It's a Girl

Congratulations to our brother & sister-in-law, Jimmy & Shelly Rowell, who welcomed a Baby Girl, London Bree, into this world. London was born today at 1:31pm, weighing 8lbs 6oz and was 20.5 inches long. She is beautiful!!! (pictures to come after I get their permission to post :-)

Breaking News!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to our brother & sister-in-law, Jeff & Kristy Rowell who announced yesterday that they are expected their first baby!!!! WOW...we are sooooooooo excited and can't wait for the day!!

Happy Birthday to My Brother & His Son

Happy Birthday Frank (my brother) and Francisco Daniel (son)!!! Frank's b-day is today, and my nephew turned 11 years old on the 27th. I talked to Frank this morning (he was a bit shocked that I called since I tend not to remember b-days very well...lol...I told him my secret.... I'm writing everyone's b-days down so I don't keep forgetting them!) Frank and his family will be hanging out at home today (considering they have a new baby, who's only a few weeks old) and I'm thinking it's way too cold in McFarland to party right now!

Happy Birthday Guys!!!

My brother, Frank, and sister-in-law, Lizette, pictured with thier youngest son Roberto Carlo.

Francisco Daniel...11 years old

Nap Time Just Got Easier

For Christmas I, in the last few days of desperate Christmas shopping, bought Korbin a bear play rug (upon Aunt Jodi and Mamaw's recommendation).

I knew he'd love it but never imagined it would help with "nap time!!" These last few days, Korbin gets his blankie, lays down, and is out within minutes!! We're loving it!! I would have bought one sooner if I'd only known!

Disneyland

I originally had plans of taking the kids to Disneyland on Christmas Day...due to bad weather plans changed (and thanks to the sensible thinking of my hubby)... it wouldn't have been a good idea to go out that night anyways, since Korbin & I had been sick with a cold/cough and going out in the COLD, Rainy weather wouldn't have been a good idea. So, we waited until the next day (thank goodness the sun came out). We were able to enjoy Disneyland for a few hours... This was Korbin's 1st time there and as you can see by his pictures he was impressed!!

Christmas Day

This year Jason and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Rowell side of the family :-) Traditionally, we spend Christmas Eve with my family, then make the 2.5 hr drive home to be with his family. However, this is the first year that we were unable to visit my family due to Jason's wacky work schedule this holiday. In this economy, we are very thankful for his job, so I didn't do too much complaining :-) (Well, I tried not to anyways!)

I do have to say "We missed Santa this year!" (Please don't be offended if you don't believe in Santa...we don't either but it's a Salazar tradition). Every Christmas Eve, Santa makes a stop at Grandma Salazar's house (my mom) ... the kids missed it BUT they didn't forget to reminded me that at Grandma's house they always open presents on Christmas Eve...Yes, Ryan reminded me soooooo much that he almost didn't get Christmas LOL!! All the kids opened a few presents that night.

Here are a few pictures of Christmas morning. We didn't go too crazy on presents since we surprised Meg, Ryan & Korbin with Disneyland passes this year. (Actually, Korbin is 2 so he gets in FREE!! Yeah for us!!)


Daddy enjoying & helping the boys open presents

Korbin got a new guitar & drums, and Ryan got a guitar too!
We have lots of musicians in the house ... we need to start on some lessons.

Ryan helping pass out presents.

The Girls playing tea with Morgan's new tea set.

That Night....
Christmas night was spent at our timeshare ... it was nice getting out again. Meg & Ryan enjoyed their own big beds... here are a few pictures. We also had a great view of Disneyland's firework show that night.


Korbin enjoying hot coco

Ryan playing with his new toys

Late night snack

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

May the Lord bless you with love, joy, peace, and happiness as he has richly blessed our family.

The Rowells

Dreams...A Sentimental Thought

A few days ago I was "looking back at life"... I guess what brought this on was unpacking lots and lots of old pictures of the day Jason and I got married, having our first baby, taking family vacations, having our 2nd baby, owning our first home, having our 3rd baby... and remembering how much Jason would "dream" of life ... of working toward something and accomplishments...that new house, a vacation ... don't take me wrong, I know things aren't everything, trust me I know!!

I've always been the realistic one. The one that would say "get your head" out of the clouds...think realistic, think in the moment!! But, I'm realizing after 15 years of being married that we don't dream anymore (or often enough)... I know, things aren't everything, but what happen to the beauty of dreaming!!?? It can't always be about getting the bills paid and living just for today...it's about tomorrow and the next day, and even looking at the year to come. It's about more than just today!

I think we need to start dreaming again...Together!

A Night Out

This past Friday night Papa babysat Ryan & Korbin, for a few hours, so that Jason & I could attend his company Christmas party. (Meg was lucky and she attended the Youth Christmas Party.) Thanks Dad for babysitting!!!

We had such a nice night out...The Italian restaurant was great! And, it's not often that we get lucky in finding someone to babysit 3 kids... thanks Dad!!! We would have loved to do an over-night (since we had plans on staying at our new resort in the downtown Disney area (we're timeshare owners :-) but I know that was pushing our luck. We picked up the kids after a few hours and off we went to the nice 2-bedroom condo resort. Once we got there, the kids ate popcorn and we all stayed up late, slept in the next morning, and had a nice breakfast at Denny's. We plan on doing this again on Christmas Day, after we celebrate the morning with family!!

Ryan making hot chocolate and popcorn.

Korbin testing out the bed and playing drums with the pillows!

Boys bedroom for the night...

Korbin somehow ended up in our bed!

Breakfast at Denny's

(Korbin air-drummed while Ryan colored.)

Brooklynn's Birthday Surprise

Our niece Brooklynn turned 11 on the 18th of this month, and her Daddy, Jimmy, had a BIG surprise for her!! He rented a limo for 2 hours and invited ALL the cousins to go see Christmas lights...WOW!! And, we filled up that limo!!

After about an hour of this, the kids were really wild and the adults were really ready for it to end!! I was lucky... Korbin had a accident (he's 2 yrs old and not quite potty trained ... you know where I'm going with this right??) Since everyone was "getting sick" the Limo driver made a quick detour and took us home, leaving ALL the wild kids to finish the last hour!!

Pictures of the Week

Korbin & Ryan enjoying a good book!

Bogi, Grandpa-Greats doggie, enjoying a ride on the lawnmower....now that's fun!!

Happy Birthday

We are celebrating two birthdays today!

Happy Birthday to our niece Brooklyn Rowell, who's turning 11 years old today. Brooklyn's Daddy is Jimmy (my husband's brother :-)

And, Happy Birthday to our nephew Omar Ordońez who is turning 2 today. "Omarcito's" Mommy & Daddy are Patty (my sister) and Omar.

Today...

This morning, we woke up to a loud bang! It was raining, and I originally thought it was thunderstorm, but no sooner did we find out that someone had crashed into Great-Grandpa's 2 cars, as well as the neighbors!!!! Here's the damage... Thank goodness it was early and there weren't any kids walking to school yet!



Volvo got beat up and the front axle of the truck is gone!

Here's the driver's car...it was bad and the front axle was also broken.

A police car is pictured trying to get really close the driver's car, there was a German Sheaperd in the back seat that was really scared!! Not sure how they got the dog to finally come out.

Originally, the lady was immediately handcuffed when the Sheriff arrived, later to be un-handcuffed and transported to the hospital...something was up with her, she was wearing black sunglasses (there was no sun out and it was raining...hhmm) and she was staggering ALL over the place!!! I'm not an investigator, but something seemed to be up with this poor lady!

Well, for the meantime Grandpa-Great is left with no cars :-(

A New Baby Girl

Congratulations to my brother, Frank, and sister-in-law, Lizette, who delivered a baby girl early this morning at 1:00 am. More details to come...

Rainy Day

Ryan & Korbin enjoyed the Rainy Day. (Meagan did too...we stayed home while she went to school....you can view her Rainy Day post on her blog:-)

Korbin & his army guy



Ryan enjoying the puddles, mud, and wet toys.

Pictures of the Week

Here's a cute picture I captured on Meagan's birthday...I'm posting 2 pictures. The 2nd one is the one I zoomed in to catch my niece, Morgan, licking her fingers...you know what she was doing, right?!!

Happy 55th Birthday Dad

Today is our Dad's birthday

55....WOW!!!

He calls this birthday "double nickels!" :-)

Happy Birthday Dad.

We love you!

Happy Belated Birthday Olivia

Keeping up with family birthdays is a little harder than what I expected! Of all things, I forgot to call my sister, Olivia, this past Wednesday to wish her a happy birthday. Sorry sister :-( I didn't realize that I even forgot her birthday until the day before yesterday!

Well, Happy, Happy Birthday dear Sister!! I left her a message but I'm thinking she hasn't returned my call since she's back East somewhere with her 10 yr old daughter, who runs cross country and is competing. I did hear, from my sister Nancy, that my niece came in 13th place out of about 250 girls!! Wow. I'll post pictures if I can get my hands on some, and I will post a picture of my sister in the next day or so. By the way, my niece is one of the best in California and that's one of the reasons she travels to other states to compete...she can outrun girls even in divisions older than her!! Way to go Sonia!!

Trying to Get Things Done

As I sat down at the computer tonight, and looked at Korbin, my little 2 yr old (A.K.A. little drummer boy) and thought to myself 'how glad I was that he’s starting to enjoy books and maybe would entertain himself with the one he was looking at now, so that I could get some homework done!' As that crossed my mind, he very sweetly asked me “if I was doing homework.” It was soooo cute. Of course it sounded more like uummchduing ommmrrrtt.

The sweet moment was just that… he no sooner wanted to jump on/off the bed, sit on my lap, climb on my chair, throw books across the bed, and after reading him the same book 3x and trying to convince him that I needed to do homework…I finally gave up...now, he's trying to play Ryan's XBox...lol...