SILLY KIDS!

One day we hear Ansley huffing and puffing so we go into the kitchen, and this is what we find!

Another day, while I am showering, Joe goes into the kitchen and finds Ansley fascinated w/ matches....of all things! She found them in the cabinet inside a giftbag that holds a bunch of tea lights. She has gone back to that very cabinet for the past 3 days and empty's out the bag only to find there are no more matches in there! Don't we deserve the parents of the year award!!! :)

Here are a couple of videos we captured tonight!

Holiday Visit

My cousin Andrea, her husband Elliot, and two boys Brock and Scott, came and stayed w/ us after christmas. AJ and Brock hit it off and were totally entertained the entire time! Aleigh and Scott did really well to keep up with them too! We had a nice visit!

The guys played a competitive game of States and Capitols Sequence! It got even more competitive when Andrea and I decided to play against the guys! They cheated ;)! Not really, but it makes me feel better to say that!

My mom and the kids were pretending that all of the kids were falling down the well like Giselle does in Enchanted! They had so much fun!

Scott is one of the cutest little boys!

While Andrea was here, I hosted a "Scentsy" party for her and got to learn all about the product she sells! Its AWESOME! The orders are already here and we have been burning ours non-stop! It is the newest and safest thing in wickless candles I have ever seen! They sell the prettiest warmers! The warmers warm up w/ a light bulb and the plate that sits on top is removable so when you are done w/ one scent and want to burn another, you can easily just pour the wax back in to use later and break off a piece of a new scent! The best part is how safe it is! You can stick your finger in the burning wax and its not hot! I feel safe w/ my kids around it and comfortable leaving the warmers on when we leave the house. There are 80 different scents to choose from and I was able to smell every single one! I have several favorites, but was able to narrow it down to about 15, and then was able to narrow it down again to my top 6 for the package I ordered. I am not trying to sell this to anyone, I just really love the product and think everyone should know! Our house has smelled liked "Cinnamon Bear" for the past two days! :) If you are interested in checking out Andrea's website: www.scentsy.com/snookems

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?!