September 2015

OK - So I really wanted to go back to weekly updates but life happened and time flew by and so I am gunna try again in November! LOL

September was a busy month.  We started it off with a housewarming party for Tony and Sam.  There house is so cute and we are very happy for them!

My parents came into town and we had a great time, laughing and taking tons of pictures and being silly.  My mom got mad because we were being loud and embarrassing - but we had a blast anyway.  We toured every room and tested out the capacity of how many people their master bed would hold, and how many people fit in their bath tub...then we shopped in their closet....laughing all the while! LOL 

 We ate till our hearts content and then we played loteria.  It was a great time, all the way around. Danny was working and Makaila was at Digifest with Alec and Nina - but Issy and I had a good time none the less.

The next day we headed over to Nestor and Vicky's house for Olivia's birthday party!  It was a Disney princess party and Isabella had a blast!! 

 There was great princess fun, and paddle boats and good times with old friends.

After the party we headed home with Emma in tow.  She came over to spend the night and we had a great evening of fun and  games.  We went to bed way too late, and got up at about 9 the nest Monday (it was a Holiday so we were all home from school and work), and headed to La Peep to meet her parents and Brenda for breakfast.  It was yummy delicious, and we walked around the Rice Village shopping area for awhile to let our food go down.  We headed over to Target to find a 'Don't Break the Ice' game for Lucas - but had no luck.  Then we got a bright idea of going bowling, so we headed back to our area and went to Max Bowl.  That place was renovated and looked freakin awesome.  We played in the arcade for way too long, Makaila and I did the balancing thing above the arcade (while it looked fun and exciting...it was scary as shit...I did two areas and quit!), and then we bowled a couple games.  It was expensive and exhausting but so much fun!!

 The very next day was Matthews birthday and while we were back to work and routing things like karate, and activities, and laundry and all that unfun stuff, Erica called at about 4 and invited us over for dinner...so Issy and I headed over to celebrate Matthew turning 21!!

 We all showed up and had dinner together with our kids, we laughed and laughed and I loved it.  We don't spend a lot of time with my side of the family - but days like this are so special to me and I love them all to pieces.  The rest of the week was just a typical week.  I did go see War Room on Friday and loved it.  I cried like a freakin baby.  I went thinking it was really a movie about war stuff and it completely was not.  It was Gods way of telling me exactly what i needed to hear.  If you haven't seen it already...I highly recommend it.

That weekend we celebrated the girls "sister" Gracie's birthday.  She was so excited and cute!  From teh day she was born, the girls have thought of Gracie as their sister and they love her.  I'm so glad to be able to share her birthdays with her.  We love our neighbors.  We hung out on the block with them until well after dark!

 On Sunday we went to church, and picked up Whataburger for lunch.  We watched the Texans game (or Danny and Makaila did - I read in the kitchen!).  I took Izzy to pick up her bracelet from James Avery and got my nails done.  After the game was over we headed to Costco to buy all kinds of crap we really don't need.  Cause that's the Costco way! we finished off our weekend playing Shopkins bingo, and bakery while we watched episodes of the Christley's.  Those people are hillarious!

The next week was a routine of work, guitar lessons, karate, work, karate, work, church, work, rodeo meeting, karate, work....

This weekend though I picked up the girls from school and we headed to my parents for the weekend!  The kids were being real jerks about it though.  They were mad we were going because we would be missing out on a party at my in-laws.  Makaila had attitude and stayed in the house all weekend long, and was pissy when she didn't get her way.  And of course - Issy wants to be just like Makaila, so she complained too, just to complain! I went to help my mom with her garage sale - which cracked me up because it was more like a freakin estate sale for 10 families.  That lady has so much crap ...its unreal!!

 I love my mommy and daddy...I miss them a lot sometimes, and I really needed this get away!

 This was the only time Makaila left from her bedroom in my parents house.  She was sitting inside sulking on her phone the entire time and missing out on all the fun we were having at the garage sale!  It was a lot of work, but we laughed with my mom for hours....so worth all the work and sweat! My mom came home with us and Makaila has a horrible attitude all the way home.  It was embarrassing and quite unattractive - but this is life...sometimes we have good days and sometimes we have pissy days....this whole weekend was pissy days for Makaila.  Nancy was having a baby shower for Cassie on Sunday so mom came home with me and stayed the night with us.  We stopped and did some shopping and came home and wrapped gifts and got ready for bed.  Makaila was still pissy when we got up and ready for church and her daddy helped her continue that by being pissy with me in the morning as well and making my mom feel bad which made me feel bad...then after church they let me know Makaila was not going to the baby shower and instead opted to stay home with her dad to do nothing.  This just goes to show that we are a normal family who endures ups and downs and not everything is so picturesque in our household.  They were being jerks, and making it seem like they had to watch a stupid football game together (which they do not always do - contrary to what they were arguing - and the Texans got their asses whopped anyway...REALLY).  Me and Issy went to Cassie's shower and spent the entire day with our family, laughing and joking and enjoying the celebration of life!  My sister did an amazing job on her shower and everything looked amazing!!She had a great turn out and received a ton of great gifts!!

 The week started out kinda gloomy - I had to spank Issy because of conduct marks at school, and Makaila was still acting ridiculous....but by Tuesday things perked up.  I started a new bible study at church which I absolutely loved.  On Friday I picked up Cook-off tickets from Erica, and ran some errands, did some chores, had scrapbook night and Izzy went to spend the weekend with Teresea.  Danny, Makaila and I went to eat at Hooters.

 Then later that afternoon, we dropped her off at Ceci's and took off to the Pasadena Cook-Off.  It was a good time.  I ran into some old friends from high school, and we hung out with Tony and Sam the whole time.

On Sunday, we went to church and then to Ceci and Rays to watch the game.  I fell asleep, and afterwards we picked up Issy from Teresea and came home to get ready for the week.  The month was almost over and we were ready.  It ended on a bad note because Makaila got sick, and threw up at school, so I left work early and took her to the dr.  It was a bug!  The last day of the month we went to a dance studio and Issy tried it out and loved it.....I think October is gunna have some major dancing in it!

August 2015

This month flew by and was filled with fun and chaos - just how we like it.

We started August off with lots of music!  On the 4th I picked up the girls from Ceci's and we had a girls night date on a Tuesday night.  We had dinner together at Spaghetti Warehouse and then headed over to the Bayou Music Center for an R5 and Jacob Whiteside concert!! Oh my goodness....I did not have a clear understanding of what I was getting myself into - but it was worth every cent, every foot ache, every bruise!  We were right by the stage and Issy was in heaven. Despite the fact that we were smooched completely like pancakes, the smell was not very pleasant and Makaila and I had to take turns carrying Issy on our shoulders...I had a blast too!   She said it was the best day of her whole life!! She was in cloud 9, and Makaila was on super hyper cute guy alert! LOL

I loved seeing my girls so happy and enthralled!  They took a million pictures and selfies and they sung along, and cheered and danced..it was awesome!!

Later that week I was able to use the birthday gift Makaila gave me and her and I along with Ceci and Victoria enjoyed the Hillsong Concert at the Toyota Center.  Only it wasn't just Hillsong - it was about 10 artists from all over and it was amazing!  We had a great time.  We sang, shared in communion, danced and laughed and had a blast.  Another late night during the week - but worth being tired in the morning!!  Thank you baby girl for the amazing gift!! I loved every second of it!

Isabella enjoyed a slumber party at her Friend Natalee's house! Then we went to see Emma in her dance recital - which was awesome.  it was also a wake up moment for me.  I wish I would have taken a  picture of Isabella enjoying the show.  She was literally mesmerized with the dancers.  I felt like a horrible mother because this girl has been asking me to do dance for the last two years and I haven't let her because we do karate.  I am definitely rethinking that choice and looking into some local schools.  I am not in any way ready for competition dance teams or dance moms...but if just watching a recital can light her face up like that....its unfair for me to keep her from it!

August also brought with it an impromptu vacation of sorts.  We hadn't planned on any travel this summer since we had the big expense of Makaila's Quinceanera...however it turned out that this year we traveled more than any other year! LOL  So we decided to add one more and took a 3 day trip to Destin, just to keep tradition going! We took my in-laws again this year and my brother in law Sergio and his family met us up there too.

We had a good time for the most part...but this trip involved a lot of waiting around, indecisiveness, Issy was stung by a Jellyfish and Makaila lost her glasses in the ocean! So when it came time to leave...we were ready to come back...

We recovered pretty quickly from our trip and got ready for the start of yet another fabulous school year!!

The girls took their mandatory back to school pics....which I take so much pleasure in!

 We met Issy's teacher Mrs. Bollig on the first day of school.  When we went to prep night the week before they had her with the same teacher as last year (and we didn't have the best of school experiences with her so we requested a class swap...)  We were happy with the change.

we celebrated a successful first week of school with Scrapbook night followed by a weekend of Birthday celebrations.

Issy's party was fantastic.  She really wanted a Nerd theme party - We even had a Nerd Photo Session to pick the perfect nerd pictures....look at some of the contenders: 

 However - the party ended on a bad note....Ireland and Cole were playing a friendly game of basketball which ended abruptly when they butted heads.  Cole was hurting! But being the muscular and hot bodied little man he is...he took it like  trooper and bounced back quickly!

 Issy received some build a bear gift cards at her party that were burning a hole in her pockets!  We had to immediately go to the build a bear and make a new bear and buy it a new wardrobe....Issy was in birthday girl heaven.

 On the day of her birthday we closed out the month celebrating her birthday!  I stayed home from work....decorated the house for the birthday girl...and joined her for lunch.

 While she was at school I also took advantage and went out to buy us some Blue Bell....There was a Blue Bell epidemic in which we did without this treasure for several months....so I stood at Wal-Mart with a few other crazies to make sure I got some! LOL This is a good explanation as to why my pants keep getting tighter and tighter! LOL

 When Issy got home I surprised her with the one book she wanted for her birthday...she read it in 2 days flat! She is a true book work like her mother! For her birthday she also start guitar lessons (which she loved), and enjoyed dinner together at Cracker Barrel! Id say it was a pretty fantastic birthday!

That was the jist of our August.  I am finally caught up so I will go back to my weekly updates.  I know I have said that before and failed...but I'm trying!  The whole point of this blog for me is to track our memories and build a source of joy and reality for my kids so they can periodically go back and look at all the blessings in their life and be thankful for all the things they have and the joys they experience and more than anything be reminded of the love their world encompasses.  I think with all the tragedy and chaos of this crazy world, everyone should have a source of joy and I hope this is one for my girls.  Have a blessed week and I'll see you back next week to start up September!!