Pun'kins!

 Halloween is approaching and that can only mean one thing... PUMPKIN CARVING!!!  Haha!!  Okay, okay.  Not ONLY one thing!  Would you believe me if I told you that I have never actually carved a pumpkin before??  And Gabe hasn't done one since he was young.  So this of course was going to be an experience!!!!  Lol!!

But seriously.  How hard can it be??  That's what Google is for!!  Lol!!  We did find some pretty cool designs online that we Gabe would attempt.  :)  He actually did a really good job.  But for next year, he requested the proper carving tools.  Ha!!

The kids were really excited to watch.  Unfortunately they are still a little too young to assist in the carving process, but I wanted to catch their reactions to the whole thing.

 My pretty girl.  Sidenote: her teacher does her hair like this almost every day.  It is so random/messy, but gosh darn it, it is so cute!!!  :)

 She was very curious to see the inside.

 Crazy boy.

 P-U!!!!!  They asked, "What's that smell?  It stinks!!!"

 Ta-da!!!  The final product!!

 "Moon Bitten"  Do you see the bat and the moon??

"Tinkerbell"  We of course had to do something girly!

I Just Want To Eat Them UP!

They are just soooo cute!!!!!!!!!!  We were about to leave for school when I noticed how cute they looked today!!  And how grown up!!  Check out Zach's sweater... he would wear it everyday if I would let him!  But it is so cute on him.  And look how tall/big Sophie is getting!  Oh my gosh. 

My First Week

Well, I had my first week of work in which I was all alone and in charge.  It went pretty well.  I'm gaining more and more confidence with each customer/contract/phone call, etc!!

And it helps that we have a lot of repeat customers, so they are real understanding to the fact that I'm the "new girl."  :)

And it's also funny to see/hear people's reactions when they find out that Gabe and I are married.  It's usually the men that say, "Oh wow!  Y'all are married AND work together????"  And the women say, "Oh, how nice."  LOL!!  See the difference?

But if you stop and think about it, we aren't working together too much.  We overlap mostly on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and that's pretty much it.  Then he leaves for school.  And the other days, we are on our own.  And what's so wrong with working with your best friend anyway?  :)

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So on Saturday, my neighborhood hosted the bi-annual garage sale again.  I had already decided that I needed to have another one (this would be my third).  I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I should.  And my friend, Jayne wanted in on the action this year, so that made it easier to get in the mood for it.

It wasn't all that hard to get ready and set up for it... I still had the tables set up in the garage with most of the items I needed to sell in the garage as well.  I did pull out a few more clothes and toys from the house that definitely needed to go.  Its amazing how may toys the kids have!!!

So we set up Friday evening to be ready to open for business on Saturday morning bright and early!  :)

We "opened" up around 6am.  Yes, we are crazy... but these garage sale shoppers are crazy too!  Lol!  Believe me, there were shoppers this early!

It was good having a partner this time.  First, it was good to have her there because it made the garage sale look bigger and better!  Second, she helped to keep a watch on the crowd.  Some of these people would come in car loads at a time.  Crazy!  And third, it's just always fun to have one of your best friends around!

We made some good money!!  Most of Jayne's stuff was gone.  I had started with two tables full of clothes, in which I was pretty much selling everything for one dollar.  I think I ended with maybe a small bag of clothes left.  Anything I had left over, I took to Good Will right then and there (except for toys).  I wanted it gone and out of my garage!  It felt so good to get rid of this junk.

This was Jayne's first garage sale ever... even though she made some good money, I don't think she will be having another one anytime soon.  Lol!  I think she got a little overwhelmed at times.  Lol!  But we had a great time together.

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My parents had also come into town over the weekend.  So of course the kids were very excited to see them.

I had already made plans to have a girls dinner out with Jayne and Becca for Saturday.  We met up at Don Julio's and had a long, much needed, dinner out!  Lol!  It was great to have some girl time (like always).

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On Sunday, Gabe worked for me so that I could go to the local VFW with the rest of my family to attend a benefit for a longtime family friend.  He had recently been diagnosed with skin and bone cancer.

So the community came together and had a BBQ dinner, silent auction, and live auction to help with his medical expenses.  We got to see a lot of people that we don't normally get to see anymore.  Including his family.  I used to play with his children when we were younger.  I hardly even recognized them!  

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So there you have it... my week in a nutshell!  :)

It's Official...

Well, it's official!  I am now an employee at Avis.  Lol!  And I'll now start working by myself!  EEEEK!!!!!  Gabe has class on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  So these are the days that I will be "holding the fort down."  I have to admit that I am a little nervous.  But at least I have all of the basics down.  Its just those curve balls that customers throw at me sometimes that I don't know how to handle.

But I have all of the important phone numbers for those to call whenever I have a question and Gabe isn't available to answer them!  Lol!!  I actually have a lot of stuff written down in case I forget something.  But I still got my customer service skills!  :)  After working in Juergen's Store for several years and then working at The Gap for 11 years, customer service is my forte.  ;)

So for this semester, we will split Mondays... he will open and I will close (because the kids don't have school either).  On Tuesdays...he will open, I go in around 9, then he leaves for class around 1ish.  On Wednesdays... he will open, I go in around 9, then he leaves around 11:30ish.  So these days I will mostly be on my own.  On Thursdays... he will open, I go in around 9, then he leaves at 1ish.  On Fridays... he works by himself and I'm off.  On Saturdays... he works by himself, and I'm off.  On Sundays... I work by myself, and he's off. 

Does that all sound fair??  :)

It will take a little adjustment, but I think it will all work out.  The kids are getting more and more used to school and their schedule, so that itself is a relief. 

Wish me luck on my first days by myself!! :)

Hey Batter Batter

So, I think we may have a little softball player on our hands.  We took the kids out to play with their new baseball equipment and Sophie really did good!  Zach showed a little interest, but then quickly got annoyed and grouchy.  You know, he likes to do things his way.  :)  But Sophie really took off with the whole baseball thing.  She was even impressing Papo!  Check out her stance and her expressions... too funny!
Here are some pictures of the kids...

It took me for-ev-errrr to get these pictures to upload right.  And I'm still missing one, but I talked the OCD in me down and just accepted that one of them is missing.  :) 

Birthday Round 2!

Papo (or should I say Papu?  this is how zach has pronounced it for a while now... i think it's going to stick!) and Grandma Bebe could not make it to Zach's official birthday party last weekend due to work, so they came up this weekend to visit and shower Zach with more presents! 

He got lots of toys for outside...a kite...

a football...

a new baseball glove, bat, balls, and cleats!

My videographer is back!!  Lol!

Sophie was interested in the glove too!

 After all of the present opening, we went to lunch at Smashburger.  If you haven't tried it, I suggest you should.  This was our first time there and I thought it was really good!

Since Sophie was so interested in the bat and glove that Zach got for his birthday, she now wanted one of her own.  So Papo and Grandma Bebe took them to Target to find Sophie a pink glove (that's what she asked for).  :)

After a little more shopping and driving around we headed back to the house and played outside and cooked dinner.  I will post pics from that on the next entry!

Move Over Einstein!

Oh my gosh!  I almost forgot about this...

When we were at Chuck E Cheese for Zach's birthday dinner/surprise, we were sitting at the table waiting for our pizza and Zach shocks the heck out of us!

He says, "Mom, I know what 1+1 is.  2!!!!
I say, "That's right!  You are so smart!"
Then he says, "And I know what 2+1 is.  3!!!

And he goes on for a little while, when finally Gabe asks, "How did you know that?  Where did you learn this?"  Thinking that he will for sure say school or something to that effect.

Zach replies matter of factly, "I was just laying in bed the other night thinking about it."

Is that not sooo funny?  My child lays in bed thinking of math??  Too funny!  But oh so smart!  Lol!!
This child still amazes me all of the time!  I know I probably talk of Sophie a little bit more and her milestones because she is the youngest, but Zach still just makes me stop and think how keen, imaginative, thoughtful he is, and has a steel trap memory!!  

5 Year Old Photo Shoot

Every year for Zach's birthday invitations, I take pictures of him and put them on the invite.  I never know what kind of mood I'm going to get... he'll be in a picture taking mood, he won't be in a picture taking mood, or he'll be in a silly mood, or he'll be in a grumpy mood.  Now, I have two of them to deal with!  And she likes to clown around just as much as he does!  Lol!  Check these two little monkeys out...

They crack me up!!!!!!

Zachary Turns 5!!!!!

She was my videographer!

 We had Zach's party on Saturday, the 11th.  He wanted an Iron Man party this year.  Not sure why... yes, he is a super hero and most boys like super heroes, but Zach really hasn't paid too much attention to super heroes until recently.  I didn't even realize he knew who Iron Man was until a few weeks ago!  Lol!  But this is what he chose while we were browsing at the party store.
I had pretty much everything ready the night before.  I even had all of the groceries bought, presents wrapped, things set up.  But I still felt rushed and running around like a chicken with my head cut off all morning!!  We did have a few extra hands this year.  Uncle Tony and the boys came up on Friday night, so they were there to help as well.  Uncle Tony was kind enough to make the rice, pico and guacamole to go with the fajitas that Gabe was grilling, and the beans my Mom made.  We had a huge spread!  And it was soo good!
I borrowed a water slide from my friend Dallas for the party.  This was a hit with the bigger kids that were there.  And funny, I didn't even get any pictures of them on it.  Just goes to show how busy I was, I guess! Zach got lots of cool toys... he was very, very excited about each and every one of them.  Even if he didn't have a clue as to what it was!  Lol!  We got his reactions on video... priceless, let me tell you!  He had everyone cracking up!
Thank you to everyone that came and that helped make his birthday a success.  I know he enjoyed it! 

Opening his gifts.

Still taking videos...lol!

Concentrating hard on this one!

She's taking this really seriously!  :)

A new DS game & he could hardly wait to play it!

Yummy Yummy Cake!

Awww, how cute is he??  I can't believe my baby is 5!!!!

Robstown & The Best Raspas!

The day after Zach's birthday, we had to take the kids out of school early and head to Corpus Christi for Grandpa Zavala's funeral.  It was another long day on the road, because first we had to take Gabe to school and waste some time while he was in class.  And then we left from there.  We arrived at the funeral home in time for the Rosary.  Afterwards, we had dinner with the family.  By that time, it was getting close to 11, and me and the kids were ready for bed.  

The funeral was Friday morning at 10 am.  It was a nice service and mass.  After the graveside we all met up at a hall (for lack of a better word) and ate lunch.  We visited with family that we hadn't seen in a while and got to love on Baby Kaleb.

Since we were in Robstown, Gabe wanted to hit up the raspa (sno-cone) stand before we left town.  When he first bought me one, he claimed that it would be the best raspa I had ever eaten.  Having eaten a lot of raspas sno-cones in my time, I thought, "really?  how much better could these sno-cones be?"  But, OMG!  He wasn't kidding!!  They are delish!!!  And not only that, you pay like $2 and get a large!!  You can't beat that!  Lol!  And they have crazy flavors like: tiger's blood, pickle, margarita, etc.  So we made one more stop before we got back on the road.  Raspas for everyone!!!

I was beginning to think that getting the RED raspa was a bad idea...the kids were spilling it all over the place!  But I couldn't resist these red, cute, sticky, little faces...

 And this is how he fell asleep...really.  DS and pen in hand, feet propped up on the back of the seat.  Classic.

Now time to get ready for the big 5 year old's birthday bash!!

Look Who's...

Can we just stop for a minute... my son is 5???  Are you kidding me???  Very hard to believe on our part.  It is definitely bittersweet!  My baby boy isn't little anymore!!!  Excuse me while I go grab a tissue...

Zach had school on his birthday.  I asked him if he would like to take some cupcakes or a special treat to share with his friends on his special day, but he didn't want to.  I think he is still getting used to the whole new school thing.
The teacher gave him a birthday crown to wear for the day and he got to wear a "5" around his neck!  I think he liked the attention!
Gabe and I both picked the kids up from school because we wanted to surprise Zach for his birthday.  We then took him to Chuck E Cheese!!  They were both oh so excited!
Here are a few pics that I took while there:

This horse ride that Sophie is on was pretty funny... I cracked up!

Pizza and games at Chuck E Cheese...what else could a 5 year old ask for?  :)

Labor Day 2010

Can you believe that we went to my parents' house on the lake for the weekend and I didn't even take my camera????  I know!!  I guess my intuition knew that nothing picture worthy was going to happen!  Ha!

So we didn't get to leave until Saturday after 2pm due to work.  On our way up there, we get a few phone calls from everyone else (that is already there) asking if we can stop at the Lowe's in College Station to get a few parts for my Dad's irrigation system.  Didn't sound like it was going to be too difficult until Dan (my brother-in-law) starts naming/describing what he needs.  Ummm, yeah.... I was lost pretty much from the beginning of that conversation!!!  Lol!!!  But I was smart enough to get a very nice sales associate to help me once I got there.  I called Dan back up and just had him tell the sales guy exactly what he needed.  Much easier!!  :)

It was cool this weekend because almost everybody was there!  We were just missing Sam and Stacy.  And that is a rare occurrence to have all three families there.

It was a pretty laid back weekend.  We ate, played some shuffleboard, kids played outside, and enjoyed each others company.  This was actually Gabe's first time to be back to the lake since New Year's!!  And we don't know when we will get to go back as a family again due to work, school, etc.  So it was good to get away and relax a bit.  

While we were there though, we did hear some upsetting news.  Gabe's mom called on Sunday morning to tell us that Gabe's grandfather had passed the night before. 
It's always hard to deal with someone passing, especially when you are as close to them as Gabe was to his Grandpa.   :(


RIP Grandpa Zavala... we love you!

Second Day of School

Thought I would give an update on the second day of school...

This morning was A LOT tougher!!!!  On all of us!!!!  Zachary didn't want to let go of me and wanted to give me about 10 hugs and kisses before I could leave- with tears in his eyes, I might add.  And Sophie had to be held by the teacher while she cried and screamed for me as I walked out the door.  Talk about hard... that is one of the worst feelings as a parent!   I hate it.

Everyone today has said that the second day is the hardest because the child knows what is actually going to happen- mommy & daddy are LEAVING me here! 

AHHHHH, I just hope it gets better!