Proud to be an American!

Most everyone knows that this past week my awesome husband became a US Citizen. This was a huge accomplishment for Ricardo and I’m sure many of the other naturalized citizens that attended. What many people don’t know is how difficult it is to become a US Citizen and how very different a legal immigrant’s rights are from ours. Ricardo came here nearly 12 years ago to attend college in Minnesota. He completed his Associates while learning English and then went on to complete his Bachelor’s Degree there as well. During that time he was here on an F-1 VISA which means he had to attend school full time (if not he could have been deported), only work when authorized, and pay for everything out of pocket. Our government does not help these students with Financial Aid at all! Ricardo completed his degree, got an H-1, or authorization to work VISA, and was allowed to stay in the US. Then he met me! We had to pay almost $1000 to apply for his Permanent Residence, get fingerprinted, submit all sorts of documentation including our marriage pictures, honeymoon pictures, and our marriage licenses to the Immigration Office, and then go through an interview to make sure it was legit. He had to do that again when his Permanent Resident Card expired this time with information about Alexander included. Finally after the allotted number of years passed he was able to apply for citizenship. We had to pay again and go through the same rigmarole as before only minus the interview with both of us but instead he had a to study very hard and take a US History test. He passed with flying colors and then was able to attend his ceremony this past week. This has been a long and arduous journey for him. Every time we travel he gets photographed, fingerprinted, and questioned at the airport. We had to worry if they ever decided to kick everyone out of the US that wasn’t a US citizen because he’d have to leave. Now, that’s all over. He’s a fortified US Man and can come and go as he pleases with no hurdles to jump. He can vote and never has to return to INS again for another fingerprinting or test! He said the best part of all of this is he has the power to chose if he wants to be Latino or American depending on his situation. HAHAHAHA! After we got done we ate lunch at his favorite resturant with Uncle Rick. He and Aunt Mary were kind enough to take time out of their day to watch the ceremony which was so nice! After we got home Melanie and I insisted that since Ricardo was a "real" American now he had to ride the lawnmower. The neat flag pic is compliments of Aunt Mel and Alexander. The pictures speak for themselves!

One Year Anniversary

Today marks the completion of year one for me at Ivy Tech. I can hardly believe time has passed so quickly. We have made huge strides in our office for improvement and it definitely shows. I have an awesome staff of hard working people that I have grown to love and have made some lasting friendships with and for that I am very thankful. I believe God has given me an opportunity to do something I am trained to do and a job that I have grown to really enjoy. As thankful as I am for my position and for those that work for me, I am equally if not more thankful for the Director that supervises me. She has become a friend and is always giving me positive and uplifting feedback on my performance. I am SO thankful to finally have been given the opportunity to work for someone that has very similar work ethics as I do and thankfully a similar humor. Over the past year we have continued to joke that we have done so much for this place that they were going to present us with a major award. I have many times grabbed my bottle of water and pretended it was an award and thanked the board as I faked tears and wafted my hand in front of my face hoping to dry them. Of course, my boss has nearly peed her pants every time. Well today, I got my "major award". I nearly fell over laughing!

This past weekend before Ricardo left for his tournament we went shopping for a much needed new lawn mower. Ricardo wouldn’t let me buy another push mower and insisted we find a nice rider so I could mow with ease…remember he HATES yard work. Anyway, we did find a new mower which was totally fun to use…hehe. My mom and Steve came down Saturday and I believe my mom took some pics of me on the mower…thankfully I have not seen them because I’m sure they’re horrible.

While we were shopping though Alexander took it upon himself to try on a cowboy hat in the Tractor Supply store. Hysterical! This kid is clearly not the cowboy type nor does it even come close to matching his personality but it was too cute to pass up the photo opportunity.

Karate Superstar

This weekend Ricardo and his school headed to the National qualifier tournament in Mason Ohio. All of his students qualified to go to the National tournament and Ricardo got first and will be competing as well. We're so proud of him! Now, we're on the countdown to July!!!

The life of a Karate mom!

When I go pick up Alexander from the Karate school each evening he is always so happy to see me but from a distance. The kid knows I'm going to take him home and away from his favorite place so he runs and hides and pretends I'm not there after a while. I'm beginning to wonder if the other parents think he dislikes my company. But, it's seriously so hard when I arrive to see that he not only loves karate and his daddy is just so excited about it but that he has a belt on...with his regular clothes. Thankfully today, Aunt ChaChi walked him out so I didn't have endure the hardship that is leaving the school. Can you see the smile on his face...it's from ear to ear.

Size 7...Seriously!

Tonight I took Alexander to check on whether his shoes were the right size. I had a sneaking suspicion that they were too small even thought I just bought the darn things. I couldn't tell where his toe was and sure enough my motherly hunch was right. That kid went up a whole size in like a month...now a size 7! So, I went ahead and bought his tennis shoes and a pair of cool blue Keens. I got an 8 in those since their sandal like and the sales woman said I could probably get away with keeping those through the whole summer if I got a bigger size. They are so super cute. Anyway, on my way home I looked back and saw Alexander with his foot on the door of the Jeep checking out his shoes and possibly trying to get the car next to us to see them. So funny! The tennis shoes are by Tsukihoshi and probably are made of gold from what they cost!

Fun at the playground

Mix it up!

My child, just like his Aunt Cha Chi, loves music! All of us have bought him any musical toy we can find, including his piano. He loves that thing so much and really knows which buttons to push to make certain sounds. The video is over a minute but around the one minute mark it starts to get good. Ricardo thinks he’s trying to do a karate form…of course! I personally think he's got his own little mixing table going on. He's a natural DJ!

Canal walk...new friends

Today we went downtown to the canal and ate outside in the great weather and then walked the whole canal. He got to see all sorts of dogs and ducks. He tried to kiss every dog that walked by...much to Ricardo's dismay. About half way we let Alexander run around and enjoy the great weather in this big open grassy area...well, he found some new friends. There was a group of young Asian people...probably from IUPUI that were going to play frisbee and soccer. Alexander thought they were there to play with him and he just started hanging out and making friends. He actually cried when we left. LOL. Then Aunt Melmie, Kristal, and Kristen found us on their bike ride and Alexander was overjoyed. My kid LOVES his Aunt Melmie so much! He cried again when she left. HAHAHAHA

First Jeep Ride

This past week Aunt Melmie took Alexander on his first Jeep Wrangler ride. Between the open roof and the nice breeze that kid was in heaven! He was so comfy in the back seat he didn't want to get out.

For Easter we got Alexander an Everlast Youth punching bag that you fill with water and air. It is the perfect size for him and he absolutely loves it. This was the first video we took right after we got it blown up and you can see just how cool he thinks it is. Not that I’m bias but this kid has serious sporting potential!

Playing with friends

This weekend Ricardo traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the US National Karate tournament. He did well but unfortunately didn't place. Thank goodness he'll be home tomorrow. :)

However, while the husband is away, the wife and son will play! hehe. Alexander and I drove up to Fort Wayne to see Aunt Teresa, Uncle Chad, Macy, Ben, and got the added bonus of seeing Natalie and Sophie (Aunt Teresa's nieces). We had a great time although when we arrived Teresa and I agreed it was like the Duggars with all the kids. LOL. We ventured to the neighborhood playground, grilled out, ordered pizza, and had loads of fun. Teresa and I put the kids to bed, Chad ventured off to sleep, and she and I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning talking, laughing, drinking wine, and just having a ton of great time. We haven't been able to do anything like that in YEARS and it was awesome. We just had the best time ever. I've said it many times that I am SO blessed to have two awesome best friends and even though our visits are far between at times and typically not all together, it's still great regardless. I am so lucky to have friends that know me, understand me, and love me regardless. It's total awesomeness! :)

Aunt Mel at it again with the props!

These boots were made for walkin'...

When you leave Alexander alone with his Aunt Melmie (that's how he says it) there's not telling what he'll have on or get into. This time he was walking around the house in his rain boots or shit kickers as I like to call them since I bought them for the back yard.

What are you looking at...

Yes, this is Sonny and all what seems to be 120 pounds of him (at the least). He's on his favorite perch, the picnic table.

My best friend Lori’s other daughter turned 9 today. I can’t believe how big she is. My two best friends and I (so lucky to have 2) always send each other’s kids birthday gifts and this year we sent Madie some really cool stuff…a new pink and grey Danskin warm up suit, a gift card to Target, and a pink headband straight from the beach in Venezuela. Lori said she loved everything so much.

Happy Birthday Madie! We love you!

My adorable little man

New countertops do not get first place over my adorable little man. He's sporting daddy's gold medal and that way too cute smile of his.

HGTV Right In Our Kitchen!

About 6 months ago we decided to get a quote on having our counter tops redone in our kitchen. They were in dire need of repair because age had begun taking it's toll. I have no idea how long they'd been there but I do know they were there when I bought the house almost 5 years ago and I never knew who to call to redo them. This past year when I started at Ivy Tech I had a private contractor custom build the desk in my office and he said he could build me a counter top at my house and gave me a free estimate of $1000. UGH! We were not about to pay $1000 to have that small counter top done so we sought out to find another person and thankfully my sister in law knows people that do a little of everything. Her friend Eric is a sub contractor and agreed to come over and take a look. This was in November. He said no problem and gave us a quote and decided that prior to Christmas would be the best but he ended up getting sick from a job he was on and couldn't do it before we went to Venezuela so we rescheduled for February. Well, we began the arduous task of setting up times for him to come and look at everything, measure, measure some more, and measure some more. Trips to Lowe's and more measuring ensued...after all he was doing this custom from scratch. Last weekend the building began. He came by again, measured and gave us tips on how to cut down our cabinets and another trip to Lowes took place (I wasn't mad about that because I LOVE the hardware store). Thankfully Ricardo was gone because he hates it. This weekend the time finally arrived for the full fledged demo and install. I was so excited for this weekend to finally come. Ricardo even got in on the action. About $600 later (we did buy snacks and beer for the guys after all and gave him $40 extra) we got our new counter tops and they are beautiful. He did an amazing job...we're so pleased! He's coming back in 2 weeks to add on some custom finishes around the shelves after I have them painted and hang 2 ceiling fans too. BONUS!

Now, I will add that there are concerning pictures of Mel and I using a saw in a way that was totally dangerous but we had no choice. We both still have all of our fingers and there was no blood shed.

One of my best friends has a 4 year old, Livie, and I’ve posted pictures of her before but this takes the cake. Today was school picture day and when Lori asked her what she wanted to wear these was her responses:

1. leotard with snowman pullover
2. bee costume
3. go naked

As you can see her choices did not win.

Weekend update

This past weekend was very eventful at our house. First, Ricardo left for the weekend to compete in a Karate tournament with his school. So, Alexander and I headed to IUPUI to see some old work friends which was a VERY unsuccessful trip. Alexander was crying the entire time...for what, I don't know. Friday night Alexander and I took advantage of some free time and had dinner with our friends CJ and Nicci. We had an awesome time and Alexander did a great job at dinner. Saturday we found out Ricardo got a silver and ChaChi got a gold at the competition which was awesome AND our kitchen renovation started. I can't wait until Tuesday for it to get done. Sunday was not so great...I started feeling bad and so did Alexander AGAIN. But, at least Ricardo got a gold medal at his competition on the north side on Sunday. We were pretty excited about that. Alexander made yet another trip to the Dr. today and low and behold he has the croup, AGAIN!

Handy Work

Yes, this is my handy work. On Sunday, I had out my drill, level, laser level, drill bits...you name it. It's been a while since I've had time to do a project around the house and I loved it. Alexander stood there and watched me intently so I let him hold the drill and "help"(despite his sickness). I am going to go out of my way to teach him how to use tools. Ricardo does not like projects of any sort and I love them so I have a bit of a challenge cut out for me.

Sick...really

Alexander had a bit of a fever on Friday but quickly went away with some Ibuprofen. Saturday however, he progressively got worse so I called the Dr. He said we were doing everything right but to take him to the Immediate Care if he got worse. We decided after he woke up from a very late nap with a 103 fever that we'd take a trip to see the Dr. Sure enough our otherwise healthy little man had Tonsillitis. He got a prescription for Amoxicillan and children's (not infants) Ibuprofen. Well, despite his sickness, he has been overly wild and maybe a little mean. We're assuming it's the medicine because he's typically a very sweet little boy. Sunday, I decided to do the two projects I needed to get done since Ricardo was home...hang the new baby gate that I stained and take down a shelf with cookbooks and hang 5 new shelves (we're having new counter tops put in this weekend and have to move things around and redecorate). Well, after the gate got hung Alexander quickly realized it would be a great place to practice his Karate. I had to film it because he was kicking that thing with purpose. It was as if it was an attempt at a jail break.

Date Night

This past weekend started out with a fun trip to Bouncer Town with our friends Melissa, Mike, and Gracie. Unfortunately, the batteries I put in the camera were bad so we didn't get any good pictures. It turns out the I-Phone they have and the BlackBerry I have do not take good action pictures. Anyway, Alexander planted a good one on Gracie and then gave her a purple baloon at Red Robin. Ya, he knows how to treat the ladies.

Silly Boy

I caught Alexander playing with a pair of my sunglasses. Ricardo took over and actually put them on his face. Not sure exactly what that silly face he's making is all about but it was so cute, we had to grab the camera.

Homemade Card for Aunt ChaChi

Aunt Mel took some time last week to make a nice homemade card with Alexander for Aunt ChaChi. He's slowly learning to love coloring and quickly learning that crayons are not to eat.