I'm In Love

"I'm in love for the first time.

Don't you know it's going to last?

It's a love that lasts forever.

It's a love that has no past."

There's a new love in my life. But Hector's not a jealous guy. :-) You see, I received a Keurig for Christmas from my father and step-mother. It was a complete surprise. I'd only mentioned it to my step-mother once, and she remembered how fondly I spoke of it and bought it for Hector and I for Christmas. So on Christmas Eve, as I opened the gift and saw what it was, I was literally giddy. Why so giddy? Well, let me sum it all up for you:

1) No coffee filters

2) No scooping

3) No measuring

4) No rinsing out the coffee pot

5) No waiting

6) Variety (It is the spice of life. Didn't you know?)

This coffee maker is the bomb! All you do is open the lid, put in whatever flavor/variety of pre-measured coffee, tea or cocoa that you desire, close the lid, hit a button, and within a few short seconds you have your beverage. It really does rock! If you don't have one, I highly recommend it. And if you do have one, I'd greatly appreciate your suggestions on which brand and flavors of coffee you prefer. There's so many to choose from!

Happy Coffee, Ya'll!

Traditions

So, here I am, blogging at my in-law's house. As most of you probably already know, my family and I travel every Christmas to be with our extended family. It's a tradition that we established years ago, early in our marriage. There are things about our time with our extended family that we've done for several years now, like spending Christmas Eve with my father, step-mother, and my father's side of the family. My father smokes a brisket or makes barbecue. We exchange gifts. And we enjoy each other's company. And then we always spend Christmas Day with my husband's family. My mother-in-law cooks tamales and carne guisada. We all pile into the living room and open our gifts together. It's fun. It's tradition.

This year, my family started a new tradition. My brother and sister-in-law opened up their home the day after Christmas, and we were able to spend time with my mother and step-father during this holiday... something we have not done in many, many years. They cooked a traditional Christmas dinner, and we all sat around and laughed and laughed and laughed. We ate ourselves silly! The kids played so hard upstairs that we thought the chandelier was going to fall from the ceiling. And we already started planning for next year. It was a wonderful time, and I am extremely grateful to my brother and sister-in-law for starting this new tradition.

So what traditions have you done for years now with your family? Did you start any new traditions this year? I'd love to read your comments!

The many moods, the many shades, the many sides of Avery...

Avery loves to travel. And she loves to pack too. She gets so excited about it. But she tends to go about packing much in the same way as her Mama does... over-analyzing everything and therefore, over-packing as well.

So yesterday, Avery's ears perked up immediately when she heard me (from 3 rooms away) starting to pull out the suitcases, and she came barreling into the guest room and immediately went into "packing mode."

"Where's my suitcase? What do I need to pack? Is it going to be hot or cold there? How many days will we be there? Do I need tennie shoes? Flip flops? Church shoes? How many dresses should I bring? I want to bring my pink tights for my purple dress, my white tights for my red dress, and my peach tights for my blue dress. I should probably bring pony tail holders. You know it's always windy at Grandma's house. I should bring 2 jackets, just in case I get 1 dirty. Do I need shorts? Do I need lotion? Oh, I can't forget my ear plugs. What about food? Do I need to pack snacks? Do you think Grandma will make that brown meat (carne guisada) that I love so much, with all the gravy? I don't think 1 suitcase is going to be big enough. Where's my pink bag? You know, the bag that Aunt Amanda bought me? Maybe the princess suitcase should be for my clothes and the pink bag should be for my shoes, panties, socks and tights. Does that sound okay? Oh, I need to pack a bag with things to do in the car. You know how I always get bored in the car. Oh, can you wash my footy pajamas, the ones I'm wearing right now?"

She reminds me a little of George, from Seinfled...

.

Sorry for the poor sound and quality of that. But I think you get the point... We're leaving home for about a week, and the girl has packed half her closet, because you just never know what mood Avery will be in once we get to where we're going...

Whew, she's all packed and ready to go! Now maybe I can focus on getting the rest of the family packed!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas... The 5 Aces

To: Mommy, From: Avery

Each Christmas for as long as we've been married, Hector and I have loaded up the car and made the drive to go celebrate the holiday with our families. The only year we didn't go was 3 years ago when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Isaac. This is something that we look forward to doing each Christmas. We love the tradition we've created for our children, and we love being able to spend this wonderful time of year with our extended family.



As part of this tradition, Hector and I always let the kids open their gifts from us before we leave town. So this morning, we celebrated Christmas at home before the "real" Christmas day. We all received so many wonderfully thoughtful gifts, for which I am truly thankful. But this year, I received the best gift ever. My precious daughter bought me something! Yes! The school had a holiday store last week, and she used her money to buy me something for Christmas. Oh yes! She picked it out herself, just for me. I was so touched that she would even think to get me something, since she is the epitome of a "Daddy's Girl." My heart was truly touched! This is what Avery bought me:
BUT WAIT!!! The picture above really does not do the gift justice. So, I took this video footage, so that you all can get the full effect of the gift...

Fancy, right?!?! :-) I'll admit, it's not really my style, but I absolutely love it because it's from my baby girl! Here's hoping you all get the best gift ever this Christmas too!

This is what happens...

...when you have an older sister who loves playing dress up, and a mommy who got a bit absorbed in scanning and downloading all 92 art contest entries into her computer for the school yearbook at one time...

It's butterfly fairy Isaac, complete with a water-spout pony tail and purple eye shadow!

And speaking of the art contest for the school yearbook, Avery submitted an entry and she won 1st place for 1st grade!!! Her drawing will appear in the school's yearbook on the 1st grade's cover page! I was so thrilled when the committee voted and picked her drawing as their favorite. She did such a great job!

My favorite time of year

"Christmas time is here

Happiness and cheer

Fun for all that children call

Their favorite time of the year"

I love Christmas. It really is my favorite time of year because I get to be like a child again. I love celebrating the birth of Jesus. I have 3 nativity scenes, and wish I had room in my home to display more!

Somehow, a dog that looks an awful lot like Molly made it into our Little People nativity scene this year... See it on the right? Hmmmmm... Where did that come from?

I love the joyous spirit that seems to engulf people. I love the lights, the trees, the decorations, the sights and the smells. I love it all! I love getting to see the wonder and amazement that shines through in the eyes of my children. And I love decorating the house. This is probably why from the day after Thanksgiving right up until January 2, my house looks like, as my oldest sister Nina put it, a Christmas gift shop exploded and everything landed in my house! :-)

Besides the fact that everyone (dogs and cat included) gets a stocking hung by the fireplace...

...all 3 children get their own tree in their room, that they can decorate any way they want to.

I really do love it all. So this is why, when I saw my neighbors putting out their Christmas decorations and yard art a full 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, I seriously had to fight the urge to not put mine out. After all, I must give Thanksgiving it's proper amount of decoration time. But finally the day after Thanksgiving arrived, bringing with it the Christmas season. Hector got up on the roof to hang the lights, in the cold rain, all for the love of Christmas! :-) Thanks Hector! We also made our annual trip out to the Christmas tree farm. And this year, we had the special treat of going to the Christmas tree farm with my sister Nina, niece Aimee and nephew Adam. A good time was had by all, right up until I walked out of the barn with a cup of hot cider and was immediately swarmed by bees. I sat the cup down, and loaded everyone into the Suburban while Hector paid for the tree. Our time on the farm was cut short, thanks to those pesky bees. But we still had fun picking out the tree!

The final product...

This year, we all made our own gingerbread house. From left to right you have Avery's house, Hector's house, my house, Samuel's house and Isaac's house. The kids actually decorated their own house! Didn't they do good?!?!

And then last night at church, Samuel and Avery had their choir Christmas performances. It was a little hard for Hector and I to see the kids from where we were sitting, but Hector was able to snap a few pictures. The kids did a great job and it warmed my heart to hear them lifting up their voices in song.

I truly hope that you are enjoying this time of year.

What did you say?

Things I have recently said to my children:

I can appreciate your conviction. But despite what you may think, red, patent-leather heels with a peek-a-boo toe are NOT the best shoe choice for school today. Let's set aside the fact that you have P.E. But it's also 29 degrees outside.

I understand you're hungry, but I don't have any pancakes on me right at this very moment.

Yes, I do think it's time I did something about your over-flowing laundry hamper. Today after school, I will remind you how to use the washer and dryer. Don't get sassy with me, girl! I mean, who do you think you inherited that sassiness from anyway?

So, you would rather cross 1 toy off your wish list to Santa, not play with your toys for a solid week, and let your brother take the blame for something he did not do, rather than simply say, "I did it?"

It's almost 9:00 a.m. Sure, you can have a cookie.

Would you please stop standing on your head and get over here so I can put your hat on?

Do you really expect me to believe that Isaac did that? I mean, even if the boy stacked 3 chairs on top of one another, he still couldn't reach that. Now, let's move on to the truth.

Stop looking at your brother.

Stop shooting the shark.

Give him back his stylus.

Give him back his gingie.

Get in your car seats. Please get in your car seats. Could everyone please get in your car seats? Can anyone hear me?

I don't care what you forgot to get in your room, you're naked. Now, go get in the shower.

Yes, I am very happy you went poo poo in the potty.

What is a sacksie? Does anyone know what a sacksie is?

We're all out of dog bones. Would you like some Goldfish instead?

I personally don't think that's a good flavor combination. But hey, it's your stomach.

How should I know where your purse and baby are? I can barely keep track of where my purse and baby are!

I love you.

I'm proud of you.

I'll miss you.

Have a great day at school.

Yep, we're related!

I love comparing pictures. These are pictures of Isaac and Samuel, around the same age:

And these are pictures of Avery and I, around the same age:

I just stumbled across that picture of Samuel today, and it made me realize just how much we all look alike... And I thought it was pretty neat.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Beauty is...

A few weeks ago, I wrote this blog about the fact that Samuel had written a poem for a poetry contest at school. The theme for the contest was "Beauty is..." Here is Samuel's poem:

Beauty is...
Bold
Elegant
Artistic
Unicycle
Television
Youth

And while I thought Samuel's poem was wonderful, I was a little concerned that the judges might get stuck on one of the words (unicycle, in particular). I really hoped the judges could look past some of the more obvious/typical words that he could have used, like unity or universe. And you know what, they did! Samuel won an Honorable Mention award for his poem!!! Samuel won 1 of only 8 awards that were given out.

I'm so proud of him! I am a proud mommy! :-)

The 12 Days of Whataburger

Go to http://www.whataburger.com/. On the top right side of the page, click on The 12 Days of Whataburger. Enter your email address and zip code, and they will email you a coupon every other day for a free menu item.

I love free food! :-)

And while I'm on the subject of free things, have you clicked on the link to the right side of this page for Vista Print? Well, why not? If you go to their website and sign up to receive their email newsletter, they will email you tons of free gift offers each week. All you pay is the shipping costs. I placed an order with them just yesterday. I ordered a cloth tote bag with flowers on it for Avery, a t-shirt for Samuel, a calendar for my kitchen, a rubber stamp with my address printed on it, and a pen and notebook with Avery's name printed on them (because she loves making lists and can never have too much paper!). And all I paid was $7 and change for shipping. Love it!