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...

Candy Land Lessons

For Christmas, I got Jayden Candy Land. Growing up, my dad always played board games with us. I loved it and I still love to play games now. I intend to teach my kids the same way. I am sad that Esteban doesn’t care for games, but like I told him. He's going to have to learn to deal cause I'm going to teach the kids to LOVE them. hehehe

As Jayden and I played together tonight, I realized that in addition to learning colors (and the fact that there are an infinite number of candy selections out there) I was teaching Jayden important life lessons.

1) We start at the beginning and work our way to the end. There’s always a goal in sight. Sometimes we move forwards and sometimes we move backwards. We might get lucky and find a shortcut, or we could end up stuck on Licorice Space, but we always keep our eyes set on the prize. The goal is to get to King Kandy and the Candy Castle, no matter how long it takes. He’s not ready for this lesson yet, but I always remind him that we need to find our way to the castle so that we can win the prize.

2) We take turns. Everyone wants to participate. Jayden likes to help mommy move her pawn, and help mommy draw her card. I try to explain to him that everyone wants to have fun and play the game. So we share and take turns.

3) We don’t jump ahead. After all, that wouldn’t be fair. Sometimes Jayden draws the card with two purple blocks, but really he feels like moving ahead 3 or 4 purple blocks. So I share with Jayden that his card only had 2 purples and so he should only move 2 purples. OooooK! He says…

4) And a final thought…Do you let them win the game, or do you play fair and square? Candy Land is not a game of skill. It’s more of a game of chance. But as I played with Jayden, I found myself wondering…What do other parents do?

I lost his attention just before the end of the second game, but that’s ok. We managed to finish the game and that was good enough for me.

A Visit from Annie and the Girls

My girlfriend Annie was here for a visit from Pennsylvania. We got to visit twice, which was really cool. Our kids are the same age, which is awesome and we didn't even plan it that way. LOL! Anyway, we took the kids for some Chick-fil-a and had a blast in the play area afterwards. Here's Annie with Ava.
Maya had such a blast. I never imagined she'd be ready for something like this, but once she got the hang of it, she was a riot to watch.

Here's Jayden and Dani, taking 5!

Maya came down the slide. I was shocked to see her this way, but she was having such a good time, I quickly put my worry aside.

Jayden follows quickly after!

Cheese!

Here's Ava venturing out on her own. Such a cutie!

Trying to get them together for a picture was harder than expected. This was the best we could do. We wanted to do a pile-up, but they were like, whatever partner! We got to go!

Look at crazy Jayden. He's so silly. I love that goof-ball!

A little blurry, but atleast I had Jayden and Maya together in one picture.

Chill time, or as Annie calls it, Purell time! Everyone got their wipes and cleaned hands and feet and had a drink. Then they demanded ice cream, but they were too crazy as it was. No more sugar! Sorry kids. Maybe next time.