Erica and the boys! and Mother's Day

Erica, my Princess girl is available again! She broke off with her boyfriend. They thought they were to be married, but it didn't work out.
Now she is dating again, and all the cats are after her...
There is good looking Jared, a male nurse
Josh, has a full beard, nice kid but not boyfriend material.
Scott, Mormon kid, nice looking, crazy in love with my daughter a bit of a stalker.
Today she got a call from a few other guys that wanted to hang out, but she is set on painting and turned them all down. She is painting using oils and is good therapy for her.
I highlighted Erica's hair today, it turned out very good.
Erica made dinner for all of us today, she went and bought sandwiches from Blimpies and we had a yummy dinner.

Mother's Day 2009
It was fun! Having grown kids that give you gifts is fun! Erika gave me a CTR ring, it spins around, now I own two, a gold one my sister gave me long ago and the silver one Erica gave me. Shawn has lots of money, so I got creative when he asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day. He has given me very expensive perfumes in the past, this year I wanted something different.
I was watching food network and I saw this guy make a whole Asian meal, with lots of fancy ingredients. Ingredients I don't have, and I never use. I made a list of all the ingredients to make Mushroom rice, glazed green beans, Hoisin chicken, egg rolls, etc. and gave that list to Shawn. I told him some of those ingredients were to be purchased at the Asian market. He bought me everything on the list, he even managed to find fresh green beans which are not in season, and I had a blast cooking. My Asian meal was the best I've ever made.
Kallie gave me some nice make-up and some nice face towels. Brett gave me the best strawberry pie ever. He does this every year. Jake made me some amazing brownies, and my Alex gave me love. I had the best Mother's Day with my family and kids.
I ended my day spending some time with my mother who I treasure and love.

Mother's Day Tea Party

Mommy and Kallie

Baby Chicks

Kallie kissing Black baby chick

Kallie's Classroom

Kallie's gift for mom

Kallie was very excited about the Mother's Day Tea Party at her school. She had talked about it for days. I wasn't sure I could get off from work, but I did, and that made my Kallie cakes very happy.
On Friday, she got up before I did, and decided to pick the clothes for me to wear. She was determined to have me wear this turquoise colored shirt because "mommy, you look beautiful in it"
At the tea party she was the only kid who looked at her mother in the eyes the whole entire time she performed. I felt my daughter's eyes looking at me non stop, it was beautiful. Her eyes could speak louder than words. She was so happy to have me there. I felt her love for me on every song they performed, she was talking to me silently, just looking at me, her eyes were asking questions, I felt they were asking, mommy do you like it?...till, they did the chicken dance at the end... and my baby girl couldn't partner up with another kid for part of the dance, and my heart broke, but even at that instance, she never stopped looking at me. She stood there all alone, not sure why she couldn't grab a partner, and felt awkward. I wanted to jump in there and dance with her, but I couldn't, instead I smiled at her and kept smiling to her from far away almost like saying, honey it's okay.. I could tell she was sad and ready to cry. Sometimes when Kallie is about to cry she gets this look, like she is smiling. It's not a real smile, but a way to try to stop herself from crying. Usually that smile doesn't last long before a real cry starts. I could see tears coming down my baby's eyes, then she got smart and join a couple of dancers and made a threesome. What a brave little girl! After the dance was over, she went to the back of the classroom and cried, and cried, till I told her that she handled the situation perfectly, then she felt better. After that we went back to her table for "tea" and cookies.
We had to see the chicks one more time and together we created unforgettable memories. Kallie thanks for a beautiful Mother's Day tea Party.

Open house at Kallie's school

Mrs Chalom and Kallie Kindergarden 2009/ Open house Kallie sitting on her table

Kallie and the "chicks"

Open house meant hurry back from work then rush to Kallie's classroom to visit with the teacher. Kallie was very excited about open house. The chicken eggs have hatched and there is a bunch of baby chicks she wants to show to us. I love it how she likes to show me of. My daughter also likes to compliment me on the way I look and how I dress. There is not a day that goes by that she doesn't look into my eyes and tells me "mommy, you are beautiful". At times I tear up a bit, such little person saying such big words to her mommy.

Kallie wanted to hold my hands to walk into the school, you could tell she was proud of me, and wanted her clasmates to make sure they knew who Kallie's mommy was. Kallie showed us the chicks, there was a sign that said not to hold the baby chicks, but she did anyway. We entered the classroom and she sat at the purple table. Her teaher, Mrs Chalom talked to us for a long time. Our Kallie is in the top of her classroom for reading. This is very good considering she is the youngest in her classroom.

We skipped the bookfair and went back home. Kallie you make us proud! Mommy and daddy love you so much!

Kallie and the horses...

I planned for everything for "Family Day" event, but did not plan for someone to watch Kallie.

Kallie did not want to be with us, she wanted to play on the inflatables, eat cotton candy and ride the horses.
Her cousin Katie offered watched her, but got tired after an hour of helping her ride the horses. She rode the horses over and over. Grandma Mercedes came by and watched her for a while at the horse station.
An hour later Grandma came to me with this funny look on her face and said "Kallie is riding the pony and I can't get her to come back with me. I've been there over an hour, I'm very tired, so I left her there" I was scared she had left her there alone standing in line to ride the darn horses, but knowing how Kallie is, I knew she was going to get her way and ride the pony non stop. My mom saw I was busy so she went back to watch Kallie ride the horses again and again and again.
Brett finally went to get her, and we told Kallie to stick around. A few moments later this security guard came to us and ask if he could take Kallie to ride the horses. Kallie had begged him to take her to ride the horses saying her mom and dad were busy. The old guy felt sorry for her and offered to take her. With a lot of hesitation we allowed her to go, the poor old guy came back an hour later all exhausted because Kallie did not want to stop and it was hard standing on line over and over again. We don't know how many time she rode the horse, but she must have had over 20 turns, lol
I had to take pictures of the horses as we were leaving the event to show Kallie someday, lol

Dia de la Famlia

Food tent

Brett Performing

Our cookies

Erika Singing

Welcome to the Primary!

Cindy, Sara and me!

Jared and Steven

The 3-D paper tree was made by Eryka, she is an amazing artist!

Relief Society Room

1. Dia de Familia, Day of the Family...
   
   I have no idea how to even begin to describe this event. All I knew at the time I accepted is that Elder Costa from the quorum of the Seventies was the one directing this big missionary project here in Nampa Id. The event is supposed to draw at least three thousand people to our church.
   
   I am chair of the Primary committee on this event. I have a team of six people from my stake, they are all Spanish speaking return missionaries. With their help I was able to present the Primary.
   The event was held on May 2nd, 2009, last weekend, in Nampa Idaho.
   May 2nd started up to be a rainy day. I cried when I woke up. The rain will not help draw people to our event. I knelt down on my knees to asked my Father in Heaven if he would help out a bit with the weather. I knew that I wasn't the only one praying. As I said my prayers I knew there were lots, and lots of other people praying at the same time I was. I loaded my car with all I needed for the event, including hundreds of homemade cookies made by my Stake Relief Society sisters. My dear husband was sick, but still managed to help. My nest stop was my sister's house to pick up a great big picture and more decorations for the Primary room. The rain continued.
   I arrived at the Stake center around 11:00 AM, starting setting up with every one's help, and we were done making that gloomy room look fantastic. Brett arrived around 11:30 and started the video. VI P's made their rounds around 11:35 or so. We were ready to go, all we needed now was people to come.
   The rain stopped around 12:15. People were arriving by carloads. There was tons of people. They all wanted to hang outside the building because there were free burgers, hot dogs, drinks, french fries, cotton candy, snow cones, ice cream, free horse rides, inflatables... so many things to keep a family entertained, so much fun!
   Brett and Erica performed guitar solos. I told my team I needed to go see them play and left then alone for about 30 minutes. Brett, my poor, poor ill husband even sang, with whatever little voice he had left. Erika did an amazing job. My daughter is so beautiful! every time I see her sing and play guitar it makes me fuzzy all inside, she is such a delight to watch. I wonder if that's the reason heavenly Father created daughters, because they are such beautiful creatures, lol.
   After the performance I went back inside the Primary exhibit, and my helpers wanted to go out to look around and eat. I told them all to go because it was slow, and the multitude was outside. I was left to tend the Primary exhibit all on my own, thinking no one will come by till later.
   Then, it started raining... people entered the Stake center and I was overwhelmed by the amount of people coming to my primary exhibit. I put on my missionary hat and started welcoming everyone that came through the door. My Primary room was full. I thank God for the rain. God knew to make it rain right then. I collected so many names from so many people that came in. They were interested on Activity Days for the girls and Cub scouting for the boys, they wanted to sign up, lol. I was a missionary that day, and loved every minute of it. I didn't want that day to end.
   I learned a few things about myself that day:

1. I am not afraid to share the Gospel.
2. People loved my personality and loved talking to me.
3. I know enough to be a great missionary.

After that people kept coming non stop. It was amazing. My testimony increased immensely that day.

A few days before the event, I couldn't wait till it was over, all the work I had put into the planning, the video, posters, pictures, delegating, holding meeting, etc. It was very exhausting for a mother of five who holds a full time job. Now that it's over, I wish I could be a missionary for a living, I wished I could do this all over again, I wish it never ended.
My sister was there helping me. I wish you could have seen how excited she was. My sister is an angel, she is truly inspiring. She was so involved in talking to each person that come by, and her sweet spirit left a huge impression on many people.

The following is a list of the wonderful people from my stake that helped me carry out this amazing event:

Cindy Castro - Primary presenter

Deanna Colgrove - idea person, script writing, materials

Steven Hunter - video presenter and greeter
Thompsen - Primary presenter

Sara Richards - Activity girls / Faith in God for girls

Jarred McKenzie - Cub Scouting / Faith in God for boys

Patricio Alvares - Picture enlargement

Connie Buckley - Script writing

Silvia Hope - Presenter