Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Halloween package

Yesterday, the FedEx man ding dong ditched us. I opened the door and lo and behold, it was a package from Grandma and Grandpa Sandoval to Enrique and Aurora.

Inside were two perfect costumes, the Karate Kid and a frog complete with lily pad and flower. If that wasn't enough there were also two special goodie bags made and decorated especially for Rique and Rora with their own treats. This year, we let Enrique choose his costume. His choice was "Daniel Sun" from Karate Kid. My mom did an amazing job on the costumes. For Halloween, I'll have to take a picture of the artwork on the back of his top, its great!


Aurora is our baby, so we get to choose her costume. Knowing that the future will probably hold many princess costumes, we opted for something a little different and very comfy. Aurora is often referred to as our little "sapito" (toad). Grandma ingeniously added a lily pad, complete with flower to our toad to accessorize and show she's a girl. Isn't she so adorable?!

Enrique loves his "sapito." The costumes are perfect.
This is our sapito with Rique's pumpkin puppet fingers in the background.






They wore their costumes for the rest of the day. Rique likes Aurora's costume because it is so soft.





We love getting fun stuff in the mail. Thank you Grandma Sandoval.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

As I was blogging, I heard some very sweet songs coming from my bedroom. Enrique was with Aurora singing "I am a child of God."

Monday, October 20, 2008

Rique Dances

As we were getting ready to take off in the car. I noticed Enrique on the sidewalk doing his thing. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was learning how to dance. I loved that the camera was so available. I think its time we put this kid in dance, whatda think?

Vineyard Pumpkin Patch

Yepee! Seth had Saturday off, so after we slept in, we went to the pumpkin patch. Enrique asked his cousin, Adam, to join us and together they ran through the corn maze to eventually find their way out.
This is them after the corn maze. They ran and ran and ran. As you can see, Rique is wearing sweat pants and warm boots. What you can't see in this picture is how soaked they were with sweat.
This is our most recent family picture. Lucky for us, Ariela showed up at the pumpkin patch with Nicole. Thank you for taking our picture.
The pumpkin patch was right next to train tracks.

We took a similar picture with Enrique on his first trip to the pumpkin patch. I think his looked more magical, not Aurora's fault, I think Rique was three months older at the time.


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rique tries to get Rora to smile



Yey! I can put video clips on here now. Watch out Grandma, these kids are pretty cute.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Rique Read to Rora


If you can't tell, this is a picture of a great big brother reading to his baby sister.


I had left her in his room to watch him play. She lays on her tummy and watches and he plays and I get to get stuff done around the house.

I peeked in on them and found that he had gotten his chair and was holding her in a standing position as he held the book and told her stories. I tried to sneak in a capture the moment, but this was the only shot I got before they both toppled over, book and all.

Sleeping Beauty Eats Peas...



with peaches, oatmeal and applesauce all mixed together. Yum or Yuck?


She had been fussing, so I thought she was hungry. I set her up in her high chair and started feeding her, she was eating really well, so I thought I'd been right, however in between bites, I looked up and she had dosed off.


I let her sleep in her chair so I could finish my dinner. When I was done she woke up and finished the rest of her dinner.


I think peas, apples, peaches and oatmeal must be good for the skin, she looks gorgeous.

Enrique Shines



I tried and tried to get Enrique excited about his Lincoln Logs that he got for Christmas last year, but finally gave up and packed them under his bed.

Much to my surprise last night, I found him building a horse corral with them in his room.
Another thing we've worked on with little success, until now thanks to his really cool coloring book from Uncle Ryan, was coloring in the lines. Yet, yesterday, I walked into the room to find him coloring all on his own (in the lines!!), I was so proud. I especially like this coloring book because the lines are very thick and leave room for mistake with success.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Emma's birthday party.

After many days of Enrique asking me when Emma's party was going to be, the day and hour finally arrived, much to my relief.
Doesn't Rique look happy in this picture?
He knows what to do with a pinata now. Remember when he was younger and didn't want anything to do with the pinata? Now its full swing ahead.
This was just before we removed the bat and rehung Pooh Bear for the other kids.
Seth and Aurora watched on in the freezing cold as I snapped pics.

This is the dress up dress we made for Emma's present. When she was over at our house she had said that she'd like to be "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast, the one that sings with the book. I was quite pleased at how well this outfit came out, all from scraps and an old church shirt of Riques.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Alpine Hoop

After our drive, we were all ready for dinner, unfortunately all Aurora could do was watch us eat. I love this girl!
I was so happy to spend this beautiful car ride with my little family. It was such a treat to have Seth home early to surprise us with this wonderful drive.
These pictures don't do it justice.
We were amazed at how close all this beauty was to our home.
Shouldn't this one be a postcard?

Seth, Enrique and Aurora all waited patiently in the car as I snapped pictures in the turn outs. Enrique was a little afraid we were going to fall off the edge, the roads were a little narrow and steep.

Seth commented that it was like driving through Yosemite, just not as crowded.
We plan on picnicking here next year when things warm up.
At first we both thought there was a lot of poison oak around, then we realized it was just the leaves turning color.
We got a beautiful day, the next day it rained and the followind day it snowed.

We can't wait to share this drive next year with Grandma and Grandpa Sandoval.
You guys have to come!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Simply the Best!

Monday evening, as I was preparing dinner, doing dishes and rocking out, the door bell rang. It was our next door neighbor wanting to know if we'd like to have a trampolin. (It was cute to see his older watching from the sidewalk to see our reaction.) He said that his kids had all grown out of it, no one used it and that he'd like to see it go to someone who'd like to use it. He thought Enrique might like it and that soon enough Aurora might like it also. Of course I said yes, and thank you over and over again.

They lifted it over the fence and now we have a trampolin in our own backyard. They were all so happy to give this gift to Rique, it was really touching.
Rique loves it! Despite the cold evening, we all jumped on it right away.







Our neighbor just asked that Rique jump up and down and say "Hi" to him when he's in the backyard. I feel so blessed to have such great neighbors as the Bonds.

General Conference Weekend



We loved conference, it felt like a small vacation. Seth didn't have to work all weekend, or get up early for any meetings. We all got to sleep in and wear whatever we wanted to all weekend long, I don't think I got out of my pajamas until Sunday afternoon.

We set up our two blue chairs in the kitchen infront of the computer and enjoyed hearing the prophet, apostles and all the other general authorities speak.
Enrique and Aurora were great, Enrique joined us with his blue chair, he liked listening to the Primary Choir. Aurora seemed to know when the right time to sleep was so we could get that much more out of our weekend.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Taiwan Taichung Sister Reunion


It was a little last minute, but Anna and I threw together a mission reunion that ended up being all sisters with their spouses and kids. It was a lot of fun and we've all decided we need to get together much more often. Especially since we have so many boys the same age; its undecided as to who had more fun, the sister rms or the little boys.

AF Park Day




Enrique, Aurora and I went to a different park up the street from us with two other families from our ward. It was warm outside while the kids played together. I think we'll have to do it again soon.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Tummy Time






Aurora was on her tummy in the living room, I stepped away for a second, and when I came back, she was sporting this fresbee around her middle. It seemed to please her and since she looked so cute, I started snapping pics.
In the evening, after Seth came home, we real
ized we didn't have any photos for our daily blog, so we had some fun on the bed. Aurora is really stealing the show these days with her terrific smile.
She lights up when you give her your undivided attention, she really is a princess.
Rique loves his sister and is not at all jealous of the spotlight they share.
Is she massaging Seth's head or pulling his hair. Either way, this is one of his favorite pastimes with our kids. And he's excited that Aurora can now grab things.
I don't think I've ever seen a more adorable little princess.