Our past weekend

As many of you can remember it's Mission time in Ed's 4th grade class. It seems as though we have been working on this entire project for months and it's almost to an end. First off he had to do a PowerPoint presentation then it was a three page paper and now is the final project. Luckily, Daddy enjoys this kind of thing because every night they are outside working on this work of art! Lil Ed's mission is San Antonio de Padua and we were able to drive and see it this past weekend. I will post the final project hopefully soon considering it's due April 8th.

Big Ed and Lil Ed have also been very busy with baseball! Lil Ed is once a star player and pitcher. They had their first game this past Saturday and won 11-3. I took great pictures but am stumped as to where they went.

This past weekend daddy was in charge & mommy was at her womens retreat!

This past weekend I was very blessed to be able to attend New Hope's Women Retreat at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, Ca. For many weeks I was nervous and for the last week I was thinking of anything and everything of why I wasn't going to be able to go but thank GOD I went. I was able to attend with a good friend of mine that I just met in January and we both needed and enjoyed what we learned. The women of our church worked so hard in making our "dreams" come true and the impact it had on my life was amazing.

I was very sad and emotional to leave my boys/Big Ed but I asked Big Ed to take some photos which you'll see below so I can see what they did. Thanks to grandma and grandpas help with Diego the weekend was great and the boys enjoyed their man time together. The house was a bit lived in but oh well boys will be boys! Enjoy the pic's below!

We took a break from the retreat and met our friend the "squirrel"
Friday night at the retreat we had a pajama contest and here is me strutting my stuff in my PJ's.

And here is Kristi................ for those of you that don't know Kristi just moved here from the valley and we met because she now lives in our old home. It's a long story but a very intresting one on how we met!


Before the PJ contest we were going to dinner and this was the sunset we got to see.

Here is where we went for our break and this is where we met our "squirrel" friend.

Lil Ed at the park............
Diego playing with water and no pants and it's freezing cold?
Swinging away.........as he misses his mommy?
More water play but at least there is sun shining.

Big boy down the slide.
Diego pooped from a long day-dreaming for his mommy to come home soon!

It's been along time but we're back!

Ok so it's been three months and I apologize! I was surprised when several individuals mentioned to me that I needed to update our blog, here I thought my mother-in-law was the only one keeping up with our family blog but I am excited that their are more of you out there, so here we go!

In the middle of January we were so blessed to move in next door to my parents! What a blessing it has been for all of us! It's nice that Diego has an enclosed yard and we live at the end of a flag lot so were away from the street. The move was alot of work and we were so sad to leave our wonderful neighbors/landlords and especially the beautiful house and surroundings but being next door to grandma and grandpa has been great! We miss you Gardner family!

Below you will find pictures of this years basketball team (Gray Ballers) and once again Big Ed coached and lil Ed kicked butt and really enjoyed the season. We had an awesome season and enjoyed not only seeing the boys grow but meeting new families who are now good friends.

The boys just started baseball season and we are blessed to have made it on the same team once again-GO GIANTS! Darren Avrit is the coach who we have had for three years and Big Ed is the assistant coach and is so far having a blast! I am a little nervous about the season because I am not sure what I am going to do with Diego for 2 hours while I try and watch his games but will figure that out soon.

As you will see Diego is doing great! Everyday we realize how different he is from Lil Ed and how the boy has no fear. Each day he manages to do something to make us all laugh and as Big Ed says he is just like his nephew Stephen.

Enjoy and God Bless!

Diego is enjoying the Hayashi's yummy strawberries and raviolis!

Diego is in love with skateboarding and has even tried standing up to skateboard!

Here you can see he uses his leg to push him everywhere!

Here is daddy and Diego after one of their rides.

Diego loves riding with Daddy as he pushes them down the flag lot!

Here we are again with his leg pushing away.

Grandma and Grandpa noticed that Diego loves his slide at Kamber's so we found a deal on craiglist and this is his new indoor slide.

Lil Ed is in Awana's and enjoying and learning so much! One of the projects was a Lego contest and you all know Ed he loves his Lego's and is so creative.

Here is Diego at our good friends swim party.

Look at me!

My boys my love!

Lil Ed is not so little anymore!

Coach Ed.

See the kid in the gray on the floor? Yup that is Ed fighting for the ball.

Shoot and he makes it!

Diego's first push pop from the ice cream truck! YUM YUM!

Before we left our old house we were cleaning the windows. I happened to leave the room and this is what I found, Diego escaping through the window!

Here are my boys during in intense time of the game...............

Our past two weeks.........On too a NEW YEAR

I know I haven't updated for awhile but below are photos from our December 2008 with the Cota's.

As I sit here anticipating the new year with Lil Ed(Big Ed and Diego are asleep) I can reflect back to what a good year 2008 was for our family. Although Little Diego was very sick with his food allergy in January then RSV in February and the worst Mastoiditus in July he is now better and is our healthy little boy.

As for Little Ed he has had an excellent year with school- he made honor roll and perfect attendance and has kicked butt with reading, we are very proud of him and his accomplishments.

Next is my amazing husband, December 5th he celebrated two years sober, wow how life has changed for us all. I am very proud of the man he has become and especially proud that he has succeeded an addiction not only for himself but his family as well!

As for me I am excited I have managed to lose close to 40 pounds thanks to my loving husbands everyday support and cooking.

One very special thing that has happened to us all is we found a church home - New Hope and have come to find the Lord! We have found an amazing church family and enjoy our weekly attendance learning more about life and the Heavenly Father.

Now onto a new year in about 2 more hours!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Diego climbing on our fold up table with no fear of falling.

Here we are visiting Big Eddie Sr. in Shafter-Adriana (mother-in-law) Big Ed, Diego and Lil Ed-We miss you Big Eddie Sr!

Christmas Eve before opening gifts.

Big boy Diego waiting to open his gifts.

Diego's first haircut.

Big brother helping Diego for the big snip!

Almost time.........

Here we go........... Ta Da-Look at me now!

Our visit with Santa although Diego doesn't like Santa at all!

IT'S BEEN A VERY LONG TIME- BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE VERY BOTTOM VIDEO

Wow- what a November we had! The pictures below are all taken in the month of November, enjoy! Be sure to make it to the very bottom to check out the "broom" video!

We are so excited for Lil Ed! At his awards assembly he received a "perfect attendance" award and we are very proud of that! But most exciting is that he got on "Honor Roll". We are very proud of him and his accomplishments thus far in the 4th grade. The most exciting is that Lil Ed got an "A-" in reading. For those of you that know his past this is a huge accomplishment for Lil Ed.As you know our weather here seems to be very nice in fall and we were able to enjoy our time at Pismo Beach!
Diego, loves to be free and especially loves the dunes!

Here is our good family friend Garrett playing the sand making mud castles with Ed and Diego!

Look at me mommy!

We finished our soccer season and celebrated our home for an "ice cream" social. Here are the "Red Barons".

Diego loves to be on top of everything and in everything. Here is a picture I got when I was teaching him to "smile" on command.

Our house is as baby proof as it can be but we are having a hard time keeping Diego out of the drawers, bathroom and the pantry-oh yah and keeping him from escaping out the front door. Our door's have lever handles that he has figured out how to open as he stands on his tippy toes. Below are pictures of the one of many times he has gotten into the pantry. It has gotten so bad we have to lock ourselves out of the bathroom. Soon were going to by all new door knobs to help this situation :)

MMM this is yummy-he acts as though we don't feed him!

To darn cute to punish!

Auntie Marie, got this broom for Diego and he loves it. He sees me constantly sweeping up after him and once he got his broom he was an instant sweeper. He even manages to make his own mess so he can clean it up-yah right! ENJOY!