More of what they say...

***Cristina

"Can you scratch my cheek becasue I can't because they (shaking her arms) are sleepy?"

*****
The kids are talking about the planets in our car on our way home yesterday. This is what their conversation was like(if I remember correctly...)

Charlie: What would happen if earth was real close to the sun? How close is it now?

Me: It is close, but not hot enough not to live on earth.

Charlie: Since pluto is not a planet anymore, it's really cold.

Carolina: How cold?

Cristina: Like two Alaska's cold.

I love their over generalizations! I can't get enough of them!

The effects of being hungry...

So Caro says this morning: "My tummy hurts 'cuz I'm not eating."

Young Meditator

After coming back from our trip in Houston, I turned around and heard Carolina making a humming sound. When I asked what she was doing (and to my surprise) she responded "I'm meditating...aaaummm". Luckily, I was also able to capture her in action as well!!

Our Vacation

11 days; 264 hours; 15,840 minutes; 950,400 seconds; 1,226 miles; 775 photos; 3 children; 2 states; 7 cities; 2 weddings; 1 speeding ticket; 1 broken toe; 1 family and lots of patience. Yep-that's what it took for us to have our vacation this year!

Fourth of July 2009

Don't Talk to Strangers

So my youngest, Carolina (5 yrs.), is listening to this song by Rick Springfield and the chorus starts "Don't talk to strangers."...Then I hear her tell Cristina (7 yrs.), "You know that's true...you're not supposed to talk to strangers." That little girl never ceases to AMAZE me - EVERYDAY!!

Vacation with a "Bang"

After a long and roller coaster ride of a school year, we are finally taking our much anticipated vacation this summer. Once summer school ends we will be going to Dallas, San Marcos(hopefully), San Antonio, New Braunfels, Corpus Christi, and Rockport.

During our vacation, we will be attending two weddings! On the 4th of July we will be going to Charlie's cousin, Kenny, and on the 11th to Carolina's day care teacher, Ms. Medina, at the beach in Rockport.

We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends on both events. We will be taking the kids to several attractions and parks. Can't wait!!! And that's just me!

Take a look at last year's Smilebox scrapbook: 4th of July Camping Trip .

CM designs

Here it is...my very own "Hall of fame"-if you will. I've been wanting to display my creations for a very long time somewhere I just didn't know where or how (yes, it's true; I didn't know!). At the same time, I've also given my creations a personal touch by adding "CM designs" to them when completed just as a professional artist signs their work of art. CM Designs basically devired by putting my first and last name initials together and since all of our names also begin with "C", I thought it was the perfect name.

I've taken pictures of some of the gifts, cards or just stuff I've created and didn't know what to do with them until now. Although I already have a personal blog, It hadn't occured to me to do the same in Blogger! After much anticipation, it is finally up! I am so excited and can't wait for you to leave me any comments or suggestions. I want to thank you for visisting and taking the time to read my blog. Check it out by clicking on the title for this blog. *Don't forget to bookmark it!! :)

See you around Blogger!
Carmen

Japenese Tea Garden

We took the kids to a Japenese Tea Garden located right before the San Antonio Zoo. It's so close that I didn't know it was there! We had never noticed it before!! The place is beautiful and mesmerizing. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye especially if you appreciate nature and its natural surroundings. The kids loved it and enjoyed watching the coy fish, turtles, and a family (with their mother) of ducklings. Walking through the garden was so soothing. The beautiful waterfall at the middle of the garden was breathtaking. After reading a little about its history I was compelled to learn more about it. So I researched it in the internet after our trip. It's things like this that shows us that we need to be more appreciative of what we have and our family. This is a perfect example of taking care of our earth and "going green".

Capturing plant life Taking a nature walk & Cooling off A mesmerizing waterfall
The beautiful Coy Fish

Downtown Aquarium

After our short stay in San Antonio we headed to Houston where our hosts, Manuel & Judy Gonzalez (family friends), took us to the Downtown Aquarium in central Houston. It was another fun adventure for the kids. Like at the Tea Garden in San Antonio, the kids encountered many animals such a Macaw bird, Poison Dart Frog, various fish, sting rays, a 20 ft. long snake, and even an incredibly beautiful White Tiger!
Awesome picture with "Reef" the white tiger! It was as if he had posed for us.


After the Aquarium, it was time for the Diving Bell (like a ferris wheel) without the men because they are afraid of heights. Finally, we went to the Galleria. Even though the girls' and Charlie's hearts were set on ice skating, we didn't do that. I felt they were still too young and would have gotten hurt just trying to stay on their two feet! We enjoyed the rink just as spectators this time around. Petting the sting rays who were very friendly
Under the sting rays!
Our shark voyage
We were told by Judy that Charlie got scared of the popping shark, but he was such a good sport

Above the Diving Bell
After having breakfast at IHOP, we were back on the road to Laredo. We'd like to thank the Gonzalez's for a great weekend at their home and for being great hosts. We had so fun much in such little time. It's amazing how much you actually get done when you have limited days to do it in. I guess it's true when they say that things come out better when they are not planned. All this took place on a three day- and much needed weekend!

Charlie's First Holy Communion

After two, long, and much anticipated years of CCD classes, my "baby boy" made his First Holy Communion. Although I knew this day would come, I never thought it would fall the day before Mother's Day. Which is why this day was so exceptionally special for me. I felt so blessed that one of my Mother's Day gifts would be that my son receive the next sacrament after baptism. I am so proud of him. We were also blessed that Father Michael (the same priest that baptized him) was able to officiate the ceremony (He had had a heart attack not so long ago and was in critical condition). This was his first official mass since his incident. He even got to do Charlie's reconciliation a week before. He admitted to me later that he was nervous about confessing his sins to Father Michael. I'm glad to say that went well. Now we prepare for Cristina's ceremony next year....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Easter Sunday

We started the day by going to mass in the morning. We returned home for what would be the most anticipated event for the children. We decided to spend Easter at home this year. Some of Charlie's friends and relatives came over to spend it with us. They day turned out so nice and the kids had a blast.

My own little space

After Charlie's Dad had closed the garage and decorated his own "work shop" space, I was left with a small enough room to hold my washer & dryer and small storage space. After a converstation with Charlie, I shared my thoughts on the future of the small space left between our garage and the door that led to the inside of the house. I wanted this room to serve two purposes- a laundry room and a place to store my scrapbook supplies (that I stored in the dining room). As soon as we received our income tax we began purchasing the supplies needed to begin this project.
After my father-in-law dedicated many tidious and countless hours working on my little space (which took about a month) it began to take shape and eventually morphed into a space I never expected to ever have. It actually turned out better than I expected! My Scrap Room- as I like to call it now-has become one of my favorite places to spend time in. Between the Spring Break and Easter holidays I've already dedicated countless hours in it. I got so inspired that already finished one album and six pages. I am so proud of myself! I hadn't scrapped for a while so this is a big accomplishment for a scrapbooker. Needless to say I will be scrapbooking in my little room during the summer!
I want to say thanks to my Father-in-law for his artistic carpentry, my brother-in-law, Jerry for the electrical wiring, my second brother-in-law, Bobby, for wiring my Direct TV, and my husband for supporting my love for scrapbooking. Thanks you guys!!! And yes, I will be making a page about my new little space!

Here are some before and after pictures.