3 Angels

Anthony & I realize that we have been blessed by three little angels in our life. Sadly, the first one was taken away from us much too soon. However, we believe that she had a hand in assisting God with choosing our other two we have today. We celebrated the 4th anniversary of Mary Alice's birthday by bringing her flowers at the cemetery & all singing Happy Birthday to her. Isabella said she was going to visit her "angel sister." She also told mommy & daddy that she heard Mary Alice singing very quietly at church. My heart just melted when she said this. I do think that sometimes little children get to hear or even see a little something special from God. I've believed this ever since our youngest sister, Rose was a baby...probably around Isabella's same age & she used to tell us about when she lived with the angels. (Seeing who she has become today, I don't doubt it for a minute.) Every September 17 is always a very special day for our family. Not only do we take special time to honor the sweetest little angel we lost but we also reflect on our lives & are so grateful for all the blessing she has helped to bring us today.

We asked the girls to help us lay the flowers down for Mary Alice. Instead they both started taking the flowers of the stems & Isabella would lay them down one by one. Anthony decided we should let her continue & we ended up liking the finished result much better .

in loving memory of our baby angel

Zoo Kids

A few weeks ago Chris, Shane, Anthony & I decided to take the kids for a fun day in San Antonio. We started off eating breakfast at Mi Tierra, our favorite Mexican restaurant in SA (yummy!) Then we headed to the zoo for an extra hot, really long day of looking at the animals. For our last stop, Rainforest Cafe on the Riverwalk. It was a great day & by the end of the trip all the kids were super exhausted but all had a blast!

Mackenzie, Ava, Isaiah, Isabella, Tori & Alex

the girls were impressed by the mariachis
Zoo Time!

Being silly @ Rainforest Cafe

Silly Boys

A few weeks ago we went over to my brothers house to hang out with the family. We were all btalking in the living room when we heard a bunch of giggling coming from behind the big chaise lounge in the corner. My brother peaked back behind the chair to see what was going on. Luke quickly jumped up to reassure him they were just playing. Amar, Jamal & Luke were all 3 behind the chaise up to something for sure. It wasn't until right before we left that Anthony was looking at our camera & this is what we found....

These were preceded by about 9 black pictures. So, apparently one of them figured out how to use the flash towards the end of the photo shoot. What silly boys!

We love Joe!!!

Right after the 4th of July we had a very much needed visit from Uncle Joe! He finally got to come visit us here in Texas for the first time in 18 months! Last time Mary Beth & the kids came to Texas, for Todd & Pene's wedding, Joe was in California & unable to make the trip. So, when he was recently on his way to Georgia for training, he thankfully had time to come visit for a while. We have missed him so much & were so grateful that we were able to finally see him after such a long time. To put things into perspective a bit... the last time he was here, Isabella was the age Mackenzie is now. Crazy!

*Just a little side note to Mary Beth. You might be wondering why Joe will have several random pictures of himself once he gets home. Those are courtesy of future photographer Isabella.:)

4th of July Fun!

As every other 4th of July, we headed down to the San Gabriel Park for a day of fun in the sun. The last couple of years it has actually been pretty rainy, so this year it was a nice change, although extremely hot!

Playing hide-n-seek with Isaiah

Who needs toys when you have sticks?

Kenzie saying "hi"

Isaiah & Bella on the airplane

She loved it!

That was a BIG slide!

Daddy & sleepy Kenzie girl

the kiddos posing with the cake, Tori & Alex helped me decorate

Last year the fireworks were cancelled because of all the flooding & we came pretty close to having them cancelled this year because it's been so dry. Luckily it all worked out & we got to enjoy some great fireworks at the end of the night.
The perfect ending to our long day...watching the fireworks!

Sisterly Love

I think the best part about having two girls is getting to watch them interact with each other. Now that Mackenzie is already 10 months old & walking she has alot more fun playing with Isabella. (Although, she wasn't walking yet in these pictures...these were at about 9 months) They have such a great time with each other. Watching them together is my absolute favorite thing to do, so I thought we would share some pictures of "sister time."

Kenzie gets so excited when she sees Isabella after nap time

hanging out on Isabella's bed early in the morning

lovin' the bathtime hair-do

mmmmmmmmm

WAHHHH!!!!!

kisses for Bella

silly time