Friday, June 30, 2006

Big girl pool

Cadence got to go swimming in a big girl pool last weekend. We went to Ashley and Antonio Barcelos's house to go swimming. She LOVED it - and so did Jacqui and Matt. I put Cadence on the edge of the pool and pulled her in. She didn't even freak out about going under water. I bought a little floaty thing for her and she just layed back and kicked her feet.




Matt and Antonio getting a snack.

Cadence and Alexandra - the bathing beauties...

I thought this was the CUTEST picture of the girls hanging out together!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Four More Years!

Today I watched as my husband was Honorably discharged from the Marine Corps...

for all of about 2 seconds.

Then he reenlisted for 4 more years! "Four for the Corps" as he likes to put it! I'm so proud of him and his dedication to our country. Thank you to Ensign Barcelos for reading Ski the oath and to both you and your family for taking the time to be there for his reenlistment. Here are a few pictures of my "Hard Core" Marine!!!

Getting discharged and reenlisting


Ensign Barcelos reading him the oath.





As his wife, I got a certificate of appreciation for standing by his side "through thick and thin."

These are the infamous "Yellow Footprints" where every Marine begins his/her tour in the Marine Corps. A drill instructor climbs aboard the bus as you arrive at the recruit depot and starts yelling at you to get off his bus and get on his footprints...your entire world changes from this point on.

Ensign Barcelos wife Ashley and their daughter Alexandra

Matt was amazed watching the recruits and the drill instructors at MCRD today. Apparently we have a few marines in the making!!!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to our Fathers! This picture was actually taken on Fathers Day 2004 at the Nascar Race at Michigan Speedway. We took all the fathers there as their gift! It's the only picture I had that have all three of them in it at once. From left to right:

Steve (Ski's stepdad) Pork (Ski's Dad) Ken (My dad)


We would all like to wish SKI a Happy FIRST OFFICIAL Fathers Day! For many years we've celebrated Fathers Day with him as Jacqui and Matt's stepdad. He is an amazing role model for them - he's also sometimes JUST LIKE them - but this year is extra special because he has a daughter of his very own: Miss Cadence Evelina.

Happy Fathers Day Baby!!! Your such a great dad!



Saturday, June 17, 2006

NICU reunion

On May 9, 1998 Matthew was born at Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego. As most of you already know, he was 3 months premature and weighed 2lbs 10oz / 13in long. Even though he was so little, those two months that he spent in the NICU showed me what a tough little boy he was.




8 years later...

We're BACK!!!!! But only for a reunion! (I don't think I could go through all of that again!) Every year they have a picnic for all the graduate babies that were in the NICU. This was our first year going and the kids had a lot of fun!

All those years ago, when I would visit Matt, the hallways that lead to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit were lined full of pictures from the reunions of previous years. I stared at those pictures endlessly, praying for the day when it would be our turn to come to the reunion and get our picture on the wall. Those pictures are now replaced with hand and foot prints. These are the hand and foot prints of children that were once in the Balboa NICU but fought for their life and made it. They give the parents who's children are there right now reassurance that other people understand what they are feeling and give them hope that it WILL get better. It's not easy being a NICU parent but you'd be surprised at the strength you possess when you have to walk in that room everyday and see your baby laying there in the middle of all those tubes. My prayer was answered today...







I hope my baby's handprints give a fellow NICU parent some kind of comfort and reassurance in the long days and nights they will spend with their child!

Jacqui's baseball party!

Along with the NICU reunion picnic, we also had to go to Jacqui's baseball party today. (Which means I didn't have to cook the entire day!!!!) They had so much fun playing with their teammates and getting their trophies. Rumor has it, 4 players from their team were considered to go to the AllStar Team. Jacqui was one of those 4 players but unfortunately the league only sent one player from her team to go. We are still very proud of her!!! Maybe next year though...
Jacqui sitting with her team waiting for their trophies.


Jacqui and her friend Ashley.


Coach Gordy's son has a crush on Jacqui so they had him come up and give her the trophy - she was so embarrassed! (However, they were inseparable throughout the entire party.)

I made these baseball cupcakes for the party - it was my attempt at creativity!!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Swimming!!!

Today we went swimming with one of Matt's best friends - Roy - and his little brother Arturo. Roy and Matt were in the same class last year at Carson Elementary. This year Matt has to go to Hancock Elementary so they don't get to see too much of each other.

Jacqui, Roy, and Matthew on the diving board.


Arturo (Roy's brother) and Matt


Martha - Roy and Arturo's mother. Cadence is chewing on pizza crust! She loves to eat!

Sunday, June 04, 2006

It's summer here in San Diego

This weekend it was sooooooo HOT - well Saturday was hot anyway!!! In the midst of the heat we had to sit through Jacqui's last baseball game and the sun was unbearable. Today (Sunday) it was a lot cooler. We took the baby to the park (for the first time) and the kids played in the hose. No more school for me so I finally got to relax!!!

The kids had so much fun playing in the water - they pretty much flooded the backyard!




Cadence couldn't get enough of the park! She laughed the whole time she was in that swing.




I'm not sure who the bigger kid is at this point...


She wasn't sure what to make of all that sand!!!


Oh - and look who's learning to crawl...

Friday, June 02, 2006

Pictures from "May"

Nothing real exciting has been happening over the past week. I've been overloaded with school - final exams and last minute assignments were all due. The kids are in their last week of baseball - although they are probably going to get on another team through the military again next week!!! Ski has been taking care of the baby and household duties while I have been finishing up school. Thank you baby for all of your help!!! Sooooo since I've been behind on the updates this week I've decided to just post a few pictures from the last month. Hope you enjoy!!

Ski has been awesome at getting the baby to sleep and has helped me so much so I can get my school work done.

Ski doing his Cammies... Sleeves are finally up and he rolls them so tight he cuts off his circulation. A lot of times they are so tight he needs help getting out of his blouse!!! He claims this is because he has "big muscular arms!"


I've pretty much parked myself at the computer the past few months for school. It was a tough semester. It's my goal to keep my 4.0 GPA and that isn't easy with three kids, a dog, a husband, little league, cleaning house, making dinner, etc. How about that robe eh??? So hot...


Matt's 8th birthday was May 9th. Ski and I got him a new bike. He still has to get used to shifting gears and braking with his hands. It's so funny because everytime I see him ride it, he's always in 1st gear and his little legs are peddling so fast. I try to tell him to shift but he won't!

We took him to Chuck E Cheese that night to celebrate his birthday. Earlier in the day I took cupcakes to school so he could celebrate with his friends. He had to have Chocolate icing on chocolate cake - his favorite which he requests every year!


Both the kids had their first communion May 13th. They were so adorable! Thank goodness no one made a face when they drank the wine. (Does Jacqui's dress look familiar?)


Miss Cadence has had an exciting month too! She can now wave and clap her hands. She still isn't rolling from her belly to her back but it won't be long!!! When we feed her she says NumNumNum and when she claps she says Yeah - she's still too young to know what it means but she always says it at the right times!!!



Me and Ski at the zoo! Lets take a vote...how many of you think he's smiling??? He swears this is a smile.


Jacqui LOVES to pitch. The coach let her pitch at practice and she was so excited!!! Thanks Amy for taking these pictures of J for me!!!