Total Knock Out

Grace. What more can I say about this adorable little bug that I call all mine? It amazes me how much she already wants to be like her big sister. Alliah is into putting curlers in her hair at night. Grace sits on the bathroom floor as Alliah lovingly stares at herself, rolling each pink curler around her long, black locks of hair. A few nights ago, Alliah put three curlers in Gracie's hair. Since that night, Grace wants curlers in her hair every night, too. She only puts up with them until bedtime and then they bother her and she yanks them out. I quickly grabbed my phone to click these pics because Gracie just looked too cute for words.


I don't know if you can see the words on her robe pocket, but it says "TOTAL KNOCKOUT." I took this pic just before we left to pick up Angel and Alliah from Awanas. This second pic is from when we got home. Car rides always knock Grace out. Here you can definitely see she was "knocked out." And she was out all night - 11 hours of sleep! Hallelujah! This mommy finally got a good, full nights rest too. But isn't she just adorable???

Labor Day Weekend

Some ventured out into the wild blue yonder: sleeping in tents, counting the stars, fishing in the lake, gathering around the campfire at dusk. Others enjoyed a delicious barbecued steak and corn on the cob fresh off the grill with friends and family. Others went out to eat a yummy meal and caught a matinee at the movies, with popcorn and soda and jujubees. Me? I stayed home. In my pajamas. All day. I watched about a zillions shows on the Food Network and then did some baking (of course!) Don't get me wrong, it was a great weekend! I did exactly what I wanted to do: NOTHING. My sister Liz and her family are staying with us for a few weeks while their new house is getting ready so we always have fun when we're together. We could just sit on the couch, eating ice cream, and talk and it would be fun. We always end up laughing about something - even though we both could cry too. This Labor Day weekend didn't fly by, nor did it lag. It just was. And it was exactly what I needed!

The What If's

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have to wonder "Is that chocolate or is that poop?"

If I had never became a mother...
I would never have to use the bathroom or shower with the door open

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't step on legos with every step, causing me to scream out in pain

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have gained this spare tire that I carry around the space where my tummy used to be.

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have to buy Handi Snacks and Goldfish crackers by the pound.

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have had the pleasure of pulling the back on someones pants open to see if they pooped.

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have to buy an entire new wardrobe for them while I, myself, make do with one good pair of jeans and one cardigan.

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have sat up until the wee hours of the morning lulling a crying baby to sleep when all I wanted to do was cry myself.

If I had never became a mother...
I would never have eaten so many cold meals in my life.

***************

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't get to see young minds grow and discover the beauty of the earth

If I had never became a mother...
I wouldn't have three sweet little warm bodies who find no greater joy than crawling into bed with their Mama for a good morning snuggle.

If I had never became a mother...
I would never know how proud I could feel when someone does something that seems so small.

If I had never became a mother...
I never would have had another beating heart lay so close to my very own, literally.

The 1st of the Month

Happy September! That's it for today.

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!