Noemie turns 1!

Noemie turned one year old on Wednesday! We also declared that she was officially "walking" that day. She had taken 8 or so steps the day before but it wasn't until Wednesday that it seemed that she could get from point A to point B without looking like she was bracing herself for a landing. So there you have it. Noemie, the walking, three-toothed one-year old who for her first birthday party (held this morning) was wearing a lovely strawberry gown with matching hairclips, chosen exclusively for the occasion by her doting abuelo Wilmo.

The garden themed party was put together by the church's moms group, with all the moms pitching in. Jen Simmons made all the phone calls, picked up the cakes, and made "dirt"- a flower pot filled with chocolate pudding, crunched up oreos, and gummi worms. Amy came to help set up before a test, bringing balloons and crepe paper. (What's a party without crepe paper?) It had rained all day yesterday so the yard was gross and it was ominously overcast the whole morning. So we all crammed into our narrow living room tried to keep kids from stepping on each other and their pizzas. And, for the most part, we were pretty successful! The kids (12 of them) seemed to enjoy playing with whatever toys they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, the party time fell just shy of Noemie's nap time so she was a little bit moody. She wanted nothing to do with cake. But she loved being sang to.

A Garcia family reunion is in the works for late summer 2010. Nothing new on the job or house-selling front. Danny has tests and an interview in South Florida spread out across April so the plan is to stay at Hutchinson Island for a couple of weeks, and to be in Miami for Easter.

Happy Birthday, Noemie!

Marchin It

It's March! The time of year when the high can be 80 degrees one day and 42 degrees the next... The time of year when the Tallahassee wasps come out of hibernation and patrol your car door handles... And twitterpated mockingbirds swoop in your back door and poop on your couch as they dart around your living room. It's kite flying weather! It's the perfect time of year to send me a kite. And an extra bike seat for Noemie. We love Spring!
The Espinosa- Andollo clan has quite a number of birthdays to celebrate this month! My great-grandparents Heriberta, Encarnacion, and Victorino were all born in March too.

March Birthdays:
Saulito's twins, Gabriela and Nicole turn 10 today (March 8)
Steven, Hector's son, turns 22 tomorrow
Ricardo, Segundo's brother ages slightly on the 13th
Richard Barrios turns 17 on the 17th (a once in a lifetime event)
Thais' cousin, Elena, celebrates on the 21st
Danny's cousin, Andreina, on the 22nd
Noemie hits the one year mark on the 25th
And mom will blow out a ridiculous, undisclosed number of candles on the 31st, along with Thais' uncle Winston.

Danny (who is at the moment lounging on the floor with a fistful of goldfish snacks, cataloging the progress of various outstanding job applications) continues to wait for his interview to be scheduled with a police agency in South Florida. The anticipated hire date would be June, if all goes well. We are also waiting to see if the bank will approve an offer we received on the sale of our house. The anticipated closing date is in May.

In the meantime, I continue to work on collecting family dates, names, and histories. There's a book coming. I'm pretty excited about it, although I'm also pressed for time, as my grandparents are all in their late 80s and in failing health. I've gotten emails from family in Cuba that have just been goldmines of information! Noemie's bottom two teeth finally came in and her top two front teeth are next- just in time for her birthday photos... which I wont be taking with my camera because said camera decided to spontaneously die an unprovoked death. I keep telling Dominic not to do anything cool until I can get a new one.

Amy has started her clinicals at the hospital here and is pretty pumped about it. Gio is making plans for an ambitious cross-country roadtrip during the summer with stops in New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, and Seattle. That's an awfully long time to be in a car. He moves to NYC in September to work for Americorp there. I am planning Dominic's 3rd birthday in Disney this year. We plan to stay one night at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort and then live it up in the Magic Kingdom on the next day. Email me if you want more details. (I'm also planning all our family vacations to the year 2030 to coordinate with our homeschooling curriculum. Greek Isles in 2023, anyone?)

Pictures from our most recent Miami trip: