4th of July

I hope everyone had a great, fun, safe 4th! For the first time, in my entire life (I believe) my 4th of July was spent with JUST my immediate family...normally there is some sort of big shin dig with my entire family (for the last several years at my sisters), but this year, with it being smack dab in the middle of the work week, with our family reunion in two weeks, Vivienne's (my niece) Christening at the end of the month, and the list goes on and on, my sister just thought it would be too crazy to host a cookout too! (Completely understandable!) So, Manny, Manuel, Mia and I had a great day, just the four of us! We slept in, a bit (my children are NOT sleepers! ;), ate a nice breakfast, and headed out to our community pool for several hours. Manuel passed the swim test so he can officially swim in the deep end! What a big boy! :) After that we came home, grilled out, and then headed to my moms to watch the fireworks. (well, we parked at her house, because it's RIGHT next to our house, it was still just the 4 of us that went and watched them. The kids were getting sleepy, hungry, thirsty, well, you get the drift ;) but we still enjoyed the fireworks! :) And as usual, here is my photo dump! :)

 Little Miss America! ;) 

 Nothing says "All American" like bathing suits, ice cream cones, and overly exaggerated smiles! ;)

 They love their Daddy! :) 

 Preparing our AMAZING beef/shrimp/veggie kabobs for the grill! 

 Manuel took this pic of Mia and I :)

 He seriously has THE most sensitive eyes, and obviously the flash got to him! ;)

 Beginning to fade fast! ;)

Just some sweetness

 4th of July 2011

Happy (almost ;) 4th of July friends! :) I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and whatever you do, please take time to remember what 4th of July is all about...how lucky we are to be free, the sacrifices that are made to keep us free, and what a great land the US is to live in, regardless of how awful it may seem at times, we are SO blessed! :)

A cute story I need to document...

I always talk to Manuel and Mia about my dad. Although Manuel was young when my dad passed away, he still remembers my dad and his famous meatballs! :) Mia never got to meet my dad, but I think I make sure that Mia knows who he is, because my dad would have absolutely ADORED Mia...her sass and personality...he would have just eaten her up. So we are driving to Linnie's house this morning, and heres our conversation:

Me: "Mia, you are my best friend. Who's your best friend?"
Mia: "Jesus! Jesus is my prend (aka friend ;)) PopPop (my dad) is in Heaven with Jesus. Jesus loves erybody (aka everybody ;))"

It made my heart smile and will probably make me smile every time I think about it. Not only does she know about Jesus at such a young age, she is retaining the things I am telling her about my dad! :)

Have a great 4th of July friends!

Vacation photo dump ;)

Hello friends,


Once again, it's been quite awhile since my last blog post and life has been going great! (I just realized that I NEVER addressed what we were dealing with, with Manuel. In case anyone was wondering, just a quick update (sorry for never addressing it, life has been crazy and blogging has taken a backseat)...things are going AWESOME! We were fearful of some possible ADD/ADHD, anxiety, some sort of issues along those lines, but all seems to be going well. We'll monitor it next year when he starts first grade, and hopefully it was just a stage. If not though, the school is well aware of everything and we'll work together to do what's best for Manuel! Thank God all seems well for now! :)) Now, on to the fun stuff...Our summer is in full swing and we just got back from our annual trip to the ocean. It was nothing short of amazing! Here are some of my favorite pics of our trip...

Our annual Old Time Photo (the girls were supposed to be smiling and the boys serious, but Mia wanted NOTHING to do with smiling for the photog! ;))

Headed to the ocean! :) (yes, Manuel is in a booster seat, you just can't see it :))

Our BEAUTIFUL condo (a friend from church owns this, and it is absolutely gorgeous!) 

The family room

Our view of the bay

Ready for the beach! :) 

Crabbing :) 

One of the couples from our small group at church were on vacation too, so we hung out with them for a bit. This is one of their SEVEN children! :) 

Mia strutting down the boardwalk...our first few nights were chilly, but absolutely gorgeous! 

Fathers Day morning

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!!

Boat ride to Assateague Island where we got to get out and explore :) 

He lost one of his top front teeth right before we left and the other one he lost while we were on vacation :)

Dinner at an Irish restaurant right on the boardwalk...best salmon sandwich EVER! :)

Flying kites after annual dusk family pics on the beach :) 

Ranch dressing face! ;)

It went from chilly to 100+ degrees!! :) So Manuel and I went for a bike ride! :) It was SO hot, but so fun! Until...

The chain on his bike came off and I couldn't fix it! :) These are our exaggerated sad faces because now we had to walk back to the place! :) 

My friend Lauren and her family were down at the beach too, so we met up for dinner and rides...SO fun! :) 

It was an absolutely amazing trip, with so many great memories made! I just can't say enough about how awesome it was! :)

Have a great week friends!