Category: Holiday

Last week felt like one of the longest, most stressful ones in a long time. One of my major events was coming up at the end of the week–which is where most of my stress was coming from–and it was Halloween on Wednesday.

Mario and I have been taking turns with the kids on Halloween since 2010, and this year was my turn. I was thrilled :). Mario hadn’t gotten the boys costumes yet and it was a week before Halloween; we were cutting it close. Jaylen wanted to be a Minecraft Creeper and Eenan wanted to be a zombie (of course!), so I figured we’d go the crafty way and do the costumes ourselves. I was probably in over my head, but I wanted the kiddos to be happy.

I’m so glad I’d worked on several things for work at home on Sunday (the 28th) or else I would have been swamped on Monday. Well, I kinda was anyway, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I sent everything out that needed to be sent out and followed up on several things. I can’t remember why I didn’t go to Walmart that night to get the stuff we’d need for Jaylen’s Creeper costume–I know I worked a bit late, but I can’t remember what else I had to do O_o–but I waited till the next day. I went right after work and bought the spray and acrylic paints. Got home: made dinner, got the girls in the bath and got them ready for bed. Early. Jorge got home and was visibly annoyed. The kids didn’t have costumes (hence my previous rant) and he couldn’t make SOMEBODY understand that he hands over plenty of cash for them to have 5 costumes each if they wanted. It was high drama. He needed to cool down (’cause things were becoming heated between us) so he went to wash his car. I got ready to start on Jaylen’s costume, and realized that the box we had was a bit too big and heavy. I asked Mom to stay with the girls while I went to Walmart for a new one. I found the box, went to pay. The cashier at the register is sweet enough to say, with pity, “Awe. You look SO TIRED.” She had NO IDEA.

Jorge got back when I was (having trouble) measuring and he helped me. We took turns painting. 2 1/2 hours later, we were done:

He loved it, thank goodness :). I’m just sad I couldn’t get it to him on time for school =\. But they have to dress as story book characters anyway and I’m pretty sure some kid woulda knocked it over and it would have been ruined :(.

Wednesday, Halloween, I got Aly ready for school and dropped her off. No costumes were allowed, but Halloween shirts were:

I totally don’t tell her to pose; that’s all her! My little diva! (Pay no attention to the mess on the bistro table…those were crafting supplies leftover from the previous night’s project!)

We had a meeting in the morning so they fed us tacos from El Pato, heh. We got to watch a clip while we ate of a local band that went on the Mexican version of “America’s Got Talent”. Pretty interesting!

I rushed through work. I’m pretty sure I met up with my love to eat lunch somewhere (this is when it comes in handy to check in on Facebook, but lately either my phone doesn’t cooperate or I just forget, heh).

I got out of work an hour early and rushed to pick up the boys. The whole drive takes 1 hour to and from, and we had to stop at a store and pick up baskets/bags for the boys, plus some “blonde” hair spray paint for Alaethia’s Rapunzel costume AND THEN I’d have to get them ALL ready and make it to the first party we were going to, which ended at 7pm.

So I picked them up and we went straight to the Halloween store on Shary. Super long line. Scratch that. We go a few stores down to Sally Beauty Supply. There’s only a slightly golden spray, but it’s $3 and the last one. It would be my last resort if Target didn’t have them. We walk to Target, with the boys acting like boys and making me laugh the whole way. I love those lil’ dudes!

We get to the Halloween section and I ask an employee; they didn’t receive ANY hair spray paint this year. Bummer. Jaylen found a basket, and Eenan ran as fast as he could to the game section -__-. Grrr. So there we go, looking for him. I came across a cart of abandoned clearance items and notice a whole box-full of solar path lights. 24 of them. At $.90 each! I call Jorge and finally get through Sprint’s crappy signal and he tells me, “GET THEM ALL!” So I did :). I’m SO GLAD we waited all this time to buy them! That’s a steal if you ask me!

Jaylen and I threaten to leave Eenan behind and we go pay. The boy STILL stayed behind. I remember a time when I could say, “I’m leaving without you if you don’t hurry…1…2…” And now he knows I either won’t leave or he could just sit all day in the game section LOL.

When Eenan finally got back, we went to Sally’s to get the gold paint. It was already going to be 6pm! There was no way we were making it to the party. Oh well. They were fine just trick-or-treating.

I got the girls in their costumes and spray-painted their hair. Emily had a hair piece and put it on, too LOL. Jaylen’s was easy; he put on is box and was ready to go! Eenan, on the other hand, took a while. I cut up his old shirt, put his hair up in a high ponytail so I could start painting his face white/gray (to which he gasped, horrified, “I look like a Geisha!!” LOL). And then came the tattoo applications and the rest of the make-up. Jorge got home as I was getting them ready, around 7:30pm. They were ready to find some candy!

Mom abandoned ship and decided to go with us. She’d bought all this candy and wasn’t even going to give it out! We went to Michelle and Rosie’s neighborhood, where they let us park, thank God. It was madness. It looked like herds of zombies were out and about. Most of the houses were out of candy, but the kids got some pretty good loot. Towards the end of our expedition Emily says, “Mama. I can’t walk anymore.” Aww LOL!. It was time to call it quits. We got in the car and went to visit Gramma for a while, then we picked up some Church’s Chicken, fed the kids at home, forced them all to take showers and they were out for the count. All of them LOL.

I woke up at 5am Thursday morning to take the boys to school, then drove home right after to pick up Alaethia and drop her off at school. Work was hectic, but everything seemed to be running smoothly…until one of my fitness instructors dropped out. And then my chef dropped out. Grrr. It was drama, but thankfully we found replacements quickly.

Ate lunch with my love at Siempre Natural. Got out of work, drove to pick up the boys, and took them to Game Stop, then got home and started on some enchiladas. Got the girls in the bath, got everyone in bed and THEN I sat down to watch the CMA’s. Jorge was having his Guy’s Night on the back porch watching Thursday Night Football, so I snuggled up to watch some singin’. Yeah right. I was out like a light by 9:30pm! Jorge woke me up around midnight and I got in the shower. Good thing, too, ’cause next morning was another 5am wake-up call!

I gathered all my stuff that I may need since I was having a late work night (my phone charger, flats, etc.) and took the boys to school. Jorge was taking Aly this time *whew*. I got to work and did all the last-minute things that have become a ritual the day before an event. I made it a point to call all my exhibitors and got confirmation that indeed, everyone was showing up. Thank goodness. I gathered everything we’d need for the event and packed my car, then headed to meet my love for lunch. We chose HEB Plus Cafe, Spoonz, since we were both craving it (too bad I ordered the wrong panini sandwich!).

My boss texted that we could change into jeans, so my love and I went home and I changed, I dropped him off at his jobsite and then I went to the convention center. An hour in, I had a feeling I should call one of my instructors…and she flaked out on me after she confirmed! So we put our heads together and hired one of our go-to guys for an hour of guitar instrumental. *whew*

I left for my boys at 5, picked them up and they stayed with me at work, keeping busy with their (and my) phones :).

We closed shop around 7:45pm and the director of catering came to talk to the boys. He told them about this app where they can monitor where the International Space Station is and plants and stars. He told them the ISS was passing over us at 7:59pm and what way to face to see it, so we hauled out of there and parked. And sure enough, we saw it! A little silver dot passing by in a perfect arch. The boys were pretty intrigued :).

We got home and ate and then we relaxed in PJs and watched our shows. I got ready for the next day and hoped for the best.

Got up, another 5am morning, and headed out. Met the boss at work at 6:30am to pick up some stuff we forgot, then headed to the convention center. People were already waiting to unload. It felt like a blur. By the time we knew it, it was time to open the doors. To make a super long story short, we had a much better turnout last year in terms of people, much better turnout this year in terms of exhibitors. I was really disappointed. Something went wrong with the ads, or something. Didn’t help that 3 other similar events were happening around the Valley. Ugh :(.

It was over, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be honest. I was so stressed! I felt a little bummed, but my boss told me not to worry, and so did everyone else. I did my job.

I packed up my stuff with my co-worker’s help, and then I headed to HEB. Briana and I planned on celebrating Halloween with the kids that Saturday, since we didn’t get to on Wednesday. We were trying to mimic our celebrations from the year before, only this year Dina wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be carving pumpkins =\.

I got stuff for mummy weenies, cupcakes, and some cream cheese and bacon stuffed crescents for the adults. I was tired just thinking about it, but I wanted to do this for the kiddos.

I got home, unloaded, changed and lay on the bed with Emily. She ran off and I ended up falling asleep for a whole hour, until our lawn guy was weed-whacking near my bedroom window. He finally showed up! He left us a letter in our mailbox, thank God, with his info. We’d lost it and our neighborhood lawn kid hadn’t showed up in 3 weeks and the grass was INSANE.

I started on the mummy weenies, then the cupcakes. My love showed up, then Bri and the kids. We chit-chatted and my love got the projector running. I finally finished with the food at 10pm! I started at 5:30 LOL.

I could eat those every day! May (or may not, heh) post a recipe this weekend! It’s hard for me to since almost everything I make is just by “eye” measurements, so that’s where it gets hard to put it on paper. Er, or website.

This was after the movie started getting scary LOL. Eenan came and sat next to me, Jorgie had an arm around each of the girls (but they refused to stop watching!). Later, Nick, Jorgie and Justin went and huddled around Jorge:

I stole this one from Jorge’s Facebook :P. You can see Eenan realizing that someone was behind us…and he was instantly creeped out LOL. He said, “He scared me!” And I said, “WHO??” And he points and Jorge and says, “HIM…” but it sounded more like “heem” LOL!!

Not pictured is Jaylen, who passed out in his room and no amount of noise or rib-poking would wake him up. Until an hour later when he sprung back to life and wanted to play video games -__-.

It was a great night! As stressed as I was, and as much work as it took, I feel blessed to be surrounded by my family and our good times ♥!

It’s taken me a whole week to write up this post, so I’ll stop here and continue with this week’s post next week, buahaha!

April 6th – I spent the first day of my 3-day vacation cleaning the house, doing laundry, and going to Dollar Tree and Target to get a few last-minute things for the kids’ Easter baskets :). I found some pretty cute things at the Target Dollar Spot, which I completely missed the first time. I got some Gerber goodies for Julien, which is what Jorge and I finally decided on for his basket. I got home, made lunch and started on the baskets. I think they turned out pretty good :).

I was told something that day–something that I knew would eventually be said–but I had no idea it would affect me the way it did. Apologies were made and all was well in the end, but it’s something that I won’t easily forget. Only because, like Jorge says, I have a very good memory LOL.

Jorge got home and we watched Rango with the kiddos that night. It always makes me so warm and fuzzy inside when all our kiddos are sprawled around the living room, comfortable and happy .

April 7th We lazied around the next day and celebrated Easter that night. Since the other parents wanted to pick up the kids at opposite times of the day we figured we’d celebrate the night before. The kids opened their baskets, Jorge got home and started up the pit, we had the egg war and then we ate.

When we’d finished we sat outside and watched a documentary on snakes on the big screen. The kids were enthralled!

April 8th – Mario picked the kiddos up around 9:30 or so. They drove off and I already felt a hollow pit in my chest and a knot in my throat . It sucks that I can’t have them with me all the time.

I went back to our bedroom and cuddled up next to Jorge, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I got up and made us breakfast. We got ready for the day and around 3pm Jorge dropped the boys off. He got back and we kinda sat around in the quiet house, staring at each other heh. We figured we’d do some work around the house. Our little flower bed had been completely destroyed by the hail storm, save for some little stumps that we’d been trying to revive. I’m so glad we didn’t give up on them:

I’d been meaning to move those little flowers into a flower pot. They aren’t supposed to be in direct sunlight, heh.

We had some Red Mango (which was over half off since I had a birthday coupon :D!).

We finished up and went to Home Depot across the street. Everything else was closed due to the holiday. Shary Road was like a ghost town. Jorge said, “You do know we’re probably the only people not celebrating today, right?” That made me feel a pang for the kids again .

We found some Petunias to replace the other flowers, got some drinks and headed home. Jorge started cleaning the garage while I started working in my little flower bed.

We heard the familiar sounds of the ice cream truck and we glanced at each other, both knowing we were about to run over there, heh. I’d been trying to eat better, but some things you just can’t give up! He got a corn in a cup and I got some Flamin’ Hots with cheese *drool*.

I finished up and was pretty proud of my work *beams*.

The little flower-less stumps are my old Petunias that survived the hail storm. I can’t wait till they start flowering again!

Jorge was finishing up with sweeping the garage. I started going through boxes and Jorge and I discussed organizing everything so that we could park both vehicles just in case we have another freak storm. We needed 3 more boxes to accomplish this, so Jorge, Mom and I went to Big Lots to get some. We got back, I went through all the boxes, filled up the 3 new ones and got rid of a whole bunch of cardboard ones. We were pretty darn satisfied with our work. After a year (yes, one whole year on the 8th!) of living here, we finally got our garage how we wanted :).

We were starving, so I whipped up some Green Curry Chicken salad, which is celery, green apples, olive oil mayo and chicken. It was so delicious. I’m pretty sure we burned off all our snacks of the day with all our work and eating a healthy dinner always makes me feel great. I was ready for the week. Ready for my last week in my 20’s!

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!