Happy B-day Jocie!

Jocie's first b-day.

Jocie the week before turning 2 (4th of July weekend)

Look how big I am!

The look in her face when I walked in the room with a cake in hand was priceless. She instantly proceeded to blow out the candles. She knew what to do. Definitely worth staying up til 1:30 AM making it.

Today is Jocie's b-day. She turns two! yes, once again I realize time flies, but I think I do that every day. Today marks her big girl milestone in my eyes, and yes I star loosing my little baby girl. Sniff!

Here are somethings about Jocie:

Jocie has such a gentle and sweet spirit. She is so calm and quiet and still....when her sister is not around. Otherwise they are both crazies! She is an easy learner, but I fear I have not exploited her intellectual to her full potential. I think it might have to do with having to divide my attention and time.
Jocie is an animal lover. From tiny insects to dogs, horses, any type of animal. She goes crazy every time she spots one, any animal and has a good eye for them. It seems like she is always on the look out for creeping or furry beings.
Jocie is a nurturer. From very very young she started carrying her little dolls around, feeding them, covering them with a blanket, putting them in bed, taking them potty, putting band aids on their awies, cleaning them, etc, etc.
Jocie loves to pretend "she's a baby" It's funny listening to her in her baby- tiny- little- pitch voice when she really is a baby. Ha!
Jocie has been potty trained since 21 months of age! Both day and night. Which reminds me. Where have those extra $40+ bucks a month have been going? ...It shall remain a mystery.
Jocie has been sleeping in a big girl bed for a couple months as well with very little rolling off the bed incidents, maybe 2 at the most.
Jocie loves to play pretend restaurant. She asks "what would you like, water?- que va querer, Agua?" Of course only I understand her, and then she will "bring it" to you. You can order other things besides water: hamburgers, fries, pizza, whatever! She has it all.
Jocie loves the swings. She can stay there for hours if mommy lets her. She throws her head back, closes her eyes and just enjoys the breeze in her face.
Jocie loves and looks up to her big sister. She will literally do EVERYTHING she sees her doing, including repeating her sentences.
Jocie is my tiny little helper. The other day I caught her picking up Tanks food that had fallen out of his plate and then putting it in the garbage without being told. She didn't even know I was looking.
Jocie is a very healthy kid. She does a lot of jumping,dancing, climbing, running, going up and down stairs and playgrounds. She moves, moves, moves continually.
Jocie knows and has taken several trips to time up. She is very conscious of that and will choose doing what she is asked to instead of going to time out.
And on and on......

We are very bless to have Jocie in our lives. I'm thankful for being trusted with beautiful and healthy kids that fill our lives with joy. Listening to their laughter and seeing that little sparkle of joy in their eyes is what I live for.

Te amo pequeñita. Feliz Cumpleaños.

Making the most of this summer

This week has been filled with fun for the girls and me. Naomi will be going to school when the new school begins in September. So I decided that we would make the most out of this summer. I am really having a hard time detaching from her and putting her out there in this cruel world. I know she is only going to preschool, but that's how it starts, right? Three hours a day, 4 times a week this year. Then 8 hrs a day five times a week by the time she gets to kinder garden and slowly but surely I loose more and more time with her. I was, still am, seriously considering homeschooling. It is in my mind. Anyway, we have kept ourselves busy and have spent almost everyday at the park, a different one each day of the week and have the tan to prove it. Well at least they do. I look the same no matter the time of year. Ha!

We spent Monday running errands and cleaning our weekend mess. After their nap we spent the afternoon in our backyard soaking up the sun and playing in the kiddie pool.

Tuesday we headed to the sugar house park, we laid out a blanket under a tree and had a little picnic. They didn't play in the playground for very long, it was very hot that day. Naomi complained that it was too hot and she wanted to go "a la sombrita" under the shade. So we went and played next to the creek instead throwing rocks into the water and picking up worms with a stick. Later that evening we went with Tia Areli and tia Chave to the Arts in the Park performing series at the Murray Park. This week they had a group of Irish Dancers. I love Irish dancers and the girls had a lot of fun watching them too. They came home showing daddy their new moves. Daddy could not come because he had school that night.

Wednesday I took the girls to their music class. They had fun playing the different kind of drums the teacher had to show them and singing and dancing around. After class we headed to the Liberty Park and again sat under the shade of a tree to have a little picnic. It was noon and the sun was scorching hot. Naomi was not very excited to play under the sun, AGAIN. Jocie in the other hand didn't seem to care and had a lot fun in the swings, feeling the breeze in her face as she came and went. She loves the swings. Later that evening we went to another evening concert at the Foothill Anderson Library. The County is having a lot of this concert series all over the place this summer. I got a calender in the mail with a list of all this free events and we are taking full advantage of them, at least we did this week. The band playing there this week was an old blue grass band, but my little girls put on a show of their own as they danced away to those tunes. Oh! How I love to see them dance, so carelessly. Daddy was able to come with us, only to leave short after arriving because he had a church meeting to go to. Blah! and he missed the ice cream we stopped to get on our way home. Oops! Our friends the Collins came too.

Thursday we went to a Pioneer Park picnic concert. Laid a blanket under a tree and had a another lovely picnic with our friends Los Collins (little Skyler and Julieta) while we enjoyed the music. After that we went to the Gateway Mall and had the little ones run around the dancing fountain and get wet. To our luck it started pouring after we had only been there for a good 45 mins. The good thing was no one complained when we announced it was time to leave. Ha!

Daddy had the day off today, and we took advantage of it by going hiking at the Millcreek Canyon. We found a new trail from the one we have been to before. It was not very kid friendly, mainly because it had a big incline. We ended up taking turns carrying Jocie on our shoulders. Daddy thought them a couple of those boy scout songs and I had fun listening to them singin as we walked up that trail. Later in the evening we had plans to see our friends who moved away a few months ago. They invited us over to see their new house and thank Aaron for helping them with the move. Naomi was so excited to see Ema. They are only a few weeks apart and have grown together. Naomi loves Ema and we love her parents. They are awesome people. We miss them a lot so it was very nice to see them and spend the evening together. We talked, ate yummy food, watched the kids play, and lighted some fireworks before coming home.

We've had a full week and it was a fun one too. Like I said I will try to make the most out of this summer because of my big girl starting school and also because it might be a few years before we get to have an enjoyable and easy summer like this one again. It took 4 years to be in the situation where we are finally able to enjoy a little bit more carelessly. Pregnancies, breast feeding, babies and diapers make it a little difficult to really just kick back under the shade of a tree and enjoy it.

I love summer!