chihuly @ arboretum

There is a Chihuly installation at the Dallas Arboretum for most of this year.  We had a nasty hailstorm come through in June (both our cars and our roof need to be repaired), so I'm curious as to how much damage the sculptures sustained!  We saw it for the first time in May though, so these pictures are before the damage.
I really loved some of the sculptures, and was impressed with how large some of them were!  It was really incredible!

This was a favorite...I just love those colors

Family photo attempt

Xaris found a bench just her size!

X thought these were giant spoons. 

Playing in the frog fountain

sisters are happiness

Both girls woke up so happy the other day, it warranted pictures!  And...after the recent postings about iXy, it seemed we needed an X update.  

At 3, Xaris...

still only weighs 23 lbs

(which is not even on the growth chart)

is 35 & 1/2 inches tall (10th %)

and while they don't do head circumference at 3 year well-check, but in her words, 

"I've got a big ol' head"

(it's hard to pull t-shirts over her big old head!)

Our 3 year old...

now has a smattering of freckles across her nose--too cute!

loves gymnastics, and dancing, and swimming

...and the list goes on and on...

has been potty trained for a YEAR!  

we even got to put away the little potty :)

and on mission trip, we were at the convention center and went to use the 

public restroom and she wanted to go in the stall by herself and close the door.  

Crazy.  When did she get so big?!?!

will pray before meals (unless lots of people are present)

likes to sing, but tends to modify songs or make up her own

(recently she sang about the itsy bitsy spider who went up the water spout 

and ate spaghetti)

has quite the extensive vocabulary, in English and Spanish...and says

hilarious and interesting stuff in sometimes very full and long sentences!

LOVES being a big sister, and is amazing with her baby sister

runs very very fast

is a great helper

loves the Zoo, parks, arboretum, swings and slides

knows her full name, her mama's name, papas name, baby sister's name, and her birthdate.  

She also knows my nickname growing up (and still) was Caliakahlua, and she

occasionally calls me "caliakalola"

We love our sweet girls!

A trip to the zoo

We just bought a membership to the Dallas Zoo...and it's been really fun!  And I'm sure it will be a lot more fun in the fall/winter once it finally cools down enough to really enjoy being outdoors.

The girls and I had gone several times already, but Ricardo had not, so we finally made it as a family outing one Saturday.  Canon was there and had set up some high-powered cameras/lenses that they were allowing people to use/practice/play with, and they let Ricardo use his own memory card from our camera so he could take the photos with him!  It was really fun--some of these photos are of animals that have more detail than we would have been able to get from our camera's distance!

Paparazzi shot...we were distracted by the giraffes.

My sweet 3 year old!

One restaurant has glass walls around the lion's habitat, and the lions love to sleep right up against the glass.  I love Xaris' face as she sees how big it is once it starts to get up!

Xaris also has a zoo passport, and each time she visits they stamp her book.  I think there is a prize once you get them all stamped, so I'd better not lose it.  

9 month well check

Today was iXy's 9-month well-check.

At 9 months old she...

weighs 17lbs, 1.5 oz (25th %)

is 26 and 3/4 inches tall (25th %)

has a head circumference of 16 and 3/4 inches (10th %)

In comparison, she weighs a little more than X at 9 months, but isn't as tall, and doesn't have as big of a head!  Xaris' 9 month stats here.

At 9 months old, ilane... 

pulls herself up to standing any chance she gets

is extremely ticklish

loves loves LOVES her mama

is highly entertained by her big sister

wants to eat anything and everything (that we are eating), so far her favorites are avocado, blueberries, applesauce, carrots, yogurt, pizza, crackers, waffles, peaches....the list really goes on and on.  She likes puffs and other baby "snacks" ok, but it is not her preference, particularly if she has a puff in her hand and mama has pizza in her hand...and she decides mama has the better end of the bargain.   She's also had frozen yogurt, pickles, tomatoes, peas, green beans, tortillas, toast, and who knows what else I'm not remembering at this point.  We don't have a very picky eater at this moment in time, and she is known to start squawking at whoever is holding her if she doesn't get at least every other bite of whatever they are eating.  (Apparently I did the same thing when I was a baby).

At 9 months old, she likes playing duplos, blocks, kitchen/play foods, rapunzel and babies, and anything else with Xaris.

Our big 9 month old...

is good at scooting

will crawl until she gets too excited and reverts to scooting

has the most darling smile with 2 (almost...maybe 1.75?) teeth

laughs and laughs while watching her family members play

loves the water--baths, kiddie pool, swimming, everything

has not yet had her hair cut

has completed one session of swimming lessons

plays well in the church nursery

says "ma ma ma ma" and of course she means me!

wears size 12-18 months now, pretty consistently

is fascinated with the computer, iphone, ipad, etc.

has been to her first baseball game, first mission trip, and first trip to the zoo this spring.  

has light brownish highlighted hair, which looks red in the sunlight.  

ocho y nueve

Too many blog posts to catch up on!  

ilane turned 8 months old a LONG time ago :) 

Here's her cupcake photo...notice the fistful of frosting and the overturned cupcake?  Yeah,

she was delighted in herself.  We thought she was pretty funny too, however, that's our bed she is sitting on and we weren't as excited to smear the frosting everywhere.

She had her 9-monthiversary while she was on her first mission trip!

We were up in Mt. Vernon, Missouri (in between Joplin and Springfield) for the week, and I didn't have a chance to bake cupcakes.  Not even sure if I could have found a store to buy cupcakes, actually. But, I had cookies (because one of my main mission trip jobs is to visit all the teams at their work sites and bring cookies).  

So, her special cupcake picture is even more special for a good reason.  Here she is with 9 limited edition birthday cake oreo cookies, seated on the trunk of our car outside a team's worksite. 

So proud of our little one--she didn't seem to mind the lack of cupcakes :)

Celebrating 3 (again and again and again)

Xaris turned 3 in May, and we celebrated lots of times!  Since her birthday was a Wednesday (one of my long work days), she got cupcakes and balloons with her preschool class.   Her birthday party was a few weeks later, and we also squeezed a little celebration in while we were in California for Mother's day.

Pink cupcakes were what she chose for preschool.  Homemade treats are not allowed (state laws), so I had to order them.  I was not expecting HOT pink frosting (I had just requested pink).  This frosting stained--so all the little toddlers had pink fingers and faces for the rest of the day...and into the next.  Ooops. 

This is Xaris's friend Estella.  Without knowing, their mama's bought them the same t-shirt.  They were thrilled!  Estella is about 2 months older than Xaris--so they moved up to the "big kid" class at the preschool together!

Xari got a bike!  Which she helped put together.  

It took her awhile to get the hang of it.  She really isn't heavy enough to use weight to push the pedals, so it requires more strength from her, but she's doing better at it!

Swings after bike riding!

Her birthday party was a rainbow themed party.  We had a rainbow pool for the kids to play in, this is her and her friend Jack.  

Rainbow cake :)

Aunt Alisha made the girls rainbow shirts and tutus!

8 months and soooo big!

Went into her room and found her pulled up on her knees.... Went to get her papa to see it, and when we came back:



Guess it's time to lower the crib!


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California Mother's day

The girls and I flew to California to celebrate Mother's day with my grandma, and my mom and sisters also flew in--it was a fun weekend!
I didn't bring a camera (traveling solo with both girls meant I didn't want the extra stuff to carry--I already had enough!) so all these photos are from the various iPhones/iPads present at our weekend. I think my uncle did take a picture of all of us with his camera, so I'll try to post that one when I get a copy of it.



Grand-grandma, Gramama, Xari, iXy and Mama




First glimpse of the beach!!



We need to get sand toys!



Yes. The beach is for this girl. And this girl is for the beach.
















There was also lots of playtime...yay tias!!



We also met up with some college friends who live there, and have a little boy who's 20 months. We met at a kid's gym that had some open play, and it was pretty fun! Xaris even rode the zip line, which shocked me--she's usually not quite THAT bold.




Snail races....I don't think they have snails in Dallas--at least not the big California ones. (everything's bigger in Texas?? I guess not). Xaris spent a few minutes every morning looking out the window to count all the snails on the bushes.



We had a birthday party for the May birthdays--just Xaris and my uncle since,y aunt couldn't be there. Complete with cake, ice cream, funny glasses and a piñata :)


And a giant Raggedy Andy as a gift for Xaris from GreatUncle Chef Bill!



Lots of love and snuggles with grand grandma



Another trip to the beach on a sunny afternoon--and sand castle lessons with great-aunt Jeannette!





What IS this stuff??





Sigh, ocean breeze, sand, sun, salty air, I was born for this! (it was really hard to get her off the beach...she wasn't ready to be done).
















We loved it!!

On a slightly sadder note--X is sick and we're trying to figure out what's wrong, so prayers would be appreciated. She had strep and an ear infection about 10 days ago (just finished antibiotics last night), but she has not improved much, and has had a fever since Monday. Yesterday's visit to Dr confirmed that strep was now negative, but since everything (ears, nose, throat, etc) was visibly ok, we ended up having to do bloodwork and stuff to try to figure out why she still isn't well.
On top of this, she's not really eating, and not sleeping well, so it's been a miserable few days. Poor baby.


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Location:Santa Cruz, CA