Team USA

From the top of her head...

...to her cute little bottom...

This girl is all American!

She may not be a gymnast...

Or a world-class swimmer...

Or a part of the world's first Olympic football (that's AMERICAN FOOTBALL, folks) team...

But she sure does look cute in that Red, White, and Blue!

Go Team USA!

Love, Jillian (Your Cutest Fan)

Silly Jilly: Like Mother, Like Daughter

Last night, I was cleaning up our house since Julian's sister is coming in town in a few days.  That included emptying the diaper genie.  I seriously hate doing this...it is usually Julian's chore to do, but after asking him a million times to do it since he had not gotten around to it, I did it.  I tied up the bag and left it by the garage door so Julian could take it out to the trash can.  But after a long day at work, Julian left it there hadn't quite gotten around to throwing it out.

This morning, Julian woke up to help with the morning routine of getting Jillian ready and making breakfast.  After he finished getting Jillian ready, he walked with her to the kitchen to work on breakfast.  As soon as she saw the bag full of diapers (still) by the garage door, she had something to say about it.

She said "Dada" in her stern voice.  She started waving her hand in front of her face, something we do when something is stinky.  Then she pointed to the door and said "Outside."

And wouldn't you know it, that bag of dirty diapers gotten taken outside right away.

Well played, baby girl.  Well played. ;)

I wonder if I can get Jillian to ask Julian to pick up his dirty clothes/clean the floors/wash my car...

Pinterest First: Jello Cookies

Like so many others, I am guilty of being a Pin-aholic.  I go to Pinterest (caution: click on this link at your own risk...it is addicting and very time-consuming!!!) on a regular basis and find new ways to decorate our home, or new projects for Julian and I to make, or new fashion trends, or...the list goes on and on.  And often times (ok sometimes, ok rarely) I actually make an attempt to recreate something I saw on Pinterest.

One thing I have never done is attempt a Pinterest recipe.  To be honest, I did not pin recipes until recently, because I know my own limits and I am not a good cook to begin with, much less capable of creating the elaborate meals I see pinned sometimes.  But, as my cooking skills/time are increasing, I thought I would give it a whirl.

Don't ask me why I choose Jello cookies to be my first recipe attempt.  They were just so colorful and summery and fun that I couldn't resist.  The Malnars came over for an impromptu BBQ at our house and while Julian was manning the grill, Meredith and I set out to make these treats.

I picked out some colorful jello flavors that sounded tasty too.

I made the dough according to the recipe, and kept my iPad on hand to read the recipe carefully.

Meanwhile, these two enjoyed a Bubble Guppies episode (or two).

Meredith and I kneaded the dough with the Jello and added food coloring to make the colors pop.

Gotta love those UTEP colors!

And here is the finished product still cooling.

My professional completely novice non-Betty-Crocker critique of these cookies: they were a little bit too crumbly, but they were unique, tasty, colorful treats that were perfect for summer.  We enjoyed some at after dinner and I took the rest to work.

My next idea is to have a Pinterest-inspired party at my house where everyone attempts a recipe/craft/project they pinned and have not tried.  Anyone interested? :)

Silly Jilly-isms

This little girl is quite the talker!  And as much as I tell myself I will never forget all the cute little things she says, I know that time will make those memories fade.  So in hopes of trying to make them stick, I'm going to write some of them down.

Here are a few of our favorite Silly Jilly-isms:

(After you hand her something or do something for her)
Thank you so much! 'Ppreciate it!

(When she sees herself in a picture)
Hey, that's G Bear Baby

(When she wants you to hold her)
Hold you!

(When you ask her what something says, whether it's a shirt or a menu)
Mommy: What does that say?
Jillian: (as if she's actually reading it) I love you Mommy
(And I don't correct her!)

(Unlocks iPhone)
Awesome!

She says so many cute things, I wish I could remember them all.  She is definitely in the talking business still and she says more and more new things everyday.  The other day she sat next to me and said "Soooooooo...what's up?"  Silly Jilly...your little words make my heart smile!

Vacation Recovery

Even as relaxing and enjoyable and memorable as Aruba was, we still needed to recover from our vacation.  

No better way to recover than moving the mattress into the living room, staying in our pajamas all day, and watching "How I Met Your Mother" on Netflix...

Sigh...these past few weeks were really the best weeks ever.

Always Bet on Jillian

Remember when I said that Aruba was all about "firsts, winning, and great memories"?  It certainly was!  One of the nights in Aruba, Auntie Andy and Jillian stayed at the hotel while we went out with Julian's parents.  We got all dressed up and hit the town.  

A little sunned, but having so much fun!

There is an area in Aruba that has a whole bunch of open air booths, restaurants, and bars.  Even though it was a Tuesday night, the place was still busy with people.  We decided to go to Senor Frogs...no classier place (read: sarcasm) in all of Aruba.  The place was crawling with 18-21 year olds who had clearly had too much to drink.  We spent much of our time there people watching as ridiculous contests happened, and shots were had (not by us...yet), and lots of grinding and making out was happening.  Needless to say, we also spent much of that time hoping, praying that our daughters* would NEVER find themselves in Senor Frogs doing these things.  Lucky for us, Jillian has at least 17 more years till she reaches this age...for Julian's parents...well, let's just say that Andrea Sofia is maybe 17 months away from being able to do these things...**

No Senor Frogs for these 2...not in Aruba...not ever!!!

*Sidenote 1 - I may or may not have been to a Senor Frogs when I was this age..."I got secrets can't leave Cancun"...but that's a post for another day me to never blog about

**Sidenote 2 - Andrea Sofia is the most well-behaved child you have ever known...I think her parents had a wild child first (ahem, as in Julian) and their good child second...sorry, babe!

After a few drinks, it was time to leave Senor Frogs.  After a quick stop in the worst piano bar ever (it was bad, don't ask), we went back to the hotel, grabbed some cash, checked on our girls, and headed back out to the Alhambra Casino.  It was literally 2 blocks from our hotel.  And Julian had been begging to go gamble since he noticed how close we were to the casino.  So we went.  

Julian and I love to gamble...it's one of our vices (and the free drinks they serve you while you are playing, well, those don't hurt either).  I'd like to think that I am pretty mild gambler (this somehow makes it ok), so I set parameters and dollar limits and time limits (and drink limits).  We started with $40, nothing too extreme.  We sat down at the roulette table and got to work.  This was the first time we had played roulette since Jillian was born, and so aside from playing our normal numbers, we also decided to bet on Jilly, too (please be sure to include this in our parents-of-the-year nomination).  Every time, we would put at least one chip on the 2-3 split (for her birthday, 2/3).  That means that every time 2 or 3 hit, we would win 16:1.   

Now I know that Jillian is the most lucky little charm in the world.  She has blessed our lives in so many ways and we are certainly "winning" in the game of life with that little girl.  But she LITERALLY was the most lucky thing that happened to us that night.  As in, the numbers 2 or 3 hit like 8 or 9 times.  Needless to say, Jillian won us money that night, and we walked away $150 richer.  Gosh, I love our little lucky charm!

Sorry, no pics from the casino.  I know you can't take pictures in the Vegas casinos (while playing) and I didn't want to take our chances in Aruba, a foreign country.  But trust me when I say that we were smiling from ear to ear after our fun night out in Aruba.

So that's it, folks!  That was the last post about the amazing time the Acostas had in Aruba.

Costa Linda, the place we stayed at

So long, Aruba!

Now where to next?! ;)

Celebrating the 4th, Aruba style

I LOVE the 4th of July!  It is by far my favorite holiday.  When I was younger, it was a time of summer fun, swimming, grilling out, quality family time, and most of all...Fireworks!!!

I was stoked when I found out that we would be in Aruba for the 4th of July this year.  What better place to celebrate this all-American day than in Aruba?!?!?! (Oh wait...Aruba is not in America...it's not even an American colony...it's Dutch...well crap!)

So yeah, they don't celebrate the 4th of July in Aruba.  A small part of me died because it just wasn't going to be the same... No one was dressed in the red, white, and blue.  No sweet smells of hot dogs on the grill and Bruce Springsteen around every corner. And worst of all, no Fireworks...like not even any sparklers!

Except then I remembered that I was in paradise...

With my family...

Especially this 4th of July cutie in her Red, White, and Blue...

Playing in the sand all day...

Having the time of our lives...

Making memories...

And she is definitely cuter than any firework...

And I don't even like hot dogs (and not really the biggest fan of the Boss)...

In fact, this was the absolute best way to celebrate the 4th of July, my favorite holiday in paradise! 

Para-sailing!!!

Another first for the Acostas happened in Aruba...Para-sailing!  Julian's mom stayed back with Jillian and they played in the sand, while Julian, Jose, Andrea, and I went para-sailing.

This was the point where I told Julian to stop holding on to the straps and just let go!!!

It was awesome to experience this in Aruba, because the water was beautiful and being that high up in the air gave us the opportunity to see the beautiful ocean around Aruba and all the gorgeous coastline.

A little higher

The only downside to para-sailing was sitting in the rocking boat...that definitely made us a little seasick and it seriously took over an hour to recover. 

At our highest point

We had a conversation while we were hanging 500 feet in the air about who on earth invented para-sailing?! Sure, let's strap on a parachute, tie it to a boat, and just see what happens...

See, we had a good time!

Julian's sister was stoked to get to go para-sailing.  I was worried that his dad might not be so stoked...but then I remembered that he had been in helicopters and jumped out of planes before, so I am sure that this was a cake walk compared to his previous adventures.

Andrea and Jose's turn

In the end, it was all worth it and something that I am happy to cross off our bucket list!

Enjoying the view

Silly Jilly: Stories from Aruba

Silly Jilly had a great time in Aruba!

Here are just a few of her silly stories from our trip:

Remember this post when we discovered that Jillian repeated some of the not-so-appropriate words we would say?!  Well, apparently, Julian did not learn this lesson...

We were walking in Aruba and Julian and his mom were talking about how often people do not look at them and think that they are Puerto Rican.  Instead, they are often mistaken for being from the Middle East.  

Julian: I just wish that people knew that I was Puerto Rican.  Man, I hope that Jillian looks more Hispanic because when people confuse where you are from, it SUCKS...

Jillian: Sucks...sucks...sucks...SUCKS

Amber: smh Good job, babe

Jillian:  Sucks!

Yeah, so it sucks that my kid now says sucks!

*****

Jillian is just like her daddy, so friendly.  And she's just like me, she loves to dance and she loves attention.  This is a winning combination when she wants to charm people with her cuteness, waving, and dance moves.  

Every night in Aruba, we would walk to a nearby Baskin Robbins to go get ice cream, and she would eat little bites of everyone's scoops.  We don't really give Jillian too much sugar/sweets, and so she would get a sugar rush.

To burn that energy, we would walk around the shopping area near Baskin Robbins.  Jillian would run (yes, she has started running) from one side to the next, stopping to smile and wave at everyone she would pass and say hi.   Anytime we got next to a place playing music, she would stop, and proceed to shake her tail feather.  This would last for 5 minutes or 30 minutes, however long she felt like showing off.  

Needless to say, she won a lot of hearts, got lots of people to stop what they were doing and stare at her, she got lots of ohhhhhs and awwwwws, and most importantly, she burned off the sugar so that we could take her home and she would go right to bed.  Silly Jilly...you were the Aruban dancing queen!

*****

Jillian made a friend with a little girl named AnaLucia from Columbia.  They were the 2 cutest babies, sharing their toys, and trying to talk to one another.  Jillian only speaks English, AnaLucia only speaks Spanish, but it baby talk, it doesn't really matter!

*****

Most of all, I think Jilly just loved all the time and attention that she got from us, and Julian's family.  She loved the water and playing in the sand.  She loved napping by the beach.  She would not stop smiling.  

I think she had the best vacation ever too!  

Kayaking in Aruba

Our adventures in Aruba were aplenty.  We did some fun and exciting things in Aruba that we had never done before.  We were able to go kayaking and the kayak guy (that's his official title, clearly) said that we could even take Jillian.  Oh boy!

I have to admit that I was a little nervous.  She's so little, cannot swim, and loves the water.  Somehow, putting her in a kayak NOT strapped in seemed like a good bad good idea.  So we did it.  Julian was way more nervous than me.  But kayak guy didn't seem nervous, he just put on our life jackets, gave us simple instructions, and sent us on our way.  

Once we got in the water and got going, I could understand why this wasn't going to be so scary after all.  The water was relatively still and Jilly was happy and content to just sit and enjoy the view...and what a view it was!

The 3 of us were in one kayak and Julian's dad and sister were in  another.  We were only out for about 45 minutes, but it was so peaceful, serene, and fun.  I have to say, Julian and I make a pretty good team...he made a great captain/steward of our ship and I was actually good at taking orders/steering us (surprising, I know!).

This was definitely a fun first for us and something that we will do again.  Chalk another one in the win column...Aruba was all about firsts, winning, and great memories!

Aruba...

...Oh, Aruba! Where do I even begin?!

Maybe I should start by saying that Aruba was the most amazing vacation ever.  EVER.

We had such a good time in Aruba.  Though our trip did start a little shaky because we missed our flight out of Dallas to Aruba.  It was partly not our fault...

But, 4 hours later, we were on a flight to Aruba, and let me tell you, Jillian was an A-N-G-E-L on the flights (despite being in a car for 3 hours the day before, getting to Dallas at 11 PM, sleeping/playing from midnight-4 AM, at the airport by 4:30 AM, and dealing with 2 cranky parents who were anxious to start our vacation).  She was just so friendly to everyone at the airport/on the plane, waving hi any chance she got.  Once we got to customs in Aruba, she was ready to get her first stamp in her passport!

The first night in Aruba, we went to dinner at a delicious restaurant, went to our hotel, and crashed for the night.  We spent that night unpacking and catching up with Julian's parents and sister.  

By the next day, we were ready for some beach time!!!  

This was Jillian's first time on the beach and first time in the ocean.  We knew that she liked being a pool, but I was worried that the beach/ocean/salt water might be different.  It wasn't..she walked right in!

She loved the water.  She loved the sand.  She loved the salt (for tasting, not so much when it was in her eyes).  She even loved the adorable ridiculous hat we made her wear.  

That's all we did the first day.  Play in the waves, sit in the sand, go get a snack/lunch/dinner, repeat.  Needless to say, Jillian was having so much fun and so were we.  I actually forgot it was nap time, but she didn't...her Mami Mari was holding her in the water and she fell asleep, right there, in the middle of the water.  I didn't mind one bit that I got to sit on the beach, sleeping baby in one arm, good book (on the iPad) in the other, listening to the waves, soaking up the sun.  I think it was at this exact moment that I decided that this was going to be the best vacation ever.

And it was!