Spring is coming!

It's beginning to look like spring around here and we are so pleasantly surprise to find in our garden so many beautiful flowers coming up like daffodils, hyacinths and some irises as well.

There's one tree in the front yard that has been a show stopper for me...it's completely covered with pink blossoms and we can see it from the dinning room. Just beautiful!!

My sweet husband woke up one Saturday and got to work right away...he pruned all the fruit trees and we are clearing the area where the vegetable garden will be! Happiness comes in so many different packages this days.
I've been daydreaming lately of all of the different vegetables and fruits we will be planting this year. Lately, quinoa has been on my mind. We enjoy it so much and I have never grown it. Oh.. the possibilities!!

The baby chicks that we got back in the fall, are now full grown and just last week started laying their first eggs...they are so small at first. We are saving some of them to decorate for our easter tree this year!

This one is "pitufina", she is a silkie bantam and she thinks she is a dog. If you get close to her, she stops and waits for you to pet her. She is my favorite of them all!

She was born with a crooked beak, but fortunately, she can eat and drink without a problem. She is so little, she does not roost like the other big girls, she just lies on the ground in a corner of the coop. At the beginning, when the rooster was still small, him and pitufina would cuddle up together and it was such a sweet sight. The man of the house taking care of the baby..:)

This are our two Delawares, we call them "las dos Marujas"

Honey y miel are two "orpington buffs"

"Silvia" is our Light Brahma.

Old English bantam "expresso"

"Lola" Rhode Island Red

We have 3 "white leghorns" called "las tres Margaritas. We named them in honor of our old Margarita whom we lost to a Coyote...:(

Silver Wyandotte "Danny chick"...can you guess who named her? She was a chick from when we lived in Los Gatos, so Daniel was 3 years old when he named her!

Filomena, our oldest hen is a "Barred Plymouth Rock"

Ash is a "Black star", a mix of Rhode Island Red and Barred Rock

Richie Ricardo is our sweet rooster. He is an "Ameraucana". We got so lucky with him!! He is gentle, not aggressive at all. He even lets us pick him up!

We are now collecting 14 eggs a day!! Including a green egg from "Ester". I just looove seeing the different colored eggs arranged in a bowl on our counter every morning. We are so thankful for them.
They are gentle, have amazing personalities and we just love to see them outside greeting us sometimes when we come home.

Santiago now is saving money for a horse and he is selling eggs at school to start his very own first business. This is our logo now; "RFF" Rios Family Farm...so sweet!

Now the excitement of eggs in our chicken coop everyday is one more reason why we love Spring!!

The welcome Gnome is beautifully adorned with colorful Hyacinths this days!

The pear tree is in full bloom and attracting lots of bees!!

This weekend, we will be getting some more fruit trees to plant in our orchard and I have been planning what our vegetable garden will look like...this is the site for it...I'm sooo excited.
Spring fever is in the air!

A few days before the Spring Equinox, we had a pleasant surprise! We woke up one morning and everything outside was covered with a nice thin layer of snow!
We all loved it, went outside and just marveled at the beauty and even ate a little bit of it!

With that, we said good bye to King WInter and hello to Lady Spring!!

Snow fun 2012

In March, we took the kids up the hill to play in the snow. For the first time, Daniel and Santiago both had a ski lesson while Jose and I just drooled over how cute they looked and how quickly they are catching up on this new skill.

Coming up the hill in the "magic carpet"...by the end of the day, Daniel could do the loop all by himself!!

A day at the snow would not be complete without a snowball fight and snowman sculpting...although, this time, Santiago decide to make a wolf instead of a snowman...it felt more like ice sculpting since the snow was not as powdery as other years. The weather was perfect that day, by the end of the day, we were taking most layers off and the sun was shinning bright.

And sometimes, we just have to eat that delicious snow..:)

Viaje a Florida

In February, the kids had a week of vacation from school and we took a trip to Florida to visit family.
Jose and I decided to go on a second honeymoon and left the kids with grandma and grandpa for a few days while we went on our own and had the time of our lives!!

We went to the beach, held hands, danced, laughed together, had many adult conversations ( a rare occurrence in our everyday life with kids), woke up late, did so many things we had forgotten about. But most of all, we felt so connected again!! We are so grateful for this amazing opportunity to be with each other, to treasure our love and the beautiful 2 angels that we have the honor of calling our sons.

I'm in love with my soulmate and I feel so fortunate to share my life with him. I love you corazon!

As for the kids, they could not have been better. They had so much fun with baba, bibo, tia Mily, tia Mary, Milita, tia Susy, tio Miguel, primitos, tia Luz Myriam...waht else would they ask for?

Thank you baba, bibo y tias for taking care of the kids, they loved being with you all!!

We also had time to spend with the kids and some of our dearest friends Derrick and Yvonne in Miami.

It seemed like yesterday we were walking down the zoo and I only had Santiago and Daniel was about to arrive. I loved talking to my good friend and seeing how the kids get along so well and even though it's been some time since they last saw each other, they just pick up where they left off and get on with their play. The benefits of not having that adult ego in the middle of our interactions with our loved ones.

The kids remembered the honey flower!! They love to drink the honey from this tropical plant. I don't know its name, we just call it "the honey flower". Sweet memories of the time we lived in Florida!