Downtown Disney

My sister finally dragged us out of the house and away from all of the boxes to go spend the day at Downtown Disney. We had a fun time. Our big highlights were the Lego Store, Build-A-Bear, and ended with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

Tessa had a great time taking all of the boxes of legos off of the shelves, picking out a teddy bear, and looking at all of the cool animals at the Rainforest Cafe. She had lots of fun making her teddy bear. For those of you not familiar with Build-A-Bear it is a cute little store where you get to pick your stuff animal out and make it. There are tons of animals to choose from. Tessa originally wanted a white puppy with red and blue stars on it but with help from Auntie Jenny we got her to snuggle with a really soft teddy bear instead. Once you pick out your animal you get to take it over and stuff it. Once it is stuffed you get to put a heart inside (you give it a kiss and make a wish so it stays inside of the animal). Tessa was not very happy about putting her heart in the teddy bear. She got a little mad. If I would have known I would have just given her the heart. It would have been a lot cheaper!!! Then once your animal is stuffed you get to pick out an outfit to dress it. Tessa and I picked out a little cheerleaders outfit that are the colors of DJ's team. Tessa's cousin Abby picked out a sparkly purple dinosaur and dressed it in a Cinderella outfit. What more could you ask for? A dinosaur princess that my sister and I decided to name Cindersaurus. It fits Abby perfectly!!!

After that adventure we headed for lunch. Everyone thought the place was so cool. They got to look at fish and tons of fake animals... that is until the THUNDERSTORMS came :) My niece and nephew did not like them at all. They grabbed on to my sister and didn't want to let go. Tessa on the other hand gave me her "What was that?" look and then continued on with eating her lunch. Nothing can interrupt her eating... ha ha










Tessa as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot... now that is what we call a fun day!

Grampy's Birthday

We all got together to celebrate my dad's birthday on Thursday. We had a great time at my sister's house. Here is a picture of Grampy with all of his kids!

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!!!




Of course you can't get everyone to look at the same time :)
Grampy with his 3 girls (Jacqui, Me, and Jenny) and all of his grand kids (Keegan almost 2, Cole 5, Caden almost 5, Brady 6 weeks, Tessa 16 months, Abby 2, Ryan 6)

Happy Valentine's Day

Even though I can't be with my amazing husband on Valentine's Day I want him to know how much I miss my best friend!
I have really been blessed with the most amazing husband. He sacrifices so much for me and our family and I am forever grateful for everything he does for us.

To My Hubby
You are the one person I could never live without
You can always make me laugh without a doubt!
You make me so proud with everything you do
You really are a dream come true.
My love for you grows more and more
You are the one I really adore.
I hate not being there with you
To give you hugs and kisses too.
But know you are always on my mind
You are the most amazing husband a girl could ever find!
I could go on and on just rambling stuff.
But nothing I say about how much I feel,
Will ever be enough.
So know this Valentine's that there is no where else I would rather be
than with
My husband, my best friend, my everything to me!!!

Pictures from over the years









I love you with my whole heart and miss you a ton! Happy Valentine's Day love!
xoxoxo

Moving Day

It is finally over!!! Well the actual move is but not the unpacking :)
Our original plan was that we would look this off season to see if any houses caught our eye and move next off season once things calmed down a little bit. But for those of you who know us we usually don't stick to our plans, so of course we fell in love with a house and decided to put an offer on it on Christmas Eve and to our surprise the house was ours. The house is a perfect fit for our family with room to grow. We now have nice big bedrooms for all of us, a big kitchen, a nice big room for the family to get together and hang out in, a place to store all of our junk and TOYS, and a huge plus, a front and back yard! And it is within miles of my parents and sister's houses. We couldn't have asked for much more :) So a few days after DJ left we closed escrow on our new house and it is now up to me to get us all moved in before we leave for Japan.

Thank goodness for family!!! My poor parents were "hired" to help me pack up our entire house in about a week. My mom of course got stuck packing the kitchen and continues to joke that I have enough glasses for a cruise ship and my dad got stuck packing all of the heavy stuff while I went back and forth from packing to the kids. Talk about a crazy time, but somehow we managed to pack it all up and have it ready for the movers! I am pretty proud of us :) Then the movers came... and of course of all days it had to poor down rain! So my one day move turned out to be a two day move!!! But we survived the weather and the moving and have now "moved in" to our new house (I actually haven't slept there yet but our stuff is all moved in... so that counts). Now I just have a big mess of boxes to sort through and put away. So much fun!

Tessa trying to survive and help packing!!! She would make messes and try to sleep anywhere... poor girl!

Brady is 1 month!

I can't believe that he is already 1 month old! How time flies when you don't have a minute to sit down... ha ha!

Brady has already brought us so much joy. He is such a peaceful happy baby. He loves to sleep and eat. He is getting so big. I think he has gained over 3lbs in one month and has already out grown his newborn clothes and diapers. Tessa better watch out because her little brother is going to catch her in a few months :) It must be all of the sleep he gets. We have been lucky to have such a good sleeper. It makes my life much easier!

Tessa has also become such a great big sister. I think she hears him cry before I do sometimes and she is really concerned about what is wrong with him. She is really trying to say his name, but as of now she only has the "Br" part. So she walks around saying "Br... Br..." when she wants to talk to him. She already loves him so much!!!

Pictures from the past month

Good-Bye Day

Sorry my computer broke and I wanted to add pictures to my posts so I am a little behind on my posts!

I can't believe it is already that time again! Time for a new baseball season to start all over again. Didn't it just end? Didn't we just get home? It sure feels like it! But the day has come for DJ to venture back to Japan to start a new season. We are looking forward to the fun and excitement that every new season brings but are not looking forward to the next few months of being apart. No matter how many times we say good-bye throughout the year it never seems to get any easier! In fact, now as our family is growing I think it is only getting harder and harder. Just pray that these next few months fly by for all of us so we can have our family back together soon :)

Our good-bye day was not a fun day for us. Knowing that this year DJ was going to have to leave not only me (his wonderful wife.. ha ha) but his Tessa girl and his brand new son was very difficult for him. For me on the other hand, I was stressed out thinking Oh My I am on my own with a 15 month old, a newborn, and an entire house to pack up and move out of ALL BY MYSELF!!! All of this did not make the saying good-bye any easier. So my wonderful story of saying good-bye will probably be quite funny to all of you. It wasn't to me at first but it definitely cracks me up now :)

This year DJ decided he didn't want me to load up the kids and I for the trip to the airport (not to mention we probably wouldn't have fit with all of his luggage either) so he had his Dad come and take him to the airport early that morning. So as we were walking him out to the car (in our pj's), I decided to leave Brady to sleep on the couch and Tessa and I walked out in the garage. We watched DJ drive away blowing him kisses and waving good-bye. When he was out of sight I turned around to go back inside to find that the door locked behind us. With no keys or a phone to call for help, and my newborn son asleep inside the house, I took off sprinting carrying Tessa after DJ's car. Now keep in mind, it was early in the morning so we were both in our pjs and barefoot. I ran as fast as I could, Tessa in my arms (she was bouncing everywhere holding on to me with one hand for dear life and her sausage McMuffin that Papa bought her in the other hand), jumping through the houses screaming DJ at the top of my lungs like a crazy lady! I knew that if I didn't catch him I was in serious trouble. Thank goodness he heard me and turned around to help. I really don't know what I would have done because I couldn't go too far and leave Brady inside.

When it was all over DJ started to laugh and tell me how ridiculous I looked... and all I could think was GREAT he is gone 30 seconds and it has already started!!!

Daddy with his Kiddos before he left

Is it really only February?

Well call us CRAZY... but as you all know 2010 has been quite eventful for us so far. The new year has brought us a new handsome son, a new adventure and baseball season for DJ in Japan, and a new home! Talk about excitement all in about a 6 week span and somehow we are all still surviving :)
We are slowly but surely moving into our new home. We have been staying at my parents until things got a little more organized. So far the transition is going well and Tessa is loving all of the space she has to roam around. The piles of boxes are slowly getting smaller but they still seem to be never-ending! Maybe DJ is lucky to be missing out on this part?!?!

Below are some pictures of Tessa playing in our backyard. She loves to "water" the flowers and play with the grapefruit and oranges from our trees. She thinks they are really cool balls!!! Go figure. She is becoming such a silly girl. Her "big" personality is coming out. It is so much fun to watch her become her own person :)

Beautiful Blogger

First of all I need to thank Michelle for introducing me to the blogging world. I would have never started a blog without the idea and pressure Michelle gave me when I found out that my family would be living over in a foreign country for half of the year due to my husband's work. Now thanks to her I can keep in touch with my friends and family no matter how many miles apart we all may be! I used to always give Michelle a hard time for all of the little things she does (blogging, family websites, facebook etc.) but now I am just as bad as she is. Thank you Michelle for pushing me to do this. It has forced me to write down all of the wonderful memories our family has made. You are the best!

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself.
5. Nominate 7 bloggers.

Seven Interesting Fact About ME:
1. I REALLY think I am crazy for moving all by myself with a 16 month old, a 1 month old, and no husband to help me!!!
2. I can't wait until I can workout again and get my post prego body back in shape... if its even possible!!
3. I really think I have the best most supportive and helpful family ever... I thank God everyday for all of them!
4. I have gotten to be a stay at home Mommy and think it is the best thing ever... even on those days I want to pull my hair out
5. I don't get the big hype about Valentine's Day... you should show your loved ones how much you love them everyday. (Maybe that's because I have never gotten to celebrate a V-Day with my hubby...EVER... I don't think we have even been in the same state or country for it. But he knows I think he is the best husband and Daddy in the entire world)
6. I want to do something different with my hair but have no idea what to do... any ideas?
7. I look forward to my long hot showers every night... its my only alone time :)

My seven nominated bloggers: Sorry, but none of my friends have blogs.. hint hint and the ones that do have gotten this award so I don't have 7 :( Maybe if my friends get on the wagon and get to blogging I will
1. Sandy, the only one who can laugh with me at my crazy Japan stories because she is living them with me, Just to See You Smile
2. My cousin Lyndsay who still finds time to blog with 4 kids and a dog, Candelario Crew