December

December is a great month during the best time of year. I love the holiday season, I enjoy cold, blustery days, and I love the twinkle of Christmas lights.
Maggie and Sophie LOVED helping decorate the tree. Thank goodness for shatter proof ornaments! Maggie enjoys turning on the lights and Sophie give the ornaments kisses.

I finished a new advent calendar on November 30-just in time! Maggie LOVES to open the boxes, its always the first thing out of her mouth when she wakes up in the morning, but she has to wait for Sophie to wake up before we open the box. I put either candy or windos clings in the boxes.
In some of them are little cards that have different activities in them. Maggie gets really excited when she sees a little tag. Here are a few pictures of some of the activities from our Holiday celebrations:

Maggie wrote a letter to Santa.(we are just waiting for him to write her back-I really need to get to that!). She said she wants a castle with princesses, new boots, and a radio.





We went to the local Christmas parade. They sure are cute in those hats!! Sophie learned how to say Santa that night.



The girls put out boots for St Nick day (we were actually a day late because I got sick with the stomach bug and didnt have a chance to get to the store to get goodies!, but they didnt seem to notice)




We had our church Christmas Party, which included a visit from Santa. Sophie did not like Santa at all!, if only she knew it was Poppy then maybe she wouldnt have been so upset!!





We got to celebrate Maggie's 4th birthday!! She is so independent and has very distinct opinions! She wanted a Toy Story Party and wanted to invite her friends from church. She said she wanted to play Muscial Chairs and I found a "Pin the Tail on Bulleye" game.





Of course we had the pinata...




And delicious pink cupcakes!



The day after Maggie's party Gerson and I took a trip down to the valley. He wanted me to experience the Pasadas and meet more of his family. The Pasada celebrations were rich in tradition and very much centered on the birth of Christ. It was an enjoyable time!






Christmas Eve we spent at my parents. We tried to get a family photo-easier said then done, but we got a few shots that were decent.



We did out traditional gift exchange and feasted on delicious mexican food! YUMMY MY FAVORITE!! The girls had fun opening their presents and were super excited!






Christmas morning was filled with more excitement and present opening. Maggie got her radio from Santa and Sophie got a bright red wagon.









It was a very full month and we had a great holiday!!

The best birthday present ever!!

Every year when it gets close to my mom's birthday, my dad always asks us girls what he should get for her. We are usually warned by our mother to let our dad figure it out for himself and to not tell him what he should get, but this year was an exception. Mom told me if dad asked then to tell him she want a "Silhouette" craft machine. It is pretty simliar to the Cricut, but you dont need cartridges and it hooks right up to your computer. So a couple weeks before Mom's birthday I got a phone call from Becca, she was on her other phone with Dad and he wanted to know what to get for mom (surprise). I relayed the request for a silhouette and the next week guess what mom got for her birthday? Today we finally got a chance to get it out and learn how to use it. It is super easy to use and I was able to get these super cute blocks done! I used a 2x4 and 2x6 cut into random heights, painted them and decopodged the cut letters onto them-super easy!! They sit nicely in my kitchen window!!





I know it wasnt MY birthday present, but I still think its the best present ever!!!!

Halloween Weekend!!

Halloween is a super fun time of year! I remember when I was growing up, my dad loved Halloween and had so much fun decorating the yard and house. He has scary music playing and all kinds of scary decorations. Halloween brings out the kid in everyone! Sophie was a ladybug, Maggie was Jesse from Toy story and G was Woody from Toy story. I wore my trusty cat ears and tail that I have had since college!






We started our Halloween festivities on Thursday night at my friend Laci's house. She did an awesome job with yummy food, fun games for the kids and even a little hay ride!




Saturday night, we had the Halloween Carnival at my church followed by Trunk or Treat. Since I am the activities chairperson, I was consumed with this carnival! I have been working on games, prizes, etc forever!!! Lots of stress came with this activity, expecially since I have 2 little ones and I was in a continuing education course Friday and Saturday from 830 to 430, but the turn out was amazing and I got lots and lots of postive feedback! Mom won best costume in the adult category!




I was amazed at how many people jumped in and helped out when I need them and clean up went super fast!! We were home before 9pm, which is amazing and I am sure all the parents with little one appreciate that it wasnt a late night (espcially with church and 9am the next day!!)Anyhow! It was a great time and the girls were soooo good! We had a photo booth for family pictures. The sister who took the pictures did an amazing job, well she is a professional!



On Sunday night, my sister Becca and my nephew Seth came in for Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. We were going to skip, especially since it was Sunday and Maggie was sick and running a fever since Saturday night, but I called my sister and found out that my nephew was super disapointed. For unforseen reasons, they were not able to make it to the carnival and he really wanted to come in and see the girls and go trick or treating! Of course, free candy can perk up anyone-even a 3 year old with a fever.

We ended our Halloween celebrations on Monday night with a new tradition from the Mexican culture. Gerson taught us about Dia de los Muertos. Mom and dad came over and shared funny stories about loved ones who had already passed on. Gerson shared about his grandfather. He shared that his grandpa had gone blind and they(probably him and his brother) would hide in their grandpa's room to scare him. His grandpa would start swinging his cane around trying to hit them and then they would start singing the pinata song!Boys!! We ended the night with some yummy sweet bread Gerson had picked at the local Mexican market.



It was a long, mostly fun weekend and we cant wait until next year!!!!

Chicken anyone?

Last Saturday, mom and I were on our way to gatesville for one of Seth's footbal games. His game was at 1, so we stopped at Sonic to get the girls some lunch. I turned around to check on Sophie and she had fallen asleep, with a chicken strip in her mouth!! Hilarious!!

My dream job...

So i was getting pretty good about keeping this thing updated, but as life happens my camera is malfunctioning! I have to admit that an entry is definately more interesting with pictures than without!! I did manage to take a few snapshots with success!!

At the beginning of this month, Gerson and I took to kids to Alvin, Texas for my mother-in-law's birthday. Of course I did not have my camera, but found one picture from our last visit there.

(Like I said, my camera has been malfunctioning. Notice the black edges for the shutter?)

Maggie and Sophie had a blast playing with their cousins and anytime Gerson gets with his mother is a blessing. On the way home, the girls were soo tired they practically slept the whole 3 and a half hours! Heaven!!! Gerson and I got to enjoy eachother and have a nice conversation! That rarely happens without multiple interuptions from the girls! Any way the topic of our "dream jobs" came up. My husband stated he has always wanted to be a sports announcer and a professional dancer. I doubt the dancer will ever happen, not that he's not a good dancer, but he will not be dancing around with girls half my age (and size) and half dressed. The only dance show I could make it on would be "dancing like a dork" and I dont think that show has much appeal to the networks!

I had to think about my dream job for a while, but I finally decided. I would love to be a professional crafter or a party planner ( i am sort of getting to do that as my church activites director)!! Many of my friends think I am creative, but I really just really on other peoples ideas and creativity. Maybe one day I will have enough brain power left over at the end of the day to come up with my own ideas. Here are a few things have done over the past few weeks while waiting for my dream job to become a reality!!!

These two are things that I made last year, but still had to show them off. I love the Trick or Treat block, made from a batch of wooden blocks somebody gave to me!. All I did was glue them together and then paint!






I saw a pumpkin topiary at Hobby lobby and didnt want to pay the price, so I used some left over pumpkins and a small urn pot from my bedroom.



I fell in love with this wreath from an amazing blogger ( http://jonesdesigncompany.comruffle wreath {a tutorial} ). I think the burlap is great for the fall season!


These letters were a knock of my my friend Val! Super cute and easy, plus cheap when the letters are 50% off at HobLob


My girlfriend Laci and I have decided to try to get together weekly to get some crafting time. Last week we made these cute little pumpkins out of toliet paper and paper towle rolls! I want to make more and do something with them, but for now they are sitting in my messy craft room :(


I have also been doing some sewing, but none of those are finished yet!! So stay tuned!!