Happy Birthday Baby!

I copied this from my fb post so the text is all crazy.....




27 years ago today my husband was born, I was three months old and we were in two 


different

states. Eventually both our families moved to Moreno Valley because both ours dads were in 


the Airforce. We probably played together at March Air Force Base and never knew it, probably 


were at the base day care and never knew it, and our Dads probably passed eachother at 


work....We were friends in high school and now I'm married to my best friend. 

Happy Birthday Honey

Soaking up the moments....

That has been my number one priority lately, this is why I haven't blogged in about 2 months.

 Awhile back I decided to stop trying to "do it all" or "be it all" anymore. I had heard a homeschooling mom of 4 at my women's retreat talk about how she does life, real life. Not the life the media sells us women on the cover of Cosmopolitan or Glamour aka perfection. Saying that we have to look perfect, have perfectly mannered children, and a perfectly clean home, a perfectly wonderful- handsome husband, and not to mention the material side of perfection.

She forever changed my life.

 I once clung to the "I'm a type A, list making, get things done, run a tight ship kinda mom. I thought that was who I was, because of course I decide who I am and I'm in control. The Lord had bigger plans for me, as He always does.I was happy in my routine, well happy when stuff was done is more truthful. I was always stressed, tired, complaining, short with my kids, short with God, and the list could go on.

What kind of life is that?  Ever since that realization I have been on a quest for the slower side of life. Savoring the here and now, the simple things in life.

Savor- To appreciate fully; enjoy or relish:

Timing would have it that my sister in law would give me a book http://onethousandgifts.com/the-book that just confirmed, encouraged and reinforced what I had been feeling and thinking. God is so Good. Feelings of love and comfort wash over me as I read knowing that I'm not alone, not alone in this journey of learning how to slow down.

Happy Mothers Day!

Scenario: Adam takes the kids on a walk, I get to get ready in peace and quiet...They come home Gregory poops in his undies and tells me I say "go tell your dad"... Then I listen to Adam and Gregory in the next room trying to figure out how to clean up...Lots of laughter and funny faces....

He is a great dad!

Moms.... dont forget to thank your husbands for all that they do to support you as well! ~



I love my Mom more and more with every passing year, especially now that I have children of my own. You never realize the sacrifices, joys, love, tears, and precious moments that your mother went through until you have children of your own.


Thank you MOM!

Good Friday

A Morning to Remember

Mornings are usually the same everyday at our house, Gregory wakes up and we snuggle for about 40 minutes or so, then Gracie wakes up and yells from her crib Da Da Da, then Gregory tells me we need to go and get her, we change diapers and get dressed, eat breakfast, you know the usual.

But not today.Today went a little like this...

I'm laying in bed and Gregory comes in and doesn't want to snuggle with me, instead he opens my drawer pics out an outfit and tell me "you need to get dressed." Ha Ha I actually laughed out loud. Now that I was told to get up and get dressed I did.We ate breakfast together...said goodbye to Daddy...changed diapers, and...

Little did I know that in a few minutes he would....Poop in his undies (I will spare you the picture).

As I am wiping him in the bathroom Gracie comes in screaming holding the Grapes. It was dramatic, she flung herself onto the stool, fell off, and the grapes fly into the air, she cries more, and then...

Grapes I thought to myself...how did she get those?

Notice how I wasn't concerned about her as I knew she was faking. One second later she was smiling walking away.

Meanwhile I am cleaning up poop everywhere and starting a load of laundry-on sanitary. I hurry and wash my hands run to the kitchen...

Oh pretty girl with her bow..

Notice the fridge is open, she was rummaging through the door, she is notorious for taking and hiding food.

Gregory must have opened the fridge...AGAIN. Nice! All I need is mayo going bad under the couch...Notice him peering behind the fridge :) 

Then it got unusually quiet....Gregory was ummm somewhere... and she was taking a break on his bed.

Meanwhile I'm still trying to get them dressed and explaining to Gregory that we do not poop in our underwear but rather in the potty. Otherwise we do not get to put a sticker on our blah blah blah is what he probably heard, notice how he is listening to me.. haha

Then he sees her in his bed...

This looks like trouble! :)

This time he was rather loving and he thought he would cover her, how sweet!
Instead of jumping on her, which is the norm.



 I was able to just stand there with a melted heart and watch them love eachother.

Which lasted for all of 2 minutes before....

He changed his mind and took back his blankets, she starts to cry..
Oh well I will take the loving moments as they come.



Of course the morning would not be complete if Grace didn't provide a grandiose ending....

Then as she gets up from the bed she arises with a PENCIL in hand!
What!
Not much freaks me out but Gracie with a pencil does.




In that entire 30 min span, no one was hurt, everyone was happy, and just being in the chaos made me sit back and laugh.

Family Vacation Recap

 Well as most of you know we never made it to Pensacola :( :( :( . We were flying as "stand-by's" which means you get on if there are open seats, if not........tough. And boy was it tough to fly like that with Gregory and Gracie, Park the car, tons of luggage and not enough arms to carry kids and bags, checking in, waiting in line, security, waiting for the flight, not making it, baggage claim to get our bags, and throw in a couple of tantrums and me literally screaming Gregory's name across the entire baggage claim at midnight because he just ran off into a sea of people, well you get the point. After two days of that we were EXHAUSTED, I didn't even have a second to take a picture of all the madness but its okay I will spare you the messed up hair and bags under the eyes, uh oh wait that's normal for me. ---Moral of the story, my patience grew tremendously and communication with my husband was kicked up a couple of notches from that experience.


Since we were now twiddling our thumbs and Adam had officially taken a week off work we had a dilemma on our hands, what to do now? We threw around a couple of ideas but ultimately we stayed local and made the best of it, here is what we did:


Day 1- Park!

We had a family outing to a local park to fly an awesome kite we had.

Then we had a visit from Papa, he received a running welcome!

Off she goes!

Day 2- Road Trip!

We went on a road trip up to Santa Barbara with Adam's parents to visit Uncle Henry who was hospitalized. It was very comforting to see him smiling and joking in the hospital bed, I felt like he was going to be home in no time. And praise God he is home! After seeing him we went to lunch at Palazzio, a little Italian place I used to work at while living in SB.

Best lunch I have ever had with my in laws due to the fact I think it is the most I have ever laughed with them!

Looking just like Daddy

Day 3- Magic Mountain!

What can I say, these pictures pretty much sum it up, we had a great time~and I realized I wasn't young anymore=broken back. :) :)

The Finale-


 The rest of our vacation was spent in our back yard fixing it up. Most of you probably wouldn't classify that as vacation but spending time with my husband and kids for a whole week was pure bliss. We were on a mission to get the backyard looking nice for the summer and we did it~and the kids helped too!

                                                                        
                                                                    Before-nothing but dirt

                                            After- avocado, lime, lemon, tangelo, and peach trees

                                                                        

                                                            Before-empty garden and weeds

                                  After-nice compost and a happy garden full of fruits and veggies

We had some amazing helpers along the way and the best part of it was they worked for free!!!

"Papas truck" according to Gregory.
It was actually Adam's truck from when he was a kid.
Special thanks to Papa for letting us borrow his actual truck to make all of this happen. 

Taking a break

Making a run to Lowes

Look at the wonder in his eyes as he looks at his Dad.

 As if the dirt wasn't heavy enough Gregory thought he might help.

After the week was up we felt very accomplished and pleased with the finished product. It was a great time and a wonderful vacation.

First Family Vacation

Thats right The Villaneda's are going on our first real vacation, kids and all. My Dad and Darcy have been super generous and made this entire trip possible for us, thank you, what a blessing! We are flying out this Wednesday the 30th on an overnight flight so the children will hopefully sleep. Arriving in Atlanta then driving 6 hours to Florida, spending a week down there then coming home. Oh, ya did I tell you my hubby has to fly back early for a work conference? Yes, that means good Ole mom will be flying on a 4 hour plane ride with a 1 and 2 yr old. Plenty of snacks, coloring books, fully filled sippy cups, and toys will be in my purse....If you would like to join me in prayer for my sanity that would be most welcome! :) 

Have ever flown with two young ones? How was your experience? 

I come back the week of April 11 so hopefully I can get some pictures up then!