Class Picture (1st Grade)

Today Sydney's school was having class pictures.

I had Frank go out and get her an outfit and well for those of you that know my kid.....well, let me just say, she thought she was styling! Everything on her is new...including her undies you can't obviously see...so she definitely was on cloud 9.

I took these right before we went into school. I'll try to figure out a way to get her picture with her classmates and teachers on here once I get them because I of course ordered them! :)

Oh, and in case you are wondering what is up with her facial expressions. My kid for some reason every time I ask her to smile or say cheese..that is the expression we end up with. Consider yourselves lucky...you all could have been looking at her with her eyes all twisted, because she loves to do that too.

Quinceanera's......

which basically amount to pre-wedding bashes are what in our culture is celebrated when a girl turns 15.

The shin dig mostly involves the birthday girl decked out in a huge princess looking dress...poofy to say the least. The traditional color is pink but now a days you find the dresses in an array of colors.

I went to my cousin's daughter's 15th on Valentine's Day which happens to be the quinceanera's birthday and so she choose to go with a red dress to match the occasion.

The whole party was pretty good...food was good, and as always it's during these get together's that you get to see a lot of family so that was nice.

Since you all may have figured out by now.....my camera is basically with me at all times and well of course I had it with me that night since I knew beforehand of the party.

Here are some pictures I took of the peeps on the table I was at...okay so they are my relatives, but still peeps too...aren't they just so good looking?

SMILE! :)




Rebecca & Sydney.



Gaby & my Aunt Pipa.




Melissa & Sydney.




My little Sydney poo & me.




Melissa & I.




Me & Erica.



Erica & Hector.




Liz & me.



"The Sista's," Liz, Elisa, & Erica.




Birthday girl (Gaby) & I.

Erica's Baby Shower (4th)

Okay, so before I start, I'll say this.....I know it's been forever since I last wrote on this. Trust me, it's not because I've lost the excitement in my life or have completely quit doing anything, it just seems like I've been extremely busy. Life at both jobs just seems to have picked up a notch and of course things at home, well they just never stop.

Anyway with that said, I'll update a bit on the oh, last blog you all have been seeing for the better part of a month or so now. My surgery has healed real well according to the surgeon that did it and both my dentist and orthodontist. They all 3 think I'm silly because I told them all they were lying when they had told me this was minor surgery. Anyway, I'm glad I'm past that point in my progress and now I'm hoping I have just a couple of more months to go before I can be rid of the metal I've been luggin around for almost 2 years now (come March).

So going back to my post....on Saturday, February 7th, my sister's and I along with Erica's new baby's grandma (I say this only because I don't know how she refers to her besides "Senora."), hosted a baby shower for her. Erica's due date is somewhere around mid-March, but I promise once you see the few pictures I got of her, you'd agree that maybe the oven broke because it looks like she is ready to deliver.

Anyway, her little get together was quite the adventure. I don't know how you all do baby showers, but the ones we've had to host, involve a lot of interaction, and quite frankly at times, the noise level can get a little out of hand. J/K.

We have a variety of games, some being the most popular (in our world, at least) - measuring the belly with pieces of toilet paper, contest between women drinking out of a bottle, clothes pin game (involves saying an item a baby needs while attempting to grab the most clothes pins in one hand without dropping them), guessing mama's weight without being too cruel, etc. But I have to give it to some of the lady's that attended this baby shower, they suggested a game that I have never in my oh almost 3 decades of life had heard of before. It involved chewing a piece of gum since basically the beginning of the shower, well after you ate, and then at the end, making a baby, yes, you read right, a baby out of the piece of gum. The mom then got to look at every one's version of their little one and select the winner. Well, let me tell you some of these ladies got mighty creative but the winner ended up being basically by unanimous decision, my cousin Melissa's version of a baby with hair and a diaper - made out of 1 piece of gum!

All in all, I do believe everyone in attendance had a good time. Erica did get a bunch of nice gifts for her little one.

With this new addition to her family, little Hector, Jr. (I do believe this will be the baby's name), will make me an aunt 11 times!

Here are some pictures from the shower!




Marshmallow covered pineapple! I had never seen this done to a pineapple but I thought it was so cool and creative!



Parting gifts (little bags filled with marshmallows with a decorative lace deal over them).


The cake!




The cake, oh and the mama!




Mom! I don't know that she'll mind I share this, but although her belly is huge, that's basically it. She was able to pull the shirt she's wearing from a regular women's rack, not maternity and fit into a medium - now how many of us can actually pull that off. I gotta give it to her!



Erica & I - check out that belly! Big sis, little sis.




Sydney and her Aunt Erica - Sydney had just finished having one of her "moments." If you look closely, you can see she'd been crying. That's honestly my kid for you, good one moment, bad the next.



Proud parents to be! Hector & Erica.




Sydney and I - check out her glasses....just like her mama! I love them!




Sydney & CJ...aren't they just soo cute? Right, keep them for a day and you'll beg to differ. :)



This is the winner "bubble gum baby" created by my cousin Melissa. Pretty neat, isn't it?



I stole this "thumb print" picture frame idea from my job in Plano (thanks Ms. Donna). I had every guest, put their thumb print with different ink colors on the frame and well I'm hoping once we get the first glimpse of this baby, that eventually a picture of him ends up in the center. My sister is bad at putting things up!