The you I get to see that no one else does.

Yes, I know it defeats the purpose if I share with you all, but some days I wish you could know the husband I feel in love with. These moments slip out every now and then with close friends, but I thought I would share this one with you all.

So picture this,

We are driving home, and almost there, I might add. 

When D accidentally hits the horn on the car.

“BEEEEEP!”

(keep in mind this happens more often the is should, but we aren’t normally so close to home)

I say.. “D I mean really, we are almost home.”

He is looking around to see if anyones outside of there house.

I say, “look, that guy in his garage is looking at us like we are crazy for honking our horn.”

He replies,

“where? I would have waved!” 

With this grin, that can only be explained as the grin I get when he is in his silly mood. Its on of mischief and orneriness combined. And only comes out every now and then.

I just shake my head...and proceed to tell him that I will be posting it on fb, until I realized that this would just be too long of a fb status update, and thus the blog post. 

did he just say what I think he said?

So, my goal is to try and update our blog once a month. Lets hope I can do it. I’ve already got one for this month...but its for last month.

As for April, it too has gone by pretty quickly. So many sweet moments with my little man, I should keep a note pad around so I don’t forget them all. 

At the beginning of the month I had my training show for my latest endeavor. I started another blog for it so go check it out! www.SPARKLEnBLING.blogspot.com

I decided that this year would be the first year I didn’t take d2 in for professional portraits. After all, I do photography on the side, and should be able to get at least one good shot right? Right. 

I did, and it is by far my most favorite. 

Here it is for all you to enjoy!

He climed the ladder at the park for the 1st time and loved his new found skill!

d2 has had some pretty funny moments. 

I will share with you my most favorite.

Now d2 has always been interested in his private parts, and bath time has always been the time when we have to tell him to leave it alone. For those of you who don’t know, I am half Filipino, and the word for that area is “Tay-Tay”. Bath time consisted of us telling d2 to leave his “tay-tay” alone. 

Now with his vocabulary growing, this word has become a part of it. Now at bath time, he still grabs it, and then tells us what it is. And we have to tell him to leave it alone. 

Anyways, the other day he came over with his stuffed animal. Its a dog, but it is in the shape of a ball, with its face flat against the ball, but with the ears, arms, legs, & tail coming off the ball. d2 came to us, holding the dog by its tail, and looked as us and said. “Tay-tay?”

Holding back my laughter, I said, “No dear, that is the doggies tail.” 

He the repeated the word. “Tail?”

“yes, thats’ its tail.”

D and I about feel on the floor laughing. I was laughing so hard, there were tears in my eyes.!

Looks like kids say the darndest things has already begun, and I will continue to share them with you!

Oh March?! Where did you go?

I find myself amazed that march has come and gone. 

But even more how my day to day life has changed.

In March,

I was finishing up the term, where my weeks, Monday threw Thursday, contained classes for me. I would spend my time designing, helping others design, and pretty much did what I wanted till I came home. Depending on the day, I would arrive home to my family around 3 or 5. I had long breaks, where I could contemplate whatever the day brought, or what life was bringing my way. I could sit and chat with friends, and just enjoy time to myself. All of which I enjoyed, but at the same time, missed being at home with my d2, and even D.

March also held d2’s 2nd birthday! Its hard to believe. He is beginning to use full sentences, is trying to enter in the tantrum stage ( we are trying to keep that in line ), and learning so much. I am amazed at how is brain is a sponge.  He already knows every letter in the alphabet, of which we learned from the Sunday school teacher, ( I knew he knew many of them but it has been confirmed..he knows them all ).  He knows the basic colors, although has trouble with red and orange ( but those 2 are really close ). 

For his 2nd birthday, I could only have done one theme..there really was no other option. He loves Word World. Have you scene or heard of it? Well my dear friend Alyssa, who we call auntie Lys, said that her niece loved it, so we thought, why not. We bought a dvd, and it has been a daily thing in our house. And the funny thing is, I find myself glued to the TV if it is an episode I have never seen. I also find myself singing 

songs from it. 

Check it out! www.wordworld.com ! Best thing ever!

So Word World it had to be. But you cant just go to your local store..any I might add and get a word world cake. So I decided to tackle it myself ( lets keep in mind his birthday fell on the week of dead week, right before finals ). I managed to not have finals for 2 classes, and finished the one final I needed to turn in Monday, on Thursday. This gave me all day Friday to get ready for the party. 

So here are some shots from the party.. Only my favs. I have soo many!

First, we had Bags, and Hats...for all. Bags contained M&M's d2's fav., blowers, some crayons, and 2 coloring sheets with pictures from the word world website of party things. I had a cake, a hat, a gift, and bear with some balloons. Each bag had 2 of the 4, so many kids got different pictures.

Here is the cake! It took me pretty much all day it felt like, but I love how it turned out. I used marshmallow fondant, and made a CAKE like off the show, and then on top I put his fav character DOG & is HOUSE. I made them out of ricecrispy treats, molded them and covered them with fondant, and then piped the details on. 

I really like how it turned out...but lets just say that next year I will be ordering my cake from the store.... But maybe I will feel like being creative again. Who knows. :)

Our happy little Family!

Time to blow out the candles.

I got the happy birthday banner free of the web site. Just printed if off and put it together.

Enjoying some cake!

We got plates and cups off line with the charaters on them

Who needs presents when you can play with  the BAG it came in!

Ok...Im done with photos..although I had like 20 more I just loved. Guess you need to get on fb to see them... (guess I need to up load them too)

So after his birthday was spring break, and lots of thinking it over. D had just started a new job that week, and I was mulling over what to do. I didnt really want to put my kid in childcare, it didnt matter who was taking care of him. I know this is different for each parent, and their situation, but for me personally, I didn't have a kid, so someone else could raise him. I was ok with him being in it for half the day, but my classes wouldnt allow me to do that, so after a while, I realised all I wanted to do was take the term off, and figure out schooling later. You see, D has a job, and Praise Jesus for it, but it is through a temp. We dont know if he will be extented, hired on permenantly or, my least favorite option, let go once the project is done. Whatever the case, taking off a term and seeing how it plays out was the only thing I was comfortable with. Once I added in cost of childcare, and where, and how. It was a no brainer for me. And once I had decided to let it go, and give it to God, I had the most amazing peace about it.

So now my days are filled with chores, and play time, nap time, diapers, parks and playdates. It may be hard to find a moment for myself, but I am loving every minute of it, and soaking up this time that I know goes by soo fast!

Music to my ears!

Just had one of those moments!

My day was filled with homework, homework and more homework. I got home around 3 and decided I should take a nap. After all, I was falling asleep on the bus, thus I must need a nap. 

Before said nap, I decided to check my email. You see, last night after d2 went to bed, I started in on my invitation project for my Type 1 class. The time flew by, and when I finished and emailed it to my professor, I realized that is was 11. 3 hours felt like one. Not complaining, I was enjoying the process. So, I needed to check my email before I took my nap. Right? RIGHT!

So, I had a response with notes on my work, and my mind went off with processing it and how to fix said issues. Nap time right? right....

I went up stairs for sad nap, and d2 started to have an issue because I closed the door. This is odd because he can open all the doors in the house. So after he decided to open the door, with daddy in hand playing interference, d2 decided mommy needed a good night kiss. SO Sweet!

He walked up to my side of the bed and sweetly kissed me, turned around with dad in tow, and said nigh nigh!

So after that, I was pretty sure my day couldn’t get any better.

After all, I was snug in my bed, ready for some much needed rest.

So I thought.

Now, one would like to think that d2 came running back it...but no. Daddy was a dear and took him outside to play.

There I was, warm and toasty in bed with my electric blanket on, compliments of mom 2 christmas’ ago, wide awake. I could not get my mind to shut off. I have a list a mile long of all the things I must complete before the weekend is over. Included in this is 2 shifts at work. 

After a half hour of laying there in thought, I decided I should just get up and get to work on it.

Around 4 the boys came back in, and D needed to go to the store for a couple things for dinner. We discussed whether d2 would stay here or go. My argument was, 

“you know how he gets when you leave. Just go ask him. If he wants to stay then he can stay.” 

Lucky for me, he wanted to go with daddy. ( I dont think it was much luck though . For sure a daddy’s boy. ) 

So another kiss later, and “c a waiter” (see you later)

AND to my pleasant surprise 

“I whuv you” 

Today, my sweet boy, told be good bye, and I love you!

as he left the house with daddy.

With out being prompted!

I mean, I say I love you to him every time I leave, but we have never asked him to say it. He just said it. 

Talk about melting mommy’s heart!

He is learning new words every day, but by far this is my favorite!

Deals of the Day!

SO...I have been needing some new foundation. 

I have been clipping coupons for it and watching my store...waiting for them to put it on sale...and maybe even a in store coupon would be more awesome!

So here is what I got and how much it should have cost!

2 boxes of Chai $8.98

2 Select Harvest cans of soup $5.58

Maybelline Mascara $7.49

2 bottles of L’Oreal True Match  foundation $21.98

Total $44.03

After coupons

$3.00 off 2 boxes of chai

Store sale on soup 2/$4 (- $1.58)

$1.00 off paper coupon for soup when you buy 2

$1.00 off e-coupon for soup when you buy 2

$1.00 off Maybelline Mascara coupon

$1.00 off Maybelline Mascara e-coupon 

Store sale on L’oreal.. Buy one get one half off (-$5.50)

$2.00 off in store coupon off any L’oreal product.

$5.00 off 2 facial products of L’oreal 

Total $22.95

Almost 1/2 off. But here is the kicker!

Because I work at the store..and cosmetics is considered part of the clothing, I received an additional 20% off my cosmetics.  

So I got

$1.50 off mascara & $2.20 off one bottle of foundation and $1.10 off the other. 

Making my total $18.50.

I basically got the 3 makeup items for a little over $10.00 and the original price was almost $30.00. Thats less then one of my foundations would cost all by itself!

I am pretty excited about it! 

Load your coupons on your store card..and you can use that coupon twice if you have a printing coupon as well. 

Happy shopping!

Wishing you Sunday Afternoons!

Happy New Year!!

I hope this year is filled with love, hope, peace and joy!

Here is my reflections from last year. 

We spent the whole year with D unemployed.. and sadly it has become my norm. I am not sure what I will do when he goes back to work. I have enjoyed the time I have had with him, and the time he has been able to share with our son. Don’t get me wrong. I want him to have a job more than anything. More for him them me. I think it will be good for him and his self esteem. Or at least if he can figure out what he wants to do. I dont care what it is as long as he is happy. 

I spent the year looking. And I am soo very excited that the looking has ended and a journey begins. I worked 3 jobs last christmas...and 2 for a good half of the year. In all that I continued to look for full-time. What I have learned from this? Be content in where you are and keep what you have until what you really are looking for comes up.  Each job change was in hopes that it would become full-time and both proved to be wrong. I did manage to get close to 40 hours this holiday season just working one job, but would have been more content if I had just trusted in God and his plan. Had I stuck through it, I  might have saved myself lots of stress, and I hope that I can learn to trust him more.

I also spent a good amount losing some weight. I wanted to be gone of all the weight I gained in pregnancy, but I got close and I will take it. I only have 3 1/2 pounds to go.. and Hope for that to be gone in the next couple weeks. With the holidays over..its time to take my weight lose full speed ahead. More post on that to come. 

d2. That boy, I Love him soo much! He brings more joy to my life that I ever thought, and makes the little things sweet. 

I downloaded a good amount of music to itunes today, in hopes of adding it to my phone and thus having music to listen to for the bus ride to and from school. One of the new CDs I got was Rascal Flatts. For those who dont know..I <3 RF. You should listen to Sunday Afternoon on their newest cd Nothing like this..  if you get a chance... It reminds me of both D and d2. Here is my favorite line from it.

“I swear it feels just like

The clocks slow down for a while

And the air tastes sweeter

And breathing gets deeper

As the clouds dance around the sunshine.”

and the chorus

“ if I had the chance to make one wish

every single moment would be like this

laying here baby, just me and you

yeah and every day would be sunday afternoon”

Today...like most days since christmas d2 had started saying mama...

In the morning he comes in...calls for me.

“mama!”.. “choo-choo!” he..lp pweas!”

oh such sweet word to a mothers ears.

You see..we got him trains for christmas...and he wants help to play with them. 

No matter how tired I might be. I can’t help but make myself get up and play till my child’s heart is contents.

Another moment today...

he was running around, being silly and making noises.

He ran into the living room were i sat, and roared at me...so in my silliest voice and face. I roared back. He proceeded to run in and out of the room doing this...each time my face was a little sillier and his laughter would fill the room. Such joy overflowing from my child..and all I needed to do was roar and make a face. 

Moments like this... “The clocks slow down for a while..And the air tastes sweeter”

This last year my have been the year of unknown..and although there is still some of this left...I am confident that the Lord has something for bigger planed for us, and I wait patiently for him to show that to us. 

Im excited to start school this winter term for graphic design. 

Im excited for the trip Im planing for in June.

Im excited for d2’s second birthday and am already planing it in my head. 

But mostly I am excited for life, and living in the moments. And hopeful for as many sunday afternoon moments as I can get. 

Our Christmas Letter

This post is long overdue. 

I apologize to those who logged on hopping to find our christmas letter...and only found my last post.

So lets recap the year.... 

I can’t even believe that it is already this time of the year.

So much had changed...and yet nothing really.

If you received a christmas card from us..please make note of our new address or if you need it just let us know. In september we moved from a small apt. to a home that we are now renting. The extra space is soo needed and I now have a place to do my crafts. It was much needed. 

This year has been mostly a transition year. D is still unemployed making it over a year now, and I continue to pray for work for him, and that his un-employment will last until he finds a new job. 

d2 turned 1 this year, and we had a wonderful time celebrating his 1st birthday. He started walking at 11 months and has been running ever since. He is a chatty little guy and learns new words every day. Among his favorites are doggie and ball. And baboom. (balloon) This is my most favorite, and santa will be bringing him a box full of them for christmas this year. (Im enjoying how the simple things make him happy) 

D had been keeping house and taking care of d2. He does a great job at this, although, Im sure we will both be thankful when he find a job. I have just been working and looking for a full-time job. Still no luck there, but I am excite to say that I will be going back to school in january for graphic design. This will bring more transitions to our lives, but I feel it is for the best.  

Other than work and play nothing to much going on for us. We hope that this holiday season finds you well. 

Merry Christmas!

KD

feel free to check in here any time to see what is new with our family and enjoy stories about our little one. :-)