Can't believe it's already December

So much happened last month that I should have posted more often than I usually do. Time is going by so fast. Justin's mom came to visit us, and it was so nice to have her here. Even though there isn't a lot to do in Urbana, we had a great time enjoying each other's company, and I think she had a good time just getting to see where we live and what we do in our everyday lives. The kids were so happy to have her here. Alan wanted to be with her all the time; he would walk in the bathroom when she was doing her hair and sit on the toilet just watching her, at night he would ask her it he could sleep with her. It was really cute seeing how happy he was to have her here. We got to enjoy some nice fall weather and we were able to take the kids to the park to play with the fall leaves right before it got too cold to go out. She's gone now, but we thank her so much for coming to visit us. Hopefully we'll be together again soon.

We put up our Christmas tree really early this year since we are going to Dubai so early in December. Before we put up the ornaments on it Alan decided to decorate it with a bunch of his toys. He put up Legos, balloons, cars and a lot of different things on it. He was really excited about it; here's a little picture of it.

It finally snowed here last week and it was so much fun. We went out and played with the snow for a while. The kids made snow angels, ran on the snow, made snow balls and just had a blast playing with it. Alan was also having a blast trying to ride on Eric's little motorcycle on the snow. His big legs could barely move, but he loved riding on it. Since we were in Dubai the past two winters and it's warm even during the winter, the snow was a new fun thing for them to play with.

We're going to Dubai!!! It's already December. We're leaving in two days, and I still can't believe it. We're so excited to see Justin and finally be together again. When we come back he's coming back with us for almost a month!!! Next time I post something it will be from Dubai. I can't wait!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!

This Halloween was soooooooo fun. The kids are at such a fun age to appreciate this time of the year. A couple of weeks before Halloween my sister Arely and her kids came to visit and we had a little Halloween party. All of the kids got dressed up except for Eric who decided he didn't want to wear his Winnie the Pooh oufit and he wanted to use Alan's old Dumbo costume, at least he did dress up . We decorated the house when Justin came to visit, so everything was ready for the party. The kids decorated pumkins with pumpkin tatoos; they hit a ghost pinata and were so excited when they got all the candy from it. They had a lot of fun playing and enjoying Halloween together.

On Halloween day we were really busy. Alan went to his morning preschool all dressed up and so happy to see everyone at his school in their different customes. At school they took the kids Trick-or-Treat and got lots of candy. After that he went to his other school and I picked him up early because Eric and Alan had a Halloween party at their gymnastics class. They put up a Halloween inflatable decoration and used all the gym equipment to have a cool party for them. After that we went to Alan's school for another party and they had lots of games anf of course candy.

We ended the day going Trick or treating and it was so fun, the weather was perfect and the kids were in such happy spirits that they enjoyed every second of that day. We missed Justin a lot since it's his favorite holiday, but he had fun in Dubai as well. He had a party for the young men from church, he decorated the house and even bought eye ball ice cubes. On Halloween day he handed candy out to around 150 kids in the neighborhood.

Happy belated Halloween to everyone!!!!!!!!

Daddy's visit

It's been so long since I last posted anything and so many things have happened during that time. We were in the U.S for the summer and we were planning to go back to Dubai again in August. However, this didn't go as planned, and the kids and I are staying in the U.S this year while Justin finishes his contract in Dubai. As most of you know, Alan has some feeding and other issues, and speech and ocupational therapies are supposed to help. Therapies in Dubai are very inconvenient, especially because I would have to take Eric with us too. It's a really long drive with horrible traffic, and therapies aren't as good as they are here. In the U.S he would also be getting therapies at school; so we thought about it and decided that the best thing would be to stay in the U.S.

It's been really hard and sad not having Justin around. The kids miss him a lot; but they actually love it here. Alan goes to a preschool in the morning and to another one in the afternoon and he loves them. He didn't cry or complain at all for the first two weeks. Justin came to visit last week and he's staying for two weeks, so last week Alan didn't want to go to school because he wanted to stay with us, so I had to tell him that we were all going either to work or school and then he was ok.

The kids were so excited to see Justin even though it had only been a month since the last time they saw him. Eric was screaming out of excitement running everywhere with his hands up. Alan went to his bedroom and got a bunch of toys and told Justin he could play with them. Then he went to the fridge, got his favorite soup and yogurt and told him he could have them. Alan doesn't stop telling Justin how "proud" he is that daddy is here and how much he loves him.

We've had a really good time, especially since fall is Justin's favorite time of year. We went to Curtis Orchard and got some apple doughnuts and peach pie. We went shopping for Halloween stuff and decorated the house. We've been going out to eat to Justin's favorite places and we're having a great time having him around.

He's going back to Dubai next Thursday. The kids and I will go see him in December and then he'll come back with us for all of January, so it won't be that bad. I think we made the right decision, and even though it's hard for everyone, we're getting used to our routine and are trying to make the best of it.

Our trip to Mexico City

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time, but my life has been crazy with the kids lately. Around 3 weeks ago some issues came up and my mom, the kids and I ended up going to Mexico City. I hadn't been to Mexico in over two years and it was so nice to be back and to show the kids the place where I grew up (I guess I should say Alan, because Eric doesn't realize anything yet, I just don't want to exclude him). We had some really nice days, it didn't seem very polluted and this was our view from the hotel. I love the way the houses look all colorful.

I ended up realizing how much I like to be in Mexico City, even though I don't really get homesick anymore, especially since my parents live in the US now. It was so fun to drive in the crazy traffic again, to eat my favorite food, to go to the places that I used to go and to be around people that are so nice and helpful. Being from Mexico I always hear foreigners talk about how Mexican people are so warm and I always wandered what they were talking about (especially in Mexico City); but this time, not being there in such a long time and coming from the Middle East it was a big shock, everyone we came around was so nice and always trying to help in whatever way they could and in such an efficient way.

We got to see some or our closest relatives that we hadn't seen in years and Alan and Eric got to play with their cousins and they had a lot of fun. We also got to see my brother's son Diego, he's so cute and it was so nice to be able to hold him after such a long time.

We also went to a place called Piccolo Mondo and the kids had a blast. They had a room full of sand and sand toys to play with, they had a little train that went around, a snow slope made out of carpet that Alan loved, Alan got to paint a ceramic Spiderman face and to row a boat on a little pool and Eric had a lot of fun playing with the toddler games they had.

I also took the kids to the house where I grew up. I moved there when I was four and lived there my whole life. We couldn't go inside because my parents are renting it to someone else, but being there brought back such happy memories of my life in Mexico.

I hope we can keep going back to Mexico even if it's every once in a while, so that the kids get to know where their mom comes from.

Finally some real pictures

I decided to steal some pictures from my sister's facebook posts. Since the pictures aren't mine, not everyone is in them, so I'm sorry to those who were there and aren't in the pictures, I wish I could have my own.

I loved Viviane's wedding, it was so cute, here are the pictures.

The trip to Orlando was really fun too, Justin's family and my family and some of my relatives were also there, so we had a great time.

Viviane's Wedding

Now you're going to know how bad I am with computers. I've been trying to figure out what to do with our pictures from Orlando for over a week. I left the memory card reader (that I use to download pictures from my camera to my computer) in Dubai, so I was going to transfer my pictures to a CD so that I could download them. It ended up that I didn't have the memory card for my camera for some reason; I don't know how that would happen if I was able to take pictures during the whole trip. Anyway, I decided to use the CDs that my mom made from her pictures and to make a long story short, for some reason the pictures appear upside down, and the program that opens them up lets me turn them to the right position, but once I attach them to my blog they end up like this.

This is making me laugh so hard, but I'm sorry, this is all you'll be getting from Viviane's wedding until I figure out what else I can do. If anyone has any ideas please let me know, I'm desperate!!! Sorry Vivis, I wanted to make you proud but it's obviously not going to happen. Maybe you guys can just imagine how pretty the picture is if you could just look at it upside down, hahaha!!!

If you can just forget about how bad my picture looks, Viviane's wedding was soooooo fun!!!. It was a great way to end a vacation at DisneyWorld. Viviane and Robbie got married at the Orlando Temple and it was so nice to be at their sealing and hear all of the important things they tell you when you get married . . . that you kind of forget as years go by. I was so glad to meet Robbie, he is the nicest guy she could have found and I'm just so happy they're starting a life together. We love you guys!!! I promise I'll post good pictures, maybe I'll have to ask my sister Arely to forward some to me for a real post of Viviane's wedding.

Back in the U.S.

We're so excited to be back for the summer!!! The kids and I came back on April 12, and we've been incredible busy ever since, that's why I haven't posted anything for a while. We took a 15 hour straight flight to Atlanta and we stayed there with Justin's parents for a few days. After that we flew to my parents in Illinois and we were getting over the jet lag and planning the last details for my sister's (Viviane) wedding for a couple of weeks.

The wedding was in Orlando, so we got there a few days before the wedding so that we could go to Disney World (our favorite place in the world). Justin came to Orlando as well and it was so nice to be with him even if it was only for a week. It was so much fun to be there with the kids and all the family. I still haven't figured out how to get my pictures into my parents computer, but hopefully by tomorrow I'll be able to. Hopefully we'll have some fun pictures to post.

Justin's Birthday & Easter Egg Hunt Party

Justin is already 32, we can't believe how fast time has gone by, this is the eleventh birthday that we've been together. In the morning we went to one of the malls and we had lunch at TGI Fridays. I bought him a Coldstone "Cake Batter" Cake that he wanted. He LOVES Coldstone cakes, every time he gets a chance he makes up an excuse to get one and try a different flavor. Our favorite flavor is still Midnight Delight (pure chocolate....so good).

At night our neighbors, who we've been friends with since living in Indiana, came over to our house and we had cake together. Their kids and our kids were already asleep, so it was nice to actually be able to sit down and talk without interruptions. We love Justin (as Alan keeps calling him lately) and wish him the best for this year.

Happy Belated Easter !!!

This year for Easter some friends invited us over for an Easter egg hunt. Some of Alan's friends came over and we all brought a snack. I brought some cupcakes with Easter-colored frosting, and they had cookies, marshmallows, jelly beans and a bunch of unhealthy but really good stuff.

The kids went out behind the backyard to look for the very obviously "hidden eggs". Once they found them it was so fun to watch them open each egg to see what was inside of it. Alan is not very fond of candy (or any other type of food), so he opened one and that was more than enough for him. On the other hand, our neighbor George loves food and he was opening all the candy as fast as he could; plus, he is never allowed to eat candy, so I think he was trying to eat as many as he could before his mommy said it was enough. Happy belated Easter for everyone!!!!