Santa Claus has come to town!!!

At a recent Our Children's House Fundraiser, we bid on and WON a visit from you know who. The one and only, Santa Claus.  So naturally we rallied some of our friends and family to welcome old St. Nick.  Here we are anxiously awaiting his arrival!

Gabbi, Lindsay, Amy & Gale

Claudia, Angelina & Donnie

Gary, Josh, Omi & Opi

Olivia & Angelina

Amy & Gale

Linda & Barbara

Julie & Roger

Gary & Laura even came all the way from El Paso!  They actually drove in that morning!

Marisa & Joe

And then without any warning, guess who arrived.  And then in typical Livi fashion she handed Santa her baby and told him to feed her.

I think Juliana is still in a state of disbelief in this picture.

And the only person as excited to see Santa as Juliana & Olivia was Gary.  I hope he was a good boy this year!

Then Santa began to pass out gifts for everyone.

Juliana was so happy to see him - probably because she's been so good this year!

Then we all took turns taking pictures with Santa!
The Loucks'

This was supposed to be Tanner's shot, but Livi had to sneak in.

Gabbi

Barb & Ray

Linda & Efrain

Gale & Amy

Donnie and Claudia

Even Omp & Omi.  Notice how Opi didn't get to close to Santa.  Is that because you haven't been good this year either? 

Here is about half of the Benavides family minus my 3 brothers:(

Joe & Marisa

The Garcia Sisters (Linda, Jules & Barb)


Here is Livi looking a little uncomfortable.  Maybe she's thinking back to all those time-outs she received in 2010.  I told her he knew.

Here are the Brooks'


The Brooks Babes

Juliana - so happy!

The Monteleone's

The sisters and the sisters!

So this is when Livi had to face the fire.

Turns out Santa really had been watching just as mommy had told her over and over again.  Every time she was in time out at Mrs. West's house or every time she told mommy no.

Santa gave her some wise words of advice.  Hopefully she can pull it together these next few weeks and make a good girl come back!

Letting it all soak in.

Wondering is this talk over yet?

End it on a positive note!  Go Santa!



Then after everyone had a chance to take a picture or have a chat with Santa he offered to read us "The Night Before Christmas".  What a treat!

I guess Livi and I were slightly excited.


And then it was time to say goodbye.


"But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Then after Santa left the party continued in the backyard with some roasted marshmallows!

Lenny the Lizard

So, I'm not really sure who Olivia takes after, but a few weeks ago Olivia was on the toilet for nightly business.  All of a sudden she comes running in with her pants around her ankles screaming "Mommy a yizar, a yizar!!!!"  I have no idea what a yizar is, so I get closer to see what all the commotion is.  It was a lizard!!!!  Assuming it was dead, because naturally a 2 year old would not be able to single handed capture a lizard with her pants around her ankles I tell her to throw it away because it's dead.  She says, "It don't be dead Mommy!"  So I tell her to put it on an newspaper so we can throw it out and low and behold - HE WAS ALIVE!!!   So she quickly took him back into the shelter of her little hand and I pulled up her pants.

Here is my brave girl with Lenny, the Lizard and the cup she decided would be his new home. 

For those that are wondering, we did google what they ate and after we decided it would be way too much trouble, Olivia came to the realization that Lenny had a mommy and a daddy and they were looking for him.  So she took Lenny out to the yard and set him free to find his very worried parents.

And the winner is. . . . . . .

With 5 votes. . . House #2 - David, Melissa & Roger with their rendition of "The Brooks' House"

Tied in second place with 4 votes. . . House #1 Matthew, Juliana, Larry & Me with our rendition of "The Philbrick X-Mas"

And also in second place . . . . with also 4 votes. . . . Olivia, Teresa, Dylan and Kayla with their rendition of "Christmas Village"

Official Voting has begun!!!!!!

Welcome to the annual Brooks Family Gingerbread House Contest.  Here is how we play this game.  You view the following 3 houses and choose which one you think is the best.  When I say best, I mean overall best - creative, cute, festive etc. We will not reveal the creators of the houses until voting is complete.  When is that you may be asking . . . . . . . . Voting ends tonight at midnight!!!!!  How can you vote. . . . . . You can either vote by adding a comment or shoot it to me on facebook. 

House #1

 House #2

 House #3

Feliz Navidad!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Bad Karma

So last night Olivia decides she is going to write on her chalk board, which she hasn't used in weeks.  It was all scribbled over and as I watched her grab for kleenex I thought, "This is not going to come clean with a kleenex" but low and behold it did.  She doodled on it for awhile and then finally announced, "I'm done Mommy!"  So I glance over and give her the obligatory, "Good job honey, that's nice."  As I glanced away I thought, wow that looked like she spelled Juliana.  So I take a closer look and SHE DID SPELL JULIANA!!!!   The formation of each letter was not perfect, but every letter was present and accounted for!  I double check again, J-u-l-i-a-n-a.  So I start freaking out, and call everyone in the house to witness this miracle.  (In case you forgot Olivia is 2!!!)  After everyone confirms that I'm not crazy I rush to get the camera. . . . and this is where the bad karma begins. 

Sidebar - This past August we had a family get together in San Antonio.  While we were there, by some freak accident my sisters digital camera broke.  The viewing screen just cracked after being in her pocket.  So while they were here for Thanksgiving she had this humongous dinosaur of a digital camera.  I actually think it was the first model ever of a digital camera.  No one even knew how to work it.  So of course I teased her about it and we laughed.

Back to the story.  I ran to grab my camera, turn it on and . . . . . . . you guessed it.  By some freak accident, my viewing screen had cracked.  We had just used the camera on Saturday and it had been sitting on the counter ever since.  I can't imagine how this could have happened.  It will still take pictures, but it's like back in the day of film cameras where you can't see what you took until you develop the pictures or in this case hook the camera up to the computer.  I dried my tears and ran to get my cell phone because I must capture this moment on film or no one will ever believe me, right?  So I run into the playroom with my phone ready go and . . . . . . . . . . . yes you guessed it.  Olivia was very diligently erasing the chalk board. It was gone, completely gone.  Not a trace of that stroke of genius. 

Oh well, maybe next time.  Until then, anyone have any good recommendations on a new camera?

Super Stars!

Check out my super stars.  Juliana and her daddy were recently featured in a story by our local television station ICTN (Irving Community Television Network).  They were doing a story about Our Children's House (Juliana's daycare), featuring Juliana.  It is an amazing place and we are so happy to have Juliana there!