Memory Lane

I found these photos while going through my computer this morning. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these pictures. Oh how my babies have grown. This past week has been a doozie with these two, but seeing these pics almost brought tears to my eyes. My Angel is 10 and Alliah 8? Where did the time go? At Alliah's "little party" Larry and I were talking to my parents about how fast the kids are growing and my mom told Larry, "Just wait 'til you have to walk Alliah down the aisle!" I saw in Larry's expression that even the thought of that jolted him down to his bones. And, of course, the picture below shows my kids true colors. Such clowns. Hmmm...where did they get THAT from?



More Memories...

Happy Birthday Bella!

Today we celebrated my neice Isabella's first birthday. My brother Fermin and sister-in-law Crystal threw a Hawaiian luau at my parents house and let me tell you: they pulled out all the stops! They played Hawaiian music in the background, gave everyone a hawaiian lei to wear, lit tiki torches, and made the backyard feel like a tropical paradise! They served hawaiian chicken, lumpias, white rice, macaroni salad, beef teriyaki, fruit salad, two pinatas, cake and ice cream....not to mention the cotton candy and snow cone machines. They did such an awesome job. Their three months of planning paid off! We all had a wonderful time. Happy, Happy Birthday, Bella!
Here my sister Nicole took Gracie and Bella (aka B.F.F.s) into the bounce house for the very first time. Bella crawled around a little and Gracie just sat and smiled. All the bright colors, the movement, the other kids laughing around her. How could she NOT like it?
I just had to post this pic of my boy Isaiah. Nicole got in the bounce house with him and he loved it! He was jumping and laughing...so cute. He is so handsome and I love him with all my heart.

Alliah Turns Eight...8!

Our Alliah Rose turned eight years old today. Here she is sitting in her new outfit her Tia Nicole bought for her for the birthday present. You can't tell in this picture, but our poor baby girl had a 104* fever the night before so the plans we originally made for her birthday celebration went down the drain. HER choice was to go to El Torito's, walk down Cannery Row, and end the evening with a yogurt from MYO Yogurt Shop. Instead, we barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, heated up some chili beans and bought two circular cakes to form the shape of the number 8. Mom and Dad and Uncle Jesse and Tia Liz came over and brought her presents. Overall, she had a GREAT birthday and fell sound asleep in the new bedroom comforter set we bought for her for her birthday. I'll have to post some pics of that because it is one you just have to see to believe! We thank the Lord for our little girl who is growing to be a happy and beautiful girl. For those of you who have to priviledge to know Alliah, you know that she is one of a kind and we're so glad she's ours!

Alliah's sick in bed with 104* fever. Tomorrow is her birthday. We're praying she's better in the morning!

Smilebox + Photoshop = Fun!

I'm excitedly sharing that I've learned how to inter-twine Smilebox creations with Photoshop...and I can do it quite well I might add. That's how I created the header above. Doesn't it look great? I amaze myself sometimes. There's more to learn about digital scrapbooking, but I'm taking my time to make sure I learn all I can, the best way I can. Larry called me amazing when he saw this updated blog page. He takes a look at the blog every couple of weeks or so. Sometimes he says, "What? When did that happen?" or "How come I didn't know about that?" Cracks me up. But now it's very late (1am) and I have to get up the kids up at 6:30a.m. tomorrow and take them to school by 7:45a.m. Larry's been doing that for me lately, but he has an early meeting. Thank God Grace is already out (thank you SO much, God!) So...good night all!

Yummy Ice Cream

I have a new favorite flavor of ice cream. It's called "1020" It's orignally created at Marianne's Ice Cream shop in Santa Cruz, but we have a new ice cream shop here in our town and it's there I made this fantastic discovery. 1020 is caramel ice cream with a fudge swirl and oreos mixed in. It's almost heavenly! Whenever you come over, mention it and we'll go get a scoop!

Page Update

So I updated my page today. Found a new website with great backgrounds and blinkies for our blog. I LOVED this quilt background the moment I saw it. For those of you who have been around me lately you know that my newest hobby is going to estate sales. It all started one Friday afternoon while I was driving to the post office. I stopped at the light and saw a a nice, large lettered sign hanging from the light post that said, "ESTATE SALE TODAY!" with a big red arrow pointed down the street. For some reason, my curiousity was peaked so I dropped off my mail and headed straight for the sale. It was kind of weird walking through somebodys house that is, well, how can I put this? Uh...that is...."no longer with us." When somebody passes away, sometimes the persons property and things are left in a trust. The family can sell everything and then divies up whatever profit is made from selling the deceased persons things. Did that come out okay? I don't want to offend anyone. Anyways, I stopped in and found the most beauiful quilts that would cost over $100 in the stores for 20 bucks each. I swiped up those babies in a heartbeat. And if you know me well, you know that I have TONS of blankets and we're always wrapped up in blankets all nice and cozy at my house. The crazy part of it all is that there are like 15 - 20 people walking all in and out of the house trying to find a deal of a life time. One lady bought a beautiful girls bedroom set for like $250. Footboard, headboard, two nightstands, desk, mirrored dresser and drawers...what a steal! Oh well...I can go on and on about what great finds there are, but I've spent way too much time updating the page to now keep on typing forever. I hope all is well with you, and keep on checking in on us....we've always got something interesting to share! 80)

Flying High

This is a great pic I captured with my Blackberry as we were flying high in the air on the Swings at the fair. I am amazed at how well this picture came out! I almost droppped my phone in mid-air, but after seeing this shot, the chance was well worth it!

Just Push

My friend Debby sent this email to me and I thought you all would enjoy it as much as I did. It's a long one, but so very true...

***JUST PUSH***

A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might...

So, this the man did, day after day.. For many years he toiled from sunup to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might!

Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's weary mind: (He will do it every time!)

You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved." Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.." That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in Your Service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed.

But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back shiny and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.

By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God Who moves the mountains.

Offically Speaking

All right...it's official. Grace's first word was "da-da." I hoped it would have been ma-ma, since I AM the one that gets up at 2 and 3 in the morning to change pee-pee diapers and warm bottles, but noooooo! Larry's glowing and is so excited to hear Gracie babble on his name. In my heart I'm glad too. I'm witnessing expressions on Larry's face that I've never seen before. Tonight we were looking at our online bank statment, which ususally is NOT fun, but while we were "discussing" what had been spent Grace let out a "da-ada" and the whole atmosphere changed. She brings such joy to our hearts. She truly is a gift from God!

Sicky, Sicky

My baby Grace is sick for the first time. She has her first cough/cold/fever. It is SOOOO hard to watch my baby cry knowing there's nothing I can do to help her. Yes, we used the "nose sucker" to get all the boogers out and gave her Tylenol for the fever, but that's all we can do. Oh, and we sat in the steamy bathroom, too. Yesterday was the worst. She was so clingy and crying, sounding like she was in so much pain. I couldn't even walk out of the room without her screaming. Yesterday I put her in a very warm shower with me. While in there she lifted up her arms, took a deep breath through her nose and let the air out through her mouth as if to say, "Ahhh...I can breathe in here!" She has such a sad little cry that makes me want to do whatever it will take to make her feel better. Larry and I did a Wal Mart run at 9:45 last night to get a humidifier. Thank God Grandma Silvia and Grandpa David are here to help, so after I type this I'm headed upstairs to sleep. I think I slept about two hours last night. After rocking my Baby to sleep in the rocking chair I got up to try to put her in her crib. The slightest movement caused her to cry (with her eyes shut, mind you). After getting up so gently and trying so hard to keep the humming of "Jesus Loves Me" just in tune, Grace picked her head up off my shoulder, looked around the room and did her first projectile vomiting technique. Unfortunatley I couldn't find it in my heart to push her away so I felt a warm sensation gather on my shoulder and drip down the back of my pajamas. Poor Larry jumped out of bed and ran to my side with a towel. He took Grace while I cleaned up and changed. I pray my baby sleeps better tonight. So far today, it looks like she'll do better. Say a prayer for her...she needs it! Oh and for me, too! :D

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school! Both Angel and Alliah were so excited to wear their new school clothes, and especially their new shoes. Angel is now in the 4th grade with Mr. Calvert as his teacher. Yay, a male teacher! That's great for Angel. Another new, great thing for Angel this year is that he has PE everyday. He's so active and having PE everyday will tire him out! :D Alliah is in the 3rd grade and her new teacher is Mrs. Connors. Alliah is in a 2/3 combination class and is way glad that there are more 3rd graders than 2nd. The school also has a new principal. On the way home I asked if they had met her and they both answered me with a shruggard "yesss..." The conversation entailed, "she makes us keep our elbows off the table in the cafeteria and we have to keep our napkin on our laps!" I said, "Yyyyeeesss!" They didn't like my response.

The bad news of today was that the funding for school buses was cut for their school. Yep, I'll have to take them and pick them up - everyday. I got so spoiled last year when they stood across the street from our driveway and started their day watching me wave good-bye to them as they drove off with Mrs. Jackie on Bus K. The mornings will be no problem, but the afternoons? Oh well, I'll just have to leave my office right at 2 o'clock so I'm not late! Nothing I can do about that.... lol


And I couldn't resist posting this pic of Grace in the grocery store. She sat still just long enough for me to take the picture and then she grabbed the glasses and headed them straight for her mouth. Luckily, we stopped her on time. I didn't want to pay $9.99 for baby sunglasses. But doesn't she look so cute?

Our Sweet Love

Make a Smilebox slideshow

New Shoes

Larry and I went to Ross last Friday. While we were there looking around Larry saw some shoes he liked for me. Three pairs of beautiful shoes I might add. One pair was Steve Madden...cooper brown high heels with a little ruffle up the front, a pair of black strappy high heels and the third was a pair of silver peep toed heels. Since Gracie joined the clan I put away all my heels because I was afraid I might slip and fall carrying her around. Now she's almost 20 pounds and she is like a little weight that keeps me grounded. LOL Anyways, the point of my story is this: Alliah just about passed out when she saw my shoes. She LOVED them. This was our conversation:

Alliah: "Oh my gosh, Mawwwm!!! Where did you get these shoes? I love them!"
Me: "Daddy got them for me today at Ross."
Alliah: "Oh wow! I never even THOUGHT you'd get shoes like these!! Mawwwwm!!"
Me: "What?! Why not? Why wouldn't I wear shoes like these"
And with that question she carefully laid the shoes back in their boxes and headed up the stairs saying, "Because they are so, they are so fashion!"

Okay.....now what am I supposed to do with that information? Am I not fashionable? And more important, why do I care that my seven year old thinks I'm not fashionable?! I mean really, sometimes she can make me feel like I'm a frumpy old mother! She would love for me to dress in heels everyday, wear make-up 24/7 and always wear my big silver hoop earrings. I'll tell ya this: We're gonna have our hands full with this little girly.

The Gonzales'

Here is a picture of Larry's family from when they were still all at home. From left to right is Diane, Larry looking sexy (hey, I'm his wife...I can say that!), Sandy, Tom, Silvia and Lupe. A flash back to the 80's...

Baby Elijah

Oh how this baby boy is growing. He has the curliest hair just like his daddy and beautiful little eyes...just like his daddy. He's long and lanky - like his daddy and...well, almost everything about him is like Corwin. Elijah still fits lying down with his head in my hand and his feet hit my elbow, but the way Nicole says he's eating he'll be growing real quick. He still wears his brother Isaiah's hand-me-down premie jammies and sleeps all day. He is such a love!

Mixed Vegetables

Tonight Grace woofed down an entire jar of Mixed Vegetables. Angel just had to jump in the picture. Such a boy. Thank God this girl is not a picky eater. The only thing she wouldn't eat was a jar of baby food style chicken. I didn't blame her. It smelled nasty, but she loves her fruits and vegies!

The Amazing Grace

We can't believe Grace is already seven months today. It seems like she is discovering something new everyday. Here she's "talking", waving "Hi", trying to crawl and clapping her hands. She's free entertainment. We love her so!