Welcome to my "FACEBOOK"

This year I shared our family blog website in our holiday card

because I have had several facebook request.

I must say, I never did the MYSPACE and I am really not into FACEBOOK either.
{at least not now}

 My thoughts towards this is simple:
Our closes family and friends know how we are doing, what we look like and
we connect with them with visits, cards/letters and phone calls.
Instead of spending endless time on facebook looking at people who I haven't seen or spoken to in years I would prefer to spend those endless hours on PINTEREST.

 I have heard the good and the bad of having a facebook and after much thought creating a BLOG was a better choice for me.

 This is my way of sharing moments of our lives with you all
and it's my "personal diary" for my kids to see later in life.

This is the best diary/scrapbook/memoir/photo album I can do for my family
that will not get lost, burned or torn.

So if it's your first time visiting, I hope you enjoy it!

2013 Family Pictures

I have this family tradition that I LOVE to do. It's taking family pictures every year and sending them out for the holidays. I enjoy seeing how we all change year after year and love seeing my kids slowly growing. This year I wanted something simple, easy and CHEAP. I prefer to take outside pictures because its so much easier with boys. We can take breaks inbetween and the boys can run around without running into anything or getting in anybodys way.

So I had the idea of just paying someone to come over and use our family camera to take a few snap shots of us and call it a day. After scrolling down my phone and looking for possible "volunteers" to take this challenge up, I nominated our nanny "Miss Roni". She is the best nanny ever!

{she is only our part time nanny, when Robert and I have date nights}

However, she is great with kids, my boys LOVE HER, she is crafty, funny and has many talents.

I was so HAPPY that she was able to come over to our house, make the boys pose for the pictures, only took 30 minutes and did a PHENOMENAL job.

  

Did I mention that our camera was not used after all.

These were taken by iPhone cameras.

~CRAZY how our phones can do "almost" everything now~

The same weekend we took our photos, I ordered our Holiday Cards from Shutterfly. I was so glad to be able to check it off my "TO DO" list. 

 I know these next few weeks will be crazy. It always seems chaotic towards the end of the year. 

A sneak peek of our Family Card for 2013!

A Dream in the Making

An update on Joaquin's acting dream.

Joaquin has had about 10 + auditions for different TV appearances and each one has been unique and an experience for him.

So after several auditions, Joaquin finally received his first 5 minutes of fame.

Robert and I were both excited about his callback, but I must say Joaquin was the one who was over the top EXCITED.

It was a small simple tv appearance modeling clothes for the "Children's Place Store", and it was his first pay day. An extra bonus for him was keeping the entire outfit that he modeled.

link to watch the video > Holiday Fashions for Kids - WOAI News 4 San Antonio - Featured on Living

Here are a few behind the scene pictures:

First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Joaquin has had his 1st loose tooth for a while now.
I took him to his regular 6 month dentist appointment a few weeks ago and the dentist noticed that his new tooth was growing right behind his baby tooth. So Joaquin left his appointment with homework: "he had 2 weeks to try to wiggle it out on his own, otherwise we would have to come back and the tooth would be pulled out".

After many attempts of Joaquin wiggling and yanking his tooth out using a string, eating hard apples and Robert trying to pull it out himself, we had to go back to see the dentist  2 weeks later and have them pull it out for him.

(have I mentioned that we go through 4 gallons of milk a week between Robert, Joaquin and Diego)
.......... milk does a body and teeth good ..........

 

Here he is laying down ready to start the procedure. You can totally see his new tooth growing on the back of his baby tooth.

 

 

They gave him laughing gas before they started.  

 

And before he knew it, the tooth was out!

 

 

                 
And of course, last night the tooth fairy came for her first visit to our house.

{I was SUPER EXCITED about my new role as Tooth Fairy}
This was our FIRST child losing his FIRST tooth, so I needed to decide what I was going to do. I wanted to leave "fairy dust" (aka glitter) coming from his tooth pillow all the way out to the boys bedroom window, but Robert said "No Sorry that's girly".
So no glitter was used :o(

 

 

 Joaquin absolutely loved the little adorable letter from the fairy. He thought it was hilarious how tiny their papers were and laughed just thinking about how tiny their pens probably were.

 

He made out well!

 

Happy 4th Birthday Diego!

Up until now, Diego's birthdays have been celebrated with family and friends at home since he stayed home during the day. But now that he is in school, he has his very own new set of friends. 
To make Diego's day extra special I took balloons and cupcakes to his school. Diego sat in the middle of his class as his friend sat around him and sang Happy Birthday and ate yummy cupcakes afterwards.
 

 

I love hosting the boys birthday parties at home because they are easier to plan and no one is forced to leave early. However now that they are getting older, they are getting to choose alternative places if they choose not to have it at the house. This year Diego chose to have his party at nonetheless  Chuckie Cheese. I am not a big fan of places that are crowded, timed and rushed. However even though his party was smaller then previous years, it was a successful birthday party. We had the whole place to ourselves and so the kids really enjoyed playing for hours without having to share games.

  Happy 4th birthday to my adorable, feisty and hilarious little man! This past year has flown by, and WOW, it has been quite the year! Even though you are becoming more assertive and you want what you want when you want it, you're still easy to calm down and get back on the right track. You have become a brave, tough boy over the past year, and you're willing to try new things. You LOVE to climb, jump, run, wrestle and fight, and you are definitely ALL BOY!

You're quite the iPad addict too. You know how to download games and you can always figure out how to play them. You tend to go with the flow, and you're happy as can be just playing with your toys. You have a way of lighting up any room you're in. You definitely make me smile and laugh on a daily basis, and I'm so grateful to have you in my life!

 

~LOVE~

mommy

Family Vacation {Destin Fl}

This year we decided to take a road trip to Florida
so that we would all experience a new vacation spot.
 

I seriously think this was one of the best vacations
we have had since having kids.

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn.
 

 

 Our travel agent lady recommended this place to us and described the beaches as white sugar sandy beaches.

We all had tons of fun playing in the ocean and in the hotel pool.

 

Our road trip out there was fun also.
The drive was about 12 hours long but we stopped 1/2 way in Lake Charles, LA to get some rest and we continued our drive the next morning. 
 

My mom and brother joined us on our trip too.

 

We also had another family {Vega Family} join us on our vacation to Florida.

The More The Merrier !!!

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One the way back home we decided to stop in New Orleans
so that the boys could get
"A taste of New Orleans".

We stayed in the French Quarter and had a chance to walk down

Bourbon Street and enjoy a nice dinner in NOLA's.

 

The boys went for a swim in the hotel right before heading to bed.

 

 

The next morning we had breakfast at

Cafe du Monde

for the most delicious beignets (yummy).

 

Before heading back home to Texas I had to walk by

Brad and Angelina's

New Orleans home to take a quick picture.