Oh, I am a terrible updater...

Ok, so we're all doing great, thanks to God.

Roy (our dog) recently had surgery again, but is doing great. That dog is such a part of the family! For those of you that don't know, he has struggled with cancer on and off for several years now. But he looks just great now! Here he is with the kids...

K loves to crawl all over him!

And Sebastian loves to hug him & ride him like a horse! Oh, poor Roy!

Jorge just celebrated the big 3-7! It was low key, but wonderful! First, we went to Mass, then out to dinner (and the kids actually acted so nice & proper!), then home for ice cream cake! (I only had a #7 candle... no #3! Oops!)

And here's one of us making dinosaur sounds (a common occurrence for us). Yes, it's a bit ridiculous, but part of the joy of parenthood, I guess!
Other than that, life is just the same... thank God!

Hi! Thanks to God, life is good. We're thankful for this laid-back time of the year that includes lots of outdoor play time!

This past weekend, Mom & Tia Angel came to visit. With Mom's (AKA: "Buela") help, we finally got some work done on our yard! Our busy lives had allowed our yard to become the eyesore of the neighborhood! ;) But even aside from the yard-help, it was great hang-out time. We really miss having family close by. Plus, it's so hard to live in a college town, because we find and grow attached to awesome & wonderful people... but inevitably, they move far, far away from Lubbock to get jobs elsewhere. (*Hmmm... Roni ponders whether she has run off these countless friends!*)

Here are some pics of the kids!





"Wow, she has sooo much hair!" That's what we always hear about her! It's fun though! At 8 months, she has an array of hair bows that actually stay on!




And below is a pic of life-long friends (My godson on the left, my kid on the right)! Whenever the Rowe's are in town, they kindly make a stop! We miss them!


Hope all is well for everyone who drops in for a visit!

What? A blog without a picture of the kids? What is this world coming to?!

We're doing well... and things at our jobs are slowing down! Whew! I am now the proud teacher of 13 newly Confirmed Catholics. And I guess Jorge is proud of another good semester of softball coming to and end??!

Last weekend was like the reunion weekend of a lifetime! It was like our lives were rewinded about 5 years! We attended the Rock reunion (our college praise & worship service) and worshipped with all of our old college friends... except this time Jorge & I are married with 2 kids in tow! Then Saturday, we attended the beautiful Sanchez wedding! It was a great & blessed time!

Family News! Sebastian is moving to a new room, and Karol is also moving to a big-girl room (as opposed to sleeping in Mommy & Daddy's room)! So to any of you "regulars" who stay at the Juarez Suites, you're still welcomed of course, because Sebastian is sharing!

My apologies for not updating more! I've been a blog-slacker! We've been great, thanks to God! We wish all of you a blessed Easter! Mom, Angel & Angel's friend came into town to hang out with us. We would've traveled to "the big O", but Karol cried for 2 hours straight of the trip last weekend from Odessa to Lubbock! So "Buela" kindly decided to make the drive. Whew!

Today we went to Mass & it was awesome. Thanks to Mom, Karol looked better than all of us put together! Well, Sebastian also looked very, very handsome, I must say! Then, when we got home, the Easter Bunny showed up & left lots of sugar! (Tia Angel somehow has pull with the Easter Bunny!)

Well "God and the Girl" is on TV & I want to check it out. One of my core members knows one of the guys from her year on NET! Cool! Our love to you all!

This was a recent morning while everyone was still in PJ's! Sebastian is such a good big brother! He's talking so much... but what do we expect with the somewhat boisterous parents that he has? And our Karol is now a whopping 15 lbs at almost 5 months old!

Our house needs a good bleaching! Everyone has been sick! We have all had the typical cold... and poor Karol has RSV. We were in the ER for about 7 hours on Thursday. God is good though. Fr. Jim said he would offer Mass for her at 5:30pm on that day. By 6:00pm, the nurses in the ER were quite impressed that her oxygen levels had really increased! Thanks, God! Today is her last day of breathing treatments. I'm staying home with her this week.

It's a little hectic, because Jorge is training all week late into the evenings, and I'm trying to plan for the upcoming LIFE TEEN retreat! Yikes! But God always gets us through somehow!

A recent picture of our sweet blessings! They're both recovering from colds. Jorge & I are very ready for some rest!

It's January... and we're still wearing chanclas ("flip-flops"... to our non-Spanish speaking brothers & sisters)!!! It's a beautiful & somewhat warm winter! Here's what's going on in our world...

• Sebastian's "twos" haven't been so terrible. We actually sat through the entire Mass for a few weeks... but this past Sunday, he had time-out 5 times DURING Mass! Ahhh... parenthood!
• Karol just started daycare on Monday. Our hearts were breaking, but thanks to God it's only a few hours for a fews days a week.
• Jorge got the stomach flu on MLK weekend, but is getting better. Whew!
• Jorge & I will celebrate our 4th anniversary on Thursday! God sure picked out a wonderful one for me! Thanks, God!!! :)
• On the 31st of this month, it'll be the 6th anniversary of when I adopted ROY, our dog! Please pray for him though... we have found lumps on him again & fear that it might be cancer. St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!
• Many of you already know that I have re-enrolled in school this semester to complete my thesis & God-willing, FINALLY finish this masters. It's grueling right now & will only get done with God's help. Please pray for me,

We send our love & prayers to all of our family & friends!

We officially have a blog now, so that our family & friends can "check in" on us at any time! (Thanks, Jill, for this idea!) Below are pictures from our Christmas break... in no particular order!

This is a family dinner out at Pat O'Brian's in San Antonio!

That's one big hurricane, Mom! ;)

Roni's sisters: Vanessa & Angel

We checked out the Christmas lights at a park in Odessa. They were beautiful!

Mom is sad like the kids!Sebastian & Karol with their cousins in Corpus Christi
This is right after Mass on Christmas day. Why can't everyone look at the camera at the same time???
Here's our sweet KK!
This was at the 1st Annual Cindy-Lynette-Roni & Families Christmas party!
This is Karol with Tia Terry in Corpus Christi. Abuela Carrasco thinks they look just alike!