Reasons to go to Paraguay

Last night I was on the phone with my mom when Ashley told her that she wants to get on an airplane with her and go to Paraguay. Then she kept telling her to come visit and it was cute the way she asked my mom to come. Anyways as you can imagine my mom is planning on coming to get her again! We told her that January is the best time so Tim could spend time with her over Christmas Break and Ashley is very excited about it. Today she got mad at me because she wanted to go inside a friend's house when we were just dropping something off so she said " Mama Cristi, Paraguay, Ok Mommy, Ok, No silly, Paraguay, Paraguay" I laughed so hard. I could not believe that. Later I thought of reasons to go that Ashley might think of when she thinks of Paraguay and here are a few that I came up with.


Mama Cristi let her wear pants with her dress on the top of it on her way to Paraguay. She looked pretty funny and she thought it was the most fashionable outfit.


She doesn't look too happy in this picture but I just wanted to mention about her "Chita" meaning Chocolate Milk. Ashley drinks about 4 cups of it everyday and Papa Luis (Grandpa) made sure, every single day, that she had her "Chita" even if that meant going to the store late at night or early in the morning. She got the special kind and when one day she ran out of it I made it with milk and chocolate powder and she yelled "I want Chita" and didn't take it. I said " Sweetie we are going home pretty soon and remember that's how I make your Chita there. Thanks Mama Cristi and Papa Luis for the gallons of Chocolate Milk. She misses it!

Ashley got her hair done every week by my sister Nancy ( she is not the one in the picture) at her salon. She loved to have her hair washed and done. As a matter of fact she loved being there and playing with all the things she found there including writing on her couch with pen. Oh no!! My sister never complained!!!

She went to school every morning and met tons of kids. She was very famous and known as the Exchange Student or the International Student. They all loved her and she loved them all. By the way she was the youngest student too. Another advantage she had was that whenever she wanted to quit being in the classroom she went to hang out with my siblings or my mom and got to play there with them until she decided to go back to class. During recess she went to the cafeteria and got whatever she wanted to eat. Towards the end of her trip she didn't want to wear the uniform anymore and she was allowed to wear her favorite pink dress which at the end became her uniform. She loved her dance class and music class.

She enjoyed playing in the pool table with her cousins and friends.

Food!!! Ashley really liked the food there. Sweet treats and steak where her favorites. I am pretty sure she remembers her snacks there:) and the meat she had there!

In the afternoons she danced with Cristi and Mama Cristi and if you know something about Ashley you know she loves to dance! and especially latin music; it's in her blood:)

This is how spoiled she was there! All her cousins love her to pieces and did anything to make her happy. I know Ashley misses them and they miss her.

Of course I can't forget the bowl of candy that aunt Karina prepared for Ashley. No wonder why Ashley left her classroom and went to visit her. Aunt Karina truly knows how to spoil her nieces and nephews.

This is how she looked after school. I am sure you can tell that she had tons of fun.


Now I don't wonder anymore why she wants to go there. It's very obvious to me:)

Smiles

I just love her smile!

What can I say? I just love my kids.
These million-dollar smiles don't come cheap.

I can't even put into words how I feel every time I see the kids smile, especially if they are smiling at me. Ashley has grown so much and it is so cute when she says to her friends, "This is My Mommy" and she gives me a kiss and a hug. Now that she has a baby brother and sees my affection towards him she has become more loving than ever. In the morning when Ashley and Lucas see each other they both have the biggest smile and you can already tell how much they love each other and I can't explain how I feel when I see that. Lucas, on the other hand, is always smiling. No matter what I am doing, he gives me a big smile that turns any bad day into a blessed day.

Thanksgiving Break

Dorius Family 2007

Us and Great Grandpa Dorius

Tim, Ashley, Lucas and me.

Tim and Ashley having fun in Nashville.

Tim and the kids visiting Nashville.

Thanksgiving Week was great. We left Moore earlyTuesday morning and got to Memphis around 2:00pm. It was great to see everyone there including Matt and Tina and Emily who flew back from Provo to be with the family for Thanksgiving. We were also able to spend some time with Grandpa Dorius and it was such a treat. We even went out for lunch with him and it was great to hear about his past and his anecdotes. On Friday morning we went to Nashville on a family trip. Ashley enjoyed the trip more than I would have ever guessed. Ashley and Tim got to ride the carousel for more than an hour!!!! You pay $ 4 per person and get to ride as many times as you want and needless to say that Tim and Ashley took advantage of that. It was funny to see people ride 2 or 3 times and leave and then watch Ashley and Tim riding again and again. The highlight of the trip for me was to see Ashley and Tim spend time together in the carousel. She was so happy to be with her dad and riding the horses and he was so happy spending time with her. I really enjoy watch them interact. She admires and respects her daddy so much and he adores her! From Nashville we went back to Memphis and spent the night there and then Sunday morning we headed back home.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

Let's have some fun

Come play with me, Lukie! Just sit back and relax and I will make you my little plaything. Here are some sunglasses for you and me to use. How do we look?

This is kind of fun.

OK, now I am not so sure about this. Why is everything so dark? Is it time to sleep? Mamaaaaaaaaa!

Thanksgiving 2006

This was last year in Memphis,TN on Thanksgiving Day.

Daniel, Tim, Ashley, Grandpa and Grandma Dorius and me.


Tim and me.
This year we are going to miss Great-Grandma Dorius and Alyssa who is currently serving a mission in the Phoenix, Arizona Spanish Speaking Mission.

Daniel and Ashley.
Every year we go to the park by the house to feed the duckies and sometimes we even play. Last year we had a lot of fun playing in the park and Daniel helped us with Ashley who kept trying to run away from us.
We are looking forward to going to Memphis next week!! I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our daily activities

Playing with Ashley and Lucas has been so much fun. Ashley is such a funny daughter and sister. Lucas is the best baby ever!! He loves to be held and enjoys being in Ashley's room and watching her play. For Ashley, Lucas is just another toy so I have to keep an eye on her all the time but for the most part she is great! Here are some pictures of our daily activities.

Ashley loves to go to the park. The weather has been great here in Oklahoma so we have taken advantage of that.

As most of you know we are always running late for church. About a month ago we were all ready 30 min before church starts!!! That never happens in this house so we decided to take a picture of that to show you that anything is possible. Hahaha.

Last week we had play group at our house. The kids were having fun and Lucas as you can see fell asleep in his jumperoo. I didn't even notice until my friends pointed out at me. He didn't let me know he was tired; he just fell asleep. Isn't he adorable??

Last Tuesday we received the news that great-grandma Dorius passed away. We were sad about the news so Ashley decided to make a painting for Grandpa Dorius just to make him smile. By the way this is her first time working with watercolors and overall she did pretty well.

This is Tim and his parents and his maternal grandparents in Orem, UT. Tim was able to go there for the funeral.

Halloween!!

The week of Halloween was crazy for us with Tim having his second round of tests (he did well on them). Anyways we were busy with other things so we didn't have time to go to a Pumpkin Patch or even carve a pumpkin but we did have a great week overall. The night of Halloween we went to the church for a carnival. Since, our neighborhood is pretty new and there aren't many houses built, we thought it would be better to go to the church. At the church Ashley had fun playing with her friends from nursery and we had the opportunity to meet more people from the ward which is always a good thing. When it was time to go out to trick or treat we went to our friends' home. They were having a haunted house in their garage. It was so much fun , especially because we met with Larry and Lauren Murray and their new baby. They are our friends from Norman who moved to Jenks not long ago. They were in town visiting family and it was fun to hang out with them before they headed back to Jenks. The fun didn't end there; the Johansens came by our house on their way to Alicia's parents' home. Ashley had lots of fun with Brent and Kaylee. We are glad that our house is on their way between Fort Worth and Cleveland, OK. It's always nice when friends visit us!

Lucas felt asleep before we even left the house.

Me and the kids.

This is my cute little pumpkin witch!

Here we are about to eat our Halloween cake which was supposed to be a pumpkin. Ashley had a great time decorating it and eating the frosting!!