So, I know it's been a while since any postings,sorry life got in the way.  Amidst everything that's been happening with the Growing Paynes Natalie received Our Lord for the first time!! Well if you don't count the time when she received Him once a couple of years ago by accident, this is the Official Time.
It was a day, not as warm as we would've liked but still beautiful.  The sun was shining, mommy was stressing, ahem, Natalie was excited, daddy was up early to get the house ready, ahem, the kids were happy.
Fr. David Lawrence and Deacon Herb Casey celebrated The Mass and they did a wonderful job.  They got the kids involved and really centered the Mass around the children and Our Lord.
Afterwards we took some pictures in the garden at St. Bonaventure, and of course we had to take pictures on Nana's bench - we know she was there with us for such a special ocassion, I truly wish she was here physically though...
We came home to a yummy lunch half catered by Ravioli's, followed by cheesecake cupcakes, wonderful cake from Alpine Bakery (where we get most of our cakes), and awesome family to celebrate such a wonderful celebration with.
Check out some pictures below and more pictures here, enjoy!

Yes, part III - my husband sure knows how to spoil me!  Tom had a two day/one night conference in San Francisco at The Ritz Carlton, and so I had to join him!  My wonderful in-laws watched the kids for a couple of hours on Thursday and then my sweet sister took over at dinner time and spent the night with the kiddos!
I was able to nap a bit in the afternoon before a wonderful dinner at Palio d'Asti.  The next morning I grabbed some breakfast with my sweetie and then a quick lunch.  We were back within 24 hours, but it was still a nice break.
I was so spoiled this time, that I think I got used to it =)  Now what?  When's the next outing sweetie?

Yes, you read that right.  My sisters took me out to celebrate my birthday again, thanks girls!  We had such a great time at none other that Marie Callender's Karaoke Bar!  Who would've thought that it could be so fun?!?!?!?!

Unfortunately Ivette and I had to be up early the next morning, otherwise we would've sang a bit more - we did have about 3 more songs before we had to leave =(  This outing was way overdue, it'll have to be done again soon, especially now that we know how it all works.  Apparently if you go often enough, you can build your own "file" with your favorite songs.  By "file" I mean a little zip-lock bag full of card with names and numbers of songs.

The only down side of the night was the little kids =(  Vanessa had warned me about it.  According to the Concord Police Department if a bar also serves food, it's OK for minors to be there.  The problem is that the "minors" were about 6 years old and under!  By the time we left (a little after 10) there were still a few little ones dancing while their daddy sang and their mommy videotaped daddy.  Sad, but there wasn't much we could do but get into an argument with the parents.

Anyway, here are some pictures for you enjoyment!



Yes, mine is in the middle.

Ivette is so good at taking these pictures!

Sisters' LOVE

See? we DID sing!

Second drink!

Yes, dad's birthday and mine are just a week apart; although some people think that we're just a few years apart - sometimes people think he's my brother! Please don't tell him even if you agree - I don't think I could stand his bragging =)

Anyway, back to my birthday, yay! I had a lovely day.  My day started with a great workout with Coach Terry (highly recommend him!), then a hot shower, and back to bed because I was too cold.  I had a nice mocha (courtesy of my hubby) and oatmeal (courtesy of Starbucks) in bed!  Then my family didn't let me get out of bed for another hour, which by the way included huevo frito (fried eggs - my favorites!), hash browns and steak (leftovers from Raviolis).

We managed to get some school work done in the morning, amidst all the fun.  After lunch and putting Mary and Anthony down for a nap, Natalie, Sofia, Charlie and I headed over to Winco and Holy Angels Book Store in Antioch.  It may sound like no big deal, but one: going to the Catholic store without the little ones is such a treat; and two: I hadn't been to Winco and we now LOVE it!  Besides I was able to get my Red Velvet Birthday Cake!

My wonderful in-laws brought us some Mexican food (I could live on that stuff!), and Vanessa & Mike joined us for dinner and cake.

And let's not forget all the love I received on Facebook, yikes! The messages kept coming, thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart - it truly meant a lot to me!  This is only my second birthday without my momma, so I never know how it's going to turn out.  As always, God comes through and gave me a beautiful day!

Here are some pictures for you!

And all the energy they come with!!

After having Natalie and Sofia, Charlie came along and I had no idea how I would deal with it - I'd been used to dainty, pink, and gentle.  And then comes rough, dinosaurs and more bruises that I know what to do with! Times 2!!! (boys that is).

Then God showed me the way (as always).  My Charlie has a bit of both! He's gentle, and oh so sensitive, but he does like his dinosaurs, playing with balls, guns and all this is done barefoot!

Lately I see how God is letting me see the blessings he has bestowed on me, and made me truly grateful for each one of them.  The other night, right before bed, Charlie and Anthony were chasing each other and LOVING it! I do see that a lot more lately, they have such a great time together, it brings tears to my eyes!  Too bad daddy wasn't here to see it, but I know he's seen the boys play together and loves it as much as I do.

So it was a usual weekday morning, some kids schooling, some playing happily and mommy trying to catch up with the rest of the house.  Every once in a while mommy likes to call out for Anthony just to make sure he's not where he's not supposed to be.

Mommy proceeds to call Anthony!!! And no response, so she tries a couple more times and nothing.  Mommy decides to get the kids to help out, and nothing.  Finally Sofia looks under the table which is in the same room where we've been all morning.  And what do you know?!?!?!

We gathered at Mom and Dad's place (I still call it that way =) to celebrate Dad's birthday.  Dad's brother Tio David was here from Peru, we hadn't seen him in a while.  Dad's sisters Ethel and Rita (with her husband Chava), and Dad's girlfriend Lucia, were in charge of the cooking, very yummy!

Our sweet Charlie turned 5 on February 21st and we had a great time celebrating.  Some of his cousins couldn't come for pizza and cake so they came over a bit earlier and got to play in the front yard.  Aunt Kathy and Tom got in the action and did some jump rope, volleyball and monkey in the middle.  We had such a great time that we HAD to come in the house and have some cake pops to get our energy back!

I guess they liked them!

We began the month of February by going to the California Academy of Science in San Francisco, on Homeschool Day.  The kids had been so excited about it, they'd been counting the days!! Daddy took the day off and came along with us.
And just like with any other Payne outing we had a little incident. So when we arrived to the academy some of us needed to use the restroom, daddy stayed behind with Sofia and Anthony. When I met them back over by the sting rays pool, Sofia had a different look on her face. Apparently she had brought a little plastic purse with her, and somehow dropped it into the pool, ahem, the TANK full of sharks, sting rays and hundreds of fish. Luckily no animal ate the purse or its contents, Sofia was rather embarrassed for most of the day. You see she was famous! Later on we heard how cool it looked when "something" fell into the tank and all the fish ran to taste it, people loved it! Either way Sofia was a bit upset and embarrassed. No we didn't recover the purse, they had to call the right specialist to retrieve it. We were told that they would call us once they got the purse, but so far not a word. Oh well, at least we didn't have to pay for all the "trouble" we caused.