Happy Birthday Hubby!

Yesterday was Esteban's birthday. I wasn't able to post this yesterday so I'm doing it today. We didn't go to church in the morning. It was canceled because it snowed Sat. Then Sunday night, we couldn't go because Esteban Lee got pink eye. I take him to the doctor's this morning. We went to mom's for lunch and then Sun. night I had mom, dad, Aunt Darlene, and grandma Foster over after church for homemade pizza and wackey cake and icecream. Esteban got cards with money in them. He had a pretty good birthday. He got to talk to his family from Mexico and they all wished him a happy 28th birthday.
We love you Esteban and we are glad that God gave us another year with you. I hope that you have another wonderful year. I'm glad that you are my husband. You are the best one in the world. Thanks for being a wonderful help-mate and for being there when I need you, and for helping me with the childern and the house when I'm not feeling well. Have a wonderful day, Baby.
Te quiero mucho,
Tu esposa, Cindy

A Snowy Day!

Thursday morning we woke up to snow so back to bed for a couple more hours. Esteban can't paint in the snow. After a hearty breakfast that consisted of home made waffles with syrup, milk for the kids, and baccon and coffee for daddy, we all decided to ride along with daddy to the library and drop off some books and the Swiss Family Robinson movie. Well, we never made it to the library. Our van started to make a loud funny noise right before we got to the library. We decided that we better skip the library for now and go (crawl) to Esteban's brother's house in town. Esteban didn't know what was wrong so he didn't want to take the chance and pull off and check it for fear that it wouldn't start again. We got stuck at the railroad crossing ( for what seemed like forever) praying that the van wouldn't cut off and that we would be able to make the last 3 minute drive in a 15 minute drive. Well, we finally made it and Luis took Esteban back to our house to get the tools that we should have left in the van, but decided to take them out. Anyhow even if they were in the van, Esteban still would've had to go home because the wrench that he needed was in the new tool box he got for Christmas. Hey, at least he got to put them to use, right? He decided that he better bring them all just in case so he wouldn't have to make more trips home. He went and bought the "wrong" part after he picked up the tools and came back to his brother's house to fix the van. Luis dropped him off and went to buy Tylenol for his baby girl since she wasn't feeling good. While he was doing that, Esteban took the part off the car and found out that he bought the wrong part so he called his brother. Then had to wait till he got back home to go and get the right part. After he got the right part it was time to eat a Mexican meal that was fixed by his "gringa" wife and his "Mexican" niece. Letty wasn't feeling good either, and was trying to take care of her baby. We think that she either had a bladder or kidney infection. We said that the meal was "half-n half" gringa and Mexican. We fixed rice and memelas. Everything was homemade except for the beans. Luis bought them already refried. Letty said that the Lord let our van break down that way we could help her. Well, I don't know about that.:) Anyhow we were there and I helped her some. Esteban had the van fixed around 7:00pm and after it was fixed everyone was hungry again so I fixed pancakes for the kids and heated up the rice and the beans and some ham that Letty had frozen and made more tortillas. Before supper, Luis had their 3 older children straighten up the house and I cleaned the one bathroom. The baby was still fussy later so I called the doctor's office after hour number and the Secretary had the on-call nurse call me and I would talk to Letty and the nurse in English and Esteban interpreted into Spanish. They had to take Elizabet to the doctor today. We finally left sometime after 9:00 pm. Oh, I forgot to tell you that their pastor came over to check on the baby and he anointed her and prayed for her. I thought that it was interesting that all the adults that were there (not us) put oil on their hands just in case that they wanted to touch the baby also when the pastor prayed for her. They're pentecostal, but the pastor doesn't believe in speaking in tongues unless you have an interpreter and won't let you speak in tongues at his church unless you can have someone interpret for you. He seems to be a really good pastor, better than the other ones they've had. He has a very kind heart and he loves his people. When we got home our "babies" were half a sleep so Esteban carried them in and I fixed their beds and tucked them in for the night. Finally, I went to bed. Today, I had to go make the house payment and go to the bank and take back the "wrong"part my husband bought. I stopped at walmart and came home and my husband was home from work. It was too cloudy and foggy for them to paint and it doesn't look like they will be able to go in later either. So he decided to work on the yard and clean up some brush that we've started to clear away last fall. Well, I hope that each one of you have a wonderful afternoon whether it may be sunny, snowy,foggy, cloudy, or rainy. You get the picture. Have a wonderful afternoon and may our Lord bless you.
Cindy

What A Way To Start The week!

Whew! Yesterday was a long day! Cynthia got the 24 hr flu around 4:30 p.m. and Fabian's gums were hurting and he was fussy. So in between clearing the table, sweeping the floor,cooking supper, I was trying to soothe a 10 month old and wipe up vomit after a 2 yr old when husband walked in the door. The table still wasn't finished and the dirt was in a pile and supper still wasn't cooked. Thank the Lord for leftovers. I had leftover roast and a little bit of rice from Sunday's lunch. So I quickly boiled potatoes and mashed them and cooked some vegetables while my sweet husband went to the store and bought Cynthia sprite and chicken noodle soup. Then when he got home, supper was done and the baby ate a little and was crying so sweet hubby held baby Fabian while I gobbled (literally) my food down. Then I took over and held him while he ate. Well Cynthia still wasn't feeling better and wasn't keeping the sprite down and I was out of Tylenol and had no pedilytes. So Esteban made a trip to walmart after he ate his supper. Well, who was going to clean the kitchen? At this time, who wouldn't wish for a maid? Well, guess the kitchen 'll have to wait till aunt Darlene gets home around 9:30 and it did. Aunt Darlene helped me unload the dishwasher and load it up. The rest could wait till morning hopefully the babies will feel better by then. Well, Fabian didn't go to sleep till around 11 something so I sat on the couch with him and had my devotions. Then I finally got him down and crawled into bed by sleeping husband and just lay my tired head down on the pillow and I jump up out of bed to help a little girl who is throwing up in her bed. Well, I didn't get to sleep till way after 1:30 a.m.After I fixed pancakes for breakfast this morning, I did finish the kitchen and even got the floor swept and mopped. Cynthia hasn't thrown up today and after lunch we all took naps. I started to feel queasy. Now, I feel OK. I guess I slept it off. Esteban Lee says he doesn't feel good now. Well, at least they're all not sick at once. Fabian seems happy right now. Guess what we are going to have for supper since nobody feels good? That's right! Homemade chicken noodle soup. I hope that the rest of the week goes better, but that's the fun part of being a mom. Sometimes you don't know how the day's going to go. I really do love being a mom. Most of us moms don't like it when our kids are sick. When they are sick it's okay just to make the house look presentable and take care of our babies. Well, I need to close so I can take care of my babies and have supper on the table when my sweet husband comes home. (at least try to.) I hope that you all have a good evening. Take care, Cindy

Christmas Tradition

Well I know that this is kind of late to be telling about our Christmas,but I had written it right after New Year's and I lost it all. Then we decided to paint our living room and dinning room and we had to unplug the computer for a couple of days. Esteban got me a new7 piece living room set and a dinning room table with 6 chairs. We painted our walls green ( not grass green) I'm not sure how to describe it. If I told you it kind of looked like mashed peas you might say yuk. (I would too) Anyhow it is pretty. Our lamps our a dark cream color our couches (there again not sure of the color) suede tan and the pillows that come with them have green, cream, gold, burgundy in them. I am going to get gold curtains for my windows. I also got a digital camera and when I learn how to use it I'll take pictures and let everyone see it.
Christmas Eve, we go to my parents' house and get together with my bothers and their families. My sister Rachel is in New York,so she wasn't there. I have one sister-n-law and nephew and 4 bothers and Daniel brought his girlfriend. My grandmother Foster (mom's mom) and aunt Darlene (mom's identical twin) was there also this year. Darlene moved down here in August and she is living with us, and grandma's been coming down from P.A. for 2 years now and staying a few months with my parents. Anyhow we all eat supper together and then dad reads the Christmas story and then Little Zachary passes out the gifts (now that he can read) one at a time. We have a lot of fun. That night when we go home we put the 3 babies to bed and I fill Esteban's and the kid's stockings and then Esteban fills mine and we lay them under the tree. This year we got to fill Aunt Darlene's stocking also. We broke the tradition a little this year. We were to tired to fill the stockings before going to bed so we did it the next morning. While I straighted the kitchen up, Esteban and Darlene filled my stocking and then I sent Esteban and the kids to the bedroom while I stuffed theirs and Dar watched. When it was time to fill hers she went to the bedroom and waited. After all the stockings were filled, we sat around the tree and Esteban read part of the Christmas story in Spanish and then I read the last part in English, and Darlene prayed. We then took turns and opened our stockings. Esteban put a battery charger in my stocking and when I saw it I asked him if he got me a digital camera and he just smiled and I about cried. After the stockings, Esteban passes out the gifts one by one and we have a lot of fun opening them. The best part is watching the 3 children open their gifts. It was Fabian's 1st Christmas. He opened a rolling ball and after that he could care less that he had more gifts to open. He played with his ball and I had to help him open the others. Esteban got me a digital camera and wrapped it in a box and then he re wrapped it in another box. Well it was my turn to open my gift and I opened the one box and then he made me put it back under the tree and wait to open the other box because we are only allowed to open one at a time. Finally, he let me open it and sure enough it was my camera. He did the same with the chip that goes in the camera. I had mentioned something before Christmas Day that i only had to small gifts to open from my hubby. So after I opened them he told me that I had 4 to unwrap. He is always mischief at Christmas. I bought him a big tool box, but it was all bagged up so we took it back and got a set of tools that came in a tool box instead. After we open all our gifts we go to my parents for dinner and spend the day there. We had a wonderful Christmas.
For New Year's Eve, we took the kids and went to see the lights in Tangle wood and on the way home we picked up grandma Foster and she spent the night with us and we played games while the kids were in bed. Well I hope that you all have a good evening and have a wonderful year. Let's stay close to Jesus no matter what happens this year. May the Lord bless each one of you.
Cindy Lopez and Fmily