Milestones

I just wanted to list a few things Sophia has accomplished so far.  I find it so hard to remember what each of my children were doing at the different stages of their life. Especially during the first few years because they seem to grow up so fast!  This blog post is just to help me remember later in life.
Sophia is not walking yet, which is great to me!  She is our last baby and she will grow up soon enough, I love that I can still hold her.  Last night she feel asleep in my arms and I just held her for a while.  I wish I could go back and hold my other children again.  They grow up so fast.  Sophia is a very vocal baby and already says quite a few words.  They include:

Daddy

Sissy

Eat

Please

Duck

Doggy

One

Diaper

Keys

Baby

Mama 

Milk

And a few honorable mentions: Meagan, Zach,and Taylor

Almost ONE!

In just two short weeks, our baby girl will celebrate her first birthday!  My how the time has flown by.  We all at the Manriquez house think that Sophia is just the cutest baby ever. (we are partial)  One of her many new tricks is very cute.  If you ask her "how old are you gonna be on your birthday?"  she holds up one finger and tries to say "one".

She makes us smile all the time!

Busy Times!

It has been such a busy time for us lately.  I have started working part-time, college has started and Rudy is going to school full time, and my oldest two children have also started school.  Life doesn't seem so simple right now, but Rudy and I have goals in our hearts and are determined to accomplish them.
Just before school started the children and I took a day trip to the beach.  We invited my mom and we were all very excited.  It was a great day!  The weather was perfect, it actually was not one of those 100 degree days.  My girls and I love to boogie board and the waves were just right.  Caleb enjoys everything about the beach, he even tried to ride a few waves.  This was Sophia's first trip and we were not sure how she would respond.  We quickly found out that she must have salt water running in her veins.  She loved the water and the sand.

The neatest thing happened on this same day.  As we pulled into the parking lot of our favorite public beach access, we recognized a vehicle from home.  With further inspection, we realized my sister in law and her children had also planned a day trip to the same beach this same day.  We had arrived at the same time! Only God can work out these details so perfectly!  It ended up being a WONDERFUL day and the beginning of a very busy time!

Baby Eagles?

Recently while playing outside, Caleb and I discovered a bird nest with 3 little eggs inside.  We talked about how important it was for us not to touch the eggs to make sure the mama bird would continue to care for them.  Caleb and I checked the nest everyday, with anticipation.  One afternoon about a week later Caleb comes running inside, and very excited because the eggs hatched.  I quickly followed him back outside to inspect the nest. (mainly to make sure Caleb left them in the nest)  To my surprise we found this:

  Two of the 3 eggs had hatched.  Since the eggs have hatched Caleb feels the need to check on the baby birds everyday.  Well I'm assuming he got a little to close to the one egg  because Caleb once again came running in but this time with big tears.  I questioned him about this and he informed me that the mama "eagle"  had screamed at him.  I could not help but smile and ask Caleb if he touched the babies.  He assured me he didn't touch the babies, just the one egg that had not hatched.  We have enjoyed watching the baby "eagles" everyday.  I'm sure Caleb will be sad when they fly away.

Hot Spring Days

I just could not keep our little guy inside today.  He looked really hot.

 

Smiley

Madison is such a sweet child!  She always smiles and giggles, no matter the situation.  She brings us a lot of joy and laughter! 

We love you Madison!  (Ya Ya as Caleb calls you)

Cheap Pedi!!!!!

After a conversation with a friend this week about feet I quickly realized how badly I needed a good pedicure.  I like to go to the little shops and be pampered without interruptions or questions.  Well during this stage in our lives our budget does not contain a line item for pedicures.  I recently heard of a cheap way to give yourself one.  (it's worth a try I thought)  My dilemma was how to find 30 minutes without interruption and without getting up before 5:30 am.   Thankfully my baby girl takes great naps and my little boy began to be very involved with a train set.

I thought to myself this is my chance to try this.  So I mixed about 1 cup of white vinegar and really warm water and soaked for my feet about 5-6 minutes.  It didn't seem to take long to soften up the rough spots.  I used a pumice stone and then trimmed away all the cuticles and dry skin around the toenails.  I would post a before and after picture but I'm just not in to that sort of thing.

I just used my favorite lotion when I was done.  You will just have to trust me that it worked amazingly well.  I will definitely do this again!!!!