Happy Birthday & Turkey Day...Gobble,Gobble

Today Luke turned 5, and it has been an emotional week for me, I don't know where the time has gone. Bob and I watched his birth video last night and all I could think about was how it seems like just yesterday I was going to the hospital to have him.

We didn't go home to Arizona for Thanksgiving we stayed in Texas and this was our first year alone with no rushing around to visit family. I've never made a Turkey before and I was afraid of doing the whole meal, but it went off with out a hitch and I received rave reviews from Bob, the boys on the other hand only ate the green beans.

We have been sick for almost a week now, so we were not feeling too hot for Thanksgiving or today for Luke's birthday, so we nixed our plans to visit NASA and took the boys to see Madagascar 2, they had a blast and then we bought Luke some books and he was ready to go home and sit in his new "thinking chair" (bean-bag) and do some reading. We did our little family birthday party of cake and ice-cream and gave Luke his new Transformers robots and he's in heaven. I only hope the next 5 years go much slower...

Happy Halloween

It's been a while since I've posted so I have some catching up to do. We've had an eventful month...where do we begin. All is settled after Ike, and it took awhile to get back in to our routine but we have learned to appreciate so many things we have always taken for granted.
We took Luke out of school a little over 2 weeks ago, he had been having a lot of behavior issues come up that we had never experienced before at school, church, soccer, and home. So after a lot of discussion and thoughtful prayer Bob and I decided to remove him from school and I started to Home school him. We have successfully completed our second week and it is going really well! We have already seen a significant change in his behavior and his security/attachment issues are slowly improving.
We were not going to celebrate Halloween until Luke's friend Seth started talking about Trick-or-Treating while they were playing at the park the day before and it was all over after that. So luckily he has a Bumblebee Transformers costume to play dress up in and Noah wore my brother Michael's Dragon costume. This dragon costume is probably 27 years old and it still looks great. Noah was walking around growling at everyone, he was a cutie.
After they were all dressed and we waited for Daddy to get home, we started at our next door neighbors house and they had a bowl of candy with a mechanical monster arm that grabs you and Noah freaked out screaming and Luke took off down the walk way to the driveway. Neither one of them wanted any part of the scary stuff. Needless to say Bob had to carry Noah the whole way in his arms and Luke would not walk up to any house with any scary motif. It was fine with me because they received enough candy, and it will be seeing the trash can very soon.

Hurricane Ike

Well we survived Hurricane Ike without injury, Thank The Lord. So I thought we would share some of our pictures of what we did and how we kept ourselves sane living with out electricity for 7 days and water here and there not being safe. We spent most of our time outside visiting with our neighbors and letting the kids play since they were going stir crazy after a couple days. Bob and my neighbors husband said that Hurricane Ike has been just one big party for us. Well I must say Elizabeth and I made the best of a not so good situation. We put the kids to work cleaning up all the tree branches in our yards and surrounding yards, sweeping up the huge piles of pine needles but that only lasted a few hours. The kids played all day they woke up early and went to bed early since we could only function by daylight. As for me I felt very disconnected from reality since we only had local radio and our cell phones worked sporadically except for text messaging. Bob was saying that we were living in the days of our grandparents which I have to say I'm not envious of.

After hearing our electricity was not expected to be restored till the beginging of October, Bob and I decided to take the kids and I to Arizona for awhile after living this was for only 4 days (that was enough for me). So we left late in the evening for our normally 15-16 hour drive. Only it took us 18 hours and Noah was awake and unhappy for 16 of them!!! He was furious to be in his carseat.

We received word from our neighbors that electriciy was restored only 2 days after we arrived in Tucson so we were able to visit my family, Bob's brother Carlos and sister in law Debbie and his Mother. We also tried to see as many friends as we could since we were going to cut our trip short. Thankfully so many of you came to see us during our visit, we really appreciate it.

School's Back!!!

Yes it's that time again, and Luke started school yesterday. We met with his new teacher last week Ms. Helen and she is just as excited as Luke is to return. The first day went well when Bob and I dropped him off, but today he didn't want to go and Noah and I joined him for breakfast with his class. I'm sure it's just first week jitters and getting used to his new teacher (he really misses his last teacher). It's hard to believe how fast he has grown, the time is just flying by. Here are some pictures of his 1st day back.

Roller Skates

The other day Bob decided to take up roller blading again after them being in a box for over 8 years that I know of. When Luke saw him rolling around his eyes about came out of his head and when Bob finished Luke would not take them off all day. So I decided to buy Luke a pair of kid skates and to say the least that was not good enough for him, but Noah loved them. Thank goodness for adjustable skates. So here are some pictures of them attempting to skate in the foyer. And please don't mind Noah in his diaper, we have a hard time keeping clothes on our little man, enjoy...

Happy 4th of July!!!

Our July started off fun, the boys and I have been keeping busy this summer with play dates and we were able to spend some much needed time here at home with Bob who was off for 9 whole days. Luke is still asking me every morning "Mom, where's my Dad?" and Noah looks all over the house with a puzzled look saying "dad's" that's what he calls Bob. So here are some pictures of the last few weeks of us swimming at our friends house and of Luke watching us set off fireworks. It was wonderful to share this with Luke (Noah fell asleep) I grew up in CA where we set off fireworks every year and in AZ that was something I missed very much. So I was thrilled to find out we were able to here in TX. Luke on the other hand was not too happy. After I lit the first one, he ran into the house saying he was tired and wanted to go to bed. So I forced him (like any horrible mommy) to sit in my arms and watch Bob light them. He was excited with all the fireworks people were firing off in the streets beside us and behind us, but when we fired them off in the cul-de-sac he was not happy. Maybe next year he'll know what to expect, and Noah will take a nap so he doesn't miss them.

School's Out for Summer!

It's been a while since I've posted so there is a lot to catch up on. First of all we've moved in to our new home here in Kingwood about 2 weeks ago. We are so happy to be out of the apartment and have room to move around without sitting on top of one another. I've included some pictures of our new home so you can see where we've decided to plant some roots (if Bob let's us...just kidding). Luke and Noah love the house there is one particular area where the boys have been having quite a field day which is upstairs on the walkway to the game room. Luke likes to sit his cars just at the tip of the overhang and Noah just likes to throw anything that will fit through the spindles over to the floor. Bob keeps saying one day Noah is going to knock us out while we're sitting on the couch. Till he learns to stop he has been spending quite a bit of time in time-out.
Luke just had his last day of school today, he is doing much better since the start of the year and we are so happy at all the progress he has made. We will be keeping him busy for the summer keeping up on his speech classes, and possibly swimming lessons or some other activity to get both of the boys some energy out.
We just had my sister Aundrea and my Mom here for a visit, Aundrea had a soccer tournament here in Houston and she was looked at by quite a few college scouts so hopefully someone will offer her a scholarship after she graduates next year, my Mom says she's going to the highest bidder! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Rice University here in Houston. And another note my brother Moses just won Arizona's championship for club soccer so his team Sereno is traveling to Oahu Hawaii next week for Regional Championships and we hope that he will get scouted for his sophomore year of college.

Noah's 2nd Birthday

These 2 years have gone so fast, Bob and I have been reflecting on how it seemd like just yesterday that Noah was joining our family and yet 2 years flew by before our eyes. We celebrated here in Houston just our little family of 4 at a place called ITZ and the boys had a blast. They got to eat in the movie theater watching Finding Nemo, dine-in style & then play on the games for kiddos their size. We had a lot of fun however we did miss our family and friends joining in on the occasion but they were with us in spirit. Since Bob and I are used to BIG family celebrations it is going to take a while to get used to the idea of it just being us for our milestones. I mean a family meal was a party at both our houses growing up.

Old McDonald had a Farm

Today the boys and I had a play-date with some of the Mom's from Church and we went to this local farm called "Old McDonald's Farm" the boys and I had a blast. Noah was enjoying what the farm had to offer and took full advantage of going right up to the animals and touching them, feeding them and chasing the turkey's. I was quite surprised at the way he persisted on feeding all the animals himself and not allowing me to help, but that is why Noah is my free spirit! Luke on the other hand being his usual cautious self did not want to go up to the animals and definitely not inside some of the cages to feed them, and he had a few scary moments when a turkey started to follow him around. But the high point of the trip for them was the train ride around the whole farm...boys will be boys. All together it was a fun day to get out and do something new and make some new friends.

Arizona Pride in Texas

We still have to keep in touch with our Arizona pride. We are one of the few here in Texas who wear something other that the traditional Texas team gear. Now there are quite a few LSU fans so we do not feel completely out of sorts. So in Bob's honor we pay homage to The University of Arizona...Go Wildcats!

Now I had to include this picture of Noah inside his Easter basket. The boys received these adorable baskets from Luke's Nina Cesi and Nino Tony. See Melita (Cesi) is very creative, she is right there with my mom in all her crafty ideas. Melita covers regular Easter baskets with batting and fabric with what the kids are in to at that particular time. This year Luke received a Transformers basket and Noah the Car's characters. She made one for Luke a few years back so I thought I would give it a try last year for Noah and my nephew Ayden's 1st Easter and let me tell you it is not an easy task...it takes time and quite a bit of patience. So when I opened the box I was so thrilled to see she sent them. Thank you again Melita and Tony!

Snack Time

Noah has just graduated to eating Popcorn, he is thrilled as you can see. Since I am such a paranoid Mommy I like to wait till they have enough teeth to chew and patience to sit still and eat (usually 2 years old) but fighting off Noah's persistence is a full time job and he wears down my resistance. So snack time is so much more fun for his little mouth. Now here the boys are enjoying their movie time on the couch together under the covers with some M&M's. Oh the joy of being a child!

Nana Visits Texas

We just finished a wonderful visit from my Mom (Nana) and my sister Roxsan and they brought my Nana Esther to come and see what Houston is all about over the Easter Break. Actually we spent more time in San Antonio since none of us has ever been. We had so much fun and got to do some really fun bonding time with everyone. We stayed in San Antonio for 2 nights and went to Sea World but when we saw all the traffic we decided to postpone it till the next day and go see the famous Alamo, and the Riverwalk downtown. It was wonderful and the scenery was beautiful along the River. It was nice to show my Mom and Nana that there is more to Texas than just El Paso's desert landscape. The Alamo had some beautiful gardens and a museum to see the history of the Alamo. The Riverwalk was fun we took a wonderful boat ride tour which explained quite a bit of San Antonio's history. Bob was so excited to spend so much time with the boys and he said on the drive back that he really enjoyed the bonding he and Noah had since he carried him around on his shoulders for 2 whole days (strollers were not recommended). We went to Sea World the following day bright and early to beat the traffic jams and I was excited since I had never been. We saw the adorable dolphin show, Sea Lions, and of course Shamu! It's amazing to see how people can train an animal to do these tricks. The boys were tired and fell asleep before Shamu so they missed out. Luke was afraid of the dolphins up close, but all the fish and shark tanks were exciting to him and Noah. The favorite part for the boys was this huge pirate ship play area, they would have preferred to stay there the whole day rope climbing, slides, sand box and tubular mazes. It would have been more enjoyable if it was not as crowded, they had so many people there it was like a bad day at Disneyland.

We then drove home to Kingwood and showed my family where we will be living, and my mom was in a little bit of shock with all the trees, I had explained to her we were in the forest area but now she can really picture it. And it really is as they call it "The Livable Forest". I wished they had a few more days to spend with us to see some things around here in Houston but they had a long drive, next time!

We had a wonderful time and it was sad to see them go home, we hope that we will be able to make it back to Arizona over the summer and visit everyone back home.

Here at the Madrid's

We have been getting adjusted to being a Texan. And as you might have heard everything is bigger in Texas. We love Kingwood, everyone one is so friendly and welcoming. It has made our move all the more enjoyable. The weather takes a while to get used to cold, rainy, hot, then cold, it's crazy!
Luke has been going to our local Elementary School for Preschool and loving it! The transition to 5 days a week was a little rough since he usually took his naps at the time he is now in school but he has really progressed. Many of you know Luke has a speech delay and he has made a remarkable improvement since he has started school here in Kingwood. Much can be said about the education system here, it has certainly reaffirmed our decision to move. Noah is attending a wonderful program that I have never heard about, it must be a "southern thing" called Mother's Day Out. I thought it was something for Mother's Day but it is a child drop off at most of the Churches (and Texas has tons of churches) on a designated day for Mom's to get out and do what they need to do. Noah loves it, he get's to play with other kids his age for a few hours a week and I get some alone one on one time with Luke which is very special since he is growing so fast. I love the whole concept.
As for Bob and I we are great, keeping up with the boys is fun, and we are attempting to get out every weekend and try something new that Houston has to offer.