My Sunshine(s)

I wanted to officially record that these guys were gone for 16 days while Gary and I tried to work on the #wittyhomereno. It was a long stay at their Moomie's, but there's no doubt they enjoyed themselves at the farm. 

They were spoiled to the core. Free as can be. And wore out til their little bodies could just no more...

Ima just take a second to thank Apple for inventing FaceTime and whoever invented Snapchat (the app) too, because it made it possible to see them when I really missed them. 

And I missed them something fierce, my heart ached knowing I was not there watching them grow up. But I was having too much "fun" here in our remodeling adventure as well. I put 'fun' in quotations because it wasn't fun at all.

It was arduous, painful work which we are still recovering from. 

My awesome sister decided that she would love to help with painting my walls and made her way down from Fort Worth. Paint director, check. She is basically the only one I trust with paint, because I was not about to let Gary go near a paint roller. Ha! 

We made Home Depot our third home and made ourselves comfy in the paint department. Choices, choices, choices. 

Hmmmm...

Do you know how brain wracking is choosing the right paint color? Such a task. And an important one too! 

But let's not talk about paint just yet. Let's talk about how Leo absolutely loves his cousin Elena. He loves her very much. 

He was absolutely, tremendously curious about her. But Elena? Not so much. Can you tell why? 

It was such a battle to work and keep babies happy. I'm gonna go ahead and admit that I'm not exactly sure how we pulled it off, but we actually managed to paint ceilings and walls and make them look finished!!! Between my sister and I, there were about 148,082 diapers changed, 293 pounds of food consumed (half of that by baby Leo) and about half a billion minutes spent trying to rock them to sleep so we could actually accomplish something, anything, each day for almost two weeks. Babies don't like being ignored....

But we did what we could. If it hadn't been for her, I would have been such a mess, I'm notorious for being scatter-brained, you know? She was like my compass, always pointing me in the right direction, keeping her cool like a boss.

Literally.

She did make several executive decisions...

So that was that. It was needed, appreciate and learned from. Thank you, Caren. And I miss ya. 

And then we finally picked up the boys...oh my heart. I was so excited, awaiting their hugs and kisses and endless stories about their uncle who's so mean to them because he calls them turkey butts. All of it I missed. 

And I finally got them back. All stinky and rough, but I had them in my arms. Can you tell how much they complete me? 

Mucho. They are and will always be my babies. My everything. 

I am forever endebted to our family for always being there when we need them. Always providing when we can't. Always lending us all their helping hands so that our family can make it. Without them, we would be nothing but poor, lost and rough souls just scraping by. Thank you everybody for helping us out, we appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts. 

aaaand yet another birthday - {photos}

please don't get confused, but Andrew is the oldest. i know it says the opposite on the cake, but that's what happens when you turn it around for the photo!

the boys birthdays are less than a month apart during the summer. i have been doing joint-birthdays for them ever since Jonah was born, so it's only natural that all my relatives ask me, "hey, what are you doing for the boys birthdays?" 

i usually have some sort of a plan, but this year, i was like i don't know! mainly because we all live so far apart. 

so, the same weekend we planned my sister's baby shower, we did a quickie birthday for them! and the boys loved it. moomie spoils them rotten with cake, dr. pepper, gifts and the most fun of it all, a piñata! the kiddos overdosed on dr. pepper & candy and then built their gifts with their tio Carlos & tio James. 

sick weekly wrap-up

This past weekend, my sis in law invites me to go swimming. I say nope. Why? Cause someone had a funky eye thing going on. One eye became very red and developed an abrasion...but no itchiness or whines came from the 4 yr old. So we Mexicans do home-remedies first...which means chamomile tea to the rescue!  

Then, the second little boy tells me his ear hurts. Oh great. Also had a mild case of eye redness.

But both of them loathed to lay down and have their eyes covered. Twice they took naps while I had their chamomile rag over their eyes. I even put some chamomile drops in Jo's ears. I researched and researched and I couldn't tell if the boy had pink eye or not....all I knew was that it wasn't going away the 2nd day of chamomile treatment. I am NOT one to join the circus of doctors solely because they over-prescribe you crap you don't need. But alas, there really was no mention of home remedies for pink eye. Please tell me I am misinformed! Both kiddos were behaving normal and I know that's one of the reasons why I didn't panic.

Still, I broke down the third day and paid a lotta money {since we don't have insurance} to see a doctor we've never visited before {we are new to the area}. The boys had a love/hate relationship with the nurses/doctors. And so, we found out we had pink eye {Andrew}, and ear infectionS {Jonah}. As we walk out, they hand me a list of other clinics in the area that are cheaper. Thanks. You see why I hate doctors and their employees?  

It is nice to say they are both back to normal so I am glad to have no more sickness in the house.
Blowing & eating bubbles, beautiful sunsets, sleepy heads, walks around the Greenbelt Trails, and parks!

A new book at the library completely caught my eye and headed straight to walmart to get needed ingredients!

And last but not least...this below.

When I first read it HERE, it was like a "duh!" moment. I felt like I should have known this, like this is what I needed to hear. I've been so out of touch with God lately that it feels like something has been missing. 

Like there's a black spot I can't wipe clean. And what this verse is saying, is so right. I can't do it alone. I cannot live my life without His grace, His love, and His forgiveness most of all. And it is when I am at my lowest (like I have been for the past few weeks), that He shows me His power. How much He is still there just waiting for me to beg for a Jesus comeback into my life. How good it is to have Him fill me up again. Anyone recommend any good devotionals that I can do on my computer? I neeeeeed it. 

Have a great weekend guys!

kids in Awana

My kids were in a program called Awana at our local church. I was a volunteer for the 3 year olds, the Cubbies. When I began this 'adventure' I wasn't sure what to expect as a leader. It wasn't a new program to me. I was involved in it when I was in jr. high and my little siblings & mother have been a part of it since forever. I sorta signed up  to be a leader without any hesitation and then I freaked out a bit because of what I had just done.

What was it going to be like with 12 three-year olds? Why did I want to teach Cubbies? Why on earth would I want to be around more toddlers when I just hung out with 2 of them all day? Why indeed.  

Sometimes I think I do things on impulse because I believe I am adventurous and maybe a bit naive / optimistic. 

Why not volunteer to be a leader for Cubbies? Or was it because He placed me there to minister to these kids? I like to think He blessed me with that type of personality, therefore choosing to volunteer and minister. without really thinking about it. *happy face* 

What I didn't really anticipate was the weekly feeling of not wanting to attend Awana. But this is normal for me. The not wantin' to. Only to think oh it's not soo bad after all {just like a daily workout...I loathe the getting ready and the gettin' to it feeling, but during the process? I love it}. Also, I didn't anticipate the chaos of 12 three-year olds while trying to minister...talk about a mental and verbal workout! This is me and half my class below:Anyway, for my first year, it was not bad at all. I actually thought those crazy kids were quite wonderful. I had great leaders who were always cheery and they accepted my crazy hair without a second thought. I got told I looked like a mermaid because of it from a Cubbie, so that was awesome. She didn't get the reference that now all I needed were purple colored sea shells {on my hoo-ha's {omitted}} to complete my outfit though {and then busted out singing A Part of Your World} and then she looked at me with crazy eyes, the child was lost, so I decided to quit while I was ahead... 

And the leaders always offered free gummy bears to anyone who asked. So it was a win. They had bi-weekly events which always kept all of us busy like Derby day full of race tracks and popcorn and Cubbie.

At the end of Awana year, they present kids a ceremony with awards. It was the cutest thing ever. Jonah's class was the Puggles, and they sang two songs with his teacher Marlene. 

And Andrew received the year one award while most others received the year two award.  

His face showed how happy he was, too. "where is the rest of my award!?"

But, he was alright afterwards when Cubbie bear came out and posed for a picture.

After cookies and punch, we started to head out and the boys always get obsessed by the fountain outside...like all the other kids. 

So we let them run around, having a great time...and then....

He fell in.
A wonderful end to the year with laughs and a naked ride home.

PS. My wonderful husband who usually stinks at photography captured most moments in this post.
Thanks babe.