Pick and Choose Your Battles

“Pick and choose your battles” is definitely a phrase that you have to become familiar with as soon as your baby learns to walk and thus becomes a toddler. It seems like the second Aubrey learned to walk she discovered a whole new world and her personality has enhanced 100 times bigger since then. She is definitely learning what she likes, what she dislikes and our daily routine. For example, at night she knows that if she sits politely in mine or Daddy’s lap that we will read her a story of her choice and bedtime will be delayed. However, when the end of the story comes and you close the book and say, “the end” to her, you get a response of “No! No! No! No!” as she frantically tries to open the book back up to any page that it is not the last page. Sometimes we will cave and read the book again or let her pick out another one, sometimes we don’t; I guess it just depends on how tired we are. I always laugh though because it’s like out of nowhere she suddenly made the connection between story time and bedtime.

The same is true when it comes to those damn quarter rides at the mall. On one hand I know that she LOVES to ride those things and on the other hand I know that I will look like the Evil Queen when I reach the last quarter in my pocket. It’s inevitable; once I run out of quarters I know what is coming. I will take Aubrey off the ride with a nice strong grip, she will wrench her body and scream bloody murder, I will struggle to buckle her into her stroller, other mall goers will look on at me like, “What is that lady doing to that child?” and we will continue with the screaming and onlookers until we reach the car in the parking lot.

Yes times like these can be frustrating and make me want to scream at the same ear-piercing pitch as Aubrey, but like I said, “pick and choose your battles.” We choose to read to our daughter every night before bed in the hopes that she may one day have a passion for reading like her Mommy. (Plus I hear it is really good for learning at this age). And we choose to let her ride those damn quarter rides at the mall because seeing the thrill on her face is priceless; she’s enjoying life. (And hey, maybe she’ll become a roller coaster junkie like her Mommy & Daddy…helloooooo Disneyland!) 

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey

During the Ride

 

After the Ride

Livin’ La Vida Lopez

 

So if you didn’t notice, I’ve changed the title of our blog to “Imagine Yourself Lopez.” I’ve been playing around with and thinking about different names for several weeks now and this has been the one that has stuck with me the most. It feels good so I’m gonna run with it for now! I decided to change it from “The Lopez Family…Baby On Board!” for a few reasons. The biggest one is that I was confusing the heck out of a lot of people every time I would post a link to the blog saying that I had updated it! On more than one occasion I had someone text, call or tell me something to the effect of, “Oh my gosh Candice, I thought you were pregnant again when I saw your post!” Wow. No, I am not currently pregnant; nobody panic. The second reason I changed the title was because well, we don’t really have a baby anymore…we have a toddler! Oh dear Lord; what lies ahead? Only time will tell; for now she is still this cute little chunk just toddling around on a mission to explore the world. Finally, I changed the title because I want to feel free to encompass our entire little family into the blog and share updates about all three of us; not just the princess (although 90% of the posts will continue to be about her haha!). So here we go, a fresh new look and a fresh new blog for you all to enjoy!

                 

First and foremost, Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of the beautiful Mamas out there in cyber land!

I hope all of you Moms out there had a wonderful time on your special day! I am blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful Mother’s in my life; from Grandmas, to Aunts, to cousins, to friends and of course my very own amazing NUMERO UNO MOTHER! The culmination of my connections to each of these women has helped me to become the Mother that I am today and inspiration to be a better Mother every day. I am very grateful for all of you. Being a Mom is a difficult yet rewarding adventure and everyday is just that…an adventure!

We had big plans to go to the lake for Mother’s day but the weather ended up raining on our parade (literally) and we were forced to cancel and stay indoors. Being the super Mom that my Mom is though, she just happened to have a feast in her fridge and invited us over to spend the afternoon. We gorged ourselves on delish steaks, corn, veggies, chips and dip and cake! It was so yummy! After our feast we all found ourselves very tired so we just hung around for the afternoon watching TV. Around 5:30pm we started to get cabin fever and desperately needed to get out of the house. We all joked about taking Mom bowling and then somewhere in the conversation it took a weird turn and the joking turned to reality and thus we found ourselves at Santa Ana Casino’s Starlight Lanes! On the way there I asked my Mom when the last time she had been bowling was and she said it was before I was born; so at least 27 years! Given those kind of stats, we decided that Justin and my Mom would be one team and Eric and I would be another.

                  

Now, I consider my Mom to be a very sweet, kind, caring and Christian woman, but after the way she hustled us at bowling, I may have to rethink my opinions! The first frame she bowled an 8; beginners luck. Then in frames two and three she bowled spares…what the? This pattern continued and was broken up by multiple strikes! Ultimately she ended up with the second highest score of the game; coincidence? I think not.

                   

Lumbre del Sol at El Pinto

El Pinto hired Lumbre del Sol to play for the Cinco de Mayo Matanza and IT WAS AWESOME!  The food was delish and the entertainment was wonderful!  I think one of the coolest parts of the whole day was seeing so many friends and family come out to support my Dad and see Lumbre!  The camaraderie felt amongst everyone was such a great feeling and it was so nice to see everyone laughing and dancing together!  The band did fantastic and I heard so much great feedback from some of my co-workers!  Aubrey made a new friend and the two of them were boogying the afternoon away!  We were so pooped when we got home that we had to take a late afternoon nap (which ultimately threw off the rest of our night…ce la vie).

 

Good luck Tio Eric!

It was a bittersweet moment not too long ago when for my Dad’s birthday, my brother presented him with envelope.  The envelope contained Eric’s offer letter to go work as an intern for Intel in California for seven months.  We were all so ecstatic for him and the HUGE opportunity that he was getting with Intel!  On the other hand we were also very sad at the realization that he would be moving far from home for seven months (and who knows what this could end up being, he may be there for a lot longer than any of us expected…including him!). 

Let me just say that I am so incredibly PROUD of my brother!  He is one of the hardest working people I know and it will be nice to see all of his hard work starting to pay off for him.  He left last week and I am already missing him dearly but it’s a weird feeling because despite my sadness, I also am feeling all of this anxiety about him being out there because I just know he is destined to something great!  I swear, he is so innovative with the knowledge he has that I can just feel it; he has the next big idea!  Watch out world…keep him on your radar!

We celebrated Eric’s success and bid him farewell at his going away party!  It turned out to be a perfect day with family and friends both new and old and “Burn Your Butthole Enchiladas” courtesy of my Mom.  I think she forgot she was cooking for gringos.  ;0)  Sorry Mama!

 

Eclipse

Finally, we saw the eclipse on Sunday and it totally ROCKED!  I went to Tint Masters earlier that morning and picked us up some strips of tint so we could see the eclipse that evening.  I was hesitant about the strips at first because I didn’t really understand how they worked, but it let me just say…$2 well spent friends.  Mostly I just wanted to share some of the pictures I caught during the eclipse.

 

Well that’s it in Lopez Land for now!  I really am going to try and post a little more frequently because I feel like I just wrote a novel and still left out so much!  If you wanna keep up with our crazy life, I highly suggest following this blog!    You can do that by entering your email over on the right side of the page!  Hope everyone is doing great; keep living the good life! 

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey

Spring Update! Having fun!

It’s always my goal to write a blog once a month; it rarely happens though. I try, but life as a Mom, wife, student and fulltime worker is sometimes more than I can handle. I haven’t posted in awhile so this (as usual) is a lengthy update!

Literally I could write an update everyday with all of the new and exciting things that Aubrey does every day! Everything is so exciting for us as we watch her grow and develop into this amazing little girl! So I’ll try to touch on the big highlights and give you all an update.

I think the biggest news to share since the last couple of posts is that Aubrey is finally walking! Her first real steps were amazing! The feeling was indescribable and I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to cry or laugh; it was just amazing! It was so crazy how it happened; it was like out of nowhere she just decided to walk! We were just sitting on the couch one night and she was sitting next to me. All of a sudden she just stood up and started trying to walk across the couch! My first reaction was to freak out because she was walking across the couch! My second reaction was, “Hey wait a minute! Did she just start walking?” So we put her on the ground and there you go…a lean, mean, walking machine!  I couldn’t believe it! In the weeks since that day, she has really gotten good at it and often prefers to walk around holding your hand versus being carried. I can’t say it enough…AMAZING!

It’s been a blast having her walk now! We have been having so much fun taking her places and seeing her react to them and explore them now as a mobile toddler. The pool was really cool! We go to the West Mesa Aquatic Center and they have a bunch of cool little play things in a kiddie area. It has little sprayers, fountains and wheels to play with while wading in the water. She was cracking Justin and I up because she like stand in front of the fountain spray upward and then just put her face in it. She would come out gasping and laughing!  I wish I had a water proof camera to take pictures!

The other day I was pulling weeds and so I just let her play in the front yard with her toys and again, she was cracking me up! She would play with her toys for a bit and then get up and walk over to me, pat my back (like good work on pulling weeds mom) and then walk back. What a terd…a funny terd…but a terd. I thought I would get her back by turning on the sprinklers while she was in the middle of the yard, but that backfired on me…SHE LOVED IT and was screaming, laughing and doing this hilarious little booty shake!

In addition to her super awesome walking skills, she has also developed quite the vocabulary! I know all parents say this about their own kids, but she is just the smartest kid! As of today she says:

Daddy/Dada

Mama/Ma

I want that.

Oooohhhh nooo! (when something goes wrong)

No (when she doesn’t want something)

I know.

Pretty

Puppy

Dog

Hi

Bye

Mmmm (which she says when she sees something she wants to eat, lol)

Cookie

Baba (for her sippy cup)

Whats that?

Ouch (which sounds more like atch)

Wow

Uh-oh

Nana

On a late side note, we had a really great Easter and Aubrey participated in TWO Easter egg hunts! I had bought her a pack of eggs about a week before Easter so she could practice. She picked it up so quickly and thought it was so funny! She would be pick up and egg and when she put it in her basket she say, “Dat!” Adorable! On the day of the hunt she waited impatiently at the starting line point at all of the eggs saying, “I want that!” When they let us start hunting she was a little hesitant at first, but after she got her first egg, she was off! She did such a great job and it was so exciting to experience it all!

Well, I think I’ll end it here for now and leave you all with some of my fave Easter pictures!

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey