Monday, December 15, 2008

Yee haw!!


We had a great weekend! We went to a Christmas party for little Julio's boy's club "Contenders for the faith" and they had a square dance caller there. It was so fun!! It was at our friend's pastor's home. They have a great backyard and it was a beautiful sunny day.



Marina wouldn't dance with anyone besides her daddy. She wouldn't switch partners when it was time and she was making it a little bit difficult for us. So she sat out for most of it...



here she is clinging to daddy's arm...



That's Julio and I at the end of the line.






Julio didn't like the partner dancing, but he got down during the line dancing!













he was concentrating on the steps so hard. See his little tongue sticking out.





That's me and the girls doing the boot scootin boogy!








Mr. Green getting his groove on!




Julio is pretending like he has his hands on his belt buckle.










Michaela just looking cute!





The kids love the great climbing trees!!




and chickens.





At the end all of the boys got certificates for completing the fall semester of Contenders.


Afterwards we had 2 families over for a barbecue. Fun, food, and fellowship, that's what weekends are all about!

hope you enjoyed the pictures!


Love you,

marilena














Monday, December 1, 2008

It's been awhile...

We've had a rough couple of weeks around here. I was sick with a head cold for about 2 weeks and then this past Monday night all three of the kids got the stomach flu! We were all fine on Wednesday but Thursday morning I came down with the nasty bug too. Let's just say it was a very long day!! I couldn't wait for Julio to get home so I could just go to bed. This morning I feel like a new woman!! Lord willing we will get a ton of school work done and no one else will get sick!!

I have a bunch of pictures to share with you from November.



Julio's little league season ended on November 22nd. They were so cute!!






The girls made friends with all of the other players sisters. They looked forward to the games so they could play with their new friends.








Coach Doug gave each boy a medal and said some nice things about each one of them. It was really sweet.




We 've been potty training Michaela and it's going really well. She is beginning to tell me when she has to go. Yeah!! We've had a few interesting accidents along the way, like the time she climbed onto the counter to get a cup and peed...





My neighbor Kim and I took the kids on a field trip to the Challenger Space Center.
here are the boys listening to a story about the planets.

Marina dancing to a song about the planets.




My little astronauts.










The boys putting a puzzle together.





They made their own space suits.






Pretending to walk on the moon.

At the end of the class we all got to go in a rocket ship simulator and take a ride around the earth. It was really great and the kids loved it.





I just had to share this picture. I was making hard boiled eggs and I turned around to see Marina like this...



She said "Mommy, I'm sitting on my egg to see if it will hatch!"




It never did...





We went to Tucson for a church conference at the beginning of November. We stayed with a wonderful family who was very generous to open up their home to us. We had only met them one other time but it's so cool how the Lord brings people together and makes them family. No matter where I am in this world I will always have the body of Christ as my family.

This is the beautiful sunrise that we woke up to on Sunday morning.



Michael and Michaela at church. Isn't he the cutest with his little bible?!




Look at the mischeif just brewing in Michaela's eyes.




Julio got a roping lesson from Mark after chapel on Sunday.




Mark teaching the guys the correct technique. he grew up in Kansas and Montana, so he's got the whole cowboy thing down.









Marina had to join in on the fun.





Michael was torturing Michaela on his lawn mower. I had to get a picture in before I saved her. It was so funny!! If you click on the picture you can see it close up.



Well, that's all I have time for right now. I'll have to share Julio's birthday pictures later. I'll be sure to make it soon because I know you are all on the edge of your seats waiting for my next post. Just kidding! I wonder if anyone at all even reads this.... That's okay because I like to keep a journal of what we are doing and blogging is a great way to do it.

Love you,
Marilena



Wednesday, November 19, 2008

My first blog award!


My sweet friend, Kecia, in Brazil has nominated me for an "I love your blog" award. Isn't that so sweet! I am honored! I know I'm a dork, but this blogging stuff is so fun!! Anyways, I'm supposed to nominate 7 people to receive this award and list 7 weird things about me. Well, I don't even know 7 people with blogs. My friends have not joined the blogging community yet. And the bloggers that I do follow are extremely popular and busy so I'm sure they wouldn't have time to do this. So, I'll just list my 7 things and send the award on to the very few blogging friends that I have.
I don't even know how to link to my friend's blog's without showing the whole link. So here you go...
And now for 7 weird things about me...
1. I don't like my foods to touch on my plate.
2. I have to eat my meat with some kind of veggie like potatoes or whatever. I do not like to eat meat by itself.
3. I cannot drink coffee after it has been in the pot for more than 20 minutes. Can you tell that I am a high maintenance eater yet...
4. I am constantly chewing on my cuticles and it drives me crazy!!
5. This is a really weird one...The pointer finger on my right hand has a life of it's own. If you watch it for a few minutes it will start moving and it is usually tracing some letters or numbers that I have just seen. I know it's weird, but I don't even know it's doing it. My husband always teases me and starts tracing words in the air with his finger. I'm actually getting arthritis in it. The phantom finger....
6. I am a perpetual procrastinator! I work better under pressure.
7. I am scared to take a walk by myself because a mountain lion or coyote might attack me! hey, I live in the dessert so it is possible!!
Thanks again Kecia!
Marilena

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I hate to see you go...

We had house guests this past weekend. Our dear friends, Stephen and Gracie, are relocating to Virginia so they stayed with us for a few days while the movers emptied out their house. They were busy packing their house up during the day but we got to spend some time together in the evenings. We played a mean game of sequence (girls rule!) watched some old episodes of King of Queens, went to little Julio's baseball game,roasted marshmallows over the firepit and of course we ate a lot. I miss them already.... They were one of our first friends out here in AZ. I remember the first day I met them at church. They were so gracious and invited us over for lunch that same day. I thought they were the sweetest newlyweds ever and it was so nice of them to invite us over the first day we met. I know the Lord will bless them in Virginia but I will be missing them over here! And I will miss seeing little Clara's sweet smile on Sunday mornings....


I knit Clara a little hat. I made Gracie a matching one and Stephen got a manly navy blue hat. Isn't she the sweetest!



I got to babysit her for a few hours yesterday. She was getting hungry at this point so she looks a little concerned in this picture. She was probably wondering "is my mama ever coming back or am I gonna be stuck with this crazy lady?"




On another note.... We had a little excitement in the garage Monday night! Julio found a scorpion in the garage and squashed it with a shoe. It was no ordinary scorpion. It was the mother of all scorpions!! It was huge!!



To give you an idea of how big it was, here is a picture of it next to my husbands hand.




It was dusk and we were all playing in the front yard. Julio was walking through the garage barefoot when he saw it. Michaela and I had just been through there a minute before and Michaela was barefoot too!!! I'm so glad he saw it and nobody got stung!!! No more barefeet in the dark garage!!!!!!


Love you all,
Mar

Thursday, October 23, 2008

happy birthday Francesca.....













One year ago today Francesca Isabella was born. I was so excited to get the call from Michigan and to hear the words "IT'S A GIRL" I couldn't wait to come home to meet her. I was so excited for Nikki and Matt!! Their family was complete, two sweet boys and a beautiful baby girl.....but I never got the chance to hold that little girl in my arms. 75 days later on January 7th I'll never forget the call and hearing "She's gone..." Those were some of the hardest days in my life. Not being able to go home and wrap my arms around Nikki and Matt and to just be with our family as we all mourned and celebrated Francesca's life. I hated being so far away...




I loved that little girl and even though I never got to meet her in this life she has a special place in my heart. I will never forget her and she will be one of the first people I want to hug after I meet the Lord!



Today as the kids and I were driving to bible study I was talking to them about Francesca and how today was her first birthday, Marina says from the back seat " Oh, I know! Francesca is having her birthday in heaven. Can we send her a card and balloons for her party and Jesus can catch them for her?"..... So that's what we did.


Francesca is celebrating her birthday with Jesus.



happy birthday sweet baby girl......