Category: Outings

Sun., Apr. 26th – Mario and I got up as early as possible (at 8:30) and got ready. I called Mom to watch the girls and Eenan and Mario and I dropped Jaylen off at CFF. We went straight to Walmart to get the red paint for the flatscreen/entertainment wall and then to Home Depot, where we bought more joint compound for the texture on the walls, painting supplies and the taupe paint that’ll go throughout the rest of the living room. I can’t remember what else we bought, but it was, luckily, the last things we’d need to get the living room finished up.

We realized we were cutting it close, so I called my dad-in-law to please pick Jaylen up from CFF. He did and then at 11:30 I gathered the boys and we went to church. Yes. I finally made it to church after, what? A year? Awful, I know.

After church we went home, then I dropped Eenan off at CFF and Mario and his dad were already starting to work on the texture of the walls.

When I came back from picking Eenan up Big Mario had set a chair and table with my laptop on it in front of the windows in the nook. I. Loved. It. I could sit there and watch the kids playing on the deck! There was a nice breeze and I sat with Emily on my lap watching Alaethia blowing bubbles. It was the best.

Everything went so quickly! By the time I knew it, the texture was dry so I changed and helped Mario primer the walls. We ate lunch and then Mario went to take a nap. Jorge called about an hour & 1/2 into his nap and told us the Lumber Liquidators place, where he got his laminate hardwood floors, was having a huge sale. Mario got up in a flash and, all paint-spackled as we were, went to the place.

I couldn’t decide what color of laminate wood I liked and then we saw the perfect one. It took some doing, but the guy gave us a really good price! We had to buy 10 boxes; he gave us 5 for $1/sq. ft. and then the other 5 boxes he charged at $2.19/sq. ft. The original price was $2.79–we got a steal!

When we got back home I had the dreaded task of helping Eenan finish his castle model project. I don’t know why I say I “helped” him…I mostly did the darn thing on my own since I didn’t want him to burn his flesh off with the glue gun. We got all the walls glued in and then he had the task of painting it gray. We needed to get a brick pattern going on, so I cut a little square out of one of my new dish sponges and I had him blot the square into black paint and onto the walls in a brick pattern. It ended up looking really awesome. He had to get into bed at 9:30, but I stayed up finishing the details till midnight. I am SO GLAD that I’m not working anymore!

Mon., Apr. 27th – John invited me to Kumori so of course I said yes and got ready. Mom and Alaethia stayed at home happily watching Noggin while Emily went with John and me. I had my Fiesta roll and ordered an Omega roll for Mario and took it to him at work. I didn’t get to chat with him long since we were rushing to get everything done and pick up the boys on time.

We stopped by Walmart and one of the first things I did was pick out the nook wall color. Mario wanted cocoa brown, but all they had were reddish-brown colors. Still I ended up finding one I liked:

Since Mario wanted cocoa brown I got the Hershey’s syrup I already had in the cart and matched it up to the last one, Sienna Redwood LOL.

It took a while longer to shop around since they’re remodeling the store. I’m assuming it’s going to look a lot like the new one in Penitas. It was hard to find some stuff. Still, I finished up with the shopping and was thrilled that I stayed within my budget!

Emily woke up and started grunting for her bottle as I was paying. She usually does that. I tried fumbling for my wallet and making her bottle until I made John take over. At least she didn’t scream her head off like the last time!

We got home and I unloaded the car, put the perishables away and went off to get the boys. As I was sitting with them watching TV I started feeling a little more and more nervous about the swine flu. Everyone was panicking. I couldn’t even find little bottles of Germ-X at the check-out and I think two cases had already been confirmed in Starr County. Or was it Cameron. Either way, both counties are in the Valley and that was just too close for comfort.

I ripped myself away from CNN so that I could start cooking. I stuck Emily in her sling and cooked and did laundry just fine. My back was hurting a bit by the time I was done, so I handed her over to Mom and washed dishes.

John came over before I was even done with dishes to print a report at Mary’s. Dork kept talking in a Forrest Gump voice and telling me, “Hurry up…Jannay,” because my middle name’s Jannet and he thought it was hilarious. So I started calling him John-nay LOL.

I was running all over the place doing stuff for the kids and Mario and I finally, 3 hours after I made dinner, got to sit down to eat.

I chilled out watching TV and surfing the ‘net that evening with the girls. Mario was off somewhere, probably outside with Adan or at Adan’s. Alaethia came up to me and asked me for milk. When I said she could have some and got up to pour her some she said, “Thanks. You’re a super good friend, Mom.” She says the cutest things, that girl!

Tues., Apr. 28th – Mario was off that day. We woke up late, as usual and Mom was already chilling out outside. She offered to watch the girls since we needed to go to Home Depot, yet again.

First we stopped at WB though, since we hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch. I ordered a WB Jr. with bacon and cheese. I couldn’t eat in peace since the darn bacon smelled weird. Mario said it smelled fine. I pulled most of it out and prayed that I wouldn’t get sick with food poisoning.

When we were on our way to Home Depot I texted John to ask him WTF was up with the stinky bacon at his workplace. All he texted back was: “I tell you not to eat there” LOL

We got to Home Depot and went straight to the lamps and lighting. We needed a nice lamp for the nook area and we found the perfect one. It was actually two of them for $14.87!

We looked around and I fell in love with the bathroom lights I want to install when we re-do the bathroom…again.

We got the rest of the stuff we needed, mostly painting supplies, and went home. I picked the boys up and Mario stayed behind installing all the outlet covers and so on.

Emily had woken up with a little bit of congestion that morning out of nowhere. By the afternoon the cold was progressively worse so I decided to take her in to the doctor before she really couldn’t breathe well at night.

As I’m driving into the parking lot I think, “Shit!” I don’t ever think I’d seen the parking lot that full of cars, and I’ve gone to the doctor when it’s packed. I was lucky to get the last parking space. I walk in and my friend Elisa’s at reception. She puts her hand on her hip and says, “You’re not here because of Swine Flu, are you?” I laugh and tell her no, that Emily just has a cold, no fever. It hits me; no wonder the doctor’s office was packed! Everyone there thought they had swine flu!!

I had Emily in her car seat and the car seat on my lap since there wasn’t any space on the bench I was sitting on to set it down. As heavy as it was, there was no way I was going to put the car seat with her on the floor because there were kids running around everywhere. This woman next to me, with three little girls, kept telling her (mucusy) kids to look at the baby. So of course they began putting their hands into the car seat to touch her. I almost hissed and told them to back off because she was sick, because apparently none of them thought that they were. When I’d finally had enough I texted Mario to please bring me Emily’s sling. I hadn’t brought it with me because it had been in the dryer. He brought it to me and helped me lug all my bags and the car seat to the car and helped me with Emily while I got her in the sling. I couldn’t thank him enough. I’d only taken out the most important things from my bag, left it in the car and only took Emily in the sling, her diaper bag and my book. Much better. And you can bet the kids didn’t try sticking their hands in the sling!

It was the longest wait ever. I even finished Eclipse while I was there! Emily was the very last patient, even though I was 4th to the last to sign in. Apparently the 3 people behind me had kids with fevers so they were taking them in first. We didn’t end up leaving the office till 6:20. They close at 5:30!

Mario had painted the nook wall with the brown color while we were gone. Although it wasn’t the paint we’d originally envisioned for that space, it came out looking pretty sweet.

Mario tried rounding up some of his friends to start installing the wood floors, but of course that didn’t happen. It makes my blood boil. Mario is always going above and beyond for his friends when they need help with stuff, no matter what it is, but when he needs something, are they there? That’s a big NO. He hates it when someone calls him up asking for help and I start bitching that he shouldn’t help them because of this or that. I hate being so mean and cynical, but I already know how some of his “friends” are after all these years. That’s just how Mario is, though. He’s nice. He wants to be there for people. I just wish some people would feel the same way about him!

The only person who did show up was Chris. He helped Mario install a part of the floor, about 3 rows since it was really late. Somehow–even though Mario works 10-12 hour days–we were going to finish up that floor that week.

Sun., Apr. 19th – I stayed up till 1:30am updating my iPod and music. I finally got brave enough to download music again and deleted tons of other music that didn’t belong to me. I still have to go through my external hard drive and sort through a whole other folder I found, that was mostly a duplicate of my main music folder.

We chilled out in the shade in the afternoon while Mario and Big Mario mixed the cement to level the floors in the new living room.

I can’t wait to see how the floors are going to turn out. I’m curious to see what happens to that tree stump and I have no idea what we’re going to do about that weird incline and funky step of cement. We’re probably going to end up using ceramic tile in that area for sure.

It was quite traumatizing for Alaethia when Mario had shoveled up some sand, mixed it with the cement and water and started chopping it up to break down the big chunks…and unearthed a floppy little mangled frog. Mario tossed it aside after saying, “Oops,” and she’s been terrified of them ever since. I know we shouldn’t because she’s going to end up scared of them forever, but we use it as a way to keep her from going where she shouldn’t. For example, if she’s trying to go outside when no one’s out there we’ll say, “Don’t go out there! There’s a frog out there!” We’re bad, I know.

Adan, Aide and Belle came over and we decided to bar-b-q for dinner, their treat this time. They went to the meat market with Belle and Alaethia and I had the opportunity to clean up a bit. Then Mario made me a Michelada that was SO GOOD. He even diced up pickles and sprinkled Tajin over them, just like at that drive-thru place where we buy the $5 Micheladas. We sat out there with my dad-in-law and Mom and Mary. Mary got home from shopping and we all went in to eat some chili enchiladas she’d made.

Adan, Aide and the girls got here and we sat outside almost all day just chatting. Jorge, Jose and Elda came over later. I had an intermission of about an hour or 2 because Eenan and I really needed to start his Castle in the Attic project. It really annoys me when they make the kids do those projects, because it’s really not the kids doing it. How do they expect them to handle hot glue and dangerous stuff like that?

I was annoyed trying to figure out the “floor plan” of the castle and only got to draw out the top and bottom floors and cut the cardboard (from a pack of Alaethia’s diapers LOL) for the top floor. I could tell the rest of the castle was going to be a huge headache.

I went back outside to chill with everyone and Mario was on his way in; it was 7pm and he was going to bed. WHAT? That’s what happens when he drinks since noon.

The boys were in bed for school the next day so it was just the girls and me. They were wired at 11pm and I was exhausted and had an awful sinus headache. I tried busying myself by taking pictures of Emily:

And watching Step Up 2, which is pretty darn cheesy but I love watching dance movies like that because I wish I had that type of coordination O_o. I have two left feet.

Mario woke up around that time and watched some of the movie with me. Alaethia played in her room:

…and watched some Care Bear DVDs until she finally showed signs of sleep (yawning) so we came to bed. There’s so much I want to do decoration-wise with their bedroom. But again, it’ll have to wait till we finish our current home improvement project.

Mon., Apr. 20th – It was Mario’s first day back at his (old) job LOL. I got up like a good wifey and made him breakfast. I feel guilty when I don’t make him breakfast. Once he left I went back to bed with Emily and she actually let me sleep! I woke up around 10:30 and had my coffee. John came over shortly after and asked if I wanted to go to Kumori. Um, when don’t I? So I got showered and dressed, got Emily ready and we were off. Mom and Alaethia stayed home watching Noggin.

They were taking forever and we were in a hurry. We were already cutting it close leaving at 1pm because I had to pick up the boys. But the food came and we ate in a hurry and got here just in time.

I had the biggest headache at home, but it wasn’t caused by the kids. My darn sinuses were acting up really bad again, and I’m not even pregnant! I hate taking medication but I felt so awful I gave in and took some sinus medicine. I felt better in about a half hour and started getting housework done while Emily slept. I snuggled with the girlies on the sofa afterward and waited for Mario to get home.

Tues., Apr. 21st – I stayed up after Mario left to work and cleaned. It seems like no matter how much time I spend cleaning it’s just not enough.

My wrist started really bothering me that day so I gave in and went to the doctor’s office. I was hoping it was just still swollen from getting drained a few weeks before, but I knew that wasn’t true. The darn cyst had come back and was the exact same size as it was before the drainage. I had to go all the way to Mission and felt uneasy leaving Emily behind with Mom because Mom couldn’t get her to stop screaming. I kept calling to check on them and when Mary got home from work she took over.

I was referred to an orthopedic specialist but I didn’t want to go. They’d have to surgically remove the cyst and after everything I went through with the only other surgery I’ve ever had in my life–the Tubal Ligation–I said no way. Recovery time would be 5-6 weeks of not using the wrist and I have an infant so there’s no way that was going to happen.

I weighed myself and was horrified to find I’d gained 3 pounds! I weigh 130 now…the most I’ve ever weighed while NOT pregnant. I don’t even know where to start. I know I eat junk food, but not excessively, and I don’t eat excessively, either. It’s just that I’m sedentary most of the time now, because I sit around with Emily when I’m not trying to clean the house. I really want a treadmill!

I went to Mario’s work to drop off his belt. And then came home and chilled out at Mary’s with the kids. Mario was going to pick up burgers (like I needed that but it was late and I didn’t have time to make dinner), so I made an oath to myself that it would be the last night I had an unhealthy meal. Yeah, right.

Wed., Apr. 22nd -I had to wake up early to get myself and the girls ready to go to Alaethia’s cardiologist appointment. I was praying that I’d be okay with both girls. My biggest fear is that the office was far and that Emily would wake up during the trip and cry all the way there if she got hungry.

Mario helped me get the girls in the car before he left to work. He set the address on his Garmin and suctioned it to my windshield. I kept telling him not to bother, but I’m glad he insisted. As I was driving and following the GPS’s directions I realized I was going to go the completely opposite side of town!

I called to let them know I was going to get there late. Her appointment was for 9am. They allowed me 15 minutes to be late, but no more. I wasn’t worried; Garmin was helping me get there just fine. Until I look up and see the little racing flags declaring that I’m at my destination. But I so wasn’t. I was supposed to be at 5600 and I was at 48. It took me an additional 8 minutes to call and locate the actual plaza the office was at. I flung my bag and diaper bag on my shoulder and ran with Alaethia holding one hand and the super heavy car seat with sleeping Emily in it in the other. I felt so stupid for forgetting my sling that day; I would have had much less stuff to carry and my hands free for Alaethia. By the time I got to reception it was 9:13. I made it with two minutes to spare!

I was so bored. We were there for 2 1/2 hours or more…and I’d forgotten my book. I had to keep an eye on Alaethia, though, so maybe it was a good thing I did forget it. She did very well for the most part. She became a little antsy but what 2-year-old wouldn’t having to wait for 2 hours straight?

She was very cooperative during the vitals check. Didn’t even move an inch when they put all those sticky plugs on her to check her heart. The nurse commented on how articulate she is and asked when she started talking because her own 2-year-old wasn’t speaking very well yet. I told her about 7 months, and she hasn’t stopped LOL.

Emily slept most of the time and only woke up to get fed and for a diaper change. And then Alaethia needed a diaper change, too, at the same time LOL. So there I am, in the tiny bathroom that thankfully had a changing table with both girls and a huge car seat. I had to make sure that Alaethia wasn’t touching anything (she has a thing for toilets) while I was changing Emily.

When the specialist finally saw her he was amazed by how cooperative she was. She did everything he told her to do without fussing. He also commented on how well she speaks. We got the great news that her heart murmur is fine; she doesn’t have another appointment for 3 years, just to follow-up :).

I called Mario since it was 12:30; a half hour before he went to lunch. I texted and asked if he wanted us to pick him up and he said yes, of course. So we had a little lunch at Taco Bell. That’s one thing I love about him being back at his old job: I’ll get to have lunch with him on Saturdays again!

The girls were great again. Alaethia ate a little; I’d packed cantaloupe and a sippy of milk for her for breakfast on the way to the appointment and she’d eaten almost the whole ziploc of it.

I got home and tidied up a bit, then laughed at John and his craziness when he came over. Now that he gets our wireless signal at his house again he finds no reason to just come over and visit his sister. Rude. He’s also planning to move out. Who the heck else is going to make me laugh when Mario’s not home?!

I took a nap with the girls after I picked the boys up from school and they did their homework. The boys were excellent; they tip-toed and whispered the whole time so we got to nap for an hour. I have never woken up that refreshed from a nap, ever!

I stuck Emily in her sling when I got up and got dinner on the table and dishes washed with no problem. That sling really is a lifesaver!

Mario got home and ate and we went to Jorge and Maggie’s right after. Us girls mostly chilled out inside surfing Myspace, watching trailers, and watching videos on YouTube. Javi and Mario came in at one point and watched some strange video with us when Javi brought me some Hot Cheetoes with cheese. I still have no idea what it was about LOL. We came home right after that and went straight to bed.

I love being a stay-at-home-mom again. Mario and I are much happier again…because we get to spend time together! I never want to get back to where we were last February.

Sun., Apr. 12th – Woo, Easter Sunday!

I actually woke up early for once and took a shower right away. Dad visited for a while–a very little while. He got nervous–I guess–when everyone started arriving and was gone after 5 whole minutes of seeing us. Kind of isn’t worth the gas all the way over here if you ask me. Granted, I don’t know how much time he was alone with Mom *cough*.

I sat outside with everyone and let my hair air-dry for a bit and then came in to flat-iron my hair. It was so hot outside it felt as though I hadn’t showered. I’m so not looking forward to summer *cries*. It was so hot that poor Emily had 2 bottles of water and she usually doesn’t like it.

Jose was the bar-b-q cook and Mary, as usual, made all the sides. The food was delicious. Immediately following, we took the little ones inside while some of the adults hid the eggs for the egg hunt. Then they stampeded like a heard of buffalo and looked for eggs. Mary got golden ones and if you found one, you won $5. That was a new addition to the egg hunt this year. Alaethia found one and Jaylen became really upset because he didn’t win a prize during the egg hunt when he has every other year. Eenan was indifferent; he was just having fun. Jaylen felt better when they played the ring toss game and he won some water grenades LOL.

We proceeded to the carport next for the games. The adults played first LOL. We had a Pass the Orange game, where you can only use your neck and chin to pass the orange to the next person. Whoever had the orange when Mary yelled, “Stop!” (she wasn’t watching) was out of the game. It looked hilarious…and quite inappropriate LOL. Andy was the only male who played, and I think he won!

We played the Egg & Spoon race and then the Egg Toss where Mario and Jorge became over confident and were one of the first groups to drop their egg LOL.

Next the kids hit the 4-year-old Spongebob piñata next LOL. Elda had bought that thing 4 years ago for one of Brandon’s birthday parties and they didn’t get to use it. So we finally did.

After that the kids got to open their Easter baskets. Alaethia had a blast opening her stuff with her Nina Noelia and Nino Andy. Andy and Noelia are Emily’s Godparents, too, and I got a few pictures of her with her stuff and in the dress Mary got her. She was naked the rest of the time except for a diaper because it was so hot. The boys got DVDs and lots of cool fun stuff in their baskets so they were thrilled. So was I–I haven’t watched Bolt yet LOL.

The kids (and some adults) cracked eggs and then played with the shit-ton of water guns Jaylen received in his basket from Cat and Annie. Alaethia, Matthew and Belle spent most of their time at the refill bucket playing with the water. Everyone had a blast.

When almost everyone had left we went inside to have dessert at Mary’s. She made her famous Banana Cream Pie. Yum.

Aide, Mom, Sonia and I chilled out inside and then went outside with the few men that were left. And they were drunk LOL. They were sharing stories and being weird. Grandpa was even hitting on Mom. Then he asked to adopt Emily. Mario had to escort him to the car because he didn’t want to leave when Sonia was ready to!

When all the women left and the boys were playing at Mary’s and the girls were asleep I read some of my book, Eclipse. Yes, I’m still on it. When Mario finally came in we watched Bedtime Stories with the kids. We had pickles and popcorn; Alaethia loves movie nights. And the movie was so cute! I love Adam Sandler :).

Mon., Apr. 13th – He boys had another day off of school and Mario was off work. My dad-in-law and Mom stayed with the boys while I caught up on sleep. Emily’s doing much better; although she does wake up every 3 hours on the dot, I’m so glad that she’s stopped having those strange 2-hour spans of awakeness like she used to.

While I was asleep Mario had gone to get his old job back. Everything went smoothly, thank goodness. He tried calling his current boss to let him know but he didn’t get ahold of him.

It was Sally’s birthday so I called her but got her voicemail. I feel so distant now. I know life (work, marriage and kids) is a constant, but I wish we could hang out at least one a month or something. I feel the way I imagine she did when it was the opposite: when I was working at she was at home with Quentin.

John came over and asked if I wanted Kumori for an early b-day lunch. But of course! We waited for Mario to get here, loaded Emily in the car and went. Mom and the in-laws stayed with the other kiddos (nobody else likes sushi LOL). I had my regular Fiesta Roll and an Ebi-shitake thing, which sounded like they were stuffed mushrooms but they ended up being little fried mushroom patties. It was ok, but I probably won’t order it again. I should have just gotten the expensive Maui-wowie roll but I didn’t want John to spend too much. I’d feel guilty.

We went to Game Stop to get Jaylen’s present from us and his present from mom. He wanted Gears of War from us, which I wouldn’t have allowed him to get at all had I actually researched what it was! Bad parent!

From Mom we got him a Worms game for the PSP, the Sims Kingdom for DS and another game I can’t remember at the moment. He was going to be thrilled.

I received my Hugamonkey sling that afternoon! It worked like a charm! Emily curled right up and slipped into slumber.

We went to Jorge and Maggie’s for a little bit. 3 of 4 kiddos went with us; Eenan, of course, didn’t go. We stopped for food first at Star’s. Maggie and Jorge were cleaning up and boxing up stuff so we felt kind of like we were in the way and Jaylen had to get bathed and in bed for school the next day so we came home. We watched a movie with Jason and Adan and Alaethia couldn’t be more thrilled since she got to eat more popcorn LOL. We went through 4 bags of popcorn and like, 4 huge movie pickles. I came to the realization that one day I will have two huge teenage sons and they will eat me out of house and home.

Tues., Apr. 14th – My birthday!! 27 years old already. I actually don’t feel old, even though I’ve been married 10 years and have 4 kids. I feel really good and I seriously have a feeling this year will bring tons of great things!

I had a good day. Everyone wished me a good day. I didn’t think we were going to do much since we were broke and I was okay with that. Mary called in the afternoon and told me to get ready because she was taking us out to dinner to celebrate. She said I could pick any place, so I picked Cheddar’s because I’d really been craving one of those Maui Margaritas!

Mom, our kids, Mary, Mario, Andy and Noelia were all there to celebrate with me.

I ordered my Maui Margarita and the Beer Battered Shrimp plate. We had some laughs with our waiter, Dwight. He was hilarious and so good with the kids. I was a little upset that the boys were seated at a table that was near but still separate from us because there was no other table that would accommodate all of us. They enjoyed the extra space, though, and I imagine they felt pretty grown up sitting on their own.

Emily was fed and changed right before we arrived so she slept the entire time we were there. Alaethia had fun eating her ketchup (she could eat it all day if we let her) and fries and then, since the kids’ food came first and she finished early, began playing with a little boy who wandered to our table.

Before we left they sang “Happy Birthday” to me and then we had the most sinful chocolate cake. It wasn’t really cake, it was more like fudge smothered in caramel and a glob of vanilla ice cream. It was sooo good. I felt super full afterward.

Andy and Noelia gave me a gift card to Old Navy, yay! And from the boys (or Mary LOL) I got a beautiful silver cross necklace and a gorgeous little silver bracelet that has “Love” engraved all around it. So cute!

Mary, Mom and the boys went home and so did Andy and Noelia after we finished eating. Mario, the girls and I went to Jason and Adan’s to have some drinks. Mirella bought some Parrot Bay rum to drink with pineapple juice and it was really good. I chilled out with Aide and the girls for a little bit but she had to go to sleep to get up early for work the next day. The rest of us watched Beowulf while we had some drinks. Emily slept through the entire movie and Alaethia ended up falling asleep, too. Mario and I got home and put the girls in their beds and had some long-awaited alone time :).

Wed., Apr. 15th – I woke up and made Mario breakfast. I went back to bed when he left to work and had lunch when I woke up. Yup, lunch LOL. John came over and told me about all the things he was going to get me for my birthday but didn’t. Dork LOL. It would have been wonderful LOL.

I picked the boys up from school and, along with Emily, went straight to Eenan’s optometrist appointment. Jaylen did his homework while we waited and Eenan kind of just slothed around, literally. He kept throwing himself on the floor and laying there every time we moved somewhere else. Emily was a doll. Eenan most definitely needed his glasses. I can’t believe how bad his vision is. He’s going to have to wear them all the time.

I expected to spend about $20…but spent $77! Supposedly polycarbonate lenses are mandatory for kids under 18; some kind of law the lady said. That was $60 right there alone.

I was going to go to Old Navy right after the appointment since it’s right across the street and shop with the card Andy and Noelia gave me, but I already felt awful for spending so much money. Emily was also about to wake up at any minute, so I decided to go straight home.

When we got home my dad-in-law helped me get Emily and her car seat off the car and surprised me with $50! I felt bad taking it but he crunched it in my hand and made me keep it LOL. I will save for treadmill, I hope. Or use it wisely for something else should I need to.

I cleaned while Mario watched Emmy. When all the kiddos were asleep I spent some time with Mario :). That’s what I like about not working: I don’t have to be on a time limit all the time like I used to be. I can spend time with Mario whenever I want instead of going to sleep at 10pm like I used to in order to be up on time for work the next morning.

Thurs., Apr. 16th – I had Emily in her sling most of the morning. She cooed and smiled the whole time before she took her noon nap. I passed her on to Mom so I could clean what I couldn’t while I was lugging her around. I got ready to go to town again. I picked up the boys and took Mom to the pharmacy. First stop was paying John’s car and then visited Gramma.

I get to the parking lot and Mom goes off on her merry way and leaves me with all the kids to herd together. I’m usually ok, but when I have to get the stroller down like I did that day, it makes me nervous because Alaethia tries to run off after her.

Gramma’s doing pretty good. We sat with her and we talked about the kids and just chit-chatted.

We went to Walmart afterward and it wasn’t as bad a trip and I thought it would be. It was a little confusing since they’re remodeling or something and it was a little difficult finding a few things because they were moving sections of the store around. The whole store has a less crowded feel but I guess that could be attributed to them removing the fabric section from the crafts department. Darn. And I never bought the Strawberry Shortcake fabric for the girls, nor did I buy any extra Transformers fabric for the boys :(.

We did find little square pieces of fabric for Eenan’s Castle in the Attic project. We’d use the fabric as wallpaper for inside the castle. We were going to construct it out of cardboard and hot glue. Let’s see how it goes.

We got home and I put Emily in her sling. Mario was already here. I got to make dinner with her in her sling and washed dishes. I ate and then cleaned. I gave her to Mom for a bit so I could finish cleaning. I tackled the pile of junk on my desk. I didn’t get it all done, but I threw out tons of stuff. I felt quite accomplished.

I put her to sleep in her sling again once I got her back from Mom and began uploading pics to Flickr. I wanted to have the blog updated by that night, but alas, it didn’t happen. As I was sitting at the kitchen table with Emily on my lap and typing away on the laptop, Alaethia walks up to me and asks for her “Toshieh” which means “slippers” in Chinese, or Mandarin actually. She’s too darn smart! I love those Ni-Hao Kai-Lan cartoons! She’s learned so much from them. She even knows Yeh-Yeh means “Grandpa” in Mandarin and calls her Bimpa that sometimes :D.

Fri., Apr. 17th – I had an early appointment but it was fast, thank goodness. I was really tired from only sleeping for about 4 1/2 hours of broken sleep. I got the mail and to my horror realized Mario and I both went over our texting limit–$100 extra on the bill! Just wonderful!

I spent the free time I had that day sorting through my external hard drive that has all my music on it and deleted tons of stuff that didn’t even belong to me. When I used to upload for everyone for their MP3 players or iPods their music would somehow end up in my folder.

I got a call right after I’d picked the boys up from school that his glasses had come in and were ready for pick up. I took the opportunity to pick out my frames so I wouldn’t have to make another trip all the way over there. It was nice spending some time with just Eenan. He’s such a hilarious kid! Takes after his father.

We went to Old Navy this time since I didn’t have Emily with me and Eenan walked around with me while I tried finding some nice blouses. I still have some pounds to lose so I was being really picky. Eenan was being really helpful, even giving me some fashion advice like not picking out this one blouse because it looked too “old lady” LOL. He’s so cute.

I ended up with two blouses (exactly the same but one in plum and one in teal), black flip-flops, white flip-flops and I only had to pay $5 extra after using my gift card. Too awesome!

I got home and Mom, Mary, Elda and the little ones were chilling out on the deck. Big Mario had been working on leveling the cement for when the floors would go in and Mario was helping him out. We had a bar-b-q and just chilled out talking and eating outside. Elda gave me a really cute Fossil wallet for my birthday :). It’s such pretty colors.

Eventually everyone went in and it was just Elda, Mom, Jose, Mario, me and the girls. We talked about a lot of stuff, including the incident with Adan, Buddy’s passing, and other stuff. Adan joined us later and Jose lectured him LOL.

Sat., Apr. 18th – It was Jaylen’s 7th birthday!! Mario had to work for half the day. We spent all afternoon getting ready for Jaylen’s celebration (does every other Mom with 1+ daughters take 2-3 hours getting ready, or is it just me?). I made sure I had all the essentials (packed diaper bags, camera) and we were off.

We stopped by Game Stop to get a Castlevania game we saw cheap for Eenan, just so he wouldn’t feel left out. Then we all met at Cracker Barrel, where Jaylen chose to celebrate. He especially wanted to go because you can play checkers while you wait LOL. The food and conversations was great, and it was just really nice to spend time with the family. It never gets old.

We ate and then sang Happy Birthday and had some yummy ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, courtesy of Mom. Our waitress was really nice and helped us out a lot. We stayed a really long time, just chatting, playing checkers and talking. Annie gave me a cute planner when we were leaving and Mom got me a huge box of chocolates from the shop for my birthday. We walked around the shop and I saw so many cute things I wanted! I’m hoping to go back for this frame that inspired me to paint the bathroom baby blue. But that’ll be another project to do after the living room’s complete.

I’m not sure what we did afterwards…we might have gone to Jorge and Maggie’s but I’m not sure. I’ve gotta ask Mario about that one. My brain’s turning to mush now that it’s 1:33am (on May 6th now). One day I’ll be able to catch up with all these entries!!