Giving Thanks.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Gerardo was working so I was alone with the kids. We went to my mom & dad's house for our dinner. It was fun with the kids and we got super stuffed!!

Martina is Aaron's "Mommy Number 2", he always wants to be with her & loves all the attention that he gets from her. So, of course, he wanted to have his Thanksgiving dinner on her lap!!

My Flores kids are some GOOD eaters!! I'm so lucky with them, they are not really picky and are always willing to try new things. But, of course, Lilly's favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner was turkey & gravy. Aaron's favorite was the stuffing!

Lilly is always being silly and she keeps us totally entertained all day long, especially when we are at my parent's house, she seems to get extra silly and loves to 'show off' when we're there.

This year I was very happy to be celebrating Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for this year. Especially that I have my mom here with us, she has officially beat cancer and we couldn't be more thankful for that! I could not even begin to imagine my life without my mom so the past few months have been really hard on me & our whole family. But thanks to God we will hopefully have my mom for many more Thanksgiving's to come!!

We also have to give thanks for all the little blessings in my life. I have to remind Gerardo of this quite often, but we are very blessed & are very thankful to God for that.

We have beautiful, wonderful, healthy children that are growing and blossoming.

We have a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, food on our table and all the extra's we could possibly want or need.

We are thankful for Gerardo's career and thank God for keeping him safe.

We are thankful for our family, friends. The wind, the rain, the sun. Basically we are just thankful for all the blessings in our life great and small.

Six Flags Magic Mountain

In August Gerardo had some police officer training in Long Beach so we all headed down to Southern California for a few days. During the week we decided to take the kids to Magic Mountain, I hadn't been there for many, many years. It was really nice & tons of fun for the kiddos.

I was pleasantly surprised that Lilly was not afraid of the characters, she loves to pose with all of them. And even though Jacob is getting older he still likes to take pictures with the characters too, since he's a big cartoon-addict!!

This picture cracks us up...so true, so true..our very own little Tasmanian devil!!!! hee hee hee!!

The weather was good & we went on a weekday so we just walked right on to all of the rides, no waiting in line. That's one thing we've learned with amusement parks, we never go on weekends!

Click here to see all the pictures from Our Trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain!!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Aaron's First Haircut

In August Gerardo had three days of training in Long Beach. So, the kids & I tagged along (I wasn't gonna let him go alone..right Noemi??lol).

We had a lot of fun & did a lot of stuff. A lot of sightseeing, shopping and visiting family.

We were less than an hour away from my family in Oxnard, so one day while Gerardo was in training, me and the kids went to Oxnard to visit.

While we were there, we decided to give Aaron his first haircut, well, it was more of a trim than a full on big boy haircut.

My Auntie Mary had the honor of cutting my baby boy's first little curlies off. She is Jacob's Nina & gave Jacob his first hair cut when he was 9 months old. So, I knew that I wanted her to do it and this was a perfect time.

Aaron did a really great job, he didn't cry or get really fussy. He even smiled and laughed quite a bit during the haircut.

When it was all said and done, it looked pretty cute and you could still tell that he had lots of curls. Gerardo was a little upset with me because he wasn't there, and I don't think he was quite ready for our baby to get his first haircut...even though he had been bugging me about it...ugh, men, they can never make up their minds. But in the end he liked it too.

Click here to see all the pictures of Aaron's first Haircut and some pictures of a short trip to Oxnard Beach.

A few more pics of the kids in the backyard...

These are some more pictures and short videos of the kids playing in the backyard.

These pics and vids were taken almost two months ago, so Aaron was just learning how to walk.

He was still super wobbly and fell down a lot. But now he's an expert and he even runs!!

There is also a little video of my princess Lilly chasing Spike around the yard, so cute!

Click here to see all the pictures and videos!!!

Kiddos playing in the yard...

Well, the Ol' Blog has been neglected lately, but I've committed myself to getting it updated so everyone knows what's going on with us....and we don't get forgotten..LOL.

I'm going to be updating the blog very frequently in the next few days, I have a lot to cover.

I'm also slowly updating our Phanfare Albums at the same time, so please enjoy our pictures!

These pics are of the kiddos playing in the yard. We enjoyed the yard quite a bit this summer, the kids had a lot of fun playing now that we have grass. These pics were taken in August and Aaron was just learning how to walk so he's still a little wobbly in these pics!

But the wobbly steps didn't stop him from being a total daredevil on the slide!!

Click here to see all the pictures of the kids playing in the backyard!!!

Parenting Skills

OK, OK, so we've never claimed to have the BEST parenting skills in the world...and we proved it on this day when we left the tequila bottle unattended for our 1 year old to get into!!!!

But don't worry, he didn't spill it or drink it..LOL...he just played with the bottle & tried to put the cap back on!

We've learned our lesson, since he started walking and climbing, he's such a hand full. He gets in to everything and we really have to be careful now! We had to put locks on the cabinets and make sure all the doors are locked. If I leave the front door open, even a little bit, he's out there in a flash!

So, anyway, we learned our lesson...he's not quite ready for a shot of tequila...yet...




Click here to see all the pictures!

Chaffee Zoo

Last month we went to the Chaffee Zoo with the kiddos. It was pretty hot that day so we went early in the morning and left by noontime so we didn't get too hot. It was Gerardo's day off and we wanted to do something as a family before Jacob started school again and we are back to a super busy schedule!

I'm so behind getting pictures up on Phanfare, I've been so busy with the kids. Jacob and all his school stuff, Lilly & Jacob and their church groups, and of course trying to keep up with Aaron running around everywhere, he started walking a couple of weeks ago and is now running, jumping and getting into everything, everywhere!

So, I'll have to try a little harder to keep the ol' blog up to date. I have more trips and pics to share!

Click Here if you want to see all the Chaffee Zoo pics!

Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever.

Sometimes I sense a little flutter,
Like a shadow swiftly slipping by,

Or I hear a silent gentle murmur,
Like a soft whisper from the sky.

Sometimes I hear you call my name,
Or I clearly see your face before me,

And I feel that you are with me still.
Then peacefully I come to know,
As I am thinking happy thoughts of you,That you, my grandma, are thinking of me, too.

I wanted to share something special that happened last week; I took the kids to the Los Angeles Zoo. For those of you who haven't been there, it is a truly beautiful place, lots of trees and flowers, and big animal exhibits.

The kids & I walked along the paths & just enjoyed each other and all the beautiful surroundings.

At one point we were walking down an empty pathway, trees and flowers along both sides of us. We were walking in silence, Lilly holding my hand, and Jacob pushing Aaron in his stroller.

All of a sudden, Lilly stopped, Looked around, & then looked up at me & said "Mommy? Where's Grandma Chayo?" As clear as day.

It took me back a little bit & I tried to run the day through my head, I tried to remember if we had mentioned her that day, but I had been alone all day with the kids while Gerardo was in training.

Lilly didn't spend much time with her Grandma Chayo & I don't know why she happened to mention her that day. I guess we'll just believe that Grandma Chayo came to visit Lilly, if only for a second, to keep her in her little memory, so she could feel & remember her Grandma's love.

My Daredevil Son Aaron:

Aaron & Lilly have been obsessed lately with playing outside. Which I'm not too happy about in this heat, but I take them out for short periods of time so we don't get too hot!
They have their Little Tike's playground that they LOVE to play on, and my little "baby" boy Aaron has become quite the daredevil:
He climbs up the slide...THE WRONG WAY... & then slides down on his belly BACKWARDS of course..LOLOL...he usually follows with a big exaggerated laugh at the bottom of the slide. He's too funny!!