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I'm back home now from my trip to California. I miss the kids already. I had such a good time with Lily and Ian and the rest of my family. Ian is probably the cutest baby I have ever met - I love it when he's like pudding... he just sits on your lap and lets you hold him forever. So sweet and soft. I love how he says "Tita!!" to me (it means Aunt). I wish I took a video clip of him saying it. I didn't really take too many pictures or video clips while I was out there. The picture below was taken with my phone. Ian likes to brush his teeth. I was pretty impressed with how much he can do for being 1 year old. I guess it helps 'cause he has an older sibling to copy. He copies really well. He sits on a regular chair at the dinner table and just feeds himself cereal.. without making a humongous mess or falling off the chair. It was so cute to watch him. Slow and steady, those rice krispies made it to his tummy. haha

Lily is always a doll. She impresses me every time I wake up and play with her each day. I was really impressed with her ABC's knowledge.. we would ask her "What word starts with [pick a letter]?" and she would do the sound process and say a correct word! And they're not typical words you hear at pre-school or kid dvds.. they're words/objects she's looking for in her house or wherever we're playing the game. It was soo amazing. I was really really impressed with her. And she "read" to me so many stories each night. She memorized word for word a lot of her books. And they're pretty long stories. It was a fun time to see how much they're growing and learning.

We got to spend my brother Herman's birthday with him this year. I cooked dinner for his birthday. They all seem to like it. I made lunch one of the days too. We all went shopping a couple of times during the week. That was nice. I really wanted to workout.. I brought my sister in law's Insanity dvd's... but I couldn't work the tv at my sister's house. Too many things to turn on or whatnot! I didn't want to break anything! haha I sound like an old grandma scared of technology!! Overall, it was a really nice trip.

California

I left the cold and windy Midwest on Friday and set out for California. I'm visiting my sister, bro in law, and niece & nephew. My brother Herman flew out here a day after me and we'll be celebrating his birthday here. So far, it's been such a nice time hanging out with the little kids. They are too cute for words. My nephew Ian is such a sweet sweet baby and such a little smarty. Lily is full of energy and words. She cracks us up. You can't trick her. She's a smart cookie. I said that out loud in the van and Ian was like "Cookie??" haha He loves food and can definitely eat. It's fun to watch him feed himself cereal. Amazing how fast these little ones grow up. I can't believe Lily is in pre-school already! ("Pretty school" is what she calls it) heh Last night, we talked to my other niece Samara on the phone. That was really precious. She kept asking for Tito Tim. heh

Refreshing.

Friendly Visit!

Our friends from Chicago and Rockford came down this past weekend to hang out with us.. and to see our apartment for the first time, etc etc. It was a lot of fun hanging out and eating and catching up with everyone. Four of our friends visited, and for 3 of them it was their first time. Tim and I wanted their visit to be relaxing for them. We wanted them to just relax, eat well, and enjoy everyone's company. Ria, Daisy, and Michael brought some beautiful flowers. I really love 'em. (So cute!) It was so sweet of them to bring us a gift.

Carla got here on Friday night.. and got to enjoy "First Friday" here downtown. It was fun. We went to a couple of art galleries and even participated in making metallic art. Carla and I made wire flowers =) We hung out a bit more at our friend's art gallery, Eaton Gallery.

This weekend was pretty much divided by meals. Hah.. We would eat, do something, then eat again. It was really nice and fun. We went out to eat when the 3 Chicago friends arrived.. to a good Mexican restaurant we like here. That was delicious and filling. Then for the rest of Saturday.. we just hung out at home. We played Spoons. Crazy and potentially dangerous card game. haha We were supposed to go out to a bar or something and hang out there... but ended up having a photo session at home instead! Hah.. and after that was over, we just felt like laughing some more at home.. and had dinner and tea. Good times good times. It was so nice to have company this weekend. Lots of fun.

This morning, we ate "brunch"... burger brunch. hah Tim and I wanted to make breakfast and lunch for them.. but they wanted to head out early.. and we all woke up late today. So, we just had the meal ready for lunch instead. We grilled some burgers.. and made the blue cheese burgers I love. We cooked some pasta too. While eating, I placed the blueberry peach crumbles in the oven. (I prepared them last night) So, we had a nice dessert too. I think our friends were pretty full after this weekend. I think they had a fun and refreshing weekend. I know that's what I had. I was in a bit of funk earlier this week and this Friday and weekend really made me feel better. Sometimes, it just takes a bit of laughing and some good food to get rid of some negativity and a bad funk.

Dinner Time!
We're pop stars! (hah!)
Cracking up like usual.. hahaha