Category: Family

Mother’s Day Weekend

My Mother’s Day weekend started a bit early on Friday, with Emmos presenting me with a beautiful magnet frame for my fridge .

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We had movie night that night, and I managed to fall asleep during the latest Star Wars movie. The parts I saw were great tho!

I skipped yoga the next day (after much rolling around in my sheets debating how long to “sleep in”) but I eventually got up and got ready…only to sit at the kitchen table drinking coffee 😆 .

I took Emmos with me and we searched all over for the small Peppa plushes for Charlee. They were out everywhere. But we did find this:

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For $1.00!! We couldn’t believe it. We searched the isles for more, but again, nothing 😕 .

We did all our shopping and errands and then we got home and I got the 3 little ones ready to go to Charlee’s party. Before we got ready to leave, Julien runs to me and says, “Happy Mother’s Day!!”:

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I immediately choked up; I felt overwhelmed and just surprised! I put it on the fridge proudly, next to Emmos’. He brought me a little poem, too, with handprints and a painting of a vase with flowers in it (the buds were his little hands!), but I told him it should be for his 1st Mom. I didn’t know how to take his reaction; I didn’t want to offend him, but I figured she should have something, too, from him. I know I would want to. I did take pictures of him with the poem and painting and I said, “There! Now we’ll both have one!”

So after adjusting my mascara and swallowing down the lump in my throat, we were off 🙂 .

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Aren't they just beautiful?!

They had so much fun at Sally’s! She always comes up with cute games for them and they love it. And Charlee looked adorable, of course!

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I had a great time, too, catching up with Sally. I love spending time with her!

We got home and just as I changed into my lazy clothes, I get a message on Facebook stating that I won a Mother’s Day contest pack from Xquinkles Snack Land!! I never win those social media contests so I was thrilled, and hello?! Who wouldn’t be thrilled over this:

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I took half the brood with me; the others stayed home playing video games with Dad 🙂 .

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Then we got home and watched The Jungle Book–which I passed out during as well.

The next morning was officially Mother’s Day 🙂 . Jorge woke me up with smooches and told me to stay in bed, so I obliged 😆 . Then he and the girls woke me up and I was greeted by these beautiful, drowsy faces:

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My love and the kiddos didn’t make breakfast that morning, but he did bring the next best thing: menudo and barbacoa!!

So we ate, and then I was allowed to lounge around all morning until we got ready to return some stuff (can you believe the tunic I’m wearing in the photo was $5??) and then we went to visit Gramma:

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She was doing good, thank God :). She’s recently moved to a new facility, per her request, which shocked us all. So that only means she really didn’t like it at the previous place before 🙁 .

We got home and Aunt Nora and Linda came to visit. Then we lazied around the rest of the day. It was just awesome, and low-key with all the kids, Mom and my love. John was around for a bit, but disappeared to study. We watched Grey’s Anatomy with the kids the rest of the evening until I passed out on the sofa.

As for gifts, I did a satisfying amount of clothes shopping 🙂 . Plus my love got me this:

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Tamarindo Apple With Chamoy Gummy Bears

I had such a great day yesterday, that I actually didn’t mind having to wake up at 5am this morning 🙂 . And dropping the kids off was a piece of cake on our way to school/work and the day went by fast and was a breeze! I even applied for a grant (with my co-worker’s advice, of course!)

Easter 2016

Our Easter this year was pretty low-key, and considering how chaotic work, and in turn, my mind, had been, it was a welcome change. Don’t get me wrong, I adore our wild family, but my in-laws weren’t coming down this time so we opted for celebrating at home.

The tiny ones and I started our Good Friday by going to a celebration at Gramma’s nursing home. We met Linda there. She texted me that they still hadn’t started. By the time we got there and found the location of the party, the egg hunt was over. Still, it was nice to see Gramma having fun 🙂 .

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Jorge, Justin and Jules got picked up on Saturday afternoon by their mother so they could spend some time with her for the holiday. When I finally stopped being lazy, I gathered all of the egg-decorating supplies I got a great deal on last Easter and set the kids up on the back porch. Eenan, of course, was taking a teenager nap, heh.

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There was a melted crayon kit, but it made no sense so we did it our way: by melting a crayon with a lighter 😆 .
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I made lunch afterwards and then Mario picked up the kiddos. Jorge got home from work and we reluctantly did some shopping for our BBQ the next day. Then we decided we wanted a Michelada, but couldn’t figure out where to go other than Palmview, so we ended up at El Huachinango restaurant. I couldn’t complian about the food (a botana for 2 serves at least 3-4!), or the drink.

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We woke up the next day, had breakfast and then I worked on the kids’ baskets. I already had all the candies and goodies separated, but hadn’t actually put the baskets together. And Mom wouldn’t let me forget it 🙄 .

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I was prepping a few things for our BBQ and made a Banoffee pie, and Jorge and Mom cleaned the porch before Jorge and I showered and picked up the kids. We picked them up about 2 hours after we had originally set, but we still ended up waiting a good while longer for Jorge’s boys. But, at least we were on our own schedule.

We got home and prepped the food and veggies. We’d be having burgers, hotdogs and sausages.

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The little ones opened their baskets and the big ones opened their giftbags.

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Bunny Teefs!

Then the big boys, who graduated into Egg Hiders, hid the eggs for the little ones.

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And then the 3-hour egg hunt and cracking began!

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It got so crazy Jorgie ended up in a tree 😆 .
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It was a great day! Everyone went in to start showering before The Walking Dead and then we readied ourselves to begin the week!

1 Year Wedding Anniversary

A year ago today I took the day off work to accompany Alaethia on her school field trip to Rancho el Charco.

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Picked up Jorgie and Justin (they were still living with us at the time) and took them and the girls to Ben and Jerry’s.

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Waited for Jorge to get home from work and we got dressed to take the biggest step, other than moving in together, of our lives.

We drove to Edinburg, to our attorneys’ office,  and waited for them to be ready to marry us. They offered to when we’d brought it up, so we accepted. They had a client, so we went around the block to Paul’s store and I found a couple of things.

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And then we were ready to get married. I cried, of course. I’d been waiting for that moment for 5 years, patiently waited with a ring on my finger since December 8, 2013 🙂 .

Of course we wanted to have our family present, especially our kids, but at the time we had goals we needed to accomplish amd didn’t want anyone to ruin our plans. We kept it hushed other than telling a few friends relatives. We didn’t tell the kids till that Mother’s Day. We said we would eventually have a real wedding, with a cake and a dress and our kids, but at this rate, and more goals, a wedding just seems like we’d be blowing money.

We celebrated our anniversary early last night since we’d be driving around picking up kiddos this evening and with the food festival coming up I wasn’t sure how late I’d work to begin with. And because Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal were on tonight, heh. Priorities.

We went to House.Wine & Bistro. And even though I’m on antibiotics due to my surgery (again), I had myself a Strawberry Bellini.

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Shiner for him, Bellini for me.

If you don’t have anything else at House.Wine, at least have the Lime Shrimp and Pomme Frites.
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My baby's pork burger.
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My chicken & spinach Flatbread.
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Apple pie with cheddar ice cream.

It was all to die for. John, the boys and I actually shared my flatbread tonight, as I had only eaten 2 squares last night.

Enjoyed my love’s company during lunch today and then it was pizza night with the kiddos. Here’s to decades more together 🙂 !