The many faces of Valerie....

Throughout a single day, Valerie goes through a million different emotions and with that all her different facial expressions. Here are a few....

Grandpa came to visit after a recent trip to Mexico. He not only brought some pretty dresses for Olivia and Valerie, but some yummy candy and gum. Yummy!

Showing off her orange dress

Being shy with Grandpa

Throwing one of her famous tantrums

And finally, trying to ride her pony

Yee-Haw!

--B

A Day in the Life of a Vargas....

Another weekend has come and gone. Why do they go by so darn fast?? I now fully appreciate that phrase I Live For Fridays. It was a typical weekend, visit grandma, grocery shopping, visit grandpa, cleaning and more cleaning. lol. Nicholas loves cleaning. Ever since he could walk, that boy was asking for a cloth, paper towel, even vacuum. I caught him in the act...and not only does he like doing it, but he even winds up the cord and puts the vacuum back where it belongs. How about that? Watch out Lone Star, you're next president is in the making. :)

--B

Spring Break, Rodeo and Rooms....

Ok, so Spring Break 2007 has come and gone. I took off a few days last week to enjoy it with the kids and we were so busy I need a break! lol. We're re-doing the kids' room. Went to IKEA at least a million times and yet we still aren't done. But, we're almost there. The kids got a bunk bed and we took the crib away. It was such a hard moment for me, we really don't have any babies in the house anymore. Anyway, Valerie has done extremely well without the crib. She sleeps in her little toddler bed all by herself, no getting up, nothing...I was so surprised!! She's such a firecracker when it comes to everything else, she must have known we needed *something* easy from her. lol. Here's a picture of her in her toddler bed for the first time.

We went to the rodeo last week, we took Olivia and Seth to see Beyonce. It was such a fun concert, but we didn't get a chance to ride any of the carnival rides. Oh well, there's always next year. Here's Aunt Adrienne with Olivia and Seth all decked out.

Here are some candid shots of Valerie and Seth. Seth was so excited he got a snorkeling set as a birthday gift, he just had to try it out in the tub! And Valerie is goofing around in the barenaked room before we paint it.

As always, my vacation was over in the blink of an eye. I'm planning my next one very soon. lol.

--B

Happy Birthday to me and Seth!

Well, I turned 34 Friday. See the pretty sunflowers I got?? Olivia picked the cheesecake and then was too smart to take our candles we had from Seth and Nicholas and combine them!! lol.

Just had to throw in this pic of Valerie in the tub...isn't she cute????

It was a good birthday. I'm still recovering from this cough, but at least I'm getting more and more sleep at night....and that's a good thing.

Seth's birthday is today!! We had his party at Chuck E Cheese and he had a blast. One of his little girlfriends was there too, he was in heaven. They are too sweet. :)

Happy Birthday Little Sethman!!

--Mommy

Happy 3rd Birthday Nicholas!

My sweet little man turned 3 today! I can't believe it's been 3 years, and he's gone from a sweet little baby to a sweet little boy.

We had his birthday party at McDonald's yesterday. He had such a good time!

One more birthday to go before we get a break until September!! Seth's is in 2 weeks and somewhere in there mine creeps in. lol

--B

Getting over the cough....

It's been a horrible week for me. I started with a terrible cough Monday night and I'm just now getting over it. I haven't been able to sleep since I've been up most nights coughing, so I am tired and grumpy.

Tomorrow is Nicholas' birthday party at McDonalds. Will post some pics of it afterwards. They are all so excited!! :)

--B

Happy President's Day!

What a great day to have off! Got the kids off the school and then went to have Nicholas evaluated by the speech pathologist. She said he will qualify for the program, so now it's all about the paperwork and meeting on his birthday and then he's in. He should be starting out 1x per week, 1 hour per session. If they feel he needs more, they will always up the sessions. So, that's good to know.

After that, we went grocery shopping and then dropped G off at the office. The kids and I then went to Blockbuster to turn in our online movies. I love that program. We ended up getting a new Backyardigans for the kids and then Talledega Nights and The Departed for us.

Mom and Adrienne came over for dinner and now I've been at the computer downloading photos from this weekend and today. We took all the kids and Harlo to the park yesterday, along with all of Houston. lol.

Then today we stopped off at my mom's neighborhood park for a bit. Got a great photo of Nicholas, it's one of my favorites.

Can you tell Harlo has adjusted well to our family? I thought this was too sweet to pass up, so out came the camere. :)

--B

Some photos of the kids....

Here is Nicholas, 2 (3 next weekend)

Here is Valerie, 2 and the only one with the curls

Here is Olivia, 7 and missing teeth!

Here is Seth, soon-to-be 6

I have finally joined the digital camera world....yeehaw!! I've been playing around with my Nikon D50 and just uploaded some pictures to the computer. How can I not showcase the kiddies? :)

The weather here has been absolutely beautiful! Not a cloud in the sky, cool and crisp mornings/nights and no humidity. That's my favorite part. lol. I have tomorrow off at work, it's President's Day. woohoo! Of course, the day will be filled with laundry, cleaning house, etc...but the older kids will be in school so it will just be me, Gabriel and the little ones. Nicholas has his speech therapy evaluation with the school district as well. He's been in the early childhood intervention program for the past year, but now that he's turning 3 his options are the school district (which is free since we pay school taxes) or private speech therapy. My insurance won't cover his therapy sessions, so unfortunately that is not an option for us. It's just too expensive since they want to see him 3x a week, at $150 per session. But, he's coming around and we are able to understand him most of the time. I'm thinking the school district therapy will be adequate and give him time to develop before he starts Kindergarten.

We also added a new family member, the paw kind. Here's Harlo. He's a poodle we found at a local poodle shelter. We lost our other dog, Otis. He sadly was taken after he escaped from our back yard. It was hard on everyone. They've been wanting another dog and we thought it was time. We went with a smaller dog this time, he's an inside dog and we thought we wouldn't have trouble with him digging out. Plus, Gabriel had a poodle growing up so he was all for another one. So far, he's a perfect fit to our family. He's 3yo, house and leash trained and has the best temperment. He is a sweet dog and the kids have been in heaven since he came home with us.

--B

Life's little pleasures....

Olivia loves sunsets. At seven, she appreciates the beauty in nature and God that most people take for granted. She and I are so much alike. I have been blessed.

Some little kid at the school said Valerie looks like she's going to be famous. lol. How cute is that?

Seth is my homebody. He loves home more than anything. I wonder if he will ever leave the house? lol.

Nicholas is sweet as ever. He is the one who makes sure we say grace each night, he is the one who throws away any trash he comes across and he is the one who watches out for his sister, Valerie.

Gabriel and I have been together eight years. Wow! Each year keeps getting better and better.

New Year, New Blog

1 year ago today I started chemo. What was once a dark and uncertain road has now been lit and I have a second chance at life. I am enjoying every second I have, from the birds chirping to my kids' smiles. On the way to girl scouts tonight I let Olivia sit up front. Our meeting is at the local church in our neighborhood, so we just have to make two turns and we're there. She was so excited. She rolled down the windows, extended her legs to the dashboard and the radio blasting...what a sight, mother and daughter singing and dancing to Beyonce on the radio. lol. I loved it and will never forget how my once little baby is growing into such a sweet girl.

I promise to add more to this blog. I'm getting a digital camera...FINALLY...and will be adding pictures on a daily basis. We're also trying to upload our videos we have, there are some that are classic. But, needless to say we are searching for our software that we packed away somewhere two years ago.

Just a quick update.

B

November, here in the blink of an eye...

Wow, I can't believe Thanksgiving is nearly here. Then Christmas and before you know it we're starting off 2006 and birthdays again. :)

We went to Corpus a few weeks ago. Although it was last minute, and I hate doing these kind of things last minute, it was such a nice break. We saw his grandma and went to the beach. Yes, it was that warm. lol. The kids had a great time and I thanked Gabriel for being so spontaneous.

The kids are growing up too fast. Nicholas got his first haircut today. Gabriel came back home with an envelope full of his curls. :( He is a spitting image of Seth, I think. Seth is going to be 5 in March and starting K soon! And Olivia is mid-way through her first year of school. Valerie is talking up a storm, but of course the only audible words are baba, mama and dada. :) At the rate she's going, she'll be talking for Nicholas.

Here are some recent pics of the kids. Holiday pictures will be taken next week and cards sent out soon. I love the holiday season.

Family Life

As Valerie and Nicholas get older and more active, our houshold sure has gotten busier. It still felt like a small family when they were babies, but now they are growing and babbling and walking and talking and wanting their independance with every new day.

Valerie is crawling and has become a very particular baby. She likes her milk warm, she can cry for 20 minutes straight and the minute you pick her up she will stop and have a huge gummy smile for you. She prefers to be in your arms, but not sitting. She is a night owl and is the lightest sleeper out of all of them. She can not fall asleep in our arms but can co-sleep.

Nicholas is coming on 20 months! He's running around, already filling out Seth's old hand me downs (that's when you know they are getting big!), wants to play with the big kids and although he isn't using words he does point, will show you exactly what he wants and will tell you when it's not what he wants. He is still a very sweet baby. He loves to sleep and is our only thumbsucker. To this day, the only time he sucks his thumb is when he's snuggling up with a blanket. He sleeps covered up from head to toe and can sleep 15+ hours during the night and still take a nap in the day!
He can not co-sleep, he thinks it's playtime when he's in bed with us.

Seth is 4.5 and is really mature for his age. He's our adventurous one. He loves to ride his bike and his new best friend is a first grader who lives down the street. He starts school next year. He can't wait. He's still active as ever, he is like a pin ball in a pin ball machine - running around not needing a break. He's also our parrot and loves to repeat all the bad stuff. He's our line pusher. He knows where the line is but he will try to get a toe over to see how far he can go.

Olivia is loving K! Her reading skills have improved 110% since starting school. She could get through a book, a little slow and needing help and now she's wizzing through the more challenging books needing little help. We didn't accelerate her to 1st and I am glad we didn't. She's being challenged and her teacher recommended her for their gifted and talented program. I know she will love that.

Otis is huge! I will post a pic of him soon. I really need a digi camera. I'm waiting to get a digital SLR, as I just got my film SLR a few years ago. He's really a good dog, listens and loves the kids.

Hurrican Rita - or otherwise known as a practice run

So, the way the media was covering Hurricane Rita last month, you would have thought it was armageddon around here. The storm was to hit Sat at 4am. If you were not out of town by Wed afternoon, it was too late or your 4 hr trip was turned into a 24 hr one. Not to mention the gas shortage, then absolutely no gas for a day, then no water anywhere Wednesday afternoon.

Being in property mgmt, the mgrs and asst mgrs usually stay with the bldg. My mgr let me go home knowing I had little ones. Which was a good thing. It took me 2 hrs to get home that Wed, then Thurs it would have taken me at least 3 hrs because I have to use a road that gets people to I-10. Luckily, the storm went more East but it made me realize that a) We are going to be more prepared in advance rather than fighting for basic supplies with people and b) we are not leaving, we don't have a reason to evacuate seeing as we are 80 miles inland from the coast. Sure, we'll get wind damage, tornados, etc..but our houses won't flood and we will most likely survive. The Cat5 that came through here back in the 40s only caused 21 deaths. Out of millions, that's not bad. Considering nearly that many dies trying to evacuate. Pets died from carbon monoxide poisoning from all the traffic, even some people were affected by the carbon monoxide. And then there were the poor people who were overheated, as temps were in the 100s. Ugh, what a mess.

What I hated was the way the media fed this sense of panic. Destruction. Catastrophy. these words were used to describe our situation. How do you expect people to react?

Next time, give me beer, water, flashlights, some cards and we hunker down.

Ok, so life has been crazy lately....

It's been a few weeks and I have so much to write. Where to start...Ok, so I have not been back to that wonderful nail salon and I'm so afraid to, even though my nails need a nice, new manicure!! :)

Can you believe my "baby" started Kindergarten Wednesday and she goes all day, every day. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was Valerie's age? And if she is this big already, how old does that make me? Ok, I won't think about that too much...I'm still stuck in the '90s. LOL! We should have some pictures up soon. She's such a big girl. sniff...sniff...If that's not bad enough, Seth starts K next year! Well, at least my two little ones will be at home for a few more years.

I forgot all the joys of public school. After we left Olivia in her class we got stuck in the hallway as the Pledge of Allegiance was being recited over the public speaker system. We're trying to rush out of there and then I see everyone else standing stil, hand over heart reciting it. So there we are, a double stroller, mommy, daddy and a 4 yo all standing still. I couldn't believe it. In a million years, I never would have imagined us doing the pledge as a family in school. :) Too funny!!

Otis has become quite the dog! He is just so smart, he swings with his front paws in the back and he can use his front paws to open his cage door. I'm waiting to find him on the toilet seat and flushing. LOL!

Summer is over, in my eyes anyway....HALLEJUAH!! Come on fall, my absolute favorite time of the year. Cooler temps, holiday season, birthdays, fun...fun...fun...goodbye 80 degree temps at 5am, goodbye frizzy hair, goodbye sweat!! :D

They call me Lucy....

I swear, I felt like I was living one of those episodes right out of "I Love Lucy" Saturday. That show could so easily represent part of my life. Some of my friends would know.

Ok, so I had a nail appt at 1:00 p.m. Saturday. This was my 3rd trip to the salon, 1st appointment. I figure since I'm becoming a regular, I better start making appts. Well, we were at the mall until 1 and home by 1:30. Any normal person would have called to let them know they were running late. But no, I am not normal. See, I thought "They don't know who I am. I've only been there twice, right?" How would they know I wasn't Brandy, the 1 o'clock french manicure appt? Oh, how wrong I was. My first clue was when I pulled up to the salon, they see me and then look at the clock. Ok, Brandy, now's the time to leave. Nope, gotta go in...must get nails done. As I'm staring at the sign-in sheet, something comes over me. I sign my name Marie Vargas. Marie was my middle name prior to marriage. Hidalgo Vargas sounded fake. So, Marie I am. I am here, a walk-in off the street wanting a french manicure. I wasn't even there 5 minutes when the lady I had requested came in from a pedicure and asked "Are you Brandy?". Ugh, I stared at her for what felt like an eternity and shook my head no. "No, I'm not Brandy". That's all I could muster. I couldn't even look her in the eye. Busted! She proceeded to talk in their language to the lady who was doing my nails. I knew I was busted. I knew I would walk out of there with the ugliest nails ever. I am trying to so hard not to laugh. But my hands are about to go in the little hand warmer and I'm furiously thinking about how I could have a twin, who is Brandy, who has kids. Nah, that won't work. I'm cracking a smile. How could they recognize me after only 2 visits?!?! Man, these women are goooooood. I keep thinking how sad it is that I found this great nail place and now I have to find another one. I know I will never be able to show my face again there. I enjoyed every minute of my manicure, from the arm massage to the nail dryer. In the end, I did end up with a beautiful manicure. Even though Marie was charged $15 and Brandy only paid $12 last time. Oh well, I don't see Brandy ever going back. Marie on the other hand....LOL!!

Corpus Christi and Diving off the deep end...

We hit the road Saturday and went to Corpus Christi. It wasn't that bad a drive afterall. What I thought would be 5 hours was only 3.5 hrs. But boy, was I glad to be home Sunday night! :) We saw the grandma, aunt and uncles and even some cousins. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and Happy Hour = Free Drinks = One Happy Momma! LOL! The kids had fun swimming in the pool and although we ended up getting around 4 hrs sleep, it was a great trip.

So the kids are swimming just about every night. Olivia jumped off the diving board without floaties! WOW!! :) Seth is having a little harder time giving his up, but that's ok...he's got a bit more growing to do. And here I almost spent hundreds of dollars for lessons at the Y! :) I'm a bit surprised they aren't as tired as I was hoping..err..thinking they would be after swimming. They seem to be wired when they get back around 9, which is not a good thing when bedtime is around the corner. Weird....

We also had the kids' pictures taken at JC Penney a few weeks ago. Here are their proofs.

Here are all 4 kids:


Here's Miss Valerie:


And Miss Olivia:


Sethman (sshhh, he insists he is just Seth now!):


And Nicky:


And yes, we worked out to get those pics and although I would have loved to have seen teeth, it was much better than some of our other proofs! haha...oh well, I thought we did pretty good for 4 kids. :)

4th of July Weekend

Well, we had a very active and tiring holiday weekend. I took off Friday, the 1st, so it really did extend my normal 2 day weekend to 4. I love waking up and greeting each of my kids as they wake and seeing their smile as they realize mommy will be home today. That's a cool feeling.

I did play Betty Crocker. I made a Banana Nut Bread from scratch along with a homemade cream cheese frosting. So, I've poured my batter into the loaf pan and I am waiting for the oven to reach 350 degrees. As I am putting away my ingredients and supplies I notice my unopened, brand new box of BAKING POWDER. YIKES! I decide to toss the baking powder into the wet mix. Maybe no one will notice. An hour and a half later, we are enjoying how moist and rich my bread is when I suddenly bite into this bitter part of the bread. Uh oh, there's my baking powder! LOL! I am such a goof! And that's after starting over after adding the baking soda because I misread my measuring spoons and put too much in the flour mixture! Oh well, there's always next weekend. :)

The kids went swimming Monday afternoon and we ended our long weekend with a bang. Literally. We popped some pretty cool firecrackers in our driveway/street and the kids enjoyed watching them. Of course, by then Nicky was fast asleep and Valerie had just gone down for the night.

Did I mention how the kids are swimming with no floaties? Seth is a fish underwater and Olivia can swim the entire pool length x 3. wow, they are growing up too fast. :)