Florida Travels

I was in Florida this week for work.  I left on Tuesday morning after taking the girls to school and cleaning the house a tad, and kissing my mate goodbye!

I made it to the airport about 2 hours early and got a call from my boss to meet him in the United Club.  After I went through all the gates and checks and fun stuff I headed to the United Club and settled in. 

Are you a United club member? Fancy! They get nice plush chairs, tv's, drinks, snacks, newspapers from EVERYWHERE, magazines, etc.  It is the "extra special" waiting room! We waited there until our flight was called, and then headed into the line for our flight. 

I am a big plane sleeper...so minutes after take-off I was out.  Woke up a couple hours later in Orlando.  LOL  We headed to our hotel and checked in and relaxed for a bit.  It was already late afternoon, so I checked some e-mails, sent out a few responses, and then we headed to dinner at about 6pm.  I was starving because I hadn't eaten a meal all day! (Lucky for me we were staying at the Doubletree and their cookies held me over) We went to Bonefish and my dinner was awesome!  (I didn't take pics cause I was trying to be semi- normal in front of my boss! LOL).  I had a grilled Tilapia, some crab cakes, steamed green beans and pilaf rice.  YUMMY (I love food - don't judge me)!!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, I called my lovelies back home, and then fell asleep watching crap tv. 

The next morning I had to wake up early because we were headed to our Tampa office at 5:45am.  I don't drink coffee...but I kinda wish I had.  It took alot out of me to stay awake on the drive there!

I met my new employee Josh.  It was rather interesting.  Not at all what I expected.  I also met several other people that I work with regularly on certain things.  It was nice to put a face to the names!  We stayed in Tampa and worked and toured the new berths and all that fun stuff until about 3, then headed back.  I had lunch at this great little hole in the wall Argentinian place that was fabulous!! I would love to take Danny there....he would love it. 

It rained the entire way back to Orlando, and so our plans to go to Disneyworld went out the window!  I was really looking forward to that, so instead we went to the movies!  Jim and I watched Lone Survivor and it was fantastic.  I had to will myself not to cry (cause who wants to be a blubbering idiot in front of their boss! ). 

We headed back to the hotel and worked online for about an hour then headed out to dinner.  We had Carraba's and let me tell you - the portions were ridiculous giant.  I only ate half my food....it was great but way too big! I was tired - so we headed back to the hotel - I showered and got ready for bed.  I called Danny to wish him goodnight and he told me about his day. 

Apparently, since the girls spent the night with our neighbor Nina on Tuesday night, the other neighbor kids were a tad upset and so Isabella got into a fist fight at YMCA with our neighbor Nathan over her sleepover.  Danny had to get down and sign a paper saying he was briefed on the situation.  It said "Isabella was playing in a violent fashion and using her fists to explain herself with another student." Now let me just say, not my proudest parent moment - but how can you not laugh at that!  Kids are freakin ridiculous sometimes. 

Nina if you are reading this - then know that your house and the sleepovers within are a hot commodity on the Point!!!  Kids are "violently playing" for their chance at the next one! LOL

The next morning we slept in and at about 9, we headed over to our Orlando office to meet a few people and have a few meetings.  I was very impressed with their organization and friendliness!

Overall it was a good trip.  I got some work things accomplished, Danny handled everything at home, and I am back safe and sound.  Rodeo kicks off this weekend - so let's see how that adventure pans out!!

Have a good weekend!!!

Weekend Rewind

Friday after work I went home to clean house a tad - because it was scrapbook night and the house was a mess!

While I was cleaning Amy came over to select some Scentsy items for her house!  At about 5 Scrapbooking started and we had a great turn out this month!  Margaret came and brought a new friend Andrea (hopefully if we weren't too crazy for her she will come back).  Amy stayed to scrap, and then Teresa came, and Cynthia and my friend Laura came this month too and brought her sister Teresa!  It was nice..we laughed and laughed and caught up on all sorts of fun stuff!

This was our layout for the month:

The girls stayed until about 11pm, and then Danny took me to Wal-mart to get what I need for our tournament in the morning.  I had signed up to bring an Alfredo pasta, and to volunteer at the sign in table at 7am!!

By the time I finished cooking, washing uniforms and showering up it was past midnight!! I set my alarm and then forgot to turn it on! LOL

Thank God for Danny  - he woke me up at about 6:20 and I got ready quickly and headed out. 

The tournament was great!!  Makaila's friend Zoey stayed the weekend with us so she has her own personal cheerleader. 

At about 10:30 both girls got called to the staging area.  With them both being in the juniors category and the same belt categories...they go at the same times just in separate groups (because they are based by age).  Lucky for us they were sent to rings that were side by side.  Danny and I kept an eye on both girls.  Issy's ring got started first, and they actually skipped her at first for forms, so I had to go talk to the judge.  

  

 She tied for first place with these two other girls, so they all had to redo their form!!

She did awesome and took first place!

Soon after Makaila's ring got started and she did her form.  She rocked it too!

 She did awesome and tied for someone for 2nd place.  They both had to redo their forms, and then Makaila was given 3rd place.  I think she did better than the other girl...but I am not a judge - so no one cared what I thought!

While Makaila was doing forms Issy got geared up for her sparring match.  I was shocked at how that went. She got a couple kicks in but spent most of her time moving away.  Usually in class she is hands on  non-stop.  She was upset to loose in her first round - but we were both very very proud of her. 

 Makaila's match started just a few minutes later.  The girls in her division we vicious.  She got a buy out on her first round, but the two fights that took place were crazy.  Both fights had an injury and had to be stopped for warning calls!  I was getting scared to spare myself, I can only imagine how Makaila felt.  She kicked butt but lost her first match 3 to 5. 

 Both of the girls cried (Which is very annoying because I was very proud of them and thought they both did great, and I don't like having sore losers - but I can understand how they felt.  I just wish they  were as proud of themselves as I was of them). 

We still had to wait for my age division to be called so we waited and waited and waited some more.  Meanwhile we walked around and watched other people from our school compete.  I swear with every sparring match I watched I died a little more inside. By the time I was called at 4pm, I was almost ready to cry because I was so nervous.  The people in all those rings I watched were going at it like mad men!! I was afraid of getting knocked out or kicked in the head like our last class tournament...and that was not a feeling I wanted to relive any time soon!!

My ring had 5 women that were camo and green belts ages 30-39.  My friend Melanie took 1st in Forms and I took Second place.  I was pretty happy considering every single women in our ring rocked their form extremely well!!!

Then the sparring came.  I got a buy for my first round (which I was immensely happy over).  My first match was good.  I got called on a warning call for kicking her in the back (in my defense I can't wear my glasses in my gear - so I couldn't see all the way - and I kicked her after a spin - so it was not intentional).  Immediately after my call - she got one for elbowing my in the face!  I didn't even realize she had done it, or that I had kicked her - I think my adrenaline was in over drive and I was just going like the Tasmanian Devil.  The fight was stopped and the judges told us that since we both had a warning - if we did anything else like that again that we would be disqualified.  Since I wasn't even sure what I had done at that point I just shook my head and kept going.  I ended up winning that match 5-4.  I couldn't tell you how or with what moves, but I was pretty happy!! I didn't get beat up.  I walked away to rest and a few minutes later realized my ankle was hurting like hell.  She had kicked my pretty hard.  I walked it off and got ready for my next match.

My school friend Melanie won her match so her and I were up against one another for 1st and second place.  I was pretty pumped still, so I got in there again and it went pretty quickly.  I won that match 5-0.  I took home first place in our sparring match and I was pretty freaking excited!  Not at all what I had expected!!

Danny took videos of  my match's which I watched later and was pretty damn proud of.  If I can figure out how to load them on here I will later. 

After my matches were over, we walked around a little seeing who from our school was left competing.  We took some pictures with Master Henderson and then headed home.  It was 5:30 - and we were all tired!!!

I had been promising Isabella that I would buy her an American Me girl doll from Target for about a month now - and I was draggin it out for as long as I could, but I had promised her if she got all Blues (no bad marks), in class last week that we would get it over the weekend - so of course I was Target bound after the tournament. 

We all showered up and got ready and at 8 we met Tony and Sammy at Chuy's for dinner. Her birthday is this coming week, but I will be out of town for work - so we decided to celebrate early!

After dinner we headed over to Max Bowl for their Cosmic Bowling event.  We bowled for a few hours and laughed and had a great time.  We hadn't been bowling , probably since Makaila's 9th birthday party we had there! LOL It was a blast.  The kids played arcade games and then we all bowled and had fun!

Finally at about 12:30 we called it a night and we went home and went straight to bed.  We were all exhausted. 

I woke up Sunday morning to a quiet house...everyone was still knocked out.  I got a load of towels going in the wash and waited until 9 to start waking everyone up.  We all got ready and headed to church for a great message. 

Church Notes:
Part 3 of Series Love & War - Battle for the Best
* Do whatever Jesus Tells you to. 
* If you never date a looser, then you will never marry a looser!
* You come into marriage as two broken people - the start is not the best because the best is yet to come. 

How to fight the battle:
1. Admit - admit that you need Jesus in your relationship!  Ask Christ to be the center of your marriage!

2. Submit - leave your arrogance and stubbornness out of the equation. Trade your pride for love, marriage is not a business agreement.  Marriage in the biblical sense isn't 50/50 but giving all of yourself to fulfill the needs of your partner and doing so with God in the center!

3. Omit - Take the bitterness out of your relationship.  You can rub things in or rub them out!

4. Commit - Commit your marriage to the Lord

The roles of Husbands and wives:

Husbands have two roles: 1. Sacrificial Lover - looking to meet her needs ahead of his own. 2. Spiritual Leader - Putting the importance of God in our family

Wives have two roles : 1. Spiritual Encourager - be his cheerleader in everything. Support him and show him you are a team.  Be a bragger not a nagger! 2. Unconditional Respecter - Respect your spouse always.  Set that example for your household and honor him as the king of your home with your respect always!!!

After our message they aired a video interview of Mark Burnett and his wife whose new movie Son of God comes out this coming weekend!  We watched the trailer and then to our surprise heard that our church had bought all the tickets for opening weekend to giveaway to all of us to go see it and take a friend with us!! 

We got our movie tickets and were pretty excited. 

Church was great - but I have to point out one thing.  The best part was not the message or the free movie tickets or the praise and worship- which I  love), or even that we were all there as a family - which I have mentioned before is the greatest feeling ever.  No this week was different.  Aside from having an awesome weekend so far and being in church with my family, something else captured my heart and made me feel so incredibly special and loved.  At church this week, after the message when we bowed our heads to pray, Danny held my hand.  I know that seems like nothing to some one of you , but to me it was the best most favorite moment in all our 14 years of being together!!!!!

It was a moment that I will freeze frame in my mind as the greatest most cherished moment of my life.  Now don't get me wrong - It's not the first time he holds my hadn - we hold hands all the time. 

To have him hold my hand in church and join me in prayer is an answer to a prayer I myself have prayed for years and years.  I couldn't stop the tear from rolling down my cheek or the somersaults I felt like my heart was doing inside my chest.  Silly I know - but I was and still am so so incredibly happy over that!

After church we headed home and I made us a big breakfast.  We had bacon, hasbrowns, eggs, tortillas and stuffed our faces.  We watched tv for awhile and did some laundry then we all loaded up and headed to Ace Hardware for some weed and feed.  That place is dangerous - it has a little boutique right in the middle and has such awesome stuff!!

Danny worked on the yard while I sat on my butt watching tv! LOL

I took the girls to Sonic for happy hour and then got my car washed.  I made mole and rice for dinner and watched American Hustle (one of the boot legs I bought a few weeks back on Harwin).  It was pretty good.

I cleaned up the kitchen and then it was lights out.  We all went to bed after showers and prayers. 

My weekend was great for a number of reasons.  I was with my family, we had a blast bowling and competing and laughing and having a good ole time.  We went to church together and it was great. 

I am one blessed blessed woman!  There is no doubt! I hope you have a great week; I'll be out of town for work until Thursday - so say a little prayer for my household and safe travels for me! 

And start your day knowing that we love you and care for you more than Chocolate cake - and everyone in our house LOVES chocolate cake!!!!

Stars and Stripes Tournament

Ok - so we have been doing this whole Taekwondo thing for a year now!  Can you believe that...time flies when you are having fun.  Isabella started in September of 2012 as a suggestions from a friend to try it out because we were having issues with her discipline at school.  I was at that time the parent getting calls about my kid hitting others, or pushing in the line, or getting up during quit time..etc.

My first thought was - HELL NO...I don't need her to be around any more violence ---she is bad already.  But I took her anyway and let me just say - that after the first class I was sold.  The school is run with so much discipline and respect that I was in awe of these kids.  I knew without a doubt that this was going to be good for her!

Within a week of going her teacher called again - not to give me a "bad update" on Issy but to tell me that whatever I was doing was working because Issy was a completely changed kid, and she thought I should know!! So - after that we have kept going and not looked back.

The following April (we had been trying to get her to do it for months), Makaila got in trouble for a bad grade and as a form of punishment ( i know- horrible mother), I forced her to take a class with her sister! Well, the first two classes were iffy and I wasn't completely sure she would stick it out..but within the week she was loving it. 

Come May - they put up a sign for parents to join for free (a mother/fathers day promotion), and Makaila kept pushing me to do it...so I asked a few questions and as it turned out the school policy is that a family paying full tuition for two students , had the privilege of any additional family members to join for FREE!!

Now that just goes to show that this little hobby is not cheap by any means...we pay ALOT of money for the girls to do this and well if you know me at all then you know I don't like to pass up any freebies...so I joined!!

We have gone to in school tournaments, we have travelled the great state of Texas for state wide Class C tournaments and we all even joined the Leadership division a few months back (which allows us to accumulate points for state, district, and national ranked tournaments!!!

We are committed to being black belt Ninja's!! It is great exercise, it is a great teacher and display of respect, that I feel is important for my kids and I to have, it is fun and I love that it is something we do as a family.  While Danny hasn't joined the classes yet...he is our constant cheerleader.  He takes the girls to class, he watches them practice at home, he tents to our bruises when we spare, he comes to watch us at tournaments - so he is in too!

Our daily schedules are as follows:

Mondays - we wake up, go to school or work, come home, Issy has class at 5, I have a Hit class at 6, Makaila and I go to our class at 8....showers and bed.

Tuesdays - we wake up, go to school or work, come home, Issy has class at 4:45, I have a HIT class at 6:15, Makaila and I go to class at 8.....showers and bed.

Wednesday - we wake up, go to school or work, come home, Issy has class at 5:30, Makaila and I go to class at 8.....showers and bed.

Thursdays - we wake up, go to school or work, come home, Issy has class at 4:00 (this one is hard to get her to - but sometimes it works out), I have a HIT class at 6:00, Makaila and I go to class at 7.....showers a late dinner and bed.

There are Saturday morning HIT classes at 8:20 am that I usually attend, and there are classes for the girls too - but usually by the weekend we are worn out and I let them skip this class!

Now in between there we have to do the daily things like homework, projects, groceries, making dinners, eating dinner, getting the last minute things for school that they knew about a week ago but failed to mention, you know...all the daily living stuff!!

I know it is time consuming and hard work...but we love it!!!!!

Our school is hosting a State wide Class C tournament this weekend at the Humble Civic Center.  If you don't have other plans or you want to come cheer us on - we would absolutely love that!!!!!

We are currently ranked as follows:

Isabella is a Camo Belt Jr. (means she is in the age group of 6 - 13yr olds) - she will be competing in both the forms and sparring division.  Her rings should start up at about 9:30 am. 

Makaila is a Green Belt (attends the adult classes at our school) - she will be competing in both forms and sparring!  Her rings should get started sometime after 10am.

I am a Green Belt, and will also be competing in both Forms and Sparring.  I don't think they start the Adult (older - ones anyway) level matches until about 1:30pm.

I am beyond words proud of my little ninjas...they are great and watching them is just fun and exhilarating!!  I hope you can make it out to cheer them on and take a few good pictures!!!

Have a great weekend and check back next week to see how everything went!!!

My neighbors/Friends ROCK!!!

Let me just recap a couple things from this week for you...Monday was President's Day - but since we had two snow days the kids had to go to school, and I had to go to work. 

Danny enjoyed the beautiful weather by going out to play a round of golf, and at about 2pm,  I got some texts from my neighbor friend Nina asking about the kids release times.  She picked both of ours girls up from school and took them to play at the park, then took them to Sonic and fed them dinner!!!

Danny came home after his golf game and made a giant pot of chili for dinner that was absolutely delicious!!

Makaila and I went to karate and then came home and went to bed.  

Then on Wednesday - Danny was working days, and I had to go to work early so Nina took both of the girls to school for me!  

Thursday morning - I forgot to ask Nina for another ride - so I text her on my way to work, and she replied instantly with a "Sure, no problem!!!"

I just wanted to highlight how blessed we are to live where we live and know the people we know. We have a big family, and I know I can always count on them when I need them but it is such a blessing to live on a block with people who have morphed into a whole new family. 

I can always rely on my neighbor friends Nina, Brandi, and Amy to help me out with the kids, or hang out with me and vent over a glass of wine.  I also have Tina and Mike down the road who love our girls like family and help us too.

I Love, Love Love my block of friends and the giving heart of  my neighbors!! I am one blessed momma!!!

Weekend Rewind

This weekend was great.  Danny was off with us so we had a pretty awesome family filled weekend! 

Saturday morning...I woke up a little early and read on the couch until the girls woke-up.  We went to Target to get a gift and then headed to Jumpapalooza to celebrate Cole's Birthday! I don't see my friends that often so I was glad to celebrate Misty's son and see her family!!We played and had a good time and I did some catching up with Vicky and chatted with one of the teachers from Isabella's school.  We had fun!

After the party we headed home to clean up a bit.  Danny had taken off to run some errands, so we cleaned up a bit and did a load of laundry.  When he got home we took off to Costco!  That is a dangerous place for us, cause we love us some Costco goodies!  It was the weekend so they had samples galore and we got full on sample foods.  We left there with a new Ninja blender kit (I broke the vase to our blender the night before on accident).  I also bought this Microdermabrasion kit for my face  - it was expensive...so it better make me look pretty or its going back! LOL

We headed home from Costsco and unloaded everything.  The kids went outside to play and Isabella went over to Sophia's house for a play date.  I hung out and chatted with Jullisa (Sophia's mom) and met one of the other neighbors (adrianna - she is gorgeous) around the block.  After awhile I came back in and we decided it was time to take off to my sisters house to visit my parents.  They were coming in town to see their kiddos and have some menudo that Erica was making.

We got there and hung out for awhile and then spent the evening laughing and playing Loteria.  My parents came, of course my sister Erica and her family, my little family, my sister Sam and Tony and my Aunt and Uncle (Tio Chema & Tia Fina).  We laughed and laughed and I lost about $10 playing Loteria....but I had a blast doing it! We went home at about 11pm. 

In the morning we woke up and went to church as a family (which is the best feeling in the world). 

Church Notes:

Part 2 of Series Love & War  - Bringing Love Back to Life

There are 5 phases of Love:

Phase 1: Decision - this is when you make the decision to be in a relationship with someone.  There must be spiritual compatibility ( You both believe) A marriage is like a three legged stool.  Each one necessary to hold you up.  In marriage the three pegs are you, your spouse and God!!!There must also be a life vision compatibility.  You both have a purpose for a life that comes together. 

Phase 2: Delight Phase - this is also known as the Honeymoon phase where everything is prefect and all consuming!!! (this is all the good mushy stuff! LOL - my favorite part)

Phase 3: Dysfunction.  This is when you realize they aren't perfect and the things you used to think were cute and made them special now get on your last nerve!  This phase is bombarded with things like - Family issues, personality conflicts, and selfishness.  These things are okay to experience  - it is normal and expected .  They don't destroy a relationship unless they are ignored and allowed to fester and turn into disease.

Phase 4: Disease.  When you leave your issues untouched.  This phase includes avoidance, addictions, arguments and animosity.  This is when you turn to other things or people to fill your marriage voids, or when you let anger turn into bitterness, or ignore things thinking they will go away on their own (let me tell you from experience - that doesn't work - EVER). 

Phase 5: Death.  This is when you allow bitterness to turn into the death of the passion, trust, and love in your relationship.  The issues and feelings need to be addressed and not ignored.  Anger shows you care enough to get worked up....don't let your anger turn into bitterness and kill your relationship!!

Remember - I didn't marry a perfect person - and I am not perfect myself. 

Ways to help restore/ save your marriage:

1. Choose Commitment over counterfeit.  This means that you should look to Christ for healing.  You can't change other people but God can,  Lust is the counterfeit to Love, just like porn is the counterfeit to passion.  These counterits are lures from Satan to bring destruction to your marriage.  Lust is about filling your own personal needs, while love is about filling the needs of the ones you are with because you love them. 

2. Choose perseverance over perfection.  Stick it out.  God can build something beautiful from our brokenness.  Know that the delays we endure are producing our depth.  The delays are sometimes a part of the plan to build your faith.  The storms are there to build your marriage stronger. 

3. Choose Risk over Regret.  Risk rejection - take a leap of faith!  The happiest marriages are those that risk their hearts constantly.  He specialized in resurrection - he can resurrect the hope and love in your lives and hearts.  Believe that!!!Know that he cares.  John 11: 35 says:  Jesus Wept.  He wept for you and me and our marriages and our kids - because he cares.  Trust in him and take that risk!!

After church we headed home, and I cleaned up a bit while Danny went to the groceries.  The kids all came outside to play and enjoy the beautiful weather.  By mid afternoon all the neighborhood kids were on the block playing basketball, having races, riding bikes, blowing bubbles, and laughing having fun.  It was great. 

We all hung out outside and laughed and talked and caught up.  Nina and I even partook in some racing ourselves - until I fell over and got my shorts all wet! LOL

At about 3 the Limons started showing up.  Danny invited his family over for some Tripas and Posole.  He was a cooking fool.  I offered to help several times but he had it all so I played outside instead.  Sergio came over to help, so by the evening, we had Sergio and his family, Ceci and her family, Ernie, Rose and her family, and Grandpa and Grandma Limon.  It was great.  We all laughed and ate, and joked around. 

It had been a really long time since we had people over to our house for a gathering like that so it was nice to see everyone over having a  good time.  We even had some drummers in the house! LOL

Everyone headed home at about 7, and we cleaned up (which didn't take much because the Limons are really good at helping and cleaning as they go..so we didn't have much to do), and then it was time for showers and bed time. 

I'm glad that we got to spend the weekend with Danny home (God willing he will find another job soon and that will be a regular occurrence - if you know someone hiring an AP Clerk - let him or me know).  I'm glad that we got to see and spend time with both sides of the family, that the weather was beautiful and that the message at church was so awesome!!

I hope you have a great week and that if you don't have any plans for next weekend - you come out to the Humble Civic Center for the Stars and Stripes Tournament this coming Saturday - the girls and I will all be competing for State Championship points in Taekwondo!!