A Farewell to AZ

The weekend after the party we attempted to head to CO. The car was fixed and we were ready to go set house up in Colorado. Then... bring on the sickness! All forms of nastiness attacked our little family. I'll spare you the details, but it was no fun! I spent the week slowly packing up and tending to the kids ailments. As a much needed diversion, I busted out the instant snow that my mom sent us. It was a hit!

Although Malia still felt it necessary to share a bit of her attitude...

Abram with his Tia Jocy. He sure does love her! I sure do miss her wanting to hold him!

A bit of hydration. The kiddos enjoying some agua...

Tio Nany helping Abram with his water. As you can see, Abram preferred to eat the cup...

By Thursday we were "On the Road Again". We enjoyed our time in AZ and loved getting to be with family. At the same time, we are super excited to be back in CO. It means that it's closer to David coming home! Now everyone just needs to come visit us...

1st Birthday Videos

So these videos are super dark being it was so late at night AND I didn't have the right setting on the camera! Oh well. You can still hear the fun of Mali hitting the pinata and Abram getting sung to. Feliz Cumpleanos Abram!

Happy First Birthday Abram!

We celebrated Abram's birthday on March 6th. We had to celebrate early because David's mom was heading to Mexico and we were going to head up to CO. Just a "few" pictures of the fun-filled day....

A close-up of the pinata, compliments of Tia Eli... This sucker was chock full of candy!

Our decorating skills...

More decorations... we didn't have the balloons out yet because it was so windy...

Where the food went... Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the delicious spread. Too busy eating it I guess. The Menu: Carne Asada, Rice, Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Pasta Salad, Marshmallow Fruit Salad, Hamburgers, Homemade Salsas (My mother-in-law's salsa verde is to die for!)... If you couldn't find something that you liked to eat at this party, you have issues! Delicioso!

The goodie bags for the kids. This was given out in addition to the pinata spoils! A dentist's worst nightmare!

Pre-party presents. As you may be able to tell from Abram's glistening eyes, he was struggling before the party started. I tried to appease him with presents from Grandma and Grandpa in Iowa. Cheered him right up....

So dinner was delicious and then for fun the rain started! We had to do a bit of quick rearranging to get things undercover. No worries though, not even rain could slow this party down! We had to wait for the weather to settle down to get the pinata out. But as you can see, no matter how late it was the kids were still super eager...

They are pretty serious about hanging the pinata. At Mali's 3rd birthday we just hung it on a hook! An entirely different method here... Tio Nany at one side...

Uncle Max at the other... So fun for the kids...

Especially when the candy goes flying! Mali refused to pick up any candy because she didn't have her treat bag yet to put it in! No worries, she got plenty of candy...

Watch out! Here come the adults! Candy for everyone...

David's sisters and cousins...

More family and friends...

Happy Birthday cake compliments Tia Jocy... so cute! Unfortunately, Abram couldn't enjoy it because of his allergies...

Since Abram has his stinking allergies, Tio Nany made up this super cute fruit kabob creation...

Our little man in his brand new PJs... Thanks Grandma!

Even though it was super late... there were presents to open! Tons of fun presents! Thanks everyone!

So there you have it! Our little man's first birthday, done "Mexican style". It was tons of fun and great to be surrounded by so many friends and family. Thanks to everyone who made the day possible. Happy Birthday Abram!

Abram's 1st Pinata

Here is Abram hitting his first pinata at his 1st birthday party. The day before when we went to go buy the pinata his Tia Eli got him to say "pinata"!

Girl Handsome

Here is Malia with Jocy's puppy Belle. The name Belle came later. Here was Malia's suggestion for the puppy's name...

She was so in love with this puppy. I know she would want more than anything to have one of her own. However, I'm allergic to dogs and were not sure about the extent of Abram's allergies yet. I guess for now she'll just have to keep loving other's dogs :o)

Summer Wellness Challenge

I am participating in a "Summer Wellness Challenge". Feel free to check it out if you are interested in joining yourself or if you just want to see what it's all about to support me in my newest endeavor!

http://nicholsflyers.blogspot.com/

FEBRUARY- A Month in Review

So the entire month of February was spent in Arizona. David headed back to Afghanistan, leaving the kids and I the opportunity to spend some quality time with the family. Jocy got a brand new puppy. Needless to say, Malia was is seventh heaven...

Jocy and I took the opportunity a few times to load the kids up into strollers and head over to the nearby park. We were quite the sight with 5 kids in tow! Although the park had great play equipment, the kids opted to play by a tree...

We also went over to Metro Center for the kids to play. Here is Abram conquering Saturn...

Malia, Queen of the Planets...

Lots and lots of climbing...

Awww.... Gabrielito and Malia, primos forever!

The kiddos, minus the non-walker Abram! Alex, Malia (with some attitude), Gabriel, and Tony...

A more pleasant face...

On one of our many walks Malia received her first real knee scrape. Oh, the drama...

Nothing a Pet Shop band-aid can't heal! Although, the pout still stuck around...

The kids decorating a cake for Grandpa... Happy Birthday Gabriel!

Double Trouble... Love these boys!

The band-aid fascination continued...

Another fine looking young man... Gabrielito... Great kid!

Abram enjoying some peaches. Enjoyed them so much he felt it necessary to put them in his hair...

We ended the month of February with a real bang! Literally. Some guy hit us. Totally his fault. A minor fender bender but what a hassle! Fortunately, insurance stepped up and most things were dealt with quickly. The car was fixed within the week.

So there's a bit of what we did while visiting Arizona. I have other great pictures that I took, but unfortunately they are stuck on my phone! Almost caught up... now on to Abram's birthday!