My Little Girl is 5!

We moved to the new house the day before Leila's birthday so we could not have a birthday party for her. We did take her to a monster truck show on her birthday and loved it. We were supposed to have a party on the 29th but we all got sick so we decided to have it on the 12th of February! She wanted a horse-themed party and she got it. We had 2 ponies and a petting zoo but she didn't know anything about it. When she saw the animals, her reaction was "what are these animals doing in my backyard?" Then it dawned on her and ran to ride the pony. She was so excited and her reaction was priceless. She told us that that was the best part of the day.

We kept the kids inside while the pony and petting zoo was being set up.

She saw the animals and off she went.

Big smiles.

Daddy made her birthday cake.

I still can't believe she's 5!

Happy Birthday my love. We love you so so much.

A New Home

We had decided to foreclose our home since we were just losing money on it. It was sad to leave our first home but it's for the best.

We received a note from a broker that our home was bought back by the bank. We could fight to stay or they give us "cash for keys" to leave the house trash free. Since we didn't want an eviction record to haunt us forever, we opted for the "cash for keys." We did have to leave the house at the end of January.

We had 2 weeks to look for a place to stay and since Roger is only home on the weekend, I was left with the looking and packing. It was very stressful for me and I don't deal with stress really well. Thanksfully, I found a house on the 18th. We signed the lease on the 22nd and started moving after the signing. We were able to move the "big" stuff that day and spent the night on the new house. We had a week to clear the other house. Whew!

We've been in the new house for 25 days and I couldn't have been happier with the place. It's a bigger and newer house and the backyard is huge (well, compared to the other backyard). We'll be here for a year and hopefully, we could stay longer.

I miss the "old" house. I drive there once in a while. I miss our neighbors. It was, afterall, our first home but it's a new year and life goes on.

Here's Hoping for a Better Year.

2010 was not my favorite year at all. My family lost 4 members of our family weeks after each other. First, my mom's brother had a heart attack. The day he was buried, their sister succumbed to colon cancer. Two weeks later my Aunt's (mom's sister) husband passed away. A week later we found out that my dad's sister passed away. We had to fly to the East Coast for my Uncle's family. It was nice to see my family again, I just wished the circumstances of seeing them was a happy one.

Me and the kids stayed there for 2 months. We decided to stay for Thanksgiving and since it's been 8 years since I spent Christmas with them and the kid's first time, we decided to stay. We had a fun time with the family and we were sad to leave but was eager to get back home.

So, I really hope that 2011 will be a good, if not better, year for our family. But whatever God's plan for us, we will take wholeheartedly.