So much to be thankful for!

This year has been amazing! We have so much to be thankful for! I love Thanksgiving and the idea of taking a day to be thankful for all we have. We are so blessed to have all our family nearby....even though that means we have a very busy Thanksgiving day seeing everyone!

Our 3rd anniversary was the day before Thanksgiving, and Jose and I were able to enjoy a nice dinner at Trattoria Uliveta and enjoy massages! Ahhh...

This year we woke up and I got busy making all the side dishes for the Tapia meal. I was in charge of green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, yams, dessert, and macaroni and cheese casserole (a request from my brothers and husband). I was tempted to get overwhelmed with all that had been going on that week and all I had to do, but I was trying to help make the day less stressful for my mom (which makes the day more fun for everyone ;-). Once everything was prepared, we headed over to Nino and Nina's (Jose's grandparents) for the first meal of the day!

Aubri loves her Baby Nina! This doll sings Spanish nursery rhymes. We think it looks and sounds just like the real Nina!

Nino always gets sentimental as he shares all he has to be thankful for- at the top of his list is his family!

This is such a beautiful picture of Emma!

Favorite cousins!

After Nino's thanksgiving meal, we ran home to cook the side dishes and headed to my parents house. Somehow we managed to save room for another yummy meal!

I am so thankful that every year my Tia Angie and cousins come to spend the holiday with us! Aubri loved getting to hang out with them and their dog Snuggie!

I promised the rock band pictures wouldn't end up on Facebook! (I didn't say anything about the blog!)

This year we started a new tradition for us. Since Silvia's FIANCEE and kids couldn't come up on Thanksgiving day, we had another "Thanksgiving" on Friday with Jose's immediate family.

Somehow Aubri got the head of the table! She ate better than she ever had- maybe it was her cool seat!

I know Aubri has her eyes closed, but she wasn't very cooperative during the photo shoot. To be fair to her beautiful cousins I had to post the best one of them.

Aubriella loved playing Twister!

I was nervous to step on the scale after all our Thanksgiving meals and the cruise the following week. Thanks to chasing the Little One around the number didn't even go up. For that I am very thankful!

Birthdays!

Nino turned 75! The family threw him a huge party following a special mass. He is so proud of his family tree!

Cousins in the mass

Rigo popped the question to Silvia!!

All but two of the grandkids and greatgrandkids!

Gulianna turned 1! She had a great party at Chuck E. Cheese!

Aubri, Gulianna, Danica and Anastasia weren't to sure about this guy!

Danica turned 3! She had a cute Toy Story party!

See the resemblance?

Where to start?

November may have been the busiest month of my life...until this December ;-). Wow! It was a whirlwind with one event after another. I had my hands full balancing all my jobs. Aubri is a walking pro and I'm constantly chasing her around keeping her out of trouble hehe. It was a very busy month as Children's pastor planning for all the events happening this month and trying to schedule Sunday School teachers during the busiest season of the year! In between the holidays and our vacations I had to schedule CWS visits which was tricky. I had my big Uppercase Living Open house which went well, but took a bit of work to set up and prepare for. And...if my plate wasn't busy enough I'm embarking on a new endeavor. I will be starting to teach Bradley birth classes and attended a loooong four day training in Anaheim. I am so very excited to teach the natural birth process and educate couples in my home, but I'm essentially starting up a business and am a bit overwhelmed by the marketing process (not to mention the academic packet I'm working on completing).

On top of all that, we had a family birthday party EVERY WEEKEND, Thanksgiving, and so many other little events. I think I could challenge anyone to a full calendar competition and win! To round off the month, we went on a four day cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. There was so much I needed to wrap up to take a week off, that it felt like I was exhausted by the time our trip began. We had a blast though. Aubriella does so well traveling! Our mom's went with us and they are closer than ever. It was so funny that we had to turn in early because of the baby, and our mom's would come in giggling at 3 am!

We came back from our cruise December 2nd and have not had a day off since! The following day Jose hosted a "Man Shower" at our home for our friend Andy (another thing we prepped before we left on the cruise!). We are so excited to be welcoming another Unger any day now! Oh! I also started a mini day care! Since Joy Unger is on maternity leave, I'm watching one of her daycare kids. So far it is only one day a week, but this past week I also watched Aubri's cousin Jesse. I had an 11, 10 and 6 month old at the same time (thanks Silvia for the help!). Last week there was also Christmas parties, a cookie exchange, youth group, staff events...whew!

I'm making myself a little overwhelmed writing of the busy-ness and thinking ahead of all the events we still have coming up (Children's Christmas performance practice, Girls bake day at my house, Jr. High Christmas party...) so I think I will stop and share the good stuff- pictures!

So very busy!

I can't believe I haven't updated since Halloween! I don't think I have ever been as busy as I have the last couple of months! When I get some time, you are in for a whole lot of updates. In the meantime, here is a cute picture of Aubriella

Snow White

Last night in bed, when Jose was trying to fall asleep :-), I was thinking about all the fun we had over the past few days and asked Jose to share his favorite memory of the weekend. My former roommates can attest that for some reason I decide to start talking just as they are falling asleep! Now almost three years into our marriage, I think Jose is used to my bedtime conversations and questions and he humored me by answering. Then he turned the question on me, and I had a hard time coming up with a response! This weekend was GREAT! Not only do I feel productive (we painted the hallway, Jose washed windows, cleaned the bathroom, dusted, cleaned Aubriella's room, got the car washed), we had time to spend with family (breakfast with Jose's family, and dinner with both our parents) had a fun filled Sunday, and had Monday to rest!

The fun started for me on Friday. Aubri and I decide to surprise Daddy at work. The onsite preschool always trick or treats through the office, so I knew it would be ok to take her. We stopped work in the office for 3o minutes as everyone came to watch her show off her walking skills. No one could believe she was walking and hadn't even turned 9 months yet. One of the highlights of the weekend for me was when we walked to Jose's cubicle and she saw him. Her face lit up and she said "Dada!" Melt. my. heart.

After visiting CWS, we went to Nana's work. You should have seen her stare at my mom. She recognized the voice but couldn't get over the long hair. She thought it was funny! I'm glad she has fun when she goes to the doctor's office and doesn't remember the immunizations!

Of course Papa needed a visit too! I thought it would be funny to ring the doorbell and leave her standing there while I hid. I didn't count on her walking to the door and leaning on it! When my dad opened it, she fell right in. I don't know who it scared more- I think my dad! He felt so bad, even though it was my fault. You can tell she forgave us quickly!

Friday night was momentous as Aubri pooped on her toilet! I'll spare you the pictures- yes I took some! She hadn't gone in three days, so when I recognized her cues that she needed to go, I distracted her long enough to sit her on the potty. We read a book and I had her copy my grunting, and within a minute she had gone! Go Aubri!

Saturday started with a fun morning at Emma's house. I gained about 3 pounds with the breakfast she cooked up! Yum! During the afternoon we, well mostly Jose, painted our hallway. Another highlight because I think it looks amazing! Saturday night our parents came over for dinner. We are so lucky that our families get along so well and really have become one big family.

Sunday was very fun, and very busy. Children's ministry was awesome! The kids participated, were engaged, and really caught the lesson of being able to walk as children of the Light (Eph. 5:8) and learn how to Light the Night for Jesus. Jose and I dressed up as the kid's Hillsong Worship Leaders-though most people thought we just dressed trendy. The kids loved it, and some had even dressed the same. I don't know if it was the excitement for the day or what, but I've never seen all the kids engaged in worship like they were that morning. We were doing the dance moves, praising Jesus, and having a fun time!

After church it was lunch with friends, watching football at another friend's house, then going to Arroyo Grande village to watch all the trick or treaters.

I joked that Aubriella should have been dressed like the dwarf Sleepy, because she fell asleep as soon as we got there. We had fun running into all of Jose's high school friends who are also dads now.

I mentioned in another post that I've never loved Halloween, and generally disliked it, but having a kid to dress up changed that! It was so fun! Not once did it ever feel like we were participating in any evil, nor did I even see anything that resembled evil (minus a handful of scary costumes at the village). The day was spent teaching kids about Christ, fellowshipping with other believers after church, then watching cute kids dress up and eat candy! That is what I consider successfully redeeming the holiday!

After the village we stopped by a church Harvest Festival. I was very impressed with the event, and excited that they used the same Light the Night/Ephesians 5:8 theme we had done. We hung out with some of our church friends and let the little ones play in the baby room! Aubriella could have sat in the paper pool all night.

Later that night I tried on the Snow White costume my mom had borrowed for me. I didn't know how Aubriella would react, but when she saw me she kept laughing! Anytime I talked she started laughing again! It was so cute to see how funny she thought it was for Mommy to have funny hair. Another weekend highlight.

After a very busy Sunday, we were grateful Jose had Monday off. Thank goodness we were able to sleep in and stay cozy all morning. A perfect weekend with my little Snow White, and my Prince Charming! ;-)