January Birthdays

Happy belated birthday to my two nieces, Erika & Kristy Lopez., and my nephew Julian Holguin. Erika turned 15! years old on Jan 11th and Kristy turned 19 on Jan 28th. Julian turned 4 on the 12th.

Ryan's Kodak Moment

All about Ryan ...

Korbin's Kodak Moment

All about Korbin...

It's amazing what a few minutes and a camera can do!

Large Families

As a parent, I always wondered what it would be like to have twins. Two for one, who wouldn't want that, right? There are twins on my side of the family, and the possibility was there. I have heard that it skips a generation, but not in our family since the last three generations... My Dad's brother was a twin, my Mom was pregnant with twins (before I was born) but didn't carry them full term, and I have several first cousins who have twins...3 generations in a row!

Anyways, no, I'm not pregnant with twins! And no, we do not plan on having any more babies. However, I was reading an article on MSN about a lady in Bellflower, CA (Jason's hometown, just down the street from us) who delivered 8 babies!!!!

Here is an excerpt from that article:
BELLFLOWER, Calif. - Octuplets born to a mother in Southern California were in stable condition and breathing on their own, doctors said Tuesday. They were born Monday, six boys and two girls weighing between 1.8 pounds and 3.4 pounds. The eighth baby was a surprise to the parents and doctors who had been expecting only seven children. Just five minutes after the first birth, the unexpected eighth baby came out at 10:48 a.m. There were 46 doctors, nurses and assistants who delivered the children by Caesarean section.

These are the world’s second live-born set of octuplets. The world’s first live octuplets were born in March 1967 in Mexico City, but all died within 14 hours, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The United States’ first live-born octuplets were born in Houston in 1998, three months premature. One baby died about a week later. The surviving siblings celebrated their 10th birthday this last December.

The octuplet babies were dubbed with the letters A-through-H, and will probably remain in the hospital for at least two months. The mother plans to nurse the babies herself! While the babies came into the world nine weeks early, Dr. Gupta said it was enough time in their mother’s womb to give them a solid shot at survival. “We don’t have any historical data for eight babies, but we do have it if they’re born at 30 weeks, and they usually do pretty good,” he said.

MSNBC. 2009. Health/Kids and Parents. Octuplets born in California doing 'very well.' Jan 27, '09. Retrieved on Jan 27, '09 form http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28864195/?gt1=43001

Lazy Monday

Count our Blessings

On our long drive to church tonight (40+ min) our kids read the bible and quoted scriptures...WOW! We are blessed to have children that have a desire to learn about GOD and HIS Word! The boys also wanted to prepare for tonight's message and asked what scriptures the Preacher would preach on :-) (Don't get me wrong, they're not always angels on the long drive to church!

They also decided they now want to be called by their middle names... So, we have Nicole, Jenae, Nicholas, Drew & Chase :-)


Meagan Nicole & cousin Brooklynn Jenae Ryan Nicholas with cousin Tristan Drew, and Korbin Chase

Date Night

Last night we enjoyed a "date night" with our friends, Leroy & Lupe. Leroy is Jason's co-worker, and they were a blast to hang out with.

It was my first time at Joe's Crab Shack. Thank you Mimi & The Diaz's for babysitting for us :-)

World's Scariest License Plate Number‏

E-Mail forward from a friend ...

Baking Time

A few days ago we had baking time with the kids... We made their favorite, chocolate cake & cupcakes...basically, chocolate anything is their favorite!

Living in Faith

Ok, it's hard not to "stress" over stuff. But a few months ago I decided if things are out of my control I need to stop stressing over it and start believing that God's hand is in control and allow HIM to bless us as we put our Trust & Faith in HIM. We started trusting God for all our financial needs and yes, I have been worrying less.

Along these lines, I have a praise report... last week we were blessed with a financial miracle. I believe it came from prayer and putting our trust in HIM.

Kodak Moment

Every Moment is a Kodak Moment



Real biker boys eat chocolate chip cookies and hot cheetos

Baby Shower

This past Saturday we had a family baby shower for Baby London. There was pink everywhere! It was so cute. Our Mom made the cutest diaper cakes, used as the centerpieces for the tables.

London Bree.... The cute diaper cakes .... Mamaw's gift...the dedication dress from LouAnn's baby store

Auntie Jodi's gift...a cute pink dress from Bergstroms ... Auntie Nicole's gift from Baby Gap

& a cute handmade lilac blanket from Great, great, great Aunt Oma (she's really not that old :-)

And from us, a keepsake box & a cute memory book, which I made at Walmart.com of London Bree's birth & hospital pictures. It's really cute ;-)

And a lot more presents from family & friends!!

A Historical Day...Our 44th President

I couldn't pass up commenting and acknowledging the switching of Presidents, making Barack Obama our 44th President. I do have to say, I didn't vote for him, but he's now the President of the United State.

I didn't realize he's only 47-year-old? Wow, that's a young President. How many 47 yrs olds do we know who are ready to take on such a job as becoming "The President."

Here are a few pictures, courtesy of MSN, on President Obama's Inauguration.

People fill the National Mall in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, as they wait for the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

Barack Obama, center, is sworn in as President of the United States, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington. 2:08 p.m. ET, 1/20/09

President Barack Obama waves alongside his wife, Michelle, and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, as the presidential helicopter carrying former President George W. Bush leaves the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

The Joys of Life

With the start of a new year, I hope to make time (and effort) for a few things that I use to enjoy doing ... some things that I enjoyed when I had a lot of free time (that's before kids and college homework, and all the other things in life that come with being a wife and mother of 3). These "use to enjoy" things became less enjoyable as I felt I no longer had the time for or even cared to enjoy. Well, it's a new year and it's time to make changes!

One thing that I use to enjoy sooo much was scrapbooking. If any of you have ever scrapbooked, it takes time and 1 page can take a few hours to finish, since it has to turn out " just right." The last time I scrapbooked was when Korbin was born (that was over 2 years ago). Well, last week Meg & I went to Big Lots and picked up a few supplies; she's also into scrapbooking. I also picked up a Wedding Scrapbook a few days ago...for what you may ask? Well, when Jason and I got married, almost 16 yrs ago, I never really did anything with my pictures (and they've been in storage for the last year). Mind you, we only paid a few hundred dollars for our photographer (that's all we could afford at the time :-) and it took me a few years to even get my pictures..and now 16 yrs later I'm going to put them in a cute scrapbook album. Pictures to come once I get started :-)

Here's a list, which may grow as I remember of the things I "use to enjoy."

-Relaxing hot baths

-Reading for pleasure (books, home magazines, mysteries)

-Scrapbooking

-Taking pictures, printing, and organizing them!...As I use to say "Every moment should be a Kodak moment"

-Cooking and Baking for my family (Don't get me wrong, we eat every night! I just need new recipes and passion ... I know my children will love the baking part of it!)

And I want to Create more beautiful memories with my husband and children ... going out, going to the park, going to the library, reading story books to the boys, taking trips out of town, going to Disneyland, going to visit Grandma and letting the boys play & dig in the dirt ...those kinds of things. Sometime we get so busy that all we have time for is work, bills, school, homework, and starting the day over again the next morning.

Just one more thought...every day I ask the Lord to give me patience....yet I seem to fail miserably in every test!...I need patience to be the loving mother that my children need. Lord please don't give up on me!!

USA Track & Field, Junior Olympics

A few weeks ago I did a quick post on my 10 yr old niece, Sonia Holguin, who went all the way to Virgina for a track competition. Here are a few more details. She actually was part of the USA Track & Field Junior Olympics and placed 14th out of about 250 girls! She's one of the best runners in California and travels for the competition! Way to go Sonia!!!

Sonia pictured with her mom, Olivia (my sister).

Sonia sportingg her National Championship Medallion
(and it looks like someone forgot to change the date on their camers)

Happy Birthday to Mason

Today is our nephew, Sergio Mason's, 6th birthday. Mason's Mommy & Daddy are Nancy (my sister) and Sergio Herrera. He is going to Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow to celebrate his birthday! Wish we could be there... We wish you a Happy, Happy Birthday & hope you get lots of presents!!

Pictures of the Week

My beautiful children... Korbin, Ryan & Meg

Korbin...biker boy #1

Ryan, biker boy #2

Meg.. The Princess

This afternoon my sister-in-law, Nicole Rowell, did a cute photo shoot of Meg. Her pictures turned out so cute (these two were side views that I captured with my camera). I will do a separate post with some that Nicole took, which are adorable! Thank you Nicole!

Class Medic

A few days ago Ryan was asking me for Band-Aids when he should have been getting ready for bed.

I'm like, "what do you need a band-aid for?!"

He explained to me...Mommy, I'm the Medic for my class and I pass out band-aids to the kids that need them. (His supply was gone and needed to re-stock.) I guess he's going to follow after his Daddy's footsteps since Jason has always been in the medical field.


Ryan... Class Medic