Catching Up!

I can't believe a quarter of the year is already gone! This is just crazy! We have been so busy and the next few months are going to be even crazier!!!

So what has the Monter Family been up to. A LOT!!!

First I wanted to post pictures of our trip to American Girl Store in Dallas in February. This was my niece's Christmas present. I know a little late but I gave her a gift card for Christmas but wanted her to pick out her doll. We had so much fun! Bianca came with her Doll "Marisol". We bough Ashleigh her doll "Chrissa", We had the dolls hair done in the salon and then ate lunch in the cafe!






We had a great Valentines day! We have made it a tradition to stay in for Valentines. I bring out the valentines dishes (yeah I know) my good stemware and set the formal dining table which is a rare in this household! I cooked steak and lobster courtesy of Central Market and then we had a chocolate mousse for dessert and then later chocolate covered strawberries and of course lots of WINE!





The last couple months for Bianca has been playing basketball. The Buckeyes did really well this season. This will be her last year of Rec basketball. She goes to middle school next year! That is absolutely crazy! The team has been together for 3 years and the girls have grown so much as far as skill and they have they most awesome coaches. The girls were sad that this is the last year. Next year they will all be at different middle schools playing against each other! Buckeyes were undefeated in league play but lost in the last round of the tournament! They lost to a team they already beat. It was very disappointing to the girls but the bright side is they were asked to play in a Keller Select Tournament. The girls did awesome! They beat out 2 Select teams but lost in the final round. It was great experience for them!



Jerry started grad school which is very stressful. He has 4 classes. The good news its only for 6 weeks and he is half way through! I have 3 classes and I'm almost half way through. How do we do it I do not know. But we are both taking the summer off for R&R.

We had a nice relaxing spring break. We did nothing. Well not nothing, the kids and I played outside and Bianca and I had our annual spring clothes shop-a-thon! That was a lot of fun and we look forward to it every year!

Matthew started swim lessons last week. We are trying to break the habit of him holding is nose when he goes under water. We can thank Bianca for that one!! How is he going to learn to swim with one hand? LOL

Coming up we have Easter! which will be a nice relaxing 3 day weekend! I love 3 day weekends :-) We will be going to Savannah in May for 4 day weekend which will be nice to get away for a bit.

Summer!!! Only 9 weeks left until summer vacation! I love summer vacation. No school, no rushed mornings, no kids activities just FUN!!! We will get season passes to the water park and we swim ALOT. Just about everyday. Bianca will have a couple basketball camps but that is it. Jerry's nephew is coming to visit for a few weeks in June/July and we will most likely take them down to Austin/San Antonio for a few days. Then in July we are off to Disney World for 1 week and then 1 week at the beach for R&R.

Jerry and I wanted to try and get away for a long weekend just the two of us (VEGAS maybe, :-)) but I'm not sure we will have time to squeeze it in before graduate school starts back up in August. We will see. Maybe in the fall but that is harder because the kids are in school so finding somebody to keep the kids for 4 days is a bit of a challenge.

I'll be back around Easter to post pics of all the goodies Easter Bunny brings us :-)

Happy New Year!

Ok, a little late I know, but I'm just now recovered from vacation! We are all unpacked and back into school/work routine. I've yet to take down the Christmas decorations though. I'm working on that this weekend!

So Christmas was eventful as usual in our house. We were not only getting ready for Santa to come but also packing and getting ready for our vacation to California to see Jerry's family. Christmas Eve is always spent at my mom's house and the kids had fun as usual. Matthew got his Indiana Jones Lego Set that he asked for and Bianca got Rock Band and a Coach purse.




Santa made an unusual early stop at our house while we were at my mom's. He knew we had to get up early for our trip so he stopped by and brought all their gifts about 9PM :-)



We then headed off at 4AM to Los Angeles! We had so much fun! Some of the hilights were:

Climbing Mount Rubidoux
This is a mountain in the heart of Riverside California. It overlooks all the city. We were lucky that there was no smog and you could see all of Riverside and San Bernadino mountains which were covered in snow. The kids climbed it twice while we were there. Jerry and I did only once (that was enough) for me; however, I did my exercise in while I was there! However eating that In and Out Burger beforehand pretty much cancelled out the exercise!









Hollywood
We went to Griffith Observatory in Hollywood and took pictures of the city. Again, it was a beautiful because it was so clear with no smog! We then headed down Hollywood Blvd and then to Sunset Blvd to tour Beverly Hills. Of course I had to stop at the original Sprinkles cupcake store while there. We were lucky the line was not too long. One of the locals said it is usually 70-80 people deep, boy did we luck out! Then we went down Rodeo drive and I window shopped, LOL :-) Next we headed down Santa Monica Blvd to the pier. We got there right at sunset and it was a beautiful picture on the beach. The kids rode the roller coater and then the Ferris wheel (well Bianca did not, she got too scared).














Visiting Friends
Monday we spent visiting one of Jerry's best friends from elementary to high School Sam. We had lunch and then headed over to Sam's parent's house Jim and Mary Lou. They were kind to feed us Tamales, YUM!

Knotts Berry Farm
I had not been since I was really little girl and dont remember much about it. It was a lot of fun if you like thrill rides which Matthew does; however, he was a bit too small to get on most of the big ones. He did ride the Sidewinder about 8 times, LOL. Maybe next time Matthew!









Lancaster
Jerry's Aunts and grandparents live in Lancaster so we made the 2 hour drive to the desert to see the family. There was ice in their back yard and Matthew and Bianca were ice skating. We took lots of family photos with his grandparents and one special picture of 4 generations of Monter's!






New Years Eve
We basically just chilled at Jerry's parent's house. We had some family and friends over. I swear I was still on Texas time. I was ready for bed at 10PM but still had to stay awake 2 more hours! This was the day Matthew climbed Mount Rubidoux for the second time. He fell asleep at 8PM and never woke up, LOL. He was refreshed for the next day though which was Disneyland!





Disneyland
Everybody knows I'm a Disney freak so we could not pay a visit to LA without going. It was crowded I have to say, but I've seen DW more crowded the big difference is we were doing it all in one day as compared to a total Disney vacation in Florida for a week. I will never do it like that again. If we do not have a good 2-3 days to spend there and stay at one of the hotels I will not do it again. Way too exhausting! But is was fun of course and the kids had a blast. We only rode about 10 rides but did see the parade, Fantasmic and the fireworks. We were there for 14 hours straight!













Finally we just spent the final day resting and visiting some old friends of ours. I had lunch with Carmen which was a joy and then Jerry and I had dinner with Matt and Terry. Matt is Jerry's best friend from High School. We love you guys! :-)

We got back early Sunday Morning and we are still trying to recover. We are so tired. I think my next vacation will be on beach drinking margaritas!

As for the new year I have made only 1 resolution and that is to get all my pictures organized. If I get caught up in scrapbooking then ok but I'll settle for organized for now!

Happy 2009 Everybody!

Here Comes Santa Clause!

Saturday we attended Petruska Family Anuual Christmas Party. We so look forward to this every year. Santa always pays us visit and the kids get to tell Santa their wish list and actually get to spend time with him. It sure beats standing in line at the mall!





Yesterday we baked cookies all day with Granny. The kids made their gingerbread house too!






Now we just have to wait for St. Nick to come on 24th and then we are headed to Disneyland, YEAH!

Elf Yourself

For your entertainment, LOL :-)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Thanksgiving!

With all the work that goes into the holidays I sometimes have to stop and remember what the true meaning of these holidays. We get so caught up in the hustle and bustle and tend to forget. I know I do. I'm so guilty of trying to get everything perfect, the food, the house, the presents, the wrapping, the Christmas cards and pictures, etc. Sometime I need a timeout and take a breather. But that is the obsessive compulsiveness in me. I have vowed to not let it get to me this year. That is why I started my Christmas decorating early, LOL :-)

Now first and foremost I am so sad at the events that have taken place in India today. I work for predominantly Indian company and I hope and pray that each and every i2ers and their families are safe!

I have so much to be thankful for (not in any particular order):

1. My husband Jerry. I couldnt ask for a better husband. He is a great dad, works hard so we can go to Disneyland this Christmas.

2. My 2 children Bianca and Matthew. I cannot imagine my life without them.

3. My job. I know I complain about it a a lot, but I have it so good. I've been there 11 years. I work from home most of the time. I love the people I work with and they are the reason I've stayed so long. (It's definitely not the pay!)

4. My family - I am thankful I have my family and that they are close (well most of the time I like having them close by). Jerry's family is spread out on each coast and I know it is hard for him and I take it for granted sometime that mine are just a mile away.

5. I am thankful I live in the United States of America!

6. I am thankful we are all healthy!

7. I am thanful for my awesome neighbors!

8. Friends. I am thankful we have such great friends that we can count on especially the girls who I can call to go to happy hour when I need hard liquor!

I'm sure I'll think of some more and I'll post some pictures of the festivities tomorrow. We are cooking 3 turkeys! One roasted and 2 fried. This is for 22 people and everybody complains there is never enough leftovers for sandwiches so we made an extra turkey!

November Fun

I have not posted much this month. It's been busy. Earlier this month we went to my parent's lake house in East Texas for the weekend. The kids had a blast. Bianca drove the golf cart all over the place. I must say she is a pretty good driver! Matthew just loved the "woods" and building the fire and making smores. We took Sonny with us and he loved swimming in the lake!




Last weekend Jerry did a guy trip to Chicago and to see Notre Dame game in Southbend Indiana courtesty of Honeywell. The kids and I stayed home, did some Christmas shopping and had a nonstop Christmas move marathon on Saturday. Sunday we did our shopping for Thanksgiving. We have 20+ people coming to our house this year again.






I got my trees up this week I'll do the rest of the decorating after Thanksgiving. The trees are time consuming and I'm glad to have them done. I must say though I have totally rubbed off on my son. He LOVES Christmas (and all holidays) Some day he is going drive his wife insane. I cannot tell you how many times he has watched Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and Grinch this last week. He actually wanted to join hands and sing a song around the Christmas tree last night after watching Grinch. Between Matthew and me we will drive Jerry crazy for the next month. He can't wait to help dad put the outside decorations up!

December is going to be BUSY! We have so many event coming up. Jerry's Birthday December 5, i2 Christmas party on 6th and my SIL 30th Birthday on 7th. The following weekend is Jerry's graduation so his whole family will be here for the entire weekend. The following weekend we have the Anuual Petruska Christmas Party which we look forward to each year. Some time in there I have to find time to finish Christmas shopping, wrap presents, make cookies with my grandmother and pack for our trip. We leave Christmas Day for California and Disneyland through New years!

Trick or Treat!

I love Halloween it is probably my 2nd favorite holiday next to Christmas. We let Matthew play hooky from school yesterday to go with Jerry to the Southwest Airlines trick or treat party at Love Field. Jerry works for Honeywell but works onsite at SWA so gets to participate in all of the fun SWA events. They actually have one floor of cubicles turned into a haunted house. Jerry said it freaked him out a bit but he was a trooper. Here are some pics of him at Jerry's work yesterday.

Oh and by the way, he insisted on being a friendly ghost. We found this costume online and he loved it. We got so many compliments on his "old school" costume yesterday. He thought he was scary but everybody else thought he was adorable!




I was a little bummed that we could not do the i2 Halloween party this year but it was just logistically impossible. Bianca had a test so I could not pull her out early. By the time she got out of school, got ready, drove to i2 offices in Dallas we just would not have enough time to make it back this way to the Halloween party at my granny's retirement home. Instead I worked from home and made Halloween dinner of Chili, cornbread casserole and pumpkin dump cake. I had to make sure they had a good dinner before consuming the massive amounts junk the rest of the night, LOL.

At 6 we headed to my Granny's retirement home for trick or treating. Bianca won first prize in the kids costume contest and Granny won first prize in the resident costume contest. Both were thrilled!



Next we headed home for our neighborhood trick or treat festivities with the neighbors. Our neighborhood was so packed with kids by the time we got back we had alot of catching up to do!




I love that Halloween was not on school night. After we were done trick or treating the kids played outside with the neighbors until 10:30. Here is Jerry being silly wearing Matthew's costume :-)



So today I started packing away the Halloween decorations and getting out the Thanksgiving decorations. Matthew was so excited this morning saying it's time for Christmas, LOL! He is so his mother's son, but I told him we had to have Thanksgiving first. He said he does not like Turkey so he just wants to move to Christmas now. I would if my husband would not totally kill me. We have Thanksgiving at our house this year again for 25 people so I cannot have Christmas decorations up! I've thought about putting up one of the trees early (just the tree though nothing else) I've already started Christmas shopping and I've bought some Christmas ornaments already but Jerry has no idea :-)