Are We There Yet?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The border

The highlight of the drive.

The most delicious TACOS!!!

WHACK A MOLE and SALSA YUMMOO

The first sign of hope...Veracruz sign!

Santa Comes Early

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Santa knows that we are going to Mexico on Saturday. So he brought the kids some presents early! Of course there was no protest :)

Christmas is Coming...

Saturday, December 5, 2009

...the goose is getting fat! (Know this song?!)

Emma with the Santa potato head piece in her mouth :)

Haha we were dressing him up.

Papi putting up the Christmas tree.

Emma decorated all by herself!

Love brother!

She took the stocking thing literally haha.

At USAA's Christmas party this morning.

Family Shot.

First Present of the Season

When we got back from NY, broad-leaf weeds like dandelion and clover had TAKEN OVER our backyard. The front wasn't so bad (good thing, because the HOA would have been all over us).

It was so bad that I had to go out the day after we got back and spray the back lawn. I don't like to use chemicals, but it was an urgent problem! Anger is usually what motivates me to mow, weed whack, and in this case, spray. It's quite a nice way to blow off steam. I just kept thinking, "die weeds, die!!" while thinking about how angry I was that we had a beautiful green lawn just months ago and how I'd rather be in bed catching up on sleep from our trip. This is me getting ready to spray :)

Bull Pucky

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

On the days that I have time, I enjoy tuning into the Dr. Oz show. Ninety percent of the time he has some very noteworthy things to say. He is one of those doctors that seem genuinely interested in we the people and not they the money-makers. Most of the time the kids go to sleep in the 2pm hour and then I have the 3-o'clock hour to fill with my choice of chores or fun things. I don't always flick off the TV at this time, and at 3pm this show comes on - The Doctors.

This show is about 90% bull crap. It makes my skin crawl, in fact. I don't know why I don't completely boycott it. I suppose it's because I want to find out what stupid thing they're about to talk about today and secretly criticize it. Today they had a lovely segment about a poor girl, not yet 2, who had reoccurring ear infections, or one every month from 12 to 18 months. And this is my main concern with the entire program, actually, and why Dr. Oz is a better Doctor. Instead of recommending practical options for the girl like nutritional therapy, decreasing the humidity and water in environment, etc. they advocated a very invasive and expensive procedure, namely ventilation tubes to be placed in the child's ears. Often they will have segments advocating cosmetic plastic surgery; which of course the artificially tan (ear, nose, and throat turned plastic surgeon) Doctor Ordon will conduct. This program is an insult to the REAL Doctors that actually care for and take care of everyday people (even though they are hard to come by these days). Gals - don't let the easy-on-the-eyes Dr. Travis Stork fool you. Tune into Oz. Your health will thank you.

New York - Amsterdam

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Holly had a great idea to take the kiddos to the library - free, warm, and fun!

Dad and Emma helping Ben walk in the right direction :)

My Dad was promising Emma a wagon ride for days!

She loved every minute of it.

Playing on the couch.

Dad's chaps. He rides a Harley. He's talking to my Grandma.

Holly-Gram and Emma

Grandpa's giant lasagna that weighed more than 30 pounds!

Ben enjoying every bite.

New York - The Grammas

Saturday, November 28, 2009

I have too many pictures to do one post, so I have to divide them like we did our trip. One set for my Mom (Grandma) and Grandma(G-ma) and another for my Dad (Grandpa) and Holly (Holly-Gram).

Mom playing with Ben at Grandma's.

My mom's a nurse and hooked Emma up with some real gear - she loves to play doctor!

Ready to eat turkey! And that's my 98 year-old Uncle Joe! Whoa!

My brother Nick and Ben (What was he looking at? Glenn?).

The matriarch in our family - my Grandmother.

Aunt Katie had the awesome idea of making a fort - the face tells all.

Thanksgiving dinner table.

Me and mom.

Emma in Aunt Katie's boots.

Emma and her Grandma.

Bitos Esta Caminando/ Ben's Walking

Thursday, November 12, 2009

He loves gata so much he doesn't want to let go! In 5 days he learned how to push himself up to standing from the floor, walk and carry an object, turn around, and RUN!!! AHHHH!!!

Quiere gata tanto que no la deja caer! En cinco dias aprendio levantarse solo del piso, caminar con un objecto, dar vuelta, y CORRER!!

Surrender

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

I'm going to steal a friend's line here and say - warning! This is a ranting post.

I've had a very busy afternoon. And this is how I'm winding down. I'm writing about it to release tension and hopefully somebody can relate. I have to start with last night (Monday) so it makes sense.

5pm - Emmanuel gets home from work and I start dinner
6pm- Dinner is still not ready, and in the kid's minds it's 7pm - no good
6:30 - We sit down to eat, but Emma doesn't like what's been prepared. She screams, i try to talk her into it, she screams more, etc. Ben wants to eat too and actually go to bed, but the canvas to his chair is in the laundry room to be washed. Ben eats Emma's food instead
6:45 - Emma gives up screaming and asks to go to bed just as I was about to take my first bite of dinner. I get her ready for bed and leave her in her room. She throws a fit when I turn the light off and decides she DOES want her meatballs.
6:50 - She tries a meatball and hates it. But she earned a tortilla that way.
7:00 - My sister calls to tell me that my brother-in-law is ready for us to meet him downtown. Emmanuel's GMAT class starts online and he is busy. I leave Emma with her tortilla and put Ben to bed.
7:15 - Emma s-l-o-w-l-y eats 2 more meatballs and admits to their yumminess, along with the rest of her dinner.
7:30 - Emma goes to bed. I drop the monitor with the neighbor for some sweet babysitting.
7:45 - I leave the kitchen a mess so we can leave to see Adam downtown.
8:00 - We go out for ice cream, the boys talk geek, we walk around downtown, see Adam's cool hotel, drop him off, get a minute to hold hands, come home, crash.

Tuesday

5:00 am - Ugh! I hate daylight savings time! It's supposed to be 6 right now! Go back to sleep.
7:00 - Better, sort of. Shower. Too bad the kids have probably been up for an hour already.
7:20 - Emmanuel says, "I have to be to work early today. Are there any clean shirts downstairs?" I think but don't say, "no, but there are 30 hanging in your closet". He hands me one as I offer to iron for him.
7:30 - Get the kids dressed, bottles, snacks, iron shirt, blow dry hair, grocery list, check!
8:00 - Drop Emmanuel off, head to HEB for a few produce items for the week
9:00 - Home, unload groceries, feed proper breakfast of frozen pancakes, muffins, Danonino (Emma's treat from the store)
10:00 - Ben goes to sleep. I remember the baby monitor is at the neighbor's. Go get it, meet Kenner, play with Emma. Right. That would get her out from in front of the TV.
1:00 - Come inside from playing, lunch production. Miffy starts (love her!) so I can work.
1:15 - 3 men walk into my backyard? Oh, right, rip out dead bushes. Go talk to them.
1:20 - Timer goes off - be right back! Walk in to see Ben eating drywall off the windowsill.
1:30 - Miffy ends, oh, no! Make my plate, finish Emma's, supplement Ben's floor food :) Chair's still in the laundry.
1:35 - Remember I need to check my email. Leave my plate on the table for 1 minute.
1:36 - Ben pulled my spaghetti off the table and onto the chair. He is crying because they're spicy the handfuls he's shoving in his mouth. Rinse Ben's mouth. Comfort the poor baby.
1:40 - Emma starts itching and hiding so I won't tell her to stop. Track her down.
1:42 - While tracking Ben unloads my tupperware cupboard.
1:43 - Emma's nap can't wait a minute longer. While I read books to her I hear silence from Ben. NOT GOOD. Find him swishing in my toilet. Yell, wash baby. Finish reading books and listening to Emma's cries and then sweet silence. Ahh.
2:00 - Dr. Oz is on. Ben poops raunch. Change while watching. Try to relax. See pile of spaghetti on chair. Compelled to clean. See food all over table and floor from Ben lacking a high chair. Compelled to clean more. In the process remember that I didn't eat lunch. Luckily I didn't warm up all of the leftovers.
2:15 - Eat lunch, give Ben a bottle.
3:00 - Ben goes to bed.

And now I am in la-la land. But not for long because if there's going to be dinner, I need to clean up after last night's dinner and today's breakfast/lunch. I read in a book a few weeks ago, "Real Food for Mother and Baby..." the idea that mothering (and nursing) becomes a lot easier if you act like the mammal that you are and just surrender to it. Just give into what you can't change. There is something peaceful in all this chaos I feel when I think about the word SURRENDER. That's where I draw my peace from in this moment.

Dora and Boots Take Two

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The events of Halloween Day - a walk downtown, lots of picture-taking, and finally, Trick-or-Treating with the neighbors! This one's for the Grandmas and the Grandpas!

Trunk or Treat

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Last night was like Halloween for us all as we went to our church's "Trunk or Treat" function, in which the kiddos trick or treat out of car trunks in the parking lot. There were a LOT of people there, so it was a little overwhelming for Emma, and she was a bit creeped out by a certain joker with a painted mask, but I think she had fun and definitely learned a lot about our American tradition of Halloween. There will be more pictures of the kids later in the week, but for now...

Silly Pictures

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Random faces on everybody!

Ben news flash! He's walking!

Have you noticed Emma got bangs? We are getting ready for Halloween...can you guess what her costume might be? By the way, I know I cut them a little short, whoops. Hair grows fast. Poor girl. Papi has come up with a few creative ways to describe what she looks like with her new bangs. My favorite is "young medieval prince". What do you think? Real bad?