Stories of a 2-year-old

My girls love watching sports on TV with papi. As the season (sports) change, they learn the new type of ball game. So now of course it's football. We were watching a game the other night and Mila was SO intensely into it. She would hold up her hand (like "stop") and say "be careful! be careful!" with so much passion. It was as if she was a mom watching her son playing and wanting him to be safe. Then she's day "He fell down."

There is also this boy Jay at their school who plays with Areli a lot, but is also protective of Mila. Their teacher told me today that she is having to watch him cuz he is trying to kiss all the girls (but when I asked about my girls licking everything lately she said he may be licking instead of kissing. weird). So anyway, I was telling T about this at dinner and he was playing Tough Father. He asked Mila if Jay kissed her. She said "Yes". He asked if Jay was a problem. Mila says "Yeah". Then he says "Do I need to get rid of Jay?" Mila said "yes". About the time I give T a face about not saying that, Mila says very clearly "Papi get rid of Jay."

Girls weekend!

I took the girls to visit friends at their lakehouse outside of Dallas. Here are some pics from my cell phone.

We arrived at Pinnicle Country Club Thursday night just in time for dinner. Kirsty grilled hotdogs!! Then, the nightly tradition, take a ride on the golf cart to take the trash to the dumpster. The girls loved it! We saw lots of deer - Bambi and ALL his friends. One night we saw 30 deer at one time and several others in different places!

Friday we played in the pool on the back porch.

After that Lauren ("Lollie") drove the jet ski ("little boat") and let me and Areli ride on the back. Then Mila wanted a turn, so she got to ride. Then Kennady wanted a turn, so all the little girls got to ride the jet ski! (pic of that later.)

We did spend a little time playing inside...

Mila having a snack after nap.

Friday night we made pizza. You know everyone loves that! Saturday we had leftovers. I asked Areli if she wanted a sandwich, hot dog, or pizza. She enthusiastically answered, "hot dog AND pizza!!" Sunday for lunch she wanted the same thing!! That girl ATE!!

Sunday morning, we didn't let the girls play in the water, cuz we had to pack the swimsuits. Now, spending more time inside, Areli discovered the closet under the stairwell. The became her new play room! Good thing she didn't find it until the last day or we may not have seen her all weekend.


And finally, Areli, Mila, and Kennady dance debut!!!

Lauren, thanks so much for inviting us to stay with you for the weekend. We had a great time!

Tidbits of life

Just a few things to jot down before crazy life erases them from my memory.

Today I took the girls to the park to play with their friends Abby, Audry, & Maddie. They played so good on the big kid playground. Its scary how much Areli can do. She must be part monkey! Mila was a little hesitant of some of the obstacles, but she did really well with a little help from Maddie. Maddie, the oldest, stayed by Mila's side to give her confidence and a hand to hold when she needed it. Areli and Abby played side by side nearly the entire morning. Mila took a big fall! Surprisingly, it didn't involve any of the playground equipment, just regular dirt! She did a drop & roll. She ran to me crying at first, then wanted down again, even though she was still crying. She ran across the playground to cry in Maddie's arms. It was so sweet.

Yesterday I took the girls to mom's new condo now that the new floors have been installed. Mila stepped into the bedroom, saw the carpet and said, "Wow!" Then they both took off their shoes and ran all over the condo. They were excited to do this because the previous times, there were tack strips exposed and they had to keep shoes on.

Areli & Mila, I love you girls so much! I am so blessed to be your mom.

Yes, he's in good spirits!

OK, so i'm not up to date on my posting. The short story is that dad had a stroke about 3 weeks ago. It was aparantly fairly mild. He experienced weakness on the left side of his body, spent a few days in the hospital, then just under two weeks in rehab. The most difficult part was that it was the same rehab that mom was in for 3 weeks after she broke her back. Thankfully dad's room was on the opposite side of the building. Dad recovered really quickly and is back home. He is using his daddy's cane since his left leg is still a little weak. He's spirits have remained high through all of this. He kept making fun of being a stroke victim. Even though we know it shouldn't be funny, we couldn't help but laugh.

This is a video of dad while still in rehab. We asked him what he had for dinner. He said, "green beans, mashed potatoes, and ground porkchop." When we asked about ground porkchop, he gave us this imitation of a stroke victim (see video) and said that he told the nurses that he just had a stroke and couldn't cut his meat. Since then all his meat has been ground up for him! I don't know how ture this is - like I said, dad's stayed in good spirits the whole time!



I love you dad!!

Not so recent photos

I could sugar coat it and title this entry "a glimpse into the past year", but lets be real here. I haven't taken pics off my camera since the last time Kirsty came to visit, which was... December?? So here's some fun pics from the past several months.


Breakfast at the Cabin on the White River in March

A&M like spinning in their new dresses from Tia Brooke.

But the sticker with the size on it is just as much fun!

Areli finally has just enough hair for ponytails!

Mila has much longer pig tails!

Posing as a models

This is A&M using the Magnadoodle to file Papi's finger nails!

I think we're back to december now. Here I noticed Areli had put the dolls in the chairs and was having her first guests for a tea party.

OK, that's the summary in pictures! Chao!

Wye Mt Dafadils

Here are a few pics from our quick trip to Wye Mt. We were a bit late this year, so there weren't near as many flowers in bloom. but it was a fun outing!

I can see clearly now...

I can see clearly now, the contacts are gone!!
I had LASIK on Thursday! Terry did it 5 years ago, and I've wanted to have it done since then, but was too chicken. I finally decided, if I can carry and deliver twins, I can have a laser shined in my eye! OK, so the laser was the easy part, but I won't go into details about the rest of the surgery (the scary part!). Everyone told me I wouldn't be scared once I took the valium, but they were wrong, I was still quite nervous. But I sucked it up and did it! At my post-op the next day, I was seeing 20/25!!!!!! Areli was up Friday night with a fever due to teething and it was SO nice not to mess with glasses all night long! If anyone is interested, see Dr. Brown (at TLC). He is a Christian man who has been doing this for years. He did both mine and Terry's. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to have this done and for being the Master Physician who cares for us all.

Here I am walking out of the doctor's office wearing my super cool I-just-had-lasik glasses!

Hiking trip!

I meant to post these pics a few weeks ago. They are from an impromptu day at Petite Jean State Park. Mom invited me and the girls to go with her and my sister's kiddos.

Areli saw the boys climbing up the rock and she had to do it also. She's quite good... and quick. Scary! She also loved to play in the dirt! We think fast pitch softball is in her future!

My little Mila, scared of everything. Areli followed the big kids into the cave, but Mila sets her limits. Eh, I don't blame her - it's dark and scary!


In the big "Bear Cave" we were able to let go of thier leashes - oh I mean "harness," and let them play.

Areli climed onto this rock, sat down, and said with a big smile "Picture!"

It was a good and FULL day. I didn't mention that we missed our exit and didn't notice for several miles, Areli threw up in the car, and Caitlin saved mom from falling off the mountain. All this with no nap! We got in the car to go home around 5:30 and the girls stayed awake the ENTIRE way home! Overall, I think everyone enjoyed the outing. I'm so blessed to have TWO little girls to share the experience with!

Nap Time!!

Agh!! Nap time is peaceful again! Sleepy Areli is napping in her bed. Mila now takes her naps in "my big bed". Translation? In the futon in the extra bedroom. Separate rooms seems to work! the girls are happy again (mostly). They still have their moments, but that's what two-year-olds do!

Nap time ??

So the girls are enjoying the new beds a little too much. They do good most nights, but they wont' stay in them long enough in the afternoon to take a nap. We (me, mom & emily) have been battling with them for the last two weeks. Any tips on getting TWO kids to go to sleep??
HELP!!!!!!!

New Beds or Two Beds??

As Mila peeked into the extra room, I can't tell if she says "new beds" or "two beds". Both are true! Two new toddler beds for Areli & Mila were being assembled!! Friday morning they woke up to the last morning in their cribs.

Buenos Dias! (That's "good morning" for you gringos!) You can tell Mila takes a minute longer to wake up.

But in no time they are up and silly!

"Look Mama, No Feet!!" I wonder how I've made it this long without either one climbing out of the crib.

Out with the old, in with the new...

And you'll never see their room this clean again.

I think they like them!

Free night #1: Not bad.

Naptime #1: Completley unsuccessful, no nap.

Free night #2: Very good.

Naptime #2: Much improvement, 1 hr.

Free night #3: Perfect!

Nap #3: disaster, crying, no sleep

Night #4: Not good, up at 12 & 1.

*Special thanks to Tia Brooke!

God always provides

Terry has been working for Hewlett Packard for SEVEN days!! So far, he is very happy with the new job and is even carpooling with some coworkers already! He will be working in Little Rock for the rest of this year until the Conway office is completed. We are both so thrilled and thankful that it is going so well.

I got to take pictures for his ID badge. This was my personal favorite, but Terry, for some reason unknown to me, submitted a different picture.

The long story... Terry was laid off from Sperion/Acxiom in 2007. We were so stunned being that the company had previously been talking of promoting him. However God's plan was revealed to us when, after mom's accident, Terry was able to be home with both our kids and my sister's kids while we were all at the hospital for many weeks with mom. Well, a year later Terry was also let go from his fairly new job at Staffmark. Does God have a quirky sense of humor, or what? Terry wasn't happy with that job anyway and had actually already been looking for other jobs (which is part of why they let him go) and had interviewed with Hewlett Packard. Less than a week later, he was given an offer! We enjoyed the holidays, both being off work!

We are so grateful that God has provided this wonderful opportunity for Terry and for our family.