Category: Outings

Family Time

Does anyone know any good recipes for a copycat version of the Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino? I just tried one out that I found online and eeewww!

Anyway, things with the neighbors seem to be pretty…calm. The guy must be in jail and the girl I only see at night for some reason. I don’t think anyone’s at the apartment at all during the day, or it could just be I pay attention at night? On our way home from Yadira’s last night, we saw her, her mom and brother (?) strolling down the main street, and it was like 10:30pm, which I thought was pretty weird. I’m just glad things are back to normal and I hope it stays that way.

We didn’t do much at all on Saturday, till the evening. Jorge actually invited us over . Mario picked up a 24 pack of Bug Light, as a peace offering, I suppose. Eenan slept over at Mary’s and Jaylen and John went with us. Hiram was already there (he has a key to their house, don’tcha know??) and I think it was pretty damn uncomfortable for him to have us there. Aww…too bad! The reason we don’t go over there anymore is because of him, plain and simple. He has something against Mario and we have no idea what it is. At one point, Jorge, Mario, Hiram, & Joe (their neighbor) went to check something out at Joe’s house across the street and I asked Maggie, “Does Hiram talk shit about us when he’s here?”. She looked kinda shocked at the question, and almost like she didn’t want to answer. She basically said that yes, he has said some stuff, but that she didn’t think he had anything against us. I told her he’d been acting that way since we went to Albert’s birthday party. I also told her the reason we hadn’t gone over since that last time (March 1st!) was because of him and that whole night, Jorge was bitching about how he didn’t want to bar-be-cue. I told her how shitty I thought it was that Jorge and Mario have been friends forever and for some moron to come in and ruin that friendship–it’s stupid. It’s stupid that JORGE is letting their friendship slip away like that.

Right after mentioning that, the guys got back and she talked about how she wanted to go to the beach for her birthday. I said Mario wouldn’t get the day off (sarcastically, so Jorge would get the point and maybe give him the day off) and the first thing SHE says is, “We gotta get Hiram the day off so he can go.” Grr. Maybe it’s not so bad that we don’t talk to them much anymore?

John had two beers that night, which is a lot for him since he doesn’t drink beer. Needless to say, John felt like absolute crap the next morning LOL.

Maggie made a drink with beer, and OMG that shit tastes foul. I don’t know how she can just chug that stuff !

Sunday I woke up to a moody Mario who quickly ruined my morning. I was so pissed and upset that I made a private journal and just vented until I could vent no more. Still deciding whether I want to give that password out, though. I really need to install WordPress, or some kind of blogging software that has password protected entries.

Anyway, he was going to check his cousin’s system and asked if I wanted to go. Even though I was pissed at him, I decided to go since I didn’t want to be home. The boys stayed with Mary and Big Mario and splashed in their kiddie pool.

We got to Mario’s aunt and uncle’s house and I actually had a good time. Mario was out with his cousin, fixing the truck and I was inside with his aunt, talking about computers, Roadrunner, spyware and downloading. She was shocked that Mario and I knew so much about computers LOL. She was so surprised, she called us outside to tell her son what we knew, because she said, “According to him, he’s the only one who knows about that stuff” LOL. We also spoke about how I can take the basic college courses online and where I can take the THEA (the new TASP). I’m SO not looking foward to taking that. Even John said it sucks. I don’t remember ZIP about math and I know for certain I’ll have to take all the remedial maths. Blah. Just what I need, to be in school forever just so I can get a job as an administrative assistant.

After having lunch and hanging out a bit more with his aunt and uncle, we came home and later went to a movie. Eenan of course didn’t want to watch The Pacifier, so he stayed with Mary. It was a cute movie. Jaylen was super sleepy when we got there, so he was getting fussy. He kept throwing tantrums about how he wanted Scooby Snacks (we’d already gotten him a movie meal, which has candy in it and a pickle) and thew himself on the floor. When the movie actually started he was in a pretty good mood, thank the Lord. He ended up falling asleep halfway through, as usual. I was pretty disappointed we didn’t get to see Gramma again this weekend . That’s almost 4 weeks, I think, that I haven’t seen her!

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future, more than usual; about school, about what I even want to go for as a major, what kind of job I’ll have, will we make good money, when we’ll finally get a house, when/if we have another child??? Thinking about having another child in the future got me thinking about how my pregnancy with Jaylen was tough, which had me thinking, “What if the next one’s tough, too? Or what if it’s worse??”

I had a dream that night, a weird dream. I was 6 months pregnant and I had this strange, gurgling pain on my right side near my rib cage. Somehow, I had this pore, or some kind of “hole” where I had the pain and the baby was born through that hole! The umblicial cord was hanging out and everything–weirdest thing, ever. Anyway, SHE was perfectly healthy, looked exactly like Eenan did as a baby, with curly hair, and was perfectly fine for being born 3 months early. I took it as a sign that maybe, if I do ever get pregnant again, I’ll have a girl (heh!) and that my pregnancy will be okay?

Jose, Elda, and the boys got here around 10am yesterday. They’ve officially started their new lives in Texas . I ran a few errands in the afternoon (wasted 30 minutes of my life at the Department of Human Services, where I had to set up an appointment for mom, only to have the evil receptionist tell me since she moved, she needed to go to a new office. Grr!)

We spent the day at Mary’s, just talking. Later in the evening, Mary and I took the boys to their swimming lessons (I took video with my Kodak easyshare this time!) and then we all got together at Yadira’s, ate dinner, and talked, made jokes and were just loud LOL! Yadira realized that our children will all be very loud also–we could hear them scream-talking to eachother across the house . Mario got there after work, we chilled out a bit more and then we came home. I was super tired and STILL had to do chores I didn’t get a chance to do during the day.

Today, I’m hoping to take John for a drive (Mario figured out how to make the darn car work…we have to move the key foward, wait for a “click”, and then we can start the engine–dumb thing.). I also want to take the kids to the library, IF Jaylen ever wakes up LOL.

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Snug As A Bug In A Rug

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day–meaning we got everything that we needed to do, done.

I woke up migraine-free, thank goodness. First thing we did was go to the storage unit to get the bed frame, headboard and twin bed box spring for Eenan’s bed. Mom isn’t using them and said we could use them for Eenan whenever we wanted. Since we took down Eenan and Jaylen’s bulky bunk bed about two months ago, we had Eenan’s mattress on the floor, so we decided it was about time we set up the bed.

After getting the bed stuff, we drove over to Aunt Nora’s to pick up John’s car so he can practice driving while he’s here. It’ll be much easier to get used to turns and the expressway where we live. Darn car wouldn’t turn on for a good 15 minutes until Mario messed around with something under the hood and then it roared to life. I drove home with John and Jaylen while Mario followed with Eenan in the van. When we got home he lectured me about how I was going 15 over the speed limit . Phooey.

Mario had a few things to do at work, so while he was gone I started on lunch. Beef tacos with the works, yum ! He got back and we started working on the bed. It looked really nice!

The kids had swimming lessons at 6 again, so we went. Mario got to catch up a little with Michael. Eenan did really well. Session 1 ends on June 9. We’re thinking of taking him back to Session 2–I think Eenan will definetly learn to swim if we take him to all the sessions. Jaylen wasn’t really doing what Michael was telling him to do, so Michael just played along and let Jaylen have fun. We’re not sure if we should take him back for the next Session or not, but I’ll ask Michael or Jorge if they think he’d do better. I’d feel bad leaving him at home with Mary while Eenan’s out having fun . I think we may take him back anyway. It’s only $15 for each of them. It’ll probably be the only thing they get to do this summer anyway, what with Mario working the hours he does and all .

After the kids’ lessons, we went to Wal-Mart to pick out a bed set for Eenan’s new bed. I really wanted to get Eenan this but we decided to check Wal-Mart first (since it’s much closer than Target), and if he didn’t like anything there then we’d go to Target. He picked out the Star Wars comforter and sheet set, which are really cute. Mario liked it so much he wanted one for our bed . Here’s what Eenan’s bed looked like when we were done:

Needless to say, he got a restful night’s sleep. He didn’t wake up once!

I really would have liked to have the shams for Eenan’s bed, too, but I didn’t see any at all.

We’ll be getting Jaylen’s little toddler bed a new set, too. We haven’t gotten him one in a while. I just dislike that they hardly have anything nice for toddler beds . He’s leaning towards the Spongebob Toddler Set. I just don’t like that the sheets are white!

All we got him was a new crib sheet, which is blue. We were getting him a microfiber Batman Pillow, but since we were using the self-checkout and the darn pillow didn’t have a barcode (just our luck!), we had to leave it behind. He woke up in the middle of the night and screamed, “My pillow! Where’s my pillow?!” Poor little guy; I felt so bad!

Gonna tidy up now and hopefully get a chance to surf the ‘net a bit more today. I have more laundry to do today. I don’t know what’s going on! Never have I had to wash so many times during a week .

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Yesterday Evening: First Swimming Lesson

It feels like a Sunday. Which means the whole rest of the week’s going to feel like a different day, which is totally going to throw me off. But anyway.

I was at my wit’s end about an hour before we left to the boys’ swimming classes yesterday evening. They’d been fighting all afternoon and totally made a mess of the bedroom and refused to clean it up. When they finally did, I had maybe 10 minutes to get them in their trunks, pack up towels, sunscreen, my camera (!), their flip flops, extra undies and shorts, and a plastic bag for wet clothes.

We got there 15 minutes early to register them. It was a bit…awkward for a second for me since one of the swimming coaches is an ex-boyfriend. He was Mario’s friend, the one I met at the mall and started dating a few weeks after that. I broke it off with him before he broke my heart (he was “confused” over who to be with; his ex or me). Then, about a month later, Mario and I started dating . Anyway, it was always strange being around him before when we’d run into him in places, because he always had this strange, uncomfortable look on his face when I was around. It wasn’t too bad last night though. He made a comment about how he heard “Jaylen” in French meant “Mario”. How freaking awesome would it be if I named him “Mario” in another language without even knowing it?? I need to do some research.

While we waited for the coaches to get in the pool and get situated, we lathered the boys up in sun screen. I was growing more and more nervous by the second. I knew they’d be fine, but pools have that effect on me . I’m just glad the boys are getting lessons since I can’t swim.

There were hardly any kids there for lessons, so each of the kids got a coach to themselves. They taught Eenan to hold his breath, go underwater, and then come up for air. They taught Jaylen the same thing and then tried teaching him to blow bubbles, but he was too busy trying to “swim” that he only blew bubbles a few times. They both did very well. Eenan was taught how to float on his back. The coach took him around the pool, even the deep end and would hold him, let him float on his own, then held him again. Jaylen had a blast kicking and splashing all around the pool. His coach kept calling him, “JR” though, so I think that’s why he may have not been listening LOL. When it was time to go, Jaylen’s coach asks, “How old is he?”

“Three”, I say.

He wipes water from his face and says, “Wow. He’s got A LOT of energy! He probably won’t learn how to swim this session, but next session, definetly. He’s ready.”

They wanted to go to the park, but man it was hot out there! The park’s old, so all the swings and merry-go-round are metal, and they would have burned themselves. Mary got them Happy Meals on the way home and we promised we’d take their sneakers today and take them to the park for a while. I just hope it’s not so hot, but I watched the news last night and they said it was getting into the 100’s. Great. .

I hope they have fun again tonight . Jaylen was so beat he fell asleep at around 9:30pm and didn’t wake up till 8am this morning! Eenan said, “It hurts when I bend”, when he woke up LOL.

When Mario got home we ate dinner and he made us some banana milkshakes and I made the vanilla ice cream covered brownie like the one he made me last week. We stayed up watching TV till midnight and then went to bed. I hate staying up so late but it’s the only time we get to spend together . I woke up really tired and still very sleepy again this morning. I want to nap, but then I’ll wake up with a headache, I know it.

Anyway, I shall get back to cleaning and maybe get some coffee brewing to stay awake. I didn’t finish cleaning yesterday. Didn’t think I would LOL–there’s just too much stuff in this tiny place! I don’t know where to put anything!

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