2010-An unforgetable year!

2010 was a busy year to say the least for our family. I know we're already 1/2 way through January, but I thought I'd post a review from last year. It was fun yet emotional. I will never forget it this past year.

*My first born, very smart, remembers things I have forgotten, funny, wants to know it all Arianna turned 3 in March! She had a princess themed birthday party with princess doll cakes. I'm not kidding when I say this, but she's got her birthday's planned for the next two years. Just ask her.

(Kristy, I'm making one of these princess dolls for your 30th birthday! HA!)

*Call me crazy, but I ran the Nashville Music City 1/2 Marathon. What an awsome experience. I would do it all over again. I had never ran in my life prior to this. I had to really committ myself and continually tell myself, "I can do this!" I was not going to give up! I had to train 3-5 times a week with Saturday's or Sunday's being my long mile runs. I literally ran the entire race the day off praying and repeating in my head, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." When I finished I couldn't help but get emotional. I was so happy! I felt like I had accomplished so much. Crossing that finish line was such an ordeal for me.

Here I am with friends (Emily and Ryan) and family (Angela and Randy) who also ran the race. A lot of my training was done with Emily and I totally appreciated her encouragment. Thanks!

*Who can forget the 2010 Flood?! Many homes were flooded, causing families to become homeless for a short while. The water was practically in our backyard (notice the corner)! Yikes! We have a small creek, dry most of the time, that runs along those back trees. This is what it became...a lake! We had water front property.

*The Eddy Family goes on vacation to Arkansas. Yep you read right. NEVER AGAIN! Meaning vacationing in the state Arkansas. The location was chosen because it was less than a 5 hour drive for the family and we were able to find a place to fit 15 people. I had fun with the family, but Arkansas was just boring! All we did was swim and canoed. We didn't know what to do or where to go. Every town around us had nothing. Not my kind of vacation. Oh and my daughters got really sick causing one of the families to leave a day early. :(

*Robert graduated with a Masters degree in Accounting!!! I was such a proud wife. After two years of working and going to school at nights, I know he was relieved it was over. I sure was! Sorry, no pics on this computer to show him off in his robe.

*Awwh, My American Idol Experince. Auditions came to Nashville, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Yep I was one of those! I can't say I regret spending 13 hours of my day doing this because I know for a fact that if I hadn't gone, I would have thought, 'what if?' This was my last year to give this a try. I'll be too old next time around. Well, unfortunately, I didn't make it through. Out of thousands that were there, I maybe saw 100 tickets given away. I'm ready to start watching this seasons American Idol just to see if I see any of these peeps or myself in the crowd. Ha! Oh and you wouldn't think it by looking, but the blonde kid had a voice!!!! This was literally his 4th time trying out too, however he's got a lot of time. he's only 17. I hope to see him.

*My baby, not so baby anymore Avonlea turned 1! She's a hot mess! Avonlea makes me laugh so hard. She's so funny and she's at that age where I wish she would stay her size. She's big enough to walk, yet small enough that I can still hold her and pretend she's a baby. Here she is getting into her very first cake ever!

She was truly enjoying it!

*Dave Ramsey's 13 week Financial Peace University Class led by Ryan and Emily. We decided it was time for us to keep track of our financial spendings and be debt free. Yep it takes sacrifices, but what a feeling. We were already somewhat good at it, but wanted to get better and start living a life like no one else. What a fun and encouraging class it was. I would encourage everyone to take this if you want to get out of debt and live at peace. We're done with credit card debt! Yay! Now we're tackling student loans. The opportunties for me being a stay at home mommy are right around the corner! Yay!
*DC trip! This was so fun. What drove us to go, was Glenbecks "Restoring Hope" rally. He listens to him ALL the time. We made it a long weekend and went without the girls. We had so much fun yet didn't see everything. I got to see some friends from the area and do what tourists do best! We can't wait to go again in September.

Here we are at the mall in front of the capitol. What a fun place to be!

*My 10 year high school reunion! I was not going to let anyone stop me from going. I had been looking forward to this day forever. I seriously had so much fun catching up with everyone. That's all it was about, not because I cared about them or even liked them back then, but it was fun seeing the people I went to High School with. I had so much fun knowing what everyone was up to, what they looked like, and where they were in life. I will most definitely go to our 20th.

Here we are all prettied up! Seeing one of my crushes! I really thought he was so cute back in the day. He was a soccer player and well I looked forward to being in any of his classes. Sadly, he never liked me. Yep, I'm sure I talked Kristy's head off as she too liked his Australian buddy Tyson. :) Reconnecting with friends was the best part of the night! We shared so many funny memories of teachers and people and some bad highschool memories too.
*Robert gets a job as an Auditor for Crosslin & Associates. After his contract expired with Rural Development back in May when he graduated, he didn't have a job. He took the summer to study for 3 parts of his CPA. Looking back now, I'm so grateful he did this. It would have been really tough for him to work the hours he does now and study at the same time.

*My sister Noemi announced she was pregnant for the 3rd time. We're all crossing our fingers hoping it's a girl.

*Several friends (3 to be exact) have babies all within a day of each other!!! Laura had Grayson, Amanda had Emelia, and Kim had Sloan.

*One of my closest friends-Renee announces she's pregnant with her first! yay!

*Once Robert got his job, it was time for girls to go into daycare. This was very hard on me. REALLY! I did a ton of research, toured many area daycares and finally found one that was reasonably priced. Because I want to be home with them so badly, leaving them in Daycare from 7am-5:30pm was so hard for me. My mom used to do it but because of her health conditions, was unable to. 10 hours in a daycare with other people is a long day! I miss them.

1st week of school

*Mom turns 50! My wonderful mom deserved a BIG party. So us girls planned a nice birthday surprise for her. She enjoyed every minute of it. We even did a slide show of her from when she was little until now. It was hard trying to sneak these pictures from her house without her knowing. We did a fall theme since her favorite season is fall too. We invited all her close friends and had a big dinner feast for her. It was awesome.
*Susan Komen's 5k race for the cure. This was something I participated in just to honor my moms victory of breast cancer. This meant a lot to me and I will be running it again. This year my goal is to have her do it with me.

*Mercy Ministries 5k race. Another wonderful experience with meaning behind it! Not only is Mercy Ministries a great organization to help young women with dibilitating circumstances, but I ran with friends, and my dear husband.

*My birthday-29! Yikes, I'm almost 30. My birthday weekend was great! I seriously did something every night! It was so much fun. Friday night I celebrated at yummy Chuey's with these wonderful girlfriends.

and with some of their spousesMy cutie husband all professional! Saturday morning I got up and met Kristy at our usual spot-Starbucks! Great conversation as usual and guess what...my friend here hates whip cream, but for my birthday she asked for it! We then went ice skating! It had been forever!!! But I actually picked it up pretty fast. I never fell. And then following that, got together that night to eat and play a scavenger hunt which was OMG fun!! I felt like a little kid running around.

Here I am. Yes. In a bath tub with 3 pretty awesome guys.

They proposed at Kroger! And finally we ended my birthday night doing an indian dance at the Shell station. Oh and one last thing, Robert surprised me with tickets to the Christmas Spectacular-The Rocketts. Tickets were for December 3rd, but we celebrated my birthday that night anyways by not only going to the show, but going out to a nice dinner and then going to the Flying Saucer to meet with some friends. It was a fun night. *My made my very first turkey ever!!! I was literally stressed out. It turned out delicious though (even though the picture doesn't show it) and very juicy.

*My mom was once again diagnosed with Breast Cancer right before Christmas. When she found the lump, we all feared but knew God was in total control. Results came back and she again had stage 2 cancer. She's fighting the hard battle!

*Robert passed the last portion of his CPA!!! He's now a certified public accountant. He passed all 4 parts of the test the first time around. I'm so proud of him and all the time he put into studying. This was a huge deal! HUGE! Great Christmas present without a doubt. God truly blessed him.

*Christmas was wonderful with both sides of the family. For pictures scroll down a couple blogs and you'll see them there.

*Celebrated New Years eve with great friends!

Guys did their own thing as you can see.

Here is the hubs and me ending the new year! Happy New Years!

Overall 2010 was a great year. It was filled with happiness and sadness that have helped us move forward. God bless you in this new year. Looking forward to seeing what 2011 will bring.

Taking it back to the 80's!

My hubster turned 30 today!!! Happy birthday love.

He's no longer a 20's kid, but an adult now! Hard to believe that I've known him for 11 years now.

This past year has proven to be quite challenging and stressful for him. I'm so proud of him for all he's accomplished and God has truly blessed him/us. 2010 is a year he'll never forget (also his last year in the 20's). He received his Masters degree in Accounting, passed each of the 4 parts of the CPA all in the first try, and has a real accounting job now as an auditor for Crosslin & Assoc. In his words, "My life is just now beginning. It's been fun, but it's just now starting."

So for his 30th, I decided it would be nice to get all his close friends and family together for a big 80's celebration. Robert was born in 1981 (**me too**) and so I decided it would be fun to go back to that decade.

We had so much fun. Really. I decided to put balloons everwhere (floor and ceiling-old school, think proms back in the day). I picked tableclothes that were colorful and on the center of each table I put a rubix cube, casset tapes, simon says and pictures of Robert. I also put a whole bunch of pictures of him throughout the room from the time he was born until about 9ish years old.

Here we are back to the 80's. Robert went as Marty Mcfly (from back to the future) and I went as an 80's punk rockster type...whatever you want to call me. I put on the scrunchie, hot pink eye makeup and leg warmers.

Instead of the typical cake, I decided to do his favorite dessert-Brownies and ice cream. I had a friend sketch pac man on the brownies.

Here's the room prior to everyone arriving.

To make it seem 80's, I had Robert's dad (without Robert knowing) bring out the nintendo and atari. It was a hit!
The guys playing pool...check it out..they dressed! I was so happy people dressed.

We had 80's karoke!!

Foosball table!

Lots of great people to make this party the best eva!

And last but not least...we took it back to the 80's by dressing up. It was probably the hot topic of the night and the most funny. Check everyone out. I think they all did such a great job.

My friend Emily sporting out her hightops (notice the bow).

Nick and Kacey

Robert's sister Angela and Randy

Damaris and her friend Alma

Me!

My beautiful 80's sisters...1981, 82, 83 and 87.

Jaime and Eunice

I think Noemi's outfit cracked me up the most...especially when my mother-in-law said she used to wear this kind of stuff. Too funny! She came in 3rd place (we had a fashion show too!)Brandon and June came in 2nd.

Gina, rockin the sporty look.

Heather and PhillipToyo came as Urkel (He did great!-3rd place)

Ryan and Emily as 80's teenagers (Honorable mention)

Rocker couple who won first place-Mike and Annette

I think overall the party went really well, from the fashion show to karoke to video games. Robert really enjoyed it and that's what mattered most of all. It was a fun night and lots
of great memories. Happy 30th Birthday....I'm ready to see how this first year for you in the 30's will play out. :)

Christmas Recap

I've been bad. I know! Lots has actually happened and I haven't made the time for blogging. One of my goals for this year is to get better, heck get a few more followers. :)

Here's a quick recap of Christmas...yes CHRISTMAS peoples! It's only been a week and a half so get off my bootay.

I'll start with showing you a few pics of my living room, foyer and dining room. Just a few touches that made our home feel a little more christmasey.

My cozy living room area-notice fire going and all my christmas cards on my mantel.

Robert's grandmother passed away before the holidays last year (or 2009) and this Nativity set was passed down to him after her passing. We have to display it since it's a family tradition handed down to him. One day, when the girls are older I'll have it under a tree or over by fireplace or something. Avonlea is into EVERYTHING and this is way too fragil! Actually even Arianna my 3 year old wanted to play with them as if they were Barbies or something and I had to yell at her several times to GET AWAY! I think Robert would freak if something happened to this.

My foyer...blue and silver

Last year after having Avonlea, we decided to purchase a 'fun' christmas tree for the girls to decorate. We had a lot of fun! Arianna really enjoyed it and Avonlea really thought she was helping. It was cute. We went with an old theme I had (silver and blue) until the girls collect whatever ornaments they bring home from school or the oraments they'll pick out after christmas every year.

Our trees. The girls fun tree with silver and blue with multi color lights (not my favorite but it's not for me). And our somewhat not finished yet pretty tree. It's chocolate browns, golds and lime green. I absolutely love-once it's all complete of course (yep no bow, crazy ribbon, angel, star, etc...I will next year though!).

Christmas Eve-Ruiz family comes to mi casa! The fun we have together! We always have so much fun. We are the typical Hispanic family....LOUD and probably annoying to most who don't understand us. I don't think Robert will ever get over the fact that we AREN'T arguing. haha. The only white guy-besides my blonde girls of course!

Here we are eating! What we do best! We're all about my momma's puerto rican speciality yummy arroz con gandoles and so much more!

It took us over 2 hours to open presents! Literally. We always open presents at midnight/christmas morning/Christmas eve-whatever you want to call it. I've asked for earlier as we take so long and I'm old now. It takes more than 2 people to convince my big familia to change the hour of opening gifts since it takes us so dang long.

Reason: because we watch everyone open each present. It's fun and we know whether they like what we've picked out for them and to see the excitment on their faces is the best!

It was 3:30am before I got to bed to then wake up with my child poking me in the forhead to get up at 6:30am so she could play with her toys. Talk about no sleep! oh and in case you are wondering...the kids open their presents at 8pm and then go to bed.

The kids (4 to be exact-one on the way from my sister)

After opening gifts we all sit together on the floor and then take group pictures...something we do each year!

My girls in their christmas jammies before going to bed on Christmas Eve. They are my life.

Front view of my fireplace-see if you can find yours. :)

Christmas Day!

The Eddy Household. This is their living room peoples! Look at all those gifts! the couch was filled too! It was insane. Truly insane. I really am grateful at how much the girls are loved, but this is a little too much!!!!! I feel as though they can't learn the true meaning of Christmas when there's this many gifts. This goes for both families. I don't know....just sayin'. I don't want them to think that christmas is all about gifts...and of course I told my girls that the true meaning of christmas is Christ and how God gave his son to us and how God is love. Of course at 3 years old though, it's a bit hard to really understand this. She (Arianna) really wanted to rip open presents.

Here's Avonlea, a little grumpy, but ready to get those presents open!!

Can you tell Arianna is a little too excited! I thought this was funny! 'gotta get to the big gift, big gift, big gift!' Look at her hair at how fast she turned around to open more.

Showing off her Princess Barbie doll collection.

Avonlea opening presents..isn't she just precious!

Robert's family is very giving and I love them very much for wanting to give them lots, but at the same time I'd rather them put that money towards a college fund. Because later, they'll truly appreciate it more than toys.

And finally the girls and me once again on Christmas night. This is sad, but I can find a picture of the 4 us of together. I was horrible this year at taking pictures of Robert and the girls together and just getting some of us the family. And for some reason I didn't take many pictures while at the Eddy's! At least not of all us together. I know they took some so I'll have to get copies.

Any whoodles, there you have it. Our Christmas was fun as usual. It only gets better each year. I enjoy both my families and look forward to all our future christmas's together.