Let the celebration begin...

Halloween marks the beggining of holiday season. The kids were both pirates this year. Ds had a party at school on friday, dd threw a fit so she also wore her costume on friday while running errands with me.
On saturday we went downtown to the Ave to get candy and see the parade. Downtown ave is 2 lanes of traffic each going one way filled with little shops, outdoor cafes, some cool clubs, restaurants, kilwin's, the most delicious cupcakes ever, art store, and so forth. Its about 2 miles of it that ends on the beach. We love going down there, there is always people browsing, walking their dogs, shopping, just a fun area to be with a great vibe, I could do away with the thugs that drive by with their cool convertible tops down blasting the latest rap, but it cant all be perefect ;) . During Christmas they light up this humungous tree and also have a parade. For halloween all the kids could go up and down the ave and get candy from the stores. No one really needs anymore candy, but its just for the experience.

We were supossed to have a cold front that didnt show up. Its a nice 89 degrees. Toasty!!. Anyways parents should have some common sense when buying their halloween costume. After hours of walking, you could see some little kids soo red and about to pass out from heat exhaustion. I cant imagine how they felt walking on almost 90degree weather with a big bear suit. Broke my heart for them :(

But we had a good day. My friend her mom and 3 kids showed up, so did my parents. The extra hands helped a ton.

Tomorrow we are supossed to go trick or treating with my friend, but they already got so much candy I think I might bypass it. We will see :)





*pS my camera is still not here ..urgghgh so I only have the pictures of them trying out their outfits from before. Its actually good you see this one. Their outfits are already dirty with leftover cupcake and lots of sticky candy ;)

*ps ps: Dont even ask. Nope I didnt dress up, I havent dressed up since I was 13 and dont plan on starting again ;)

Superstitious???

I am not really superstitious but today has made me rethink that.

All I need to go home is an american passport. I got my citizenship last year and still havent applied for an american passport. I figured I better do it now since I want to go home beginning of december and stay over Christmas and they take 4-6 wks.

Well this morning I drop ds off school and go get my pictures done. 1st walgreens machine is broken. No biggie. 2nd Walgreens the guy brighten my picture so much, my hair looks blonde. I tell him that is unaceptable since the main thing about passport is eye color and hair color. He tells me its okay and I should just try. Uhh nope. Either take another or I am not paying for this. He tells me this is the best they can do. SO I walk out. I am already starting to fume at this point. Deep breath, trip to starbucks and I decide lets try CVS. It takes her almost 30 minutes to take my picture and try to get the machine to work. Finally I walk out of there with my picture. Next is to the ATM to pull some money out. 6 atms later I find one that is working. By this point I am boiling. Okay deep breath, drive 20 minutes to the only post office in town that does passport pictures and as soon as I walk in the door, the fire alarm goes off. We all have to stand outside for 15 minutes. Its just a drill. Walk back inside and stand in line. By this point Ju is misserable. We have been out for over 4 hours and no amount of snacks can keep her happy. Another 40 minutes in line and the lady tells me I need original documents not copies. Are you kidding me?? YOu loose my naturalization certificate and I am F*ed 10 ways into sunday. Do you not realize what a burocracy nightmare that would be to get a new one??

I am soo frustrated I have a mini breakdown thinking this is signs that I am not suposse to go home. Visions of crashing airplane is swirling through my head and God saying..I warned you. Mini breakdown turns into huge breakdown. What am I going to do??

I drive home, feed Ju let her nap, get the original document and call around. The courthouse close to me does passports also. Ju wakes up, we drive over there. We go through the xray machine she is all happy and flirting with everyone. I get my ticket not even 5 minutes later the guy calls me. As soon as I go to the window and sit down to dig all the paperwork and money to give to him, Ju starts freaking out. Like arching back crying like a nutcase. I pull her out of the stroller, try to soothe her, and nothing is working. This child is crying like someone is torturing her. I hand her my phone, keys, glasses, everything and nothing is helping. She is just crying and crying and crying. Everyone is looking at me, the guy is trying his harderst to hurry up. I have to lift my hand and swear over her screams.

20 minutes later he is done, all the paperwork is done and my naturalization certificate is on its way to the department of defense full of prayers they dont loose it and she is still bawling. I leave there as soon as we are outside she starts smiling. Uhh now I am freaking out. Are these signs or just God testing me?? I dont know. So now I dont know what to do. I have to buy our tickets next week, I dont even know what could happen and if maybe I am not meant to go. IF I dont go my grandmother and whole family would be heartbroken. They havent met Ju yet, havent seen me or Ty in 2 yrs and this will be my 1st Christmas back home in 16 yrs. I have to go.

So now is the major life dillema. I am going to pray and pray about it and ask God to be more clear. Hope for the best.

So that was my wonderful day. I am sitting here drinking a beer and hoping for a better tomorrow.

Love A

Its that season again..

Latetlly I been on a funk. I dont know why but I just dont feel like doing anything. This deployment is kicking my arse. Anyways on Sunday morning, I decided to try to shake this funk, in a attempt to find something to do with the kids, I stumble upon a pumpkin patch not that far away from us. A couple phone calls and I recruit our friends and their 3 kids to go with us. We show at about noon and omg! half of S florida is at this place. It was kind of hard to get into the spirit since it was 85 degrees, I was sweating and the kids had on shorts, sandals and sundress, but hey this is S . We did the hayride, skipped the face painting (mile long line), had some ice cream, picked a pumpkin, took loads of pictures, and just had a really good day. After that we decided to have a very late lunch at a local bbq place. It was very delicious and a good day overall.

8 yrs ago...

we walked down the aisle. Or should I say corridor at the courthouse?? lol.

We had just gotten back together after being broken up for a month, already living together for over 1 yr, and he said we either do this for real or we are done. I dont want to play games anymore and I dont want to loose you again. SO I say okay just tell me the date. He pulled a calendar out, called his mom to when she was going to be in town (3 wks from that date) pointed to a saturday and say this is when we are getting married. I thought great. I wanted to elope and get married by Elvis in Vegas. My parents, upon hearing those vile words coming from their only childs mouth, threw a hissy fit. I told him okay no eloping but nothing huge. 3 weeks is the date. Well Saturday October 18 came along, I had just found my dress 3 days before, we got married at the courthouse and had a reception at a park at the beach. I got to give it to my parents, they did everything, it was beautiful decorated, all the food everything in 3 wks. I have never seen anyone pull off a wedding like that that quickly. I didnt get my Elvis wedding, but as soon as we make to Vegas, we will find an Elvis to renew our vows ;)




We had an amazing time with friends and family. We also banked, so could really have a fun honeymoon instead of just the 2 night hotel stay we had planned and could afford..being poor sucks!

In 8 yrs there has been many lows, many more highs, loads of tears, lots of laughter and fun. I wouldnt trade it for the world. I love him with all my heart. He has slayed my dragons over and over and marrying him was the best decision ever.

Today he is thousands of miles away, but still sent me edible arrangments (my favorite), an amazing card, and a couple of other gifts. I spent the afternoon eating fruit shapped flowers with my 2 kids, telling them all the mushy stuff. Deep down they loved it :)








Te amo boo.

GIve me daps..8 down, 42 to go then we will reevaluate ;)

She lived a good life...

and that brings me comfort.

Today I lost my grandmother/godmother. She was a wonderful amazing woman, who died in her sleep at 86 yrs old, after meeting her great grandchildren. That is the best way to go. No suffering after living a good life.

When my grandparents got divorced, my mom and uncle went to live with my grandfather and his new wife who was a witch. After suffering abuse in the stepmothers hand, they ran away to their aunts house. She took them in and took care of them and raised them. My mother today has more consideration for her than her own mother. She became my godmother whom I also adored.
She got married very young, only had a 3rd grade education. After her son was born, she went back to school, finished middle school, high school and got a teaching degree. While doing that she gave birth to her 2 daughters and adopted 6 more girls. She was a wonderful teacher who took amazing good care of her students. She even ended up having 4 more girls come in and live with her for a period of time while their home situation wasnt good.
Her husband started heavily drinking, but she stuck by him, and after 38 yrs of marriage, he passed away. She dedicated her life to traveling and helping people. She was an amazing woman who will forever be missed.
I am forever greatful you got to meet Tyler you first great grandchild and I am sorry you didnt get to meet Juliet. She would have loved you, but I know now you have the best view in seeing them growing up. and that brings me comfort

What funny is in Brasil, today is a major holiday, its teachers day :)







Eu te amo vovo

Out with the old...

IN with the new.

Thanks to an amazing friend with a truck, and a good landlord who realized that stove just wasnt cutting anymore, I now got a new stove and can bake to all my hearts content :)

Shoplifting ...

is not something I thought I would do. But I did.. :o

See everything has a funny story behind, and this is no different. I was woken up at 6:30 by ds on a saturday morning. No one deserves that. So I went to the gym with my friend at 9, did 1 hr of cardio (that absolutely killed me), then I changed, headed over to Barnes and noble, made a pit stop at Starbucks. I didnt even want to go but I been promising ds I would take him to story time and when you make a promise to a 4 year old, you better keep it or you will never hear the end of it. Well we were walking around killing time and suddenly I smell the most awful smell ever. No it cant be. DD is on a schedule, this is out of schedule. So I drag both kids to the car to look for a lost diaper. Praying the whole time there is one. Look all over finally in the trunk there is 1. Thank God!
I know I know, should carry a diaper bag at all time. Usually I have one in the car but my last one broke and with everything else just havent gotten around to getting a new one.

So back to the story, all ghetto, I open the trunk while ds is right there and proceed to change Juliet, as I am halfway to changing her, I notice she has a toy in her hand. A toy I dont recognize. Ohh shit and of course there is a security guard coming out of Barnes and noble. I quickly put a new diaper on her, fix her pants, the security guard arrives and I apologize profoundly for "shoplifting" and explain what happened and that I was going to go back for story time. Just came outside for a quick diaper change. He gives me a look, extends his hand, I hand him the toy, and he turns on his heel as walks back inside without saying a word. I follow him inside and he doesnt even hold the door open for me. Treats me like a criminal. Oooops. My bad.

So that was my joyfull saturday morning. The kids loved the story time, after we went back to the gym for me to do what I thought would be an easy class : water aerobics. Yeahh right. Did you know you can totatly sweat inside a pool?? I can barerlly sit down to pee. But all in all we had a good day.

Also I used it as a lesson to Tyler. Because you know 500 million questions were asked ..why does baby have that toy?? YOu didnt pay for the toy? Is that why the man was mean to you?? Are you going to jail?? Is a police officer coming?? Will he have a gun?? Gun shoots people did you know that....blah blah blah blah blah.

God I miss an extra pair of hands..aka hubby...









On the way back, we made a pit stop at the gas station and saw this beautiful car that I am sure my husband would have loved it.



Made me miss him even more..sigh


Love A

I must be bored..

Today I walked in here and walkedout with a membership :



I doubt I will come out looking like this :




but at least I am wont be bored/stressed anymore =)

ps; IF anyone know the secret to getting a body like Megans please share. Spread the kindness xoxoxo