Trick-or-treat

I love this time of year. The holidays are approaching. We had a fun Halloween! We went trick-or-treating with Padrino, Tio Alex, and cousin Tyler in P-Town. M-Kid made out well on the candy (with the help of Ghost-Rider, I mean Daddy). Even Mommy got in on the fun as a kitty (my usual costume)! We were planning on having M-Kid wear his lion costume, the same one he wore last Halloween (still fit him), but he didn't want anything to do with it. So we dressed him in army clothes (army sweatshirt and army pants that he already had) and put some black paint on his face and spiked his hair. It worked. He knows he likes candy too, so we gotta be careful! He had fun though, going up to the doors, saying “trick-or-treat” and thanking the people for the candy. He did really well for a first-timer. He was one of the smallest kids out there too. Hope everyone is doing well. Here are some pics- the one where he is actually wearing the lion head is at the zoo when we went with Kuma...he only wore it for a few seconds though! And the last one Mommy is kissing Ghost Rider----scary! Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Happy October!

Happy October! We have been blessed with some great weather lately…a little bit of rain here and there, but mostly sunny and nice. It has been really busy getting used to all our changes, but we are pretty much settled in. I started my new job a month ago. I am working at a development firm that specializes in retail construction as an Account Coordinator. I really like it so far. Great company. M-Kid is in preschool full time and is having fun. He likes his teacher, and we really love the school. We feel like he is in good hands. Even though he protests in the morning when Daddy takes him to school, he is happily playing and excited to see Mommy when I pick him up. The best part of all- everything is closeby, practically no commute! I love it. We have been pretty busy on the weekends as well. We have been getting ready for Halloween, visiting a pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, making candy apples, and putting some decorations up. M-Kid loves the Halloween decorations, at first he was scared, but now he asks for them. M-Kid has been talking in sentences a lot more. Everything is really coming together for him. His teacher says that he is really smart and has a great memory…he knows the daily schedule at school and if they get off schedule he will remind her what is next! M-Dad and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary this past week. We had a good time going out and hitting the town, just like back in college. I can’t believe how much time flies by faster as you get older. I also just went to my 10 year high school reunion this month which was a trip. Saw a couple of old friends, but not that many people went. Of course we mostly hung out with people that we still hang out with today! I am glad we went though. Pic of us at our reunion.

We made it

Just a brief update. We made it. M-Dad is working at his new job, we are living in a cute little house, I am interviewing (praying!!), M-Kid is starting preschool tomorrow (part time until I find a job). I found a really great preschool nearby, M-Kid didn't want to leave when we visited. They had lots of great learning rooms, outdoor play area, and of course the winner was the train table in the 2 year old room, lol! Still settling in....it's a process! Especially with a toddler :) It has been a huge transition for us all, but a good one. I feel really great here. So far, M-Cat seems to really like it. He already wants to go outside. Maybe eventually... It is nice to have light coming in from the windows in the house. Ahhh...windows...and ventilation. No more dungeon living! Might I add that it is nice not sharing walls and having the building manager knock on your door randomly. We have a small yard that M-Kid can run around in as well. The weather has also been quite nice. Still finding my way around here, streets, where the grocery stores are, etc. There is a library and a park nearby for M-Kid. A train passes by nearby as well, which M-Kid loves to go watch. There are also airplanes that fly overhead (airport is in the next town over), which he also loves. Whenever he hears a plane, he stops what he is doing and says "go see it" We have been quite busy this last couple months trying to make plans. A lot happened since I last wrote! Let's see, some things we did include: Camping and Disneyland as a family before M-dad left to start his job up North, Disneyland with Gran PD, and Disneyland with Nana B and Uncle R- wow we had a lot of fun, but don't think we need to go back for awhile! Let's see...what else. Say goodbye to the daycare kids, hang out with family, pack and clean up the house, enjoy our last walks and routines in G-Town, Mom's 50th birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!) and last but not least M-Kid's 2nd birthday! I am probably forgetting some stuff, but it has been a whirlwind. We had M-Kid's 2nd birthday at a Train Park. Lots of friends and family came to celebrate with us. We had a great time. Thanks to all who shared the day with us :) It meant a lot to us. Hope all are happy and in good health. Blessings!

Changes, New Oppurtunities, The Unknown

Well, lots of changes going on around here. I keep meaning to update....but it has been quite busy. The biggest update: as many of you may know, and some may not, M-Dad has accepted a job opportunity up North. It is similar to what he was doing at his last job (import/export/shipping company), but with better pay/benefits and hopefully a better boss! The main reason it was time to leave his former company was due to the fact that his boss was an extremely unfair, unreasonable, boss who had no clue how to treat employees. There were other employees who left for the same reason. But, that is all water under the bridge now....M-Dad got some good solid experience, and will move on to bigger and better things. M-Dad left G-Town today in order to start his new position tomorrow. M-Kid and I will be staying here for awhile longer, length of time to be determined....but probably a couple of months or so. We have things to take care of down here, and would like to make sure his job works out, and we find a good place to live up there, etc. Not to mention, I have to figure out what I will be doing. I think I am leaning towards going back into the regular working world, and sending M-Kid off to pre-school. I have enjoyed working for myself, working from home, running daycare, and spending my days with my M-Kid and the tots...but I think this might just be the right transition point for us to make a change. So, the details will need to be worked out. We are also working towards our future goal of buying a home (eventually, maybe not right away) hopefully in P-Town. This is where we want to be, live our life, etc. We have enjoyed our time living in G-Town. It has obviously been nice to live close to my family and be just a short drive away. It has been wonderful. Our location couldn't be more perfect. In walking distance from the mall, many shops, parks, and more. It will be really hard to move away from my family and the comfort we have here. We were really feeling like everything was in place, for the time being anyway. And it is just that. We knew we wouldn't be here forever. It just isn't the longterm place for us to be...the quality of life isn't what we want. The traffic, the poor air quality, the people (depending on the area). M-Kid updates: He will be 2 soon. We are celebrating his birthday down here at a train park (where else??!) He has been testing us a lot! He is talking a lot more, repeating words, using phrases, comprehending a lot, learning his numbers and letters, he knows most colors and shapes as well! It is amazing how much they can know and learn at this age. It has been so rewarding and such a blessing to see his progression and know that I actually taught him something! Anyway, that is all for now, as I need to go off to bed. Here is a pic of us from last night, M-Kid's last official night living in G-Town. We had a BBQ at our place, and then went to an awesome car show that was within walking distance.

Aaaah yes, it has been awhile. Let's see, not too much has changed. M-Dad is still at his job, continuing to gain experience in the import/export field. I am still at home running small-scale daycare, only 2 other children besides M-Kid right now. Doin' a few hours here and there with the consulting- picking up work where I can. Tomorrow I have a field job 2.5 hours drive away. Woo-hoo. A few updates... Well, a major one. Kuma and Brian got married this past weekend. A beautiful wedding! We had so much fun. M-Kid was the ringbearer (along with J-Kid, Brian's nephew), Kuma was a beautiful bride, I just barely managed to hold my tears back when she walked down the aisle. We have known each other for 15 years now. WOW! M-Kid is talking a lot more, using 2-syllable words, and putting words together. He is doing really good with learning his colors and shapes. We are still working on learning 123's and ABC's. Today he said "purple flower" He definitely knows purple, since we have so many purple flowers on our path to the park. We have a game that matches a shape to the correct flashcard, and he knows them all- heart, star, circle, triangle, square, rectangle, oval, diamond. His favorites are heart and circle. When he was coloring with his crayons, he drew a circle, and said "circle!!" He will also run in a circle and say "circle!" I was amazed. Something new everyday, he is so smart and learning so fast. Finally, wednesday was Uncle R's 16th birthday!!! I can't believe he is growing up so fast. I remember the day he was born. I was at school (6th grade), my aunt came and picked me up. He had been born right as I was getting out of school that day. We went to the hospital and there he was a little bundle of joy in the nursery. I was 12 years old! I loved helping take care of him. Happy Birthday Uncle R!!

Thanks be to God

Thanks be to God. The power of prayer is amazing. Padrino is still with us and we pray that he continue to gets better. Rewind to almost 2 weeks ago. We get a phone call that Padrino is in the hospital and might not make it through the night. We had plans to drive up north to the bay area for the Easter weekend the following day...but we immediately booked a flight when we heard the news so that we could be there for Padrino and the family. It was a stressful few days, but all we could do was pray. It was in God's hands. M-Kid had the best time of anybody though, hanging out with the R-fam and playing. Picture to the left is of us on the steam trains. The night before we left, M-Kid got his first real injury- he was bit by a little scruffy dog...in the face! It was very scary, but thankfully he healed up just fine. It could have been worse. Neosporin does wonders! In other news, M-Kid is 20 months! Wow, it seems so much closer to 2. He is talking a lot more, I can't even count his words anymore. He can basically repeat any word you ask him to, mostly just the 1 syllable words. He is working on 2 syllable words and phrases...still got some time for those. He answers questions with a "yeah" or "no" and is really starting to understand how things work. It is amazing! I am also currently working on numbers, letters, colors, and shapes with him. He is really into learning new things. I too, am learning a lot through the parenting process... about myself, about child development, and the importance of teaching them about how to live life.

M-Kid's Survey

My name is M-Kid I really like to go to the park, go for walks, play with my trainset, watch Thomas & Friends DVD When I grow up, I am going to train engineer or soccer player My biggest talent is dancing, throwing a ball, doing animal sounds You will most often hear me say Mama, up, help (when he wants his trains connected), bye-bye, wawa (water) My best line so far is Cool Dude If I could meet one person/animal/character it would be Thomas the Train! If I could bring one item to a desert island with me and mom, I'd bring my Thomas & Percy trains The naughtiest thing I've ever done is Running ridealong toy into people at full speed, unrolling t.p roll, throwing or hitting things (after mama/dada said no) On Saturday mornings you can find me watching Thomas & Friends and eating breakfast w/ Mama & Dada If I could eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be anything dairy, goldfish crackers, cherry tomatoes, and pickles

Best Husband and Son Ever

M-Dad is the best. I come home from a job on Saturday, and he had flowers, birthday gift, and homemade card waiting for me on the table, and that is not all. He hung a "happy birthday" sign for me, and made me my favorite drink (version of a lemon drop). THEN, he told me to go check in our room for another gift. I walk in, look at my desk, and something is different about it. Not only is it clean and organized...there is a new flatscreen computer monitor! Wow, my desk is definitely a lot bigger now. Furthermore, on Sunday after church, we cleaned our place up a bit, including steam-cleaning our carpets, which M-Dad did the cleaning part, while I vacuumed and scrubbed the spots. Our carpet gets dirty REAL quick, especially with toddlers running around throughout the week! It is a light color, and once something spills on it, it stays! But it looks a lot better after the cleaning. Anyway, I just wanted to say how happy he made me.

Next...M-Kid, what a little sweety pie. I got my special birthday "gift" from him the night before last. He has known how to give kisses for awhile now. He even does it without asking. But this time, it was just extra special and loving. I was holding him, and he looked straight into my eyes, and gave me a kiss right smack on the lips, followed by two more kisses. And once he was done he gave me the sweetest smile that I've ever seen....a smile that meant "I Love You Mama." Anyways, I got tears in my eyes during these moments. I want to remember them forever. So, on to other subjects. My boys are sick...well, M-Dad's main condition (BP) has definitely gotten better, pretty much a full recovery now, thanks to God and all of the prayers. M-Dad has some sort of a cold though, and M-Kid has conjunctivitis and an ear infection. But they both seem to be doing a bit better. M-Cat is also doing much better (see post below). I am now officially 28. Do I feel different? Not really! I feel like my life is very full and blessed at this point. I do feel like 28 is a substantial age though. Late 20's. Married. Baby. Working. Hopefully a house one day (sooner or later?) Living life. Doing alright. Can't complain! Anyways, all I can pray for is many more years with my family, living life in happiness, good health, new experiences, and success.

Rough Week

It has been a rough couple of weeks for many it seems, but things are starting to look up. Any spare prayers are appreciated. M-Dad has been seeing the accupuncurist twice a week to help his condition, and taking herbs and some medicine that is supposed to help. He is starting to feel some improvement. We had a bit of a scare with M-Cat and had to take him to the emergency pet hospital...he had a urinary obstruction and was in a lot of pain...after an expensive visit to the hospital (who ripped me off) and a more reasonable visit at our regular vet the following day, is at home recovering now. God has given us many blessings...just have to remember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Much love and prayers to all of our family and friends.

We have an 18 month old!

It has been a couple months since I have posted, didn't realize it has been that long. In the middle of doing a few things at once. Been busy! Well, we made it through the new year. M-Dad had his 30th birthday- we went to Catalina for the weekend and had a relaxing time! M-Dad and M-Kid's first time there (and M-Kid's first boat trip) and my umpteenth time there (used to go every summer as a kid). M-Kid's update: Have I mentioned that he loves trains, I mean LOVES. He has the Thomas the Train train set, and he takes "Thomas" and "Percy" the trains everywhere he goes. They are his friends :) He gets reaallllly excited when he sees any train-related thing, especially Thomas. We let him watch the Thomas and Friends show every Saturday morning, and ONCE in awhile he gets to watch the DVD. It is fun stuff. M-Kid just turned 18 months old on Saturday the 17th, and he continues to learn really quickly. He has been talking a lot more especially in the last month, some of his favorites include: choo-choo, animal sounds (dog, cat, duck, monkey, frog, lion, cow), bye-bye, water, juice, up, hot, hat, down, dog, night-night, out, no, hello, ow, help, mama, dada, bath, bubbles, shoes, walk, and a few others. He also is great at waving, clapping, giving hugs & kisses, giving high 5, dancing, following instructions, jumping on mama and dada, and letting you know what he wants! He is also learning right from wrong, and will look at you and shake his head or wave his finger around before he tries to get away with something- testing us! Anyway that is all for now. Blessings!