So much to celebrate, so little time to do it.

December has been a crazy busy month!  Here's a little bit of what has occurred...

December 2nd

Alfred and I went to the last company Christmas party that we would ever attend in this region. This was a big deal for us because we have been part of this region for over 8 years and this is where we started our career with FCB.  It was a good night.  

The following 4 pictures are of my man dancing "Gangnum Style" with 2 of his co-workers. 

I'm such a proud wifey.

Heeeey, sexy lady...

Oppa Gangnum Style...

The FCB Family

Sista in Law

My Baby

Original New Caney Crew.

Sad Faces.

SHP

He's going to really miss them!

December 5th - 7th
About 3 weeks ago, Alfred and I were in Arizona on a mission to find our new home.  The process was long and arduous but well worth it.  I started doing research on homes about 2 months ago through realtor.com and zillow.com.  By the time we got to Arizona, we had 18 homes that we were interested in and checked out on the first day.  With those 18 homes, we looked around the outside, walked into the backyards, peeked through windows and checked out the neighborhoods.  We easily knocked down our choices from 18 to 3.  From those 3, we found our new home.  And we couldn't be happier.  Even though leaving Texas is going to be hard, we are at least happy to have a nice place to go to.  

La Casa Nueva

She has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4 car garage and is 3300 sq. feet.  

Here's a small glimpse of the inside.

Master Closet (yes, it has 2 sides divided by shelves in the middle)

Master Bath

Master Bedroom

Laundry Room

Mom's Private Bathroom

Backyard

Backyard Patio

Backyard

Kitchen

Pantry

It has a little bit of everything that we were looking for.  The master is upstairs with the kids' rooms and my mom has her own bedroom downstairs with her own attached bathroom.  We have an extra bedroom that will be converted into an office, no backyard neighbors and grass in the backyard.  From our master bedroom's window, we have mountain views and we are within 10 minutes of a brand new hospital.  We feel so blessed to have found a house that we are going to be excited to call home.  

The view when we leave our neighborhood.

The movers come to pick up our stuff in 2 days! Then Alfred starts driving out there with his dad on the 1st (after we all sing happy birthday to our baby girl, Jolie) and then my mom and I catch our plane on the 3rd.  It's all happening so quickly.  SO much has happened during the past 3 weeks since we got back that it feels like it crept up on us.  

December 8th and 9th 

The weekend after we came back from Arizona was filled with party planning and family pictures.  Taking pictures with a 3 and a half year old and a newly walking 1 year old is a lot harder than some people make it look.  She captured some really good ones though.  She definitely captured the essence of our family in quite a few of them.  

 We used the following one for Jolie's signature frame at her 1st Birthday Party.

December 15th

Jolie's 1st Birthday party/Hernandez Good-bye party was on the 15th of December.  I decided to go with a rainbow theme because it was cute and EASY to put together.  We had so many family and friends in and out of our home that day.  We had such a good time and it was nice to see everyone before we head out.

Jolie's 1st Birthday Party

Birthday Girl

We had a "photo booth" area in the living room that was a lot of fun.

Mostly, it was just nice to hang out with family and friends.

<3 <3 <3

The final product of Jolie's signature frame. 

December 21st

Such perfect timing.  One of my oldest and best friends, Cory, was in town for the holidays from North Carolina and came by to spend some time with me.  I haven't seen her daughter, Isabella, since she was around 4 months old (she's now 15 months old) and Cory has never met Jolie.  It was so nice to see them interacting with each other.  One day they will know how close their mommies are and I hope they are the same way. 

Kisses for titi Cory.

Titi Cory tells the best stories.

December 22nd and 23rd

So once Jolie's birthday party was over, it was time to come to terms with reality and the fact that we only had one weekend left to pack our home up and get ready to move.  So that is what we did all last weekend which was the weekend before Christmas.  But we did take a couple of hours for ourselves on the 23rd to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. We were both dead tired from packing all day but made it a point to spend some time together.

5 years of love and happiness.

12/23/2007

12/23/2012

It all started when we met while working at Old Navy and hanging out as friends. Here we are after 9 years of being together, 5 years of marriage, 2 children and 1 week way from leaving the state of Texas later.  

Who'd have thunk it?

December 24th and 25th

Since our lives have been chaos lately, Christmas was kind of a small event this year.  Jolie made out like a bandit on her birthday so we only got her a couple of small things. Aleczander got some WWE Brawlin' Buddies that he can beat up on instead of his sister, a new watch, some clothes, and a new bike that we are sure he will take full advantage of in Arizona.  

Christmas Eve (La Noche Buena).

Christmas Day.

December 26th

So since we will technically be "homeless" in a couple of days, I can pretty much predict this to be my last entry for the year 2012 and probably for a while.  This year started off with an incredible blessing with Jolie's birth at 4:15 pm on January 1st and is going to end with Alfred hitting the road to drive to our new "home" state of Arizona.  We would have never thought that the year would play out the way it did, but we wouldn't change a thing.  God is good and we are very blessed.  

Happy New Year everyone!! See you in 2013 from Arizona!

Forgive me blogger...

Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned.  It has been 10 Months since my last entry. 

I *knew* but didn't' *know* how tiring and exhausting having 2 kids, a husband and a full time job would be.  Still, there is no excuse not to occasionally record our lives. 

Here is a recap of the last 10 months.

Aleczander Jacob

Aleczander @ 3 and 1/2 years old.

Aleczander turned 3 years old on April 1st.  He is a chatty kid who is constantly on the hunt for new words.  His favorite things in the world right now are dinosaurs and can very clearly and accurately identify a Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Stygimoloch, Brachiosaurus, T-Rex and many others (I totally had to use Google to help me spell all of those).  He spends a lot of time in his dino room playing with his action figures and also on the iPad, which he can maneuver better than any 3 year old I know.


Aleczander's Dino Room

He also loves wrestling and can ID John Cena, CM Punk, and Shemus just by their entry music (thanks to Alfred for that one). 

He has his days where he loves his sister and others when he likes to push her around and smack her hand for trying to get to one of his toy dinosaurs.   Overall, he is a loving and happy boy who is independent and curious.  He is still terrified of hair cuts and the jets in the garden tub in our bathroom.  He is fully potty trained (except for over night sometimes) and even goes standing up like a big boy.  He is a very picky eater who smell everything before he puts it in his mouth (again, thanks to Alfred for that one).  He is so funny and smart and I love spending time with him. Just don't give the kid a nap during the day because if you do, then he doesn't go to bed until 1am.  He is a night owl.

10 of the 1 million things I love about Aleczander

1. The way he repeats himself over and over until you say what he is saying to confirm that you have heard him.
2. The way he pulls his shirt off when it's time for a bath.
3. How dang cute he is when he gives a "thumbs up" and lets you know when you've done a "good job."
4. His mysterious love for Garbage Trucks and Lawn mowers.
5. How much he wants to be exactly like his daddy.
6. The way he eats the top off of cakes and cupcakes where the icing is at but leaves the rest of it alone.
7. His love for cheese.  All kinds of cheese.  You would think the kid is part mouse.
8. How he whispers "I love youp" (yes, "youp" with a "p" at the end of it).
9. The way he runs out to my car when I get home from work and yells really loud "Hi Mama" with a big smile on his face.
10. His love for technology (just like me).  

Jolie Ayana

Jolie is now around 10 and a half months old and has hit many milestones already.  She is sleeping through the night (which officially started around 7 and 1/2 months old), she crawls quickly, pulls her self up on anything and everything, can walk while she is holding on to something, plays peek-a-boo like a pro, will wave bye-bye and blow you kisses when you leave and loves to suck her thumb.  She has 6 teeth that have completely broken through and she is currently working on 2 more. 





She adores Alec and could watch and laugh at him all day.  She is mezmorized by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Blues Clues.  Just like her brother, she loves her blankie and she lights up when she gets a hold of it. She just recently got over her first cold and ear infection, which she so generously shared with Alec and me.  She is an incredibly happy and vocal (loud) baby who will let you know when she is in the room.  I already have big plans for her first birthday and I can't wait. 

Jolie's Fairy Room

10 of the 1 million things I love about Jolie 

1. Her baby hands and the way she sucks her thumb.
2. The strawberry birthmark on her head that was once a perfect heart.
3. How happy she is when she wakes up in the morning and she just jumps up and down in her crib. 
4. The way she plays peek-a-boo with anyone and blows them kisses.
5. How she and I can carry on a conversation for 10 minutes about absolutely nothing.
6. How much she loves her daddy.
7. Her eyelashes and incredibly precious dimples.
8. How much she loves Gerber Puff snacks and how cute her hands look when she grabs them.
9. The 2 or 3 little strands of hair that are a longer than the rest of her hair on her forehead.
10. The way she lights up a room with her laughter and smile.

Lilly Butt

On July 30th, our first baby girl, Lilly, went to doggie heaven.  It was such a rough weekend and such a sad day.  I don't want to relive too many details but the long and short of it is that she got really sick with something called pancreatitis and it caused her liver to shut down and her pancreas went bad. We also found out that she had diabetes which may have been present before she got sick or it may have been caused by the pancreatitis.  Either way she was too sick and she couldn't recover so she just passed on.  We decided to have her cremated so she is in an urn on our mantel in our living room.  For days after her passing, I could have sworn I could still hear her nails running around our house or her deep snores in the bedroom at night.  Our home felt empty and too quiet for a while but we are all adjusting slowly.  If you ask Alec where Lilly is, he points up to the sky and says "Lilly in heaven.  Lilly all gone." We decided we don't want another dog until Alec is old enough to choose one on his own and help us take care of it.  I think that's a safe decision. 

10 Things I miss about Lilly

1. The sound of her snoring/snorting.
2. The way she licked us.
3. The way she kissed us when we got home.
4. How she leaned against the wall when she was lazy.
5. The sound of her nails on our floors.
6. How she forced us to promise her a "treat" before she came back inside.
7. The way she wouldn't even let a piece of food touch the floor before it disappeared into her mouth.
8. How friendly she was with absolutely everyone.
9. Her panting after being outside for only 5 minutes.
10. How excited she used to get whenever she heard the sound of her collar and leash.  

I still think about her daily.

Jessica and Alfred

I don't even really know where to start with us.  We are still madly in love and are on our way to celebrating 5 years of marriage on December 23rd.  Shortly after our 5 year anniversary, we will be starting a new life in a new state; Arizona.  Alfred's hard work and dedication has paid off and he has been given a great opportunity to become a District Manger over 7 branches in Arizona. He will be overseeing branches in the Mesa, Tuscon and Nogales areas.  This decision to move was not an easy one by any means but at some point in your life, you have to do what is best for your family and what your heart desires.  Even though it will be hard, we have been blessed beyond belief that my mother has taken us up on our offer to join us and continue to take care of Jolie and Alec for us.  Without her, I don't think this move would have been possible. Alfred has worked so hard for this opportunity and even though it pains us to leave our family and friends behind, we are thrilled to start our new adventure. We will be heading out to Arizona the beginning of December to look at some homes in the area and take a quick peek at our new life.  

I have been given a great opportunity for a new start as well.  After 5 and a half years with Learning and Development, I will be going to work for a new department within our company.  I will be working for Retail Sales directly under the Vice President of the department.  It will give me a new and fresh look at our company and exposure to some new people and initiatives that I haven't experienced before.  Although I am sad to leave my department and a little intimidated to do something new, I am excited to get started and make an impression in a new way.  

We have a lot to do before January 3rd when we move but so far we have rented our home out (THANK GOD), hired a moving company, and have started to plan Jolie's first birthday party/going away party.  That takes 3 things off of my list of 129,311 things to do!  Baby steps...

So I dedicate to using this blog to keep up with our lives in Arizona and the kids' progress.  I may not have an opportunity to make another entry until after the big move but I will try.  Until then...

10 things about Arizona I look forward to

1. Dry heat.
2. Beautiful mountains.
3. Seeing the Grand Canyon.
4. Being about a 5 hour drive away from Las Vegas.
5. Sunshine almost year round.
6. Dry heat.
7. Not becoming a Cardinals fan (Go Texans!)
8. Watching my husband be an awesome DM.
9. Learning new surroundings.
10. Dry heat (did I mention that one already?)