MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Arce's were on the nice list this year because family, friends and Santa were all good to us! Christmas this year was such a wonderful time! We were delighted to have Carmen, Antonio and Tony over to celebrate with. They arrived late on Wednesday and the fun began!! Mario, Tony and myself managed to ski, golf and bike all on consecutive days, just like the old days!! So much fun!

Christmas Eve we had a wonderful dinner: Turkey cranberries, mashed potatoes, rolls, and spinach. It was delicious even Cruz thought so, especially Cruz thought so ;o)

As for all of Cruz's new toys! Well let's just say we'll have a very busy and exciting next couple of weeks! Thanks to all those who spent time with us and those we were unable to see.

We hope this message finds you all happy, healthy and Merry!!

Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a good night

Jingle all the way ...

WOW it appears we have been a busy bunch lately!! Where oh where has the time gone? I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We had a great time in Los Angeles. Cruz was sick and unfortunately did not eat his first thanksgiving meal. He was too young to eat it last year and this year went to bed before we even ate, sad. I guess that'll make it even more special next year, right!? There was also the annual cousins paintball the day after which as usual was awesome and painful all rolled up in one!!

The first week in December Cruz and I boarded a plane and headed on over to Rhode Island! I was so excited to be able to introduce Cruz to all my friends and family back east. We were sad to leave Mario but excited to go make new friends! We had some playdates with my friends and their kiddos and got to meet a lot of new ones myself!! It is so wonderful to see everyone creating their own families and seeing their little "mini me's". As fun as it was being there it is good to be home and also good to be over with the flights!

Oh boy, back home for two days and then ... the North Pole!
We went to a little town in the AZ mountains called Greer where we then boarded a bus, went through a portal and landed at Santa's workshop in the North Pole. It was so great! The elves were everything you'd expect, so nice and so much fun!! They fed the kiddos cookies and snowflake soup (aka hot chocolate)! Then Cruz wrote a letter to Santa and hand delivered it to him. Off to read a story with Mrs. Claus and then to dinner and back home to bed!! Boy what a night that was! We stayed in Greer with some friends for a couple night and got to play in the snow and have another mini vacation. It was a lot of fun!

Riding Santa's elephant
Bringing his letter to Santa

Santa's workshop ... wow, look at all those toys!

Sledding with Carson!

Future firefighters!

I think that's a good quick update for now! Now is time to get back to the cleaning and decorating!! Hopefully you'll be hereing from me again this year!! Only a couple weeks left but I'm sure I'll find the time!!

Play time

Fortunately the heat has finally broke and the weather is awesome!! Some days are cooler than others some still pretty warm but the best part about all of those days is that it's great for outside play! Cruz has been taking full advantage of the backyard and is definitely starting to LOVE playing outside. When he wants to go outside he'll bring me his shoes or go stand by the back door. It's great to see the different activities he is starting to enjoy, kicking a soccer ball, throwing tennis balls, eating rocks ;o), sliding down slides. He's such an awesome kid and I'm so happy to spend this time with him and watch him develop new skills and hobbies. Here's a little insight (a 1 minute clip) into what our days consist of.

AZ Urban Race

Mario put on a 3 mile race with last weekend. It was called the AZ Urban Race, it had obstacles throughout the three miles and was awesome! Carmen, Tonio, Antonio, Liliy and Kenny came down to participate and enjoy the festivities. We had a lot of fun! It was a great way to get in a workout to start the weekend! After that we played in the casinos and enjoyed some local festivals.

Cruz and I are so proud of Mario and the wonderful job he did with the race. It was very successful and everything was seamless! I'd be lying if I didn't say we are also a little happy that it's over because we've missed him too! He's been working a lot! Now if we can get him to rest so he gets his voice back and gets healthy then we'll be back to normal! ;o)

I feel like I always get so emotional when we get visitors. It just makes me so thankful for the family we have and wish we could see each other more often. We love you family!!

Trick or Treat

what was that?! ROAR!
Time to trick or treat!

Harry Potter and the Tiger Boy

Booooo!

Hurry up mom and dad!

Last night was Halloween and our cute little family went out around the neighborhood. It was such a special night and I kept remembering back to last Halloween and boy oh boy has so much changed! I had such a proud mama moment last night trailing behind my little tiger boy. He is growing up so fast and is just the sweetest little thing, not to mention too independant for his own good ;o)

The nice thing about this AZ weather is that everyone is outside. Most people set up in their driveways to hand out candy which makes it a very neighborhood friendly night! We have one neighbor a couple houses down who has a full light display which "dances" to Halloween music. He broadcasts a radio station from his house and the lights go to that music. Last night he had the radio station playing nice and loud for all to hear and had a popcorn machine in his driveway and passed out candy and popcorn to all the families going by. (I do have a short video clip of his house and if I can get it up I will post it this week!) It was a great Halloween night!!

That being said, I wasn't sure how our night would go and thought we might just sit in the driveway and pass out candy. Fortunately, Cruz wasn't scared, he wasn't shy he just wanted to be one of trick or treaters and took off! He walked up the street and back all on his own (with close parental supervision), didn't need to be carried, didn't want to be carried! When we got to the final house before we turned around Cruz walked right up to the woman and said "boo"! It was too funny and pretty cool that he was getting into it as much as he could!! He loved picking the candy out of the bowls and dropping it in his bag. He also snuck a nestle crunch and ate half of it before I realized he had opened it! That silly boy!! It was definitely a Halloween to remember!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.

If you don't I don't care I'll show you my ROAR!!!

Have a very safe and happy Halloween everyone!!

CAKE

It started off nice and neat ...

Then it got FUN ...

Happy Birthday Cruz!!

Happy 1st Birthday Cruz!!!!

Playtime

Happy Birthday Cruz! (ok we still have 4 days) Mario and friends had quite a challege but they conquered! Cruz's awesome new swingset is up and ready for play! He loves playing on it and with it! He's not too keen on the baby swing lately but loves to climb up the slide and slide down it. Sometimes he'll crawl a little ways up and then slide down on his belly! Too cute! The best is the look on his face while he's exploring more! So far his favorites are the wheel at the top of the platform and the little counter underneath the house where he likes to play peek-a-boo. Oh the joys of my little man!!

Little Cruising Cruz

Cruz is Officially walking now. He was doing really well for the past three weeks around the house but until a week ago was still pretty shy in new surroundings. Now, he wiggles out of my arms and takes off! Whether we are at the park, a store, a friends house, our backyard, he gets up on his own and takes off! He's pretty comfortable now and is doing wonderfully. Of course there are some scares, him trying to walk over pillows and toys that he puts down on purpose because he thinks that's fun; or trying to run away from me when it's time to change a diaper or bath time, you know, the typical little boy stunts.

As usually he is keeping us on our toes and is cute and sweet as can be. I cannot believe that in 9 days my baby will be a one year old. He has changed my world in a way that's hard for me to even explain and I am so thankful and happy to spend every day with him for the past 356 days!

As you may be able to tell since there are more pictures being added I finally got a new camera. It is a cool fancy camera so I am still teaching myself how to use it but I am excited to share new pictures with you all!! Here are a couple more from this past week ...

My new train set
I can get on all by myself, now if I could just get a push!

Bed Surfing

Just a cute one!

Baptism and Early Birthday

Last weekend we went over to Los Angeles to celebrate Cruz's baptism and first birthday. We were pretty early with the birthday but the timing worked out great. Cruz was baptized at Our Lady of Lourdes church and then we had a party at the park! We had so much fun! As always it was great to see everyone!! It was the first time Cruz had both sets of grandparents together so we weren't sure if there was going to be a fight for him but it went pretty smooth! ;o) All of us, auntie and uncles included, were able to have a nice dinner together on Saturday night which was very special.

It was a great weekend and we had so much fun! Cruz got to hit his first pinata and taste his first cake! He got lots of new clothes and fun new toys. He has a little puppy that walks and "talks", he also got an awesome Dodgers pillow pet! Go LA! ha! We play with our new nascar rug and cars and batman and joker cars all day long! We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives!!

Wacky Wednesday

This is when you know my silly man is tired. I love these uncontrolable tired laughs!!

Safari Sunday

Two Sunday's ago we went on a Safari Ride here in Arizona. There is a wildlife park called Out of Africa and they take you on a safari ride through their desert lands with zebras, giraffes, emus, camels, and many different breeds of antelopes. There were also lots of other animals caged up that we went to see after the safari ride. It was so much fun and Cruz loved seeing the animals up close and personal. We were able to feed the giraffe and we were warned to keep our hands AWAY from the zebras. It was so great to hear Cruz say "woof woof" to the wolves and roar like a lion when he got to see one, unfortunatly (or maybe it is fortunate) but they did not ROAR back at us, they were all pretty tame.

Zebra's just outside of the safari truck
Wrinkley little guy

Cruz and Mario petting an emu

Safari Ranger on duty

lions, TIGERS & bears oh my!

Petting the same Emu ... one finger touch!

Did that camel just spit at me?