More Fun Times at Disney

As I already mentioned, we took the boys to the Magic Kingdom last week. It's so fun to see how much Diego loves it.

This time, he got to meet Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. As soon as he walked up to Donald, he reached down onto the ground in front of him, pretended to pick up a flower, and then handed the flower to Donald. Donald had no idea what Diego was doing, of course, since there really wasn't anything in Diego's hand. So Marcelo said, "Oh, are you giving Donald a flower?" (Because we've seen him pretend to pick flowers at home and give them to me.) And Diego was like, "Yes!" Donald thought that was the sweetest thing and threw his head back and gave Diego a huge hug. Diego was in heaven. Then he moved on to Pluto, and Goofy, and gave each one of them a pretend flower, too. As we walked out, I was like, "Diego! Wasn't that so fun?" And he said, "I gave them flowers!" It was just the sweetest little thing ever.

Here's Diego showing Marcelo the pretend flower:

Marcelito wouldn't let go of Goofy's arm, which Goofy thought to be quite humorous.

The CarouselAnd Diego's favorite ride:

Our Best Bites

If you haven't already, check out Ourbestbites.com. My two friends, Kate and Sara, are culinary geniuses and are sweet and generous enough to take time each week to share their delicious recipes with the world. I've tried many of their recipes and have never been disappointed. I don't even know if I can pick a favorite, so I'll just pick the one I happen to be craving right this second: Brazilian Lemonade. It's the best lemonade you'll ever drink. And then there's this Mango Sorbet. It's delicious and super easy to make. Oh, and the Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad is sooo good. (Except I put a lot less chipotle in it because I'm a huge wuss for spicy stuff.) I could go on and on picking recipes I love because, like I said, I've never been disappointed. My favorite part about this blog is that they post step by step pictures for visual learners like myself. They just do an all around awesome job and on top of that, they're two of the coolest girls I've ever met (okay, so *technically* I haven't "met" Sara). Anyway, you should really check it out!

Party Pics

I know I just posted a million pictures, but I still need to post pictures from Marcelito's party!

We had a farm themed party for our little piggy. Grandpa and Grandma were awesome and let us host it at their house, which was perfect because they have a barn, a tractor, and a giant backyard for the kids to play in. I prayed and prayed all day that it wouldn't rain so the kids could play outside. Chances of a sunny day were slim; the weather reports said thunderstorms. Right before the party was going to start, there was a giant black cloud moving it's way towards us. But it disappeared and it didn't rain!

My mom and my mother-in-law set up the decorations. If you can't tell from the picture, the tables had hay in the middle, with little farm animals. Check out how long the kid's table was!

My mom made cute little pig party favors for all the kids. As you can see, there were a lot of kids! Thank you, Mom, for taking the time to do that. You're the best!

I was kind of retarded and decided to make 3 cakes. I would have just chosen one, but the recipe book said each cake would feed 10, and we had more than 30 people there, so I made all three. I almost cried when ONE cake ended up being enough for everyone. Oh well, at least I have pictures, and I was able to get everyone to take some cake home. The four of us by the barn. My "aunt" Angelita with my little cousin Sofia, my cousin Juliana and her baby Gaby, me and my little monkey who refused to stay still for the picture, and my cousin Andrea and her baby Lina. Diego had so much fun driving the little tractor and riding the go-kart. I'm amazed at how well he drives it. He'll go around the whole loop by himself.

Grandpa took everyone on a tractor ride. The kids rode the go-kart.
Marcelito sat and watched from the four wheeler.

And then of course, there was cake. Marcelito loved it! He was a little hesitant at first, but then he got into it and made a mess. It was very different from Diego, who didn't want anything to do with his cake.
I was really happy with how everything turned out. Thank you again to Mike and Necha for letting us use their house, and thank you to everyone who came. I know I go over the top for my kids' first birthdays with fun decorations and whatever, so thank you for humoring me. What can I say? That's how they roll in Colombia.

Happy Birthday Marcelito!

Little Marcelo is a year old! I'm actually in denial that my baby has turned one. It just makes me sad because time is going by too quickly. It has been a crazy busy year, but it's been so full and wonderful. Celo has brought so much joy into our home. I know joy is a cheezy word, but it's true.

A few of my favorite things about Marcelo Evan:
1. He started sleeping through the night when he was 7 weeks old. He was my little angel sent from heaven to give me a good night's rest so I could have the energy to deal with my 19 month old.
2. He almost always wakes up happy, and when I try to get him out of his crib, he thinks it's a game and rolls around trying to get away from me and laughing at me for not being able to catch him.
3. He's a clown. You can tell his little mind is working and he's trying to be funny. He makes faces, funny sounds, whatever he can to make us laugh.
4. He's soooooooooo sweet and cuddly, I can't even stand it. It makes me want to squish him! He loves to lay his head on my shoulder or give me hugs and kisses. It makes me melt. He also gives his brother and his cousins huge hugs. Some interpret this as him being rough and trying to clobber the other kid, but in reality he's just trying to give some love!
5. He is just as obsessed with cars as Diego is. Since he was about 7 months old he started playing with Hot Wheels, and knew exactly how to hold them to make them roll around. It was so cute to watch his chubby little fingers hold that teeny car.
6. He's so independent! He's great at entertaining himself. He'd be happy to explore the house all day.
7. He hums while he eats his food.
8. He sucks his thumb. Bad habit? Yes. Adorable? YES.
9. He plays catch like a pro. He tosses the ball to me with a big smile on his face and says, "DAH." It kind of sounds like he's saying, "There."
10. I'm pretty sure I've already said this a quarter of a million times, but I love his eyes and eyelashes. I can't help it.

A few things that are cute right now, but won't be cute in a few months:
1. He's an angry boy. The kid's got major attitude! If he's upset about something, he does a screeching little whine and squishes up his whole face. He's even been known to throw himself on the ground in a mini-tantrum. I can't believe he's already doing this.
2. He sucks his thumb. Yes, I know I said I like it, but I don't want him to do it forever!
3. He has no problem tackling Diego to the ground in order to get a toy back.

And now some of my favorite pictures of him, taken over the past year. I know. I'm not good at narrowing things down. So here's the overload:

We didn't teach him this: And of course, this one:

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby!

Artsy Disney Pictures

We took the boys to Disney yesterday. It was a really great day, and we took lots of pictures. I just wasted a bunch of time messing with a few of the pictures, and I can't even decide if I like the outcome. I probably should have just left them as they were. Anyway here are a few pictures of Diego playing in the Winnie the Pooh play area. He must have climbed in and out of that tree about 20 times.


I didn't do anything to the last one. I'll post the rest when I have more time later.