B&B Weekend (Baptism and Baby Shower!)

Carmen's Baptism day finally arrived, her dress was looong and her chubby cheeks looked so cute in her bonnet. I jokingly asked CJ if she was getting married (or as her Tia Bertha said, "is this your 15 dress?!"), her poofy dress complete with tulle and satin was just so beautiful. I was proud of my little one as she seemed so alert after the holy water was poured over her head. It was neat the way the priest held her up (like simba from the lion king!) and the congregation clapped and welcomed her to our Catholic Community. Our family celebrated the rest of the evening and by the time we headed home, Carmen J was worn out. I put my little social butterfly in her pj's and she was out. Felicidades, Carmen Jules!

Bright and early Sunday morning, Kel, Jen and I gathered at Casa de Belanger to prepare for our dear friend, Heather's, baby shower. Let me tell you, I think we had way too much fun preparing and gabbing it up. Our guests arrived and we showered HO with food, games, gifts and of course lots of lovin' :) I'm very excited for Heather and Josh, December can't come soon enough! Baby Blachly, I can't wait to hold you!

Carmen Thursday!

A few of Carmen Jules' most recent pictures :) Lately she's been blinking in a lot of them though, darn flash. I am still trying to catch a picture of her smiling - she does a lot! Unfortunately something about the flash throws her off and she ends up looking like she's studying the camera. Also, here's a shout out to my Aunt Evelyn who is a faithful reader of my blog, she always likes to see what we are up to. Hi, Auntie!

Wordless Wednesday

Crafty Tuesday

The craftiness continues, well ok, if this counts as a craft. Last week I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased the invites for cj's baptism. They were easy peasy lemon squeezy and fun to do. I picked a pretty color for the font to match up with the pink and chocolate brown. The picture may not show the details too much but I was really happy with how they came out. The invitation I used for the pic was one that got a little beat up on the edge, I wanted to save a nice one for Carmen's baby book. Here it is...

Birthday's, Birthday's Everywhere

Friday night we took cupcakes over to Cecilia's house and we wished my beautiful God Daughter (and niece!) a happy 13th. Eesh, another teenager. These kids are growing up so fast. After we said goodbye to our familia and gave cj a kiss goodnight, Ruben, Quincy and I went to Firewater and hung out to celebrate Sarah's birthday. Everyone cut loose on the dance floor (aided by a few drinks I think) and I laugh now because in my little haze of drinky drinks I remember Matilda & Sarah's brother doing one of those run and then slide on your knees thing, way cool! Seriously!




Saturday afternoon Ruben, Beans and I took Little Carlos to his soccer game. His team's name is TNT and they were the cutest darn things ever. Carlos played goalie for the first little part of the game, and after he failed to block 2 goals they put someone else in. Awwww! Ruben even took a little walk down the field to tell him to keep his eye on the ball. What can I say, he's just little! TNT lost 3-1 but were happy as ever at the end of the game when one of the team mates birthday cupcakes were passed out :)


Saturday night we got dressed to the nines (that is the phrase, right?!) for Demira's birthday. Us girls met up at her house and then hit up Sue Ellens for the drink specials (gotta love those $2 wells) and then went next door to S4. There was no shortage of fun there! Between the drinks, the drag show and cutting up the dancefloor... good times, good times! As we ended the night with Denny's I was EXHAUSTED! I got home and was out like a light. And noooo, I didn't pass out. At least I don't think I did, haha.





Sunday greeted me sans hangover - whew! Just extreme thirst, funny how that always happens, huh?! Miss Sky Pie was in town so we stopped by to see her at her Mom's. She was so happy to see Carmen and it was so nice to see my old pal. Team Rodriguez then went visiting over to our sister city Ft. Worth. We went to lunch with my Mom, sister and her crew. We also got to see an old friend, Michele. My family has known her for many years and it was so nice to catch up with her. She has the cutest little girl, Yolis. It was a great visit. Ruben and I headed back home and the 3 of us hung out and watched the Cowboy game. They are 3-0, whoooo!

That wraps it up. As always, much love to everyone :)

Crafty Tuesday

So this is me, a brand new crafter. A first timer, new to all things crafty, a virgin crafter if you will. I mean come on, I just recently bought a good pair of fiskers and learned what notions are. Okay, okay, I've made a few things before. There was the step stool that I varnished and personalized for my nephew Vincent's first Birthday. (Which I recently found out was fixed after he broke it a while back.) I also made him a sign for his door that said "Vincent's Room." That was pretty cute if I do say so myself. But then there was the botched knitting class that I truly just was not good at. I liked it though, I just felt klutzy with my needles. Pretty much my crafts are far and few between but I am putting myself out there now. You would think that I would have at least one crafty gene in me, my Mom is ever so handy at the sewing machine, crocheting... pretty darn cool. My sis is quite the master of cross stitch, she has made some awesome blankets, bibs, all kinds of stuff.

On to the debut... Ta da!


This required absolutely no sewing whatsoever. Just a staple gun which I enjoyed using. I started the project last week and measured and cut the fabric. I was set back but once I got chugging along Sunday night it finished in little time. I was excited and since it was only me and Beans in the room when I finished the first chair, I shared my excitement with her. Her toothless grin made me feel good as I told her "Look! Mommy did a craft! Mommy did a craft!"

What's next? Not sure, but I am going to keep trying new things and just have fun with it :)

Tiny Ear Lobes

In the tradition that goes way back, Carmen was initiated into the club. The pierced ears club that is. I had anticipated to take her when she was about 6 months, but as of now she is always moving and wiggling around so I'm glad we took her. The difficult part was putting those little dots on her ears. With Ruben distracting her in the background, I sat in the chair and held her and felt awful about what was to come. So finally the dots are on and even, here comes the punchy thingy. I hold her head and I hear "punch." Then "waaaaaaa!" Oh crap. There is still one more to go. For a second there I thought we would leave with only one ear pierced! So in goes the second punch which was helped by the aide of her bottle. As soon as it was done Ruben paid and I took her out to soothe her, which by that time her crocodile tears had subsided. Welcome to to the world of dangly's, studs, and hoops, Carmen J. It's so much fun to be a girl!

Wordless Wednesday

Let's hope it's a good season!

Football season finally rolled around, Ruben is stoked and I was happy because I got to put the cute Dallas Cowboys outfit on Beans that my Aunt Evelyn got her. That sounds so girly, doesn't it?! Oh well! GO COWBOYS.

Introducing Rice Cereal and a Runny Nose

I was very excited to feed Carmen her first taste of rice cereal and was waiting to try it out until I got back from my trip. So while I was out on my little excursion, my sister-in-law took it upon herself and gave Carmen some apple sauce. I was sad because I wanted to be the one to give CJ her first spoonful of "mmmm, papa." Sigh. So anyhoozle, on Sunday night I mixed up a little bowl of mush and fed my mijita until she seemed very uninterested in her itty bitty baby spoon. She seems to be into it, and next its on to the fruits and veggies. Our household is big into veggies, yum-o.

So, about the runny nose. Not sure where it came from but Carmen has been sneezing and sniffling and therefore Mommy is bulb syringing her boogies like crazy so that she doesn't swallow them. Bleh. No fever - whew! It's all gravy baby. It's the fever that would have me mucho worried.

I did it...

... and it was fabulous. Oh my. 3 women in NYC for 5 days = nonstop fun. I had a hard ass time leaving my family. It was heart wrenching as I got ready on Wednesday morning. Even so, I got myself together and literally had to practice the "out of sight, out of mind" theory. I also prayed and trusted cj's father (come on now) to take care of her. So pretty much I allowed myself to throw caution to the wind and truly have a great time. To sum it up, we walked like there was no tomorrow, saw as much as we possibly could, shopped with the utmost patience taking full advantage of the lack of husbands and kids, shared the best laughs, (the best kind that hurt your stomach, make tears come to your eyes, and can quite possibly make a little pee come out) and finally had the "girls only" trip that we had talked about for so long. Thanks for a memorable time, ladies. I love you guys. Oh, and tomorrow when I have lunch, I will be wondering where my glass of Pinot Grigio is...