casen's third birthday.

the birthday boy.

his big present.

playing with jacob and his cousins, jaycee and garet.

the cake.

that spiderman actually spun around the cake. too cool.

the food setup.

lots of kids on that trampoline. surprisingly, i think we made it without one injury. :)

he's a little dramatic.

cheesy!

quite excited about lightning mcqueen.

and money. :)

i don't think he had even seen what this was at this point. just happy to be opening presents. :)

sleepy boy.

hey, mom does exist! :)

snow day.

i was quite excited this morning when my alarm went off at 6 and i checked the saisd site to find out school was delayed 2 hours. for us, if saisd is delayed, my boys don't go to school at all. seeing as how they are only there til 1:30 at the latest, there's not much point in going anyway.

needless to say, i rolled back over and went to sleep...for a short time. jacob was up soon after that amazed by the snow.

as much as i HATE cold weather, i do have two little boys and keeping them inside all day long while there's snow sitting on the ground outside is just torture...for both of us. :)

so we bundled up and went out.

they, of course, began by tasting the snow.

jacob then attempted to make a snow angel. the snow was incredibly hard since we had a mix of rain, sleet and snow last night. not very good snow to play in.

then they threw very small snow balls at each other.

they then decided maybe they should stomp on the snow to break it up. good idea.

sweet boys.

another failed attempt at a snow angel.

guess who he's coming for now!

stinker!

they finished with more snow tasting, and then we came in to thaw out.

jacob asked if he could do this again when it snowed...next year...certainly! :)

mya adley

here's a very long video (15 minutes, to be exact) mostly of our sweet baby girl's face. she was smashed up against me the whole time and refused to move. stubborn girl already. feel free to fast forward. there's also some pictures at the beginning of her taking measurements and proving that she's still a girl. :) the sonographer did say she currently weighs 3 pounds 5 ounces and is measuring right on track...30 weeks 1 day. oh, and she also said she has a rather "round" head and chubby cheeks. (i think that's code for big.)

usps.

I seem to be having an issue with our postal service delivering casen's birthday invitations. I know of at least two people who never got theirs and I got another one returned to me today.
So, if you normally attend my kids' birthday parties and you haven't gotten an invitation, sorry!

Here's the info...

This Saturday
4:00 pm
Our house

See ya there!

the latest little details.

on a freezing cold hunt today through an antique shop, i found this. i believe it will adorn the dresser and hold other future findings.

then there's this. i actually ordered this from etsy. probably the first of many i plan to acquire.

and then there's this...my treasure. this doll was given to me by my great uncle before i ever left the hospital in 1981...yes, when i was born. that would make her almost 30 years old. she's soft and adorable and i can still remember the smell that she kept for years. of course, she's a little tattered and stained, but she's one of the only things i have from my childhood. like me, my mom likes change. and she has six kids. keeping too many keepsakes for each child would require her to have a whole separate house to store it all. :)

so i have this baby doll. i don't think i ever gave her a name...just baby. and now she will be my girl's baby. i can't wait.

let the decorating begin.

i'm really struggling right now trying to figure out the exact look i want for mya's room. i've perused a million websites (not much of an exaggeration) and i'm just not finding the look i want. i guess i shouldn't expect another person to have the exact nursery i have pictured in my head right now. nonetheless, that has not hindered me from hours of searching.

anyway, the furniture is all in. i think it's placed where it will stay. now i just need to decorate. i'm at a loss on the bedding. i really just want it to be a creamy, ivory color. no frills or fuss. i also want it to be a reasonable price. that's where it gets tough. but that topic is for a whole other post.

on to today.

here are some things i found...as a start.


a vintage story book and jar (which i plan to fill with colorful buttons or something) and a not-so-vintage "m". and then, of course, the table that they're sitting on. the first picture is a more accurat portrayal of color than the second. (which could bring in a whole other topic of how i've been taking more pictures with my phone lately than my camera. we're not going there now.)
i don't necessarily picture these things staying on this table. in fact, i believe they will more likely be on a shelf on the wall. i am picturing the possibility of a cute lamp or something. along with other things i hope to find soon.

i would also like to find a chair. not necessarily a "nursery chair" for being comfortable when she wakes at night, but something that will just look pretty sitting in the corner of the room. i'm not sure how keen jerry is on my decorating direction right now, but hopefully it will all come together and he'll be impressed.

i do have some prints that i ordered for the walls. as soon as i finish this post, i plan to begin the framing process. again, i have a vision, i just need to get it going.

so, expect further nursery updates as i accomplish small tasks. i'm coming to the realization that even though i feel like i have forever before she gets here, if i don't get a move on, i'm going to have a baby with no bedding and a half-decorated nursery.

be back soon...

a new start.

so, yeah...it's been a while.

i'm not going to go into all the things that have been missed since i last posted...which was in august. rather, i'm just going to start from here.

i had contemplating switching to a new blog at one point, mainly for bigger picture posting, which makes up the majority of my posts. the transition just seemed too complicated. trying to get the new address out there, add it to blog rolls, etc. etc. i give up.

i'm staying here.

plus, my husband is really annoyed with the whole facebook thing and misses my blog. so i'm going to make a point to start anew. and for the next few months, our time with him will be minimal, so keeping him connected through this is important.

here's to a new start...in the blogging world anyway. :)

my own personal band

check it out here.

new blog...maybe.

you've probably seen on jenny's blog the switch to a new one.

we've also been working on a new sprinkle one from the same place but are still working out the kinks.

i'm thinking of moving mine there also, just because it's so much easier for pictures! and with the recent disney trip, i need easy!

so take a look!

crystaldramirez.myfotojournal.com

(plus, i have no idea what this photobucket thing is that's floating around on here!!)

disney world...day 1

handsome boys

how can they be so cute apart yet so goofy together?! this is the best attempt at getting a picture of them anywhere near each other. sad, i know.

so the rest will be of them apart...as usual.

sea world

we took a mini vacation a couple of weeks ago to san antonio. we stayed at a hotel on the riverwalk one night and then with kylah for the next two. much fun!

this was jacob's second trip to sea world and casen's first. they had a blast! and we had fun watching them!

casen obviously looks thrilled here. :) he was probably pouting because jacob got out of the car first...a daily fight in the ramirez household.

casen was too scared to get in the picture.

can you see casen clinging to jerry? i'm telling you...terrified!

we did NOT sit in the splash zone. i just can't make myself do it.

this was jacob's first roller coaster ride ever. he was quite thrilled. actually, this was his second. he rode it once earlier in the day, but i didn't get a picture. he was with jerry, and i was busy looking for one of the bands to my wedding ring. i'll give you one guess who was responsible...casen! a whole other story. :)

the new do...

and then there's this...

we just got home a little while ago from a mini vacation.

as we're unpacking, i'm trying to pick up the house at the same time. i'm rearranging things on shelves and putting things away.

i was reorganizing the pile of things we have on our nightstand.

i picked up my bible to move it and noticed and ant on it. (that's a whole other story.) anyway, i shook my bible to get the ant off and a small envelope fell out.

the envelope was from one of our women's retreats. it simply said "my beloved" on the front.

i pulled out the card inside and it read, "my eyes and affections are upon you now."

i remember being at the retreat and getting that card and thinking, how does this apply to me now? i struggled with the meaning then.

but man, i get it now.

how appropriate. how perfect. how simply...Him.

i opened my bible to put it into some random spot and i came to the book of Numbers. i started reading through and remembered that in my older bible, the one that has ALL the notes and underlines, and highlights in it that i had marked a specific portion of Numbers. my current bible is the Message version. i couldn't easily recognize the verse so i went and pulled out my other bible. i immediately found it.

Numbers 6:22 - 27 (NKJV)

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 "The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.'" 27 "So they shall put my name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."

all i could do was smile.

what an awesome God we serve.