It's 2012!

New Years Eve was a very kick back day. My kids an I were alone just us for most of the day. This is the first time this has happened for about two months. During the week I have 6 or 7 kids depending on the day... and on the weekends I have 8 kids in my care. It's been insane around here! And it was such a quite relaxing day. I kept getting up thinking "I should be cleaning..." "I should be folding the piles of laundry..." "My floors need mopping badly!" But instead I sat around all day with all 4 of my kids on one couch watching movies and looking at books with Atalie who doesn't have an attention span for a movie but LOVES books. It felt good actually. So instead I just savored the day.



And I even had time to do my girl's hair all pretty. They chose the styles and we had fun curling their hair.





But about 5:30pm my brother arrived home from work with his 4 kids in tow. So while they played I got ready for the evening.





My husband decided we should have date night since my brother agreed to watch our kids. And I got a GC for Olive Garden (my favorite restraunt) from my Bestie Tiffany (Thanks!) for Christmas so it was perfect!



It was nice to have some alone time away from a million kids with just my Hubby.

We got to talk about what we wanted to accomplish in 2012. And I am glad to know we are totally on the same page :)

We got home around 10:45pm and hung around waiting for midnight watching the different New Years Eve specials on TV. 2 minutes before midnight me and Jr woke up Diego and Alayna who had just fallen asleep about 5 minutes before... and joined my brother and my 2 nieces who were also falling asleep in the living room for the countdown. We cheered quietly because both babies and both 3 year olds were asleep (oh wait Juanito is 4 not 3 oops!). Hugs were exchanged between all of us and we were all off to bed. Party animals right?!



This morning I slept in. Thanks Hubby for always holding down the fort for me! And once I got up we all got ready and got the kiddies ready to head to the park.

My husband's new resolution is to spend lots of extra alone time with our son. My husband works soooo much and come home late and tired that he tries to devote a lot of time to the kids once he is here. But splitting himself 4 ways... and then adding me into the mix after work is not easy. Diego misses him more than anyone and he tells him all the time. The girls love their Daddy but they don't need the one on one time that Diego craves. So today he took Diego to buy a football and they played in the park a few hours while I had the 3 girls on the playground. Nothing makes me happier than to see my husband making the effort to make sure our only boy feels special. And to see my son with a smile on his face after 2 hours of uninterrupted time with his Daddy is priceless :)

As for me and the girls... we had a blast on the playground. Atalie loves the slides!









Afterward, my Daddy invited us to his house for a carne asada. His fiance Abby is in town for the weekend so we spent the rest of the day with them.





It's always a great time with my looney familia!

Christmas!

The anticipation of Christmas had finally arrived! And now it's gone...

We celebrate on Christmas Eve and I was getting ready for that evening my sister and brother-in-law Loyiel gave me my gift early. And I was so excited!

I got my 4th pillowpet and the one I have been wanting for a while now.


See, I absolutely LOVE the movie Despicable Me. Like love love LOVE it. Just ask anyone. I quote this movie in my daily life all the time. (But then again when don't I quote movies?) I even taught Atalie how to say Popoy hahaha! And in the movie, if you haven't seen it, the little girl wants a unicorn toy (popoy) and when she sees it she says "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

Well one day we were at Walmart and I saw it (I have a fascination with Pillowpets anyway) and I screamed, "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" and ran over to it and hugged it and begged for it. Just like in the movie. Well the boys (my hubby and his brother) did not buy it for me because my hubby had just bought me the zebra one. And I was sad.

But moral is, I am sad no longer because I have it! And I named her Agnes after the little girl in the movie. And my brother-in-law says he has done his good deed for the year. Better late than never... considering there's only a week left.

Anywho... we got ready and headed over to dinner at my aunts house. Our plan was to make it to Mass at church but due to technical difficulties we didn't make it and I was pretty bummed.

So my husband decided to show me some love to make me feel better.


But while we waited we took advantage and I got a few pictures of my minions all dressed up! (Wait, that was another Despicable Me reference...)






And the baby girls of the family stopped long enough to get ONE picture of them... Miss Laila and Miss Atalie Belle Pepper


And I had to bribe Talie with a cookie to pose for this one with me... but she is a good little poser.


My baby boy and my Pops


My Sisterface, My Pops, and Me!


Not too long before midnight we came back to my house to see what Santa left for us! And boy was that room full of stuff!

The kids literally oohed and aahed when they walked in the front door... and Atalie quickly ran up to her pink car! I don't know how she knew it was even hers... but Daddy stuck her right in.


Then we all opened our gifts. We made out pretty great. the kids were happy... beyond happy. I was happy because my hubby got me a few things I have been wanting.

I loved watching my kids faces light up. And most of all I loved watching Atalie open gifts because I thought she wouldn't know what to do. And literally whispered Wow every time she found out what was behind the paper :)


Diego got tons of Cardinal gear and some outdoor toys. We steered clear of electronics or video games. Alayna had a Lalaloopsy Christmas. She is obsessed and I think I love them just as much now! Arielle had a Disney Princess theme going on. And she is the biggest Disney Princess fan. And Atalie got a few cute things and the best $5 I've ever spent... on a magnadoodle. That girl loves to draw (just look at my walls) and she still has yet to put down that magnadoodle. She even sleeps with it.




Christmas day for me is always chill and play with all the new toys day. My brother was given a ham from work and so he my brother-in-law cooked it up and we went to have dinner at their house.


It was a beautiful day and the weather was fantastic that we played outside all afternoon! My 2 oldest and my nephew got roller blades and so they learned really quickly how to use them! And Atalie got to ride around in her new car.



My baby girls are so beautiful. These two are literally my sunshines.


Arielle thinks she IS Rapunzel and I knew she'd love this gift.



While my niece Laila took a turn in Tal's car... she played with one of Laila's toys and didn't like that Uncle Oscar was trying to play too...


I had to go inside to finish making the mashed potatoes for lunch and the 3 older kids on blades kept coming in and out of the house. I repeatedly told them to go back outside because they would slip on the tile. They had never been on roller blades before and I knew someone was bound to slip and fall. And I was right... Alayna tried going over to get some water and slipped but grabbed onto the water dispenser and knocked it over on top of her. The whole 5 gallon jug landed on her head. Poor girl.


But Grandpa makes everything better.


And then we ate our delicious dinner :) Yum!


And Arielle HAD to sit on the same seat as her brother... even when there was extra chairs. That girls idolizes him. And I love that he just lets her as long as it makes her happy. I kept asking her to give him his own chair and he kept telling me that he was fine :)


After dinner we opened up my Just Dance 3 game for the Wii and danced. I still remain the Queen of that game. I rock!

And then we came home where my husband spent the whole night assembling all the kids gifts. While I watched The Grinch!


We had the best Christmas! My kids are enjoying all their gifts. And we're enjoying spending all our time together just hanging out playing.

Tonight my husband, the kids, and I played on the Wii for almost 2 hours. It was so much fun :) I love family time... and the holidays bring us even closer together.

Decorating Our Home for Christmas!

I love the Christmas season! So as tradition we don't put up our tree until the day after Thanksgiving. And for me that's too long to wait. It would have been up before halloween if it were up to me. But I like that fact that we have a special day that we put up all our decorations as a family.

I happened to have a tree from last year... then a few month ago I also inherited a tree from my aunt. Both fake. One with colored lights one with white lights. But I happened to my mention to my dear sweet husband that I liked the look of an all white tree with the red/white/silver color scheme I wanted this year. And he went out and bought me one even though I told him many times to save the money when we had 2 perfectly good trees to choose from. Bless his heart he never listens to me. But seeing as we had a new white tree we needed new ornaments.

We went to Walmart and I am thinking of course of my red/white/silver snowflakes and icicle tree in my head when lo and behold Jr decides he wants a blue theme. Since when does he want to have an opinion around here? I am thinking "When I want your opinion I will give it to you"... but he fought me on it. My Mom has always done blue and silver so I am kinda all blued out ya know? But he went on and on about how he wanted it to be different and not traditional red or green.

Bah Humbug!

So I suggested if he wanted to be different then he should give me the pink tree I haave wanted for years. And I found pink ornaments. Well since we couldn't decide I took the kids on a walk through the toy aisle and he came back with a box of pink ornaments, a box of teal ornaments and a set of purple high heeled ornaments. I about died! Not only did he compromise but he found purple heels! Purple heels have a lot of meaning for us but long story short my Mom was buried in purple high heels. Needless to say I was ecstatic! And since we couldn't on tree toppers either, I love stars and ONLY stars, and he likes the Angels but I think they look creepy... I found a large purple snowflake ornament with a photo opening and snuck it into the cart. When we the firs thing I did was print a picture of my Mom and stuck it in there.

And the festivities began...

The Hubby putting up the tree
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And the kids had a ball (no pun intended) putting all the ornaments on






And Atalie had fun just staring at it...


And then it was complete and we were happy!




And lastly we hung up the stocking after decorating all the other walls.


And lastly we hung up our lists... in hopes that some of these things Santa will be kind enough to bring us!

Thanksgiving

This was the 2nd Thanksgiving without my Mom. So much has changed. It used to be a Holiday where my Mom's side of the family got together and we had a great time. It was my Mom's favorite holiday because she loved to cook. So naturally cooking a huge feast for all the people she loved was her greatest joy. I on the other hand never cared for the Holiday. I mean, it does remind me I have a lot to be thankful for, which I am. But I only looked forward to eat to eat the delicious food. But with my Mom as my Mother I had delicious food every day of my life so for me it was more just seeing the joy on her face and the fun we had with our family.

In our family my Mom was the main cook for this Holiday as well. Sure my aunt would bring a little dish or a pie or two. But mostly it was just her. You know how in some families as soon a girl gets old enough to help she get into the kitchen with all the women to prepare the feast. Well that never happened to me. Even though I take after my Mom and am a fantastic cook (yes I really do think this of myself... if there's one thing I can do well and admit it whole heartedly... it's that I am an awesome cook) I never had to help out in the kitchen. When Mom was in her groove it was kinda like Cinderella when the animals magically clean up a whole room. Well pots and spoons danced in our kitchen to whatever beat she was playing because walking in would just be an interuption. Yes it was that magical. To this day even when I cook, it boggles my mind how that woman could multi-task when cooking 10 things at once and never burn a thing. I cook daily and I carefully have to watch my food and not try and multi-task too much or chaos can ensue. But my Mama... she was pure magic. And the food was always without a doubt the best we ever tasted.

So this 2nd year without her was particularly weird for me. As I have mentioned there have been many changes. Last Thanksgiving, (year one without her) was more everyone trying to keep tradition alive. Doing it for my Mom. So she could be proud of the family she lead. And I think we did just that. But this year was more of a branching out for our family as a whole. So many people were missing from our celebration. New ones were added. And even though it was a great time. It wasn't the same. And since like I've mentioned before, Thanksgiving never has been quite the big deal to me, it would have been quite alright to have skipped the whole holiday and go right to Black Friday! Or I would have probably been happier to stay at home just my husband and kids and watch movies all night. And I told my husband that for next year we need a new plan. Because I don't want to skip this holiday. It reminds me of my Mama. And I want to make a new tradition to make me love it once again. To find the joy in it besides just being thankful for all the blessings I have in my life. Because I am thankful for those everyday as I live them.

So maybe you can tell me what makes your Thanksgiving special... I am up for new ideas!

One great thing I love about family get togethers though is all the pictures I take!

Blessed with 4 amazing little people


Atalie, Arielle, Alayna, and Diego


Mama and Son


My Little Tiny Lady


Tal loves her Grandpa


And this is my beautiful family!


I told you I am a lucky girl!