Special Guest for Dinner

Last night I was at Costco getting my tires rotated and balanced and the boys suggested that we hae crab legs for dinner. So of course I thought that was a great idea, especially since Thursday evenings Gil had practice with his soccer team, and eating crab legs meant I would not have to cook dinner!

So I called my mom to invite her over. Work at the office had been very busy and stressful for her also with our litigation cases, so I figured it would be nice to get together away from the office. So we had a crab leg feast.

When Gil got home we were still eating so I made him some lemon pepper chicken breast and caesar salad and we enjoyed each others conversation for at least 2 hours!

It made me feel so good to have my mom over and to just let the kids see her aways from the office and to be able to talk about things unrelated to the office. My mom is a hard worker and she is an awesome attorney!

Thanks mom for coming over for dinner we enjoyed your company.

Work Wednesday

Well, today I wanted to start my day off a little different from what I have been doing lately on the days I go into the office, to see if I can reduce my level of stress of trying to get my work done at the office and take care of Elkin and Esai at the same time.

I started off my morning by waking up a little bit earlier than usual, about 5:45 a.m. and I did some Namaste Yoga. I love Yoga, it feels great to exercise in a peaceful state of mind. Then I took a shower and continued my morning as usual.

And believe it or not, I was not as stressed at work as usual, but I think that it was just my outlook on how I wanted the day to be.

Since I worked today, I decided to not cook a big dinner. I baked a cake before I started dinner and then I made vegetable soup and chicken Caesar salad.

I did notice that I was not as stressed, so hopefully, I can stay on the same track!

Inspiration

For the past week or so, I have been feeling a little down in the dumps. I do not feel inspired to clean, cook, do laundry. At work I am stressed, at home I am stressed.

So I decided to sit down and analyze the reasons why I am stressed. Well I think I came up with the majority of the reasons. Most of them I can change, and others, well, that is another topic. I started to think, what makes me feel good, I like to exercise on the elliptical machine and I LOVE to do power Yoga. I am not able to go to the gym because it costs to much and I try to do it at home, but I end up with kids underneath me trying to yoga also... Basically, it comes down to having some alone time to improve my health, physically, mentally and spiritually.

I cleaned the elliptical machine that my mom bought for me as a Christmas present about 2 years ago, and I am recording some Yoga shows on TV. I am going to try to make it a habit to work out on the elliptical at least 3 to 4 times a week for about 30 minutes and do some Yoga in the evening after Gil gets home. He does not know of this plan yet, but when he gets home tonight, I will fill him in.

I do love to take care of my family and to try to come up with creative things to do with the kids and for the house, but I have set my mind to just get out and do them instead of just thinking about what I would like to do.

Also, a person that has inspired me over the weekend was Lore, my sister-in-law. When she brought the table cloth and table runner as a gift to us for Thanksgiving, it inspired me. I have been wanting to sew curtains for the house and other things, but I just keep procrastinating. Well, I am going to get rid of my 1956 Singer sewing machine because I bought a new Singer over the weekend. I have to figure out the different things that I want to do, but so far I made Spiderman pillows for the boys and they helped me stuff them. They were so excited to help make their own pillows that they have to have them to go to sleep!


Thank you Lore for the inspiration! Even though you did not know that you had done that for me when you brought such a thoughtful gift that you made with your own hands. I know that you said it was not difficult and it was easy and fast to do, but that is what is inspirational. To want to do something and to actually go through the steps and doing it! Maybe after I get a little better with some practice, we can set up an evening that the guys can get together with the kids and we can sew!

Well, Esai just went down for his morning nap and I am off to do some Namaste Yoga and tonight we have a volleyball game, so I will save the elliptical machine for tomorrow! And I am going to get a tackle it project done also!!

QUOTE:
"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good." author unknown

Holiday Update

We had an exciting Thanksgiving. We spent the day with Gil's family. My family (my mom, brother, sister) were not with us. My cousin, Nelson, was visiting from the Air Force, so my mom went to go visit him in Tampa, my brother had to go spend Thanksgiving with his girlfriend and daughter at the fire station, my sister-in-law is still considered a "rookie" so she had to work. But I am glad that my brother went to go spend time with her. Family is very important during the holiday season and I couldn't ask for more because I was with Gil and the boys!!

Erico and Elkin hep me make a centerpiece for the Thanksgiving food table, my sister-in-law, Lore, made me a beautiful tablecloth and table runner and my mother-in-law, Mariela brought a flower arrangement.

Then after we stuffed ourselves full, we played with the kids pulling them in the wagon and then hide and go seek with the kids in the back yard. It was so much fun.

At night when I asked the boys what was there favorite thing about the day, they said "playing hide and go seek"!I always get a warm feeling inside when we are able to spend quality time with family and the kids.

See the slide show above for the days events.....

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Well it is a little late on this Thanksgiving Eve, but I decided to make my desserts the night before thanksgiving and put out some pots and pans that I will need so that I would be more organized. Especially with the three boys running around and I also want to sit with them and make some crafts to decorate the table.

I bought two small pumpkin/squash for the kids and what we plan on doing is to cut the top off and empty them out and place some fall flowers in the middle for centerpieces. I also want to make little name tags to lay on the table for each person that will be with us on Thanksgiving.

Gil, his brothers and some close friends are going to have a paintball war during the morning of Thanksgiving. They have made it tradition to get together and either play football or do something together while the feasts are being prepared. Soon the kids will be joining in that tradition they just need to be a little bit older :)

On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to reflect on all of the things that I have been thankful for and to also ask the kids what they are thankful for. Kids are so innocent and honest that I am looking forward to hearing what they say.

I will take pictures and post them tomorrow evening.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance to all that could not be with us.

Love, Jodie

A day full of excitement!

Well, needless to say that we had a very exciting day today..

It started off with Elkin's game at 10:00 a.m. There was a kid on the other team named Jay, who was a little older than Elkin and that played very well. Actually, he has been the only kid to able to give Elkin a little bit of a challenge. Erico and Esai played around and watched their brother play. (Look at the next post to see Elkin's video clip....)

And as promised, I took Erico and Elkin to Islands of Adventure after the game so that we could have some fun! We got on every ride in Suess Landing

When we were waiting in line for the The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, Gil called me to see how we were doing and to tell me that he was just leaving Home Depot from buying some supplies for putting up the fence, since the wood and posts were delivered earlier than we had expected. So I asked him how Esai was doing, Gil yelled and said that he had left Esai! At first I thought he was kidding, but he was not kidding. He said that he had forgot to take Esai with him when he left for Home Depot. But after Elkin's game we all went home and Esai had fallen asleep in the car, so I put him in his crib for his nap.

So we hung up the phones and I called my mom and at the same time, Gil was calling his mom. Both grandmas were on their way to our house to rescue Esai. But when I called Gil to tell him that my mom was on her way to the house, he said that he had called his mom and she was closer to the house. When Mariela got to the house, Esai was still asleep in his crib and had no idea that he could have had a wild party!

After that excitement passed, Gil stayed home working on the fence!!

The kids and I stayed for about 5 hours at Islands of Adventure and then we headed for home. They were exhausted!

Elkin's Soccer Video

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Or copy this link into a new web browser to the full video (it get cut by about one minute):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCDe6SrjR30

This Weeks Update

This week, I feel bad becuase I did not post anything. It felt like it was a busy and hectic week, we had some ups and downs. I don't think that I even started a new "Tackle It" project. I have been trying to just keep up with all of the washing, drying, folding and putting away all of the clothes! In a family of 5 and me being the only girl, we sure can dirty A LOT of clothes! I feel like I am drowning in clothes. I have to figure out a way that I can get this under control. Maybe that will be my next tackle it project :).

On Tuesday, Elkin had his make-up soccer game at 5:15 p.m. He played AWESOME!

It is a great pleasure to see that Erico and Elkin really enjoy playing soccer. And especially when we all get togeter in the backyard and kick the ball around.

During the week, we concentrated on Erico's reading and math. He has been doing well, but we need to get him to be a little stronger so he can move up. One thing that we have been a little stressed about is the Public School system. But that is for another blog.!.!.!.!

On Thursday, elkin an dI made homemade Fudge and then in the evening Erico, Elkin and I made homemade chocolate cookies. I was in the mood for baking and the boys love to help me.

Friday evening, Gil and I had our date night, thanks to Erico's team soccer parents. All of the kids from the team got together for a pizza party at Sarah's house (one of the girls on the team). Gil and I enjoyed a 2 hour relaxing dinner, which is what we needed. And the kids had a great time playing with each other.

Today is Saturday and it is 48 degrees out, and we have to get ready for Elkin's 10:00 am game, then I am going to take Erico and Elkin to Universal Studios and Gil and Esai are going to wait for the materials and the crew to start our fence in the backyard project.

We have a day full of activities in store for us today, so hopefully they can be as stress free as possible.

And for Esai, we have been trying to work on comunication. Yes, I know he can not talk yet, but I am trying to get him to not whine and cry when he needs or wants something.

I will post more later!!!

Family Weekend

This weekend was a busy weekend (like most of our weekends). We started off on Friday Night, Erico had his last soccer game of the season, and we always finish with cupcakes made by (one of the girls on the team) Sarah's mom, Jennifer. And then we pass out trophies to all of the players. The kids get so excited to receive trophies. And this season, the team parents all chipped in and made a reservation at a very nice restaurant in Winter Park for Gil and I this coming Friday, and they are going to hold a pizza party at Sarah's house and watch all of our kids!!! We are very excited about that!

Then, on Saturday Elkin had a soccer game scheduled for 9:00 a.m., but they had to take pictures first at 8:15! He always does a mean face for the pictures because he says that he wants to look mean!! Then he started to play very well until one of the kids on his own team grabbed the neck of his shirt and stole the ball from his feet!! Needless to say he was finished for the rest of the game. But he says that he will not let that stop him next time....

After Elkin's game, I took the boys to Toys R Us so that they can make their "Christmas Wish Lists"

Then once I got home, Gil was removing the window from our bedroom to install the new one and the same as for the master bathroom. It took a few hours, but we got it all done!

On Sunday, Gil didn't have a soccer game, so we worked on the house some more, I organized my pantry closet. Then to my surprise, Gil suggested that we do something special with the boys to get them out of the house, so we went to Universal Studios. We were only there for about 1 1/2 hours, but we bought the annual pass!

Tackle It Day

My sister in law, Lore, does a thing called "Tackle It Tuesday". I never thought of posting the things that you do to organize your house/life for everyone to see. I usually to at least two to three things that I make sure that I get done every week to try to get organized and it give me great satisfaction once I complete it. So I decided to post one of my jobs that has been driving me NUTS for a while. For those that live close, know that we have been remodeling the bedrooms and master bath, so we have gotten into the bad habit of making a bunch of piles of stuff all over the sections of the house that we usually do not use.

I worked on the Formal Dining Room, which is right outside the master bedroom. And no, I did not just put all of the stuff into another room. I actually put all of the jackets in the entrance closet (I hung them up) and I threw aways a bunch of papers that we did not even need. WELL, here is the before pic....


and here are the after pictures..






I will figure out something for next week to do, but this weekend we are planning to do prep the backyard for a fence that we are going to install ourselves and finish painting and hanging all of the doors and windows to the bedrooms!! Wish us luck and I will try to take pictures along the way!!!!

"You can manage your time and you can manage your stress if you can manage to get organized." -Barbara Collins-Myers

Remodeling Pictures of the Rooms

Here are a few links for you to check out some of the from the remodeling that we have done to all 3 bedrooms and our master bath.

Master Bedroom

Master Bath Room

Erico's Room

Elkin & Esai's Room

Beginner Blogger

Well, I hope that whoever received the email with my new blog site was able to view and hopefully enjoy the video and pictures.

I have been trying to start this "blogging" thing for about two weeks or so. My sister in law, Lore, has been blogging for a while now and her site is amazing!! If you have time to check it out her site is, http://sanchezurita.blogspot.com, her site is AMAZING. It makes mine look so generic, but in all do time and I will get some tips from her, I will have mine looking better.

I love the idea of blogging becuase it lets me post what has been going on in our family lives, especially for those friends and family that do not live close.

I will post more soon. I have to go cook dinner and finish homework with the boys....

Backyard Adventures!!

This will be my first post in the blog, so I figured why not start it off with last night's fun!! We were cleaning some of the bushes in the back yard, and we had just set up the tent to camp out, when Gil noticed Esai sitting in the wagon playing by himself, when he decided to pull him around the yard, and then the boys joined in!!
Make sure you have your volume on...

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Saturday night camping

The boys have been wanting to go camping for the longest time, so Gil suggested that I bring the tent out. We found it in the attic, and set it up in the backyard, we made a fire outside and made some Smores... While we were making our fire, we noticed that there was a full moon!! Needless to say....Gil slept inside on a comfortable bed and the three boys and I camped out for the evening! It was a 21st century camp out, I took the laptop outside and we watched some Popeye's movies until the battery shut off. At about midnight Esai woke up, so I gave him to Gil and cuddled up with Erico and Elkin, since the temp got to about 60 degrees...