It’s Thanksgiving…..& your invited to my home :)

I know I know it came and went, but come reminisce with me……. 

It’s Thanksgiving morning, 12:00 a.m. to be exact and I am still awake cleaning the remnents of cookie dough and sprinkles that the kids have left behind on the kitchen island. The kids are all fast asleep and I am placing the last batch of cream-of-tarter cookies into the oven. My sister-in-law is prepping the banana bread, Isaac is cleaning upstairs and Michael is nowhere to be found. My feet ache yet I am determined to have all desserts prepared for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Oh darn, I almost forgot the apple-butter pumpkin pie in the oven, a delicious recipe from good’ole Southern girl, Paula Deen (food network channel).

A few minutes pass and I realize I don’t have enough of the spice I will use for my rub on the turkey. Isaac and Micheal head out to HEB to pick up more…so sweet! They return with Taco Cabana…crazy, you can’t send those two out without having an agenda of their own! I quickly begin toasting the blend of spices as the recipe specifically calls for and then onto the blender it goes. I am beginning to get worried…”will it be good, was this a dumb idea to try and take on the big bird myself?” Ok, enough of the paranoid talk….gotta get the regular pumpkin pie out of the oven. Denise is now onto her pecan pies. I am finally done (2:00 a.m.)…at least for now. Time to go get some rest…at least what I can get.

The alarm sounds, it is 9:30 a.m. Time to rise and shine! The outside temperature has dropped significantly, God you sure know how to bring in the holiday and warm my heart. I am feeling confident. No one else is awake in the home, so I quickly run to the kitchen and begin peeling the sweet potatoes to boil. I get the defrosted turkey out of the refrigerator….Denise and Isaac join me. Denise slices the veggies as I prepare the chicken stock for the gravy. We’re moving now….all four burners are going and the turkey is now being stuffed with lemons and rosemary. Isaac pours the olive oil and I embed the special blend of spices onto the bird. Oh what a site! I run to my room to freshen up…guests will be here shortly. Three hours later its done…WHAT!!! No way, grandma would not approve or believe! All credit is given to the special blend which formed a nice crust and maintained the juices.

12:00 p.m. and I hear Isaac calling, “You’re parents are here.” I run down the stairs, take a quick look at everything. The house smells of fall spices, the freshener is of apple pie, the living room is neat and not to metion the aroma of a suculant turkey. As I open the door I am greeted not just by my parents baring gifts for the kiddos but also by my nephew James and Isaac’s cousins, Abel and Roxanne. Wow…perfect timing. Hugs and kisses are exchanged and we all walk in anxiously to celebrate together. We are later joined by my in-laws, who made it in the nick of time. Picture time….enjoy

 I was a happy camper as I heard many compliments on how delicious the food was. This was by far one of the most memorable Thanksgivings I will never forget. More family joined us later on that evening. Everything went so smoothly, everyone ate, laughed and asked for seconds. Oh Thank you Lord for family, food and fun.

I am so grateful.

These are the things I am thankful for:

1) Knowing who I am in Christ.

2) For My wonderful, hard-working husband and my two baby boys.

3) For my extended family who I love to laugh and live life with.

4) For my stay-at-home job.

5) For my husband’s growing business.

6) For the smooth transition to a new city full of opportunity.

7) For the many family members that will be traveling to our home to share our Thanksgiving holiday.

8) For life’s experiences….I feel that we have grown as a family this year.

9) For true friends.

10) For health, love and peace.

These are just some of the things I am so excited about. Thank you Lord for being with me every step of the way. Thank you for all that you do and all that your going to do. The year of favor is nearing…I can feel it. The goosebumps give way to a new understanding. The heart skips a beat in light of new horizons. The butterflies flutter and as always naturally find their way to beauty and prosperity. A spirit of fulfillment and contentment is rediscovered, however this time with dignity. Lord you are my all. I love you.

I’m making the Turkey!! Ahhh!

Hello Thanksgiving!

For the very first time I will be making the BIRD…well I will have many helpful hands. I took it upon myself to find a five star recipe. I am making my own rub and will be stuffing the bird with many aromatic ingredients…yum. For the past couple of years Isaac has been the one to deep-fry the turkey…..oh so yummy if you haven’t had it that way. I am excited but at the same time scared out of my mind. When I cook anything the golden words I long to hear are, “Man this is so good!” I just hope it is delicious and that it will be my newfound traditional recipe. I also love to make pumpkin pies and going on 6-year tradition of sweet potato casserole. I absolutely love Thanksgiving & I’d hate to ruin it. I don’t think I’ll actually ruin it but I guess thats my nightmare right now! My parents will be back in town helping to celebrate the Holiday. Then of course the tradition continues on Turkey-day…..buying a Christmas tree and decorating the home. Oh so fun! The kids are excited…..I am so giddy….woo-hoo! Can’t wait. I am multi-tasking at the moment, typing and watching the Food Network channel around the clock. I don’t know if you know this, but I aspire to be the best chef in my home. I really wouldn’t mind going back to school for culinary arts….that may be in the near future…who knows. Okay thats it for now, talking about all this food makes me hungry….gotta get some grub!

Busy Weekend

Wow….I can’t believe the weekend came and went and now we are nearing yet another weekend! Not to mention Thanksgiving is right around the corner…..AHHHH!!! Time to pull out the recipes and make the grocery list and clean and decorate the house and …….I’m already exhausted! Well my parents  came into town and so did my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. My nephew also visted this weekend. Lots and lots of traffic in the house, I loved it. Its always nice to have family over.

Oh yes, and President Bush was here in SA visiting BAMC, or known as Brooke Army Medical Center. Isaac and I were on our way home, when we heard on the radio that Bush had arrived, a few seconds later my sister-in-law calls and says, “Air Force One has landed!” We happened to be passing the airport at that very second and lo-&-behold…..there is AIR FORCE 1…..Isaac took a quick snap, we got the tail end of it. Go to Isaac’s blog  and check it out.

 As I had mentioned previously in another post, my dad is a veteran. He was in the Korean war. My dad was honored at Solomon’s school for Veteran’s Day. It was so nice. My neice, Olivia is in the choir, their songs of tribute were beautiful. All the veterans were seated in the front while family members sat behind them for support. My dad had to stand and state when he was a part of the Navy and for how long. I really enjoyed this ceremony. The principal did a really good job at explaining to the kids of the importance and respect we should all bear towards our past and present soldiers. Here are a couple of pics of my dad at the ceremony.

     My Dad introducing himself     

    Grandpa Aparicio & the boys

The next day the whole family enjoyed an evening at Pico De Gallo, an amazing Mexican restuarant. Mmmm…..mmmm…good is all I have to say. Here are some more pics of our fun night.

 Say Cheese!       My mom and dad     

   My dad           Isaac and Jakob       

My parents will be back for Thanksgiving…yippee! Aside from celebrating Turkey Day, Denise, Michael, Isaac and I are looking forward to hitting up the stores for Black Friday! Hopefully we’ll SURVIVE and accomplish all of our Christmas shopping that night!!! Well thats all for now, love you all.

More Truth

Today has been interesting to say the least. More birdies sing but my heart no longer grows weary nor outraged, I become more calm because I know the saying is all too true, “La lengua castiga.” I have been a fly on the wall in the past to know that’s the case 100% of the time.  Just for clarification, I do not anticipate a downfall, rather I have feelings of a peaceful heart knowing all is not in my hands. For some reason part of the song “I’m a barbie girl…..” comes to mind. Hmmm, thats odd…maybe a little too odd! If this makes no sense to you, maybe its better that way. So anyways thats my ranting for today, lets get on the stuff that really matters……

Well my parents are coming into town tomorrow….YEAH. I don’t know who’s more excited, me or Solomon? He’s been asking for them for a good while. I guess its because they always bring him and Benjamin toys. We are going to a Veteran’s Celebration event since my dad is a veteran. It will be exciting, I can’t wait. Oh and I just found out President Bush will be here in SA tomorrow.

Today we celebrated my neice’s B-day, Davina turned 6 today. We all ate at Peter Piper Pizza and then came home for some tasty strawberry cake that Denise made. They all came back with souveniers….big oversized, blow-up bats and hammers…Isaac included….lovely!  It turned into a doggie pile, ommm more like a beating….well lets just say their were some tears! Crazy kids! Well onto bed I go. Good-night.

My Birthday Dinner

 My husband is so so so sweet. On my birthday, Nov 4th, he made me a chocolate cake all by himself, how romantic is that. Then he suprised me later on that evening by taking me out to a restuarant I had been eyeing….an Italian place, my favorite type of food. It was yummy, we tried the Chicken Mustard plate….sounded bitter but was totally the opposite. The chicken was served over a bed of garlic-buttered noodles….oh so tasty. The mood was so nice…a dimm place with a candle at our table…the Italian music and the artistry mimicking Italy. I love this place, would definately recommend this spot for a romantic getaway date, its called Pompeii Italian Grill. Thank you honey, I love you.

Saturday Morning

It’s Saturday morning, 8:30 a.m. to be exact and what am I doing up!!!! I should be in bed resting, sleeping in….but no here I am…blogging! I had every intension of sleeping in, however my little rugrats joined Isaac and I in bed way too early. So now the sounds I hear are Spongebob Squarepants and my wonderful husband’s snoring…..ahhhh how nice. So I choose to blog.

Last night Isaac made his famous hotwings…oh so tasty! I made some pasta and Denise added her delicious deviled eggs. By the way, this is an awesome combination. We watched the SPURS game…..well everybody else did. I was feeling ill yet again…so I found myself isolating myself upstairs and watching the George Lopez show on nick @ night. Then it was the boys bedtime, so I joined them in their room. Benji requested I sing the Wheels on the Bus, he loves that song. He sounds so cute, he does his happy dance, stops and makes it a point to sing the last phrase of the song…..he looks towards the ceiling and sings in a high pitch. He’s so adorable, he’s definately attached to my hip. Solomon loves the IF YOUR HAPPY and YOU KNOW IT song. He by the way is going great in school, he loves it, which I am very greatful for. He has his friends that he occassionally will talk to me about. In fact his teacher’s exact words were, “Oh no I had to break that group up!” I thought that was too funny. His teacher is our age (Isaac and I), he’s pretty cool, very easy to talk to.

I also just wanted to take some time to thank my loving husband for all he does. Thank you for letting me sleep those 4 hours during the day when I was feeling ill. Thank you for tending to me in any little thing that I needed. Most of all thank you for all that you do. I seriously would not know what to do without you. Even though I don’t say it as often as I should, “I love you and appreciate all that you do on a daily basis for our family.” Also thank-you for being a wonderful daddy. I see the boys faces light up when you wrestle with them or just run around the house with them playing hide-n-seek. Thank-you, thank-you. I love you.

Tomorrow is my birthday…I can’t believe it, I think it just snuck up on me this year…not to mention Thanksgiving is like in two-three weeks!!!! What!!! Another year flying by? Were the years always going by this fast, or this only an adult thing? None-the-less I am excited this time of year is here, I just wish the time could drag out these last two months. I hate to prepare and prepare and then like a lightening strike it is gone! No, I wish that I have lots of quality time with my family. That’s what it is all about. Well I hope that your Holidays are warm and blessed. We have two cold fronts coming our way, so snuggle up to your loved ones with a cup of hot chocolate and watch a Holiday movie. Love you all.

Halloween Fun

For Halloween we had pizza and went trick-or-treating down our neighborhood. We didn’t have to go too far until the little one’s bags became full. Michael unforunately was working. Nonetheless our bunch had a great time. Denise dressed up as a crazy Doctor, Isaac was a punkrocker  , I was a grecian goddess, Solomon was a ninja , Benjamin was a little pirate (by the way he got the special treatment from all the neighbors…more candy because he looked so cute), Olivia was a dead-bride, Skye was a beautiful fairy and last but not least Davina was a zombie Doctor. The weather was perfect, a cool breeze and lots of trick-or-treaters down the street. This is a pic of our first stop…sPoOkY….We had a mixture of both tricks and treats. My night didn’t end so pleasantly….as soon as we came home I became ill with a stomach virus. Just about everyone in the household had it days before…& I unfortunately had to get it last!!! Anyhow, our Halloween experience was a good one. I think I had more fun dressing everyone up to play their part. Thats it for now. Love you all.