Aguinaga Family

I'm going to call you "Mom"

2009-12-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

*Sigh*...It's happened. Matthew informed me a few days ago that he was no longer going to be calling me "mommy". He offered no real explanation, just that he liked it better. I managed to get him to admit that he felt that he was to old (he just turned 9) to still be calling his mom "mommy". At the time I thought he was so cute. The way he decided to inform me about it. As if I needed to be forewarned of the new change. It's so Matthew. Well thought out and organized. But as time has passed and I've noticed a seamless change to him now calling me "mom", I miss it! I miss hearing him say "mommy". He DOES seem so much older now.

I was blessed at a young age to be Matthew's mommy. He is the reason I am who I am today. I changed my life for him. To be a good mommy. To live my life for someone else besides myself for a change. I loved being Mathew's "mommy".

*Bigger Sigh*...So now I'm his "mom". That's not a bad thing in anyway. It is actually a great thing. That means he's growing and healthy. That means that now he wants to be older and more grown up. But for me it is a milestone worth noting. Though I miss hearing "mommy" coming from my oldest boy I have 3 younger children who say "mommy" about 500 times a day so it's not gone quite yet...there have been times when I wanted to ban the word "mommy" half way through the day. If I heard it one more time I would pop! Now I can listen, breath and appreciate my younger childrens' use of the precious name of "Mommy" that I get to be called. I appreciate it more.

Halloween '09

2009-11-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

This year I avoided the Halloween isles at the stores the best that I could. I was trying to avoid the kids seeing all the new costumes and asking for one. It's just that we have a bin FULL of costumes and dress-up stuff and I was bound and determined to not spend $60 (or more) on costumes this year. And it worked!!! Halloween got nearer and nearer and the kids ran to the bin to rustle up a costume no questions, and best of all no complaints! Though I had bought Lily's costume last year for $5, the boys found something that they hadn't been before and all were happy! Whew!

Here we are at our wards Trunk-or-Treat. I dusted off my old kung-fu gi and we were ready to go!

And here are the kids on Halloween night trick-or-treating. (Notice that Matthew has switched to Harry Potter.)

This is right before I let them dump out their bags and go to town!

Fancy-Shmancy Pumpkins

2009-10-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well here they are. Our masterpieces. 2 hours of hand-cramping work to produce these great results. I did the spider web and Jess did the other two. He impressed me for sure! (And himself, I think!)

Milo

2009-10-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

We've had him for a few months now, but here are some pics of Milo. The lone kitten born under our couch. The mama cat (Tori) went and got herself pregnant, but I was so excited to have kittens! Little did I know that she'd only have one baby. ONE KITTEN! Who's ever heard of such a thing?

Anyways we got a little attached (well duh!) and we decided to keep him. Especially since the behavior problems that we had with his mom and the other cat we had were getting worse and we had to give them to the shelter.

He is very tolerant and loving with the kids and puts up with a lot. Now that we have Abbie, Milo is very happy. The only-child kitten finally has a playmate!

Abbie-Gail

2009-10-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here she is! The precious new addition to our family, Abbie-Gail. We've had our tiny Chihuahua pup now for a whole week and she's won over our hearts many times over. She weighs less than a pound and a half but has a big personality and an amazing tolerance for children.

Abbie is a very loving sweet little thing that is perfectly content to sleep on someones lap all day. She is mostly white except for a few, very cutely placed, tan spots. She fits perfectly into our family. Even our young cat Milo likes her!

More pictures to come...a warning to our friends and family though...Abbie comes with us wherever we go...a few exceptions of course. :)

"Wanna Play Mommy-Daddy?"

2009-08-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

"Andrew, wanna play mommy-daddy?" This is the question Lily asks her brothers all the time. Since the other boys are at school Andrew is the lucky one who gets to play with her the most. It' is actually very cute and he seems to enjoy himself too! I thought these pics were priceless!

Big Frog

2009-08-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

kind of weird, but we thought this was cool. One night when Jess got home late he found this big frog/toad...(not sure) by our driveway. He didn't do anything, he seemed scared of us, so we left him alone. We've seen our share of little frogs, but we've never seen one THIS big!

Matthew and Joey's First day of School

2009-08-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here they are...my 3rd and 1st grader! This year we have switched schools are are going to Eduprize Charter School. Matthew was a little nervous, but mostly excited. Joey was very quiet all morning and didn't smile much...only for the pictures (and even then they looked strained). So he seemed pretty nervous....but don't they look so cute? They're getting so big!

Waiting in line...

Speed walking to his classroom because we missed the line getting Joey to HIS line...bad mom, but Matt didn't care. What a good boy.

We dropped the boys off and I got this amazingly sweet pic of Lily and Drew. Of all my kids they fight with eachother the most...so I love that I captured a sweet moment between them!
Yay!

When I picked them up from school it was smiles all around. Joey was excited that they got to go to computer lab and Matthew tried to reount every minute and what he did. I'm loving the new schedule so far, I hope this school is a fit for us!

Summer Rain Fun

2009-07-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

Good 'ol monsoon season in AZ! Thunder, lightning and LOTS of rain! Too much fun to stay inside the house!!!

Lily isn't quite sure how she feels about the rain yet...

The boys go for it...of course!

There she goes...

OK, now she's drenched!!!!

Funny face.

Lily and Drew

2009-06-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

Just Lily and Drew playing outside and being cute.

I got this awesome shot of Lily's cute hairy back. :)

Go Drew Go!

FHE @ The Dirt Hills

2009-06-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

Near our house is a field with some great dirt hills. So we did a quick lesson on communication and why it is important in a family (and how we can use it not to crash into eachother) and off we went! It was a great time. One we will definitely be doing again!

Matthew was the master of the hard hills...fearless.

Joey did a fantastic job...he is so brave, and such a good rider!

Lily was really good at throwing big rocks! We brought her chair and for part of the time she sat in it and cheered her brothers on...very cute.

Andrew, being much more timid and newer to a bike was funny to watch. He picked one hill, did it a few times and was done.

Lily and I took a walk to a nearby dying vineyard. We found one lone grape! She was so proud of it...then she ate it!

I asked her where the grape was...hehe...

Joey hitting the hills again.

Throwing MORE rocks...at least she found something to do that was fun for her.

I took another walk to the vineyard (in the background) and found a few bunches of teeny tiny grapes. I expected them to be terrible and sour, but they were pretty good!

That's one way to do it!

"How do you eat this?"

"Like corn on the cob!"

Don't eat that one...there's dirt all over it!...

Too late. Oh well.

May '09 CA Trip

2009-06-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

As soon as school got out for the summer we headed to Cali! Here are the kids with one of their cousins, Gabby. I love this pic!

Joey got an early birthday present from Aunt Julia, Uncle Danny and Gabby. Star Wars stuff! Awesome!

Lily doesn't really go to Jess' brother Dan very much, so I was glad to get this cute moment between them!

With Jess' sister Julia. Lily looks like she could be her daughter!!!

Jess' parents have this great avocado tree. Matthew discovered that he can climb it. He was really high.

Lily hula hooping with Gabby.

Gabby plays softball. Matthew always has fun playing with her!

Back at my parents house we picked lemons from her tree and the kids wanted to make lemonade with Grandma.

My little sis, Natalie, was able to swing a last minute trip from Utah to see my parents and us! Yay! I was so happy!!!

Over to visit MY grandparents (my mom's side), and Nat was having fun with Lily with her boyfriend Matt watching.

Matthew being silly with his Pepere.

This is his trying-not-to-laugh face...

Back over to Jess' folks place and Matt is back in the tree...of course...

This was as high as Andrew got, but we made a big deal for him. :)

While we were packing up getting ready to go Grandma played with Lily. Helping us keep her out of our way and getting in some last minute playtime.

Our trips are always packed with house hopping, but we love it. They're always over too quickly.

Daisy the Mouse

2009-06-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yes...that's a mouse. we didn't mean to get a mouse, it just happened. We knew someone who had just gotten a guinea pig and didn't want their mouse anymore. And, being very sneaky, they asked me in front of my kids, "do you guys want a pet mouse?" Seeing their eyes light up with hope, and me being a sucker for any animal I said, "Yeah, sure!"

So it has turned out to be pretty fun having her. The cats like to watch her run around in her cage, but if they stick their noses too close she'll poke her tiny nose out and snap at them! And she is fun for the kids to hold.

So all in all, mice are pretty cool. Very low maintenance and funny to watch.

Easter 2009 Cont'd - All Dressed Up

2009-06-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go to church...

Everyone all dressed up playing with their new "Sky balls" form the Easter Bunny!...Don't get dirty!!!

I got an idea and handed the camera to Matthew to shoot some pics of me and Lily. I have so many pictures of her, but not many of us together. I think Matt did a fabulous job!

Easter 2009

2009-06-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

A fun filled morning of egg hunting and eating chocolate. The Easter Bunny also brought plenty of toys!

Lily was so cute about the whole thing. Luckily the Easter Bunny had special markings on her eggs so the boys wouldn't get them.

Reaping the sweet rewards of the hunt!

What a good big brother. Mathew tells Joey where an egg is. Awww.

Easter morning breakfast.

Spring Time Swimming

2009-06-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

Just splashing around having some fun at the YMCA pool!

Joey

Andrew being brave putting his face in the water!

Not so sure he thought that was a good idea though...

Lily

Matthew...he's hard to get pics of. He's always under water!

Jump Joey, JUMP!!!

Joey waving

A fun day! Love the warm spring weather of AZ!!!

Required Reading for all SAHM's (Stay-At-Home Moms)

2009-04-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Jess bought me a first-edition signed copy of Dr. Laura's newest book! Get it! Read it! I'm not done with it yet but it is wonderful. It's a super easy read and the chapters fly by. I know what I'm doing for my family is the right thing by staying home...but this book offers a refreshing pat-on-the-back to SAHM's and the wonderful husbands that make that possible. And even some great pointers on getting through some of those "tough days".

I'm loving it and I think you will too!

This is How We Roll

2009-01-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

A fun video of the kids rolling down a little grassy hill at their great-grandmother's house. Fun. The craziness that is kids!

California Trip - Operation "Christmas Catch Up"

2009-01-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

We were able to go to California this past weekend to catch up on the Christmas that we missed. We had a good time visiting, catching up and getting presents!

In these first few pics we are at Jess' parents house. It is fun to see the kid's around their aunt, uncles and cousins. I wish we could see them more often!

Notice Andrew's face...

Beautiful Lily.

Later that night Andrew found a friend. This cat was just walking the street, so he picked it up. What made it so funny is that the cat loved the attention. I am always weary of strange animals, but it didn't take long for me to see that their feelings for each other were mutual. It was love.
I did make him wash his hands before I'd let him touch anything else though.

On Monday we visited "Memere" and "Pepere"...MY grandparents. Always a treat to see them!
Memere is well known for her hats. Lily found her favorite and gave me these precious shots of her playing with it.

Where's Lily?

We also spent a lot of nice visiting time with my parents. I need to get my camera out more often on these trips. Sometime I just feel like a dweeb with my camera out all the time. But there are moments that I'm missing. No more. I vow to take more pictures! :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-12-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

I just recently had my 28th birthday. I honestly wasn't much looking forward to it, but I really had a fun time with my family. I am blessed beyond words. I love you guys!

My baby girl, Lily practicing for her next birthday. :)

Drew

Joey

Matt

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

2008-12-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

Matthew got baptized last Saturday, and I took some pics of him in his new suit. This is one of my favorites. He looks like a mini missionary. Now that he's baptized he just seems so much older to me. (Go to his blog to see more pics of him in his suit and from the baptism.) I am so proud of you Matthew!

Kitty Love

2008-12-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

Our kitties are fairly new to our family. They have transitioned into our home seamlessly. I've never met two more tolerant cats. They put up with so much abuse from the kids. Here are just two instances I caught where the cat could've just run away, but didn't. I'm not sure why they don't run away more. We wish they would. Especially from Lily. We have to keep a close eye on her so she doesn't love the kitties to death!

Andrew with Maya and Lily with Tori. Don't the looks on the cats faces say, "Stop taking pictures and help me!" I'm so glad I got them!

Auntie Natalie Visits

2008-11-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

We had a great visit with my sister. She came to CA to visit my parents, then her and my mom decided to take a drive and visit us for a few days. I am so glad that they did! Nat hadn't seen Lily for quite a while but Lily took to her right away. We didn't do anything fancy. We visited, did a little shopping, had lunch and just had a good time vising and catching up with each other. Love you guys! Thanks for coming!

That's Some BIG Hail!

2008-11-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

It's about that time of year. A beautiful, clear morning. In the afternoon we start to hear loud rolling thunder, it starts to rain, then here comes the hail! It really is so much fun for our little Arizona kis who get excited at ANY type of whether other than hot and sunny.

So it hailed big and it hailed hard off and on through the evening. Winds and thunder liven up our once scalding desert home. The kids stood outside to watch it, run in it, eat it and jump in puddles. What a fun Sunday!

Halloween Time

2008-11-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

How cute is this picture! It is so hard to get a picture of all the boys looking in the same direction, let alone Lily! I'm so glad that I got it.

It was a beautiful warm night. Not too many kids were out, but enough to make it a fun night. We visited our friends Ronnie and Bob's home, had dinner, then hit the streets hunting the candy. Afterwards the kids were pretty tired and just sat to devour their reward!

Lily was just too funny with this skeleton. She seemed to like him! When we were trick or treating the first few times the door was opened, Lily tried to walk in. She soon learned that they weren't inviting her in, but she certainly didn't mind the candy they gave her.

Ward Trunk-or-Treat

2008-11-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

So much fun to dress up and go out with the kids. Matthew was the Flash, Joey was a cowboy, Andrew was a pirate, and Lily a lady bug. I made a tutu for myself, bought some fake lashes, and borrowed Lily's tiara for my ballerina costume. I wasn't going to go for the tights though. I look silly with the jeans, but at least I dressed up. :)

Fall Break: CA Trip

2008-11-08T11:53:00.000-08:00

The kids get a week off from school in October. we took the opportunity to go to Cali and visit our family. We left on a Wednesday after Jess got done working (5pm) and drove all night long. With one short stop we were able to make it to my parents house in 5 1/2 hours. It was around 10:30, we were tired, but I felt like we had done a good job...especially with 4 kids in the back!

After a good nights sleep our first stop was Memere and Pepere's house (my grandparents, the kids great-grandparents). It takes a little under an hour to get there, but an hour will be a piece of cake compared to the night before. There's a mall that we go to at home that takes 40 minutes to get to! So when we get to Mem and Pep's we hear bad new's that MY great grandfather, who is 97 years old, has been taken to the hospital. He was found unconcious in his home. So the mood at Mem and Pep's was a little sad, but I was very glad that we were there together at that hard time. Family is good to have around when times are tough. My mom was also with us which was wonderful too. My great-grandfather lives in Massachusetts, so the frusterating part was that I wanted to go see him. I still do today. But he is doing well now. He's been moved out of the hospital, but he will probably never live on his own again. But we did have a nice visit with Mem and Pep. They seemed really grateful that we had come out. The pic above is the boys in the backyard. We spent the rest of the day hanging at my folks house, visiting and catching up.

The other place that we go is to Jess' parents house. They live in Colton. The kids LOVE to visit their Mama Elena and Papa Chuy! Whenever we go there the kids so look forward to seeing theiraunt, uncles, and cousins Gabby (pictured below with Lily) and Danielle. We had a wonderful visit with them and we were even able to go to one of Gabby's softball games on Saturday morning! We spent the rest of that day with Jess' parents, then back to Moreno Valley, to hang out, rest and pack up again to leave on Sunday.

I always look forward to seeing our families. Even though when we go it is a whirl wind of visits, everywhere we go we feel loved. it's a nice feeling! I look forward to next time!

Parent Teacher Confrences

2008-10-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Excuse me for a minute and let me be a bragging mom and tell you how great my kids are...

Last week, or so I was able to meet with each of Joey's and Matthew's teachers. And I don't know how I got so lucky to be the mom of two fantastic boys, but I am so grateful!!! Both of them have straight A's on their first report cards, and both of their teachers raved about how wonderful they are to have in class. Matthew's teacher (Miss Moss) says that he is a good example and always has a smile on his face. Joey's teacher (Miss Arnold) says that he has caught on to the routine very well and that he often has a story to tell her...oh, and that he has the best penmanship in his class so far!

It is so fun to see them do well, but it is more fun to see how proud they are of themselves when they do well. So our kindergarten (Joey) and 2nd grade (Matthew) years have started out better than I could have ever asked for. Thanks to good teachers, and two amazing kids!

First Time at the Beach

2008-08-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Before school started, we were able to make a trip out to Cali to visit the grandparents. My mom and dad (Val) were excited to show the kids the swing set they built for them in the backyard. Since we don't have one at our house, the kids were in heaven! Of course they played on it as soon as we got there, but they also ate their breakfast on it the next morning! It is a great swing set.

Lily was quick to get in on the action too. I know that she is a good climber (stairs, chairs, tables) but it surprised me when she climbed the ladder so effortlessly! She was so thrilled with herself! I was keeping her within arms reach, but she wasn't worried at all. One of the reasons I had to keep an eye on her was that once she got to the top she had access to the slide. Her idea of going down a slide had a little too much jumping and running for me...not quite enough sitting and sliding. :)

THEN IT WAS BEACH TIME!!!

We did some visiting with some family that we hadn't seen in a few years and since the kids had never been to the beach before, we were able to stop quickly before we had to leave. So upon their first time seeing the ocean, and the short amount of time we had to be there, I decided to leave them in their clothes (even though I had their trunks in the car).

It was so fun to see them with their feet in the ocean for the first time. The surprised looks on their faces when the chilly water ran over their feet was priceless.

At first Lily was unhappy with the fact that her feet were dirty. She wasn't a huge fan of the sand, but as we were there longer, she became more interested in the water and forgot all about her sandy feet.

Matthew started venturing out into the water to get shells. He got deeper and deeper. Joey and Andrew followed and it wasn't long until they were in hip deep.

So in an effort to keep half of their clothes dry, I took off their shirts, wishing that I had just put them in their trunks to begin with. But the fact that they were wearing their shorts and underwear didn't slow them down or bum them out at all. Can you tell?

Lily was hesitant to let the water even touch her at first, but she got into it. She would run up to the water, then run away from the wave as it chased her, squealing with delight all the way.

So there they are, buddies at the beach. We need to come back and plan a day that we can just come and play.

So before we drove back to my parents place, to avoid a wet car, I changed them into their dry swim trunks and put their mostly dry shirts back on them. It was worth it for all the fun they had!!!

Red Bull vs Chivas

2008-08-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

We were given tickets to a NY Red Bull vs Chivas soccer game! We considered making a date out of it for Jess and I, but it was a lot of fun to go with Matthew. Jess really wanted to take him with us. It went well because he had a great time. The seats were great. Center field, about 5 rows back. It was very loud, and that is what made it so fun, but Matthew started to get a headache, so we moved back a few rows. It was much quieter and we actually had a nicer view of the field. That worked out! Thanks for the tickets Bob!

EASTER!!!

2008-04-15T13:07:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our Easter

We traveled to California to celebrate Lily's birthday with our family. It was a couple weeks after her actual birthday and it happened to be Easter weekend too! So a birthday party on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. You can't get a better weekend!

We weren't at Grandma's house for very long before the kids started to decorate the eggs. It was Friday night and we had just driven 6 hours from Arizona to California. The boys spotted the colorful eggs that my mom had bought for them and wanted to get to work. They were eggs that were already dyed, drained and filled with confetti! Grandmas find the coolest stuff!

Andrew was done first because he said that he doesn't like "pretty stuff", so he grabbed a marker and put an "A" on each of his eggs, and that was it for him. Joey on the other hand really enjoyed the stickers and drawing pictures on his eggs. He also made sure that each one of his eggs had his name prominently displayed. He was so proud!

Matthew is very artistic and took his time using a variety of colors of markers and all sorts of stickers on his. He drew a few bunnies and worked at his the hardest. This was such a good idea of my moms and the boys had a blast. Plus we got to skip all of the messy egg dying!

The kid's baskets were beautiful. Filled with mostly toys and just enough candy. Thanks Mom! And the egg wands were a hit! Thanks Memere!

The egg hunt was great fun. And as you can see from Matthew's basket, there was plenty of eggs for all.

This picture is a little fuzzy, but it's the only one I have like this. They look so cute together. This is just before they discovered that there was money in some of the eggs. Matthew made out with $12. Joey got $9 and Andrew got $8. The Easter Bunny hooked it up!

Lily sucking on a jelly bean in her easter dress.

It is confetti time! What a blast this was! Especially when they started to pop them on Jess' head. Look at Andrew's great smile! I want to make it a new tradition of ours. A bit messy...OK, a lot messy. And confetti was everywhere. It even made it home with us in our suitcase. :)

This is our family

2008-01-08T16:21:00.001-08:00

Here is our most recent family picture. Starting at the top left, Joey is 4, Matthew is 7, Andrew is 3 and Lily is 9 months old. We take a picture every year as a Christmas present to my dad. I would've preferred Lily smiling, but it came out nicely. We are excited to start this blog and to share the happenings in our lives with you!