MERRY CHRISTMAS - AJ

AJ helps Ansley open her first wrapped gift!

AJ's Christmas was fun and exciting! He got the Air Hog he asked Santa for and a Nerf Gun, some DVD's, etc. At Nana and Papa's house he got a lot of great gifts, but was being a little bit of a booger and just didn't want to show any enthusiasm when opening his gifts! As usual, Nana and Papa spoiled him and he got a lot of great clothes, games, movies, and a book. He was a little over stimulated and tired until.....dad brought out the puzzle box sent by Uncle James that gave us all a reaction we weren't expecting from AJ! Here are the photo's that tell the story:

Papa presents AJ w/ his puzzle box from Uncle James.

Papa carefully explains the secret to finding the key, and then discovering the keyhole to open the box.

AJ get's to use the key to open his box

AJ is amazed at how cool that was!

Papa says "See look, there's even a mirror in there so you can stare at your goofy face!" That gets quite a laugh out of AJ!

He quickly studies the box on his own until he has it all figured out!

And he even falls asleep with it!

The next morning I asked AJ what his favorite gift was and w/ out hesitation he said "My box!"

THANK YOU UNCLE JAMES!!! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS - Aleigh

Aleigh was definitely the most excited for Christmas this year! She was up and ready to see if Santa had come by 4 a.m.! We were all up by 6 a.m. to open gifts! She reminds me so much of myself! I used to wake up as early as 1 or 2 in the morning and make myself a bed on the living room floor right in front of the tree! I am sure Aleigh would do the same thing if we weren't so willing to let her crawl in the bed w/ us! Aleigh was so cute, she got excited over every gift and was quick to express her appreciation for every gift! Aleigh was just way too easy to shop for. She is in to everything that I was interested in when I was her age! She had no idea that she would be getting an American Girl doll from Nana and Papa later in the day. She was SO EXCITED! She told us that her American Girl doll was her favorite gift ever! Her and I have had a lot of fun coloring , painting, designing w/ "Pixos" and creating snowglobes together w/ all of her new art stuff. She has already baked a little cake in her Easy bake oven w/ AJ and Chelsea!Aleigh is very fond of her "Special Box" from Uncle James! It's so cute to see her and AJ walk around the house, proudly carrying around their special boxes!

MERRY CHRISTMAS - Ansley

Ansley's first Christmas was so cute! She woke up on Christmas morning and as we carried her down the stairs, her eyes were immediatly locked on all of the presents and her Elmo chair! Ansley LOVES Elmo! We even think we have heard her say "Em O!" She loved her chair, her little activity door and her bus! She played w/ that bus putting taking the little people out and putting them back in over and over again! She got a really neat activity table that is in both english and spanish from my parents, and that has been a huge hit as well! Our living room is currently Ansley's play room...but that's nothing new, there are just more toys now! She played just as hard as AJ and Aleigh on Christmas! It was like she really felt the excitement with the rest of us! Even w/ her constant runny nose, she was tons of fun!

Home from Disneyworld!

I am actually surprised at how happy we all are to be home! We had a great time in Disneyworld and made the best of our time there...even though we were all a little sick, especially me! I took as much over the counter medicine as I could and tried to forget about how sick I was and have a good time! I am exhausted and glad to be home! On our way home today AJ kept asking how much longer we had to drive and wanted us to show him where we were on the map every 30 minutes! At one point I turned around and asked the kids if they missed our house and their beds and AJ goes "I miss our christmas tree and my stocking!" I couldn't relate more! Yes, they had big beautiful Christmas Trees at the Disney parks, but we didn't really get to enjoy them while they were all lit up at night. Our kids just don't last much longer than 8p.m. I really think our kids are programmed to shut down at that time! It's really kind of funny! We were at Downtown Disney last night around 9p.m. and AJ LITERALLY was falling asleep while he was walking! He fell to his knees a couple of times!

This time Aleigh made it very clear to us that she just isn't as into the Princesses anymore! So, if any of you have a little girl who is in love and totally fascinated w/ Princesses, take them to Disney before they grow out of it so you can capture the sweetest moments when they actually get to meet the princesses! I am truely greatful for the opportunity we had to take Aleigh while she still admired the princesses! She liked the Highschool Musical stuff and she does still like crowns...as long as they aren't princess specific! She got to make her own crown while we were there and really enjoyed that! She wanted to see every play and every show we came across. She LOVED the Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios (very slow)! She also LOVED Soaring (at Epcot) which is THE BEST ride and my personal favorite!

AJ is our little thrill seeker and wanted to hit every FAST and SCARY ride! He got to ride the rockin roller coaster at least 7 times! It's the FASTEST roller coaster I have ever been on! He rode Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Expedition Everest (at Animal Kingdom), Test Track (at Epcot), etc.! He didn't want to stop and wait for anything! He had to learn a lot about patients this past week! We got fast passes as often as we were allowed! He had a blast!

Ansley was a little trooper! She was a really good baby all week long and just rolled with the flow! She LOVED the Peter Pan ride at Magic Kingdom!

We were excited to get to see Santa at Disneyworld and got a great picture of the kids...before Ansley realized who's lap she was sitting on!

Here are some other fun pictures we took while in Disney!

There were many more photos taken that I will add to our blog gradually! We have a lot of photos that were taken on the rides. We had to purchase those and they need to be scanned. We also have a lot of great photos taken w/ some Disney characters by Bryson. He has to convert those images off of his camera in order for us to be able to upload them.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

It really is the most wonderful time of the year, but I miss the snow!!! We are enjoying the holidays so far! We are really looking forward to Disneyworld at Christmas time!

Last week Aleigh had her Christmas Dance performance. She did great! She knew the steps to "Frosty The Snowman" so well that she actually got a little too far ahead. I had to find a gentle way to tell her that it's ok to slow down a little bit while she is on the stage. She looked straight ahead with a huge grin on her face the entire time she performed! I would love nothing more than to post footage of her on stage, but they wouldn't let the parents in to watch the rehearsal (they usually do) and we aren't allowed to take video of the actual performance! They split it up over three nights, and since Aleigh is in one of the competition classes, she had to perform all three nights. The show started at 7:30 p.m and we didn't get home until around 9:30 p.m. all three nights! She was exhausted! It was Monday through Wednesday so she had school the next day, and her bedtime is usually 8:00 p.m. Needless to say, she didn't go to class on Thursday night. She really needed a break to just be at home and not have to be rushed around. Joe and I aren't exactly thrilled with where she is taking dance, but she loves it! As long as she is happy there, all I can do is encourage her to keep on going! She has been there w/ her same little "dance friends" for 3 years.

AJ is being a true sport and just rolling w/ the punches! Lately he is really into figuring out why movies are rated G, PG, PG-13, and R. He checks the ratings on EVERYTHING! The other day I was watching something while the kids were playing upstairs and he came downstairs, pressed "info" on the remote, and said "Mom, you shouldn't let us see this, it's PG-13!" The only reason he pointed that out was because it was something he didn't want to watch on ABC! I never took notice to the fact that local programs are actually rated and a lot of them are PG-13. He has recently pointed out that some of the movies we have been letting him watch for years are rated PG-13. It is getting kind of frustrating trying to explain why certain PG-13 movies (like Home Alone, some of the Harry Potters, and a few others) are actually ok, but others are not! He looks through Uncle Brysons movies sometimes and the other day he asked me why he can't watch "American Pie" I just said, "Most of Uncle Bryson's movies are not appropriate for kids!" Well that was a mistake, because now he thinks he is being rebellious just by looking at the covers of Bryson's movies!!! He is too funny!

Ansley is a wild, energetic little monkey! Yesterday she was playing w/ some toys on the living room floor when I walked into the kitchen for something. When I came back she was sitting on the Ottoman! Nobody was home so I couldn't figure out how she was able to get up there all by herself! I have it pushed in front of the fireplace because the fireplace is just too dangerous and I don't want her to fall and get black eyes like Aleigh used to (Aleigh always fell)! Well, she managed to squeeze herself between the ottoman and her toy basket, climbed onto the fireplace, and then climbed onto the Ottoman! I am going to have to lock her up! LOL! Believe it or not she hasn't touched the Christmas tree's! We have been pleasantly surprised!

Other than staying busy w/ preparing for the Holidays and our Disney trip, things are going great in the Rojas house! Here are a few recent pictures I have taken over the past couple of weeks.




Aleigh kindly put her sister at her little table so they could have a tea party....crazy thing is, Ansley stayed there and acted like she knew what to do! I couldn't believe she stayed in that position w/out falling backwards at all! She had to go to bed right after this photo, so I finally picked her up from the table.






Aleigh is just such a sweet and responsible big sister. She was eating vanilla pudding while ansley was waiting for me to bring her dinner, and Aleigh started to share w/ Ansley and ended up giving her at least half of her pudding! So what if it ruined her dinner! It was a sweet gesture!

Ansley enjoying her first chocolate chip cookie! She hasn't had another one since then!
















AJ has a set of play money that he really enjoys learning with! They are working on different ways to count money at school right now, so I guess that might be what motivated him to do this! I couldn't believe it! There was so much more money on the floor, I just couldn't get it all w/ my camera! If only it were real, right?















Our happy kids! Could

anything be better?!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Well, I don't have any pictures from today..yet! My mom and Bryson did take some photos, but I haven't uploaded any yet. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We started Thanksgiving yesterday by delivering Thanksgiving baskets to those that weren't able to afford a Thanksgiving meal this year. The Karate center has provided hundreds of families, for the last several years, with Thanksgiving meals (including full turkey, whole pie, and all of the sides)! They do what they call a "Kick-a-thon" where the kids do hundreds of kicks to raise money for these families. It's pretty awesome!

We woke up this morning, dropped Ansley off w/ my parents and participated in providing Thanksgiving meals to families w/ our church! It was really neat to see what our church was able to do for everyone. We went to a local highschool (Newnan High) and served free Thanksgiving meals to anyone who needed/wanted a meal. In addition to providing a Thanksgiving meal, the church had filled the hallways w/ tons of toys and clothes for people who needed them! It was neat to see that these people were able to come in and fill bags w/ clothing for themselves and their families! It was also great to see that Joe could be such a great help to several of the hispanic families...he was one of the only ones there that could speak spanish! One of the homes we delivered to today was the residence of an elderly couple. When the man came to the door he wished us a Happy Thanksgiving and said "Thank you so much! We really appreciate this! If it weren't for you guys we wouldn't have a thanksgiving meal this year. My wife is in the hospital and I get to go and pick her up, so it will be nice to have a meal together! God bless you all!" The kids were so happy to see how such a simple gesture can go so far for someone!

After delivering meals, we headed back to my parents house and had a nice and relaxing visit and a great meal. We were able to talk to my cousin Anja and her husband, Matt, in Germany, and we also got a phone call from James! Although I didn't get to talk to him this time (he has very limited minutes), it was awesome to hear from him and know that he is doing well!

We finished our evening by making Gingerbread Houses together! Joe helped Aleigh, I helped AJ and my mom and dad did one together. We had a great time! Now I get to look forward to EARLY morning shopping! Kohls opens at 4am!! I don't know that I will make it that early (it's 12:30 am right now)! I'm actually debating on whether or not I should even go to bed! I'll let ya know how that goes tomorrow!

CHRISTMAS ALREADY?!

We have a little boy who is just like I was as a kid, when it comes to Christmas (any other time he is just like Joe)! It just never lasts long enough for AJ! He has been asking us, for the past two weeks, if we can put up the Christmas tree and set up the Polar Express train that circles the tree. He, like a lot of us, is a little confused by all of the Christmas stuff that has been set up since Halloween at a few of the stores we have been to! If the stores are decorating already, why can't we? Well, we would have waited until the day after Thanksgiving (like we usually do), but because we are trying to clear out our garage by taking a bunch of stuff to the storage unit, we had do bring in all of the Christmas stuff. So...our tree is up, only one of them though! The kids each have a small tree for their bedrooms, we put one up in the dining room, and then last year Joe started his Texas tree and that one goes in our bedroom.

Here is a picture of the kids on Christmas morning last year.

We all LOVE christmas and are especially excited this year because we get to spend a week in Disneyworld! We haven't been in a couple of years, so the kids couldn't be more thrilled! Who am I kidding, Joe and I are WAY EXCITED too! I am thrilled that we are going to be in Disney while it's decorated for Christmas and the weather is nice.

Even though Disney is going to be a great way to get into the holiday spirit, Christmas will not be the same without James here! We are going to try and send christmas to him in any way that we can! Here is a cute shot that I caught of James playing barbies w/ aleigh last christmas! He was being so funny!

I was telling the kids all about my holiday memories as a kid in Utah. It was always so much fun to have the snow and visit family during Thanksgiving and Christmas! I loved seeing all of my cousins and calling them all on Christmas morning to find out what they got! As a kid, that's what the holidays were all about...lots of family and good food!!! We still have great food, my mom and dad are great cooks! I have hoped, for the last 17 years, that we can go back to Utah for Thanksgiving and maybe it will snow so the kids can enjoy it! It's just not easy to try and purchase plane tickets that close to the holidays. We will make it out there one year! Maybe next year and maybe James could even meet us out there! We sure miss him and wish he could be in a more pleasant place for the holidays this year! He is amazing though, I am sure he will make the best of it!

Ansley's photos

Just wanted to let you know that Ansley's pictures are up on the "Heart Is Found" photo gallery! If you haven't had a chance to check them out go to: www.heartisfound.com , sign in, and the code is: aaa

I have to say, they are pretty cute! Malin did an amazing job, as always!

HALLOWEEN

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! This year we had a Pink Poodle, Supergirl, and Valdemort (from Harry Potter...and I probably spelled it wrong)!

Ansley and I were very congested so my plan was to keep both her and I inside for the night at my mom and dad's house and let Joe take the kids trick-or-treating w/ some friends of ours. Well, I did leave Ansley in w/ my parents, but decided I wanted to go out! It was a lot of fun, but probably not a good idea since I had the worst sinus pressure ever by the end of the night! My head was aching SO BAD! It was a cold but fun night! We were out until 9 pm this year which is the latest we have ever been out on Halloween. The kids have TONS of candy and aren't even interested in it...crazy! Joe hasn't gone near the candy and believe it or not, I haven't either! If ya want some candy come on over or I'll send it to ya!!!

Ansley wasn't too fond of her pink poodle costume! So Daddy rescued her!

What started out as a night of Trick-or-Treating w/ AJ's friend, Devon turned into a night of lots of friends! We went to a neighborhood w/ a lot of big houses fairly close together. Robin wasn't going to go out for the same reason I wasn't, she was congested too. Like me, she decided she would go out and join us. Then some friends of ours called (The Bannister's) and asked where we were trick-or-treating this year so we met up w/ them and a few other families from Karate. We were all walking in a big group when we ended up at a friends house. They were done for the night so they gave us their limo golf cart to use! It was SO NICE! Only in Peachtree City do you see tons of people trick-or-treating on golf carts! :)