year in review...2011

These mosaic collages of the past year are all over the web. I think they're a great way to look back. I wasn't sure how to do it, but hurray for google. If you'd like to try it yourself, just go to bighugelabs.com and their mosaic maker. I've linked it to that. You can upload pictures from flickr or facebook.

You have to decide how many pictures to have in your mosaic...36 is the max and apparently is not enough for me. I had to make two. My photos are mixed up throughout the year, but I would have liked to see it January to December. The hardest part definitely is choosing which pictures to use.

After you finish, you can save it to your computer or share it with friends. It's quick and easy...let me know if you try it!

new year's eve

Loved this balloon idea for New Year's Eve, and more importantly, so did the kids.


Each balloon had a clock drawn on it, and that was the time they got to pop it...inside was a little note telling us the activity. And just 'cause, I wrote most of them in Spanish.


It must have been a lot of fun, because even now, I can't remember half of what we did. Although I will say, do not make the same mistake I did and keep the kids up till 11pm. Things quickly deteriorated after 9:45pm.

We started off by making a video of each of the kids answering some questions. This would be fun to do each year to see how their answers change. Let's see if I remember next year.

We quickly moved on to snacks. These popcorn balls were yummy...just like Rice Krispie treats, but with popcorn.


And although it doesn't look that great, this punch was delicious. Here's the recipe. Really, you can never go wrong with punch.


I do remember making a huge lump of playdough. I tried to make it smell like peppermint, but you must need to use a lot of extract to get that smell.


Smart planning was crucial...they played with the dough while I got dinner ready. Yay, mom.


The fun didn't really start until daddy got home.


And this was the part I was looking forward to all night...funny mustache pictures.


Card stacking somehow made it onto the list...but way too late into the night. It's much harder than it looks.


And about this time, things started breaking down...tired kids means crying and hysterical laughing, switching quickly back and forth, for no apparent reason....although Diego could have made it to midnight without a problem.


Another tip: these glowstick balls from the dollar store do NOT stay together. Oh, and make sure you actually have sparklers BEFORE you tell the kids we're going to light them.



What a great year 2011 was....looking forward to the next one!

christmas cats

Christmas with the fam....always great memories....but most of these pictures are of cats for some reason.

Uncle David and Aunt Leah Ann have boys in their twenties...with much cooler toys.


Nothing sweeter than kittens under a tree.


That beautiful face masks her wild side...she climbs up people's legs with her claws.


Diego loves the kitties...and these are way more tolerant of him than our own Kitty.


Checking each other out.

Now that's a joyful Christmas face.

Helping with the dishes.


Too bad this one's a little blurry....this great video helped me learn a little more about my camera and taking pictures in low light.

My beautiful cousin Elizabeth...she's expecting her first baby. (I'm holding it all in trying to make sure it wasn't me who looked pregnant in this picture.)

So pretty! A very merry Christmas indeed.

handmade Christmas 2011

Our original idea was to only MAKE the kids presents this year...plus give some of the ones I had found in yard sales earlier this year and was able to sneak by them. But we did cave at some point in December and buy a few things.

These are the handmade ones...painted, sewed, and constructed in the wee hours of the night. I love, love Pinterest for giving me so many ideas!

The first ones Isabela helped with. These little things are pocket warmers, or hand warmers. We made one for each of the kids in Isabela's class...and by we, I mean she now knows how to sew very well. These were super simple to make, just two 5" squares of flannel and some rice inside. They can get very hot after 30 seconds in the microwave and are great to take out to the frigid bus stop in the morning. We also made huge foot warmers with a removable cover that could be washed (in case of stinky feet!). We went through a 25lb. bag of rice (which is only $8 by the way!)


These blocks were one of the first gifts I made. We had a set of these several years ago and loved them. You can make different designs, and I think they were originally used to make quilt pattern blocks. These have a few more fancy patterns on them and can be made into different animals.


Here is the monkey. I just painted some of Joaquin's blocks with acrylic paint and Mod Podge on top to protect it. No one's really played with them too much yet, but I do find them all over the floor.


These masks were for Diego and made from scraps. Very simple, but Diego doesn't like to put masks on, so not really a great present for now.


This fishing game was a big hit though. As soon as Diego opened this, he did not want to open any other presents. It's just a simple fish with button eyes. There is a safety pin through each of their mouthes, and the stick has a strong magnet on the end.


The kids make up their own rules as they play...there's even a shark in the mix...sometimes if you get that, you have to throw all your fish back in the water.


These were some cute printable bookmarks and cards...Isabela is into that type of thing.


Now the guitar was a little harder. I made the pattern up myself, but saw the cute idea here. The neck is too thin and flops around...I'd definitely make that part larger if I made it again.


Juan Pablo and I play with it more than the kids...one more for us!


And Daddy helped make this cool tent. Again...not played with too much, but maybe with time.


These little animal sleeping bags were a lot of fun. This one we gave away, but I made one for each of the kids, with material that reflected their personalities...balls for Diego, a bear for Joaquin, and zoo animals for Isabela.


And finally, I've always wanted to make one of these puzzles...I copied a page from a favorite children's book, sliced it into squares, and Mod Podged it onto some blocks. Where the Wild Things Are for one side....


...Horton Hatches an Egg for the other.

the eve

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens



He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.
Roy L. Smith



The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
Burton Hillis


(Or not so happy....here's Diego screaming at his brother!)



One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly.
Andy Rooney



Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.
Peg Bracken


We are so thankful to Great-Uncle David for joining us on Christmas Eve. My word for the new year is HOPSITALITY, and I'm so glad to have gotten the jump start at Christmas. AND we did the unheard of...which the kids will never forget...he took them Christmas shopping at Target on the 'eve...they got to pick and he paid.

Plus the tradition still stands....pjs for all! Isabela got ones to match her new glasses.


Joaquin got ones to match his extreme sports love.


And Diego got Scooby-Dooby-Doo!


It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.
Charles Dickens

wanna play?

Playing board games was one of my favorite things to do growing up. LIFE, Clue, Mystery Mansion... I loved them. As an only child, I played with my parents, and can't say that I remember playing these with friends that much. So maybe my parents just let me win all the time, and that's why it was so fun.

Then there was Monopoly. While I remember playing it, and always grabbing the dog first as my piece, it was never one of my favorites. I rarely won and easily lost interest after the first 30 minutes...and we all know how long a game of Monopoly can last.

A few years ago, my mother-in-law brought Monopoly with her when she visited us. If you look closely, you'll see it's a spanish version. That first night we stayed up playing late into the night and it was so much fun...probably because I won the first game. I wasn't so lucky the next time, and haven't played it much since then. I've kept it up high on the shelf because the kids used to get into it and spread those sharp little pieces all over the floor for me to step on.

But this past week, we pulled it out again, and it seems the kids are old enough to enjoy it now. While Diego was napping, the kids and I played for two hours straight...I finally had to bow out to go start dinner and they continued to play for two more hours. They made up their own rules...dealing out all the money 'one for me, one for you' and adding blocks as hotels because they had so many. When they drew a card, which are all written in Spanish, they did their best to figure it out, and just gave themselves money when they couldn't.

I hadn't seen them play cooperatively together in....their lives! I was truly impressed and am loving board games all over again. Anyone up for a game of Monopoly?

easy ornaments

I think a lot of us discovered the sparkly, plastic, do-it-yourself ornament balls this year. The key word is definitely plastic which holds up so well to multiple falls off of the tree.

I thought I'd share two that I made from some great finds on Pinterest. I literally made these in less than five minutes.

This one was for Isabela's piano teacher. I printed off the lyrics to a Christmas carol (Hark! the Herald Angels sing) and sliced it with my paper slicer into thin strips. It helps to slightly curl them before you put them into the ornament so that more of the notes will show.


I love how a closer look brings out the words of the season, as well.



OK...this one probably took me ONE minute to make...and is quite possibly the prettiest ornament I've ever seen. All it is is colored feathers stuffed into the ball.


I imagined making a set of twelve, but when I went back to the store to get more balls, they were all gone!