More...

Here is other pics from our visit with my Mom and Step-Dad.

My Step-Dad is a wonderful photographer so we always get the best snapshots of our kids, unrehearsed! I love it!

Oh, and it's official...I am now the Mom of a 3rd grader and a 6th grader! How did that happen? When did I get so old? Ugh....

Another year gone...

Well, it's officially Summer for me! I said goodbye to the sweetest class. I truly had the sweetest, fun class this year. I made them a slide show of our year together and cried! I couldn't believe how much they grew up in our short time together. I have 3 that are returning to me next year and I am glad I get to love them for another year. I said Goodbye to a few that are really close to my heart. My Julia and my Cameron will go to Kindergarten next year...and I know they are ready. They will do fine but I know I will always see them as being my Julia and my Cameron. It gets harder, every year, to send them out of my door! I feel really blessed to be a preschool teacher. I get to train little soldiers for Christ. I try to encourage them to be more like Jesus and to help them grow up in HIS word. And then if they learn some letters, sounds, a little Spanish(very little, b/c let's face it...I'm one really white..white girl!) I feel like I've accomplished something. This year, this class was loving, sweet and we shared so many giggles. My biggest goal as a preschool teacher is to be the teacher I would have wanted for my own children. I'm pretty sure this is what I am meant to do in life. It's really a blessing to be around so many wonderful kids and appreciative parents. I am so thankful they shared their children with me this year. We had an amazing year and I spent it with amazing people.

Words I try to live by...
God understood our thirst for knowledge, and our need to be led by someone wiser; He needed a heart of compassion, of encouragement and patience; Someone who would accept the challenge regardless of the opposition; Someone who could see potential and believe the best in others...so He made Teachers.

Oh, and for giggles and my fellow preschool teachers:

Top Ten Reasons to Become a Preschool Teacher
1. Cute little children. . .Cute little paycheck.
2. Confidence that you will never, ever forget to count to 10.
3. Attention span. . .Do they have one?
4. Shoes that untie themselves.
5. Get to sing your favorite songs over and over and over.
6. With all this bending, who needs aerobics?
7. Play, play, play.
8. Classroom art proudly displayed in kitchen "galleries".
9. Small hands. . .LARGE crayons.
10. We alone make little ones count.

:) I think I just might be blessed.

Memorial Weekend...

This is our pillow fight...don't tell Makayla that we were in her room!

The tree I thought was really neat looking!

This weekend, we had alot going on. We went to my niece, Julie's BBQ honoring her college graduation. I'm pretty proud about that! We had a great time and got to enjoy being around Leon's family and walking a neat part of Wichita that I didn't even know existed. There were trees I wanted to take pictures of, and some that I did. I walked with Leon's great niece, Alea, and learned that newly turned 3 year old girls like to talk about every kind of flower and pick up everything and take it home. We returned with a squished pinecone, a bird feather -which Aidan informed Alea that birds are disgusting and carry horrible diseases and she should really lather up later, a piece of bamboo and a flower from a strange bush. She asked me a bazillion questions about flowers, trees and bird diseases (thanks, Aidan.). I tried to answer to the best of my ability! We played with doodle bugs, slugs and all kinds of interesting things! After the BBQ, since Makayla spent the night with a friend, Aidan wanted to have a slumber party, too. His dad and I agreed it was only fair. We wrapped Aidan, like a mummy with his old ace bandages and then it was on! We had a pillow fight, which I'm pretty sure, Aidan won, with his dad's help. Then we all cozied in the bed and watched Goonies. We all agreed it was the best slumber party ever! What we didn't agree on, was Aidan sleeping in our bed. His dad just thought it might be a cozy night for all of us. Boy was he wrong! I slept ok, until Aidan smacked me in the throat with his Popeye arm. Well, it felt like a Popeye arm, anyway. Then Leon got up about 47 times to inform me that Aidan was all over him and he was going to the couch, which he never did. I think he just wanted to wake me so I would be just as uncomfortable as he was. Everytime I woke up, Aidan was facing a different direction. Sometimes his face was right by mine, sometimes his feet, sometimes other body parts, which was not pleasant to wake up next to. I'll leave it to your imagination. :) You can thank me later. Then the next morning, since we were SOOOOO well rested, we picked up Makayla and headed out for the day. First stop, my Mom and Step-dad's house. There is no place like Nanny and PawPaw's. The kids love it there. I was so thrilled to see my Mom. She is looking so much better. She is recovering nicely and seems to be feeling so much better. It's always comforting to see Prayer at work. I kissed her hello and thought, Thank you, God. After lunch with them and my sister we headed to my Aunt Deena's. The kids ran around with my favorite cousin's kids, lighting sparklers and just having a good time. I remembered being young running around doing the same thing with this very same cousin. Man, how I miss those days. I realize how lucky I really am to raise my kids with my family and let traditions carry on throughout the years and I think there will be alot more of these type of trips in our future. We came home late, fell asleep..this time with everyone in their own bed and woke up to our children giggling in the hallway. It was a wonderful weekend. I truly feel blessed. Thank you, God.

Field Day...

Oh, the joys of Field Day! Let me tell you, first of all, this is an all day affair! I got to go to Aidan's in the morning and be a spectator. Well sorta. Mostly I yelled at him from across an area to stay out of the bounce house, and to be careful running in the water! UGH! That boy! Just remember this is the kid that had a broken femur about 8 months ago-so Doctor's orders: BE VERY CAREFUL, for let's say...the next 7 years! Do you really know how hard it is to monitor everything your 8 year old does? Especially an eight year old boy? Let me just tell ya, there are times I just wanna throw in the towel. I don't... but oh, man..there are times! Anyway, I put the sunscreen on him, then me, then off(ed) him..not literally..just with the bug repellent stuff. HA! And then we were off and running again. His ended pretty well and then I went home for a quick nap, because let's face it yelling at a busy eight year old is quite draining, and then headed for Makayla's turn. For Makayla's group I actually had to be a game monitor person. Guess what game they had me in charge of? WATER BLASTERS. Seriously, WATER BLASTERS...who thought this up? The point of the game was to run around with water soakers and just spray the tar outta your classmates. So who's bright idea was it to make the fairest skinned, redheaded chick in charge of this game? I am convinced it was someone with very olive skin trying to get a giggle. Needless to say, I have about 45421781 new freckles, bringing the total to 7484513216546512 now. Super. Oh well, me and my freckles had a great time and then I took my kids to Chuck E Cheese for dinner and a little more play time. I'm pretty sure we're sleeping in tomorrow!! :)

Oh, the Swine Flu...

We went to The Dallas Science and Nature Museum about a week ago and now since I am officially a blogger I can tell you all about it! Oh, lucky you! :) Our kids are really into science. I am glad about that, because I really never was as a kid but as an adult I will say, I find it rather interesting! Anyway, when we arrived, we were in line to park and as we pulled up the man running the whole parking thing said, "Are you here for Cinco De Mayo?" Leon was like, "UH, No." And he said, "oh, sorry.." and then told us where to park. I instantly thought it was funny, because let's face it, if I was driving I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been asked that. Anyway, we found out they were having a Cinco De May celebration in the same area. OK so anyone who has been in public whatsoever, knows that the SWINE FLU is pretty much talked about all the time, so Aidan instantly pipes in with, "uh, oh, there are alot of Mexicans around here and one of the teachers at my school said the Mexicans are bringing the swine flu to Texas." Wow..that was a powerful statement from that teacher, I thought. And she might wanna watch out what she is saying. Anyway, on to the museum. Just days before this, Aidan told me not to kiss Leon because he didn't want me to get the Swine Flu, because his Daddy is Mexican and he might have it. I explained to Aidan that his Dad has never been to Mexico. Then he asked me about Grandpa and Grandma. Again, I explained to him that they were not from Mexico either. The boy is consumed with the Swine Flu! We're not going to let the Swine Flu ruin our day, we explained to Aidan. He asked for germy gel, just in case. We get to the museum and saw so many neat things. We dug for dinosaur bones, made huge bubbles, learned about vomit and mucus and pretty much everything gross that the human body is capable of producing. Fun, I tell ya! While digging for dinosaur bones, two sweet and really cute little Mexican-American girls came in to dig, too. Aidan saw them and stopped what he was doing and pushed himself against the wall and slid away as fast as he could. I was puzzled and wondering what he was doing..then I look to his father who is laughing uncontrollably. He said, "Aidan is trying not to catch the Swine Flu." I turned soooooo red. I was embarrassed but really trying not to laugh. Leon and Makayla were not doing a good job of holding it in. One of us had to be mature. And it fell on me. Hard to believe, I know. I looked at Leon and said, "It's time to go." I was terrified I was about to get my rear kicked! Leon and I have completely failed as parents of an interracial child...I'm convinced.

Wow, it's about time!

Well, this is it...my first blog! Where do I start?? HMMM....

Well, here's a bit about me: I'm Mandie. I'm married to Leon. We've been married for nearly 13 years now but together for nearly 18 years. For all you math geniuses...you're right, I've been with him over half my life, since I was 14 to be exact! :) We have two kids, a cat and a dog. . It's a normal life, with lots of laughter. Laughter is really important in the Sanchez Household. Our life consists of: Makayla, our daughter, is 11. She is pretty shy, until you really get to know her...I think she inherits this trait from her Dad. We all know she didn't inherit this from me! Along with everything else..you will soon see a picture. Makayla and her Dad really favor. Makayla is the pretty one though. :) Makayla doesn't like any attention drawn to her. Someone once told me that she reminds them of Violet from The Incredibles. Pretty much. She is really amazing though. She does things I can't imagine doing at her age. She sews, crochets, draws, and plays piano. She is very creative and artistic. Then there is Aidan. He's 8...and all about EVERYONE looking at him. He says things and does things that I think are hilarious. I always have an Aidan story to tell, so pull up a chair. He makes me laugh like no other. God really knew what He was doing when He decided to share Aidan with me. Then there is me...I'm a Wife, a Mom and a Pre-School Teacher. I love my 3 jobs..Seriously these three jobs really equal like 39438974873247, I'm thinking..but anyway, I have the best jobS in the world. My husband is an Auto Technician, which really means, he works on every one's car but mine. :) I love him more than you can imagine, but he says he loves me more. Funny thing is my friends and family agree with him. We have a sweet life...if I do say so myself, hence the reason I named my blog this. I think I am beyond blessed. I have a wonderful family, sweet friends, an awesome job and I live for the Lord..doesn't get much better than this! So I invite you to follow my life and laugh with me, because let's face it....Life is pretty darn funny!