texas grammy...

this is for derek...he's our of town until sunday & my mom (a.k.a "texas grammy") is in town visiting and he missed out on a annual tradition we do every year. we always go downtown for the Christmas lights and fireworks the day after Thanksgiving...we missed you babe. it was a lot of fun going with texas grammy though. it was very crowded, in fact there was NO parking, so we had to watch the fireworks from the car while i looked for a parking place...so, a little off-roading, driving off a curb & like 3 illegal u-turns later we FINALLY found a spot! whew!


oh, did i mention that leia got another (her 3rd!) Nursemaid's Elbow tonight...in fact, the first time it happened was exactly 1 year ago, at dinner right when we were on our way downtown...weird. i was SO glad tonight that i remembered what the dr. showed me to do if it happened again...i was SO happy to feel that elbow pop back into place! poor baby... it wouldn't have been a complete night without some kind of drama! :)

tradition...

every year since kaia's was born, we've taken a pic in front of this tree at anne and john's (john's parents) house before we eat Thanksgiving dinner...this is pic #5!

i'm thankful for them...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...i hope everyone's bellies are stuffed! :)

family night #13: 'O Christmas Tree...

tonight was very simple, yet peaceful...no tears, no yelling (well, not much), less threatening than usual & i know what you're thinking, "chipotle for a family night?", but it just seems like we've been so busy lately & we had errands to run tonight so we just ate out...we heard no complaints by anyone :).
then, we thought we'd take a pic of the girls out in front of the BIG Christmas tree by Chipotle (you'll see in a few pics that christmas tree's had to do with our theme for the night)...
when we got home we put a fire in the fireplace for the first time in this house...it actually feels kinda like winter here today...rain. i love it!
another 'sis pic...
then, for the craft...we helped the girls make these christmas tree/hand print/wall hanging "thingys"...they came out adorable (thanks for the idea Jen :)!
kaia's turn...
ta da...the final product (these were so easy & fun/cheap to make and we'll have them forever)
we're getting in the Christmas spirit...how about you guys?

i had to brag...

i decided to start my Christmas shopping yesterday and, yes...i am an expert bargain shopper (if i do say so myself :), but even i was extra impressed at the deal i got yesterday at old navy. i brought all my stuff to the register & i wanted to know if that bikini (for kaia) had it's final sale price on it, which was like $8...so the girl scans it for me and she says, "it's 99 cents"...i'm not kidding...i got chills! she proceeds to explain that ALL girls clothing is 1/2 off the clearance price and the clearance tag hadn't been updated. WHAT!!! anyways, to sum it up, the bikini & the 2 pairs of shorts (which i got big enough sizes that they'll still fit her next summer were ALL $0.99...the only thing that was over $3 was that blue striped dress (which was like $6.50)...my total came out to $22! when i showed derek all the deals i got, he said, "you have to blog about this". so, here you go! i don't know if that sale is still going on, but if it is...you all should go take advantage of it....SO exciting!

comment of the day #7:

last friday i was getting ready to take kaia to school, and she walks in to our bathroom, looks me up and down and says, "wow mama, you look LOW!" from the look on her face when she first walked in, i expected her to say something like, "you look nice"...or somethin'. anyways, i said "what do you mean?" and she says "like......(as she's putting her hands close together as if to hand motion SHORT). thanks a lot baby, you know i am only 5' 3 AND a 1/2". maybe it was the "skinny jeans" i was wearing since they're kinda tight around the ankle...i don't know. whatever...nothing like an early morning compliment to start off my day. :)
p.s.~it actually gave me a good morning laugh!

family night #12: "getting ready for Christmas"-

alright...i was gonna save this one for next month, but to be honest i kinda forgot that tonight was family night until like right before i started making dinner and remembered that i had just bought these gingerbread house making kits...so, we're a little ahead of schedule. i'm sure it won't be the only Christmas themed family night before Christmas and the girls had a great time!
we had Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer "noses in our spaghetti (that sounds kinda weird after i typed it! :)
then, we made some hot cocoa after dinner...
actually it was "luke warm" cocoa ;)
leia pretty much just ate the marshmellows out of her cocoa, she was happy...
then we helped the girls make their gingerbread houses...


they probably ate 1/2 of the candy that was supposed to go on the houses...
not bad girls! notice how kaia put a stoplight (yeah, it's upside down) by the front door on hers...

a little over a month away girls!!! (maybe we should concentrate on Thanksgiving 1st :)

time to get buff!

derek's been wanting a weight set for a long time and we finally got him one yesterday...check out some of the instruction manual for the weight bench...and this is just one of the pages!
here he is doing his first rep (i think that's what it's called? :)
leia's turn (don't you love her "just woke up from a nap" hair!)...
okay...he needs some workout partners...who wants to buff up (we've already volunteered the castro-hake boys :)?

"Farmer in the Dell"...

this is a short video we took this weekend of leia singing...for some reason, she really likes the part of the song that says, "a farmer takes his wife" and it kinda sounds more like "a yarmer yakes his yipe", but it cracks up up every time. so cute! :)

our Saturday...

okay, so kaia's "real" birthday was on saturday so our busy day started as soon as the girls woke up (which was VERY early, as usual)....and, yes, i still had the flu pretty bad. :(
leia helped her open the gifts from us. she was very helpful...


then, she had her last soccer game (here's kaia and fiona...her friend, ari's little sis)
then, we went to lunch (at chipotle, of course :), and yogurt...yum!
then, we went out to dinner and came back home (to papa & nema's) house to have some cake...
leia takes her cake eating very seriously! :)
here's leia and "bubba"...
oh...can't you just see how bad i felt from this pic? nice.

happy birthday my sweetheart...i can't believe you're 5. let's make this next year go a little slower, okay baby. :)

p.s.~gone are the days where you can just be sick when you feel sick, huh?

end of the season

i'm finally back...i've had the flu ALL weekend (not fun!)
anyways, soccer season is officially over, so kaia and her team had their end of the season pizza party on friday...here she is with her trophee.
good job baby!

every week...

i take leia to the library on thursday's for storytime. she loves it. i love it too, it's one of the only chances i get one-on-one with her (and it's free! :). so, last week, the newspaper was there taking pictures and we made the "cut" in 2 of 'em (well, kinda...in the bottom one you can see my back and you can barely see leia's head right in front of the book the librarian's reading)...
these aren't the greatest pics, but it's kinda neat...
can't wait 'til next week my little lei-lei! :)