Christmas 2009

Well I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!
We had a busy Christmas as always, with all the families! It was a very nice one though. The kids had a blast and got way more toys then they needed.
We started off at my grandmother's house the Sunday before Christmas, that was a nice Sunday with my dad's side. We don't see them often enough these days. There the kids saw Santa aka: Uncle Raymond! Neither one of the kids are afraid now! We have always had Santa come since I was a little one when we had Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Veit's!

AJ opening his gifts!


The kids with Santa at Grandma Veit's


Annabel and Papaw Veit


Moving onto Monday, my dad and Janice came by to do Christmas with the kids since they were going out of town. The kids had a blast opening their gifts as any kid would right?!

Annabel and Nonie


AJ opening his gift



Now comes Christmas Eve and we had lunch at my mom's. Tammy and the gang were there, not the whole family this year! Good times just hanging out and catching up, stuffing our faces! Opening gifts! After everyone left we did Christmas with my parent's and brother. The kids had a blast of course....

Annabel and her gifts..


Uncle RIchard and the kids


AJ and his Tam


Every year my parent's add a little something to the tree, either it be money, a golf club, a ring, etc. (yes those things have been in the tree) And make us look for them. I know they do this just to get a good laugh at us looking for something in the Christmas tree. Mind you everything blends in so it is not easy! Well I got a head start this year and I cheated....Well I found my money ahead of time this year, but didn't say anything because I knew mom would hide it all over again! So I kept my mouth shut...hehe! I am always the last person to find my mystery gift so I looked a few days before! Hey it worked, I found mine first this year Ha! They have been doing this since my brother and I were kids, I tend to pass it along!

Here is Richard, Ricky, and AJ (is helping) look for their mystery gift in the tree..


They are not Joints...haha we had money this year!!!



Ok later that afternoon we loaded everything thing and everyone up and headed to Willis to Ricky's parents ranch. There we had homemade tamales and goodies. Every year there we stay up till 12 midnight and open gifts! Something they have done for years as well. This year the kiddos were getting restless, they don't understand why they have to stay up so late. But we made it and midnight came around and it was Christmas 2009!! Again the kids were showered with many gifts...

Annabel playing with Woody from Toy Story


AJ and Phillip playing Transformers...


Annabel opening more gifts



Lets wrap this up shall we??!
Christmas day we have breakfast at the ranch then we head home to see what Santa has left for the kids. The kids were excited, AJ got his blue race car he asked for and Annabel got things she didn't ask for...haha!
Here is a clip of the kids Christmas day at the house and Annabel saying Merry Christmas!
In a nut shell this we our Christmas and our Christmas' every year, surrounded by family and loved ones!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Annabel saying Merry Christmas



Christmas at our house

Family Pictures 2009

Well I have been wanting to update our family pictures around the house. For those of you that visit our last family picture was Christmas 2008. Always seams to be Christmas pictures! Well we gathered up the kiddos and went on our way.
And this is what we got....

Halloween 2009

Well I hope everyone had a great Halloween!
I know this is late but, I find myself having a hard time keeping up with our blog these last few months. Is it that we are busy, I 'm just lazy. I don't know all of the above. We actually took the kids around the neighborhood this year. Ricky drove the truck and the kids and I rode in the back. It was a little chilly, but we didn't stay out long. Really do the kids need all that candy?
They had fun!
We had spider Man and I made Annabel's TuTu!!

San Francisco Marathon

Well most of you know I have been raising money for the Leukemia Foundation. My cousin lost his wife in March of 09 to Leukemia. So I signed up with TNT (Team in Training) to help me with my journey. Along with 20,000 other people we raised over 14 million funds that go toward research and funding for families battling this disease. I raised money to not only go towards finding a cure but to get me to San Francisco to run in the Nike Woman's Marathon benefiting the TNT and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Charity. Well I am blessed to say I did the half Marathon 13.1 miles through beautiful San Francisco. It was tough in some areas but I made it. Nothing as bad as what families have to go through with fighting blood cancers. It was very worth it and I hope in my life time we can find a cure and I will be proud to say I helped in that process!!

I finished!!! Here is my Tiffany and Co. necklace!

The wall with 20,000 plus names

My name among 20,000 plus people

Golden Gate Bridge

End of Summer Happenings

Well summer is coming to an end, so we have been getting some last minute play time in. A few weeks ago we went to Kemah with Danny and Bianka. AJ had the most fun, Baby G and Annabel just came along for the ride. It was very hot but we had a good time!




I also took Anthony to Incredible Pizza one night with mom. We had never been there so I wanted to check it out. I was tired of Chucky Cheese, needed some new scenery!!
AJ liked it, we rode the go karts, he played some games, went bowling...

2nd year of Montessori school

Anthony is in his second year of Montessori School, and he is loving every minute of being there. He likes his new teacher and he loves all his friends. Luckily they all came back!! He is growing so fast and learning so much, it's hard to believe he's only 3! He had his first homework assignment over the weekend. Ricky and I sat down with him Sunday and working on it. He had to count from 1-9 with no mistakes and he had to identify the numbers as well. He is getting there, he counts.....1234789!! It's cute!

It's been awhile.....

Well I guess it's time for an update!!
Where do I start?....
Well AJ has been in school for a year now!! He has come so far and he loves every minute. He has learned so much and his is always happy to share his accomplishments!! He is now in the 3-4yr Old class and he is learning to write now!! The things he says amazes us everyday. The new words and sentences he puts together is just darn funny at times! He is now officially potty trained and yes that was a trying time in the Villarreal house. But he did well with it! He and Annabel have that brother sister rivalry going on already. Lets just say it drives me nuts. Jealous are they both of each other. I'm only Anthony's mommy not Annabel's. I hear that all the time. Mommy she's hitting, yup I hear that too! Whatever AJ does Annabel has to do the same always! Lets just say it's a very loud and entertaining house hold these days!! But you gotta love'em!!
Annabel is well she is still not talking much. She says all the bad things that AJ has taught her, like No, Mine, screaming. You know the fun things! She says water, juice, nuggets, Zoey, mommy, daddy, pawpaw. I thinks that's it for now. We were so used to AJ talking at her age it's weird for her to not be talking as much. She is getting so big so fast, well they both are.
We have had a fun filled summer, many trips to the lake, the zoo, Cozumel, parks. Playing with cousin's. Almost another year past!

4th of July 2009

I hope everyone had a great 4th!
We spent it with family at my brother-in-law's house. Everyone went swimming and we had BBQ. Just spending time with family is relaxing and lots of fun. The kids had a blast and were exhausted. Ricky and I took the kids to watch fireworks once it got dark. They loved watching them.

Cozumel Trip-part 2

Well sorry it has taken me so long to finish this post from our Mini Vacation to Cozumel!
I covered the Pirate Ship and the Submarine trip. And swimming all day the first day there. Well Sunday was Father's Day so we decided to go into town and shop and have lunch. So we did, it was a great day to spend with daddy and lunch was wonderful. Hey in Mexico you get great Mexican food, it all works out!! Unless your our son and you get nuggets!
Then once we got back to the resort guess what we did??! We went swimming, but it was fun. Then dinner was at night, it was a steak dinner. Very good!
At the resort on Sunday's they put on a big show of different movies. They dance and wear cool costumes, and get everyone involved. AJ loved it because Spiderman was there and so were the animals from Madagascar. It was fun, then AJ and daddy danced after. AJ made daddy proud getting on stage and dancing with the other kids!!
But that was our last night there, we were sad to be leaving. But it was a very nice trip and we all had tons of fun! Next time Annabel will get to go with!

Cozumel 2009 - part 1

First and foremost I hope all the daddies had a great father's day!!

We just got back from a little family vacation minus Annabel =(. She is still to small to take on long flights. We took AJ to Cozumel for the first time and he had a blast. We arrived Friday morning the 19th, so we had all day to spend there.The resort we stayed at was very nice and we will defiantly go back. There were iguanas everywhere, flamingos, crabs, and hermit crabs. AJ had a blast finding them all!! So we got settled in and we spent most of Friday at the pool! Mommy and Daddy took advantage of the all inclusive!!! AJ also enjoyed ordering his sprites from the bar as well! He liked the fact he could swim to the bar and sit! It's the small things right..lol?! Well after swimming we had dinner reservations at the Mexican restaurant on the resort. Very good food I may add! At 8:30 every night there is an activity for the kids, so Friday they had a pinata, well AJ was shy but he did hit it.
That was the first day.











The second day was very very busy!!! We took AJ on a submarine tour. The Atlantis goes 100ft under water, AJ loved looking for all the fish, he saw 2 sting rays but he was looking for sharks. No sharks this time around!! It was fun. Then we went back and he wanted to go swimming again, so we were off to the pool again. After attempting to build a sand castle with daddy. Saturday night was a blast. Aj had a good little nap after the pool so he was ready to go. He loves pirates so we took him on a pirate dinner tour/show. It is really for adults but hey he is 3 and had no clue. He was just happy to be on a Pirate boat with crazy Pirates. The show was so much fun!! The dinner was great. If you are ever in Cozumel check it out! AJ danced, mommy and daddy danced and played games, and drank!! After that AJ was out as soon as we got in the Taxi to head back to the Resort. It was a long night!