Happy New Year!

I want to wish all of our family and friends a safe and Happy New Year! I hope that 2006 was a good year overall and that 2007 will bring everyone more joy, happiness and many blessings!

Love- Jodie and the Barbosa boys

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY GINGER!

Today my little sister Ginger,turned 18 years old! We want to wish you a very happy and safe birthday and don't celebrate to hard this weekend, you are now legally an adult!

We love you and always want you to be safe!

Christmas Festivities

WOW! We have had an extremely busy and exciting few days getting ready for and celebrating Christmas. On christmas Eve we went to Todd and Claudia's house to get together ad have dinner (thanks Todd for the delicious meal!)

On Christmas Eve I made a gingerbread house, oatmeal raisin cookies, gingerbread cookies for our Christmas day cookie exchange, then Gil and I made natilla and bunelos to take to Todd and Claudia's house.

On Christmas day, we got together with Gil's family at our house to have brunch and let the kids open their presents and to finally unveil each others secret santa. We had such a fun time trying to guess who was our secret santa. My secret santa was Claudia and she got me an ice cream/sorbet maker!! I love it! I am going to try to make an ice cream for New Years Eve to share with everyone. We then played Jenga and enjoyed each others company.

In the evening we went to my dad's house (Gary) and my mom, brother and sister were there so we could open presents and hang out and eat dinner. We did not do secret santa, but we got great gifts from everyone!This is my favorite time of year because everyone takes time to get together with family and just hang out!

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and hopefully you will have a safe and happy new year!

Here are some pictures of the Christmas events! Enjoy the slide show below...

Future sewing project!

I have begun to sew a few things, very simple things for the house and I am pleased to announce that Lore and I have made plans to get together next week and sew an apron.

At first I wanted to try to sew an apron for a Christmas present for Lore, but, I did not have time and I figured it would be more fun to do it together! Here is a picture of the apron we will sew, but it will be a different color fabric.

This is the pattern:


This is the Style:


This will be the fabric for the majority of the apron:


And this will the fabric for the pocket:


I will post some pictures as soon as we get them started and hopefully completed!

New Family Video Blog

I have created a new blog page dedicated to only the videos and movies that I make of our family adventures:

The link is: http://barbosavideos.blogspot.com

You can also, click on the link on the right hand side of the blog page.

Making memories

Today, I had my day all planned out. First I was going to the doctor for my annual "lady" exam, and then I was going to take the kids to see Santa at the mall and head home to clean the house, wash, dry and put away dirty clothes, cut the grass in the front yard and put together our gingerbread house.

Gil took all three boys to the soccer field and played soccer and football with them. He left his cell phone in the car, which I thought was awesome because he dedicated that hour only to the boys!

Well, right after I was done at the doctors, Rick (a.k.a. Tio Chino) called and asked if the boys and I wanted to go to Universal Studios. So I said yes, because I figured instead of having the boys in the house most of the day, we would enjoy the day and make some memories! Unfortunately, Gil could not take the day off from work, but he wished us a day of fun.

I at least took the kids to see Santa before we went to Universal, and then we at Universal from 12:00 p.m. all the way until 6:30 p.m. Tio Chino, Dami and Mia left at 4:00 p.m., but we wanted to thank them for inviting us and we had a GREAT time!

I know that sometimes the house becomes a mess, clothes start to pile up and I get behind on my daily "To Do List", but if the kids are smiling, laughing and enjoying each other that is the most important thing because those spontaneous moments in their lives will last forever!

Chinese proverb:
One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade.

Birtday Party

First of all, I want to start with saying thank you to everyone that came to my birthday party on Saturday. I had a GREAT time and I hope you everyone else did as well. It is always very special to get most everyone from both sides of my family together, meaning my family and Gil's family.

I put together a little slide show together

Words alone can not express how happy I was to be able to be able to share my evening with everyone!

THANK YOU!

Pirate Field Day

Today Erico had a field day at school that was a pirate theme. The boys and I went to be with him while Gil was attending his first Jury Duty.

They played many games, like a pirate walk on sticks, make a pirate skeleton, tug-of-war, a ball toss and other events. Elkin and Esai are like a part of Erico's class especially since I go every Thursday to help the kids in the class with their AR testing (accelerated reading).

Toward the end of the events, it started to rain very heavily, so all of the kindergarten, first and second grade classes went under the large pavilion and had snow cones!

It was a great day and I love being able to spend time with Erico at school and to let him know that he is very important and that we think that school is also very important!

Enjoy the slide show and movie clips from the events of the day. Look at the post below for the video clip.

Pirate Field Day - Videp Clip

BIRTHDAY AND HEADACHE = YOGA!

Yesterday was my birthday and I woke up with a really BAD headache, I took two Tylenol and hoped for the best. After taking Erico to school, my headache seemed to get worse. About 12:30 in the afternoon, I realized that my Yoga show was about to start. I was not feeling like working out since in Yoga you are in many poses and my head was pounding, but I decided Yoga always relaxes me, so I got my yoga mat out and started the workout.

As soon as the workout was done Esai woke up from his afternoon nap, and my headache was almost gone! So I changed my clothes and left with the boys to vacuum the van and to pick up Erico. And I felt better for the rest of the evening.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT CALLED ME TO WISH/SING ME A HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IT REALLY MEANS A LOT TO KNOW THAT EACH PERSON TOOK A FEW MINUTES OUT OF THEIR DAY TO WISH ME WELL! I LOVE YOU ALL AND LOOK OUT 30'S HERE I COME!!! THANK YOU, MARIELA (MY SECOND MOM) FOR COMING BY TO SEE ME

LIKE CLAUDIA SAID, I AM NOT GETTING OLDER, I AM GETTING BETTER (LIKE A FINE WINE!)

MY SECRET SANTA

Thank you to my Secret Santa that left me a present in the mailbox!! It made my evening. When I was sewing the boys fleece blankets, I used it to hold my sewing supplies.

Tackle It Tuesday!

I have finally been able to do a Tackle it Tuesday. I wanted to concentrate on my office at work. It seems as if when I go to work, I am all over the place and by the time I have to leave, I am in a hurry and I just throw my stuff in the closet and during the day my desk is a mess! There was even stuff still in there from an attorney that used to use the office and she has been gone since March/April of this year!

So here are some before and after pictures of the closet where I keep the boys toys, crafts, chairs and sleeping mats:

CLOSET BEFORE:

CLOSET AFTER:

DESK BEFORE:

DESK AFTER

What a relief it was to finally walk out of the office today and feel like I was organized!!

Weekend Adventures!

We had a great weekend! It all started with Erico's 2nd Annual Fast Track & Field Invitational. Elementary schools in the central Florida area get together and participate in different track and field events. Erico ran in the 200 meter and 800 meter race. We were so proud of how good he did, especially for being as sick as he was just days before!

After the races, Abuelita took Erico and Elkin to their Narcoosee house for a barbecue while Gil and I (I mean Mr. and Mrs. Clause) could do a little Christmas shopping in. After the shopping, we went to Narcoosse and enjoyed the delicious food prepared by Roberto!

On the other property behind where we were at, their was a little adventure stirring up for the Barbosa's, please watch the video to enjoy!



We had a great time, Thank you Abuelita and Roberto for watching the kids and for inviting us over, we look forward to doing it again.

Turning '30'

Yes, I will be turning 30 on December 13th! I have decided to think of all of the accomplishments during my 20's. I have done a lot in the past ten years and I can't wait to see what is next to come. Of course, I have not accomplished all of these on my own, Gil has had a major role also, especially since Gil and I started dating when I was 20!

In the past 10 years I have given birth to THREE beautiful boys, we bought two houses and sold one of them, we have had two vans, Jeep Cherokee and Gil's countless number of cars and trucks. I started in the legal field when I was 20 as a receptionist and went to working for the senior partner and 3 associate attorneys. Now, almost ten years later, I work for the best attorney in town, my MOM! We have gone from paying for our kids to be in a good daycare to now the best all around care in the world, with me!

I am looking forward to turning 30 and all of the exciting adventures and life lessons to come!

For all that do not know yet, we are having a birthday celebration at our house this Saturday, December 16th starting around 8 or 9 in the evening, I hope to see most everyone there!

Kids getting over colds!

Well, Erico has been sick since Friday evening, he had fevers ranging from 101 to 103! We sent him to school on Tuesday and I got a phone call from the school nurse that he did not have a fever, but he told the teacher that he was not feeling well. So I go and pick him up and took him to the office with me. When we got their he immediately started playing with his brothers, and then when Ginger (my sister) got to the office, they started running all over the place having a grand ol' time.

Needless to say, I took him to school on Wednesday. And at about the same time as the day before, i received another call from the school nurse. this time she sounded a little irritated with me that I had the nerve sending Erico back to school when she had sent hhimhome the day before. He had a slight temperature, but instead of coming to the office with me, Gil picked him up and kept him at work and made sure that he did not have fun.He came home a little down in the dumps, and he still had a low temperature. We went to my mother-in-law's house for her birthday get together and as I assumed he played non-stop with his brothers and cousins!

I took him to school this morning and told him that I would go and have lunch with him and that I would take Subway. Lunch was great and we had nice conversations and at the end of the day when I picked him up, he was in great spirits!

During these past few days, Elkin had fever one evening and he has had a little cough, but overall the rest kids are finally getting over their colds!!!

"The human physiology is part of the cosmic physiology. Every rhythm of the universe therefore naturally has an effect on the individual and vice versa."-- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Weekend News

We had Elkin's soccer game Friday evening and Abuelita (Mariela was able to attend). Only 5 of our 9 kids were there and Elkin was all over the field, but it was a very physical game. Elkin was knocked down, pushed, tripped and one time when he got pushed down he rolled over the ball on to the top of his head. Finally, he was knocked down about 5 minutes before the end of the game and he was done. We were very proud of how good he played even though it was a hard game.

After the game Gil stayed home with Esai and I went out on a dinner date to Chili's with Erico and Elkin. We had such a nice time! We colored in our coloring books, talked, laughed and had a great time! Thanks Gil for watching Esai!

In the middle of the night, we noticed Erico had a fever, a very high fever. So all weekend we had Erico taking Tylenol and Motrin, to keep his 102 fever under control. Usually, I do not like giving the kids medicine unless they need it, and since nothing else would get his temperature down, I turned to the medicine. Erico has not been sick for about 2 1/2 years, so I guess I have a been overly concerned.

During the time that Erico was feeling ok, we did some arts and crafts and I also baked whole wheat bread!

Also, I have finally got caught up on all of the laundry! I only have half a load that is dirty, so my goal is to was a load of clothes at least every other day, so that I don't get lost in a closet full of dirty clothes again!!

Erico is still not feeling 100%, so he stayed home with me today and I will probably keep him home tomorrow. Hopefully he will be better soon!

TGIF!

Today is Friday and Elkin has a game tonight at 5:15 p.m., so in about one hour we will be cheering him on. Hopefully Abuelita (Mariela) will be able to make it for the game.

This week has gone by super fast and I have enjoyed the week more so since I have taken a different approach on things. Of course there is the regular stresses of each day, but I have caught up on the clothes and feel much better about it. I went to the library with Elkin and Esai yesterday and we got 4 new books about Christmas and I got 2 books, one about sewing window treatments and the other about herbs.

This weekend I have plans to buy some new fabric and try to sew a window treatments for Erico's room and do some baking. I want to try to make wheat bread and also make some tree decorations with the kids out of clay so that they can pass out to the family as a Christmas gift.

I look forward to an exciting weekend and I hope that everyone else enjoys their weekend too!