WHAT THIS SEASON MEANS TO ME

Feels like Christmas week comes and goes so quick. We wait all year for this magical month full of festivities where traditions are made, baking cookies are a must, big families gather together, the food makes our hearts & belly full and before we know it.. it is GONE! It is certainly my favorite holiday and the one I hate to put away when it involves taking down the tree and all the bright & shiny decor that comes along with it. This year we did not start our Christmas decorations until a week after Thanksgiving (I know I was so behind) so with much reason I feel I haven't fully enjoyed it all. I just don't want it to end!

December always brings exciting new things and also another year for my baby girl Elyse, who recently turned 4 this month. Seeing her grow these past years have been a blessing and true gift to me. I look at her and think, "where did my tiny baby go?", and I am now more mindful of what Christmas means to me. It couldn't be more true as to why we celebrate this holiday. Jesus is the reason for this season. His love, hope, and faith on us all. I truly believe in the power of Christmas. The ability to open our hearts and love one another, bring hope to the ones who need it the most, and finding our way to renew our faith during this joyful season. 

Elyse Nicole -1yr old

 I have learned over the years and since becoming a mother that Christmas is not about the material things, the gifts, nor who has more. No it is none of those! But the innocent faces we see on Christmas morning like this. The genuine happiness they receive is pure magic... and no its not just about the gifts, its about his presence and how we are given this opportunity to make it special for the people that we love. Makes me think of how my parents felt each year on Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas we all gathered to pray and sing lullabies and Christmas songs to baby Jesus as we hold and kissed him around the Christmas tree. These are the memories I carry from my childhood and what I wish to pass on to my kids in the future. The traditions my childhood holds onto is celebrating Jesus Christ before our evening family dinner and before we exchanged and opened gifts.

This year I was extra thankful for my family's health. We went through a bad week of all of us getting the stomach virus, one by one and then once I thought they were getting better I ended sick myself and it hit me realizing how I wasn't done wrapping gifts, or shopping for last minute items, hadn't even picked out a gift for my husband yet, and it made me sad to know I was not going to be able to enjoy my mom's delicious food on Christmas Eve. Sometimes the holidays can be stressful and get the best of us. Bad times make us appreciate the little things that are actually the bigger things. My only wish last week was to have healthy babies to celebrate with. I was so happy I was able to enjoy them as we all felt 100% better that Saturday morning. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, surrounded by family and loved ones and find the simplicity of what this holiday is all about! 

How do you and your family celebrate this season?

An open letter on our Anniversary

On Thanksgiving day we celebrated 6 perfectly-imperfect years of marriage. Six years ago we became husband and wife at only 20 and 22 years young. Although we didn't have a traditional wedding at all but a simple trip to the courthouse- that's okay. My wedding day isn’t plagued with any sense of regret. Sure, it would have been nice to have had a beautiful wedding, with my dream dress surrounded by all my family and friends. And it would have been wonderful to have a room in our house full of beautiful pictures of us on our wedding day to look back on. But one day does NOT define our marriage. It will be the years to come...and in the future I would love to have that religious ceremony as we plan to renew our vows with God as our witness with the company of our kids. I will tell you this- what has defined this marriage has been the laughters and tears, the good days and the bad. 

"Marriage is a commitment to care for one another in mutually-fulfilling ways. It is not an act but rather a life-long relationship that’s always evolving."

So to my husband I want to tell you-

I know that I don't always show it and I certainly don't always say it enough as I should (I'm working on that)- but I am thankful for you. For the man you have become, for the man you are, and most importantly the father you are to our children.

Here we are 10 years, three kids, and a few wrinkles and grey hairs later- still standing strong. It's amazing to love someone and be loved by someone for ten whole freakin years. I know that loving me is not always easy and I make it hard sometimes. I am not that young carefree 20 year girl you once fell in love with... together we have grown and you accept me for who I am.

For instance on mornings I am too tired and you wake up and get our son ready for school without making a noise so I get to sleep in an hour or two more, or on the days I have to work and you make sure you get all three kids showered and ready so I can drop them off ready and already fed, or days that you are off and make sure I wake up to a ready breakfast by the time I walk to the kitchen. Or when you decide to go grocery shopping after work and surprise me with a trés leches cake when you get home (you know the way to my heart so well). Even the small things you do make me smile; like a phone call on your break or setting up a date night for just us two without me knowing (because you know any time away from the kids is always needed) or when its late at night and you're arriving home from work and I am a hot mess with tangled hair in a bun and baby spit on my shirt yet you still reach over and squeeze me and kiss me. Everything you do never goes unnoticed. I mean it when I say I would be lost without you.

Thank you for everything.

So I share openly when I say- with all honesty that marriage is hard work. Is easy more so often to quickly give up. I have felt like this at times, our first year of marriage was hard. You tend to focus on your work, your child, and trying to figure out the "new you" in motherhood and as a wife and quickly without knowing you forget what you guys once were before marriage.. before kids. Back to when life was all carefree, when money didn't matter;

when we could go out at midnight to drive downtown and get Starbucks simply because we wanted to, or times when we planned random date nights to Olive Garden followed by hours at the movie theater because we had no responsibilities or children to attend too. Quickly all that had become forgotten. I admit our first year we had a lot of fights, many disagreements, becoming adults got the best of us. If there's anything I am grateful for now are those arguments.I believe If there's no fighting in a marriage how are you you going to grow with one another. It's not always about being right but about building a mutual agreement and resolving the problem together. It's all about sacrifices.

"Marriage is about becoming a team. You are going to spend the rest of your life learning about each other, and every now and then things blow up. But the beauty of marriage is that if you picked the right person and you both love each other, you'll always figure out a way to get through it."

I am sure there's been a lot of things I've done wrong in our marriage but I am also confident enough to know I have always tried my best to make things right and to always try- no matter what. But despite those mistakes I am proud of where we are, what we have accomplished together so young and what we will continue to bring in the future together.

You are my strength, my equal, and my biggest supporter. Happy Anniversary Gustavo, I am so blessed and couldn't be more proud to be your wife.

"I love you today and always.I'll choose you over and over again. Without a pause, without a heartbeat, I'll keep choosing you,"

A special thanks to D Trinh Photography for this session. David did a beautiful job. 

Thank you for capturing us once again. 

Freshly Picked Review + Giveaway

Disclaimer: Freshly Picked provided me with a pair of moccasins for review and one pair as a giveaway. All opinions are my own. 

I am constantly inspired by small business and entrepreneurs. And Freshly Picked is one company we have been following for a few years. FP is created by Susan Peterson, she features some of the most adorable comfortable moccasins for young children and newborns. Not only will your kids be looking fashionable and cute but these moccasins are durable, well designed, and most importantly they stay on. 
Freshly Picked Moccasins are made from 100% genuine leather and they have an elastic feature at the opening which makes them easy to put on, take off, and mainly it stays on your child's foot. It sure saves a mama some time trying to put them on and having your child look adorable is a plus! 

Photo Credit: D Trinh Photography

I started purchasing FP moccs when my daughter, Elyse was just 16 months and let me tell you they were worth every penny. Last December we went to a wedding and I couldn't find any shoes to go with her dress so I ended up taking out her old moccs and guess what? They still FIT! So if you are worried about your child not using them for long.. you are wrong. They will be used for a LONG time!

Photo Credit: D Trinh Photography

Now that my Luke is one and walking and just running all around I knew Freshly Picked was the perfect choice for us both. I know these shoes will be filled with memories of the most important days of my baby's first years. I think what I love the most is the bottom of the moccs- as their tiny little toes get imprinted at the bottom. And that is something I will forever keep.

Right now they are having their SWEET SALE where EVERYTHING is 25% off. So go on and head to their site shop now and snag your favorite.  Freshly Picked has graciously offered a giveaway for 1 pair of moccasins of your choice! If you haven't had the chance to enter our giveaway on Instagram- leave a comment here and tell me which color or collection is your favorite. One lucky follower will win, Goodluck!

Luke's First Year Recap with Shutterfly

As a mother I take hundreds of pictures of my kids, obviously my close friends think I am crazy and tease me all the time as they tell me to put the camera down. My little sister hates sometimes being stuck as my "photographer" for the day when I ask her to snap a couple of photos of the kids and I when we go out. And well...my husband already knows he has no other choice, and besides he enjoys being on the other side of the camera. Which is why I love him even more, he totally gets me because you can never have too many pictures of your family! I mean how can you not have all these cute photos of your little ones? I can't be the only one..right?
I just love capturing moments of my kids whether if it's simply at home, playing in the neighborhood park, hanging out at the mall, going out for dinner with friends or any special family gathering I tend to snap a few photos when I can get the opportunity. Which is why my iPhone is overloaded with all my photos taken with my Canon Rebel and using up all the little available storage space that's left. And honestly many of my photos just stay there and I tend to forget to share them with family and mostly never get to upload them on social media nor send them to get printed. I guess I keep them for my own self, as I get to look back at how much my kids have grown. I tend to do that quite often. 

With that being said, I've realized that soon the holidays will be here now that the Halloween festivities are coming to an end. And as sad as it is to admit to myself my baby is already ONE, as a matter of fact he is going on a year and a half soon and I have yet to print out his first year photos. Two weeks ago I hadn't even started on his first year book like a typical good mother should and I felt terrible about it. I remember with my first child I started a scrapbook way before he was born, by the second month I was halfway done with it. Back then I had so much more time and a routine. Fast forward to now I'll admit that being a mom of 3 kids is overwhelming, chaotic, and there is always so much to do and so much going on that finding time to work on one can tend to feel time consuming. Which makes me put it off even longer, no wonder I procrastinate on a lot of things. I am kinda ashamed to admit we have no photo books in our home, although I have always loved the thought of making one. And that is why I turn to Shutterfly.

To my surprise Shutterfly's Make My Book service made this process so easy and enjoyable. With Shutterfly you save all of the time in creating your photo book because you basically have someone else do all the work, it's like a dream come true. No need to spend hours and hours customizing a book. With this service of only a small fee of $9.99 a Shutterfly rep will professionally begin to design your photo book. Within a few days you will be sent a preview of the book and you can edit any changes if needed to. 

  

The process is extremely quick, in my own personal experience getting the photos uploaded was the longest  process only because I had so many pictures still on my SD card and others that needed to be uploaded to my desktop although you can get them directly from your Facebook or Instagram if you choose to. Once you picked out all the photos you'll like to use and arranged them accordingly to how you'll like them display along with a book theme you'll be all set to go. I used Shutterfly's "modern white" and made it out to be focus on Luke's First Year with all his milestones and special occasions that our family had together as we have become a family of five. I also added a story tell to it by including a small part of his birth story to his book along with an update of month by month counting to his first birthday. 

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my personal projects and how I want things to look a certain way so I was a bit nervous on how the book will look overall but had high hopes that I would be pleased by sticking with an all white modern look to my book. 

I waited patiently for my book and once it arrived I was more than pleased with it. The moment I began to go through it I was ready to cry, it was like going back to the morning Luke was born. I was stunned with the quality of the book. It was way bigger than I had imagined, so I was glad I went with am 11x14. All I can say is I am in L O V E with it. The book turned out to be more than I expected it to be. The page and picture quality is amazing and I have no words to thank Shutterfly for such a beautiful book and for making a book full of memories that we will treasure forever. If anything it provided a story my kids look forward to reading to their baby brother. I know for a fact that I will continue to add more photo books to our home and start a collection that my family will cherish forever.

Keeping it clean with HEFTY Ultra Strong

If you are anything like me you know kids and their dirty mess drive us moms CRAZY. When it comes to cleaning the kitchen I absolutely hate doing it. If there is anything about motherhood that I constantly dread is poopy diapers and cleaning my kitchen once the kids are done eating. I don't think anyone knows what I mean until you share a kitchen table with my youngest. That child will make sure all the food hits the kitchen floors, walls, and the glass table before it gets to his mouth. And no I promise I am not exaggerating. He's at the age where he wants to feed himself with no help, does not matter if he cannot hold his spoon or fork correctly because he does not mind dropping all his food. With all this chaos I am grateful to have a product like Hefty that brings some strength to my tough days. It's like having John Cena here being my helper when carrying out the trash, his strength sure could be needed in my household everyday. But if anything, I can count on Hefty when cleaning up and throwing away all the plastic plates with the remaining uneaten food that the kids might have left, for example the excessive ketchup always left behind. Along with all the juice boxes, bulky boxes after shopping at Costco, empty food jars and cans. Their exceptional performance  makes my cleaning so much easier. 

 I can count on the active tear resistant technology for superior strength because I am guilty of letting my trashcan overflow to the top just like the dishes pile up in my sink (GUILTY). I don't have to worry about the bag tearing when its filled up, even on the days that it's super heavy the drawstrings don't break because of their resistant grip. And I cannot forget my mornings followed after our breakfast, when baby Luke lets that diaper bomb explode with the most disgusting smelly diaper you can imagine. 
YES this is the ugly truth of motherhood! 
But this is when these trash bags come to my rescue big time! Not only does it keep trash in but it keeps the smell in too! Hefty Ultra Strong Kitchen trash bags have Arm & Hammer patented odor neutralizer. Meaning no stinking up my garage or outside trash bins while we wait for trash pick up days.

These trash bags are already at a great new price compared to other brands, but to make it even better I am sharing a $1 off coupon with you guys! Trust me these bags get the job done, I have now found the right brand and a product I can rely on without a doubt. 

Strawberry Overnight Oats

My go-to breakfast as of lately has been overnight oats. It's simple and quick and delicious! Back when I was trying to lose my baby weight after having Elyse I would prep it at night and every morning I had a nutritious breakfast ready to go. Now that I am working out again and trying to focus more on my food choices and what I eat (most of the time) I have gone back to eating this and it really helps with those bad cravings. If you are not a yogurt fan I say give Greek yogurt a shot. Yogurt gives this overnight oats recipe a healthy serving of protein, which research shows it helps us stay full longer. Just under five minutes of prep work and you have a healthy breakfast waiting in the morning for you. You can either choose to eat it cold right as you take it out or add some more milk- put it in a bowl, mix it up some more and add more sliced fruits. 

Ingredients _____________________________________________

• 1 cup of Greek yogurt (strawberry or berry mix)
• ½ cup old fashioned oats (more can be added if desired) 
• 1 teaspoon of organic chia seeds
• ½ sliced ripe banana
• 3-5 strawberries sliced
• ½  cup unsweetened almond milk (almond/coconut milk is a must to try)
• 1-2 teaspoons of organic agave/raw honey
• cinnamon (optional)
• Granola (optional)

Combine ingredients as listed in a mason jar and refrigerate overnight. 

Top the next day with granola and enjoy.

H-E-B + Box Tops for Education

The new school year has already begun! And I cannot believe I am now sending to school a first grader, I'm thinking to myself, "where has the time gone..." We can all agree that it is bittersweet to see our little ones go and explore without us watching their every move but as a mother we can feel confident that they are receiving the best education possible. Which is why as parents it is important we support our community schools and it can be done in the simplest way possible. It is easy and it honestly takes no effort from our busy mom schedules.   Box Tops for Education is a wonderful way to give back to your child's school all while purchasing the products you & your kids already love. We have always been told sharing is caring. If you know any school teachers they'll tell you that school budgets are tight and help is always needed to reach their school's annual goal. This is a great way to participate and help raise funds and awareness without any extra money out of your own pocket. By collecting General Mills Box Tops your child's school will be receiving the money needed to buy the things they need. Whether it's new computers, classroom supplies, provide new after-school programs, or even making a bigger library for their students. 

Box tops for Education in Texas makes it easy to give back to schools on your everyday purchases at H-E-B. It is super simple to participate, all you have to do is find the H-E-B Box Tops label when you shop for your favorite General Mills products. Just by doing that your child's school will receive 10 cents for every box top parents clip and send. If majority of your child's class participates it really adds up all together. 

It all makes a difference
Clipping and collecting can be done in just a few minutes, you will be surprised how many products of General Mills Box Top items you have purchased or already have in your pantry. Best thing to do before throwing away the cereal box is clip and COLLECT it. 

20 Texas Schools will win 20,000 Bonus Box Tops ($2,000 value). All you have to do is support your child's school by entering the sweepstakes by registering here- cashforyoureducation.com  And remember the more entries for your school, the more chances your chid's school could win! 

How many H-E-B Box Tops will you collect to help support your community and children's school?  Register now!