Category: Family

Alaethia’s birthday was on the 24th. She was excited to be turning “double digits”. It was during a school night and their dad gets to take them for dinner the evening of their birthdays so we would officially celebrate on the weekend. But I did get out of work early to pick up her cupcakes and drinks to have her little birthday party with her classmates.

Her dad met us there and he surprised her with a giant sloth, balloon and candies. We passed the cupcakes and drinks out and then Aly’s teacher let them go out to the playground. I was on sloth-carrying duty and it was quickly becoming hot out 😆 .

School was out for the day but we waited for Emily to let her know we’d be waiting for her at the library. I gave them book fair money and Alaethia wanted to spend hers (Emily already had earlier). She looked around with Audrey and Maddie and found a Pusheen book. It’s so cute!

We read it while we waited for Emily and then we went home. She couldn’t wait to open her birthday presents.

That totes adorbs Pusheen came from the Wish App! I was thrilled that it arrived much sooner than anticipated. We hung around and the girls played with the new toys until their dad picked them up for dinner. Joked around with the boys a bit before they left, and then I tried finding something to do for 2 hours till the girls returned. Alaethia requested a cheesecake for her birthday, but since she was stuffed from dinner, we opted to wait till Saturday, when we’d celebrate her actual birthday.

Saturday came around and she and Emmos tagged along with me to go grocery shopping (but I’m on to them: I know they went with me to hoodwink me into taking them to Claire’s!).

Alaethia spent some birthday money and we made our way to 5 Below to get Emmos some ear phones since her school ones broke, and I ended up getting Jorge and I some work-out gloves and 5 lb. weights…because having to start working out from square one again has made me realize I’m wimpy and 8 lb. weights kill me 🙁 .
Anyway, so after an exhausting trip to HEB for groceries (and spending wayyyy more than I anticipated *sigh*), I got home, made dinner and then all the kids piled into the truck to go to Sky Park, Alaethia’s request. They all had a blast!

It was a great time and now the other 2 little ones want to do the same thing for their birthdays in February. These months are passing by in a blur!

We truly have a lot to be thankful for this year. I know it’s been a disastrous year for many of our beloved famous figures–but personally, it felt like an easier year than last year, for some reason, and I’m thankful for our health and being together.

I’m also thankful that on November 17th, I got to finally meet Tia Tere and her daughter, my cousin, Anna. Tia Tere is the aunt everyone would say I resembled in her younger years 🙂 .

We all met at Velma’s house. We shared anecdotes and family history (Lipan Apache was confirmed in Velma’s Ancestry.com genealogy! I want to do mine!) and when I told everyone about trying to reach out to my Grandfather back-in-the-day I learned that he was actually a family friend (Velma’s mom and dad’s compadre)! So that was interesting to say the least. We had a wonderful time, laughing and eating. Velma’s always such a wonderful host 🙂 .

They opened the Performing Arts Center on the 18th and we got to take a tour and hear the acoustics. It’s pretty state-of-the-art and just impressive!

November 18th is also Jorge and my “All-Together” anniversary, and to keep tradition with previous years, we had lunch together at Kumori!

Neither Jorge nor I were thrilled with that photo, so it didn’t make it onto social media 😆 !
I had to work at the Food Park the next evening at Unplugged (and had to pick kids up in between), so I didn’t get to go to the all-day mini-reunion the family was having 🙁 . Tia Tere visited Gramma. I’m so sad I wasn’t there to see it for myself. The sisters hadn’t seen each other in years!

I made myself feel a little better about not being able to meet more family by totally pigging out on these pork belly Kimchi fries from one of my favorite food trucks, Nuri Food Truck!

I learned the next day that at the mini-reunion at Gramma’s, mom decided to tell my life story (even the embarrassing and depressing parts) to my “new” relatives. Without my consent or knowledge. I couldn’t believe her. Let’s just say Linda said everyone was shifting uncomfortably and looking off into space. I asked Linda why she nor anyone stopped her and she said, “It was her time to shine!” 😆 Oh geez!!

Anyway. I showed my face at the next evening’s reunion with Aunt Nora and Linda. And apologized to my tia and cousins for having to endure my mother’s rambling on. I got to meet another cousin and her little girl, which was pretty damn cool :).

The next morning, Sunday, I hung out with my Littles. They don’t require as much attention as they used to, but they still do love to follow Mom around, even if it’s just to sit in my company. Seeing as how I also have teenagers who spend most of their time playing video games, football or asleep, I’m going to let Emily, Alaethia and Jules follow me around as long as they want. There will come a day when I’ll miss them doing so!

Jorge and I bought some pork belly from Gabriel, our friend that owns Nuri, so that I could make Jorge some kimchi fries while Nuri was on Thanksgiving break. Even though it wasn’t exactly like Nuri’s, I’ve gotta admit: it was tasty:

So, feeling as guilty as I did after consuming what’s seemingly an entire PIG the month of November (we LOVE Nuri!), Jorge and I decided to have lunch at Gumbo’s for something light. I ordered my usual: Island Salad. It’s like the most scrumptuous dessert!

Buuuuut…I also had broccoli soup in a bread bowl. Aye.

It was…as warm, delicious and comforting as it looks! My stomach wasn’t too happy with the cream (as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized I’m INCREDIBLY lactose intolerant!! Why meee?! Why cheeese??), but man, was it worth it!!

The kiddos had been with Mario that week up until Wednesday, and this year all 7 kids would be with us till 4pm, since Maggie wanted them at that time. So I picked up my babes and we had a small PokeHunting sesh since they’d just started with the new tracking system.

This was also the day John moved out (and we haven’t really seen him since) so he was missing from the Thanksgiving festivities. Dina, Briana and the kids came down, including Nick’s friend Tony. He was such a polite young man!

As soon as they arrived, we started with the preparations for the feast.

While the turkey baked, we visited Gramma.

I didn’t get a proper photo of the spread since we were cutting it close before the kids had to go 🙁 . But Alaethia said grace, and the food was delicious!

(Jorge didn’t get into any photos!!)

The Holidays don’t usually pass without some kind of hiccup, and there was a small bit of drama but it didn’t last long, thank God.

The kiddos left with their other families around 4-5ish so the adults kind of just relaxed watching a marathon of “Forensic Files”. Jorge and I did our Christmas shopping for the kids from the couch (OMG, got SUCH good deals!) and literally just about finished shopping for the big boys that same day!

I snuck out early the next morning, by myself, to do some minimal Black Friday shopping at HEB Plus. There were a few things I absolutely couldn’t pass up for the kids, so I *had* to go. Happy to report that everyone survived! HEB Plus was pretty straightforward with their rules (they gave you a map, a circular and the rules as you arrived) and let you know they weren’t taking shit from anyone and would escort you from the store if you caused trouble.

Jorge had to work that day, and Dina went to visit her mom so Briana and I hung out with the kids and then went to the park to meet Lisa and Joyce since the kids were becoming stir-crazy. Later on we all met at Fantasy Land Skate Center. Totally made me miss the kids, but I distracted myself by helping Mia and Maddie stay on their feet.

We got home and of course I had to make the obligatory Turkey Leftovers Salad.

That salad is truly the tastiest! (Darnit. Now I want some…)

I did some grocery shopping the next morning (with my $20 coupons I got from shopping the day before!) and then we kinda lazied around till we went to the Food Park that evening. Had to take Briana to SnoBro Raspas!

We had actually dressed for going to the park and doing a run, but we stayed nearby and went for a walk at Archer instead. Nick and Tony played football and Mia chased fireflies. It was the sweetest!
And then we picked up Whataburger for dinner. So much for our walk!!

But that’s what it’s all about right? Having fun with your loved ones, eating, drinking and being merry?!

It’s been a crazy few weeks. What with the girls having their extracurricular activities and having to leave work at 4 p.m. almost everyday for them, and having to get costumes ready, bills, groceries and work, work, work–I feel like there really aren’t enough hours in the day. Best believe there’s been no time for working out or hobbies 🙁 .

But as tired and busy as I’ve  been (and oftentimes: overwhelmed) I’m glad that work events, activities with the kids and life in general have gone pretty smoothly.

Sally invited us to her and her friends’ Halloween party. We get invited every year, but for  some reason or another, haven’t made it. 

After paying bills and running  errands on a Saturday, the girls and I went to a thrift shop that I  used to frequent a lot about 10 years  ago. 

I had to figure out a costume for THAT evening because only I would buy my costume in September and try it on 3 weeks later only to find that it was completely see-through (and I could have done with losing about 10 pounds! That thing was skin tight!) The family is going with a Star Wars theme for Mia’s birthday this year, so no Princess Leia for me. Instead, I was going to figure out how to be an Ewok! Wicket, to be exact.

Emily unearthed this plastic turkey that we had an exact copy of  when I was little. Mom also  had a Santa and Rudolph! Of course it came home with us (not like I need more junk 😆 !)

Just as I was about to give up on finding something, I couldn’t believe my luck! Not only did I find the perfect  teddy bear to behead for his ears, but I also found some burnt orange fabric and brown plush fabric to match the ears! We got home and I  got to work while I made dinner. 

I realized I DID NOT know how to sew a skirt, especially since the fabric really was some type of plush upholstery, but I tried my best and put something together within an hour. I’m happy to say everyone knew exactly who I was!

Jorge and I are both a bit socially awkward when we don’t know people, so we didn’t think we’d stick around long but we ended up staying a good 1.5 hours! (Ooh, party animals!)

We had our Wine Classic event that was “The Great Gatsby” themed so I had to figure out how to run all these errands at work AND find myself a 1920’s looking dress! So of course I would run to thrift shops during lunch to find pieces to make this outfit possible. I ended up finding a black lace dress with beige liner and a kid’s-size flapper dress I wanted to cut the fringe off of. When I finally got around to working on the dress…the fringe wasn’t enough! So I conceded to the fact that I’d have to actually purchase some downtown. Meh.

So I found the fringe on one of our craft-shopping trips, and I found my shoes and headwear later downtown as well. I was literally working on my dress, hand-sewing the fringe during my lunch hour that same day!

I rushed around finishing things at work and rushed off to Quinta Mazatlan to help Gerry. I was posted at the silent auction room like I am every year 🙂 . Where all the yummy desserts are!

I’m proud of myself for maintaining control of myself throughout the event, but now that I’m looking at the photos, I’m having major regrets about not tasting everything 🙁 !!

Anyway, my outfit worked out (the fringe never unraveled!) and I managed to throw my hair into an up-do that sort of made sense. (It actually worked out much better during my trial-run at home!):

It was an awesome event, Gerry always outdoes herself! Clean-up was crazy but seemingly fast and Gerry, Ryan and I ended up having our actual dinner at 1am at Whataburger, hehe.

Briana, Dina and the kids had arrived while I was working the previous day. We got up and got ready to have Mia’s 7th birthday party, Star Wars themed! Briana goes all out! It was a crazy whirlwind of going to Walmart, getting tables and chairs, attempting to help Briana with snacks (my Jello brain was good, the white chocolate I bought for our pretzel mummies was so bad! Stick with the good stuff, even if it’s more expensive. Then we had to get ourselves and all the kids ready, but the end-result was awesome! Jorge, Briana and the kids even did the Imperial March as the big open 😆 !

It’s a good thing I got a group photo!! The boys lasted all but 15 minutes in their costumes!

It was so fun! Glad Sally and the kiddos got to make it, too! I never got around to trimming the “hood” of my costume (it was supposed to be v-shaped at the front *sigh*), but all-in-all, it was a blast and the kids were chocolate-wasted and strewn all over the place. Love those family gatherings!