23 August 2013 Rachel's Birthday

                                               

                                              Happy Birthday Rachel  -  2 Years old!

Rachel, you are adorable!  And growing up way too fast!  We love you! Here's some fun info about our sweet Rachel from her Mommy Emily.

Rachel is such a pleasure to be around.  She is helpful and kind.  She loves to share- if you ask nicely.  She loves to do anything, and everything, her big sister does.  Though her verbal ability is very limited, she communicates very well.  With about 2 dozen spoken words and one dozen signed words, and many points and actions, her mommy usually knows exactly what she wants me to know.  

 
Rachel's favorite color is Blue.  Her favorite Primary song is The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.  Her favorite bedtime song is I'm Bringing Home my Baby Bumblebee.  Rachel calls herself RayRay, her sister NaNa and always has a smile on her face when she is with NaNa.  
 
Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

9 August 2013 Ashley's Birthday

Happy Birthday Ashley!  8 years old!

Here is Mayelin Torres, Ashley's Birthday Friend.
She got all dressed up in her Sunday best for our visit.  We showed her a picture of all of our grandchildren.  She was amazed!

She loved Ashley's letter and tried to say the words in English.  It made her laugh when she read that Ashley liked to stay in her PJ's all day.

She was excited with her gifts.  We got her some things that we knew Ashley would like.  Markers, glue, paper and

playdough.  She liked that a lot!

Here's her Abuella (grandmother) who's birthday is today, the same as Ashleys.  We're glad we made enough brownies for everyone.  Her cousins came over to join the fun.

Mayelin (pronounced Myjaleen) was so sweet and happy that we visited her today.

Here's the Torres family with her mother on the right and her grandmother on the left and Mayelin and her cousins in the middle.

Mayelin's street.  Notice the colorful houses. They love to paint their houses yellow or pink or orange.

Like all of the children we have visited, Mayelin loved her card with Ashley's picture on it and her little letter and drawing inside.  She will treasure that!  Thank you Ashley for sharing your birthday with a new friend in the Dominican Republic!

3 August 2013 Alexia's BIrthday

Happy Birthday Alexia!  5 Years Old!

Grandpa and Grandma visited Alexia's new friend Stefani Suero and her family tonight.  She was very excited to have us come and bring her gifts for her birthday which is coming in 1 week.  She will be 5 like Alexia on August 10th.   

Here is Stefani with Grandma and Sister Ewell, Stefani was very happy to see Alexia's picture and her drawing inside.

And she LOVED her gifts.  A coloring book and crayons, glitter glue and stickers.  It was so cute to hear her say "Winnie the Pooh" and "Minnie Mouse" and she named all the Disney Princesses on her stickers.

She gave Grandma a big "embrazo!"  Stefani has the cutest short curly hair.











Stefani was delighted to have some chocolate...a brownie.  Yum!  

What a sweet family!  Stefani's older sister and her husband just got sealed in the Temple today in Santo Domingo.

Stefani especially liked twirling her gift bag!  She was so excited to have birthday presents from her new friend in America.  She said "gracias" a lot!

She named all the colors of the glitter glue...in Spanish and English!  Grandma especially liked that.

 A big hug for Grandpa, too.  What a sweet little soon to be 5-year-old.  Thank you Lexi for sharing your special day with Stefani from the Dominican Republic.  You have a new friend!

Videos coming tomorrow to Dropbox.

2 August 2013 Ariana's Birthday

Happy Birthday Ariana!  4 years old!

Grandpa and Grandma visited the Valdez family this afternoon. This is Carolina, Yenesis's mother. This is the home of Carolina's parents.

 Yenesis is 4 years old like Ariana.  She was all dressed up for our visit in her favorite blue dress.

Grandma gave Ariana's cute card to Yenesis and she loved it.  She was very excited to open her regalos (gifts).

She giggled when she opened them.  She was very excited to have a little tea set and a Strawberry Shortcake doll.

 She's a happy, sweet little girl...like Ariana!

Her aunt Mariangel told her to pose like Ariana did in her picture!

She liked her brownie, too!

Here's the Valdez family.  Yenesis with her mother behind her and her grandparents and her mother's sister Mariangel who is 12 years old.

Grandpa is saying goodbye.  They were such a nice family and we loved visiting them on Ariana's special day.

We have some fun videos to share in dropbox...coming soon.  Ariana sang the cutest song about jelly beans and ice cream.  We showed to Yenesis and she loved it.  Thank you Ariana for sharing your birthday with your new friend Yenesis in the Dominican Republic!