Weekend Rewind

I was off on Thursday and Friday after Christmas - so we had a LONG weekend!!

Thursday was spent in recovery mode.  We slept till noon.  Sammy and Tony came over to hang out and then Tina, Angel and Krystal all stopped by to exchange gifts with the girls!  They have been exchanging gifts for years now and its awesome to know people who have gone from strangers to people we consider family be a part of our Christmas!!  They stayed for a bit and then I made Tony and Sam some breakfast - we tried cleaning up a bit and then all headed out to the stores together.  Sam needed to return some things and Tony had some casino winning burning a hole in his pockets! Not to mention that Forever 21 Gift Card Tina gave Makaila was causing major anxiety - so we NEEDED to go to the mall! LOL  We picked up a few things at the mall and then had dinner at Cheddar's...it was delicious!!!

Friday - we all slept in again (SURPRISE), I woke up first and headed out to the stores to buy some after Christmas decor items - however not for Christmas - I had Quinceanera on the brain.  I went out to look for things I wanted to use as decor in Makailas 15 which is only 18months away!!!  Understand - that this type of birthday celebration is exactly like planning a wedding - so time is critical - the sooner I start saving and planning and buying the better!!!

I was out in the stores until 2 - but oh so excited with the items I purchased!! 

When I got home I put together an example arrangement for Makaila of what her centerpieces will look like!  She liked them so now I am really starting to get excited!  We decided her theme will be 'A Night in Paris' and her colors will be aqua, dark purple and silver!!

We headed over to Ernie's in the afternoon to drop off Isabella to Juan (she has been bugging about going to stay with him and Aiden for days now - so off she went).  Makaila also made plans to spend the night at Ceci's so we took the kids to their chosen destinations then we headed out to a dinner date.  We ended up at the Wing Factory in Deer Park and it was delicious!! After dinner we headed home and decided to walk off our full tummies perusing the sales at Target.  We bought a couple unnecessary items and then headed to Baskin Robins for a treat.  He then headed home and I spent hours on the computer looking at venues for Makailas 15!!! 

Saturday morning I did what seemed like 34 loads of laundry and when Danny finally decided to join the living at about 2pm, we headed out and decided to go look at some of the halls we had found on the internet.  I was very pleasantly pleased with the first one we visited. the pricing was good, the place was nice and it met all our requirements. 

We tried to go see a few dresses to get an idea of cost - but by the time we got to the shop it was closed so instead we went and had an early dinner at Torchy's tacos! LOL I love their queso!!!  We walked around in the Heights doing some window shopping and then over to the Galleria area to hit up a few more Christmas sales (not for us but for the 15).  We had some ice cream at Amy's (I love LOVE her ice cream).  Once we were done we headed home and watched a few old recordings of Two Broke Girls and then headed to bed! 

Sunday morning I woke up and went to church.  (Danny was to lazy to get up - so he stayed home asleep).  I stayed to serve at the service after mine and when I got home at 12:45 Danny was still in bed! LOL  For someone who says they never get any sleep this guy is always in bed!!!!

 CHURCH NOTES:
(Dr. Lowery was a guest speaker this week and if you haven't read this before - he is awesome!!!)
Move from Average to Awesome
* Pay attention to what you are doing with your life - do not live aimlessly!
* The best way not to loose your way is to lead the way!
* Put into practice things to control your Adam suit
* Success is learning how to do the things you do not want to do
* Never put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket
* When you are being an enabler ask your self - Has it helped? Can God help him without me?
* Have HOPE
 H - Habits - awesome people develop awesome habits that help them in the long term (not just focused on the now)
O - Others - You'll never get the right place with the wrong people
P - Prayer, Plan , Power and Persistence - Keep God in your everyday! Prayer is key!!!  Your discipline becomes your delight.  Power goals involve God, while process Goals involve you!
E - (He got of target and never got to this one LOL)

Dr. Lowery is a great speaker - he is funny and engaging and interesting but he rarely ever finished an entire message cause he gets off target alot! LOL  But I love him!!

We got ready and headed out to get our girls.  We picked up Issy at Ernie's again and then headed over to Ceci's for Makaila.  They were grilling out so we stayed for some great burgers and I started a Pinterest page of ideas for Makaila's 15!!!  We talked about table decor and invitation ideas and all kinds of goodies!! I am really getting excited about this!!!

We headed home and believe it or not by 8pm - I was in bed lathered with Vicks and ready to sleep!  I started feeling icky - so Vicks was my answer!

I woke up Monday morning at 5 am bright eyed and bushy tailed!  Showered and came to work!!!!  I think my weekend was too long cause I was ready for the break (in cleaning house and doing laundry at least! LOL). 

Have a great week and a wonderful New Year.  I hope you make a great New Year's Eve.  We will be celebrating at Ceci & Ray's this year!  I have to work on New Year's Eve but I'll be back to work on Thursday - so I'll update you then on my New Years hooplah and my resolutions for 2014!!!!!

Christmas 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This year was fantabulous!!  Not because of the gifts or the traffic, or the last minute pick ups, or anything like that it was fantabulous because our church opened it's new building for our Christmas Eve services!  Actually to be honest the first services in our new building were on Sunday (but since we were Texas town hopping - we missed it).  I signed up to serve at a few of the Christmas Eve services and to be honest I missed the ones on Monday night because I was still out wrapping and last minute buying for people I forgot or put off and ...well you know how that goes!

Tuesday (Christmas Eve morning) I woke up and got ready for work.  I was at my desk by 6:30 and by 8 I was out on the road headed to James Avery to pick up a last minute gift and back in the office within 30 minutes!!  Not bad for a quick "coffee break"! LOL   I hung around a pretty dead and empty office for  a few hours but by noon - I was out of here!  I headed home and since Danny and the girls were out to lunch I did one more gift stop and then headed home to wrap some gifts.  At 5 we all headed to church for our Christmas Eve Service!  To say I am madly in love with our new church building is an understatement. 

I'll admit - I am not the most religious person in the word, and the good Lord knows I have my flaws (particularly a really bad potty mouth), but I do have an unwavering hot and burning love in my heart for Jesus.  I believe wholeheartedly- mind, body and soul in his love, his forgiveness, his patience and his grace!  I pray daily, and I have found a peace in my heart by going to this church like never before.  I know the church is just a building and what matters most is my relationship with Jesus himself....but since I became a member of this church I have felt God's love in so many ways I had never experienced before.  I have become involved in a church family, met people who make me feel like they care about me as a person and - well its exciting! Watching them build this church and letting my family be a part of that and knowing that my girls handprints are on the floor of the children's ministry and that my prayers were uttered within the walls of the worship and prayer center before the church was even built gives me such a feeling of honor and belonging.  ANYWHO - I am super super excited!!!

Christmas Eve services always make me cry.  Tears of joy but tears none the less.  I get such an overwhelming joy wash over me during the candlelight carol portion - that is Christmas to me.  Sitting there in the Lords house all singing off key and praising him wholeheartedly!! I love it.  This year we had Santa, and Rudolph, Frosty, a live Nativy outside, and the works!  I was so happy. 

After attending the 5pm service - Danny and the girls headed over to the Limon grandparents home and I stayed to serve at the next two services.  Once I was done serving, I headed home and finished up my wrapping and organizing.  Santa stopped and dropped off the girls gifts (not before making a big mess with a glitter glue stick he used to make their gift tags! LOL).  At about 11, I headed over to the Limons and got ready for some Christmas happenings overthere.  Makaila was a tad upset when I got there (apparently I missed a big to do with Issy and her feelings were hurt over how Issy was treated - but I assured her it would be okay and that it was not worth her tears and we moved on).  At Midnight we did the usual hugs and kisses and then handed out Christmas gifts.  The girls are so so blessed.  We all are really.  They got so many wonderful things.  We opened all our gifts and then hung out for awhile and then headed home to rest. 

We got home and the girls were already asleep , we put them to bed and went straight to bed ourselves!  At about 8 am on Christmas morning the girls woke up and were ready to go!!  We all got into the living room and opened all our gifts.  The girls got everything they asked for from Santa and us! Santa brought Issy a charm necklace and bracelet, the Just Dance 2014 game, a rainbow loom, and some legos.  He brought Makaila a pair of grey converse, and the One Direction perfume!  We got the girls, clothes, new leadership karate uniforms, ATA hoodies, and tons of goodies in their stockings.  Danny got a watch box, some closet cedar blocks, an eye mask, and a Dave Ramsey book!  I got a ring. 

We had a great Christmas morning, but not enough sleep.  While the girls went through thier new found treasures and played with rainbow looms me and Danny went back to sleep! LOL

We woke up a little while later, got ready and headed to my sister Erica's house to do the Salas Family Christmas.  We ate posole, tamales, rice, and tons of treats and then when everyone had arrived we did our gift exchanges there.  Again - VERY blessed by our families.  The girls got all kinds of goodies here too...but I think the best Gift giving moment this year was when Tony opened our gift to him. 

Tony is my little sisters boyfriend, and earlier this year Tony's dog passed away.  This dog was his best friend and Tony was very very heartbroken by the loss of his best friend.  So for Christmas I got my sister to send me some pictures of Tony and his dog, and made him a Shadowbox with pictures and a phrase box inside that read "Perhaps they are not stars but rather openings in heavens where the love of our lost ones  shines down to let us know they are with us."  He loved it.  It brought him to tears and was a very heartfelt moment this year!  I was very happy that he liked it and that it meant so much to him. 

Once everything had settled down, we played a few rounds of loteria and then my daddy, Tony, Samantha, Danny and I all headed over to Louisiana to hit the casinos!! LOL  We played for several hours and had a good time!! 

We had a wonderful Christmas this year surrounded by the people we love most!  We all were very blessed to have spent the year in good health and good tolerant spirit.  I am so grateful for my family (both Limon and Salas), and I am happy that we spent our time with each family and that the girls were showered with so many presents...but even more glad that they are grateful for those presents and that they know the true meaning of Christmas is not gifts or money, but spending time with family and friends rejoicing each other and the blessing of life itself!!!!  Merry Christmas once again from our family to yours!!!!  I hope you were as blessed and loved as we were on Christmas day!!!