RICKY'S SUMMER BREAK HAS BEGUN!!!

I have been saying for the last few weeks how much I couldn't wait for the kids to be out for summer break...Well only 1 is out so far and I have already had a hard time keeping him busy enough. Every morning that we have woke up so far Ricky starts by asking "Is daddy going to be home today, then proceeds to say "What are we going to do today?!" I wasn't planning on going somewhere every single day, but I think I need to re-evaluate my summer schedule.

We have had a swimming playgroup & went to the park a few times. Ricky has been pretty easy to please with going places. He doesn't seem to care where we go, he just wants to get out of the house. Ricky & his bud Brady at the park Ricky can be so sweet!!! Here is a picture that little Ricky snapped of me (Without permission BTW)while we were at the park. LOL

For everyone waiting to see a pregnancy picture here is a blurry version. I am now a little over 5 months along now. I still have morning sickness a couple times a week, but the baby is growing just perfectly. I look like I am about 7 months along, but I have only gained about 6 pounds, who knows how much I will end up gaining because I still have quite awhile to go. So far this baby is really easy going and isn't too busy in the womb. He does have some turbo kickboxing moves when he does get to going. At my last appointment they confirmed that it is defininatly a boy. Now we just need to come up with a name that we both can agree on. I also need to get started on his nursery. Oh so much to do before his arrival!

End of year performance

At the end of this school year we had a small performance. We did 2 songs and a poem for all the parents, grandparents, friends, etc. The kids did a wonderful job singing and dancing. Each child had to make a fishie costume out of posterboard with their parents supervision and assistance. Ricky did a wonderful job working on his fish, he used lots of sparkly glitter paint, and some pieces of tissue paper to make his fish. He worked on 98% of it all on his own!!! I will post some pictures of him painting his masterpiece soon. Ricky & his friend Anna

Ricky is definiatly going to be our little performer! He was singing, dancing, and just being a superstar the whole performance!

Ricky the Charmer!!! Smiling for the camera. Rick had to take the pictures while I did the speaking and directing. It was a really cute little show. I am going to miss those kids next year. It is unbelievable how attached you can become to each individual over the course of a school year. I say it every year...I am happy the school year is over, but boy will I miss those kids. :)

Ricky's Field Trip

As you all know I run a small preschool that Ricky also attends. Recently we went on a field trip to the pet shop! It was actually a pretty neat experience. We went to a shop that has a lot of exotic animals, snakes from different countries, lizards, chinchilas, rabbits, birds, etc. The kids got to pet 90% of the animals and learn a fun little fact about each. Here are some pictures from our visit!

Class Picture

Petting a snake I can't remember what this was called...it was some sort of dragon.

Is this a mouse or a hamster?

A sweet little sugar glider

Field Day 09

What happened to the old fashioned field days I had when I was a kid? We had to do "REAL" Track & Field Events! I remember the 3 legged race, all types of meter runs, disc toss, and many others. When we got in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place we received a cool ribbon.

Eevie got to enjoy a variety of Carnival Type Games. I didn't get pictures of all of her events, but it was a hoot to watch! Her class won 1st place in the Tug-of-War!!! Sorry for the slideshow with no music, I didn't have any songs that would go good with this particular theme.

Backyard adventures

Little Ricky Hitting golf balls in the backyard...One of his favorite things to do. In my last posting, I had said that I would update my blogs more often...Well I haven't kept my word. Lately it seems like time is flying by. I have been completely exhausted by the end of the day and just haven't had the energy to blog much. We haven't done much recently. Here are some pictures of the kids hanging out in the backyard. My little Ricky is turning into a small version of his father. He does so many things exactly like Rick that it is almost scary!

Every Spring we have a few different bird families come and inhabit our birdhouses, they build their nest, lay their eggs, and soon they are gone. This year the kids checked the birdhouse regularly to see if the birds had laid any eggs. On this particular day after our girlscout meeting, the kids went to see and long and behold there was teeny tiny chirping sounds coming from the birdhouse. I thought these were cute pictures to share of them checking out the baby birds. They were so curious!

Easter

Easter was fun this year. We had an Easter BBQ the Saturday before Easter, there were about 25 people at our house. The weather started off beautiful, and all of a sudden a chill hit the air and the rain started. Luckily all the food was already cooked, and there is plenty of space inside. We moved it all in and continued the party. I didn't take any pictures, I actually decided to take it easy this BBQ. Plus I got to eat before all the food was gone. (Which is a 1st!) We had friends, family, neighbors, and Rick's co-workers over. It was a really fun night. Easter Sunday was a quiet one, the kids and Rick woke up before me, so I didn't get any pictures of the kids finding their Baskets that the bunny left for them. They enjoyed all their little goodies. The really made out this year!

We decorated Easter Eggs, which has become a tradition. I really love having a family and building the traditions year after year. It warms my heart to see my kids enjoying and living life to the fullest.

Last week while we were at Walmart just getting a few things for the BBQ we ran into the Easter Bunny. I always carry my camera with me so I whipped it out and snapped a few shots of the kids. Eevie was thrilled, Ricky...not so much. I had to bribe him to take one picture with her. And then he told her "I don't like you, because you scare me!" I don't know where he gets that mouth from! LOL

Ricky did a Easter egg hunt with the kids that go to my in-home MDO/Preschool Program. Unfortunetly it didn't go so well. He only collected 2 eggs because he was being stubborn and didn't want to do it until it was already over. Then he cried because he didn't get very many eggs. Luckily everyone went home with the same amount of eggs, so when it was all over he had just as many as everyone else.

We are expecting another Herrera!

I am trying to stay on top of my blog now...I don't want to get a month & 1/2 behind again. Well I think it is safe to announce our pregnancy to the world now. We are about 15 1/2 weeks along now with what they say is another baby boy. The pictures are still peanut like so it is a little hard to tell whats what. The big round thing is the head, the medium round thing is the tummy. The legs are tucked so you can't really see them. We are getting excited about welcoming a new baby in October. The first 3 months were TERRIBLE! I had the worlds worst morning sickness. It really surprised me since I never had morning sickness with the other 2. It was so bad that I had actually lost weight. I have gained it back now, but I still can't eat some things. It brings back the memories of sickness. BABY HERRERA 12 weeks Baby Herrera 14 weeks This picture is a little easier to tell what is what. So far this baby is so calm and easy going. (In utero) Ricky was a wild one...and still is. I have already started to feel him move around and sometimes I will get a big thud in the pelvis. Everytime I am pregnant I get excited about the whole process of life. It is so amazing how we start out a little tiny bunch of cells and before long wha-llah! A baby! I hopefully will keep you all updated on the pregnancy. And Yes, I have a quite large baby bump so far, my tummy is constantly itching...it's gonna be a long 9 months. I feel like I look 6 months pregnant instead of 4. I will think about having Rick take a good picture of my belly and posting it.

HOLY MOLY!

Wow! I can't believe it has been well over a month since my last posting! Where has time gone? I am going to try to get everyone caught up on our busy lives!!! This is no particular order, it is just somethings that have happened over the last month & 1/2. RICKY LEARNS TO RIDE HIS BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!!!

The other day while playing outside Ricky noticed a little boy down the street who is about 6 1/2 years old learning to ride his bike without training wheels. Well Ricky looks over at me and says "MOM, I WANT MY TRAINING WHEELS OFF RIGHT NOW!" I try to ignore him, because his dad was on shift and I didn't feel like holding the back of his seat and trying to battle holding him up... (I know I am a terrible mom) But after asking and asking I finally was like OK! So I took the darn things off and got him started. Well, to my suprise he takes off! I didn't chase him or hold him, I just got him started and off he went chasing after his sister and her friend on his bike. So that was it. When his dad got home from work he couldn't wait to show him. It just amazes me the things that he does at the ages he does it. He won't even be 4 until June, and he is already riding his bike without trainers! Plus he thinks he is so GQ! LOL

MY BROTHER'S WEDDING At the beginning of March my brother got married to his long time girlfriend/fiance. She has always been a part of our family, she has been around to see both of my kids grow up, tons of holidays, and every birthday party. I do have to say that I was quite shocked when my brother told us that he was going to ask Jamie to marry him ( I didn't think he would ever get married!) Both of the kids were in the wedding, I was very nervous that they weren't going to do what they were supposed to, but everything went well.

Ricky getting his groove on.

Eevie was sooo tired! Eevie the flower girl

The bride & groom

Ricky the ring bearer

Curtis & Ricky all dressed up

Eevie's Field Trip to the Aquarium

For Eevie's 1st grade field trip they went to the Dallas World Aquarium. A bunch of us mom's who signed up to chaperone, carpooled out there. It was so fun riding with them all!!! We had breakfast at Mcdonalds, then it was a fun and talkative car ride out to Dallas. Since so many people signed up to go on the field trip, we all had maybe 2-3 kids, and some didn't have to chaperone anyone but their own child. Me and a few other mom's decided instead of chaperoning alone, we would get together and have a bigger group. We had a blast! It wasn't that fancy of a place and definiatly not worth the $20 ticket, but it was nice for the kids to get another learning perspective.

Jelly Fish

Our group Flamingos

GIRLS NIGHT OUT!

I recently had a much needed girls night out. Not all of my girlfriends were able to make it, but we still had a lot of fun! We went to Razzoos then went bowling! We had a blast, and have decided to do something at least once a month.

I actually started the morning off seeing Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D with the kiddos. I don't know what we were thinking going opening weekend, it was PACKED! We were lucky enough to find a wonderful seat. It was a really neat movie. We really love seeing movies in 3D.

Cosmo Bowl (The music was pumping & it was lit by black lights)

Tina bowling for a spare

Delaina & Lisa

Hanging out at Razzoos

SPRING BREAK

This year for spring break we just hung out around town... We did a "Stay-Cation" or whatever they call it. We ate way too much ice cream, Mcdonald's, and other fast food. We also went to the park, and out around the town. Here is a pic from when the Mcdonald's by our house grand-opened.

GIRLSCOUT UPDATE

Eevie is still enjoying girlscouts, at the end of February we went to the zoo, it was a COLD COLD day! We had a personal tour around the zoo and did a scavenger hunt. The girls also learned about recycling and how important it is to treat our earth good. They made some recycled planter thing, that had seeds on it. After the zoo we all went to Chili's for a nice hot lunch.

Checking out the tusks and horns

Making our recylced planters

Answering questions about the enviornment and recycling

Well... I think that about raps it up. I will hopefully get back on the ball now and keep this blog rolling. We pray everyone is doing well!!!

Updates coming soon...

Hi to all that stop in to my blog on a regular basis, sorry I haven't had any recent posts lately, I have busy kinda busy... Hopefully next weekend I can get some blogging done. :) Looking forward to sharing what has been going on in our life here is Mansfield TX! Hope all is well with everyone.

Boy has it been a tough week!

Wow, it feels like I have so much to blog about but for once I just can't find the words that I am looking for... It has been an entertaining week, that's for sure! I will post pics soon!

As some of you may or may not know Rick is the president for the Texas Association of Hispanic Firefighters. It is pretty cool actually, how they get together to help kids trying to become firefighters or trying to find their way in life. Last night was a pretty cool event to re-elect a hispanic city council member and Rick had to be there and invited me along. One of the perks of being actively involved in your community is that you get to meet some really cool people that you probably wouldn't get to meet other wise. Yesterday we personally spoke with Gloria the owner of Gloria's resteraunts. (She owns 10 resteraunts and is working on opening another!) And she personally invited our family to stay in her house on the beach in El Salvador. Rick has the opportunities to meet and have a relationship with so many community leaders, business owners, etc in the hispanic community and whenever I am with him I get to as well. We also Celebrated our Anniversery!

Here are some pictures from our early days together!

On a Valentine's Vacation

Doing what we love to do

Vacation!

I am not usually one who blabbers on my blog about my personal issues with life, but we all just have something that we need to get off our chest at some point. For those who know me well and know my family (mom, sister, brother, etc) knows that we say what is on our mind, especially if it is the truth. But we don't do the sideways comments if we have a point to make we come straight out and say it. (Ex: If we think your hair looks bad, we will tell you your hair looks bad) So this is something that I am going to start working on. Some people will say that I should be myself and that they appreciate me being honest, but for others it can be taken as a direct attack which in turn hurts their feelings. I have never had any kind of altercations or arguments with anyone until recently, which made me realize that maybe I am not handling things the Christ following way, which is how we strive to live our life and raise our children to live. Anyone who knows me knows that everyone is my friend and I will give you the shirt off my back. I can't even hold a grudge for more than a couple of hours. So thanks to some really good friends of mine I have just decided to pray about it, I am sure this is a conviction because sometimes I don't know how to keep my big mouth shut. But I am human and I am honest and I realize that I need to work on that. So I am going to leave you all with a lil' tiny scripture and hopefully if any of you are going through a storm the sun will shine through soon! "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD."Psalm 25:4-7

Wow, starting our life seemed so long ago. I just thought of that very funny commercial... Where that guy rear ends the nun, and she taps his car and gets back in and he laughs, and then a few seconds later he gets struck by lightning.