Eva's Birthday Lunch!

We (the cousins - "los primos") started this "tradition" of sorts about a year ago of celebrating every one's birthdays.

With every one's hectic schedule, it's nice to be able to get together, with an excuse, to have some lunch and catch up on what everyone has going on.

I've been kind of terrible documenting the celebrations (I know believe it people, even though I always have my camera in tow), but decided to get everyone there today for a picture.

We met at Chili's on 78 and if you ask me, we might not be going back there anytime soon. Reason for this is we basically had to scarf down our food because we didn't get it until 12:45. So what, you might say.

Well, for one, this woman along with the rest of the peeps in attendance only get an hour lunch. And two, 45 minutes to get chicken crisper's is way too long.

Regardless of the wait, we had a good time chatting away (NEVER a problem if you are part of my family), we always seem to have SOMETHING to talk about!

Here are the two pics I got from the gathering. I must say I almost took another picture of what Americo had for lunch because I thought it was so interesting.

He had Tilapia and they brought it out on a "tablita," aka piece of wood - kid you not folks, it WAS a piece of wood! Maybe next time someone orders that I'll get a picture.

Enjoy!

Happy 39th Birthday Eva!!!!!!!!!

Oh, she is so going to kill me for putting down her age!!!! :O)



The gang! Left side (f-b): Rebecca, Ruth, Albert, & Patty. Right side (f-b): Liz, Eva, & Americo!



The Birthday Girl! Cake courtesy of YOUNGER sister, Elisa!

Sydney's First Swimming Lesson!

Today was Sydney's first ever swimming lesson. Erica told me about an Adaptive Aquatics class being offered through Parks & Recreation this year and I thought I'd give it a try and put Sydney in it.

The class started at 5:15. She waited outside the fence for her name to be called and off she went with Ms. Kristen to the pool.

Basically today's lesson would be about getting the kids acclimated to the water. Making sure they are as comfortable about it as possible.

Sydney seemed to be doing pretty good. She looked like a little dog for a while paddling in the water.

Before I knew it 5:45 rolled around and it was time to exit the pool. This is where the trouble would begin.

The instructors had all the kids make a single line down the side of the pool and head towards the exit. She was like the 3rd one out and once she stepped foot outside of the pool, she sat down and curled up in a ball. We have no idea what the instructors told Sydney but the next thing we knew, up she went on her feet and walked towards her towel and wrapped it around her.

I asked the instructor how she did when I met her at the gate and she said she was very responsive. Sydney acted better than I thought she would and got in the truck without screaming.

Tomorrow will be day 2!



Sydney wanting to dart into the pool. It wasn't quite 5:15 yet so she was asked to step out!



Daddy putting on suncreen to make sure Sydney doesn't get too sunburned.



Sydney & Momma! As nervous as I am about her and swimming lessons, since I'm mortified of the water, I know it will be for her own good. She'll learn what to do in a situation if she or anyone else is in danger.




Daddy & Sydney!



Let me in people, please! I want to be in that pool so bad!



Finally! Where's the water?



Sitting down to listen for instructions on what to do in class!



Getting ready to go in!



Now doesn't this look like a happy kid?!? :)



Ms. Kristen & Sydney looking for their feet!



Already like a pro...on her stomach!



Group activity. The instructors and kids sang "The Wheels on the Bus," while moving in a circle.



Okay, here we go..the tough part of the first day...getting her OUT of the pool!



Can you see the resistance? I don't want out...I'm not ready!



Typical pouting position. Sit on the floor, curl up in a ball and hide my face. Leave me alone people, I'm having a moment!



Next step, if they try to make me walk, I'll just hold my legs up and refuse to plant them on the floor! I swear she is terrible!



The supervisor and instructor said something to her and got her to do this! I think I'm gonna be okay, momma!



All wrapped up and ready to go home!



Walking to the truck. She was in the best attitude ever. I was shocked!!!!!!

After class, I spoke with Ms. Kristen, her instructor, and she said that Sydney was very responsive and that she did very well for her first day in class.

It looks like we are going to make it.

Oh, and one more thing, I'll make sure to bring an extra change of clothes. Heels and dressy clothes is NOT going to work for me while I sit there and wait! I'll just have to remember to get them before I leave work as I don't have time to go home afterwards!

WALL-E! Summer Movie Night!

This past Friday night, Sydney, Liz, Rebecca & I headed to a local park, Holford, to watch the movie "WALL-E" outside under the stars on the open lawn.

The movie was scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. but because it wasn't quite dark enough, it didn't get started until about 8:30.

Throughout the movie, someone inside the rec center burned the popcorn and set off the fire alarm, not once, but twice...yes, "dos veces!"

In bits and pieces, I got to watch the movie thanks to Sydney not staying still.

I'll probably borrow the DVD from Rebecca, and watch it completely.

Quite a bit of distractions! :)



This is the wall where the movie would be shown!



Sydney & Rebecca waiting for the movie to start!



Sydney & I (well my feet) being silly!

*************************************************************************************

Here's a little spoiler about the movie. Caution, don't read if you haven't watched it and don't want to know what happens.

In a distant, but not so unrealistic future, where mankind has abandoned earth because it has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation, WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. Mesmerized with trinkets of earth's history and show tunes, WALL-E is alone on Earth except for a sprightly pet cockroach. One day, Eve, a sleek (and dangerous) reconnaissance robot, is sent to earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with Eve. WALL-E rescues Eve from a dust storm and shows her a living plant he found amongst the rubble. Consistent with her "directive" Eve takes the plant and automatically enters a deactivated state except for a blinking green beacon. WALL-E, doesn't understand what has happened to his new friend, but true to his love, he protects her from wind, rain, and lightening, even as she is unresponsive. One day a massive ship comes to reclaim Eve, but WALL-E, out of love or loneliness hitches a ride on the outside of the ship to rescue Eve. The ship arrives back at a large space cruise ship, which is carrying all of the humans who evacuated earth 700 years earlier. The people of earth ride around this space resort on hovering chairs which give them a constant feed of TV and video chatting. They drink all of their meals through a straw out of laziness and/or bone loss, and are all so fat that they can barely move. When the auto-pilot computer, acting on hastily given instructions sent many centuries before, tries to prevent the people of earth from returning, by stealing the plant, WALL-E, Eve, the portly captain, and a band of broken robots stage a mutiny.

Northlake End of Year Party!

Okay, so I'm a tad behind on my posting but am working on catching up nonetheless.

We finally had the end of the year party for the students we tutored at Northlake Elementary this past school year.

The festivities took place at a local park, Granger Recreation Center, and the theme for the day was "City Bingo."

The kiddos (all 68 of them - ranging from 3rd-5th graders) arrived at the park around 11:30. We started off the days activities with the Bingo game. There were 7 of the 32 tutors selected at random to be "team leaders," and by pure blessing, I was chosen as one.

I was so happy and you'd think I wouldn't maybe want to be a team leader because that meant I'd have about 6 kids assigned to me during the game. Well, I was thrilled because I would get to have my 2 kids automatically with me. The rest of the group would be randomly selected for me.

I ended up with an awesome group - 2 girls & 4 boys (Carlos, Isabel, Angel, Martin, Fernando & Diana).

The way the game would be played would be like this: The remaining 25 tutors that were not selected as team leaders, would be spread out across the park and would serve as "bingo places." What we as teams had to do was run to the people and ask them "What do you do at the City?" If their response was on our bingo card, we'd have them sign it. The middle piece was a freebie as the team leaders job description was on there and so all we did was sign off on it.

Off to the races we went and I do mean running involved. Times like these, I'm grateful I can still run because we did a lot of that. We tried our best and gave it our all and finished in 3rd place. The most important thing (& I did check) was that the kids had fun. Heck, I had a blast! I hadn't run around like that in a long time.

When everyone was done, we all gathered back up in the recreation center and played a couple of more games. One of the cool prizes for having a post-it to the bottom of your chair was a free meal from McDonald's for an entire year for FREE! Okay people, in these hard times, anything for free is cool, can't beat a McDonald's meal, at least I'm sure the two kids that won that were super duper thrilled.

We were finally able to eat: pizza, drinks and a lemon chill to help cool us off.

Parks & Recreation was kind enough to sponsor the event which turned out great, as they brought along 2 inflatable bounce houses. These looked like so much fun, but I'll be glad to post that I contained myself resisted the temptation of jumping in for some jumping fun.

I had an extremely good time - played a couple of races with the kiddos and beat them every race (yeah for old people still young at heart)! I was really sad when 1:30 finally rolled around because we had to say our good byes to the kids.

I must have gotten a hug or hugged my kiddos a million times. It is really neat what a bond you can build with these kids with something as small as tutoring them for 30 minutes once a week. With as much fun and as rewarding as the experience was this year (my 1st), I'll be back for round 2.

Here are some pictures of the days activities:



This was my gift to Carlos. He always told me how he was loosing his soccer balls and so I thought it would be a good idea to replace his, even if it only lasted for a weekend. He really liked it which made it even more special for me.



I made this pictures frame for him.



This was Isabel's gift. She like every other little girl, is crazy about Hannah Montana.



This was the picture frame I made for her.



The students arriving at Granger.



Carlos with his surprise.



Isabel with her gift.



The #1 Team: Front: (L-R): Carlos, Diana, & Isabel. Back: (L-R): Fernando, Angel & Martin.



The bounce houses!



Isabel & Frances. Frances was tutored by Liz (mi hermana).



Frances, Isabel & I.



Some of the girls having a good time.



The Internal Audit clan!



Ms. Wilson & I. She was Carlos' teacher.



My kiddos!



Mr. Wunderlich displaying the pizza!



This was our little gift from Northlake to all the tutors.



The girls having a good time! I so wanted to jump in.



The man who makes this all possible, Mr. Neil Montgomery!!!!!



The kids getting their goodie bags with neat things inside!



The kiddos boarding the bus back to school after a fun afternoon!



My student Isabel gave me this beautiful set of perfume. It smells really good. Thanks Isabel!!!!!



Between Carlos & Isabel, I was given a ton of cards. I'm really going to miss those kids.

Plano Coloring Contest.

I stopped by my old part time job in Plano on May 27th to visit my co-workers. After chatting and catching up with them for a while, they told me about a coloring contest that the FUN Team had going on and asked if Sydney & I would participate on behalf of B-Shift.

Well for those of you that don't know, I LOVE TO COLOR! I'm serious people, call me crazy, but I've got coloring books that only me, myself and I can color in. Not even Sydney is allowed access into those books.

I was like heck yeah, I'll color!

We sat down for about 30 minutes and both Sydney and I worked on some pretty nice pictures that looked like a work of art when we were finished! I'm not joking either, so don't laugh.

Below are the pictures we colored. Guess which belongs to who? :)





*************************************************************************************
COLORING CONTEST UPDATE!!!!!!!!

The judging took place on Friday the 29th and Eva was kind enough to pay me a call to inform me of the results.

There were apparently 18 entries total. It was disclosed that Sydney poo and I stopped by to visit and that she had colored her page.

For her good work and participation, she was given the last place ribbon, 18th. Eva then proceeds to tell me that (forgive me if I'm wrong), Ms. Rene Putrino had gotten 3rd and that Ms. Shannon Benton got 2nd and that well she got 1st.

My reaction was, you loser, because Eva had not colored a page when I left Plano that night and I didn't really think she would, since she is always so busy.

Eva starts cracking up and reveals that the winner was actually me but that her name had been placed on the coloring page so that there would not be a risk of getting me disqualified since I am no longer part of the Records family (OFFICIALLY)!

I could not believe my ears. I was so proud! I really was, I put a lot of effort into my picture. She said that besides a 1st place ribbon, I would also receive a cup.

I ended up meeting her for lunch the following week to collect my winnings and my beautiful picture.

Below are the two pictures with their respective ribbons!