New years Eve

Tonight is New Years Eve and we are so excited because we always have a big gathering in our home but this year Opapo Fono (Kris' bestfriend) has decided it will be at his house. Their Wednesday Band that is called "Seven the Hardway" is going to play tonight. So excited to hear them!!

Our day at the snow

Since it rained the week of Christmas there was plenty of snow we took a drive up to Wrightwood on Monday 12/29/08 and Nate & Kate loved the snow. Cousin Moises and Nathan's bestfriend (Harrison) were able to go with us and they all had a fun day. We got there around 11 am and did not leave until it got dark. The kids played so much that as soon they got in the car they feel asleep until the next day.

Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas came and went so fast. It just seems like yesterday that we were decorating our home with lights and putting up our Christmas tree, watching Frosty the Snowman and Polar Express (Our favorites), and making our list for Santa. Now we have to take everything down. It was a nice quiet Christmas Eve. We went to my sister Matha's house and then to my mom's. It was nice to see all of my nieces, nephews, their partners and their kids, sisters and brother. I only have one brother and nine sisters. Our tradition for Christmas Eve is to be home by 8 o'clock to have Nate & Kate put put cookies and milk for Santa. I guess the cookies were good because Santa ate them all and drank all of the milk. The kids got up so early (anybody else had this experience?), we of course stayed up a little later than the kids, and since we no longer have our digital camera we only filmed the Christmas morning experience. It was raining so hard on Christmas day that our plans to visit Grandma Louise (Kris' Grandma) were not looking good. We had our bags ready and we were dressed to go but were waiting for the rain to lessen, by one o'clock we were still waiting and Kris did not want to drive in the rain because it was coming down like cats and dogs. Kris' mom (Kathy) called and also suggested that we do not come. The kids started crying and were upset it was no a good thing. Kathy talk to them and told them we would see them tomorrow (12/26/08) at cousin Carolyn's house. I did not buy groceries because we were not going to be home all week so we had nothing for dinner. We ended up at my sisters house to have left overs. We had tacos de carne asada and pastor like the ones you buy from the Mexican taco man. My sister Martha is one of the best cooks other than my mom and Kathy, on the other hand I try making the same thing that they make and it doesn't come out tasting so good, I guess I have to keep on tying. The next day we went to Carolyn's and were so excited to see Grandma Louise there. The kids were so excited to go see and play with their cousins (Ruby, Izabelle, Micheal, Joseph, and little Louise. We had a great time with the Garcia Family (David and Carolyn Rivera), Arelene, Mom, and Uncle Joe and Mary. The only thing missing this Christmas was Kris' brother and family (Stevie, Heather, Melaina, and Reina) they live in Kauai, Hawaii. Nate & Kate can't wait to see them. We are thankful that we were able to have a wonderful Christmas this year and so blessed with family, we are still recovering from Christmas.

Goodbye...2008

Well pretty soon we all will have to say goodbye to 2008 and welcome the new and only 2009 into our lives. We the Arellanes' have had a great year and when it wasn't so great, we learned patience and love, but most important to pray more as a family.
Kris is on his 4th year as a Physical Education teacher at Foothill Middle School. He loves what he does, to make a difference in his students lives, sharing his knowledge, wearing sweats or shorts to work everyday, but what he loves most is to coach sports after school. Kris' football team won the Azusa city championships and went on to play other cities in the recreation field that is next to Pasadena High School. They came in third place for their league and made the city of Azusa proud of their accomplishments and hard work. This year Kris also got a chance to visit his brother Steve in Kauai, Hawaii. He went with his mom during our Easter break from work and was there for a week; he said that it was beautiful and so nice to visit with his family. Kris had been a boy scout leader for about three years and this year was his last year in scouts. He got to do a lot of fun stuff while being a leader. This summer he and other leaders took the boys on a bike ride to Seal Beach and after they went to their camp ground near camp camp Pendleton near San Diego. This year he did not work fireworks with TNT, so it was the first time that the kids got to spent 4th of July with him. During the summer he worked at Gladstone High as a Physical Education teacher, he got a chance to meet many of my students, and what was very rewarding was that some of my students told him that I had made a difference in their life and for this reason they would be easy on him.

Nathan is still a happy, patient, respectful, silly, funny, smart, and loving boy; but with now wears glasses. Gosh, he reminds me of Kevin my nephew, in his mannerism and looks. Even though he wears glasses he is still a handsome little boy with an awesome attitude. He began the first grade in September and he really likes his teacher her name is Mrs. Rico. This year he has been in baseball, basketball, and football. He loves playing sports. He has a cousin named Moises that comes over everyday, he is like his little brother, and Nathan always wants him over or go over his house. Nathans has two best friends and their names are Harrison and Derick. Nate has known both Harrison and Derick since he was one and half years old, but Derick moved to Idaho with his parents for a while and now they came back to Azusa, these three always play together at school and church; they have so much fun together and protect each other at school. Nathan lost his two bottom teeth around spring time and just 2 weeks ago he lost the left top front tooth after church, his other top front tooth is loose and any minute he will lose it as well, his dad teases him and says that Nathan will have to ask Santa for his two front teeth, Nathan just laughs. Nathan turned 6 years old this summer and wanted a dog. He wanted a dog just like the one that his daddy had at 6 years old. We went everywhere looking for a Cocker Spaniel, we finally looked in the penny saver and started calling. Boy it takes forever to find a dog that you want. We found him, he was born on April 30th, 2008, we brought him home and Nathan wanted to name him Mike, like he had named all the fish and rabbit he had had as pets. Kris and I said he had named enough pets Mike. So then Nathan named him Granola, the dog was so small and cute, he was only 3 months old. The woman that sold Granola to us, told us that the dogs were de-wormed, and had their current shots. When I was giving him a bath his fur was covered in fleas and he still had worms. Nathan and Kaitlyn were so sad because they could not touch him. Kris and I were so upset and I did not sleep all night because Granola was shaking, so I sat on the recliner and I held him all night; he did not cry at all. The next morning before going to my mother in law's birthday party at Carolyn's, we all went to Pet Smart to get Granola advantage and a something for the worms, little did we know what was going to happen.....Kris had just left with Nate and Kate to go get them some breakfast and I stayed with Granola in the waiting room. A lady walked by us with her BIG Akita and continued around the corner, when suddenly the BIG Akita came back towards where I was with Granola. The Akita tried biting Granola but I kicked the Akita in the face and he fell down. The lady was just standing there and not trying to get her dog away from us. The Akita came back so many times towards us and I fought to get him off, until he finally wrapped his teeth around the back of Nathan's dog. The Akita took Granola from me and started shaking him. I was screaming so loud that everyone in the store heard me and the owner of the Akita still did nothing. Granola just cried and I could do nothing. One of the doctors came out and did something to the Akita's jaw for him to release Granola. Granola fell to the ground and the doctor quickly took him and I followed. There was blood everywhere and all over Granola. I was shaking and could not stop crying, a woman came and hugged me. I cried on her shoulder for a long time. They quickly checked for broken bones. No broken bones were found. The doctor shaved Granola so they could see how deep the punctures were and to administer stitches. This was one of those not so great times of this year. Nathan was so sad. Within a few weeks Granola's stitches were removed and he was fine.

Kaitlyn turned 3 years old this August. She is beautiful , growing up so fast, and is getting taller; I hope she is taller than me when she grows up. She started preschool and has learned all the shapes and many more things that are important to learn before kinder. She surprises us with how much she has learned. She loves to dress up in her Snow White high heels and dress. She is a mascot for the cheerleader squad that I teach. This year, she was in the Golden Days parade for Azusa, she looked so cute cheering, she especially loved going to Memorial Park after the parade to get on the carnival rides. She loves to dance and perform, she is not shy, well maybe sometimes not to often. Kate may love to do all these girl things but she also loves to wrestle, play swords, play Star Wars guns, basketball, football, baseball with her cousin Moises and brother. Her best friend is her cousin Moi because they play together everyday. She talking constantly about everything she sees and hears, so Kris and I have to watch ourselves to make sure we are setting a good example.

As for me this year went by way to fast. As of today I am 34 years old. Well as for me 2008, was a year that I can honestly say that I have grown (not only in size...LOL) as a wife, mother, and spiritual Being. The three things that I know that I was meant to be in this life. In June, I was the first from my sisters and brother to receive a bachelors. I received a bachelors in Liberal Studies from Cal State L.A. Working so hard towards my goal with a home to take care of, mu husband, my kids, working full time at times, having a church calling, being a cheerleader coach, and most of the time coming home after 9 o'clock from school. Yes, it was and will continue to be a struggle because now I am working on my credentials and masters. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful and beautiful family that gives me the support that I need to finish school. Another person that has been there for us for me to finish school is my mother in law, she has been such an awesome help with my kids, the kids even started asking me to go to school even when I had none, so Kathy (grandma) could stay with them. My sister Martha has also been such an awesome aid and has rescued me, she takes my kids on Fridays when she has the day off, my kids want to go over her house everyday if they could. Also I am blessed to have friends from church that have been there for me and have helped me with my kids when Kris had to coach after school. Angelina (the babysitter) also helped me and was helpful when I needed her. Yes it will be another long road and am so glad to have my support group. For next year I am planning a family (Barajas) reunion for my sisters, brother, nephews and their family, nieces and their family so we can take pictures.
We the Arellanes family has been blessed with health and love, and many other blessings. After 7 years, we still may not be able to afford a honeymoon, family vacations, a house, expensive diamond rings, but we have everything we need; we always have enough and we have each other. We are ready for Christmas and the New Years. We are excited to welcome 2009 into our lives. We hope that by this blog you can visit with us a little more frequently by viewing the photos and blogs, you can communicate with us on our blog in the comments section. We are still trying to figure out how to post things.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To All of You!

Love the Arellanes Family

More 2 Come....

Since we just created this blog today it needs more work and pictures. We have to go to a Christmas Party from Church and have run out of time. Will be back soon....

Girls Night Out!

Yesterday we had an all girl social at my friends home. This was a great time to get together with my friends from church and school, to talk, karaoke, and a chance to celebrate December birthday's including mine. There was a good turn out , time just flew so quickly because everyone was having so much fun; so glad that people wanted to karaoke. It was so wonderful to laugh, laugh, and laugh. Thank you my friends for this great time.