Category: Family

My babygirl, my little fairy princess diva, is 5 years old today! :*) I can’t believe how fast time flies. I feel like I’ve missed so much the past year and it hurts :'(, but at the same time it’s made me appreciate and value the time we do spend together all that much more.

I took her shopping for her gift this past weekend. She, Emily and I made a trip to Toys R Us to get her the Dora kitchen she’d been asking for. Once we got there and she saw everything else, she couldn’t decide. She wanted a Barbie kitchen instead, then some Blythe/Pet Shop playsets and then she finally picked two Barbie playsets:  a “pancakes” one and one with a full Barbie-sized kitchen. She’s really into baking and watches baking videos on YouTube (supervised, of course). Her favorites are Barbie cakes and some about Japanese candies o_O. I’m hoping to have a little birthday party for her next weekend, when they’re with me. I hope funds allow and I can make it happen!

I picked up a cupcake for her (and Emily) on my way home from RGV Cupcake Factory and went to visit her tonight. I visited with the boys a bit, too. Jaylen made me laugh with this weird finger game and I told the boys about how Jorge and I had put a lint-roller tape on Ruffles’ back and he just collapsed, it was the weirdest thing lol.

Before that Tia Sylvia and Tio Mateo came by to visit. Tia’d called me Sunday to let me know they had some fairly new furniture they were getting rid of and they were bringing it over. They sent pics and everything looked awesome and matched our existing furniture!

They get here, we catch up cause I hadn’t seen Tio in decades (for real) and they start bringing the furniture in. I was in shock: everything was BRAND NEW! And gorgeous!

They gave us these matching chairs. I LOVE their shape! I wanted a white one from IKEA that was this exact shape.

We’re still trying to figure out how to make these work in the living room space, and of course we need some accent colors. How I wish the darn thing wasn’t recessed !

They gave us 4 matching counter-height stools. Two of those we scrunched in with the bistro set in the kitchen nook, the other 2 are up next to the kitchen counter. This is actually the set Jorge and I got each other for Christmas. We couldn’t figure out what we wanted, and when he brought up getting the set I couldn’t think of anything more perfect. We’d been wanting this set for a while and it just completes the kitchen. (Yes. We’re weird like that, heh.)

They also gave us a waffle maker, a chopper, a picnic set, a full set of dishes, & two futons that match all the other furniture. One went in the boys’ room, the other will go in our bedroom. As soon as we figure out how to arrange everything :confused:.

Anyway, we had Papa Murphy’s pizza which we’d never tried but I was recruiting them for my event so we gave it a shot. Best. Pizza. Ever. Take-and-bake? Fresh Subway-esque ingredients…it was awesome.

We went for our jog afterwards and just talked and enjoyed the cool breeze. I love that park :).

I’d written an entry last week, all about New Year’s, but the darn draft didn’t save. So. I have to redo that. Lots of stuff had been going on, including Gramma being hospitalized, but she’s so much better now. I’d been under a lot of stress, but thank GOD things are looking up :).

Ok, it’s late, gonna shower!

Let me try and make this short and sweet (TRY). You knew that wasn’t going to happen, heh.

The week of Christmas was busy, busy. I was still out shopping for last-minute gifts on the 23rd. Mario and I worked out a schedule so we’d have somewhat equal time with the kids during the holiday. He had Emily Tuesday evening and Wednesday, then I went for the kiddos after lunch on Thursday and kept them till Saturday night, Christmas Eve. He picked them up that evening and brought them back to me Christmas after lunch. Then I kept them till Monday evening since I was off work :). It worked out pretty well.

Monday was pretty much get-everything-accomplished-at-work day since I was going to be off since Tuesday afternoon. I had vacation days I needed to take so that was pretty awesome.

Tuesday after work I spent getting stuff taken care of for several things, including the garage sale I was bravely attempting to have on Thursday and Friday. Got home and spent some time with my Emmos before Mario picked her up :).

Jorge got home and we ate dinner. We were totally hyped up, we told ourselves THIS. THIS WAS THE NIGHT WE’D DO SOMETHING. We’d become such homebodies lately and I was already getting into a crappy mood earlier that day because Emmos wouldn’t be home for 2 nights. So we decided we’d go out, somewhere cheap and just have a drink. I’d invited Michelle but she was out shopping. JR said he’d come over and we’d go somewhere. We were already getting tired and sleepy and had snuggled into bed :lol:, but Jorge said, “No, no. Let’s get up and get ready.” So we did.

JR arrived, changed, and we went to Cigar Bar. Although it was going to make my hair stink, I like some of the drinks there and we never spend too much money. So we sat and talked and had fun. The guys got hungry so we went to Jack-in-the-Box and they ordered tacos. Typical guys :lol:. They were being hilarious. I even had a mystery-meat taco LOL.

I had an appointment Wednesday morning and then I got home, my babe got ready and we picked up some tables from work. We got some wrapping paper and other stuff we’d need and then dropped off the tables. THEN we both finally ate at Palenque Chicken. Love that place :).

We spent the evening getting junk into the garage and organizing for the garage sale. We were just about to go get some dinner when the doorbell rang. A total stranger was asking if they could see the garage sale stuff. We said sure and she bought a WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF. Kary came over and her mom took most of the girls’ baby clothes and the huge desk. Michelle and Rosie were right: advertising does work!

I woke up when Jorge did for work the next day. I took my time, didn’t even bother to make my hair decent since I figured I’d have plenty of time to do it after I got back from posting signs on the corners around the block. I open the garage…and I kid you not, it was like ZOMBIES were attacking from under the garage door!! I look at mom in horror, who’d followed me into the garage to help hang clothes up. I literally sold most of the stuff in under an hour. I texted Jorge to tell him how much we’d made around 11am and he was in shock. As was I. I was so grateful, too, as we still had gifts to buy and we’d just spent a good amount at my appointment the day before.

We had no idea how that people wanted our junk, but they did, and on that cold, bleak morning, too! Mom later told me that there was already a line of cars parked outside at 6am when she’d woken up. I had the garage sale posted for 8am, but no way were those people waiting!

I closed shop around 2pm. Went to pick up the kiddos and we sang and talked on the way home. I missed them so much! I spent time with each one and had to keep rotating, heh. Eenan was showing me his Sims game, Alaethia and Emily were watching videos on the iPad. Alaethia’s really been into cooking shows and baking lately. All she wanted to do was watch Barbie Princess cakes videos. That’s what she wants me to make her for her birthday next month (5, already, eek !). She has so much faith in her Mama :P.

And Emily, she loves BABIES. That’s all she wants to do is watch shows about babies and Youtube videos about babies. That’s all she wanted for Christmas: dolls and babies.

I made dinner, we watched TV with the kids and they settled down. I don’t remember what we watched but we all ended up falling asleep on the sofa again, scattered everywhere.

The next morning Emily woke up with an ear infection. She tugged at her ear and cried. Mom gave all the kids breakfast while I closed up the garage sale. We’d gotten 2 people in the entire day so closing early wasn’t a problem. All the stuff that’s left would be taken to Goodwill. Eventually.

We made our way to the doctor. I was, in a way, glad Emily’s symptoms started showing up when they did, as the doctor’s offices would be closed till Tuesday due to the holiday. I took Alaethia in, too, as she’d also had symptoms of a cold and Mario hadn’t taken her in. Good thing I did: Emily had a severe ear infection and Alaethia’s was just starting out. Both of them had red throats and I asked them to prescribe something for Alaethia’s eczema, which has gotten a lot worse. Mario never took her in for new meds. (I’m happy to say it’s begun to clear up since she started taking that steroid! My poor girl was already in pain :(!)

Emily had a slight meltdown in the lobby as we waited for their prescriptions. Ok. I won’t sugarcoat it. It was an INSANE MELTDOWN. All because my phone was dying and I asked her to please put it back in my bag; she couldn’t play Angry Birds on it yet. Well, she’s used to getting her way at a place I won’t mention (not my house), so she had a fit. Not to mention she was irritable because of her ear and it was time for her daily nap. So I quietly took them to the van, buckled them in and drove around to the pharmacy drive-thru. Without losing my mind. I’ve still got it!

We stopped at HEB for a few things (yes, I braved it even with Emily’s tantrums) and when we got home, I gave the girls their meds. Emily fell asleep immediately. I made lunch and we kind of just had a lazy day the rest of the day. The kids continued it with Mom, who’d made popcorn and snacks :).

Pete and Sally invited us over (I’m so happy for them !). We put all the kiddos to bed and we headed over to their house (which is quite literally, down the street). All the kids had their phones just in case they needed us.

We had such a great time! Louie and his new wife, Jennifer, were there. Hadn’t seen Louie in YEARS! Jes was there, too and of course, Pete and Sally and Jorge and I. I’m so glad he can so easily get along with my friends. It means a lot to me that he makes an effort, especially with Pete and Sally, who are really important to me. I remember when someone else told me he had nothing in common with them and hated hanging out with them, which really pissed me off. (That’s actually around the time he told me he hated it so much that I should go hang out with Sally alone. Downtown even! And then the downward spiral of drama started. Just sayin’.)

Anyway, it was great :D. We made a cake and brownies and had some Margaritas. We kept making jokes about the shower to Pete, it was hilarious. A great, great night!

I woke up early the next morning, Christmas Eve! Made the kids breakfast and we ate together (my love had to work half a day =\) and then I started cleaning up. I got some Snickerdoodle batter ready around noontime, but since I had to chill the batter a while, I didn’t have them ready by the time Aunt Nora, Linda and her hubby, Tommy, came to visit. They brought everyone of us presents :*), how very sweet of them! We got to chat a while and Linda was in love with Ruffles :).

Mario came for the kiddos around 7pm. They’d gotten to get a few Snickerdoodles since I’d had a chance to make some before they left and I had them pose with the tree:

Jorge made us some bacon-wrapped, cream cheese & crab stuffed jalapeños that evening.

I can usually have about 5 of those babies. I had 2…and then I picked out this huge, dangerous looking one and I took a bite. I literally felt like my ears were bleeding. I felt nauseous–man, it was awful! No amount of milk or cookies or anything would help! Jorge thought I was being dramatic, but I told him to taste it and he said, “OMG, Baby, I’m so sorry!” 😆

We watched a movie while we wrapped the rest of the presents. I actually passed out while taking a break from wrapping but he finished. He did a great job with the boxes and even finished with Santa’s handwriting. He’s just so wonderful !

We woke up the next day and just enjoyed each other’s company :). We agreed to get each other a gift we’ve been wanting for a long time so we’d be ordering it soon :). I’ll post it when we finally receive it next Wednesday ♥.

Mom woke up and she opened her gifts from us :). She’d already given us ours: she pitched in to get us our gift from each other, heh. Jorge went to pick up his boys and Mom and I visited Gramma. We chatted a while and even shooed away her nosy, thiefy roommate . She was even snooping in Gramma’s wardrobe while we were standing right there! We’ve already brought it to the home’s attention, about this lady and her klepto-tendencies, but they say “she doesn’t know what she’s doing”. That may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that it stresses out my poor Gramma!!

We got home around the time Jorge did. His boys opened their gifts :). Then Mario dropped off my babies and they got to open theirs :). It was a mad-house of giggles and wrapping paper. It was wonderful :)!

We ordered Domino’s (one of the only places open that day LOL) and spent the rest of the day opening plastic packages and downloading apps on their little tablets. The house was in shambles, but we left it all alone and spent the rest of the even enjoying our kids. I felt so blessed, so complete!

I’ll start this post by saying that Friday night, the 4th, I renewed my domain for another 2 years :)! I usually only renew for a year at a time, but…I had a coupon, heh. 2 years for $16? Can’t beat that.

Pixydust.net will officially be 10 years old on November 16th. I can’t believe it! Even though I slowed down a bit in recent years with blogging I’m really glad I never let the domain go ♥.

I left off on October 29th. Mom and I packed snacks for the kiddos (grapes, Doritos, pretzels, pears, waters) and we got in the car to find a park to go to. I figured the one on Daffodil would be packed, I forgot about the one on Daffodil that’s closer to the house, so we went to the one on Nolana since we were going to Walmart afterwards. It’s a small park, but it was empty except for a dad and his little boy and toddler girl. Mom took a walk and I took turns with the girls, “catching them” at the end of the slides. Jaylen hung out mostly with Emily and Eenan did his teenage thing and watched videos on his phone and listened to music. It’s so…gosh, I can’t even explain it. Weird, shocking nervewracking? Heh, I can’t explain it. It’s just amazing that I have a 12-year-old boy and he’s becoming this little teenager. He has his moments, but he really has matured in the past year ♥.

Emily made friends with the little blonde-curled toddler girl :). She loves “babies”. She wants to befriend all the little kids she sees :).

The kids had their snacks and then we packed up and went to Walmart. Eenan and I got down to pick the pumpkins. Of course we wouldn’t find very attractive ones as it was 2 days before Halloween, heh. We finally found two big ones that weren’t too wilty. They didn’t have the medium sized ones in stock at all, but we found the only bag of tiny ones they had. The girls and Eenan wanted to paint those, and Jaylen wanted to carve one. We took an extra big one in case Jorgie, Justin or Nick wanted to carve another. They’d just carved some earlier that day. We got a carving kit and the few groceries we’d need for dinner and went home since we were expecting Jorge’s family :). We’d planned a movie night outside on the porch on the projector. A cheesy movie that wouldn’t really scare the kids. “Killer Clowns from Outer Space” was the movie of choice, heh.

I got home and made some chili. Everyone got here and I served everyone dinner while my babe and Javi got the movie on the screen. Briana and the boys brought with them the pumpkins they’d carved and displayed them on the porch ledge and lit a pumpkin spice scented candle in each. It smelled like Autumn ♥. When everyone finished eating, the adults grabbed lawn chairs and the kids got a spot on the exercise mats Jorge put on the floor for them. We got each kid a blanket, Jorge brought out several bowls of popcorn and Briana brought cookies. The kids were surprisingly into the movie!

Alaethia politely reminded me every-so-often that I had promised they’d paint their pumpkins. I waited till the movie was about half way and then I got the box of paints out.

The movie finished shortly after and then the boys started getting everything ready to carve their pumpkins.

Jorge’s family left a little while after and we sat outside with the kiddos while they degutted the pumpkins. The girls went inside with Mom since it started to get chillier. The boys each slowly went back inside until only Justin was left carving a pumpkin, but he didn’t mind. I told my love it was a great night for Abuelita chocolate…and he made some for us !

It was great :). I got sleepy right after that and went inside to watch TV and crashed out. I woke up a while later, I can’t remember why now, but I went outside and saw my babe had strung the lights up with all the kids’ pumpkins. It looked so nice!

We sat outside recounting moments of that great day. I felt so blessed . It truly felt like Halloween and fall and family :).

I can’t remember much from the next morning (Jorge and I are trying to remember right now, heh). We remember our traditional Sunday omelet. Eenan wanted one too, so I made him one even though all the kids had eaten :). And here’s where we’re drawing a blank, up until I texted Briana so everyone could come over for lunch and cupcakes. I’d promised Javi strawberry cheesecake cookies, so I was making those, too. Briana texts back that they’re in Mission and on their way. Oops! I was just starting with the Mummy Dogs, but I figured I’d have enough time to do everything.

Everyone got here and the kids played and everyone lounged around. The first batch of Mummies came out and they were a hit, even with the adults, heh.

I started on the strawberry cheesecake cookies and realized I didn’t have white chocolate chips. I let everyone know I’d be right back, took Emily with me because she wanted to tag a long and headed to Family Dollar. Emily had fallen asleep, so I lugged her inside and lo and behold: no white chocolate chips. Grr.

I go to Target next since it’s nearby and go straight to the baking section. That was the fastest trip to Target of my life. I didn’t allow myself to get distracted :P.

I start baking the cookies and the first dozen comes out. There were none left by the time I finished putting the next batch in. Javi really liked them, hehe.

We only got to have cookies since the family needed to go. It was so fun though, that whole weekend. I took my kiddos to La Joya later that evening and on the way back I saw a shooting star! Hadn’t seen one of those in a while!

When I got back Jorge asked, “Do you want to pick something up for dinner, Babe? You’ve been in the kitchen all day.” I thought it was a great idea. We got Church’s :). We all ate and then I did stuff around the site, like adding a “Like” button. I’d really like to get a new layout up by my 10th anniversary, but you know how that goes!

It was Halloween the next day. I had agreed to let Emily spend Halloween over there since I had them last year. I was trying my hardest to be fair and civil, but it really bothered me that my kiddos weren’t going to be here with me this year .

That morning at work went by quickly. We’re having to wrap things up for this next event. I was going to munch on stuff at work for lunch since my stomach felt weird but Michelle told me to accompany her and we’d share a Palenque Bowl from Palenque Chicken. OMG. It was so good, heh.

I got a call from the kids’ school that afternoon around 3:45 that poor Alaethia was still in the front office. She missed the bus. Jaylen was on it, and she wasn’t. Of course, nobody wanted to take blame for it but I had nice “I told you so’s” to share with Mario and his mother. THAT’S why I wasn’t ok with my poor baby taking the bus, as much as they say SHE wants to go. I’m just happy they didn’t put her on a different bus :(. Sonia went for her eventually (again, if she could go, I don’t know why she can’t do it all the time!)

I went to HEB to pick up sushi stuff. My babe was kinda down about not spending Halloween with the kiddos, too, so we figured we’d have a movie and sushi night ♥.

As I was rolling the sushi, Mario shows up with the kiddos. I was so happy :*).

That was nice of him. I was surprised, really, and I appreciated it :D. Almost made up for my baby girl being left at school for 30 minutes. Almost. Not quite.

We ate dinner and then Jorge and I got comfy on the sofa to watch TV…and crashed out immediately!! That’s how we spent our Halloween, buaha!

The Annual Banquet was the next day. I got all my stuff ready and took it with me so I could change at work. Darryl “the Moose” Johnston, former player for the Dallas Cowboys, was the speaker so we were dressing in Cowboys jerseys and t-shirts and jeans. I don’t really go for anyone in football and wasn’t about to spend $60 on a jersey, but I got a cute t-shirt and I was thrilled about wearing jeans :).

I met my love at Old Navy for work since he was going to go with me and he needed jeans. We found them really quickly (30% off, too!) and then I took him to lunch at Palenque Chicken, heh. It was so good and inexpensive, $12 for both of us! It’s so nice to just unwind with him during lunch :).

I stayed till 5 that day and covered the front desk since Rosie and everyone needed to go home to change. I got to change and be in jeans at work, heh. I had a few things to lug with me and went to the Convention Center to meet everyone. I got sent back a while later since they forgot a bottle of wine, and since we’d be selling roses for a fundraiser and had them in this awful 5-gallon bucket, I found a nice black satin tablecloth to cover it with.

My babe was running late, and when he finally got there they were going to separate us. Neither of us was too happy with that idea, so he went to chill out with his work buddies. I’m glad he did. I would have felt even more guilty that he got dressed up and everything =\.

We sold roses later on. I was kinda annoyed thinking I had to do it on my own, but another co-worker and the boss’ daughter did it, too. I actually sold most of my roses until they called me to do something else. We got to eat (wasn’t too happy about it, hotdogs and burgers, blah) and I didn’t see the nachos or pretzels so I didn’t get any LOL. I woulda been much happier with the latter!

I ended up being moved to the silent auction and once that was done we cleaned up, went back to work and unloaded and THEN I could come home. My babe was still a little upset about the whole thing, and I started getting upset and quickly went into panic mode because it was exactly a year to the hour since The Big Drama happened last year. I was actually a lot…calmer than I thought I would be on that night, but I owe it to keeping busy all day. I didn’t have time to “think” too much. But we were okay and we were together and in our soft bed and comfy sheets ♥. All was wonderful again by the next morning :).

I was so stressed out at work. One sponsor dropped because they’re closing their business. Another changed marketing directors and the new one didn’t include our event on their calendar. OMG I was so mad. And THEN, another company wanted to drop out too because my contact is just…awful. I knew she was going to be trouble as soon as I started dealing with her. I was about to lose my shit and texted Jorge to tell him how stressed I was. He asked when I was going to lunch and told me he’d meet me. He surprised me by showing up at my work ! We drove to Espi’s together and I just spewed everything out, everything that happened. He listened, offered advice and listened some more. And then he told me to forget everything and just enjoy lunch, so I did :). I was so grateful that he went out of his way to make me feel better.

I reluctantly went back to work. I wished Jorge could stay with me, or I could go with him, heh. But the day got better; my boss dealt with the sponsor and I got about 3 new exhibitors.

My Emily was brought to me 😀 and I made us dinner. We all got in our PJ’s and went to Walmart to get goodies and catfood, heh. We browsed around and then went home and watched XFactor. Emily fell asleep on my lap and Jorge took her to her bedroom where she stayed all night ♥. We finished watching the show and sat together enjoying each other’s company. We both expressed how we’d like every day to be like that :).

I couldn’t help but think to myself how much better this November 2nd was compared to last year. And we both agreed: it’s only going to get better :).