School pictures

The kids came home with their school pictures and we were all happy looking at them. After last year's experience I was a little nervous about what they were going to look like this year. This week I also had parent-teacher meetings at school and was very happy to hear all the nice things about my kids. Victor's teacher told me that Victor is perfect, cute, kind, very smart, clean, etc., the list goes on and on and on. I spent like 45 minutes talking to her that morning and she didn't say anything negative about him. I have to admit that I was a little surprised because I always thought that his speech problem and his compulsive behavior (if you don't know about it, I can explain later)would be an issue for him. His speech has improved so much and his reading skills are better than I thought they would be. I am grateful for it because the whole school experience has turned out way better for him that I thought, we always knew he was a smart boy but it is nice to hear somebody else tell you that. Shayna's teacher thinks that Shayna is really advanced for a 3rd. grader and has suggested to the school that she takes the test for the Gifted and Talented program. She did this back in Utah and was on a waiting list, but since we moved she couldn't get in that school. If she passes the tests here she wont have to go to a different campus, she can do all the extra work in the same classroom. So we'll see how she does on the testing this Saturday and the next one, the tests take about 4 hours each session. Poor Shayna, but it will be for her own good. So we are very proud parents of very smart kids :) Sorry if I am going on and on about this but I just feel very happy for my kids.

3 Generations

A couple of week ago we went for our 3 generations picture and I think it turned out really good. I never like myself in pictures but I think that the lady did a very good job with the picture taking. Shayna is so beautiful and my Mom too. So here it is.
It is really late right now, but I am waiting on some laundry to be done and here is the story why. I have three lovely kids but sometimes they do things that make their Mami very mad, a couple of days ago I found Shayna putting a crayon in her pocket and I told her not to do it since the dryer melts them away when we put the clothes in there (this already happened once before). At the time I was already doing my laundry that day. Yesterday I was taking the second load of laundry out of there when I opened the dryer and I find that my brand new dryer is all colorful inside, there are melted crayons all over it and one is on the filter thing. The previous load and that one was completely ruined, all the clothes have stains on them and of course they wont come off. I was so mad and called all three older kids to come see their art work. We questioned them to see who had done it but all of them looked guilty so I decided that all three of them were guilty. I am sorry but I am so busy doing everything a Mom is supposed to do that I don't have time to look through every single pocket in those tiny little pants and I know that it is my fault too for not looking, but it is still very frustrating :(
So after washing all the dark colors I am finally confident that Dan's work pants wont come out all colorful too and nobody will make fun of him at work tomorrow. I always end up sacrificing my sleep for some reason or another.
P.S. I still love my kids and think they are lovely. I think you will understand why I am not posting pictures of the big mess, there are lots of clothes in those two loads.

10 Years and counting

Tomorrow we are going to be celebrating our 10Th year Anniversary. I can't believe that it has been that long since we got married. I can remember the excitement we felt, I can also remember how sick I was the night before and Dan gave me a blessing. The morning of our Temple Marriage we woke up so early and nervous. We sat together in the car on the way there holding hands and barely speaking. I was just thinking how lucky I was to have somebody like him by my side and I didn't care about anything else. The trees were beautiful that day and it seemed to me they had the prettiest colors, perfect enough for our background in the pictures. Our Temple ceremony was very special and I was so glad my Mom and my aunt could be there with me since my entire family could not be there for the wedding. I know I made a lot of decisions before coming to this country but the hardest one was to leave all my friends and family and to know that they were not going to be there with me for the wedding. After we came out of the Temple we were all smiles and it was like a dream, I just wanted to get away from everybody and go far far away with my new husband. I think the Temple ceremony would have been more than enough for me that day. If I could do it all over again I would do it without thinking twice. I have complained in the past that on that day things didn't go the way we wanted. I had a big cold sore on my upper lip and felt really ugly, I didn't get to go to a salon and get my hair fixed like any other bride (I didn't know where to go because I was so brand new here), I didn't want to stand in a silly line for two hours at the reception and both Dan and I wanted to have tamales for the reception. I know those things are not important and I am grateful for all the nice thing people did for us and for taking care of the arrangements. The funny thing is that even with all the things that didn't go my way, we still got married, we are still together and we are happy. My husband needs to know that even when things are not that perfect in our crazy life I still love him more than 10 years ago and I still want to be married to him and also love our little ones. When we said we wanted to be together forever I meant it and I am trying really hard to be the best wife and mother that I can. I loved you then, I love you now and I will love you forever, you are the best husband I could have asked for and you are PERFECT for me.






This is our engagement picture and the one below is the picture of our first date.

Tag...

I haven't had any time to do the last two tags, but I was finally able to finally find the folders with the pictures, this are from way back then. I love the one with Victor and Shayna, that is the one int he 4th folder. In this picture Shayna was 3 and Victor was like 18 months, we were living in our town house in VA. They were such good friends, they only had each other then (notice Shayna's curly hair). I am glad I did this tag because it made me think of how much those two love each other and they don't even know it some times. When they go to school Shayna likes to hold Victor's hand and they look so cute. I know the tag only asked for the one picture, but I posted the other picture because I like they way I look there. I was only 25 or 26 and I was very skinny :(

Renaissance Festival

Aaron feel asleep after 4 hours of walking around. He is also sick so he was crying a lot :) poor baby.


Towards the end of the day the kids got a little restless and were having their own fun by rolling down the hill instead of watching the knights performing.



The kids having fun playing with some sticks, they are kind of tricky but fun.


We went through a Magical Garden and the kids were posing for me





















My favorite picture is the one where my Mom and I are posing with Conan, and also the kids making funny faces while their heads were cut off. There is a picture of Shayna jumping on a trampoline while attached to some bungee cords and going really high up.


As most of you know my family is very into Knights, swords, castles and things like that. When we lived in Virginia we used to go to the Renaissance Festival as much as we could. Now that we live in Texas we discovered that they have this huge festival here and decided to go. We have been waiting for months now and were very happy to go esterday. We were happy to take my Mom with us this time, since she has never been to one of those before. Steven and Amber came with Olivia too. We had a wonderful and long day walking around, watching shows, letting the kids try a few games and walking some more... we had the famous Turkey Legs (yum!!!) and some expensive slushies. We were amazed at the wonderful outfits people wore and were trying to get some ideas for next year. I wanted to dress up but at the end I decided to wait until next year, when everybody can have something to wear. The theme for yesterday was 1001 Dreams and there were all sorts of fairies: ladies, kids and guys??? It was lots of fun and better than the one in Virginia. The music was awesome and there were lots of stores to go in and look around and we wished we could buy everything. We spent about seven and a half hours there and then we went home with a bunch of tired kids. When we came home we watched my favorite movie in the whole wide world "Braveheart" (without the kids of course) and that made the entire day seem more special.

Rain, rain, rain and more rain.

I love rain, don't get me wrong but Yesterday was raining so hard all day that some of the streets got flooded and this morning when I took the kids to school I had to carry them on my back so they wouldn't get all wet. We rode the bikes and left them in a corner and I got all wet going back and forth, the water went all the way up to my knees. They were kind of scared because they hadn't seen anything like it before. After getting to the other side they ran to the school and I had to go back and get the bikes to park them at the school. By the time I got home I was so tired and wet. They have early out today so in a couple of hours I will go back and get wet again, or just make them take their shoes off, put them in the back packs and they can have fun getting wet too. Snow... rain too much of it and it gets kind of boring. Maybe I'll take the camera with me to take pictures when I pick them up.

My baby turns two

Here he is with his cell phone and his new outfit his Abuelita got for him. He likes to take pictures of everybody.




























My cute little Aaron turned two today and we tried to make it special for him as much as we could. Early in the morning we woke up and gave him his presents. He wasn't very excited at first but when he realized that after unwrapping the presents there was something cool inside he got the hang of it and wanted more. His favorite toy and mine too is this cute cell phone that talks and "takes pictures", you can also program it so they can learn the home phone number. He also liked this cute little train that has little animals and makes music as it goes. We had to go to church so we waited to have cake later to continue the celebration, but he wouldn't let us sing Happy Birthday to him and we just cut the cake and ate it. I really didn't feel like making a cake this time, plus we didn't have a party, so I just made a Halloween cake. The kids liked it and it was easy to make. Later in the afternoon after naps and relaxing we went to the park and played for a little while with the kids. It wasn't the greatest day but I think he had fun. I really love my kids and it makes me happy to see the smile in their faces when they open their presents, it is priceless. Aaron is my 4th child and I never thought it possible to love some one so much, he is just the cutest kid (I say that about all of them). His smile just melts me away and he is so smart and outgoing, unlike his other siblings. We really enjoy being around him and we actually just sit there sometimes to see him dance, jump, play or just sit there. He is now into books and computers and loves to go "side" (outside), he follows his Abuelita everywhere and imitates everything we say. He is a very special little boy and we were very blessed to have him.

I love Yard Sales

Ever since I came to this country I have experience all kinds of new things, but the one that really enjoy a lot is Yard Sales. That is just something we don't do back at home. We use everything until you can't use it anymore and is completely broken. People here get rid of their stuff because they don't need it or they need room for something else and that is how you end up with great finds at Yard Sales. This morning we walked to this lonely yard sale and I found a cool stroller that I have been wanting to get for a long time and I only paid $15.00 AND is in great shape. I can go out running with Aaron now or maybe I'll get some skates and go skating with it. I must warn you that I don't know how to roller skate but maybe by pushing the stroller I'll be able to skate kind of??? Wish me luck. We also found a couple of Halloween decorations to make our house look more SCARY!!! I will post pictures of my great finds later.

Friendship

So I have been living here for just a few months now and I am suffering from what I like to call "lack of friends". I know it is my own fault for moving away when I had amazing friendships back in VA and UT. I miss all of my friends and probably will for the rest of my life. Having my mom here with me has been great because we get to do stuff together all day and even when we don't go out everyday we still have a good time.
On Saturday we went to the Picture Studio to get our picture taken, this was a special one because it's our 3 generation picture. I have been meaning to do it for a long time now but we somehow we never did it. I think the picture looks great and will get it back in a couple of weeks. We go shopping together, we go out to eat together, we go out for walks, cook and watch TV. You think that we would get bored being together all day everyday, but knowing that she will be leaving in a few weeks makes me want to enjoy all the time we have even more. She is the greatest grandmother and mother AND mother-in-law. We get along so well and talk to each other about important stuff. I guess after all she is my best friend (besides Dan).
Someday I will find good friends in my ward and we will do stuff together, I just need to stop being so shy. A while back I talked to my friend Emily on the phone and she encouraged me to get my self out there and talk to people. The funny thing is that Shayna is going through the same thing and I keep telling her that she has to try harder, talking to my Mom tonight she pointed out that we both need to try harder.
Anyways I will keep you posted on the friendship thing. For now I am just planning on enjoying my Mom as much as I can.

P.S. I have a great husband for loving my mom as his own and letting me spend so much time with her. Thanks Dan, I love you.

Tag I am it again.

I was going to post this Yesterday but I forgot. I love tags so tag me any time you want. I am tagging anybody who hasn't been tag yet, specially Linnea, Becky, Tashia even if you do it only on Facebook, Lisa.

8 Favorite TV shows...
1. Lost
2. Heroes
3. Smallville
4. Prison Break
5. ER
6. Samantha Who?
7. American Idol
8. Scare Tactics

8 Favorite Restaurants...
1. El Charro (Virginia)
2. Burger King
3. Denny's, specially on Saturdays and Tuesdays because kids eat free :)
4. Outback Stake House
5. Chinese Restaurants
6. Mexican Restaurants
7. Golden Corral
8. Pollo Campero

8 things that happened yesterday...
1. We took the kids to the park.
2. My Mom, Shayna and I went to get our 3 generations pictures done.
3. Watched conference
4. Went shopping for school clothes
5. Bought tickets for the Renaissance Festival
6. Had left overs for lunch
7. Stayed up all night with a sick child
8. Left my debit card at the picture place

8 things to look forward to...
1. My 10th Year Wedding Anniversary
2. Aaron's 2nd. Birthday
3. Halloween
4. Renaissance Festival
5. Dan's Birthday
6. Black Friday Yeah!!!
7. Shopping for Christmas Presents
8. End of Season Sales

8 things I love about Fall...
1. Trees changing colors
2. Colder Weather
3. Halloween and Thanksgiving
4. I get to decorate the house with three different themes
5. Pumpkin patch
6. Wearing my jeans everyday
7. Playing outside more often
8. Hot cocoa and sweet bread.

mi vida loca

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My favorite season of the year.

I am so happy that fall is here, it doesn't feel like it :) but at least I get to decorate and make the house look fun. Yesterday we put up our Halloween decorations with the kids, they were so excited about it and so was I. Last year when my Mom was here we went shopping for end of season sales and I found a bunch of decorations for cheap, like the ghosts on the tree were 15 cents and they look so cool. I love good deals and we are always lucky to find them everywhere. I found some little bug catchers for kids at 20 cents at the store a couple of days ago and they love them. Today they went frog hunting in the backyard and the three of them were very lucky. I can't wait for the weather to get a little colder now and play outside a little bit more. But so far we are enjoying the outdoors as much as we can.