I am still alive!

I am seriously living in a zoo!
My life as you know has done a complete 180... for the better of courses.
Raymond and I have been so busy (in a good way) with work, the kids and our church.
So many new and exciting things!!
Let's start with the kids...
Thanks to my mom, Olivia is now completely potty trained! She doesn't even sleep with a diaper, she wakes up in the middle of the night and tells us she needs o go "pipi". She is finding herslef and discovering what she likes and what she doesn't like. Okay, I will admit that I do try to "push" some things on her, like baby dolls or princess stuff... I have finally accepted that Olivia is a one of a kind and doesn't really like or choose the obvious. We still haven't put our finger on it but she is discovering her own persona on her own. All I can say at this moment is that she is extremely free spirited. She loves the beach and the ocean (which Mommy is terrified of). She has a heart for animals, we took them to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and she cried her eyes out when she saw a baby cheetah in their animal hospital. I smile talking about Olivia, she has that sort of affect on Raymond and I.
My Roman, is still super smart and witty. Loves to read about Dinosaurs, trucks, cars and animals. Nothing has really changed with Roman. Still enjoys people's company and conversation. He is always trying to read people and asks tons of questions and comes up with his own conclusions. He's a grandma's boy (both Grandmas).

Our church has been a vital part of our family's joy. We have met and gotten know some of our closest friends. Our church just opened up a new Christian Nightclub/Concert venue!!! It's so awesome! We are open Fridays and Saturdays, doors open at 7pm.

Raymond and I have dealing with a lot of warfare but getting through it by getting into the word, fellowship and most importantly prayer.
I have so much to say, but I will save it for another blog.
I love you family!
Then Rodriguez Family

She's a HOT mess!

Okay, so everyone who meets Olivia will say, "Omg! she is beautiful!" then they will go on to ask, "What's your name sweetie?" Most kids will answer in a soft shy voice or some may even proudly state their name loud and proudly... not Ollie. She closes her eyes (to make herself invisible) and turns away. She will continue to ignore them, with her eyes closed, until I answer for her and they leave. Olivia doesn't talk much and the few words she does say are, "Mine! 'Cause! What? No and sometimes Nice!" She says "nice" to Raymond and I when we are being mean to her.

To top all of this off, I get a call at work from my mom. We normally talk around 2pm, I call to check in with her and the kids. So this call seemed no different than any other ones.

"I am going to strangle your daughter!!"

Me, "What? Why?" (at this point I am already laughing)

My mom, "I am going to walk around Santa Ana and find the tallest tree and hang her from her feet." My mom used to say this to me when I was younger so I knew it had to be bad.

"What did she do?"

"She locked me out of the house!! All 3 kids (Roman, Olivia and Natalie) were in their high chairs. Olivia needed a diaper change so I brought her down. I ran to the garage to grap some buffalo wings from the freezer and when I tried to get back in, the door wouldn't open. Olivia had locked the door! I opened the garage door but knew there was no way to get back in since everything was locked, so I ran across the street to a neighbor's house. I am pounding on her door... no one is home! I go to David's (another neighbor) and ask him if I could use his phone."

Our neighbor David is busting up laughing, he knows Olivia well too.

You can hear the kids screaming their heads off, well except for Ollie.

My mom is panicking, she is frantically trying to dial my dad's work # and can't remember it and she keeps getting the wrong number. Finally she remembered it, tells my dad what is going on, my dad leaves work burning rubber to unlock the door for my mom. Roman and Natalie are screaming even louder!

My mom, "It was the longest 30 minutes of my life!!"

She walk in the door, Roman and Natalie are crying but relieved that they see an adult and of course Olivia is just sitting there with a little smirk on her face.... (sigh)... I can't wait until she is 13!!!!!!

Total chaos!

Okay, I have been so bad recently about keeping this updated!!

I have been super busy.

SCHOOL is out until Summer! Woo hoo!!!

Finally, I have time to… what’s the word?..... RELAX. (sigh)

Well sort of, June is just around the corner, and is the busiest time for the Rodriguez’ family. June 8th, Roaman’s b-day. June 18th me and Mikayla’s b-day, June 21st Clarissa’s b-day, June 22nd Olivia’s b-day… ay yay yay!!!!

Can we please stop having so many darn kids! Or if we insist, can we please scatter their birthdates?

Joey, Clarissa, Mikayla and Jojo will be in California that month, so we are planning to jam a ton of stuff into 7 days.

I plan on dedicating Roman and Olivia that month at my church, All Access Christian Fellowship.

Here are some recent pictures... Enjoy!

Some fun stuff!

Okay, isn’t this year FLYING by?!?!?!?
It feels like we all just popped a bottle of champagne to ring in the New Year, yet March is already coming to an end! I still can’t get over the fact that Easter is only 2 weeks away!

So Raymond just turned 25 this last week! (In men’s years that is really only 19yrs) We had a little family and friend get together. I hired Orange County’s TOP chef… Chef Maria (my mom). We had ceviche to last us for days (but only lasted about 1 hour), her famous salsa and chips. We started off the evening right… a chocolate cake shot all around! And then two… and then a third one… and well you get the picture. We had carne asada, rice, home-made beans, all sorts of salads… the works. We had a few games of Kings Cup which was HILARIOUS!!! All in all it was a good night.

We just learned that our church “All Access Christian Fellowship” through Calvary, just got a facility in Anaheim Hills. We are very excited! Anyone who would like to join us is more than welcome to! Pastor Carlos Ayub and wife Pat are amazing, and lead a WONDERFUL Women’s and Men’s bible study every Tuesday @ 6:30pm, along with couple’s bible study and many other ministries, really a great tight knit family at this church.
I have been looking into entering Roman into a preschool/daycare twice a week, just to get him to interact with other kids and get his little mind accelerated and used to the idea of school. Raymond and I are still shopping around the area for a good school, although I think we have finally settled on a Christian one right down the street from our home.

And that, friends and family, is all that has been going on with us. I start school in about a week so I am very excited and up for the challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!

We miss and love you all!

You are in our thoughts and prayers, have a BLESSED Week!

Love,
The Rodriguez Family

Welcome! Come One... Come All!

Welcome Familia!

So, I copied my sister in laws's idea about having a family blog on-line.

Since we don't get to see you guys too often I thoguht this would be a neat way for my fam bam to stay update with all of our family ventures and adventures.

Roman will be 3 in June! Can you imagine? I feel like i was just pregnant a few years ago!! oh wait a minute... I was! With Olivia, my little dare devil.

Roman can talk anyone's ear off (don't know where he got that from) and is so smart.

He's already putting Mommy and Daddy in place on a daily basis and his witty remarks seem to happen more and more as the days pass by. So far he has been a pretty high energized tot with tons of imagination and curiosity.

Speaking of high energy, let's talk about that little lightning bolt I mentioned earlier... Olivia!

Olivia... aka Ollie... aka Evil Knievel, would jump through hoops of fires if we had those laying around the house. This girl will climb any altitude at lightining speed, jump off, land in her face, laugh, get up and do it all over again!! Yes, as you can imagine, Mommy and Daddy spend our time chasing her if not with our mouths wide open at the things she dares to do.

When we are not trying to rescue our daughter from cracking her head open, or having to sit and draw with Roman for hours on end (by the way, we HAVE to draw what he says!! no matter what) Raymond and I try to spend as much time alone as possible.

With work, our condo, the gym, softball games and tournaments, etc this is extremely hard to do.

We hardly have the time to see each other, let alone any other family members!

With that being said, I hope you enjoy our family blog!

Please stop by and visit often, I will do my best to update this on a weekly basis.

Here are a few more recent pictures and a video.