Happy 3rd Birthday Julia Grace!

Saturday, July 16th was our favorite (and only) niece, Julia's 3rd birthday! So to celebrate the occasion and honor little miss Julia, we had a weekend of fun and excitement. On Friday the 15th, we attended her birthday party at Chesapeake Beach Waterpark in Calvert County, MD. We spent the day playing in the many pools and spinkler areas offered and going down some of their cool little slides. Alex's favorite thing by far was the pirate ship slide which he did over and over and Miss Amaya, who happened to be cutting 2 teeth and fighting a cold at the time, seemed to like the little sprinklers, despite being pretty fussy--poor thing! We ate some delicious pizza and had snow balls for dessert and had a really good time! Then on Sunday, since we didn't do presents and cake at the waterpark, we celebrated Julia again at Lola's house with some traditional pansit, a tinkerbell cake and princess cupcakes and presents of course! Julia got a lot of nice, girly things. We got her some cute outfits, Pj's, and some princess Ariel bath toys to play with. We were so happy to be part of Julia's celebration because like all of our nieces and nephews she is so special to us. I happened to be one of the first people to meet her (aside from her parents of course!) since Lola and I stayed late into the night at the hospitalwhen she arrived near 11 PM and I still remember being so excited when David came down from the delivery room and told us they had a little girl. She is just so darn cute and girly and loves dancing around and singing. I am so glad Amaya has a female cousin to play with, since I (after 8 male cousins on both sides!) certainly didn't get that luxury. Happy 3rd birthday Julia--may you celebrate many more happy birthdays with our family!The birthday girl at the waterparkAlex and Amaya having a blast at the waterparkAmaya and Lola waving helloMatthew playing in the waterJulia's cute tinkerbell cakeThe Dove family getting ready to sing to JuliaGetting ready to blow out her candles

In one of her princess dress-up costumes--Cinderella

Birthday Season has Started! Party # 1: Cody

Alex and Cody playing together at Cody's party!

July is birthday season for the Arceo's! And no--none of us even have July birthdays! It seems like so many of the kids' friends and relatives have a July birthday. First of all, we have our neighbor, Hayden, who turned 4 today and had a little get together at his house yesterday. We of course couldn't attend, because we had to go to another party, but we did get some goody bags from his party. Also celebrating today, is my good friend Danielle's little girl, Natalia. Little miss Natalia turned 3 today, and we will be attending her bash next Sunday. Celebrating on July 16th is our sweet little niece Julia, who will also be turning 3. We will be celebrating her birthday at Chesapeake Beach Waterpark on Friday. Oh and can I just add that our other neighrbors, who have a 3 year old boy Alex is buddies with named Justin, just had a baby girl on July 5th? They named her Makenna and we know little Makenna will be another July birthday in our lives! The party we attended this Saturday was for Alex's very good buddy from daycare--Cody. Cody will turn 5 on July 18 and he and Alex go way back. Cody had his party at Chuck E. Cheese in Bel Air and we had a great time playing games with all of Alex and Amaya's daycare friends, eating pizza and cake and watching the CEC characters sing and dance. Cody is equally as obsessed with Cars as Alex is, so we got him a remote control Finn McMissile from the new Cars movie. It was nice to see some of Alex's old friends , especially since he has started a new daycare and we are still in the honeymoon stages with it. We aren't sure if we're keeping him in his new daycare or not--it will of course depend on his wishes as both are safe and happy places for him to be as he prepares for school in the next 2 years. It was so much fun to spend an afternoon playing at CEC and celebrating Cody though. We have really watched him grow over the years, since Alex has been in Cody's daycare since he was 5 months old! Now we look forward to the next July parties coming our way..woohooo! Bring on the summer fun!

Alex with his 2 daycare buddies Gabby and Cody enjoying some cake!

Amaya is lovin' her some cake!

Riding the carousel

She's in her 20's :)

Perfection at 20 months old!

That's right, our baby girl is in her 20's now. 20 Months that is! As of Thursday, July 7th she is officially 20 months old! It feels like time has gone way too fast and she is already starting to become a big girl on us. Amaya was such a wonderful surprise for Abe and I, and she's kept us on our toes since before she was even born, trying to arrive 9 weeks early, then finally arriving 4 weeks early. She's tiny--we all know that already, but so full of energy and personality. Now at 20 months, she is way more aggressive than she used to be. She definitely knows the word "No" and she isn't afraid to use it. She is very talkative, loves singing and dancing around and has taken a serious interest in drawing. She is very good at building blocks and completing puzzles. In fact, those are some of her favorite things to do, yet she has recently taken a liking to princesses and says the word quite clearly. She likes to wear a little crown around sometimes and has a magic wand she carries with her as well. She has recently started attending Gymboree classes with me on Thursdays and she's a little star of course. Climbs everything, sings all of the songs, does all of the motions, tries to talk to the other babies and wants to participate in everything. She's just a little sweetheart and I am so excited to watch her grow. 20 months is an interesting milestone for us because when Alex was 20 months and 2 days, we welcomed little Amaya into the world. No--this is not my way of telling the world there is another Arceo on the way--There is definitely NOT right now! But, I can say that although we can never know what the future holds, I do hope a third little A baby will be in our future.

She's getting way too big, way too fast!

Ornery look--that's our girl!

Our 4th of July Weekend!

We celebrated the United States' 235th birthday in style this weekend in Western MD. Our weekend was complete with some time hanging out with my parents, some time at our family campground with extended family, and a small town carnival and fireworks display on Sunday night. It was so nice to have an extra day with my family this weekend. We usually arrive Saturday and leave Sunday morning, but this weekend we didn't come home until Monday morning, giving us and extra 24 hours of Nana and Pappy's house! Saturday afternoon we just hung out, and let the kids play in the yard and in their sandbox. My Mom made a delicious homemade roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots dinner and we enjoyed some wine together after the kiddies were snoozing, watching some bizarre show which I of course loved. Sunday began with some more hanging out, a quick trip to Sears to get my parents a new washer, and then a wonderful afternoon at our family campground. Our family owns a campground in Garrett County, MD and since my cousins and I were babies we would always camp out and spend time there during the 4th of July. Of course with 2 little ones, we did not camp out, but we had a great time eating together, visiting with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles and teaching Alex about campfires and outhouses. Yes--that's right, now that he is potty trained, he got to use an outhouse for the very first time and he did just fine :) My Dad also enjoyed showing him how to throw logs and sticks onto the fire to keep it built up. Amaya loved just wandering around and exploring the many rocks all over the ground. That night, we went to what used to be Westmar High School (my alma mater!) but is now Westmar Middle, and spent a few hours allowing Alex to ride the rides at our little town's mini-carnival. Around 10 PM, we sat on our blanket and watched a spectacular fireworks show. It felt like the fireworks were right above us and the kids sat perfectly still, mesmerized by the sounds and bright, bursting colors. It was their first real fireworks show since we usually settle for watching Bowley's Quarters Marina's fireworks out of our window. We headed home Monday and surprisingly hit no traffic. What a fun holiday weekend though! Alex is still talking about the fireworks he saw and telling anyone who will listen about how amazing they were :) I really hope everyone had a great 4th of July!Pappy playing in the sandbox with AmayaAmaya sitting by the campfire Pappy teaching Alex how to throw sticks in the fireNana leading Amaya around at the carnival

Alex isn't sure what to do first!Going down the bouncy house slide--his favorite thing!Playing tball--he was actually quite good at this and surprised everyone!

Bouncin' around!

Amaya patiently waiting for the fireworks to start