DIY Memory Box

I’m participating in Smarty Pants Mama’s SmartMamaLUTION.

SmartMama-Lution #1 is a do-it-yourself memory box.  I loved the box she used but since I couldn't find it I chose a CD storage case.  I decided on the storage box because when I went to Target and the only one that I liked was actually the same one my friend was using.  I ended up buying mine at Walmart along with 5x7 index cards.  I figured the larger cards would give me more space to write and also be able to include various years on one card.

For less than $12 (the box was $2.99, the index cards were $1.88 per pack and the divider tabs were $2.00) and about an hour (sorry but I am a perfectionist) I finished my box.

I have finished filling in all my cards to date and will continue to do so every night just before bedtime.

What do you think? 
All the tabs are evenly distributed and I also made sure that certain months got specific colors but they are all alternating in the same pattern. I did say I was a perfectionist.
 
All in all I love how cute and easy it was to create this memory box.  I just wish I would have known about this idea before my kids were born... It would have made it easier to remember when they did something specific.

Trip to the train museum

Yesterday we saw in the weekend section of the newspaper that the Goldcoast Railroad Museum had free admission the first Saturday of every month so we decided to take the kids.

When we first got there the kids seemed a bit bored but they quickly started seeming a bit more curious about all the trains. They really enjoyed the model train room.

Once we finished walking around we rode on the link train which was a huge hit with the kids.

Addams Family

I have always liked the Addams Family movie and when I saw the Broadway show was coming to the Arsht Center I told Adrian I wanted to go see it.  At first he laughed at me and called me crazy because he thought I was kidding.  I was very serious about wanting to go see it but I knew we are on a budget so I didn't expect to go see it.

One day while he is at work he called me to tell me that one of his clients offered him tickets to any show at the Arsht center so I asked to see if she could get us some for this show.  I was lucky....  I just got back from seeing an amazing and funny performance.

I strongly recommend this show to anyone that loves the Addams Family.

New Bedroom Set

Tonight we will be sleeping in our brand new king size bed. 

Yesterday we went to IKEA to buy ourselves a new bedroom set because for the past few nights we haven't had a bed.

Now that I think back,  it seems like a funny story but it wasn't at first.

This past Saturday we were having lunch when my mother-in-law calls and asks if we are still selling our bedroom set.  I tell that yes we are still selling it and that it includes the TV.  She then tells me that she knows someone who is moving and looking for a bedroom set.  We hang up and I tell Adrian.  Obviously we assume that if the lady wants it we will have a few days to get everything organized but not five minutes have past and my mother-in-law calls back.  She then informs me that the lady will be in our house in about an hour to pick it up.  Yes you read correctly the lady was actually in the process of moving that day so since she had the moving truck she thought it would be smart to come and pick it up immediately.

Now it is time to rush and get EVERYTHING out of the drawers and find places to put all this stuff.  It is amazing how much you can store in a bedroom set that has a million drawers.  Once we finish emptying out everything Adrian and I proceed to disassemble the bed so that when the lady gets here she can just load the truck.  This was no easy task because the headboard, nighstand and bed where all hooked up together.  Finally we got everything taken apart and out of the house when the lady calls to say she might not make it... my mother-in-law tells her she better come because everything is outside waiting for them.

When everything was gone and we had an EMPTY room Adrian looks around and says "We should paint the room."  At first I wanted to scream because I was exhausted from moving everything but then it sunk in and I thought this would be the best time considering the room was empty.  So on Sunday morning we headed to Home Depot to buy everything to paint the room and the renovation started.  Luckily we were able to paint the whole room with just two coats of paint and we finished quickly.

During all this renovation ordeal we had to improvise our sleeping arrangements.  Felipe was sleeping in Francesca's bed, I was sleeping with Francesca in his bed and Adrian was sleeping on the couch. 

Trust me, after this LONG WEEKEND Adrian is extremely happy that we can finally sleep in our own bed tonight.

Happy Birthday Chris & Jordan

Today was Christian and Jordan's Toy Story birthday party...

It started out as a very normal kid's birthday party, there was a bounce house, candy, and a clown doing face painting.

You might ask yourself why I am saying these things...

Well let me tell you the story of what happened a little while after singing Happy Birthday. It had started to rain so people were leaving but all of a sudden it starts to rain REALLY HARD. The party was in one of those park shelters that have a roof but no walls so everyone is trying to stay dry but the wind is just starting to blow really hard. It seemed like we were in the middle of a mini hurricane. At this point the kids are screaming cuz they are scared, everything including the food and party favors are starting to fly around and the bounce house is now about 100 yards from where it first started. Luckily this storm was only like 15 minutes long but it seemed like an eternity. Once everything calmed down we started to pick up things off the floor and the grass. This is when we notice that a tree must have been hit by lightning because it was split down the middle.

I think it is safe to say that this party will be remember for years to come by all the kids.

Bob the Builder - We can build it!

Today was Target Free Friday at the Miami Children's Museum so I decided to take the kids to see the Bob the Builder exhibit.

Since this was the last Friday before Felipe started school I thought it might be a nice treat.  Since they had never really played at this museum before, the few times we have gone they were too little to enjoy anything, I wasn't sure if they would actually enjoy it.  Well to my surprise they both enjoyed the museum lot and we were there for almost 4 hours.  Felipe didn't want to leave the Firefighter section but I had to drag him out so he could see the rest of the exhibits.  Once we got to the Bob the Builder section they both started playing with all the blocks and playsets.

New and Improved Playroom

The full view of the room

Truck and Tractor parking lot

The kids finally have a playroom that can be a mess and we won't care.... As their birthday present we decided to convert the garage into a playroom for them.
It took a bit to complete but now the kids have a room to play in and we have our sunken livingroom back.

As you can see from the pictures we have foam tiles on the floor and we used my aunt's old kitchen cabinets for storage.  Let's hope it is always this organized.

El Pibe Valderrama

Today I was out with the kids trying to get them to go to sleep when Adrian called me to let me know that "El Pibe" Valderrama was going to be at the T-Mobile next to his job. I immediately rushed over to see him. It wasn't anything special but at least we got to take a picture with him and get an autographed soccer ball.

New Job

I am happy to announce that after 3 long months of not working I have finally found a job. It is part-time since I have to take care of my two little monsters in the afternoon. I will be the Technical Manager for an Event Planning company that is launching an online service. You can visit their site at: http://www.askirisfields.com. It is currently under construction but you can sign up to receive an email when the site goes live.

Winter Olympics

Just got home from my mom's house. We watched the opening ceremony of the olympics. I love to watch the opening ceremonies because they are always so imaginative.

In this ceremony I loved it when they made the ground look like the ocean with whales swimming.

After the accident with the Luge competitor this afternoon I will keep all these athletes in my prayers. May God watch over them and especially over the family of the young man who lost his life doing what he loved.

Thrill the World - Miami

My friend Claudia organized the Miami event for Thrill the World.

Thrill The World is an annual worldwide simultaneous dance of "Thriller" for world records and charity.

It took place at the University of Miami Law School.

Pictures of the Event & Link to Video

ALL ABOUT ME!!!

I found an About Me survey on the web so I figured it would appropriate to post it today, on my birthday, to let all me readers know a bit about me.  My regulars might know most of this stuff since it is scattered all over the blog, but now they are in one handy place. I hope you enjoy my responses...

  1.  I am an only child.
  2.  I was born in New York and moved to Miami in 1987.
  3.  I am of Colombian and Ecuadorian background.
  4.  I graduated from high school in 1993.
  5.  My middle name is Vannessa.
  6.  I own all the Batman movies.
  7.  I love white gold.
  8.  I prefer Pepsi over Coke.
  9.  I love anything made of chocolate.
10.  I love photography and invitation designing.
11.  My favorite color is purple.
12.  I like Gerber Daisies.
13.  Winter is my favorite season.
14.  I am right handed.
15.  My favorite number is 13.
16.  I've had braces three times.
17.  My parents have been divorced since I was sixteen.
18.  If there are burgers on the menu you can rest asure I will be ordering one.
19.  My college graduation present was a trip to Europe.
20.  I prefer to use blue ink pens.
21.  I have never had any kind of surgery except when I got my wisdom teeth removed.
22.  I’ve been married since 2004.
23.  Adrian and I met in college.
24.  We were friends for 3 years before we started dating.
25.  We dated for 6 years.
26.  He proposed on our 6 year anniversary while I was driving away from his grandfather's house.
27.  We have a boy and a girl.
28.  They are exactly two years apart.
29.  Felipe was born on July 26, 2007
30.  Francesca was born on July 25, 2009
31.  I got hooked on scrapbooking right around the time of my wedding.
32.  I like to read romance novels but have been hooked on Scrapbook Mystery books by Laura Childs.
33.  I'd rather email or text than talk on the phone.

I've got a new car (SORTA)

About a week ago my old car officially died... `Adrian searched like made for a good economical car and finally we found a few. We narrowed it down to two a 2005 Sebring and a 2001 Kia Sportage. I was really rooting for the Sportage and that is the one we finally got.

Today a mechanic came to check it out and gave us the thumbs up. Everything is in tip-top-condition and the mileage is very low... It only has 53,000 miles.

I will post better photos later but enjoy the one the seller had posted on Autotrader.

The uncertainty is killing us...

This hurricane season has been extremely BUSY but thankfully we have not had any major storms hit us yet.

This coming week we need to keep our fingers crossed because there are three storms in the Atlantic that can very easily head our way. As of right now none of them are heading towards South Florida but with these storms you never know what path they will decide to take until the last minute.

Happy Labor Day

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend....

Ours was very relaxing... Thankfully Adrian did not work on Saturday so we just slept in until 9:00 am. Later on in the day we headed to the new Pembroke Pines Mall (The Shoppes at Pembroke Gardens) with my mom and her husband.

On yesterday, we headed to the Florida City mall but before that we made a quick stop at the Mejia household just to say HELLO to them because we hadn't seen them in almost a month.

Today was extremely relaxing. We were planning on going to do some grocery shopping but that didn't work out because we just vegitated in our backyard. I think all our plans went downhill when we decided to have lunch in our backyard under a mango tree... The shade made it feel really nice and when we were done with lunch we laid out a blanket and the three of us just sat there admiring our surroundings for about an hour and then we came in and took a nap.

I don't want this weekend to end because it has been perfect.

We are trying to save money...

We are trying to save money on certain things and today we started this useful task...
I could not believe it but Adrian let me cut his hair. At first I was afraid because I did not want to mess up his hair but as I got the hang of the machine I continue with more confidence. When I was done I gave Adrian a mirror and he really liked it.

We have decorated our walls...

When my brother-in-law came a few months ago he showed us some wall decals he wanted to get for Felipe... We loved the one that he wanted so he ordered it. We got it a couple of months ago but we are saving it for later when Felipe can appreciate it more.

After that Adrian made it his goal to find something to put on the walls of our hallway. He finally found something and it was perfect for Felipe...

For Felipe's birthday my mom and Osmart told me that they wanted to give him those wall decals as a gift... Luckily we found them at a cheaper price at Walmart and they ordered it... The only bad part was the waiting for them to be delivered but last night my mom brought it to us and we put it up...

Let's hope that Felipe finds it entertaining.

Tropical Storm Fey

Today was a LOOONNNGGG RAIINNNY day. We spent the day sitting at home with all the shutters closed... It wasn't really necessary but we closed them because they are doing construction on the house next to ours and we didn't want any flying debris to hit our windows.

The only bad part about closing our shutters is that in the process I caught my finger in one of them and it was a BLOODY situation. My finger is OK but Adrian had to patch it up so it wouldn't get infected. Hopefully it won't require stitches.

Felipe dealt well with all the rain and wind. He behaved especially well when we had to go outside to close the shutters... We left him in his play-pen and he was just chilling in there playing with his toys. I think he didn't even notice we were gone until we came back in drenched from the rainstorm we got caught in.

Hopefully this will be a slow hurricane season because I hate having to deal with all this rain, wind and closing of the shutters.

Today we had a night out

Today we decided to have a night out alone so we left Felipe with my mom. We went to see The Dark Knight and then got some dinner.

It was nice to get away for a few hours but to be honest we kept on think about Felipe the whole time especially during dinner because they were singing Happy Birthday to someone in the restaurant. Felipe loves to clap his hands whenever he hears that song.

When we got to my mom's house to pick him up my mom was feeding him dinner. Since we had to wait we asked them how it had gone and my grandmother told me the funniest story.

Apparently my mom was giving Felipe some little stars and my grandmother grabbed one to see what they tasted like. Felipe did not appreciate this and started to complain to my mom. My grandmother says he started to pout and point at her mouth. She says it was the funniest thing because he kept on trying to open her mouth with his fingers to try to retrieve the little star. Eventhough my grandmother made believe that she had put it back he kept on insisting that she open her mouth so he can get it back.

My boy is very SMART and that is not just a proud mother speaking.

National Breastfeeding Week

National Breastfeeding week is August 1 - 7, 2008

I have been privileged to be able to breastfeed my baby for the past year. I know many mothers who wish to breastfeed their babies but have not been able to do so.

There are many benefits to breastfeeding. Statistics show that breastfed babies are healthy and have less chance of getting allergies when they are older.

Breastfeeding is also beneficial for the mother. Breastfeeding lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancers, and possibly the risk of hip fractures and osteoporosis after menopause.

Eventhough many people have mixed opinions about breastfeeding, I think it just shows that the mothers who have this opportunity care enough to provide that child with a healthy life.