Use the Force Jesús

So Jesús did a job for someone in our ward and it was just enough money to pay for a new X-Box Connect which he has been wanting for a long time. This XBox is the Star Wars edition. The console looks like R-2 D-2 and the controller is gold like C3PO.

 We were on our way out the door when it arrived but once he saw the UPS guy, he decided he needed to stay home. When you turn it on it makes the R-2 D-2 beeps and when you oped the disk drive. So far we all love it. I got a Zumba game and the kids got an Elmo monster game and Jesús gets to practice his light Saber moves.

Spring Surprise

The other day I got a knock on the door and it was a delivery guy. I thought he was delivering Jesus' new X-box but it was a pleasant surprise for me! My Mom and Dad sent me some beautiful tulips and iris' for Spring!! Aren't they beautiful?

Random Things

So this post is just a bunch random things that we have been doing. 

The kids have really been wanting to paint but I didn't want them painting inside over the carpet so I bought them some small washable paints and sent them outside on the patio to do a little artwork. The patio is now covered in paint. Too bad I don't have a hose to wash it off.

 Patrick has been wanting a lot of things lately, so I decided he needed to do some chores to earn an allowance to buy what he wants. Well he was having a hard time completing the chores such as making his bed, so Grandma Connie promised him that if he made his bed five days in a row she would send him a surprise. So everyday he made his bed and we sent her a picture. Well after five days we got a package in the mail. He got a little magnetic dart board and both he and Elena got disguises. Can you tell who is who?

 Jesus' sister has a cat named Paco. Paco is a big fat white cat that is very patient with the kids when they torture him. Patrick decided Paco needed glasses so he stuck some Mr. Potato head glasses on him and he actually kept them on for a few minutes. They may be a little small for his fat head.

 So after telling the kids over and over again to pick up their toys from the front room and their bedroom, I got a little angry and decided to bag up every toy and lock them in the closet. They didn't have toys for 3 days. Their room looked nice for a change. After 3 days I went into their room and organized their toys and got rid of everything that didn't fit into their toy buckets and toy chests. Two bags of toys are now gone and one bag of trash. Feels good. And the new rule is their room has to be picked up before bed or they don't get to go to sleep. Now we can wake up to a clean room!

 The kids found some sticky foam letters in our school stuff and they started sticking them all over me. It then became a game between Patrick and I to sneakily stick the letters on each others face without the other one knowing it. I lost.

 I was asked to go to Youth Conference last week end and help with some of the games. I really wasn't much help but I sure had a fun time. We had the game at Lake Lewisville which is really pretty but it was chilly and really windy which made it worse. The sunset was beautiful though. I'm glad I went, I met a few other ladies in our stake, one was a photographer that said I can call her as soon as I get my camera and she will help me. Very exciting.

 We got a blue Icee at Target the other day and I don't know how she did it but she turned her teeth and tongue very blue. Patrick was upset because his wasn't blue at all.

 Elena has been in need of some longer dresses, I think she's hit a growth spurt. So I went to Carters the other day because they were having a sale and I got her  few. I did her hair all pretty for church and she looked very cute. Of course this picture was taken after church when she had taken out her hair and it was crazy and I had to fix her bow because it was upside down by her neck. Next time I'll get a picture before church.

 I took the kids to a new park today, its maybe 5-10 minutes away but we have heard its really fun. The kids loved it! Its set up like big ship and has a globe and wheel and port holes. It even has a springy whale to ride on.

 After the park I went driving around the neighborhood because it was so pretty and look what I found!! There was a house for sale on Randall Lane, think its a sign?

 I was folding laundry yesterday and watching an old movie. When I turned around I found Spiderman sitting on the bed behind me. I have no idea where he came from or where Elena went. Crazy.

Easter(revisited)

* I added a few more pictures
So for Easter, Jesus' mom got us tickets for the kids to participate in an easter egg hunt for their community. It was a beautiful day so we walked over to the soccer and baseball park it was being held at.

Patrick and Elena had to be on separate fields because of their age differences and we weren't even allowed on Patricks field and he had to do it all by himself. He was terrified. Look at that sweet concerned face.

I waited with Patrick for a few minutes then Shelley came to tell me that Elena was crying for me so she waited with Patrick while I went to find Elena. Jesús was working late so I was a single parent for the evening, but since Jesús' family was also there that solved that problem. Elena's whole line was crying because the anticipation was too much.

Lucia was crying too but she got a little happier when we finally got onto the field.

Elena was awesome and was way ahead of the whole crowd grabbing the eggs no one was near. Smart girl.

She did good getting plenty of eggs and was super excited.

When Elena was done we headed over to the other field to find Patrick and wish him good luck. He had cheered up a lot by the time we saw him.

The mob of kids going after the eggs was CRAZY!!! It was like a swarm when the whistle went off.

Patrick was so happy that he did a good job getting the eggs by himself. I couldnt find him afterwards for the longest time and started to get some crazy anxiety that he had been kidnapped or was lost or something.

Then we walked back to Jesús' parents house. I love a big Texas sky.

For Easter Sunday we went over to Jesús parents house for family dinner and I was in charge of dessert so I found a recipe for truffle stuffed cupcakes and I just tweaked the recipe a bit. I made two kinds, white chocolate stuffed vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and milk chocolate stuffed chocolate. I think they were a big hit but I definitely want to practice this one so I can perfect it.

The kids liked them, and Amaia loved them!

I'm not sure how Elena got it all over her face and even on her eyebrows but I guess if you're going to enjoy a cupcake, you better really enjoy it.

Rosamber made the kids happy by swinging them around. I should have done it too to work off the cupcakes.

Patrick was a comedian the whole night. He wanted a messy face too so he kept smashing his face into the cupcake but the frosting just fell off him.

Sweet Bruno was the center of attention.

Here's Patrick diving into his cupcake

Elena and Lucia had such a good time playing with eachother

Trying to get a picture of all the grandkids together with them all looking at the camera and smiling is just impossible, but I have to say that this came pretty close.

Happy Easter!!!!

Surviving our first twister

So when we moved to the Dallas area I was a little nervous about tornados so I talked to some people in the ward and they said that they usually go around us and we just get the ugly weather. Well what are the odds that 4 months into living here, one comes so close. We were outside watching the hail and listening to the sirens when our neighbor came downstairs and said the news had just reported that one was on our street. Our street is very long but I heard that some people didn't get hail, which we did, so I have a feeling it was close. Thats when we went and bunkered down in the bathroom. Here are some pictures from the news of the tornados tossing semi trucks hundreds of feet into the air.

Here is what our sky looked like, it was much darker in person the thunder and lightening was non stop.

As soon as Jesús called me to tell me that they were sending him home to get to his family before the tornado hit, I started grabbing what emergency supplies we had and putting them into the bathroom. I had Patrick get a towel into the bathtub so the kids could sit in there comfortably. When Jesús got home we said a prayer that we would be safe and we put a movie on for the kids on our laptop. We kept checking out side because the sirens were going on and off. Also I'm sure Jesús wanted to get a picture of the actual funnel.

Here is the hail we got for about 30 minutes. Our cars hood has tiny dents all over it. Stupid hail.

I am now working on getting our 72 hour kits together. Luckily I have the best person to go to for information about that. The Lovely Amber Cola is an expert in all things emergency.

Bug Hunters

We have learned that things really are bigger in Texas. We have huge June Bugs all over the ground in our apartment and huge mosquito eaters. Elena has been terrified of them but Patrick has been fascinated. I decided to help with both of them we would learn a little bit more about bugs. I bought them butterfly nets and bug observer things in the dollar section at Target and I got Patrick a bug book at his reading level so he could read about different kids and learn about them. So one night after dinner I took the kids on a walk around our complex in the dark with a lantern to see if we could catch any night time bugs. In was really nice to be out at that time, it reminded me of when I was a kid and my brothers and sister would play around the neighborhood in the dark. I loved it. I think my kids loved it to.

We saw some bugs but couldn't catch any. Finally we were watching some moths and Patrick wandered out onto the grass and found a frog. So I caught it in the net and we took it home for Dad to see. The kids watched it for a bit and then we let him hop off.

A fancy date night

So it turns out that Jesús' boss owns a vineyard and winery which is only about 45 minutes away from us. He also loves to cook so he makes dinner for about 60 people on the weekends and they buy tickets online and then come in and buy wine and go sit inside or on the patio and eat his yummy dinner and drink wine. Well since we don't drink wine, he gave us a tour and talked to us about all the fun things he has planned for his property and all the fun events he has during the summer. This was my first time meeting him and I was very impressed. He reminds me of my dad because he is a very hard worker and he works hard at his job and works hard at his hobby. His small vineyard is beautiful and how he has decorated and set it all up is fantastic. We got to watch the beautiful sunset from vineyard.

Here is the patio you can eat on

Jesús and I walked up to the top of the hill to look down and see the lake. It was a beautiful lake.