Saying So Long

Our good friends, the Ulibarri's, are moving to Arizona. Stormie and I met while we worked at NRECA, she worked in HR with Oscar. Soon after we moved into Del Ray, Stormie and Josh also moved into Del Ray. We spent some more time together and especially after they had their first son, Anikin, we spent even more time together. When Stormie left NRECA she joined our mommy's group and our friendship became even more close. I'm really going to miss her bubbly personality and those little cheeks of Anikin's. I know this is a great opportunity for them and they will be so happy in their new home and close to family. I'm just bummed about being so far away from them now. But I've never been to Arizona and now I have the perfect excuse to go! See you soon Ulibarri's!

Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

How adorable is this outfit? And how cute would the girls be wearing it? Fingers crossed!

Dana's 30th Surprise

One of my closest friends had a big surprise 30th birthday party in Long Island over Labor Day weekend. Her mother and family had been planning it for months and there was no way I was going to miss this day for her. Oscar took the day off of work so I could leave in the morning and have plenty of time if traffic issues arose (which of course they did). I got to Dana's mom's house around 4pm and met some more of Dana's family who were there to get ready, then we were off to pick up the favors and go set up the reception room. The favors were really adorable, they were little Dana baby picture bobble heads on jars of 80s themed candy (the party was 80s themed). We got to work getting all the tables set with snap bracelets, hackey sacks, bouncy balls, My Little Ponies, and fiber optic lights. It was so great.

The guests started arriving and the DJ was setting up and the food was starting to get ready. All we had to do was wait for the birthday girl to arrive. We had all talked to her through out the week and she definitely had no idea what was happening Friday night! I was so nervous I could barely stand it. I got to get a little bit of video of the reveal, but then my battery died and it ended...but you can see the stages of realization on her face. It was priceless.

Dana was really shocked and she had a great night. We danced the night away and then I ended up staying at her place and we stayed up chatting until 3am! It was a blast and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Dana is like a sister to me and I just love her to pieces.

Fun Free Summer Activities

This summer we have been playing with our friends as much as possible and taking advantage of all the free things Virginia has to offer! Including movies at the theater and bowling. One of the theaters in the area had a great program where they would show two free kids movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings through out the summer. We went to several with our friends from preschool. They were all a great match because our first kids are all the same age and in the same class, and our number twos are all the same age and now two of them (Fiona and Kieren, in the same class). The girls loved the movies, especially the big seats, the popcorn (from home) and the big big screen in the dark room.

Also the AMF bowling alleys throughout the country offered a free bowling program for kids all summer. Once we registered we received weekly coupons for every day. We didn't go every day but we did go once a week for a few weeks. All we had to do was pay for shoes, and remember our socks! They have ramps for the kids to put their balls on and push them down the lane, and bumpers for the gutters. It was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed it.

It was funny that the girls would always ask if we could go to the movies or bowling with Daddy one day. They felt very badly that he missed out on these fun things. But I am sure we will do all of these things the four of us very soon!

Cousins come to visit!

We were so happy to have a nice visit from Oscar's sister and family during August. We had a lot of fun playing, going out to eat, and swimming with them. They are still working on moving back to the states and I'm sure the girls would be thrilled to have even more time to play with their big cousins Dion and La Luz.

Updates Coming Soon

Wow this summer has been incredibly busy. I promise to get some posts up this week! Lots of fun things to look forward to, Oscar and my staycation, Fiona's THIRD birthday, our trip to Maine to visit Uncle Eyes and watch our friends Jen and Brad get married! And more house hold updates!

Visit to Maine

At the end of July/beginning of August we took a lovely trip to Maine to visit my brother and attend my good friend Jen Kieley's wedding. I think we chose the most beautiful week to be in Maine, the whether was for the most part really lovely and made me want to live there. Then I had to remember that, like upstate New York, winter is a LONG season in Maine...so I'll stick with Virginia. My brother was kind enough to let the Santiago familia crash his one bedroom apartment and wreck havoc on his beautiful space for Wednesday night (our arrival night, and Monday night the night before our departure). He does have the most amazing apartment, it's very unique and just all around awesome. Being the exceptional Uncle Eyes that he is, he even bought toys for the girls to play with and invited his good friend who has a son the same age as Luli over to play. It was so nice to meet Patrick's friends and spend some much need quality time with my brother.

On Thursday we drove up to Belfast Maine and made a few stops along the way to enjoy as much of Maine as we could. We stopped at a Fish Hatchery and the guys were nice enough to give us a little tour and answer all of our questions. They even pulled out some fish at different ages for us to see their growth and how beautiful their color was. Pretty cool. Then we continued on to our hotel and the Lobster Bake wedding party before the wedding! It was a gorgeous night and we indulged in blueberry soup (a winner for the kids, and adults), lots of lobster, blueberry pie, and smore's by the fire pit. We had a great time and got to see a few old friends from our days in co-op country.

On Friday we toured around Belfast, which is a really adorable New England town. It had lots of shopping lots boats, and yummy restaurants with lobster rolls aplenty! In town we ran into even more friends (not surprising, it's a small town and we were all here for the wedding of the decade)! Then it was time to get back to the hotel, hopefully get the girls a nap and get dressed for the big night!

It was really special to be here for Jen and Brad's wedding. They've been together for so long and been through so much. Jen has always been a great friend and is the reason I even went on date with Oscar to begin with. I wouldn't have missed her big day for the world. Unfortunately it did POUR during the ceremony so that was a bit of a damper. We couldn't hear anything and I really wanted to hear the vows they'd prepared for each other. The reception was a lot of fun and I think Luli dominated the bride and her family's time on the dance floor. While Fiona clung to her new best friend Caroline!

On Saturday we departed for Bar Harbour to enjoy some time in Acadia National Park. Wow is it beautiful there. We swam in the ocean, swam in a lake, hiked, picnicked, and took tons of pictures...which are all in an album to the left here. Then we ventured back to Portland to spend our last night with Uncle Eyes and return home to our normal lives.