A Weekend of Excitement

What a great weekend! My sister and my mom came up to visit us and met the V's for the very first time. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. The V's responded very well to the love and affection that was showered upon them. We took them to the park and what an amusing sight that was! Both my mom and my sister are consummate photographers. So we were at the playground and all the other parents were casually hanging out and keeping an eye on their kids from afar. My two kids were being followed at a 3 to 5 foot range by my mom and sister, snapping away with their cameras. The V's were like the Brangelina of the playground with their own paparazzi! There was an unexpected benefit to me from this... at the end of the weekend, I uploaded all their photos onto my computer and now have some outstanding pics to share on my blog. My sister took about 165 pictures of the children and my mom took 550. She may have to purchase a new hard drive for the thousands of photos she'll be taking over the years to come!

Here is (in my opinion) the most beautiful picture anyone has captured of Victoria since I have known her. This photo truly captures her beautiful spirit. She is a happy girl with an adventurous streak. Here she is crawling on some playground equipment.



Tino brought his ball to the park but did not want to kick it. Instead he carried it around with him everywhere he went- on the slide, on the climbing equipment, and so on. I took him out onto the grassy area and tried to get him to put it on the ground so we could kick it, like a soccer ball should be kicked... but he just ran away from me, squealing and laughing.



I love this photo of me, my mom, and Victoria. Three generations!



On Saturday we all attended my second shower, given by my friends V and A. They did a wonderful job of planning the shower and it was absolutely beautiful. It took place at a lovely little restaurant that is a five minute drive from our house. We had an outdoor patio shaded with mesquite trees reserved for our group. The weather was fantastic, which is the great thing about Arizona in February- you can pretty much always count on good weather. Many of my friends showed up to support us. They went all out with the gift giving. We received many lovely gifts for the children. Once again, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our loved ones.

Here I am, opening presents:



After the present opening, we had a "surprise" visit from Dave and the V's!



At first they were a bit shy and clung to Mommy and Daddy...



But once they discovered PRESENTS....



On Sunday we had a family trip to Target. We had a few duplicate items that we returned for store credit and with that credit, plus the gift cards we received, we were able to purchase the car seats for Dave's car. This is fantastic because now we won't have to keep installing and transferring the seats from one car to the other. The Target trip was quite an adventure. We had a caravan of three shopping carts- one for each of the car seats, and one for the kids. Valentino did a great job this time. The last time we went to Target, we had a little issue with him seeing all kinds of interesting things and wanting them.

V: Mommy, look, Diego. (Diego is a character on the beloved TV show "Dora the Explorer" who now has reached such popularity that he merits his own line of merchandise. In this case, it was a DVD.)

me: Yes, baby, that's Diego.

V: I want Diego. (Of course, his pronunciation is more like "dago." Thankfully, no Italian-American Target shoppers took offense to this, as it got louder and louder.)

me: No, honey, we're not here to buy Diego today. (Sharply turn cart down a different aisle, hoping to distract him.) Look at the doggy, Tino. (Picture on a bag of dog food, which I can't imagine he could possibly want)

V: Da-go. Want Da-go.

me: We're not buying Diego today. Look at the kitty.

V: Want Da-go. Daaaaa- go. (Now crying)

me: We just have to buy one more thing and we're going home now, baby. (Turn cart down cereal aisle)

V: (Apparently giving up on Diego DVD) Want cereal, Mommy. Want cereal.

And so on, and so forth.... It was a miserable shopping trip.

But on Sunday, things were a little different. I had shared this story with his abuela and she advised me to have a little chat with him before going into the store, something like this: "Now, Valentino, we are not here today to buy you things. We are here to buy groceries for the household. You are not going to ask me to buy you anything, because we are not here to buy you things. Do you understand me? Okay, now remember that you are not going to ask me for anything." Secretly, I thought she was pretty crazy to try and reason with a two year old like that, but I figured I would give it a try and for the most part, it really worked! No sobbing in the store this time!

Can life really be this great? I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and to be graced with the honor and privilege of raising these two amazing little children. My heart is full of love and gratitude.