Daddy Pig

Lately, there are a quite a few cartoons out pig families. Jayden loves "Toot and Puddle" and "Peppa Pig". Peppa is a pig and she lives with Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig and her brother George. Daddy Pig snorts an aweful lot and I think that's why Jayden has grown so fond of this cartoon. Now Jayden has started to snort too. One day, I was talking to Jayden and I made a reference to Esteban as being Daddy Pig and Jayden's been calling him that ever since. Esteban is so mad. He truly despises it. He says, "It's ok for him to call me that at home, but in public? It sounds awful." I nod in agreement, but inside I'm dying of laughter. I hear Jayden calling Daddy Pig and Esteban says "No me llames eso!" And Jayden snorts in return and runs off. I can't stop laughing as I type this.

Now Jayden has started to call me Mommy Pig which I don't mind a bit and earlier I heard him refer to Maya as Maya Pig. I think it's hysterical. Especially when he adds in a snort or two!

Build-a-Bear

Jayden and Maya received Build-a-Bear gift cards, a couple of Christmas' ago and we finally went to see what it was all about. We went with friend's from our mom's group, Sharon, Gabby, and Anthony.

Choosing a bear was a very complex thing. Jayden liked lots of animals, but mostly he wanted to run all over the store. Maya was easy. I picked out a soft bunny and she was set. Finally, Jayden decided he wanted the alligator because he was green, the same like my cup Mommy! Here's Jayden after selecting his gator's heart. He got to help stuff his gator.

Then he went over to the grooming station. He got to brush his gator, but what he really liked was pushing the pedal and feeling the air come out of the vents.
Gabby and Jayden worked together.

After that, you get to choose which accessories you want for your new friend. This can be a scary for the parent, but luckily, Jayden didn't seem to be interested. He decided he wanted shoes. I suggested sandals and he agreed. Then he decided, his gator should have undies too. Of course! Here's Jayden showing Green Gator some love!

Maya had no hand in dressing her bunny. Really, she's too small for this. So I chose some pigtails and a matching top. Maya seemed content with the finished product.

Maya took her new bunny back to the grooming station. She was tickled by the "tub" area.

Jayden figured what the heck! I might as well go and groom my gator again too!

Maya was very happy at this point! She's a little blurry, but still cute.

After Build-a-Bear, we had lunch in the food court and went for a walk, but we didn't get far because the kids were captivated by the water fountain. Everytime the jets went off, the kids screamed with joy.

Jayden prepared to make a wish and throw his penny in. This was his first time. He wished for a yo-yo and he was bummed out that it didn't just appear out of nowhere.

Anthony was especially delighted with the fountain. He was so funny and people were stopping to look and smile at him.

Too cute!

What can be better than two smiling kids?

One last look at the water fountain...

Miami Highlights and Pictures

• Valentine’s Night, we put the kids to bed and then went out for drinks and desserts. I haven’t done in a really long time?
• I played Wii for the first time! It was awesome! I liked bowling. I had a rough time with baseball and golf. I was remote challenged, I think…
• Jayden fell into the pool and gave me a scare. Never a dull moment. Must be something about that pool. It’s the second time he’s fallen in on two separate occasions.
• We took the kids to Dave & Busters. First time! Jayden loved the lights and machines. Then he got to pick out a toy after redeeming his tickets. He was thrilled!
• We took a drive to the airport and parked. Sounds silly, but we’ve never done that and Jayden is so into the planes that it was just awesome to watch. To make it even better, there was an old track running along side the airport, where we were parked so the kids ran up and down the tracks for a good while.
• Judy and I stayed up almost every night till really late, mostly talking crap. Gotta love that! We looked at old pictures, reminisced, and caught up on old stories and new ones too…

Here's my cutie!

Jayden's smiley face...
Serious Maya

Jayden's soccer face...

I'm sure she was saying something like "Look!"

Ivanna and Maya dressed as twins...

Becky and Ivanna

Stand by Me

Gabby, Becky and Jayden

Ivanna and Jayden

Here's the best shot I could do of myself with the girls.

Judy's beautiful family...

Corndogs for lunch...

Yummy!

Valentine's Day

Not wanting to be disappointed by Esteban again on Valentine’s Day, I made my own plans. He originally told me he was working so I decided to head to Miami to visit my best childhood friend, Jayden's Godmother. She's a school teacher and off on Monday too for President's Day. Perfect. A girl’s weekend (+kids)... After all Valentine's Day is the day of love and friendship. Her husband would be busy all weekend with his store's inventory so it would be perfect, right? Not so much. Esteban tells me at the last minute that he took the day off, after he had already given me his blessing for the trip 4 days ago. In the end, I decided NOT to change my plans and I felt awful about it.

If he really wanted to surprise me for Valentine's Day, why would he tell me to go ahead and go to Miami? And when I asked him what he planned for Saturday, it was easy to see that the answer was nothing. He said we could go to breakfast, but in my opinion we can do that anytime... Maybe I'm a romantic, but I feel like it should be a special day, time for something different, creative, out of the box. I don’t expect flowers, chocolate, dinner and a movie. Just not the same old, same old... So I did not change my plans and I felt justified, even though some people thought I was nuts.

Here's what I did. On Friday, I left work early so I could get to the store to pick up some things for a special breakfast without him knowing it. When he left for work, I unpacked my car and began work. I got a crock pot for Christmas and he's been dying for me to break it in. So I made a breakfast casserole and put it in the fridge for this morning. Then I got the kids working on a Valentine’s Day finger painting project for Daddy. It came out too cute! And after the kids went to bed, I filled out his card and wrote him a love letter, which I haven't done since 2001! On Valentine’s Day, I woke up at 5am to put on the casserole and found he left me a rose and a card on the kitchen table. Awww! Back to bed. When he woke up, the coffee was ready and the house smelled scrumptious! I used to love waking up to the smell of food and I hoped he would too. We had a relaxing breakfast together and then I head out with the kids, no rush...

I was still sad to leave him and I knew he was crushed, but you just can’t take things for granted. I really felt that he needed to know that. In the end, it was a weekend of love notes and when I came back home, I felt loved and wanted. We had a great talk and you gotta love make-up sex. Now that’s what Valentine’s Day is all about!

A Proverbs 31 Woman

This Valentine's Day, I'm praying and believing that God is going to change my life in a very powerful way. I'm aiming to be a Proverbs Woman. At first glance it seems impossible to be such a woman, but I know all things are possible through Him. I read the scripture over and over again and try to find its hidden meanings, apply it to my life. I meditate on it and when faced with decisions, I ask myself "What would a Proverbs Wife do?" I pray that God helps me on this and that He gives me any clues or insights on how to be a better wife, mother, and homemaker. If you've never read it, here's the excerpt:

The Virtuous Wife

10 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good and not evil All the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships, She brings her food from afar.
15 She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her household, And a portion for her maidservants.
16 She considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds herself with strength, And strengthens her arms.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is good, And her lamp does not go out by night.
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hand holds the spindle.
20 She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, For all her household is clothed with scarlet. 22 She makes tapestry for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies sashes for the merchants.
25 Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates.

Playdate at Paradise Park

It was my turn to host a playdate so I suggested Paradise Park. Luckily, the weather was cooperating and the kids had a blast. At first, it took a while for anyone to show up so I let the kids play and I took pictures. Because I was looking for the mom's from my playgroup, I couldn't help but notice that there were nothing but dads there. Was it National Father's Take Their Kids to the Park Day? Who knows, but there were about 5 or 6 dads watching their kids play and no sight of the moms. There's one in the background, still in his tie...

Maya was running around all over. I love this park. There's so much for the kids to do here.
Peek-a-boo!

Here's Jayden on the Elephant Ride, except it was no fun cause it didn't move. Does that explain the look on his face?

Here's Maya on the toad which does move. She was a happy girl!

Clearly, Jayden is happy again. But he's moving so fast, I could barely get the picture.

Maya doesn't like the rubber mulch getting into her shoes.

Here's my big, strong boy hanging onto the trapeze rings. Anna and Christian were also hangin' around...

He actually tilted his head back and said "Cheese" for the picture!

Maya loves to make music with the chimes. But she's not a good sharer. When anther little girl came over to play, she started to scream "No, mine!" Very embarrasing...

I never noticed this mural, but it caught Maya's eye and she kept saying "Look!" over and over again.

I'll skip the picture where Maya was shoveling sand into her hair (Yay-Me!) and the one where Jayden went on time out for refusing to share the shovel in the sandbox. We only had one mom and dad from the play group show up, but that made for a party of 6 kids so after the park, we took the kids to Chick-fil-A. It was spirit night for the local high school so there was music and a spin-the-wheel thingy so it was alot of fun. Jayden won the plush cow. I got out of the "Chicken Park" as other moms refer to it by offering the kids ice cream. Thank goodness. Did you know that if you get a child's meal and you don't care for the toy that comes with it, you can trade it in for ice cream? Me neither! How cool is that!

Funny Jayden Story...

Tonight, I put Jayden to bed, but he didn't want to go just yet. I pretended not to see him tip-toe from his room to my bedroom. I was in the living room and had a clear shot of him as he went into my closet. I wondered what he could be doing, but didn't say a thing. A little while later, he came out of the closet looking just as proud as can be. On his way, he passed my full length mirror so he stopped and took a look. He was smiling from ear to ear and giving himself two thumbs up the mirror. I was cracking up, but I didn't say anything. He then looks at his reflection and points down to his feet, all the while flashing this cheesy grin. As he walked away, he waves good-bye to his reflection and appears in the living room with my boots on.

So, I ask the obvious question. Jayden, what are you doing with mommy's boots on? And Jayden says, "No, these are my work boots." I had to laugh. The boots aren't stylish in the least bit. They were just comfortable and warm, when they used to fit me. But I never saw them as ugly until that very moment. As soon as I get a chance, they are going straight to the trash can...