Mt. Peak

These are just a few shots from our last convention.

4 Generations


Nanny with Great-Granddaughter #13


Jacob having lots of fun on the sidewalk.


Kayleen, Lia, Caroline, Allie - the 4 TX Great-Granddaughters


Trace & Trevin thought the stroller was a lot of fun to play on.


David's uncle from Atlanta was working in TX for a couple of weeks so he was able to come up for Sunday. It was great to get to see him.
Tio, Jacob, David


Giving Tio "5's" - he's pretty cool that way. ;)

"Make-a Me Keem"

yeah - Brad used to say that when he was little...but the point is Blogger is making me scream!! I haven't been able to upload pictures for a couple of days now and I'd really like to put up a couple of posts! One of these days all of you will get to see our smiling faces again...you may or may not recognize us.

Rose Parade

Last Saturday we went to the Tyler Rose parade with B,L,T&T. Tyler is the "Rose Capital of the Nation" - bet you didn't know that. For about 6 months of the year you can buy roses for $2.00/dozen on many street corners. Every October there is the Rose Festival in which a new Rose Queen is chosen. Now, this isn't your ordinary "pageant". There is no talent portion, no interview, no beauty contest, no nothing except who’s Daddy pays the most money to get his daughter chosen as the next queen. I kid you not. To even be able to "apply" to get to be queen you must pay $100,000. That's just to get the "judges" to read your application. Then after that it's a matter of who can ante-up the most. IF your daughter is chosen you then get to buy her the gown for the Queen’s Coronation - those usually run another $40,000 or so. All this for what? To get your picture in the paper, ride on a fancy float in the parade, and stand in a covered platform in the Rose Garden. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I can think of a few other things to spend my money on.
(All this being said, we did enjoy our time watching the parade. The boys especially seeing the dogs, horses, tiny jeeps, and motorcycles. They weren't especially impressed with the fancy dresses for some reason.)

Without further ado...


Rose Queen 2008 on her float


The Queen's train...think I could get a dress like this to wear sometime?


The Shriners mini jeeps...was quite entertaining.


Commoners Lesha, Brad, Trace, and Trevin


Commoners Jacob and David


The real queen...and her Mom. As you can see, Queen Lia was taking in all the sights with much excitement! Yep, she slept the entire duration of the 2 hour parade.

This is how...

I spend a lot of my time.


No wonder there's a lot that needs to get done around here. Oh well, my babies won't let me hold them forever. And the other stuff can just wait.

Texarkana

We just got back from our annual convention. Many wonderful thoughts were shared and I have a lot of "work" to do. Now it's back to reality...and many loads of laundry!! Also tending to Jacob's "souvenir" he brought home...a cold. ;(

Texarkana has a sandbox that all the little kids LOVED to play in. At first I didn't think I wanted Jacob to play in it and get all dirty, but then I decided that was ridiculous as the other kids were in it and they were all having a ball. Besides that, it worked off some energy, was a great "babysitter", and I was able to enjoy visiting with the other parents.


Jacob kicked back and relaxed in the sand box.


Bryce V. having a good time.


This is only a fraction of the kids that were playing. They all had a great time.


Hanging out in the V's camper.


My sweet baby doll. ;)


Cousin Caroline and Lia.


Cousins Allie and Jacob having a great time. They're only 2 months apart.


My sweet babies.


Yep, they've both got me wrapped around their little fingers.


First convention as a family of 4.

My Baby Daddy...

and my baby...

they make me smile!

A Plug for Our Uncle

So I'm following my Aunt Susan's lead and doing a little "advertisement" for David's Uncle Jorge's blog. Simply known as "Tio" to us. David's Grandparents, Mom, and Uncle came to America from Cuba in 1966 - his Mom was 15, his Uncle 13. Tio has also written a book chronicling their voyage from Cuba to the US. It's very interesting and makes one appreciate what freedoms we enjoy in our country. (At least for now.) ;) Tio wrote "We left everything behind: family, friends, and earthly possessions. We now had to start all over again. It was a new beginning but we were willing to give up everything for the opportunity to be able to dream again with freedom and without fear. We knew that if we were willing to work and to strive with every ounce of our strength, we could succeed again because we now had the freedom and opportunities to do so. Our destiny and our failure or success now depended on us". It would be nice if more people had that attitude!

In this post Tio tells about when he was asked to speak at a naturalization ceremony in Atlanta. He recounts his speech.

In this post he recaps the trip he made back to Cuba for the first time in 38 years. He got to take that trip with his 2 children and Father.

I enjoyed this post as it "features" David, his brother and 2 cousins. I realize not everyone will appreciate it like I do, but it is fun to look back at how styles have changed since 1973. I also only know what David looked like with hair through old pictures as he hasn't had any since I've known him. In the first pictures Tio and David BOTH had hair, now neither one of them do. Oh well...I've always heard "God only made a few perfect heads, and the rest he covered with hair". ;)

Enjoy Tio's blog...and leave him a comment if you venture over there. I know he would appreciate it. He's a really nice guy and won't bite. ;) And it's always nice to know someone took the time to read what you took the time to write!

just an update...

I've been in a "blog funk" lately so I haven't posted, but I have continued enjoying everyone else's blogs. Glad some of you keep right on posting even when others of us become slackers for a while. ;)

Lia has been back to the Pediatrician and she's "just perfect". (I could have told the Dr. that myself.) ;) Jacob continues to be completely smitten with "baby sister" - I'm very thankful for that!


David's birthday was back on the 12th of Sept. That was the day Lia was "supposed" to be born also so we though we might be having a birthday party for two in the hospital. Instead we were at home and Lia was 5 days old. I think I like that arrangement better. ;) Daddy and his two best kids!


Lia's first bath. She loves her baths. She looks like she's in some kind of trance here. ummmmmmmmmm


Out for an afternoon stroll. Jacob loves to walk every day now - and Lia just sleeps through it all.


Bob the Builder is Jacob's favorite character. I HAD to get out of the house the other day so off I went to the mall. It's much different now with 2 kids instead of just one!! But Jacob was happy playing on all the rides and I was happy to be out of the house. Lia's just happy. ;)


"Helping" Lia swing.


Great Grandma C. came to visit 2 weekends ago.


Nana took Jacob out to see Delta (their horse). Delta of course decided to "take care of business" - Jacob informed Nana "horse need clean diaper".


Is this a preview of things to come??
Jacob - "ha ha, I'm here and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Lia - "Moooom! Jacob is on MY bed!"

Lia's Life

...so far has been just perfect!

So I'm finally able to post an update and a few more pictures. These past few days have been one big blur - one appt. after the other. Today I've been able to just stay home and do nothing but love on my babies...life is so sweet. Mom is here waiting on us hand and foot and taking care of Jacob's every whim...I'm going to have my hands full when she leaves for sure! Lia is an absolutely wonderful baby. She's just as laid back and easy going as her brother was. I'm not sure how we were so fortunate to get the babies we got, but I'm SOOO thankful! Jacob is totally in love with his sister. He loves to kiss her, pat her back, rub her head - anything to give her attention. "Awe...nice baby" he says. He lets me know any time she's crying "baby cry", if she needs sleep "baby tired", or if she needs to eat "baby need go-durt (yogurt)".

Some of you may remember the Great Name Debate - Lia was the name we originally had picked out for her. It was the spelling I was struggling with. In the end, thanks to your comments/ suggestions, I decided "Lia" was the name and spelling for her. Those of you who suggested "Mia" and "Tia" helped me make up my mind. ;) (Lia is pronounced like "Leah" "Lee-a" "Leigh-ah")

Without further ado...pictures!!

The first time Jacob really got to see Lia. He saw her in the recovery room for a couple of minutes but this is the first "up close and personal" time with her. He came running into our room saying "baby, baby, baby". It was love at first sight.



"She's sooo sweet. I think I'll put my fingers in my mouth too"



Finally at home.
Jacob - "How do I hold her head still?"
Lia - "Oh, it's been a full day already."



"Hmm...let me contemplate this family I've been born into."



Momma's sweet baby doll.



After much excitement and action...all 4 C. grandchildren.



First picture of our family of four.


"I love my sister."


Sleeping Beauty


Momma and her two babies.

Introducing...

Lia Renee


Lia arrived this past Sunday afternoon at 1:28. We were shocked when she decided to come. She is full term so I shouldn't have been so suprised. Saturday night I was all prepared to go to meeting Sunday morning, complete with having a casserole in the refrigerator for potluck lunch, never dreaming I would wake up to VERY obvious signs Lia would be here that day! She weighed 6 lbs 14 ozs and was 20 inches long. She is absolutely perfect of course. ;) She has been a very good baby just like her brother. We came home from the hospital yesterday aftenoon. I'm posting this one picture so you can all marvel at such sweetness (OK OK so I'm the Mom, I can say that!) ;) and I'll get more pictures up later. Last night Brad, Lesha, and the boys came over so we tried to get pictures of all 4 C. grandkids together - needless to say it was rather interesting. One 2 year old, two 1 year olds, and a 2 day old...much action to say the least! Thanks to all of you who have already left messages.

"Painfully Honest"

So...I'm having a great "conversation" with Jacob today thinking how lucky I am to have such an awesome son. I'm also thinking about how wonderful it is to be so completely smitten by such pure innocent sweetness when he says "Mommy shirt to little, Mommy feet fat". HUMPH!! Talk about the end of warm and fuzzy thoughts!! ;)

But he's so cool I guess I'll let him slide this time.

August Randomness

It's been a while since I've posted...and nope, can't make any grand baby announcements. I'm hoping with Hurricane Gustav the barometric changes might make this little girl decide to come on along! Wouldn't that be grand!

This is what we've been up to the last few weeks:

Mom, Lesha, and I had a garage sale a few weekends ago. This was taken the evening before as we were getting things set up. The boys had a great time playing together. They all 3 love to be outside so they didn't notice the heat and humidity as us adults were melting.


Trace and Trevin took over Jacob's tractor...they thought they were pretty cool.


Much to his mother's chagrin, Trevin found a locust to play with. It provided much entertainment to him until Lesha found out.


Times are lean in the C. household. ;)



The people David works with gave him a surprise shower last week and invited Jacob and I to come up also. He works in the Radiology dept. of a local hospital so the shower was held in one of the extra equipment rooms...as you can see by the picture. Of course my camera battery died before I could get a "real" photo of the three of us...so this is the best I can do. He was scrubbed in to a surgical case when his supervisor called him out to go get lunch...he thought that was strange as you don't normally quit during a case to go eat. The when she met him in the cafeteria and told him to come with her he started wondering what was REALLY going on...then was shocked to walk into the room and see Jacob and I and the others waiting for him.



Only in a medical facility! But at least they're pink. :)



The biggest news of the last couple of weeks is Trace and Trevin got their helmets off. It's amazing how different they look without them! And now we REALLY have to know who is who as they don't have their names across their foreheads anymore!


This picture makes me say "awe". Brad and Trevin