Nightmare Before Christmas!

This year we decided on a Halloween theme

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas!
If you haven't seen this masterpiece you are missing out BIG TIME! Ever since Ellison was 2 she has been in love with Jack Skellington. The movie is all claymation and the songs are wonderful. It took my family (mostly Sergio and Ellison) over a month to hand craft the characters and we're not through yet! We are planning on adding more characters for next year. We had lots of people taking pictures in front of our house and video taping our display :)
We even had the soundtrack playing. It was a great Halloween. Josh and Aaron were Boba and Jengo Fett. Ellison was a cute witch.
And Sergio and I had a blast handing out candy to all the neighborhood kids. Now on to our Christmas display (hee hee hee )

HAPPY HALOWEEN!!

Well I set out to make some Halloween memories with the kids by baking some Halloween cookies, except they weren't interested in the least! So I ended up making them by myself. At least they had fun eating them.

Proud Parents

Sergio and I went to talk to Josh's teacher, Ms.Galyon. Josh is in 5th grade now. We were not surprised to hear her rave about him. We are so lucky to be his parents. These are the words she used to describe our son:
Self Motivated
Respectful
Mature for his age (he just turned 11)
He's not a goof ball (that's good)
Incredibly bright
Gets along well with everyone
Wish all 30 of them were just like him
He is funny!
He does not want to attract attention to himself
I recommend he goes into the GT program-Alpha

Needless to say, Sergio and I were beaming with love and pride for this wonderful boy we get to call our son. He is exactly the same way at home. Josh has been recommended to enroll in the GT (gifted program) before when he was in the 2nd grade. But I tell ya, this guy is so sharp he figured out what the testing was for, and now, years later, informed us he purposely failed it!! He didn't get a 97% percentile, he got 95% percentile and did not get in. We were puzzled of course, since he has always been so bright. I asked him why he didn't want to be in alpha, and he simply said, I don't think it's important...that is not going to guarantee that I am successful in my life". Can you believe that?? I tell you this guy is sharp!! He is exceptionally gifted in math and science but he told us he DOES NOT want to be "different". He states " my life is great right now..and I don't want to change it". This is also the same kid who has very deep, spiritual conversations with me and I do feel there is an old spirit living within that 11 year old boy's body.
Now, for Aaron's conference tomorrow morning. This little guy is a character LOL But he is a sweetheart too. :)

UNT and Driver's Permit

Well she finally did it! Ellison has her driver's permit.

YAY!! She was so excited! The line was long but we stuck to it.

She doesn't look excited in the pic >>>>>> lol

Now come April she will be a licensed driver. We plan on taking her out driving many times over the next few days and months.

Here she is with her driver's permit

Then we took her to UNT to take a tour of the University. She plans on applying to their art program and maybe interning for Disney in the future!!

Ellison actually has enough credits to graduate this year (her junior year) but she wants to take a bunch of art classes next year just for fun!!

She also is doing very well in school taking 3 AP classes!! She was taking a 4th AP class which was actually a GT class YIKES!

Her counselor asked me if she was planning to major in Engineering with all the advanced math she has under her belt, but I told her art will be her major. She then recommended that we take her out of the GT class and into her favorite subject which is Algebra 3. We took her recommendation and took a load off of Ellison.

Anyway, back to the UNT tour.

Here's a few pics of the tour:

Out of it

Well for the past two weeks I have been pretty out of it. Last week on Thursday I went to the Emergency Room because I couldn't feel one side of my face, was slurring my speech and I felt weak all over. After being treated for over 5 hours, they told me they needed to admit me so that their Neuro could see me. I refused and they let me go home. I wanted to be seen by my Neuro in Plano who has known me for many years. I saw him on Monday and he said I had suffered a small stroke.YIKES!! He put me on some calcium channel blockers that will help with the blood flow to my brain. I was off work all week and I could hardly talk and walk without leaning on Sergio. Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who waited on me hand and foot! He brought me my meals to our bed, he took great care of the kids, what can I say...I am such a lucky girl to have married this wonderful and caring man.
I couldn't have done it without his strength and faith.
On Thursday I had several MRI's so that the doctor could rule out MS. Well thank goodness they came out normal. Whatever that means. According to my doctor, the brain is a very mysterious thing and nobody knows why things happen sometimes.
I just pray the medicine will help.
It sucks to be bedridden.
The good thing about being bedridden is that I kept myself busy clipping coupons and scoring some great deals!!
You guys must check out my Savings blog.
I am glad to be back!

Happy Birthday JOSH!!!!!

So to add to the excitement to the otherwise hectic day...it is Josh's birthday today. Another one of my babies growing up. He is now 11. Holy Cow where did the time go??? He decided he wanted a sleep over with two of his bestest friends. So after much video game playing (all of them are Star Wars fans!) Sergio made some grilled hot dogs and a cake! What a cool dad :) So after eating the yummy hot dogs, we sang the birthday song and Josh opened presents. He got just what he wanted plus a good time with two of his buddies. What a wonderful day! I am so blessed to have these wonderful people to raise and to be able to call them MINE! I am a blessed person to have them call me MOM :)
Here is a video of Josh

These guys couldn't decide whether to go upstairs and watch a movie or play Josh's new video game. Another Star Wars game of course.

I think they are watching the movie right now. Aaron is in hog heaven too! He just loves hanging out with his big brother.

What a great day!

Today was just beautiful. Ellison and I went out to Farmersville, a town just east of us to peddle some of our wares. We sold some of Sergio's salsa, some of my jewelry and of course Tupperware :) Ellison is developing into quite the sales person. I feel it is important to have my children learn how to make a buck and be entrepreneurial. Ellison has been at it since she was 5! She is not shy in getting people's attention to come to our booth :) I however, am a little, shy...I know hard to believe. So after our crafts fair, we headed over to pick up the packet for our Block Party this Tuesday night. We registered our block for the National Night Out and so the police and firefighters will hopefully show up at our block party.

So after all this, we rushed home and I helped Ellison get ready for Homecoming Dance! I am so excited and I am not even the one going. I helped her curl her hair, do some of her makeup, etc. I can't believe my baby is all grown up and she will be 17 in a couple of weeks. Brian, her boyfriend, is the nicest guy, and Sergio and I are SO happy they hooked up :D

So here are some pics of the gorgeous couple

We are so proud of Ellison and the good choices she has made. She truly is a good example to her brothers and her family.

We love you Elle!!