January where did you go?

Happy New Year guys! This is my first official post here on my own Blog for 2014. What do I mean by first official post? Well, I'm lucky to be a contributor on a couple other sites and I have a couple posts that already came out this year. I hope you have checked them out but in case you missed them here's a sneak peak of those so you can stop on by. I would gladly appreciate it.

Check out All about Snowflakes or Pin for Later

Check out Cardboard Box car driving or Pin for Later

Check out Exploring w/Stamps or Pin for Later 

Check out The Bond of Motherhood or Pin for Later

So what have I been up to? Where have I been? Let see...

Right around the strike of New years we saw these 3 hovering lights above us and they seemed to be following each other in a triangle formation. My brother said Aliens! I snapped a quick photo and we giggled about it until we saw real news reports about lights just like this being seen in Southern states that same night! Lights that no one could identify. Crazy right? We had a "The Truth is out There" moment

Our kitchen went through major Home Repairs! Everything got moved and we got a new floor. We got a new counter and shelves and sink and more! Meanwhile all this was going on we couldn't cook. And if you know me then you know I cook 99% of the time every meal we eat. Well I went crazy and it stinks because it coincided with the week long stomach bug my family went through. My kiddo threw up 10 times on one day then it just spread from family member to family member till the house was a Hot zone of infection. Thankfully we finally felt better and my first cooked meal in the new kitchen was chicken soup. Ps this photo was of my kiddo putting the first drops of paint on the wall to bless our new kitchen. 

If you live in the south then you know how rough it was during this month with the unusually low temps (said not sarcastically REALLY). How yes school was cancelled and our cities shut down. Well it was scary! And our city to make light of this time used the hashtag #Raspageddon to chronicle it across social media. Meanwhile if you are in a Northern state you made some pretty memorable memes about us. 

And of course when little bits of sunshine and warmth shined through we went outdoors and soaked it up! That is how I spent most of January.

Thank you for following along on my journey and you can bet you will see me here a lot more often! Happy Chinese New year guys! 

Happiness is... (Week 11) Plus a Giveaway!

Its been a long time since I shared what is making me happy and sadly its not because I keep forgetting but actually because life has been rough this year. With my dad being so sick and going through surgery after surgery and wound care appointments, antibiotics in his PICC line that I administer, infectious disease visits, ER visits and so much more how can I even breathe?

Adding to that I am a mom whose kiddo started school for the first time on Monday! And I had never even been away from him for that long (EVER!). I couldn't find uniforms that fit him right until like 3 days before school started and I didn't have that beautiful first time meeting the teacher and exploring the classroom as I gush and take pictures of every inch of the room my kiddo will be in this year. Instead I'm unhappy with school and sad.

But this isn't about what makes me sad.. today I'm sharing what makes me happy right now:

Happiness is... Realizing that although it hurts and breaks my heart to let go of my child as he heads to school my heart is filled with crazy pride for him. I love my son and I am so proud of my big boy as he heads in to class and doesn't cry and tells me "I'm going to miss you mommy, I love you!" I know I've done a good job at making him ready for the world and I realize my son isn't a baby anymore (tears) but I sure do love the big boy he is becoming.

Happiness is ... the nice walks my munchkin and I have as we walk to school and then walk home everyday. We live so close to the school that the school bell rings at 2:40 and by 2:47 we are already changing at home! Plus I love our talks along the way! 

Happiness is ... that my munchkin goes to the same school my dad went to over 50 yrs ago, the same school I went to and even my brother and sister. Its now a family tradition! 

Happiness is ... PUPPIES! Yep, we are over run with puppies at my house. 

If you know us then you know we have been cat people since I was little. And yes we still have a couple cats from our family line but as you might also know for the past couple of years we have also had one dog named TOri. Well Tori had 5 gorgeously TOO good looking puppies and we adore them! 

Our cat/dog family was already happily blended and now with one kitten and our 3 adult cats plus one adult dog and 5 puppies our blended family is complete! Those little yaps mixed in with meows make our hearts melt and they all love each other.

Happiness is... This giveaway from the lovely Christina Coker for a $60 credit to Origami Owl for some fun jewelry. So go on and enter here now! (Good Luck!) ---->
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Since we are talking about Giveaways have you entered mine to win a $50 Gift card to Home Depot? There will be 3 lucky winners and one just might be you so head on over and enter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lisa at Crazy Adventures in parenting has been doing a weekly series called "Happiness Is_____" where every Wednesday she will be having a link up for others to share what Happiness is to them. So go check that out and link up! You can also follow others along with the hash tag #HappinessIs on twitter and Instagram. Hope to see you there spreading the happiness!

Home Improvements Here we go! (plus a Giveaway)

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.  All thoughts, opinions and photos are my own. 

This summer has been a big summer for us! We have been very busy and not in the fun summer way most would think. We have been going through a lot as a family dealing with my dads diabetes and getting ready for the youngest in my family (my son) to head off to school for the first time. With all this stuff and more our home has been neglected sadly. But when you spend so much time at the hospital and your days after are doctor appointments non stop you kinda have to set priorities and for us family comes first. 

Now that things seem to be winding down I started looking around here at home and we are in need of major changes and improvements!

For the next couple of months I want you to follow along and see how we get our home in tip top shape. We are adding more of our Hispanic culture into the mix. We are starting this month with the outside. With Texas temperatures being over 100 every day this month my lawn has been neglected and overgrown and full of ants. And don't get me started on my plants! They are mostly dead and for a very sad example let me show you a picture of our rose bush last year. 

Yep! Beautiful fresh roses outside my window! But not anymore. All the branches were brown now and even crispy. Not one single flower on them and in desperate need of new life so off they were chopped and now we are trying to salvage the roots and start new. Look at the sadness in front of my window now. 

Here are the branches from it that are being cleaned up

We are cleaning up and making our lawn fresh little by little by trimming and cleaning around the plants that are still living and giving room for them to flourish again. We are making our lawn/garden brand new with help from The Home Depot. The Home Depot has many Hispanic themed products out there to add a little culture and make your house feel more like Home. We are adding some fun lawn decor to brighten up the area too. Like this fun and cooky monkey 

and this amazingly beautiful hand crafted pot that I adore!

I am thinking of which plant to grow in this pot and am very open to suggestions. Something that will be ok during a drought and with extreme heat but be very pretty. 

To find some fun Hispanic Themed products like the Tin crazy Monkey and Talavera Round Pot be sure to check out a local store near you here.

So you can join along in the Home Improvement fun be sure to enter this awesome Giveaway for one of three $50 Home Improvement Gift Cards. Good luck! 

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Hope you guys join me along this Home Improvement Adventure time and give me tips and suggestions just like I will give you plenty too! 

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.  All thoughts, opinions and photos are my own. 

Project 52: Week 28

Warning! I'm sharing information about my fathers diabetes situation in a bit so please stop reading if that might disturb you. 

The first half of the week was good. We played outside, enjoying nature by chasing butterflies.  We ate ice cream, played with ice cream and even made our own ice cream cones out of home made play dough! Yep! It was fun. Plus the ice cream pictures hint at an activity of mine coming out on Gummy Lump this week. 

Now as for the second half of the week all of a sudden my dad wasn't eating. His face coloring was bad and he was throwing up. He had come out of the shower and I always change his bandages after so he has clean ones to start off the next day when I see his wound area. (My dad had surgery previously on a foot sore) A new sore was turning colors and smelled bad. I mentioned this to my dad and he was offended when I was just trying to tell him that it was a bad sign. Its a sign of infection. Then all of a sudden on the bottom of his foot was a huge brand new blister that seemed to be full of goo. I freaked out! I teared up and told my dad we had to go to the emergency room. He didn't want to but we ended up going. They said he had a serious bone infection and it was bad! That the infection was spreading up his foot into his ankle and leg. This is a lot of information to take in a couple of hours.

Before I knew it he was already in surgery because it was getting worse by the minute. Since Thursday my family's life has been on edge. My dad is still in the hospital and has had 2 surgeries so far now. The second surgery came after we thought he was getting better but then it turned out the infection had actually gotten worse over night. Prayers are greatly appreciated. 

I keep praying for the doctors to be able to get rid of all the infection and save his foot. We have a long journey ahead and I need to be strong for my family. Especially for my son who isn't taking it well and has too many questions that I don't have answers for. 

Please be informed about the seriousness of diabetes and the effects it can have on you and your loved ones. For more information on diabetes visit  http://www.diabetes.org

How was your week? Hopefully it was better than ours even though I am still happy because my father is still here and we are going to keep fighting for his health. Things could be worse so I need to stay positive.

Project 52: Week 27

We had a great week this week. We celebrated 4th of July and did a bunch of patriotic hand prints, hearts and more. We played outside and blew bubbles and even got to see a few fireworks to top it off. Plus we drew the beach. munchkin was helping me with the fish and I was reminiscing on our beach days that need to happen again soon. How was your week? 

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you have an awesome day with family and friends! Happy 4th of July! 

Happiness is... (Week 10)

Happiness is... all this sunshine! Yep, I actually love the sunshine even with Texas heat . Because even though I do love rain, cloudy weather makes me dreary. So with all this sunshine I feel so Happy! 

Happiness is jumping on the trampoline, your toes in the air mid jump plus how the kittens want to get in the trampoline too! 

Happiness is my munchkin bike riding! He is getting better at it every day.

Happiness is my new fun craft on Gummy Lump! We had a lot of fun making the instruments and music on our own using recycled crafts. You can see how to make your own here. 

Lisa at Crazy Adventures in parenting has been doing a weekly series called "Happiness Is_____" where every Wednesday she will be having a link up for others to share what Happiness is to them. So go check that out and link up! You can also follow others along with the hash tag #HappinessIs on twitter and Instagram. Hope to see you there spreading the happiness!

Project 52: Week 26

This week has been a good one. The sun has been shining. We hit a record temperature in San Antonio over 106! Then the very next day we got plenty of rain... lots of rain clouds and it finally cooled off. Our house has been full of butterflies! Yellow, blue and black, black and yellow and even white. My sister snapped up a picture of one that was hanging from a tree vine. When we go outside its like a butterfly playground that even our cats have fun jumping up trying to play with. We've recently been watching "The Shining" and only my sister of course sees my munchkin riding his bike and thinks of the little boy from The shining saying "redrum"! Yep she is a one of a kind. And finally I would like to say GoodBye June! You went too fast. The big sunset picture I took Sunday afternoon as I waved goodbye to June and Hello to July!

Hope your week was a great one! What are you looking forward to in July?

Project 52: Week 25

This past week was good and bad for us. Being in San Antonio from the moment I was old enough to understand anything I was already a Spurs fan. As I grew older I became more in love with our team. Now my kiddo is a Spurs fan too! So this huge loss was heartbreaking but none the less as a true fan I still love my Spurs! The love I saw everywhere for our team after the loss was unbelievable. People lined the streets after the game still cheering on our team. The Spurs were greeted with love when they arrived home after the game and still only happiness is being spread from our fans. I hope that speaks greatly to you about San Antonio if you ever plan on visiting. 

This week we also hanged out with my friend Veronica and her kiddos at the Zoo. If your looking for thrifty tips or more information on Barefoot Books my friend Veronica is your gal! 

While still on the subject of Zoo fun, this week I was over at Gummy Lump sharing my new activity for this week which is an Eric Carle inspired Zoo Adventure book! Its spun from the Beloved Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Check it out and have an adventure of your own! Plus see the rest of my zoo fun here.

Finally this week we officially welcomed Summer! Hi there Summer! How was your week? 

10 yrs ago today I graduated Highschool

Ten years ago today I graduated High school.... yep time sure does fly. I didn't even feel it go by. It seems too fast, too soon and like I'm not ready to accept that its been 10 years. I have been sorta really kinda definitely dreading this day. I knew it was coming... I was constantly being bombarded with news about the 10 year reunion. The planning..."do you want to decorate? plan? raise funds..etc? " The ticket sales "Are you buying now or at the door?" And finally the invites! 

A lot has changed in ten years... my dreams, wishes, view of life and goals. I'm not the same person from the past and while many will say that not being the me of ten years ago is bad, I proudly object. I wouldn't change who I am today for the person I was. I don't want to live in the past, its not good to dwell. I honestly can say I wouldn't change a thing from my past. Why? I think everything happens for a reason. The good, the bad and through it all you live and learn from your mistakes. If I hadn't gone through all the tumbles that led me down this road, I would never have gotten this miracle in life. I would never have been blessed with my son, this child who is now my world. That's why I wouldn't have my life any other way. 

Strolling down memory lane I went through my old high school pictures. I was so proud when I graduated. I was the first one from my family to ever graduate! My dad dropped out in 9th grade to work and help support his family and my mom never even did one single year in school because she grew up working in Mexico, helping her father to support there family. I was very fortunate that even though we went through hard times I was able to go and have an education. 

Here's some pictures of my High school memories:

My graduation invitations

A few of the fun programs and places I went to with school plus awards

I was in ROTC for 4 years! Part of John Jays AFJROTC Tx 782nd, my spirit senior bags and my High school prom invitation

My 18th Birthday I actually celebrated at work! My first job was at Seaworld San Antonio. I was a photographer there for 4 seasons! For my 18th birthday my mom had talked to my manager and they talked to Seaworld to get permission to bring in mariachis and cake and pizza through the employee area to surprise me at work. I had no idea any of this was going to happen. It was late and I was working behind the counter when all of a sudden these mariachis pop out and sing to me! I wanted to cry! My moms boyfriend is the one singing. It was so special and more so because of all the planning and work my mom put into it. I have so many beautiful high school memories at Seaworld such as this one back when they use to have the Shamu you could get on and take pictures with (Im the one on the front and my friend krystle is behind me), my family all getting kissed by belugas and lots more fun times! 

Here's one of my Senior pictures

My graduating class of 2003 Science &Engineering Academy at John Jay Highschool! And of course finally the reason today is special... A picture of me crossing the  stage and getting my diploma. My High school graduation! 

Happy ten years to all my fellow graduates of 2003! May you all be blessed with happiness in life. That these years have brought you wisdom and strength and many happy memories. 

Project 52: Week 17

This past week life was a bit sweeter and we tried finding happiness here at home. My dad still has to see the doctor 3x a week and he cant be putting weight on his foot, but things are getting easier every day. Hopefully soon I can say he is all better. We played outside and even found some creepy caterpillars! I looked them up online and it looks like a PipeVine SwallowTail. Apparently they are poisonous though so we need to watch out with our pets. 

We made some scratch Art (can you tell my munchkin made Sponge Bob and Patrick?) and played with stamps. But the best part of this past week was going out to Seaworld for the final weekend of the Just for Kids Concert series. The imagination Movers were there and the show was amazing! 

Hopefully the weeks keep getting better. How was your week? 

Happiness is... (Week 7)

Happiness is... my munchkin finally wanting to learn to ride a bike! Its very exciting to see him so enthusiastic about it. Every day for the past 3 days now all I hear from him is "please lets go outside to ride bike...please" Wish Him luck! 

Happiness is... bringing out all the Cascarones that were left over from Easter and having a confetti fight outside regardless of the date. (To be honest I was kinda saving them for Fiesta since we didn't use them all on Easter, but now were going to need some more for Fiesta)

Happiness is... Kittens! Did I mention that on Easter we were blessed with the birth of 4 adorable kittens? My munchkin is obsessed with them and there baby meows! I would like to think that my sweet Gilbert was reincarnated in one of them. 

Happiness is... Free goodies! Like the ones we got at The HEB Healthy family Expo this past weekend including my munchkins new bike helmet. This is nothing compared to how much we brought home (includes tooth brushes, crayon packs, coloring books, pads, tampons, snacks of all sorts, pill containers, tooth paste, and even fresh fruit)

Happiness is... seeing people walk/race for a cause that should be dear to every person in this world... man or women. 

Happiness is... my latest craft on Gummy Lump. I made a DIY Pretend Garden with Munchkin and since it came out last Thursday it has only been met with kind words and I really appreciate everyone who has checked it out and g+ and pinned it. Thank you for your support! 

Lisa at Crazy Adventures in parenting has been doing a weekly series called "Happiness Is_____" where every Wednesday she will be having a link up for others to share what Happiness is to them. So go check that out and link up! You can also follow others along with the hash tag #HappinessIs on twitter and Instagram. Hope to see you there spreading the happiness!