Yep....it's still alive!

Talk about slacking off!
Since it has been several months since my last post I thought I would try to get into the swing of it. Sal keeps telling me I should do my own blog instead of lurking and reading over 15 other blogs that I like.
I'm still trying to recover from the greatness that was Thanksgiving break. After 9 days of hanging out, playing with the kids, eating food and lots of Black Friday shopping who wants to come back to work. :) Luckily there are only 6 days left until we get our next two week break. I know life as a teacher is hard. You will all be happy to know that I have plenty of meetings, paperwork and countless interuptions to fill up my days until the 19th of December rolls around.
Sal is staying busy as ever at work, planning lots of events and holiday parties at his sites. He got his Christmans present early this year..... a new Iphone. Let me tell you if I knew how happy and greatful he would be I would have totally got him one sooner! In his words it was "the greatest gift ever!" I hope he remembers that as Christmas and my birthday draw near. :)
Grace is gearing up for her big 8th birthday party sleepover tomorrow night. Sal's mom got us a suite at her hotel and there were 24 girls who RSVP'd for the party. Thankfully only 8 girls are spending the night! I'm sure it will be lots of fun for everyone. Gracie is also going to start her new indoor season this Saturday. They asked her to play for two of the teams which is great for her, but they also asked us to pay to registration fees which is not so great. :) She is also super excited about going to her best friend's birthday swim party on Saturday. (They're birthdays are only 4 days apart!)
Alex and Andrew are still doing their own thing. Alex stopped Karate during the week, but is going to begin going to a Saturday class. Andrew is also going to start playing soccer this spring. Some days he's really excited and other days he says no. I think the only part of soccer he enjoys is the after the game snacks!
At church last night they asked us what our favorite and least favorite thing about Christmas was. I actually had two things that were a tie for favorite. My first favorite thing would have to be seeing the kids (especially Andrew) get so excited that Christmas is coming. Our first sign of the impending day is that "Santa's House" is back at City Hall. They love to do the drive through of lights and see Santa at the end of the road. I'm sure if I let them they would go everyday! We also went to see the neighborhood "Christmas House" last night for the first time this season. They have their whole yard lit with lights that are timed to music. It's pretty neat! My second favorite thing would have to be reminding the kids about the true meaning of Christmas and listening them retell the story of baby Jesus (their own version of events). Our church always has a really nice Christmas Eve service that I look forward to taking them to this year. My least favorite thing would have to be cleaning up all the mess and washing all the dishes from the Christmas meal! Hope your holiday prep is bringing you lots of joy!

Frustration

Why does it seem like some people can't get their act together? I was supposed to be off from summer school and 3 days before it starts a "friendly reminder" email comes through that by the way "Be at work on Friday!" Luckily my wonderful sister in law has agreed to watch the troops tomorrow for me. We should all cross our fingers and wish that no one shows up. :)

I'm excited for the summer. This weekend my best friends sweet little girl turns 2 and is going to get the birthday party she rightfully deserves. :) She was cheated from it last year by a family trip to Mexico. Also in less than 8 days we will be heading off to Florida for 8 days of fun in the sun. I've been before, but this is our first big out of state trip as a family. I hope we make it in one piece. We've got a super busy weekend starting- I still need to work on splitting myself into 4 different pieces so I can be everywhere at once.

Home Depot was super frustrating today, busy with no help as can be expected. Although they did say I could work some extra hours while out for the summer if I wanted. If being the capital word.

Good night and enjoy your weekend!

Today

I created this blog so our family and friends near and far can keep up with the adventures and good times going around the Parada house...

Today was a busy day. We finally got around to deep cleaning Grace's room and doing laundry. Grace and I looked at some new bedsets for her room. I think we are going to touch up paint this summer. Only 4 days left at work before we start summer break! We're looking forward to going swimming and hanging out together at the pool- I know hard work.
Sal's sister and her husband are in town from North Carolina. We thought they were here on vacation and they surprised us by telling us they have been re-assigned to Fort Hood. Now they'll only be about 2.5 hours away from us. The kids have enjoyed spending time with Tia Marina and Uncle Jose. The downside to it all is that Uncle Jose will be going to Iraq for a year (he's a chaplain in the Army).
The countdown to Disney has begun. Two weeks from today we will be in Orlando. Thanks to Sevi who tried to get us the discount tickets. :)
We hit the pool this afternoon and I was disappointed to see how wild some kids are. I had to yell at kids twice who were acting like nuts play fighting and almost jumping on top of Alex and Andrew. At least they were nice enough to move over to the other side of the pool. I'm thinking the membership at the YMCA pool is sounding like a good idea.
Hope your weekend is going smooth!