What We Did With Our Summer: Part 1

It was hot... we ate LOTS and LOTS of Otter Pops and Shaved Ice...

Sibling Love

This is not always a captured moment.  But there are many moments like this around here.  I see the love they have for each other and I am grateful to witness it.  I hope they can develop a great friendship when they are older and I hope they can always be there for one another. 

Otis can be feisty, but I think he has brought a sense of love and affection to all the kids.  I guess babies have that effect on people :)  Milli is a sweetheart.  She wants to help and is patient with her little brother. 



Its is my privileged to be their mom... may I take full advantage of the sweet moments I have with them! I know they wont be little for ever and time will not stand still. 

Sometimes I'm A Nice Mom

 The kids don't love running errands with me.  And to be totally honest, I don't love taking them on errands with me :) But I always try to make it fun and reward them for good behavior.  Sometimes that works, other times it totally does not! 

After moving into the new house, we had lots and lots of trips to Ikea or Lowes.  So the kids got very tired of both of those stores.  It was a hot summer and we were being very frugal... For $4 (including tax) I was able to go from the "mean mom" to the "nice mom." Thx IKEA!

 

It was worth the mess for all the smiles and happy kids I got it the end.  Truth is, I really do enjoy the kids.  I want to make them happy. But you can't always get them everything they want.  They don't always expect something, and most of the time, they do deserve a treat :) 

 

I like to be the nice mom all the time... I just need NICE kids all the time too :)  Easy, right?

Winter is FINALLY Here (I'm not pleased with its arrival)

We woke up on Saturday to SNOW!!!!!!  Seriously, I was not happy about it, because of the house, this BETTER not slow us down this week.  If it does, then Mother Nature better watch out!!! (jk, I love Mother Nature and I am grateful for her and her 'moods').

The kids LOVED it!  After a few hours of begging me to go play outside I let them.  I haven't let them play outside much because I can't watch them.  Our apt is around the corner from the parking lot and I don't feel safe letting them play there. But one of my goals this year is to be more of a "yes" mom (more on that on another post).

Snowball "fight"

They played on this parking strip right in front of our apt for a while.  

They tried to pile enough snow to make a snowman, but quickly realized it was too much work.  I love how Mylo is trying to get the snow to the right area, heheeehe. 

Then they moved over to the parking lot, where they found a fort-like pile of snow and played there for an hour or so.  Otis joined in the fun for a bit... 

 

 

 

Otis kept his hat on.  SO CUTE!!!! 

 

When they got cold, they rushed inside for some hot cocoa.  

Isn't that the best part of playing in the snow?

It was worth the work getting these monkeys in their snow gear.  They played for a long time and were so happy.  Plus, this is what being a kid is all about.  I'm glad I can see them enjoy life in simple ways.

New Year's (and Some Random Pics)

 

(this picture was not taken on New Year's Eve. I love the kids playing in their backyard :))

New Year's Eve was spent at The Pearce Home.  But we first had a fun visit with Carmen.  She came over to spend some time with us and we drove up to the lot and filled her head with all sorts of house stuff, that is super fun and interesting to us but maybe not so much for her :).  She was a good sport and was excited for us.

Otis took a special interest in Carmen, as most of the nieces and nephews do.  He quickly went up to her and mostly, just wanted her.  It was cute and Im sure Carmen loved every minute of it.

After our little visit with Carmen we headed to see our friends the Nakaya's for like two seconds.  The holidays were so busy that time to see them was super limited.  But I am glad we saw them just the same :)  THEN, we headed to The Pearce's for dinner and some fun looking at old, OLD pics of the Trevino family.  [(a little random here) Dave has taken on the task of scanning ALL of the pics Al has EVER taken.  He and Leah started with the slides.  There are some PRICELESS pics in there.  Leah is doing some "genealogy" (which would make Karen SO proud) and earning a little cash while doing it]. We then just hung out and chit chatted.

I was grumpy and frankly not feeling well.  I didn't enjoy the night as I normally do.  Truth is the changes that have occurred in the last 3+ yrs have been VERY hard and this is the reason for my grumpiness.  Life is not the same and although I try to make the best of it, sometimes I get down and it affects my "mood."  I hope it didn't ruin anyone's night.  We took off shortly after 10 and got the kiddos in bed early.

I think Dave and I watched a movie that night and that was really nice :)

Some Randoms:

Carmen made Leah and I sweaters!  Carmen is a fantastic knitter and we LOVE it when we get something from her.

Leah wore her sweater EVERY day for an entire week.  She even wanted to sleep in it!  I had wanted to take a picture on Sunday, because we both wearing our sweaters with our boots... We were super cute ;), but she was starving when we got home that we missed the opportunity.  Still, WE LOVE OUR sweaters!!!! Thanks again, Carmen.  XOXO


Leah and Dave scanned TONS of slides over the winter break.  They worked side by side and Leah loved it. The pics carry great memories and we have enjoyed seeing Dave and his siblings as well as Grandpa and Grandma when they were all so young.  I will post some of my favorites on another post. 

This has also been Dave's "office" since we moved her last June.  It makes for a very messy kitchen/family room, but it is nice to have him so close :)

Leah, Mylo, Milli and I went to watch Esteban and Marcos play some indoor soccer.  It was fun to cheer them on and although they lost, I enjoyed watching them play together.  They are both great athletes :)  

(this post took me forever, to post! UGH!!! Glad I am done with it :))

Leah's Christmas GNO and Some Extras

Leah has been doing wonderful in school and as a reward she got to invite a few of her friends for a Christmas Party.  Mylo and Milli also got to invite one friend over, it was a lot of fun!  However, 11 kids in our small apartment is not optimal, but still fun!

They decorated cookies with LOTS of frosting and LOTS of sprinkles...

Otis watched, HOPING for some frosting to decorate his non-frosted cookie :) (is he not SO cute!!!!!)

Leah has made some super cute friends this year and continues to be friends with some from last year.  Im looking forward to having these girls over more often.... roudy but FUN girlies!

HOLY FROSTING!!!!

Then, they watched Santa Claus (1).  It was an entertaining movie, cute too. 

 

This was  fun night... perhaps we will do it again :) 

Helpful Kids

Sarcastic Title.... (for the most part)

Leah wanted to pass off some Faith In God "goals" 

and one of them was to prepare a meal for the family.  

She made one of her faves, Taco Soup, YUMMY!  

Otis helps me get to the vaccuming sooner than I would care, 

by dumping an entire box of cereal!!! its a good thing he is so cute, or else....

Otis also loves to "help" me with the laundry.  My most dreaded task as a mother. 

It seems that he ALWAYS knows that I am going to do a load, because he is always there with dirty laundry in his hand.  He also loves to watch as the washer goes round and round. 

Mylo, our little monkey helper.  We needed a cooker from way in the back

and this little monkey climbed through all of our junk that has been stored in here.  

He did this twice, bless his little helpful heart.

Homemade Oreos!  The girls (mostly Leah) and I made them over the Christmas break

Then we ate them ALL!  They were that good and Leah is a GREAT helper in the kitchen. 

Close up of the Homemade Oreos, YUM! 

Three of these and a cold glass of milk, heaven for your belly.

Cookies to Make the House Warm

This was a while back.  It was a WAY cold day and Mari and I decided to make cookies and warm up our house.  It was, as always, fun!

Below is a bunch of pics :)

Cookie cutting....

Cookie Decorating.... 

and more... 

Cookie Decorating Goof Ball.... 

(although, I do think my bear is quite cute.  She even has a "pearl" necklace!)

Rockwell was sharing grains of rice with Otis :) 

I haven't made sugar cookies since that day.  They are SO much work!!! But it sure was fun. :)