Happy Birthday!!!!

Six years ago my little Matthew was born...

We are here!!

We had planned to leave Georgia last Monday but for many reasons we had to depart one day later, which gave us the opportunity to spend two wonderful nights and mornings with our (Canadian/Georgian)friends Coralie and Jonathan and their adorable kids, meaning that we were starting our trip in a great way!
We left Georgia Tuesday morning around 9:00 AM and got to San Diego Saturday around 7:00 PM. It was a great adventure for our whole family (that includes our pets of course) Our kiddos had a great time and so did we. We got the chance to make a few stops along the way. We got to stay in New Orleans, walk the French Quarter and eat some Awesome Jambalaya and Po Boys(sandwiches)at Mothers restaurant, and have the best coffee with chicory and beignets (French doughnuts) at the Cafe Du Monde, our hotel was very nice and our snake escaped during the night inside the moving truck!...it was found later on that day very stuck in the dash board but it only took two hours to get it out=D
Texas was BIG...and well... big! But by no means as boring as I had thought, the country side was beautiful throughout and the gradual change in the vegetation was amazing. We stopped in San Antonio (where the snake escaped in the hotel room and it only took 1/2 hour to find it this time)and in El Paso, and of course we had to eat Steak! But the highlight for the kids was the hotel waffles in the shape of TEXAS!!
Next on we stoped in New Mexico and visited a little town (pueblo style) and Matthew got the best souvenirs ever or so he thinks, a hat a revolver and a rifle.
Our last stop before SD was Yuma Arizona and also the place where we put all our belongings in storage, because we are going to live there, while Josh's job is in El Centro CA, (40 min from Yuma)
Thank you all for your prayers and best wishes, and sorry for taking soooo long to give an update, it's been a little crazy haha

Not bragging... Just sharing!!!

The 5th grade Regional Math Tournament took place yesterday and my 10 year old was a participant, as well as the chosen designer for the t-shirts for the competition. Each competitor had to come up with a design for their school team and it had to combine the subjects of "Literature and Math".
If you've been around my son for a while you may know that there are two things that from a very early age have been most important in his life; food and books. And as you can see his design captures his entire person. (I love that kid)
Anyway, as the time for the event approached I saw in my Josh's face that overwhelmed look that I used to get as a little girl when a million feelings got a hold of me. So with a "quick" (I might say lightening speed) hug he left to be with the other kids.
The way the tournament was set up was new for me. (there were 120 participants) They were taken away to a classroom where they took an individual written math test, then they took them out to the auditorium where all the parents and teachers were, split each school into teams of two and started an open competition with a huge wall projector and a big timer. The principal read the question out loud and the kids had to write their answer on a paper which was taken immediately by a teacher. The points they got were for speed and accuracy. It was nerve racking, but I loved every minute of it because each time the principal read the name of Josh's school with the answer and the "it is correct" or "it is not correct" Josh waited for the answer, then looked across the room to give me a smile or a thumbs up. It made me want to freeze time. I love being his mommy.
At the end of the day his team got two awards, the school won two awards as well, and Josh got 1st place out of all 120 students in the individual category.

A princess...

Who says that boys and girls are made the same...? I say bologna!
As most moms do, I enjoy listening to my kids play together, (that is, the few minutes of play they can squeeze in between fighting about anything and everything) I love to see how their brains create and piece together make believe stories.
As my boys were playing together yesterday I heard the word "princess" and being that that is not a common word in this household, I inched myself close to where they'd built a mini lego city. To the side of it was a big wooden scorpion.
After scrambling all over their toy bins they finally came out with a penguin girl toy, the closest thing they could find that looked somewhat like a princess. Feeling the need to help in the obvious game of rescuing the princess form the mean bad scorpion, I asked -Don't you guys have a mini lego princess Leah? (from Star Wars) -To which my 10 year old answered -Yes but we need a girly princess- and before I could ask anything else my almost 6 year old piped and said -We need a princess because that is what our Guardian Hero Scorpo, likes for dessert!-
...needless to say that there were no more questions asked, I'm starting to understand the meaning of the word "Speechless".

There is spring in the air...and for Georgia/Alabama that means there is Pollen in the air!!

My intention was to take a picture of our (black) jeep, which until a few days ago was yellow!! I've never seen soooo much pollen in my life. Everything from the roof tops to the water at the pond was YELLOW. But it rained...I was a little miffed that I didn't take a pic sooner, so that our Socal friends could see how cool everything looked, and our Georgian friends could...smile?
But here are some pics of the pollen being washed away by the rain.
Which was a good thing I guess... since Matthew had hay fever just last week and the Dr. said that I had to keep him away from the allergen(pollen)haha good luck doing that!
So after cleaning the car inside and out and a few oatmeal baths for Matthew (and the Oh so blessed Benadryl!) the rash is almost gone,the car is starting to look a little yellowish again, and we even got to go to the Reptile Fest Saturday!

So thankful!

Our Papi (that is how you write daddy in Spanish, but when Matthew writes notes to him he does it as it sounds in English, "POPEE")has been gone for 42 days, it's been pretty hard, some days more than others. We miss him tons, specially at night time, when he becomes the narrator for our kids books, (he can make the COOLEST voices for tons of characters on our favorite chapter books,and he remembers which voice to make for each character...that's pretty amazing if you ask me) so not only the kids but I have also enjoyed for the past 10 years his fun story time reading.
So as the days go on, missing him more and more, I've also realized how much he does at home, not only with the kids but also helping me around the house in so many ways that I didn't realize before he was gone. And all those feelings made me think of friends that for some reason or another are single parents, it has convicted me of how little, if anything I've done to help them, if not with the heavy emotional burden just with the every day needs that arise.
I know that 2 moths are nothing compared to years with husbands deployed or facing the cruel reality of divorce. I've been blessed with so many of you, friends and family that are there for us praying and/or calling every so often to encourage me. I've also been blessed with a friend that I would not have known if we hadn't moved here. She is a wife of a busy husband and a mom of a toddler and a baby, she is also strong in her faith and love for Christ. She has made room in her busy life to reach out to our family in very specific ways. For some reason(I don't know)I tend to withdraw a little from people when I'm dealing with my own feelings...But her thoughtfulness(and always sweet smile)have made keeping my distance hard. So I've learned instead to lean on her for support. Thank you Coralie.
And THANK YOU all of you for your love for us too!

From the mouths of babes...

So as you've noticed my poor blog has been abandoned for at almost 4 weeks. (more on that later)
Today I took Matthew to get a very needed hair cut. He climbed onto the stylist's chair and proceeded to talk to her about everything going on in his life. (EVERYTHING!)
When she was almost done, he told her that he was going to have a birthday very soon and that he was thinking about getting a new pet. She asked what kind of pet he was thinking about getting, to which he answered very seriously:
-Well I was thinking about a goat but since my mommy says that we can't have goats at home I'm thinking about going with a reptile. I'm not sure yet... But what I'm sure of is that I don't ever want to have a pet KANGAROO- and before she could ask why? he said,
-Because you know...kangaroos kick people in the crotch-
The lady gave me a look and trying to contain a laugh she said -Who told you that?-
and Matthew replied, -Well My brother told me about it a loooooooong time ago and I didn't believe him, but then I saw it with my own eyes one day on America's Funniest Videos-
That's how I know that kangaroos kick people in the crotch.