Sundance

Gonzalo brought home his new labrador puppy today. We drove all the way to Simi Valley to get him. Isn't he cute?

Welcome home Sundance. Here he is checking out his new digs.


Here we are at the breeder's house




The breeder had a a beautiful bird that loved to poke Lindsey's shoulder. Not hard but enough to give her goosebumps.

Rainy Day

It's been over a month since I last posted. Where has the time gone? I admit I've been lazy about posting. I could say that I've been busy with work, kids, and life in general but in the end I have to blame it on laziness. So life is good. I took the day off today because the kids are off from school. My mom is still trying to recup from a bout with pneumonia and my mother in-law is in Oakland visiting Kelvin. It's nice to stay home especially on a rainy day like today.

Lindsey participated in the Spelling Bee last month and came in 6th place out of 24 kids. She did quite well. Would any of you know how to spell "b-o-r-e-e-n"? Last year she won 1st place and even though she didn't take first place this time, I told her that in this life we all need to know how to win some AND lose some and to just keep trying to do her best in everything. Nikki didn't get to go to the spelling bee this year but we kept the list of words that Lindsey was given to study so we can at least have a head start for next year should Nikki get invited.

Ernie has been playing with his new laptop he just got. With the way the economy is now I don't really think it's a wise idea to be making big purchases like that. We had a long discussion on the subject and in the end we agreed it would be the last big purchase for either of us for a long time. Our jobs are "ok" at the moment but one never knows from one day to the next what may happen. Work has been busy which I am grateful for. A hospital can't run without a volunteer department so the need is there to have at least two people run it. Ernie's job is staying afloat and so far hasn't seen the need for cutbacks. I only pray that continues on for as long as possible.

Mom was in the hospital two weeks ago for pneumonia. Anything that gets in your way of breathing is definitely scary stuff. At one point she was coughing so badly in the ER that she barely had enough breath in her to tell the nurse she couldn't breathe. But she was okay. The machine monitoring her stats showed she was doing "fine" according to the nurse. She just choked as she was trying to cough up the bad stuff. It's so hard when your parents get old. I think back to when I was a kid and how mom and me would have a water fight right there in the kitchen or how we'd go for power walks in the neighborhood. Now at 75 she has slowed down so much and not as quick on her feet or as energetic. But she is a fighter who has such a strong will. She still amazes me!!

Happy New Year

I can't believe the holidays have come and gone. I intended to hit the stores for the after Christmas sales but just never got around to it. I did do most of my Christmas shopping on Amazon. I heard you can get great deals and so I decided to give it a try. I didn't know Amazon waves the shipping and tax if you spend over $25. That's pretty dang cool!!! There were two gifts that I actually had to drive to the store for but other than that the rest was all purchased online, headache free.

We had a quiet Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house which was kinda nice. I could tell my dad was savoring the time he was spending with the kids. Afterwards we swung by my inlaw's house where you can hear the cumbia music from outside their front door. Lindsey and Nikki were happy to be around their cousins and made grandma's room their little "hangout".
Here are some pictures I took. Enjoy.


Ernie, sister Irma and brothers Kelvin and Luigi with his mom and stepdad


With the grandkids

Up late, kids asleep, bored

I just finished wrapping most of the presents. I still need to shop for a few more things then I think I'll be done for the year. With the way the economy is right now we decided to be a little more conservative this Christmas. Seems that every year the kids get a new electronic gadget from daddy. It can get pretty expensive but this year we opted to just keep it simple. No sense in spending $200-$300 on a Wii Fit. Although I could definitely use the Wii Fit simply for the exercise benefit you get from it. Maybe next year. For now I'll just stick to my fiber shakes.

Tomorrow will be a long day for me. I need to make up 4 hours at work. I took some time off last week to attend my kids school activities. A couple hours here a couple hours there which added up to about 4 hours. I didn't want to use my PTO so I told my boss I would make it up tomorrow. I normally get off at 3pm on Fridays but I'll be working until about 7pm which I kind of like only because I can get a lot more done at night than during the day.

It's time for bed. Ernie is up watching some western flick with the volume up high. I'm surprised the kids sleep right through all the shooting. Thank goodness they're heavy sleepers!

Lindsey's Report on Anne Frank

Lindsey has had to do some pretty cool class assignments like building a mission and writing a state report. But this one I think was by far the most fun. Each student was required to dress up like the person who they were doing their report on. One girl in her class chose Amelia Earhart another Michelle Obama. Lindsey chose Anne Frank. On the day before she was to give her oral report we went to this thrift store to look for a skirt and blouse. We found exactly what we were looking for. I let her where my black sweater over the white blouse and brushed her hair a certain way and walaa.... Take a look.

Adventures in Babysitting

When my cousin Joey asked if the girls and I could babysit for her, Lindsey and Nikki got so excited. Not a week goes by that my kids don't ask if we could babysit Noa and Makani. They love them so much. Here are some pictures I took. It was such a joy to watch them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another year has gone by and despite all the craziness our family is going through these days I have to say that I am very thankful for having a job, a roof over my head, food in the fridge, my health, my kids, my husband, my parents, my brother, and air to breathe. God is good and what doesn't break us will make us stronger. Here are some pictures after our yummy Thanskgiving dinner at Gonzalo's house.