The Best Easter!

Today was one of the best Easters I can remember. It was perfect! We got up and went to church as a family for the 10:00 mass in Old Tappan. We met John's brother Jesus there and it was a really nice service. The lead singer of the choir had the most amazing voice ... she reminded of of Idina Menzel (the woman who played Elphaba in Wicked). Since Catholic masses are so scripted and different from what I'm used to, I try to find joy in the other aspects like the choir :) Not that we attend mass very often.

I was TRYING to get a picture of John with both girls, but Avery was being a little stinker ... you can see her green sweater in the right side of the picture, since she had thrown herself on the floor. Oh well. Between my mother and me, the girls were completely spoiled with Easter gifts this year - many thanks to my sweet mom who sent so many wonderful things!

Reagan and Papa

Avery finally got on John's lap to explore her Easter basket

Reagan and Mama

Mama (with chocolate!) and Avery

Avery was having difficulty pulling out the jelly beans from the fake grass, so she ended up with a mouthful of it!

Reagan sat in this position for at least 30 solid minutes, playing with this new coloring book/board that I found at Kohl's. It was sort of like an Aquadoodle, since I filled the brush with water ... as soon as the water hit the page, it exploded with color. Reagan carefully colored each page and then was disappointed that the first page had gone back to being white once the water dried! I explained how cool it was that she could color it over and over and she was then happy again.

The Mendez ladies

My one and only attempt at a picture of the girls together ... oh well, maybe next year!

Once Avery went down for her nap, Reagan and I got busy dyeing Easter eggs!!! I'm not sure who was more excited about this, but I'd bet it was me. I don't know why, but I just love doing this, especially since I get to do it with Reagan now! The above picture makes me laugh because it is such a funny pose - you think she's tired of all my pictures yet???

Reagan scolded me for not wearing my apron, so I obeyed my very smart daughter

Look how excited I am!

Reagan did a very good job taking this picture, especially considering that my camera is so big and heavy!

My little cutie!

After dyeing eggs, we got ready for our guests to arrive. This year was a little bit different because many members of John's family were out of town (Jose, Doreen, Lauren and Gabby were in Mexico, and Debbie, Josh and Ethan were in Florida). Since it was just going to be Maribel, Marcelo and Joaquin, then Maribel's parents Nayda and Pepin, we decided to invite the Heid family as well (Nicole, Chris, Mia and Bennett). On Saturday, Nicole helped me pick out some fun placemats for the table, then Nicole brought over the centerpiece. I thought it turned out fun and festive, so THANKS Nicole!

Maribel always brought Nila a hydrangea each year for Easter, so this year she gave it to me. It was beautiful and I'm excited to plant it and enjoy it each year.

Mia, Nicole, Amanda and Reagan

Amanda and Nicole

Maribel brought her AMAZING appetizer: brie cheese, dried cherries, walnuts and honey, all baked in a puffed pastry! Seriously, it's to die for!

Nayda ~ she seemed a little bit sad today ... I think she was really missing her sister Nila :(

These two made quite a pair ... poor Pepin had an infection occur in his tooth, so his whole jaw was swolen! Jesus took a nasty fall on Thursday and ended up at the ER for stitches on his nose.

The Heid Family

The 5 kids ran around the house on sugar highs, acting totally nuts ~ it was pretty funny! Reagan was holding Bennett's hand, guiding him around like he was her little brother. The 5 kids are all between 3 years old and 18 months, so they get along quite well. Joaquin and Bennett are the same age, so I'm sure he was happy to have another boy around.

Avery running

Reagan in her dress-up shoes

The Mendez Family - 3 out of 4 smiling, not bad!

The kid table

The adult table ... we ended up with SO much food! Everyone contributed to the dinner, so we had a wide variety of yummy food: Nayda made her delicious pork ribs with Spanish rice, Maribel made garlic shrimp and her famous sweet potatoes, Nicole made creamed spinach, twice-baked potatoes, and homemade mac-n-cheese for the kids, and I made a honey baked ham and rolls. We had enough food to feed an army!

Then John surprised me with a birthday cake, since my birthday is tomorrow (April 13th) - it was very sweet and thoughtful of him!

Reagan helped me blow out the candles ... looks like she needs a little practice, since she's spitting in this picture!

Hey, that's a fairly good family picture! Yea!

Then it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt!! Maribel stuffed all the eggs with candy and such, then hid them in the living room.

Reagan and Mia, showing me their stash!

Cheese!

Superbowl

We enjoyed a very mellow Superbowl Sunday with Maribel, Marcelo and Joaquin, as well as Maribel's parents Nayda and Pepin.
Reagan selected matching shoes to go with her outfit ... they were summer type shoes, but I was impressed with the matching nonetheless!

Sisters ~ Nila and Nayda

I took so many great pictures of Joaquin, so I just have to share them...

love this one!

He was loving the tent, regardless of the "princess castle" design!

Holding hands for ...

... ring around the rosy!

One of his many "deep in thought" expressions

A day does not go by without Reagan putting on her dress-up clothes

Avery's new favorite activity: climbing onto chairs! She's always so proud of herself! Unfortunately, once she climbs on, she always wants to stand on it. This isn't good when it's one of these rocking chairs. We've had to wedge the bottom of the rocking chair underneath the couch so that it stays rather stationary.

Joaquin (2), Reagan (3), Avery (1)

I love how Joaquin is right inbetween the ages of my girls because they both love playing with him ... it will be fun to watch them grow up together, since all their cousins here are older and their other cousins are in Utah.

Here's Avery signing "more" ... she used to just clap her hands together, but now she puts her pointer fingers and thumbs together in such a dainty way, then puts them together. Teaching Reagan and Avery signs for basic wants has been so helpful during this stage because it seems to bridge the communication gap. She can now tell me what she wants by signing EAT, MORE, MILK, ORANGE, and DOG when she sees the dogs. When it's time to go to bed, I sign SLEEP and she immediately rests her head on my shoulder. She's also saying lots of new words! She says MAMA, PAPA, AW-OH (when something falls), RUFF-RUFF (when we ask her what the dog says) and she says DAW-DAW for Dawson, or the dogs in general (I'm really not sure which). Of course, she jibber-jabbs all day long, so I'm sure more words are coming soon!

Pepin and Maribel

John showed Marcelo the new Espresso Maker that I got for free from the Martha Stewart Show ... Marcelo is the designated expresso maker for the family and he gave his approval of the big machine :) Here's a picture of Reagan helping John mix the sugar into the espresso.

Nereyda and Pepe Fonte

Last Friday (9/6/08), John's aunt Nereyda and uncle Pepe flew in from Florida. Nereyda is the sister of Nayda and Nila (my MIL), and she is so sweet. Although she's talked to Reagan on the phone and she's seen pictures of the girls, this was the first time she had met both Reagan and Avery!

Pepe and John, engrossed in conversation

Pepito and Avery

Maribel and Joaquin

We ordered take out from Sanducci's (on Kinderkamack in River Edge) and enjoyed quite the buffet! You might notice that John is wearing a different shirt in this picture than in the first picture with Pepe ... that's because he and Pepito were the two who braved "Tropical Storm Hanna" to pick up our food! The rain that night was crazy, coming down in buckets, along with some intense winds. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it. Most people in this area didn't go out that night, since the news advised everyone to hunker down and avoid going out into the storm.

When it was time for dessert, Maribel made Reagan an ice cream cone. Here she is, doing her silly "Cheese" face. This expression is really the result of my camera constantly being in her face ... when I push the button halfway down for it to focus, it shines a red light in her face which causes her to squint her eyes.

I caught Joaquin snatching strawberries and cream puffs!

Joaquin was loving it, letting Maribel balance a dinosaur on his head. When it would fall off, he'd crack up laughing.

For each student's birthday last year, Ms. Lisa gave them an adorable hand-made bag with this ABC coloring book that fits perfectly inside ... it also has 8 slots that each hold a crayon. It's the ideal item for a diaper bag, since you never know when you'll need something to keep a toddler busy! Joaquin swiped the coloring book out of our diaper bag and was obsessed with it most of the night! It took a lot of coaxing for Maribel to get it out of his hands as we were leaving.

Pepe and Avery

John and his "Tia Nereyda"