New Year's Resolutions....

New year's resolutions.... I have never been good at keeping them. In fact, I am not very good at following through with any new regimen. I have never gone more than a few months following a exercise routine, diet routine, chore routine... And after much contemplation over the reasons for my lack of follow through, I realized that it has a lot to do with my disorganization. I am always playing catch-up on the things with which I am behind. And, I am falling behind on a lot of things. I am not only behind on my household chores, but I am also behind on my hobbies, and unfinished projects. My lack of organization keeps me from having time to do the things that I really want to do - IE, photography, exercising, using my creativity to make hair clips for my girls and knitting (my new hobby, with the kniffty knitter), organizing my home & keeping up with my daily chores, reading through my Bible in a year, catching up on the blogs that I am following, loosing those last, irritating 20 lbs... the list can go on. Basically, it all boils down to having more time for the stuff that I love, and keeping up with the stuff that makes a happy home. However, having more time to do the things I love means that I need to get organized. Oh, that nasty word - ORGANIZATION - it has been haunting me my entire adult life!

I would love to do:

more Bible reading... more knitting and crafting... more baking...

more photagraphy...

So, how do I do this?!?!?! Well, to begin with, I think that I need to start back with flylady. If you have never heard of flylady, it is a really cool web sight started by two women who wanted to help other women get a handle on their lives, by helping them to become more organized with their daily tasks. There is a daily routine to follow that only takes a very small portion of your daily time, therefore, freeing up your time to be able to do the things that you love to do. Then, they have other activities each day to help focus on certain areas of your home to get to the deep stuff. It is a yahoo group that you need to sign up for, and then they send you daily emails to remind you what you have to do that day. I really recommend it. It helped me tremendously before, when I was active with doing it. Not sure why I quit? (Hmmm...perhaps it has a lot to do with my lack of follow through, that I mentioned before?)

However, before I start this new house routine/life organization, I need to first catch up on my laundry so that I can have a clean slate - I hate laundry. Its always the last thing that I do, when it should be the first thing. Thank the good Lord that I am blessed to have a lot of clothes! Otherwise it may not be too pretty. Disclaimer- I may have a lot of clothes, but I am a very thrifty shopper. And, I love hand me downs. Not only for my children, but for myself, as well. If you know me, I love to get things for a bargain. But they have to LOOK expensive, that is the thrill of the hunt. So, even though I have a lot of clothes, I have had them for a long time, or they have been passed down to me, or I have purchased them on sale, or at major discount stores, and not one, single item was expensive. Just so you know ;-) I did not want to sound like I was bragging, when I said I have a lot of clothes. Well, maybe I was bragging, just a little-BUT it was about my expensive looking, hand me down, discount, bargain, cheap clothing. Wow! That was a mouthful! OK, back to the resolution post. How did I get so side tracked?

New Year's resolutions! This is a lot- to organize my entire life- but I am determined to follow through this time. I need to have more time for my interests. And, I need to hear my husband nagging at me less, and complaining less, and I would love to hear him being more sasified with my choices with my time, and, again, I would love to have more time to do things like: blogging and sharing photos of my fast, growing girls, and to knit, and to learn how to take better photographs.... Did I mention theses yet?

Will you join me in organizing your life? I am going to start with one room at a time - one week at a time.

Ok...ready...set...go!

A Merry Christmas and Disneyland

I'm sitting here thinking about my family and reflecting on the images in my head of all of the memories that we made this Christmas.  This Christmas, as well as last Christmas, have been some of the best times that we have spent with our family.  Last year we were blessed with having Mauro's parents staying with us and experiencing all of the Christmas excitement with us.  But this year, even more special, Mauro's daughters were here to experience Christmas with us.  We have had an amazing Christmas.  Connie was able to wake up with us at the crack of dawn, to watch the little girls open their gifts from Santa, and then Kim arrived, later on in the day, to have Christmas day dinner with us. It was so much fun having them here to make some awesome memories.  They both gave gifts to their little sisters, but told them that the gifts were from Santa.  How sweet is that?

     This year, we hosted both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the Cortes house, and with that hosting, came some new traditions. On Christmas Eve, we took the kids out into the back yard to roast marshmallows around the new fire pit. It was so much fun to see them all sitting around the fire trying to blow out their flaming marshmallows.  We will definitely do that again. And, then, on Christmas day, we smoked a Turkey!  Mauro had been working every day after work, the whole week prior to Christmas, on building and welding a very special, one of a kind smoker.  I had asked him if we could maybe bar-b-q the turkey this year, or maybe barrow a smoker, so that we could have something different.  Instead, he decided that he would fabricate one for me as a christmas gift.  It was the best turkey that I have ever had.  We will definitely do that every year for Christmas Day dinner.  I'm not sure if anyone else liked the Turkey, because we had a lot of it left, and no one took a bit of it home.  So, I guess we will be eating this Turkey for the next couple of days, and I couldn't be happier. That smoker was the best Christmas gift ever! But I have to say that my Coach purse, that my husband surprised me with, does come in a close 2nd! Not because it's leather, or that it's a designer, couture bag,  and not because it is the most expensive purse that I have, or will ever have - but simply because he listened, and he bought me something that he new I really wanted.  He bought it regardless of the fact that he thought it was an extravagant want, and vain, on my part.  For me, it really has nothing to do with price, or labels, or status. If I had really wanted a new toaster, and he bought me a new toaster, I would have been just as excited.  It's all about him showing me how much he loves me by listening to me, and considering what he knew I would like. He proved to me that he was paying attention to the things that I like and disliked,  even though he thought it was ridiculous.  I felt a lot of love from him that day! Thanks, Baby Love! 

     I am including pictures from our trip to Disneyland.  That trip was a one of a kind adventure.  All of the girls enjoyed themselves and we all made lasting memories!  I feel so blessed.  I can't wait to take them in a few years when Lily is old enough to remember the trip.

...its really a blog post!

It has been a million years since I have blogged. But you know what they say, it's like riding a bike. Just get back on, and go for it. Anyway, so much has happened since my last post. Mauro's daughter Cony is living with us now. That has been a lot of fun! She is really great with the little girls and they love having a big sister around to do fun things with them. And, Cony was just baptized a few Sundays ago! God is moving in her life and doing amazing things.

Lets see...What else...Oh... Since our family has grown with the arrival of Cony, and the monthly visits from Kim, we needed a bigger vehicle. So Mauro buckled down and purchased a swagger wagon (2010 Toyota Sienna). Or, what I call my Mommy mobile. It took him awhile to make the decision to finally buy one. He just couldn't wrap his brain around a minivan. You know, the proverbial suburban family vehicle. He just wanted to be different, and not like every other person in our neighborhood, I guess. But, now, we love it! And, we can all fit in one vehicle, at one time (it can hold 8!)...and we are going on our very first, real family vacation. And that doesn't mean camping or a weekend in Santa Cruz at the beach. It's so exciting, I can almost pee my pants with all the enthusiasm that I get when thinking about it! We are going to Disneyland, in November, over the Thanksgiving Holiday!!! Even Mauro is excited. Which is unlike him, because he has always hated to spend money. But, we talk about the trip almost every day. The girls think it's the best news since the invention of corn dogs! Cony and Kim both get to go and experience the happiest place on earth with us. I just can't wait. Of course I will keep you all posted on that, and I will post photos after we are back.

We've been here in our new house for almost a year, now. We moved in the second week of November, so I guess we can no longer call it our new house. But, it still feels that way. I think we will be here 10 years and still be calling it our new house. Mauro's parents left in June, so our back yard is looking really overgrown, and quite shabby, and I don't mean shabby chic! But we plan to totally redo the grass and do some landscaping here this fall fall. There is really only 1 1/2 months left of fall, so hopefully we can get to it next month. There are so many exciting things that we want to do to the house - hard wood floors, granite counter tops....I'll keep you all posted on that as well. Mauro has been working a lot of overtime, so it has kind of slowed down our home improvement projects / to do list.

Well enjoy these recent pics and I will try my very best to get back on this blogging thing at least once a month if not sooner.

Kim's 21st birthday cake!

Cony's Baptism

GO GIANTS!!!!!!!

Big cupcake for a big, and bigger-haired baby, Lily!

"Punkin" Patch

Little Cutie, Emery

Wedding and Hiccups

We had a great time at Holly and Garett's wedding! They have now officially been married 1 whole week! WoooHoooo!!!! After the wedding, we took a trip down to Monterrey to go to the aquiarium. And then on the way back home we stopped at our favorite beach in Santa Cruz - SeaBright Beach. It was a lot of fun! But it was not without any hiccups.
1)Car broke down right before we were to pull out of driveway to drive up to the wedding in Las Gatos. So, we had to scramble to rent a car and still get there on time. Needless to say, both Mauro and I were like chickens with our heads cut off...
2)Forgot the girls entire suitcase of clothes for the the trip...yep...everything for them was in that suitcase...
3)The only change of clothes that they did have, other than their flower girl dresses, were in a backpack with my contact case, contact solution, and important medicine - this backpack was put in the wrong car after the wedding, and was with Nicky in Aptos (which is on the way to Monterrey, thank goodness - so that was a big , pheww!). And we had to put the girls back in their big, fluffy flower girl dresses when they woke up on Monday morning.
4)My only bra was in that backpack as well!!!! So, I had to go "free" all morning until we were able to get the backpack.
5)Woke up on Tuesday morning with a migrain! It only lasted about 3 hours, thank goodness, and then we were able to get on the road for Santa Cruz and to return home.
6)Forgot to take photos with my camera during the wedding and reception. Did not even think to give camera to Mauro or to a friend so that they could take pics for me???? So thank you to Sarah, and Leslie (I copied your pics from facebook :) ), and to my father in law for letting me use your photos. You all took so many great pictures!!!!

And then after all this drama, it turned out being a really nice, little vacation. The girls loved the beach, the aquarium, and of course they had a blast at the wedding. Great memories...

Little Bit of Everything

Lily, last month, during her 1st birthday party. She thought it would be fun to smear the frosting all over her face!!!!

This is before she decided to smear the frosting. She is actually posing for this picture that Michela took with my camera!

Emery and all her friends during the magical story time from fairy Melody.

Fairy Kyla after she got her face painted at Emery's Fairy Princess Birthday Party.

Fairy Holly and "Fairy" Garett (he he he) dressed for Emery's special birthday party. Garett looks really happy to be dressed as a fairy, doesn't he? (It makes me wonder how Holly got him to dress up?)

Emery at her Fairy Princess Birthday Party. We had live entertainment. A fairy from Happily Ever Laughter Parties came to do face painting, magic, and fun singing! Emery had so much fun. I have never seen her so excited and bouncy!

This is where my sister and Garett are getting married on March 21st. This is the back of a converted barn! The property is simply fairytail!

Walking!!!!

Lily is walking! I can't believe it! She started yesterday by taking about 4 quick steps, without holding on to anything before she fell. And now, today, she is taking more and more steps! Kyla and Emery did not do this until about 1 - 2 weeks after they turned 1 year old. Lily is 11 months. She won't be a year old for another 17 more days! It's so funny to watch her walk because she really gets a kick out of it and laughs the whole time! She thinks it's funny that she is walking. Its hilarious. Oh, wow! My baby is growing so fast. Why do they do that! Why??? Why???

I look at Kyla and I am amazed at how quickly the last 6 years went by. She talked really early. She was so smart! And, she was so funny as a baby, so dramatic, and loved to be the center of attention. I was just watching a lot of videos from when Emery was a baby, and was reminded of how smiley she was and how much she loved to dance whenever she heard music! Even now we call Emery "The Ballerina in Boots" because she loves her boots!

Lily is a good combo of both of them. She, like Kyla, has been saying words since about 6 1/2 months old. Now she loves to make the animal sounds when she sees them, or when we ask her. Emery did the same thing! And she dances whenever she hears music. So cute! It has been so much fun watching my girls grow and watching them explore their world. I can't wait for what the future holds.

Once Upon a Time I Used to Blog!

FINALLY A BLOG POST!!!! Not that I have a lot of followers or anything. But for the two of you who keep asking me when I am going to post, this one is for you.

So, its been about 7 months since I last blogged so what is new?

Well...
Lily is 7 months older and has two bottom teeth, and the two upper teeth are finally popping out! Emery is almost three (next month) and really enjoys making messes, playing "Cars" and watching Bolt. Kyla started Kindergarten back in August, (we decided to put her in school instead of continuing to home school), she lost her two bottom teeth back in November, and turned 6 in December! And God blessed us with being able to buy our first house!!!!

Oh, and Mauro's parents (from Chile) are visiting and will be staying for a few months to help with some home improvement projects. What a blessing it has been to have a live in handy man, cook, and nanny. And we don't have to pay them! And hopefully the girls will start picking up some more spanish.

Enjoy the pics!

LILY HOPE:





EMERY FAITH:






KYLA GRACE: