CRAZY!!!

One important thing I haven't mentioned is the fact we have a new kitten!!!

Her name is Autumn! And she is a spit fire... cute but crazy... Her sister Caramel was adopted by Ben's sis!!! It's nice to have a pet again!
For some strange reason Alyssa is scared of the cats!!! I say cats because we've been taking care of both Caramel and Autumn.. and they are CRAZY!!!!

I've NEVER met cats who like water/baths..but I guess you should never say never! One night while giving the kids their bath, these crazy cats started to climb me to see what I was doing.. before I knew it .... BOTH cats jumped into the bathtub (while the kids were just getting out) and started walking around in the water... like nothing!!! They weren't scared or freaked out.. they were acting as if they were walking on carper! So I had Ben finish getting the kids ready for bed, cause I had to bathe the cats!!! Now every time I give the kids a bath... it's a big ordeal.. I have to bribe the cats with food to stay back and not jump in! Lord help me... two kids is enough to bathe..and now two cats too... What kind of cats like water is what I ask you???

Happy Halloween!!!

Yay.. it's Halloween! CANDY..jk :)

This year the kids decided to be TinkerBell and Optimus Prime!!! Watch out! (Lance was "Flash Gordon" and Allie was a "50's Girl".. too cute)..

We celebrated Halloween by having my parents come over, Carve Pumpkins , and go Trick-or-Treating!!!(see our pumpkins??)

My dad enjoys walking around Trick-or-Treating with the kids and us, while my mom stays behind to pass out candy at our house.
(partners in crime)
The kids had a GREAT time Trick-or-Treating with their friends and running from House to House! Toward the end, their bags were so heavy that they dumped them in the stroller for Grandpa Joe to push back home! I hope everyone had a nice Halloween!!!

We even got to continue the fun the next day at Stevie's 5th Birthday Halloween Bash!
(Happy Bday Stevie)
What a weekend... sigh!

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

One tradition that started in my family is going to the Pumpkin Patch! My dad would always take me and let me pick out any pumpkin... I guess cause it's one of my Dad's favorite holidays.. that I'm as equally excited to have carried on this tradition...

One thing is for sure... the Pumpkin Patch has become a mini carnival since back in the day! I had the opportunity to take the kids to the local pumpkin patch by my parents house, with Michelle and my family (minus Ben..sniff sniff..he had to work)

Dom and Alyssa had soooo much fun with their buddies Lance and Allie!!! They got on rides, jumped in jumpers, and ate nachos...

Then before we left, my brother Steve and his family joined in on the fun!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

It was an ARR-mazing Birthday!!!

Well Dom's Birthday has come and gone... and it truly was a Great One!!! We had sooooo many friends and family come, we are truly blessed! We were missing one KEY person though.. Grandma Annie... :( It wasn't exactly the same!
Dom had a great time.. from the moment he woke up and the jumper arrived... to seeing all of his presents pile up!!! He was however the classic kid when it came to opening gifts! He literally threw the clothes to the side and started on another gift till he found a TOY!!! ha ha...
One other set back was that my poor mamas had a fever and wasn't up to par! Thank goodness for Motrin.. because whenever that kicked in... Zoom.. there she went!>>
All in all.. it was an Awesome Day. Just seeing my boy sooo happy was more than enough for me! Thank you everyone for all of your love and making Dom feel extra special!

Dom's Bday Weekend!

We started celebrating a lil early!!! We had the opportunity to take Cupcakes, pizza, and goodie bags to all of Dom's classmates at his school! He was really happy to have us there and it was very CUTE! He still gets shy when they sing Happy Birthday, but you could see the joy in his eyes...

Alyssa even came on down for some of the action from her classroom...

We Love you Dom!

One More Week

In one week my lil boy will be 4 years old... It's amazing how time flies.. I remember hearing my grandparents(miss u guys) always saying "I remember when they were born" and I was always like Whatever.... now I'm them... I remember the day sooooo clear and its been 4 years since I went to have Dominic... It is so incredible to watch him grow up!!!

 He is soooo excited about his birthday this year!  He pretty much helped me plan it... I asked him if he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese...and he said "NOPE!"  "I want a party at my house with a Jumper for all my friends."  I guess we are weak to his commands...cause that's what he's getting...  of course with a Pirate Theme....aaarrr

At work I've been very busy with meetings, back to school night, conferences, etc... that I am really looking forward to missing and being able to take CupCakes to Dom's classroom!!!  Wish me luck...cause I still have a thousand things to get done before the big day!!!

GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone! Just wanted to give you a latest update!!! Ben and I went for an Ultra Sound earlier this month and found out...

Recap!!!

I don't know why blogging has been such a challenge for me lately...but it has! There have been sooo many neat things to tell you about..and I have been slacking.. So I decided to RECAP..

Let's go back to Summer Vacation! Lord knows I WISH it still were!

This summer we had the opportunity to go on a Mini Vacation to Big Bear...Compliments of my Cooking Sales! Everything was paid for..NICE! We took the kids to a Zoo in Big Bear and even went night bowling till MID-NIGHT!!! My kids can be quite the Party Animals!

We then took our Once a year Family trip! We normally go to Hawaii, but decided to try something different! We even had the honor of having both sets of GrandParents join us!!! We went to Cancun, Mexico!!! It was a nice getaway and the kids LOVE spending time with the grandparents! We of course hung out at the Pools and Beach (so incredibly beautiful!!!), went to see the Mayan Pyramids (El Castillo).. it was unfortunate that you are no longer allowed to climb it~ When I went 12years ago, I was able to climb all the way to the top!(it's challenging) but apparently over the years people began tagging the inside of the pyramid and someone fell off climbing down and DIED! YIKES... but nether the less it was a beautiful sight! We had one small scare while there... we lost Alyssa!!!! It was the WORST 2 minutes of my life... I thought she was with my dad and when I saw him..and NO Alyssa ... I freaked! No one knew where she was.. I went searching for her and heard her screaming and a stranger asking her "where's your mommy?" I grabbed/hugged/and felt like passing out all at once! I have learned my lesson on letting Alyssa walk ... NEVER AGAIN.. she then remained in arms or strapped in the stroller!!!!
Alyssa Trapped!!!

We also went to Xcaret... It's a big park with cave snorkeling and adventures... It probably would of been awesome if we weren't SWEATING our lives away... It was SOOOOO HUMID~ I had to keep pouring water over the kids face to cool them down... Let's just say..I've never been that sticky in my life!!!

The next neat thing we did was go to a Water Park... Kinda like Raging Waters... But, Ben and my Dad got to swim with Dolphins!!! I wanted to, but was banned since I'm Prego! BOO! Instead I spent our waterpark time with the kids in the kiddie area! We still had fun.

My birthday happened to be while on vacation this year... We celebrated by eating out at Ruth's Chris!!! YUMMY! Too bad Dom slept through my entire Bday dinner :(

Lastly, we took a short trip to Vegas in August also... It was my brother Steve's Bday Wknd and my nephews Bday also...(Happy 5th Bday Rhys!!!).. The neatest part was it was no kids!!! I stood up to 4am in the casinos gambling...sadly to say, we came back LOSERS!!! But had a nice time!

Ahhh... Can't wait till next Summer!

I'm Pregnant!!!

Due in February... We are all very excited to see our family grow!

I picked Junior High...

After much thought and consideration.. I went to the Junior High Teaching Position! Wish me luck... we all know how kids that age can be...ha ha...

Where does time go???

I don't know what has happened to my blogging.... I was getting a bit lazy and would miss a week here and there.. and before you know it, it has been THREE months since I last logged in... I actually had to try a few logins.. since I almost forgot it!!! oops

Well let's see... what has been new the past 3 months... hummm... Oh wait! Before I forget.. On Easter... March 23rd.. it was my mom's bday!!!!!! Happy Bday Mom!

Ok.. now back to the rest of the months... Lots of birthday parties, cooking, end of the school year, start / end of summer school, drama at the work place...yup thats about it in a nut shell.

Now were at the present time... new dilemia

Whether or not to transfer to the Junior High School... 

The opportunity came up almost the last day of Summer School when the Head of Special Ed told me of a position at the Junior High and I should think about it... Tempting... In the past I would of never considered it, because of the age and attitudes.. but now as I get ready to enter year 10(can you believe I've been teaching for a decade) the Prep Period is really tempting...

For those of you not familiar with the whole teaching world... Elementary is by far the most demanding!!! 

The kids are easier but you have to do 3x's as much planning!  You're responsible for EVERY subject!!!! Reading, Writing, Math, ELD, Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, Health, and PE!!!! So you can see how much lesson planning I had to do!!!!!!!! Now at the secondary level (Junior High and High School) as a teacher you're in charge of 1 to 2 subjects... like Math and Science.. plus since the students move from period to period (6 periods total) you only have each group of students for a 50 min block and they give you a Prep period.. so on top of your lunch break...you get a second big break... You can use it to lesson plan or test a student... all the things us elementary teachers do after / before school... So as you can see... I'm really thinking about this opening.. Wish me Luck!!! It's been a while since I've interviewed!!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

(oh my gosh... it's my daddy's birthday!)
Can you believe Ben is now considered "middle aged"??? 35???? I remember when he was 25! Father Time can be mean! I decided to have a little BBQ for him at my parents house! It was mainly family and our neighbors Mike/Michelle. It was a nice turn out with lots of food!!! The Ice-Cream Cake was the best...yum! Happy Birthday Ben... I LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday Allie!!!

Sorry this is so late.. March was a blurr... But our little neighbor Allie is offically the BIG ONE! That's ONE...literally! On March 16th!!!! She had a cute party at My-Gym and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Dinner with Friends and Family!

Ok... So Ben and I had the chance to go to this Lunch Show about a month ago.. and we were like WOW! It all started when a co-worker asked if I could attend one of his show...I of course said yes cause that's just me... Plus I figured "a free meal without having to chase my kids, no dishes, no helping, healthy, and no obligation!... I'm there!" We were so impressed that we decided to buy our own set a week later and start doing the Dinner Shows as well for the free gifts... We've done 4 Dinners already and everyone who has attended really ENJOYS themselves... the food is good, the company is good, and really no pressure.. I mean of course they're going to ask if you want it, but we had several people pass on buying and instead just want the free gifts or free meal..no biggie! That's why were doing the shows! The gifts are AMAZING...and FREE.. even if no one buys from your show! Have two more this weekend... I'll keep you posted! Thanks Paul/Erika, Steve/Diane, Mom, and Friends for helping out... You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter!

I think we've made some progress since Christmas! hee hee... My kids just love taking these pictures! I hope everyone has a nice Easter!

A New Slide to Play On!

We have been wanting to get some kind of outdoor play system for a while now... and when we finally got serious and started looking.. we were saddened to admit...."Our yard is too small for anything with a swing!" How depressing.. I've always known our yard was small, but never thought it was that little... Especially compared to some of the newer homes!!! Well we decided to get one with a cool slide...not too baby and something they could use! The verdict is in and the kids are happy! It has been a hit! Meet the Little Tykes Climber!!!