The First One Is Finally Over

As some of you know, Mina turned one on November 8.We didn't have her birthday party until the 12th.We had the party at a local park We reserved a really nice, huge covered area.The actual party went by super fast, at least for me.The planning, on the other hand, seemed to take forever.I hand made all 30 of her invitations.That was extremely tedious.I think it took me a good two weeks to make them and finally send them out.When I started planning her party, everyone kept asking what the theme was.I had no fucking clue what they meant by theme.Then when I found out what it was, I realized that I didn't have one.We didn't pick the theme until a week before the party.The theme: Hello Kitty (Jose's sister-in-law's idea who made the cutest hello Kitty and Spiderman goody bags).Next question:Do we rent a jumper?I wanted to rent a jumper to keep the kids that were invited busy.Then we found out that pretty much all the kids that were invited weren't going.Lucky for me because I saved a pretty penny. Those things start out at $85 just for a small one!We found the cutest Hello Kitty decorations at Party City but they had the crappiest pinatas.I thought Mina wasn't going to have a pinata because we couldn't find a Hello Kitty pinata.Thankfully we went to local grocery store that had pinatas and I changed it so it had Hello Kitty all over it.To our surprise, my coworker Cele showed up to the party with a huge Hello Kitty-shaped pinata that he got for Mina in TJ.For the food, we decided to have a potluck.Everyone pulled through and we ended up having a great BBQ.My mind was so scattered from planning the party, working, and going to school that I almost forgot to order a cake.We were ableto find a pretty cute Hello Kitty cake at Sam's Club.I honestly didn't think that Mina's first birthday party would be so exhausting.At least I know how to plan..it and hopefully it will get easier each year.Oh yeah, and Mina got her 4th tooth a couple of days before the party (she's currently working on getting her 5th).



| View Show | Create Your Own

Halloween '06


| View Show | Create Your Own

One+One=Two

That's how many teeth my big girl has now. They're both on the bottom and the two top ones should be coming in soon.

Starting to Have a Mommy Freakout, But Not Quite

My life right now:

• going to school every Tuesday and Thursday night
• still working full-time
• planning a birthday/baptism party
• starting to sell Avon
• getting ready for Halloween and soon Christmas
• chasing Mina around the house

Can you say, "tired!"

The Happiest Place On Earth

Last Saturday we finally got to take Mina to Disneyland. I think I was the most excited out of the three of us because I hadn't been since my grad night back in '99. I was also excited because it would be another first for Mina. We didn't get there until 2PM so it was unbarebly hot. Luckily around 5PM, it started to cool off. Mina was such a good girl. She sat in her stroller and just stared at everything and everyone. We even stood in a few lines just so she could experience the rides. We only went on 3 but it we were happy with just getting on 1. If you're curious, we went on Pirates of the Carribean, It's a Small World, and the Haunted Mansion. We think Mina liked Pirates the best because of the drops. We even bought her her first "ear" hat which looked too cute on her. We walked around a lot, took a few pictures, and spent time in the gift shops (to cool off). It sounds like we didn't do much but we were exhausted. We'll be going back next month around Halloween time. Here are a few pictures.


| View | Add Favorite

Overwhelmed (but in a good way)

Last night, Mina took her first steps by herself! 4 to be exact. It couldn't have been more perfect. Jose and I were both home so we both were able to share this amazing moment. She's not even 10 months yet. We've now entered the next step: walking. It seems like she just started crawling.

Daria

In early July, we were at the mall and decided to make a teddy bear for Mina. We figured we'd make one that was from us and when she was older, she would make her own. Jose went through the whole process and had Mina right there so she could see everything. We decided on a bubblegum bear and we picked a heart of courage. We want Mina to be strong and courageous. Anyways, Mina had a ball. Actually, I think Jose and I had more fun especially when it came time to pick out the outfit. If you know either one of us then the outfit is not surprising. We dressed the bear in a cute little skirt outfit with a hoodie and black boots. We named Mina's bear Daria because we both loved the show and we think it's very fitting. We were so happy when Mina grabbed her and gave her a huge, sloppy kiss. They're best friends now and hopefully Mina will have her for a long time. Welcome to the family, Daria.

We Have One!

One what? A TOOTH!!!! Mina's first tooth finally broke through sometime this weekend. It's on the bottom on the left. She's figured out that she has something in her mouth and she keeps rubbing her tongue over it. We couldn't be more excited. Luckily she hasn't had a fever since she started teething. Let's see how long it takes for the next one.