The Noriega Family

Estelle and Sienna had their three and five year check ups today.  My children are good kids, but they were angelic at the doctor's office.  They were so excited about the paper gowns (we brought them home with us and Estelle wore her's all afternoon and ran around saying, "I am a princess, I am a princess").  

They are both really healthy and developing well.  No one needed shots this visit, so that helped with good behavior.  They really were so cute.  Estelle rocked the eye exam...mostly for cuteness.  She could see the pictures, but had no idea what many of them were, so she kept saying, "I don't know what that is."  When she would get something right, she was so proud of herself.  

Sienna is in the 98th percentile for height.  She is my tall one.  Everyone always thinks she is older than she is.  She and Natalia are so close in size.  

Estelle, on the other had, is my smallest child.  She is only in the 44th percentile for height.  She is just holding on to being the youngest.  She still has baby hair, so everyone always thinks she is younger than she is.  Funny Girls.  

Natalia gave a talk today in Church.  She is getting so big and grown up.  Sienna did the scripture and prayer.  They love Church and have beautiful budding testimonies of the Savior.  I love listening to them talk about thier Faith.  

Natalia really been into cooking lately.  She picked up a cook book at school with simple recipes for kids to make and she has made dinner all by herself a few times now.  She is so excited about it.  She also mad these awesome treats for family home evening the other night.  All three girls were so excited about it; sprinkles and marshmallows are their favorite things.  

Sienna and Estelle got to go to a birthday party the other day and catch bugs in the pond.  They loved it.  Estelle caught a tadpole, and two crawdads and a whole bunch of algae.  They love thier nets.  

I am so over "stuff" gifts and all about experiences.  So...for Hector's birthday this year I took him paint-balling.  It was so much fun...I even had some serious bruises to prove it.  I had tried to get some ladies to come with us, but it ended up just being me and the boys.  We jumped right in and had a good time.  We all ended up with a couple of welts, but we would have been disappointed had be not.  

Hector was so excited to get the paint ball park that he got a speeding ticket on the way there.  Talk about a good birthday present.  We had BBQ after paintball and then Hector and I went to the movies after that.  It was a really fun way to celebrate Hector's birthday.  In the words of our friend Evan, "this is the best birthday party I have been to since I was 14!"

Hector ran another Ragnar race a couple weekend's ago.  This was a trail race and the groups all camped together.  They each had three different legs that they ran on the muddy trails.  They all had lots of fun.  I think one of Hector's legs was at 3:00 in the morning.  Sounds crazy, but it was a fun group of people that he ran with.  

Estelle likes to get into stuff during nap time.  She has some chap-stick, I believe chocolate flavor, that she put on the other day during nap time; she is not so great about only getting it on her lips.  She gets all sweaty when she sleeps and she drools so much and then rubs her head in her drool.  This is what she looks like when she wakes up.  

We spent Mother's day weekend at the Cabin in West Virginia.  It was beautiful and the kids had a blast running around and playing.  Natalia and Sienna loved the four-wheeler.  They were both very brave.  We played games and ate good food with good company.  The kids got good and dirty.  They love to slide down the dirt hills on thier bums.  

Natalia has two little best friends at school; Abbey and Aviva.  The three of them are so cute together.  They write each other notes and are always talking about each other.  They seem so happy together. They each have different personalities, but they seem to blend well.  We got to go out to dinner the other night with Aviva and her family for her birthday.  She has a sister Sienna's age, so they are becoming friends too.  

We are well into soccer season and having lots of fun with it.  Hector is both Natalia and Sienna's coach.  They are on different teams, so Hector is staying busy, but he is doing a really good job with all the kids.  Sienna has been so excited for soccer season and she works so hard.  She is doing a really good job.  

Natalia is on an all girls team this year and I think she really likes that.  The girls on her team are so nice; some more competitive than others, but they are all really cute.  They all play with Sienna and Estelle at half time and when they have water breaks Hector usually has to convince them to stop playing hot potato or tag with the little girls so that they can play soccer.  It is kind of funny.  Natalia is doing a really good job this year too.  She works hard and tries her best and she is getting better.  

We have had so much rain this spring.  We had one morning of soccer games in the poring rain.  We were soaked.  I threw everything in the van when it was over, including the wet blanket we had been sitting on.  A few days later our van really started to stink and I couldn't figure out why.  I kept blaming the girls for leaving half eaten food in there.  If it wasn't that, I was sure something had died and was using our van as his final resting place.  Finally I realized it was the wet blanket and solved the problem.

Natalia went on a field trip to the Zoo last month.  It sounded like she had so much fun.  She got to be in a group with one of her best friends, Abbey.  

That same day there was a school family dance.  Hector was out of town, so I took the girls.  They were so excited.  They wanted to get dressed up.  I let them pick their own outfits.  Natalia wanted to wear her favorite church outfit and Sienna wanted to wear her Elsa dress and Estelle sported her Minnie Mouse dress.  They were cute.  Not a lot of actual dancing took place, but Sienna and Natalia had a blast running around with thier friends and Estelle wanted her picture taken at the photo booth all night.  

We went on our annual trip to the Circus again this year.  It was loads of fun.  We got there early and the girls got to meet some of the clowns and watch some tricks.  

My favorite was the trampoline guys.  Sienna loved the the guys that did tricks on their bikes.  She leaned over and told me that's what she wants to do when she grows up.  I wouldn't put it past her to be the next big sensation at the X games.

Natalia liked the acrobats and Estelle liked the doggies the best.  

My little Estelle is three.  She has been looking forward to her birthday for months.  Every night before bed she would tell me that she wanted a Mickey Cake and a Minnie Cake and a Donald Cake and a Goofy Cake and a Pluto Cake. In fact, she could not sleep unless she had told me the whole list.  She was so excited  the morning of her birthday and Natalia and Sienna did a great job of making her feel special.  Her birthday was on a Friday and Natalia had off from school that day so we had a fun filled day with all three girls.  

I took them to this fun bounce house place in the morning.  It is just for kids under 12 and the place was empty, so they basically had the whole thing to themselves.  They loved it and we so sad to leave.  They bounced and run obstacle courses.  Slid down slides and laughed.  Climbed and played.  They were really cute.  Estelle made the best faces when she would come down the slides.  It cracked me up every time.  

We did a little party in the afternoon once Hector got home from work.  Estelle invited a couple of her friends and family.  The colored and played mickey mouse games.  It was all very cute and then we had Hot Diggity Dogs for dinner.  Estelle got to open her gifts, she loved it.  She loves her Minnie mouse outfit and wears it all the time.  She got a Minnie doll that she sleeps with every night too.  

Estelle has grown up a bunch lately.  She really is acting more and more like a big girl.  She is quick to yell and meltdown still, but I feel like we are at least moving in the right direction.  

She is so imaginative now.  She plays well with her sisters and she loves her friends.  Clair is still her best friend and she talks about her all the time.  

Estelle loves to play outside.  She runs around with the older kids and I always hear her bossing them around.  We have neighbor girls that that the kids play with all the time, they are the same ages as Natalia and Sienna.  Estelle hangs with them too and sometimes their older brother plays.  Estelle totally bosses him around.  I think he is 10, it cracks me up how Estelle runs the show.  

She is funny and likes to make silly faces.  She likes attention from people, especially me.  She is very emotional and spirited.  She knows what she wants and she does not back down easily.  

She loves to be song to.  ABCs are her favorite and we sing it most every night before bed. We read the same stories over and over and over.  

She loves dress ups.  Usually she and Sienna have dress ups on when we are at home.  She loves to play with barbies, but gets to made because she cannot get the clothes on by herself very well.  

We love our little Estelle.  She brings lots of happiness to our family.  I am so glad she is our little lady.  Her mischievous smile lights up the day.