Gabby Girl

Sabrina, as always, is talking so well now. Here she is singing Twinkle Twinkle with a little sign language cues from me. Oh, and the girl in the background is their nanny, Megan. The girls LOVE her!



Here is Sabrina trying to sing Twinkle Twinkle one more time, but suddenly realizes she sees herself on the web cam. She is a ham.

Christmas 2006

So, my girls were "big girls" this year and actually went to see Santa. Sofia still doesn't really get the concept of who Santa really is, but she still wanted to see him and sit on his lap. I think she didn't think it was an actual real person, so it was a little confusing for her. The entire way to see Santa, Sabrina refused to see him. I kept trying to sing Santa songs to keep her motivated. Finally, when it came time to actually see Santa, Sabrina said "No!". Then, I told her that I would give her a cookie if she just got a few pictures with Santa. She immediately said ok, and reached for Santa to take her. What a negotiator! In any case, it worked out that Sabrina was willing to at least sit and pose for a few pics before crying out for a cookie. Sofia, was sweet and calm, as always. She told Santa she wanted nuts for Christmas.

Christmas Dancing

The girls decided to show off their latest dance moves on video. Just glad we caught it... I have been so much worse about taking video. I get so obsessed with pictures, that it's almost too late to take video. When you watch this, it will definitely give you an idea as to what the personalities of my kids are...

Visit to the Philippines

November 2006: Sofia and I had the opportunity to visit the Philippines. It was Sofia's first trip overseas and my first trip in 8 years to visit family. After over-worrying about(surprise, surprise), Sofia did quite well over there. I guess I kept thinking that with the 13.5 hour flight to Japan; followed by a 5 hour flight to Manila, that she would be a wreck. Especially after arriving there late at night with a 11 hour time difference. Well, she proved me wrong. She was a trooper especially if you factor in that she doesn't have things like Melatonin and Caffeine to keep her functioning! Here are a few pictures of her enjoying Business Class. We were in the upstairs cabin on a 747 and Sofia loved the goody bag that each passenger got. She insisted on trying everything out herself. I don't blame her!

Delamerced & Montemayor Families:

We visitied both Families while we were out there. I think Sofia was a bit overwhelmed with all the people! Click on the image if you want to see it larger!

We spent most of our time in the city shopping and going to spas, but we did spend a fair amount of time on different excursions such as Villa Escadero, Tagaytay, and Bohol.

Sabrina & Sofia on the Stairs

Here is a classic example of my two girls. I hope they always get along like this...

Sabrina Likes Elmo

Sabrina loves watching Elmo on the computer. You can't hear him, but each time you press "F", Elmo says "F, Feather" then the feather tickles him and he laughs. I tickle Sabrina at the same time and she can't get enough of it!

Sofia's Googly Eyes

Here is Sofia attempting to do Googly Eyes. Our new nanny, Megan, was taking the short clip. For those of you who didn't know... yes, I am back to work! Anyway, Sofia really thinks she is doing it! For those who do not know what Googly Eyes are go to Wikpedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googly_eyes). As you can see, she does a pretty cheap imitation of the real thing. Oh, and I should note... that is chatty Sabrina in the background wanting to be pushed at the playground. Not even noticing the camera. She is truly a chatterbox.

Sabrina's Faces -click on image to see larger

Sofia's First Day of School

Sofia thought she was the "bomb" going to big kid school. She kept telling Sabrina that she was too little to go to school and it was only for big kids. The rivalry has just begun!
















Then Sofia found a worm on the driveway on the way to school. She kept calling it a snake. Sabrina, of course, wanted to do EVERYTHING her sister did. It nice to know that Sofia isn't scared of snakes!!!

Michigania

Our first real "camp" we have ever been to as a family. Michigania is such a different experience as a parent than as a child. It was a lot of fun, but it still was a ton of work. Sofia went to day camp from 9-5 each day. Unlike Telluride's camp, she did not adjust as well. Poor girl! By the end of the week, I think she did just fine. Not too sure if we will return to Michigania next year, but we will put on the list for years to come. It is so pretty up there and I think once our kids are old enough to actually be somewhat self-sufficient, we wil be up there!

Summer Vacation to Telluride, Colorado

Telluride - August 2006

Sofia and I at San Sophia Ridge between Telluride and Mountain Village

Cory is determined to get the family to fall in love with Telluride. Well, needless to say, it's starting to work! We spent almost a week there this summer. There was no real festival going on, we just bummed around enjoying the family and enjoying the beautiful mountains. If it wasn't so hard and so expensive to get here, I think we would be here more often. Most of our days were spent walking around town, but we did get some couple time too. Sofia went to all day kids camp for a few days and loved it! They went hiking everyday doing fun outdoorsy stuff. I hope she love the outdoors as much as I do!

The weather wasn't too bad.. a little rain, but bearable. We took a hike with Sofia one day and one day we took a hike on our own. It sure is a lot different hiking for 8 hours and then having to come home to two kids who are in desperate need of attention. Oh well, it still is worth it... although I don't call "vacations" vacations anymore - they are called "family trips". A completely different experience.

Here are a few pics of my girls giving some of their best looks. Can you blame them for being so irresistable? They are going to break some poor boys heart some day! Don't forget you can click on the image to enlarge it!

Sabrina discovers her reflection...

Ok, so Sabrina just figured out that she is the cute one in the mirror. She spent a good 15 minutes running up to the mirror and cracking herself up with her funny faces! She is a character... I don't think we are going to have a hard time trying to entertain her!

Sofia Sings Old Mac Donald

Sabrina Talks and Sofia Babbles

Sabrina at 17 months can pretty much use 2 word sentences. However, the other day, Cory says that she actually said "That's a big cheetoe". Hmm, I ask, why was she eating cheetoes? In any case, Sabrina is a talker, who knows what she will be like when she is Sofia's age!!

Here is a video we took after the day at the pool. Sofia is definitely off in her own world babbling and Sabrina is telling me who everyone is. She currently calls Sofia, "Fy". The other day, Sofia turns to Sabrina and said, " Sabrina, why can't you say Sofia. So-Fia. Try It" It was SO funny!

Summer Evening at Fountain Walk

Can you ask for a better evening. 80 degrees and we all went to dinner at Fountain Walk in Novi for Marcus & Karen's 3rd anniversary. The kids are getting big so fast! Zach and Sabrina particularly had fun at the fountains. Sabrina, who just turned 17 months last week, said "Splash-Water-Baby-Zachy" after she left. Can you believe she is talking so much? Two word sentences are very common for her now... and every now and then she will do a 3 or 4 word sentence. Doesn't she know that I want her to slow down on this growing up thing? This is our last baby and I wanted to enjoy the stages SLOWLY. She can't seem to do anything fast.






Here are the all of the cousins hanging out at Fountain Walk. Sofia just adores Aysia and will follow her anywhere. And Sabrina, Miss Independent, won't let her hold her hand not matter how dangerous things get!

And I finally couldn't resist putting a few family pictures up on this Blog. It is pretty hard to keep my girls to sit still for more than an nano-second. So, this is probably the closest thing we will have to a family picture for a while. We even had to bribe Sofia to sit still. We thought she would forget, but 10 minutes later, she asked where her ice cream was.

My girls having too much fun "eating" ice cream at Guernsey's in Northville. We eventually had to strip Sabrina down since she decided to run all over the van covered in ice cream! In the end, the girls plopped down on Griffin's dog bed in the back, giggling like schoolgirls! CLICK ON THE IMAGE IF YOU WANT TO SEE IT LARGER!!!

Hanging with Family

June 11th, 2006 : We decided it was time to pay a visit to Marcus and Karen tonight. It was a nice cool evening in June. It is always nice to have "unplanned" visits to family. Bunky, our nephew is starting to walk and get into everything. And our niece, Aysia, is getting to be the "caregiver" of all the kids. It's so strange when we think that we met her at Sofia's age and how quickly they grow up! Me and my niece... Aysia

And here is Uncle Cory hanging out with the Big Z... Can you believe that Zach is actually staying still! It was so cute, he was chasing Sabrina around all night trying to "hug" her. However, it looked more like a tackle. Our tough little Sabrina doesn't stand a chance against him!

Sofia adores her big cousin, Aysia. Here Sofia is actually singing... "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" to all of us. I really wish I had this on video. Maybe next time!

Finally, I have to include a picture of our crazy Sabrina. She is 17 months old and talking in two word sentences now. I can't tell you how many funny faces she makes in just one day. She always has us laughing. She is already definitely the ring leader in the family. Sofia spends all day copying and following her around. Oh, boy... the next few years will be interesting.

Springtime Swim

Girls are always enjoying the water. Sabrina is fearless... and Sofia will only go in the sprinklers if her goggles are on! What a cutie. I am still trying to figure out how these two girls ended up so different... Check out Sofia in the goggles... I love it!

Sabrina the Trooper

Life does funny things sometimes when you least expect it. We had one of life's biggest scares this month. On the way home from church, our little Brie started to stiffen up and turn blue. We rushed her to the hospital and she got the works... X Rays, oxygen mask, IV. The poor girl even had to go home with the IV tube still attached to her. Turns out she had a febrile seizure. An incredibly scary, but harmless seizure. Here are pics of her only hours after she got home from being in the ER all day! She had to figure out how do do everything one-handed! Little trooper! We count our blessings each day now and never take any chances. Thank God she is ok!

Partners in Crime

I can't get enough of these two and how crazy they are together. This is a typical day at our place. Sabrina is crazy... and Sofia LOVE to just imitate everything she does!

Sofia Sings

Sofia sings Twinkle Twinkle at 30 months. Go Rockstar!!! Click on the video above to see it play