Quite Possibly The Laziest Blogger In America...

That's ME! I thought it had been "awhile" since I posted on here. While checking Mason's class blog I decided to check in and see when I'd last posted... WOWZER. The beginning of the year?! Really?! I made it an entire QUARTER without a post! A-mazing. I guess I'll just swear to do better and hope that I can manage. In my defense it's been a REALLY busy few months. I'll catch ya up later! :o)

Bring on 2011!

I think Mason says it all! Wishing our friends and family a joyous, healthy & prosperous 2011. That's not asking too much, right?!

Merry Christmas 2010

May the holiday season bestow its blessings to you and your loved ones! Let's take this time to reflect upon the meaning and purpose of Chistmas and rejoice in God's love!

XOXO,

The Espinozas

Christmas In The Square - Part II

Another post from the Square before I move on to the holiday.... Mason was sick (as I believe I mentioned) the night we enjoyed Christmas In The Square. For that reason we only stayed for a couple of activities - those that I thought would bring the most return on the effort. It went without saying that one of the activities would be the trackless train. He may have outgrown his insane love of Thomas, but he is still totally gaga for trains! The line formed IMMEDIATELY after Santa landed. We made a b-line for the station, but still had to wait a solid 45 minutes to get on the train. I'm not sure how Mason managed to hold out, but I only had to warn him about 4 times over the duration of the wait that if he wanted to get on the train he had to stand next to me and remain relatively quite & still. It was a great little ride with my little man around the square. The light show was magnificent and the carriages would pass by & give Mason a thrill each time. He was more than a little taken with the horses! I don't think he's been that close to one before - atleast not a big, full-sized horse! Had he been feeling better (or had the event started earlier) I would have definitely taken him for a ride.... but it does give me ideas for things to do with him this year b/c he's very interested in the animals!

Christmas In The Square - Part I

Our town is one of the many small cities that makes up the great Dallas Metroplex. When I moved to N. Texas more than 10 years ago (scary thought!) I swore that Dallas was like Narnia... it didn't "really" exist. Everyone says they live in Dallas, but what they really mean is hat they live in Irving or Plano or Grand Prairie or Richardson or Garland... the list goes on and on! The cities that make up what most people think of as Dallas are for the most part lacking character. Some may be nicer parts of town than other, but most lack a personality distinct to the area. One of the things that I absolutely LOVE about our community is that in spite rapid growth it has managed to retain much of its community feel. It still has much of its small town feel. People are friendly and family oriented here. And... people around these parts have BIG ideas!

What other explanation could one have for a Christmas celebration (oh, wait... did someone say CHRISTMAS?!) of this magnitude put on in a community with a population of less than 100k residents? For 2 weekends the square puts on a celebration that includes all manners of entertainment from creating a hill for adults & kids alike to sled to trackless train rides to parachuting Santa & Elves! I mean, there is little that you could imagine that they do not have available for your family. It's an absolute must-do for the holiday season! In spite of the size of gathering traffic still moves fairly well and the parking couldn't be better! I actually parked in the parking garage behind the library and had no trouble at all find a spot.

I'll spend the next few posts covering our adventures at Christmas In The Square, but today's focus is on the hot air balloons they had glowing that night. I took several pictures of the glowing balloons as they are just incredible to see in person. Is there much in the world more magical than seeing an enormous hot air balloon in person? Watching its amber glow in a cold, velvetty night's sky? Oh, it was something to behold! Mason was completely captivated by them. I was, too! As we wizzed past them in our train car I was snapping away at them like I'd just caught Lindsey Lohan in a night club!

Keep posted... more to come on the enchanting Christmas In The Square event!

Everyone Should See This

In case these photos make absolutely no sense to you... it's because it's Santa Sky Diving! Every year our town puts on a big Christmas In The Square production for a couple of weekends in December. We had not made it out in previous years, but this year I found out that they were having Santa sky dive into the festivities and I couldn't resist! It had actually been scheduled for a weekend that I had to work, but it was rescheduled due to weather. Now, I was taking a bit of a risk deciding to take Mason because he was sick. He's been sick all weekend... but he held out like a champ - I'm sure effectively spreading his illness to half the kids in Frisco in the process - and we had a great time! More pictures to come.... I just figured that watching Santa and his elves parachuting in was definitely blog worthy!

The Christmas Shoes

I have 5 whole "followers". Because I am pretty convinced that my 5 "followers" don't really check this often and I'm simply putting my BS out into the universe I have chosen today's topic to be shoes. I mean, I started this as a means to keep up with the family and friends who read Mason & Gavin's Caringbridge site... but this is what I feel like discussing today. I bought these for Joseph's Christmas party at work. I should say that I bought them b/c I WANTED them... I'd longed for them for quite some time... strategizing... working out a way that I could find an excuse to get them. Well I finally did... and I even managed to get them at DSW for a discount! Let me explain to you why shoes are my favorite thing to buy:

1) They always fit.

2) They never remind you that you need to go to the gym.

3) They make other women jealous - but not in a "hold on to your husbands" kind of way.

4) They can completely change the look and feel of an outfit.

5) They can suddenly make your legs look a little longer and your butt a little more lifted - without stepping foot into a gym!

I am certain that there are many other reasons shoes are my favorite purchase, but I'm dealing with limited time today. I'm off to take Mason to school and rush to the gym b/c it's "holiday party" day today. I've got to get my workout in quick-like-a-bunny today so I can change and head over to the school... where I will NOT be sporting shoes this fabulous!

Indian Summer

Technically I think it's a little late for Indian Summer... but yesterday in Dallas we had a high of 76, so I'm not really sure what else to call it! The weather was incredible and we spent our last truly pleasant afternoon of 2010 on the playground enjoying every last minute of it. Mason's little friend from school joined us for some fun at the park.... they played tag (as well as 3 yr olds do!), explored the slides & swings, and played in the dirt. Oh, and enjoyed their FAVORITE part of this particular park: the merry-g0-round. I know that by today's standards they are probably a bit dangerous (because it's my firm belief most parents would wrap their kids in bubble wrap if they could), but the merry-go-round is hands down the BEST part of the park. I think more parks should have them.... but perhaps the fact that you can't get them at just any park is part of the thrill? I'm not sure. I can, however, tell you that I loved them as a child and I'd nearly forgotten them when we came across this rare gem. They are excellent tools for wearing kids out. Mason likes to push it as much as he likes to ride it (if not more) so he always comes home ready for bed!

We'll certainly miss these afternoons soon... Winter is about to freeze us out and soon we'll be planning play dates in the mall or Chik-fil-a or beating our heads trying to come up with new ideas for places to meet when the weather is just too cold for little ones and their mommies!

R.I.P. Frankie

I talked to my dad yesterday and got the news that we lost a close friend and family member on Saturday night. Frankie. Frankie was my dad's mini dachshund and.... well... pretty much his best friend. They did everything together. When my dad went to bed at night Frankie was there. When he got up to take a shower Frankie would come in and lay on his clothes and wait for him to get out. Frankie went to work with my dad every day and most of the time if my dad went anywhere during the day Frankie went with him. He was a constant companion and a good listener. He'll be missed greatly.

My Apologies

So, I know I am always begging forgiveness for not keeping up as well as I should and vowing that I'll do better. I know! I know! It just seems that 2010 has been a particularly rough year for me. I shouldn't make excuses since I manage to do things like Facebook regularly.... but the truth is that Facebooking is just snip-its.... sound bites... moments of your life. When I blog I certainly don't give every detail of our lives, but I do write considerably more. Some moments in your life you just have the energy to get through the task at hand. Asking for depth or honesty simply requires more than my soul has had this fall. (Please spare me your eye rolling and "drama queen" label for a minute!)

We decided to go ahead and try to expand our family again. And, again, I quickly got pregnant.... but, again, our excitement and joy quickly turned to disappointment and heartache when I had another miscarriage. My OB ordered some blood work afterward not wanting me to suffer a 3rd terminated pregnancy before doing a little research - which is actually the industry standard. (Nice, huh?) She didn't expect to find much, but as it turned out my A1-c was elevated as were my anticardiolipin antibodies. Now.... mind you I had been feeling physically TERRIBLE since my miscarriage. At first I thought my body was just absorbing the physical and emotional stress of what I'd been put through... but it then it just went on and on... I was TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. I could hardly keep my eyes open most of the time by 10am. At night I was hit-the-wall pregnant kind of exhausted. I just felt terrible. As I went into the OB for my 2 hr glucose test that was ordered after the A1-c result came back (3 whole wks after I had my labs done!) I thought, "That's it. That HAS to be it! I MUST have diabetes... atleast it would explain how weird I'm feeling!". But - as luck would have it.... no. Thank goodness. Big sigh of relief... but then, why do I feel so strange? It took me over a month to get in to see a rheumatologist - which is what the OB's office suggested when they told me my anticardiolipin antibodies were high. For those of you who don't know what on earth that means.... it means that I'm at a higher risk for blood clots , stroke, pulmonary embolism... lots of fun stuff. It is also associated with multiple miscarriages and preterm labor. Additionally it's linked to all manners of autoimmune disorder like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and so forth. While I had some time on my hands I also found myself a good primary care physician - an internist. I figured I'd better have someone to be a central point for all this health data. She examined me and took a couple of vials of blood to find out about my general health and all my general numbers were fantastic. She also recommended I see a cardiologist for a check up (I'll tell you all about my embarassing fight w/ the netty pot later) and he declared my heart normal and healthy - he practically laughed me out when he saw my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers! Then, last week the day finally came to see the rheumatologist. So many drs, right?! I'm sure my insurance is loving me at the moment! Her main concern was that I either have lupus or just that I have elevated anticardiolipin antibodies. She took 10 vials of blood - I kid you not - and ran a whole host of tests that should either rule in or rule out things. And now I wait. We have a follow up appt Wednesday to discuss their findings. Who knows if I'll learn anything! I am atleast feeling far better than I was back a month or so ago. I was dizzy alot and my head was very foggy.... and I just didn't feel RIGHT. And it's frustrating to someone who likes to be very detail oriented with health practitioners when she can't put her finger on exactly what is wrong. It just that I wasn't RIGHT. And I'm not always right now, but I AM far better.... and that's something for which to be grateful.

Oh, and through all this Joseph has had to take a couple of business trips and I've had to keep up with a busy 3 yr old, the holidays, my business, and the house. It's been busy times! And that's why I've been MIA. B/c at the end of the day I just couldn't do another thing. And it's awful..... and it's frustrating for someone like myself.... so I'll catch up when I can. And when I can't... well, you'll just have to be a little patient with me. I'm doing the best I can.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack (online)!

Well, after weeks without a computer I am finally up and running again. So now it's time to play catch up again! And just in time... it's Halloween! You can't get behind blogging at the holidays are you'll be buried. Not to mention all the angry comments you'll receive from relatives that you never update and post pictures! Big thanks to Kevin Stump for once again saving my tail and fixing my technology. A second big thanks goes to his wife, my good friend, Alisha, who loans her husband's skills out to me!

Houston, We Have A Problem!

Just a quick note to tell you that my computer died again so I'll update as soon as I can. My dear friend, Alisha, has her husband on the case. The poor man has fixed my computer two other times already. He's such a saint! She text msg'd me tonight and said that according to the software it would be 17,000 hrs before my computer was fixed. I wrote her back and asked her if that was a cleaver way of saying that it would be fixed when hell froze over. I have the feeling that I'm going to need to shell out some cha-ching soon to get another computer. Oy vey! Until then... over and out!h

A New Room For Mason!

Mason's room was once this lovely, bright, cheery shade of orange. I knew it would need to be changed at some point. I was really enthusiastic about changing the color, changing it from a nursery into a big boy room.... but when the time came to actually start doing the work - I won't lie - it broke my heart. I found myself peeling the decorations off the wall and shedding more than a tear or two.
As I got further into the process, I found myself getting a little more enthusiastic and reviving a tradition I used to have... writing a message on the wall before painting. I was pretty close to being done with painting at this point. I probably should have used pencil or maybe even a pen to write my message, but it was late. I chose Sharpie. That set me back a few coats to cover my message! D'oh!

The end result of two days' hard work (please observe the ceiling... once also a bright orange has also been painted) is a beautiful room in Americana. The room still isn't finished, but at this point it's been painted and we've put together Mason's gorgeous boat bed. It was an amazing Craigslist find! It was in pretty well perfect condition and a verrrrrrry small fraction of the retail cost. It has storage in the front and a trundle that we can use when Mason gets old enough to have little friends over! (Or in the rare event that Houston gets hit with a hurricane again and my relatives end up here... the more beds the better!) We got Mason a new comforter. He didn't have anything twin size. I did splurge a little since I had a Pottery Barn gift certificate, but I absolutely love it. I love everything about it! Well, almost everything. I do hate the fact that it was on backorder for quite a while... and I hate that I spent a small fortune on a quilt for Mason that was made in China. I mean, really?! Pottery Barn? Et tu? Oh well.... I guess if I wanted it made here I should have gone to a craft show or just paid someone I know to copy the quilt. Surely there wouldn't have been much of a price difference. I'll have to remember that in the future. Anyway - hopefully this week we'll be able to get a little more work done on his room. I'm really excited to decorate it! That bed provided such great inspiration!

Ice Skating Fiasco 2010

Joseph has never seen me ice skate. He has talked about it, but we've never gone skating. Now that Mason is getting old enough to skate (I started when I was 4) we decided to put that dream into action and take a family trip to the local rink. Mason has seen the kids skating at the mall and he's been really interested. It seems like every trip he gets a little more interested and he's been asking to go... so I thought that this would be a pretty successful trip. Boy, was I wrong!

• Mistake #1: We went in the afternoon. Mason was tired - as you can see in the picture above. Unfortunately, the skating rink's family deal doesn't start until the afternoon. He fell asleep in the car. It's pretty critical to the success of an operation that you get him where you're going BEFORE he falls asleep. And IF he falls asleep, let him sleep until he wakes up on his own. Do not - I repeat, do NOT - try to get him up no matter what your time constraints! He wakes up from an interrupted nap the way the rest of us do... only he doesn't have a filter on his emotions yet!

• Mistake #2: We went to the mall skating rink. Since they were having this family deal (4 people for $20 - including skates if you need them.... but don't try to come with less than 4 people b/c they won't give you the deal and you'll pay more as we found out!) it was reaaaaallly crowded. There were tons of people standing in front of the entrance to the actual rink. Mason was less than thrilled by having to wait around walking in skates to get to the ice.

It did not go well at all. Mason was not happy about not instinctively knowing how to skate perfectly. Joseph never even made it onto the ice. I tried to get Mason to skate for a little bit thinking once he felt the freedom of the ice (even while holding onto me), he'd love it... but no. He threw a world class hissy fit and required the assistance of a skate guard to get him off the ice! Then he threw a fit b/c he wanted to go back on the ice. Let's just say it will be another 6 months before we attempt this! I'm not giving up hope, though... He has talked about it atleast 4 times a week since then. I am pretty sure that - like most things - he'll come around when he's ready!

Our Beach...

This summer Mason and I spent quite a bit of time at our little beach this summer. I wanted to build in times when we could be around the water, but not PUSH what we'd been learning in swim lessons. Besides, the beach is just plain FUN! We can swim in a pool year round thanks to the gym, but we CAN'T swim at the beach year round! A park fairly close to our home has a kid-friendly protected area sectioned off, so it's nice and safe for family fun. It certainly lets mom relax a little more and gives Mason a tiiiiiiny bit of independence at the beach! Something that certainly would NOT exist if it was just an open beach on the lake. And Mason LOVES it. He can't get enough... in fact, there are times when that's a problem. He doesn't want to leave! We'll miss it when the weather changes, but for now we can probably sneak in another trip or two before the weather changes for good!

Caton's First Birthday Party

Mason had the exciting opportunity to attend Caton's birthday party this summer in Austin. Caton is the daughter of my business partner, Stephanie. When Caton was born Mason & I went down to help Stephanie and her husband, Jim, for a few days. I'm not really sure how much help I was with my noisy 2 yr old (at the time), but they seemed glad to have us and we were certainly honored to be there.

Caton's 1st birthday was an affair the likes of which I have never seen! There was something for everyone. Stephanie had set up a play area in the house (since it was typical Texas summer weather), cupcakes, a selection of fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, and a TRAIN! Oh my! Mason was thrilled. I really wish Joseph had been able to make it to the party b/c Mason was beside himself with joy on that train. He kept looking at me and saying, "Just like Percy, Mommy! It's just like Percy!!!!!". Oh, my heart melted! He had a blast at the party and was a surprisingly good boy considering that we made the drive down and back in one day... and that we shared the ride with another friend and her newborn. It was a long trip, but worth every bit of effort! Sometimes life reminds you that you get out of it what you put in!

Sunday Mornings...

This summer I started regularly cooking with Mason on Sunday mornings. Sunday mornings in our home are historically pancake mornings. Pancakes are the perfect food for kids to help cook. There are plenty of ingredients to add. There's lots of measuring, pouring, and stirring. It's good busy work. Inevitably, the time will come to actually cook the pancakes on the griddle and Mason will cry, "Mommy! I want to cook more! I want to cook more! More cooking, Mommy! More!". That's when dump flour, water, egg yolks, raisins, food coloring... whatever!... into a bowl and let him stir to his heart's content. Because, while there are alot of great lessons that a kid can learn from cooking (besides how to do something other than boil water when he gets to college), the most importan thing that we get from cooking on Sunday mornings is SILENCE. This is Mommy's sneaky little way to let Daddy get a little shut eye on Sunday morning!

Swim Lessons

August brought 3 weeks of swim lessons. I had seen an article in a local interest magazine about a local woman who runs her own swim school specializing in private and semi-private lessons. She had been doing this for quite some time and had a background in swim and education. More specifically, she had a background in special education. I thought that might be helpful for Mason since he'd been diagnosed with expressive-recessive language disorder. It doesn't really seem to pose a huge issue most of the time (he appears to listen about as well as a 3 yr old!), but when it comes to the water you can't be safe enough! The first week of classes Mason had Miss Tabby teaching him (seen in the pictures). He absolutely loved her. There was one other kid in his class - a little girl who cried and screamed the entire class until the last day. The last 2 wks of class he had Miss Pat teaching him. She pushed him far harder. Mason liked her for most of the first week while the other little girl that was in this class cried and refused to do what she was told... then one day she decided to behave and Mason decided he'd throw fits and pretend he had to pee to get out of the pool! I can't say that the whole experience was a complete waste, though. I kept taking Mason to the pool and practicing with him. He slowly started to let me work on some drills with him... and I noticed that he would go off on his own and practice his skills in different ways than we'd worked with him. He refused for weeks to put his whole face in the water and blow bubbles - which makes it very difficult to get him swimming b/c his body isn't in the right position. I bribed him by taking his to Target to pick out Troublesome Trucks from Thomas (his current obsession) and told him I'd bring him back to get them when he would do "Starfish Face Down". We visited them and talked about them frequently... but he sternly refused until he made up his mind to do it one night in the bathtub. He has also started playing "swim lessons" with his ducks in the tub. He orders them to do different drills and go to the side of the pool. When his "lessons" are done he tells them "Good job! Now go get a lolly pop!" b/c he used to get a lolly pop after every class for his efforts! While I wish we could give lessons another attempt right now, I am glad to have a break from my afternoon ritual of sitting around in 100 degree heat every afternoon!

Top Sail Trip

This past summer Joseph and I had the rare opportunity to go away for a few days together with a few friends of ours. This group, The Haute Mommas (and their haute counterparts), is a group of women I've known online since I was pregnant with the boys. We met on Babycenter.com in a group for people having twins in the same month and have managed to keep in touch over the years. Last year the ladies met up in Hot Springs for a girls' weekend. This year we decided to bring the guys along and hit the beach in North Carolina. We spent 4 glorious days enjoying the (fairly rough) surf, sun (a wee bit too much for some of us!), naps, food, and a certain blue chair. :o) We rented a house on the beach and, though, it was very close quarters, we all got along famously! The weather was fantastic - early 90's with a fair amount of wind. It's fair to say that we never wanted to leave, but we were all ready to see our children by the end of the trip!

Mason Under The Magnifying Glass

June brought our epic trip to Houston. We were gone for the better part of a week. Smack in the middle of potty training I wasn't sure what to expect. Mason had refused to potty on anyone else's potty than ours up until this point, but I brought along the seat adaptor just in case. As fate would have it this was the trip when Mason decided he was done with diapers.... He stayed dry the whole trip. In addition to that bit of luck - we just had a great time. He was just better behaved than I could have ever expected from a kid his age... and so much fun. We swam and swam and just soaked up all the best stuff summer had to offer!