Happy Birthday Leyla!

Leyla has been waiting for her birthday ALL week! She knew it was coming because we bought her some presents and told her she could open them on her birthday. We talked about getting a pinata, too. So she was waiting for it! We explained to her - not today, not tomorrow, then the next day, and so on. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but I wanted to celebrate it at school with the kids and Monday was the only day I had space in my schedule. So, when she went to bed last night, I asked her, "Do you know what day it is tomorrow? And she said, "Yes. My birthday."

She woke up this morning and we sang happy birthday to her then got her all dressed to go and took the party supplies. Mrs. Ochoa made her a birthday "crown" that was so cute. At 10:30 Marcos came with the pinata and we took the kids out to swing at it. Of course none of them could break it, but they had fun trying! Then we lit a 4 candle on her cupcake and sang happy birthday. At the end they sang, How old are you now? And every time Leyla said "Four!" And held up her 4 fingers :) Then everyone got their bags of candy and a balloon. It was lots of fun! I can't believe she is getting so big :)

 Her Hello Kitty pinata we had made specially for her!

 Getting ready for the pinata! (She has on the crown Mrs. Ochoa made her)

 Stella, Amy Camila, Leyla, Pamela, and Daniela

 Everyone in a circle waiting their turn.

 Leyla goes first! They usually count to 10, but since Leyla was the birthday girl she was going to get 15 hits. Only, the kids don't know how to count in English past 10! So they all stopped at 10 anyway. It was pretty funny.

 Go Kevin!

 We had to break the pinata ourselves for them, poor things are so tiny! They are so sweet though, taking turns, and when we got to "10" they gave up the stick - nobody fought to keep hitting! What well-behaved little kiddies.

 Running back to the classroom for cupcakes!

 I made chocolate cupcakes with pink cream cheese icing. They were yummy.

 Leyla's class!

 At home opening presents!

 She was excited to get her Three Little Pigs Play-doh kit!

 Perfect paper for her :)

 A purple fairy Barbie with wings, to match her purple fairy dress from Abuela.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEYLA!

The past month or so...

It has been about a month I think since I updated, so this is going to be a long one!
I tried to update a few weeks ago but had exceeded my upload limit, so, I have been trying to fix it and was only just now able to.

#1: First, Leyla had her 3rd birthday and got exactly what she wanted: a Tasha Backyardigans piñata and cake. She had so much fun! I tried to put her down to nap before it got too late, so she would be in a good mood for the party, but she wouldn't sleep! I put her to bed and she played in her bed. Then when she came out she had changed entirely out of her clothes and had chosen the dress to wear for her party.

I made her a Tasha cake that I thought turned out really well! I was very happy, and I only came up with  the idea on a whim, when I couldn't decide what kind of cake to do. The main problem was she wanted a pink cake, but the  character Tasha is not pink! So I made a pink on the inside cake with pink accents in the icing. She was happy.

#2: Now, in baby news, I am now 29 weeks and in 3rd trimester! Hard to believe, but I am getting  more and more anxious and ready for this baby to be here. I can't wait to get to the US and relax somewhat, shop for the baby, and enjoy being with family and friends. These pictures are from about 27 weeks.

 This is his sweet little face! If you turn your head to the left, you can see it. Where it says "carita," right  underneath are his eyes, then his chin is on the right. I think the cord is running right in front of his nose, because there are a couple odd-looking stripes there.

 Pretty straight bones!

#3: Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays! I don't know why some pictures won't rotate, even if I've saved them, but anyway, here is Leyla helping to decorate the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving lunch! I made a turkey and dressing, and we went to Joann and Dwight's to share a meal with some other friends. It was all very yummy.

  She put all the ornaments in the same spot, on the same branch.

 We went to Tegus for my birthday and to take advantage of Black Friday sales. Here is Leyla posing with the big teddy bear at the huge Christmas tree in the new mall. She loved it.

 We bought her a little table and chairs that she LOVES; she sits there to color, paint, create, eat, and watch TV. It has been great for her, and just what I had in mind.

 I also bought her this new bedding set and a curtain (should have bought another panel...). It looks a little grown-up so it won't need replacing, plus it ties in all the colors I have planned for the room perfectly. Not sure still if we will be able to paint the walls, but, the baby's things will be blue and green, and the furniture will be white with accents. The bookshelf is the only piece we have so far, with the blue inside panel. Next up is a changing table and a cube shelf-bench for the other wall for toys and a reading corner. I plan on painting it white and the inside of half the cubes blue, pink, and green. Can't wait to get it all done!!

Leyla and her Stroller

Here is the video I took the morning Leyla got her stroller!

Happy Birthday Marcos!

Marcos turned 28 on November 3rd and we had a small party for him that weekend. It was a surprise and he really was surprised!

Happy Birthday Leyla!

Leyla turned **TWO** today!

I can't believe it has been two whole years....WOW. She was born 45 minutes and 2 years ago :)

We had a great party. We celebrated big for her 1st year, so this year we didn't think it was necessary to go all out again. I really wanted to try my hand at a fondant cake, so, I thought I have to at least invite a few people over to help eat the cake! So I decided we would have just a small party. We invited Angel and Carmen and their son Isaac (Leyla and Isaac are great playmates); Kyle and Bety and their daughter Mia (She will be 3 in December); Amanda, of course; and Eda. Everyone got here around 6:00 and Leyla showed up with Abuela shortly after. We surprised her with balloons at the door! Then she got really excited and started playing with all the balloons.

We all ate Chinese rice, YUM.......and visited some before cutting the cake. The kids had fun running around with the balloons and playing on Leyla's little tricycle-bike. Mia was very distracted by the cake and kept asking when we were going to eat cake! We finally convinced her to eat rice first or she wouldn't get any cake, and she understood that REAL well!

Tried to get a birthday picture with Leyla but she wouldn't put her water down!

And now, my first attempt at a fondant cake......The marshmallow fondant was easy to make but SO difficult to work with! It sticks like crazy! I used almost 2 lbs of powdered sugar! I had trouble at first but finally got the hang of it and it turned out pretty well. It slid a bit and definitely didn't look professional.....but it was pretty, and everyone like it :)

You can see the 4 layers in the cake! Oops...

I added dots to hide some holes....

The cake says "LEYLA" around the side and has three groups of balloons on top. Although I didn't ice it very thickly, the fondant started sliding a little and tore (I didn't notice until I had finished covering it). So using a friend's advice, I added extra details to cover the holes! But, for a first-timer, and for a two-year-old, I think it turned out alright :)

Leyla LOVED it (so did Mia.....) and she blew out the candle all by herself! She loved the singing and all the attention - she loves to be in the spotlight! Here is the video of her blowing out her candle:

And here are some more photos!

 Mia wanted to get in on the licking too!

 Leyla, showing her how it's done!

 Opening her present from Joni!

 She loves her little Cabbage-Patch Doll!

 Dancing with her new doll :) Love her skirt, thanks Tom and Katherine!

 Balloons from Abuela....aren't they neat??

Well, that's it! We had a great night, and Leyla really enjoyed it (She's passed out asleep!). Everyone loved my cake too. Thanks to all who came to spend the evening celebrating with us. Happy Birthday Leyla!



Birthday Videos

I took a video of Leyla eating her cake! Here it is:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DBovwkwBHUQc&h=f13d8

And this video is the aftermath of the party, Leyla playing with her new toys, the pinata destroyed, the confetti everywhere...
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DytVLLDhvhXU&h=f13d8

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEYLA!!

Leyla is ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Her party was so much fun! We spent all night Friday getting ready and decorating. I made the cake and all the cupcakes and got most of them iced. Saturday morning we went over early to clean and decorate some more. I also finished decorating the cupcakes. They were so cute :)

 We decorated her high chair! It was so pretty! We put jellies on the windows behind too, that said "Happy Birthday" and "Princess."

 Leyla's cake! I made the flower in the center, and it says "Happy" on top and "Birthday" on the bottom. I put little "pearls" around the top and bottom, like a border, and little yellow stars/flower dots on the sides of the cake. We put the candle in the center of the flower.

Her cupcakes turned out so pretty too! There were more too, that all had the same flower design on them. I ran out of icing towards the end, so some of them ended up looking a little odd...

When everyone arrived, we served little finger foods and drinks, and then we did the pinata. It was a big, beautiful flower! We had lots of fun - the kids hit it a lot harder than I expected! We let the little kids hit it without a blindfold but when we realized they were stronger, we started blindfolding them.

After the pinata, we sang "Happy Birthday" and passed out the cupcakes! Leyla was in awe with everyone singing, she didn't even notice her cake! She was staring at everyone with her mouth wide open! Finally I got her to look at the cake, and the first thing she did was grab for the candle - so I blew it out as fast as I could. Then she started delicately picking off the icing. It was so cute, she took off the little yellow stars from around the sides - but she didn't actually eat any cake until I cut it and gave it to her. She never "smashed" it - she was very dainty and polite, ha :)

She had so much fun and got lots of presents and came home, had a bottle, and crashed :) She was so tired! I still can't believe she's a year old, but I had so much fun planning the party and celebrating with everyone and watching her dance, and laugh, and enjoy it all. Happy Birthday Leyla!