Ho Ho Ho...Santa 2008

We went to visit Santa at our local mall on Thursday afternoon. I was a bit anxious to take all three...assuming someone would have a meltdown and that there would be a 30-60 minute line. Anyways, when we got there, the line was short!! Natalie said, "Praise the Lord!" when she saw how short the line was. And, another blessing, some of our family friends happened to be there shopping, so they visited with us while we waited the 20 minutes or so for our turn. As we inched closer, Will started to get tears in his eyes and say he wouldn't do it (he's my sensitive child). So, I did what any good mother does...I bribed him with a stuffed snowman they were selling there and some snowman donuts afterwards at Krispy Kreme. Spencer (who I was worried about) did great!

As you can see in the pic below, Will really had to force his smile. And of course, Natalie yakked Santa's ear off telling him all that she wanted this year!

Had to include this picture of us waiting...Natalie's pose cracks me up!

Tea for Two (or Five)

The day after Thanksgiving, the gals in the family have a tradition...

We go to afternoon tea!

Natalie lives for this day! Check out her extended pinkie in the picture below!

From left to right...my mom, Erick's aunt, Natalie, me and my mother-in-law

Cheers!

Black-eyed Will

My sweet Will got his first black eye...courtesy of his momma.

I was picking up toys off the family room floor and was about to stand upright and turn around when Will decided it would be fun to run at my back and tackle me...well, my right elbow made contact with his right eye. Poor baby! When I finally caught him (he was running around hysterical) and I got him to breathing again, I saw the "point of impact" and knew what was coming.

His daddy thinks it looks cool and tough! Momma thinks she's gonna have to cover it up with some make-up for the Christmas card picture. And I have some "momma guilt" over it, too.

Proof I Did It!

Just a few pics to prove I did run the 1/2 marathon in San Antonio (for all you doubters)...

This was after we had just finished and we were at the Team in Training tent.

My Team in Training mentor, Bev! She can kick my rear when it comes to running...she is a machine!! Love her!

My Team in Training coach, Maile. She is fierce!
I owe her for keeping me calm and level-headed when I was sick as a dog the night before my run!

Halloween Post...At Last!

Well, since we are just two weeks away from Thanksgiving, I decided I needed to hurry up and get some Halloween shots on here.

"Princess Natalie" walking Mimi and Papa's dog "Chewy."

Our non-ferocious lion, Spencer. Poor baby...too young for candy still, but score for Momma's sweet tooth! :)

Our family of five getting ready to head out to our neighborhood costume parade.

Ready to trick or treat with the Princess, a lion and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

Carving our jack-o-lantern with Daddy!

Cabo...Last Day

We have had a wonderful time in Cabo! We head home today (Tuesday) and we can't wait to see the kiddos! Here are a few final pictures from our last full day here in Cabo (Monday).

Erick at the marina in Cabo San Lucas.

Here are some baby sea turtles hatching. The hotel we stayed at incubates the eggs and then once they hatch, they have a "release" ceremony out on the beach. We got to see it happen twice while here. It is amazing how those itty bitty baby turtles know right where to go...straight into those huge crashing waves!!

A view of our hotel from the beach. Our balcony was on the second row from the top, first one on the right side of the structure. Great view!!

Erick and I on the beach.

Our final meal....at Edith's in Cabo San Lucas. It was absolutely beautiful there and the food was amazing!

Cabo 3rd Day

We were able to have the blessing of watching a sunrise from our balcony this a.m. It was awful early to get up, but so worth it to see God's majesty & beauty!

Can I get an AMEN?!?

Cabo...2nd Day

Our second day in Cabo began with sleeping in a bit, a yummy breakfast and then a workout in the gym at our resort (Erick really had to push me to do that)! We then spent most of they day out by the pools/ocean.

This is a view of one of the pools from our lounge chairs...you can see the ocean in the background.

Erick chillin' in the pool!

Relaxing!

Then, we headed back to our room, cleaned up and headed out to dinner in Cabo San Lucas.

We ate dinner at THE OFFICE on the beach in Cabo San Lucas. Delicious, fresh seafood!! Erick had octopus and I had lobster. We sat on the beach with our toes buried in the sand!! Great meal!

Cabo...First Day

Our flight to Cabo yesterday was great. I slept most of the way (thanks to two xanax), but when I was awake, it was so smooth! Thanks for all the prayers. I am going to try and upload pics to the blog every day or so, so the kids back home can see how we're doing!

This is the open-air lobby of our resort.

They greeted us with a margarita at the front desk...I think I'm gonna like this place! : )
By the way, we are staying in the building directly behind Erick overlooking the ocean. The architecture and colors of this place are awesome!

A view from our balcony...

Looking down from our balcony at the Sea of Cortez (Pacific Ocean).

And one last balcony view!
It is hot here...but I guess that's what we want for laying out and swimming. I would have to say one of the best parts about yesterday was Erick and I both getting to take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon...I miss taking naps at home and it was delightful!!!

Adios for now!!

Spencer's Birthday at the Pumpkin Patch #1

We went to the Pumpkin Patch last Saturday to celebrate Spencer's first birthday. The next two posts are just a few snapshots of the celebration. This first picture is my favorite! And for some darn reason, I can't get it to rotate correctly. But even looking at it sideways, you can see how handsome my little man is!

Of course, Natalie and Will had a blast too! Feeding the animals in the petting zoo, going on a hayride, eating lunch, etc!

And they all had to ride the train. Natalie is holding Spencer in the 2nd cart and Will is two carts behind them.

Look at that cute little sly grin...he knew the good stuff was coming...

CAKE! He tore into that sucker! Neither Natalie nor Will would ever really touch their smash cake...we had to force their hands down into it (to get a cute picture, of course). Spencer was a pro!!

Spencer's Birthday at the Pumpkin Patch #2

My boy got momma's sweet tooth! Yum-o!

And here's the cake for the rest of us...

At home and ready to open presents...

I think he enjoyed crawling around among all the paper and ribbons more than playing with any gift he got!

Look at all this stuff...I'm gonna be writing alot of thank you notes! : )

Date Night with Will

This past Saturday night was the annual Mother-Son Dance in our city. Well, this was Will's first year to be old enough to attend...and he would have NONE of it! So, I asked him if he just wanted to go on a date instead! I'm so glad he agreed! One-on-one time with each kiddo is so nice!

When I asked Will where he wanted to go, he named one of my favorite mexican food restaurants! Score for momma! He loves this special queso they have there...it has guacamole, beef and sour cream mixed into the cheese. Yum!

Then, sweet Will wanted to use a gift card he had got...to Target! He loves riding with the windows rolled down...look at that sweet face (and yes, I did snap the pic while driving...I just had to capture that pure joy on his face)!

He picked out several treats at Target!

And this was him a few minutes outside of the Target parking lot! All worn out! What a special evening with my precious Will!!