The best day of 2008!

WOW, today is the last day of 2008!
I think Anthony would agree that the best day in 2008, belonged to December 27th. That is when we had Austin, Tyler, and Carli baptised, in the church that we are now official members of! I would like to point out, that in true Ramirez form, we were late getting there! Joni said that we'd be late to our own funeral! :) The Godparents, Bart and Deyanira, Pastor Rob, and the Ramirez gang.

Us again, with my little brother, Shawn. SO HAPPY he came! And I don't have a picture of them, but The Ely kids and Joni and her kiddos were there too!
Afterwards, we came back to our house for a BBQ lunch and desserts. The kids all had a great time playing and us adults had some good conversation.

Emily and Annsley lounging on the couch, watching a movie. They're so grown! I believe they're all legs!Sam hangin' out.

Austin hangin' out too!

BRADLEY!

The rowdy boys: Ryan, Tyler, and Christian. Can you see Carli in the room trying to hang out with them?

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Happy Birthday cousin!
We hope you have a very blessed day! Try to sit back and relax-enjoy it! We love you!

Christmas

Where did Christmas go?
I totally missed it!
It all started when on the 22nd, The kids and I (Ant had to work) went to Bryan, to visit with my family-especially Chad, Kaycee, and Amy. They were on their one week "layover" in Texas (They are moving to Hawaii.). I would've loved to have taken pictures of everyone that was at Mimi's house, but I had a certain 2 year old that was SO SHY she wouldn't get off of my hip! It was a great time though. Anyway, CHAD, yes, I'm totally blaming my baby brother, was SICK WITH FEVER/COLD and I believe HE got me SICK! On Christmas Eve, during church, I started to feel very tired. As the the night went on...BAM! CHILLS! FEVER! I was able to assist with the Magic Reindeer Food and Santa's milk and cookies, but once the kids went to bed, I was asleep by 9pm and Anthony was left to get all of the Santa stuff together. Christmas Day/My 35th BIRTHDAY was a complete MISS! I slept on the couch running a fever anywhere from 101-102.2 until FRIDAY around noon! I did manage to capture a few pictures, although I don't remember taking them! Okay, I'm done with my pitty party! I'm feeling better, not a 100% yet and I DID have a wonderful day today (the 27th- a post to come soon!). I hope everyone had a wonderful, joyful, and merry Christmas!
Carli loves this Santa! Outside, ready to spread the Magic Reindeer Food! Santa's milk and cookies.

Now it's time to say, "Good Bye"

Oh what fun we've had with dash visiting us!
Today was our last morning to find him. Tonight, when he "dashes" back to the North Pole to report to Santa, he will stay there until next Christmas season.
We'll miss you Dash! Hurry back!

Carli's Christmas Program

Tonight at church, they had the Children's Christmas Program. Carli's Sunday School Class was in it. They sang, "Go tell it on the mountain" and "Away in the manger". This girl has been going around the house for over a month singing these songs, complete with hand motions. Tonight...she DID NOT! Nope, just stood there on the top step, on the end of the row (Which is a perfect spot. We could see her so well) with her head turned to the side, watching her Sunday School Teacher sing the songs. It was quite funny! At least she didn't cry though. Earlier today, when we would tell her that she was going to sing at church, she would tell us, "NO I NOT!" "I BE SO MAD!" "I GONNA CRY!" So we were a little worried. Afterwards, we headed to eat dinner at McDonald's.Here is some video of our conversation with her about her "performance".

And here is the way it REALLY happened...See, she did nothing!

Ahhh, precious little girl!

Austin

I wanted to pass along how well Austin is doing in school. This year in Life Skills, the class is smaller. There are only SIX BOYS! Aside from their teacher, Coach C, the teacher's aide Mr. M, there was a student teacher...from A&M! This was a first for the Special Education Program at his school. Not only was it great because the student was from College Station, but it was a GIRL! She added that "girly" touch to the classroom. She was really sweet. She would always send home cute notes about Austin. This is what she sent home this time. (You may have to click on the picture to be able to read it). The boys were sad to see her go, but they knew she needed to go graduate! She promised to come back after break and visit them. Austin loves to draw and color. We were so suprised and happy when he brought home this picture that he had colored. WOW! What an improvement! We are SO PROUD OF HIM! He works so hard at school. They do job training some parts of the day. These include, sorting teachers' mail into the mailboxes, setting up the cafeteria (putting out the drinks, napkins, utensils, etc.), cleaning up the cafteria when lunch is over (washing tables, sweeping and mopping), watering the flowers-you name it, they do it! Let me also say the kids in his class, especially Austin, have a big ol' soft spot in the cafteria ladies' hearts...the ladies make them food and take it to them. Today, they made Austin's class tamales and refried beans. They were thrilled when Austin ate six tamales and three helpings of beans (I kid you not!)!They have said on many occasion that "He's too tiny! He needs to eat!" There have also been times that they allow him to come get food after he's ate his lunch. The teacher tries to tell them not to. For clarification, this boy eats ALL of the time and tons of it! You would never know by looking at him! Bless his heart! He's too cute!

Pay it forward winners

Cara and Heather, congratulations! I'll be getting a gift to you soon! Now go and spread some cheer of your own!
Oh, and I will take ONE more person, so LEAVE A COMMENT so you can play too!

Tag, you're it!

Around blog land, there has been a picture tag going around and I was tagged by Joni. The object of the picture tag is to:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 people to do the same
NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Here is mine:The year, 2004! WOW! Austin , then 10 and Tyler, then 6, in front of our house. Uncle Chad had just came home from basic training and the boys couldn't wait to get into all of the cool ARMY gear!

Okay, I now tag: Kayce, Miranda, Cara

Pay it forward

UPDATE!!!! Although you see 3 comments, still go ahead and enter! Claire loves me so much that she just wanted to leave a comment and she has no blog. She said for me to give her entry to someone else! WELL, Claire-Bear, I'm still gonna send you something for being SO SWEET! See girls, PAY IT FORWARD! :)

On Joni's blog, she had a "Pay it forward" contest. The purpose of "pay it forward" is to do a random act of kindness, not expecting anything in return. The recipient of that random act of kindness will then do something nice to someone else and it just continues on and on...It seemed like a great idea, and at a fun time of year too! So I thought I'd join in. Well, I won! Joni sent me this wonderful Bath & Body Works Peppermint antibacterial hand soap and a hand sanitizer. It smells so good! Well, since I won, it is now time for me to "Pay it forward". Here's how it works:
The first three people to leave a comment on my blog will win! I will send you each a little somethin' and then YOU will post on your blog explaing how to play, send your three winners something, and in your post, be sure to link it back to me. So, join in the fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEYANIRA!

Today, one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world is turning 33!
(That's right Deyanira, I said your age and I always will because you're still younger than me!)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEYANIRA!
Here's to a wonderful year filled with many blessings!
Now, go update your blog!

Christmas Parade

Last weekend, we went to our town Christmas Parade at 6pm. I didn't get many pictures because I still hadn't figured out my camera. This would be a first for Carli and she LOVED it. Her absolute favorite were the horses! We all had a good time. It was cold, but we were all bundled up and even had plenty of junk food to keep us warm!

And more decorations

The kids' bathroom. I had a cute bear soap dispenser, but when I unwrapped him to put him in here, he was broken. I should go get another one.
That's it. No more. Actually, there are two bins in the attic that have more decorations and Christmas toys/stuffed animals and I didn't even get out Austin's and Tyler's trees for their room. Carli doesn't even have one yet. Maybe next year.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

OH JOY!!!
I know everyone around Texas is just thrilled at the snow we all got today! But who would have thought that WE would get it all the way down here?!
We had a blast outside tonight having snowball fights! Carli cried when we came inside, but stopped when we told her she could call Mimi and Grandma to tell them about the snow. She was so cute! She kept asking them, "Wanna see me picture play snow?".Of course there answer was yes, and here it is. She talked forever about the "lots of snow!" What a wonderful sight of SNOW to get a person in the Christmas Holiday Spirit! I'm still excited over it!

More decorations

Christmas crafts from the past hanging on my pantry door.and on my laundry room door.

Santa in my laundry room.Around the kitchen

Tomorrow, bathroom decorations.

Dash is here!

We've added another Christmas tradition...
meet Dash, Santa's scout elf!While the kids are asleep, he flies to the North Pole and reports to Santa on the kids' behavior for that day. When the kids wake up the next morning, he's in a different spot, so they'll have to run around looking for him to see what he's up too. He's not to be touched, or he may loose his magic...oops...Carli go to him before I did....I think he'll be okay. She knows not to touch him anymore.

The story of this little elf is too cute! We can't wait for him to come stay with us each Christmas season!

Christmas decorations

Here are some Christmas decorations from around our house.
There aren't any outside, since we have the roofers coming soon, but here is the wreathe on the front door.These pictures are from the entry hallway and livingroom.Every year, on the tree, Anthony does the lights, and I decorate it, leaving a little bit of ornaments for the kids. This year, we let the kids do all of the ornaments! I forgot to add the pictures of the kids doing that.Tomorrow, kitchen decorations.