Christmas tag

I've seen this tag and I thought I'll give it a try. It has been forever seen I've done that and considering that: my kids are on bed, for the first time in a long time is Saturday and no one is sick and finally It is almost midnight and I am not tired. , So here we go.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
I love wrapping presents. I could never get enough of it, so if you need help just call me
2. A real tree or Artificial?
I don't really care but Spencer does. He loves the smell of fresh pine and I love to have my tree up and decorated early, so we compromised last year. I could get an artificial tree as long as I got Spencer a candle that smell like a pine tree.
3. When do you put up the tree?
It is really hard for me to wait but I try waiting for the day after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down?
In Ecuador we believed the Wise man didn't come until January 6Th, so I don't take my tree down until the 7Th.
5. Favorite gift received as a child?
My first bike. I believe I was five and although it was a quite cheap boy's red bike I loved it
6. Hardest person to buy for?
Spencer. He never ever tells me what he wants. It is always a guess with him and that's why he ended up with a shirt from the Big&tall department last year ( My bad)
7. Easiest person to buy for?
You could say the kids, although this year I found myself returning and exchanging a lot of toys I had already bought them.
8. Do you have a nativity scene?
Of course! It is the main thing about Christmas. My grandma used to hide the baby Jesus and she wouldn't lay him down in the nativity until after X-mas dinner on the 24Th, but Julia kept getting mad at me about baby Jesus not being where he should be last year, so I guess we'll try that tradition later.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I don't have a preference, although it is cheaper and more fun to create one and just e-mail it to everybody
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
On my last Christmas in Ecuador I just got one pair of shoes. NO more, no less. I was excited until I put them on and then . . . nothing, big let down
11. Favorite Christmas Movie?
"The King is Born" by the living scripture. We have made it our tradition to watch this movie on Christmas Eve
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
As soon as I see good sales coming up, which are usually after Halloween. I do it little by little depending on the sales. If you didn't know, I am a bargain shopper.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Hmm! Yes, sorry.
14. A favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Eggnog, Peppermint Ice cream, Candy cane hot chocolate
15. Favorite Christmas song?
I love to hear my Spanish Villancicos. In English I love Silent Night and Away in a Manger, but I enjoy listening to any of them. They just cheer you up!
16. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
If I could go to my mom's house, I would probably travel every year, but since that would take a lot of money and time, let's just say I'd prefer to stay home.
17. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
No, I can't. I only knew about Rudolph the red nose reindeer my whole life until I came to the US
18. An angel on the tree top or a star?
I really love having a star over my tree and be able to explain all about it to my kids.
19. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
I love to see a lot of clear lights on my X-mas tree.
20. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning?
Here is another compromise. I am used to opening my present at midnight and playing with them until two in the morning. Obviously kind of unrealistic with two little kids. Spencer is used to waking up early on X-mas to open them. The compromise is that we open one family present on Christmas eve and the rest on X-mas morning.
21. Most annoying things about this time of the year?
1)you never have enough time to get everything you need to do. 2)the tendency of people to forget that it is a time to remember the Birth of our Savior and not a shopping season. 3)grumpy people everywhere
22. Favorite Ornament theme or color?
I love gold and red. I don't own anything in particular just things that happened to be left over on the 90% off clearance shelves
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
The perfect Spanish dinner would have: Turkey, Home made hot chocolate, raisin bread, oven cooked potatoes and sparkling cider. The perfect English dinner would have: Ham, Funeral potatoes, apple pie and eggnog.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
I can honestly say that I already have everything in my life to make me happy. If anything though, a good night sleep + sleeping in one morning would be pretty much welcome.
25. Eggnog or wassail?
I love Eggnog, but I can only have so much of it. I am not even sure what the other one is, never tried it before.
26. When do you start listening to Christmas Music?
After Thanksgiving
27. What is the last thing you ate?
My neighbors brought us some caramel nut chocolate candy. so I ate that "yes, I ate chocolate"and a glass of nest quick strawberry milk
28. What is your favorite drink?
Hot Chocolate
29. Last people you spoke to on the phone?
Spencer
30. What are you listening to right now?
My husband's Nintendo Wii background music
31. What color are your socks?
White
32. Places you have lived?
Ecuador, NY, Ogden and Syracuse.
33. Favorite season of the year?
Christmas, with headaches and stress but I just can wait for it every year!
34. Most enjoyable things about the Christmas season?
Feeling the spirit of the season. The joy that you get by giving to others and spending time with those you love

crazy november

Well this a was a crazy month indeed. Spencer got Pneumonia. We all got sick with the cold. He had to take a couple of days off from work (never done it before) because of that.

I turned 26. getting so old. my cute family baked me a b-day cake. I have to say I love this kind of cake better than those pre-made ones. Thank You Spencer, Julia and Josh for a beautiful birthday, even though we celebrated it a couple of days later. last but not least without even been looking we decided to get a new car. My Mazda3 was starting to feel a little bit too crowded with two kids and their stuff. I felt like I was playing tetris every time I went grocery shopping, so a bigger car was starting to become my day dream.
Spencer surprised me and on my b-day we went to the dealership and got it. So long cute goldie car I'll miss you not, welcome to the family mini van ..I love you

halooween blast

Halloween came and went really fast. We did a lot of fun stuff before the 31st and on the 31st we had so many things going on that the whole day went flew away

We had a little neighborhood Halloween party for the kids, with a real witch , games, treats, magic potions and everything.

We waited in line (Spencer's least favorite thing to do) to go through the Syracuse pumpkin walk. Julia and Joshed loved seeing so many pumpkins lit up and carved so beautifully

On Halloween we trick or treated at grandma Smith and at great grandma James house first and then we headed for ToysRus. After that it was to the mall.
before we made it home though, we went to our church trunk or treat where we were able to visit with friends and enjoy a hot chocolate with donuts.

our pumpkin this year

was "Franky", Mickey & Cinderella

By the end of the night we came back home where Julia loved giving out candy to the trick or treaters.

I think that was her favorite part of whole day. she would looked at the kids standing at our door and give the most candy to whoever she though was dressed the funniest.

October surprise, my mom's visit

I missed posting a couple of great times we had.

My mom came and surprised us on the first of October. We had fun together, but she mainly got to meet his new grand son adn re-start her bond with Julia.
We went to the children's museum, the zoo, and we were also able to watch conference together for the first time since either of us got baptized.
I know my Father in Heaven knew about this special time and blessed those speakers with the right words because during the Saturday broadcast we were both in tears.
My kids love their "Lita" short for abuelita(grandma). We really miss her so much. every time we ask Julia where is lita she would get sad and say :"lita bye bye on plane"
Hopefully next year it will be our turn to go and visit them down in Ecuador. Until then I'll guess we'll have to be satisfied by exchanging pictures.

a couple of months have gone by and.....

Well here we are almost November. I can believe how fast this month has gone by. Well as i was reading my last entry i realize it's been forever since I had written anything and since both of my kids are taking a nap right now(miracle) I decided I would update my blog instead of cleaning the house. (he he, like I'll miss doing that).

My in-laws took us and Jenny, my sister in law and her two boys to the State Fair. I've never been to one before, so I felt like a little kid. Julia loved petting the animals, looking and admiring everything around her. Josh had a great time, although he is too little to truly enjoy any of this, he just sat on his stroller with a big smile the entire time

Julia had a blast going through all the rides and spending time with grandma and the cousins.

I also came to realize that my daughter is fearless. She got on a horse without hesitating. Takes after her mommy that's for sure. :)

Julia this summer...

Julia has developed a certain love for art. She can do this all day long: Paint, paint, paint.

She also, for some weird reason, loves to make the longest lines with her toys. She would start in our family room and some times go all the way to the kitchen with it. The coolest thing is that once she is done with the line she would lay at the end of it.

The poor sweetie got tired of working so hard on her line of toys, she felt sound sleep next to them, at the end of the line

Julia Can:

-she can count up to ten in English and up to 5 in Spanish.

-sing the songs from her favorite shows

-sing(partially) the ABC song

-open the fridge by herself

-do her bed and hep mommy do hers

-feed baby(when mommy is not looking)

-unload the dishwasher

-dress herself (doesn't match most of the time)

-put a VHS movie on the VCR and get the TV ready for mommy to play the movie

-drink out of a glass (without breaking it)

-say her prayers and blessings by herself most of the time.

Favorite movies are(rank form 1 to 10 in Julia's chart):

1)Mulan, 2) Sleeping beauty, 3)Cinderella, 4)Little Mermaid, 5)Tarzan, 6)Toy Story 2, 7)Toy Story 1, 8)Monsters Inc., 9)Cars, 10) Incredibles.

I took Julia to the movies for the first time on a mommy daughter date to see Wall-e. if we would own this movie it would be #1 for sure.

Julia has this Wall-e pj's she loves to wear, and if you ask her who is it she can make you the sounds that E.V.E. and Wall-e make. Favorite TV Shows:

Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse club house

Favorite Food:

veggies, specially baby carrots. She loves to pick between them and find the biggest one and say that's the mommy carrot and then she would find a little one and with a really small voice say: oh the baby!.

On to the man of the house....that is the little man of our house

Joshua this summer.....

This little guy loves to smile. this is just one of my favorite pictures.

He gets so mad when we start to eat. We have to hold him on our lap and he tries so hard to reach for anything that he could put on his mouth. Well, i guess after 5 months of formula-eating you gotta start hating it. Right guy!!

So that same week I started him on Rice cereal and I swear he can smell it when I start making it, because his little legs and arms start going a million an hour.

Favorite TV shows

Unfortunately his sis got him hooked on TV. He enjoys watching all the shows his sister watches. Play House Disney you got another victim of your shows.

Favorite things to do

He loves watching us. Specially Julia, and I love to see them bond as siblings the way they do.

Bad habits

He is a boy, and I've learn they come well trained on boy things.

Burps and passes gas like no other. Screams for attention. Loves to bite mommy's face.

Fun facts

He would suck on his arm and on his fingers. Sometimes he would bite his fingers so hard, it would make him cry, but after that he'll try the same thing again.

Joshua can do:

-He can sit up just for little bit, he rather stand.

-he can roll over, although sometimes i think he is too lazy to do it.

- can eat rice cereal

-he can definitely burp.

-he can follow any object

-he can find mommy anywhere.

-he loves to smile at her big sis.

He really does love standing.

I admire his little spirit. He has been sick for the past couple of months with colitis. If you saw him on a regular basis you couldn't even guess he had it.He is such a happy little bug. He gets this horrible cramps that make him scream sometimes, but once they are gone he goes back to smiles and happiness.

You are such a trooper Big J.

Our dear grandpa Smith. "A.D."

We couldn't get Julia to say or understand that this amazing guy was her great grandpa so we told her he was grandpa's daddy and that's how she called him from that moment on.

Last week we found out that he was closer to Jesus. He died October 8Th and we had the privilege to go to his viewing and pay our last dues to him.

When Julia saw him laying down I'm sure she thought that he was sleeping, because when they were moving him to the other room to start the ceremony, she said SHHHH! gran pa daddy is sleeping.

I'm amaze on how sensitive this kids are to the spirit. A couple of days ago we drove to Bountiful, and we have made it one of our traditions to find and point to the temple every time we go by it, anyways out of nowhere from the back seat of my car I hear: Mommy grandpa's daddy sleeping in temple.

It is hard for people sometimes to comprehend the concept of eternal lives and families, but here she was a two-year old explaining that beautiful promise to her mom.

I feel so bless for my kids spirits, there is no doubt in my mind that they are children of our Heavenly Father.

I have to admit, it is so hard to say goodbye to those who we love., I mean It's been 7 years since both of my grandparents passed away and missed dearly every day of my life. I am so thankful to know that I'll see them again.

See you later grandpa....

I fly?!!!

YeaH I flew.... last year for my birthday Spencer gave me the best present ever he gave me a training session for the I-Fly.
One of my dreams has always been to go sky diving, but once you became a mom and a wife those kind of dangerous things just grow further away in one's mind. Spencer been the thoughtful guy that he is got me a whole 2 minutes in the I fly chamber.
I have to say those were the most exciting, painful and scary 2 minutes of my life, I would definitely do it again HiNt HiNt honey! my b-day is coming up pretty quickly and don't forget about x-mas :).
So here are some pictures of my adventure they are not the best but you get the idea

Summer is here!

We been having tons of fun lately. here is just a pick of our main events this summer
Zoo

Discovery museum

 

Pool

 

 

Joshua turns 3 months

And he keeps growing. I love to see how his personality keeps coming in. He is very alert and very focus on things. He loves watching tv with Julia

 

Adios Diapers

All done potty training!
Thank Goodness it is all over with. We are really proud of our little girl. Julia has made a lot of changes this past week

She used to:
*pipi so much we would use 8-10 diapers a day*go to bed until midnight*be dependant of mommy for everything*eat little but drink a lot of milk*Use a sippi cup the whole day*pipi so much at night we could even wet the bed

Now she:
goes a whole day without diapers(even if go out)*loves to wear her princesses panties*she does a lot of things to help around the house*eats a lot more than what she used to specially veggies and fruit*doesn't care about her sippi-cup anymore*loves to drink out of a glass*hasn't have a pipi accident for days*goes to bed at 9:30

it is amazing all the changes that this little girl has made just because we started potty training. I 'm so very grateful to the people that made that Elmo's video because it has taught her so many new things. One of the things i absolutely love is that it teaches them what big kids should be doing like getting dress for themselves helping around the house etc., and this teachings has transform my toddler into a kid. She is self motivated and when she wakes up she asks me to help her make her bed and then she comes to help me make mine, she wants to clean up all the messes she makes to the point of grabbing the mop and the broom.

So here is what i did we mixed 3 things together:

1.- the $75 method 2.- Elmo's video 3.- rewards

we used the $75 method which basically tells you to let her run around the house with no diapers asking her every 15 minutes or so if she needs to go potty.
The first 2 days were the hardest for me I was about to kill her and kill myself for bringing this upon us. This is the period when we had the most accidents. Every time she would have an accident.
I am so glad it is all over now, there were so many time when I was ready to quit, specially when the accidents were done on our new carpet. Thank goodness we have a lot of laminate floors and that's where the majority of them happened, but now I am just glad that I didn't give up.

I got an Elmo's video with the only intention of giving her graphics on what we needed her to do but this movie did much more than that for us. I believe it taught her what big kids are suppose to be doing which encouraged all the changes
We also did Rewards. This was mainly Spencer's idea. We would give a treat every time she used the potty no matter how little or how much. Of course what better reward for a kid than a suckers.
I believe this is what made the whole thing happened because now she goes to the bathroom by herself without me asking her all the time and comes back to tell me that she did it and asks for her sucker.

So this is my story. I haven't even opened the last box of diapers I bought for her.
yeah for Julia!

Father's Day

We spent Father's Day with Spencer's parents just talking about how complicated but rewarding parenthood can be.

I'm so glad that Spencer has a great man to look up to and I'm so grateful for all the things he had taught my husband on how to be a great dad for our kids.

I think my kids are the luckiest kids on earth because they have a dad who adores them and loves them to death.
I think if Julia could talk more and express her feelings for her daddy they would be like the primary song:

I’m so glad when daddy comes home

Glad as I can be

Clap my hands and shout for joy

Then climb upon his knee

Put my arms around his neck

Hug him tight like this, Pat his cheeks,

n give him what? a great big kiss

.
Spencer is so dedicated to his family there has been days where he could verily stand up anymore because of a hard day at work and his reply to my concerns are: anything for my little family.

HE is extremely thoughful.He Just the other day he came home from work extremely tired, but told me to go to a girl's night out with some friend and he stayed with the kids and put them to bed.

Sometimes I wished we could give him something special, but when I ask his reply is always "I have everything I need right here" What more can a wife ask, but this response makes things complicated when it is time to buy a present.

This is why I had a Father's day fiasco.

I went to buy some cloth for him and i ended up getting him a XX LT polo shirt from the big and tall department at JcPenney.

I've never shopped in that department before but I though well Spencer is Big and Tall so it should work. Time to unwrap the presents and ....surprise! the beautiful shirt I had spend and hour deciding on was humongous, I mean not just big but huge, of course he laugh about it but I was so frustrated on my present I got a headache.

Spencer next time give me more ideas and save me a headache.

I love you Spence thanks for being a great Daddy...Love Julia, Josh and your wife

I can't believe it!

 elmo's potty DVD=8.99

JULIA USING THE POTTY= PRICELESS

Yes folks it's true I started potty training Julia last week and it's working, we only go through 2 diapers a day maybe 3 now and hope to go down to none soon. I'm trying to get her potty train in one week we'll see what happens.

I got this dvd at shopko for 8.99 but you can also find it at target for 9.99

So far this is what's going on:

 

Day One

Accidents: too many to mention

Success: 1

Day Two

Accidents: 4

Success: 2

Day Three

Accidents: 2

Success: 4

Day Four

Accidents: father's day we had a break

Success:

Day Five

Accidents:"0"

Success:5

Day Six

Accidents:"0"

Success:7

Notes: On this day we even went out to eat and then to the mall for a total of 5 hours.

She used a grown up toilet today for the first time!

Day Seven

Accidents:"0"

Success: 8

Notes: We went swimming today and she didn't even wet her swimming diaper

Josh's baby blessing

On June 1st Our little Joshua received his baby blessing. It was so great to witness as my husband pour down blessings upon him. My eyes are still opening when it comes to understanding the true Power of the Priesthood.
I'm so thankful to my Heavenly Father that i have a husband who cherishes it just as much as i do
Here is a picture of Josh as you can see my children are my models, i just love laying them down for a photo shoot






We were so happy to be able to share this special moment with family. We love you all very much and are so grateful you could come










Grandma, Grandpa Smith and Greg

Megan and Ryan

Eric, Jenny, Lance and Luke

Spencer, Julia, Joshua, Me, Great grandma James, Aunt Margret and Her daughters