Ahhh...

Well, it's been quite a couple of months here.  There was some time of poor sleep, a struggle (that's still around) of adapting to our current season -which I can get in to below- and much more ground work being laid down in to this life o'mine.

YOU: wa?!

ME: It's been a tough couple of months!  As with most people, not sleeping well at night makes things tough during the day:)  Praise God I'm about a week and a half out of it, and as of yesterday, finally felt myself out of the 'haze'.

Yesterday, I felt like I 'woke up' and found myself as a mother of a barely walking toddler and thought, "Where did the last 14 and a half months go?!".  So maybe the haze has been a bit longer.  Kinda scary, huh?!  All of a sudden I'm the in-tune mama I've been trying to read  about (so I can find 'how to'!) trying to become.  So much for all that teaching time and special developmental time I've now bypassed in little Ms Em's life ;0...not too worried, she seems just fine.  ...all kidding and silliness aside tho, just being completely honest.

The struggle with adapting in this season is missing my husband.  He's here.  "Goes" to work about 6-7 days a week, then comes home and works some more.  Our choosing.  The Lord provided an opportunity for a huge blessing financially, and in turn, Tyler's committed to working his little tail off after putting in 40 office hours + 12 or so event hours a week.  Poor guy, I know.  But the Lord also tells me time and time again for me to quit trying to bring in additional income myself.  I need to focus on my family and home.  I struggle very much with this!  I get approached to do things often...even if they're mainly as favors/not paid...but it's becoming more and more clear to me that He does not want my attention to be split.  SO...Tyler to work it is.  And me to support/encourage him and step up in all things for hubby (to assist in any way I can)...is a struggle.  I think I'm mainly struggling with just missing him.  By that I mean, just getting that time to talk and spend real quality time with one another.  We've both been so exhausted that we're more like zombies once Emma goes to bed, and eventually I just fall asleep.  Prayerfully, tho, now that sleeps treating me well and I'm feeling like I'm in the game, I'm hoping to be more on it and be able to reconnect.

I knew this time was coming; this season for Tyler's always tough due to the extended work week/hours for these six months.  Quite honestly, I was dreading it.  All summer, I felt as tho the Lord was spoiling us (which was awesome;0).  I knew that this fall/winter, He was going to bring me to a new place so I can learn to lean on Him in a new way.

And I've arrived.  Now for the learning.  One thing that is definitely going to assist is the new book we've started in my Bible study, Crazy Love. 1 chapter and a few videos (that he directs you to in the book) in, I'm  super excited about this new journey.  I love God's timing and how I could never in a million years ever possibly line things up so perfectly.  More on that throughout the next couple of months, I'm sure!

For now, I wanted to share this video that I watched this am.  Seriously, take the 15 minutes to watch the entire thing.  Especially if you usually don't watch when I post something:)  I pray you will!  ...enjoy...

Jayce turns 1

All three little kiddies are a year old now!  Jayce had his birthday on 10/2 and his party the weekend before.  Here are some highlights of his jolly old time!

first, the birthday boy!!

Jayce playing in the jump house

Isaiah running to see Emma

Emma watching from the outside (she was too little to join in the fun)

Emma testing out one of his new toys ;0

Jayce and his daddy trying out another new toy

Jayce and Mama!

Emma learning to whack the pinata

and Isaiah...

Jayce digging in to cake!

the newest member of the Aguirre family, Julius

Emma was going crazy over the balloons!

I know I've been very 'wordy' lately, so thought I'd keep it minimal ;0

Momspiriation from the Idea Room

Another neat blog I've run across (and subscribed to) recently is The Idea Room.  Some great stuff on that blog on things you can make, but also has some great posts for encouragement on life!  This morning's is great and SO TRUE for myself...and for other mamas and women sans kids too!  I know I've heard some ladies having some of these points of views, so thought I would share and give us a little boost of encouragement this lovely Thursday morning.  Enjoy ;0

Strong Women, Stand Up

October 26, 2011 By Heather Johnson 3 Comments

It’s time once again for Heather from Family Volley to share with us some Parenting Tips as part of her “Parenting Tips Series with Heather Johnson” here on The Idea Room. Here’s Heather in her own words…

–Amy

Being a woman is hard.

Often times I feel self doubt creeping in and feelings of inadequacy trying to take over.

As women, we are born into this world with so many talents and gifts, but over time it can be easy to loose sight of our strengths.

We are nurturers. But do we get so busy nurturing other’s, that we don’t take care of ourselves?

We are kind to others, but are we cruel to ourselves?

We are team oriented and need friends and support. But, we can be so concerned with being a team player that we don’t take credit for the great things that we do.

We can be quick to give other people the benefit of the doubt, but that can mean we don’t stand up for ourselves because we want to avoid confrontation.

It is not always this way for us. Good research shows that young girls are assertive and confident. Until they hit about 8th grade. Then, movies, T.V, and media, pressure them to look and act a certain way, and they loose track of who they are what they want.

It doesn’t end with junior high. As mothers and grown women the pressures and stigmas don’t go away.

The inadequacy and confusion hit me full force after having our second child. I didn’t know who I was. I felt lost. All of a sudden I didn’t have an opinion. I didn’t feel like I could make decisions. It affected the simplest of jobs. I couldn’t even get dressed in the morning because I had no idea what looked good on me because I didn’t know who I was.

As women, we are smart, we are strong, and we are influential. There is not room to beat ourselves up because we aren’t good enough. Instead we need to celebrate how great we are.

• We need to start by taking credit for the good things that we do. No need for arrogance, just confidence. We are good wives and good mothers and good friends. We are working hard to do good things in our homes and in our communities.
• We can’t put ourselves down. Reminding ourselves and others that we are not “skinny enough”, or our house isn’t “clean enough” will not make us skinny, or our homes cleaner. Self depreciation is destructive. Not to mention when our kids hear us say these things it affects them and their opinions about themselves and others. This goes for the way we talk about ourselves in front of our spouses also.

When my husband and I got married I received some GREAT advice. Our ecclesiastical leader told me that I didn’t need to constantly point out all my faults. He went on to say that most of the time our spouses don’t recognize the faults until we point them out. But, once we point them out, they have a hard time forgetting.

I think about this advice everyday. When I am about to point out something I don’t like about myself, I remember to keep my mouth shut. I don’t want to give my husband any ideas. :)

If you put yourself down, try an old trick….Put a rubber band around your wrist. Every time you think or say something bad about yourself, pull the rubber band and let it flick-you. It doesn’t feel good, you won’t like it, and you will see yourself cutting back on the “put-downs.”

• We always give others the benefit of the doubt, but not ourselves. ”She had a rough day”, why can’t we? We can be quick to accept others situations, why don’t we accept that we too have limitations and we are wonderful regardless. It is okay to not homeschool, bake bread, refinish furniture, be PTA President, raise 12 kids, and sew all our families clothes. It is okay. We are all different and we need to cut ourselves some slack. We need to stop comparing.

We all have internal gauges that tell us if we are doing what we should. We know when we need to do more, or less. Listening to this “voice” and not the “voice” of the world will help us ease up on ourselves and keep things in perspective.

• We can surround ourselves with the right support. We know who builds us up and who doesn’t. We can distance ourselves from those who don’t. 
• We can find some time for ourselves. It is okay to cultivate our talents and gifts. We can pick one or two things that we want and like to do and make time for them.
• We can have an opinion and be confident enough to voice how we feel. 
• We can recognize that life will be hard and frustrating at times. The joy comes in moments.   

As women, it is our influence that is shaping the world. We are building and molding future generations. We are strengthening family units. There is nothing more important than that. We need to stop beating ourselves up for what we aren’t doing, and revel in the good things we are doing.

Do you struggle with feelings of inadequacy?

Let’s start a movement right here. 

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOURSELF?

WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS, WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT? 

Shout it out, leave a comment and let us know.  

Have a question or just want to say hello.

Family Volley

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Wordless Wednesday

DIY for some girl time, ladies!

OK, I know that I'm always sharing things from momsbyheart.net, but there's just such great stuff in those emails!  And I'm a sharer, people.  I mean if you, as my friend, were finding neat stuffs, freebies, whatever and were sharing them with me, I'd be super excited.  So I want to share and make other's excited about stuff too ;0

In a recent email, there was a little idea of an easy DIY Christmas gift idea.  Which it most definitely is, and I just may make this my go-to gift for some dear girlies in my life.  

I also was thinking that it'd be a fun treat for a girl night/day/afternoon (anytime, right?!)!  Sit, do a little scrubby-scrub, light some yummy smelling candles, maybe pour a glass of vino or bubbly, have some girl chat time.  I love having beauty treatment night once a week.  Back in the day, Tuesdays I would mask, do a pedicure and polish and watch a movie.  I've been trying to get back on that schedule as of lately...but the fact that I've at least been able to do it a couple of times is sweet enough for me.

ANYWAY, enough about ME!  Here's a link to the 'recipe' for you to make it yourself!  Pretty neat blog!  I so appreciate all these creative ladies that share their ideas with the world!  Thanks much ;0

New Church Home

Hello!  Thought we'd give a little personal update on us, regarding our church home.  As many of you know, we were attending a church in Oakdale (RiverOak Grace) that we very much enjoyed being a part of.  We were a part of the Married's ministry and had a short stent at the info booth, during our 4 1/2 years of attending.

We loved every bit of it: the teaching, the people, the atmosphere...but since Emma came in to our lives it became a little more and more challenging to attend, as time went on.  We figured it was a stage and it'd get worked out.  Then one day I was thinking, "OK if it takes a couple of years to work it out, then we bring another baby in to our family...and on and on (because you know we're creating a baseball team here - JK!!), when will we get to be involved in our church community again?!".  I prayed about my feelings for about a month or so before sharing with Tyler how I was feeling.  When we sat to talk about it, it turned out we were both sharing the feelings of trying to build community in a community we didn't call home was extremely difficult.  And we only saw more and more obstacles as Emma (and other children) grow.

At that point, we began to pray together about it.  After about another month, we began to visit different churches in Turlock, since there are only about a hundred different ones :)  Eventually, we headed to New Life Christian Center where we immediately felt at ease and at home.  We can definitely see Emma growing in this community - there are so many kids there (of all ages).  We enjoy the teaching.  There are many ministries up and going - places we can just plug right in.  We've been placed in a Life Group that we completely fit in to and just love (even just 2 weeks in;0).  We can definitely see ourselves doing life with this neat group of people, and started to right away with opening up with right where we are in life now.

It's just slightly bigger than the church where we were (which we prefer smaller)...and after the Lord was taking me through different places of worship and seeing it from different angles, this past Sunday I had a worship experience I haven't had in about 10 years.  Amazing.  It just moved me and had me in tears.  Loved every minute of it.

Thought I'd share a link to this past week's sermon for anyone interested in checking it out, and hearing a great message!  click here to view.

If anyone that's local would like to attend with us - call me!

Thank you to everyone that joined us in prayer about finding where the Lord was leading us!

Blue October...this book, my book

Why blue?  And how is it paired with the month?  Something to do with Emma's eyes (sorry, they've turned hazel!) ...Dodger blue ;0  And yes, Dodgers are definitely woven in to it, but I'm not necessarily referring to a color.

The month of October generally brings one thing to mind: Dad.  Dad's birthday is the 11th, and he went to heaven on the 22 - 5 years ago today.

Just thinking of this month during anytime of the year evokes so many feelings, and this year, for some reason, has been the most emotional since he passed.  Blue has been my overwhelming feeling this month.

On the first anniversary, Tyler wrote a great poem.  I have to re-share it:
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year,
There is so much we want to say,

About how much we’ve thought of you,

Each and every day.

We wish that you were here right now,

And that we could enjoy you still,

Watching you light the barbeque,

And burning (just right) hotdogs on the grill.

The memories that we have of you,

Are close to all our hearts,

To measure how much we miss you daddy,

Would show up off the charts.

It’s funny all the little things,

That make us think of you,

From toothpicks to Chinese food,

And especially Dodger blue.

If we could have one moment,

Or better how about two,

We would wrap our arms around you daddy,

And whisper We love you.

Just makes me cry every time I read it, especially now.  The more life goes on, the more I miss my dad.  I was talking to Tyler about it and it seems that, to everyone else around me, the more time has passed the more people are getting used to him being gone.  He's become pretty absent from conversations.  Just references here and there.  

I completely understand that, don't get me wrong.  That's what we need to do is pick up and carry on.  

Which, I obviously have.  

But for me, every step forward that I don't get to share with him continually reminds me that he's completely absent from it.  He didn't get to meet Tyler, he hasn't been able to see the joy that has since come in to my life...how completely happy I am now. He didn't get to help us work on the house or move in.  He didn't get to see me pregnant, be there when Emma was born, and he doesn't get to see her fun faces or make her french toast for breakfast:)  What's more is that she doesn't get to experience her grandpa.  

He doesn't get to see that I finally got it, after all the times he said to me, "Connie, why do you work so much?" and get to see me be at home enjoying  a different kind of life.  I can't stop in and see him during the day, pick him up to take him to the grocery store, go out for chinese buffet (for an insanely large lunch), go to the Giants and Dodgers games each year.  


I know grief is a process.  Certainly can't just cry once and be all good forever and ever. I was told by a good friend of mine that grieving is like a book.  You pick it up and go through as much of it as you can, then, you close it and place it back on the shelf until the next time you have time to grab it.  I can honestly say that I know I've only gone through small portions of "this book".  I felt like I had to be good for my mom when it first happened, then I was moving forward with life and busy with work.  Now that we're more settled with Emma and I'm not working, I guess I'm finding more time to be able to embrace 'this book' at this stage in life.


I have had some great cries over the past few weeks. Good releases.


I can rest assured 'this book' will have many more cries, and other emotions as well as time goes on.  I'm so glad to have the Lord to rest in and be comforted by.  I'm learning to lean in to Him in a different way through our church's current theme and my perfectly (Godly) timed devotionals.  


Thank you for letting me share.  And for listening.


Let me remind you, if you know someone that has lost a loved one - talk to them about it. Ask a question.  Let the person know it's OK to talk/share openly.  I know it's a scary topic, but man does it make you feel better to not have it or the person feel forgotten.  And most likely, it's nice and freeing to share something: a thought, memory or just be able to speak freely about it.

Little Miss Emma at 14 months

Words, outside of photo descriptions (I don't think my wordiness can count as a caption;0), have been scarce lately.  So it goes when I don't have time or brain power to sit and process not only for knowing what's going on with the Boyds (or in my mind;0), but for self reflection.  Sad, huh?  Well, I'll save that for another post.

I am very sad to say that I have not kept up a baby book for my little Em.  I never saw one that I liked (cover) and I liked some fill-ins from one book, and other fill-ins from another book.  SO...I had the splendid idea to create my own.  Yeah.  Great idea, in theory. But since it was all on the computer (idea was to create then make it beautiful and print it out) I have very rarely gotten to it.  After several months, I ended up printing it out to have it out so maybe I'd jot things down.  But, yeah, I wouldn't be sounding so down about it as I write about it had I ever actually filled in some items since said printing.

Bummer.  My runner up idea has been to just utilize the blog to be able to reflect on.  There are programs that create books out of your blog, so maybe someday I'll look in to that option.  If not...yeah...maybe Emma won't care so much that I don't know the exact day she rolled over, ate her first hot dog or said Mama;0  All the experienced mamas of more than one continue to discuss never completing a baby book after child 1, so I guess in essence my subconscious goal may have been to make all children feel equal when it comes to documenting their firsts and significant milestones as children.

See, folks, I have built up words.  Just you wait.  They're squeezing out here and there until I get a chance to get 'em all out.  Just you wait ;0

back to EMMA!!

This little girl is quite a smartie, let me tell you.  I continue to feel she's got her Papa's smarts, and for that I'm ever so excited and grateful!!

New words on her vocab list as of recent:

• Bye-Bye, accompanied by waving ever so cutely.  Now putting the two together BEFORE guests/daddy leave (as opposed to once they're out of site and can no longer witness such cuteness)
• she also loves this in the form of an action word, enjoying 'going' bye-bye ;0  LOVES to get in the car and leave with my mom or get outside to go the park, or simply a ride in her red wagon around the park a few times.
• Baby.  She must point out every baby, including pictures of herself throughout the house.  She just giggles when we try to explain that baby is Emma!  Babies make her smile.
• Chicken.  Not only can she ask for cheese (which she can eat much of at EACH meal), but she now requests chicken as we walk to the refrigerator.  I might add that she isn't exclusive to chicken.  Girl eats just about anything!

Mobility:

She is walking more and more.  Monday, when we got home from the store, I took her out of her car seat, stood her up and she walked in to the house holding my finger.  OK, assisted walk there, but that just made her seem like such a big girl!

She is now running around the house pushing the little toy with wheels.  

She still prefers crawling and could certainly win a race, if she entered.  She can get to the door in like 10 seconds, when she hears some one's here, or (her fave) when some one's behind her trying to "get her".

Favorite songs:

while she enjoys all music (she will change stations on the radio and proceed to dance whether to country, pop (not that she hears it much), fast or slow songs...her favorites are: Old MacDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  We just started listening to a video of like 20 nursery rhymes, so I do expect that list to increase;0

Activities:

• she LOVES to read!  She's quite the control freak tho, must be in charge of turning the pages, so reader must be alert to what page she wants to be on (for the amount of time she wishes to stay on said page) and read quick until it's time to turn again.
• enjoys roaming the toy area at the park.  she'll walk and crawl both.  Loves to climb around on the toys/jungle gym and LOVES to go down the slide.  
• as mentioned above, she loves her time in the wagon.  It's great that we can toss it in to the car and take it with us and she can have a little play area with toys when we're somewhere we don't necessarily want her walking or crawling around.  For now, it's helping contain her in one area for a period of time.
• Every few days, we bring out the baby crib and all her dolls/stuffed animals and she loves to make the bed and pat the babies to sleep!  She's so cute when she's doing it.  Yesterday, my mom taught her to put the blanket on the baby and hold it.  Oh my goodness.  Such an adorable site!  Will need to try to get a photo of that one.  
• has a wonderful memory - remembering processes and items we've showed/described to her and acknowledging them.

Sleep:

• since the start of her walking last Monday, she's been having a hard time settling down for naps.  She'll play in her crib about an hour before knocking out.  but she will knock out, nonetheless ;0 Am Nap generally runs for 2 hours, and afternoon nap is hit and miss.  Sometimes 30/45 minutes, sometimes up to 2 hours.  We expect to get a new normal by the end of next week.
• At night, she's extended her 10 hour sleep to 11-11 1/2 hours.  Since her afternoon naps are so random, she's usually in the bath 6:30/6:45 and fast asleep no later than 7:30.  Which is awwwsome!  

Additional cuteness:

• when you ask for a 'bezo' (kiss in Spanish) she has always leaned her forehead to you, so that you may do the honor of kissing her ;0  Since Saturday, little by little she has started placing her lips on yours.  After seeing her do this to a few people this week, just this morning, as Tyler and I were having a moment before he left for work, she came over and tried to get between us and as Tyler backed away, she came forward and kissed me.  It was so sweet, it made me tear.  
• She loves to call for you when you're not in sight.  Yelling 'mama', 'mom' or 'papa'.
• she's said grandpa a few times when she sees a picture of my dad (melts my heart!)
• loves to laugh
• loves to copy what you're doing (when you're not paying attention to her/she can't tell you're watching)

I think that about sums her up right now.  I understand this may be TMI for some of you ;0  Do like my sister Diana and just scroll posts for pics and disregard words ;0

Hope you have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday

Freebies!

You can now get the Focus on the Family parenting magazine, Thriving, FREE!!  We received a free issue when we went to their Marriage Simulcast a few years back and wanted to subscribe, but didn't want to fork over the cash for it...and now I don't have to!  Had to share...

Subscribe to Thriving Family magazine

Thriving Family, a Christian marriage and parenting publication from Focus on the Family, is now free to anyone who requests it!

Take a look at a sample issue, and browse through our magazine archives.

Then let us support you in your marriage and parenting journey! Here are two ways to subscribe:

Subscribe by calling us at 800-A-FAMILY (232-6459) weekdays during business hours. Your subscription is free. 

Get a free subscription online. (Although you'll need to fill out your credit card information, you won't be charged for a subscription.)

Got that and the below from momsbyheart.net. 

Note: free subscription offers are for a limited time.

• Free subscription to American Baby.
• Free subscription to Baby Talk.
• Free subscription to Car & Driver magazine if you qualify.
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4 Years

Apparently, this year I have become fashionably late in sharing photos.  Seriously, it's generally 2 months after the fact is when I finally get them up!  I bet it will become later/harder to get closer to the date take when Emma goes down to 1 nap a day ;0  But, praise the Lord, she JUST dropped from 3 to 2 naps about 2 weeks ago, so I'm very much enjoying and appreciating these times.

Back to the topic here...on the first of September, my amazingly talented, kind and loving husband and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary!  Can you believe it?!  We barely can!!

We have been fortunate enough to be able to celebrate our anniversaries (up to this point) out of town.  We know what a huge blessing that is!  If you're a memory junkie like me, or just have some time to kill online, and would like to live through September 1 in our world since 2007, enjoy the following links: Wedding Slideshow (via 3rd anniv post), Anniversary #1 - Mexico, Anniversary #2 - Hawaii, Anniversary #3 - Napa.

This year, we decided to keep it local again and just head to San Francisco for the weekend.  Feels like we go their often for one thing or another, Emma alone has been there at least 3-4 times in her first year, but it's always straight to what we're going for and straight back home.  Neither one of us had every really done touristy things or checked out the landmark sites. Crazy, right?  

We kicked off the weekend by attending our yearly Giants vs Dodgers game :) Emma's carrying out the Father's Day tradition I had with my daddy, with hers - Tickets to the game!!  Eventually, she'll come too, but this time around she sat it out (she has already attended a Giants game, no skin off her nose).  BACK TO US (wow, I sure do get side tracked, don't I?!)..Tyler took the day off and after a late/lazy morning, we started our time in SF with a late lunch at MoMos.

We'd always noticed it across from the park, but again, we usually go straight to the game and back, so it was nice to get their early and have a relaxing lunch to start our day...

(wow major baby bangs going on there!)

We go to the park early enough to catch batting practice.  We were actually one of the first like 10 people in the park that day - pretty sure that's the earliest we've EVER been!  It was nice to see it fill up..we walked around and just took it all in

OH - and PS: we usually pay about $140 for these seats, but this last year (even after winning the pennant!) I bought them as soon as they went on sale and got them for $40 (without the $1)...CRAZY cheap!

...and we enjoyed the game...

So - now you know our game tix were super cheap...Tyler and I use a Hilton Honors Amex and earn points for hotel stays.  Seriously, we put everything on it to rack up the points, and once or twice a year we exchange points for a hotel room.  We had so many points towards the end of the summer that we were able to stay at Fisherman's Wharf Hilton for 2 nights - Free!...there I go again, more background :)  When we got back to our room that night, we had this lovely little champagne and truffles set waiting for us.  A little gift from the manager, since we're gold members ;0  - wahoo! 

(they also gave us free breakfast each morning, at the time of check in!)

The next day (after our free bfast), we went on a tour of the city (only $19 through SpreeBird/Screamin' Daily Deals if you sign up through this link, I get cash credit;0) Oh my goodness, we got to see SO MUCH!

Our tour started at the painted ladies, aka, the 'face' of 'Full House'.  The yellow one right behind me was 'their house'.

I've ALWAYS wanted a pic with the bridge in the background!  Mmm..quite possibly one that didn't have my hair covering my face or hanging on to Tyler for dear life (because it was so incredibly windy!!)...but it is what it is ;0

here's my stud of a hubby ;0

We thought this sign was pretty funny.  It's header should be, "Don't do...anything here."

We went to the top of some hill (yeah, memory is not the best anymore) and got to see a beautiful view of the City...and another model shot of my handsome hubby.

Sunday morning, we walked along Fisherman's Wharf and down to the pier.  We stopped in the Rainforest Cafe and saw these bar stools...couldn't help but take a fun pic on them.

...then before we headed home, we walked around the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival...and made our last stop a little desert break......mmmmmmmmm.

So, folks, there you have how we spent our fourth anniversary!  Quite fun ;0  It was a little bit of a financial stretch to plan the trip, so we enjoyed each blessing the Lord put in our path along the way.  We actually spent as much as we would have on perhaps a day trip or even a day in Modesto...or one of those walk up and down every isle at Target days ;0.  God is so good!  Makes the memory of the weekend that much sweeter.  

Three Little Kiddies

As some of you may remember, there was quite the baby boom in the Aguirre Family in 2010.  There were three new babies welcomed in to our family. We have: 

Isaiah (currently 18 mos)

Emma (currently 14 mos)

and Jayce (currently 12 mos)

For a while there it felt like we were having photo shoots with them quite often.  Probably due to the holidays.  Then there was a break after Isaiah's birthday (due to drive going kaput on us ;( )...but my mom, AKA Tere, was ready for a new/updated pic of the three littles together.  SO, we recently headed to the park to snap away!!

Here are a few of the top choices, ranked by yours truly.

Jayce hangin'

                       

Isaiah trying to shoot a basket

Emma and Isaiah going down the slide

here was her facial expression before getting the above ;) 

...and a few fun shots taken 'behind the scenes'...

Jayce and Emma chillin' on the swings until Isaiah arrived

Crystal and Blair playing on the toys ;0

Blair running around (and jumping over!) with Isaiah

pretty sure she may kill me for this one, but here's Diana ;0

...and what Tere was REALLY after - a pic of her with the three littles ;0

man was that a difficult task!!

In Connie fashion, there are HUNDREDS more pics that were taken. If you're interested in browsing/have an hour to click away (ha!), click here. 

There you have it, a day in the life of us ;0  Another fun afternoon, all thanks to me not having to work - Praise God!