*silly faces

at breakfast:

and then at dinner:

...and one grumpy face:

*feliz!

Happy Birthday Stella!

We can't believe you're TWO! 

*tijeras

Playing with scissors is Vera's new favorite activity.  I like it because it keeps her occupied for a loooong time :)

*la biblioteca

We go to the library a lot.  It's a perfect walk a mile away, it's free, it's lively, there's people watching, it's cultured [ :) ], we come home with a load of new reading material and DVDs, and it's just a nice way to spend an hour or two.  

 

...she loves to give books back to the libary...

...the glass elevator is always a hit...

..."the attic" reading room...

...we always have to touch the water on our way out and...

...hug each and every pole.  she definitely exhibits some OCD behavior :)

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*postre

There's a new pinkberry inspired yogurt place near our house!  We got semi-addicted while in California over Christmas and just tried this one out tonight.  Mmmm I just love the plain tart with a couple blueberries on top.  I have a feeling we'll be going there quite a bit, especially as the weather warms up - which it hasn't.

*cantando

It's hard to get her to sing in front of the camera, but I got it tonight. It's crazy how much her speaking improves every day. Just here she says "Lord Jesus" instead of "more Jesus" for the first time and she's remembering more of the words every time. I wish I would have got videos of her singing earlier!

*amiguito

Vera's new imaginary friend is "little mousie" - and sometimes his whole family too. It started one day when we noticed a little house formed out of blocks and I put my finger in and said "hi Vera" in a little voice. It is so funny and bizarre - we don't even have to use a different voice, just give her our attention. It's definitely odd and hopefully short-lived :) Sometimes you just have to tell her mousie went to sleep or is outside or something.

*eggy soup

[they "improved" the exterior which I find a pity - I loved this old kitschy one]

I can imagine how much we'll miss this place when we move.  We've been regulars since our first months here and they know us - such a good feeling in a place that we have struggled to really love.  It's always been one of Vera's favorites too - eggy soup [egg drop soup] was at one time her primary topic of conversation.

  

*la visita

It was a wonderful, special, great, fun, comforting,

exciting and much-needed visit from an old friend!

(Make new friends, but keep the o-old: one is silver and the other gold :)

*♥

♥♥♥

♥♥♥

We had a little pink tea party yesterday afternoon - curled our hair, put on pink lipstick and everything. I had thought she'd be a little more into it, but she was a little grumpy all weekend with a bad cold or something. On a normal day she'd love to pretend to be Fancy Nancy and practice her manners. Instead....

here she is stuffing her face with cookie while eyeing the rest of mine:

and here she is drinking her tea straight from the pot:

She also belched and slouched in her chair and hardly said a word.

Anyway, Sarah and I had a lovely time.

♥♥♥

*el pan

I was looking at the recipe for last night's dinner and it called for 3 slices of bread which we didn't have and I'd already gone to the store.  Isn't that the worst?  One ingredient.  I finally decided to just make some.  It seems like I always make such a big deal about it, like it's going to take up my whole day or something, but I really need/want to make it part of our daily lives.  Not like, ok next Tuesday I am going to need to set aside the whole afternoon and have Ben take Vera to the park and bake some bread.  Seriously it was so easy!  I mixed the ingredients in 10 minutes before our friends arrived, it rose while we played and I put it in the oven when they left.  I need to take some lessons from my mom and just do it.  This recipe is the Light Wheat Bread from Smitten Kitchen - it's not the most amazingly tasty bread, but it's good, decent sandwich or toast bread.  There you go.

*

We had a mini snow day today [nowhere near DC's 3' but enough so we weren't up for playing outside like we'd planned] so Jenny, Sam and Amelia came over to play.  Oh my goodness they had so much fun!!   As much as Vera loves princesses and dancing and dressing up, she also loves to run and jump and be crazy.   It was so cute to see how she and Sam get along so well in this way - which they always have.  Cutie pie Amelia joins in on the running or jumping for a minute or so, but is usually content to do her own thing :)

*el lunes

I got this idea for "Muffin Tin Monday" from this blog. It's a fun little diversion and gets them to a variety of things - Stella even thought her dried apricot was candy :)

I can't resist the temptation to sarcastically remark on how exciting my life is :)

*el sábado

We kind of like the regular days around here, getting things done and just hanging out. Yesterday was one of those:

:ready for a trip to the grocery store with mom:

:washing the big car:

:and the little car too:

:and then a fun dinner with our neighbors! we got her to eat her whole plate of spinach lasagne by having Tia pretend like she was going to eat it:

*el baño!

We are so excited this project is over!!! Ben did an amazing job and we are so happy to have a clean, pretty, new bathroom. In case you're wondering, it cost about $3,000 for everything - new tub, tile, toilet, sink, walls, fixtures, etc. Thank you Mom and Dad for the loan! and thank you Ben for working so hard :) and thank you Bryan (and Jen!) for helping a lot.

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I love my towels and made sure the paint would match :)

my favorite: the doorknob, a Christmas present from Ben

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It's been really fun to see Vera interacting more with her friends, initiating and participating in little games, conversations, holding hands, sharing, etc. on her own.

Little princesses making their little horsies talk to each other:

Mimi's pony: Hi. What's your name?

Vera's pony: Ummm Vera.

The conversation here was something like, this is nice... yeah real nice... look, mud!

walking back from watching the trains. then Thomas went away! yeah, he went away!

*

These pictures were on my phone from about a month ago.  Vera was supposed to be taking a nap and instead she was hollering, Mooooommmmmm! Ha-prise [surprise] for youuu!!!!!  I walked into her room and she opened up her hands like so:

Me: wow, Vera what is it?  

Vera: a bunnny!  little one!

You always have to ask what imaginary surprise she has for you. Once Ben thought it was a chocolate and pretended to eat it - she yelped in shock because it was supposed to be a bunny.

Roughly 2 seconds later.  I must have tried to make her change her pants or wouldn't let her hold the picture on the wall. Who knows.