Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas...

...from our family to yours!

Happy New Year!!!!

Well...2009 is now gone. And what an amazing year it was. Here's a quick recap...

January...Edgar & I celebrated our 14 year wedding anniversary and we attended our very 1st Chinese New Year
February...we took Crystina to Disney (Animal Kingdom & MGM Studios)
March...Ethan was born
April...Crystina turned 2
May...I celebrated my very 1st Mother's Day, with 2 babies!! and we got a minivan
June...Edgar celebrated his very 1st Father's Day, with 2 babies!! and we spent a few days at the beach
July...Ethan started eating baby food : )
August...I turned another year older
September...celebrated Crystina's 1 year "Gotcha" anniversary AND we went to court to "readopt" Crystina
October...had tons of fun at Aquatica (SeaWorld waterpark)
November...enjoyed watching our babies getting bigger
December...Ethan's 1st Christmas...and enjoyed watching our babies Christmas morning, together

I hope and pray that 2010 will be a great year as well. We look forward to see what it holds for us. GOD bless...

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas...

...from our family to yours!!

A visit with Santa Claus...

This past weekend we took the children to go see Santa...and they did rather well, I was really surprised. At first, Crystina didn't want to sit on Santa's lap but she did and did really good...compared to last year. After 3-4 minutes, Ethan started crying but he did really good at first. The picture is a bit fuzzy and not focused but it's the best one I got...

Christmas 2009

Happy Father's Day!!

This is Edgar's very 1st Father's Day! Well, this time last year we had already received the call for Crystina but she wasn't here with us, physically. And so he celebrates this special first Father's Day, with 2 children.

Edgar...we hope you had a great 1st Father's Day! We love you more than you'll ever know!
With all of our love...Crystina, Ethan & Barbara......also Lola & Bertha ; )

Crystina and Ethan want to wish a special Happy Father's Day to...Grandpa, Tio Coco, Tio Nathan & Tio Willie and to all the men out there who are father's and to the ones that are waiting to become a dad.......HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to you, all!

Also, we want to wish our dear cousin, Jenovie...a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

GOD bless!!

Happy Easter...

Happy Easter...from our family to yours!!

Chinese New Year

A few weeks ago we celebrated Chinese New Year with our local FCC (Families with Chinese Children) group. We had a wonderful time! Crystina had a blast playing and running around. Towards the end of the evening, they placed bubble wrap on the floor and the children started stomping on it...not Crystina, I think she got a little scared. When the children were "counting down" to start stomping, Crystina and her new friend, Nina, were holding hands (picture below). It was SOOOOOO cute!!! Here are a few pictures of our first Chinese New Year!

Looking cute...as always!

Eating some yummy cake!

Most of the girls that were there...no, Crystina is not in the picture, she got shy.

Crystina and Nina...how cute is this!!!!!

Stomping!!!!!

Sorry that it took me so long to post these pictures, but I've been sick for over a week now. And I'm still NOT feeling well. I've become the latest victim of the cold/flu that is going around. Not fun...at all!! Hopefully it will go away SOON!

I do plan to post some Disney pictures soon! So stay tune. ; )

Thanks for checking in on us once again. God Bless!!

2008 in Review...

Well, 2008 was an amazing year for us!!!! It started with a few sad moments but it got SO much better! Here is a recap of some key moments for 2008...

January: we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary!!
February: my mom's cousin, Osvaldo, passed away at a young age.
March: we got Lola!!
April: without knowing it yet, Crystina turned 1 and Lola had 5 puppies.
May: went to the beach...for the last time for a while.
June: we got "The Call" for Crystina!!
July: we were preparing to travel...to the other side of the world.
August: we traveled to China to pickup our daughter!!!!
September: we returned home...as parents!
October: Crystina got her ears pierced.
November: we found out we are pregnant with a boy!
December: Crystina's 1st Christmas home!

Well, those are just a few moments for this past year. We are hoping and praying for a great & wonderful 2009!!!!!!!! Have a Happy New Year and may GOD bless you!!

Christmas 2008

Finally some Christmas pictures!!!

We always celebrate Christmas Eve with our families. First we went to Edgar's cousin's home (Willie, Jessica & kids). This is where the "fun" started...I got SOOOOOOOOOO sick when we were there. His family started frying some traditional food from back home (morsilla, for you PRicans)...and the smell...............oh my goodness!!! It was terrible!! I felt so bad, physically and emotionally, because it was Crystina's first Christmas home and I couldn't do anything! I sat on the couch for 2 hours...with awful nausea, shaking, heart racing, you name it! Jessica's sister, Ruby, who is an EMT, watched over me and kept on insisting for me to go outside and get some fresh air BUT I couldn't get up, if I did, I would have fainted. That's how bad it was. I really wanted to see Crystina enjoying herself with all her cousins...fortunately she had fun!!! Then we were off to my parent's home. I felt a little better but the "damage had been done." I still wasn't feeling too great but I felt we had to go. Crystina, of course, still had fun with her cousins! She was up until 3:00AM!! Yes, 3 in the morning!!! The girl doesn't want to miss anything!

Then came Christmas morning...she was up at around 9 or so..........cranky!!! So we "bribed" her with Gerber puffs to open her gifts. It worked! ; ) It was so cute watching her open her gifts. She did so good!! She LOVES all her gifts!! She plays with one and then goes to another, then another...etc. As long as the toy makes noise, she loves it!! And we had bought her some Christmas pajamas for that morning BUT they are no where to be found! So, no cute pj's...just mix-matched clothes.

Christmas afternoon...Edgar's sister and family came by, as well as my parents. We had a very nice time! Then in the evening, we went to my brother, Nathan's, home and had a nice time there. Crystina, of course, had a blast...all day! She slept like a rock that night! Enjoy the pictures of Crystina's 1st Christmas!

Willie, Jessica & kids opening their Christmas gift (from us)...we are going to an Orlando Magic game! Yippee...can't wait!

Crystina opening her very 1st Christmas gift!

Thank you Tio Willie, Titi Jessica & cousins!

Playing with Ayden's tool goggles! Too cute!
Ayden playing with his Black & Decker flashlight!

Ready to open gifts!!

What is this?!???

I love it!!!!

So cute!!!!

Opening more gifts!!

What is this???

Want some??

Crystina with her gifts...and mess!

Thank you Titi Shirly, Alvani, Joshua & Norberto!

Looking cute...as always!

Crystina & Alvani

Crystina & Joshua
Helping Grandma (Nai Nai) with one of her gifts...

a picture of her 3 grandbabies!

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures. Crystina had so much fun!! It was so wonderful watching her!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! And may GOD bless you all in the New Year with much Happiness and Love!! Here's to a great 2009!!!!

These didn't make it...

Okay, so the other day we wanted to take some Christmas pictures here at home. So, my brother, Coco, came by and was our "photographer." Our goal was to take a nice picture in front of our tree...us 3 with the 2 dogs. Well............my brother just kept on laughing while taking these pictures but I was trying to get an active toddler and 2 very playful Yorkies to be still for a few minutes. YEAH RIGHT!!!!!! After I downloaded the pictures, I realized why he was laughing so much! I'm still laughing.... Here are just a few pictures that did NOT make the cut. Enjoy!!! ; )

"You want me to go where???"

"Can I open this one?"

There goes Crystina...trying to get Lola. Lola & Bertha were not having it.

Wait...let me go get Lola & Bertha!

Our VERY silly girl!!!!!!!!!

Being cool with Tio Coco!!

That was just a few pictures of our funny photo session. We did get a few good ones...but not with the dogs. Hope you enjoyed the pictures! GOD bless!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This year we have LOTS to be thankful for......

First, we are so very thankful for our beautiful, precious daughter...Crystina! And also, for the little boy that GOD created growing in my tummy. Being able to experience the miracle of adoption and the miracle of (not yet) birth is just amazing. With these 2 miracles, we have MUCH to be thankful for.

We are also much thankful for...our family! All of them have been very supportive of Crystina and LOVE her to pieces! The love everyone has for her, is just amazing! And for that, we are VERY thankful!

The opportunity that we had to go to the other side of the world was just amazing! Once there and noticing that we take so many things for granted and being thankful for the freedom that we have...well, there are no words for that......but we are most thankful for the trip of a lifetime and that both of us were able to go and pick up our daughter.

There is SO much more that we are thankful for...and we thank GOD for it all!!

This year we are doing things a little different. Today, we are going to be with Edgar's family and then on Saturday, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. And on Friday, of course we are going SHOPPING!!! I hope to have pictures of both days up soon.

Ready to go eat some turkey...

So beautiful!!!Being silly...
Santa is coming when????

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have many reasons to be "Thankful" for!!!! GOD bless!