Alliah Turns Nine!

My Alliah is now NINE years old! Where did the time go? Yesterday (Sunday) we invited our family over for lunch to celebrate the life of this special little girl. As Alliah was trapsing all over the house, grinning from ear to ear with excitement, I couldn't help but feel overwhelming thankfulness to God for this little one. I know that God has big plans for my girl and I am so thankful that Alliah has the desire to find out what they are. We started the morning off at church. Since it was Alliah's birthday I invited her to sing with me and the worship team. She was elated! She usually sits on the front row and sings as loud as she can. But for her birthday, she stood on that stage with the other singers and sang her little heart out. With a mic! It was so cute when she'd come in too early or hold the note longer than she should have. She'd be up there singing every Sunday if she could. After church, and all the hugs and gifts from people at church, we headed home to prepare for the family coming to visit. Alliah was so helpful and wanted to make sure everything was just right. We decorated the house with a butterfly theme in purples and pinks. Balloons and gifts filled the living room. We had shredded beef tacos with my homemade pico de gallo salsa, Tia Liz made mexican rice, and Tia Nicole made a macaroni salad. Larry also made his infamous guacamole...it was all sooo delcious.

As we all gathered around the table to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow candles, my heart skipped a beat when I looked at Alliah and saw the beautiful young lady she suddenly became. Yes, she's only nine, but when I think of that little toddler that came and stole our hearts at just three years old, tears began to well up in my eyes. Not seeing anymore baby features made me want to cry. But then when I thought of the gifts she asked for? Alliah didn't want Barbies or Polly Pocket. She wanted nail polish, CDs, skinny jeans! I think Tia Nicole's gift hit the top ten list Alliah had in her head: hoop earrings! My little girl is growing up. And fast. Her daddy just about hit the roof when the neighborhood boys came knocking on the door asking if they could come in and wish Alliah a happy birthday (makes me laugh just typing this LOL). Larry quickly answered with a "NO, and go home!" Really, he did. We have got one beautiful girl on our hands...and boys are starting to notice! I feel sorry for them because they got Larry to deal with. Thankfully, I don't have to worry one bit in that department. Larry has got it covered! Even if she is THINKING about noticing boys? Larry will scare every one of them away with just a look. It's already happening!!

Alliah is a true servant. A caring, compassionate, wonderful girl who does her best in everything she does. I don't know what lies ahead for her, but I will do my best to teach her, tell her, exemplify to her what it means to serve the Lord whole-heartedly and walk in His ways. Thank you Lord for my Alliah. May we do all you instruct us to do so she will walk in the paths You have ordained for her to follow. Happy Birthday Alliah!

Baby Bell

This is a pic of the Beauty and the Beast Bell Cake I custom made for my neice Isabella's 2nd Birthday!

August 30th is my neice Isabella's 2nd Birthday. Bella is a total love! Her and I can sit and sing for days! Literrally. The girl LOVES to sing and loves music, just like me :) This weekend was her Princess Party and what a great time we had! I made this Beauty and the Beast Bell Birthday cake just for her. Fermin and Crystal's mouths just about dropped to the floor when they saw it. Made me sooo happy! I made a mock cake a couple of days before, but this one came out so much better than the first. I am very pleased!


Here's the back....I was so happy with the way the piping and the roses came out. Anyting for my Bell, Bell. Happy Birthday Sweetness!

Baby Tattoos

Grace has discovered that she can pull the dining room chairs out from under the table and climb up them to grab any and all object we have intentionally tried to keep out of her reach. That includes pens. I don't know what we were all doing, but obviously, we were not watching Grace. Next thing we know, we glance over at the table & Gracie is looking down, concentrating on her project.


She was giving herself a tattoo with a blue ink pen. Larry and I just started laughing, asking her what she was doing. She gave us this mischevious smiled and raised her arm showing us what she thought was her beautiful artwork, all up and down her arm. To top that off, there was perfectly clean sheets of white paper right in front of her! But she chose to draw on her arm instead. Yes, she was so proud of what she had accomplished.

Happy Birthday Felicia

This is an adorable pic of my neice Felicia. Miss Felica turned 13 today and I can hardly believe it. Felcia is a one-of-a-kind girl. She blesses me so much just by being who she is. #1 She loves the Lord with all her heart. There are "teens" (OMG I can't believe she's a "teen")...anyways, there are teens out there who *say* they love the Lord, but with Felicia, she not only says it, but lives it. She does her best to please the Lord in everything she does; not because anyone tells her to, but because she wants to. #2 She's a worshipper. Felicia can sing and play her piano for HOURS! HOURS I tell you. She kinda drives my sister batty with it, but I totally understand. I can do the same thing. She wants to be worship leader some day. As her Godmother *and mentor*, it gladdens my heart to see her strive for such a goal. She has the heart, the voice, the talents, and the desire...she can do it! And #3 She loves. I don't think I've ever heard Felicia say one unkind word. She's never snapped at my kids (although she's had plenty of opportunities) and has always *always* offered to help in any way that she could. Yes, she is a one-of-a-kind young lady. Liz and Jess have done an excellent job teaching her and raising her up to be a compassionate, sincere Lover of God. One more time, Happy Birthday Felica. This Tia loves you with all her heart and then some!!!

Bad Day

Uggghh!! Have you ever had one of those days that you wish you could just check out for a few hours? I'm having one of those today. I don't know why, (well, I do know why) but I just wish I could turn everything off and hear absolutely nothing. I don't want to hear people, not tv, not my own thoughts, no noise! I don't have a headache, but I wish I could just be in complete silence, without any thoughts going through my head. Oh well,,, baby just woke up from her nap. Here we go...

Now It's Officially Over

Today was the last day of sleeping in on a weekeday. Good bye Summer! I haven't been sleeping in at all, but my kids have. Last night Larry let them stay up until 2:15 in the morning! He let them stay up to get all the nighttime bugs out of their systems. Angel was watching ESPN baseball highlights and Alliah was playing some fashion game on her DS. I think Larry fell asleep on the couch, but eventually made it up to bed. I don't know what time that was. But me and Grace? Shoot, we hit the hay at 10pm (which is late for us). I must say that I did sleep in a little bit today. I got up at 7am. I've been waking up between 4-5am so I guess I can call that sleeping in LOL

Tomorrow is the start of a whole new adventure. Larry is taking the kids by the school today to find out who their teachers are and what room they're in. We've already got all the school supplies and haircuts, so he's doing the last thing on the list today: school shoes. I don't mind not being there because the kids pretty much choose what shoes they want and Larry's good about making sure they get the right size. He makes them put both shoes on, lace them up and walk up and down the aisles a couple of times, followed by the infamous "push your thumb into the front of the toe to make sure the shoe really fits." If all that passes, they have found the perfect pair. The only concern I have is that both Larry and I are shoe people. We have lots of shoes. I think I may come home to find a couple of pairs for each kid, AND for Larry. There's a budget, man, a budget! Anywho, we are ready for school! Tonight we start the routine and tomorrow we are out the door running. I better get my comfy shoes out tonight too because it's gonna be one crazy day!

DCB Concert!

Today is the day! I have been counting down the days to hear one of my most favorite bands LIVE in concert: The David Crowder Band. If you live anywhere near me and have seen me driving around town, I'm ususally bopping around in my car listening to this most excellent band. Not everyone is fond of all their music because it can be a little loud, but I Love It! I'm taking my neice Felicia (a fellow music lover) I'll try to post some pics...it's gonna be fun!

What?! It's August?

AUGUST. What does August mean to me? It means the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. It means I don't have to feel obligated to buy my kids ice cream from the ice cream truck anymore. It means I can send my kids to bed at a decent hour and have a little peace and quiet at night *sigh of relief* I'm a little confused about how I feel about school starting though because it means structure and routine come back to live with us. But! It also means structure and routine COME BACK TO LIVE WITH US! (you have to kind of over-emphasis those words to get what I'm sayin') I am definitely a list person, a 'stay on task' kind of mommy, but getting up to go to work without having to rush the kids off to the bus, making sure they eat something first, homework checking, reading log signing, rushing one kid out of the bathroom so the other can use it is not on my Top 10 list of things to do in the morning, believe me! Currently, I wake up early {real early} when the house is completely silent. I sit on the couch with something warm to drink, open my bible, pray, think, breathe. And it was during that time that I devised a plan. Yes, a strategy! There's got to be more peace in my house in the morning! So I'm gonna keep getting up early, get everybody packed up and prepared the night before...get my stuff all ready, get Gracie's stuff all ready, that way all the kids have to do is get dressed, eat, brush their teeth and go. Bingo! I have FOUND the answer! Now all I have to do is do it. While it SOUNDS easy peasy, it's not. There's always a glich in the plan. Someone falls down the stairs or runs into a wall (seriosly!), but...we gotta stick to the plan!! I was watching "19 and Counting" on TLC last night and I say that woman is just down right crazy! I can barely do three kids everyday. I can't even begin to imagine organzing 19 kids. That's why she homeschools. LOL So, Strategy. That's what this is gonna take and, boy, am I ready!