Xmas tree pics--PICS UPLOADED NOW :)

So, I TOTALLY have been slacking! I wanted to post the activities we had been doing for the 12 days of Xmas, but just uploaded the pics tonight and am just too lazy to load them all up....LOL We've done so many things already...put the ornaments on the tree, baked cookies, watched the Polar Express in our PJs, made reindeer antlers and today we took pics around the tree. Or I should say, "I" took pics of the kids around the tree. I got some pretty good shots. Here's just a few :)
Apparently, blogger hates me right now and isn't letting me upload my pics...guess it will have to wait until tomorrow :) Nighty night :)

Some Gifts.....

So, I'd been working on these felt trees that I saw on Gina's blog. I think she won them off of someone else's blog! Anyway, I just loved them and decided to try to make some as part of a gift for our neighbors. I like the way they turned out, but don't know if they are cute enough to give away. I mean, I like them, but not everyone likes homemade crafty things.

Also, here's the full view of the sneak peek. Since my sis already saw it because she just HAD to know what it was I made and who it was for! LOL We are both the same in that aspect...hate surprises and waiting. We almost always give each other our birthday or Xmas gifts as soon as we buy them! LOL Anyway, it is a framed LO for her and I'm so happy that she just loved it! :) I really love those black frames! They are 12x12 and I got them at Wal Mart for only $6.50. I think I will get a few more to frame some more of my favorite LOs and hang them up in my sb room and get some of that other stuff in there off the walls. Anway, that's all the posting for today...LOL Good night :)

12 Days of Christmas

So I'm doing this thing that I got inspired by Estee to do. It's a 12 Days of Christmas "thing"...LOL where I planned a family activity to do for each of the twelve days leading up to Christmas Day. Is that the way it goes, Estee? If not...Oh well! LOL I didn't know if I was supposed to start on December 1st or on December 13 which is today and exactly 12 days before Xmas. I liked that idea better, so I went with it :)

Anyway, today's activity was putting the ornaments on the tree, but we didn't do it today...we kind of cheated and did it last night since Miguel was home and he would be able to participate. He won't be able to take part in most of them...boo hoo :( Alot of the pics came out blurry because I was trying to figure out the best way to get the lights to show up which didn't work because I had to put it on night portrait mode which flashes THREE times and by that time, the kids had already moved!! I'll post the best of the bunch!! :)

Here's a little sneak peek of something I made for "someone" :)



And here's Mikey playing with his blocks at my table while I scrapped :)

Happy Birthday to Mikey

Today is Mikey's birthday!! I can't believe that he is already THREE years old! Gosh, how the times flies! I still remember like it was yesterday, the morning when we left to the hospital and then just a few short hours later, he was born!! My litttle Monkey :)

So we had a little "party" here at home for him this past Saturday. Nothing big, just had pizza and cake and only invited my mom and my sis and her kids. It was nice. Mikey had fun and we got him this cool guitar that he just LOVES! He loved to play with the Guitar Hero one and since that one is WAY more expensive, we thought we'd get him one of his own! I'll have to take some pics of him "playing" it. He looks so cute!!

I got this video clip of him singing while we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He kept singing right along with everyone and then didn't want to stop! LOL I'm not sure he quite grasped the concept of being sung to even though I know he knew the cake was for him!! LOL

A WHOLE bunch of LOs and being Thankful :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all :) I hope everyone had a nice day spent with family and friends and lots of good food!


Today was a great day! We slept in late..well, Miguel and I did, but my poor mom got woken up first by Matthew and then by Mikey! I didn't sleep in long after Mikey woke up. I kept thinking about all we had to do and get ready. I would have liked to stay in bed, but I was up at about 10. When Miguel woke up about an hour later, I convinced him to go for a jog with me! It was so nice and fresh outside...I just felt like getting out and running!! OMG...I have only gotten off the treadmill kick for almost two weeks and already I am out of shape!! We barely did a like ten minute run and I was DYING! Okay, dying is exagerrating, but I was really out of breath! It's amazing to me how it takes me such a long time to get to a good point in my working out where I am not tired or out of breath, but that it can take such a short amount of time to lose that progress and go back to where you began, KWIM? I'm so mad at myself for letting myself get out of the routine. It happens to me every couple of months. I guess I get a bit discouraged and tired of busting my butt and not seeing the results as quickly as I would like. I AM getting back on it come Monday. I know it's going to be hard all over again, but I guess that's the price I have to pay for getting sidetracked :( ANYWAY, back to my day...LOL After our jog, we came in and started getting stuff ready and putting the turkey in the oven. I made homemade mashed potatoes and we had to make a quick run to HEB because we didn't have any milk and guess what?? Neither did HEB!!! LOL Okay, I did get a gallon, but OMG...there really was not much to choose from. There were literally only about 20 different gallons of milk. It was like a big milk shortage!! LOL It was quick trip to the store and thankfully it was not as crazy as I thought it was going to be. Oh and my baby bought me this book I had been wanting. It's called "I Dare You" by Joyce Meyer. I can't wait to start reading it! Dinner was delicious! And even better because we were surrounded by the love of family :) It was only eight of us, but it was still nice :) After dinner, we played some Guitar Hero...mine and Miguel's new addiction! LOL I have to say..we have gotten pretty good at it! LOL After my sis's step son got us some more songs, Miguel and I stayed up playing and taking turns and we beat the game...on EASY mode at least! LOL As we speak, Miguel is downstairs trying to see how far he can get on Medium speed! He's doing pretty good!! At the end of the day, I looked around at my family...our house...everything...and I just feel so incredibly blessed to have what we do. I am so very thankful for my family...my two boys who although frustrate the heck out of me at times, I just love, love, LOOOOVE to pieces, for Miguel who frustrates me just as much as times but who I just love so freaking much, for my mom who I have to admit, I'd be lost without...my sister...my partner in crime...my scrappy buddy..my other half...need I say more?? LOL :) The people in my life, that is what I am most thankful for. That is what makes life worth living for me. I am also very thankful that I have brought God into my life. And so very thankful that He has changed me in so many ways...I can't even begin to list them all, but I do know that I want to spend the rest of my life loving and serving Him. Everything else we have, well, it's just icing on the cake :) I wish that Elijah had been here too, but he has been spending the week with his dad which I'm glad for. I know that Elijah loves it and that Gilbert doesn't get to see him as much as I do. So it's all good :) He will be back tomorrow and we are taking him and Matthew to the movies on Saturday and maybe out to eat somewhere. It will be fun! I think we are going to see that new movie "Enchanted". It looks funny!


Here are the LOs I did at this past Saturday's crop. I had 8 packed and can you believe that by about 8:30 I was DONE!! And that was even that we got there at four instead of two and ate and shopped before we even got started scrapping! I guess it was because I pretty much had my whole LO done and laid out. All I really had to do was glue it down. We ended up coming home at eleven, but we had a great time and I got some shopping done and alot of LOs finished.


Well, it's late and I'm tired. Good night :)

Pumpkins and Scarecrows

Okay, so this year, Miguel did not bring home his usual "army" of huge pumpkins!! :( Which I was very sad about because I didn't get to take pics of the kids with them and had already told my sis and others to come take their pumpkin pics here. He did bring home a lot of smaller pumpkins that we had lined the walkway with. Anyway, I had also not gotten my scarecrows for the front lawn either because I just kept forgetting and then when I finally did remember, there weren't any left in the stores! :( This past weekend, me and my sis went and did some shopping on Saturday and we went to Big Lots where I was sooo happy to find that they had a ton of scarecrows and they were HALF OFF so I got a couple! YAY! I had also gotten some stuff on sale at Wal Mart last week and made a really pretty fall wreath for my front door. Anyway, I took the kids out front today after Lij got home from school and took some pics of them and they didn't come out half bad! At least I got my fall pics and the scrapbooker in me is satisfied :)

A couple of pics of me and Miguel on Saturday night. It was our date night! :)

I Did Some Scrapping Last Night

Last night me and Adriana went to Scrapbook 911 to check out the new Creative Cafe. I was just DYING to see it in person after seeing all the cool, tempting pics of it on the blog (thanks Gina :) ) And it was even better in person!! I was DROOLING over all the awesome new stuff!! I could have bought one of everything there, but I controlled myself and only spent about $30. They were having "Happy Hour" when we got there and a woman was making a super cute card! We didn't participate, but hopefully someday soon, we can. I just shopped...as always...LOL I picked up some of the cool felt flowers, notebook papers, 12x12 sheets of cs stickers and punch out journaling spots from the Creative Cafe stuff, and then I picked up a bottle of the Prima Pressed petals which I just LOOOOVE!! Had I known that after I paid, I would only be $10 away from my free $10 credit, I would have definately picked up some more of that Cafe stuff and then used my credit right then and there!! LOL :) Me and Adriana came home and scrapped for a few hours. She did two LOs and I only did one! I sat there for the longest time not knowing what to do with this cool picture my sis took of the kids walking at the park. I eventually just looked in one of my mags and lifted a cute LO from an issue of Memory Makers.

The second LO I did today and that was a lift also off of the Creative Imaginations Creative Cafe website. I really like the way that one turned out! And I got to use some of my new goodies!

BTW, Lij said Ms. Acosta loved his poster and put it up in the classroom :)

He Makes Me So Proud

Yesterday afternoon after Elijah finished his homework, he tells me...
"There are alot of rumors going around the classroom, Mom and I told Ms. Acosta that I'm going to do something about it." I ask him, "What are you going to do?" "You'll see", he says. So he asks me for some "big paper" and his markers and goes to his room to work on his "project". A while later he comes to find me in our bedroom and he has written the lyrics to that "Don't Laugh At Me" song ( I forget who sings it) and has drawn cute little pictures to go along with the lyrics! He said he was going to tell Ms. Acosta to put it up in the classroom somewhere. I told him that it was great and that it was a very nice and thoughtful thing to do for the class. He wasn't finished with it so he went back to work, but with dinner and bath and getting ready for the next day, he didn't get to finish it. When I went in to say goodnight to him, he asked me to wake him up early and I asked him for what. He said he didn't finish his poster and that he wanted to finish it up in the morning because he promised Ms. Acosta he would have it for her today. ( Sigh...already he is being a man of his word!!) So I told him I'd wake him up at six a.m. when I get up and I did. And he sat at the kitchen table eating his breakfast and finishing up his poster. I wonder what his teacher is going to say about it. I wish I'd taken a picture of it. He's so creative, but that's not the reason I'm so proud of him. Sometimes it kind of annoys me that Elijah is so sensitive...sometimes OVERLY sensitive and takes everything to heart, but when I think about it...I'm kind of that way too. I'm kind of a sap I guess....okay, I am! LOL But what I love about Elijah is that he is so caring and compassionate and genuinely cares about other people's feelings and wants to DO something about it. It's also when he does things like this that I see him come out of his shell some. I think he overcomes his shyness in his quest to do "what's right". THAT is what makes me proud. I know that Elijah is going to grow up and do great things. He's going to change the world...I just know it! I just hope that this cruel and sometimes unpredictable world doesn't change him and that he is always this sweet, loving and compassionate soul that I just ADORE :)

Air Show

So, Elijah spent this past weekend at my sis's house. She hadn't seen him since the summer when we celebrated his birthday at my mom's house w/ a cake and presents. Lij goes to spend time with his dad every weekend so after getting the OK from him (hi Gilbert :) ), she picked him up on Friday night. They always go out and do errands and stuff, plus he gets to play with Matthew and Victoria so I'm sure he had a great time. On Sunday, they went to an air show at Randolph and my sis got these super cool pics of Lij that I can't wait to scrap. There's ALOT of pics of him, GILBERT!! LOL Happy now??? Just kidding :) I will make it a point to post more stuff about Lij so you can come here and see what he has been up to during the week when you don't get to see him :)


These first two pics were taken at some park my sis took them to...not sure what it's called.



These were the pics from the air show! How cool that Lij got to sit in a real plane!!

The Best I Got

Pictures that is! I was so sad that no one was cooperating and letting me take the bajillion...yes, bajillion is a word..lol...pics that I wanted. Don't they know I'm a scrapbooker and NEED a variety of pics to work with?? People...what is that room with all the paper for?? LOL SHEESH!! Anyway, Miguel was the only one willing to pose for me. Well, and Lij too..for a while. OK, I guess Mikey, as always...was the most uncooperative of the bunch!! He was NOT liking wearing his costume at first. I think he didn't like how the fabric felt and he was NOT liking the bandana on his head!! He kept taking it off!! When we got outside and he saw all the other kids dressed up, he forgot about it and left it on!

I wasn't too happy with the costume Lij picked out. His dad took him to pick it out so I didn't get a say in it. Plus the whole night, he kept complaining about how hot it was under that mask. Yep...next year, I'm dressing him like a pirate again!! LOL...JK..Ok, maybe!!

Miguel looked great! LOL I couldn't look at him and not laugh The costume he wore was one that he got for a play he was participating in for the Woman's ACTS retreat for our church. He got lots of compliments for it too!
We took the kids out for about and hour and then came back home and passed out candy. The kids got a good amount of loot and it was fun! Maybe next year, we can all dress up as a family. I think that would be pretty neat!

Can you tell Mikey doesn't like his bandana?? LOL Look at that mad little face!!

My Roman soldier :) The family...Lij...look over here!! LOL He was the Scream mask guy!