Maybe it's the glasses...I'm just sayin...

Well... Yes... I am a HUGE fan of the Twighlight series of books and secretly fell in lust wth the most beautiful vampire... I see a resemblance... Don't you? :) Ha Ha, Perhaps I was drawn to those cute sunglasses from the Gap on vacation for a reason...

They sure have GROWN!

Tatianna, Anna & Elijah...

1 month old, 5 months old, 3 months old

2 years...ish...

3 years...ish...

Such beauties and awesome cousins! I pray that they will continue to have a close bond as they grown older! We may have to always keep this chair and have a picture for whenever they get together, even if it's when they are in their teens :) I can't believe how big they have gotten is such a short time...

Blog Drop Out?!? :(

Yikes... I realize it's been over 2 months since my last post... I really am a "Blog Drop Out" I hope to catch up and get my "poop in a group" soon :) .. Too many things have happened in the past couple of months... It feels like forever... More to come soon!!!

Meeting some "special friends"

Rock Stars to a 2 1/2 year old=.... DORA & DIEGO :)

There was a special screening for the "Latin Film Festival"
of Dora & Diego!!!!
Tatianna knew that we were going to see a special movie... BUT, she did NOT know that she was about the meet Dora & Diego!!! She screamed like they were rock stars and it was sooo cute!!!

Tatianna & Luke have missed each other soooo much and it was so cute to see them together again :)

The anticipation for the special movie to start was almost
too much for these little ones to handle :)

Happy Valentines Day!

what to do.... oh what to do!!!

Tonight I said goodbye to both of my loves for a whole week!!! They are off on an adventure to Grandma & Papa's house! Tatianna is sooooo excited to see them and Jason is sooooo excited to get a brake from work and relax a bit... and of course see his parents! They are staying at a hotel tonight and Tati kept saying "we're going to see Rick at the hotel"...because that's were he works of course! Kids really have the best memories :) I'm going to miss them sooo much! I had a few "projects" I wanted to work on while they were away. I am happy to say that I have finished my pregnancy scrapbook tonight! Yep, that's right, Tatianna is 2 1/2 and I just finished... such a procrastinator :)
I am sooo happy we will be able to talk on the computer and see each other! I love our web cam! I think anyone who has family far away should seriously invest in one! They are great :)

"Open Up & Say Ahhhh"

Tatianna had her very 1st "official" appointment w/Dr. Job last week!! She was such a big girl. Tati was very excited to be there. She used to come to work a lot w/me when she was smaller and a LOT less mobile :) She was used to the chair and knew that she was lucky enough to watch "Lion King" while she got her teeth cleaned!!

Alex is showing Tatianna how cool her blue gloves are!

Being very still while Alex used the "tickle brush" on her teeth!

Sharing a smile and laugh with Dr. Job before he started!

Counting in Spanish with Dr. Job as he "counted" her teeth!

She got to help finish up at the end :)

I am sooo very proud of my big girl She keeps asking to go backand see Dr. Job, Dr. Styrt & The Girls!! I think she just wants to see "Lion King" again & get another prize...

Legoland :)

After a fun filled weekend w/Isabelle, we ventured out to Lego land to meet my sister Ginny! We were sooo lucky to get some free passes w/preferred parking :) It was a lot of fun and A LOT OF PEOPLE!!! Tatianna & Elijah had fun running around while J.J. and Isabelle chased them :) Ha ha... J.J. & Isabelle did go on a fun ride that they waited in line for over an hour (while we tried to entertain two 2 1/2 year olds... J.J. was a little disappointed that the ride lasted "like 2 seconds" :) There was a lot to see and do... I think Tati will enjoy it a bit more when she's a little older... or maybe mommy will enjoy it more when there are not 100,000 people there on Christmas vacation :0 One of the highlight was visiting Mini land, USA. It was amazing to see all the detailed cities and fun to see NYC!! Tati and I reminisced about our trip this summer for a minute, until she wanted to jump on the carousel in central park...

Isabelle & Tatianna

We were soooo lucky to have cousin Isabelle come stay and play with us for a few days after Christmas! This was her 1st sleepover and it was sooo much fun! Tatianna just adores her and was so excited to show her all of her toys!! We sure made the most of our few days together! We went to a beautiful park right by the beach and when Isabelle realized how close we were to the ocean, asked if we could go... so off we went!! It was a bit cold, but the girls loved running around having fun :) We can't wait for our next sleepover :)

Fun Game?!?

Tatianna came RUNNING into the living room tonight w/a trail of toilet paper behind her?!?! She thought what a fun, fun game until.........

Putter (our cat) saw it and wanted to play... Oops...
The smile/surprised look on her face was precious :)

Tatianna was loving on her baby... don't mind the food stains on baby from a dinner feeding... one day she'll realize that her baby can't really eat all of her leftovers :)

Christmas

We spent 4 wonderful days of fun w/family over Christmas! There was lots of excitement with 8 cousins running around! The children put on a Christmas program for us that included some songs and a reading of "The Night Before Christmas" All the cousins exchanged names for gift giving and it was fun to watch them open all of their gifts! There was way too much food that was eaten (and a cookie or two..... of course)

Christmas Kitty & Santa

Our little putter has just turned 8 years old... A little more crazy than he used to be, but still a lot of fun. Tatianna loves him... and he tolerates her as much as can be expected :) He isn't our "baby" anymore (meaning, I don't dress him up in silly antler ears for our Christmas Card:)

Tatianna DID NOT want to sit on Santa's lap this year :( She was excited about the "thought" of seeing him and telling him that she would really love the Tinkerbell movie for Christmas, but when it came time to see the old guy, forget it!!! After standing in line for over an hour, I was NOT going to be hurried through!!! There were a lot of tears at first... candy canes and fruit snacks didn't do it this year... I wanted to promise her a pony for a minute or two... :) But we ended up w/a cute one (Santa WAS smiling in the other 20 pictures they took, but I think he was getting a little irritated with me by the end!! I wanted to say to him, "I just waited a heck of long time for my daughter to sit on your lap and now have to pay $23.00 for a picture, give me at least 5 minutes of your time" Ha Ha! Anyways, here they are....

This was taken last year! Such a stinkin cute picture of Allie and Tati! I don't know how I did it with 2 all by myself in line... I've blocked it out I guess! The ornaments that I took off my tree last minute for them to hold helped a bit.... Every time Tatianna sees this picture, she says
"It's o.k. Tati... don't cry, Santa's nice" :)

Santa Came Early This Year....

Tatianna is sooooo lucky to get to celebrate Christmas TWO times this year :) Papa & Grandma came over for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with us and we had soooooooo much fun!! Tati sure loves her grandparents and they sure love their little "sweet pea"!

Santa came a little early this year for the Basney's and we put out cookies, carrots and eggnog for his arrival! Tati was so excited that she went to sleep without a peep!
I think I need to tell her Santa is coming every night :)

It was fun to see how excited she was to open every gift. She wanted to take her time and play with each one, instead of racing to the next one... which will most likely happen in the years to come!

Christmas craft time

Tatianna & I were getting into the Christmas spirit with a little craft time this weekend!
I dyed some noodles green and red and had her sort them! She loved it. I had to keep reminding her that she couldn't taste them :)

Turkey Time

Well, who the heck would have thought that little 'ole me would be doing the turkey this year!?!?! My cooking skills are what one would call amateur!!! I guess I have been a bit scared since the "turkey incident of '98"..... My sister Ginny and I hosted Thanksgiving and well, we forgot to remove 1 of the bags of inerds before baking!! Oops!

So you can see how one would NOT want to attempt this again. Well, 10 years have passed and I am going for it! I have to admit I dry-heaved removing the neck, THANK GOD I had some gloves to wear!!! I'm also being a little creative this year and i'm "brining" the turkey. Basically soaking it for several hours in a salty/yummy mixture. Then I am going to be puting it in the oven at 2:00 a.m. to bake all night :) I can't wait to wake up to the most delicious scent in the morning!! I just hope it tastes good!!!!!

The brine mixture: courtesy of Mr. Alton Brown :)

kosher salt, brown sugar, sage, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns, ice, water

Doesn't that look beautiful :)

Keeps getting better :)

A little over 2 years ago I joined an amazing Mom's Group! I'll never forget how excited I was to get out of the house and meet new friends for Tatianna & Myself! She was just 6 weeks old at our 1st event. For the first few months of playdates, Tatianna was asleep :) It was a great opportunity to bond w/amazing women and get wonderful advice.

Now it is... 2 years later and I feel like these moms and children are family! How lucky & blessed Tatianna and I are! I can't wait for our children to grown up together... even if not in person, I know that the friends we have made, are lifelong friends and I pray we never loose touch through the miles that may one day seperate us...

Silly girl!!! Have a great weekend everyone :)

Mmmmm Mmmmm Good

Tatianna and I had a fun "date" yesterday at McDonalds :~) It was sooooooooo hot outside and I decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream sundae! I let Tati just have at it.... She wouldn't even share :( Glad I thought to get one for myself! The look of pure joy on her face was priceless. It was a moment I will never forget. She kept looking at me and giving me the look of "is this really o.k. mom"

SHHHHHHH

Well I was tagged along with every one of you that reads my blog about "Secrets" At first I thought, hmmm if I tell you them, they WON'T be a secret anymore... HA HA!! But here are a few of my many (just kidding) :)

1. I remember shoplifting candy w/my sister Lisa when I was only 5 years old (she was 7) It was a little market by my Grandma's house.
2. I LOVE Country music and Rap music equally... soooo weird I know!
3. I've been planning my boob job since Tati took her 1st drink of milk from me :)
4. I'm obsessed w/celebrity gossip... I have to check TMZ.com and People.com every night before bed or I can't sleep right... Such a complete dork I know...
5. I slept with a special stuffed rabbit I got on a vacation in Mexico when I was 12 until I was 18....
6. The only fake purse I own, is a Kate Spade purse that I bought 6 years ago in Boston and I feel too guilty to use it and hate seeing it hanging in my closet...
7. I remember taking my 1st puff of a cigarette at the age of 5... Again thanks to my sister Lisa!

Well thanks for tagging me & the therapy girls... I feel much, much better!! xoxo

Battery's NOT included :(

I have been planning my sister Ginny's 35th Birthday in Palm Springs for MONTHS!!! I have been sooo excited about getting away w/just the girls and you would have thought that I was soooooo prepared... Can you even believe that I somehow managed to leave my camera charger at home along with the camera card that allows me to take TONS of pictures...

I know it's not the end of the world... I was sad for a few minutes, laughed at all the "extra shit" I had brought instead of the essentials... and realized it was NOT going to ruin my awesome weekend with my sisters!!!

We had an amazing time and am so thankful for these moments when it's just the girls! Sleeping in until 10:00 this morning was the highlight of my year :)

"Strike a Pose"

Last night I had such a fun night enjoying "The Material Girl" w/some girlfriends from work!! It was a little too political at times...but Madonna really knows how to put on a show!! Hard to believe she is as old as she is... :~) I would give anything for the amount of energy she has!!!

Happy Halloween

Tatianna enjoying the petting zoo at her school's Halloween carnival!

They had a cookie decorating station... Tati definitely got her fill of frosting :)

"Not another picture Mom"

Tatianna waiting sooooo patiently for her turn in the bounce house!

This little Fairy Princess sure had a wonderful time trick-or-treating:)

Tatianna's Preschool Class

Pumpkin TIme

I just can't believe how HUGE my little pumpkin is!!!

When I look back over all the millions of pictures I have of her...I get a little sad... Where has the time gone??? I remember carving our 1st pumpkin together last year like it was just last night!

This year Tati was a little more timid when it came time to help daddy clean out
the guts!! She still managed to sneak a few bites though:) I hope she'll enjoy the pumpkin seeds that daddy is making special just for her!

Fun October Day...

Bates Nut Farm has been something I look forward to doing every year w/Tatianna. I went for the 1st time right before I found out I was pregnant w/her, and have continued to go back each year. You would NEVER, EVER believe it was the end of October with how incredibly hot it was today... :) We spent a really fun day w/some FABULOUS FRIENDS!

YAY... DATE NIGHT!!!!

Doesn't this picture look sooooooo yummmmy?!?!??! I think I ate all that food tonight......

J and I had a wonderful opportunity to go out for date night tonight!! Tati's school was holding a "harvest festival" 5:30-10:00 (pizza dinner, fun games, movie, ice cream sundaes) It was too good to be true :) Yes, we are the parents that dropped our daughter off at 5:49 and picked her up at 9:00....

We headed out to Roppongi's in La Jolla... It was soooo amazing! I've been talking about going out for sushi EVERY SINGLE DAY since we have been home from NYC...

(we had a great sushi date while there)

Tati was so cute when we picked her up... She was having ice cream sundaes and didn't want to leave.. she kept saying "come on, let's play mommy and daddy"

I forget how much fun it is to go out all by ourselves... We of course talked about Tatianna the whole time... but it was just really nice to have a couple hours by ourselves too.....

Here's wishing date nights to all my wonderful friends :) I'll come watch the kiddos!!!