Lori's new friend

Lori LOVES to look out the kitchen window, and one afternoon she had a little friend looking back at her. It was one of our many backyard squirrels. They stared at each other for close to a minute. At one point the squirrel was even standing up on it's hind legs, looking at Lori. It made me laugh, so I made Jorge take a picture of it...

And then he was gone, as mysteriously as he had arrived.

WOW! She speaks!

Here is a fun video of Lori saying her favorite word!

WOW! Isn't see cute??

Where's Lori?

Lori is getting bigger, and smarter by the minute, and with that come more fun! The other night when we were getting her ready for bed we took a break to play some peek-a-boo! It makes us giggle every time we watch this video, and I hope you like it as much as we do...

6 adults +2 babies +10 day +1 birthday = a whole lot of fun!! (part 1)

Because so much has happened over the last 10 days I'm going to be doing several posts over the next few days in order to avoid one HUGE post and having to drag all the pictures I'm going to be posting...

so stay tuned.

My WHOLE family flew in to Houston on April 23 so that they could all be here for Lori's Birthday and Birthday party! I was beyond excited to see them, as was Jorge s




ince he hadn't met our nephew Wyatt yet.

After picking them up from the airport we all went to lunch at a restaurant called Prince's where we were able to trade babies (I needed to get my hands on Wyatt and Megan/Ryan/my Mom/my Dad all needed their Lori fix)


The cousins got a chance to "bond" as well...

The next day was Lori's FIRST Birthday. She had her 12 month check up, (she now weighs 17 lbs 2 oz) and we got the green light to start giving her Peanut Butter. This will make my lunch making much easier, since I often make Jorge a Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich for lunch. Here she is enjoying her first Peanut Butter sandwich.

That night we had Lori's Birthday dinner at Chacho's. As always, the food was delicious. We enjoyed a FULL order of the King Kong nachos, an order or nachos that can EASILY feed 6 people with some left over. I'm getting hungry just thinking about them.






Kisses for the Birthday girl!

THUMBS UP FOR BIRTHDAYS!!!

Yay for good friends!

Our good friends the kuykendalls joined us in the birthday festivities... here are four of the five of them. Samuel was there, he was just sleeping in his little seat...








They gave Lori an very sweet Curious George ball for her birthday.

Barnes and offspring

My sister Megan and her precious boy Wyatt!!

This time around Wyatt passed on the nachos, I don't think that will be the case next time.

BABY SWAP!

After dinner we came home and gave Lori a taste of Birthday cake.

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.