Disneyland 2012

It's true... Disneyland IS the happiest place on earth.

Eloy graduates from UOP in May and as a gift to him/us we decided to take a vacay before he graduates. Considering I'll be bigger after Eloy graduates we decided to take our vacation during spring break. 

We had such an amazing time away. Disneyland was so much fun. I was waaaayy more excited than Eloy and Jeremiah. Don't get me wrong. They were pumped... but not as pumped as this momma. 

Right before we left for Disneyland J got hooked on Toy Story. We must've watched it 10 times with a 7 day period. So, naturally, the first ride we got on at Disneyland was the Buzz Lightyear ride. The ride was somewhat like a video game. You sit in a pod and try to shoot things with a laser gun. Fun! Somehow, I managed to score a whooping ZERO! Eloy scored around 12,000. My gun was TOTALLY defected because I KNOW I made some shots. 

When you get off the ride you walk into a store that sells nothing but Toy Story goodies. J freaked! So, we bought him a Woody. They are inseparable now. Very cute!

And I totally made Eloy put this hat on considering he was pretty much the reason we were in Disneyland.

Our second day at Disneyland, we managed to finish seeing everything we really wanted to see before dusk. So, we caught the 4:00 showing of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse/ Handy Manny/ Little Einstein's at California Adventures. On behalf of Jeremiah, this was probably the coolest thing there for him. He was so pumped to watch the show. It was so interactive and fun! Bubbles fell from the sky and just made J's day. 

On Wednesday, we visited Eloy's grandparents and Aunts.

I'm so grateful we made time to visit with them. It is something I will never forget.

And on our last day in Anaheim we stopped to eat Peruvian food. AH-MAZING!! We usually only get Peruvian food on our Anniversary so this was a major treat. 

And last, but not least, we stopped in Visalia to visit our great friends, The Macias family. We always pick up where we left off with these guys. And it's so awesome that we have boys that are just a few months apart. They loved hanging out together. Cute little monsters.

Baby #2!

Do you see this big guy?

He's going to be a BIG brother! 

We're so excited to have another baby. 

This baby has been tugging at my heart strings for months telling me he or she is ready to be with us. And when I say months, I mean months. It took some humbling on Eloy's part to realize we need to listen to Heavenly Father and have another baby but I knew it would. It was all apart of his plan.

We've known for awhile but decided to wait and tell our families on Thanksgiving. Our Mother's expression were the best and everything you would expect from grandmothers who itch that little baby love. Everyone is so excited and we couldn't be happier right now!

We hope everyone had as great of a Thanksgiving as we did!

<3,

The Garcia's 

Keep it neutral

When Eloy and I were registering for our wedding I asked him what color he wanted our room and bathroom. He said, "Blue". Blah. I threw out a bunch of other colors for him to choose from and nada. Nope. It had to be Blue. He wouldn't budge. So for the past 3 years, we've had this ugly plan blue comforter on our bed. blah, again. 

Now, FINALLY, he's letting me buy all new bedroom and bathroom decor. I can't wait!!! 

I really like this and this and I've had my mind set on these colors.

This project should be fun.

And to put a little something like this in my bathroom.

I've had tons of fun getting ideas and can't wait to get started! If anyone knows of some good crafty blogs out there that I can get ideas from, please send them my way!

Chow down

I know I haven't posted in FOREVER and today I thought I would change that.

So, I am completely in love with Nutella. I put it on strawberries, pancakes, bread and I'm planning on making a banana nutella milkshake. Well, Yesterday was my niece's 12th Birthday.I introduced her into the Nutella world and decided to make her some special cupcakes. They were to die for! Seriously the best frosting I've ever had. I made white and chocolate cupcakes, about 3 dozen, and frosted them with a nutella frosting. YUM!

Here's the recipe for the Nutella frosting:

3/4 c butter, softened

1/2- 3/4 c nutella (depending on how much you want)

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs milk

3 c powdered sugar

Blend all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. If you feel like its too stiff, add another tbs of milk.

Jeremiah woke up from his nap around the time we started digging in. He immediately wanted on and boy oh boy did he have fun eating his cupcake!

Got milk?

Funny story...

We were walking through San Francisco last week and out of nowhere Eloy tells me he's been craving chocolate milk. Super random. So, we kept walking and about 5 minutes later this girl starts screaming "Free Nestles chocolate milk!!". I busted up laughing, ran up to her and asked for 2 chocolate milks. Needless to say, Eloy was a happy man.

 

Gotta love Friday's

Today seemed like a perfect day for ice cream.

And it was.

This was before Little J's meltdown. He has been tring really hard to feed himself lately. The problem with nothing lands in his mouth, it lands on him shirt or highchair. 

Nevertheless, it was still a perfect day for ice cream.

I hope you all had a great day!

More please!

As a kid, when my mom baked something I was usually by her side ready to lick a spoon that she had finished using or most of the time, I waited the big kahuna... the bowl. I think that's the best part of baking... indulging on what's been left behind. My personal favorites are raw cookie dough and vanilla cake batter.

Now that I'm a mom, I've noticed that I tend to have a little big munchkin by my side waiting for something. Actually, whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking, Jeremiah is usually by my side repeatedly saying "Nummy nummy nummy".

I have no problem with sharing my goodies with him. Where lies the problem is when he's finished.

He hates it when he is told that he can't have anymore or that the food is all gone.

My baby loves to eat... like his Mama.

We call her Nana

I think I've always known that when the time comes to start our family, I do not want to work. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. The thought of being in an office all day while someone spends that time with my baby did not sit well with me. 

In my marriage, I would be what most people consider a Sugar Mama. I've always held a well paying job which allows Eloy to not work and concentrate on his studies. That was until I had Jeremiah. I went on Maternity leave never to return. The summer after Jeremiah was born Eloy found a summer job. That saved us for awhile but we knew we couldn't make it just on his temp-job and we definitely didn't want to pull out tons of loans. So, I started to look for a job where I could take J with me... like a nanny job. I had no luck whatsoever. Whenever we discussed the issue of me going back to work my eyes would get watery and there would be a lump in my throat.

After searching high and low, our Branch President called me and asked if he could relay my number to a woman that is looking for someone to help with her elderly mother for a weekend. I gave to ok and thought "why not? We could always use the extra cash."

The number was relayed and Eloy and I met up with the woman on the phone, Jeannette, and her mother Shirley during that week.

Shirley has Dementia and Parkinson's disease. She tends to forget things very quickly and trembles. I was needed to give her meals and meds and pretty much keep her company. It didn't seem like too much of a hassle so I agreed to help out the weekend that was needed.

That weekend has turned into 14 months and a new family.

Shirley, a.k.a. Nana, is a sweet, sweet woman. She loves adores Jeremiah. And he adores her right back.

J was 4 months old when we first went to Nana's. You see, Nana used to be a Pediatric Nurse so she loves babies. When I first spoke with Jeannette she thought the idea of having a baby around Nana may work as some sort of therapy for her. And it has. These 2 have the cutest relationship. He calls her Nana and says her name over and over and over on the drive to her house. He shares his cookies with her (or caca, the way he says it). And he gives her lots of hugs and kisses. His kisses are open mouth kisses so sometimes she gets scared when he charges at her.

J around the time we first starting going to Nana's

Nana has 2 bedrooms. This was in "Jeremiah's room".

J and Nana last year, on a hot summer day.

Walking buddies

Nana totally opens up when Jeremiah is around. She watches him play, laughs when he dances, and plays catch with him. He's just like a grandmother to him. It's so sweet.

Getting her to open up is very difficult. She wont talk to you unless you spark the conversation. But once you get her going on certain topics that bring back memories, she smiles so brightly. Last week she shared with me bits of her childhood. She's from Kansas and back home they had a farm full of a variety of animals. Cows, pigs, chickens, Horses, etc... I asked her if she ever rode horses and she said she had the most gentle horse ever. Her name was Betty and she was her favorite. She also shared a story about the mean geese on her farm. that would chase her as a kid. I couldn't help but chuckle as I pictured a young girl on a farm (I pictured the farm from Charlotte's Web... hahaha, I don't know why) running away from squawking geese. Her stories are so genuine and fun to listen to.

What a blessing it has been to "work" with Nana. I say "work" because it doesn't feel like your average job. I get to hang out with a sweet lady all day, play dominoes, watch I Dream of Jeannie, and take walks on this beautiful country side property.

 I often tell Jeannette how grateful I am that we found each other. 

Heavenly Father definitely heard our prayers.

Punk Rocker in hand-me-downs

I decided to try a new do on my little panda man.

He's rockin' the faux-hawk.

We visited my Nana yesterday and she got a kick out of it.

I've gotta say, and I'm not being biased, Jeremiah rocked the faux- hawk pretty darn good.

And this cute little Ecko outfit was a hand-me-down. It belonged to my 7-year old nephew, Nathan. My oldest sister, Raquel kept most of Nathan's baby's clothes. After having her second baby, Johnna, she decided to turn off the baby maker. So, lucky enough for Jeremiah and meeeee, he was the next boy to be born in the family and has acquired alllll of Nathan's old goodies. I'm excited to put our next baby boy in some of Nathan's and Jeremiah's old clothes and enjoy the awesomeness of hand-me-downs.

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!

This little booger loooooves bubbles.

He loves them so much that he tried to eat them.

He loves them so much (and we spoil them so much) that he just got some new Elmo bubbles.
Needless to say, all I heard during bath time was "Elmo" and "Babbal".

As I posted these picturess, Jeremiah pointed at the screen and kept saying "bubbal".
I'm so lucky my baby (yes, he is still my baby... even though he isn't a baby) loves bath time. It gives me 20 minutes of clarity.