#Novenas2014

These pictures represent last night which ended our successful 2014 Novena season. Although we're missing a few regulars in these pics- our spirit and joy still represents all who made them happen.

This year was special because I noticed something in particular which has meant more to me than ever.  This year our kids and even non-Colombian husbands were the ones asking for them, participating and urging them to happen. Wow, I loved this!

It was special because I noticed that they knew it was that time of year when they got to see this group of friends again. They looked forward to going to someone else's house each night for 9 nights. They even knew who's house was who's this time.

Our kids knew that we would pray and sing in Spanish (whether they understood it or not), that we would share food, laughter and some good old fashion games and prizes.

More importantly they now know that this is part of what makes THEIR Christmas time special. Its not just about the gifts and the craziness, but about getting together with people we love and truly getting to know that Christmas is all about. I believe that they too will fondly remember these Novenas as part of their childhood just like we have....A priceless gift for all us indeed.
 

Thank you once again to all of those who hosted a Novena, 

and to those who came and joined us it was great having you there. 

We truly had a blast!

From my little corner to yours..."Ven, Ven, Ven" and  Feliz Navidad! ;)

XOXO

Running 4 Danny & Friends...(year 2)

So as some of you know, this past Sunday was not just Father's day for us but also the day we ran the Culver City 5/10K for Autism. Its the second year that Christian and I have ran it and it looks like it might be a tradition in the making for our family.

Last year we had a small team under the name- Running 4 Danny and Friends, in honor of our Daniel and the many friends we have that are special needs children. I once again wore my team shirt that I had made for last year and ran for all kids listed on my back and many more.
 
Unfortunately our team got smaller this year as it was just Christian and I, but that's ok because my dear husband Jerry decided to join us and make this run his official first 5K! I was soo excited for him to be part of our team and to be able to say that we did this together for our baby.


He's been going on his own journey, and I have to say that he trained a lot harder than I did this year and I am sooo proud of him for accomplishing this goal for himself.
He's come such a long way.



As for myself,  this year has been extremely busy for me and I can't say I took the training as seriously as I did last year. I was a little bit more lax than I should have been, but I put myself through as many practices as I could.  Training consisted more of finding a jogging pace I could handle with some fast walking to make sure that I could finish in a decent time. My goal this year was not so much beating my time as it was just to complete it. Honestly I was more excited about the fact that my hubby was running with me and my son and that meant more to me than anything.


So because Chris truly hadn't trained much at all either (being the very busy and "tired" teenager that he is) he decided he was going to keep to my pace during the race. A very slow pace at that. However, we had all agreed that we knew that at some point we were all going to go at different paces which is exactly what happened. Jerry started the strongest out of the 3 of us and led the way, but Chris about 1/3 way into the race decided his body was kicking in with a second wind and took off. I trailed both of them most of the way, catching up to Jerry when I could, but he still came in before me.

This year I was much more into taking things in, enjoying my music and watching the other runners especially the 10k runners who started about 1/2 an hour later than we did and yet they seemed to be already catching up to me as I was barely trying to finish.

A highlight for me this year was actually catching a glimpse of a fellow blogger I follow. Jen Levine from Finding My Inner Bombshell.  She has no idea who I am, but I "knew" of her and knew she'd be at that race. So when I saw her, in a fleeting second, I made the decision to make a fool of myself and call out her name..."Jen!" I said. She turned around looking VERY schocked, and I went up to her, shook her hand and said as I jogged and huffed at the same time, said "You don't know me, but I follow your blog. Just wanted to say Hi!" She said "Ok, hi" and I took off again, smiling from ear to ear and giggling to myself. I regret not getting a picture with her, but I took the look of shock on her face to mean that maybe I had gone to far already, Lol. Anyway, that was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I took the chance to do that- we only live once for moments like that!  And I found out that It apparently made her day because she mentioned the "unknown woman who said hello" in her blog post.  Love it! I have since written to her and let her know that my name is Sandy, and that I wasn't just some crazy person...if you beg to differ, please keep that to yourself. Ha!


The biggest highlight for me though was actually watching Jerry cross the finish line ahead of me. I was soooo proud of him!  I was a mix of emotions as I came in close behind, knowing just how much it means to cross that finish line for the first time. Jerry is a modest guy and he was very tired and sweaty of course, so he made no fuss about any of it, but I know it had to have meant a lot. He did say though "I did it for our Danny Boy!" That said it all!

Our official times were as follows:
Chris had come in before the two of us at 37.01
Jerry came in just 90 seconds over his goal time at 41.14.
I think that's pretty amazing for his first 5K!

My official time was 41.34. I was over last year's time by 3 minutes or so, but considering the training I did and/or didn't do, I felt pretty good about it anyway.  It really was about doing this together this year.



Once again, it was an amazing way to start of Father's day especially for Jerry this time around. He's an amazing Dad and he works so hard for us and deserved a great day! We went back to my mom's house to make him his favorite home made breakfast. He took a swim in her pool to relax and then we went to see his wonderful Dad (my father as well in so many ways) for a nice BBQ and trip to the movies with his family.

It was a wonderful day, and we're hoping to be able to do this again next year together again.
Will some of you join our team next year??? I really hope so...

I hope you all had a wonderful Father's day as well.

From my corner to yours...Thanks for stopping by!

We do...

I was catching up last week on some blogs I read, and one of them is always Ali Edwards' blog.  A few weeks ago she had this post called 'We Do' where she describes values that she wants to pass on by example to her family and that she felt important enough to write down as a family manifesto of sorts. I really liked that idea, so as I read it, it made me wonder what 'We do' as a family that I would consider being our set of values I would like to pass on to our boys, and I've been slowly writing them down over the last few days.

Here are a "few" I came up with, but I know I will be either adding or changing this list as I continue to think about it some more so.

In our family...

We do Religion. Its a priority- church on Sundays, its a given. We love that the boys know that God is part of their lives this way.

We do Prayer and gratitude. We always give thanks at every meal and never take for granted that we are together, that we have food on the table and a safe warm place to sleep. We are always thankful!

We do grandparent/family time. Our boys our have been lucky enough to have Jerry's parents and my mom and my aunt as loving grandparents in their lives to share their time with, and a big family of Tios and cousins so we make sure we see them as often as possible. 

We do birthdays. each one is special and the entire family celebrates each one- cousins, aunts/uncles young and us older ones too. 

We do creativity. We encourage and praise each others talents be it through song writing, pictures, voices, baking, music playing, drawing and we encourage each other to practice and to love what we do. 

We do music.  It is an important part of our family- through the vibrations that come from multiple instruments playing in our garage, to singing, to the keys on our piano and even through our own headphones. Music is always alive here. 

We do outside too. Some of more than others- some of us walk, some of us ride bikes, we play in our backyard, and we are exploring our community and what it has to offers us. Oh and lets not forget we love the beach! 

We do friendships. They don't all live near but we make it a point to get together as much as possible. 

We do learning. We always expect the best out of ourselves, we learn to the best of our abilities and 

we push and encourage to put out the best effort we can do...and then expect a little more. There is always room for improvement. 

We do housework.  We help out when we are asked and even when we're not. Our house is not perfectly kept up, but this is our home and everyone is expected to keep it in order as best as possible. 

We do please and Thank you's. With everyone and everywhere, but especially amongst ourselves. Politeness is never an overdo even with family. 

We do food. We are foodies and love to eat! We love to eat at home and enjoy a special meal out every week, but I love that the boys appreciate when I recreate their favorite foods at home. 

We do silly. There is always a time to let loose and we let each other be who we are. 

We do surprises. We love to surprise and get surprised and have special ways to deliver said surprises. There is no peaking in this house. 

We do communication. Its been the corner stone to our marriage and to our family. We do not always agree on things, and we definitely have our arguments, but we also have learned to give each other time to calm down, and then learn to communicate, to safely speak our minds and talk things out. 

We do 'I love You's.' To our loved ones, friends and family members, but more importantly to each other. One of the things I cherish the most is hearing the boys tell each other they love each other without hesitation or embarrassment.

....
That is is our list for now. Like I said, it may change and I may add to it, but it was worth writing down to make them visible. Its a reminder of what not to lose sight of to keep our family close.

Have you ever thought of what your family list of "We Do's" are? Food for thought, right?
It's been a really nice exercise for me so I encourage you to explore this idea for you and your family.

From my corner to yours...Have a wonderful week!

2nd Annual "We Are Family" Reunion...

Another reunion??

Yes another one, I know.  The 3rd one for us this year, but how can we complain if reunions are only meant to bring people closer, don't you agree?  As you might remember, the group of friends I grew up with got together last year for our 1st annual "We Are Family" reunion. We decided to start this tradition because now that we have our own families, our lives are such that its proven to be more difficult to raise our kids together in the same way we were brought up. So in order to make sure that our kids really know each other and "grow up" together as well, we have to make the effort to get together as many ways possible to foster our Colombian family traditions in our kids as a group.

So this past Saturday was the date we picked, and it was great to see everyone's enthusiasm to get back together again.  The kids are a little bigger, including Katarina who was still in the belly last year, (some of the group hadn't even met her yet), AND and we were ready to have some fun...and it didn't hurt that the big fight landed on the same night. ;)

  Of course we started off with the food! We all brought a main dish and a side to share and 

Adri and her mom indulged us with a plate full of our favorite Colombian emapanadas. 

This plate had been overflowing just 5 minutes prior to this picture... lets just say they went really quick!

And Alex brought this very colorful dish of ceviche appetizers served in empty lime halves ...so clever and delish!!

 Eddie manned the grill and made some amazing hot link sausages and hamburgers.

Then it was time to play. Brandon and Julian were outside catching some air on their scooters while Christian watched.

There were all kinds of sports to keep an eye on that day and a fight to wait for.

 

And it was such a beautiful day, that the pool had to be taken advantage of by everyone

in one way or another. It was nice just to be able to relax by the pool together and watch the kids have a great time.

 

It was Sandra's first time meeting Jellybean since she was born, 

and Sandra immediately won her over by being the one to get her in the pool first. Jellybean loved every minute of it and it was so cute. Sandra definitely has a way with babies.

Last year the event of the reunion was the sharing our old photo albums, 

but this year Sandra had planned a game for us to play. One that we used to play as families when we were younger...Passing the apple from person to person using only your neck. 

The Camacho's vs. The Halaby's 

And may the best family win...that's if we could make through all the laughter!!! 

[Btw- I'll spare you (and me) some of the most awkward pictures that could have ever been taken, lol]
Thanks Adri for taking these!

 

 AND THE HALABY's WIN!!!

(Hey, in our defense we started off with a slippery apple!...hahaha)

 Even Lina didn't know what to make of that game, lol! 

(Sorry Lina, but I love this picture)

"Las Viejas" just sat back and enjoyed it all!

Then came taking the "Family" pictures! Can't forget those!

 The serious one..

 The silly one...

Then the kids picture...with Katarina in the flesh this time.

(Last year's pic of her in the belly)

Just one year and you can see just how much the kids have grown.

 After all that fun it was time for a nap, and Katarina found a super cozy spot in Adri's arms. She really did have a chance to bond with all her extended "Titis" that day. ('Tee-tees'- Puerto Rican for 'Aunties')

 Too sweet!

 Then it was time for the Canelo vs. Mayweather fight!

I won't even get into to that whole dissapointment,

but I will say that our only consolation was that we got to see it together.

Whaw, whaw, whaw!

But we didn't let that fight get in the way of the day's success. 

We had just had another amazing day together once again celebrating 

our friendship, our culture, our children and

the family we have truly become over the years.

Thank you to the Chavez-Cañas family for hosting us once again!

(Your pool will be the pool to remember for the next generation, lol)

And Thank you to all our dear families for making it another very special day to remember!

I love you all and can't wait until next year!

XOXO

& Finally (the 3rd part)...Katarina's Baptism

A week ago Sunday was the final event in this trilogy of sorts....

So about 3 months ago during a babysitting adventure, Sergio and Casandra had popped the question on Jerry and myself and asked if we would be Katarina’s Godparents…OMG! Of course!  We were already excited about being her aunt and uncle, but to now be her Godparents...such an honor!  So we toasted to the announcement, and of course started planning.  Baptisms in our family are not necessarily celebrated with huge parties but we do make sure we plan a solemn but special ceremony and reception with close family and friends to celebrate the event. 

 

Sergio and Casandra had each been baptized during a Spanish mass when they were babies, so to keep the tradition going they decided to baptize her at their beautiful parish church of St. Charles Borromeo in Sherman Oaks, where they have a Spanish baptism once a month and picked July 28^th as the date. 

She was walked in by family friends and even posed for some pictures. She was one of 3 children being baptized that afternoon, and thankfully in good spirits and was smiling and seemed to know that it was her special day. 

Her Nino Jerry was especially proud that day as he held her as much as possible before and during the ceremony.  I love how totally comfortable she is with him. She loves him and it shows, and I love how he lights up with her too. 

  

Although Casandra’s mom wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, she sent Katarina’s baptismal gown all the way from Texas. It was a beautiful dress and she looked adorable as always, but that bonnet was just too darn cute!!!

 To add to her gown the day of the baptism, the Godparents are responsible for making her baptismal shawl. So believe it or not, I still had a scrap left over of the material used to make Casandra's wedding dress that was just big enough to make the shawl with! (coincidence or fate??) And I also had some of the lace left over from her dress that I used to cut out the lace edging from to sew around the shawl and then sewed on some religious symbols in pink felt to make it just for Katarina. I  loved making that I was able to use something of her mom's special wedding day for her baptism to make special connection.

                                                                       

The ceremony was supposed to be done fully in Spanish, however, the deacon doing the ceremony was not as fluent as we would have liked. But nonetheless, the ceremony was performed as usual and by church standards, and she is now a full-fledged member of the Catholic church. YAY! Jerry and I will be right there along her parents side to make sure that we help guide her physically, emotionally and more important…spiritually.

 

  

And then some family pictures....

 

(Thank you Steve Cañas and Dan Morris for taking pictures during the ceremony)

After the ceremony it was back to our house for a small, simple reception…the part I loved planning for of course ;).  

 We kept the same set up from the last week’s reunion with the tents and added white tables and simple floral vases.  I DIY'd the vases and tinted pink pasta and pickle jars that I then decorated with ribbon and beads- They were (free) "inexpensive" and turned out really cute, and the guests were able to take them home! I put up some white lanterns, some paper pom-poms (I had kept the ones from her baby shower), and some outside tulle curtains to give it a summer garden feel to the event- All of these things, I already had. (Party tip- I love buying things for parties that I know I can store for later, and put them into different uses for different events)

         I made party favors for the guests from pre-decorated candle votives that I just added a printed label, ribbon and a bead to the cross to. Easy and always fun to make.

 

 I also made her cake which was a flowered lemon cake (Thank you Teresita once again for your gift of baking tools) so it gave me a chance to make a different kind of cake I hadn’t tried before. I really enjoyed making this one, and I think she really enjoyed trying to get into it too!

 

And Katarina being the dame of the day was doing her best to be a good party host 

and took pictures with as many of her special guests as possible. 

 And finally Sergio wanted to have a piñata for her so that's how we finished the day. She had no idea what she was doing but looked happy and intrigued at the same time. She was just too cute!!

Having a little niece on my side of the family has been a really special thing for all of us since we haven't had a baby in the family in such a long time. We couldn’t be happier to have her in our lives. 

She has brought so much joy and tenderness to our house full of boys!

Thank you Sergio and Casandra for naming Jerry and I as Katarina's Godparents, 

and for letting us share such a special role on this blessed day. 

To Katarina,

We hope you know that with God's help we will always be there for you!

 We love you Jellybean!

XOXO

From my corner to yours...Thank you for stopping by!