I can explain...

Hello my dear friends!  How are you doing?  I've missed you but I can explain!  Remember the last time I blogged Emma on the floor yes, she still does that and much more!  I have been super busy chasing after her. In a few words she has been practicing for the terrible two's for a while now! 

aww...(insert a tired face here.  A super duper tired face).

We have had to do many life hacks lately.  Like this small tree for example it was my idea to have a small tree so that she had a harder time reaching the ornaments and less chance of toppling it over.  The ornaments are all over the house anyways.
We still have to keep and eye on her all the time because she loves the "lights".

Besides that everybody else has been busy with their activities and what do you know? 

is the end of the year now!

I have been thinking about the future of this little blog of mine and to be honest I don't know...

Well see where next year takes us.

For now I'd like to wish you and all of your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year lots of love and health to you all!

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this is how we do it

Hello guys!  I apologize if after reading my post title the song this is how we do it ♪ ♫ is stuck in your head for at least half of the day.

But honestly, this is how we do it (again ♫ ♪) 

 We eat dinner early in the afternoon as soon as everybody gets home from work and school.  

Emma would roam the floor while I cook dinner in the middle of the day. 

She just loves to hang with me.  I don't worry too much about her being on the floor because she needs to build up her immune system anyways.  As long as she does not get the bubonic plague :/

 

I must confess that I now dream about soccer and referees and goals and off sides since Xavi joined indoor soccer now he has 2 games on Saturdays and 1 on Sunday. sigh.  Oh and I also dream of rehearsals and new dance moves  since Sophie joined a competition team. I must tell you too that Emma and I started going to mommy and me classes.  I have been a busy bee lately!  

Now tell me how have you been my friends?

Hopefully good! 

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the good the bad and the weekend

Hello, hello how are you my friends? What's new with you guys?
 nothing much with me just same ol' same ol' well I do have a couple of things to share.

For the good and the bad I 'd like to tell you  that Javier has been on a cleaning and decluttering mode for the past two weeks.  He does say straight out "I am on a cleaning mode" and he would start getting rid of things that "he thinks" need to be gone...well I warned the kids "your dad is on cleaning mode so If want things that you love, appreciate or want to keep and they are out of place or in disarrangement you better find a good place for them because he really is on a cleaning spree!"  That's the bad part :(

But the good good part is that cleaning does free you and makes you feel lighter don't you agree?  Besides, cleaning the pantry, cleaning file cabinets getting rid of old papers, cleaning out closets getting rid of clothes that haven't been worn in years I have been cleaning out my inbox as well.  I confess I am quick at subscribing to newsletters...but when I check my email I am overwhelmed and just delete delete...It's just sad for me because I wish I had the time but really don't.
So there! cleaning is the good thing :)

I'd like to also share that the first weekend of September we fiesta like there was no mañana.  It's been awhile since we've gone to a Birthday party and this one was NICE :)

 We went to a 10 year old twins Birthday Party Mexican style.  It was fun and I am sure to say that Emma was the one who had the most fun.  You see she was free to roam around the whole time! We could not keep her sitting down staying still.  I mean how could we?  she's only 18 months right?? So yes she was free to walk around, squeeze in between tables and chairs, smile, mingle,  talk to people, she ate candies, ate food, drank juice and all those things you do at Birthday parties. But it was hard to keep track of where she was among all the people and there was quite a few people. Sophie had the  most brilliant idea she's ever had!  we tied a red balloon on Emma's waist so that we could locate her quickly!

We also had fun taking pictures!  I am sad to say that with all the things I have to carry with Emma, diaper bag, snack bag, toy bag etc etc It's hard to remember and carry my camera too.
So these pictures were taken with my crappy cell phone camera.

So you see there in the background there's my little red balloon. pardon me my daughter. 

I also like to share that last Friday I completed another prompt from my 45 by 45 list!
Enjoy my 45th birthday! 

I turned 45 yikes!  I let nothing ruin the day because you know sometimes things do happen.
Honestly and truly I savored the day!
Emma and I went on a bike ride early in the morning, didn't do much housework (purposely).
Valeria came over from San Diego and in the afternoon all six of us went out to eat so I didn't cook :)
After that we went out and bought a chocoflan...if you haven't had it just click on the link to see all the images and your mouth will water I promise. Allow me to also mention that every time Emma saw the cake she would start singing "appy appy" her version of Happy Birthday.
Sophie has been good and helping me portion my slices.  She does watches after me because I could eat half a cake in one sitting and that is not a good thing.

It's been a while since we've spent an afternoon all together because of Valeria's work schedule.  

On Saturday we drove to San Diego and celebrated some more at my mom's.  

Then on Sunday Xavi had a tough game but the boys came through from a loosing score on the first half 0 to 2 they beat the other team 4 to 3 that was exciting!
then we finish the afternoon watching a movie at home and went to bed early on Sunday :)

So there, I actually enjoyed my whole weekend how is that??

I hope you have been good and hope this week is a productive one for all of us!

ps I know I only did about a third of the items on my list this time it is really a bucket list :/

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the good the bad and the weekend

Hello guys I have a few more good and bad points for this post...  I hardly find time for this blog nowadays but always find my way back to it and have to summarize it like this:

Ever since Emma started crawling and then walking my stainless steel refrigerator and dishwasher have had these smudge marks all over :(   What am I to do?  grab Emma's hands and smeared it all over to make it even??  the stainless steel wipes or the spray didn't work too good so I googled a better solution.  Clean with a soft cloth using vinegar and then a soft cloth using olive oil.  voila. :)

Emma has become the little chatterbox and loves saying hi to strangers at the park or while shopping .  Oh she also loves saying bye.  NON STOP. :/  SHe still gotta stay close to mama tho.

She also has wined herself from the bottle.  Just like that!  One morning I gave her a sippy cup and that was it!  We never went back to bottles.  I thought this would be a much more difficult task.  PHEW. :)

She is also starting to use the potty.  She tells me when she is having a bowel movement.  Or at least when she had one already.  Compared to the other two (no offense Sophie or Xavi if you are reading this) Emma is so much more advanced!  can't believe it!  She is only 1 1/2 yrs!! :)

Yesterday Mexican music icon Juan Gabriel died, he was a singer and songwriter he wrote more that 1800 songs and sold more than 100 million records.  When I was growing up there were hardly any boy bands so I grew up listening to him and honestly he was the greatest singer and songwriter.  He will be missed.

Here is little silly Emma with happy she knows all these new tricks 

Here is how I felt shocked learning about Juan Gabriel's death...Rip

Till next time amigos!  Have a nice week.

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not for me

Not for me...

Boring, tedious, I did it because I wanted to try it.  My 45 by 45 list.  Reading poetry is what I am talking about. I gave it my all honestly.  I picked a short book so that I could concentrate  "The Selected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca" a Spanish poet, playwright and theater director. I even was lucky enough to find one that had been translated, I had the English version and the Spanish version right on the same book.  I thought this would make it easier.  I took the book along with me to soccer practice and while we waited for Sophie.  I renewed it twice to have enough time.  I read and read, and when I lost my place in the book  I couldn't find my place back...that's how sad it was.  I went back to read over and over. I read the whole book and didn't understand a thing.  Maybe it was the poetry style? maybe was my mindset? Reading this book was so vague to me.   I did not enjoy reading poetry.  Why instead of saying things straight they give it that little twist?, that little twist that won't let me understand what they are trying to say. sigh.

I did manage to understand a little tiny poem

HALF MOON

The moon goes over the water,

How tranquil the sky is!

She goes scything slowly

the old shimmer from the river;

meanwhile a young frog 

takes her for a little mirror.

I know you have to experiment things to find out if you like them.  So, no.  Now I can say I read a poetry book and it's not for me.  One more thing crossed of my list.

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question

Here is a question for you? What is better than pizza?  FREE pizza I think!

Well, let me tell you that this post is not about any free pizza but instead about  my BonitaVoxBox from Influenster which is pretty exciting too!  These products are complimentary to test and review on the different social sites all opinions are mine.

Here is a list of all the goodies I received:

Dickinson's Enhanced Witch Hazel Alcohol Free Hydrating Toner 

This product I've never used before, in fact with my limited makeup routine I've never used toner at all.  I loved that it has no alcohol so it does not dry the skin.  I can see cleaner pores.  Sophie used it as well,  no more occasional breakouts since she started adding this toner to her morning and night routine.
This product claims to even skin tone.
I haven't seen a change on my skin but hope that with continual use I can see a difference!

Fiber One Chocolate Fudge brownie

What can I say?  It's chocolatey, fudgy, it's fiber, and only 90 calories.  It's all good! 

 The only bad thing...it was only one sample.

Sinful Colors Kylie Jenner Collection  

I received a pretty matte color. There are many many shades to choose  from at Target and Walgreens at a very affordable price from $1.99 to $2.99

Revlon Ultra HD matte lip color 

Talking about shades, influenster provided two different lip color samples to test.  The color obsession was a bit too pink and bold for me, but the blushing mauve was just perfect and flattering!  Influenster also made it easier for me to pick another shade as  they sent a coupon for me to redeem! 

Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture Dream Come True Wonderful 

Pre Wash Protein Treatment and Deep Conditioning Masque 
These two products brought my curls back to life honestly!  Super easy to use, nice, rich, thick and creamy and with a long lasting lovely smell.

Have you tried influenster?  It's so nice to try new products for free!!  I honestly fell in love with the toner and the hair products!

Now If I only found a site where they would send free pizza for testing and reviewing purposes umm...

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the good the bad and the weekend

Well hey there!  I feel like I am falling behind with this little blog of mine...again 

life is just too busy for me nowadays.  

These past two weeks were hectic.  One being the last week of summer vacation which was spent registering the kids, getting new haircuts, meet and greet new teachers, buying school supplies, getting backpacks ready, buying more schools supplies. 

The other was the first week of school all full of emotions, new teachers, new classes, new friends. Sophie rubbing her freshly applied mascara 5 minutes before we left for school on the very first day!  racoon eye for sure. oh my.  Changing schedules...

Here are more details as how the weeks went:

I adviced Sophie you need to take the map to find your classrooms easily on the first day, "oh no she said I don't want to look like a freshman", 

then freaking out when we were driving to school as she forgot the map :/

Sophia had a dance concert at the Lake Elsinore Storm which is a minor league baseball team in Lake Elsinore, California.  We only made to the 7th inning as Javier and I were super tired.  The kids were having a blast as we spent, most of the game in the picnic area where they could run around as wild horses. Specially Emma!  that girl has wings now :/ 

I lost my phone in the bathroom stalls at the stadium but luckily someone turned it in and I got it back  :)

Sophie had another dance concert this past weekend Super heroes was the theme and it was super fun :)

On the other hand Xavi is now the ruler of the school as stated by him. Next year he goes off the Middle School.  He takes forever to do his hair nowadays, I think he spends more time on it that Sophie does.  He does have a reasoning though. He says that a soccer player besides being a good player must also have nice hair "just look at Ronaldo or Messi" he says, well I gotta say the boy has a point there! :)

Emma has been more vocal lately.  It's so amazing hearing her talk with a language of her own and also with real words.  One of the funniest words is agua (water) that one is too entertaining because she associates drinking and will say agua agua agua agua nonstop whenever she sees someone drinking.  She won't stop saying the word until she gets a sip or an alternative because she will ask for wine or beer too! A couple of days ago she learned to say OK, I often tell her "wait for me OK? OK?" and I make the stop sign gesture. I realized she had learned it when she took off her binky to answer OK to me and made the hand gesture!! that was amazing.  She also mimics reading books she's too funny.

Oh, I almost forgot we had another nail polish incident this time involving Emma, blue nail polish and Sophia's carpet.  sigh. But luckily we survived it all!

This was Emma..."I plead the Fifth about the nail polish incident"

I hope you guys have been good and ready for another week!

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the good the bad and the weekend

I am tired of this heat...puff  I want some clouds already!!

On Tuesday I went to urgent care as I had an urinary tract infection and had had the symptoms for five days already,.  If you've ever had one you know what kind of ouch I am talking about :(

I giggled every time I go to the doctor's and they give me my health summary and current conditions "Female Infertility, Female Infertility due to Age  and Infertility due to Male Factor" well I have proof that science and doctors get it wrong once in awhile! ah Emma?? :)

Talking about Emma...right before one of Xavi's games he couldn't find his shin guards. None of us couldn't find them so we had to stop and shop for some new ones right before the game!  That was stressing.  Xavi blamed Emma for hiding them.  I don't doubt it that as she gets into everything nowadays! :/

I finally am driving my good old Tundra again.  I missed you baby! :)

Coming back from a soccer match yesterday we saw an accident that had just happened.  It was sad seeing the scene maybe 4 or 5 cars involved.  Hard to figure it out because all the wreckage and debris all over the place. But the most devastating part it was seeing the body of a little girl maybe 4 or five years old lying on the sidewalk, it seemed like she had been in one of the cars and had been taken out of it .  Her little backpack, toys coloring books all scattered in the middle of the street.  After we passed by the scene all of us were just silent no words came out of us... We were just thinking and hoping the little girls would be ok :(  
It makes me so mad that jerks drive so fast carelessly without any concern or worry about other drivers. If they want to kill themselves why don't they just drive off a cliff without putting other lives in danger!! (◣_◢)

I couldn't imagine what the parents were feeling at the time.  

This is what I would tell all of those jerks! STOP!!!

I hope this week goes well for all of us!

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his and hers

I am sure you have seen his and hers towels, mugs, pillowcases, side of the bed sings, 

wedding bands etc, etc.
You name it right?  There is everything his and hers.

Last week when I glanced at Javier's calendar 

I could help but notice that it didn't look anything at all like mine!  

All throughout the month there were changes here additions there, reschedulings as well.

He does bring home the bacon, but I do have to cook it and then clean up after it!  

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the good the bad and the weekend

Somebody give Summer a ticket!  it's certainly going too fast!!  two weeks from today my kids will start school.  They are excited and ready.  Here are the newest good and bads:

Xavi shined like a new penny with his new team uniform he is number nine and that number is one of my favorite numbers. He was looking sharp my boy :)

Emma is having fun at Xavi's games and practices running around at the park and sharing chips and cookies with the other girls Emma is the youngest of all of them :  Well in reality the girls share with her as Emma rather eat what they have instead of what I bring for her :/

While talking to the kids I mention the word "groove"  well apparently that's a no no nowadays :(

Talking about urban dictionary instead of saying what's going on? you say what's poppin'? : /

Sophia let me use her laptop to edit some pictures I was working on as the desktop is very slow. 

Once I was finished I told her she could trash them "okay" she said 

"I will send it to my hopes and dreams that's how I named my trash can..."

Ahhh Sophie stop being so melodramatic! :/

Yesterday was our seventeen year anniversary, we did nothing special at all.  Xavi had a game.  Javier remembered sometime in the middle of the month that July is our anniversary.  I don't know how to label this one happy face, sad face or squiggly face... at least he remembers the month is July. 

Oh that husband of mine!

This is nothing to brag or show off but last week we got up early and drove around the streets to find a homeless person.  There were lots of homeless. We found a woman in need, bad shape physically we went to McDonald's bought a breakfast Deluxe and an orange juice.  Drove back to where she was at and delivered the breakfast plate, she was very thankful. :)

Sometimes the kids or us adults complain about the things we do not have or wish we had more but we forget to give thanks for the things we do have.  There is real need out there.  I am glad my kids got to see it first hand and hope that one day out of their own hearts they have compassion and help those in need. So with this I cross off  item 29 on my 45 by 45 list.

And also last week I mentioned about the talk I had with my brother about investing and he told me to at least open  my investing account and I did last monday!  He also mention that I have to pay myself...that's something that I've never thought about.  Now I plan to save 10% of my shop profits and once I save some money I will start investing and since I wanna feel accomplished on my list because 45 is coming soon I will cross off another item yeah??

As far as the weekend, it was spent helping Valeria move in with a friend of hers.  Both girls rented their own apartment and both are full time college students and have two jobs each!  I remember when I had two jobs back in the day!!

This is how I felt about the anniversary thing!  

I hope you have a nice smooth week and buckle up in case the road is bumpy!

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origami folding

Pretty early in my last pregnancy I found out I was having a girl.  Oh my world turned pink then!  

Soon after finding out I started shopping for baby girl.

My sister passed on to me my niece's clothes for the new baby.  My niece is a fashion diva I must tell you. So there were tons of clothes, my neighbor also passed on some of her daughter's clothes as well.  

And then came the Baby Shower 

so many ohh's and aww's so many beautiful little pieces of clothing so pink and purple.

During pregnancy I spent lots and lots of time washing, folding, sorting, stacking, smelling that baby detergent, arranging and rearranging. Experiencing love over and over.  I just loved matching those teensy socks and folding postage stamp sized washcloths.  I loved all the precious baby things.

Then when Emma came.  So cute and perfect.  She took most of my time and the laundry was not my priority anymore.  Good thing I had plenty of clothes to stretch laundry day. Not fun anymore.  In fact doing laundry is not my favorite thing to do.  It has never been. 

I guess it was just pure baby blizz that little origami folding!

I thought that with Sophia doing her own laundry things would be easier on me.  But NO. The laundry kept piling up as baby girl bodily functions were working just as they were supposed to.  I suppose I don't have to name the bodily functions do I?  or the body fluids?  Na I didn't think so!  Anyways, she started crawling and I had to start treating the knee stains, now that she is starting to feed herself I put a bib on but she takes it off as she decides it's more fun eating without it :( you can just imagine the mess she makes on the floor (that can be a whole blog post in itself), her clothes and herself.  But wait mess is not a good adjective let me call it turmoil, chaos wreck or a combination.

I apologize today guys!  I guess I just needed to rant today.  One must do so once in a while.  I know the day will come when I have an empty nest and no more heavy loads of laundry.  

Wait that's in about 18 years or so!  sigh.

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the good the bad and the weekend

So I guess I have been too busy doing it all and doing nothing at all.
So here is two weeks worth of good, bad and uglies!

Sophie had a freak accident in her bathroom.  Red nail paint spilled on the floor and on the bathroom wall.  "I can explain how it happened.  I placed the nail polish on top of the tank and it just fell by itself!" she said, oh Sophie, I am sure that's how it happened! :(

Xavi and I have watched Back to the Future I, II and III on Netflix.  

Crazy to watch with him what I watched 30 years ago!  :)

Xavi is into magic tricks again such as pulling a quarter out of an orange
or pulling dental floss out of his ear
anybody need dental floss? :/

I had a nice talk with my brother about investing and buying stocks.  He is now buying uranium stocks and he does it all on his phone.  I thought it would be harder.  Darn I remember that's on my 45 by 45 list.
I need to read an Investing for dummies book real dummies!! :/

We watched the Tiny Houses Episodes on Netflix.  Crazy how those people plan to live in such tiny spaces.  I guess it's doable!!  Now we're into Tiny House builders! :)

Xavi and I learned how to use Javier's compressor to pump gas to my bike's tire.  It took us a little time to figure it out but we managed! Is one of those thing that you always see but never really do it yourself so when it's your turn to do it you're like how do I do this?! :)

I had two pyrex  round containers stuck together and I got so frustrated tying pull them apart.  I googled how to do it. Cool the inner container with iced cool water and heat the outer one with warm water.  They said it might take a while.  Nop it didn't work for me and I was so upset and frustrated that I opted for trowing them in the recycle bin.  I didn't want to run the risk of the glass breaking in my hands and cutting myself.  I was so upset because pyrex containers are not cheap! :(

This past weekend we had my husband's family reunion in Coronado Island
it's always fun to catch up with the family!

this is how I felt when I couldn't separate the glass containers!

 This is how I felt when I had to make the decision to throw them in the recycle bin!

I hope you had a nice weekend and are ready to start a new week.  Thank you for stopping by!

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Lake Hemet

Boy this was a short week!  Today it's our Friday!!  As Javier has Fridays off, we only had a three day workweek.  This is like how I like my weeks short and sweet.

Sophia had been asking to go to the beach.  Beaches near us are 1 1/2 hrs away either west or south Javier was not up to the driving jokingly he asked Sophia "let's stay home and watch beach movies" as he had a rough work week.  We settled for a lake.  A lake close to us that we have never visited before.

Lake Hemet, it has everything you need for a great experience, 

camping, fishing, boating and a water park for kids.

Our plan was not to stay overnight, but just to check the place out since it was our first time there 

like I mentioned before.

We just grabbed some chairs, a couple of coolers with sandwiches and drinks, a battery operated radio, some sunscreen and Javier's coloring book that amazingly he retrieves here and there to use it.  

Honestly we've all asked him to use his book!  Here are some pics I'd like to share.

It was a nice day we spent there!  The weather was wonderful in the 80's 

We did have to move once or twice to hide from the sun.  Sophie and Xavi had fun in the water park.  Emma had a great time helping switching the colors to whoever was coloring. 

Hopefully before the kids start school again we make it again this time to stay overnight! 

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the good the bad and the weekend

How are you my friends? I hope you had a nice Fourth of July long weekend that is if you had a long weekend and of course if you are in the states as well.  I saw a meme about the Independence Letter being the best breakup letter ever.

Today I have a dentist appointment at 8:30 am uggh!  that is no way of ending a nice 4 day weekend or to start a week in any case :(  wish me luck.

As far as the good, the bad and the ugly last week here are the best I can share with you:

After two weeks of practice, two weeks of tryouts and two scrimmages Xavi made the team!!  We're all excited!  One thing is for sure you suffer more at soccer than you enjoy it!  But we certainly like it :)

We had a lunch date with my sister and three of her kids plus three of mine!  It was certainly a fun chaos! :)

Sophie has a paying job online reviewing songs.  She is excited and loves it a lot.  She is starting out with 4-5 cents paid for each song she reviews and will be getting paid more as she reviews more songs.  She can cash out after $10 Not a great paying job but she likes it! :)

I was having so much trouble trying to order Sophie's custom for her next dance concert.  I tried at the store, they said do it in the kiosk, nop it wasn't working. They said do it online. Yup but I wanted free shipping!  So they said call back with order number and we will refund shipping fees.  So it happened that I ordered it twice!!  The first time the computer said transaction didn't go through so I did it again.  That afternoon I got two different shipping notifications.  The next day I called to sort things out so now I have to wait to get the two packages and return one of them...what a hastle.  Oh and I got the confirmation email like three days later. What the heck? :/

For another what the heck this week I tried to reach someone at an office last week I left three messages on three consecutive days and talked to the operator several times and to this day and time have not received a call back.  What the heck!!  Don't you just hate that?? :(

As far as the weekend I will we sharing soon some pics of our camping.

This was really a good week except some minor things! 

Anyways, I hope you are having a productive week.

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What She Wore

Last Monday when I said that we leave the house early to beat the heat in order to make errands I meant it. I mean getting the kids out of the house to go to Walmart or Target during vacation at 7:30 am is almost a sin right?  I kinda feel bad but they are early birds like me too.  Most of the time they know in advance since they ask me what are the plans for the next day.  Oh and BONUS  we also beat the crowds since everybody is out on vacation!!

This is the latest photo session before going in to Walmart hence Sophie's hair.  She did apologize :/

Skirt and cardigan: thrifted

 this post was linked to

the pleated poppy 

and also linked to 

SYDNEY FASHION HUNTER

America is about to have another Birthday, so Happy Birthday America!! 

and to you I wish you a 

Happy and safe Fourth of July!

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