I heart Christmas

I heart Christmas

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, I boutght this roll of paper from Costco 3 years ago and it just keeps on going, it's the never ending paper and I don't even like it that much. But bags are always easier.

2. Real tree or Artificial? REAL
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually Day after Thanksgiving, this year Sunday after Thanksgiving. THANKS MR. DUNBAR
4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Eve-ish
5. Do you like eggnog? I despise anything with eggs.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Clothes every year... Oh but I did get this Barbie Rock-Star stage once along with the pink Corvette...

8. Easiest person to buy for? Myself... ha. Ummmm, all of my guys are pretty easy.

9. Do You have a nativity scene? Yes, I have four or so. That's the true meaning behind all of this. Only one "Santa" goes up and he's a St. Nicholas in a green suit.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I hated getting cheap candles or teddy bears when I was teaching, .

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November. I usually try to be done by Thanksgiving... not this year though.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes... something has to be turned over to the White Elephant.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Tamales and fudge.
16. Lights on the tree? Lots.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Rocking around the Christmas Tree and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Both, but the travelling is pretty local.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Foresure
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both. We open with the Dunbar's on the Eve and my family on the morning of.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Rude people.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love all of my Hallmark keepsake ornaments and I go with gold accents.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Tamales, baby!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Lots of stuff. Most of which can be found at the Home Depot... new ladder, new cabinets, molding, baseboard trim, paint, hinges, knobs...

I will post my list soon, for all of you folks with lots of extra mula...

Turkey Day Re-cap...

Several years ago my mom started the tradition of having Thanksgiving Breakfast to ease the travelling between families for my brothers and I. This year with all of the chaos of my Grandpa's passing my sister-in-laws and I put the meal together, which I think turned out fabulous. And with all of the work divided, nobody was super stressed. Amber made eggs, a fruit platter and cinnamon rolls. I made a ham, some of our traditional side dishes (yams and green beans.) Erica, ok Adam, made the potatoes and brought tortillas. Us Mexicans always have tortillas instead of rolls for breakfast. Anyhow, here are a few pictures of our day...

All of the V cousins, all six, even the G-Man who slept pretty much the whole time.

Trying to get a family picture... yeah right!

Bogie and I.

The kids table... Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, now that's Thanksgiving!

I made the ham, Monkey helped. Check out the recipe here.

Thankfulness

Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.
Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.
Glory in His holy name. Let the heart of those who seek His name be glad.
1 Chronicles 16:7

I am thankful for a God who is bigger than I am. I am thankful for all of my blessings, and even those things that I am not counting as blessings right now, He knows.
Have a happy day.
Oh and if you are reading this, I am thankful for you, too!

Friends and A Funeral

Yesterday was my Grandpa's funeral. It was a cold (California cold) day. Gloomy, supposed to rain. The services were in in Spanish and actually not that long... My brother gave a beautiful speech of my grandpa's life with my grandma.

We didn't take the boys. With all of my family attending the service I was in need of a babysitter. I had two friends offer to watch my boys. TWO.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful women surround me and love me.

If you know me, you know that I am not the "nice one" (that's another post coming soon). But I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends. My friend Erin offered to watch the boys with no time attachment as soon as she heard things were towards the end for my Grandpa. As soon as my friend Katie found out my grandpa had passed, she immediately offered to watch the boys. To be honest, I don't think I would have ever thought of offering such a relief if the tables were turned. (Hence, I am not the nice one.) But I will think of it now. It was a such a comfort to know that my boys were going to be taken care of and I wouldn't have to worry about them.

I did pick the boys up and take them to my Grandparent's house for the reception afterward. Babies have a way of calming everyone and bringing joy to those around them.

Thanks friends for your prayers, your wonderful thoughts, and your love.

Gerber

Doesn't my kid look like a Gerber baby?

Hot Topic

Money seems to be a hot topic these days. Or atleast the lack of money seems to be a hot topic.



I don't like the word "budget". I think it should be considered a four-letter word (aka bad word.)



I like to spend money, well I like new things. I do.



When Mr. Dunbar and I got married he put me on a budget. Talk about a source of contension. I was so angry and frustrated. We were on a dual income with no kids and a small house. I wanted to do what I wanted when I wanted. ( Because that's how marriage works, right?) Mr. Dunbar stuck to his guns and didn't let me waiver on what money would be allocated where. I was still sore about the whole budget thing. But you know what, it gave me boundaries, it gave him a sense of leadership, and it put money in the bank. Hence, I am at home now. I wish I would have gotten to read this article five years ago.

Wordless Wednesday

What I loved about Grandpa Elias

Grandpa Elias passed away yesterday morning. He had his wife and all four of his kids by his bedside.

I was told it was peaceful.

I've been keeping myself busy. Busy, busy, busy... its what I do to keep functioning. But I was eating lunch with the boys today and my memories of him kept flashing in my mind.

I loved how my Grandpa would open the door and in his broken english accent say "Who ees theees moooo-veee starrr??" (Who is this movie star?) Every single time I rang the door bell to my grandparents house.

I was also his " Aww-glee g-errrl" (Ugly girl) that pee peed in his car. Hey I was two!!

He would always always buy me a package of saladitos on his 7am run to the store.

No matter how early I got up he would always be sitting in his chair.

I loved hearing the stories about how he and my grandma would put records on the player and dance in the living the room.

My grandpa was a great dancer, always booogying on the dance floor.

I loved how he would wear shorts with dress socks and loafers and his twiggy white legs sticking out.

I love how he always just smelled the same.

I love how he looked at my boys like they were angels.

He was a sentimental man, kind, old school, dedicated... and loving.

I will miss Grandpa Elias.

Stats

Husbands: 1

Children : 2

Parents:2

Siblings: 2

Brother-in-laws: 1

Sister-in-laws: 3

Nieces/Nephews: almost 6

First cousins: 30

What about you?

Taking it Old School...

Yesterday we celebrated Monkey's 3rd birthday. For the past month Mr. Dunbar and I went back and forth of whether or not to have a party. I wasn't feeling very "theme-ish" and I am all "pirate-d" out, so I sent an evite to our closest family and friends inviting them to come over and play. The turn out was great and I think it was actually a whole lot of fun. It really reminded me of the birthday parties I had growing up: some pizza, cake, ice cream, lots of family, some friends, and maybe a some colored napkins. No theme. Just birthday.

Here are few of the pictures...

Notice how my kid chose a pink and yellow cake! I didn't even ask why.

The Latest Edition

Introducing the latest addition to our family....

My youngest brother and his wife welcomed
Baby Gregory
6 pounds 10 ounces
20 inches long

He was delivered by the same midwife that delivered Monkey. Ms. Beouy rocks!
Mommy and Daddy are doing fine, we were all a little more worried about Daddy... sights and smells disturb him sometimes.

Welcome to parenthood guys!

The little guy was born with LONG nails, so Auntie had to cut them, don't worry I only made him cry once. Eeek.
Pictures forthcoming when he gets to meet his cousins.

The Adult Version

You can order a sausage at Costco instead of a hotdog, and you will be ordering the adult version. Just so you know.



As said by E.

Wordless Wednesday

Somehow I forgot to post yesterday... Anyhow here are the Wednesday pictures. Enjoy.

Blush and Bashful

One of my favorite quotes ever, from a movie is "My colors, Mama, are blush and bashful." (Pink and pink.) MY QUESTION: Can you name the movie???

And in some akward transition...

Breast cancer affects so many women. My maternal grandmother is a survivor of breast cancer. I applaud women who make an effort to support research to stop such a cruel disease.

Head over here to Southern Accent for a chance to win a very cool Blush and Bashful tee to support Breast Cancer, because the disease continues past October.
Hurry because it closes on Friday. Go girls, go...

Hello, I'm Anonymous

Okay, so I was informed that "Anonymous" writers could not comment on my blog. I thought this person was just computer challenged, until I was informed by a computer techie (ie Kim) that, no anonymous writer's comments were being accepted. SOOOO, I investigated and they were right. My settings were blocking the anonymous.
Today I changed that.
Yippeee....
Now Erin, Mom, and Kim, and everyone else can comment away.
I love comments!!!

Holy Cow

Holy Cow,

there are only 6 weeks until Christmas!

Have you been naughty or nice?

TJ's Freezer

I got to go into the freezer at Trader Joe's. My mom's group set up a field trip to tour our local store. It was pretty neat. We saw the box machine that crushes all of the cardboard boxes to be recycled (very earth friendly), the freezer, the refrigerator, and some of their products. At the end of our tour. Each child received a bag with a juice box, apple, and parrot cookies. All of this for FREE. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, and you belong to a group with kids, call them up, I'm sure they all give tours. And who can pass up a FREE field trip these days? Good times.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Lunch Today

I subbed today for one of my closest teacher friends. So it was sad that she wasn't in the lunch room, but I finally got to sit at the tables and just chit chat with my friends. I miss that.
Kim was talking about the seasonal allergies of her son. The other Kim was telling me about the cruise she's going to take. Ali was elated about her new house and sharing about all of her plans... starting with new flooring and paint. Casey was telling us about her snowman mailbox that she just had buiilt. The snowman brick monstrosity that it is was not intentional. She thinks it's hideous.
And I was laughing so hard.
I miss my girl bonding time. I'm glad I have a job of sorts where I can still peek in on their lives and share in their moments and then come home to my life and my men. (Who knows how long this will last.) I've learned to be careful of what I wish for. But this time I am wishing for lasting friendships.

I'm addicted

I am totally addicted to Tillamook cheese.

Have you ever had it? It it so delicious. They are based out of Oregon, and supossedly make everything dairy. I have only had their cheese. I'm not a cheese connossieur, usually I buy Stater Bros. brand cheese, atleast I did until I was turned onto Tillmook by my sister-in-law. (Yet a different sister-in-law.)
I just had to share my discovery. It's really reasonably priced too. If you get it at the right place. My Costco has it, and if you have a Winco its pretty cheap there too.
I've been buying a whole lot more generic or store brand recently, but you better believe I will not go generic for cheese again.
What do you refuse to go generic on?
Oh and ketchup is always Heinz 57, always. Mr. Dunbar only eats Heinz.

Not your typical...

We had a baby shower for my sister-in-law this past weekend. But it wasn't your typical baby blue and fuzzy cozy shower. It was a real grown up shower.

It took me like 20 hours to put the gift bags together. Next time I'll leave that to my other SIL. She's the creative one. The visionary of sorts. I'm more like the Technical Director. They turned out okay in the end. There were also little boxes with drawer sachets. Very ladylike.

Dessert. YUM! I don't like cheesecake but this one was very decadent.

Can you see all of the vintage spoons? Check out the history of the "silver spoon."

I thought I was taking tons of pictures, well I did. It just wasn't with my camera. So there are no people pictures to post. Oh well. You get the idea.

Any other non-typical baby shower ideas you have to share?

Go VOTE!

Have you voted yet?

Even though its over...

Here are some of our Halloween pictures... They are out of order, but you get the idea.

Monkey refused to wear his pirate coat, so no my kid is not supposed to be a homeless child, he's supposed to look like Captain Braidbeard. Anybody know where that's from?

Trick or Treating at our neighbors houses. They didn't give us candy they gave us gifts; books, cars, coloring books, flashlights, sippy cups... insane. But so loving.

Palin/ McCain at our church's Trunk N Treat.

Going to the islands at church.

The fam in the street.

Bogie and I. Aargh!

The BIG FIVE

Five years ago today...

Look at how happy I am and Mr. Dunbar is. Then look at my dad... "I'll get you man." Hilarious!

Let's party.

"To have to hold from this day on..."

I love you Mr. Dunbar.

Happy Anniversary.