Proud Sister of a United States Marine!!

This a Special Post to my brother: Words can't explain how proud I am of him.

Today was the Eagle, Globe, & Anchor Ceremony. He is officially a United States Marine. OOHRAA!!! Only 7 more days until we get to see him :-)

The picture below was taken from a video on Friday, June 25, 2010

A Poem for My brother

THE TITLE:

It Can Not be Inherited

Nor Can it Ever be Purchased

You or No One Alive can Buy It for Any Price

It is Impossible to Rent and It Can Not be Lent

You Alone and Our Own have Earned It

with Your Sweat, Blood and Lives.

You Own It Forever

The Title "United States Marine"

-Anonymous

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY !!

Ok, here we are towards the end of june and its my first blog of the month.....Not good, LOL....Sorry for not keeping you guys updated but it just seems that we have been on the go and busy busy busy. Between work, daycare, work-outs, Dance Classes, Cheer leading and tumbling the weeks sure do fly by. Ariana did get to enjoy a whole week off from DayCare...she stayed home with my sister and the boys....She Loved the sleeping in....She didn't want to go back to "School" as she calls it, but i told her during the summer it's a little different so that really got her excited to go back....They have libray days, Swim Days, Movie Days, and Field Trip days every week.......Poor child will never know what a true summer vacation without school and daycare is....Mommy has to work so she has to continue going to day care....It will be a year round thing for her. I'm just so glad for the daycare doing all that fun stuff with them :-) and changing up their routine....We have been really blessed to have such a great day care for her and one that i can trust :-)

Here is just a small recap of other things that have been going on.......................

THE COOK-Off...well my dad joined his first cook-off. It was held in Danevang. It was a lot of fun but sadly didn't place in any category. The food was Delicious though. I surley thought he would have placed in Brisquet for sure. There's always next year :-)

Here is Ariana at her End of School Picnic and in her pool.





and FINALLY some photos from the "model" photoshoot with Nena Metcalf she had last month http://www.nenametcalfphotography.com/ ...The outfit, bow, and shoes were made by Jenn's Bowtique...ENJOY!!!

dancer, cheerleader, and future model?? maybe

It's official.... Ariana will be on the Elementary Competitive Team and the Pee-Wee Cheerleading Showteam for X-treme Jazz. We are very excited and have a busy year ahead of us. Ariana will be learning a total of 6 different routines, but she couldn't be happier. She is doing what she loves best. We will also be having fundraising coming up very soon, so hopefully you guys can help and support Ariana on this.

Our weekend went very well, but we did have a VERY BUSY SATURDAY.... Saturday morning Ariana had a photoshoot with Nena Metcalf from Richmond, TX. She modeled an outfit that was made by Jenn's Bowtique. The main picture posted at the top of this site is one of the pictures that was taken. As soon as i get the rest, i'll be sure to post them on here. Ariana loved it, When we left she asked why she couldn't take more pictures at the shoot with different outfits. LOL...That girl is always ready for the camera and all the attention. Gotta Love her!!! After the Shoot we made a quick stop at momo's house in Wharton to visit and we got to see Memo too, Ariana got to show them the cute outfit and then we had to get her dressed for Dance Try-out's. We headed back to El Campo and Ariana did her thing, then she requested to go eat at Pizza Hut, She enjoyed a pepporoni personal pan pizza while mom had to eat a salad...OH JOY...LOL...but gotta keep up the good eating if i want to continue to see progress. Then we went home to take a nap so that we could be well rested for the evening. I took Ariana to see her friends dance at a recital and of course she absolutley loved that too. Sunday Morning we went to church and then enjoyed a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Sorry i don't have any pictures to post this time, but i promise to have some posted on the next one. Hope you all have a great week. I know i'm hoping its a fast one because i'm ready for a 3-day weekend :-)

She is a Pre-K Graduate :-)

Well it looks like i'm slacking on the blogging. Sorry! The Princess has graduated pre-k. She looked so beautiful in her cap and gown. They had such a cute little program. They sang songs and then at the end when they received their diploma they said a little bit about the children and what they wanted to be when they grew up. And of all things Ariana said she wanted to be a Derby Doll...LOl..go figure! But just an FYI she says she wants to be a Teacher also. We had a small reception for family and friends after the graduation ceromony, it went very well. She is now ready to Conquer Kindergarten. She is so ready to start school at Myatt already, but i told her she needs to enjoy her summer. I'm sure once she gets to her daily routine of going to "real school" she is going to quickly forget about all that excitment and complain in the mornings about not wanting to go to school. She does have a busy schedule though, because not only is Ariana going be on the Dance Team, but she will also be on the Cheerleading Showteam and learning a Solo dance routine. She will have 3-4 practices a week , but its what she wants to do, and i'm all for extra-curricular activites so i support her 100%. Ok well i shouldn't say she is on the teams just yet, because technically she has to try out on the 22nd of May, but i've been getting really great feedback from the teachers so she pretty much has it in the bag, LOL....Of course i don't tell Ariana that..I tell her she needs to practice these tryouts and learn the dances the best she can because she is going to have to do them in front of judges who will decide if she can be on the team or not. She knows that judges mean Business, LOL...she must smile, not touch her face, and not look at the dancers around her.



Mother's day was very relaxing, we did celebrate Mother's day on Saturday since my Grandma from McAllen came to visit, so on Sunday I took Ariana to the Aquatic Center and she had a great time there. Now she is saying she wants to have her birtday party there....so we have gone from skating to bowling to swimming...hmmm?? that girl changes her mind too quick, I wonder where she gets it from??? LOL so hopefully by July we will settle on one of those places so that i can get the place booked.


Just a quick update on my brother: Well i have finally received a letter from him....YAY...i was super excited to get it. He is doing great, defitinely not an easy place to be at, but he has a great attitude about it all. He is about to start week 5 of 13 in Bootcamp. We are so looking forward to seeing him at his graduation in July. Then he will get to come home for 10 days. He says he can't wait to pick up Ariana and just swing her around, he misses those little moments with her and Ariana misses him so much also. She even wrote him a letter :-) well she said it and i typed it, LOL..... so basically i typed each and every word that came out of her mouth. It was a very cute letter though, she signed it in her own handwriting, i know ricky is going to enjoy receiving that one because it all came from her own little heart :-)


Hope all of you have a FABULOUS weekend. Enjoy the pictures...Sorry i didn't have too many to post, but i was borrowing my aunts camera and couldn't figure out all of the settings..My mom did capture all of it on video though :-)!!!!

The Beautiful Grad

Ariana and her Popo Lupe

Ariana with the Director of the daycare/school Ms. Flo
Simply Beautiful....

Ariana with Mommy and Daddy

Spring Recital

Ariana had her X-treme Jazz Dance Recital on Saturday. She did such an Awesome job and i was so very proud of her. She remembered her routines and really got into the dances. Thanks to everyone that showed up and the Torres family for coming out to see the Beautiful Princess do her thing. It really did mean a lot to her, especially to see her daddy there. Words can't express how happy that made her feel. For those of you who were there, Ariana finally confessed what was behind those tears. As you guys noticed Ariana didn't get the Certificate right away that most of the girls got, so once that was all over she thought that everyone was looking at her because of that. She then told me last night that she was crying because she was happy that everyone was there, which by the way totally caught me off guard because i really didn't expect her to say that to me. I told her that it was ok to cry when your happy. I didn't get to many pictures, but we did get to capture a special picture for Ariana. One of her with mommy and daddy. She has been wanting a picture of us 3 together so I'm glad we were able to do that for her. The recital wrapped up things for her PeeWee Team. She will begin learning a new routine to tryout for the Elementary team. Try-Outs will be Saturday May 22nd which also happens to be the same day she will be doing a photoshoot with a photographer in Richmond, so we will be busy bees that day.


Next week Ariana will be a Pre-K Graduate. Wow how time flies and she will be ready to start Kindergarten in the fall. (I'm not quite sure i'm ready for that, though)

As far as an update from my brother in bootcamp, well I haven't received a letter from him yet. I do have his address so if any of you would like to write him encouraging and uplifting letters please let me know so that i can get that address to you.


Have a great week and enjoy the few pictures :-)

All Team Dance: She is first little one in the front row

Ricky in Marine's Bootcamp

I know this blog is mainly dedicated to my princess, but I had to update you guys on my brother. As most of you know, he decided to join the Marines. I recieved the 1st phone call at 12:25 last night to let me know that he had arrived safely. It was such a sad call for me. Very loud and quick call, not what i expected at all. It was a scripted call and he could only say so much. I didn't even have a chance to say anything back. Definitley brought tears to my eyes. It's going to be a tough 3 months of bootcamp, but I know he will do great and i'm so very proud of him for choosing this path. I will be communicating with him by letters weekly and I cannot wait to see him become an official Marine :-) Love you Brother!!!

At his going away Party!

Sunday dropped him off at hotel in Houston: Ariana could not get enough hugs from him

The cake!

Easter weekend and guess what?? more dancing

We headed to San Antonio for Easter weekend. Thankful for the extended weekend because we got to leave on Thursday. We had a very good time and of course it was very relaxing. We enjoyed some time at the Riverwalk, Ariana loved it out there. I have taken her there before but she was a lot smaller at the time and didn't really show too much excitement, this time it was a different story, She absolutley fell in love with the river and the boats (we didn't get to ride on the boat this time, but next time it will be the 1st thing on our agenda) She actually turned down the Disney Store to go outside and enjoy the beautiful scenery, I was in Schock, LOL...but of course i had to eventually take her into the Disney Store, i couldn't let her miss that even if she wanted to. (it sure would have saved me money though, LOL) She stocked up on Disney Jewlery, flip flops, and Sunglasses, it was oh too CUTE....We also got to visit with our family that live in that area. It was definitley good times because i had not seen them in SUCH A LONG time, can't wait to do it again :-)


Ariana danced at the Derby Doll Mini Clinic last night, She did a great job. The show was awesome. We enjoyed all the routines performed and i especially enjoyed the finale (its a tradional dance that has been performed for years) definitley brought back Memories. We were also informed that next year we will have the 40 Year Derby Doll Reunion. Should be very interesting and Fun. Once a Doll, Always a Doll :-) Ariana will also be performing at X-Treme Jazz Spring Show on Saturday April 24th at 7:00 p.m. They will get to perform all the routines they took to competition. I'm reallly excited about this show because a lot of our family and friends have not been able to see her dance since the competitions are held out of town. She did an EXCELLENT job at competition i'm hoping she does the same now that she is going to be able to dance and perform in EL Campo.


Our plans for this weekend should be very relaxing. My brother will be leaving on Sunday for the Marines so we will be spending time with him. We won't have any communication with him for 3 months but through letters :-( i'm already sad and worried about him. But this is what he REALLY wants to do so we are behind him 100%. Can't wait to see him when he graduates and is offially a MARINE, its going to be quite an accomplishment and i'm going to be one PROUD sister.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope all of you have a GREAT WEEKEND :-)

at Caynon Lake:



San Antonio:

Little Ms. Diva

At Claire's shopping for Earrings

AT the Riverwalk

At the Derby Doll Spring Show:

Posing with Derby Doll Monica