Living in Texas but Manufactured in California

Back to School

2011-09-17T11:25:00.007-05:00

Olivia's first day....

at her desk, she picked up in front by the teacher-
notice this summer she got her ears pierced and a cute short hair cut

Malaki's first day- he has to take a big back pack for the change of clothes, not quite done with the potty training part.
Olivia started the first grade this school year and Malaki started pre-school. Olivia goes from 7-45 to 2-:45 and Malaki goes to two different pre-schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He goes from 9:30 to 12:30 with our co-op with friends and then from 1 to 2:30 he's in a preschool that is helping him with his speech. Tuesdays and Thursdays are very busy days in our house.

3 years of construction

2011-09-17T11:12:00.002-05:00

Malaki turned 3 in August and I'm just now getting around to writing about it. He loves trucks, so we had a construction party! My primary colors were, yellow, green and orange.

3 things I love about Malaki...
1-the sparkle in his eye and he's always sweet but mischievous.
2-loves his family- is very good about sharing with sister (sometimes, most of the time).
3-He has worked very hard to be kind to everyone

Families are Forever

2011-07-17T17:19:00.003-05:00

We were able to go to the Dallas Temple yesterday and seal our family for eternity. It was a great day, with great people and great memories were created.

Rainbow and Unicorn Friend Party

2011-06-02T20:48:00.006-05:00

Ok... I have to toot my own horn. I've been seeing candy bars everywhere online and I've been dying to do one, so for Olivia's birthday when she asked for a Unicorn party and I turned it into a movie party... what's the best food for a movie? Candy and popcorn... my dream came true.
Menu:
jello popcorn
candy, lots of candy
water- made labels to match the theme
Super cute cake made by my friend Natalie
Unicorn horns (sugar cones dipped in white chocolate)
Rainbow cupcakes... just so I can make rainbows, it was harder then it looks and I'm glad that I had other cake.

Activities:
face painting
pin the horn on the unicorn
decorate your goodie box (rainbow take out boxes)
watched "The Last Unicorn"... a little more weird then I remembered but they watched it
Unicorn bottlecap necklaces

Teacher appreciation gifts....

2011-06-02T20:42:00.004-05:00

I saw these and wanted to make them but it just wasn't working out and did you read that I was running around crazy....

so they ended up looking like these.... I'm happy with the result. I bought frames, had some cute scrapbook paper on hand and used my trusty Cricut (love this machine) and here you go... (I did two because Olivia's teacher has been out on maternity leave for the last 6 weeks. Very within my budget : )

How busy are you today?

2011-06-02T20:24:00.005-05:00

Olivia turned 6 this week and with school ending also, made for a very busy week for me! Tuesday was her actual birthday and it started with her choice for breakfast and Tomas, Malaki and I had lunch with her at school, she thinks that only Sonic can be brought in, so that is what she requested. I later brought cupcakes to the classroom for her to share with her classmates. We also made little goodie bags for the kids and handed them out as they left the class. After school she opened family presents and she got a scooter. I had picked the Thursday (June 2nd) as her friend party because it was going to be an early day and I figured that kindergarten graduation and class party would be the last day, boy was I wrong... today turned into the busiest day ever! And of course, I was rushing around last minute for the party and making teacher appreciation gifts too boot!
6 things I love about Olivia....
1. Her smile
2. She has the greatest memory
3. She kind and loving to her brother (even when he's not)
4. She is a ray of sunshine
5. She loves animals and everyone... she always finds a friend
6. She loves to cuddle

Olivia and her class

Fun in School

2011-06-02T19:10:00.002-05:00

Valentines Day

Zoo Trip w/ her buddy Jacob

Zoo Trip

Easter 2011

2011-05-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

Getting ready for sports...

2011-03-23T23:19:00.001-05:00

We live in Texas, do I need to say more?

Early Spring

2011-03-23T21:53:00.004-05:00

All it takes is a few warm days for the trees to bloom around here and it only lasts for about 2 weeks. I thought the trees made for a pretty background, too bad the wind wasn't cooperating.**note Malaki's forehead, stitches #2

First Snow of 2011

2011-01-16T19:51:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday it snowed during Church and of course this happened 2 days after I returned the snow pants that I bought on black Friday.

Christmas Food

2011-01-16T19:45:00.004-06:00

I'm not one to brag about gifts but I will brag about food! Christmas Eve we went to the Angeli's and just us and them and a wonderful brisket dinner. I hosted Christmas brunch and I made, Monkey bread, french toast, egg strata and new for us this year, German pancakes. Then we went back to the Angeli's for dinner with Mark's side for traditional Christmas lasagna....so much great food and great company.

(cute advent calendar g-ma C sent to the kids and Olivia loved being in charge of it every day)

Christmas

2011-01-16T19:37:00.003-06:00

Christmas 2010 was a great party, to end a great year. We had some bumps this year but the year ended with great blessings, the best being employment! Olivia is really enjoying school and comes home every day with something new she learned. One thing that we added to our traditions was that she learned that in Paris (per her) kids put their shoes out on Christmas Eve, so Santa was little confused when he got to our house but it looked cute and their shoes are so small.

The tree Christmas Eve, after the kids were in bed

My mantel, I loved looking at silhouette of the birth of Christ.

Empty shoes

Morning after

2010 wrap up

2011-01-16T19:30:00.002-06:00

My camera doesn't get down loaded as often, so here are some lost photos of 2010.

Christmas Preview

2010-12-18T22:18:00.001-06:00

This is what we've been doing today....

Teeth

2010-12-03T15:51:00.001-06:00

This photo is for Aunt Jill, so she knows that we brush our teeth at our house. She'll be so proud!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T15:11:00.005-05:00

This year for our ward's Trunk 'r Treat Olivia went as a peacock and Malaki as a lion (Zoo theme, get it). Olivia won a prize for her costume and was pretty excited but not as excited as she was for getting to wear eye shadow. Malaki proceeded to strip in the first 5 minutes there and thank goodness I remembered to put a onesie underneath. Tonight we are going to Lisa's for dinner to celebrate Troy's 18th birthday and just walk her neighborhood. Happy Halloween!

A mum for the mum

2010-10-16T13:25:00.006-05:00

The south is full of traditions that we just didn't have in California and one that has caught my attention is the homecoming mum. What's a mum you ask, well let me tell you.
From Wikipedia: Mums: A tradition that has been in place for almost a century at many Southwestern American high schools, especially in Texas, homecoming dates exchange mums and garters on Homecoming Friday, to wear to school and then to the big game, while at some smaller schools students where them to the dance this is usually not the norm. These are very elaborate corsages (for the girls, usually pinned to clothing on the chest or shoulder) or garters (for the boys, worn on the arm) that consist of large flowers, they come in several sizes and shapes and the larger the better, (usually a white synthetic chrysanthemum) surrounded by a ribbon ruffle. Long ribbons, decorations and trinkets and bells are hung from the mum. These decorations are carefully chosen to indicate the students' class, homecoming date, activities, and interests, in addition to commemorating the homecoming event with decorations related to the school and the homecoming game. And in true Texas fashion, bigger is better....so what started as a joke, I made one for Lisa to wear to the Homecoming Football game. She loved it and I have to say that it was nothing compared to what we saw on the girls walking around. It's tradition to decorate with the person's interests/hobbies, so I made hers a #1 mom and decorated a ribbon for each of her kids. I think it wasn't so bad for my first mum. I'll know what to do when my kids are in High School. It was a great game and we got to see Troy sack the other team's quarterback!

An example of the more common sized mums but on the mild side....lots of lights, letters, boas and stuffed animals were seen.

School

2010-10-16T13:13:00.003-05:00

I can't really say back to school because this year is Olivia's first year in an official school. She started Kindergarten and has a great teacher. Of course, I didn't allow us enough time to walk to school, so when we got there it was time to say good bye right away and I wasn't able to get a photo of her with her teacher but Tomas got a quick shot of her sitting at her desk. It was probably a good thing that we only had time for a quick goodbye because I think it was harder on me then her to say goodbye. On the way to school, I asked if she was nervous and she said no but her stomach felt like it was going to explode... oh my funny girl! She loves school and her only complaint is that they don't let her take her shoes off and she really would like to be buying lunch every day. She was a little sad that she didn't have any of her friends in her class but she knows some in different rooms and of course she has made friends quickly, especially with a little boy named Jacob. We hear about him a lot!

on our way to school!

no looking back now....

I love the "deer caught in the headlight" look...

Little helper or just being nosy

2010-09-24T16:03:00.002-05:00

Mr Nosy needed to know what was in the bird feeder....so he helped himself

Always in Motion

2010-09-01T19:53:00.001-05:00

Tomas wanted to capture movement in a photo.

Happy Birthday Malaki

2010-08-05T15:34:00.004-05:00

2 years ago today we welcomed our wonderful Malaki into our home. He had to be different then his sister, so he come breech (resulting in a c-section for me)and was born with a complete unilateral lip and palate cleft. He's had 3 surgeries in his 2 short years which he's taken with stride. We had a little family party Sunday before grandma left town and of course we had swimming because Malaki loves the water.

Two things that I love about Malaki!

1- He has a great disposition and a mighty temper... smiles at everyone, loves to laugh

2- He mimics everyone and everything.... monkey see, monkey do

Newborn
1st Birthday

2nd birthday

Mom's jogging partner

Mini Family Reunion

2010-08-05T15:18:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we had a mini family reunion with some of the Cottrell cousins. Steven and Liz both live in Texas, so along with their families and Lisa, Cheryl, myself and mom all gathered at the Angeli's for 24 hours of fun in the sun. Our fun just happened to fall on the first day of triple digits this summer. Friday night we had a family dinner and swimming. I left early to put kids to bed but I understand the group that stayed played games and watched movies. Saturday morning we did a scavenger hunt that Cheryl was in charge of and launched water balloons. Went back to Lisa's for swimming, lunch and more getting to know each other games. While the kids played the adults sat around and shared stories about our dads and their families. A great day of getting to know each other and I'm sure the start of many more. Thanks Lisa for hosting!

First Cousins

The whole group as we left for the scavenger hunt
Water balloon launcher

Olivia helping her team

old stuff

2010-07-18T17:31:00.004-05:00

Oops... I've been bad at this blogging thing... here's some old photos

Easter 2010

yes, Malaki is drinking the dye water

May 2010

Malaki in the bottom of our stroller with his 2 monkeys

Olivia's birthday
We had a pink and black pirate party to celebrate Olivia's 5th birthday. We met at a local splash park, with 15 kids it was great that they could get wet but I didn't have to worry about kids drowning. To keep the theme, we had water, water balloon sling shot, pirate pinata and a treasure hunt. Marisa and a friend came and helped, which was fantastic, now...where do I get some teenagers of my own to be permanent helpers?

Swimming

2010-07-17T09:59:00.003-05:00

Summer means swimming around here, so it was obvious that lessons were going to be on our list of things to do. Logan has been visiting, so he and Olivia took level 2 and because I had to be at the pool for them and if Malaki is any where close to water, he's going to be in, I signed him up for a parent and tot class. Not sure if he really learned anything but he loved it! Olivia and Logan passed their level and Malaki can't move up until he's 3 but he's learned the monkey crawl, blow bubbles and pretty much in typical Malaki fashion showed no fear. For example, went down the water slide by himself, multiple times.

4th of July

2010-07-17T09:53:00.002-05:00

For the breakfast at church I got us all matching Old Navy shirts to help celebrate the 4th.

Summer

2010-07-17T09:45:00.003-05:00

Summer started with Malaki having surgery #3, more pallet work and I have to say, this has been his quickest recovery so far. 3 weeks of a liquid diet was kind of hard but lots of milk shakes, smoothies and snow cones made the weeks bearable.

waiting for his turn

the next morning, waiting to be released

Happy Birthday Olivia!

2010-05-31T08:13:00.006-05:00

In honor of your fifth birthday, here are 5 things that I love about you...

1) you love your brothers and are a great big sister to Malaki

2) you love animals, just like me!

3) you are sassy like your mama!

4) you are a great artist

5) as long as it's your idea, you'll do anything....

Sneak Peak....

2010-05-28T23:19:00.003-05:00

Here's a sneak peak of what we'll be doing tomorrow at 10am.... Can you guess who's day it is? Many thanks to Natalie for the cake... she rocked it for me!

Wild Flowers

2010-05-08T00:06:00.003-05:00

Tomas and I took pictures of the kids in the wild flowers, not sure who took what but these are some of my favorites...

Last Assignment

2010-04-09T07:59:00.003-05:00

Our last assignment for the photography class was 5 shots; 3 pictures using fill flash, 1 silhouette with no flash and 1 silhouette with fill flash. I just realized that I didn't turn in a silhouette with filled flash, oh well.... One funny thing was the other class members wanted to know how I got Olivia to sit still and pose for me, the only answer I could give was that she is a natural and she's been her dad's favorite model since she was born. What was it my mom used to say? Oh yes, Olivia has had so many photos taken she must have a flash bulb burn on her forehead....

Walk this Way...

2010-04-07T16:06:00.003-05:00

I finally got a doctor to order some physical therapy and after just 1 hour the kid is walking! She's very careful with it but very proud of herself. I got a little teary eyed watching her struggle with her fear and then overcoming it. I hope she remembers this day and know that she can accomplish anything that she puts her mind to.

Easter

2010-03-30T16:41:00.002-05:00

Because Easter falls on General Conference weekend, I dressed the kids in their Easter outfits this past Sunday and probably the weekend after too... the last photo is Malaki running to see his picture, his newest trick!

Super Fast

2010-03-30T16:36:00.002-05:00

Malaki has figured out that the camera shows the most recent photo on the back of the camera and likes to run to see his photo. Today I was taking pictures of him playing and he ran to see his photo; problem was it was before I was done taking it.

Digital Scrapbooking

2010-03-26T13:50:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about switching to digital scrapbooking and I'm trying Stamping Up's version first. This is my first "playing with the program" try....

Class #3 - Full Manual

2010-03-26T08:24:00.003-05:00

I don't think I have ever shot photos in full manual mode before now....the assignment was to shoot in full manual and re-do earlier shots of isolation and showing movement. It still takes time to set up my shots but practice makes perfect, right?

Freeze Frame

2010-03-15T09:33:00.005-05:00

Camera! Action! What's your shutter speed? Our second class was on shutter speed, how fast or slow the shutter closes. We demonstrated this by capturing action (without camera movement) which is easier said then done. A tripod became my friend this week. Our homework assignment was 3 shots where we "froze" action and 3 where we showed action with a movement trail.

Action Frozen:

"Trail action"- in my opinion, a little harder to achieve

Photo anyone?

2010-03-08T07:29:00.004-06:00

Many of you know that Tomas and I have a photography business and it's really Tomas's baby, I'm just the support staff. I do like helping him set up the shots and at least to me, I think I'm more help then hindrance. I do like picking up the camera and taking a few but I always shoot in full auto and really it's a hit and miss of what I produce. A few weeks back Tomas did a wedding and he handed me a camera (he set it up) and I just snapped away and I actually got a few great shots. And so the passion was born and I finally gave in to Tomas and agreed to take his photography class that he's been teaching at a local Parks and Rec. Our first lesson was on aperture, controlling the iris of the camera. In a nut shell, creating an isolation of a subject in a photo. We have all seen great shots of a person, or a flower and everything around it is fuzzy or out of focus. I walked around for 2 days and in my mind took some great shots but here are the ones that I turned in to my teacher :)

Olivia's Foot

2010-03-05T06:45:00.001-06:00

Olivia is still not walking, she says it hurts and that it pulls at the scab. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks. By the way, I took these cool pictures of it :)

Cute kids

2010-02-24T18:53:00.004-06:00

just some random pics of the kids- also proof that Malaki plays in the window and on the computer already. I'm convinced that he will be a hacker by the age of 10.

In "Stitches"

2010-02-24T18:43:00.003-06:00

I've been neglecting my blog, mostly because I'm lazy but I also feel like nothing is going on that is too exciting, besides a quick update on Facebook is so much easier! But low and behold we had something exciting happen, Olivia's first stitches and not the fun, crafty kind. The MD kind sewing you up kind. We are not sure exactly what happened but from what I can understand and put together is at the Primary activity, somehow she got her foot caught under the corrugated wall that is made of metal and it sliced the back of her ankle/ foot and for once my camera was in the right spot, my purse so I got to document our event. To say the least, she was not happy that I pulled it out and was taking pictures, so I only got one. She was pretty upset and wasn't her usual funny self until the local kicked in and then turned on the charm and the nurse and MD kept saying how well she was doing and how funny... I know everyone tells me how funny she is.

Side note: it's been 4 days and the wound looks great but she refuses to use the foot, her pediatrician was concerned about the bruising around the ankle and ordered x-rays to roll out a break, I'm still waiting for a call back but I'm pretty sure that it's all soft tissue.

18 months

2010-02-06T15:21:00.003-06:00

(a matchbox car in each hand)

(running away from Mom on our walk)

Malaki is officially 18 months! For church, 18 months is a milestone for going to the Nursery class (18 months to 3 years). It's a little class for this age group but because I'm the leader, Malaki has been going already, so tomorrow won't be a big deal. Our little guy is not so little anymore, well, he's still little (he's a Mendoza) but he's bigger then he was!
Things Malaki likes: cars, playing outside, running, climbing, laughing, smiling, opening drawers, eating, to just name a few things. He's speech is coming along and it seems like everyday I hear a new sound, but still only a few words. My favorite thing that Malaki does is that he plays with his toys on the windowsill in the office (it's low) and he plays with his cars and dinosaurs and watches the world. He also lays on his stomach to play with his cars. It's very cute but of course no pictures because as soon as he sees the camera he comes to investigate. He also crawls under dad's desk and turns off all the computers (more then once when dad was working) and he found an old printer in the office and he sits on the video camera bag and plays with the printer and has all the doors and buttons figured out!

Malaki

2010-01-21T19:41:00.006-06:00

I just love this picture of this cute guy, what's not to love?

Boy News:
*climbs up to my computer and plays, I now have to lock it when I leave.
*went to use my printer to find chicken nuggets stuck in it, thanks little guy!
*knows what he likes, shakes his head no or gets really excited if the answer is yes!
*runs EVERYWHERE! did I mention this kid is a boy? All boy

My Sassy Olivia

2010-01-21T19:34:00.004-06:00

Olivia is the funniest, sassy little girl I know and I love her to bits! This is how she "posed" when daddy asked to take her picture in front of a waterfall. No coaching from me at all. P.S. she dressed herself :)

Merry Christmas

2010-01-04T15:46:00.005-06:00

As always, the holidays come and went before we had time to enjoy them. I got most of my decorations up in a timely manner and our poor tree was only half dressed to discourage a little boy from touching, little did I know that a young lady would also have to touch and rearrange all the decorations. December started with snow (on the first) and mother nature wasn't done. Snow came not once, not twice but 3 times in December and for the first time ever for me, we had a white Christmas. Of course as much as cool the snow is, it just causes trouble in my opinion. We can't drive anywhere and we don't have proper snow clothes. Our original plans were for Christmas Eve dinner at the Angeli's and breakfast at our house. Due to the snow, we ended up home with just our little family, eating whatever I could put together (I wasn't planning on cooking a whole meal) and Tomas and the kids watched a cartoon Christmas special. I of course was sorely disappointed and pouted the whole night. Called my mom's and talked with my brother for a while with all the Christmas joy sounds in the background, I have never been so homesick for California as I was that moment. We got everyone to bed and Santa made his yearly appearance. Olivia was cute, in the morning she woke everyone up that "Santa had come" and she squealed with delight with everything she opened, ate or saw. It was just what I needed to be reminded that it's really for the kids. It kind of stinks to be a grown up when you just want to be a kid again. The roads weren't clear until after 10 in the morning, so Christmas breakfast became Christmas brunch. We had a great time with the Angeli's and snowed in Katie and Bryce, what a fun surprise but I'm sure they would have loved to have been home for Christmas. A first and probably last, I made matching PJ bottoms for the kids. Olivia refused to wear them so I only have a picture of Malaki wearing his. His turned out funny and were skin tight and low riders. I got a good laugh out of seeing him. I didn't make him wear them to bed, Tomas didn't think they were warm enough. I think I was in a little bit of denial of the holidays coming, I still have pumpkins on my pouch, which then became snow covered pumpkins.

Family Photo

2009-12-21T06:40:00.003-06:00

Here's just a taste of what we got...

Christmas Party

2009-12-12T12:23:00.003-06:00

We had our ward Christmas breakfast and one of the activities was to dress up as people of Bethlehem and take a picture in a stable. It was just I and the kids but it was fun :) Good food, great friends, a great morning :) Merry Christmas

November

2009-12-07T11:54:00.002-06:00

The month flew by faster then you can say "Football"! The month started with nice fall weather and ended in a cold front that brought snow December 1st. We ended up staying home for Thanksgiving and due to a spectacular win from the high school football team we were joined by the Angelis at the last moment. We didn't take pictures that day but Lisa and I put together a fantastic meal. We had turkey and ham, sweet potatoes, jello and veggies to just name a few favorite's. And of course it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without yummy desserts. I made a creamy pumpkin spice pie, bought a very yummy dense fudge chocolate pie and made soda cracker pie that is my favorite from childhood. Lisa made a very tart lemon pie and a blueberry pie. We had lots of fun and enjoyed each other's company and Mark of course got to watch some football.

15 months

2009-11-12T09:33:00.004-06:00

Malaki just had his 15 month check up and I happened to find Olivia's stats from her 15 month.

Malaki: Olivia:
weight 20.2# weight: 21.9#
height: 283/4" height: 291/2"

I'm sure I'm going to miss a few but here a few things that Malaki does:
blows kisses & gives kisses
claps and says "edwin" (the cat)
climbs on everything
puts and pulls things from the garbage (even lifts the lid)
same goes for the toilet (grosses mom out)
runs away and laughs
only sits still and lays his head on mom's shoulder when he's either hurt or super tired.
still sleeps great! (mom's favorite)

The joy of dressing yourself.....

2009-11-12T09:27:00.002-06:00

This is how Olivia left for school this morning...The best part was when she said,"I hope I don't look "rediculish" aka ridiculous

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T11:13:00.004-06:00

For a few short hours, we had an extra kitty and puppy at our house. Not "fur" real but just for Halloween. Olivia was a black cat and Malaki was a brown puppy. Malaki started the night out grumpy but once he learned that we were going to go for a walk, he was very happy. That was until he found out that kids were walking all around him and he had to join in. He didn't get the whole asking for candy thing but he liked walking up to the door and people handing him things, which he gladly gave to daddy until someone gave him a box of nerds that made lots of noise for him. He kept that one for himself.

We joined some friends to walk around and Olivia declared that every house was "haunted" and that Halloween was "awesome"! We had so many tricker-treaters that I gave most of her candy away after we got home. It was a great night for the Mendoza home.

Cute Face

2009-10-26T11:38:00.001-05:00

I just love this little face

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-11T08:53:00.004-05:00

We had a very cold, wet and very muddy trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday. We learned that Malaki can climb in and out of the wagon and Olivia is getting to the age that she's not such a compliant model for Mom and Dad anymore. Oh, by the way, Malaki is pretty much walking, has been for the last week. He still gets down and crawls but he can stand up from the ground and walk, which added to the messy day!

Unwanted visitor

2009-10-11T08:43:00.002-05:00

We live just into the country and we have a greenbelt right behind our house which has given the wonderful opportunity to be one with nature (not) and the nature I'm the least thrilled to be introduced is the snake. Especially since we do in live in an area that has poisonous ones. Since moving in 2 years ago, we have had 2 snakes in the house and 2 in the garage and 3-4 in the yard.

We have had a week of raining and the creek behind us was pretty high, so I'm sure this is why this little guy was up near us and I've never seen this one. By my research, I think it's a Texas Rat snake, if I'm wrong, I don't want to know. But it was on our outside wall climbing (I'm sure from the dogs). Tomas of course grabbed the camera and it actually got away before we could help it out of the yard. We now have snake repellent around the outside of the house.

Monkey boy

2009-09-27T00:13:00.003-05:00

Malaki has many nicknames but one that is used often is Monkey Boy. Malaki has been in a hurry to get some where since he was born. It started at him rolling over at 2 1/2 weeks and he hasn't stopped. Almost everyone that sees him crawl comments on how fast he is. He's getting braver with the walking and has almost started running, almost like if he goes faster, he'll stay upright longer. So far, it hasn't worked really well for him Recently we bought a slide for the kids at a garage sale and it's a big hit for both kids. Malaki especially likes the freedom to climb and slide down. He crawls up the slide and then when he gets to the top, slides down on his belly. If he tumbles, well that's just something that makes him laugh even harder. The best $1 I ever spent at a garage sale.

August Recap

2009-09-01T23:44:00.004-05:00

Summer of 2009 went by so fast, especially the last month of August. We started the month with Malaki's birthday (see previous post)& we had the Angeli's and some friends join us at Jump Zone, finished the swimming lessons and ended with me being sick.

*cute cake a friend made for Malaki's birthday

*this boy loves cake!

Olivia took 6 weeks of swimming lessons at the local Parks & Recreation and had a blast! The last 2 weeks Logan joined her. They kept trying to graduate her to the next level but she kept demoting herself back to level 1. I think it's because level 1 played lots of fun games and was in 2 feet of water. On the last day of each session (Olivia got to do this 3 times) they turn on the water slides and just have a fun day. For this day, level 1 kids are suppose to wear life jackets but because Olivia knows how to swim, they let her take hers off.

Mid August I was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy. I didn't realize how serious or painful it was until I did my research. I'm doing much better now but it really took me a long time to feel like "myself" and my OB says that it'll be over before I know it. As of right now I have to go into the office for weekly blood draws to check my hormone levels, I can't wait for this part to be over.

And because today is September first, it's the first day of preschool. Along with some moms from church we are doing a co-op preschool. The bad part, 10 kids, good part, my first turn isn't until January. Wish me luck!

Olivia

2009-08-05T21:48:00.002-05:00

I haven't talked about Olivia much lately but I just have to say that I love this kid!

Happy Birthday Malaki!

2009-08-05T21:31:00.007-05:00

I can't believe this little guy is a 1 year old! In this last month, he has had one more surgery (palate repair), has learned to sign for "more" and has discovered how to play cars while on his knees and my favorite, he's learned to cuddle with mommy (a little bit). He's still a mover and shaker and keeps me on my toes and he does this all by crawling, no walking yet! Malaki is a joy to have in our family and we love him more and more every day. A year ago today, my pregnancy ended with a bang, a c-section and learning to care for a little boy with a cleft. This year has been an incredible journey with Malaki and I'm so grateful that he picked me as his mom. Love you Malaki!

Today we used our home studio and took pictures of Malaki with a smash cake. He loved it! He's a true Cottrell and loves, loves frosting!

At the start

Really getting into this yummy cake

End of the cake

Palate Repair

2009-07-16T23:13:00.006-05:00

waiting our turn in a cute purple gown....

photo with Dr Obaid
Malaki had his palate repaired yesterday. This is the 2nd of many operations but we're done for a few more years. This surgery went really well but recovery has been a little more rough on Malaki and myself. I think it's due to him being a little older and more aware and the location of the surgery, the roof of his mouth. He can eat but he's on a liquid diet for 3 weeks and no bottle and he has to keep everything out of his mouth so everything can heal. It's never easy to send off your child to surgery but I'm grateful for our wonderful surgeon, Dr Obaid and the hospital staff. Dr Obaid now has hero status in my eyes, for being a wonderful gifted surgeon but for meaning it when he said, call me at any time and he meant it! At 3 in the morning it became obvious to me that the meds were wearing off for Malaki and per orders he couldn't have any more until 5. I couldn't see him lasting that long, so I asked the nurse to check. Her answer was, that we had to speak with the dr and they didn't have a number on file. So I whipped out my cell and rattled off his office and cell number and said call. She was so surprised that he answered and immediately gave a new dose of meds so that Malaki could be comfortable.

post op getting some love from mom.

11 months

2009-07-04T23:36:00.002-05:00

Wow... I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! Some of Malaki's favorite things are to: stand up at the TV, turn around and smile/laugh and then turn it off, he plays with and then pulls off the rubber stop on all the door stops, none are safe from him. He waves "HI" and makes a sound that starts with an H and is the right symbol. Speaking of speaking, he has 4-5 variations of Ma, he does, MA, MAMA, MOM, and something like MOO. He's into everything and we call him our little monkey, he climbs and gets into everything! Malaki also has decided that he's ready for big people food and eats a banana and a bowl of oatmeal everyday. Since eating solids more consistently he's gained 2 pounds, per my scale at home. As of right now, his palate surgery is scheduled for July 14th, stay tuned for more details!

More pictures with the Cottrells

2009-06-30T23:10:00.003-05:00

All the boy cousins -JJ is showing his muscles.

cousin group plus Jay

Girl cousins

My curtains that I have had for 2 years waiting for someone to come hang a curtain rod for me. I'm so glad my brother drove all the way from California to hang them for me :)

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T09:23:00.003-05:00

Happy Father's Day to my two important dads...mine and my kids.

Dad-thanks for being my dad and I know that we will be together again one day.

Tomas- thank you for being such a great dad to our children.

Summer...

2009-06-13T23:21:00.005-05:00

can you believe this mouth was born with a cleft?

first day of dance class

It's been the summer of visitors, first Jill, then Jay's family, with a sprinkle of Cheryl's family and the rumor is Grandma C is coming with the boys next month. Also on the schedule for this summer, is dance and swimming for Olivia and Malaki's 2nd surgery (palate fix) and his 1st birthday this August. I can't believe it's been almost a year since Malaki joined our family. It's been a hard year, but we made it! I almost feel like I'm graduating from from lip and palate surgeries. I know that we are not done (by a long shot) but these first two are an important step and foundation, they really set the tone for the rest of his life. I'm so grateful to our surgeon, Dr Obaid- check out his website (listed on the top left).

King Tut with Jill, Lisa and Cheryl

2nd year Anniversary

2009-06-06T20:50:00.003-05:00

It's race weekend (Texas Speedway) and it reminded me that 2 years ago, we moved into our house during race weekend. The speedway is in between us and our closest Walmart, so when we needed typical "just moved in" stuff, we went hunting for a Walmart in Denton. Hence how we first learned to find the Walmart before our church building. It was a long drive from California and kind of a stressful move, but we don't regret one moment of it. We have enjoyed living in Texas very much and feel very blessed to be here and to have the friends we have. Too many to list but most of you read our blog, so you know who you are, love you guys! It's so great to have such great friends, that share our beliefs, morals, values, hobbies and love our kids like their own. If you ever want to visit our little piece of heaven, just ask, our home is always open (for a short visit)!

10 months old

2009-06-05T10:20:00.003-05:00

How does 10 months fly past me so fast? Malaki is starting to look so grown up to me. He has 2 teeth on the bottom and 2 teeth on top, the top ones are his left front and the one next to it on the left (his left). The other side has the cleft so it's still up in the air what his teeth are doing on that side of his mouth. Teething has been very rough on him and me! He no longer sleeps all night, he's been waking up and not really wanting food, so I've been just giving him something to eat and more Tylenol. He has started eating oatmeal and lots of very small finger foods, like carrots, peas and corn. Today he had his first twice baked potato and he loved it! Speaking of love, he loves, loves the water! We really have to watch him around water because he likes to dive in!

Shout out!

2009-06-03T13:33:00.002-05:00

I have to send out a shout out to Tomas and his updated website for his photography. An exciting part is he has been teaching a digital photography class at a local Parks and Recreation and is on his 3rd rotation. The link to the website, which also has a great slide show of Malaki's progression with surgery of his cleft lip/palate is listed on the left.

Enjoy!

4 years of birthdays....

2009-05-31T09:03:00.002-05:00

Happy 4th Birthday

2009-05-31T08:55:00.006-05:00

I can't believe my Olivia is 4 already. She seems so mature and yet a little girl at the same time. We had a little tea party on Saturday, with tea, cupcakes and of course lots of make up. The girls loved putting on the makeup and putting it on each other. And because it was a princess tea party, we had crowns and wands. Olivia said her pricess dress was itching, so she just wore her shorts and t-shirt. The weather was fabulous, not too hot, with a nice breeze. Aunt Lisa brought lots of balloons that everyone enjoyed also. We love you Olivia and are so happy that you are our daughter.

Both at 9 months

2009-05-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

I think Olivia was chubbier then Malaki is at this age.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T14:55:00.005-05:00

Thank you mom for being a great mother and example to me but most of all, thank you for being the type of mother in Julie Beck's talk "Mothers who know".

Painting

2009-05-09T14:15:00.005-05:00

For my birthday, I decided that my house needed some color on the walls, we've been here for two years this June. Lisa and I painted the kitchen, dining and living room. It took us about 1 1/2 days and I'm still cleaning and putting the house back into order.

Before:

After:

I couldn't keep the cat or Olivia off the ladder....

Miss O

2009-05-06T21:42:00.002-05:00

cute photo daddy took

9 months + 1 day

2009-05-06T21:33:00.005-05:00

I can't believe I'm late with this post! I'll blame it on my painting project (a whole other story)and I'll just do it now! Malaki is getting so big and is really a fun kid. This past month he has gotten 2 teeth, now claps his hands and is pretty much saying "mama" on a regular basis. He crawls everywhere and gets into everything! He especially like to chase the cat and she's pretty good with him, just a few battle scars. He's still a smiley boy and has discovered this month that not everyone is mommy and has decided that he will save his smiles and laughs for people he sees all the time or until he has time to warm up. He went on his first wagon ride and loved it and tonight at home depot he very quickly figured out the steering wheel on the kid cart (driving already???). He also pulls himself to the couch and "cruises" and stands up in the crib and does a "happy dance" when anyone comes to save him from the crib. As always, he loves big sister and she loves him or at least until he's pulling her hair or touching her things!

An Olivia definition....

2009-05-02T09:38:00.001-05:00

After seeing a commercial for Mother's Day...

"It's Valentines for mothers"

Malaki update

2009-04-17T17:04:00.002-05:00

All about Malaki today; today he pulled himself to a standing position, holding onto the ottoman and he officially has a bottom tooth, bottom right to be exact and if my memory serves me correctly this was Olivia's first tooth too. We also saw the surgeon on Monday and we'll be looking at his palate repair in July/August.

*update: we now have 2 teeth and when I go in to pick him up after sleeping, he is standing in the crib waiting for me. I guess I need to lower the mattress!

Mustache

2009-04-17T01:27:00.002-05:00

Today Olivia and I were playing with Malaki and she asked what was on his face. After some investigating questions, I realized that she was asking about his cleft repair scar. After explaining that was a scar from Dr Obaid fixing the hole in Malaki's lip, she said, like a mustache? I told her, yea something like that. Her answer, "Like you and daddy?" My answer, "umm like daddy only".... great everyone is a critic, now I have to wax too? The kid has an eagle eye and a quicker mind, I'm so in trouble!

Mommy & Olivia date

2009-04-17T01:17:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday, Olivia and I with some friends went to a play in Fort Worth. Casa Manana has a play called "Rockin with Mother Goose" and we went just the two of us with some friends. Malaki stayed with Aunt Lisa and Olivia and I drove with her friend Meadow and her mom Jeni. The play was cute and it incorporated the nursery rhymes with music and dance. When I was preparing Olivia for the event the day before, I told her about how the actors will be on a stage and she said that she didn't want to be on a stage. She sat on my lap the whole time and told me that either that she was hungry or scared the whole hour. We had great seats, fifth row on the isle. During the play the actors came down the isle and passed right by us. Afterward we got some lunch and picked up Malaki. Later Olivia said that she changed her mind and did like the play. Maybe a new tradition has been born?

Family Easter Photo

2009-04-12T23:06:00.001-05:00

Olivia

2009-04-07T23:23:00.004-05:00

Olivia is a blessing to me every day and I thank my Heavenly Father for sending me her and Malaki. We've had a few learning opportunities this week and I had to write them before I forget.
Sparkles our cat disappeared Sunday and Olivia was very upset that Sparkles was missing and I talked to her about praying for help. We added Sparkles to our family prayer and the next morning I added my own to please let Olivia's kitty come back. Well, late Monday night, I had just returned from the store and here comes our kitty, very slowly up to our home. I could tell right away that our kitty was in pain and just not herself. Olivia is over the moon and said, Heavenly Father answered my prayers, making a mother proud. This afternoon (Tues) Olivia and I took her to the vet and after knocking her out and shaving her tummy (where she acted the most sensitive) it is believed that she was injured by a dog bite because you can see bruising. She's getting better and I'm sure in a few days, she will be back to her old self again.

Tonight Olivia and I had the following conversation:
O: mom, do people keep babies?
M: (thinking, what is this child asking and what has she learned)yes, people keep their babies.
O: grandma didn't keep you and you belong to me
M: (laughing under my breath) well, I grew up and I left grandmas house so I could be your mommy.
the rest of the conversation was about how her grandma was my mommy, it's a common topic around our house.

I thought I could pull a fast one on Olivia and give her car seat to Malaki. My plan was to get a new car seat cover (many thanks to Katherine) and then the transition would go smoothly. All was good until Olivia looked at the straps and said, "hey, that's my car seat". Thank goodness she doesn't mind sharing (at least at this moment). Also, I think the "new brother" thing is wearing thin for her. Now that Malaki has turned into a "grabber" and touches her things, she's not so much enjoying him. At least she's not hitting him (yet)!

learning to write

2009-04-07T10:04:00.002-05:00

Olivia has been practicing her writing.

8 months old

2009-04-05T19:22:00.004-05:00

This has been a busy month for Malaki. He started the month out learning to sit up and learned to crawl about the middle of the month and has pretty much spent the rest of the month perfecting his crawl. Last night he climbed all over Tomas as he laid on the floor and today I saw him pull himself up to his knees. One funny move is that he lays on his stomach and then gets up on his toes, like a modified push up pose. When he first learned to crawl, he wouldn't leave the carpeted area but now he ventures onto the tile and follows me around the house. Here he is sporting my new headband. He also has started to reach for me and when I undo his car seat he pulls forward as to say, "get me out of here".

Happy 5th anniversary

2009-03-20T16:46:00.005-05:00

It seems like we have been married forever and at the same time like it just happened yesterday. In 5 years we have: made 2 kids, bought a house, moved across the country, adopted 1 dog and 1 cat, bought a "family car" aka mini van, killed 1 fish and unimaginable amounts of bugs and we have loved every minute of it (or at least smiled like we did). Thanks for the best 5 years of my life, Te quiero mucho!

Called on a Mission

2009-03-15T16:55:00.004-05:00

Our primary is having a missionary activity this Saturday so they passed out mission calls today. Olivia was called to the Romania Bucharest Mission and is to report to the MTC this Saturday. She told me that is sounded boring but I'm very excited to have a missionary in the family, even if it's for only an hour and half.

Spring Break

2009-03-14T15:23:00.008-05:00

We had Logan for his spring break and Tomas took Wednesday off so we took the kids to the science museum in Dallas. The kids enjoyed the exhibits, especially the dinosaur room. Down stairs is a kid section, all hands on and the kids really enjoyed looking at bugs, playing in water, dressing up as firemen (Olivia kept yelling, "Fire in the Hole", I guess she thinks firefighters say this?) and there is a play barn with ride on tractors and a cow to milk.

Which one is which......can you tell?

2009-03-10T12:08:00.000-05:00

Bunny Hop

2009-03-10T08:22:00.001-05:00

Malaki has been getting up on his knees and rocking, more and more as he gets closer to the all important crawl. His latest addition to his moves is once he's up he hops on both knees. I'll try to get it on video because its hilarious.

7 months

2009-03-05T20:53:00.003-06:00

Our little Malaki is 7 months today. What a little character he is, he loves to laugh, gets excited when he sees his family and always has a pat on the back for his dear old mom. What's exciting to me is that for the first time I have a kid in the 50 percentile in height, in fact he's worn out the toes of one of his pjs. He's also sitting up and I've caught him getting up on his knees a time or two, I'm sure he'll be crawling in the next month or so. Still no teeth but he's working on it, his mouth is a facet and he always has his hands in his mouth.

February....

2009-03-02T14:17:00.006-06:00

February isn't one of my favorite months, it goes by too fast, is still too cold and it's over before I know it. But I do love Valentines day and this year we had a dinner at the Angeli's and I made a yummy strawberry cake with white chocolate frosting and yes I dipped the strawberries in chocolate and made them into little tuxedos (I know, I'm talented...LOL). Another reason this month passed so quickly is that I had my turn teaching preschool. 7 kids including Olivia for 3 hours, twice a week. Our curriculum is based on the ABC's and I had X, Y and Z. For x, we talked about x-rays (I'm so impressed that Olivia knew all the body parts that I had x-rays for, maybe she will become a doctor???), we drew our own x-rays, made x's with our bodies (jumping jacks)and for a whole day we were pirates (x marks the spot). For Y we did yoga, yodeling (we watched Julie Andrews on the Muppet's singing "The Lonely Goat herder" with the Muppet's)and yo-yo's and of course we ate yogurt. This week is my last week and for Z, we are going to learn about Zoo's, zippers and zebras.

Olivia: keeps me on my toes and my whole day is her either driving me nuts with her stubbornness or making me laugh with her silliness. She continues to be a budding photographer and is a great big sister to Malaki. Her latest funnies is a) she refuses to touch anything in the bathroom because she doesn't want her hands to be dirty and b)(as she's petting the cat) is counting off the ways to love a cat- 1, scratch her under the chin, 2, scratch her belly, 3, scratch between her ears, all demonstrated while talking. Speaking of talking, this kid talks a mile a minute and notices everything.

Malaki is getting bigger and bigger and I know this isn't impressive to some of you tall folks out there but he's in the 50 percentile for height, that's huge for my family of short people. Just this last week he's pretty much sitting up (doing the tripod sit) he just prefers to play and be on his tummy. He's not crawling but wiggles backwards (many times I find him stuck under a chair). He saw the cardiologist today and his echo shows the same numbers as he had 3 months ago, so she's pretty confident that it's not going to progress any further and we have our next check up in 6 months. He has really perfected his M and H sounds and quite often as he's babbling in his crib we hear "mama" and "ha".

Spotlight

2009-02-08T20:16:00.006-06:00

First, I'm very sad that Olivia wouldn't let me take her picture for this event and keeps telling me to "stop talking about it, it's a secret." Our primary have the children fill out a questionnaire about their favorites and every week they pick one child and read their answers and the last child standing is the "spotlight". When I picked up Olivia from her class, she showed me her spotlight red plate. I don't know all of the questions but from what I remember I asked her what her answers were. Favorite primary song: she said the Happy Birthday song. Favorite vacation: she told me, McDonalds. How many siblings: 2 Malaki and Logan and she kept saying, Maggie, Lucky and Sparkles (her two dogs and cat, so I think one of the questions is about pets.

The poem on the back reads:

You are Special

Today you will on this special red plate, because it is a day to celebrate: "Celebrate what?", you say. We celebrate you, today is your day! You are special, there is no one like you. No one can do the things that you do. From your smile to your charm all the way to your toes. Every hair on your head and even your nose. You were created special by someone above. He created you in his image with great care and love. Someday when you are sad and want to cry, please remember, you are a child of the most High. Here Ye, Hear Ye, all that sits with this royal Child of God. Tell him/her something about them that will make them feel special and loved! We love having you in primary! You are special to us.

I tried telling Olivia what makes her special to us and she wouldn't sit for it, so here I write it... Olivia is the funniest kid I know! Just today after hearing that her dad was sick in bed, she said, "daddy has a bad case of the germs". Olivia is very smart and I love that she has taught herself to write her name and she adds a "H", it's really a sideways capital I. Olivia is a very good big sister, she loves Malaki and is very helpful with him, and makes sure everyone she meets, gets to know her brother, she introduces him! Olivia also, always smiles, makes up songs and sings them and loves animals. Olivia thank you so much for coming to my home and making me your mother, I love you very much!

Funny Olivia

2009-02-05T14:02:00.003-06:00

There is not a day that goes by that Olivia doesn't make me laugh. I try to remember them all but it's kind of hard, it's just the way our day goes.

*examples
M: Olivia say excuse me, you just cut in front of me
O: why, I didn't fart?
The kid needs to learn that you say excuse me for more reasons then just farting...

vocabulary word:
"mom, ice cream is yummy and delectable...where did you learn that word? The TV"

This is what happens when you leave the room and your almost 4 year old has a glue stick and paper....

6 months old

2009-02-05T13:54:00.003-06:00

How is it that my little boy is half a year old already? He's such a sweet little guy, with the cutest little smile. Malaki loves life right now and my favorite expression of his love is when he wakes up and is talking to himself and then when he sees me, he gets so excited and it shows in his eyes, his smile and body movements as all limbs are moving, shaking and trying to show how excited he is to see mama! He's making more sounds and is starting with the "m" sound, so it sounds like mama but it's vocalizing right now. He's still a fantastic sleeper, can we say 10 plus hours at night, I love this kid! Malaki is also working very hard on learning to sit up, he does about 10-20 seconds and then falls over and does a face plant into the floor.

Ice Storm 2009

2009-01-28T22:00:00.002-06:00

We've had the pleasure of being home bound for the last 2 days. Monday started turning cold mid morning and by Tuesday morning we had freezing rain. Tomas got to work from home Tuesday and Wednesday, which is nice because the roads are horrible and he works all the way in downtown Dallas. Olivia and I kept ourselves busy with art projects, baking cookies and playing basketball (using a wastebasket as the basket). Pretty much we are bored and ready to join the rest of the world. Side note: you know it's cold outside when you offer to let the dogs go outside and they hesitate and they look at you with sad eyes as if to say, please don't make me go out there.

Photography

2009-01-16T15:15:00.004-06:00

I don't talk about Tomas often but I'm very appreciative of my husband. My partner in crime works very hard to provide for us and continues to look for ways to increase our revenue. Many of you know that he's been a photography hobbyist for some time and has slowly been trying to take it to the professional level. Recently he's updated our website with some of his work and has taken on a few jobs. He has also submitted to a local city's Parks and Recreation department a proposal to teach a digital photography class, at press time he's in negotiations with them. His most recent photos (last night) a friend and neighbor, who has a online baby boutique, asked Tomas to take some photos of a new item for her website. If I do say so myself, I think they turned out really cute, here is the link to his photos.

Preschool

2009-01-16T15:01:00.003-06:00

Olivia has been in school since August 08 and really enjoys getting to be like a big kid and bring a back pack, seeing her friends and all the fun activities (art, cooking, parties) that she gets to do. Her latest funny thing is at the end of songs she adds, "and a Happy New Year", the circle time song at school also gets her special ending. Here are some photos that one of the teachers sent out, our themes are based on the alphabet letters and the photos are from the week of "R" and if you can't tell, she's washing and painting her rock. Also, starting in January of this year, we (all the moms) are now taking a turn teaching. My turn will be the last 2 weeks of February and the 1st week of March, wish me luck, 7 kids have to kept occupied for 3 hours, twice a week. My theme letters are "x, y and z".

Sunbeam

2009-01-05T14:50:00.002-06:00

Olivia moved up in Primary to the class called Sunbeams. I thought I prepared her but she had a hard time with the new changes and I ended up sitting in one of those ridiculously small chairs. I'm not sure if my tush will forgive me for that for a long while! The good part, Olivia actually let me dress her up for her first day!

5 Months Old

2009-01-05T14:47:00.003-06:00

Malaki is getting bigger and bigger and is just the cutest little guy a mother could have! He's recovering very nicely from surgery and smiles all the time. He absolutely loves the exersaucer.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

2009-01-05T14:36:00.003-06:00

January already??? We had a great, quiet Christmas this year. We had Christmas Eve dinner with the Angeli family and watched the Funniest Commercials of 2008, came home and made sure Olivia and Malaki were asleep so Santa could come. Christmas morning was great, the kids still sleep in, Malaki woke everyone up when he woke up for his morning feeding at 7:30am and after opening our presents, the Angeli's came over for brunch and present exchange.
Brunch menu:
sticky bun french toast
sausage and mushroom breakfast casserole
OJ, apple cider, milk
Fruit salad

Spent the rest of the day being lazy and enjoying our family.

New Years Eve, the Fraziers came down to the Angeli's and we enjoyed lots of yummy food and each others company. The adults went to dinner the following night to celebrate Cheryl's birthday. We have been very blessed this year, with the arrival of Malaki, a sucessful 1st sugery for him, Olivia's continued growth and enjoyment of life and Tomas having a job when employment is hard to come by these days and I get to stay home with my angels. We can't wait to see what 2009 is going to bring to our family.

Budding Photographer

2008-12-29T13:06:00.002-06:00

Santa brought Olivia her own camera and here are some of her masterpieces....

Naughty List

2008-12-29T09:22:00.004-06:00

I haven't talked about Olivia for a while, sorry, kind of been busy with Malaki. My mom was able to come out for Malaki's surgery and it was really great to see her again for a quick visit for the holidays and of course she brought gifts with her. Olivia asked to open her gift every hour of every day with the answer being no and to wait for Christmas morning. About 2 days before Christmas I was walking by the tree after taking a shower and I noticed that there wasn't any presents under the tree any longer, so I called for Olivia and walked into her room to find this:

After a time out and saying sorry I just put the presents in my room, so they were no longer a temptation, Olivia asked if she was still on Santa's naughty list, daddy and I told her that because she told the truth and repented for opening the presents that no, she was no longer on the naughty list. She was very happy to hear that Santa was still coming to our house.

Malaki Update

2008-12-18T22:57:00.005-06:00

My sweet little guy did so well. Yesterday (Wednesday) was a long day for us all but he looks wonderful! He's eating like a champ already and I've even gotten a little smile out of him once or twice. The stitches come out on Monday but he'll have to wear arm bands (called no nos) for 6 weeks to prevent him from touching his mouth. Olivia is very concerned about his mouth and wanted to know what "those black dots were". We explained that the doctor fixed his hole and those "black dots" were called stitches. She's loves her brother and gave him a sweet kiss on his head and reminds us all to "not touch his mouth".

Here he is waiting for his turn. They gave him this cute shirt to wear that says the hospital's name on it. By the time this picture was taken Malaki was very hungry and it was another hour before they took him back. It was very hard to hand him over but it was well worth it!

This was taken tonight when we got home, so a little over 1 day post op. I love his new little mouth.

I love his new profile, can you tell that I just love this kid?