First steps!

I have not been very good about keeping up with the blog lately. The end of the school year is always really hectic for me (only 4 more school days and 9 work days total for me!).

I just wanted to take a minute to report that Jacob finally took his first steps yesterday! Jason's mom has been here helping out for the last two weeks and she been working really hard to get Jacob walking. I was in Emily's room yesterday afternoon helping her clean and I heard her say, "He took a step!" I ran out and got him to take two more and after that he was pooped.

Jason and I got him to take a few more this morning. So, we're seeing progress! I have been wanting him to walk for awhile now, and in a few months when he is all over the place and getting in to everything, I need to remind myself of that!

On the move!

Jason's mom has been here for the past week and has really been working with Jacob on walking. We have really seen his confidence increase over the past few days. Yesterday, when I got home, he was cruising all over the house in turbo mode using this little walking toy. He was so proud of himself and having a blast! When he would run into things, he would even try to turn it around himself, and when he couldn't he would raise quite a fuss until someone would come and help him move. We hope that this is a good sign and that he'll start walking on his own any day now!

Happy 4th birthday Emily!

Emily celebrated her 4th birthday on Friday. I was originally going to combine this post with the post about her end of year preschool program, but then I decided to separate them out. I still can't believe that Emily is four now. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when we were bringing her home from the hospital.

I always bragged that we never went through the terrible twos, but I think that my words are coming back to haunt me because we are experiencing the "fierce fours." She has always been a very independent little girl, but now she has some serious attitude. If I got paid every time she has put her hands on her hip and made some smart comment to stuck out her tongue in just the last week, I'd be very rich. Of course, from the stories I have heard about myself when I was younger, it would appear that life has come full circle!

When she is not having one of her moments, she really is a sweetheart. For the most part, she is a happy go lucky little girl. She will be friends with any one. I hope that is a quality she will stick with. She is also so compassionate. If she sees someone who looks sad or who is hurt, she will run right over and give them a hug or pat their arm or ask how she can help. She is such a smart little girl and loves to learn. She also has a great imagination. She told me tonight that she didn't want to be "big" yet. I asked her why not and she said because she doesn't want to be too big to be able to cuddle with me and for me to be able to hold her. It was one of those sweet mom moments! I have really loved seeing her personality come out more and more lately and I can't wait to see what the next year will bring!

Emily's end of year preschool program

Emily had a busy day on Friday! It was her last day of preschool and they had the end of the year program. It was also her 4th birthday.

Each class sang two songs at the program. Emily's class sang "Fanny Frog" (hence the green shirts and frog visors) and "Every Move I Make." Emily is the first one on the left side.

(This is my first time uploading a video, so I'm hoping it works! Stop the playlist on the right side of the blog before you start the video so you can hear them singing)

After the program, they had their end of year party. The kids all had fun, but I don't think that it really sank in that it was their last day of school. Emily still keeps talking about "When I go back to school next week...." Here is a picture of Emily with her teachers Ms. Kelly (left) and Ms. Stacey (right).

TAGGED!

My friend Jenna "tagged" me on her blog, so I decided to play along!

A- Attached or single: Attached

B- Best Friend: Jason and my mom

C-Cake or Pie: Cake

D-Day: Saturday

E- Essential Item: Internet! I would be lost without it. I guess I could say my cell phone because it has internet access and I can use it as a phone, too.

F-Favorite Color: Blue

G-Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi bears...the worms freak me out!

H-Home town: I was born in El Paso, TX, but I don't like to claim that as my home town!

I- Indulgences: peanut butter M&Ms

J- January or July?: It depends on where I'm living! Have you ever experienced a July in Texas? It's not very pleasant!

K-Kids: 1 boy, 1 girl

L-Life is incomplete without: My family

M- Marriage Date: 6/22/02

N-Number of Siblings: 1 brother, 1 sister

O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges

P- Phobias or Fears: fire, something happening to one of my kids

Q- Quote: "Even if you cannot always see that silver lining on your clouds, God can, for He is the very source of the light you seek. He does love you, and He knows your fears. He hears your prayers. He is your Heavenly Father, and surely He matches with His own the tears His children shed." ~ Jeffrey R. Holland

R- Reason To Smile: My kids make me smile on a daily basis with different things they do. Getting a big grin from Jacob, a big hug from either kid, or hearing "Mommy, I love you!" makes my day and always makes me smile!

S- Season: Spring

T- Tag Four: I don't know that many people who blog, so I tag: Marcey, Jalynn, Afton, and Erica

U- Unknown fact about me: I am completely hooked on Gymboree clothing for my kids

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I like a good mix of both now. Until my mid 20s, I couldn't stand red meat, though. When I was a kid, I used to hide it in my chair at the dinner table or sneak it under the table and feed it to the dog!

W- Worst Habit: Jason would say that it's my coupons that are laying all over the house!

X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasounds, especially when you are pregnant and get to see that baby for the first time!

Y-Your favorite food: pretty much anything Mexican!

Z: Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Queen for a day!

Yesterday we had a birthday party to celebrate Emily's 4th birthday. It was our first "real" birthday party, and so it was an experience for both Jason and I! I commented at the end of the night that I kind of felt like I did after our wedding reception. You are on the go all day, you talk to a whole bunch of people, and before you know it the whole thing's over and you feel exhausted and only have a vague recollection of the whole experience.

We had her party at a place called Pump it Up. Emily went to a party there about a year ago and has been talking about it ever since. The great part for us was that they have "party coordinators" who pretty much take care of everything. To quote Jason, "It was worth every penny."

Jason took Emily to pick out her birthday cake a few days ago. He called me to tell me about it. It was a princess castle and "she really, really wanted it." If I would have taken her, I probably would have gotten a regular sheet cake, but dads are allowed to indulge like that! :) We picked up the cake on Friday night and yesterday morning, there was a bit of a disaster when we opened the box and realized that the top part had collapsed. Fortunately, we took it back and they were able to make a new one for us before the party. I have to say that it was worth it when we opened the cake and all of the kids (even the boys) got so excited and everyone crowded around to see it.

The kids laughed hard and played hard! The great thing about kids is that they are so carefree. Kids from Emily's preschool got along just fine with kids from church and when they wanted a break from all of the inflatable stuff, they started playing with the cars. Who would have thought that one of the big hits of the night would have been the toddler cars? There were several dads who came and we decided that this is the perfect party for dads. They had almost as much fun as the kids did!

I was a little bit worried about Jacob and wondered what we were going to do to entertain him, but he just got right in there and had fun, too!

Emilyisms....

Today at Emily's preschool, they had "Muffins with Mom" to honor the moms before Mother's Day. I'm guessing that the "muffins" must be a traditional thing because they didn't have any muffins at all. They did have plenty of other yummy treats like cake, brownies, and cookies, so I'm not complaining, by any means!

On the way home, Emily decided we needed to have a "serious" conversation. She said, "Mom, when I turn four, will I still be a kid?"

I told her that she would always be my kid. That wasn't what she was looking for, so she asked again, "But when I turn four, will I still be a kid." So, I tried again and said, "You will be a kid until you're 18."

She said, "OK. So when I'm 18 then I will have my own babies and my own family?"

I told her that I hoped she would wait a little longer to have her own babies and family and she said, "But mom, it's not your choice!"

How did my daughter get to be so old?? I have a feeling the teen years are going to be VERY interesting!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

For me, Cinco de Mayo has always been a good excuse to eat Mexican food and if you know me, you know that I love Mexican food so any excuse works for me!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I am sharing a yummy green salsa recipe that my friend Kim gave to me. I've had it for two weeks now and I've already made it twice for our family. It goes great with chips but also is great on salads, burritos, and anything else you can think of. In case you haven't figured it out, it's HIGHLY addictive. Make it at your own risk :)

GREEN SALSA

Ingredients:

*Herdez Green Sauce (They sell this at Walmart here. If they don't have this brand in yoru area, you can probably substitute another green sauce....look for something with tomatillos and serrano peppers)

*1 or 2 avocadoes (peeled and pitted)

*1 bunch cilantro, washed very well

*8 oz sour cream

*1/3 white onion

*garlic powder and salt to taste

For spicier version: add one serrano pepper

For a more liquidy version: add another jar Herdez Green Sauce

For a creamier sauce: 16 oz sour cream

I dump everything in the blender and mix well. I also add a dash of lime. It is SO good!

And....if you'd like to learn a little bit more about Cinco de Mayo, here are some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo

http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

My first GPS experience...

The administrative team at the school I will be at next year was getting together yesterday for a "working lunch" to start planning for next year. The problem was that the place where they were meeting was over an hour away in an area that I was not familiar with at all and if you have known me for very long, you know that I am completely directionally challenged. Even when I print out the Mapquest or Yahoo Maps directions, I always manage to get lose somehow. Jason has a GPS and he offered to let me borrow it.

As soon as I started driving, it started talking to me. "Turn right in approximately 400 feet, take next left, go straight for approximately 1 mile." I couldn't believe it. I thought it was the greatest thing ever! The euphoria lasted for about 20 minutes. If you live in Houston, you know that freeway construction is a continuous experience. As smart as the GPS is, it's not programmed to handle freeway closures and detours. I followed the directions it gave me exactly, but they didn't account for a closure and I ended up on the wrong freeway and completely panicked. It didn't help that the GPS was yelling at me and telling me that I was not on the calculated route. Fortunately, the GPS regained its composure fairly quickly and recalculated a route to get me back on track. Unfortunately, that route didn't work out so well, either, because of construction. I finally ended up calling Jason and figured out how to get on the freeway I needed to be on.

Things went smoothly for the next 30 minutes or so until it told me to get back on a different freeway and once I did, I looked over to the right and saw the place where we were supposed to meet. I had to turn around which, using feeder roads in Houston, is no small feat. It took me an extra 15-20 minutes.

I got there about 20 minutes late, but at least I got there. Going back, I experienced a few more mishaps due to road closures and detours, but I have to say that overall, the GPS is a very cool piece of technology!

Cool recipe sites

I love trying out different recipes. I especially like finding new crockpot recipes since I cook out of my crockpot 3-4 times per week.

I found a cool blog from a woman whose experiment is to cook in the crockpot every day of the year. Some of the recipes are a bit out there for me, but others looked pretty good. Here it is:

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Here are a couple other sites that I like to browse:
http://www.my-crockpot-recipes.com/

http://allrecipes.com/

The crockpot in my picture is one that I got for Mother's Day last year (yes, I actually get excited about getting something like a crockpot as a gift!). With this one, you can actually pull out the stoneware and put it on a burner on the oven to brown things while you're preparing the meal!

Happy cooking!