Tubtime

Penny and I have started taking bubble baths together. It makes sense when we both need one. And it's fun. She loves playing with the bath hose, filling up cups and it is easier on Mommy's back :).
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"Kids" Christmas Dinner

Katrina, Josef, Val and us decided that instead of exchanging gifts this year, we would leave the kiddies with Nono and Nanay and go out for a nice dinner. So Monday night we put Penny to sleep and made our way to Victorias Gastropub. We had a delicious meal, great food and wine, and wonderful company. It was a really nice way to spend some time together, just the "kids" and we hope to make it a tradition for more Christmas's to come.

The Girl Likes Her Stickers

Joaquin's 7th Birthday

We arrived in Maryland on Friday so we would be there to celebrate Waki's birthday on Saturday. He had said all he wanted was a surprise party, so we decided to give him one. Of course decorations were needed. What's a party without balloons?

Gabe, Nono, Penny and myself made a great team - Gabe blew them up on the helium machine, Nono knotted them, I attached the ribbon and Penny was our holder.

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The balloons kept rubbing on her hair:

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Static girl!

She seemed to really enjoy her duties as Official Balloon Holder.

Dad got into it as well:

When Joaquin arrived home we were all ready to shout "Surprise", and I think he was:

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Along with his party he got a talking Minion from Despicable Me 2 - we all got a laugh out of that.

We put the cake back in the freezer and headed over to Bertucci's, Waki's choice, for his birthday dinner. Penny was still suffering some side effects from her cold, namely not much of an appetite, so she didn't eat …. until the ice cream came. She scarfed that down without out much convincing.

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She also had apple juice for the first time. She liked that too:

Josef left a generous tip to soften the mark Miss Penelope made under her seat:

I don't think it will be the last time we have to do that :)

Friday Hi

Since it's the first Friday Hi of 2014 I thought it appropriate to stand on the coffee table, because, well why not. It makes Mommy nervous, though. I climb… a lot.

[caption id="attachment_5433" align="alignnone" width="560"] Oh hi Mom![/caption]

Happy 2014!

We celebrated New Year's Eve day with our annual visit to the Muir Beach Overlook:


What a difference since last year:


We let Penny run around and explore and she loved it.
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[caption id="attachment_5405" align="alignnone" width="480"] Flying hi.[/caption]





That evening, after we fed Penny dinner we bundled her up and headed out for a visit to Patches and Ellen's.


What a treat to head out at 8 p.m. when Penny is normally getting ready for bed. We said it was a special night for a fun adventure.

We had a great time. It was just the 5 of us - we headed over for a pre-party, keeping in mind (somewhat) Penny's schedule.

[caption id="attachment_5417" align="alignnone" width="480"] Cheersing Ellen with her bottle.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5416" align="alignnone" width="480"] Patches got into the action, too,[/caption]

Penelope took some photos:
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We watched the East Coast ball drop and Penny was enthralled:


[caption id="attachment_5415" align="alignnone" width="560"] She looks so big, especially with that stance… foreshadowing teenager Penelope (her shirt better be down!)[/caption]

It was fun for her to see her first ball drop. She was most definitely intrigued.

We returned home, put our girl to bed and then Gabe and I made pizza, prosciutto and melon, cracked open a bottle of wine and then champagne at midnight. It was a prefect way to spend New Years Eve.

January 1st we had our traditional breakfast of bagels and lox and settled in to watch Despicable Me 2 which was one of Penny's Christmas gifts.


She was enthralled. Sat still for a good 1/2 hour which is pretty rare these days (unless in her high chair, eating of course).




It was a great start to 2014. We had a wonderful 2013 - our first full year as a family of 3, and we are so excited for our adventures to come! Happy 2014 to all!

Christmas Day 2013

After waking up to Santa's letter to the kids, we were ready to dive into stockings and presents.


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Penny got a wind-up Happy Feet penguin, a stuffed Angry Birds toy and a Baby Einstein musical book. Such fun!

"OK, I'm ready for presents!"



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Everyone was so generous, Miss Penelope made out quite well :).

After gifts and breakfast we Facetimed with Cousins Michelle and Ronnie and Tita Cora in the UK.

We played with the boys' new 360 and Kinect:
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Then we bundled up - Penny in her new warn coat from Nanay, and played outside for a bit.

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Look how happy that kid is. She loves being outside, even in the cold. It was hard to get her back in the house.

She had this sweatshirt on, under her coat. It was one of her gifts from Tita Keese, Tito Joseph and the boys:


Later, Penny got dressing in her new Christmas outfit from Tita Jojo:

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Tita "Valeria" took some great pics of the 3 of us:


Penny played with her new toys while we waited for the rest of the family to come for holiday dinner:
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Gabe took his turn with the Kinect:


 

Penny loved the mamon Tita Fe made:
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We had a great time with the family, but soon it was time to get into her second set of special Christmas jammies.




It was a wonderful Christmas day spent with family, making memories for years to come.