A Week Full of Smiles

On Saturday, I was baking some snicker cheesecake cookies when I heard a knock.  Evan was working and I usually don't answer the door when he's not home.  So I walked slowly up to the door and I thought someone sounded remarkably similar to my brother ... it was!  My brother, my sister-in-law, and my precoius niece DROVE from San Antonio (11 hours!) to come see me the weekend before my birthday!!  Needless to say, I was INCREDIBLY excited to see them.  We spent an amazing weekend together. 
On Sunday we went to Burns Park.  Evan worked overnight Sunday, so he should have taken a nap to prepare, but instead came along and joined in on the fun.

And let me tell you ... Burns Park in Little Rock has the most outstanding playground I have ever seen in my life!

Of course, we had to go down the slides right?  Evan and Danny were giddy with excitement to go down the huge slide ... and they even let the kids join in on the fun.

I adore this picture of Liliana and Evan.  It just shows how much of a dare devil my little girl is and it shows how much Liliana and Evan adore each other.  It is the most beautiful thing in the world seeing a Daddy/ Daughter relationship.  It makes me happier than anything on earth to see him loving his girl.  I know a ton of women struggle with that relationship and wish they had that connection with their daughters, but not me.  It's actually the complete opposite.  I feel honored to witness this love on a daily basis.

That being said, Liliana and  Mommy still shared a ton of fun moments too!  This age, this month in particular, has been the best ever.  She is SUCH a complete joy.  Not one second of fussy moments, just fun and laughter.  I wish I could pause time...but you know what?  Maybe not, because who knows what next month will bring!

My sweet, adorable niece Sofia enjoyed the park too! 

My favorite part of the weekend was snapping this shot of the two girls together:

It cracks us up how different they look.  Sofia is so pale with curly hair, and a skinny gal.  Liliana has some color to her skin, straight straight hair, and a chubster!  They had the best time playing together.  It was such a blast to watch them.

It was also a blast to be a family for a while.  Quality time with Evan during residency is definitely treasured time. 

A couple parting thoughts from the weekend...my brother thought a slide picture would be a beautiful shot.  What do you think?

Isn't that hilarious?  It took them a while ... and I actually think I enjoy the candid picture MORE, but they got a pretty shot finally.

This weekend was some of the most fun I've had in a while.  To make it even better?  My parents are coming tomorrow to spend a few days with us!  Birthdays are AWESOME!

The only bad thing about the week?  Evan works nights the entire week, so I'm not seeing him for more than the 5 minutes when he drops Liliana off at work.  Even when away, he knows how to make me smile though: when I got home from work, Evan had bought me flowers with a sweet note in Spanish, accompanied by an apple martini in the freezer.  Man, my husband knows me PERFECTLY.

So blessed.  Feeling SO very blessed.