Hello friends!

I'm soooooo bad about keeping up with pleo...sorry. I have a quick run-down of what my family is up to. The girls are 4 and 1 now and they are the best of friends!!! Maddie is the biggest helper and growing up way too fast. Mia is miss independent and wants to do everything Maddie does. Steven has 1 more week until summer session is over and then we get him all to ourselves for about 3 or 4 weeks!! Then he'll have 1 year left ...yipp-eee!!! I am truely blessed to be able to stay at home with my sweet girls.

Hope everyone is happy and well!

p.s. Maddie told me I was a genious today! Did I spell that right?

Hello to all and Happy New Year!!! It's been a while since I gave an update, so here it goes!

My whole family was able to be together over the holidays and we had a blast! There were 8 grandkids running around everywhere. I love my neices and nephews!!!!! Then Steven, the girls and I drove 17 hours to Illinois to see his family. Maddie and Mia slept the whole way, while Steven drenched himself in water to stay awake. We really enjoyed spending time with everyone. Steven, Maddie and I went sledding on the leftover snow and ice. Maddie looked sooo cute all bundled up! The girls loved getting to know their cousins...especially Molly.

So, now that the holidays are over, it's back to reality. Maddie will start her second semester of pre-k on Monday. She loves school and her favorite part is singing and playing on the playground. Her 4th birthday is on Tuesday!!! WHAT??? Where did the time go??? She's having a Minnie Mouse party at this little pottery place. Maddie is the BEST big sister. She's always trying to make Mia laugh and is my big helper. I love listening to them play. My favorite thing that she does lately is telling me that she has a secret and she whispers in my ear, "I love you mommy." Melts my heart every time.

Mia girl will be 1 on the 28th! Yikes!!!! Don't know where time went there either! She is the SWEETEST, most well tempered baby! So easy going and loveable. She's starting to pertend like she's talking on the phone...precious!

Steven started his spring semester of his 3rd year of Dental school. Yea!!! Almost done! He's loving working on patients and just really enjoys Denistry. He's been offered a job with a local Dentist here in Houston, but still not sure what he wants to do. We're just putiing this big dicision in God's hands.

I'm so blessed to be able to stay at home with my sweet girls. My goals this year are to be the best wife and mother that I can. I started going to the gym again and I really want to get in shape so I can keep up with my little munchkins and to feel better about myself. I want to continue to teach Maddie and Mia to love God and love eachother.

I hope and pray all is well with everyone and please drop by and say hi!

My grandmamma passed away a little over a week ago. Who is gramamma? It's what we all called my grandmother. The most wonderful woman I know. She was 91 and died very peacefully in her home of Sinton,TX. She is without a doubt resting gloriously in heaven with our Majestic Creator. I still can not grasp the fact that she is gone from this earth. Sometimes I feel like she's just in the hospital again...she'll be back soon. How selfish of me. How could we ever really want her back in this realm when she is in the one place she has longed to be for her whole wonderful life? She was a faithful christian that raised 5 beautiful faithful daughters. Maddie referred to them as "the girls". :) They were all sitting in one pew together at the funeral service and Maddie kept calling them that. "Mommy, I want to sit with the girls...are they gonna cry?" I'm so happy that my girls were able to meet their gramamma. I will never let them forget the stories of this woman who left behind a legacy.

She LOVED. It's that simple. She loved everyone unconditionly and with all of her heart. She spoke mostly spanish but she could speak, read and write english. I'm telling you, she was an amazing woman. She would go to church any chance she could. She would read her bible constantly and pray without ceasing. I loved to listen and watch her pray. The day I found out, Steven and the girls and I went to stay at my uncle's beach house. My dad told us to enjoy the day as much as we could and just come back in the morning. Well, it rained all morning...good thing, because I needed that time to process and call family. Then around noon the sky turned blue and the sun peeked out. So we loaded up and went to the beach. It was perfect. I think it was only like 85 degrees out and the girls were little angels. Mia sat in her little bouncey seat under the big umbrella for almost an hour and a half! She drank her bottle and just looked super relaxed. Maddie enjoyed all that the beach could offer...making sand castles, running away from the waves, and finding shells. I took this opportunity to go in the water by myself and think about my gramamma. She absolutely loved tha beach! I went out as far as I could without getting knocked over by the waves. I looked at the beauty all around me and started to sing gramamma's favorite song, "How Great Thou Art ."( I didn't know that it was her favorite song that day, but at her funeral we sang it in spanish.) I sang and cried and felt like she was right there with me. I needed that moment and I'll never forget it as long as I live. To be half of the christian, mother, wife, sister, friend, aunt, cousin that she was...that is my quest and in turn, it's being Christ-like. I already know that my mother is just like her. The loss that we have makes me realize how preciouse every moment is with our family. I have never had to go through this before and boy does it do somehting to you. I especially appreciated being with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. We all just kept telling eachother how much we loved one another. We are stronger and more united...just what Gramamma wanted.Please pray for my family as we grieve.

I know my Gramamma is watching over us...I love you.

Steven was doing Maddie's bible lesson with her tonight and they're talking about Genesis. Steven asked her who the first man and woman were and she said, "Adam and Eve". Then he asked if she knew the names of their sons and she said, "yes I do. John and Michael."

We had a garage sale on Saturday and got rid of all of our big stuff!!! Yea!!! We have trees hanging over our driveway, so we had perfect shade and a nice breeze.

Maddie had a lemonade stand and did a great job. She started off by yelling, "Customers, customers." At one point this lady walked by and instead of saying anything, Maddie just shook the coffee can of change. That's one way to get their business :).

Maddie and I started kneeling by her bed to pray and this was her prayer.
"Dear God, thank you for Annalyssa, Joel, Mathew, Uncle Scott and Aunt Mandy. Thank you for Jesus dying on the cross so that we can go to heaven. Thank you for heaven. Please help me to stay in my bed, so Mommy will be happy. Thank you for the trees and the flowers. Thank you for Jesus and amen."

I started to tear up, because it was sooo sweet and she asked me while I was crying. I told her I was so proud that she said such a good prayer. She then wanted one of my tears because that's pwhat we do. So, the past couple of night when she kneels and prays, she starts to act like shes crying. After she says amen or the end. She says, " Mommy are you crying too?"