AH-HA!!

WE FINALLY FOUND OUR CAMERA CHARGER!!! The whole entire time it has been behind Omar's half stack amp! And to think its been missing since Christmas!! I feel like I've missed so much. Anyway, we have it now. So pictures soon to come! ;)

Lets capture our family! :/

I know that some of you are not going to believe this... but.... Omar and I have NEVER had our family pictures taken, professionally at least. And even worse!! Is that we NEVER took Ava to have her pictures taken as a baby! A BIG regret of mine, HUGE! Anyway, besides being an awful mother and not even thinking about it til now, I finally found a photographer and most importantly a price I liked. Therefore we are going to be taking our 1st family pictures together!!! I am so excited! I can't wait to go shopping for everyone's outfits and getting my hair done/fixed. I also have to figure out the best time for the photographer, as far as lighting and placement of the sun and hopefully the weather will be fantastic for the day we have planned. And figure out the best time for my kids to cooperate and become the hams that they usually are around a camera. Any tips?

In other news, Valentine's Day is around the corner and I have no idea what to do, let alone get for Omar. I'm not very creative therefore eliminating all prospects for a relatively cheaper gift. He's not really a "tool" guy, or a gamer. Just music. What do you get a guy that has both an acoustic and an electric guitar, a full half stack amp and a mini just in case!? I know what his dream guitar looks like, I also know that it costs a pretty penny around the thousand dollar range so that is definitely out of the question. I've been going on amazon.com daily to see what I can find and so far nothing has caught my eye. His birthday is also this month so not only do I need to wow on valentines, but also on the 22nd. It's not fair when your spouse has a birthday the same month as a national holiday. A double whammy! Anyway, wish me luck with gift finding and feel free to leave me tips about the fam pics! :)

Time to grow up.

A few of you may be aware of what happened about 2 years ago with a couple family members. And as I will try not to throw people under the bus and air their business all over the internet I will also try to fill you in so that this post won't be completely misunderstood. Basically, when Landon was about 4 months old, we moved in with Omar's sister and her family. We lived there for about 3 months and it just go to be very tense and always having that feeling of not wanting to come home. And that was on both sides. We weren't used to co-habitating with one another and our little habits and quarks seemed to annoy the one another. As the tension built so did tempers and then one day they all seemed to release. And of course, they were released on each other and well since then we haven't really spoken. There was name calling, family bashing, and it even almost got physical. Needless to say we moved out in about 2 hours and never looked back. However since then, families have grown, things have happened and I am starting to wonder will we all ever be able to bury the hatchet let alone be in the same room? They say family is the most important and if your family doesn't support you, who will?

Omar and I had some family over a couple days ago and it got us to thinking... should we just get over it and grow up? Their side has apologized for it, but at the time the wound was still fresh so Omar and I went about our lives and pretty much wrote them off. We eventually decided that we would mend things with his sister but not her husband. Making for an awkward situation for not only their kids but for her as well. Whenever she came to visit, he never came and we never really invited them anywhere as we knew she'd want to bring him and vice versa. Even when things started to fall apart between them we supported her and not him. And now that they are happy and together again we have pretty much said good riddance to the both of them. Why? I'm not entirely sure, hence me thinking about this a lot. What if the roles were reversed? Therefore I think that we are ready to accept their apology from 2 years ago (if it still stands) and put the past behind us. Not only would it make everyone be able to breathe a little easier and and not feel as if they have to tip toe around, but it would also give our kids the opportunity to get to know each other again. When this all happened Ava wasn't even born and neither was their youngest, Jacob. Growing up, I knew exactly what it was to have relatives fighting and the feeling of having to please everyone and make sure that certain people weren't at certain events, basically avoiding the 2 parties from clashing. I still go through that and that is the last thing I want for my kids to feel. I/We just need to put our pride aside and realize that family is family.

Hakuna Matata.

Better late then never?

So... Ava had a check up today. It was supposed to be her 13-15 month check up, however somehow in all the madness of moving and re organizing and insurance switching, we forgot to take her for her 1 year well child check up. Therefore, she is a tad behind on some shots, which I'm sure she is thrilled about. I however, felt like a dog with it's tail between its legs going into that doctors office preparing myself for the lectures. Thank goodness it didn't happen. I love our family doctor, he just simply said, no biggy she'll get caught up and it won't interfere with school when the time comes. Whew! So, we get in there and all the nurses recognize her immediately as the baby with a ton of hair. And the hair is still crazy and all over the place. But here are her stats as of today; 30 inches tall and 23 solid pounds. I forgot the exact percentiles as I was too busy trying to keep her from eating off the floor, but I do remember her weight was somewhere around 40% and her height was around 20%. My little petite mama. So basically, everything is good and normal. However, because of her UTI issue last year the doc ordered her an ultrasound of her kidneys and a VCUG which pretty much means no fun for her or me. They are going to give her a fluid that has a dye in it and track it in her body to see if it her urine is being released internally and then they put in a catheter. Like I said, no fun.

So after the doctor visit and playing catch up as far as immunizations are concerned, we came home and I made her a special breakfast to make up for being a traitor. As she was eating, she fell out of the chair and hit her face on the foot of the table. I go to grab her and blood is just pouring out of her mouth. I run her to the bathroom to grab a wash cloth and frantically search for any missing teeth and if the wound needs stitches. After she settled down, I was able to see that no teeth were sacrificed and no medical attention was needed. I was also able to see that not only was blood coming from her now HUGELY swollen top lip but from her nose as well. After a couple minutes, the blood stopped and she just laid on me. Since then, Landon has told me repeatedly that Ava has an ouwie and that need to kiss it to make it better. Needless to say, today was definitely not her day. Heres to tomorrow!



Oh! And like her cousin Sammy, she has also learned to climb on top of the table!

Merry Christmas to all.. and to all a goodnight!

Our little casita.

This year was our first official Christmas on our own... completely! And I loved every minute of it. We had our own decorations, our own tree, bought presents for the kids, took them to see Santa, put up our own lights.. the whole sha-bang! Now of course to every plus there is a downside. Ours happened to be that we lost our camera charger. I looked everywhere for it for 3 days and came up with nothing but 7 cents in pennys and a nail from something. Leaving me with nothing but my video camera and blackberry to use for pictures. My phone takes somewhat decent pictures but this time it just didn't want to cooperate. The video camera came in handy when at 6:30 in the morning, Landon came into my room begging to open his presents. I held him off until about 7:30 Christmas morning. After that we made breakfast for the family and had more gift exchanges. Later for dinner we went to my dads for "more presents!" as Landon put it. Some of my step mom's family was there as well and it was good to see everyone. The next day we were in for a drive to Bakersfield to see my mom's side of the family. 3 hours later we were enjoying a family christmas dinner and surprising my aunt with a birthday cake. Landon had Ava had fun playing with all the little cousins and running around after being stuck in the car. It was really nice to get over there and see family that I hadn't seen in over 3 years. It is so crazy to look at all the babies that are here now and watch them play together. Each with their own funny personalities and quirks.The kids Christmas photos from last year and this year. How they've changed.

"I Luff Tanksgibing"

Its official.. my kids have crazy hair. Just like their mother ;) This is Ava and her abundant locks.

This crazy child is Landon at 2 and a half years old. Pre haircut.

The kids new hiding spot.

My mom had invited us to go to the Bass Pro Shop to take the kids to see Santa Clause and so I said sure. At the same time wondering why she just didn't want to go to the mall. Of all places, why the Bass Pro Shop. Not only is that place ALWAYS crazy full of people but now its probably over capacity due to Santa being there and offering FREE pictures with him!! So this picture below is of the happy campers while waiting for 2 1/2 hours for Santa.
This is Landon scoping out the giant fish tank with "Amma."
Him and some weird fish guy outside.
Ava was totally flirting with this dude.
And lastly, this little work of art was created by my lovely and artistic child Landon. he thought that the bathroom was too white and needed some color. I agree with him, lol.
As for the Thanksgiving holiday, we had planned to go to 3 but only ended up going to 2 dinners. The first was at my grampa's house in Rialto. The whole Crowley side was there with exception to the married cousins. So many people that there were tables set up in the garage and that was where we ate. We had done the same about 4 or 5 years ago as well, however back then it was freezing and not as pleasant. This time around the weather was beautiful. The second dinner we went to was at my dads. He has become quite the chef now and prepared the whole dinner by himself by choice. Everything from scratch! And it was SO good. The kids loved it, Landon's favorite was the ham and corn. Ava pretty much munched on green beans at both houses. Our third dinner was supposed to be in San Diego with Omar's family, however we didn't make it down there. Which I regret because his uncle was a chef in the Navy. All in all, it was a pretty awesome day. Friends, family and food, what more could you ask for? Christmas decorations here I come!!!

End of October & an early November.

Our little trip to the park was a success... Ava loves the swings and Landon finally went down the "big boy" slide.

He was all smiles the whole way down... :)

Scoping it out on the ladder.

He is definitely a looker.

My Ava Lou..

Halloween Time!!

As you can see the kids weren't too fond on having their pictures taken this year. The whole day they were both grumpy little kids and testing my nerves. I was seriously debating on skipping trick-or-treating because of it. However Omar talked me into getting into the festivities so we went to the church's trunk or treat and then onward to my dad's to collect from that neighborhood as well. Somewhere in that time span, Landon snapped Ava's fairy wand in half, got gum stuck to his sleeve and we lost Ava's cup.

These are Ava's little fairy wings and her little skirt.

As she gets older, I am being told that she looks more and more like me.. However I see my sisters in her more then myself.

My grumpy Buzz Lightyear. This kid is in desperate need of a haircut.



As you can see.. the kids are growing like daisies. And so are their tempers. This weekend we are going to a good friend of mines wedding. I am so beyond excited for her and partly for me because Omar and I decided to go kid free. ;)