Gingerbread Houses and early gift opening!

Emilio, Grandma T. and I all made Gingerbread (actually graham cracker) houses this weekend. We sure had a fun time decorating and eating the candy, especially Emilio.



Emilio's House, pretty artistic!
Grandma's House
Mommy's House

What nice decorations for the windowsill.

Here are a few pictures of the kids getting to open up presents from Grandma and Grandpa early. They really were so fun to watch this year. Emilio kept saying, "I wonder what's inside,?" and "Maybe we should open it." And then, "Thank you so much for my presents, I think we should play them right now." very sweet.






Someone found a sugar cookie! Notice the new purse with cell phone that is in her hands, she is constantly carrying those things around, what a girl!

Screaming for Santa

This morning we headed up to Bellevue Square to walk around the mall (it was nice to walk around without any pressure to buy since we are done with shopping), visit Santa Claus, and have lunch out with John's parents (they just got in from Chicago yesterday). We started waiting in line for Santa, but one of the workers gave us a card with a later time (10:50 a.m.) to come back so we wouldn't have to stand in line with the kiddos. It was a nice setup. Anyway, we came back at that time and we thought that maybe Gabi had warmed up to the Santa idea but she instantly starting screaming and crying when we put her in his lap. Emilio started feeling the pressure to smile and so he put a big pout on his face, as we four and all of Santa's helpers jumped up and down like crazy people trying to get our kids to look happy. It was classic. At one point Gabi had a big snot worm hanging down her face and this young guy (Santa's helper) went up and wiped it with a kleenix, both a brave and very kind elf I should say. Once we put candy canes (they love sweets!) in their hands they both were a tiny bit happier, but a big chunk of change later (those pix are expensive) we most likely ended up with very mediocure pictures of our kids with the notorious Santa Claus. Oh, and Santa Claus mentioned how strong Gabi was too, I guess she was really using all of her strength to try and get out of Santa's lap. Oh well, a mixture of torture and fun I guess. We will get the pictures in a week (weird they didn't have digital in this day in age) and I'll try and scan them so you can all see). Sharon and I wanted to eat at the Cheesecake Factory afterwards, but the boys won out with Red Robin. We had a nice time together, but it is girls choice next time!





Peek a boo with an onion ring!

Gingerbread Men

On Thursday morning we went over to Lisa, my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) table group leader's house for food, a movie for the kids, The Polar Express, and decorating gingerbread men. It was nice to get to know the moms at my table in a more casual, small setting and meet their children too (we often don't see whom belongs to whom at group since it is so big and the kids go to their various classes). My children had fun playing with the other kids and eating lots of fun snacks. Emilio pretended he was a monster and roared at all the little girls his age as they played chase. They all had a good time.

Christmas Cookies

Gosh, I've been so bad at keeping up lately, it is already December and I haven't blogged until now. I guess we have been busy with holiday festivities around here, and the batteries needed to be charged up for the camera again. Oops!

Last week Emily and Marco came over for the afternoon and we got going on Christmas cookies while the kids were napping. We were baking at top speed, cause you never know how long those little buggers are going to stay asleep. Anyway, we made my Grammy's Sugar cookies (if you taste them and you say, "hmmmm, what is different?" it is the orange extract we put in instead of the normal vanilla)

Spritz (my brother Mike's favorite, although I think John likes them almost as much by the looks of the container)
and Russian Teacakes (or Butter balls if you are Emily, which makes since if you see the amount it calls for in the recipe).
Yesterday my kids and I headed over to Emily and Mike's to make some more. Marco and Gabi cooperated by taking nice long naps. I finally let Emilio just watch Shrek on the couch since he wasn't settling down for a nap and it was annoying running up and down the stairs trying to "shush" him. We made Black and White cookies (we rolled instead of stacked them)
Orange Chocolate Biscotti dipped in White chocolate
Hello Dolly bars (also known as 7 layer bars, one of my favs)
and Grandma's Raspberry White Chocolate Shortbread cookies (Hello!)
Now the trick is to pack them all away and freeze them so they are out of my sight.

I love baking and it was so much more fun to do with my friend and sis in law Emily this year. We look forward to sharing our cookies with many family and friends during this holiday season. If you want any recipes, let me know and I'd be happy to post or email them.

Here are a few pix of the kids helping bake cookies, eating them, and dancing to a silly Reindeer that plays "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer" (one of the most annoying songs of the season, especially when played 25 times in a row.

"What a cute little chicken"

I'm a little behind on my blogging. Two weekends ago we taught preschool at church and I had the kids make little playdough turkeys and we wrote down what they were thankful for. They were a hit with the kids and parents. I saved some of the supplies because I knew my Emilio would love to make a turkey himself (he's not in the preschool age group yet since he's a September baby). Anyway, I brought home my example and the supplies for him and he kept telling me, "Mom, that is such a cute little chicken, can I make one too?" I took a few pictures of him making his turkey or as he kept calling it "cute little chicken."




His turkey had so many feathers it looked more like a Vegas showgirl!


Emilio told me he was thankful for God because he made everything.

Give thanks.....

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope you have a great day filled with family, fun and food. I'm thankful for you!

This is what happens when....

So last night we had a really fun time over at Michael and Emily's house. We tried out all these great Thanksgiving day recipes from this month's Cooking Light magazine, so you could say it was a psuedo Thanksgiving meal! I know, some might think this is crazy, but Michael, Emily and I just love trying new recipes, not to mention eating them, and John likes to join in on the eating part too. After getting the kids in bed at their house we put on Evan Almighty because they had it from Netflix. We all ended up falling asleep at some point in the movie (not as good as the first, Bruce Almighty), except for little Emilio who happened to be watching the movie from the stairwell (little did we know). He was quite upset that we hadn't invited him down in the firstplace. Anyway, he stayed up way to late and was tired today because of it. As we were driving home after church and lunch today he fell asleep in the car for only about 5 minutes, but once he was in his own bed he was wide awake again! Uggghhhhh, you other moms know how this works, that's why we are usually seen driving with the windows down, singing at the top of our lungs, and passing snacks back in the car....because a lot of kids don't transfer from being asleep in the car to their bed well. Anyway, it was frustrating and he was whiny and melting down about everything the rest of the afternoon. So tonight I decided to try my double jogger stroller out (my mom picked it up at a garage sale for me, needless to say, if I add one more stroller to our total count of, uh, I think it is 7 now, John will not be happy!) Anyway, John had to get some work down, so I bundled the kids up and took them out for some fresh air and exercise for me (pushing two kids up all these hills ain't easy). Well, this is what happens when my child stays up way too late, and doesn't take a nap the next day..................

ZONKED OUT AT 5 P.M.! I should have known when I didn't hear him chatter boxing away in the stroller (he's usually talking a mile a minute on walks). I was sorry to do it to him, but I had to take him home and wake him up because I don't want him being up all night tonight. Poor little sleepy guy.



PEEK A BOO GABI!

OF COURSE THIS TIME HE TRANSFERS JUST FINE, STAYS SOUND ASLEEP.

HAPPY GIRL!

Q & A

Pregnancy Fun.....I found this on someone else's blog and thought it would be fun to fill out for both of my pregnancies. When I lived in Chicago we would occasionally share our birthing stories in my moms groups. I love hearing other people's stories and remembering mine. I'm very intrigued by birth in general and can't wait to witness my new nephew or neice being born in February. Sometimes I think someday I may even want to train to be a doula. Anyway, here are some memories of my pregnancies. Share yours too, I'd love to hear about it.

1. were you married at the time? Yes to the same guy (John) both times
2. what were your reactions? With my first, soooooo excited and nervous the whole first semester that something bad would happen, I had to ban myself from reading the Internet and books about pregnancy problems. The second time, surprised and kind of scared (about parenting 2) and excited all mixed together.
3. how old were you? 26 and 27
4. how did you find out you were pregnant? 1st time I just felt different and also had a vision of myself pregnant (I know, wierd huh?). 2nd time- threw up after eating Chinese food and felt sick every night for a few days.
5. who did you tell first? John, our folks, my Grammy, bros, Emmy
6. did you want to find out the sex? Nope! I didn't find out with either child. My husband would have liked to (he likes to open Christmas and b-day presents early), but he yielded to what I wanted, thanks hon.
7. did you deliver early or late? My son was two days early and my daughter was born on her due date
8. did you have morning sickness? A little with my son, a lot more with my daughter, mostly first trimester ickiness!
9. what did you crave? 1st time- hummus for some reason, hot and sour soup, 2nd time- it was all about the ice cream.
10. who irritated you the most? no one really, maybe my husband a little the second time, sorry Johnny.
11. what was your first child's sex? Boy, second was a girl.
12. how many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 40 with my son (was underweight to begin with) and 35 the second I think.
13. did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Not until we got to the hospital and then my son's heartrate was dipping a little, but he came out fine. My asthma was poor with my daughter and I measured small throughout the pregnancy and was sent to a high risk obstetrician and had a couple more ultra sounds than before.
14. where did you give birth? Presbytarian Hospital in Albuquerque, NM with my son, St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago with my daughter.
15. How long was your labor? From start to finish with my son, 30 hours! With my daughter, about 11 1/2 hours.
16. who drove you to the hospital? My husband, my mom and mother in law the first time, only my husband the second time.
17. who watched? 1st time- John, Mom, Sharon, Midwife, nurses, nursing student (they asked me if a nursing student could watch after I had been in labor for 29 1/2 hours, I thought that was wierd). 2nd time- John, my friend Cathy (she was my psuedo doula), nurses, overseeing Dr, and two medical students who actually delivered my daughter.
18. was it natural or c-section? Natural.
19. did you take medicine to ease the pain? 1st time- No, I wanted to have a drug free labor and delivery (I have many asthma meds I have to be on anyway). 2nd time- Only pitocin. My water had broken on its own and my contractions weren't moving fast enough. I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle pitocin because it makes things intense pretty fast, but within 2 hours after starting it I was dilated and ready to push.
20. how much did your child weigh? Son= 7 lbs. Daughter= 6 lbs. 12 ozs.
21. did your child have any complications? No and No thankfully!
22. what did you name him/her? Emilio Jordan and Gabriela Joy
23. how old is your first born today? Son= 3 years old, Daughter= 18 months old today!

Make new friends, but keep the old........................

In the last five years I have moved to three different states (NM, IL, and WA) and it hasn't been easy because in each of those places I either didn't know a soul or only knew a token few people. With each move though and with a little time, God has provided me with some of the most cherished friendships I've had in my life. In Albuquerque we made many friends through our small group at church. Many of us felt like we were family to eachother and spent many Friday and Saturday days and nights together eating, laughing, playing Settlers, Hand and Foot, and Dominoes together, scrapbooking, mountain biking, playing Halo, and just having fellowship together. Many of us all had babies around the same time as well. I also met some great people at East San Jose where I taught 4th grade. I was crushed when we had to leave everyone to move to Chicago. BUT, God provided there too. I almost immediatley got involved in two mom's groups through our church there and met many lovely mothers and friends. I also met some great neighbors around our community. Many of the women I knew stepped in to help me with my kids when my health was so poor last year and really showed their servants' hearts in helping me. Some of us swapped babysitting with eachother so we could have occasional date nights with our husbands. One group of mine got together for monthly ethnic food themed potlucks without our kids! And, one friend in particular acted as my doula for my labor and delivery of Gabi. What treasures my friends are in Chicago! So, when we picked up to move yet again to WA, I thought, "Here we go again, leaving more great friends only to go to a place where we don't have many." I knew not to worry though because God had shown to be faithful in the past with providing us with friends, it just takes some time and patience on our part and some effort in pursuing people. Thankfully, we have built in friends with my brother Michael and his wife Emily living so close now, but I knew we needed to extend ourselves still to meet some new people. I've been praying about it for a while now and reminding myself to be patient, and I see that yet again, the Lord is bringing people my way. In the last few weeks especially I have started meeting some wonderful people and potential friends at the library, swimming pool, a new bible study, MOPS, in our neighborhood, at church, and at the park down the street. Yeah, I'm so excited! Thank you God. I guess my Christmas card list just keeps getting bigger and bigger and that is a blessing!

Halloween Night

Tonight was filled with fun, new friends, grubbin' food, loads of candy, and very excited children. Early in the evening Emily came over with a very cute little penguin (Marco) and they stayed and visited for a while before taking off to visit other people. Our friends from church, Amethyst and Terek and Ame's daughter Faylisa came over as well as my new friend Kristen and her husband Adam and their son Christian. I made Chili, cornbread, and salad and we all got stuffed before we headed out to Trick or Treat. I didn't know if Emilio would be that into it, but let me tell you, he was the leader of the pack, telling us which house to go to next, and literally running to each one. Gabi was really enthralled with the lollipop she insisted on having right when we got outside, and it was really hard for her to wait on the other candy. Little ladybug likes to eat! There were so many trick or treaters and families out tonight, it was really cool. In both our Albuquerque and Chicago homes we didn't get that many families out in our neighborhoods, so it was fun to see. And, our neighbors here pass out whole candy bars...my kids probably got at least 4-5 regular size ones. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable time as we walked up and down our block and another, with mugs of hot apple cider in hand and watched our children have so much fun. We ended back up at our place, ate some dessert (like we needed any, but we had yummy candied popcorn that Kristen brought, pumpkin ice cream and cookies). Emilio also loved passing out candy to trick or treaters and he was pretty darn generous, giving out handfuls by the end! We had a great night and hope you enjoyed your Halloween too!


Penguin, Spiderman, and Ladybug


Little sassy ladybug


Showing some muscles

Ready to head out for the night


Yummy, two bars!


Trying to get the wrapper open

Emilio ready to go up to a neighbor's spooky house!


Our group coming up the sidewalk.


Christian and Gabriela in the wagon.


Checking out the loot!