Category: Kiddos

It’s almost Christmas (OMG!) and I’ve been stalling updating this thing. So, with that said, here’s a Catch-Up Post with lots of pictures that should have actually been titled “The Longest Post In the History of the World” :).

Our Thanksgiving felt a little…rushed this year, probably because I undershot the time we’d need to prepare the food. John and Monique stopped by to drop off their homemade apple pie (aww!) and requested plates since they’d both be working this year =\. Then I rushed to pick up the kids, who were celebrating Thanksgiving at noon at Mario’s. (We’d be celebrating for dinner). But regardless, it was great and I was sincerely grateful for every little thing in my life, but mainly my family and wonderful kids ♥!

Keeping the kids occupied while we cooked:

The feast!

Can’t forget the ham!

Everything was super delicious. Briana and the kids came over and ate and chilled out a bit. Then, when 8:30pm rolled around we got the kids in bed and asked Mom to babysit while Jorge and I went Black Friday Shopping. It was his first time doing it, ever. I was a bit skeptical about taking him along, but he said there was no way he was letting me out into the madness on my own, so he said he had no choice, heh.

Started at Walmart, where the cars were parked in the dirt nearing the street. Lines were ridiculously long, and we weren’t sure they’d have what we’d need, so we left to Target. The line was BEHIND THE STORE!! This is a huge Target, mind you. I wish I’d taken pictures. They were incredibly organized, though. By the time we got to the area to buy what we specifically went there for…they were OUT. I couldn’t believe it. So Jorge says, “Well. We’re already here. Let’s look around and see what else we find.” So, moping slightly, I follow him and see a man hauling THE ITEM. I had a feeling I should stick around. So I did. I pretended to read my ad as I inched closer. (Jorge told me later he thought I was going to mug the guy LOL). I could hear him on the phone talking to probably his wife, and he sounded unsure about taking the item. We make eye contact and he hangs up. He looks at me and says, in Spanish, “Hey. Do you want it?” I nod an enthusiastic YES and we put it into our cart. I couldn’t contain a *squee* and Jorge asked, “Ok, what happened?” and jokingly adds, “Did you show boob or something?! How did you do that??” I was thrilled. We picked up several more things (including a spiffy blender, woo!) and stood in an hour-long line that squiggled through the isles.

Next stop was Walmart (where what we went for didn’t even make it to the store!) and then Kmart. We found what we originally went to Walmart for and stood in line for another hour. We headed home about midnight, but were pretty happy. Jorge said it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be and couldn’t believe how much we saved!

I went to bed, set my alarm for 4 hours later and planned to make it to HEB plus by 6am (BY MYSELF!), where I REALLY REALLY needed to purchase one of the kids’ gifts. Set the alarm, ate 2 bites of pecan pie for breakfast and ran out the door. The line went around the store behind the pharmacy. I made friends with 3 ladies, and they shared their ad with me in case I needed to run over to Walmart to price-match, heh. I found a map of the store that I’m assuming one of the employees misplaced and it told us exactly where everything was. Doors opened, I went straight to the place I needed to and got what I went for and then some. I was giddy with excitement! I couldn’t believe my good luck :). AND I got great deals on stuff I didn’t even expect to and got a $20 coupon to use the next day ^_^!

My kiddos left that evening for Mario’s, since it was his weekend. I bathed the girls and Emily had chills and then got a fever. I gave her Motrin and made sure she was nice and bundled up since it was drizzing outside. I told Mario to keep an eye on her; I just had a feeling she was on the road to a bad cold.

Alaethia dressed herself, as you can see, heh.

I was so bored when the kids left. First Jorgie and Justin and then mine left. The house is so quiet and I kind of come to a standstill like, “Now what?” I was glad for John’s company, who stopped by to eat and pick up a plate for Monique. He listened to my Black Friday Shopping stories and we caught up about other stuff. He left and Jorge got home and we ate and watched TV :).

I did shopping and started on wrapping the next day and then on Sunday Jorge and I had brunch at Espi’s.

We ordered the girls’ beds that day. Wouldn’t arrive for about 2 weeks. I was glad we went when we did; we got 2 different “Black Friday” discounts, $100 off for being customers so long, and 4 years no-interest (fk yes!) and we fell in love with the bed :).

Jorgie and Justin had been dumped (literally) at our house while we were out shopping, so thank God Mom was here. Jorge didn’t have his phone but had a feeling he should call them, and that just so happened to be when they were waiting outside our front door. Jesus. The woman can’t even wait to find out of they’ve made it safely inside.

We worked on the kids’ science projects the rest of the day (which included a walk to the empty lot down the streets where, for some reason, they have several different piles of roofing materials and we luckily found what Justin needed for his project). Closer to the evening Jorge started feeling really ill. He’d been complaining of a pain in his stomach but he doubled over and it scared the crap out of me. He rested after we made a run to Target to print the kids’ project photos and the kids and I continued on their project.

I talked to the kids and asked Mario how Emily was doing and if she needed to go to the doctor. Actually, I asked if she needed the doctor since the day before, but he said she was fine, feverish, but fine.

So when he brought her to me the next morning and it felt like her skin was on fire, I took her to the doctor immediately. Thank goodness I was using a vacation day. Jorge calls while we’re waiting and tells me he’s on his way to the doctor, too. His boss was taken-aback by his state and told him to come to the doctor ASAP. So there we were. 2 hours later, they were seen. He definitely had an infection and Emily was prescribed cough meds and Motrin. I asked, “Doesn’t she need some antibiotics?” Doc brushed it off and said, “Nah.” I had a bad feeling, but fine, I gave him the benefit of the doubt since he IS the doctor.

We got some food. Emily must have had a hard night, or the fever was making her lethargic, but she took a few spoonfuls of soup (that I fed her) and she fell asleep on my lap. It made me feel so sad. I can’t stand when my kids are sick and unlike themselves. I was angry at Mario for not taking her to the doctor sooner.

Emily and Jorge slept, and I went to pick Alaethia up from school. I spent that night placing cool, wet towels on Emily’s forehead and bathing her at midnight because her fever wouldn’t subside. I was so scared that I brought her to bed with me and she slept on my chest, like she did when she was a baby ♥. I got no rest, but was happy that she woke up without a fever.

Went to work, called the nurse and ordered an antibiotic for Emily, which Jorge picked up and gave her during lunch. He was feeling a tad better, too, thank God. Called Mom every hour or so to check how Emily was doing. There was a span of time where she didn’t have a fever at all.

I picked up cough drops for Emily and a new thermometer, since the newest one broke during the boys science projects and my old one’s battery was dying. I came straight to Emily’s room and checked her temp. She still looked so lethargic and unlike herself. Her temperature said 102.9, which I attributed to it being time for her fever reducers again. I stuck her in a cool bath immediately and gave her Tylenol AND Motrin and it broke my heart to see that she couldn’t even cry, she was so tired. Mom said she ate soup during her meals and drank plenty of water, but I was still afraid she’d become dehydrated. Jorge got home and saw that I was almost in tears, I felt helpless. Her fever was still at 102.6, even after a cool bath for half an hour. I put her in her bed and smoothed her hair from her face. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes and I swallowed back a lump in my throat and said, “Aw mama, don’t cry. You’ll get better.” My heart cracked into a million pieces when she slowly shook her head, letting me know that she didn’t think she’d ever get better. I dressed her up and we took her to her night doctor. It took about 30 minutes to be seen and when they checked her her temperature was still 101.3. The doctor said to keep doing the same thing, giving her Motrin and Tylenol together, keeping her hydrated, and cool baths, etc. She said the antibiotic would kick in by the next day. I decided to stay with her the next day, and to everyone’s relief she was better by the evening :). She even stuck around while I made dinner and asked to wash dishes, which she hadn’t done in days!

Thursday was Cash Mob day…where we spend money at a locally-owned member’s business. I wasn’t looking forward to spending, as I was budgeting, but it was fun trying stuff on:

Went for my kiddos that evening and spent it helping Eenan with his science project. Luckily, we had all the photos and everything, just had to put everything together (and we still didn’t end up finishing till 11pm!).

December 1st was Quentin’s birthday party. The 2 eldest boys wanted to stay home, of course, so they stayed with Mom. Justin, Jaylen, Emily and Alaethia went with me. They had such a blast and didn’t want to leave. Sally really out-did herself with the theme (circus) and decorations and games!

We were supposed to go back to the party for Carlos’ surprise party Sally was throwing, but plans changed. Jorge went to Furniture Row to pick up the girls’ bed. Long story short: he lost the phone somewhere at the store, we went to the store to search for it, walked around the Expressway and came up with nothing. We tracked it (iPhone) and it showed that it was near the Expressway, so we hoped that someone found it and left it in the store.

We cleaned the house like crazy the next day; even the boys’ room was scrubbed top to bottom. We took a break to go to Furniture Row, where we called and THANK GOD, Jorge’s phone was safely waiting. The guy at the warehouse was nice enough to find it thrown in the parking lot and kept it at the store.

My love assembled the girls’ bed that night. All he asked for was an abundance of Peach Tea and football, heh.

All the kids loved it. Justin and Jaylen even asked for a similar bed, a fire truck LOL! Err, not gonna happen :P.

Since the girls’ mattresses hadn’t come in yet, we pushed in their old toddler bed mattresses, which they were quite happy about :).

The rest of the week was the usual; helping Alaethia with projects at the beginning of the week and events at work the ending of the week.

Wednesday was the Good Day Luncheon:

Thursday my babies left to Mario’s and it was the All About Women event in the evening. It was a fun morning, even getting a visit from Santa and taking a group photo at work. I went to lunch with EZ, Laura, Michelle, and Bob Z. and then the worst thing in the world happened: I dropped my Galaxy SIII and the screen shattered into a million pieces! I was in shock!

I didn’t have time to be sad about it since Michelle and I were running errands for Gerry, like buying wine at H-E-B and buying balloons at JJ’s Party House. Then we helped decorate and so on and then it was time for the event. It was super packed and the Traveling Photo Booth made it even more fun. We took a billion pics! Even Sally and my Love got to make it at the end :).

Jorge and I were hungry, so since we were kidless we had dinner at Chili’s. It was nice to relax, just the two of us. Until JR. showed up and joined us a while LOL, but it was a quick catch-up visit and then he had a game to watch in the bar section. My love took this photo of me, almost make-up-less and tired, and posted this:

Yo quiero esta preciosa novia mía más que la vida 🙂 es mi mejor amiga y todo lo que alguien pudiera pedir en este mundo :*)

I love this precious girlfriend of mine more than life, she’s my best friend and everything anyone could ask for in this world.

He still surprises me after all this time :). I never knew my old friend Jorge to be so good with words (in English and Spanish!), or to be so sweet, heh. He’s the best!

We got home, relaxed and crashed out. I was excused from the all-day event that was happening on Saturday, since my love and I were heading to Brownsville for the day. Our Anniversary is November 18th, but we hadn’t had a chance to celebrate it till that day. And it was the best ever! We woke up, got ready and drove straight to Beef O’Brady’s for brunch, heh. The food is always great and what’s best about it is: it’s free!

We stopped by Walmart to pick up some chairs and miscellaneous things for the 10-Man Jam concert :). We weren’t going to get to see all 10 artists, because we had plans to watch the Pacquiao vs. Marquez fight at Beef’s that night, but I was really looking forward to seeing Eden’s Edge :)!

Yeah, my hair was curly. I was too lazy to straighten it that morning, heh:

Local artist Madelyn Victoria opened the show:

Eden’s Edge!!

Bucky Covington:

Greg Bates:

Jana Kramer:

By then it was too dark to get a good photo of the last group we saw, The Farm:

I was a little sad that we didn’t get to see Lauren Alaina, Katie Arminger and several others, but we had a fight to watch! And what a fight it was! We had dinner (mostly appetizers LOL) and had an awesome dessert while we watched the most epic knockout ever!

We got to our hotel pretty happy :).

The next day, we woke up, got ready and checked out and were on a mission to find the closest Denny’s. Only, my Google maps was on crack or something ’cause it made us get lost 3 times in 3 different cities >_

We had a pretty darn good beginning of December :).

Friday was a hectic one for me. It was my last day before my week “vacation” (and by vacation I mean staying home with the girls and being as lazy as I can :D), so I was haulin’, getting things done before I left work. I had to cover Rosie’s lunch hour so I had a quick dinner at Feldman’s with my boss. Yummiest lasagna I’ve had in a while:

Amazingly, I didn’t eat the whole thing, heh.

Picked up my boys after work and got the girls ready to go. Alaethia desperately wanted to go to a classmate’s party, and since she missed her friend’s party a few months ago I promised we could go. I was so exhausted though! But thankfully, Jorge was ordering a pizza after he picked up his boys, so I didn’t have to worry about dinner.

We went to Target and got the little girl a Cinderella doll, and we browsed the dollar section. The girls were satisfied with a little pack of 3D erasers (sushi for Aly, sweets for Ems). I totally made a mental note to go back and buy all the kiddos stocking stuffers before they ran out!

We wrapped up the gift in the car (I have made a point to always carry tissue paper!) and we were off. To make a super long, my-feet-ache-immensely story short: we arrived, the girls played for 2 straight hours.

They hardly sat to eat. I had a sliver of pizza LOL. But it was nice to meet some of the other parents. We’re still the “new family” in town, so it was nice to sit and chat with them and let them know we’re not some weird people.

My love, some buddies and the boys were here chilling out. Dina came by later (she had been presenting at the Island all week and got to visit!). I got the girls ready for bed and then I finally, FINALLY got to sit down, kick off my shoes and have a glass of wine with Dina and catch up :). We had some great conversation, even discussing some of Jorge’s ex-girlfriends, buahaha!

I had no chance of sleeping in on Saturday. The girls woke me up bright and early. I made all the kiddos some Sprinkles Pancakes, they ate, I got ready to go pick up cash from my love, deposit at the bank and then I went to Target to get the kiddos some stocking stuffers. I had to control myself and put some back; they had so many cute things!

I went to HEB next and OMG. I hate grocery shopping. Dina had already arrived at the house and was prepping the turkey for cooking. It took me a whole hour to shop, grr. I got home and Briana had arrived, too. I put all the groceries away with Mom’s help, made lunch for the kiddos (all different: some had macaroni, some had grilled cheese, some had chicken nuggets LOL) and THEN, I got to sit with them and watch part of John Tucker Must Die.

We got up later and started on the sides. I made green-bean and bacon casserole. Before we knew it, everything was done! We were just waiting for Jorge and Julien to arrive :).

Mia and Alaethia:

The boys:

Emily and Julien:

The family:

The food:

I realized later there wasn’t one photo of me this time =\. Oh well. Next time!

The food was soooo good! Briana left a while after with Mia and Nick slept over. Dina and I joined Jorge and Tony outside after I put the girls to bed and we had a glass of wine. I had gotten 2 bottles of Moscato for $2.50 each at HEB! I regret not buying more, to keep for special occasions. I still have one of them left since we only had 2 cups each. I was so exhausted that I was literally nodding off, so when Dina excused herself I excused myself. I wish we’d had more time to catch up, but she had to leave at 5am =\.

Julien came to bed with me since he was tired, too. He woke up twice, because of his congestion, but he slept like a rock the rest of the night. As much as I wanted to sleep in, I was still awake before everyone else at 9am! I read a while and then Julien began to stir. Jorge woke up and then I got up and started making breakfast. Somewhere in between we got into an argument, and proceeded to ignore each other the rest of the day, heh.

I’m always skeptical about writing about any arguments we have (because we do, but thankfully not often) because the last time I did about a year ago he got a text from his ex telling him she loved how we were “always” fighting. But, this is my blog and I haven’t censored what I write in 10 years and I’m not about to start now over some over-dramatic, wishful person.

So, with that said, he left his omelet (that I painstakingly diced veggies for) on the table. To get cold. After 30 minutes I called the boys over and Justin and Jaylen shared it. If it’s one thing I hate, is cooking and my food not being eaten -__-. And I knew giving his food away would boil his blood, buahahaha!

So, the day went on. Eenan and I worked on his science project. I made lunch for the kiddos…which…just so happened to be cheese and bacon omelets LOL. They all wanted some. Except for Jorgie and Jaylen. They made their very own pigs in a blanket (with supervision, of course). Proud mama here :).

The boys went out to play football, then later played Yugioh cards. And we didn’t even have to ask them to get away from their games!

I showered and then I went with Eenan and Emily to get Eenan’s hair cut. Jorge and I texted each other back and forth (while I pleaded with Emily to quit hiding under the bench seat at the salon), and we both got over it, thank goodness.

He was on his way to drop Julien off and was really upset about it. Julien didn’t want to take his seat belt off and was crying when his aunt came out to get him. Aww :(.

Got home and my love and I snuggled and made up. As I nuzzled his neck he whispers, “I can’t believe you gave my food away! It was ruthless!” I giggle and say, “Well. I wanted you to know I meant business!”

Before we knew it, it was dinnertime. Leftovers from Saturday it was!

Jorge had all the boys bathe while I was gone, so all we had to do was eat and then we all huddled in the living room with some popcorn and pickles to watch The Walking Dead. As hectic as our Sunday evenings usually are, I love them :).

The kiddos were all in bed right after Walking Dead, and Jorge and I were in bed by 10:40! We crashed out immediately. I don’t know if it’s because I fell asleep so “early” or if I was afraid my phone would die and I wouldn’t hear my alarm, but I kept waking up after 4am. I got up when the alarm went off at 5:45am and woke the boys up. I wore the same t-shirt I slept in, heh, washed my face, slipped on some jeans and flip flops and we were out the door. Late, because Eenan couldn’t find his sweatshirt and was looking for it.

I dropped the kiddos off, got gas in the van and came home. I could have slept, but I didn’t. Yes. I know I’ll regret this later, heh.

The girls were up an hour later and asked for cereal. So we sat and ate together. Then we started cleaning the kitchen. They, as always, wanted to help:

Alaethia noted, “The fridge looks like a giant tree. I’m not kidding–look at the lines it has!” I just said, “Oh yeah!” LOL

I started cleaning the bathroom, then their bedroom, then I showered and then I bathed them. Then I made lunch (chicken curry salad) since my love was eating lunch at home ’cause he’s been working nearby :D!

The girls and Mom ate before he got here, but I waited so Jorge and I could eat together. He got here, kissed me, and we chatted about our day as we ate. It was so nice. We haven’t eaten lunch together in about a week, and it was great to eat and then have a 10-minute cuddlefest hehe.

He left and we got ready for Mom’s appointment. The girls picked their movies, their Hello Kitty plushies and we were off. I was regretting not taking a nap as soon as we parked; my book, the overcast sky and cool air conditioning was making me sleepy. And then Mom is walking up to the door and I’m thinking, “What the–?” She tells me, that for some reason, she didn’t actually have an appointment. Grrrr. I could have finished cleaning during that time!

So we came back home, the girls changed from their boots to flip flops and put shorts under their skirts and we went to the park. They played on the jungle gym while I swayed on the swing right in front. Then they moved to the other toddler side of the park:

They kept asking for 5 more minutes so I tried luring them away with smoothies from Burger King. Emily STILL bawled that she wanted to stay, then bawled because she wanted a chocolate shake and NOT a smoothie. And then we got home and she crashed out, heh.

Emily woke up, fought with Alaethia over who knows what and then they had snacks and now they’re playing peacefully, thank goodness! My poor babe was almost on his way home and then he got called, but hopefully it’s quick. They’re going to have their Monday Night Football bar-b-que, which means I don’t have to cook! Woo! I’m hoping to wake up early tomorrow and make my love breakfast (and maybe this time, he’ll eat it >_< !!).

I’m feeling a little under the weather (and by that I mean “Girl Sick”) so it’s a mac-n-cheese in a cup and comfy yoga sweats kinda evening. Jorgie and Justin are fed, bathed and in bed, my kiddos are still at their dad’s and my love is getting ready so we can get comfy on the couch and watch The Walking Dead. I’m excited!

So Friday was all about work. Work at work, preparing for this event. Meetings here and there. Tamales in said meeting. Got out of work, got a hair cut (finally) and picked up my Babe. Went to Old Navy, had an unsuccessful shopping trip and then we got some parts my van needed, he fixed it real quick, we picked up some “snacks” at Jack-in-the-Box, we did some more work in the cold, picked up Starbucks and then we got some Wendy’s on the way home. I “behaved” and got some chili, heh. Michelle had wanted to go out, but man, I was just so exhausted and I couldn’t bare to spend more money so we got home and crashed out.

The next morning I showered, had Jorge’s leftover Starbucks (he didn’t like his Venti Caramel Macchiato) and I took Mom to run an errand. We went to the Halloween stores, where we met up with Michelle and Rosie, to try and find costumes for Jorge and I for Jim’s party that night. The first store was messy and I didn’t find anything. We went to the second and stood in line for an hour and a half where you could only browse the costumes by the picture on the wall, just so Jorge’s costume wouldn’t be the right size and I didn’t remember the right “number” for mine. I was so frustrated and I was meeting Mario and my babies at the Pumpkin Patch to take their pics so we left. It was great seeing my babies and we got some good shots 🙂

Don’t mind the hair, heh. I totally didn’t plan on being in any pics, but I think it came out ok :).

The kiddos left with Mario and Mom and I headed to another store. This one was SUPER EXPENSIVE. So I gave up. I went to Payless to find some cheap boots so I could use the pirate wench costume I already had and just buy Jorge a pirate one to match, but I didn’t like any of the boots. I headed to Walmart to get the girls their boots and a Hello Kitty Halloween shirt since Aly can’t wear her costume at school. We got a few other Halloween-y things and came home.

I ate a very late lunch and texted back and forth with Michelle. I had no idea what to do about our costumes. When my love got home and hour and a half later, we decided we’d buy Halloween shirts and stop stressing.

Jorge’s boys got here (I wasn’t expecting them so I hadn’t planned on making dinner) so we ordered pizza for them and Mom and took off to Walmart to get our shirts and some cookies. We changed in the car and made our way to the party.

Michelle, Marie, EZ, Eduardo and his wife were there from work. And Harvey. Without Evelyn. She’s back in the hospital. I hope she gets better very soon, and I hope she’s not there long-term like last year :(. I feel so bad for Harvey.

Michelle looked cute in her costume. And Marie, too. She was Zorro! She’s super funny. We played a guessing game, where they pin the name of a celebrity to your back and you ask people clues where there answer will be yes or no. I guessed my first one, Madonna, in 2 tries, heh. The second one was Regis :P. Jorge’s was Frankenstein. Michelle’s was Lance Armstrong and she took FOREVER to guess LOL.

It was super fun. Jim took us on a tour of his garden and pond. Jorge was impressed. I’m so glad he can be sociable and get along with my co-workers :). He’s the best, I could just squeeze him ♥!

Again we made plans to go out…and at the last minute we said, Nah. The boys were at home and it was still early, so we came home. My love and I chilled out on the porch. I was freezing, though. I had my booties, sweat pants, my warm sweater and a blanket and I was still cold! I said, “Some Abuelita chocolate would be great!” We were running low on milk, and the boys wouldn’t have any for their cereal in the morning, so we went to the corner store to get some. My love made me my hot chocolate when we got back.

See what I mean? THE BEST!

I drank my chocolate and since I was sleepy I gathered my things and came inside. I washed my face snuggled up with my Wish Bear…

…and woke up at noon today! Haven’t slept that long in FOREVER!

We got up and showered and picked up menudo at the Taco Ole nearest to us. The boys were quite happy, as were the adults, heh. We spent the rest of the day at home; Jorge playing Xbox with the boys and me–well, I spent the afternoon working on the program for my event this weekend and getting the email ready that I’ll be sending out tomorrow. I would have sent it today but smarty pants that I am, forgot to forward myself my exhibitor list. Grr.

My love and I snuggled a bit, then got up and went to HEB to grocery shop. It’s so much better when he accompanies me :).

We gave the boys dinner, I talked to my kiddos. They carved pumpkins at their dad’s, the girls a monkey and the boys a zombie coming out of a graveyard. Really cute. The boys told me about the movies they’re watching and the costumes they want to make. I’m taking them trick-or-treating this year :D! We need to work on both their costumes; it should be interesting, heh.

Eenan told me I was going to like The Walking Dead, so I’m going to get off this computer since my love started it already. Goodnight!