Fourth if July and...well, mulberry pie

I'm not much of a baker but we discovered we have several mulberry trees. So, our friend Beth picked some at her mother in laws and made a pie a few weeks ago. I started picking ours and made a pie after I froze two bags full. I have a bit if tweaking to do with the recipe but all in all it was pretty tasty! And festive I might add!

Family Resemblence

Can you see the obvious resemblence of Alexander with his Abuelo (Ricardo's dad)? He's the child in the front in the middle!

Dinner with Sensei

Jeep repair

Mel and Alexander took a few minutes on Sunday to determine if his Jeep needed repaired. It was too stinking cute not to snap a few pics!

Play set revival

It's not done but its a good start! Thanks Josh!!!

Happy Father's Day

 This year Father’s Day was a bit low key for us. Ricardo had an elite camp at the karate school all weekend so Alexander went to visit the grandparents with my parents and I stayed at home and hung out with my friend Jen all day Saturday which was super fun. We ate lunch out, shopped, and enjoyed the weather. I did take Alexander to our neighborhood pool Saturday evening for about an hour before Ricardo and the other karate folks came back to our house for steaks on the grill. Alexander fell in love with Sensei Amy and spent the entire weekend enjoying her company. Sensei Brandy was also at our house but didn’t come until later Saturday night so we didn’t get to spend as much time with her. Sunday I headed to church with mom and Alexander and then spent the rest of the day with my awesome family. We took a much needed afternoon nap and had some friends and my parents over for brats and hamburgers which was a lot of fun. Not only are we blessed as a family to have such wonderful friends I am personally blessed to have Ricardo for a husband and the father of our son. I recently told a friend that I certainly cannot complain too much about Ricardo. He embodies everything that the Bible outlines when it comes to love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. He’s patient, kind, slow to anger, is always loving, loyal, trusting, and treats others well. No, he may not be the most organized guy in the world and I might get very irritated with how messy his dresser drawers are but when it comes to husbands and dads, he’s the best. He’s taken care of Alexander since he was born which means he hasn’t had to go to day care. He is overly patient with me (I’m very lucky). And, most people think he’s a pretty cool guy with an awesome accent. He encourages me to do whatever makes me happy and goes out of his way to do what will please me. I honestly could not ask for more in a husband or dad for our son and God certainly knew what he was doing when he brought us together!

Weekend Fun

I took off Friday and Monday to do some things around the house and to have an extra couple of days to enjoy some time with the fam and our friends. We cooked out, garage saled, shopped, went to the pool, church, Ricardo and Eli even went fishing. We also got to tour our new kid's wing at church which is beautiful! Great weekend, great friends, blessings a plenty! 

Interesting read

I was recently sent a link to an ingenius blog and I cannot stop reading. The Actual Pastor http://www.stevewiens.com/

I had to take a moment and post a portion of one of his posts. Too awesome not too...

You are not a terrible parent if you can’t figure out a way for your children to eat as healthy as your friend’s children do. She’s obviously using a bizarre and probably illegal form of hypnotism.

You are not a terrible parent if you yell at your kids sometimes. You have little dictators living in your house. If someone else talked to you like that, they’d be put in prison.
You are not a terrible parent if you can’t figure out how to calmly give them appropriate consequences in real time for every single act of terrorism that they so creatively devise.
You are not a terrible parent if you’d rather be at work.
You are not a terrible parent if you just can’t wait for them to go to bed.
You are not a terrible parent if the sound of their voices sometimes makes you want to drink and never stop.

You’re not a terrible parent.

Life Lessons

I started writing these a while back and saved them on my computer at work and must have forgotten them. I started thinking of life lessons that Alexander should know and compiled a list. I'm sure as the years go by I will add more but I thought this was a good start!

You don’t need a reason to help people.


Embrace diversity!

When you’re in love, it should never hurt.

God always has your best interest in mind.

It’s ok to like nice things, it’s not ok to take them for granted or think you deserve them.

Learn Bible verses and apply daily!!! Psalm 91:4 is a great one!

Don’t be afraid to be single.

Lay on your Grammy and P’s couch and be lazy as often as you can. When you’re big, you’ll look back and cherish those days with every inch of your heart and soul and only wish you could relive them again.

Fall off of your bike and be ok with it. It will teach you that falling down isn’t so bad after all, even if you have rocks in your knees.

Find good friends. You’ll know they’re good if you’re ok leaving your kids or your pets with them.

Be nice to people because it’s required.

If you like it, that’s all that matters. No one else has to agree with you.

If you judge others, expect to be judged.

Think outside the box when it comes to finding a spouse. That’s how I met your dad.

Go to church – it should be a non-negotiable staple in life!

Learn useless knowledge (it makes you interesting)

Be proud to be a Christian and stand up for your beliefs but don’t try to push them on others. That’s not how you bring people to Jesus.

You are a bi-racial child. Be proud of that, always!

Learn how to speak Spanish fluently. It will make your dad very happy!

You are super cool!

Keep playing the drums.

Learn how to read music the right way!!!

It’s ok to get a tattoo later in life but make sure it’s something you like and won’t show during a job interview.

Please learn how to clean, iron your own clothes, and take care of a pet. Your future partner in life will appreciate you for it.

Learn early on in life how to accept God’s will for your life; If will make things a whole lot easier for you.

Try new foods whenever you can

Enjoy traveling no matter where the road takes you

When you have kids one day, if you have kids…it’s ok to let them sleep in your bed. They grow up so fast!

Learn how to budget your money and pay bills on time. Good credit is really important.

Learn old fashion bible hymns

Respect nature

Don’t be afraid to cry even if someone tells you it’s not ok. It’s always ok to show your emotions through tears.

God will always love you for who you are and who you will become!

Learning how to use tools should also be a non-negotiable in your life.

Never bully anyone! It’s not nice and makes you look like a horrible mean person.

Even if you don’t want to be someone’s friend, you should always respect them.

Sit by the unpopular kids sometimes. It will show your true colors of compassion and grace for others.

Be the unpopular kid sometimes!

Love your siblings (if you ever have any). They will be your good friends when you are older. And, they’ll help you do things.

Work to obtain your Black Belt. Karate helps you stay disciplined and learn respect.

Make it a priority to call your grandparents at least once a week.

Tent sleeping

Alexander has taken to sleeping in his play tent! So cute!

Turtle save

My sister and I did a total uturn on a busy street Saturday so she could save a turtle! 

Ricardo's new ride

Ricardo bought both of us new cars recently and he took his straight to the sign guy to have the karate school info put on it. I have to say, it looks really great! 

Alexander's First Belt Test

Yesterday was Alexander's first belt test for his yellow belt. He is one of the youngest kids at the karate school and is doing a great job and he really loves karate...just like his dad! Ricardo was so excited that he was able to pass him yesterday and can see him progressing in the sport. I have to remind myself he's only 4 and not to push him too hard but knowing how awesome Ricardo is at karate, it's hard to settle for mediocre performances. I'm so excited about October when he gets to compete for the first time!

And I quote, "I don't know why people complain about this...it's actually fun"! So, for the past 6.5 years I've heard this guy refuse to mow. All of the sudden Sunday he's Mr. Green Thumbs! Really?

Memorial Day 2013

We spent the entire weekend enjoying time with friends and family! I have to say that's my favorite thing to do...even when our house was much smaller. I love having company and hanging out and enjoying a great conversation, a good laugh, and a cold beer. This weekend I got to do all of those and some things around the house. The really fun part though was our party on Saturday. At last count we had 47 people at our house. Yes 47! We had kids running everywhere, screaming, having fun, and allowing their parents to sit and enjoy themselves. I think I saw Alexander 2 times the whole day. They ran around the pond, pretended zombies were chasing them, climbed the play set, played badmitton, and ate a ton of hot dogs! Alexander even got a great surprise visitor...his friend Ava from school. Her and their family came and enjoyed some food and corn hole which was great. I did not take all the pictures I should have because I was having so much fun hanging out and enjoying a great day!

House in full bloom

I took some pictures of the very back of our property. I'm so thankful for what we've been blessed with. Alexander (and MeMe) are certainly enjoying it. 

Alexander's last day of school

Today was Alexander's last day of school for this year and the last time he'll attend at the Y. We've decided to put him in a Christian School for his last year of preschool. Thankfully the kids in his class will all be 5 before November 1st so they're all the same age. This year, he was the youngest in his class which we preferred so he could gain maturity and learn a lot. We didn't want him to the be the oldest in his class and get bored. He was the youngest and yet the most improved per his last report card. We're very excited about his progress and are looking forward to what he'll learn next year both scholastically and spritually. Last but not least, today was the last day he'll see his friend Ava all the time. We're hoping we can meet up with them and let them hang out sometimes because they really bonded through the year. 

Alexander's gift to Ava

Alexander's best friend at school is Ava. Surprisingly Ava is a brunette but not so surprising is that she is older...all of 5 months. Today his dad helped him with a card and a cute little birthday gift special just for her. My Latino is fast at work always! His dad is so proud!

Dinner Prayers

We try very hard to make an effort to pray before meals even though we don't always succeed. The other night I asked Alexander if he wanted to pray for us and he said ok. So he bowed his little head, put his hands together and said...

"Dear Heavenly Father...I hope you had a good time in church, I hope my mom is good at work. We love you! AMEN!"

As funny as it was, I had tears in my eyes that he ended his prayer with "we love you". I'm so glad he's learning to love Jesus and that we're trying to set that example for him. Like I said we may not always succeed but God knows we're trying! :)

Congrats Mom!

Saturday we celebrated my mom's successful graduation from Ivy Tech. It was a great day with the fam hanging out and enjoying mom's acomplishment. Grandma and Grandpa stayed with us over the weekend which was so fun. Now that we have the room, it was great to have them and not be crowded and have to see them leave to go to a hotel. We all got to ride in my new car which turned out to also be my Mother's Day gift. Can't complain about that for sure, huh! That was also great because all 6 of us fit. Bonus! So we hung out at graduation and had fun messing around and laughing during the ceremony that was 3 hours long. Thankfully my awesome kid was a trooper the whole time and was able to sit on Aunt Meme's lap and get lots of attention from everyone. We couldn't have asked for a better kid! We headed to dinner afterwards and enjoyed a nice relaxing meal with the family and watched mom open her gifts...one of which was a bedazzled gymnastics trophy from Mel and Krystal. Seriously, that was the funniest gift ever! It said Ivy Tech on one side and I'm smart on the other. HA! And, we got to give her the ring we all got her for graduation and Mother's day which she loved. It was great to celebrate my mom in a different setting then just being a good mom and grandma!