Tristan's 6th Birthday

My life is filled with fun and happy moments because of my little guy Tristan, he is such a fun person to have around and I really can't imagine a life without him.
On Saturday we had a big party planned for him. This year the theme was "Cars" and he requested a cake shaped as the car Lighting McQueen. On Friday night he sat right by my side as I was decorating his cake, he was making sure I didn't forget any details and basically just supervising the whole thing. He approved of the cake and that made it all worth it.

We got the house decorated for the party Saturday morning and then patiently waited for his guest to arrive. For some strange reason I had the feeling nobody was going to show up. When his first friend showed up we felt a little bit of relief since this was his first birthday party ever and we didn't want him to feel sad if nobody showed up. His friend Jackson and him had fun playing for a while and then waited some more, nobody else showed up so we started eating pizza and then playing some games and just then the second friend showed up (Brianna the "girlfriend"), she came with the whole family and it was excellent since they had 3 kids and they made it so much fun. Everybody joined in the games and we had some noise going on, it actually looked like a party :)

We had a Bingo game and then the "Pin the tire on the car" game, then we headed outside for some pinata time, it didn't last very long but it kept them entertained long enough.
We took some pictures with Lighting McQueen and then it was cake time.

Everybody was impressed with the cake and the parents didn't want to eat it. The cake was so moist and delicious that I actually ate a slice of cake, I don't usually eat cake...

Tristan was super happy with all his presents, Dan, my mom and I were able to find all his birthday presents to go with the theme, so he got coloring books, crayons, a reading book, puzzles, and Mack the truck. His friends gave him a train set that he loves and a remote control car. He was a happy boy and that is just what we wanted.


Then today we woke him up early in the morning to sing Happy Birthday and at school he got a crown, stickers and a pencil... wow!!! After school I took him to Toys R Us because he got a $3.00 off coupon from Geoffrey and as always he got his crown and balloon there as well. He picked a cute set of mini cars and off we went home to show everybody. We took him out for dinner and everything was fine until he fell off his chair, he hurt his back really bad and cried for a long time. I felt so bad for him because that is no way to end a celebration. All in all it was a good day and he was happy to turn 6. We spoiled him rotten and he deserves it. We love you Tristan!!!!

These pictures are out of order and I can't figure out how to fix it, but you get the idea.

It's a ...

Yes it is a our precious little girl that we have been waiting for a long time now. We hoped she would join our crazy family and are so excited to think that Shayna will finally get a little sister.
I can not really explain how I feel about these news, I just found out not even two hours ago and I still can't believe it. I kept hoping for a healthy baby, that is always my biggest concern and then with this pregnancy I finally decided to stop asking Heavenly Father for a little girl, I was just going to accept what ever he wanted to send us. We love all our kids and it would have been just fine having another boy but this is definitely a big surprise and now we are just looking forward to meet her and welcome her into our home.

She was being very modest and would not stop crossing her legs, the technician told me to wait for another half an hour and see if she finally decided to change positions, when she finally did it was very clear she was not a boy :)

All day sickness

You think that by now I would be all done with feeling sick... well it has gotten better but it is still a challenge when I do wake up feeling all yucky. Dan gave me a blessing a couple of weeks ago and I felt much better but 2 days ago I had a really rough day. Why is it that some of us have to deal with this all day sickness??? Somebody I knew had 8 kids and never threw up while pregnant, she did gag once while brushing her teeth but no puking... lucky me!!!

School supplies

Ever since I was a little girl the start of a new school year has been so exciting. Back home my mom used to take us with her to pick out all of our supplies and I just loved the smell of new notebooks, pencils and specially the pencil bag. It was a very exciting time for me. At school they used to make us wrap all of our school books and notebooks with a certain color of wrapping paper depending on who the teacher was. I was my mom helper so I always enjoyed that time with her, my brothers had nothing to do with it :) After wrapping them with paper we had to cover them with clear plastic so they could last all year long. It was a beautiful sight when we were all done. For some reason I will always remember the year I wrapped all my stuff with the shiny blue paper... it looked so good, I also added stickers and a name tag on the cover so they would not get lost.
I don't get to do that with my kids school supplies but it is still exciting to go a shop around for them. When we lived in Utah we did not have to worry about buying anything but since we moved to Texas we have had to buy everything. I think the kids really like shopping for supplies too and usually they fight over who can find everything first. This year it was so much better even without the help of Dan, we got mostly everything at Walmart and then whatever we could not find we went to look for at the Dollar Tree. I was very proud of myself for saving so much money this year and with the money I saved I was able to get some nice school clothes for the kids. Usually it is very stressful to go shopping with all four of them but since they were part of the process they behaved better than other times. Aaron is so excited about stating school and was happy to pick a few outfits for himself.
So the school supplies are packed and ready to go, the new clothes are hiding in my closet so they can't wear them before school starts and now all we are waiting for is for that first day.... and I wont be here to see it (very sad face).

Update on the last couple of weeks

On Pioneer Day we went to the church for a nice activity. They had food and then games for the kids. Victor, Tristan and Aaron tried their luck with the apple game, Victor was triumphant after a couple of attempts. Shayna got busy working on some Pioneer toys (here she is sporting her cute crochet flower I made for her).
Dan's long time friend Tyler Allen was in town visiting his parents and they invited us over for dinner at their house. It gave me a chance to finally meet him and we spent a nice evening talking, eating great food and the kids played in their pool for a long time. I can see why Dan Tyler likes his friend so much and it was interesting to see them interact with each other even after so many years. They get along great, he lives in Korea so I don't think we will see him any time soon but we would not mind getting together again next time he is in town. His parents were great, they treated us like family and were so kind to my kids, I have never in my life felt so comfortable meeting new people and being in a house full of strangers that were talking to me like we were old friends, special Tyler's sister in law Trina, she was the best. Anyways we had a great time.
I took the kids to the pool on a day we were supposed to have a big thunderstorm. The day seemed fine to me so we left for the pool and to our surprise it was completely empty,

we had the pool to ourselves for like an hour and a half and then the thunder started and we headed back home, but the kids still had fun swimming around. That same afternoon I took them to a Baptist Church were I was told they have a HUGE indoor playground open to the public and we wanted to check it out. It was huge and so much fun for the kids. We were lucky to get there just in time before the rain storm started and by the time we were done playing the rain was all gone. We will be visiting that place again really soon.
Last Thursday we got together with my friend Lucrecia and her kids and visited the Botanical Gardens, they had never been there so we thought they would enjoy it. It was fun and we had a picnic afterwards and let the kids play for a while. We had fun talking to each other and it is so nice to talk to her since she is so open to talk about anything, the best thing is that we speak Spanish to each other that is always a plus for me :)
Today we went to the Hermann Park, about 30 minutes from the house, it is right in Downtown Houston. I wanted to take the kids to the water park they have there. It was hot, humid and I don't know what I was thinking but the kids had fun and that is the important thing. They got wet, ate, got dirty, ate some more and then walked back to our car. I thought we were not gonna make it back... we were melting!!!!
As you can tell I have been feeling a little bit better and that is a good thing. My energy level is still not back where it usually is but we are getting there. My kids can see that I am trying really hard to make their last days of summer a little bit more fun and they appreciate it.

I love my kids

Just a little note to remind myself of how tonight I went to kiss each one of my kids and told them how much I love them. To my amazement they were actually asleep tonight and then I had a conversation with sleeping Tristan who told me he gets up in the middle of the night to see me sitting on the couch every night... funny thing is that I always hear footsteps but when I turn around I don't see anybody.
We had a tough day with Aaron sick for half of the day throwing up and looking like death himself. He puked all over the hallway downstairs and lucky for me I have my carpet cleaner that made that yucky mess go away in 5 minutes. After a very needed nap for him and me he woke up much happier and with color in his face but I ended up with a very bad headache that once again lasted the rest of the day. The end is here now, I can go to bed and knowing that tomorrow will be another day hopefully a better one.
I truly love my kids, I love them so much and it fills my heart with joy when I see them all asleep, happy, dreaming in their own little worlds. They have endured so much in the last few weeks and I am grateful for their patience and love towards me, they actually have taken care of me more than I have taken care of them, they are great.

P.S. I will be posting pictures as soon as I feel like loading them up and stories to go with them.

Has is it been two years?

Really??? It doesn't seem that way but I guess it is. I don't have pictures to go with my post (again), I was reading my blog and looking at the old pictures and I can see all the changes that my kids have gone since we moved here. It was very exciting to start all over again with the house and everything. We haven't done much to the house, hopefully one day I can finally start painting it and making it look more like home. We did add a few pieces of furniture that were needed and are very happy living here. It was hard to leave our friend in Utah and I am sure they don't even miss us now (just kidding) but we still think of them and the good times we had together, thank goodness for Facebook or I would have no idea what is going on in their lives.
We look forward to making many more happy memories here and are glad that Houston turned out to be a good place for our little family, we can actually see our selves living here for a long long time and the kids are very used to their surroundings, even if they have to run away from fire ants every once in a while.

The best things about Houston:

-Having the pool and the school within walking distance
-Having the airport 10 minutes away
-There are so many places close by to go and explore with the kids without spending any money
-The dollar stores are awesome around here
-Fallas (clothing store), has the best deal on clothes for me and the kids, where else can you find a brand new dress that sales regularly fro $50.00 and I get it for 5.00????
-My news friends

I am sure there are more I just can't think of them now :)