A Great Day

When I came downstairs this morning this is what I found waiting for me from Jose for my birthday. What a great guy! I'm lucky to have him. It totally made my day. And even better the kids hadn't gotten into it! I also woke up to snow! The first of the season. Diego has been complaining that we haven't had any snow yet and January was almost over. When were we going to get any snow?! Today his pleas were heard. So of course we got all the gear on and headed on out. Here is Anthony in his snowpants. He was excited to find his Nike hat but that didn't last long outside. He is too cute!

Christian was exhausted and hot while waiting for everyone to be ready. Getting snow stuff on takes forever! You have to spend a good amount of time outside just to make getting ready worthwhile!

Here are Diego, Anthony and out neighbor having a snowball fight. They were so excited to be outside.

My Christian. My Christian. What am I going to do with him. He was not happy to be wearing a coat and his gloves were just material. After I found the waterproof gloves, he refused to put them on. I told him he wouldn't be happy in a few minutes after the snow went thru his gloves and sweatshirt. I guess he just has to learn by experience!

This was Anthony's first real snow that he realized what it was and was excited to get in it. He had a good time and actually kept his gloves on.

After I had a snowball fight with all the boys, they decided they needed to build a fort to try and protect themselves from me. Here Diego is starting to build it.

Finally Christian helps out.

All three get in on the action.

As I thought, Christian didn't last long and wanted some hot chocolate to warm up.

Here Diego is trying to be a penguin. He would run and jump on his belly. We'll see how bad he hurts later!

Anthony wanted to try being a penguin too.

Passing on the wisdom!

So if you remember a few months ago, there was a post about Christian telling me how to cut and gel his hair. Today he decided to pass on his wisdom to Anthony. I caught them in the bathroom with Christian telling and showing Anthony how to put gel in his hair and how to style it. Maybe Christian can start a little side business!

Anthony wanted to take his new found knowledge and try it himself.

Here is his finished product. Notice how shiny it is because his hair is so filled with gel that the flash reflects from it.

Here he is checking out his skills in the mirror. He was very proud of himself!

After all that hard work Anthony needed a drink. I think this is funny because if you look closely at Anthony's head, you can see how much gel he used because of the big drip coming down his forehead!

A lesson learned?

So on Saturday we let the boys stay up and watch a Ben 10 movie. Before the movie though there was a Ben 10 cartoon on to which the boys decided to act out in their room. Ben 10 is about a boy who can turn into different aliens to protect others. Needless to say things got a little rough and this is what happened. Anthony got pushed too hard and pushed into the bed. This picture doesn't do him justice (it's been 2 days). He had a good bruise that went up the side of his cheek and the cheek itself looked like he was storing nuts for the winter. I can't say I felt too sorry for him because he can get things started just as good as the other two. Plus he was trying to go another round the very next day! His injury doesn't seem to be slowing him down any =) !

Christmas Fun

It was a good day here at the Salinas home. It wasn't an early day. The boys woke up about their usual time with Diego being the first. We forgot to tell them that when they wake up they are suppose to come into our bed and wait for everyone to be awake. I actually thought about this before I went to bed but didn't think it would be a problem since most of the time at least two of the boys end up in our bed by morning anyway. Anywho...Jose and I woke up to Diego happily coming into our room saying "Santa left me a DS!!" Jose and I both rolled over and said "What? What are you doing? You are suppose to wait!" I think we made him feel bad since he started to cry a little but it wasn't really his fault. So we waited for Christian to wake up and we had to wake Anthony up and then the fun began:

Here are the boys waiting on the stairs while we make sure that Santa came and we get all the camera's ready.

Here's what Santa left for Diego

Here's what Santa left for Christian

Since Anthony is still little and doesn't quite get Santa yet, he was happy with a little stocking filled with his favorite: Dora!

Christian is a huge Ben 10 fan. He got a Ben 10 coloring book. (Dollar Tree if anyone else has a fan of Ben 10)

It was about time that Anthony received his own light saber. There were too many fights over who was going to go without.

Diego is looking at some books of Dinosaurs. After all these years he still has a passion for them.

After opening presents at our house, we went to Joses parents and had lunch and presents there. After a few hours there we headed over to my parents for opening presents there. It felt like a mini-christmas each time. After we left my parents it was back home to play with our presents. Because it was Christmas...doughnuts for dinner!!

We hope everyone had a great day and we wish you well in the new year!

Santa ???

Last night was our ward Christmas party at church. We excited the kids by telling them that Santa would be there and they'd get to tell him what they wanted for Christmas...but they'd have to sit thru dinner and not run around the church. I was very proud of them because they made it to Santa! But they were a little hesitant about actually sitting on Santa's lap. Here is Diego telling Santa what he'd like. I think it's so funny how he looks like he is focused really hard on Santas eyes like he can make Santa really bring him what he's asking for if he looks deep enough. Then here is Christian who can't even make eye contact with Santa. He was really up there for the little present they received after talking with Santa. Ah, and then there was Anthony. Notice how Santa is in the back ground? This is as close to Santa as he would get. We kept asking him if he wanted to go up...the answer was always a definite NO! Can you tell how unsure he is of that guy in red?! I had to throw this in here as well because I think it's so cute. I have a group of very talented friends and one shared this great idea with me. This makes a great gift for a neighbor or someone you visit teach especially if they have kids. Fill a container (pint jar, the small jelly jars...really any small container) and fill it with candy. But you have to count how many candies you put in because attached to the outside of the jar will be this cute little saying: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way Can you guess how many candies are in this jar today? Have everyone guess how many candies are in this jar. Then open up the envelop to find out the correct number. Have fun. Merry Christmas! Love, Now my friend does jelly beans so the poem reads Jingle Beans, Jingle Beans instead of the candies. But because I'm not a fan of jelly beans and I had a couple coupons for candy I went this route. I found my jar at the dollar store. A really good candy is the red/green M&M's. I just didn't want to have to count that many for this size jar! Attach saying and an envelope with the answer(next year I'm going to find smaller envelopes) with a ribbon and happy giving! Hopefully if you were struggling for a gift for someone this will help and if not there is always next year!!

This can't be comfortable!

I know this is my second post today but this was too cute to resist. I was putting away my groceries today and Anthony had wondered off to be by himself (that's his way of letting my know he's pooping!). When I was done I went looking for him and this is what I found: He had fallen asleep! Sadly this didn't last. When I tried to move him he woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. How is it that they can fall asleep anywhere and in any crazy position?

Easy Soup Base

A couple of Enrichment nights ago we had a class on canning. It was a good class and we were able to learn how to make this soup base and bring one home. In the jar is: potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. For the teachers taste test she added some canned roast beef (I know...from a can but it actually wasn't bad). She said this made Sunday dinners really easy. She would throw a couple jars in a pot add the meat and bring to a boil and by the time they were done changing clothes, dinner was ready. I made my family this dinner the other night with some bread from the bread machine and it was really good. I would probably add another can of meat for the next time though. They boys weren't a fan but they did have to have a couple spoonfuls before they could give up. Their favorite was the bread. Such a simple/fast meal. You can also add flour and milk to make it a creamy soup. If anyone's interested I have the exact recipe. Just let me know.