Eyebrow Threading

There are many ways to rid yourself of excessive eyebrow hair, plucking, waxing and my new favorite way, threading. According to Wikipedia threading is "an ancient method of hair removal which originated in Persia spread to the Middle and Far East and is now gaining popularity in Western countries. It is equally popular with both men and women in Arab countries. Practitioners use a pure, thin, twisted cotton thread which is rolled over untidy hairlines moustaches and so on, plucking the hair at the follicle level. Unlike tweezing where a single hair is pulled out each time, threading can remove an entire row of hair, resulting in a straighter line."
I have had my eyebrows threaded once before and I was SOLD! I will never wax again! I was so excited that I called my mom on my way home and we planned to get ours done together when they came out to visit us. Since then I have been growing my eyebrows out in preparation. Fast forward to yesterday. My sister, my mom and I went out to the Katy Mills Mall to get our eyebrows done!!! The trip was a great success and Megan and my mom were quite pleased with the results... as was I. They are able to achieve a much cleaner line by threading and as a result a much nicer shape to the overall brow.

I knew I was going to want to Blog about this so I asked Jorge to take a "before" picture of my eyebrows and then later an "after" picture. I think they are a little "backwards" (I would have preferred the "before" to be on the left and the "after" to be on the right but oh well...) Like I said before, I was growing out my eyebrows so, keep that in mind when viewing the following pictures... they may not be suitable for young children! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORETTA JOY!

Today is Lori's first Birthday. This year has gone by SO fast it's unbelievable! It seems like yesterday that she was just a little 4 lb 14 oz peanut. Jorge and I are blessed to be the parents of such a beautiful and happy girl. She has lived up to her middle name (Joy) so far this year with out showing any signs of slowing down... Here's a brief look back over this last year...

Lori - April 25, 2008 Lori - April 28, 2008
1 day old Just to remind you
how tiny she was!


Lori - May 15, 2008
almost 1 month


Lori - June 4, 2004
about 2 month


Lori - July 11, 2008
All smiles!
3 months


Lori - August 1, 2008
almost 4 months


Lori - September 15, 2008
almost 5 months


Lori - October 31, 2008
6 months


Lori - November 22, 2008
7 months


Lori - December 22, 2008
8 months


Lori - January 23, 2009
9 months


Lori - February 24, 2009
10 months


Lori - March 16, 2009
almost 11 months


Lori - April 24, 2009
ONE YEAR OLD!!
Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

24 horas con Pop

Jorge's dad was coming to Houston for what we thought was a short visit. Little did be know that because of some crazy weather it was going to be even shorter! He was supposed to get here at 11:00 on Saturday morning and leave at 5:30 on Sunday night, but since there was that severe weather, his plane didn't land until 5:00. This made his trip only 24 and a half hours (to be exact).
When they finally got to the house we all went out to dinner, Mexican food, and then came straight home so Lori could go to bed. I worked on some craft stuff, while Jorge and his Dad, Jorge Sr. talked about tools and other things that they wanted to fix around the house.

One question we get a lot is "Jorge, does your dad speak English?" The answer is yes, "Pop", as we call him, DOES speak English, and fairly well. BUT Spanish comes much more naturally so when he talks to Jorge he speaks mainly Spanish.
Which brings up another FAQ. "Jorge, do you speak Spanish?" The answer to that question is also yes, although Jorge would tell you he isn't fluent, that's just him being modest. He understands is PERFECTLY and can speak it very well... when the situation presents itself. (like visits or conversations with Pop)

After church the next day Jorge and Pop went out tool shopping while Lori napped. After that we went to lunch, Mexican food again. (it was at this time that I realized that in all the time that we've gotten together with pop, either in California, Chicago or here in Houston, I have ONLY eaten Mexican food with him... and no, if a Mexican eats pizza that does not make it Mexican food, I checked) After lunch we went shopping (!) for stuff for Lori. We got some awesome things from Babies 'R' Us including a sippy cup with a straw (since Pop knew Lori likes drinking from a straw) and some shoes and flip flops and some super cute clothes that I got to pick out!! I enjoyed it!!



Then it was time for another nap (for Lori, not us) but before that she got to show Pop one of her new outfits, and how she can almost walk now!

Then when Lori got up from her nap we all got in the car and drove Pop to the airport and said good-bye. But not before Pop said a little "oracion" that's Spanish for prayer, which he said in Spanish of course. It was very special moment and a great way to end the visit.

Bluebonnets - this is going to be a long post

If you are ever driving through Texas in the springtime, you will see the highways littered with parents taking pictures of their children in the amazing fields of bluebonnets that grow all over this state. The origin of this tradition of taking pictures of our kids in our state flower is unknown but from what I gathered from a quick Google search, it dates back to the 60's when first lady Lady Bird Johnson persuaded the Texas State government to seed bluebonnet and other wild flowers along the state highways and elsewhere around the state.
I was so excited to get to take Lori this year! We took advantage of Jorge having Good Friday off and made the "40 minute" trip up to Brenham, TX to take pictures of Lori. We got lost (and almost ran out of gas) on the way, which is somewhat hard to do considering that its RIGHT off the Highway... but we got there eventually, and it was worth it. (That is why I said "40 minute" trip... ours turned in to 90 minutes...)



We found a BEAUTIFUL field of bluebonnets and pulled over to join the other parents and families taking pictures. I'd guess there were close to 40 other families there, and you're about to see why... oh and I should mention that Bluebonnets smell as good as they look!

When Lori stands up on her own Jorge and I clap and cheer for her with much enthusiasm, in hopes of motivating her to walk sooner. So far it's only caused Lori to clap her own hands as a way of asking us to clap for her whenever she does anything... no matter how small... it's kinda cute.

Here she is encouraging us to clap for her...

















This one is one of my favorites... so pensive. (and no, it's NOT illegal to pick the bluebonnets... so she's ok.)


More clapping... and a good view of the field.

These are two of my favorites...

Our BEAUTIFUL, HAPPY girl!

Monogrammed bloomers, another Texas must!

After Jorge took some photos of Lori and me, I took some of them. My two FAVORITE people in the world!! They turned out great, if I do say so myself.







Jorge is so good with Lori, she just ADORES him too! Looking at these next few pictures makes me feel blessed!!















This one reminds me of Max from the book "Where the Wild Things Are"












But take a look at how much they look a like in
the next few pictures... it's amazing.

More standing and clapping...

and a family picture!

Thank you and congratulations for making it to the end of this post... dragging all of these pictures to where I wanted them took WAY too long, so I hope it was worth it! Thanks for reading!!