3/20/06: What an eventful past few days. We left Saturday morning bright and early for Mexico to attend a 60th birthday for Christian's Aunt Patricia. It was held at a beautiful hotel in Tiajuana, MX. We caravaned with Christian's parents, grandma, and sister. The trip was quick and painless; we got there in about 3 hours. The kids all behaved beautifully. When we arrived in Tiajuana, we went shopping for new shoes for the kids (Mexico has the BEST shoes!) Lito and Lita bought outfits and shoes for all three kids to wear for the party. Then, we went to lunch at a tradtional Mexican restaurant with a playground in the back. The girls enjoyed it. We headed back to the hotel for for all of us to take a nap before the festivities began. We put the girls in one bed, and Christian and I in another, and Landon in the bathroom. We all slept for 2 hours!
After we all got fancied up, we went down to the banquet hall for the party. It looked gorgeous! It looked like a wedding reception. It was nice to meet some of Christian's family that I had never met before. Most of them speak little English so it was difficult to get to know anyone. But, everyone was extremely friendly and happy to see our family there. It was interesting to see that dinner was a chicken breast in a cream sauce, alfredo noodles, zuchini, and bread and butter. Totally not what I was expecting, but delicious! After dinner, the party really got hoppin'! Maddy was totally into it, she danced her little heart out! She was so much fun to watch!! The music was LOUD, but Landon was able to sleep through it all. The kids headed up to the room around 11PM with Nana, Christian and I went up around midnight.
The next morning was Madeline's birthday. We brought presents with us for her to open while we were there. Lito and Lita ordered her a birthday cake to be served after our buffet brunch. She opened her gifts, had birthday cake, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her in Spanish and English. Maddy was thrilled!
It took us about 6 1/2 hours to get home. The border crossing was very slow due to drug smuggling the previous day. The kids did pretty well considering the lack of movement. Landon had 15 minutes here and there that he was just completely frustrated with sitting in his carseat. We took breaks to get out and stretch every now and then, but it was still a long trip. It was well worth the entire ordeal. The trip was fantastic. I am really glad we made it!
3/17/06: Our girls are in princess heaven!! The Loves are taking them to "The Pond" tonight to see the "Disney Princesses on Ice". They don't know about it. It's a surprise. The are going to love it! To make things even better...they will be sitting in a suite!!! Wowwee!
3/17/06: Happy St. Patrick's Day!! the interviewing process is going well for Christian. He has been getting calls left and right from different companies. The interview at Hope International went great, but unless they change the salary of the position for Christian, he would not be able to accept it. He had a phone interview with a company yesterday and they scheduled another interview with him face to face on Monday morning. It's a finance company that does the loans for large comercial construction equipmant for businesses. Please continue your prayers. Thanks!
3/15/06: We had the BEST time yesterday at the Disney theme parks!! The girls were so happy to be there. We went Disneyland first and caught the favorites there...tea cups, Dumbo, Small World, the carousel, and the train. Then, we headed over to California Adventure. None of us had ever been there. It was very cool!! We tried out the new "Monster's Inc. ride. Both girls LOVED it! The highlight of the whole trip was dinner at "Ariel's Grato" in California Adventure. The princesses actually come to your table to talk with you while you are dining. There couldn't have been a better dining experience for our girls. Madeline was so excited and happy with anticipation, she could hardly sit still while we were waiting. She kept wiggling and giggling as she thought of what was to come. The first princess that came by was Jasmine- no big deal. But the second was Sleeping Beauty...Oh my Gosh!! Maddy was giddy and nervous to talk to the princesses, she didn't know what to say. She looked up at Sleeping Beauty and calmly said, "So, how are things going at the castle?" It was so cute! Emma was adorable too. She just wanted to hug and kiss all of them. She had Belle trapped and almost kissed her on the lips! I think it was one of the best nights of their little lives! After dinner we went back to Disneyland to purchase the suveniours the girls had chosen at the toy store. While there, we stayed for the fireworks and went on the new Buzz Light Year ride (Highly reccomended!) All in all it was a wonderful day! We missed not having Landon with us, but it sure made it nice to be able to ride all the rides together, and not have to stop for feedings, diaper changes and stuff. He'll get his turn to go soon enough. He had a nice day with the Love's. This trip was a day Christian and I will never forget as long as we live. It certainly was the "Happiest Place on Earth"!
3/14/06: Happy Birthday Christian! Today is my hubby's 31st birthday. He is breaking into the day with an interview at Hope International University (HIU). We're crossing our fingers that it goes well. Then, the family is off to Disneyland for the day to celebrate Maddy's and Christian's birthdays. We told Maddy we would take her for her 5th birthday, it just happened to fall on Christian's birthday. There is a college-age girl from our church who works there; fortunately she is going to "sign us in" to save us the $69.00 (both parks) per person entrance fee. We get to go to both parks, D-land and California Adventure. We are all excited to go. Liz Love is going to watch Landon all day. So, it will just be the 4 of us for our outing!!
3/14/06: I got home safe and sound from Winter Camp. It snowed every second we were there!! I had to put chains on the van before we headed up the mountian in the snow!! And then on the way home one of the chains came off and got tangeled in the axel, but all was OK. Being a Southern California girl, I was way out of my element! Camp was freeeezing, but incredibly fun! I had never in my life seen it snow so much and so big. It looked like "Dippin Dots" all over the ground. The kids I took were wonderfully behaved and they enjoyed the snow as much as I did. We went sledding, inner-tubing, snow fights, archery, BB-guns, air hockey, music, speakers, food and more. The speaker (pastor) of the weekend was awesome! We had a blast! I will definitely go again next year.
I took my resume over to Hope International university, formerly PCC, our Alma Mater. I had a brief impromptu interview for a position in the Registrar's office. It is a bilingual position so I would be a good fit. I have a formal interview on Tuesday. The pay would be much less but I would be working close to home and I hope that the benefits are good. We shall see.
I had the fun opportunity to watch all 3 all weekend by MYSELF! Good times. But I was smart, I filled up our Saturday with fun activities and kept busy. Saturday Tracy and I took all 3 to the Irish Festival. It was all indoors so the rain and hail did not bother us much. The girls had a good time. Maddy wanted me to buy her something, anything, I said no. She then came back with "Well, did you buy something for you?" I knew where she was going with this one, and I said no. She then let out a "Hrmph!" and shove her hands in her pockets. Funny thing about my girls, I had to prep them on Thursday that we were going to the festival and it would be cold and the had to wear jeans to keep warm. Pants on my girly girls is rare. I pray it is not the same with Landon!
After the festival we took Tracy home and headed to my parents' for dinner and birthday cake. It was fun. They went to sleep as soon as we got home. After the festival they fell asleep in the car before we even left the parking lot!
I did not even try to get ready for church, we all woke up and had breakfast, cleaned up a bit and played outside til Julie got home. I was not going to attempt to get the girls all dressed up for church especially the hair! It was nice to sleep in to 6:05 am on Sunday anyway. That extra five minutes made all the difference in the world. Of course I woke up to both girls snuggled up to me in MY bed. Cal King bed and the 3 of us were huddled all in one corner. The only thing between them and falling off the bed was me. One false move on my part though, I would have been on the floor. Ahh the adventures of fatherhood. I pulled it off though!
3/10/06: Today I am leaving for winter camp with 4th-6th graders from church. We are going up to Forest Home Camp in the Big Bear Mountains. There is a huge storm coming in today and chains are required to drive up. It's going to be a lot of fun to have snow for camp. The kids will remember it forever! I am excited to go; I loved camp as a kid. Hopefully we will all have a great time.
Christian is going to have our kids for the weekend. I hope they are good for him and that everything goes well. I am sure it will, he's a great dad!!
3/10/06: Christian has a job interview today at 10 A.M.. He is interviewing at a company called "Ebbert Tools". It's a customer service/ sales position. He had a phone interview with them on Wednesday, so it's looking good. Please pray that it goes well for him.
03/04/06: Yesterday was the big day. When Maddy was picking out her earrings, Emma decided she did want to have her ears pierced too. Maddy chose pink ones, and Emma chose gold stars. Madeline cried hard, but not long. Emma didn't shed a tear. She looked at the lady and said "Ouch!" Then she smiled at me for approval of her beatiful earrings. They both love them. Maddy has been putting her hair behind her ears constantly so as to be sure that we can all see her Princess ears!
3/03/06: Our little princess is going to get her ears pierced today!! We have been telling Madeline for over a year now that if she wakes up dry 7 mornings in a row, she can get her ears pierced. We have had a really hard time potty-training Maddy through the night. Her little bladder just isn't big enough to make it through the whole night. She had to train herself to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. She gets up around 11 PM and again around 3:30 AM to use the bathroom and then she gets right back in bed. She takes after me. I get up at least once a night to use the bathroom too. We are sooo proud of her that she is able to do it now!!
Emma was fully potty-trained during the day and the night all at the same time. She had no problem with the night-time thing. She just holds it til the morning. She takes after Christian. He sleeps all night without getting up to use the bathroom. Must be nice!!
Both of the girls can get their ears pierced now. Maddy is sooo excited!! She said she is going to pick pink earrings. Emma doesn't want to pierce hers yet. I'm not going to push her, she can do it whenever she is ready. Maybe it will be today...maybe she'll wait. Of course Maddy is thrilled, The Disney Princesses all have their ears pierced. Maddy thinks she will be more of a princess now with her "princess earrings"! What an exciting day we have in store.
3/02/06: Christian's friend, Walter, owns a painting company. Walter told Christian that he could help out for a little part-time somethin' for today, possibly tomorrow. He decided to go. It's good for him to be working to keep his mind off of losing his job. He is extreemely disappointed because he loved ECCU so much. Christian is really on top of getting resumes out and searching for a new job. He is by nature a motivated person. I am proud of him for everything he does and everything he is. I'm sad for him to have to go through this; it can't be easy for him! God pulled through with something better for our family last time and He will again. We just have to trust in Him.
"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and future, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." Jeremiah 29:11
Landon is looking good. He is in the 50th percentile across the board. He has moved out of the size clothing right at the correct times. He is growing out of most of his 3-6 month things and starting to wear the 6-9 month clothes. He is sitting up and rolling over just like he should be at this age. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health!
3/01/06: Christian here, I lost my job today at ECCU. It just was not a good fit. I am more of a people person and this job required someone more technical and good with minding the details of numbers. So we are on yet another leg of the journey as we await to see what else is in store for the Torresluna household. I have some short term work lined up to get by as I begin the process of sending out resumes. We are sad to lose the opportunity to work at such a wonderful place, but we will grow from this. Please keep us in your prayers.
2/28/06: Everyone is well in our house again. Emma's flu-bug only lasted that one day. She ran a fever for most of Friday, but it was gone by Saturday. She's doing just fine now.
We thought that Landon was going to cut a tooth soon, but I guess we were wrong. No sign of any teeth or swollen gums. I think I figured out that he was so fussy for that week because he was HUNGRY! Poor little guy...his "old-pro-parents" didn't recognize signs of hunger. Having 5 breastfeedings a day wasn't enough to fill his belly. He really needed some solid food. The doctors say any time between 4-6 months to start solids is good. Well, 6 months old would have been too late for Landon. He was too hungry! We started giving him 2-3 tablespoons of baby cereal in the middle of the day, and that cured his fussiness. The extra food in the middle of the day is also causing him to have a great long nap in the mid-day. Who woulda known??
2/24/06: Normally I work on Fridays, but Emma woke up at 1:00 A.M. in a pool of vomit. She continued all night with more vomitting and dry heaves this morning. Poor little thing!! Needless to say, I called in sick to work this morning and decided to keep Maddy home from preschool too so I wouldn't have to toss Emma into the car. Let's hope this is a quick flu-bug and she'll back to normal soon.
2/24/06: My first day of class went very well. I have a great class! There are 19 students on my roster, but only 12 of them showed up, plus 2 more to add to the class- 14 total. Most of them are pretty young- college age kids. They all are wanting to become teachers in the future. The age levels they want are all different; all the way from preschool through highschool. I had 13 ladies and only one gentleman in the class! That's the way I remember the education classes I took too- Primarily women! My first class, I was a bit nervous of running out of info to teach before my time was up. It was the opposite, I was way over-planned...so now I have a head start for next week. It was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed being back in the classroom- with BIG kids.
2/22/06:
I will teach my first college class today. I am a little nervous, but prepared. I hope it goes well. Say a prayer for me; it's 3 PM- 6 PM today. It's only for the next 6 weeks. I'm sure it will go fine!
2/21/06: The other day Maddy was supposed to be cleaning up the toy area. She was not very happy about it! She pouted and cried about having to do it while Emma was sleeping (it was all of Maddy's mess). She was having a very emotional day. I was nursing Landon in the other room. She stayed in the toy area a little bit with tears rolling down her face while drawing a picture for me. She came into the living room, laid the Magna Doodle next to me, looked at me with tear filled eyes, and walked out of the room. Here is the picture she drew:
Happy President's Day!! I went to work today, but Christian has it off because this is a banking
holiday. Maddy was excited to come to work with me because that means she got to play with Maddy Lou and Lauren with Mrs. Schubert like she used to. Her preschool was closed today. Christian decided to have "Daddy-daughter dates" today. He took Emma out to a homestyle country breakfast and then they met Tracy and Emily Kate for some Daddy and daughter playtime at the park. They had a fabulous time!
When we got home it was Maddy's turn for a date with Daddy. (They are out right now)They are going to go see "Chicken Little" at the theater. Maddy hasn't been to the theater in awhile. She was thrilled to hear that she was going to go today. Our girls sure are lucky to have a dad that gives his daughters special one-on-one time! Landon's time will come soon enough.
2/20/05: I am sitll hooked on finding new blinkies for our site. Take a look on the front page about 3/4 of the way down...I now have started a blinkie collection for Christian. It's so much fun!! I know...where do I get the time for this??? Crazy isn't it? I did his while he was away on his mini missions trip. I was up til midnight finding blinkies for Chrsitian's collection.
2/18/06: Montse came over for dinner tonight. It was nice to have a little company while Christian is gone this weekend. We ordered pizza (not so good for the weight watcher's diet), and watched Little House on the Prairie with the girls. Thanks for the visit Auntie Tete!
We bought a bike for Maddy back at Christmas time. When Maddy saw Santa Clause at Knott's she told him (to our surprise) that she wanted a scooter for Christmas. We have kept this adorable bike (still in the box) in our neighbor, Betty's, garage since Christmas. Our baby girl is going to be 5-years-old in a month and we are going to finally give her a two-wheeler bike for her birthday. I hope she likes it! Here is what it looks like:
2/17/06: Christian left for Mexico this afternoon. He went with a few guys from church to go build bunk beds and deliver food and goods to needy families in Ensenada. They will return home on Sunday morning. We will miss him while he's gone, but we'll manage! The highlight of Daddy being gone is the girls get to sleep in Mommy's bed. Maddy really likes that. Emma usually decides to stay in her own bed.
2/15/06: Yesterday we had a nice Valentine's Day. The kids and I went to Mom's club to decorate Valentine sugar cookies. We all wore denim overalls with red shirts. It was fun to dress alike. I used to dress the girls alike often, but since Emma is in toddler sizes and Maddy is girls' sizes, it has gotten a little more difficult to find matching outfits. Also, Maddy is into her own thing and doens't want to wear I pick for her. But it was fun for me to have all of us the same yesterday!
In the morning we had powdered doughnuts on Valentine plates and in the evening Chrisitan brought us all red roses. Maddy was thrilled to have her own little bouquet! The girls played with their flowers and pretended that they were in a wedding.
Landon has gotten a little more clingy lately. Yesterday was a rough day. He was perfectly fine and happy if I was holding him, but if I put him in his bouncy chair or on the floor, he cried. He did the same thing this morning. I had to let him cry for awhile while I made breakfast and packed lunches. I hate to just leave him to cry, but sometimes I have no other choice. I held him on my hip while I brushed my teeth and put on my make-up, but I certainly hope this doesn't last long because I'm getting pretty frustrated! He spoiled us by being so content all the time, that we don't know what to do with a fussy baby. Hopefully he will cut a tooth soon so our happy little guy will get back to normal.
3/10/06: Christian has a job interview today at 10 A.M.. He is interviewing at a company called "Ebbert Tools". It's a customer service/ sales position. He had a phone interview with them on Wednesday, so it's looking good. Please pray that it goes well for him. 
3/03/06: Our little princess is going to get her ears pierced today!! We have been telling Madeline for over a year now that if she wakes up dry 7 mornings in a row, she can get her ears pierced. We have had a really hard time potty-training Maddy through the night. Her little bladder just isn't big enough to make it through the whole night. She had to train herself to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. She gets up around 11 PM and again around 3:30 AM to use the bathroom and then she gets right back in bed. She takes after me. I get up at least once a night to use the bathroom too. We are sooo proud of her that she is able to do it now!! 
3/02/06: Landon had his 6 month well-baby check-up today. I had all the kids weighed and measured. Here are the stats:
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