San Antone

Our family WENT ON A TRIP!!

This my friends is a rare thing for us with one income and two young children.

I was somehting that was HIGHLY anticipated and planned for, for many many months we saved and patiently waited for the time to come.

As most vacations go I was of course excited to get away from home and to spend time with my family. But at the same time i knew it was going to be alot of work.

This was the first trip since our honeymoon that my husband and i have gone on without either his or my parents. It was also the first trip we had taken with kids alone.
(yes yes we have been married for 3 1/2 years and i know its sad)

But none the less i had strategic plans for packing driving and for when we got there.

And isnt it just my luck NOTHING went as planned.

The night before we left i ended up having a fever of 104 and feeling super yucky.

but we went along with the trip anyways with me assuming i would feel better in a few hours.
which was correct but i had no idea what was about to hit us...

my husband got sick on the road along with my son.

so basically the whole first part of the trip was miserable ( like the first 3days)

but after everyone got better our trip turned around and we ended up having a blast and getting to spend some time with my family in san antonio and houston.

sweet little swimmies

typically summer time is filled with lots of fun in our family.

trips up north plans for fall vacations to disney world. birthdays barbques swimming and hanging out at the beach.

this year my kids were able to take survial swim lessons with a close friend of the family.

going into it i thought i knew what to expect because my son had taken the same lessons last year while i was pregnant with my daughter.

But this year it was different, I not only had two kids in swim lessons that ment two tuition fees and basically twice the time to spend getting to and from the pool and not to mention time in the water.

the type of lessons they are taking are intense its not all "blow bubbles and kick" its more the type of lesson where they are learning to save thier own life if they were to fall into a pool alone.

here is my son swimming to the edge of the pool solo.

first the instructor teaches the kids to float on thier back and breath. the second part of the lessons is teaching the kids to roll over and swim then back over when they get tired so that they dont get overly exhausted.

my oldest did really well with the whole program where as my daughter who is younger only mastered the floating part for the time being.

in hind sight i am really happy we stuck with it for the long 7 weeks that we did. as much hastle and effort it took for me alone to get them to and from and change them (and dont even mention when the poop in the pool and how badly i felt) it was all really really worth it because i have confidence that if my children were ever in an emergent situation that they would be able to float and scream thier brains out until someone saved them.

for more information on this type of swim lessons or to find an instructor in you area you can visit http://www.infantaquatics.com/

Heavenly chocolate finally in Texas

My husband has family all over the united states... Well all over the world for that matter!

One of the benefits of this for us is we always get really cool gift packages at random times through out the year.

But one of my very favorites is when his uncle sends us chocolate from California.
I assume that it is peretty pricey because we only get it once a year and that's at Christmas time.
They are from a place called see's.

I googled my brains out the first time we received them to try and find one close to home (I was pregnant and I had eaten them all and craved more)
Anyways there wasn't one.

But the last time j and went to the mall there. In all it's glory. A see's!

It was like fate had brought me to that very spot!

The smell was like. Idk willy wonks chocolate factory or something....wafting out of there like a tasty song calling my name :)

and the very best part? FREE SAMPLES yummm!!!

Graduation season

I love graduation season!!!! things are always so exciting, new beginnings and people growing into who the want to be for the rest of thier lives.

but that being said i dont like graduations. they are to formal to long and usually really really boring..

but this year one of my good friends from high school graduated college in San Marcos Texas and we were invited to go to the ceremony and to the party.

since we live so far away and we have two kids its hard for us to do things like this on a regular basis so it was all kindof up in the air.

at the last minute we decided we would attend just the party.
i explained to my son that we would have to be in the car for a long time and he said it was ok because he wanted to see at the people that we were going to see.



now who wouldnt want to travel with him he is SO cute!!

and this is basically how he was the whole trip. he is a pro at long car trips. We have been taking him on long car trips since he was born across the country and back.

until the end of the day he had a wonderful time. There were not any other little kids there but he was well taken care of by all the adults oohing and ahhing over him and his little sis.



we all ended up having a great time and suprising my friend for her graduation. she was so happy that we came all that way with our little ones.

and we were so happy to get to celebrate with her and her family. we made memories that will last forever!

Iloveyou Kali and congrats :)

Bachelorette

My best friend recently got married.

She had voiced from the beginning that she didnt want to have a typical bachelorette party with all the drinking and bar hopping or partying.

instead she wanted something low key and calm...more of a stress relief than a big blow out.

So about a month ago her me and another one of the girls in the wedding got together just to hangout.

we ended up making brownie/cookies



we gathered the ingredients and got to work putting them all together so that we could enjoy our reward.




luckily my friends know me and didnt think it was odd that i was randomly snapping pictures during the whole process.



this was the perfect bachelorette party!! good friends, chocolate, drinks, music, and i was in bed asleep by 1am!

it was so much fun and i loved getting to spend time with the two of the girls that were there.

something i should do more often

I have heard it a million and three times that you should frequently change out your eye make up so that you dont reintroduce bad bacteria into your eyes.

but i like many women like to get the most out of my tube of mascara.

i tend to wait until i either run out or it gets goopy to change it.

but not this time!! for once i remembered to grab a new one on my way out of walmart.



im not really a big make up wearer but when i do i would like it to inhance my god given beauty and not give me a gross eye infection.

so ladys do this TODAY if it has been awhile since you have swiched out that mascara tube you should do it.

and heres another little tip.
write the date you open it on the tube with permanate marker so that you dont exceed 6 months with the same tube. Its advice i myself need to take so that i dont end up with goopy mascara anymore!

money saver...maybe..

I have heard alot about canning and drying and preserving your own food.

many people say it saves alot of money in the long run so i have been doing my reasearch.

to me it seems like alot of up front costs but once you know what you are doing it MIGHT be worth your time especially if you are able to sell your canned goods at a local farmers market or a place that sells local or homemade goods.



i am hoping to learn alot by trying out some different recipies this summer and finding out what works for me.

maybe next year our fruit trees will have enough fruit on them to make our own organic and home grown jams or sauces.

i might be the crazy lady digging through your trash...

I have picked up a sortof bad habit from my father in-law over the years.

He always drives by real slow when he sees something that might be of value in somones garbage..

though im not as bad as he is about it i find myself doing the same thing.

i dont usually stop unless its something i have been looking for for a long time or if it looks to good to pass up.

this week i was in that situation..
i have been looking for a book case type thing for both of the kids rooms. something i would be able to paint and match to the room styles of each kid.

well guess what ..





these beauties were just sitting out on somones curb. abandoned.

they were calling my name..
i drove by three times

and then i just had to-it was like uncontrolled..

i picked them up and put them in the back of my car.
when i got home i was imagining all the wonderful ways i would be able to redo them and make them work in my kids rooms.

now these are the before pictures mind you i am going to upcycle them to the best of my ablility

but hey if it doesnt work out they were free and all it cost me was some time and energy right?..right!?!?!

so thats what its like....

this past weekend i attened my first "adults only" party with my parents.

as a kid i always wondered what happened at these parties and it was always kindof that mysterious longing to find out.

now that im an adult with kids of my own i was FINALLY invited to one!

it was a birthday party for one of our church friends with swimming and pizza and drinks.
there were board games and horse shoes.



being a parent now i can see why these parties are needed.
it was really great being able to hangout with good friends and family without worrying if someone was in the grass eating a bug or trying to figure out who pooped :)haha

I guess i shouldnt have been so surprised that this once mysterious parties are just like the parties my friends and i have just layed back relaxed and having a little fun.

xSIGHTment run

Every year the Colleyville lions club put on a 5k to benifit the visually impared.

they take up donations of not only money but used perscription and reading glasses to give to the less fortunate.

It had been a few years since i had participated in this particular race but my father in-law is a loyal member of the lions and i recently got back into running so i figured id give it a go



there was a whole group of visualy impared people doing the 1mile walk with thier service dogs and coaches. I was so encouraged to see them all going for it even though it was more challenging for them. They have such amazing faith in others it really encourages me to be more like that! I hope that one day my kids will see these things too and take great lessons away from others like that.

my mom and dad joined romeo zayd and i in this race also.


my dad is super speedy and finnished way ahead of us as usual but mom and i pushed our selves to cut about 10min off of our time from the previous week.

This time romeo and zayd were both given medals at the finnish line

Romeo was so proud that he had won and couldnt wait to show his prize off to everyone!



zaydy was pretty excited about hers also.

my brain lives in october

my very favorite holiday is halloween!!!

and sometimes i just wish it could be halloween always.. but i guess that would make it less special (or more awesome-ill let you be the judge)

AAAANYWAYS i had a random craving for all things halloween about two weeks ago including this stuff right here



luckily one of my good friends had some on hand and was willing to share :)

so a few mondays ago i got all comfy on my couch and watched the nightmare before christmas and ate candy corn during my kids nap time.

it was so relaxing i decied that i need to do things like that more often .. heck maybe ill have christmas in july and make pies and cookies and listen to christmas music. who cares what time of year it is if you enjoy it!

dindin fancyness

On my actual birthday jon and i planned to a place i am IN LOVE WITH!!
but it turns out it was closed so i had to settle for a dinner date instead..

So there i was all bummed out that things werent going as planned and then jon suggested we go for sushi to this place downtown that he knows i like a whole lot.

He arranged for my parents to babysit for us and we headed out for an early dinner so we didnt miss church.

we finally get there after horrific traffic and crazy construction and we were both relieved to get THE BEST parking and a really really good searver.

i got my favorite sushi rolls



and my husband tried something new (which he didnt end up liking) but i was excited because he never trys new things. there was steak on the menu but instead he ordered tuna



and to top off this already amazing date night/birthday celebration we recieved a free desert of our choice



we had the "ice cream tempura" and let me tell you, we attacked that thing like there was no tomorrow!
i think that was the best birthday dinner i have ever had in my 22 years of life.
AAAAND... we made it to church on time which i was super stoked about.

birthday gift from jay

my husband always gives the best gifts!

he has never been one of those guys who gets me a vacum or a blender or something. he really puts alot of time and thought and effort into my gifts.

first he gets a feel for what i want and then goes with the flow from there.

typically for special occasions i get a little silver and black bag with a box like this inside.





now you have to know the story of what i asked for before you find out what is inside...

when jon asked me what i wanted for my birthday i was really unsure what to ask for .... i tossed different things around and made an amazon wish list which cosisted mainly of books and things for the house.

but there was one thing on that wish list that was niether practical or useful for that matter.

and it was a cute little pair of stud earings.. just some dinky old cz's that i liked

well last year for my birthday jon bought me my first real pearls... so i always complain that i dont have any earings to wear with them and that i would love some pearl studs to go with the neaclace.

....SO

putting all of that together my BRILIANT husband came up with this gift



im pretty sure he is the greatest jewlery picker outer i know!!!! i couldnt have picked better myself. he is SO SMART!!! i dont even think i could have come up with the idea that i even wanted these... they are extravigant, beautiful and all together wonderful.

Thank you babe. you rock!!

paaaaartaaay

As you all know last week was my birthday! I turned 22. So on Saturday my family threw me a little get together with just some close friends and family.



my grandmother brought me a yummy double decker cookie cake that was super yummy and some beautiful flowers.



i was excited to have a few of my closest friends stop by and share in the fun.
I also got two really cute new dresses that I LOVE!! from my hubby of course.

all in all my party was prety fun. with alot of unexpected surprises and gifts



in this photo i am wearing one of the dresses my hubbz got me. :)

fireman's 5k

My kids and i did our first 5k together with my parents a few weeks ago.

I did alot better than i thought i would concidering how long it had been since i had run.

this particular 5k benifits familys who have lost children as well as fallen fire fighters.



my favorite part of the whole thing was getting to cheer for my son as he crossed his very first finnish line :) he was so excited to finnish on foot (even though he spent the rest of the race in the stroller) he kept telling me "hurry mommy hurry" so i ran ahead and got ready to take photos of he and my parents coming across the finnish.



after the race was over we ended up walking almost two miles back to our cars because we ended in a place that was a ways away from where we had started. there was a bus transporting others back but we had the big bulky jogging stroller and didnt want to fuss with it so we enjoyed a relaxing cool down walk back.

I think that this is the start of a great tradition for me and my kids. Not only does it encourage us staying active it is for a good cause that is close to my heart and my familys heart. I hope that next year we can get more people to join us in the fun.

maddnes!

As some of you may already know I recently joined a flute choir.

I have not played in about 6 years... well played while reading music anyways. i would sometimes break it out and play from memory or by ear.

So the other day I recieved my music via e-mail from the artistic director...



ok people if you have ever read music you know how intimidating this is to see after not having read any music in a long while ...

none the less i still procceded to go to practice (with people who have been playing this piece for over 3 months!) i felt sooooooo out of my element.
after that first practice i was SO HUMBLED i was discouraged .. and i almost wanted to quit.

so instead of quiting i got a lesson teacher and had my first lesson the very next day.

after about an hour of playing with her all the knowlege i hadnt used in so long started flooding back to me. I can now sight read again and though the pieces i can play well arent all that complicated i know i will get there in time.

and hopfully next season i will be able to keep up with the others in flute choir.

good eater.

when i was young...well still i guess you could say.. i wasnt much of a meat eater.

and by the looks of it my Zayd is going down the same path. The other night i made quinoa corn and black beans for dinner. For Zayd I got out her usual baby food. After about 3 bites she made it very clear that she was just not having it. She wanted what we were having!

So i gave her a few black beans and she LOVED them!!



so this is want she had for doinner fthat night black beans and baby food.

Thank goodness she got my eating habbits and not her fathers!! (he pigs out of fast foods and processed foods regularly)

my only hope is that maybe my boys can learn something from her. trying new things isnt always bad and hey in this case its good for you.

I was praying and this came out...

All my words are lost in time now an ever lasting rhyme.
May I find them lord I pray so I might be inspired just one more day.
Working harder dare I say to please you god to keep your word inside my head.
It's being trapped in sin I most dread.
Dwelling on what's not important trying so hard not to think to love and give and have the darkness shortened.
Elated I traded a life of nothing for family and love.
I'm glad your watching from up above.
Helping guiding molding teaching.
And have your hand on those who will be preaching.
I know your time is in high demand so thank you god for your attention.
I just want you to know I'm serving you with my best intentions.
Bless the homeless and those I don't know may their faith and spirits grow.
feed them clothe them give them hope.
Those in sorrow don't let them mope.
Try my lord to understand that we all need your healing hand.
For we don't know what you have planned.
Patiently we wait for you to guide especially when someone close has died.
I pray for the families who have lost a child may you make that life be worth while.
Change their lives and make them see that they have a purpose as you have shown me.
I know there's a reason for every season in life.
Even though I may not know now and I sure didn't know then.
And lastly lord I pray for my kin.
Amen

If you do not keep a prayer journal I highly encourage you to do so.... sometimes something really cool can come from it. If your not much of a writer its still cool to look back to past prayers and see which ones have been aswered.

WE BOUGHT AN ARK!

After our weekly visit to the cafe that i mentioned a few posts ago my mother and i had the idea to go thrift shopping. There are alot of great thrift shops over in that area, the one we went to is within walking distance. I went in not expecting to buy anything but then I notice that they sold childrens books.

My son and i dug through the books for about 20min and picked out a few things that we agreed on.

thinking i was done i followed my mom over to a bin that she was digging through. as i was waiting for her something caught my eye at the bottom of the bin.. it was a book

i was pleasantly surprised to see that not only was it a book for children it was a bible story!

and then..... I OPENED IT!!

it was a huge beautiful paper pop up ark. i quickly inspected it for any missing pieces or tears but by some act of god it was flawless.

it came with two of each animal and little people to put on the ark.

it also included the story of Noah in a well writen story book.

i am for sure going to be using this during our school time to teach my kids about noah and the ark.
God was truly guiding me that day! i mean i hadnt even planned on going to that store, and then planned on not buying anything, and just when i thought i was done i just happened upon this book.
The type of book i had been digging for in that endless pile of books.

and the best part
i only paid...
can you guess?? if you did im almost 99% sure that you would be wrong...

$0.60 yep thats right. only 60 cents.
GOD IS SO RAD!

Big breakfast and a birthday

One Day last week i woke up feeling inspired. Dont ask me why but i had the compulsion to make a big breakfast for my family. I got up before anyone else and i had the time so i got started making a waffle batter from scratch. It was alot faster than i thought it would be and i had it done in about 5min. Once i got some waffles cooking i decided to make scrambled eggs because they are one of my daughters favorites so i got those on the stove but after they were cooked i thought my husband might like some bacon since he is such a meat eater so i fried some up and put it on the serving tray too.

So once i had the table all set i went and got my family out of bed. you should have seen them when they realized what was on the table waiting for them... you would have thought it was christmas morning... I think i want to do this more often. I was surprised at how little time it actually took me. and the waffle batter can stay good in the fridge for up to a week.

Later on that day we were hanging out with my mom and invited a friend over. His birthday was only 2 days away so my husband and i bought him a cake. We didnt have anything written on it because there was no time so we just grabbed one and went to my moms. Fortunatly my dad had some frosting in the pantry and got to work on writing on the cake.

He really did a great job. here is the finnished product.

I think my friend was really encouraged by his surprise party that wasnt really planned. though there were no gifts and not alot of our peers i know that my family loves him as thier own and were happy to celebrate with him.
all that being said ..
HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY CARSON
We are all so proud of you!

Cars Cars and more Cars

My husband and i have been going to car shows since we were dating years ago. As we had children we added them to our trips and our oldest son has really come to enjoy going with us and learning about the different types of cars and engines.

Its free, its fun, and we all like not only spending the time together but also seeing the cars and meeting new people who like the same thing.

The past few months we have gone there have been more new cars with modern conveniences built in. I dont know about you but im more of a classic car person... I like to look at a car and feel like i just took a ride in a time machine. My favorite car of the night did just that.

ISNT IT BEAUTIFUL!!!!! i think i may be in love with this car... this car alone, was worth going that night! THIS is why i go, to see things like this.

If you would like to attend this car show you can find all of the information you need at www.christianclassiccruisers.com
our family trys to go just about every month although sometimes we do miss.

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This past Saturday our local fire department had an open house. It has been a long time since I have attended one of these so i was excited to see if it was as exciting for me as an adult as it was when i was a kid. AND IT WAS!!! Because now not only did i get to participate but I also got to watch my sons face light up as he played and learned hands on.

There were alot of activities for children and a large selection of fire trucks to climb on and learn about. As well as a few extreamly AWESOME demonstrations.

This particular fire engine belongs to the DFW Airport fire department. It is much bigger than a typical city fire truck as you can tell by my son standing by the wheel its huuuuuge. Romeo liked it not only because it was the biggest but because it was yellow and had a super cool robot that the bomb squad uses (i neglected to take a picture of the robot sorry) and he enjoyed inspecting that.

With my dad being a fire fighter all my life i have put bunker gear on a bunch of times but this time it was romeos turn. He didnt really like the jacket because it was heavy and it was hot out that day. But he did look super cute. '

For adults they were having races. Basically what you do is start out with none of the gear on, someone calls go and you get the bunker gear on and run as fast as you can down and around some cones and the first one back wins. It was really funny because people were falling and getting tangled in the suspenders.

For younger kids they had a few fire extingushers rigged to spray water. At one station you could aim for a bucket and fill it up with water. But at the other station you could use the water rigged extingusher to actually put out a fire! This was one of my husband and sons favorite things about the day. Here is a photo of Romeo and my Dad putting out the fire.

One of the most exciting things for me was getting to learn about the jaws of life up close and personal along with a few other tools used in car accidents to get people out of danger.

It was really neat to watch these guys cut up this car with litte effort. Technology rocks!

The last demonstration we saw was an example of a roof rescue. This was so cool!! We got to see them repel from the ladder truck an actually show us what they would do in an emergency like this. They were able to manuver a gerny and themselves with ease. Im telling you if i ever need to be rescued i would want my life in the hands of these guys.

I am really greatful to the city for holding this open house. Its good for people to see what they really do. Most of the time these are the guys that are forgoten. They work holidays on thier birthdays thier kids birthdays and often miss big family events to put thier lives on the line for us. These men are REAL HEROS and deserve way more credit than they get.

meet me in the garden

I have been on the search for good FREE activities to do with my kiddos before the weather gets to hot. Last week a friend of mine was in from out of town and she suggested that we go to the botanical gardens in fort worth. WHY HADNT I THOUGHT OF THAT!!! I guess coming into the city from the outside she did her research.

We went with our three kids and two strollers. Planned to have lunch and read books and just enjoy nature together with our children.

as you can see it was VERY sunny that day so luckily there are many shady spots because there are lots of trees. we found a shady place with few people around to have lunch. I think Romeos favorite part was chasing the black birds. And Zayds favorite part was eating grass of course.

Romeo enjoyed running around and screaming. (while i was trying to get good photos) HA!

all in all it was a very fun .. but long day. we spent about 4 hours there and got home about an hour after nap time so everyone was pretty cranky when we got home.

Im glad i have such good friends who also have children, and who also have similar parenting styles. Especially ones who suggest fun free things to do that dont involve sitting on a couch all day :)

el dia de los muertos ... but not really

Last week my kids and i went to the cemetery where my family is buried. The plan was to stay and read books until lunch time and then have a little picnic. Unfortunatly when we arrived there the sprinklers were on so i was only able to run over and put the flowers that we had brought on theh grave stones.

This is my great great aunts grave stone. She passed almost 5 years ago on New Years eve. Its hard to believe that it has been that long, it feels like just last week we were sitting outside watching cars go by. see thats the thing i miss most about her i think ... we could spend hours and hours in total silence. she (like me) was content with not talking and just spending quality time together. Its not that we didnt have anything to say to one another its just that nothing NEEDED to be said and that was ok with us .. we both arent that into small talk.
I always feel so sad when i think about when she died because just a short two months later i got engaged ... i wish she had been there to tell. Or there for my wedding or for my kids births. or to just hug... right now.

i also was able to drive by her house because it was on the way.

it looks a little different now than it did then. on the sides of the drive way she had grown these amazing sunflowers ... the kind that if you are a kid you feel like you are in some mythical jungle of sunflowers or you shrunk or somehting. i peaked into the back yard and it is all in direpair which kindof made me sad because she had the best "jungle" for when me and my cousins played. She used to let us all play in the mud and then hug her...shes the only adult i remember letting us do that.

sorry this one is crooked ... idk whats up with it its right on my computer but when i upload it it turns..lol
so anyways

this is my great grandma and great grandpas grave stone. my "papaw" passed when i was pretty young but i am the oldest of the great grand children so i guess that means i have the most memory of him.. and the fact that we lived just next door helps too.
every day after school i would run to thier house from the bus stop and when i got there "mamaw" was always waiting with cookies and milk or those yummy but o so bad for you honey buns you can buy in boxes of like 12. And papaw already had the tv tuned to my favorite show (which changed almost every week). I would sit there with the two of them and just enjoy some down time.

When we werent wathcing tv we were out in the yard working or just going for a ride on papaws trailor attached to his lawn mower.. i know i know that sounds really red neck but who cares it was fun!

my mamaw was an amazing gardener. that woman could grow ANYTHING i tell you! to bad i didnt get any of those genes. She also cared for the chickens and ran the house. she took care of everyone. i hope one day i can be half as good as her at taking care of everything one day.


to some people it might be weired that i take my kids to hangout at a cemetery but if you know me .. you know that i love them . they are so peaceful!!! and the one that my family is at is beautiful. not like modern cemeterys with all flat grave stones there are lots of very old one some that are sculpted there are crypts and monuments.

it makes me wonder if any of my other family goes to visit there. ... probably not.. maybe im weired but all i know is it makes me feel close to them again. it brings back memories that i had with them and that makes me happy