a new faucet why not a new sink

one thing to know about our daddy, is he can pretty much do anything & everything! also for some crazy reason every time he starts a small easy peasy project, it always turns into a huge production instead. that's why daddy is so good at everything because he as to be or we'll be stuck in in some kind of tricky trouble. so for momo's birthday we bought her a nice new non-leaking faucet for the kitchen that daddy was going to install. so last night sadie, livi & i were all in the kitchen ready to be daddy's assistants in replacing the old leaky faucet. well to make a long story short, daddy ended up unexpectedly having to replace the whole sink piping system... talk about a MESS! when all this happened it ended up being livi & i's bedtime, while mommy tucked us in daddy was making an emergency visit to home depot. since we couldn't stay in it for the long haul we made sadie promise she'd oversee & supervise the whole project. keep in mind neither one them have ever done anything like this before so they were just winging it. sadie wasn't quite sure what to think of all the tools everywhere, the smells & the sounds, but she didn't leave daddy's side till they were done! now we can add excellent plumbers to the awesome things they can do! we don't know how many times we've said this, but we really do have the best puppy ever & would be lost without her!

fiesta

a few weeks ago we were at a park when a girl came in for her quinceanera  (a quinceanera is the celebration of a girl turning 15) photo shoot. livi was in awe of this beautiful girl, it was like seeing a princess in real life & she wouldn't or couldn't walk away from this girl. at one point we though livi was going to be in her photos she was so close to her. livi turned to daddy with her eyes all big & said "daddy when i turn 15, can i please have a fiesta?" i guess we'll have to wait & see if she still wants one when she's older, but for now we better start saving for it just in case. oh yeah, did i mention... i want one too!

shoebox lunch

today at livi's school it was shoebox lunch day & all the students have been looking forward to it for weeks. all the students were asked to bring in a shoebox covered in plain paper so they could decorate it at school with their friends, then it was sent back home last night for the parents to pack it up specially for their child. mommy packed up her lunch & we each wrote her a special note & drawing telling her we loved her. we were also asked to pack some little trinkets that were under$5 dollars for a special treat. then for an added surprise mommy packed sausage (her very favorite stuffed animal) in her shoebox for her to have. of course, livi loved all her presents but the best thing was seeing sausage & being able to introduce sausage to all of her friends. livi & her friends loved seeing all the surprises in each other's shoeboxes & playing with them together.

squirm, a musical

tonight was livi's school spring program & it was so adorable. it was called squirm, a musical & it was songs all based on spiders, bugs, frogs, bats & worms. we had so much fun watching all the children (about 75 of them) singing, dancing, clapping, wearing costumes, laughing, yawning & even a few picking their noses. livi wasn't to crazy about wearing a spider hat for the program, but her whole class had to wear them & plus she looked so super cute. her class even rapped "the itsy bits spider" while all the other student were getting down in some serious dance moves. at the end of the program a teacher handed out gummy worms for all the children to shake at the end of the song & then teat them. well livi, goofy thing that she is ate it as soon as it hit her hand. the teacher laughed, hugged & kissed livi then gave her another one to shake. we think livi was pretty cleaver & knew exactly what she was doing so she would end up getting 2 candy worms to eat instead of one. livi had a very important job at the concert & that was leading & helping her friend humza. humza is autistic & he doesn't speak, but his family really wanted him to try & be a part of the program. livi held his hand while leading him onto the stage, she got him settled in his spot & when he got really upset & started crying she just held his hand while rubbing his back trying to calm him down until a teacher was able to get to them. it was precious, mommy & tia liz got teary watching her because it wasn't so long ago that livi couldn't get on a stage to perform & hear she was comforting someone else. it still is so amazing to us to watch livi up there signing her heart out & not being scared at all. we're so proud of her & think she is one incredible little girl!

livi helping her friend, humza

caught red handed

mommy was so proud

happy earth day

since it is earth day, we thought we would pass on 10 itty bitty tips we can all do that will help stop global warming. we should all work together to make a difference in our world, we all have an impact on earth...lets make it a positive one... (these pictures are a lil old, but the tips still apply)
replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb: (cfl) you can find them out at 1000bulbs.com. three CFBs will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide!

bring cloth/canvas bags to the market: when the check-out person asks, "paper or plastic?," say, "neither." using your own cloth bag reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

reduce waste: take your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one.

plant a tree: trees suck up CO2 and create clean air for us to breathe. a single tree will absorb a ton (that's 2000+ lbs.) of CO2 over its lifetime.

conserve water: do only full loads of laundry and don't let the water run when you brush your teeth or shave. an open faucet pours 5 gallons of water every 2 minutes.

use refillable bottles for water: bottled water is a huge culprit to having a clean environment. stop buying all of those water bottles that fill up our land-fills. if you need special water, buy a water filter.

buy organic foods as much as possible: the chemicals used in modern agriculture aren't just bad for your body, they also pollute the water supply and are mostly made of petroleum.

walk or ride your bike to work, school and anywhere you can: you'll save one pound of CO2 for every mile you don't drive!

be sure you're recycling at home: you can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates.

spread the word: tell everyone all the things above. tell your friends, family, relatives, coworkers, and more. post it on forums, message boards, and blogs. if even ten out of a hundred listen to you, and one of that ten actually does something, it makes a difference!

here's some awesome websites to check out for more ideas how you can help save our earth...

http://www.kidsforsavingearth.org/

http://www.earthday.org/

http://www.treehugger.com/

momo, a special message just for you

happy birthday to you cha cha cha, happy birthday to you cha cha cha, happy birthday dear momo, happy birthday to you cha cha cha. we love you sooooooo much momo, have grrrreat day!!! we love you sooooooooo much!!!

happy easter

fairy tale evening

well after missing the lopez family reunion on saturday & not getting any better at all over the weekend, my doctor prescribed me antibiotics on monday to help with all the inflammation in my lungs. i went back to school on tuesday, but only for a half day... i didn't want to overdue it. i was there long enough to make up 3 tests that i had missed & to get a study guide for one more test i had to take the next day. i was happy to be back at school, but still wasn't feeling so hot. since mommy & daddy felt so bad because i had to miss out on so many things (spring concert, school, play dates & the family reunion), we all went to livi's school for a fairy tale evening. it was inside & only for an hour, so we felt like I could make it through it & hoary for getting out of the house. it was so fun & something we've never even thought of doing. we got to pick a wooden peg painted in different colors to make into either a fairy, wizard, knight or anything else you could come up with. each family we also got to make a home for them to live & play in. there was all sorts of scraps to use to create things for your person & home like silk flowers, leaves, yarn, buttons, feathers, fabric, rocks, sticks, wood shavings, pinecones, gems, raffia ribbon & markers. whatever our imagination could come up, we could create it. livi & i made flower fairies that lived in a tree house. then after we were done we walked across the street from livi's school where they had set up a real fairy village in the trees, it was so precious. they had so many different types of fairy houses, we loved all of them. i was so happy to be able to get out of the house & create something magical to take my mind off how yucky I felt. 

the program that wasn't

a few months ago i was chosen along with 24 other 3rd grade students to perform in the spring concert. i felt so honored that my music teacher picked me as a serious musician to learn over 5 songs to perform on the recorder. mr. ford (my music teacher) also picked about 25 4th graders & over 40 5th graders to complete the lineup. we were learning songs from all genres & this is the concert everyone looks forward to all year long. starting in february we started having rehearsals once a week that lasted an hour & a half so we'd be more than ready to impress the whole school & all the parents! well last saturday i started coughing & through the week it's only gotten worse. on wednesday mommy talked to mr. ford about my coughing & he said instead of performing i could be his assistant for the evening. he knew i was devastated about not being able to perform, but he still wanted be to be part of the evening. well on thursday i was worse after taking breathing treatments & other medicines so we knew it was time to go to the doctor. well the doctor put me on steroids & i had to bow out of being mr. ford's assistant because i couldn't take a deep breath without going into a coughing fit. i understood that i couldn't be a part of the show because i would have interrupted all the songs because every 5 mins i was hacking up a storm, but i was still really upset. daddy said i could have anything i wanted for dinner, of course i picked chiense food & that made me feel a little bit better but then to make matters worse mommy & daddy said i had to stay home from school on friday because i really needed to just rest. i hadn't been sleeping either because of all the coughing. so my perfect attendance record was going to be ruined & i couldn't believe that this stinkin' cough was taking over so much. since i wouldn't be going to school in the morning & i really needed some cheering up daddy let us stay up a lil bit later & took over story time like we've never seen. livi saw this book at the library & just had to check it out for daddy because she knew he'd love it... she was right. when daddy was a lil boy he loved wrestling & for years daddy has been trying to get us to dress up like mexican wrestlers for halloween.

well this book was called "nino, wrestles the world", as soon as daddy saw the cover it was love at first sight... we may have to go out & buy the book for him. he was so excited to read the book that he had to get out the karaoke machine so he could become "the announcer" in the book. it was hysterical we were crying we were laughing so hard at how silly daddy was. the book was in half spanish & half english & listening to daddy get into an accent was awesome. we never knew daddy could read like that, it was definitely the best bed time story ever & daddy made me laugh a lot so in the end, the day/night wasn't so bad. i'm so thankful that i've got the best daddy in the world who will do anything to cheer me up.

purple parade

today at livi's school (shady oak) they celebrated the "national week of the young child" by holding a purple parade, the color purple represents early childhood education.  "the week of the young child is an annual celebration sponsored by the national association for the education of young children (NAEYC). the purpose of the week of the young child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. " so everyone was asked to wear purple shirts in support for the parade, but you know livi she wore a white with purple shirt, purple shorts, purple socks, purple panties & of course her purple fedora. so when it was time for the parade to begin all the children were given purple streamers, a tambourine, egg shakers or bells to shake while saying "we love children" & some had even made signs. the parade went around the whole big block of the school & they passed an elementary school that had it's kindergarten class out cheering them on! mommy was so excited that she got to go to & be a part of it again. plus with all those students i know the teachers were happy to have as many extra parents hands as they could get.

sadie update

we just wanted to give you an update on our sweet sadie mc. she's feeling better & she hasn't thrown up since she got the shot yesterday... yay! she even got to have a little bit of food late this morning & has kept in her belly. right now we're still watching her & seeing how she does. we're going to try to give her a little bit more food this evening & hopefully that'll stay in her belly also. mommy & daddy have been taking her out on the leash (that way they can keep an eye on her) so she can get a lil sunbathing in & she's loving that. the biggest thing we've noticed is that she's been giving us a few kisses (WHOO HOO) so we know she's on the road to being her old self soon!

surprise surgery sunday

sadie's medicines & they stinkin' piece of wood

our poor sweet lil sadie had to have minor surgery yesterday. we noticed when we got home saturday from the fun run that she was acting like her usual self. she didn't run up to greet us, give any kisses all night long, she was drooling, very sleepy, her big bat ears were flat on her head, her nose was running, she wasn't that interested in her food & it took her forever to eat it. mommy thought maybe she had a cold, but yesterday morning she was worse. so instead of going to church at 9, mommy & daddy were with sadie at the vet's office. it turned out that sadie had a piece of wood stuck in the back of her throat in her gums & it had caused an infection. sadie was not letting the doctor in her mouth at all, so they had to give her some medicine that would make her really sleepy & kinda of out of it to get the wood out. the also have her a big shot of pain medicine that would last 24 hrs. when they were done with the surgery they called up right away because sadie was crying for us so bad, they just couldn't stand it. mommy & daddy rushed right up there to get her & you could tell she felt a little better, but was still pretty out of it. we gave her sort food for dinner last night & made sure she got her antibiotic. but our poor sweet sadie has been throwing up all day today & we just don't know what to do. we called the vet & we're giving her some medicine to help her not throw up, but it's not working so well yet. we don't know if it's the pain medicine, the antibiotics or the soft food that's got her stomach so upset. when she wasn't vomiting she was curled up under the covers with mommy. finally mommy couldn't stand it anymore & drove sadie back to the vet because she wouldn't stop throwing up. the vet gave her a anti throw-up to stop it & hopefully make her feel better.  the doctor said that she can't have any food or and of her medicines tonight & if sadie throws up again after having the shot then she'll have to go to the er if not then she'll will go back to the doctor in the morning for a follow up. it's awful when your pet is sick because they can't talk & you have no idea what's going on or how to help. don't worry we'll keep you posted on how she's doing.

on the way home 

curled up in the covers

texas children's hospital family fun run

today was the texas children's hospital fun run (1K or 3K), the run is to help educate & encourage children & their families to adopt active, healthy lifestyles. we were so excited to be a part of it & glad we registered in time because they had to shut the registration due to so many people wanting to do this family fun run! it was the 2nd year they've held the event at daddy's hospital & last year they're was only 1500, this year there was over 3000! H-E-B was there providing snacks & refreshments which was perfect thing to see when you ran through the finish line! there was tons of special guests & mascots. there was even a huge family fun zone that had a creative zone, wellness zone & adventure zone.

while waiting for the race to start all you could see was thousands of people in lime green everywhere. i was wondering if we would glow in the dark, our shirts were so neon, that would have been cool if the race was at night. when the race started at 9am & the madness began, mommy had to walk the race so i decided to walk with her for most of it to keep her company while livi & daddy were off like a rocket! there would be times when they would wait for us & i'd jog a little ways with them then i'd go back to mommy. there was tons of people on the side lines cheering us on & there was lots of water stations for too. when livi & i saw the finish line we just took off, we were so excited... we could not wait to cross that line! daddy even got mommy to run across the finish line while they held hands, they were pretty cute. after everyone crossed the finish line they got a real medal, it was so awesome!

after the race it was time to hit the fun zone, the first thing we did was get strapped into the most awesome bungee swing ever!!! we've never seen anything like it & just had to try it. we went so high in it we were over cars & almost could touch the clouds... it was amazing. the crowd was shouting for me to do back flips & i said "no thank you", but i finally got up the nerve to try, then i was doing 3 in a row!

then we went on a really cute carousel.

there was also over 12 different kind of bouncy houses that were calling our names to come jump on them. we bounced for over 2 hours, it was grrrrreat!

when mommy & daddy finally dragged us away from all the bouncy houses we went to the science zone to make our own slime & bouncy ball! we also learned how to make a silk screen print on paper, it was so beautiful!

then the coolest thing we did was make these awesome pieces of art & magnets. the first thing we did was pick out a piece of paper, different colors of chalk then we put the paper on different types of textures & rubbed the chalk on them to make funky designs on the paper. then they had all these different types of plain magnets of girls & boys in different poses to choose from. so then we went to a spray painting station & set up a our paper with out girl magnet on it with some other circular magnets spread all over the paper. once we had everything set up we got a quick lesson in spray painting, picked some colors to paint with & got to work. the main thing we needed to was spray paint the outline of the girl.  i know this sounds crazy, but it was sooooooooo cool. then when it was done we got to take the magnet home & the piece of paper, texas children's hospital is going to frame the pictures to hang up in their kingwood clinic they're opening for everyone to see.

look how awesome our magnets look on the refrigerator... we love them!

we had so much fun & can't wait to do this again next year!!!