Mom becomes an American!

It's been a busy few days.  Thursday night I flew to South Texas to be with my parents for my Mom's special day. After almost 46 years of being married to my Dad and living in the USA (legally), Mom  finally became an American!    She had her test and interview back in the late summer and her ceremony was Friday.  It was great to be there for the momentous occasion.  I was only able to stay for about 30 hours before flying back to Dallas but I am so happy I could swing being there!

Texas Ranger Game

My parents just spent a week with us.  One of the things we did was go to a Texas Ranger Game.  My Mom & Dad had not been to the new stadium so it was a special treat for them.  The Rangers beat the Boston Red Socks 8 to 0, so it was a fabulous game.

We had not been to a game since Micaela was a toddler.  Here are pictures from 2006 and of course yesterday.  She is such a Daddy's girl. 

Hope you are having a great weekend. 

Dad

My Dad turns 84 today.  I can't believe it.  Most girls my age have much younger fathers and grandfathers my Dad's age. 

Here are two of my favorite pictures of my Dad and my Aunt Bettye. My Aunt B is two years younger than my Dad so she just turned 86.  (I hope I look that good when I am 86).

The top picture was taken in Kauai back in July when 30 plus family members met in Kauai for a destination family reunion to celebrate anniversaries and the bottom one was taken about 1933 when my Dad was about 3 and Aunt B about 5.... As you can see, it was really humble beginnings for them.  My Dad always tells the stories of segregated schools and very few opportunities for young Mexican American children.  He has always instilled a good work ethic and giving back to the community.  I feel so blessed and grateful that they are both in great health.  

Here's to 80 years of Sibling Love!

Thanksgiving Day & Dallas Cowboys

My parents came in for the Thanksgiving holiday but we didn't do the usual.  Instead we had TG dinner on Wednesday and attended the Dallas Cowboy game on Thanksgiving Day.

This is something my Dad had wanted to do for a long time, so the five of us went.  My Dad got tickets on the 40 yard line, 2nd row so we had spectacular seats. 

The half time show was Selena Gomez, which our daughter thoroughly enjoyed. 


The Dallas Cowboys won which was the best way to end the evening!  (Wish they could do that more often).  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Greetings from Kauai

We've been in Kauai since Sunday...

We're here with 30+ other family members for a reunion celebrating anniversaries, birthdays and graduations.  We are having a great time.  It's technically still the 3rd of July here but already the 4th in Texas.  Hope you are having a great day!  

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my hubby.  Here he is the day he became a Dad and today. 

Time flies.  Can't believe it's been 8 years!  We love you!

Texas Citrus

Please allow me to ramble a tad bit.  Last week I got a care package from my parents, they sent a great big heavy box full of oranges and grapefruits from their trees in the backyard.   Have I ever mentioned that my home town, Mission is the Citrus capital of Texas!  Yes, indeed!

Citrus growing is one of the major industries in my hometown, we even have a huge festival every January to celebrate the harvest.  Obviously, I can buy fruit at the grocery store or even the Farmer's Market, but it just isn't the same.  This is the Rio Ruby variety, I am in heaven!  I love citrus, especially when its from my parents own trees.  Thanks for reading this far...lol.

Arkansas Moments

Here are a few favorite moments from our fast and furious weekend trip to Arkansas.

The Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival.  Here are the God Sisters, they are soon to be 8 and 7 1/2-- we know the days of coordinating outfits and bows are so numbered. 

 The fabulous dinner at Mathers Lodge and the incredible Sunset at Petit Jean Mountain

 A new family picture to remember the trip.

I also have a new picture of Micaela and I with the sunset in the background in the about me section of the blog.  Thanks for letting me share. 

Blog Ketch Up

Well, I didn't mean to be away for almost three weeks.  I've been crafting a bit, sewing up a storm for various swaps, working, doing my Master Gardener Class which is really time consuming, driving Micaela around to birthday parties and activities and then had a trip to San Antonio for my neice's wedding so it has been non stop!

I will do seperate entries for craft items but wanted to show a picture or two of my neice's beautiful wedding last weekend.  Micaela was responsible for distributing programs and took the job very seriously, here she is....

 Here is a picture of the beautiful couple Steve & Kristina, they look so happy together!

This was such a lovely wedding and we had so much fun.  Micaela danced the whole night and then passed out like a light as soon as we got to hotel. 

While in San Antonio we made a quick stop at The Alamo for a quick Texas History Lesson.  Micaela was very intrigued!

I'll be posting pictures of everything I have crafted the last few weeks in the next few days.  Thanks for checking in and I promise to get back to posting regularly.

Cousins Reuniting

While in Missouri for the weekend we were able to reunite Micaela with 5 of her cousins that were all born within a 12 week time span.  It was fun to see how grown up they all are now that they are seven!  All the kids looked at the camera, smiled, sat still and had their hands in their lap!  Look at the difference!

Picking Limes

We are in my hometown of Mission visiting my family for Memorial Day weekend.  While here we will be celebrating my Mom's 70th Birthday.  We had a pre-party party for some of the out of town family last night. When my brother and his family arrived, my Mom gave the girls (both 7 years old) a task to keep them busy.  Here is Micaela and Alyx (brother's step daughter)  picking limes to make lemonade.  

This is one of my Mom's beloved lime trees that produces thousands of limes year round.

Using a stick to reach the limes that are too high.

Here is Alyx counting the limes... I think she is going to grow up to be an accountant because she counted and recounted.

Here are the girls virtually inside the tree reaching for more, you can tell the circumference of the tree is like 20 feet.

The girls picked about 70 limes in about five minutes and there was hundreds left on the tree.

Hope you are having a great Memorial Day weekend, thanks for stopping by.

Meeting Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders

Everyone in my family is a die hard Dallas Cowboy fan! We are fortunate to have two Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders in the family, my cousins Ashton & Alyssa. Before the season started a couple of months ago, we got to go to Cowboy Stadium for a Friends & Family night. Micaela was beyond thrilled to see her cousins in the actual DCC uniform and visit the enormous stadium!

Ashton is a 3 year veteran and Alyssa is a rookie. Its crazy how these girls have grown up so fast, I vividly remember going to their parents wedding and when their Mom was pregnant expecting them! This side of the family is quite large and Alyssa & Ashton had a huge group of family and friends cheering them on for the event, Micaela was so proud to hold up a sign while we sat in the stands.

Micaela had fun dancing around the field after the event was over, she asked me to take a picture of her laying on the helmet. I think we have a future cheerleader in about 15 years!

Snow for my Birthday!

Snow for my birthday! Micaela loved it!

Mother & Daughter Halloween Party

During my single days I used to host a Halloween Party for girlfriends. After I got married and had a baby it was difficult to continue the tradition. After much thought and consideration (plus some encouragement from my friend Virginia) we decided to bring the tradition back with a twist by making make it a Mother Daughter Party. Here are some of the highlights!

The backyard was somewhat decorated already. The morning of the party we added tables and chairs to the back yard. Here's what it looked like before everyone arrived


Here's what it looked like as everyone was arriving. Needless to say the weather was picture perfect and everyone enjoyed the back yard. I found out 35 people very comfortable fit in our back yard.
Here's a picture of a grandma witch and aunt witch.

Here's a picture of more cute mothers and daughters.

Some of my girlfriends brought treats to share... My friend Jennifer made these super cute monster squares, the cake part was pumpkin and chocolate chips, they were really yummy.

These are some of the treats on the kitchen bar. I forgot to take a picture of the food table!

Here is the picture of the super gorgeous cake my friend & co host Virginia purchased. It was giant, we could have fed another 35 people. She ordered it from The Cake Stand in historical downtown McKinney, it was incredibley delicious.

Here's a cute picture of a few of the girls having a good time on the swing set!

All in all the party was a huge success, could those little girls look any happier? We definitely will have another party next year! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful Halloween!

PJs for Dad

Right after the news about my Dad and while making plans to fly down, I decided I NEEDED to make him something. The big question was "what do you embroider for an older man?". After much thought, I decided the best thing would to monogram some pajamas. I knew they would come in handy during the recuperation at home after his open heart surgery. So the day before we flew out of town, we went on a hunt to find flannel pajamas. Holy cow, you would think those would be easy to find 'during' winter but we actually had a hard time. Finally, after 3 stores we ended up finding some at JCPenneys! We got home and I immediately went to work.

Here are the three sets, Dad will be lounging & recuperating in style!

I had a difficult time taking these pictures, sorry they are not the best quality. Thanks for stopping by.

Crazy Ten Days

Right after posting about Micaela's Valentine Bubbles on the 11th, I received a call from my parents letting me know my Dad needed to have OPEN HEART SURGERY. Needless to say, Micaela and I were on a plane headed to South Texas on Sunday, Valentine's Day!

My Dad is nearly 80 and his Aorta valve was not operating properly. Long story short, his valve was replaced and two bypasses were done. Praise God, the surgery went very well and he is recuperating! We were gone for a full week and have been I am going through more than 1000 emails (I subscribe to alot of newsletters and blogs).

I've been skimming through all the emails trying to catch up on stamping, cooking and embroidery happenings and just got a wonderful surprise about an hour ago when I read the "You Can Make This" newsletter published by SWAKembroidery.com! Two of my projects were featured in the spotlight and I won the weekly contest!! Woo Hoo! I am so excited!

The projects I submitted were my first towel and the gardening apron shown here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Snow on Christmas Day

We're having a White Christmas! Thank you for reading my blog!

Home from Las Vegas

We're home from Las Vegas. It was a wonderful trip. My BIL is officially hitched.

Here's a picture of the happy couple.

Picture taken at Ceasar's Palace where the wedding was held.

A year or so ago I purchased 3 darling little patriotic dresses. One was for our daughter and two others were for the daughters of two of my dearest friends, Kristi and Debra. My plan all along was to get all three little girls together and have a professional picture taken. At the time, the third baby girl "Kaitlyn" had not even been born. The girls are 2 years, 18 months & nearly 12 months old now.

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Well, this past week the day finally came. We got all three girls together for their portrait. Needless to say, things didn't go quite as I envisioned but we did get some (key word: SOME) really cute pictures of our girls.

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The picture above is Kaitlyn and our Micaela. Kaitlyn will be a year old next month, she was perfect. Micaela finally cooperated (after we coaxed her to the floor with legos) and Madeline just wasn't in the mood.

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We'll try this again in about six months, we've already planned the outfits for the Christmas picture -- Moms never give up!