First Day of School

Charlotte had her first day of school on Monday.  The preschool we were going to send her to in Ohio was only 3 days a week.  The one I was able to get her in here is every morning and at the elementary school.  It was a little hard for me.  I felt like I was sending her to elementary school an entire year earlier than I had planned.  She absolutly loves it though!  She was so excited the first day.  She picked out her clothes (a pink shirt to match her back pack).

We call her hair style "Micky Mouse Ears."  That morning she insisted I do them to match her Minnie Mouse backpack! I love her!

Second 4th Birthday Celebration

When we got back from Georgia, all our Texas family wanted to celebrate little girl's birthday as well.  C loves the Fancy Nancy books.  Anyone read them?  They're really cute and VERY Charlotte. 

Mimi and Poppie had the brilliant idea to have our own little Fancy Nancy Party.  In the first book Nancy gives her family lessons on "how to be fancy," and they they dress up to go out to dinner at a not so fancy restaurant.  So, we all dressed up fancy and went to celebrate her birthday at Cici's Pizza.  We were the fanciest people there...and I'm sure they thought we were movie stars!

Charlotte and Hailey were the fanciest of all!

 The fancy girls with Mimi.

 We're so fancy...especially Poppie (he remembered to eat with his pinkie up).

They're practically as famous at Brangelina.

I learned from Fancy Nancy that sunglasses are always "fancy."

Now, if anyone knows Charlotte, they are well aware that she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up.  I was thrilled when I captured her facial expression as she opened up her present from Mimi!  She was so very excited!

 

 

Can't have ballet shoes and not show off your "tippy-toes" skills.

Happy Birthday sweet Charlotte!

Georgia Trip - The Wedding

This was the main reason we took this trip out to Georgia.  My brother Dario got married to Kylie while we were there.  I am so happy for these two and happy that I'm no longer the only one of my siblings with the married status.

These two were just so cute and so in love!  I am so glad we were able to make it out to their special day.  They are just perfect for each other.

Not to detract from the focus on them and their wedding, but this next picture really is special to me.  Kylie's mom and mine and Dario's mom have both been fighting some pretty serious health problems during the past few months.  There was a time right after their engagement when we didn't know if either of them would make it to the wedding.  So having both mothers there is a blessing and a miracle.

Now for a bunch of pictures from the day.

My handsome boy.

My youngest brother with his racoon eyes from doing swim team.

The growing family!

Daddy's girl.

Another Daddy's girl.

Love my babies!  Also, thanks Aunt Cassie for making Charlotte's cute dress!

To Jonas he's "Papitoto."

To Charlotte he's "Papitito."

Congrats to Dario and Kylie!  Hope your life is wonderful together!

Georgia Trip - The Bestie

Once upon a time I was 14 years old and the "new girl" in Georgia.  When I was first introduced in my Sunday school class at church a girl named Heidi didn't give me the time of day.  She was busy flirting with a boy.  She talked a lot.  I was pretty quiet unless answering a question.  She wore really cute, bright clothing.  I wore earth tones.  We were in the same Sunday school class all summer, and she never spoke to me.  I wasn't sure what she had against me, but her outgoing self never made an effort to talk to me.  I knew we would never be friends.
We ended up having world geography and chorus together.  We were seated next to each other in world geography and began talking.  Turns out she was quite surprised when she found out I spoke English instead of Spanish.  What?!?!?!  Apparently when we moved into the ward there were a few Spanish speaking families that moved into the ward, and she thought I was a part of them.  She must have been pretty into flirting with that boy instead of listening in class because I'm pretty sure I said the prayer quite a few times...in English.  :)  We still laugh about it today!  It turns out despite our very different personalities, our interests and morals were very similar.  We were best friends all through high school.  I helped organize her locker and and she taught me how to add some color to my wardrobe. She's awesome, and I am so glad that we did become friends. She's one of those friends who when we get back together it's like we were never away from each other.
We went over to their house for dinner while we were there and got a few pictures in before poor Bronson bonked his head. (Please excuse my big hair.  It was humid and rainy, and I was just plain tired of fighting it)
Oh, and just for kicks...here's a picture of us our junior year of high school.

And today...posing in front of the same door which apparently got it's own make-over.  Oh wow, do we have "mom" written all over us now. :)

And what cute kids we have:

These two were cracking up over the books they were reading.

It sure is hard to get four kids to cooperate for a picture.

We just gave up at this point!  Hopefully we'll have better luck next time our paths cross again.

Georgia Trip - The Birthday

We took a long awaited trip to Georgia to see my kid brother, Dario, get married this past week.  We went out a week before the wedding to spend time with my family and help prepare.  Charlotte turned four this past week and Mita wanted to celebrate with her so we made sure we got into town in time to celebrate with my family.
So I saw on pinterest (go figure) this idea to put streamers on the kid's bedroom door that they have to breakthrough on their birthday.  Well, we were sleeping outside in a camper so I put the streamers up in the dining room and made Charlotte run through them.  Maybe not the same effect...

The day before she helped Mita make her birthday cake.  She said she wanted a carrot cake with blue and white striped frosting.  I honestly have no idea where she got that idea, but that's what she got.

We opened some presents...

Not sure why she's making that face, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that she's related to these uncles:

She was happy with her gifts.

I cannot believe that she is already four!  Where did the time go?  She is so fun.  Right now she is going through a skirt phase.  All she wants to wear are skirts.  The other day all her skirts were dirty, and I told her she had to wear shorts.  After a long fight of trying to get them on her she cried in her room repeating, "Girls aren't supposed to wear shorts.  Girls are supposed to wear things the twirl!!!"  It totally melted my heart and I pulled down one of her Sunday dresses to wear.  Love this girl!

Sprinklers

When ever I think about summer time as a child, sprinklers and popsicles come to my mind.  I have quite a few memories of doing both growing up, neither of which I particularly enjoyed (I hated how my feet would get covered with grass when running through the sprinklers, and well I know I've previously mentioned  my aversion to wet wood touching me...espcially my mouth.  So, I guess you can see how popsicles were something I usually just watched my brothers eat.)  Right now you're probably thinking, "What kind of boring child were you?"  I know, I know. Pitiful.  Yet, I know that children are supposed to love these things, and so I feel the need to expose my kids to them in hopes that they will be funner children than I was.  Now that we're living in a house I can let them run though the sprinklers.  They were so excited!

Let the fun begin!  And oh did they think it was fun!  This picture of Jonas is unfortunately a little blurry, but his face is too priceless not to post it.

So I stragicially placed the sprinkler so they could run on the sidewalk and not get grassy feet.  Bad plan...that congrete gets slipper when wet.  Don't worry!  No one got hurt, except my pride when I realized my brilliant idea was not so brilliant and moved the sprinkler into the middle of the lawn.

July in a Nutshell

So where did the past month go?  I feel like it went by WAY faster than I had imagined.  We've been busy.  Birthday season is starting in the family.  Chase and Poppie both had birthdays this month and from here on our we seem to have one in the family every few weeks through December.  We celebrated this months birthdays with family, favorite dinners and cakes (there were also some balloons to entertain the children).

We also spent a day at the beach.  It was Jonas' first time experience with salt water and waves.  He LOVED the sand, but wasn't too sure about those waves crashing toward him.  He was cautious as we went out into the deeper water even though he was in our arms.  It was a little refreshing for me because this kid is my water baby.  He has no fear of the water usually and never wants to get out of it.  When I take him to the pool he is trying to swim the entire time I am holding him.  He held onto me pretty tightly at the beach though.

All the kid's favorite part was burying Adam in the sand.

And getting in the sand themselves!

I just love this last picture of my little boy.  His face says, "This is awesome!"

Why We're Happy

Thank you to all our family and friends who have been so encouraging and supportive in response to my last post.  Now, I made a promise to share with you all the reasons we're happy to be here in Texas.
1.  We get to live close to (with) family.  Adam and I have never had the opportunity to live near family since we've been married.  While we never imagined we'd actually be moving in with his parents, we feel so blessed that they have welcomed us into their home during this transitional time for us.  They have been so very helpful (his dad flew up to help us make the move to Texas) and have rearranged their home to give us our own personal space. It has made us feel comfortable and wanted.  It's a blessing to have a strengthened support group right now.  I am also enjoying seeing C and J have the opprotunity to really get to spend time with and know their Mimi and Poppie. And can I just say that it is pretty fun having two extra people around in the evenings when Adam and I are in the mood to play games.  Bring on the games that can be played with more than just 2 players!
2.  Cassie.  You know they always say it's great to marry your best friend, but when I married my best friend I got a second best friend along with it.  I didn't realize I was getting a package deal!  How many of you can say you're best friends with your sister-in-law?  I feel pretty blessed and pretty excited that she lives down the street.  Now we don't have to talk about all the things we would do together if we lived closer.
3. Cousins.  It's nice to have instant playmates for C and J.
3.  It's hot and humid!  I know...not a favorite thing for many people.  In face, I'm pretty sure this is NOT  a reason Adam is happy to be here by the gulf.  I, however, LOVE the heat and the humidity is welcome right along with it.
4.  Target, Walmart and Joanne's are all 5 minutes away.  I am not a big shopper, however, it was a lot annoying having to drive 20 to 30 minutes to get to any of these stores in Ohio.
5.  Real Mexican and Tex-Mex food.
Here are some pictures from the 4th of July...