Maybe she was born to be a star...

Well, she likes to think that anyway. Diamond loves performing. She could be a simple flower on stage or helping out in the background, but she definitely loves that kind of stuff. I was going through old pictures to print some out and ran across this video of her at 5. It's getting further and further away from these times and I'm glad I have them captured on my computer.

I've trained her well!

While Diamond and I were grocery shopping, she wanted to buy some sliced mozarella cheese to put in her sandwiches for camp. This was actually harder to find than I thought it would be. We ended up finding some deli sliced mozarella that looked good. They were 10 slices for $2.00.

As I'm unloading groceries, I notice there are holes in the cheese. I start freaking out because I do not remember grabbing swiss cheese and Diamond has never had it so I don't even know if she will like it. I guess she hears me in the kitchen mumbling and wondering how this swiss cheese ended up in our basket. She calmly comes to me and says, "Mom, I did that. I wanted us to get a deal because swiss comes with 14 slices instead of 10 for the same price."

All I could do was smile and say good job baby... I guess the holes in the swiss cheese make up for the extra slices.

On our own...

Today marks the first day without my parents. For all the years of my life, they have been there - just a knock away. My dad was offered a job in New Mexico right before spring break. He packed up some of his stuff and got a place there and now since summer is here, mom has joined him. When they got in their car, I wasn't really sad... it was when I saw their vehicle driving away and we were following behind them that it hit me that we were not going to be living in the same town anymore.

But on the positive side, we can talk to them on the webcam whenever we want and they will be back in 2 weeks to make sure we haven't burned their house down. (Not doing so well with that. I just burned a piece of salmon as I was blogging - I think this is what they might call "blackened salmon.")

Last day off in May

In the month of May, I had three short weeks in a row. I was really getting spoiled with those short weeks that I don't know how I'm going to work 5 days a week for the entire month of June.

Today, I took the day off to attend Diamond's award ceremony at school, where she received "Hardest Worker" and then stayed for their family picnic. It was a beautiful day and I did not regret taking the day off at all. We had the picnic at the fort, laid out blankets and chairs, then had a huge water balloon/gun fight.So, with no change of clothes, she spent the rest of the day wet. Sometimes I wonder why there is still school during the last week - I guess because if there wasn't, they would miss out on all this fun!
The rest of the afternoon, I walked around the mall, watched a movie, and then hung out with Diamond after school. I love picking her up at the bus stop. I wish I could do it everyday - But tomorrow it's back to work and back to normal schedule. But today was a great day!

Non-stop Thursday

Today, I felt like we were on the go go go go... We started our day by coming home after midnight after watching Star Trek, which by the way was a really good movie even though I am not a Trekie. After 5 hours of sleep, I head to work for a day filled with fun and exciting (in my most sarcastic tone) training.

Then, Diamond had a dress rehearsal for her piano recital.
Then, Diamond had performance awards for ballet.
Then, Diamond had Dia De Los Ninos with open house at school.

Wow... Diamond is a busy girl. Today I was a proud mommy. My dad, who will not be here for the piano recital, watched during rehearsal and said she did an awesome job. I watched her twinkle her toes away in ballet as they performed all their dances. Then, for the first time ever, I watched my daughter participate in a talent show she chose to sing in. She may not be Mariah Carey, but it was still a proud moment for me. I sat there and watched her sing her heart out... Here's a little video I took of it. (Uhm... ignore the end. The umbrella was knocked over by the wind and it almost toppled a poor little kid.)

Lakehouse getaway

We spent this weekend at my friend Erin's lakehouse. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was pretty excited about the trip anyway. I needed a girls getaway due to having a rough week, and it definitely helped.

We had so much fun. We drove down there after I watched Dime run in the Little Olympics. Ate at an Italian restaurant in my friends' home town and spent the evening sitting on the boat dock talking while eating Oreos and milk (or Dr. Pepper for some of us.)

The next day, we played in the water. I went kayaking and canoeing for the very first time! Whew! It was a serious arm workout and for someone who hardly works on their arms, it sure was a lot of using muscles I'm not used to. Then we visited Erin's family vineyard... this was so beautiful.

We just had such a blast! Thanks Erin for inviting us out there. I wish I had a picture of all of us to post up here.

Picking at weeds and dog poop

Yes, that is how I spent my afternoon. I'm not a yard worker. I should live somewhere where I don't have to maintain a yard. I don't have a lot of patience for it and whenever I try to grow something, it dies.

But I still did pull the weeds, bag them, and then picked up the dog's mess. It was a nice day to be outside. The sun wasn't beating down on me. I'm tired now... I think I deserve a nap.

T.G.I. Friday!

It's been such a great Friday! First, we started off the day with one of our "breakfast" meetings. Every month there is a birthday in our department, we all gather at a location of the birthday celebrant's choice. Today was I.H.O.P., which is actually a first since I've worked in the department. It will probably be the last too. The food was great, but afterwards, they sang an embarrassing song really really loud for the entire restaurant to hear. Our birthday celebrant's face was so red. We enjoyed it though.

So we come to work and we're pretty useless on a Friday with full stomachs.

But then the greeter calls my boss and tells her there is a delivery at the front for our department. Who would deliver something for us? So we find this:
A cookie bouquet from our VP. Isn't she so sweet? We didn't even know what we did. She was just thanking us for all of our hard work. Wow! No wonder I love coming to work everyday. No, not because of the cookies and breakfasts, but because I work with a wonderful group of people. They are such a blessing.

So from here, I will try to continue on the afternoon and make it through to 5.

I think I shall return...

Although my fingers are still numb and hurting (not due to excessive blogging or anything), I've decided to come back! Today we had our annual Easter egg hunt. My fingers hurt from tying balloons, but I think after 3 years of doing it, I'm officially a pro. The church was filled with children today. It was so amazing. Diamond was able to be up on stage to sing and help out with the guests. She was so excited about that and really thrilled about her new cool shirt they provided for them. And thank the Lord we made it through without any rain!

So, some things have changed since the last time I blogged. Maybe I'll get to blog about them later. But for now, I'm headed off to the kitchen table to eat some of the spaghetti squash I made for lunch. If you've never tried it before, it's so yum yum to the tum tum and tastes just like spaghetti but way way better for you!

Rodeo Parade

This blustery windy day, Diamond and I spent the morning passing out hundreds of free bandanas to fans of the rodeo parade. I thought we were never going to get rid of those things! Then, we quickly went down the parade line to jump in our float to find out we were the very last ones in the parade. It was so cold!!! The wind blew uncontrollably, but we had a fun anyway. Afterwards, I treated Diamond to her favorite - Chinese food! She deserved it since she put up with me volunteering her to help with these things!

Never walk alone

Yesterday, while Diamond was in ballet practice, I decided I would take a walk at the park and kill time. I was sure I could get in a couple miles while I waited. So I did. I usually go there with friends, but today, I decided to walk alone. It was still sunny out, but it was starting to get dark, but not dark enough for me to be scared...

I know, this is off topic, but I'm also not easily offended. I can take a lot of jokes. I guess if I can dish them out, I should be able to take them too. I've been asked several questions about what nationality I am. After speaking Spanish on and on to me, I've been told by a customer I need to learn how to speak Spanish and even though I'm not Hispanic, it should be a language I need to know how to speak. I've also been asked if I was a Malaysian missionary while eating at Wendy's. I've also been served Polynesian sauce at Chick-fil-a, even though I asked for honey mustard. ;) It doesn't bother me though.

So back to the park story... Yesterday, as I walked my fourth lap around Unidad, I see a car sitting in the parking lot with two boys in it. Then as I'm walking away, I hear in their best Chinese accent, "Me love you long time. Want free sample?" again and again and again. Should I turn around? I chose not to just in case they were bigger than me (which at my height, it doesn't take much.) I walked my last lap and left the park... It was getting dark anyway.

Maybe we should shave our heads

One bad thing about long hair - clogged up drains! I hate cleaning out the drains, but it's something that must be done. But you see, if we shaved our heads, then we wouldn't have this lovely problem. I wonder if Diamond and I have nice round heads...

What's wrong with my blog?

I go to the home page and my background shows up but nothing else...

This is a test to see if works.

Special delivery

After my Friday morning meeting, I arrive at my desk and I have a new message. I check the message to find out I have a special delivery at the greeter's desk. Really? I do? I never get deliveries at the front desk.

So, I walk downstairs and find this:A beautiful bouquet with my favorite flower (lillies) and my favorite color (purple) of baby's breath. Someone knew me well! I was very surprised! So of course, I had to thank the person who gave it to me because they made me feel special. I was the very first delivery at the credit union and they were beautiful. Usually, my desk is the empty one without any flowers so this definitely made my day. And they smell so good too!!!

16 hour day

Today, on a Saturday, my one and only sleep in day, I had to be ready and out the door by 6:35!!! That is earlier than a normal school day morning!

A bunch of my friends and I headed out to San Antonio for the day in search of dresses and tuxes for a wedding. My friend and I sat in the third row of a Tahoe with our legs crunched up in a really weird position. In hopes that someone would offer to trade our seats on the way home, we decided to be nice and not complain and just take it. It's only a 3 hour trip anyway.

So we went to Alfred Angelo and tried on some dresses, ate at Pei Wei Chinese Bistro (a little brother of P.F. Changs), then did some shopping at the San Marcos outlet malls. This was my first time heading to those stores. We bought the dresses, but were unsuccessful with the shoes and tuxes. We'll have to save those for another trip.

But we made it home and 16 hours later, I am ready to head off to bed.

Unripe bananas

Do those make your tummy hurt?

I ate one for breakfast and since then, my tummy has been aching all day... I'm going to bed now...

Breathing

Today, or yesterday actually, I went to our monthly CnC (College n Career) Bible study. This is a small group I really enjoy and on top of learning more about Jesus, we also made some thick, juicy homemade hamburgers. Delicious!

But tonight we talked about breathing... How we take it for granted. It's one of those God given gifts we do everyday without thinking about it yet without it, we would not live. In one minute, an average human takes about 45 breaths of air. That's 64,800 breaths in one day. Yet sometimes we take this simple thing and just blow it off - I'll read my Bible tomorrow, I'll spend time with them next week, I'm doing something right now, maybe we can play that game later, we're still young so we've got plenty of time to do that, etc, etc. We can make several excuses to put things off for later, but later is not something we may always have. So this year, on top of the normal resolutions everyone has for the year, we were asked to add a new year's resolution for God - to do something for Him. We may have to sacrifice time or money, but we should never wait to add to our list of things we do to honor Him because in the end, these are the things that will count.

Thank you Heavenly Father for every breath we take... I pray we continue to be encouraged this coming year to grow closer You. Thank You for the refreshing words and reminder today.

45

That is the number of days until our spring break vacation. Everything is ready to go. Diamond and I will be taking our first trip without the rest of the family and we're headed to Universal Studios Orlando! We have never been and I'm very excited yet also a bit nervous about this trip - for many reasons.
1) I haven't gone on a long distance trip with just Diamond and I since we're such s small family.
2) It's so much better to look over at mom and dad and say, "We're hungry," and not have to pay for the meal.
3) I'm not exactly a "street smart" kind of girl. I am very easily distracted.
I know it will be an enjoyable time though and I'm looking forward to it. And I know God is everywhere with us so I should not be worried and I will not be...

So until then, I'll be counting down the days...

Sunshiny day!

And I'm stuck inside! I want to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather!

Wah wah wah!

Walk at Home

My co-workers are always talking about these Leslie Sansone walking videos. I finally decided to try it and bought one at Sam's. It was only $8.88 and it comes with a year's subscription of Fitness magazine, but if you don't want the magazine offer, you can send it in for a $7.00 refund. So it's not a bad deal. I just tried it this evening and it was actually pretty fun. I got the 5 Day Slim Down, and for someone who is busy, this is definitely a good one. It's set up to do a mile a day or you can do multiple miles if you like.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to try, and I repeat TRY to do one while Diamond is getting ready for school. I'm not a morning person so we'll see how this works out.

Officially 9!

Although Diamond celebrated with her birthday party yesterday, today marks her official last single digit birthday! We had her party last night at the skating rink. I was a little nervous about it at first because I know how crazy that place can be and I wasn't really sure how many of her friends could skate. But each and every one of them tried and they pretty much caught onto it by the end of the night. I was really amazed at how well her friends knew her. She really liked everything they gave her. Although some of the kids already left by the time this picture was taken, I think you can tell, they were all having a good time.
After the night was over, one of her friends stayed the night and she spent the day with us. We went shopping, played at the park and just enjoyed the beautiful day.

Diamond, I pray you continue to grow into a beautiful woman of God. You are surrounded by people who love you and are so excited to see your life every step of the way. I have been blessed with a wonderful child and am very thankful you were brought into my life. Happy birthday, baby!

Happy day you were born day daddy!

It seems not too long ago that I wrote a post about this - but yes, a year has already passed. We started off the morning with breakfast and his presents. I think he really liked everything he got. Then we celebrated by taking him to the movies (not of his choice though since it had to be family friendly.) We ended up watching Paul Blart Mall Cop, which although it was a little corny, still made us laugh. Then we took him out to eat at Cafe Italia. He wanted to go there because he has never been and Diamond and I talk about how delicious it is. And it didn't fail us, it was all very delicious...

But after that, we spent the rest of the day preparing for Diamond's birthday party, which I will post about later.

But dad, although your birthday sometimes gets washed away by Diamond's, a grandbaby was almost my birthday present to you. Thank you for everthing you have done for us and I pray this year doors will open and fill your life with many new blessings - because I know you deserve it. Happy birthday, dad!

My attempt at singing...

Like I said in the post below, I am not a singer. I could not carry a tune to save my life. But tonight, after a bad day, Diamond wanted me to lay down next to her and sing her a song before bed. First we talked, then she said she was ready for music. I guess no matter how out of tune your mama is, she always sounds good enough to your ears to put you to sleep. I sang her one of my favorites, Chris Tomlin's "How Can I Keep From Singing." Then after a couple verses, I heard the sweet sound sound of my baby's deep sleep breaths - her soft sighs of relaxation and peaceful slumber. These sounds were so much more beautiful than the singing which preceded it. But still, these are the times I cherish. These are the times that have a special place in my heart. These are the times where we can look back and laugh at how silly life was at that particular moment.

Thank you, God for blessing me with an amazing daughter. Although growing times are learning times, I'm so happy to have her in my life. I would not trade it for anything.

Family TV

One show my entire family agrees on is American Idol, which started off Season 8 tonight. We have become fans of this show, although none of us have been gifted the wonderful talent of singing. But I love it. It's great family bonding time for us because we actually all sit around together laughing and making great memories. Even during the commercial break, we all worked with Diamond with math facts flash cards and since my mom thought that was so fun, she wanted to test herself to see how much she still knew. This doesn't work out too well on Wednesday nights, but now, every Tuesday, I have something to look forward to.

Morning Meetings

Every first Wednesday of the month, we have all-staff meetings at work. We recently hired a new training coordinator who has made these way more exciting than they were before. One meeting, we even got to see VP's and other employees compete in Guitar Hero.

Yesterday, the e-mail reminder goes out. It was followed by another e-mail from a generous employee who offered to provide donuts for everyone. How very kind of her. Everybody loves donuts!

This morning, I get to the meeting, grab my yummy chocolate covered donut and coffee, and find my seat. As I bite into my donut, our speaker arrives dressed in a work out suit and tennis shoes and announces "Today we will be talking about health and fitness and how exercising more and eating less can help save us in health costs." So, what do I do with the donut? Eat it anyway!

The things you find when you clean up

In the process of throwing out old things, I came across this;
And then it clicked... Holy guacamole! Next year, we will be planning a 10 year reunion!!!

Relaxing in my Christmas presents

I just finished AND put away three loads of laundry. In between all this laundy, I also managed to iron mine and Diamond's clothes for the week. For any of you who know me well enough, this is a very rare thing for me. I hate ironing. I love clothes you can wash, throw in the dryer, and then come out wrinkle free. That's my kind of thing. But I realized how much better slacks, jeans, and even simple t-shirts look when ironed. I'm going to try to be consistent with this on a weekly basis.

I also managed to partially reorganize Diamond's closet by making it like mine and dividing her clothes by type, color, and sleeve length. Sounds like I had a lot of time on my hands today, huh? But our main purpose for this was to sort out clothes that are much too small for her. This child grew a lot in the past year so she has about 3 large boxes full of undersized clothing. We actually even found something which was a size 6X. Now, fitting into clothes in almost the smallest junior sizes, I have a huge pile of baby hangers on the floor and I think I'll have to finish the rest tomorrow. I can only trip over those hangers so many more times before they become a true hazard.

So why the title of the blog with the Christmas presents? My parents got me some new high thread count sheets with a down comforter and I'm snuggled in with my laptop writing this blog during this soon to be cold night. It feels so nice! The sheets and comforter are so soft that I'm not even sure if I'll be able to get out of them in the morning!

Unordinary day in January

I don't know about you, but January weather is not supposed to be almost 80 degrees. I want to wear my jacket or all the sweaters I bought for the winter season. I've only worn a winter coat maybe twice this season.

So to take advantage of the beautiful day, my family decided to take us to the zoo in Abilene. It's a small place, but it's good enough for a day trip. The weather was perfect and the animals were somewhat active. I think we enjoyed the feeding of the gigantic fish in their little lake over there. The fish had mouths the size of your fist it seemed and they all fought over those silly rye crackers.

After the zoo, we had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel. Delicious! I always enjoy going into those restuarants because you can look around in their little shop filled with cute knick knacks. I wish we would have one of those here, but since we don't have a major highway coming through here, it probably won't be likely.

Then we decided to head over to Kohl's. I absolutely love that store! I finally got to return the pair of shoes I bought Diamond that were both left feet. Unfortunately, someone must've bought the two right feet because we couldn't find those either. The shoe department was probably my biggest disappointment though. Shoes were all over the place, out of boxes, sizes not matching, and just a big mess. Maybe the two right pairs were there, we just couldn't find them in all the clutter. So anyway, Diamond and I came out of there each with 5 pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes for under $60, including tax! I must say we did pretty good. I enjoy shopping with her now. She doesn't get bored and she's old enough to tell me the truth about what looks nice and what doesn't.

We had a nice little day away from home. Even though I like the winter weather, I really do prefer perfect weather days like today, especially when you get to be outside to enjoy them. But Monday it's back to school and we must get back to routine.

Happy New Year!

2009 is here... I'm looking forward to the new year.

2008 was filled with so many unforgettable events. Whether is was really good friends moving away, a fun family vacation to Disney World, or even celebrating history with the presidential election, this year was one to remember. Happy times, crying times, fun times, times of celebration - God has been there through it all.

So now we move on. Diamond wanted us to all announce our "New Year's Revolutions" (according to her) last night. I was really happy to hear hers was to read her entire Bible this year. She's going to get started tonight before bed. This year, she also celebrates her last single digit birthday! Aaaaahhh!!!!

Off to bed I go already. I have to work tomorrow!