Fun things our first week

*WARNING-Lots of pictures*

We did a lot of fun things in Texas the first week and these are a few of them.
Elena loved Grandma and Grandpas Dog and Cat. I'm pretty sure if we stayed any longer, Elena would have killed them each with love. We're pretty sure that she squeezed the cat so hard he threw up. Poor Paco.

But she's cute so its ok.

Patrick loved playing with Daddy's iPad whenever he needed something to do. He loved playing bowling with Grandma and Gabe.

Patrick also got a haircut while we were there because he was starting to look a little shaggy. I told him to smile and this is what I got.

Lucia was really funny when she was at Grandma and Grandpas. She opened up the cupboard, pulled a bowl out and said "I wanna make cookies". So Grandma put all the kids on the counter so they could help her make some really yummy cookies.

The girls kept sticking their fingers in the brown sugar and licking their fingers.

Elena loved wearing all of Beca's things even her hat. We even found the girls one day upstairs with Beca's sparkly glitter lotion all over everything.

We went shopping at Costco and some yummy Costco hotdogs. But Patrick felt the need to listen to the cups.

We went to a mall to walk around and it had an ice rink in it and a merry-go-round. We took the kids for a ride on the merry-go-round. I love the kids expressions as they were going around, especially Patricks.

We went to a park over by Roxanna and Diego's house. It was pretty dang cold because of the cold wind but the kids had a good time.

The park had a handy capped swing and the kids loved swinging in it.

Patrick had fun going down the slides in all different ways, I was pretty sure that he was going to fly off and break his neck but he had a lot of fun.

Lucia was fun to watch running around and the girls loved going down the slides.

Diego and Lucia swinging.

There was a giant rock in the middle of the playground and Jesús convinced Patrick to climb to the top even though he is afraid of heights.

Then Patrick climbed up all by himself, he doesn't look nervous at all right? He just couldn't get down on his own.

Hanging out with the cousins

Our second night at Grandma and Grandpas we had visitors! Jesús' brothers and sisters came over. Jesús' sister Roxanna and her husband Diego have two adorable girls that Patrick and Elena loved playing with. Lucia, their oldest is just 6 weeks older than Elena so they were fun to watch.

The older kids played games at the table, a common occurrence in the Moreno House.

Grandma Shelley got all the girls matching outfits, so I had to get a picture. I love this picture. It reminds of hanging out with my cousins and how we would tell jokes and laugh and play around. I miss those days.

Elena really loved pushing Amaia around in the walker, then when Amaia was done with the walker, Elena jumped right in!!

Day 2 of driving to Texas

We slept in a little on day two and we got up and loaded the car with the stuff we had pulled out the night before. The hotel actually offered a really good breakfast and we ate until we were full and then got back on the road. Around lunchtime the kids were pretty much at the end of their ropes. We were getting a little frustrated with them too so we pulled over for a break. It was sooo cold and the wind made it even worse but we bundled them up and ran around with them on the the grounds of this old building under construction.

We stopped for lunch at Subway in New Mexico before we hit the Texas state line. There were a group of police officers there and they were very nice and waved to Patrick. After lunch we took a few minutes to play arcade games before getting back in the car. For dinner we stopped at Dairy Queen and don't ask but Jesús and I have decided never to eat there again. This trip kind of shortened my list of places to eat out at.
I got a picture of the sunset after we crossed the state line. A beautiful Texas sunset. I couldn't get over the fact that there were no mountains.

We started counting down the miles as we got closer and closer. We finally arrived at 10:30 and we unloaded the car and went to bed. The kids were excited to be there but as soon as Patrick found out he had to sleep in a new place he decided he wanted to go home. We convinced him that it wouldn't be very fun to make that long drive again so soon and without hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Day 1 of driving to Texas

We really wanted to go Texas for Christmas this year to spend it with Jesús' family so we made sure we saved up enough to go. We decided to drive but we were nervous how the kids would do with such a long drive. So we decided to break it up into two days. We got a dual DVD player so they would be entertained with movies during the drive and we got on the road on the morning of December 10th.

I got a picture of the mountains in Arizona because I thought they looked pretty cool. We told Patrick that we were in the desert and he really wanted to see a cactus. He looked for a really long time.

After a while we got tired of driving and let Elena take over.

That night, around dinner time we got to Flagstaff, AZ and decided to stop for dinner at Denny's. I'm never eating at Denny's again. I hate the way my body feels after I eat there. Gross. But the kids had a great time drinking their oreo milk shakes and running around the deserted restaurant.

Happy to be out of the car.

After dinner we put a movie on for the kids and they slowly fell asleep. We were pretty tired by the time we got to Gallup NM so we were trilled to finally come over the hill and see the Albuquerque city lights.

We checked into the hotel and enjoyed a good nights sleep.

Fall Leaves

A friend of mine needed our leaves for a compost pile for her gardens and I was more than willing to donate them. I decided its good exercise to rake leaves. Patrick saw the piles and said he wanted to jump in them and who am I to deny him a good jump into a pile of leaves.

I even got an action shot.

An of course a video of the crazy fun!

Christmas Parade

I have always wanted to take the kids to the Christmas parade in downtown Bakersfield but every time it rolls around we figure the kids will be too cold or parking will be too difficult. Well this year I told Patrick about it and he was really excited about going so I talked Jesús into it. Finding a parking spot was really annoying but we actually found one not too far away and only had to walk a few blocks. We didn't get too far into the parade route, and we didn't watch it for very long but I think the kids really had fun and enjoyed watching all the floats and bands. Next year we will maybe go earlier and park close and hang out in Jesús' office until the parade starts.

I kind of got a quick picture of these two but I think they were having a good time.

Afterwards we went to dinner at La Mina and enjoyed some yummy Mexican food. Maybe a new tradition?

Upgrades!!!

Elena figured out how to climb out of her crib in October and even though she listened very well when I told her not to do it again, I was still very nervous that she would do it and get hurt. So we started searching for a new bed for Patrick so we could pass on his toddler bed to her. We found the perfect one and ordered it. Unfortunately it took a while to get here. When it got here Jesús put it together and we moved the toddler bed into Elenas room.
Here is her new/used big girl bed. She actually slept in it fine the first week then we went to Texas where she shared a room with Jesús and I and now she is a little spoiled and comes into our room in the middle of the night to sleep with us. Unfortunately for her, if she comes in before 6am I put her right back in her bed. I love sleep too much and she's a wiggler.

And here is Patricks brand new big bed!! We took him to Target to pick out some sheets and he picked out the Ironman sheets. I plan on making him a quilt or something and some curtains which I can hopefully get to soon but for now he is using my sisters old comforter and about 10 other blankets to keep warm. He has done really well sleeping in his big bed.