HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!

One of my dearest friends, growing up and still to this day, JULIE, is having a birthday today!
Julie, I love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday!
1992 baby! Yah, gotta love our big hair! Julie, look at the size of your mum! :)

MAD WOMAN!

MAD WOMAN! That's me! I HAVE SOOO MUCH TO DO TODAY! First, let's PRAY that Anthony DOES NOT read our blog today. Maybe I should leave out some of the details and just give you the basics! Okay, I HAVE SOOO MUCH TO DO TODAY! I know I already said that! I'm just a wee bit anxious and feel like my plate is way full! How will I ever be ready for tomorrow? What's tomorrow? Sorry, can't tell ya now. You'll have to wait!
I have to work today.After I get home from teaching at Mother's Day Out, which will be around 2:30pm, I will frantically be doing this:

SCRUBBING EVERY INCH OF MY HOUSE! Then, later tonight, I have a few errands to run!

Oh please say some prayers for me to feel calm and to know that everything will all work out!

Whew! That was sure a rushed post! Sorry to bombard you like that!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!

I love that my best friend Deyanira and I have sons the same age! Our oldest boys are only a month apart and our baby boys are almost three months apart. It made for some really fun times! Today, her baby boy, Christian, turns 11 years old! My how time has flown by! Wasn't it just yesterday that these babies, Tyler and Christian, were sitting on my couch? Christian in the pale yellow. Look at all his hair. Poor Tyler never had any! And look at their bellies! Oh my word-PRECIOUS!

Always together! They loved to dress up!Christian, your such a good, sweet, smart, boy! You try your best in all that you do!

You're just the BEST! We wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you!

Now, could you and Tyler just slow down! You're growing up much too fast!

A VERY VERY SPECIAL DAY!

Today, Anthony and I celebrate our 15th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!
I do feel like I have always been with him, yet the years have just flown by! We have been through quite a journey and I fall in love with him more and more everyday! He truly is my best friend and an amazing father!

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AND...it's also my love's BIRTHDAY!
Yep, the Ant-Man is 36 years old today! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY! What a true blessing you are!
What a sweet baby boy!Anthony and GrandpaAnthony and his Uncle RobertAnthony, placing his election sign in the yard, 2002. He ran for County Commissioner

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!

My baby cousin, Brandon's (He's the youngest out of the eight cousins) birthday is today! WOW! I can remember like it was just yesterday that our little baby "Bran-dog" was born and now you're a handsome, married, young man! I love you and we hope you have a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Laid back weekend

Because Blogger and I are having issues with each other, we are going to re-cap our weekend, backwards. Blogger decided all on it's own where all my pictures and video would go on this post! OH, and my 10 second video, took FOREVER! No more complaining...this isn't that exciting of a post! Just documenting.
Sunday, I stayed home with Carli and Austin ( he had an early morning, little seizure and was very sleepy), and Anthony and Tyler went to church.
When they came home from church, we ate some lunch and after Carli's nap, we all went and ran around town. Sunday drivin'. Tyler had confirmation class that night and we watched this little movie.Saturday, Tyler went over to a friend's house and hung out with these two. Wow, they all look so much older now. This picture was taken not even a year ago.
While he was gone, the rest of us headed out for dinner. Yep, this was our restaurant of choice.
Friday, the kids had no school. It was a teacher in-service day. I had plans for us to be out of the house all day, because I knew the roofers would most likely come and I did not want to be inside our house while they were putting on the new roof (we needed a new roof due to Mr. IKE! and we still need a few other repairs as well.) We ended up NOT leaving the house! HOW COULD WE? The roofers started at 7:30am and we couldn't get out of the house, due to the falling debris! Look at the view from my front door! The picture below is of my window that looks into the backyard. Every view of the outside looked like this! And then, I had to take a 10 second video of the madness.

7:30 am people!!!!
The kids weren't even phased by it. I don't know how, because I thought many times that the men were going to fall right through my ceiling! IT WAS EXTREMELY LOUD!

They finished around 6:30pm and then came back Saturday morning at 7:30am to finish up. I'm glad it's finished and I have a nice new roof!

My lunch!

I've made this a few times before and I DO love it! I got the recipe from Annalee.
Actually, I've tried a few recipes that she's shared-they're all great! She has one posted right now that I almost made today instead of this one.

CHEESY CHICKEN CRESCENTS-
INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. cream cheese
4 T melted butter
4 C cooked chicken (or 2 cans chicken)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 cans crescent rolls
DIRECTIONS:Mix all ingredients together.Unroll crescent rolls and separate into squares.Press seams together so they stay squares.Put a glob of mix in the middle of each square and fold (like a hot pocket).
BAKE: 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

I forgot to take pictures of the ingredients and the preperation, but here is the finished product.
Since I'm the only in my family that likes this, I halfed the recipe. I also added diced celery to the mixture. And made a side salad to go with it.

It was DELICIOUS!

She's baaacck!!!

Oh how we've missed our sweet lil' Carli! With her being sick a couple of weeks ago, and then this past week, and an on going cold-ish type thing that it seems like has gone on forever and that every child has had, she's just not been herself! Well, she's now on the mend! Here are some pictures of her playing outside! She's actually playing-not fussing, whining, wanting me to hold her...just playing and chattering! Yes, chattering! I have proof that she really does talk! For those of you who have been around Carli, you know that when she is in public, she is very very shy (not sure why?) and hardly talks and when she does talk, it's quietly. So, scroll down to the bottom and pause my music, come back up here to the video and play it. The video is long-5 minutes to be exact. I could'nt cut any of it out, she was just too cute!

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A survey about your first born

Again, another survey has been flying around all over Facebook and in my email inbox. So, I'm posting mine here:
For all you mommas out there-here's a survey all about your FIRST BORN! Let's see how much you remember!
1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? No
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? No
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Suprised
4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 19, 20, once I had him
5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Home test
6. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Aside from Anthony, Molly Lewis
7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? No
8. DUE DATE? June 6, 1994 –it was later changed.I wasn’t as far along as we thought.
9. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Oh yes
10. CRAVINGS? Rice Krispy Cereal, icecream
11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Little boys
12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Boy
13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No, I could never picture myself with a girl. Even both sides of our family had mostly boys
14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 20
15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, two
16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? We knew
17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? No
18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? St. Joseph Hospital, Bryan, TX
19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 14 hours. I had to be induced
20. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Anthony
21. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural
22. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? No Epideral- sounds strange, but I was terrified of needles!? And no for pain medicine. I wised up when it was time for my third child
23. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7 lbs. 3 oz.
24. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? June 22,1994
25. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Austin Anthony Ramirez
26. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? He’s 14! That 15 is fast approaching!

Valentine's Day Weekend

It all started off, FRIDAY the 13th-Carli and I had our Valentine's Day parties at school. That morning, as you can tell by her picture, she was NOT a happy girl! She had tossed and turned all night saying her ear hurt. She had no fever, but her ear looked red and she said she hit it on her bed. So I thought nothing of it. Away we went to school.

My friend Kathy, made these cookies for Carli's treats for her class. This is actually MY cookie she made for me, but Carli's looked like this but were hot pink! They are truly delicious! The best ever!

Around 10:30 am, at school, Carli's teacher came across the hall to my room and said that Carli felt warm and that they had her in the office taking her temperature. I went down to the office to see my boss taking her temp, for third time, because it was registering 102 and she barely felt warm. As soon as I walk in, I noticed that glazed look in her eyes! She didn't even reach for me! I then realized that she was having a febrile seizure!!! It lasted a few minutes and when she came to, we gave her Mortrin and I was headed home! She slept from school until time to go to the doctor at 2pm. Turns out, she has a double ear infection! She got an antibiotic and the last time she ran fever was Saturday morning! THANK GOD she's on the mend!

Friday night, Anthony and Austin headed into Houston to pick up Anthony's cousin Penelope. She attends the Houston Art Institute for Culinary . It was interesting to hear all about her courses, her apartment living, and friends!

Saturday morning, everyone woke up to Valentine goodies from yours truly!
Later that day we all went out to eat, a Valentine's Day treat from Anthony!

Penelope and Austin. Tyler and his much needed haircut!

Carli, eating! She was feeling a little better, but oh so so cranky!

We all came home with some full bellies. We just hung out until later that night when we needed dessert! And then a movie!

The next day, we didn't go to church, I wasn't taking Carli with all that she went through and still CRANKY! Church should be a pleasant time! :)

That morning, another treat from Anthony, breakfast. I think he had to show off his culinary skills to Penelope! Ha! It was good! We had pancakes, sausage, eggs, and toast.

Later that night, we all took Penelope back to her apartment. We were all sad to see her go. We really enjoyed her company. AND since it was only 30 minutes away, she'll definitely be back!

A day of LOVE!

I really love everything about Valentine's Day! The chocolate, the conversation candy hearts, the flowers, cards, the colors, and the thought of all of this love being spread around! Although, it should be year round that we show our love!

Aside from it being Valentine's Day, it's also our dearest friends' WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Can I get an AWWW!!! They're celebrating 15 YEARS!!!!!

Bart and Deyanira are the sweetest, kindest, funniest, loving couple you could ever be around!What a beautiful family they are!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Bart and Deyanira!

I hope everyone has a LOVELY day!

"Kids, DO NOT try this at home!"

I knew we should've got Tyler a skate ramp for Christmas!

"I'm HANDSOME AGAIN!!!"

That's what my Austin said when he woke up and he looked in the mirror and saw that his scrapes/burns were gone from his face! I just had to take his picture! Bless his heart!
He's had a good week! Thank you for keeping him in your prayers!

Funny email

I saw this at work and a couple of times in my email inbox today. I had to post it here!

We who have taught children, or love children who have been taught, know this is funny!

FROM A DIARY OF A PRESCHOOL TEACHER:
My five year old students are learning to read.
Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said, "Look, it's a frickin' elephant!" I took a deep breath and asked, "What did you call it?" He said, " It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!"
And so it does...

"AFRICAN ELEPHANT"

Hooked on phonics! Ain't it wonderful!?