More Cooking

Nikolas got a wooden set of food for his birthday and loves "cooking." He'll "cut up" everything and then mix it all together. He loves to get the pans out and make all sorts of things. He makes meatballs, pancakes, soup, salad, turkey sandwiches and much more. Diego is always by his side to help out and to "taste test" the food. Le regalamos a Nikolas un set de cocina para su cumpleanos. Le encanta "cocinar!" El "corta" la comida y la mexcla. Saca todas las ollas y cocina de todo. Le gusta hacer albondigas, panqueques, sopa, ensalada, sandwiches y mucho mas. Diego (su muneco) siempre esta a su lado "ayudando" y probando la comida. Hay un video al final de las fotos tambien.

Making Meatballs

Recently Nikolas has loved helping me cook. He wants to dump in the ingredients or stir it up or do whatever he needs to be done. He will constantly say, "Mami, I do it." One day he helped me make meatballs. He dumped everything in and even rolled the meatballs in his little hands. A couple days later, he came in and told me that he was making meatballs. I went into the kitchen and found this! Ultimamente a Nikolas le encanta ayudarme a cocinar. Siempre quiere hechar todos los ingredientes o mexclar la comida. Siempre me dice, "Mami, I do it." (yo hago) Un dia me ayudo a hacer albondigas. El hecho todo y hasta se animo formarlas con sus manitos. Un par de dias despues, vino y me dijo que estaba haciendo albondigas. Fui a la cocina y encontre esto!

What a face! Que cara!

Don't look at my dirty oven, just observe Niko's "masterpiece" or "meatballs." Yes, those are screwdrivers. A little random, I know! Observan el "trabajito" de Nikolas o sea las albondigas. Si, esos son destornilladores! Un poco raro, no?

Valentine's Day

I know these posts are old, but I have to catch up sometime. Cristian had to work on Valentine's Day but Niko and I surprised him when he got home from work with a Valentine Dinner. We had shrimp alfredo over linguine with asparagus, strawberries, and cranapple juice. Cristian tuvo que trabajar el dia de San Valentin pero Niko y yo le sopredimos con una cena linda cuando llego del trabajo! Comimos pasta con salsa blanca y camarones, esparragos, frutillas, y jugo rojo.

What a funny kid! I just have to laugh at some of the funny faces he pulls! Que chico! Me rio tanto por las caritas que hace!

Just a couple random pictures of Niko in January. Mostly, so la Abuela Mari can see how he is growing. Dos fotos de Nikolas en enero mas que nada para que la abuela Mari puede ver como crece Niko.

A Niko le gusta "pintar." Generalmente le doy hojas blancas para que dibuje lo que el quiera pero le regalo Papa Noel este librito y le gusta pintar lo barcos, los autos, etc.

Nikolas' Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Nikolas with family and friends a few days after Nikolas' birthday. Our friend Manuel made pork tacos (super yummy). Dillon played "Happy Birthday" on his guitar. With a little influence from his Papi, Nikolas picked out a Sponge Bob cake. This last year we have been to a TON of birthday parties, mostly for the kids in our branch, but it seems that everyone always has a pinata. Nikolas has become a pinata fanatic. Whenever I would tell him we were going to a birthday party he would say, "pam, pam...candies" (referring to the pinata). He never dares hit them, but he loves when everyone else does and he LOVES getting candy. At first he would run and grab one or two pieces (whatever he could fit in his two little hands). But over time he has learned to grab "muchos candies" and shove them in his bag and run for more. Anyway, Cristian made Niko a really cool Sponge Bob pinata! He really did a good job! (see pics below) Niko still didn't dare hit it, but he enjoyed watching everyone, even his aunts, take a swing at it and especially loved filling his bag with candy, with a lot of help from Uncle Nate!
Tuvimos un cumpleanos para Nikolas con unos amigos y mi familia algunos dias despues de su cumple. Nuestro amigo, Manuel hizo unos tacos de chancho bien ricos! Y Dillon toco "Feliz cumpleanos" con su guitarra. Con un poco de influencia de su Papi, Niko eligio una torta de Sponge Bob. Ultimamente hemos ido a un monton de fiestas de cumpleanos de nenes de nuestra rama. Pero siempre en cada una hay una pinata. Niko se hizo fanatico de las pinatas! Cada vez que le decia que ibamos a una fiesta de cumpleanos siempre decia "pam, pam...candies" (refiriendose a las pinatas). No le gusta pegarlas, pero le gusta ver como todos los otros la pegan y correr a traer caramelos! Al principio corria y traeia lo que le entraba en las dos manitos. Pero despues aprendio a agarrar "muchos candies," ponerlos en su bolsa y correr por mas. Cristian le hizo una pinata muy buena de Sponge Bob! Le salio de 10! Niko todavia no se animaba pegarla, pero le gusto verlos a todos los otros, aun sus tias, tratar de pegarla y le encanto llenar su bolsa de caramelos, con mucha ayuda del tio Nate!

Nikolas' Birthday

So much for catching up! I just keep getting farther behind.
Nikolas turned 2 on January 5th. I can't believe how big he is getting! He is talking a lot and his little personality is really starting to shine through! He is every day more mischievous and curious, and is loving testing limits. Here a few pictures from his birthday! That morning we went Macey's which may sound boring to most of you but Niko loves Macey's. I'm sure it is due to the Smarties they give him each time we go. He got to pick out a balloon for his birthday and frosting for his cake. We made Milanesas for lunch (one of his favorite things, I think). It snowed the day before and had been lightly snowing that day, so after lunch Nikolas and Papi played out in the snow for almost 2 hours! They were both frozen, but had so much fun! Grandma Brenda came over and we had cake and opened presents. I think I was more excited about his presents than he was. Grandma gave him a new outfit for church. Hooray! His pants were floods and his belly was always hanging out of his shirt, not to mention that he wore his tennies to church. Grandma gave him a cute pop up book too! Books are his passion! We gave him a pretend food that comes with a knife to cut it. The knife definitely is his favorite part. He also got some Spiderman slippers that he fell in love with at the store a few days earlier. Funny kid, he doesn't even know who Spiderman is.

Later that night when Papi left for school, we went and rode "the moto" at the mall and played on the toys there. I think he had a fun day!

Bueno, cada vez estoy mas y mas atrasada en este blog.

Nikolas cumplio los dos anos el 5 de Enero! No puedo creer que grande esta! Esta hablando mucho y su personalidad esta desorrollando mucho. Cada dia esta mas curioso y travieso y le gusta probar sus limites! Abajo son algunas fotos de su cumpleanos. Esa manana fuimos al supermercado que parece aburrido pero a le encanta. Estoy segura que es por que le da un caramelo cada vez que vamos. El eligio un globo para su cumple y chocolate para su torta! Hicimos milanesas para almuerzo (una de sus comidas preferidas, creo). El dia anterior nevo mucho, asi que despues del almuerzo Niko y Papi salieron afuera a jugar en la nieve por casi 2 horas. Estaban los dos congelados pero se divertieron un monton! Vino la abuela Brenda y abrimos algunos regalitos y comimos torta! La abuela le regalo una ropa nueva para la capilla, ya que lo que tenia era muy chiquito y iba con zapatillas por que no tenia zapatos para la iglesia. Le dimos tambien un juego de comida de mentira que se puede cortar con un cuchillo (tambien de juguete) y unas pantuflas de Spiderman. La abuela le regalo un libro tambien. Los libros son definitivamente su pasion!

Despues, Papi se tuvo que ir asi que fuimos los dos (Niko y yo) al shopping a jugar en los juguetes que tienen ahi para chicos. Uno es una moto y le encanta! Creo que disfruto su dia especial!

New Year's

We had a big New Year's Eve party with a bunch of friends from the branch! I didn't get many pictures, but we had a good time, and the 4 dozen empanadas I made were gone in about 30 seconds.
Tuvimos una fiesta grande con muchos amigos de nuestra rama! No sacamos muchas fotos, pero nos divertimos mucho. Hice 4 docenas de empanadas y se volaron en 30 segundos!

Cristian dancing with Nikolas and Jonah! Cristian bailando con Nikolas y Johan!