Up Up and Away on my beautiful, my beautiful balloon...

And we have a winner for the most dorkiest title ever on blogspot.

This weekend the kids, Pedro and I traveled up to Angola for the 'Angola Hot Air Balloon Aloft' event. We had an excellent time. I'm pretty sure the last time I'd seen any hot air balloons that close I was about the same age that Arly is now, 6 or 7. It was so awesome, and it was awesome to show the kids. Unfortunately, I didn't plan well. We got there about, oh I don't know, 3 hours early, then the show was delayed 2 hours due to winds, but all-in-all it was an EXCELLENT thing to do. Especially after our gruesome weekend of working on the bathroom, more on that later. Here are some pictures of the event.

Waiting and waiting and waiting...

Last day of school...an excuse to brag!

Arly and Pierre completed their first full years of school. Words cannot express how proud I am of them. I was really afraid that it would be a tough year getting them used to all the routines of daily school life, turns out I was wrong. Very wrong.


Arly's reading skills have impressed Pedro and myself. I never expected her to be a 'reader' in Kindergarten. I realize that FWCS has full day kindergarten now, but I didn't start reading until 1st grade. I suppose it helps that we read allot at home. Anyhow, we're very proud of her and her desire to learn, be respectful, sweet and basically, make us look like we're doing something right! She received her Kindergarten diploma today and a Franke Park Elementary 'Hard worker' award and a 'Citizenship' award (I assume/hope everyone receives that one)... When I was in school I'm pretty sure these type of 'honorable mention awards' were the only things ever presented to me. -haha- That's okay though, I wasn't nearly as scholarly motivated as my Arly. Anyhow, very proud of my baby.









Pierre and Arly are like night and day, summer and winter, hot and cold -- two different kids all around. I knew from day one of school he would be a different story. In fact, when I took him to his 'practice day/orientation' he literally threw a fit because I wouldn't pull some NASA Rocket down from a classroom shelf for him...so much of a fit that he STOPPED the future students/teacher from singing the ABC song so he could TELL ON ME! Yep, that is my boy. I was so embarrassed (and angry) by his behavoir, but what can you do in front of 30 parents, students and teachers -- other than laugh and apologize. Okay, so my point is Pierre was a challenge; but he proved me wrong. We (us and the school) really didn't have any problems with him. He was/is in speech therapy and improving daily, has learned TONS of stuff. Even TONS more than Arly took from her pre-k class last year, and she was nearly a year and a half older than him when she started Pre-K. So with these challenges we were dreading, Pierre proved us wrong, worked hard and received the 'Kiwanis' award today. Only one is presented per class per year, and it can be for different things. Pierre received it for 'most improved' and that, I'm sure, he most definately deserved.

Congrats to my babies, who are no longer babies (*_*)...Seriously, high school is around the corner.

Take us out to the ballgame!

Last month on May 15th Pedro and I drove up to Detroit to see our very first LIVE Boston Red Sox game. Though I'm not a huge Red Sox fan they are growing on me. My family always followed the Chicago Cubs more, but nothing hardcore so I think it's okay if I change up my team in order to support my husband's...right? Anyhow, ever since Pedro was just a young lad in El Salvador, he's liked the Red Sox. Though unfortunately, he'd never had a chance to see them. Sometimes life gets in the way, especially when it's as loco as ours. So, for Pedro's birthday I wanted to get him something totally unique, and luckily, one week after his b-day the Red Sox were playing in Detroit, so we went for it. I must say I was a little apprehensive at first with it being 'Detroit' and all, but we were fine, and we weren't the only Boston fans either. Here's some pics of our day. P.S. we had excellent seats.

Finding our seats


A scary pic of me...hehe


Pedro excited for the game to start


The game


About two weeks after the Tigers/Red Sox game our family went to our first FW Tincaps game. We had an excellent time. The kids got free tickets from school for participating in a reading program. Here's some shots:

View from our seats


Shot of the city buildings


Pierre looking cool in his (my) shades


Arly, sucking up the last of her dippin' dots

Old Blog Posts I copied from my Myspace blog...

So I'm really going to try and update this more often, in hopes that someday my kids will enjoy reading it. So, I used to blog a little more frequently on myspace and wanted to paste those old posts here. So here they are (most recent first):

December 22, 2008, Monday - 'Life update'


o here it is, the end of 2008. I can't believe how fast time goes, the older you get, the faster it goes. All in all, 2008 was an excellent year for us. We managed to reach a lot of goals including eye surgery for Rafaela, finalizing some legal issues, repaired major repairs on our house, a new job for me, a mini vaca to Chicago and many other small accomplishments. All of these great things cause me to worry what 2009 will bring. It seems like even years always work out best for us. Oh well, time will tell, and then tell itself again -- I hope I'm not jinxing myself now?

Other big things this year would be Arly starting school, and me finishing another year towards some degree. I'm getting to the point now where my classes will actually have something to do with my major. Going part time makes this process move much slower than an average young college student, but like I mentioned above, "the older I get the faster time goes" so better keep working than quit before I'm ahead...right?

I've been trying to get caught up for Christmas. After going 3 days without power and eventually giving up the freezing battle, loading up my fam and crashing at my moms, my plans to organize and prepare were thrown out window. But the power is on so it's time to move on forward. Why is it that I'm always broke at Christmas time? This year I promise I am starting a Christmas club at my bank. I'm tired of stretching pennies. Money tightness right now is probably a good thing though. I've found over the past 3-5 years that the more I get my kids the less they appreciate, so Christmas will be slim but fulfilling. They each are only asking for one thing so all the little extras we've purchased will just be bonuses. All Arly wanted was a desk, and not a round one when I tried to convince her their round table would work, but a rectangle one like her teacher has. I managed to find a cute little one at Big Lots this weekend -- I let Santa know. LOL. Pierre is simple he's only requested a "Big Bigger Bigger Speedracer car", so Santa should be able to land that no problem.

I came across this quote in my philosophy class that I just finished, and really liked it, so here is the quote of my day:

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." —Friedrich Nietzsche

Merry Christmas

to all my Peeps

& Happy New Year too!


October 20, 2008, Monday 'The "I" Survey'


I am: A Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister a Friend

I think: I am very blessed

I dislike: people who feel superior

I miss: not having tons of time on my hands

I fear: losing the ones I love.

I feel: really happy.

I hear: negativity too much.

I smell: nothing at the moment

I crave: acceptance from those who really don't matter at all.


I cry: when i'm frustrated and stressed

I usually: pretty laid back

I search: for deals to save money!!

I wonder: why I ever sweat the small stuff.

I regret: wasted time.


I wish: we were independently wealthy so I could be home with my kids

I love: my family.

I care: about the less fortunate, we forget how good we really have it.


I always: forget things if I don't write them down.

I worry: about everything.

I remember: less and less as time goes on.

I believe: we've all been put on this earth for a reason.

I sing: w/my daughter all the time.

I don't always: make time for me.

I write: when I have something to get off my chest.

I win: when I apply myself.

I lose: my temper too quickly.

I listen: to others opinions.

I don't understand: my philosophy class


I can usually be found: at work or home


I need: my family

I forget: too slow down and enjoy the music.


I am happy: with my life & the choices I've made.


August 6, 2008, Wednesday - 'So it’s that time again...'


Summer has flown by, and I am in absolutely no hurry to return to school. I know its something that I have to do, and if I stop going now I'll never go back, but I'm for some reason or another dreading it. I don't even know why I don't want to go, I do pretty well, and manage my time decently. I think I just keeping thinking that its one more thing that I will have to do, every night and weekend my classes and what needs done is going to weigh on my shoulders again. Unlike when I was a teen/kid I didn't have anything else to worry about, only my part time job ringing up groceries, but really even then I never really cared about school. I really wish that my parents would have pushed me harder, or even pushed me a little, when I was in school, that way I'd probably had went straight to college when I was 18 and by this time I'd already be finished and had my dream job. I guess we live and learn. Now and eventually if I do ever finish I'll appreciate it more...but still ...not looking forward to going back.

On a more pleasant "school" topic, my little 4 year old Arlita will be starting preschool on the 18th. I'm pretty excited and so is she, but I'm curious to see how she does in such a "structured" environment. I think I'll constantly wonder about her all day long..."Did she use the potty at break time," "Did she wash her hands," "Is she eating her lunch," "Are the kids being nice to her" etc...I could go on but i'll stop at that...



July 22, 2008, Tuesday - Three...



My son will be 3 years old in 3 short days. It is true what they say, "they grow up so fast, so enjoy it." Time is going so fast it's pretty amazing to see how quickly he's becoming a big boy. ..Pierre is the perfect mix of my brother, my husband and me. He reminds of BJ (my bro) because he's a little ornery and sweet all at the same time, Pedro because he's really smart, good with his hands and loves to fix things, and me because he's stubborn and at times a "know it all." He loves his sister very much and looks up to her for everything as if he's always seeking her approval. He loves his cars and his Nana. He loves going to Grandma's house. He's fascinated with the human body. He's a pretty good counter, but hasn't mastered his colors. He has absolutely no interest in potty training! In time I know this will come when he's ready and I try not to rush but I would really love to knock diapers off the weekly grocery list! All in all, my sweet little soon to be 3 year old boy makes me proud and succeeds in amazing me everyday with new actions and phrases among many other things.

Whoa, it's been awhile...

Though I'm pretty sure the only person who reads this is yours truely, it's nice to go back and reflect. I plan to try and update this more frequently.
Some major things that have happened throughout the past 2 years...

• I've transferred from Ivy Tech to IPFW.
• Arly started school and is now in Kindergarten, she went to Precious Blood for Pre-School
• Pierre started Pre-K at Franke Park. Pedro and I are more than impressed with that school.
• Pedro finally has his permanent residency...17 years later. Just to note, he had always been a documented immigrant who worked, paid taxes etc., he'd just always been "temporary" before.
• Pedro has a new job, again.
• BJ is now married.
• We have a nephew/cousin now, Madrox Jacob 'MJ'.

My life is great, it has its times, but overall I'm completely satisfied.

Here are some pics taken recently of the kids.

Arly on Spring Picture Day

Pierre, being ornery, on Spring Picture day.

Chicago

So the fam and I took a trip to Chicago for the 4th of July weekend. We thought "hey, we have an extra day in the weekend." Though we've traveled to Chicago quite a few times for appointments, flights and other unfun stuff, we've never really been able to enjoy it. So the plans were set: we'd head up to Chicago on Thursday evening after work, sleep in Merrillville which is still Indiana, but only a little over an hours drive from the city, then spend the night on Friday (4th of July) in Chicago.
So we left Fort Wayne about 2 hours later then I'd hoped, we ended up checking into our motel around 10:30 pm, but it's all the better because that meant we had to spend less time in the lovely hotel 'La Quinta,' located in Merrillville, Indiana just off US 30. La Quinta came complete with an incredibly stinky room, set with 2 tiny full beds that accompanied our 3 adults and 2 kids, the activities kept us on our toes because the floors were so nasty that you didn't dare stand idle, but only used them to jump from one location to the other...which was pretty much the bed to the bathroom... After a restless night of Pedro sleeping with his mother and me with the kids which then became Pedro sleeping on the floor and Arly moving into her Nana's bed (because she kept falling out of mine) we awoke as soon as possible. Then we did our best to enjoy the free continental breakfast...ummm yuck is all I can really say. So we headed up to Chicago in high spirits to have some great fun at the 'Lincoln Park Zoo.' Surprisingly the car ride was really pleasant which is quite unusual driving with 2 toddlers in a multi traffic lane city, but we did good.

After over an our waiting in line to PARK THE CAR, we finally arrived at the entrance.

Now for those who do not know this is a free zoo, so that was definately an added benefit. We had a good time at the zoo, it was really spread out and it wasn't the FW zoo that we've been to 100+ times and could walk through blindfolded, but it was fun and different. We saw Lions Gorillas & Bears among some other typical zoo animals.....

After over 5 hours within the zoo ( I know it was at least that long from the parking bill) we decided to head back to our hotel. Now, I'll just say Mapquest and GPS systems are great; however when you miss one turn, your mapquest isn't too helpful any longer, but wait we have the GPS...but in a big city with lots of tall skyscrapers, the signal doesn't work. So for over an hour we searched for our hotel...but that's all okay because it gave us a chance to see the city over and over again, as well as an opportunity for Arly & Pierre to nap. After our hour search we found our hotel. It's called "Homewood Suites" and if you are ever in Chicago I definatley recommend it. It was awesome. It was a suite with a King Sized bed in a separate room and a pull out sofa in the main room. But wait, that's not all, it had a kitchenette complete with Fridge, Microwave, Sink and all...yeah that's right we didn't have to brew our coffee in the bathroom...oh and the bathroom was really nice too and Pedro was pretty excited about the large flat screen TV. We also had a nice view, it could have been higher (we were on the 13th floor), but whenever we wanted to know what time it was... all we had to do was look out the window:

That night Pedro, the kids and I decided we would journey the 1.3 miles down to the Navy Pier to watch the fireworks display. ....

Seriously it was fun, but way to crowded for my flavor, but hey I went to Chicago on 4th of July what can ya do. We had fun, but after the fireworks we were ready to go. So we followed the stampede (really there was a stampede) all the way back to the hotel. Poor Arly had gotten her hair caught on some woman's button on her jacket and we held up the line. I heard some woman say "what the hell it's almost 10 o'clock those kids need to be in bed" I had about enough at that point and didn't want to go a little crazy on her and let it go....but I wanted so bad to grab her by the hair and say "Listen you b*tch it's flippin 4th of July, as if you're parents put you to bed at 8 o'clock on 4th of July, and in case you didn't notice we are heading towards the flippin exit." But as I stated before I kept my cool...but it feels good to type that to other people to express what I wanted to say....Overall we had a nice fourth



So Saturday morning arrived very quickly and we were off to The Shedd Aquarium. No I'll just point out that the aquarium is NOT FREE! It's pretty "salty" for my taste lol...oh i crack myself up...get it...salty...salt water...ok sorry i'll continue. The aquarium was fun but for me not worth the money...I think I expected the dolphins to like talk and walk around the building or something...didn't happen obviously. I was excited though because after waiting in line forever, I seen a sea turtle (i love turtles) swimming around in an aquarium...so i said to myself "oh great I'll definately have to get me a pic of him"...but when we got to that area 2 or so hours later I couldn't find him...he was hiding I spose :0( Oh well next time... Overall the Shedd Aquarium was okay the dolphin show was lame for waiting for over an hour to see it (we missed the 1st show so I made sure we had seats for the next show) they did a few jumps, but most of the show was talking (I know that's good that the don't work the animals to hard but still....) ....

We headed home after the show and had a nice trip, surprisingly the kids stayed up the entire way home, which was nice because they didn't put up a fight come bed time.

However I really wish we would have pulled someone off the street to take one stinkin family picture...here are some of our multiple failed attempts: (notice Rafaela's mouth is open & Pierre crying in more than half of them.) hahaha,ahhh vacations...

Wow, Its been awhile....

And there isn't any better time for me to let it all out then right now... As normal I am in panic mode. There are allot of things going on in my family's lives right now that really probably aren't as big as I make them, but I can't help it. For starters today is officially the 30th day the Government Attorney has to appeal Pedro's Asylum case. Unfortunately this day means nothing because we won't know if he has appealed for a couple of days, depends on how fast the mail works. We are praying for NO News, why no news you say...because like the old saying goes No News is GOOD News. If we don't hear anything that means there is nothing further to hear and in one year Pedro can apply for his permanent residency AKA Green Card. This has been a long and stressful journey that started in March of 2005. So you can do the math, we've been at this for over 3 years. I say we've been doing this for 3 years but in reality poor Pedro has been going through this since December of 1991. Soooo I'm really hoping that the other attorney just realizes that there is nothing more to find, say or prove and lets it go. If he doesn't we have more legal expenses to expect as well as time and stress involved.... On another stress note Rafaela is coming back on Saturday. I typically stress about this when everything is running smoothly, however unfortunately this time things aren't running smoothing. But its also given me a reason to count my blessings....Okay every time Rafaela comes Carlos (who is Yessie's X-Boyfriend) takes Rafaela to the airport. We give him money for his gas and trouble, and he does a more than fine job taking care of our precious little Rafaela. Anyhow Pedro called him on Monday night to find out that the poor guy while riding on his motorcycle was hit by a TAXI! He was thrown off his bike and broke his entire leg as well as mangled many other parts. He was in the hospital for 3 days and will be bed ridden for 6 months. To top it off the Taxi driver didn't have insurance or anything, so you can imagine the huge financial burden on him and his family. He won't be able to work, and in El Salvador there isn't any such thing a sick leave or unemployment, but his job is going to pay him 1/2 his salary of how much I don't know. Anyhow I'm thankful to God that he survived the event, but also because for some reason or another we moved Rafaela's ticket from last Saturday the 7th, to this Saturday the 14th. Had we not moved the originally planned date Rafaela would had been waiting for Carlos (who was in the hospital) and would have missed her flight and we would have been out money and in major panic etc....So, I guess we should be thankful for that. So now someone else is going to take Carlos to the airport. Thankfully his uncle who has taken her before has agreed to do this for us, though we don't know what he plans to charge...hopefully not more than $150 because that is what we have planned, and will pay even if he says less than that. Anyhow I do feel better writing all this down, even if no one does read it. I'm pretty worked up about life in general and I need to just breath calm down and relax. ahhhh.....the rain will stop soon I know.