Christmas is in Full Swing!

Christmas is in FULL swing at the Herrera house. 

The lights are on the house, the decorations are put up, the elf has returned (kinda), and well...the stockings haven't been hung yet, but I'm getting to that. 

The tree has been put up, and the mantle has been decorated! 

We even took our Christmas card pictures...FINALLY.  Now it's time to start shopping.

I love this time of the year,  the music, the smells, the lights, and of course all of the many traditions that we have with our little family!  I can't wait to show off the really good photos that we have from our photosession...but I am going to wait until we send out our holiday cards!  (If I don't have your address, make sure you send me a email with it so that I can send you a card!)

 

My Thankful Heart

As thanksgiving gets near, I have had the time to really think about the many things that I am so very thankful for.  Ya know as life gets busy you just seem to go about the days so quickly.  (Or at least I do)   Everyday I get up get the kids ready, do whatever needs to be done (As much as I can that is) cook dinner, gets the kids ready for bed, do some work and then when my eyes can't stay open any longer, I drag my feet like big heavy bricks to my room and I crash onto my bed.  It seems like I barely get one minute to think about being thankful.  But as we go into the holidays I always get this warm feeling of happiness & thankfulness.  I am truly blessed!  It also helps too that each year I do the 30 days of thanks.

It has been busy as always lately, the kids have had more field trips.  We had Halloween festivities! Everyone went to the pumpkin patch, Eevie went to the Dallas World Aquarium.  We had 2 birthday Parties last month.  JC turned 3 (Gosh...can you believe it?!) And Eevie is growing into a beautiful young lady at 11 years old. 



JC's little boo boo, he fell onto the sidewalk, running in crocs.

 

  

And Eevie had a surprise birthday party at the local skating rink. Oh my gosh...THAT was fun, it just happened to be the same day as her field trip!

 

(Here is a video of a game that they played at the skatium it was not a skating game, but if you look closely you will see JC running for his life.  It is hilarious!)

  

OH & How could I forget about MY birthday this month!!! Rick and I stayed in Dallas at the Hyatt Regency (AKA The ball in Dallas) It was GORGEOUS! It was so awesome!!! Plus he took me to cique del solei, and to a full day at the spa! I don't know if it could get better than that!

 

Here is the view from our room

The big kids saw the story of the Christmas Carol on stage

 JC's birthday party was a Jake & the neverland Pirate party at home. We had different stations set up around the house, it was pretty neat. I wish I would've put it on pinterest, but I have been too busy to do anything like that lately.

 

Right now I am in full on Holiday photography mode!  I am like a mad woman, it has been session after session!!!  It is so much fun but so much work.  I love every minute of it!  I love meeting so many people.  Plus the kids think I am like a celebrity because whenever we are in town people know me! 



Louie made a surprise visit last week

I am so ready for Christmas!  We got Christmas lights put on our house for the first time ever!!! I am ready for all of the traditions that we have built throughout the years with our kiddos, I am ready for our elf on the shelf Louie, and our Advent Calendar, and Christmas music, and just everything!!! YAY for the holidays!



Back to School...BACK TO BUSY!

The kids are in Private school this year and it has been a amazing experience.  We prayed about it, talked about it, thought about it, and finally came to the decision that this was the best for our family.  Our kids are SO happy, the class ratios are so small, the teachers are so nice and LOVE their job.  It wasn't that the class ratios were HUGE in Mansfield or that the teachers were not good...because Mansfield is actually one of the best school districts, the highschoolers get Ipads to take home!  But we just weren't feeling like it was a good a fit for our family.  But anyway enough about that! 




My lil JC

Just wanted to add one of JC who has been just hanging out with me lately :) This is not a good picture, I was in a bad positiion which resulted in a bad angle, but it was the ONLY one I took of him that night. I love this little boy!



Eevie is in Cheerleading now for the Fellowship Mustang Pony Xpress, so she cheers with the Highschool Varsity cheerleaders at the Home games.  She LOVES it!  I never would've imagined I would have a cheerleader!

Eevie in the stands with the Mustang Pony Xpress Team!

Dylan, Ricky, & Hunter (My friend & her kids came to watch Eevie Cheer)

Our Football team about to head on the field

Eevie and some of her cheer friends

Lets get this started

Eevie going out on the field!

And they take a field trip every month so we are pretty busy! Ricky just went on his first field trip to the Legoland SeaLife Aquarium. And what a difference it was from the public school field trips. It was so relaxed and the kids actually had a good time. It felt more like a mom's playdate. We even had lunch at the mall foodcourt. (Including Dessert!!!) AND Ricky is still playing competitive baseball so we are at basebally pretty much ALL the time. Oh how could I forget...Eevie also does a girlsgroup for church and Ricky does a boysgroup for church and we also have girslscouts. So right about now I think that saying "Taxi Mom" or "Soccer Mom" is exactly how I feel most days.  But I am so happy...I am living the dream.  I have some amazing kids, I love my husband and I just love every minute of it!  I will be so sad when they grow up and it is over. 

Ricky and his friend Tristan



1st & 2nd grade September field trip 2012

Summer Part 2

Summer was just amazing. 

Some of these photos are from our trip to CA where we spent 10 days this year.  We stayed with our great friend and his family.   It is always a terrific time getting together with them.  I always wish we could stay longer. 

These photos are from the annual 4th of July celebration at our church!  Gosh I just love our church. 
This is one time of the year that we totally look forward to getting together with all of our fellowship and just enjoying the time we spend with friends, and church family.