Little bit of this and a little bit of that...

Let's get right down to business.  In the month of April I started watching a little boy, we went to Kiewit's Family Day, we had two visitors and prepared for Griffin's first birthday.  We were pretty busy this month. The weekends fly by, and I absolutely hate it.  I thought I wouldn't hate any day out of the week being that I stayed home and never had to worrry about work, but man, was I wrong.  I still hate Mondays, and I still love Fridays.  Mondays mean that Justin has to go back to work, and it's back to being just me and the kids during the day and waiting all day for Daddy to come home.  Fridays mean we get to spend the next two days with Daddy and I get to have my helper back!

I started watching a little boy during the month of April.  His nanny was sick and had surgery so I filled in.  He was such a sweet boy and totally rocked it with our schedule.  I was worried about watching another child only because the kids are on such a good schedule that I wasn't sure if I could get another one to be on the same sleep/eat/play schedule.  But I was blessed to have this little man in our home.  He fit right in with us.  He took great naps, ate well, played nice and my babies loved having him around.  Gracie was such a good helper and Griffin liked giving him toys to play with.

Gymnastics day...can you tell by Gracie's outfit.  We bought her a new leotard just like it but black.  She now has two she likes to wear :)

Lovin' on her baby bro

Kiewit had a Family Day on April 6th.  They had a bounce house, bounce slide, mini train ride, face painting, hand wax molding, carnival games, food, equipment for the kids to try out and so much more.  The best part was the mariachi band.  Thanks Kiewit, you always know how to hit the soft spot in my heart.  Gracie had an absolute blast!  Griffin enjoyed it also but really wished he was a full on walker so he could've joined in on more things.

Shuttle ride to Family Day

Hanging out with Dad

All the kids got their own vests and hard hats

Griffin was not a fan

First cotton candy!  She had no idea how to eat it.  It was pretty hilarious.

Using the excavator (I think that's what it is :/ )

Daddy teaching Gracie some construction skills

This is more her size

Gracie makes some crazy faces when we try to take pictures.  And she never looks at the camera until the 20th picture.

Getting a wax mold made of her hand

We love getting packages!

This is her very first "big girl" shirt from the kids departments at Target.  Growing up too fast.

Relaxing just like Dad

He is loving this rocking chair these days.

I love how he is sitting here.

Gracie also got her very first haircut!!  It was getting super long and any time I asked her if she wanted to get it cut she would say, "No thank you."  We figured out that she thought it would hurt because we said "cut".  So I asked her this day if we could trim up her hair a little bit.  She said "ok".  I was in shock; I totally expected her to say no.  So I jumped at the chance to trim it up a bit.  Cutting curly hair is quite difficult.  Any tips?

On April 18th, my dad flew to Dallas from Omaha to stop and visit us.  His sister and a couple of her kids live about a hour away from us so he would be able to see them also.  We were so excited to see my dad for a couple of reasons, 1. I hadn't seen him in nearly two years!  That's a long time.  Gracie was about 20 months old or so.  2. We wanted him to see the Gracie and meet Griffin.  The hardest part of my dad living in Mexico is not being able to see him as often as we'd like.  But it really makes the time we do have with him that much more special.

Gracie wanted to take a picture while we were waiting for my dad at the store.

Waiting for Grandpa at the store

While my dad was visiting, we also had another visitor come to see us the next day.  Our friend from Hawaii, Jodi, who now lives in Houston, came Friday to spend the night with us.  She used to work with Justin on the rail in HI.  My dad went out with my uncles and stayed with them in Denison that night because he was going to be helping them make/sell food for an Earth Day celebration that the town of Denison was putting on on Sunday.  We were able then to take Jodi and another HI coworker of Justin's to the Stockyards in Fort Worth.  We thought we find something fun to do, but we were surprised to see how empty it was!!  We then realized that the majority of people were in the rodeo.  Note to self: Go to the rodeo next time.  We assumed people would be out walking the streets or things would be going on outside like a band or at least someone demonstrating some kind of talent for money, but we got nothing.  For those of you who don't know what the stockyards are here, it's kind of like the Old Market.  They have shops, restaurants, a train that comes through, museums, and a rodeo.  The day we came in January with Pam and AJ, they had bull riding and pony rides.  But none of this was going on.  We were a bit disappointed.

Gracie putting on her own rodeo show

Griffin was the clown at Gracie's rodeo :)

On Saturday, I got to have a little time away from the kids while Jodi and I got pedicures.  It was really nice to get out and have some girl friend time.  I miss that about home.  Jodi is so sweet, and we were so glad she came to see us. We dropped her off at the Love Airport, and then headed to DFW Airport to get my tia Luisa's daughter (my cousin) Titi.  After picking her up, we all headed up to Denison to see my dad, my aunts and uncles, and cousins.  I love my dad's side of the family, but I do not get to see them often enough.  Everyone is busy, everyone lives in different places and everyone has so many things to tend to in their own lives.  My cousin, Titi, and I were talking about maybe doing a "cousin" reunion in California.  I have some cousins that I have never met, or maybe just don't remember, and some cousins that I've met but have not seen in over 10 years or longer.  I think it would be a great idea to get us all together.  We spent that Saturday night at my aunt and uncle's restaurant listening to them tell stories, tease each other and laugh.  We really enjoyed the time with my dad and our family.

Gracie and her grandpa

Part of the Hernandez family (not even close to 1/3 of us!)  We are a big family!

Griffin and Grandpa 

Gracie and her prima Mya

During the week, we like to go to the park to get out of the house.  We love that we are within walking distance to one.  Plus, it has a toddler pool that we will for sure be using this summer.  It's already gotten as hot as 90 and I'm already dying from the heat.  The worst has yet to come; I'm scared!  Man, do I miss Hawaii's weather...predictable and beautiful.

One morning, Gracie and I put together two leis for her (a head piece and a neck one).  We had gotten a very sweet care package from a woman I met a few times.  A friend of hers was dying from cancer and she wanted to send him a picture of her daughter in UNC gear.  I happened to have a shirt of Justin's wish she used for the picture.  As a thank you, she mailed Gracie a little package with stickers, a Hello Kitty shirt, a lei making kit and a Hello Kitty bag (all Hawaiian items).  It was so sweet and so thoughtful.  Anyways, Gracie wanted to make a lei and we ended up making the two.  She then put on a little hula show for us.

Seriously looking so much older!  :(

Showing us her moves

Picking the flower and smelling it

Yay!  She finally wore a different leotard than the pink one!  I learned why she didn't like the other black, long-sleeved one..."It didn't have a skirt, mom!"  Duh!  Lesson learned.

Griffin learned to say "Cheese".  Proof is in the picture.  Look at that face!

Showing Daddy his new trick

Cheese! And there's his two bottom teeth.  No more gummy pictures :(

Our neighbor is in to natural foods and after talking with her one day about raw milk, the kids and I joined her and her friends for a tour at a nearby dairy farm.  Circle n Dairy is in Gainsville, TX which is about a hour north of us.  For those you wondering what raw milk is, it is basically milk straight from the cow.  It is not homogenized, and it is unpasteurized to keep all the nutrients from the cow.  The cows at Circle n Dairy are grass-fed and then supplemented with their home-grown feed (hay and silage) to provide the best quality of milk.  Raw milk also contains the cream that is naturally in milk.  I know what some of you are thinking...disgusting.  Raw milk is actually the best quality of milk you can get if it comes from the right source.  Anyways, Justin, as some of you know, is into eating right and eating healthy.  We had committed to eating "Paleo" before moving to Hawaii.  It had been months since we had any kind of bread in our house.  Then we moved and did the hotel living for weeks.  Now, it seems to be an uphill battle for us to get back to the way things were.  Diet wise and exercise wise.  Justin has always talked about getting raw milk but the people we purchased our grass-fed beef and range-free eggs from could not sell raw milk to us because it is illegal to sell it in the state of Iowa.  (Note: It is illegal to sell because in Iowa and other states, all milk that is sold HAS to be pasteurized.  The FDA believes that pasteurization kills off bacteria, but what they don't understand is that if done in the right way, with the right equipment, raw milk is good for you.  In Nebraska, the law states that it can be sold to consumers but only by going directly to the farm.  That is the way it is here in Texas.)  So, now that we are attempting to jump back on the "Paleo" wagon and eat right, we are looking into raw milk again.  The kids and I drove north and really enjoyed the tour.  Gracie was not to fond of the smells but she got over it as we walked around.  She even got to feed a baby calf!  It was fun and very informative.  We were given chocolate raw milk to try and for my first time of trying, I had to go with chocolate because I was nervous.  It was actually really good and next time, I'll be trying plain old white milk.

Hanging out in the back of the car

Trying raw milk for the first time.

Yea, she liked it.

Griffin even got a sip

haha I love her.

At the end of April, we realized how close Griffin's birthday was!  We decided we'd throw him a Griffin-de-mayo party.  I cut, glued, taped, cut, printed, ironed, etc. all week in preparation.  I was pretty proud of the outcome.  Can't wait to share Griffin's 1st birthday party pictures in the next post!

We love fake mustaches in this house.

Oh, and still no job.  whomp, whomp, whomp.  haha No but seriously, the search continues.