8- 2- 20

Rocco Aaron Reifer arrived on January 29, 2009

8 lbs. 2 oz. 20 inches

This is how it went:

01/29/2009

Aaron shows up to our house around 9 a.m., cool, calm and collective, goes about his normal business with work stuff, then plays with Estella.

Aaron: "Hi Estella"

Estella: "Where's Megan?"

Aaron: : "Megan's at the hospital"

Me (poking my head out of the bathroom with toothbrush in my mouth): "What-ever Aaron..." "she'll be here after 11:30 Estella, you'll see her soon".

Estella: "k, mommy"

Aaron: "Seriously, I took her to the hospital this morning" as he pulls out a Hospital patient sticker.

Jake and I bombarded him with questions. I hush & rush him out the door to be with his girl.

So, sometime in the wee hours of that morning Megan's water was leaking (not broke). Aaron took her the hospital were they informed them it could be days...little did we know Rocco would arrive hours later (a month and some days early)!

We're so happy he's here, Healthy & Strong. He looks like Aaron, facial expressions like Grandpa Pete.

Estella was so excited about his arrival that she went pee in the potty, all on her own-for the first time, I guess she's ready to be a Big Cousin!

Congratulation Aaron & Megan, your baby is Beautiful!

The Terrible Towel

I'm surprising Jacob with an Authentic Steeler Jersey #7, and Estella with a couple of Terrible towels (we seem to have lost our tt's), the package is due to arrive before the end of the week. I can't wait to see his face when he gets his surprise, but what I'm most curious about is how Estella will be with the tt's?

For Estella's first Birthday we drove to Arizona to see the Steelers play the Cardinals . That was Jake's gift to her. Estella did wonderful (considering AZ, hot-hot weather), she was the Steelers ONLY cheerleader, and everybody LOVED her, including the Cardinal fans!

Only 4 more days till Super Bowl. We will be hosting a Super Bowl party with all the trimmings; there will be men acting crazy, children running wild and woman in their natural state--Divine Goddesses!

Think Play Create

Think Play Create is The Children's Museum logo.

We're members of this fine establishment, so, we try and visit once a week. I'm happy to see that Estella Louise really enjoys this place as much as I do.

Think

Priscilla & Estella

Create...

little Tortillas

Play: A cute little snowflake has fallen on a tree trunk

Estella playing with "Estrellita" the shadow puppet

Do you know what "Monochromatic means?

Definition: Monochromatic colors are all the hues (tints, tones and shades) of a single color.

We created Monochromatic art with the color green, we learned that by adding small amounts of white paint to the green, the ending results are different shades of green; we thought it was pretty cool.

Monochromatic green circle & "Pescadito" the shadow puppet

just chillin' after working so hard to build a city

Granola

My Dear friend Michelle and her adorable family came out to visit for the Holidays. Michelle's Birthday was the day after her departure, so Heather and I treated her to an early Birthday Brunch. We chose "The Cottage", in beautiful La Jolla. The menu was nice, but what we enjoyed the most (besides the Tangerine Mimosas & the reminiscing of our crazy old times) was their tasty Granola. On our way out Heather treated us to a bag of their famous granola, which was devour in a couple days in our household.

I'm happy to say that Michelle was so pleased with her Birthday brunch and the granola that she blogged about it on her blog, check out what she had to say here.

so, yesterday morning my little family was craving The Cottage's Granola...what-to-do, what-to- do?, but try and imitate their granola? Well, we did!, and we even kicked it up a few notches. It turned out pretty good, a little burnt around the edges, but tasty.

El Finale`

The Recipe

1 Cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 cup craisins

1/4 cup sliced or silvered almonds

1/4 cup crushed pecans

1/4 cup Flax seed

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons canola oil

4 tablespoons condense milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the granola, combine all dry ingredients until well mixed, then add wet ingredients, combine completely. Pour onto a sheet pan and bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until mixture turns an even golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Remove the granola from the oven, scrape the pan with the spatula to loosen the granola, and allow to cool, stirring once.

Enjoy!

And the Chanting goes on!

This is the chanting you hear in our house~

"We're from a City, with a GREAT football team-

"We ARE the Pittsburgh Steelers!"

We're rumbling and stumbling and signing a song-

"We ARE the Pittsburgh Steelers!"

The chanting started when the Chargers (my team) lost to the Steelers (My Darling Jacob's team), since then, the chanting has increased, due to their recent victory, and now for their pursuit to win the Super Bowl.

I must admit, the Steeler fan's have quite an enthusiasm towards their team... it's contagious; for instance, TODAY I found myself wearing a Steeler hoodie, and chanting & humming to the Steeler song, and I didn't feel a bit guilty, this time-- after all "Suckers are nice!".

GO STEELERS!!!

A house-warming gift from Brother Shawn & April Reifer

Mommy's little treasure

The whole family got haircuts on Saturday, including Abuelita (Grama). We all got in the Jeep, and drove to Oceanside, a 40 minute drive, with no traffic. That's where Jake's Barber (a.k.a hairdresser; he would never admit that~heehee!) is located. What a loyal customer, my Darling Jacob is!

Here's Estella, not looking too happy; she didn't appreciate getting sprayed on the head with water, she screeched "I'm melting, I'm melting!" (inside joke, haha!) nah, but seriously, she doesn't like getting wet, she's cool with the bath, beach, and pool, that's it.

I tried to make her laugh by making funny face's and noises (the hairdresser must have thought I was "loca"), or at least to get her to turn that frown up-side-down, but was unsuccessful--until, I promised her ice-cream. She screamed "Ice-cream Mama, Ice-cream!", after that she was all giggles & smiles .

The Do'

Looking like a BIG girl, with her ice-cream mustache.

Mommy's little treasure

America's Finest City

We had an absolutely most gorgeous day, here in America's Finest City~

Sunny San Diego.

I don't mean to brag, but we had a splendid day out in the sun... I thought about Grama Reifer who lives in Houtzdale, Pennsylvania where it's Frigid cold, it was -4 degrees today, yikes!!! I hope she changes her mind, and decides to come out to visit us in March.

The Bay was amazing! See the sparkling stars?

I forgot how fun but sandy it is when building a sand-castle!

We fed the Seagulls & Pigeon's... who then decided to help themselves to our food, while we played at the playground.

A tired little Estella Louise who hung-in- there, so she could keep playing with her big cousin's; Abraham and Isabella, what a trooper.

Yes, we are spoiled.

Bellisima

A photo I like to call

"Bellisima"

Year of the Ox

I was born on "Year of the Ox"! Read about my persona here, I ONLY agree with the good stuff; wink~wink. You can judge for yourself, but remember when you judge a person you don't leave any room to love them! ha ha!

So, 2008 flew by, we were blessed to have family and friends visit with us through out the year. We were also blessed with our first house. We took a couple trips back east were we visited with family and friends. Estella and I took a girl trip to Seattle- Good times. Estella had her second birthday, she had a lot of fun, but zonked out right after her birthday cake. Our Boiler business is doing good, considering our economy. Yeah, our little family is doing quite well, Thank you very much.

I have to say, I have a lot of New Years resolutions (one is to blog more often), and I feel quite certain I will follow through with them, this year.

I Encourage you to find hope, laughter and faith in this tumultuous year.

Cheers to You and 2009!!!