Wow. It's been a long time!

Howdy all! It's been a while since the last post.

In the last 9 months, Chris and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary (now we're almost to 7), Christopher played on his first T-ball team, we lost one amazing woman, Benjamin turned 2, we went to the beach, the boys started school, I became an aunt again!!!, Christopher turned 4, we dressed up for Halloween, we ate lots of Thanksgiving turkey, we decorated the house for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas, we rang in the new year, Christopher informed me he would be turning 5 this year...holy cow!, we wore shorts in January, we registered Christopher for his next T-ball season, and now we're about to celebrate Chris' birthday.

Hopefully, we'll be catching up and filling in a few of the details from the last 9 months since our last post in the next few weeks...I guess I should go tell Chris he has a few blog posts to write...

Since it's been so long, here are a few of the boys' school pictures. They were taken November 2011.

Crazy Pop!

CRG and Cousin A enjoying the making of "crazy popcorn". Anytime cousin A comes over it's one of there favorite things to do. They actually ate all of that popcorn by themselves!

Cascerones!

Ever since I was little we would spend a few months out of the year eating a lot of eggs getting ready for Easter. The egg would be carefully cracked so only a small hole at the top was made. Then the saving would begin. Hopefully, by the time Easter approached you had enough eggs to do some serious damage to your family.

This year Katy and I made Cascarones, otherwise known as confetti eggs, for the first time. After serious egg eating we ended up with nearly 10 dozen perfectly cracked egg shells. Katy and the boys dyed every egg, with some help from cousin A.

CRG and BJG had lots of fun hanging out with Cousin A and prepping all the eggs for confetti. Of course we left that for Katy and I to do. Can you imagine the mess of 2 3years old and a 1 year old trying to fill 120 eggs with confetti? Instead, just 2 days after completing this project they were all smashed except for one straggler. We'll see when that one comes out....and who deserves it the most! Hope everyone had an outstanding Easter!

The Ice Cream Truck

Remember when you were a little kid and you would hear the ice cream truck off in the distance? I remember running inside and seeing how much change I could corral in the cushions or find laying around. Then all the kids from the street would emerge about the same time, listening carefully trying to find what direction the ICT was coming from. If you were able to come up with about a buck you could seriously do some damage and get whatever you wanted.

Hello 2011. Who knew a bomb pop could cost $2.25? I'm almost certain I could by a 6 pack of them at HEB for about $3. I know, I know...it's the novelty of buying from the ice cream man, but that novelty wears off real quick when you lay down a $5 for 2 bomb pops, get 50 cents back and watch as about 1/3 of the popsicle actually gets eaten while the other 2/3 ends up on the face, ground, shirt, chair, dog's mouth....well, you get the picture.

Granted, this was the first time for the boys to get something from the Ice Cream Man. Next time we hear that evil sound spewing from the his speakers I'll be sure to stay inside.

The "Radio" and "Carnivum"

Say what? The Katy Rodeo and Carnival are coming this week. Around these parts they're known as the Radio and Carnivum. CRG has been looking forward to this for a long time. Last year, he was sick when everything came to town so we missed it. I'm warning everyone now....he's been training for the stick horse race for two years now. What have you done lately to become a champion?

This past weekend was pretty un-eventful. CRG had baseball practice and I was able to rake about a quarter of our back yard. How is that we only have one little tree, but our whole backyard is full of leaves. Oh yeah, thanks neighbors. Is it kosher if I rake them in piles and put them over the fence? I mean, I'm just giving back what is rightfully theirs...right?

Speaking of neighborly neighbors....does anyone have experience with neighbor dogs who don't quit barking? Seriously, they never stop. Never. Do I buy bark collars, put them on their door step, then ring and run? It's to the point we don't like to let our dogs out because WWIII happens at the fence. Suggesstions?

Thanks for listening. Don't worry, I'll make good on that picture promise real soon. Don't be too greedy, you just got 3 posts in less than a weeks time.

....Think Big! Work Hard! Have Fun!

$500 Monopoly Dollars to the first person who texts Katy or I with the musical group who sings that tune. Ready, Go!

Last Friday was my 31st birthday. Just another day really, but it may have been my best birthday yet. Why you ask? First, I was off as I hadn't started my new job yet so I was able to spend the day with my wonderful fam. The day started with breakfast at my mom's: chorizo, beans, potatos, tortillas...Yum! Katy and I went home and just hung out for the majority of the rest of the day.

The fun started that night. For Christmas we bought CRG tickets to his 2nd concert, Imagination Movers-Live from the Idea Warehouse! We took CRG to this concert a little more than a year ago, but I don't think he really knew what was going on. Since we all know how impatient 3 year olds can be we didn't tell him where we were going until after we parked at the Verizon Wireless Theatre. He was excited and couldn't wait to get in. Last year, the place was packed. This year, the place was half empty. It was actually nice. We pretty much had a whole row to our self which gave CRG, err Katy and me, plenty of room to dance. Seriously, it was one the best birthday nights ever. Choo Choo Soul opened for IM and put on a great show. Of course the Movers had the place hopping all night. We were fortunate enough to get a high five from Mover Rich during the show. Afterwards, we took CRG to the stage to show him all the musical equipment the Movers used. CRG received a guitar pick from one of the stage hands while we were down there which made his day. Even though CRG didn't dance as much as some kids, or his parents, he still had a great time.

I'm sure some would rather spend their birthday at bar with shots or out with friends, not that there is anything wrong with those things. Seriously though, I wouldn't trade my life for anyone elses right now. I had such a fun time at a kids concert filled with toddlers. To see CRG's eyes light up the way they did - it was all worth it. Birthday, it's just another day really. What are you going to do with your day to make it great?

Where have you guys been?

Wow, I can't believe it's been since August since we've seen you. It's amazing how life happens so quickly. I apologize for being so distant lately, but this is a two-way relationship you know. I haven't heard from you either.

Here's a quick synopsis.

CRG turned 3 - Holy cow!!

Football season has come and gone since we talked last. I had a good one, how about you? Lots of tailgating was done and many good times were had. I was able to go to the Cotton Bowl this year as the Ags somehow laid another egg on national t.v./bowl game.

Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went. Isn't it amazing...the build-up for holidays is huge. Then, in a matter of hours it's gone. Before you know it Valentine's Day candy and cards are in your local store. What...V-Day already passed two? Shoot!

BJG is 1 1/2. He and CRG are pretty much the same size now....that's awesome.

Recently BJG defended himself for the first time against CRG. CRG didn't know what to do and all I could think of was, "It's on now!"

I turned another year older and Katy is getting ready to.

I started running again. Thanks goes to those that are willing to meet at 5am!

I also started a new job recently, so here's my plug. I'm still doing the same thing, but now for a major company. If you have the need to purchase a home or refinance your current one please give me a buzz.

I know, I know...all of you are saying, "what are all these words? we want pictures!" Well, let me see what we can do. I PROMISE to be back soon. With pictures in tow.

Peace!

BJG turned 1!!! (5 weeks ago)

Like I mentioned in past posts, we have a lot of catching up to do. Why don't we just start from the top. Hello, we're the Garcia's......and you are?

BJG turned 1 on July 23rd. I'd always heard that time flies when you have kids, but I didn't expect it to go so quickly. It seems not long ago, we welcomed CRG to this world....now, he has a buddy to grow up with. BJG's first year absolutely flew by. We're so glad that our friends and family were able to celebrate his birthday with us.

BJG's day started very early with a surprise visit from Grandma. And of course, she couldn't come empty handed. Luckily for us, we didn't have to make breakfast! A gourmet feast of donuts and cinnamon rolls were had by all!! And yes, that's a candle in that cinnamon roll.

Birthday Cinnamon Roll!
FIRE!!!

Katy decided to make BJG's cake. Well, she has this little motto, "Go big, or go home", and she means it! Katy went way above and beyond this year with her creations. After lots of research, she decided to do an ocean theme with a turtle cake for BJG and an ocean for everyone else. Katy made the cakes on BJG's birthday (Friday) since his party was the next morning. CRG was definitely interested in helping out. For those of you who ate the cake, this next picture was taken after everything was baked....I promise!

The party was lots of fun. The little ones played in a baby pool and on a slip-n-slide. BJG, CRG and their buddies enjoyed the water while we enjoyed watching them.

Turtle, Turtle!
The Beach Cake

Is that cake for me?
The Fam
What do I do with this?
Ohhhh! Fun!!!

Please enjoy out little peek into our world. Hope you enjoyed it!!

BJG's 1st Haircut

Here comes what I hope to be a flurry of blog spots. We're going to try and go in chronological order so today I give you BJG's 1st Haircut.

On June 17, BJG went in for his first hair appointment. Yes, he had an appointment for a cut. Thankfully, we know someone who does hair and is great with our little ones. Thank you Christina!!

BJG's Before Shot with Mom
Be still BJG, be still.
You're going to cut around my ears??!!
So when do I sit under that dryer thing?
Just about done....
Ta Da!! He looks like a million bucks!

Thanks for letting us share a little bit of us with you. Hopefully, this is just the first in a series of new posts. We look forward to hearing from you!!

Wow....

Has it really been that long since we've let you in to our little world?

Stay tuned.....

Summer Fun - 4th of July

It's been so busy for us lately, how about you? Maybe that's what happens when you have kids who are old enough to play and want to do things. Don't get me wrong, we've enjoyed every minute of it, but I'm tired!

BJG has had a slew of "firsts" recently. First pool party. First 4th of July. First time climbing the stairs. First Oreo. And so on.....Oreo, you say? Must have been Dad, huh? :)

We spent most of the 4th with my family. Burgers, sausage, dogs, watermelon, slip-n-slide. Yep, it was a pretty good day! That evening we met Jim and Avery at the Falcon Point Clubhouse to watch the Katy Mills Fireworks. We had an awesome view and the kiddos loved it. Last year, CRG was still a little scared of the noise that fireworks made. He absolutely loved them this year! He also loved having his cousin Avery there too! They danced and ran around all night....then crashed hard! Thanks to Aunt K for spending the day with us. We're so glad that you came out and hung out all day!

First Pool Party
First Oreo
Random picture of how BJG eats.
Getting ready for fireworks
Watching fireworks!
Fireworks

We hope you had a wonderful Independence Day and have had a great summer so far! See you soon!

Father's Day and a few pics

Father's Day 2010 was a good one. I woke up to two boys on top of me with a card that had CRG's recorded voice saying "I wuv you, Daddy". It was the greatest card. Ever. After an enjoyable breakfast and morning of fun we headed to my mom's house for lunch with the fam. Grandma's fried chicken was had by all followed by too much dessert...as always.

I even played a little sand volleyball with my uncle's church league Sunday night. I thought for not touching a volleyball for almost 2 years I did pretty well. I definitely had a lot of fun.

Here are a few pics to hold you over until next time.

CRG and BJG having a good time.
BJG on Father's Day
Great-Grandpa and CRG

1 Week Anniversary!

So today marks our 1 week anniversary without a diaper on CRG's hiney! Also, it marks a week without an accident. (I'm knocking on wood now!) We are so proud of CRG and are very excited that we are only buying diapers for one!

There's a potty going on over here...

For those that think this is too much information, stop reading here. But don't worry, there are no pictures.

We are on day 4 of potty training with CRG. We knew what to expect, sort of. An accident here, nothing going on over here... For the most part CRG has taken to chonies very well. What are "chonies", you say? Well, it's Spanish for underwear. Your welcome, you just graduated Spanish 101. Anyways, CRG really likes his chonies and is doing great! On Day 2 he had his first #2 incident. We made it to the potty in time and sat there...and sat there....and sat some more. Finally, he got up and said "I did it!" Well, he didn't really know what he "did". **Warning, may be graphic for those without kids** When CRG stood up, he had a little "nugget" stuck to his hiney. I helped him get it off and place it in his potty and proceeded to show him his "good work".

Dad: Look what you did!
CRG: I did it!
Dad: Great job, CRG!
CRG: (nervous voice) That came out of my hiney?!
Dad: Yes it did.
CRG But, why???

I had a hard time not laughing at his inquisitiveness, but managed to get his chonies back on and reward him for his deposit. =)

Again, we are only on day 4, but he's doing great. He went all day today without an accident and has been SO good about telling us when he has to go. We're hoping that tonight is his last night to sleep in a diaper. Tomorrow night, we're going to let him sleep in his undies. Wish us him luck!

Fayetteville Power Plant Lake

We had a great weekend at the lake with friends Tracy and Nathan. Thanks go to Katy and Tracy for setting this up a few months back. We got in to Fayetteville Friday evening and immediately fired up the grill for burgers and hotdogs. After dinner Nathan, Tracy and I took their boat out to set up jug lines. We thought there might be a few bugs out there (it was very calm), but we had no idea we were headed into a wall of bugs. Seriously. I'm pretty sure all of us ingested a few bugs that first night.

Saturday morning all 3 of us plus CRG went out again to check and re-set lines. We made it back with enough for dinner, but opted to keep trying. CRG absolutely loved the boat and wanted to go "faster" all the time. BJG didn't get to go on the boat, but he had a great time none the less.

While the women and children took an afternoon swim Nathan and I hit the lake again hoping for more haul. We decided to keep it modest and kept only what we could consume that day. Unfortunately, the wimenz weren't able to see the coolerS full of fish. We thought we would do a good deed and spread the wealth with others. Pictures of the fish you say? They got lost somehow! The fish we did keep went straight to the belly Saturday night. Nathan did a great job frying fish, hush puppies, french fries and other food we couldn't finish.
After dinner, Nathan and I went out for an evening of fishing. We spent a good 3+ hours on the lake that evening and brought in a few more fish.

Overall, we had a great time with our friends and look forward to hanging out with them again. Hopefully, they didn't mind "babysitting" us too much since it had been a good 6-7 years since Katy and I last fished.

"but why?"

Enjoy the pictures!

From Collages

Memorial Day 2010

Slowly but surely, you will be caught up.

Memorial Day 2010 was spent at Rock-n-Box Ranch. For the most part we sat, did nothing and had a relaxing weekend. CRG loved driving the ATV, swimming in the tanks and fishing. BJG had a great time swimming too, and really loved all the dogs (5) running around.

From Collages

Where do I start...

Katy and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on May 21, 2010! To celebrate, we had our first night away from the boys. We've been away from CRG for one night before, but that was because Katy was busy having his brother so that doesn't count. I had a hard time convincing Katy to stay somewhere over night. Luckily, I made a reservation without asking her first and it was non-refundable....so she reluctantly went.

We stayed in downtown Houston at the Hyatt Regency. After relaxing for a while we had a nice dinner at Brennan's. In September 2008, a two-alarm fire, which broke out during Hurricane Ike, engulfed the historic building in flames. 80% of the building was restored. Honestly, unless you knew it was the same building, you'd never know. Katy had the filet and I had the pecan crusted mahi-mahi. Both dishes were excellent! For dessert Katy had a slice of cheesecake and I had Bananas Foster. Apparently, this fine dish dish was created in 1951 by Paul Blangé at Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans and named for Richard Foster, a friend of Mr. Brennan. Interested in making a copy of the original recipe? Find it here.

The next morning we went to The Breakfast Klub for breakfast. I had read about this place before and it sounded good. I didn't tell Katy where we were going, but she said that she had seen it on the Food Network. Yes, I had wings n' waffles and Katy had the french toast. Both were very good, but next time I would get wings n' french toast. Yummmm. I'll try and get some pictures of the wings n' waffles on here soon!

Before:

After:

Thank you to Gi-Gi, Pa-Pa and K-K for watching CRG and BJG for the night. We know they had a great time hanging out with all of you!

Update

I promise I will have one soon.

Any requests?

Almost here!

The Papp's will be here this Friday! We can't wait for them to join us for 10 days of family fun....and hopefully a guy's night or two!

CRG is excited! When asked if he knew who was coming this weekend he said, "my friend Kevin and Julie". It was pretty cute.

Can't wait to see you guys! Be sure to bring your little monkey too!

Family Photos

We recently had family portraits taken by Sara at Sara Griffin Photography. Here are a few of our favorites.