, to the point where i was throwing up all day. now it's pretty mild but just enough to where i can't function normally. meanwhile my house has been neglected and i have a baby shower to host next saturday! i will say, however, that i've been fortunate enough to have family around who have been helping out as much as possible, with meals and babysitting the kids. speaking of the kids... they have been such troopers. during the times where i was just laying in bed, they kept themselves busy and out of trouble. natalie even turned into my little helper. i do still wish that i could show them a better time though :( please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. i just want to feel "normal" again!
and thanks to our wonderful family for all that you have already done for us!

p.s. in case you were wondering, according to my dr's appt on monday, this is just a viral/bacterial infection.

my valentine's blues

the past few days i've been battling some sort of cold or flu. it started off with terrible body aches, led to painful chest congestion with a cough and then of all days, on valentine's day, the fever hits me. it was very low but the chills were the worst part, and thankfully, it's been easy to control. russ was supposed to work today and i had this great crafty valentine's day planned out for the kids but since it rained russ stayed home, and boy did that work out great! i ended up lying in bed most of the day. the heart-shaped pancakes i had planned for breakfast got replaced with some valentine's dunkin donuts (i'm sure the kids didn't mind so much!) and the heart shaped homemade pizza for lunch got replaced with daddy's heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches. russ ended up preparing my heart-shaped meatloaf for dinner as i "coached" him on the side ;) i think the kids still had a fun day, especially since titi celena stopped by for a visit with some valentine's gifts! russ certainly won the award for "father/husband of the year" with all the extra work he did today--taking care of both kids all day long-- and a rainy day at that-- while tending to my needs at the same time! times like these i'm reminded about how wonderful my man is! he's my one and only valentine.

hope you all had a special valentine's day!

the kids helped me decorate these cookies on friday

at brittani's house for a valentine's playdate on thursday

ODE TO VALENTINE
(natalie's valentine to daddy)

patsy cline!

well, because i now have windows vista [on my new computer], i am unable to install the proper drivers i need for my [older modeled] camera to upload photos with the canon software. luckily, i am able to just stick my camera's memory card into the front of the computer to get all my pictures but this is a little disappointing because it creates a lot of extra steps in order to get to my pictures and organize them properly. even though my camera is only 2 years old (my how quickly technology changes!!!), i guess this leaves me no other choice but to buy a new one! (heehee, i've been nagging russell about how i wanted a new camera for the last couple of months or so...) in reality though, i'm sure it will be a while until i get a new camera, so i will just have to "deal".

enjoy these old pics from russ's birthday!

still no new pictures...

i have been quite the procrastinator this week. not only haven't i installed my camera software onto my new computer, but i haven't even been taking new pictures! now THAT'S unsual for me...

we have had a lot going on this week. natalie and russell, and russ and i , have been swapping colds back and forth, although the kids had it the worst. little russell is pretty much over his but natalie's turned into something worse and she's been feverish, congested and uncomfortable for the past couple of days. we just started the antibiotic today so hopefully things will start to get better for us here, Natalie in particular. it's so sad seeing her so miserable; any mother can relate to that i'm sure.

we found out this week that my dad's cousin, Sarita, passed away. we just saw her at my dad's retirement party and she looked great, so everything is very surreal. i pray for the family during this time of sadness and will always keep her memories alive in my heart. she was a sweet, loving person and i will miss her.

my titi nancy flew in to be with the family and stayed with us last night. it was a treat to have her company, even though it was such a short time and on such sad terms. she is one of my avid blog readers, quite possibly my biggest fan! it was so funny how we were able to talk about things that were going on, like she's been right here with us the entire time, just because she reads all of my blog entries! it made me feel good to know that this blog reaches and touches the hearts of my family and friends who do not live close by. so i'm sending a big *SHOT OUT* to my titi nancy!!!!!! this one's for you ;)

now on to someone else who means a lot to me...

my dear friend heather has a birthday on saturday and i wanted to wish her the very best birthday imaginable. they are spending the day at disney, so i'm sure it will be magical!

love you girl!

xoxo

update

last monday we [FINALLY] purchased a new computer! our old computer was a hand-me-down from celena and was considered old when she gave it to us. so needless to say, i am in heaven now! the only thing i've yet to do is download my camera program on the computer which is why i haven't posted any new pictures lately. i hope to get to that this week.

russ's birthday was great -- we thouroughly enjoyed the patsy cline show at the Alhambra on Thursday night and i'd like to go back with natalie when Annie is playing in June.

the kids are feeling better although russell can't seem to shake his nasty cough. i hear that this "cough" is going around and it seems to be lingering...

this past weekend was very low-key for us which couldn't have been any more appreciated. i hate to jinx myself but starting tonight, i'm feeling like i might possibly be coming down with something. i hope i'm wrong about that!

i hope everyone enjoyed superbowl sunday! we didn't do anything exciting. russ watched the last minutes of the game when it looked like for a second the cardinals might win... better luck next time! lol