Bella's 4th Bday Party Invitation

The preparations are on their way. Her birthday is 6 months away but time flies and I rather start working and preparing early :) Here's her

Princess Pixies Birthday

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Funny Sayings...

We've decided to start a list of all the funny sayings Bella comes up with :) So, here's a start..

"I'm not being cute, I'm just a princess"

"Tying doesn't matter, only winning" - while competing to see who can finish breakfast first.

Bella: "My hand is dead"
Me: "Bella, where did you learn that?"
Bella: "It's ok Mommy.. I'm just pretending it is dead like a bug"

On a side note, our trip to Hawaii was awesome and Bella had a wonderful time going to the beach every day!! I'll post some pictures later :)

Christmas time!

I know, I know.. it's only early November.. But since I helped put the Christmas tree up at Archiver's (where I work) and decorate the store, I convinced Billy that we should put our Christmas tree and decorations up at our house too :) Time is surely flying and Christmas will be here before you know it! So Friday night with Bella's help we put our Christmas tree up only to find out all the ornaments and decorations are at my parents house. A little disappointing but we still got to listen to awesome Christmas music and over the weekend Billy got all the boxes out of the attic and I promised Bella we would decorate tonight!

So, besides working on the Christmas tree, the decorations and listening to Christmas music, I've also started working on Christmas cards. I'm hoping that while we are in Hawaii we can do a family photo shoot to include in our cards. Sending and receiving cards for Christmas is one of my favorite things. It's hard to keep up with all our family and friends during the year - from California to Pennsylvania to Florida and everything in between. But it seems that Christmas always reminds us what is most important and I love seeing pictures and reading what our friends have been up to for the past year.

While I usually send some handmade Christmas cards to family and friends, I've also ordered cards from Shutterfly. And this year they have over 700 different designs! I particularly love this Christmas card because you can include several pictures and pink and brown are my favorite colors! :) I've actually been printing pictures with them since Billy and I got married 8 years ago and love their products and customer service. I've also ordered several of their photobooks for us and as presents for our parents. Like this album I did for Isabella: ABC of Animals or this other one I did of our summer: Summer 2009. One thing I haven't done is calendars but I've seen some beautiful ideas so I might have to look into that as well :)

Well, lastly, be sure to check out this link for an awesome promotion by Shutterfly! You can receive 50 free greeting cards! Can't beat that! :)

I'm still alive!!

WOW! It's been a while.. just busy with work, home, Bella, church, etc etc.. I think the last time I posted I hadn't start working at Archivers. So, yes, I work at Archivers and it's awesome!! Especially the part where I get an employee discount on all my favorite scrapbooking products!! :) I know, I'm special :) And I'm still scrapbooking of course and while I'm way behind on my pictures (I just finished July 2009 pictures) I love making pages and relieving the moment while looking at the pictures.

Bella turned 3 in June and we had an awesome party at the church for her. We even got 2 bouncy houses for the price of 1! She also started going to Pre-school full time at Tiny Tigers. She really loves it and has so many good friends at school and church. She's so smart and funny! This semester, she started attending a Ballet/Tap Dance class at the YMCA and she looks so adorable in her little ballet outfit. She's continuing her Gymnastics class and I think she likes it better too - maybe because she's really good at it!

Well, I better leave some stuff to tell for a later post. Hopefully not a 8-month-later post ;)

Here's Bella ready for her 1st day of school :)

WHO DAT?

Saints won the Super Bowl for the first time in the franchise history! 31-17 agains the Colts. Drew Bress won MVP! And Billy's so excited beyond words! :) We can't wait til next weekend when we can celebrate with his family in Louisiana! :) Bella was so cute and I can't believe she stayed up the whole game. She was wearing her Saints uniform and would say "Go Saints" every time we told her to :) Well, after the game was over we gave her a bath and she finally fell asleep at 9:45 pm! :O Tomorrow will be interesting, to say the least! LOL

GEAUX SAINTS!!!!

32 months!!

Wow.. it's been almost 3 weeks.. I was writing an update to a friend and reminded me I hadn't posted here in a while.. So, here's a little update from us :)

We are doing good. Getting over some cold/sinus thing that got Billy and I this week. But otherwise doing good. We are still very sad about Mocha, especially because Bella still includes her in our prayers when she mentions all our family - nana, papi, tio, grandpa, grandma, daddy, mommy AND Mocha :( We are going to Louisiana next weekend and I'm not sure how we are going to tell Bella that Mocha died :'(

Bella's doing good. She turned 32 months yesterday!! That's 2 yrs and 8 months!! She's enjoying her gymnastics class and loving "school".. She goes to daycare at the church's school (K-12) and part of the day she's with the pre-K kids. She loves it! She's learned so much too! And she loves to sing - even if she doesn't know the song's lyrics! Her gymnastics coach is super impressed with her. She's the best in her class and we are hoping she can go up to the next level even before she turns 3 (which is the rule).

The "terrible twos" are going ok.. not too terrible, if I say so myself. She went through a "NO" face but for the most part she's out of it. Now that she can talk it's so much easier.. even if sometimes she talks back! :O LOL.. But we just gotta keep correcting her and she learns quickly :) It's like when she started walking and everyone makes you panic because (supposedly) it's going to be worst.. but for us it was great! She became more independent and if she wanted a toy she'd just walk and grab it! Now, if she wants something, she speaks. And I don't let her whine (too much)... although she still does it sometimes.. But being with other kids in school (some of them older than her) has helped her to be more aware of boundaries, sharing, social cues, being a "big girl", etc.. It's great!

She did learn to climb down from her crib (which I think I posted) so that's been a bit challenging.. Before she'd wake up and stay in her crib playing with her stuffed animals.. now she climbs down, opens her door, closes her door, and comes to our room and gets *this-close-to-our-faces* and freaks us out!! LOL It's cute but sometimes it really scares us..

But all in all, she's adorable and bossy.. LOL.. she bosses around her stuffed animals and even some of the kids at school :O The teacher said it's a "helpful" bossiness, which I'm sure it's just as bad. And she's too smart for her own good! She sure is a handful!! But then she loves to cuddle and kiss you and it makes you forget you wanted to strangle her a minute ago.. LOL

As for myself, I've been making cards and selling them. I'm almost done with my 2008 pictures and I'm hoping to start working again. I'll know for sure on Monday! So, I'll post some news then :)

Sunday report

We had a good day. Watched a movie this morning with Bella (The Incredibles) but I think most of it went over her head.. LOL

Then we watched some football and had a very relaxing afternoon. Billy was *very* happy after last night's game when the Saints won 45-14 against the Cardinals.

And while he was watching the game I went to Archivers and scrapbooked for 6 hrs :) These are the layouts I finished... I might add a few extra embellishments but I'm so glad I'm almost done with my 2008 pictures!! :)

Our baby Mocha...

Mocha died Thursday night at Billy's mom farm. It seems she got pneumonia and went downhill really fast. For the last month or so, Bella has been praying and she always prayed for Mocha, along with her grandparents, uncle, Mommy and Daddy and everyone else. She was indeed part of our family and we are really sad. But I have faith that we'll see her again! There's gotta be a special place in heaven for our sweet pets!

She was such a good dog and she loved us so much, especially Billy and of course Bella. We were so fortunate to have her for almost 5 years in our family and we are going to miss her so much. She'd have turned 5 on January 25. And all we have now are the memories we shared together...

Thank you all for loving her and taking care of her one time or another. And thank you to everyone that emailed us or posted your condolences.

These are 2 layouts I did 2 days before she died.

Crib Climber

Yesterday while we were at church, Bella started climbing up and down the cribs at the mother's room. My mom thought it was so funny and started taking pictures of her... In addition, she hasn't taken a nap in 4 days!! Not a good combination...

Fast forward to today. She had lunch and then both Billy and I tried to put her down for her nap. But she refused to! So we just left her in the crib and after crying for a little bit, she started talking and playing with her stuffed animals. Then, while Billy and I were having lunch here comes little Isabella walking out of her room with her blanket... *sigh* I think this definetely marks the end of "babyhood"...

Maybe once she goes back to "school" and her routine she'll start napping again. One can only hope!! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We went to the zoo today with Papi, Nana and Grandpa Bill. Bella loved it! She loves seeing all the animals and learning about new ones. It was a free day at the zoo and so it was literally a "zoo"!! It was packed and between our stroller and my mom's wheelchair it was quite difficult to walk around. But we managed..

Yesterday I worked all day until about 6:30 pm. So, when I got off work I went home and finish getting dinner ready for our family. Billy's dad drove from Lousiana to visit us and my parents and brother came as well. We had a nice dinner and then decided to play Scrabble. We have a Deluxe edition but hardly ever play.. So, last night we had fun playing a Bilingual version of Scrabble (for my dad's sake mostly) and laughed so hard at some of the words :) We only played 1 round and I won with 126 points!! :) GO ME!! After the game, we watched a movie and paused at 11:55 to watch the ball drop at NYC. We went to bed at almost 1 am but miracles of miracles, Bella slept in until about 8:30 am!!! I was soooo grateful she didn't wake up at like 6 am like she sometimes does..

So, I hope and pray that God will continue blessing us with a wonderful new year full of health and happiness and love and peace and every blessing that we ask of Him. I'm not doing a list with all my "new year resolutions." I just want to continue enjoying our time in Houston, continue to exercise regularly, and continue to set aside time to scrapbook and stamp and create crafty things :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We had such a good time last night and this morning with my parents and my brother. We had dinner with them - Colombian tamales, green bean casserole, arepas and blueberry grape sparkling juice. We then opened presents and Bella had such a great time opening everyone's presents. All in all, she got over 40 presents!!! :O Dont panic.. most of them were $1-$2 little presents but she did get a Crayola easel and 2 cute playhouses plus lots of accessories.

Anyways, I'll have to post some pictures later..

Paci-free!

Wednesday night was Bella's 1st time sleeping pacifier-free! She did so good! Billy told her she was a big girl now and didn't need a paci. She then threw the pacifier in the trash can. At night, she got her blanket and her milk. When she asked for the paci we reminded her that she was a big girl and that she had thrown the paci away because "big girls don't need pacis." And that was it! She went to sleep and slept through the night. She has been a little sick (runny nose and cough). But I really thought she was going to cry all night for the pacifier!! I'm sooo glad she didnt!

Last night when she asked for the pacifier we just reminded her again and she said "Oooh ok." And just repeated what we had told her "I'm a big girl and I don't need a paci." LOL She's so smart!! :) We'll see how she does tomorrow at my parents house. Billy and I are going to a church member's home to watch the Saints game and Bella's sleeping at Nana and Papi's house :)

Gingerbread House!

I cant believe how fast December has gone by.. It's already the 16th and in just a week Christmas will be here!!!

I guess starting to work at Michaels has made my weeks and days go by a lot faster. My feet and legs and shoulders and everything else in my body hurts... but I like the people I work with and it gives me something to do.

I've also been Christmas shopping and Bella might set a new record with all the gifts she has under the tree :) But a lot of them are "small" gifts and some I separated into smaller gifts so she had a LOT of wrapping paper to tear through Christmas morning :) She'll have a blast!!

We also made our 1st gingerbread house yesterday. It turned out ok and I assured you, it looks a LOT better in the picture than it does in person! LOL But Bella had so much fun decorating it and eating the candy decorations, it was awesome!! :)

GO SAINTS!!

I hope you are not tired of pictures because I took the cutest pictures of Bella today in her new Saints Cheerleader outfit :)



This is our Christmas tree

The garland on top of the fireplace with the stockings (I'm still looking for 1 more stocking holder)

Bella's Little People nativity set and her mini Christmas tree


A wreath I did last year

Pictures :)

Billy and Bella at the New Orleans Zoo :)

A shot of beautiful downtown Houston yesterday while I was driving to the airport to pick up Billy

Our car this morning before going to church.. all frozen up :(

My little chiqui being silly :)

Bella and Tio David.. she loves her tio :)

Snow Day!

I've been missing for a while.. we went away for Thanksgiving week to Billy's mom's house and this week I started working at Michaels while Billy was out of town. We had a good week at mom's house and Bella *loved* spending time with Grandma, Grandpa De, Grandpa Bill, Aunt Kathy Jo (aka KK), uncle DeDe, uncle Dan and cousin Danielle. And of course she loved feeding the baby cows and seeing all the animals.

We had a great family dinner with lots of yummy food on Thanksgiving day! And on Friday, we went to the New Orleans Zoo (even though I was dying to go shopping) but had so much fun seeing all the animals.

My dad, brother, Bella and I drove back Saturday night and Billy stayed in Louisiana to fly with his family to Maryland for KJ's surgery last Monday. Praise the Lord the surgery went well and she's recovering nicely. A big scar and lots of pain meds, but they are hoping to fly back home early next week. Billy flew back today in the middle of a "snow storm," according to Texans... ;) I guess having lived in Michigan thought me that unless it's a blizzard (and even then) live goes on...

We survived the snow and by that I mean, I survived driving around the idiots that don't know how to drive in this weather. Although I gotta say, we'd call this a *dusting* in Michigan.. we had just a very thin layer of the white stuff.. The bad news, Bella's school/daycare closed and so I had to call grandpa to the rescue because I had to work from 12-3 AND pick up Billy from the airport. Anyways, everything went well and besides my soar legs and shoulders, I'm happy!

Up early

Bella got sick Friday night - high fever, coughing, runny nose... ARRRRGGGGGGG... I hate when she's sick! Yesterday we stayed home from church and I don't think we are leaving today for Billy's mom's house.. maybe tomorrow.. can't deal with a sick baby at someone else's house..

Anyways, she's up and so I'm up.. sorta.. lol.. *yawn*

And while I'm up what better thing than to post a picture or 2 of my little girl :)

We went for a walk with my parents and Bella rode her 4-wheeler. She pushed the "go" button all the way there and half way back. It was by far the longest she'd "driven" her little car.

Here's Bella at her Music class at the YMCA. She loves playing with all the instruments and helping the teacher put stuff away. She's *so* organized!! I wonder why... :)

She *loves* going to the park! Nothing much else to say :)
And last, but not least, Bella riding her first bike. It's really a tricicle but she absolutely loves it nonetheless! It was raining, so she went up and down the hall a hundred times!! Even after she fell and we put ice on her head (for 5 seconds) she said she wanted to go out and ride the bike again! LOL Funny girl!

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News, updates and announcements

Gosh! it's been 10 days since I last posted. I was sick for 2 weeks so that's partly why I've been out of sight.. Billy got sick too and Bella has been on the fence.

We are getting ready to go over to Billy's mom's house for Thanksgiving week and Bella is so excited to see the cows and grandma, of course! :) We are going to spend the whole week there and I cant wait to eat some yummy turkey and everything else! Please keep KJ (Billy's sister) in your prayers. She'll be having brain surgery on Nov. 30th to remove a tumor. Billy will be going up to Maryland with her for the surgery, so pray for me that I'll be ok by myself with Bella :)

Also, I got a job!! :) I'll be working part time at Michaels. It's seasonal and I'm hoping I can get the "real" job I applied for at the City of Houston's Emergency Management office.

And last but not least, is anybody interested in buying one (or more) Holy Bears? Bella's school is doing a fundraisers and they are only $10/each and SUPER CUTE!! You can see all the cute bears at www.holybears.net and email me with your order or post a comment here. Thanks!

Feeling sick

I hate being sick. And I hate when Billy and Bella get sick. It's just miserable and not fun at all.. I've been up since 3:30 coughing and feeling yiaky.. well, I've been coughing and feeling yiaky for a week now. That's partly why I decided to go to the ER at 5 am! My throat felt like it was burning when I woke up and I didnt know if perhaps it was strep or something worst.. BUT, apparently all I have is allergies and got 3 prescriptions for some antibiotics, steroids and allergy meds. I hope to start feeling better soon. I'm so sick and tired of coughing and feeling like crap :( Plus I've been drinking TONS of water and I go to the bathroom every 10 minutes..

I'm just glad Bella stayed with my parents last night so Billy and I could rest - even if I woke up at 3 in the morning!