Happy birthday Prima (Rebecca)

Today is Rebecca's 2nd Birthday! She had a Dora-Fiesta Party! and just like Diego, Rebecca's primo, Alexander, joined in all the fun. Cousins Mikey, Viana and Kaylee with Isaac and Ethan were fellow explorers too. The Birthday Girl and the other exploradores had an adventure-filled day where the parents made personalized Backpacks (thank you Abuelita!!) so that Mapa could help them find Estrellas, then to play music with flutes, cymbals and maracas! and then to Pin the Flower Pulsera on Dora, and through the Jungle (Gym) to the Piñata! There were hap' birfday hats, cake and ice-cream too! The exploradores had a fantastic adventure! Happy Birthday Rebecca!!!

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hello lizard!

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as long as we've lived here a lizard has shared our deck. we see him often sunning himself. no idea if it's the same lizard each year, but this year we have a new baby lizard. I spotted him last week but this is the first time Alexander got an up close look at him. Alexander insisted on saying hi (or "hi-lo" in Alexander-speak) and then proceeded to give the lizard some food after showing me how the cow would alternately eat the lizard and the leaves too!

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Holiday Traditions!

Today we celebrated our Chavarela Christmas at Abuelita & Grandpa's. Since all except Tia Lisett & Tio Nick are going to be out of town this year, the day was packed with lots of things to do! We started with visiting Aaron and putting up a lil tree for him (Abuelita had left the cherub there 2 weeks before!) Then headed over to the Annual VFW Holiday Party where Santa Claus made a surprise appearance! and then to the house where Alexander & Rebecca made the traditional press-cookies from Abuelita's favorite recipe for the first time!! Both kids caught on very quickly and are destined to be great helpers in the kitchen, especially now that AAA has an honest to goodness chef's jacket with his name engraved! and Rebecca got a (toy) kitchen where they can practice!

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Happy 2nd Birthday Alexander!

Our lil boy is two years old!! We celebrated Alexito's birthday "building" memories with close friends and family. Although Alexander was trying to "demolish" the stomach flu (his birthday was actually the 3rd day of the illness), he had a great time with his cousins, Rebecca and Dylan, and friends, Evan, Cassidy, Cathy, Jared, Natalie, Gabrielle, Drew, and Helena! The twins (Gabby & Natalie) bested everyone at "Pin the Wheel on the Payloader" and "Boulder." Daddy and Mommy were so thrilled that everyone had a fun time at AAA's Construction Party. Daddy worked hard designing the theme for the party, including screening our special shirts! The birthday cake from French's Cupcake Bakery was wonderful and displayed Daddy's payloader! The best gift, however, was that our lil boy finally felt better (after falling asleep for 3.5 hrs before we were able to sing Happy Birthday) and enjoyed the rest of the evening at home with his grandparents and tios and tias, playing with Rebecca at the condo, and opening his many, many presents.

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