It has been a while

It has been 5 months since my last blog post. Having a senior in high school really kept us busy. 2018 has brought me to tears many times, as well as to my knees in prayer. I don’t know how I could have made it through without my Heavenly Father. We have faced trials and temptations and have also had cherished memories at the same time. Our family has had a lot of ups and downs this year, but today I am focusing on the ups!

Senior Prom

Carlitos asked his friend Sharaya to prom this year. She is a sweet and kind of shy girl. One night back in March, when he and I were talking in the car, and he told me that he had been thinking of asking her to prom, he talked about how she doesn’t swear, dresses modestly, goes to church and is kind. That was a happy mama moment as I could see that he was looking for some good qualities (not just looks). By this, I can tell that he will be looking in the right places and for the right qualities, someday in the future when he contemplates marriage.

They had a wonderful time!

Senior Night

 

Soccer Senior Night…what can I say? This is Carlitos’ favorite sport. At this point, graduation was only a little over a month away. This event along with the Seniors’ Mothers Tea made it all become super real!  I made some mini soccer posters for the 7 graduating seniors. I put together some little gift bags too. They were simple little gift bags with a Gatorade a few candy bars or boxes of candy. I added little sticky notes to them. For example on the boxes of gophstoppers, I put a not over the “goph” part and the note said “goal.” So each of the defensive players received a box of “goalstoppers.” Boxes of lemonheads became boxes of “use your heads!” Kit kats became “Kick Kats.” If I had extra pictures of each boy that I didn’t use for the poster, I added them to the gift bags.

Soccer Banquet

 

We had a nice night at the soccer banquet. It was a nice dinner and the boys received their awards. Traditionally, the seniors give gifts to their coaches, as a way of saying thank you and goodbye. Carlitos and I put our heads together and this is what we came up with. The top slot has a full team picture and the bottom slot of the frame has a picture of the seniors with the coaches that I took on senior night. The middle slot says, “A coach takes his love for the game and instills it in you. He molds you into the player he sees inside of you. He watches your talent and dedication grow into a skill you can both be proud of. Thank you for everything coach! From your 2018 seniors.” We printed the saying on some nice cardstock and printed the pictures at home as well too. It was a nice DIY gift.

Senior Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took Carlitos’ senior pictures in 3 different sessions. I really enjoyed doing it, although it was hard to find time with our busy family of 8. However, I think it was a good experience and I can’t wait to do more sessions with him. I already have another one in mind, but for now it is a surprise.

Jose’s Creativeness

Jose and his BFF Jonny had this final project due toward the end of the school year. It was the second to the last week of school and we already have family in from out-of-state for Carlitos’ graduation. Jose and Jonny worked very hard on this piñata. He even missed out on some of the fun family activities that we were doing with our visitors to stay home and work on this. It was a super busy week and I was proud of both boys.This pokeball piñata came out really cool looking! As part of their grade, their piñata had to stand the test of a few teachers taking turns hitting it. The hard work they put into the piñata paid off, and it passed the test. A+ for Jonny and Jose!!!

If you have a Pokemon lover or, you are looking for ideas for a school piñata project, this would be a great idea for you.

 

Graduation

Many, many pictures were taken at Carlitos’ graduation here are the three I chose to add to the blog. I love my boy with all my heart and I am proud of him.

Last Day of School

 

Ashley, Emily and Jose all had their last day of school, exactly a week after Carlitos graduated. This same day, Carlitos started a new job with a construction company. 🙂

 

 

 

Father’s Day

I had this idea to make something for Carlos for Father’s Day, that he could put up in his workshop or down at the mill. I told the girls about it, and of course they were on board. We picked out everything we needed at the store (wood, wood glue or crazy glue, mini clothes pins and paint). After laying everything out, we needed the perfect center piece. We found this awesome printable at Shanty-2-chic. We printed it off on some leftover card stock that we had from the coaches’ gifts that we had made earlier in the month and it all came together well.

 

 

 

The Little Things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes the little things that we do during the summer can be just as fun as some of the big things we do. This morning, the kids strung cereal onto ribbon and made necklaces. This activity was mainly for David as it is an activity we do for home school 3 school, but the girls were delighted to join. Making cereal necklaces was also on our fun summer ideas lists as well. I love the David’s expressions of concentration in his pictures.

 

 

 

David turns 4

 

 

 

 

David still loves Thomas the Train, so we had a small cake and ice cream party for him with a piñata. For decorations, I just blew up some matching colored balloons and arranged them inside and outside the house. We started off with cake and ice cream served on Thomas the Train plates. We also had some Thomas Juice and James Juice (Hawaiian Punch). I printed off some pictures of Thomas and James and wrote, “Thomas Juice” and “Percy Juice” on them. The we let David open presents, and last we did the Thomas piñata. We had cute little Thomas bags with Thomas party favors for the younger kids who are closer to David’s age. The older kids just had regular candy bags. I also printed off some different Thomas and Friends coloring pages, but we ended up running out of time. So, we sent them home with the kids instead. This was a nice and easy birthday party! I love my David Felipe so much. He brings joy into my life.

Emily turns 7

For Emily’s birthday, we did an experience instead of a party this year. She has been wanting to go to build-a-bear, so we decided to make a day out of it. We headed out-of-town and had

 

lunch at Sizzler.

Then we headed to the mall and hit the Disney Store. The kids were so excited to see all their favorite movie characters in one place. The store usually has some fun little things to do, like the princess dress up castle (where the girls are shown above) and there is a cute little couch where kids could catch some glimpses from Disney Movies. While we were there, the Little Mermaid was playing. (One of my favorites!) Each of the kids were allowed to pick one thing from the Disney Store. If you do either of these experiences for your child’s birthday, be sure to mention to the people at the store that it is your child’s birthday. Each store will give them a little surprise!

Next up was Build-A-Bear Workshop. I would say this was  is pretty fun for the kids. They each were able to pick out a bear. I wanted them to choose something classic, that way they would always like it. Pic 1: the kids after the picked out their bears. Pic 2: Emily with her birthday sticker waiting patiently for her bear to be stuffed with fluff. Pic 3: Emily with her new friend, named Rainbow. Pic 4: David pushing the pedal that pumps the fluff into his bear. After their bears are ready, the get to pick out clothes and accessories, then print out birth certificates. Pic 5: was the girls after printing out their birth certificates and posing at the cute backdrop that the store offers. Emily was pleased with her birthday experiences! It was different from a party, but it was still a nice day that we spent together as a family celebrating our sweet girl!

Soccer

 

 

 

 

 

Of course our summer was full of soccer. Both Ashley’s team and the boys’ team competed in two tournaments each this summer. The boys also played in the men’s league with their dad, Carlos again. This summer, Carlos put together his own team, which was kinda cool. It was time-consuming and a little expensive, but I am glad that the boys have had the chance to play a full season on a team with their dad. Not many can say that they were able to do that.

Well, I am hoping to get back to blogging on a weekly basis again. Sometimes it can be hard to do during the tough times. I do like being able to look back and focus on the positive instead of the negative. If we try hard enough, we can always find joy during one’s trials.