double the fun!

check out this new news on Ana's blog!!

boodie scoodie

So Miriam likes to speak in 'spanish'. Which really means she says a bunch of words that to her sound spanish, and sometimes she really says one in there, but mostly it is jibber jabber. Elaine has also recently decided that she wants to do that as well. Well anyway, today Miriam was 'reading' to Elaine a book in 'spanish' and one of the words she said was boodie scoodie! I just thought it was really funny. I will try to type down some of the things she says so that you can read Miriam 'spanish'... Mada skilon pada nina cama mida boodie scoodie! etc... LOLOLOLOL It is pretty cute and entertaining.

Hidden treasures

I was just browsing through my pictures and found this one and even though kids (particularly Miriam) won't smile when you want them to, it is still a great picture. They are matching!

Also I found this one of me and my Megan!

And the car-full of Nancy's and my babies!

And Elaine with Great Grandma O!

Laughter

Little children have the cutest laughs! I still remember the first time I heard Miriam laugh from outside stimulus other than tickling. She was watching Chipmunk Adventure, and the part where Simon gets squished between air balloons, she just started busting up! I was in the other room and it made me smile and laugh to myself!
Today the girls are watching Dragon Tales, and Elaine has been a little sick so her laugh has a hint of a cough in it..that raspy laugh, and she just started laughing really hard, and I looked at her and she smiled at me and pointed to the TV. It was so cute! I love it!

Family

I have a family here on earth! They are so good to me!
I just got to talk with all my sisters and my mom (and blakie) on yahoo messenger and it was so fun! I miss having conversations with all of us. We got to talking about posts so I decided to post something in honor of them! I love you all so very much and you are all so smart, talented, creative and fun! REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE! Make good choices and we will see you soon!!!

babies!

refer to this link and this link!!

pictures

Here are some of the pictures from our photo session on Friday. They are copyrighted so there are words on them but you can still see them! :)the one in the middle is the only one I bought although it took me a long time to decide and I wish I could have gotten more. (no other coupons)

Kinder Prep

Today was Miriam's first day with her Kinder prep. It is once a week for 2 1/2 hours. She was a little nervous going into the class but once she got there, put on her name tag, and started playing, she was great! She really liked it and I am sure can't wait a whole week for her next class. There was a boy there who she knew when she was a baby, and now they get to play again. She remembered his name but not him, however it is kind of fun! They learned about winter today. Next week they will talk about Chinese New Year.
Then we went to get some pictures taken of the girls. They turned out so great! I wanted to buy a ton! However, I only got the one that was free with my club card. It took about 10 min for the girls to start cooperating and staying on the mat and smiling but once they did it was fine. In contrast, this Tues we tired to get pics taken with Logan down in NC, and all three of them were not interested and were giving us problems, at different times of course. SO if one was happy the other wasn't and so forth. Anyway, that is how it works! We still got some great shots from that as well.

Carlos

I just wanted to write a special entry to say how grateful I am for Carlos. This week I have had quite a few things to do and have left Carlos to put the girls to bed alone 3 times!! He hasn't complained once and has been extremely helpful and wonderful. So THANK YOU CARLOS, I love you!!!

coming together

I decided to just write a quick blip of what was going on in our lives.
When we got home from Singapore it seemed like things were falling apart here, as you can read in previous posts. However, I think things have finally started to come together and get back to normal. It was a weird hard adjustment that I didn't think we would have. We finally sleep at normal hours and do our everyday things without trouble.
Anyway, this week, I made a cake for a lady in the ward who was getting married. It was last minute and I am sure someone else could have done better, however, I didn't want her to have a plain store bought cake so I told her I would do it! It turned out rather nice. I am not an expert yet, so there were a few imperfections but rather nice just the same!
Friday was a holiday for Carlos so we went and got family pictures taken, which turned out really well and if I can scan them I will put it on. Then we went to give blood at Virginia Blood Services, because the news said they were short. So I filled out the papers, talked to someone and then sat down and started the process of blood withdrawal. I usually do just fine until the very end where I get light headed and need to be cooled off. That indeed happened.
About half way through my draining, Carlos was told that due to the locations in which he traveled in Philippines, we was unable to donate at this time! I was confused since I had been to the same places, and I got through. But oh well...I was already there, better finish, but not him. Well later that day they called me and told me that they were really sorry but they weren't going to be able to take my blood either because when traveling in those places, you must wait a year before donating. OH WELL! It is gone now, no use crying, It is just a pitty they can't use it! :(
So Monday is a holiday for Carlos as well and I feel a little bad because I am going to take the girls and go down to NC to visit Ana, Abinadi, Logan and on Tues Mary-Carmen (who is coming back to the US to stay and I THINK she is staying at my house, although we haven't heard from her yet! :)LOL) . I am sure he will be fine, however I will feel bad leaving him all alone on his vacation.
Ok, well that about sums it up for us. TTFN Oh and on Sunday we are starting chorale again! Hurray!

CTR

It is times like this when I wish we still had our camera or had found a new one that we liked enough to spend the money on! Today I had forgotten what was going to happen because I was busy thinking of other things, however when class time came for the primary children, one of the teachers came up and asked about CTR rings and it dawned on me. Miriam is in CTR 5 now and that was her teacher, she got her first CTR ring!!! I was so excited and it is was so fun to see her wearing it! What a big girl, I can't believe it! This is one of those momentous occasions, I think She is growing up! She isn't the baby in Primary anymore! Wow, what a great day, I wish I had a picture!

All things happen for a reason

Well today's events all started with yesterday. (Well actually about 3 months ago, but I will get to that later.) I went shopping for a few things, including the girl's milk. So this morning Carlos went to his Republican meeting and I gave the girls cereal for breakfast. Miriam said hers was gross and she didn't want to eat it. Well I said, no it isn't! but then let her have yogurt instead. I thought I would finish it like I always do and there would be no problem. Well I took my first bite and almost puked!! It was sour in a way I have never tasted sour milk! So I smelled the milk bottle, then looked at the expiration date....Dec 27! How did no one notice that and then how did I buy it without looking?? I always look!!
Soooo I got ready for the day, got the girls dressed and went to the store to exchange. On my way home I was traveling down the road and passed the freeway exits and noticed that the person exiting the freeway was going a bit fast...and not stopping at the stop sign in front of her. I swerved out of the way hoping that she wouldn't hit me....but she did! I slowed to a stop, was a little shaken up, answered Miriam's questions to what happened and called the police. Miriam got kind of upset cause she didn't know what was going to happen. I was actually really calm, maybe because I knew it wasn't my fault and it would be ok. Plus no one was hurt! They lady came up to me and said she was from out of town and was looking at a map, not the road, and that is why she didn't stop! She was glad no one was hurt and felt very bad about the whole thing. It all went really smoothly.
Well Carlos I knew would be coming home soon and knew he had to drive past us becasue it just so happened that we were right by the freeway exit. I called him just to make sure he knew what happened. He didn't answer. But about 15 min later, I turned around and there he was! He had seen us and stopped!
We got paper work done, unloaded the van into our other car and once we had the can on the tow truck and the police ok, we left!
Now here is more of the 'things happening for a reason'. Most of you know we have the Miata, and that it only fits two people. Well about 3 months ago a man at Carlos' work came to him with the info that he had a car at the shop that he didn't want anymore, it needed to be fixed, but he would give it to us! So we took it, towed it to our house and it sat there for a while. Carlos' dad came in Nov, they fixed it and now it works. Well he happened to be driving that car today, which he doesn't normally do. So we were able to just load up and go with no problems.
Now, after we got the Mitsubishi working, I wanted to sell the Miata since we didn't need three cars and I actually told Carlos this earlier in the week. However, now that my van is at the tow place until Mon, and then will be getting fixed, we have two cars that both work and we don't' have to rent one! If we had sold the Miata we wouldn't be this fortunate! We have seen more blessings come from other people and more things happen that we didn't know was important at the time. Now we are seeing the results of some of these things and we feel incredibly blessed.
It was a long morning to say the least, Had I not bought expired milk, and not went out to exchange it, none of this would have happened. I am not blaming myself, I just think it is interesting, how things all happen for a reason. Had we not had this minor accident and needed the cars, I might have sold one and we would be in a harder situation. Maybe that sounds silly...I just feel blessed especially after an unpleasant experience. Who knows how this will end, however, I have a feeling it will be alright.

RAD!!!

George and Lynette had us for Christmas this year and since we were gone, they had to send it later. Carlos and I got our half a week ago, a gift card to eat out! Anything involving food is wonderful! :) The girls' was to come later. Well we got it today, AND (drum roll please) IT'S A LITE BRITE!!!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOO!

I have been wanting to get the girls one for so long and it is always better when someone else has the same head as you and gets it for them instead! I am so excited! The girls are also but will be more so once they realize how fun it is! THANK YOU SO MUCH! WE LOVE IT ALL!

(stock picture not our art)

Happy New Year!

I don't think I have made a new years resolution for real before. I am constantly realizing the things I need to do better and trying to change them when I notice them, not just at the beginning of the year. This year is really no different, however, today I am feeling the blessing it is to 'start new' and to try once again to resolve within myself to live a more Christlike life.
I taught sharing time in Primary yesterday and the topic was 'I promise to follow Jesus Christ in faith'. I taught what Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, "To follow Christ is to become more like Him". The children had some good ways that we can be more like our Savior. One of which was to forgive, something I think we all need to do more of. It was very nice to hear how much faith they have. So this year, I am going to make sure that I keep that phrase in my heart and always strive to follow Jesus Christ in faith!