Category: Movies

I wanted to punch myself when the alarm went off at 7:45 in the morning on Wednesday for staying up so late the night before. Still, I needed to shower before we left to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! Mom was already waiting and came in to watch Emily and Alaethia, just in case they woke up, while I showered. I got showered, ready, made breakfast for Mario, made some coffee for myself and got Emily and her diaper bag ready before 8:30! First time in a long time I was actually ready before everyone else!

Mom was staying with Alaethia since I didn’t think she could be still for 3 hours. I left next door to Mary’s; the boys were barely getting dressed and Mary was in the shower. I felt almost anxious–what if we took too long and didn’t find good seats!

We left the house at 9 and picked up Matthew. We got to the movies and got our seats. We were sitting a row above Amy and found pretty good seats even though the theatre was really full. Sonia, Angela and Yazmin got there a little later. I had to change Emily’s diaper since she’d just gotten over the diaper rash and I didn’t want it to come back. So I took her and her diaper bag and changed her on the sink, because of course they don’t want you to take babies with you therefore they don’t have any changing tables. Rude. Anyway. I REALLY had to go pee, and no one was with me so I hung the bag up on the door hanger and–with Emily in one arm–I did my business. I’ve still got it baby! I remember doing the exact same thing at the movies back when I only had chunky Eenan in a diaper LOL.

When we went back I got everything ready for Emily (bottle, blanket, chupy) and fed her and she fell asleep right when the movie was starting. She reminds me of Jaylen; he’d do the exact same thing! Perfect babies to take to a movie.

***SPOILER ALERT! SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY DETAILS ABOUT HARRY POTTER 6!***

All-in-all, I liked the movie. It didn’t steer too much from the book, but there were some extreme changes, like leaving out Voldemort’s dad and sister completely. I thought that was pretty important. They left out that old lady that Voldemort would visit, Hepzebah, was it? So they left out the goblet Horcrux that he took from her. I can’t remember too well, but I’m sure Ginny isn’t the one who went with Harry into the Room of Requirement to get rid of the Potions book and the kiss wasn’t all “wow” like they were making it seem. The whole scene where Dumbledore’s killed is completely different. Harry wasn’t under the invisibility cloak or Stupified (or whatever charm it is); Dumbledore just told him to go to a lower level and to keep quiet. I really wanted to see the White Tomb (it was in that book right?) but they left that out, too. BUT I thought it was hilarious and the parts they did change were executed well. I’m just glad they didn’t totally change it like the 5th one. Now I’m wondering what they’re going to do to the last one. They better make it good. Sonia said if they chopped this one up so much, what if they do the same to the last one and it’s only one movie and not 2?

***END OF HP6 SPOILER ALERT!***

So yes. There you have it. We picked up some Burger King after the movie because we were starving. All I’d had was popcorn and a small soda at the movies, which I shouldn’t have had in the first place. I know I should have gotten a salad, but no–I got a Whopper Jr. meal. With a soda. Doh. I need to quit drinking so much soda!!

We ate in the car in the parking lot of Old Navy since Eenan wasn’t wearing pants LOL. He’d gotten gum on his pants at the movies so he took them off. They had to go on again when we went into Old Navy to get him and Jaylen their school pants. We actually found 4 pants each in their sizes so that was great. We went to Walmart after that and then came home.

I cleaned the living room from top to bottom because it was in great need of a thorough cleaning. I had to kick the kids out of the living room and into my bedroom because they were driving me and Emily nuts. I had such a headache from yelling at the boys. Then I had to make dinner, which was carne guisada, rice and beans. I fed all the kiddos (including rice cereal for Emmy). Alaethia was happily singing, “Hey sister, go sister, go sister, go sister…”, which I can only imagine was her version of “Lady Marmalade” LOL.

When Mario got home he and I ate dinner. We watched The Punisher: Warzone, which I didn’t fully watch since I was nodding off. Mario made us some Piña Coladas and OMG, they were so good. They hurt my darn messed up Wisdom tooth, though. I really need to get that thing taken out, but I still haven’t gotten my Passport and I’m scared to get it taken out!

We watched Fired Up afterwards and then I went to bed with the girls. I was so darn tired. Mario went to bed about half an hour later and right when I was falling asleep…he woke me up LOL.

Emily woke up for a bottle around 7am, which left me with 25 minutes to sleep. I don’t like when she gets up at that time because then I fall back to sleep because I’m exhausted and then when the alarm goes off I can’t get up.

When the alarm went off today I actually turned it off and went back to sleep! I woke up at 8:00 exactly, thank goodness, and Mario said to wake him up at 8:15. So that totally screwed me up and I didn’t get up to make him breakfast. He picked up tacos instead LOL.

I got up around 10:30, when Emily was pulling on my nose and smacking my eyes to let me know she was hungry. I fed both girls, then Mom came over and watched the girls while I prepared my coffee and had some cereal. Then Mary came over and asked me to go to Walmart with her so Emily and I did. We got back and she made tonight’s dinner, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, while I put her groceries away. I came back home with 3 Walmart bags of snacks and fruits for the kiddos; totally didn’t expect that LOL.

She was craving brownies so I made some for dessert. I bathed Alaethia and then we went over to eat dinner. The boys got ready for Taekwondo and we left. It seems to drag on now that each boy goes for an hour each. They’re learning a lot more now that they’ve been separated though. They had such an intense workout today! I felt tired just watching them. Jaylen learned the first 8 steps of their form and so did Eenan. Since it’s just Eenan and another boy in his class, they started sparring today! I felt so nervous. They were missing sometimes and actually hitting each other but they were fine. I wish I could get into it but the adult classes are from 8-9pm. I don’t think I could spend another hour there LOL.

We got home and the boys practiced some more. We need to work on their flexibility and length of their kicks. Eenan says he’ll get his yellow belt by the end of this month. I hope so :).

I washed dishes after the boys practiced and while Alaethia went for a walk with Elda. She’s doing much better from her gallbladder surgery. She keeps doing stuff she’s not supposed to, though, like driving only 6 days after her surgery and carrying Emily today!

There are many reasons why I hate washing dishes, but one of the main things is that you get to think a lot. Like today, I realized that I’m OLD. I’d constantly laugh at Mario and Jorge when they said that. They were being dramatic, I’d say. But no. Tonight I realized that my kids’ Taekwondo instructor is 6 years younger than me–that’s what set me off LOL. Then I realized that I’ve gotten to “the age” where it’s hard to lose weight. No more jogging to melt the pounds off like in the good ol’ teen days. No more eating an entire pizza and still being 98 lbs. Ever since I started working out I’ve GAINED 3 lbs.!!! WTF is that???

Anyway, *composes self* Mario got home and he went straight to bed! I was so incredibly bored. The boys were of course, with Mary, so as much as I was grateful for the silence, the girls and I were bored LOL. Mario’s up now, but watching TV in our bedroom while I’m here, blogging. Emily’s on her pink playmat and Alaethia’s watching Noggin. I’m finally ready for bed. Hopefully I won’t start watching whatever Mario’s watching and I stay up later. G’nite!

I’m still alive. Just been enjoying summer and at the same time, trying not to go completely batty having all 4 (loud) kids home at the same time LOL. I took for granted just how peaceful it was when the boys were in school during the day. The girls would get to sleep without being bothered. I could nap if I wanted to. Emily would take her afternoon nap when she was supposed to. But now the boys are constantly yelling; at each other or just, you know, randomly. Poor Emily wakes up screaming every time. The boys love to play with Alaethia, but she’s a little diva and can only take so much of their energy LOL. She’ll smack them and squeal for them to leave her alone.

My favorite thing to do when I have a chance, of course, is to surf the web. I probably have plenty of time to update my blog, but right when I log in to WordPress I somehow get distracted and start looking for Re-ment stuff on Ebay. I’ve become quite obsessed with those little miniatures recently. I’ve got Rachel to thank for introducing me to the world of minis! Shoot, I’ve even got Mom and Mary collecting them!

Those are just a FEW of the gazillion things I’ve collected the past few months!

I also get distracted by browsing through people’s photos on Flickr, search for decorating ideas on Flickr or I’ll chat on Twitter. I hardly even use my Myspace or Facebook anymore, either. I guess whoever’s following me on Twitter has the most up-to-date goings-on of my life.

And when I’m not plastered to the laptop I’m reading. I’m still on Breaking Dawn. Crazy shiz happening in that book. I won’t go into detail so as not to ruin it for anyone, but it’s crazy. I still think New Moon was probably my favorite. I CANNOT WAIT for that movie! So many awesome movies are coming out in the next few weeks, too!

So yeah, I’m doing great. Loving the awesome new, comfy living room. Not enjoying the scorching heat; we’re probably going to end up having to get a bigger central air unit: this one doesn’t feel like it’s cooling much anymore, probably due to the extra square footage and the fact that the heat index’s been 105-116 the past few days. Bleh.

As for the kiddos, Emily’s such a doll. I never knew what people meant when they said they had “happy babies” until I had Emily. It’s so easy to keep her happy. I don’t even have a problem lugging her around with me everywhere. As long as she’s in her sling, nestled near me, she’s completely happy :).

Alaethia, like I mentioned earlier, is turning into quite the diva. Everyone’s amazed by how much she speaks “for a two-year-old” but it’s really nothing new to me. She’s been a chatterbox since she was around 7 months old. Mario says she takes after me LOL. She’s really into her Noggin shows right now, especially “Max and Ruby”, “Ni-Hao Kai-Lan”, “Wonder Pets” (she sings the song ALL THE TIME!), and “Backyardigans”. I’m not too fond of those last two, but what can I do? LOL

I definitely need to start sitting down with her and teaching her the colors and alphabet. She’s excellent with shapes but she’s still confused about the other two. As for potty-training, she’s a pro, though she still has her accidents at night but not too often, thank goodness.

The boys are doing great, when they’re not trying to smack each other. But I separate them and what do they do? They’re together 10 seconds later, like magnets. Jaylen’s had some anger issues, which I can only blame on “middle-child syndrome” but we’re working on it. I have noticed that he’s gotten better.

Eenan’s usually the instigator when it comes to their arguments and physical fights but he’s a lovable kid at the same time. He’s usually the one who tries to calm Jaylen and Alaethia down when he notices that I’m getting frustrated. He’s having to learn responsibility for a pet since he’s got Daisy and Lady to take care of now. He’s not too happy about it sometimes, but I remind him that they’re really cute and someone would really love to adopt them and he gets right on task LOL.

We took the boys to the library this past Tuesday and they each checked out a stack of books. They were all excited about it that day and read for a good hour without being “told” to, but the novelty wore off. Eenan’s been more reluctant about reading. I’ve got to get them on some kind of schedule so that they know when they can and can’t play video games and when it’s time to read and learn and go outside to get some exercise. I don’t want them to become couch potatoes, or act like it’s the end of the world when they can’t pass a level on a video game.

Mario and I are doing great, I’m thrilled to say. Ever since I stopped working and he went back to his old job we’ve been on Cloud 9 again, like nothing ever changed. We’re spending time together, he’s actually getting to see the kids and we watch movies in the evening in the new living room (which is almost complete; Mario just finished up the shelves, we just gotta paint them), either by ourselves or Jason, Mirella and Adan come join us.

I’ve become quite the social drinker (LOL) and we have a few cocktails before bed while we watch TV, chat, or surf the web when the kiddos are asleep. I love that boy :).

Noelia should be coming over tomorrow and we have a dinner to go to. I’m hoping I can get some cleaning time in and I’ve really got to spend that gift card Pete and Sally gave us from Pier 1! Maybe on Sunday, if Mario gets a chance between all that extra work he’s got. It’s all for the family LOL. He’s quite the popular one!

Fri., May 8th – I’m really not sure what I did this day. I tweeted that I “hate Home Depot already” LOL but I don’t remember what I did there. Obviously got more “last minute” things for the living room but I don’t remember what. I know for sure I got my Mother’s Day shopping done at JC Penny, where I got some great deals because I had two coupons and everything was on sale to top it off! I got myself two basic fitted T’s. I’m happy to say the size Medium one fits loose! Woo!

I spent the rest of that day lounging around the house with the kiddos and surfing the web when the littlest ones let me.

Sat., May 9th – I was waiting on two Re-ment sets I bought; one for Mom, one for Mary that I was giving them along with their blouses for Mother’s Day. I was so pissed to go to the mailbox around noon and find 3 “sorry we missed you” notes telling me to go to the Post Office to pick them up. I checked the time. They close at 12:30 and I had 15 minutes to get there. Thank goodness we live 3 minutes away.

Well, I get there and what do you know? They decided to go home early that day. Grr. I had no choice but to give the moms that part of their gift a day late.

The boys and I made Gramma some beaded bracelets for Mother’s Day because that’s what she asked for. It’s a perfect gift because she’s got tons of clothes and we can only buy her so many chocolates or decorations for her walls. The boys did a great job and Gramma loved them! We gave her 3 and she joked that we owed her two: one from Alaethia, one from Emily LOL.

Elda graciously watched Alaethia for us, since I didn’t think she’d hold her pee the half hour to Gramma’s and back. I took her potty chair and a Princess bag with coloring books and extra panties over to Elda’s. She said she did wonderfully.

After visiting Gramma we went to Walmart. It’s always tough shopping with the boys because they put in double the amount of stuff I usually buy. But we all behaved ourselves and I stayed within my budget. I got some cleaning supplies for the hardwood floors and a washable microfiber broom and other things for cleaning. I wasn’t sure exactly what to get so I prayed that the Pledge hardwood/laminate floor cleaner would be okay.

I got home and Big Mario had already put up both doors and was about to start working on removing the covers for the central air. It took about half an hour for the room to cool. I started mopping the tiled floors and then swept the laminate wood floors in the living room with the microfiber cloth broom. Alaethia found the box of Swiffer dusters and said, “I’m gonna help.”

She had fun following me around being a little “mama” :).

Mario got home and was immediately hyped up about getting everything into the room that night. He began moving all the wiring for the surround sound from the old living room to the new one. Now we have holes all over the walls; reminds me of Swiss cheese…

As he was beginning to install everything in the new room they sent me to Walmart (again) for some more stuff like light bulbs, filters for the a/c, a power supply and other stuff like that. I took Jaylen with me and man he was moody because he was sleepy. He ended up falling asleep in the shopping cart.

It was 11:30 by the time I got home and Mario was fixing up the recessed lights. Jose, Elda, my dad-in-law, Mom, Adan and Tommy were all here with us, helping us with the furniture relocation. (Mary wasn’t here because she and Noelia were at the George Strait concert at Dodge Arena!)

It was 12am when we got the rest of the furniture in and my dad-in-law tells me, “Happy Mother’s Day!” and gives me a hug. He says, “I wasn’t going to rest today until we had you moved in on Mother’s Day.” I almost couldn’t say thank you due to the huge lump in my throat. What other father-in-law builds you a house to be near his kids and grandkids? What other aunts/uncles/cousins are at your house at 12am helping move furniture or helping you watch the kids while you clean up? I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to be a part of this family!

We sat with everyone once the sofas were in and just took it all in. We had a fab new living room! Mary got home and all the moms were wished a Happy Mother’s Day and everyone started leaving little by little after that since it was late. Adan hung out with us for a while and Mario and I stayed up till 4am till we got everything just right.

Sun., May 10th – We woke up and got ready to go eat at Lotus, where Jorge was treating all the moms–aww :). I had broccoli beef and for the first time ever had dumplings! They’re so good! I need to find a recipe.

Since Mario and I are pretty familiar with using chopsticks, we asked for some. They brought us a whole bunch and all the kids had a blast trying to eat with them :). We had a really good time.

Our next stop was the movies. We watched Wolverine. Really good movie. I liked it much better than I thought I would (isn’t that usually the case?).

I checked my e-mail that day and didn’t expect to find an e-mail from my “new” uncle. He asked if I’d gotten any info from Gramma and I e-mailed back that I did and explained what she told me. For some reason I understood that she said my grandfather never knew about my mom. It’s hard to understand her since she has a speech impediment. I wasn’t sure about that tidbit of info but I told him about it anyway. He’d asked before if his dad knew about Mom and he made it seem when I spoke to him 2 years ago that he did, but Gramma had just said he didn’t. I was confused. He’d asked if Mom was in the yearbooks since they were close in age, but since Mom didn’t get to finish high school because they gave her the duty of staying with Gramma after she got sick from Polio she wouldn’t be in any of them. I was iffy about sending a pic of her, but I did and asked him if she resembled any of them. I’d forgotten to mention earlier than mom’s got three more siblings: the uncle I’m speaking to, another brother and a sister! He also e-mailed back to wish us all a Happy Mother’s Day, aww :). I couldn’t wait to hear more from him. I really want to meet this side of my family!