Easter Weekend

Happy Easter from the Reyes Family! :)

We had a fun and somewhat busy Easter Weekend.

On Friday, we went to an early Easter service at church. It was nice to praise God and be reminded of the HOPE GOD GIVES HIS CHILDREN. I am amazed each year at how important it is to remember His sacrifice for His children everyday, not just on Easter weekend. I read the 4 gospel stories of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection this past week and it just reminds me of HIS LOVE FOR ME. I feel so loved. Even when the world (devil) wants to beat us to the ground, I know that God is right by my side and helping me- giving me strength and courage and peace.

(I don't have the pics yet. Ben took them and hasn't uploaded the pics of Rachel.)

On Saturday, we pretty much took it easy for the morning and then we got ready to go to Concordia Lutheran Church for a huge Easter Egg Hunt. (We went there last year b/c we wanted Rachel to experience the Easter Egg Hunt, but our church didn't do a BIG one for all the kids. We also went to it last year b/c they had it in the gym at Concordia due to the cold weather we had.) We loved it! There was live music, refreshments, and this time, it was outside on the football field and MANY families went. We got there a bit late, but Yaya and Papa Richard got there just in time for the fun. They had the eggs in a big huge pile on the field and the kids started from the outside in, grabbing eggs. Since we were late, Yaya jumped right in and grabbed plenty so Rachel could have a chance to pic some up. (Papa Richard thought that they were going to be kicked out b/c she was taking them and putting them in her purse!) ;)

By the time we got there, most of the eggs were gone. So, Yaya and Papa Richard to the rescue!
Here are some pics of that outing...

Yaya was dropping them on the ground for Rachel to pick them up. Rachel was following Yaya like a little chick following the mother hen. ;)

Look at all the eggs she collected (thanks to Yaya). :)

Here's our little family! :)

Yaya and Papa Richard & Rachel (she looks up to them) :)

On Sunday, we went to La Villa's backyard (That's the Catholic church where my aunt works-she's like a mother superior or something like that- and where my mom works at their banquet hall). The back area is full of trees and a big open area for LOTS of people. My mom's family decided to meet there this year for a barbeque and fun. :) My aunt Paz did a wonderful job organizing and working to set up and cook and do everything to make it perfect for all of us. My family is so big, that we can't really get together at each other's houses b/c there are too many of us. So this big open area was perfect to sit each family (with all their kids and grandkids). It was nice to see many of my cousins and their growing children. (I wasn't able to take pics b/c we got there and then things just flew by and we were done.) :(
Before we went to this big family fun day, Rachel and I went to my parent's house to get Rachel's basket(s). Here are some pics of that fun time.

Not only did Rachel get cool Easter gifts, she also go this cute outfit to wear on Easter Sunday from Lala and Papa.

Rachel recieved 2 baskets full of fun little toys and trinkets.

Here Lala is opening the fairy necklace to reveal the fairy inside.

Lala hid some eggs out on their patio for Rachel to find.


I pray that you all had a wonderfully blessed Easter weekend. It's always nice to spend this time remembering God's love for HIS children. My favorite verse says it all, "For God so loved the world, that HE gave HIS one and only Son that whosoever believes in HIM many not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

Spring Break 2008

We've been quite busy this Spring Break. Ben has been home (pretty much busy with work), but he's taken some time throughout the week to spend time with his girls. :)

Here are some pics of our lovely Rachel. She's such a silly girl and she has quite a sense of humor. :)

Rachel has been wanting to wear her Easter hat from last year (she didn't want to wear them last year, but has had a change of mind about hats). ;)

Blowing kisses!

Closing her eyes... she's being super silly now! ;)

Every time Rachel wants to dance, she asks for her b-day dress. Well, I remembered this dress that Lala got her A VERY LONG time ago. We put it on her and it fit perfectly (it's a 4T, so I was holding it for when she was a 4T). She also wanted to put on her b-day tiara. I was surprised that she called it her b-day tiara b/c I never called it that before. I asked her where she called it and she said, "This is b-day tiara like Max and Ruby (one of her favorite shows on Noggin)." ;)

On Wednesday, I was able to meet up with my old friend, Kim. I've not seen her since I left Carson Elem. to stay home with Rachel. She was such a dear friend, I called her my sister. She was quite a worker with our special needs kiddos. She definitely was a god-send to me. My mom and Aunt Paz were able to join us for our "sister reunion". (My uncle John and Dad came along and were able to catch up and talk about manly stuff.) ;)

I can't blog much longer, but I wanted to share the next picture. :) (It was GREAT!!!)

Here's the whole story: Ben and I went to see Phantom 13 yrs ago (Spring Break senior year '95). We were just friends and dated some at that time. Going to Phantom, though, changed things between us. I knew that he was seriously wanting to start a relationship with me. He planned a special night for us... he picked me up and took me to have drinks (sodas of course) at La Mansion and from there a limo picked us up to go see the show. It was so nice and elegant and I was TERRIFIED about the whole thing! ;) We had a blast. We've seen it 3 more times since Mar '95. ;)

He heard that it was coming to SA again, so he kept asking if we should go. I told him that I didn't think we should b/c of the lack of money. He kept asking, but we convinced ourselves that we should just save the money instead. Well, Thursday after I worked, I came home and he says, "Let's go see Phantom!" I told him, "Really!?" He said, "Let's get dressed up and drive down there and see the show." AND that's what we did! It was so nice! I was enjoying it so much more than ever before. It was such a blessing from God to be able to go out with Ben and just enjoy the LOVELY evening. It was FABULOUS! :)

Lala's blue robe

My mom has a blue robe that is "plushy" (for lack of a better word) and Rachel just LOVES it! We went over last week to visit while mom was getting ready and she had her beloved blue "plushy" robe on. The first thing Rachel did was run to her and rub her face against mom's robe and then hid herself inside. I was too late to catch the one where Rachel was wrapping herself in my mom's robe, but I did get this pic. :)

Wednesday is Toddler Time at the library

A few weeks ago, Rachel and I found a new library very close to home. It is new and small and just wonderful!!! We go there many times a week now. I found out 2 weeks ago that they have "Toddler Time" for kids 18 mos.-24 mos each Wednesday. (They have another story time for older kids (2-5 yrs. old) right after that.) We happened to go to the last part of the story time for older kids 2 weeks ago and Rachel loved it. I decided to get her ready on Wed. morning (of last week) to take her to the 2 sessions. She had so much fun. We didn't really get to interact with many people, but just to see her singing the songs, listening to the stories, and making the crafts was GREAT! Here are some pics of Rachel in action at the library.

Here are the finally products (they were reading stories about chicks and chickens).

Meeting Chandler...

Chandler sleeping so peacefully

(eventhough Rachel was singing super loud right in front of him).

Chance (2 yr. old), Angie, and Chandler (1 wk old)- Mr. Chuck was outside getting Charlie (4 yr old son).

Yesterday, Rachel and I were able to go visit The Thiers and meet baby Chandler (born a little over a week ago). What a delight it was to see the whole family looking so good and Chandler is just a handsome little thing. I got to hold him for a bit and was so nervous to hold such a tiny baby again! (I have forgotten so many things since it's been a few years since I've done it!) ;)

He was sleeping so pleasantly. It was GREAT!! Angie looks fabulous!

Rachel loved visiting because she got to play with Charlie and Chance for a bit. She was also quite entertained with the "It's a boy!" balloons. :) She was acting like she was in her own home; she kept dancing and singing and checking out everything (even what Mr. Chuck was doing on the computer). ;) I am so happy that they are all home and settling in.

We have been so blessed to get to know The Thiers. They are such a wonderful family.

May God continue to bless their family. :)

What kind of mother....

does this to her little girl??? (Yes- out in public.)

Let me explain this outfit...

Tuesday is a FUN and EXCITING day for us because we go to bible class. Rachel loves bible class because her teachers Ms. Jay and Ms. Brenda are the best and her classmates are so much fun to play with. The crafts are interesting (for a 2 yr. old,that's a must) and the toys and playground are so exciting! She just loves to go and we never have a problem dropping her off in her class.

I usually leave her with her Dora backpack filled with a change of clothes and a pull-up (just in case). I've made sure that the bag was stocked with a pull up and I knew there were clothes in there, so I figured we were good to go for any unexpected accidents. ;)

To my horror, this is how I picked up Rachel from Bible class. YEP, she had missed the toilet and pottied on her shirt and pants, so they had to put on her extra clothes.

AUGH!!! I HAD NOT PUT IN CLOTHES FOR THE APPROPRIATE SEASON/WEATHER (the last time I updated the "change into outfit" was probably in the summer time)! OOPS!!!

My daughter looked like a little bag lady! I was so embarrassed that I hadn't done my job and updated the clothes that I picked her up and took her straight to the car to get a change of clothes in there. *I found that the clothes in the car weren't any better than this one!

As soon as I got home, I filled the backpack with appropriate clothes (and because our weather is so up and down, I put in two different outfits to fit any climate)! ;)

It really isn't that bad, but I felt like I had neglected my little Rachel by not checking on these things beforehand! ;)

Now, here are some pics of Rachel with her new sunglasses from her Easter Egg Hunt in bible class. :) She's holding the "basket" that they made in class too! :) Too fun!

Saturday- Best Man's Birthday

Last Saturday, Rachel and I celebrated Jonathan's (best man at our wedding and OLD FRIEND-since middle school for Ben and high school for me) b-day! He and his wife, Barb (which I LOVE your hair style- it's just right) hosted this celebration at BigZ Burgers here in SA. It was fun to see some old and dear friends. :)
I've known Jonathan as long as I've known Ben, we were all percussionist in the Tom C. Clark HS Marching Band! Go BQs! ;) He and Ben continued on to join the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets (B-CO) and met many other wonderful guys and gals. Two other buddies (from the corps) and families came along to celebrate this happy occasion. Rob (B-CO buddy), Anna, Kristen and Grace; Mike (B-CO buddy), Christi, Alexis and Anthony; Rachel and I (Ben couldn't go b/c he had class that night); Jonathan, (B-CO buddy) Barb and Morgan. It was sooooo good to see the girls all play together and for me to catch up with the wives. ;) It was a great time and it flew by so fast! I was able to hold Morgan for the first time! She's a doll. :)

It was sad that Ben wasn't able to go, but he urged me to go on behalf of the Ben Reyes clan. I just love to see the guys together b/c they have such a great time talking about EVERYTHING. It's fun to watch. We are going to have to plan another get together when Ben's schedule isn't CRAZY. ;) He was happy to hear about how well everyone is doing. :)

Thanks for the fun time Barb, Morgan and Jonathan. :)

Baby Jaguar

We went to the zoo last Saturday because it was the first Saturday in a few weeks that Ben was home. (He's been helping kids out at school to prepare for the TAKS test.) We were so happy to be together as a family again on the weekend! You really miss those times when you don't have them as frequently.

We made sure to check out the African Safari part. (Last time we went was the first weekend that part was open and many of the animals weren't there and the gift shop wasn't open.) We DID go to the gift shop, this time and Daddy just had to buy Rachel an overpriced stuffed animal.

So now, I'd like to introduce you to Baby Jaguar! :)

Here Rachel is holding Baby Jaguar and her book all about Dora helping Diego find Baby Jaguar. ;)

Pepto Bismol anyone?

Okay, the other blog template just wouldn't and couldn't grow on me. It was too pink and it was like Pepto Bismol threw up all over it! Really, just check out their website here. ;)

Anyhow, thanks for putting up with the color too for these last few weeks. It's been awful! I will choose more wisely if I change it again soon.

Welcome Chandler James Thier!

Chandler James Thier was born to my good friends Angie and Chuck on Saturday, March 1st. He weighed 8lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. He was a big baby (he still had 2 more weeks to go full term). ;) Angie did great and Chandler is doing well. (He had a rough start with his breathing and was in the NICU for a few nights.) I have not seen them in person, but check out Angie's blog to see the pics. :) Charlie and Chance are the excited older brothers! :)

May God continue to bless this wonderful family! :)

Welcome Baby Emerson Nicole Cowan!

I wanted to blog about this last weekend...
On Sunday, February 24th, my wonderful sis-in-law Vanessa gave birth to her 3rd child, Emerson Nicole Cowan! :) She is so precious and tiny. :) Vanessa is recovering well from the c-section. She's such a fabulous wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. :)
Mike (proud dad), Matthew (big brother) and Allison (big sister) were delighted to welcome Emerson into their family. Yaya (Yolanda) is a proud grandma. She's in VA for a few weeks to help Vanessa and the family- what a god-send.
We're so happy to have another niece (and cousin for Rachel). :)

2-24-08

Happy Birthday Kelly!!! :)
We weren't able to see Kelly on her b-day (2-24-08), but we did see her on Monday night. I made dinner for us all and baked a cake for her too. :) Here are the pics of Rachel and Kelly singing Happy B-day and blowing the candles out.

The cake is yummy! ;) Rachel loves cake and here she is licking off the icing. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Sunday, we were invited to my parent's house for burgers and hot dogs. Aunt Lilia and Uncle Ashley, Uncle Rick, Aunt Grace, Sam & Anjelica were all invited too.
Sam plays on his praise team at Harvest Fellowship now. :) He was playing beautiful songs for us. Rachel wanted to play the piano along with Sam. Anjelica was watching. :)

Rachel wanted to get in on the action too. Here she is singing with her microphone.

Rachel loves the dirt pile in front of my parent's patio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is Rachel playing outside on our patio.
I put the foam letters out for her to sit on and took out her Little People Circus to play with.