Going Back to Guatemala

Today marks a week since Tia Lety and Nia Naty went back to Guatemala. I don't like saying good-bye, especially when I don't know exactly when I will see them again. The kids really got attached! I mean c'mon, wouldn't you? The kids got 100% attention from both of them. If they wanted to play basketball, then my aunts would play basketball. If they wanted to play "catch me", well...guess who was running after them? Yup, my aunts! If they wanted to play hide-and-seek, then there were my aunts looking for them and acting as if they couldn't find Luke, even though the only part that my aunts couldn't see was Luke's head (as long as Luke can't see you, he thinks you can't see him :0)). If Natalia wanted to color (which she is really into coloring right now), one of my aunts would sit with her and color. Natalia also loved the fact that they would fix her hair however she wanted it. Have I mentioned how much Spanish Natalia got to speak? Seriously, that's all she spoke to them. Carson and Luke understand a lot more, but only know how to say a few words in Spanish. Oh, how I wish I would have taken pictures of all the things they did together, but for some reason I didn't think about it, until now.

My aunts were here for one month and honestly, I don't know where time went. Time flew! Since they were going to have to leave the house at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, my aunts and the kids said their good-byes on Thursday night. As you can imagine, Natalia cried and cried...and cried. Carson wanted some one on one time with each aunt and even let them hold him (a first). His eyes filled with tears, but didn't actually cried. And Luke, well, I don't think he really knew what was going on. Natalia requested to be woken up at 3:00 a.m. the next day to say good-bye again. I wasn't too sure about waking them up that early, I was afraid they weren't going to go back to sleep, but we did anyway. The kids said good-bye again and went right back to sleep.

In the morning when Natalia and Carson woke up, oh it was so sad to see their little faces...

I even fixed Natalia's hair however she wanted that morning to help her feel better.

Look at CarCar's face...so sad!

We really enjoyed having my aunts here and hope to see all the family, that we have in Guatemala, soon.

My Very Own Tennis Racquet

Look at what I got yesterday in the mail...



Okay so, I don't really know what to do with this thing. I've taken tennis lessons here and there but that has been about it. I hated the part where you have to run in order to hit the ball. I've always liked tennis though. Anyway, Dave has been researching what racquet to buy me. So now, the ball is in my court! Once again, just like with running, I feel like now I'm obligated to use it after all the time, effort and money Dave has put into this.

~Tennis lessons...here I come!

Memorial Day Weekend

The kids and I were able to go to Beaumont to see Daddy! It was a short and busy weekend.

Due to the fact that Grannie and Papaw's house will also be under construction, starting this week, I had to pack everything that we still had at their house in two of the rooms. ~Oh, when will this end! Right now, we have stuff everywhere. I just keep moving it from house to house.

Sunday morning, we went to church. It was so good to see everybody. After church, we went to eat lunch and then it was time to go back to work. Elizabeth & Matt came over and took Natalia, Carson & Luke out for ice-cream. Wow, they are brave! After ice cream, Matt helped Dave and Elizabeth helped me pack. We are so greatful for all their help. Papaw took the kids to the house so that they could "help" Daddy. Papaw had to leave Carson with Daddy because Carson wasn't finished helping! The other two gladly came back to Papaw & Grannie's house. Lia claims that it was too hot and that she was very thirsty.

Susan and Alan also helped us this weekend. Alan got a few men from their church to help Dave. That was a huge blessing. And Susan also helped me pack!

On Monday, Grannie took the kids to get new shoes. They all got 2 pairs each. ~Thank you Grannie. This is such a huge help. It adds up really fast when you buy 6pairs of shoes at McDougal's. She also helped me picked out some other stuff for the house. I don't know what I would do without them!

After lunch, we headed back to San Antonio. We got to San Antonio at approximately 7:15 p.m. I had brought a bunch of clothes with me. Some of the clothes were too small for them to wear, so I just needed to do something with all that. I also brought a huge bag full of old shoes. My Mom was so kind to help me sorted all out and put it all up. ~Oh, thank you so much for all your help Mom. Unpacking after a long weekend is not my favorite thing to do. Especially right after a trip, but it's all put away now and I don't have to worry about it anymore.

It was a busy weekend, but look at how God blessed us all weekend long.

The Human Body Exhibit

I've been wanting to go to see the human body exhibit since I got to San Antonio in February. For one reason or another I had not been able to go. I'm glad now because my aunts were also very interested in going so we all went on Tuesday night. I have been debating whether I should take the kids or not. At the last minute, I decided that there would be no harm for them to see what we are made of. So we all went!

We got there at approximately 6:15 p.m. They told us that we were not going to be able to go in until 8:15 p.m. At first we were a little bummed, but it all worked out afterall. We spent those two hours exploring the rest of the museum. Time flew, as a matter of fact. The kids weren't ready to stop playing and exploring.

The first things we looked at in the Human Body exhibit were the bones. Luke's first comment was, "Mama, bone. dog. woof, woof!" Natalia kept saying, "We are gross inside. This is gross." --At the end of the exhibit, we asked Carson what his favorite part was and he answered, "I liked to see what I looked like in Mama's tummy, when I was a little baby." I'm so glad I took them. It also gave me an opportunity to show Natalia healty bones versus sick bones. She asked, "Mama, why is this bone not healthy?" I jumped at the opportunity and said, "well...because they wouldn't drink their milk." Natalia quickly answered, "Mama, I'll drink all my milk, okay?" Got lots of thumbs up from people standing behind her :0). I should have said, "they didn't drink their milk nor did they eat their vegetables!"

Visiting Austin, Texas

Taking advantage of the fact that my aunts were still here from Guatemala and that they had never been to Austin, Texas before, we decided to take a little trip for the day. It was such a fun trip. We started our trip on Sunday, May 18th at approximately 1:45 p.m. (right after David went back to Beaumont). David's parents were kind enough to let us keep their Expedition so that we had enough room for everyone to be comfortable. The kids were little angels. Carson and Natalia sat all the way in the back. Natalia listen to her ipod the entiere way there and back and I let Carson listen to mine.

First, we decided to stop at the Texas Capitol. I was surprised that even the kids enjoyed the little tour of the Texas Capitol. The building is beautiful and is very neat to walk trhough some of the sigificant spaces. We also got to see a few of the wonderful monuments around. I think the part that the kids enjoyed the most though, was to climb up and down those stairs!


After all that walking, we began to get hungry so we went to eat at Freebirds. Now, that was yummy!

By then, it was time to head on to Lady Bird Lake to get on the boat for a little tour and the main attraction of the day,"Bat Watching". But, we still had a few minutes to kill, so we walked around the lake. There were tons of people riding their bikes, running, walking their dogs... It was so much fun. Later we went back to the boat and got ready for the tour. The bat watching kept the kids attention!





We ended the day with a Starbucks drink, of course!

Can you say SPOILED?

Natalia has been asking for an ipod for a long time. Well, I mean, for a while. She asked Santa for an ipod for Christmas and was very disappointed when she didn't get it. I explained to her that Santa brings gifts that are age appropriate and an ipod is not appropriate for a 5 year old. I think she was okay with that answer until we went to San Antonio in January and saw her little cousin (4 years old) with an ipod. Natalia asked her who had given the ipod to her and Ashlyn answered: "Santa." (Great!) Natalia quickly came to me and demanded a good explanation. I had to tell Natalia that before Santa brings them gifts, he always asks us if the gifts he is thinking about bringing are good with us...anyway, I really don't know how I got out of that one, but I think I did!

Well, now that she is much older (6 years old now, not 5- six months later than when she asked Santa for the ipod) :0), we decided to buy her one for her birthday and get the credit for it. Believe me, I've justified the purchase. I have several reasons why she "NEEDS" an ipod. ~None good enough for Dave, but he went along with it (I guess, to keep the peace). On Sunday, before Dave had to go back to Bmt., we gave her the ipod. Well...DAVE gave her the ipod while I took pictures. Natalia couldn't believe that DADDY had gotten her the ipod. All eyes were for Daddy only (Mama - well, I don't think she even realized I was in the room.) She was so excited when she saw her own pink ipod. For the rest of the day, all she wanted to do was to listen to her music and sing from the top of her lungs. Natalia stopped singing for a second and turned to Daddy and said: "Daddy, I sound just like the girl singing that song!" (LOL)

Happy 6th Birthday Natalia!

Natalia turned 6th on Monday, May 19th. To celebrate, we had an "art party". It was a blast. The kids made a flower picture frame, they worked on some scratch art and also were able to create a drawing or card with markers and stamps. They were so entertained that we barely knew they were there. The adults were able to participate too! They were given a container of Play Doh and were asked to make anything. I was surprise to see how creative everybody was. We all had fun! After eating pizza, fruit and vegetables, we sang Happy Birthday and all the kids got to decorate their own cupcake. Even some adults added a little bit of a decoration to their own cake. Now, that was a hit. Later, Natalia opened her gifts. ~Wow, what a great birthday party she had. I can't believe she is six!!!!

100 Miles

As some of you might remember, I started running again on March 18th. Well...on Sunday, I reached my 100 milestone! Nike+ sent me a certificate to celebrate my accomplishment :0).

Now what!?

This morning I received a phone call from my mom to let me know that while Luke was running, he fell down and bumped his face on the step....

I did it!

I showed up and ran the scenic 4 mile run! I almost missed it. We got to the start line approximately 3 minutes before the run began. Just enough time for me to put my race number bib on my shirt and the chip on my shoe. It was a great run though. Lots of hills and I mean, big hills. I had not even thought about it until I was talking to a co-worker on Friday and she said : "Erika, you know scenic means big hills, right?" Didn't do great, but I crossed the finish line running. What a wonderful experience. I definitely will be doing this again. The kids had fun watching me participate, although they were wondering why I had taken so long to come back. When all was set and done, out of the blue, Carson whispered in my ear "Mama, I think you are a good runner." Natalia also said to me: "Yea, I think you won." I really don't know how she figured that out since there were about 150 people who crossed the finish line before I did :0)~ 

  Here we are at the finish line!

A few pictures of the scenery (of course, not taken by me :0)

After the run, since my aunts from Guatemala had never been to Wimberley, we took advantage of our trip.  So we went to a few of the many cute shops around town. The kids behaved nicely which is always a plus. We ended the day by eating lunch at Rudy's.  

  

  

When we got home, Tia Naty gave me a pedicure and Tia Lety a manicure. ~Wow, what a treat!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are a few things Natalia gave me this Mother's Day:

She made this picture frame especially for me at school for Mother's Day!

I don't know who she was thinking about when

she decorated this cake at school.
~She loves frosting!!!!

Isn't this sweet? ~I almost cried when I read this little poem.

They grow up so quickly.

(The card reads, "Dear Mom, I hope you have a good mothers...

and I have something for you for Mother's Day")

My official Mother's Day card from school.

Now...this card, she made for me at home on Mother's Day.

The card reads: "Mom, do you love me? Yes I love you said Mom."

Natalia also made me a book written and illustrated by her. I'll probably scan and post it tomorrow. It's pretty long and I don't have time to scan it right now.

Thank you so much Natalia for all my wonderful Mother's Day gifts and cards. I love you!

Proud Mama!

Awana Club - 2008 ~Leon Spring Baptist Church~

Okay, so it might not be a big deal for any of you, but for me....it means a lot. Not only did we have to quit Awana's in Beaumont, but then we also had to find a church in San Antonio that offered the Awana Club. It was so hard to do that. Natalia loved her teachers and her friends in Beaumont and Carson loved being able to go to Cubbies and see Mr. Matt and Ms. Elizabeth. That was the highlight of his day! But I knew that we had to continue with Awana. So, we got to San Antonio on Monday, January 28th and on Wednesday, January 30th, they were attending Awana in San Antonio. I remeber that first day, I wasn't even sure why I was doing this. They had a little bit of a hard time staying and trying to figure out what they were supposed to do. I remember calling Dave (almost crying) right after I dropped them off, telling him that I didn't know if I was going to be able to do this. But I knew that they needed to keep learning about God and they needed to keep hidding God's Word in their heart! And that is the only thing that motivated me week after week.  They had to get used to the new teachers, new kids and new way of doing things. It was truly an adjustment period. I would get off from work at 5:00, I would go over to the house to pick Natalia and Carson up. My Mom (thank you Mom) would feed them and have them all ready for me. She would keep Luke while I took the other two to Awana.  We would leave the house by 5:30 and drive about 30 minutes (with traffic) to the church. Even though it was a huge adjustment for all of us, I'm glad we did it. Natalia and Carson learned a bunch of Bible verses this "school year", and we even tried putting some of them into practice. So, let me brag a little (more :0) )...

                           

Natalia finished her handbook so she received her crown, a patch and all the red and green jewels that she could possibly receive. She also earned all the blue (?) jewels because she had perfect attendance!   In addition, she received the Sparky pin (BIG DEAL!!) because, after finishing the handbook, she finished the whole workbook.  Some weeks she would learn 3 to 6 verses per week.  Her teacher asked Natalia if she could learn Psalm 23 and say it in front of everybody for awards night.  At first, when we started to learn the Psalm, Natalia was a little hesitant to learn it because she thought that if knew it then she would have to stand in front of everyone and use the microphone to say it.  Once I told her that she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to, she learned Psalm 23 with no problem.  Well, the night of the awards, the teacher asked her if she would like to say Psalm 23 in front of everyone and Natalia said that she would do it.  So she did.  She said it with a little boy.  They were both a little shy and quiet, but they did great!  Anyway, I'm very proud of her!

Carson, was a champ.  He also learned so many verses this "school year".  He was so excited to receive his little Cubbie Bear, which will go on his vest.  He sat with his whole class and stayed with them throughout the entire ceremony.  He also had perfect attendance!  The only night he missed is when he got his tonsils taken out and his ear tubes in on a Monday. That Wednesday he wanted to go to Cubbies so bad but he had to stay home.  He  stayed crying while Natalia went to Awana's with Matt and Elizabeth.  ~I mean, talking about being committed! :0)

Carson showing off his little Cubbie Bear and his certificate.

Anyway, sorry if I bored you with all this information, but I just don't want to forget how young they were when they started learning scripture!  And how much they enjoyed it while doing it!

I'm So In!

Okay, so I did it! I just signed up to run the W4 -WIMBERLEY FOUR. I'll be running a scenic 4 mile run by the river and through the village of Wimberly this Saturday. They are calling it a "TREAT"! I'm going to "have the chance to run along some of the most scenic stretches of this hidden, Hill Country gem." --Yea, we'll see.

Japanese anyone?

By the way, just in case you needed or wanted to know, this is how you write Carson Stovall (blue paper) and Luke Stovall (green paper) in Japanese. Well, that's what they told me anyway. Who knows, it might say something completely different. I just thought I would share this with you since I paid $1 each and I don't know what else I can or will do with these. So, enjoy!

We are going to the Zoo today!

We started our Sunday by going to eat breakfast at Pico de Gallo.  This mexican restaurant is one of my parents' favorite restaurant.  

After eating a very yummy breakfast, we went straight to the zoo. Oh, where do kids get all their energy from?  -Seriously, they never stop!!!  At the zoo they walked and ran and walked and ran and walked and ran... Thank God for another day with perfect weather.

Natalia, Carson & Luke reading the map

Mami bought popcorn and everybody wanted to hold the bucket!

Okay, so this is Luke as we were leaving.  Who can guess what he is doing in this picture?  Yup, you are right - throwing a fit.  Are you starting to see a pattern here???

Do I see a competitive streak in Carson?

Carson finally got a chance to play his very first tennis match last Sunday. It was by chance that Daddy and Carson were on one side of the court and Tia Naty and I ended up on the other side. Oh, Carson was so excited.  While playing, Daddy said to Tia Naty, "oh sorry, I didn't mean to hit the ball that hard."  Carson turned toward Daddy and said, "Daddy, don't say 'I'm sorry', we want to win."

Flowers, flowers and more flowers!

The weather has been so beautiful lately, so why not enjoy it? - Today we went to the Botanical Gardens. So peaceful and beautiful. The kids enjoyed running around and exploring. They also got an opportunity to join in and celebrate the Japanese culture in the Kumamoto En Day. Natalia's favorite part of the celebration was the story called The Peach Boy, a popular traditional Japanese story. Even the boys were listening attentively as the lady read the story with sound effects and all sorts of props. They also made some crafts and Carson and Luke got their names written in Japanese - now that was pretty cool. ~Oh, what a wonderful time we had! Everybody was in their best behavior which makes it for a good day.

This is a little house in the middle of the garden next to a huge pond. Luke kept saying "my house" and when people went in "his" house, he wouldn't like it. He would say, "oh oh, in my house."

Ah yea, and this is Luke at the end of the day....that's when we decided it was time to go.