Vacation: Part II

Today was again dedicated to some more running around and taking care of some more of my dad's business. These last few days have definitely been such an eye opening experience for me in terms of my dad...there is a "role reversal" of sorts that has become reality...it's like now we are having to become my dad's parent. Although a bit frustrating, I much rather prefer to see the positive side of it all and be thankful to still have my dad.

After we finished with his business, Liz, Rebecca and I headed South for the border...better known as "Las Flores." We were headed with a mission, but still did some side shopping. I made a purchase of a straw hat I had seen when I came down in July. Let me just say I am not a "hat" woman, but for some reason, I'm "digging" this one. I bought Sydney a different one and we'll probably sport them while out at the beach tomorrow (hopefully).

After we got back from Mexico, I went to visit the Garza girls...old friends from church. We spent a couple of hours chatting and catching up and reminiscing about old times. That was real nice...it's so crazy how the years just pass by.

For the last hour or so, Liz and I have been sorting through some of my parents belongings one of which included my mom's purse....in almost the exact condition she had it with contents and all when she passed away going on 10 years ago. We discovered what we already knew about her...that a pack rat she was, but a neat one at that. We seriously found stuff from the late 60's, early 70's....I'm not kidding. It's so strange in a way, all of this ordeal....at times it feels as if I was just having a bad dream.

What I'd give to turn back time! :(




Okay, you might disagree, but I'm digging this hat....since I was last here in July, for some reason I just loved it but didn't get it then....I did now. I probably won't ever wear it again.




I bought this cute straw hat for Sydney Poo.




This was the line to get back on US soil. We were there exactly 1 hour. Patience and hope you don't have to go potty, is all I have to say.




"Las Flores" This is probably the only "safe" place in Mexico. I say that and after we returned to Garland, I read on the local newspaper that on the following Monday there had been a bomb threat to blow up the bridge.




One side USA, the other Mexico.....literaly, like an invisible line drawn across the ground and the Rio Grande.




I was just here in July and this was not up. This is on Military Road (going East will lead you to Brownsville and going West will take you to Rio Grande). The fence you see there is the famous border fence being built across the entire Mexico border to help with drug traffic and illegal entry.




Emma and her three little ones.




Cindy and her little boy.....expecting her 2nd.




Emma, "Mono," and new baby boy.




Eliza, Liza girl, and her adorable daughter.




The Garza girls & me!

Vacation: Part I

My long awaited vacation is FINALLY here. I have not had a week off from work (entire/whole) in over two years, so it's quite overdue.

While most newscast at home are talking about the popular "staycations" thanks to the economy, I decided a vacation was still happening for me...money or no money.

So you ask yourself, "where did I go?" Easy, none other than to my dad's in "The Valley." I've been here since Saturday and of course the "events" and "memorable moments" have not been an exception, in just my 2nd full day here.

I'll try to be brief as I am attempting to "blog" from my phone, but just to give you an idea of what my trip has been like so far.

I'm running from all the rain and cold in Garland only to come here to tropical South Texas and find the same crappy weather. Today finally, the sun graced us with it's presence and the entire day was just GORGEOUS!

But again to give a glimpse into the drama....my dad and his son decide to take off walking home while at an uncle's house...what they were thinking is beyond me.

The whole butt-crack of dawn rooster awakening is still bright and early (as was the case when I was here last July). The "funky" happenings are still at the call of the day.

Although, this might end up more like "work away from home" because of some parental matters Liz and I are trying to resolve for my dad, I'm just going to enjoy my time off.

I say that and have to admit I was up @ 8:30 this morning making work-related phone calls thanks to the work email I get on my phone.

I'll apologize beforehand in case my post is screwy...trying my best to give updates.

Laterz...with more excitement to come....no doubt!




My little Sydney Poo!





Happy because the sun finally came out!

And Jr. Makes 12.....

times an aunt for me. My sister Erica, gave birth to Hector Cardoza Jr. this morning at 11:30 am. He came in weighing a whopping 9 lbs, by far the biggest of Erica's 4 kids.

I still don't how long he is, but he looks pretty long.

I wasn't able to get too many pictures because he was quite fussy, but I'll be going to visit during lunch tomorrow so maybe I'll have better luck.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I can get them on here.

Just wanted to share the news!

Congratulations Erica & Hector!




Isn't he just precious. For a moment we worried, because for the longest, his little toes were a real dark purple, almost black, but all turned out well.





Proud Aunt!





I swear this boy cried for a good 3 hours after he was born.

Ms. Jill's Bridal Shower

Yesterday evening at my part-time job in Plano, we gave Ms. Jill a bridal shower. She and her husband-to-be, Dave, will be married next Friday, March 13th in Colorado.

Planning this whole shin dig was quite funny. You see my boss, Ms. Debbie, sent out an email to my B-Shift co-workers last week for ideas and suggestions on her shower, and all would have been dandy except for one big problem, she accidentally also included Ms. Jill in the email. Unfortunately although she did recall it, I guess once someone opens it, the message is not deleted and so Ms. Jill was given a heads up that well, we were planning something for her.

Things didn't get messed up though because we of course just had another email drafted (that didn't include her this time) and planned it for last night - and honestly she was clueless about it.

I had to work the window so I wasn't able to help set up but if you had the view from the main lobby to the Toler Room which is where we had it, you would have thought that all the Records Assistants had gone into the sneaky business as one right after the other, they'd go in and out of the room with an array of stuff all in preparation for the party. How they managed to pull it off with not once being caught by Ms. Jill is beyond me.

We finally all gathered and waited for Ms. Debbie to bring in the "bride-to-be." I've got pictures so you can actually see the priceless expression on Ms. Jill's face as she walked in and saw what all and who all had come together. Oh, before I forget, I don't know who was responsible, but someone somehow contacted her fiancee and dragged him into all this too, again, all without Ms. Jill's knowledge. That was pretty cool, if I say so myself.

Once she got over her excitement, we had her put on a shower cap that was all decked out thanks to Ms. Michelle's craftiness! We even had Ms. Jill practice "coming down the aisle," with tunes and all. Last but not least, we had them each exchange decorative wedding bands to "seal the marriage."

Just a side note, if you know Records, you know we love to make up excuses to have food, so being that this was not an excuse but a real celebration, FOOD was definitely in abundance!

We had everything from pizza, to barbecue sausage links, chips, salad, some little roll thingies (sorry, I don't know what they are called), cake, strawberries with chocolate and punch.

I think I speak for everyone when I say we "stuffed our faces."

Ms. Jill and her hubby got some very nice gifts hopefully to go along or help with whatever it is they may need for their place or themselves.

Wishing the best of luck and happiness to my "neighbor in Records," on her marriage (Ms. Jill is a follower on my blog, so I know she'll read this)....CONGRATULATIONS!

Below you'll find some pictures of the celebration.




Priceless! Ms. Jill's expression as she walked into the room to her little shin dig that B-shift put together for her.



The "bride-to-be." Although she was red from I'm sure shear embarrasment, she was also red because she had been inspecting 18 wheelers all day and it was a tad warm out!



We had Ms. Jill "walk down the isle." We all hummed the "marriage tune" as she walked.



The wedding ring...okay it was a decorative one...but you get the picture!



The happy couple.




"El Pastel"




Ok, trust me people, these strawberries with the chocolate/caramel deal were delicious....more so than what it looks...trust me on that!



The "cake cutting" ceremony.




Ms. Jill having a bite of some of her yummy cake.




Ms. Jill stuffing cake down her hubby's throat.




Ms. Jill & I.

Sharky.......

Meet our newest addition, not by choice on my part, to our dog family. One of the parents of the girls that Frank coaches gave Sydney this puppy, of course not before Frank agreed to keep it, knowing real well that I do not want or need another dog.

I must say though, the little runt is cute and of course Sydney is totally crazy about him - so that makes all the difference.

Don't ask how I came up with the name, it just came to mind - Sharky and well won't you believe, Sydney can sort of say it so that will do for me.

Here are some pics of Sharky.

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!