Girls Night

Last night John didn't have class and came home early to watch the kiddos so I could go out to celebrate my friend Jaime's birthday. Most of the gals from my small group and a few other girlfriends came along as well. We met down at Joey's which is a very posh new restaurant, and had a great meal and fun time gabbing the night away. It was such a treat to get to hang with my sweet friends and have a little break from my usual routine (thanks honey!).

"I'm the roley poly one in the middle, obviously."

Just a little update

So, nothing too big to tell you all about, just a little update on us.

* John and I got to go on a date last Friday night thanks to Michael and Emily watching the kids. It was actually John's Christmas present from them that we were taking advantage of before baby comes along. They said they'd watch the kids and treat us to a movie. Not only did they do that, but they provided us with a fun little treat bag full of our favorite goodies like Good N Plenty's, Reese's Pieces, and Twizzlers. So nice! We ran and got a bite to eat at Baja Fresh and then saw Slumdog Millionaire. If you haven't seen it yet, we highly recommend it. It actually was John's second time seeing it, but he liked it so much he wanted me to see it as well. It was a fascinating story....I just can't stop thinking about it actually.

*Emilio and Daddy climbed into the crawl space under the house this weekend and retrieved all of the remaining baby items like the bouncer seat, carseat, swing, etc. Emilio loved venturing under the house with flashlights with his Daddy. I washed up all the covers for those items this weekend so they'd be fresh and clean, and free of the mildew smell they had acquired under the house. They are as good as new now!

*We've all been fighting colds this last week and over the weekend. I think the boys are feeling good now, although Gabi and I are still blowing our noses.

*I'm feeling quite tired and big (even though I lost 1 lb 1/2 at the Dr's last week) at this point. I'm so glad I'm not an elephant...they are pregnant for two whole years! Yikes! I'm still forcing myself to go to the gym and do 1/2 hour on the eliptical and about 20 minutes on weights about 3 times a week. I liken labor/delivery to marathons or at least to something that someone (or at least myself, who has long a** labors) needs to train for. So, I'm trying to keep my strength and endurance up as I prepare for this baby to make his/her appearance in a couple more weeks. I can't wait to meet who it is that is kicking me on my left side every few hours.

*We purchased our tickets for our Chicago trip towards the end of May. It'll have been 2 years this March since we moved and we wanted to go back and introduce baby to all the family and friends we have out there. Thankfully we had 3 Southwest free tickets that we had acquired and only needed to buy one extra ticket (baby will be on my lap). We are looking forward to seeing everyone again!

That about sums up all the new news here. Hope everyone is having a good week.

New Memory Verse

I write down our church's Sunday School memory verse each week on a white board and read it to the kids each day. By the end of the week, they've got it down pat.

I was just checking email and Emilio ran into my room (apparently he was looking at his children's Bible in bed) and told me, "Mom, I have a new verse for us to write down...God can be anywhere in the world and do anything, Matthew 46912." He told me he thought of that all by himself.

Such a creative little guy! He puts a smile on my face.

Marco & Eloisa's Birthday Party

On Saturday morning we all headed to The Bouncy Place for some jumping fun (well, I didn't bounce given my state, but I look forward to being able to join in again soon). We then drove over to Michael and Emily's house for a birthday brunch for Marco and Eloisa (my niece & nephew). Eloisa turned one year old last week. I really can't believe it has been a whole year since I witnessed her entering the world (definitely was a highlight of mine for 2008). Marco turns 3 years old in another week. Emily decided to combine their party this year because we have a close family friend getting married soon and there are lots of activities around that happening soon. Anyway, Michael & Emily had a nice spread for brunch including, quiche, sausage & bacon, apple muffins, blueberry coffee cake, fruit, and cupcakes for dessert. We all filled up and had fun watching the kids open all their presents. It was a great morning.
I put the pictures on another Smilebox because I haven't had a lot of time to upload them individually on here. So, if you want to take a peak, start the scrapbook below.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Me and My Valentine

I got this idea from Heather and thought I'd join in.

me and my valentine
What are your middle names?
Gerrard/Joy

How long have you been together?
Married 6 1/2 years, together for 7 1/2.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
about 2 1/2 months

Who asked who out?
I actually offered him a ride to our small group, he called me the next week and took me up on my offer (even though he had another option for a ride). He then asked me out the following weekend.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine since we only live 7 miles from one of my bro's and 3 hours from the other. His sis is in Ilinois now.

Do you have any children together?
Two, almost 3......5 weeks until we meet our new baby.

What about pets?
Nope, I'm allergic to most furry creatures.

Did you go to the same school?
no, I went to Pacific, he went to U of Illinois.

Who is the most sensitive?
That's me.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
when we get to have dates we usually like to try places we haven't been before, often brewpub type restuarants, or fun italian places.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon and Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for a vacation in 2004.

Who has the craziest exes?
I guess both of us had at least one semi-crazy one, I don't know.

Who has the worst temper?
He, especially in traffic situations.

Who does the cooking?
Me! John is a very intelligent guy, but not confidant in the kitchen by any means.

Who is more social?
ME! I'm the extrovert, he's the introvert.

Who is the neat freak?
Me, I like to have things clean and organized most of the time.

Who is the most stubborn?
I think him, but he might disagree.

Who hogs the bed?
Neither, but he says I hog the blankets.

Who wakes up earlier?
On weekdays, he does (5:30 a.m.), on weekends, me.

Where was your first date?
Took a walk over the bridges in downtown Portland, went to the Rose Festival carnival, and ended up at Red Robin for appetizers.

Who has the bigger family?
Immediate family? Me, I have two siblings, he has one. Extended? He does. His dad comes from a family of 11 children so there are a bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins. Big Italian Family!

Do you get flowers often?
In the spring/summer he sometimes surprises me with bouquets from Pike Place. Not super often though.

How long did it take to get serious?
Only about 3 months I guess.

Who eats more?
We are usually even in the eating category, although he can hound homemade cookies!

Who sings better?
Me, but he can carry a tune.

Who does the laundry?
I do, it is the least I can do when he is working so hard and going to school.

Who’s better with the computer?
He is a computer geru as far as I'm concerned.

Who drives when you are together?
Mostly he does.

Who picks where you go to dinner?
Mutual decision, usually.

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?
Me. I don't like strife and usually try and mend things quickly. He likes to ponder things for a little while.

Who wears the pants in the relationship?
He does.

Who has more tattoos?
Neither of us have any.

Who cries more?
That would be me.

Who eats more sweets?
We both have a sweet tooth. Although I love candy, he probably eats more snacks.

Our Party Day!

This morning we hosted a Valentine's Party for our small group. It was a busy morning, but lots of fun. The kids had lots of fun festive snacks, made their own place mats, and played for hours.
Check out this Smilebox slideshow to see the pictures:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We heart Valentines!

This morning Gabi and I went to Emilio's preschool to help out with their Valentine's party. We set out the "heart" shaped and red colored food while the students were out on the playground. Most of them devoured their cupcakes first, but Emilio liked the whip cream on his heart shaped Jello jiggler. There was extra food for Gabi even and she had a great time eating strawberries, a half of cupcake, a heart shaped PB & J sandwich and red juice, which is consequently all down her white shirt now.
Here are a few photos I snapped:



Emilio loved receiving all the Valentine's from the kids in class. He didn't quite understand why the girls were giving him Barbie, Hanna Montana, and Princess Valentines, so I had to explain that girls usually like to pick out "girly" valentines and boys like to pick out "boy" ones. I think he didn't get the concept very well because we made our own this year. Oh well.

I have to say that I've never been big on Valentine's Day as a romantic day, but have always enjoyed the fun things there are to do with kids around this "Hallmark Holiday." I loved celebrating with the students in my classrooms when I used to teach. There are always lots of great crafts to do, and no matter whether I was in a relationship or not, I was guaranteed at least 25 cartoony Valentines from my students. I even had a student named Pablo one year write on his Valentine to me, "I think you are gorgis." I thought it was so sweet. He was a second language learner, so although "gorgeous" was spelled incorrectly, I was proud of him for using such a sophisticated vocabulary word.
Now that I have children, I'm having lots of fun with the holiday as well. We are especially looking forward to our Valentine's party tomorrow with my small group friends and their kids. Be looking for pictures of that soon.

Making Valentines

In December when Christmas sales were going on my mom purchased the "coolest" machine called a Cricut and some cartridges to go with it (for her daycare business and crafty projects). It is basically a teacher/crafty person's dream as it quickly and cutely, I might add, makes any size die-cut you could fathom.
Anyway, a few weeks ago when my mom came to visit she brought the machine for me to experiment with, and to help me prepare some crafts for a Valentine's Party I'm throwing this Friday for my small group friends and all their kiddos (we are expecting 19 children! Wow, it'll be a full house). Anyway, I wanted to have the machine cut out heart designs and the names of each child so they could all make a Valentine place mat at the party. Let me tell you, I've had so much fun playing around with this nifty thing. I've had to make two runs to the craft store to stock up on more card stock already.
I decided to make the Valentine's that my kiddos will give out this year with the machine while I have it in my possession (my mom ended up letting me keep the Cricut for a few weeks since I was having such a hay day with it).
Emilio had to have Valentine's for school and for our little party, and Gabi just needed them for the party. Here is what we came up with.......

The kids used their Do a Dot markers to decorate the scalloped hearts (made by the Cricut of course). I used the machine as well to cut out the monkeys and pigs (both fav. animals of the kids obviously). Emilio had to sign his name to all 16 Valentines for school, so I let him off the hook on the ones for the party on Friday and just printed his name on the computer instead.
I wish I would have had this machine when I was teaching.....it would have been invaluable.

Already Thursday?

Is it Thursday already? I've been meaning to get on here all week, but just haven't found the chance or haven't felt up to it. Anyway, we had an eventful, dramatic, exciting past weekend. Here are some of the highlights;
* My Mom and Dad came for a visit because a good family friend of ours had her Bridal Shower on Saturday.
* Dad ended up having to go to the ER in the middle of the night with heart arrhythmia issues. They kept him for the night to see if his heart could get back into rhythm without shocking it. Amazingly, it did eventually. We were so glad he was okay.
& Mom & Dad repainted den/baby's bedroom for us on Sat. morning. The room is pretty darn ready for a little person now.
*Went to our friend Julie's bridal shower on Saturday afternoon.
* My little brother Andrew proposed to his girlfriend Karen Rose on Sunday at the OR coast. She said, "YES!" We are so excited to be welcoming her into our family soon. They are planning a Summer 09' wedding, so it is coming soon.
* Took the kid's to the library for new books and Starbucks for hot cocoa on Sunday afternoon.
* We rented Babe for Family Movie Night on Sunday evening. We knew Gabi would like the pigs in the film. I'm afraid Emilio may become a vegetarian now. He was really upset when the farmer was deciding what to eat for Christmas dinner and his options were Babe the pig or Ferdinand the Duck. The farmer ended up killing Rosanna the Duck for Christmas supper instead, thankfully we hadn't been introduced to her in the story.

Here are a few pix of the kids I snapped over the weekend.

This is how Emilio dressed himself before church on Sunday morning. Should we be worried? He said he was a paleontologist going on a dinosaur adventure.


The kids snuggled together in Daddy's "studying" chair watching a show together.


The kids on Sunday afternoon checking out their new library books, they love new books!

The Many Faces of Gabriela

Check out this photo collage my Uncle John put together of the pix he took of Gabi while we were in California last weekend. I think it turned out pretty darn cute.