Happenings in 2011

Archer Farms makes the BEST fake bubbly! Here is Matthew & Olivia toasting to the New Year!

That New Year night, we headed over to our friends the Spriggs for their annual NYE themed party. This years theme? Hawaiian. Steve kind of dressed the part, me? I skipped the dressing up, I just can't wear flip flops in this kind of weather! See below:

Snow was MIA during Christmas, but made an appearance in January and came back with a vengeance!

Hofhiens! Collette's, are still waiting to be uploaded, stay tuned!

2011 has been great so far! We have celebrated a new year with all our friends, we have experienced TONS OF SNOW (will do a separate post on that) I still have a job, and my kids are growing healthy and awesome! We also, got a visit from our friends The Hofhiens, and Collettes who will hopefully visit us again soon! We totally miss everyone in San Antonio, and while life has been great here, there is definetely a change in our family dynamic with me working and Steve in residency.. sigh.. Can this whole medical residency be over sooner than 5 years please? I guess, a girl can dream! Here are some pictures of this new year!

Jazmin

Decked the HALLS!

Who knew dollar store items could look so classy?!

Christmas tree!

Table all dressed up!

Merry Christmas 2010!

Once I post more pictures, you will see what everyone that meets me sees. Yes, I admit it, I am completely and absolutely in LOVE with my house! L-O-V-E!!! YES, it's true I dream of housey all they long! What curtains I need to buy, what picture frames I need to get, what rug to dress it up nicely? on, and on and on! This house is absolutely PERFECT for us in every way! It's small, sweet and super cute! It is 1500 hundred square feet of pure bliss! I know many people who live in amazing homes, but honestly, I could live here for a very long time, and when we have outgrown it I want to re-model it and gifted to my mom. Anyway, since this was our first Christmas in our first home, I had to decorate it and prepare it for one of the happiest Christmas I have ever had! I decorated the tree, mantel, staircase and of course the kitchen. I even decorated the table for Christmas morning breakfast! It was truly lovely. Here are some pics, I promise to upload more soon!

Kids ROoM

The room after we moved in...

I didn't want to do primary colors in a gender neutral space but I wanted it to be super fun! So I went with a green color that looks bright but not overpowering.
My little magnet board that I used in the kitchen found a new home in the kids room. I love that they can display their school work.

I'm really into orange right now, so I wanted orange to be the accent color in their room, but only sprinkles of it and then I went to Joann's and found these crazy big cardboard letters, so I got them and spray paint them and I love the way they turned out! Just enough orange for that wall!

Made these curtains from some cute fabric I found at Joann's. The best part? I got the fabric 50% off! so the total cost of the curtains were 8 bucks! Not bad for two panels! ;)

This is the first room I have "finished" in our house. I plan on tackling one room at a time, and I think this is good for the kids now. It has taken me a loooong time to finish this room, mainly because of money and time restraints but thankfully it's done! The room has been very challenging to say the least. For one, it is long and narrow, and the door to the room is at an angle. So, I had to find the right size beds, and try to cram as much functionality into the small space. It has definitely been a labor of love, and it works! Anyway, enough of my gibberish, here are the pics!

New Year, New Blog...

This is just a little post to get me motivated to catch up on here more often. I will try to update the blog this year, as much as I can. 2010 was a year of many changes, that I barely have time to do anything. I will try to slow down a bit once in a while, and promise to soak in all the wonderful blessing that our family has received. I will try to share are adventures and misadventures of having a home, and our life here in Dallas.

See ya soon! and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Jazmin

Changes

There have been lots of changes in the past few months, and while some are GREAT some others are really hard. For the past 4+ years I have been a mommy. I thought I knew who I was, but now in recent weeks I question if I even have a clue as to who I am. I know that I love my kids more than life itself, and I love my hubby so much that I truly turn into a giggly girl every time we get to spend some time together. But now days things have been changing around our home. Matthew is a 6 year old who is very social and bright. He doesn't need me as much as he once did, and Olivia is starting to reach a point in which playgroups are no longer satisfying. She craves projects, and playing for longer periods of time with older kids. They are no longer diapers, sippy cups or a need to wake up in the middle of the night. Its safe to say that there are no more babies around here, and neither is there a great need for mommy. I used to fill my day with park dates, lunches and library times. I was tired, and busy and totally happy. I was a mommy, and I had babies. I see how much my kids are growing, and I know that there are no more babies in the future for our family... so now what? What do I do? Olivia and I play, go to the library but there is not much else. When Matthew gets home, he and Olivia play, or sometimes Olivia is happy just playing by herself or doing some activity. She doesn't need me 24/7 like she used to and to be honest I haven't even tried to make friends with that many people because my kids are so much older that I don't even feel like going to playgroup. I get bored, and so does Olivia. We don't know what to do to fill our days and the more time passes the more I realize that my stay at home days are coming to an end. In a year, Olivia will be in school and then I don't think that staying at home is an option. I know that I'm still a mommy and that that's the MOST important role I will ever have in my life, but its almost like I have to now look at myself and decide what next step to take with my new found time. What do I want? What does the future hold for Jazmin? Who am I going to be in 10 years? I have so many questions and fears that I now have to face. I feel like I'm not as needed or wanted as I once was. I know that's what happens when kids grow, I just wasn't prepared for it to happen so fast. I had put all my time and focus on these beautiful kids that I never thought too much about my future. I only thought of what I wish and want for them, that I forgot about me. I feel almost, young and insecure again. Why do I have to grow up? I was living in bliss with these gorgeous blessings that call me mommy. All of the sudden, I see them turning into themselves, becoming who they are. I love them, but its starting to hit me, that it's their time to start living their life. Matthew is starting to make decisions and Olivia is not far behind. I will be there after school with dinner ready, and to be the best homework helper and of course, kiss them and love on them. But what do I do with the first 8 hours of my day? I'm currently looking for work. I find that I need more education for what I want to work in, and it frustrates me, but it becomes clear that even though you grow up, you never stop learning. Here is to hoping I can survive the next phase of our life...

Ok, last post of the night.

The nice thing about moving back home, is that you get to run into people you knew. The 2nd Sunday in our new ward I realized that Matthew's CTR teacher is none other than our wedding photographer! Yes, those amazing pictures of our wedding were taken by Amy Hurfurth of Daisy Photography! I love our wedding pictures, in fact I think that's what made my wedding look cuter than it actually was! Anyway, I was so excited! We hope to be able to get some pictures done with her for Christmas this year! I say hope, because Amy is a busy bee! So, a couple of days ago I asked Amy if she would take a picture or two of me and Olivia for a little contest my friend Marleny and the America Heart Association are running (My friend Marleny works for the AHA in the public relations department and is doing a contest for Go RED focusing in the Latin community) -The winner of the contest gets to go to the Latin Grammy's! and of course, it helps raise awareness for heart disease. Did I mention my friend Marleny was on the Today show in NYC today? and she will walk the red carpet at the Grammy's? Yeah, that's how she rolls!- But back to Amy. She told me to come over to her place and take a couple of pictures, because she's nice like that, and had to get some red in it, since it was for the contest... In the end, she gave me some free pics of me and my little sweetheart.. That's part of my little slogan for the contest, but I won't say anything else about that, since I really want to win!I will say however, that I looked like CRAP! the day of the pics and yet somehow, Amy was able to make me look decent! I love the pictures though, because Olivia looks gorgeous as always! So, here are some of my favorite pics! and if you are in the Dallas area and want some family pictures, I HIGHLY recommend Daisy Photography! and while we are talking about the contest, go and enter for a chance to win a trip to the Grammys!

It's September...but I could't wait!

That creepy bird is sitting on top of "To Kill a Mockingbird".... how appropriate!

Did I mention I love the Dollar store? I bought the red candle, silver plate and sparkly skulls there! And the look super cute!

Gotta love vinyl!

So, it all started with some black vinyl I had... and the storm that I swear had me doubting I would ever see the sun again.. and it turned out that 2 days cooped up inside due to crazy rain, vinyl and Halloween decor bought previously, turned into a crazy decorating marathon! I have been itching to decorate for Halloween and now that I have a fireplace, I just couldn't wait! I cut out a ton of birds and cats with my cricut and just put them all over the house. Then I took out all my creepy title books and put them on the mantle..but wait! I got some of those black birds from Michael's with a 40% off coupon that I got! and found some candles, which I used to make the bleeding effect Martha Stewart is famous for! Yes. that was my thought process. So anyway, here are my little decorations! Hope you like them!

Lago Ranch

View from the house. You can see the lake really well from here..

Matthew and Olivia posing for the cameras!

I think these are store bought, but I thought they were cute ;)

I know, I know. I speak of moving to Dallas like we moved to the land of 'MILK AND HONEY' but it really has worked out for us, so I know this is where we are supposed to be. A few weeks ago one of the upper Doc's at Parkland invited all the Ortho guys up to his ranch for the day. The name of the ranch is 'Lago Ranch' which means 'Lake Ranch' because it has a lake, duh. There was pig roasting, great food (Dr. Rainer's wife made so killer corn bread!) and some fun outdoors. The kids LOVED running around the ranch and eating too many cupcakes! Everyone at the program seems super nice and welcoming! Steve has really liked working here. We had a such a good time, that Dr. Rainer told us we could come stay any weekend! How cool is that?! we would even have access to his jet ski's! Anyway, here are some pictures of our day! I didn't take too many because we were outside having fun!

First day of 1st grade!

Matthew smiling normal! He can be cute when he actually smiles!

Star Wars shoes! the light saver lights up when you walk!

I did mention Matthew is WAY into Star Wars right?!

Matthew and Oli

Here comes the bus!

So exciting!

There he goes... good, now I can go home and cry!

Matthew is in 1st grade! How did this happen?! wasn't he like 2 years old the other day!? Yes, he is a first grader! goodbye easy homework and nap time! Let the politics and the mind games of school begin! Ha, ha! JK. He was so excited to start 1st grade at his new school! The first day of school we woke up bright and early, ate a good breakfast and got ready. Matthew is the easiest kid to get out of bed (I got so lucky with him!) he's morning person all the way! We went to our bus stop but didn't see any kids out there, so I panicked for a minute, but then saw kids up the street so we walked further than we do now. We waited with the kiddos for about 5 minutes. and then we saw the bus...I was sooo nervous for Matty! but he seemed to be super happy about riding the bus! good thing is that we have lots of kids in our ward that ride the bus, so I kind of told them to keep an eye out for him :) So, off he went! and had a great first day of school! I'm proud of my little man! Here are some pictures of our bus adventure :)

Meet the Teacher!

Mrs. Stephenson and Matty

Huskies Pride!

Go Huskies! One of the appeals of buying our little house, was the great school Matthew gets to attend! Hebron Valley Elementary is amazing! and even though its withing walking distance from our house, they have a bus pick the kids up, which is what Matthew had always wanted! We went to meet Matthew's teacher and liked her right away! I love that his school applies the "Love and Logic" method for disciplining the kids, which is what I have been trying to apply at home... so glad the school re-enforces that! Matthew loves that he gets a locker too! and Mrs. Stephenson is proven to be a great educator! Here are some pictures of his teacher and school colors!