Birthdays, Charger Girl, Playgroup Friends

The last few weeks have been pretty busy as usual. November 14th was Sal's 29th birthday and Nico's 6th birthday. We celebrated Sal's birthday four days in a row. On Wednesday the 14th Sofia's godfather Anthony made us all a delicious dinner with the fish Sal and him had caught the day before. Then on Thursday we celebrated with my family and had "Thanksgiving"...we get to request our favorite dinner so Sal requested a deep fried turkey and all the fixings. Then on Friday Sal and I went out for sushi with friends. It was a place downtown that was really different but really good. I had a Crazy Monkey roll which was similar to a Philadelphia roll but it had a mango sauce drizzled over it that was so so good and Sal had this Mango ceviche that he said was awesome. And finally on Saturday we celebrated with his family and welcomed his mom home (she had been in Italy for two months). So needless to say we had a great week with family, friends, and lots of yummy food.



Dad's a Colts fan but he couldn't beat our Chargers with the support of our little Charger girl. She looked so adorable in this outfit with her blue and gold pigtails. I look forward to Sundays just so I can dress her up in it:)

This past Sunday Sofia and I were able to make a playgroup with the "Milkmade Moms". There are six of us that met at Milkmade At Home when our babies were just tiny. We try to get together every few weeks (or at least every few months) and we always have so much fun. The kids (no longer babies) range in age from 13 months to 16 months. Pictured below are Sofia, Carson (sitting on the slide), and Nicholas (ready to slide down). Grant, the oldest of the bunch, was off running around, and Avery, the only other girl, was slowly cruising about. We were missing Max but he'll catch up with everyone next time.

This coming week we are preparing to go to Oregon for Thanksgiving and my cousin's wedding. It will be Sofia's first plane ride - wish us luck and lets hope it is not too too cold.

Halloween, Etc.

Daddy's little girl...
Mommy's little helper...

Geez, I can't believe it's taken me this long to do another post. Sorry everyone. So much has been going on the last few weeks that I'm not sure where to begin. We had the awful fires that happened about two weeks ago. Thankfully all our family and friends are ok as well as their homes. We knew many people that had to be evacuated but thank God everyone came out alright.

On a happier note I went to Las Vegas with my girlfriends, which was really fun. It was so nice for all of us to catch up and relax. Between the four of us we have 5 little girls under the age of four and one more girl and boy on the way (no, not by me). So for us to just get to sleep in, eat an uninterrupted meal, and lay out by the pool with no one to worry about was all we could ask for. It was a great weekend. All our hubbies were at home with the girls and as far as I know they survived and had a goodtime. Sal had a wonderful time with Sofia and said that she was really good. She's always been a "daddy's girl" but even more so after that weekend. It just melts my heart to see how much she adores him.

I'm sure glad that I had the Vegas weekend to relax because this past week has been pretty tiring. Sofia came down with the worst little cold that she's had since she's been born. Her nose was running like a faucet and her cough just sounded horrible. It woke and kept her up for five nights last week. We did everything we could to make her comfortable but sometimes she was just miserable and inconsolable. Luckily, the last few days have been much better so I hope that we are on the upswing of things. She was back to her happy self yesterday and today. So even though her nose is still a little runny and she still has a cough I think she is definitely feeling better.

Halloween was on Wednesday and even though Sofia wasn't her "normal" self we still dressed her up in the cutest "Pirate Girl" costume that I ordered months ago. She looked absolutely adorable!! We went over the neighbors house to trick or treat and then she had the most fun handing out candy to all the trick or treaters that came to our house. It was a lot of fun. She looked like such a big girl in her costume. The hat was the best part but she wouldn't keep it on much...though we did manage to get a few pictures:

What a Big Girl - 1 Year Old Pics

Today was a great but tiring day. I took the day off from work to get a bunch of errands done and to get Sofia's 1 year old pictures taken. We were out of the house by 7am and going pretty much non-stop the whole day. I drove over 100 milesjust going from here to there, getting the oil changed, etc, etc, but it was nice to get things done. Some high points of the day included a great lunch at my Nana's house, an awesome haircut by my sister (thanks Alisa!! - it looks really cute), a great dinner at my Mom & Dad's, and of course some of the cutest pictures ever (see below).

Sofia was so good getting her picture taken. I had made an appointment hoping we wouldn't have to wait very long but when we got there one of the cameras was down so we ended up having to wait about a half hour anyway. During this time Sofia was a little "wild woman", she was happy as could be but just FULL of energy. She was crawling everywhere and would not sit still for a second. I was thinking how in the world are we going to get her to take pictures right now, but when the time came she was perfect. It was so funny - she would be all squirmy and then when the lady would pose her she would just kind of freeze and stare at her, then a quick smile and the picture was done. The lady was so amazed...for each pose she only needed to take one picture. Then the hard part came - picking out which pictures and what sizes to order, not to mention adding borders and creating montages. All of them were so cute I had to stop myself from ordering a million of them. Here are a few of the proofs (w/o borders, etc.):

Airshow Fun & More

This weekend was the AIRSHOW, which in our house is a big deal. Those of you who know Sal know that he's crazy about jets and that the Airshow is like to the Superbowl to him. Since we've been together (many years) we have gone every year (except last year I didn't make it as Sofia was just 7 days old). The last few years we have brought our nephew Joey which has been really cool as he loves to hear everything Uncle Sal has to say about all the jets.

So let's go back to Saturday. I finally had time to go through Sofia's drawers and pack up all the clothes that are too small for her now. Then I put all her new stuff from her birthday away. Sofia of course helped me by opening each drawer I finished and pulling out the clothes I just folded. She was so darn cute and serious that I let her do it a few times before I distracted her with some new toys. Saturday afternoon we went to a BBQ at our friends house where Sofia got to play with their boys and swing on their swing set, which she loves. Then from there we took Sofia to her first Twilight Airshow. She was just in awe of the jet sounds and the lights. We stayed for the awesome firework show (better than the 4th of July) and it was truly memorable to see Sofia's face take in all the beautiful fireworks in the sky.

Sunday we dropped Sofia off at Auntie's and picked up Joey for our day at the Airshow. Thanks to our BIL Steve we had a preferred parking pass and the most awesome seats ever!!! They were Center Stage right on the flight line - Sal was in heaven. Not to mention a tent for shade and food/drinks provided. It was really great! We were there all day from about 8:15am to 4pm and had a great time. We got to see a bunch of different jets, the Stealthfighter, and the Thunderbirds. Though the jury is still out on if they compare to the Blue Angels.

Before you knew it our weekend had come to an end and it was time to prepare for the work week. Here are a few pictures from the last few days:

Sofia's 1st B-Day

Well, I figured that it was time for me to try out a blog. Besides, I love reading and catching up on everyone else's blog so I thought it was only fair. I figured I'd start with Sofia's 1st B-Day, which was October 7, 2007. Can you believe that she is already a year old?!?! Time has gone by so fast. She has been such a wonderful baby since the minute she was born (in the water by the way). We are truly blessed to have her in our lives

We had her birthday party at my mom & dad's (Sofia's nanu and grandma) with mostly just the family. I got a "carousel jumper" for the backyard and the kids all had a ball. Sofia woke up as usually around 6:30am, ate her breakfast and played around while we got ready for the party. She took her normal morning nap around 9am and then woke up at 11am. She always wakes up with a smile and this time was so excited to see her cousins there. We had a wonderful lunch provided by my dad of course, had cake, opened presents, and watched the Charger game. Sofia was a Little Angel the entire day - not crying or whining even once. She even went down for her afternoon nap from 3pm to almost 5pm. All in all I think everything went very well. We are so thankful to everyone for all of the great gifts that Sofia got. She got some of the cutest "big" girl clothes and some cool toys that have kept her entertained and happy.

Here are some pictures from the day: