Janice and Olivia visit....

My best friend since high school, Janice, and her little girl Olivia are here for a visit during spring break! They got here from California on Tuesday nite....brave brave Janice driving from the Los Angeles area all the way here to Houston with a three year old in the car! WOW!!! We are thrilled to have them here and have had SO MUCH FUN the last couple days...we've been to the park, tried to go to the zoo but HELLO its spring break....sat in traffic about 45 minutes AT Hermann Park where the zoo is located and gave up (hence going to the park instead!), took Olivia to Chuck E Cheese for the first time ever on Wednesday nite, went to Moody Gardens Aquarium followed by Stewart Beach for a bit on Friday, and back to Stewart Beach all day yesterday along with my friend Jen....so much fun! The kids are enjoying each other..till they get tired then they bicker like they are siblings...LOL!!! But great great week and we love that they came out to visit us! Here are a bunch of pics from this week....we love you Janice and Olivia! Y'all are welcome here ANY TIME, our house is your house anytime...and Jorge included next time!!!! :)



Posing for the camera...

Eating lunch at the park on Wednesday.....

Biking in our cul de sac...

Passed out cold on Wednesday nite......

THAT is one SERIOUS race car driver there!!! Danica Who????? :)


CHEESY KIDS!!!

Janice and Olivia and the starfish.....

James touching starfish for the first time......

Giving Hugs to Olivia....

Mischevious ones banging on the table after lunch at Moody Gardens...
GORGEOUS day at the beach in Galveston on Thursday!

My friend Jen who bravely came along to spend the day with us and all our craziness......

OOPS!!!! Kiddie chair stuck to Janice!! :)

Random Pics

I got a new camera from a co-worker a few days ago for a SWEET deal of a price...Nikon D50 Digital SLR..a REAL camera..with more cool features and what not than I know what to do with...think I will take a begining photography class soon so I can learn more and think a little more beyond the AUTO setting....LOL!!! Im already loving it and seeing a GREAT difference in picture quality and how fast I can take picture after picture.......learn some more and I am gonna be hooked for sure!!!

Anyway, been taking some random shots of my guys and our "little girl" who is growing at lightning speed (grows every time she sleeps it seems, seriously!!) at night this week after dinner when we are playing with her, etc....ENJOY!!

First Field Trip....

On Friday March 6th, James went on his first field trip ever!!!! His PPCD (pre-k) class went to the zoo, and I volunteered to chaperone...no way could I miss the opportunity to go and spend the day with my boy and his friends, and take pics for his scrapbook of his first ever class field trip! LOL!!! We had a fantastic day...awesome weather, and I even made a new friend! :) one of the other moms of a kiddo in the morning PPCD class (James goes in the afternoons) carpooled from the school to the zoo with me and another mom, and she and her family just moved here from.......SAN DIEGO!!! So needless to say, we hit it off right away and spent most of the day commiserating on all that we miss "back home" and she sounds JUST like I did when I first moved here, homesick as hell, not liking it here in Houston etc etc.....so I told her I would change all that, get her out and about doing stuff...she likes to scrapbook too so we are getting together this weekend to scrap, we are doing some fun stuff with the kids next week on spring break, going out to celebrate her birthday the following weekend.......getting her out and showing her some of Houston and get her to like it here a bit more. Anyway...back to the zoo........here are some of my favorite pics from the day......

James when we first arrived...say cheese! James and his teacher Ms Ha taking pics of the birds......

Me and my sweet boy.....

On the carousel....I love this picture!!!

Waving to Ms Lane, one of the therapists that works with his class....
Ms Lane waving back. :)

Making faces for mommy...this one is his scared face he told me.....

Happy face.....

Mad face!!!! Silly face!!!

Got great shots of the tiger...he came RIGHT UP to the glass where we were standing.....

Then decided it was hot and needed to take a dip......

And last but not least...my favorite shot of the day...James and his teacher Ms Ha!

Fantastic day, had a blast spending it with my boy, all his classmates, their mommies and made a new friend in the process!!!

James and Bailey

When we first got Bailey (and up to that point since James was a baby)....James was very skittish with dogs to say the least..he recently got better with my sister's golden retriever, and started asking for a puppy...hence getting Bailey.

Got her home, if she was not crated and out playing in the living room....James was up on the couch, watching from the sidelines. Would pet her only if one of us was holding her, and he pet her back, real quick for just a second.....

Well this week has been a HUGE turnaround with him, particularly over this weekend.....as you will see from the pictures below......he gets down on the ground in the back yard and will give her toys....throws the ball and other toys for her to fetch and bring back to us.....we have him feeding her her dinner and telling her to SIT and wait patiently (well patiently for a puppy anyway....he has to move quick for her!) while he pours the food from the cup to her bowl...and tonight even got him to give her a treat from his hand.....I was blown away! He even played with her tonite on the floor in the living room when we play tug of war with her blanket and wrap it over her and she runs around trying to get it off..he was dying laughing! then even though he was in jammies and ready for bed..daddy was gonna go walk her tonite and James INSISTED on going for the walk with them.......told him it was too cold and it was bedtime..he said NO!!! I can put a jacket on Mommy..I will be ok!!! How do you say no to that? HOW SWEET!!!!!

We are SO PROUD of our boy and how well he is doing with his puppy!!!

We spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon building Bailey an outdoor kennel/dog run that she can be in while we are at work........didnt think with her being 5 months old that she could hold it in her kennel inside the house all day long and that we shouldnt expect that from her ....so this was the next best option for us as we dont work close enough to home to say, come home on a lunch break and let her out at noon type deal....so outdoor kennel it was!!!

Freddy and I got it put together in about 4 hours and I must say we did a KICK ASS job!!!! Then I went today and bought her a cool dog house that is shaped similar to her indoor crate.....got a doggie bed/pillow thing to put inside it, and a self waterer thing that adds water to her bowl from an inverted 5 gallon bottle as she drinks from the bowl.........she has taken very well to it today as we put her in there for an hour or so at a time...went in her little outdoor crate/dog house and crashed out like a good girl..we think that what truly did the trick was that Freddy took the shirt he wore yesterday and put it into her dog house outside.....we found her passed out cold with it when we got back from the store.....comforting for her having something from Daddy!!!! tomorrow will be the true test for her while we are at work. Here are some pics of Daddy and James in the kennel pretending to be Bailey!

Then we decided the stinky dog needed a bath today...what a fun one that was!!! HA! managed to get her bathed without her jumping out of our big old bathtub and she is a sweet little fluff ball and smells so good again!!! Managed to get a couple pics of the wet dog...and also a few other cute shots of her outside today....

Bailey.......day 2

We have had Bailey here at home with us since Friday nite....the first nite was sad as she barked when we put her in her crate for bedtime......and barked for an hour off and on. Settled down finally, and when I was just about to drift off myself (was like having a baby in the house, I couldnt sleep till I knew she was asleep) an ambulance went by a few block away...and she started up again.....same thing a bit later...quiet for a bit, then it was a helicopter....then a motorcycle...LOL!!!! But eventually we all got to sleep and slept thru the nite. Up the next day, no accidents in the crate overnight...but she got a bit too excited when she saw us come downstairs and before we could get her outside...yup, she peed in the crate. Gotta be quick with this girl! :)

Friday was her first day in the crate while we were at work...Freddy came home on his lunch break to play with her a bit, give her a potty break and feed her. She liked that and then was excited when we all got home that she could be out and playing and what not. Few accidents in the house here and there, all a learning curve for everyone involved, and having to watch her like a hawk...the second you turn your back.....is when she is suddenly squatting. HA! then last nite I had the idea to give her a piece of fleece I hadnt made into a blanket at christmas time...and she LOVED IT......curled up on the living room floor on it, and i also put it in the crate last nite...only 10 minutes or so of whining...but really no barking.

Today has been fantastic with her! Got up this morning to let her out.....she saw me approach the crate...didnt pee in it from excitement this time....got her outside..TA DA!!! Went on the grass!!!! So I gave her a treat..back inside we went.....guess she wasnt quite done with her business...I turn around...peed again on the tile.......bad mommy..my fault!!!!

So most of the day today we have been outside with her and MAN does she love that!!! Playing in the front yard, watching James and Daddy fly James' kite in the culdesac, taking a walk/jog around the lake with Daddy.....she's LOVING life today and really starting to get used to us here I think....put her in her crate while we were eating lunch...she whined a bit, then realized we werent gonna let her out for whining...then she decided to lie down and take a nap.....so yeah, learning curve in process for all of us...Bailey included...but improving daily. :) Here are some new pics...she loves the blankie I gave her...we were putting it on her and she would wiggle herself out of it....then James was on the futon and she decided to lie down underneath him...LOVE this pic!!! james is still not quite sure what to think of her, but is coming around.......little did he know she was right under the couch where he was!!! LOL!! :o)