Christmas at the Correas

We had a really great Christmas. Mario's parents came into town. We spent time with them and Jovania and Greg. I love the holiday season, it's so nice to spend time with family. Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Sunday

This has been an interesting past week. I have been sick which is never fun, but luckily I have an amazing husband who has helped out so much I can't thank him enough. I was really hoping that I would be better by Sunday because I bought this super cute dress for Hannah to wear to church and I wanted to be there when she wore it. Well, I wasn't well for church and Mario and I decided that since church is right in the middle of her nap anyway that she would stay home with me and sleep while the boys went to church. So I went through the trouble of getting this super cute dress for her and she didn't even get to go to church on the day I intended her to wear it. Oh well! So her is Hannah and Mario in their church clothes that I was planning on them wearing on Christmas Sunday. Oh and a picture of Mario LOVING the Christmas train. (And sorry the last two are a little fuzzy, I didn't realize until after I took the two perfect pictures that I had a nice big finger print on my camera lens. My son is such a goober!)

The True Meaning of Christmas

This brought tears to my eyes. It's a 13 year old boy who lives in Nebraska that called into a Christian 

radio station in Houston with a story to tell.

Our December So Far

This has been a fun month for us so far. Let me just start by saying how cute I think my kids are! I love having two kids and watching them play together. I took a couple pictures of them together, such silly kids!

We had little Mario's birthday party. We had Greg and Jovania with their family over. (It's so nice to have family in town.) We had a Mickey Mouse party. We played a couple games and then had ice cream cake. It was delicious! I will use that recipe again. Here's the cake:

Here's little Mario enjoying his birthday cake:

Hannah enjoyed it also:

We bought a real tree this year. I love the way it smells in the house. Mario had a lot of fun walking through the "forest." 

We picked out a great tree!

Strong Daddy!

Now, just a couple random things. Here's Hannah and Mario playing a game that is not fun for Mom, because Hannah always falls out of the cart. But time after time she insists on getting back in it and Mario is more that willing to push her around. 

Oh this is a fun game. Mario dumps all the toys on Hannah tray and then they throw them off. It's especially fun for Mom who has to pick them up with minimal help from the toddlers. 

And that's our December so far. I hope you all have a great holiday! 

Clever Christmas Song

We thought this was pretty clever! Enjoy!

Happy 3rd Birthday Little Mario!!!

Little Mario is 3 years old today! 

My big 3 year old! 

2 years old

1 year old

4 months old

A few hours old

We love you son!

Thanksgiving at My House

So this was the first year that I hosted Thanksgiving. Due to lack of funds it wasn't as pretty as I had hoped for. I didn't get the nice table clothes and table centers like I wanted, in fact I didn't do any of the things I had planned to do. But, maybe next year. But even though that table wasn't beautiful, the most important thing was that we had family gathered around the table, awesome food and a mostly clean house to enjoy time together in. 

Mario's parents from Florida, Mario's sister, Jovania, and her family (who live here in Georgia), and Mario and Jo's cousin Michelle and her family from South Carolina were all here. We ate, watched football, play Bunco, watched movies all day long, oh and stuffed ourselves full of deliciousness. We really did have some awesome food. Did I say that already?

Hannah is going through this fun new phase (much like Sophia Packer- for those of you who know who she is) where nothing on the table is safe. Don't leave food on the table in our house, or Hannah is sure to get up there and eat it. Here is Hannah snarfing down some pumpkin pie that some poor soul let unattended. 

On Saturday we had Haydn's Baptism. (Congratulations, bud!) It was a very special occasion and we are all so proud of you. 

Ever since Saturday Hannah has been sick. I don't know when she's going to get better, but I hope it's soon, I hate to see her not feeling well like this. Here's my pathetic little girl:

Alright, so are you ready for it?!? I got one of my Christmas gifts early this year..... (drum roll please da ga da ga da ga) Mario got me a SEWING MACHINE!!!! For those of you who know me well know that I have had this incapacitating obsession with sewing lately (thanks a lot Jen for getting me started!) and it's all I've thought about, dreamed about and talked about lately. When I was in Boise I went crazy with sewing in my Mom's awesome sewing room. Every spare minute I got I was in there. When I got home I went through withdrawal and still went to Joann's but never bought anything and had a whole list of projects that I couldn't do without a machine and had plans for making Christmas gifts, even though I didn't have a machine. It was all very pathetic. But on Friday Mario's dad said that he heard bells (What are you talking about?) then Mario came walking in the room with this huge gift. I love my machine! It's computerized and came with all these awesome accessories. I've already started all these fun projects. I made my kids a little advent calendar. I made 24 little stockings and put treats in them and everyday the kids will open one until christmas eve. (You know how an advent calendar works). The fun this was when I was in Boise I brought home all this fabric and ribbon and thread so I only spent $5 on the project, getting the iron on stuff to apply the numbers! Here's a couple pictures of my creation:

So that's what's been going on at my house. My kids are tearing the house apart behind me so I better get going. Happy Holidays!

Twilight Movie- No Spoilers

Alright, here it is I usually don't blog about anything other than my family but I was just to excited about this I just had to post something. For those of you who have heard my excitement, feel free to stop reading now because it's nothing different that what I've already said! 

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Twilight Movie!!! I though it really captured the feeling and the innocence of the book. Yes it was low budget, yeah the special effects weren't that great and yes Edward was hairy when he sparkled in the sun (at least to me). But none of that matters because I loved it the whole way through. My favorite part is when Edward first smells Bella!!!! I laughed so hard I almost cried! I loved it! So if you haven't seen it, see it. You won't regret it (Jovania!), it was tons better than I thought it would be and I don't think they could've made it any better. I read bad reviews and talk to people that had seen it before I saw it so I went with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The second Edward walks in (as cheesy as it was) I knew he was going to do a great job! I want to see it again. Anyway, even though I've said it a million times I'm going to say it again! I LOVED IT!!!

(BTW, my husband really liked it too, but he's also read, and enjoyed, the books also.)

Go see it!

Funny Faces

Mario and I had a little bit of fun with this photo program that it on our computer. We hope it gives you a good laugh!

Potty Training Success!

Earlier this year, I think it was March, we started potty training Mario (the little one, not my husband). He did really good, and then he decided that he wanted to wear diapers again like the "baby." We tried and tried and tried and couldn't get him to go in the potty. We were all tired of the training. "Fine," I said, "Then you can just go in your pants forever!" Come on, haven't we all had that feeling at some point in the training. 

But now I am proud to announce...... (drum roll, please) that little Mario has gone 4 days accident free!!! (I'm probably jinxing myself right now) But he has gone poo-poo and pee-pee in the potty without us nagging him to go! We're still working on nighttime, but I am sooo glad that he's finally going during the day!!! Now who knows, he may change his mind today, but at least I know he can do it consistently now. 

Here's a funny story for you. I was really tired yesterday so I took a little nap while Mario watched a show and Hannah slept. Well, during that time when I was sleeping/listening to him to make sure he didn't get into trouble, he came to me and said, "Mommy, I gotta go potty." I said, "Okay go I'll be in there in a minute." Yeah, no, I feel asleep. I woke up later and he was fine and watching his show. We got up and went about our daily chores. Well, then I had to go to the bathroom, so I went in to the bathroom and found a WHOLE ROLL of toilet paper unrolled on the floor, wet. Evidently when I was sleeping and he went to the potty on his own he had peed on the floor and tried to clean it up. I couldn't really get mad at him, I was the slacker mom, but I still told him that he can't do that, just to use a little bit or get me to help. Then I went and got a plastic bag and cleaned it up. We may be saving money on diapers, but we're using it on toilet paper! LOL! 

Wish us luck! We can do it!

Funny and Gross Moments

On Friday we spent the day with Jovania hanging out. We had a really fun day. At one point I was cutting vegetables and accidently took a chunk out of my left pinky finger. It bleed for, oh I don't know 5 hours.... and I'm retarded and I never went to the ER. We were having too much fun hanging out. It was "convenient" for me to leave my kids with her and go take care of my finger. So I just kept rewrapping it and going on with the day. Well this morning (Sat.) I finally went to the ER and after 4 hours of waiting, they finally took me in and said, "You probably should've come in yesterday. We would've put a few stitches in it. But since it's been more than 12 hours since the accident, we can't do anything for it but clean it." So they cleaned it, put some skin glue on it, gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my way. Yeah, so I won the idiot of the day award on friday and I get a big ugly scar for it! LOL! I spared you the picture I took. 

On a more funny note. When we (me and my kids) finally got home from Jovania's house, little Mario had fallen sleep in the car so I brought him in and put him on the couch. I needed him to wake up so I sat him up and tried to wake him up. He whined for a minute and opened his eyes so I walked off to take care of something. When I came back he had fallen back asleep sitting up!! It was sooo funny looking. 

Mario's Witch Laugh and Hannah's Dance

Jovania has this witch (I have one too) that she put out in front so that when trick-or-treaters came she could hear them approaching.  Mario and Maggie thought it was pretty funny. We caught Mario laughing with it. Jovania is trying to take a picture of him laughing but he kept turning around!  Such a silly boy!

This one is from Sunday night. We caught Hannah doing "her dance" on video. I think it is soooo funny! She just shakes her head while she walks. It cracks me up!

Halloween 2008

Last night was a fun filled evening of ghostly fun! We had dinner at Greg and Jovania's. We had mummy dogs, chili, cider, chips, corn bread, candied apples and a jack-o-lantern cake for dessert. It was delicious! Then Greg and Jo's house started getting swamped with trick-or-treaters. They get so many trick-or-treaters in their neighborhood that they close it down to cars between 6 and 8pm. 

We got the kids all dressed up and hit the streets. We were out for about 45 minutes and then houses started running out of candy. So instead of hiking all over we just headed home. 

We had a great time last night! It's fun to have little Mario big enough to actually understand what's going on. At one point while trick-or-treating he was saying "Trick or chocolate" He knew exactly what he wanted!

Carving Pumpkins 2008

We carved pumpkins last night. Here's a little video I made to show the process, starting with picking the pumpkins out. Turn your sound on and enjoy!

Delicious Soup Recipe

Okay I made this copycat version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup that my sister-in-law, Emilee gave me and Mario said that it was one of the best soups he has ever had! It tastes soooo similar to the original! So if you like the soup at Olive Garden* you will LOVE this! (*Note: If you live in Augusta, I know our Olive Garden sucks, I'm pretty sure it's just this branch, every other one I've tried has been good.)

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage - crumbled (I used Hot)
1/2 lb. smoked bacon - chopped
1 qt. water
(2) 14.5 oz. cans (about 3 2/3 cups) chicken broth
2 lg. russet potatoes - scrubbed clean, cubed
2 garlic cloves - peeled, crushed 
1 med. onion - peeled, chopped
2 cups chopped kale OR Swiss chard (I used Kale)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper - to taste

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you fry it; drain, set aside. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon; drain, set aside. Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in a pot; simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes. Add kale and cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through.

Thanks Emilee!!!

Trip to Boise...

We had a great time in Boise. We had a combined birthday party for the fall birthday girls, Emilee, Cindy, Leila and Hannah. It was really fun. Hannah got some fun gifts. I made her some PJ pants to match her blanket that she always sleeps with. Grandma gave her some homemade blankets fro her dolls and Aunt Emilee and Uncle Ric got her a tea set.

We went to Kiddie Kandids and got some pictures taken of the kids. Hannah for a free 8 1/2x 11 for her birthday. It was fun to take girly pictures of her in the hat boxes and boa.

Leila is playing soccer so we went to a game of hers the boys had fun playing on the playground before the game. Little Mario kept running onto the field. He wanted to play too, maybe next year, son!

We went to a birthday party for a friend of mine's baby who was turning 1. Hannah loved playing with the balloons and little Mario had a hard time understanding that the gifts were NOT for him.

Hannah went down a slide for the first time on this trip. She didn't like it so much, but now she loves it! She is a professional slider. LOL! Come to think of it, we went to a lot of parks while we were in Boise, the kids love to play!

I made some tutus for Hannah. My sister and I are huge dorks and we took pictures of them on our heads. HA HA HA!

I went with my sister to get her senior pictures done. I took pictures while the photographer was taking them. I put some of my "work" in the photo slide show. My sister is so gorgeous! We had them taken at the Train Depot in Boise. They had this HUGE train our on display there called "Big Mike". Little Mario loved to look at the train. i got some fun pictures with him. I even let him slide under the fence to get a picture of him standing on it. I know I'm bad!!

I snowed while we were in Boise! It was the earliest in history! I got a couple pictures. I melted the next morning, but it was fun to go out and take a picture. With the weather how it is now, some days it's hard to believe that it could be snowing somewhere else!

Mario got to participate in making applesauce for FHE one night. He had so much fun. He was so fascinated with how it worked! He helped turn and smash the apples. There are some fun pictures of that. Plus we got to have some warm when we were done! So Fun!

I got to see and visit with multiple friends and family. My Aunt Linda and my cousin Jenny were able to come one night and spend some time while us in the morning, my friend Lynda was in town and was able to come by and visit, my friend Whitney was in town and I was able to see her and her kids. I also got to see my friends Mark and Cara and their little baby boy.

The last weekend I was there My friend Alicia flew in and her, me and our friend Andrea were able to spend a girls' weekend together! It was soooo much fun to just hang out the three of us with no kids!! We were all dead tired by the end of the weekend, but it was totally worth it!

The last friday I was there Emilee and I took the kids downtown to the library for story time and then for a picnic and playground and walk. We probably walked about 1 1/2- 2 miles! It was a long walk for the two older kids, but we had LOTS of fun! I love fall! It's too bad we don't get it here in Georgia!

We had a birthday party for the two younger boys since their birthdays are in December and they were both super jealous at the girls' party. Emilee made this amazing ice cream cake! It was sooo good! Mario got a doctor kit, a "road" and some rockets! The two boys had so much fun at their party!

When we said good-bye to Leila, Blake and Emilee Leila started crying, which got me crying. It is tough to be so far away from my family. The 4 kids had so much fun playing together, but sometimes it felt like there we 20 kids with how crazy they got!!

We had a really great time in Boise, It's tough to live so far away from those people that I love so much! It's nice to be home to Georgia and we are super excited to see Aunt "Jo Jo" (Mario's sister Jovania) and her family. Little Mario talked about her the whole time we were there. We are so glad to be with Daddy again! We sure missed him! 

Inquiring mind want to know how the kids did on the flight back. The kids did great on the flight back, I could've asked for them to behave better.

It was a great trip! I can't wait for the next one!!

I'm Enchanted!!!

So, I finally saw the movie Enchanted. I LOVED it!!! Being the Disney nut that I am, I caught a ton of the jokes in it, then on top of that my mom, sister, sister-in-law and niece were watching it with me so I think we caught every one. Now every time I get ready for the day I go to the window and sing "Ah ah ah ah ah!! Ah ah ah ah ah!" But no "vermin" ever come help me! LOL! The Working Song was my favorite, although I love the credit song too because I'm love Carrie Underwood! So fun!

Fun Times in Boise

We have been in Boise for almost 2 weeks now and we are having soooo much fun! We've had a birthday party for Hannah, Me, Emilee and Leila. We have gone to Leila's soccer games, we have taken cute pictures at Kiddie Kandids. I have sewn doll clothes and Halloween costumes, and tu-tus and have more projects to do. I would love to post pictures, but unfortunately I can't upload my pictures onto my parents' computer because I am a spaz and I forgot to bring my cord to do it with. So I will have to do it later. My sister-in-law Emilee might have some that I could use until I get home and get mine up. (I'm sooo forgetful!) But I promise I will have a while slide show of pictures from my fun trip!

The kids did great on the flights over here for the most part. They both whined and cried and slept like two toddlers should on two three hour plane flights. We got to Boise at 1:30am Georgia time so we were all pretty tired. The first week was tough on my kids because they were both sick and were having a hard time adjusting. Little Mario went through a few days where he would say, "I want to go home" and I would say, " Okay, let's go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house" then her would say, "No, I want to go home and see Daddy and Jo-Jo." It just about broke my heart. I felt so bad, I started feeling like they were going to be like that the while time we were here. But they are doing much better now. They actually love being here. Little Mario even asked tonight if he could see "Aunt Emilee." It's really funny because my mom wants the grandkids to call her "Grandma Vicki" but little Mario keeps calling her "Grandpa Mickey" It's really funny. He just said it wrong the first time and it stuck. She doesn't mind, she thinks it's cute. I wish that he would at least say Grandma.

Sorry again for not having pictures, I know that that is the most fun parts of posts. Hopefully this book I just wrote was slightly interesting enough to make up for it! LOL! I'll post again when I get some pictures.

It's Business Time

Mario recently showed me a funny video that I wanted to share. The two guys that sing it are in a group called Flight of the Conchords. Do you what time it is? It's Business Time!

Mario is doing GREAT!!

I just wanted to show you how beautifully little Mario has healed from his injury. There is a little bit of redness, but that is about it! He has one more appointment tomorrow, but it is just for them to see that is is healed. Thanks again for all your prayers!

Hannah 1 year old!

Here's my big 1 year old!

BTW: Little Mario was being really cute the other night and he asked if I could snuggle in his bed with him. I said I was too big. A couple days later he started saying, "Mom's stupid" I was getting frustrated with it, then I realized he was saying. "Mom's too big!" We got a really good laugh out of that. Thought that was a cute story to share. 

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Today, September 16th, is our little Hannah Lea's birthday. She is one year old! And what a fun year it has been and what a joy to have her in our family. She is a constant ray of sunshine in our life. Hannah, darling, we love you!

In the hospital 1 year ago

Blessing day (November 2007)

Pictures from the birthday party coming soon... BTW, the song playing (All- American Girl by Carrie Underwood) is Hannah's song!

Mario's Evil Laugh and New Pajamas

My friend Stephanie gave me some flannel that she wasn't using so I used it to make matching pajama pants for my kids. Then I went and found these white shirts to wear with them. Now they will have nice warm PJ's for Boise!

Little Mario thought he was pretty funny earlier when he was doing his evil laugh. Muahhahahaha! Just practicing for when he becomes a evil genius someday.

No Surgery

I talked to a nurse and she said that he does not need surgery. She said to just put lotion on it everyday and keep him from scratching it. We will go in for one more appointment before we leave for Boise, but he should be good, no more visits after that! We are so glad that he is healed and that it healed properly! 

ALL GONE!!

As you can see the mask came completely off this morning! I'm so glad. I'll write more when I find out if he is out of the surgery!!

Little Mario's Mask is Almost Off!

I just wanted to share my excitement! Most of the mask pealed off tonight and we were able to trim it off! He just has that one little spot on the side of his head left. From the looks of it, he may not have to get surgery after all, but we will wait and see what the doctor says. 

It was funny how it happened. He has been trying to itch it for almost a week now. So tonight when I was reading him a story he was trying to scratch it, so I helped him by scratching on top of the mask. Then as I was looking at it I saw that it had pealed up right there over his eyes I took a peek underneath it and it looked really good so I slid my finger under it and rubbed his forehead. I asked hi it that felt good and he said, "Yeah!" As I did that the glue started to pull up and he didn't object so I kept pulling gently. It came off really easily. So I trimmed it. That one side is on there really good, I don't dare touch it yet. But I hope it comes off so maybe they don't have to do surgery! I don't think he will need the skin graft because it looks so good! But once again, we will get the doctor's opinion on that. 

Thank you for all of your prayers through this. I know that Heavenly Father is blessing him to heal well. Thank you to those of you who have put Mario's name on prayer rolls, I know that having him prayer for in the temple added extra blessings! I will update after his surgery unless something before that happens!

Hannah Loves Jewelery

Hannah is so silly. She loves to wear bracelets on her legs. Her are a couple pictures of her flaunting my bracelets. Such a silly girl!

Walking and looking at the same time! 

BTW, she is walking so good now!

Little Mario's Appointment

So today little Mario had an appointment to have his face looked at and see how it is healing. After waiting for 2 hours we were finally able to see his doctor. (It took so long because the doctors come and do follow up appointments between surgeries.) They tried to take what is left of the mask off there in the clinic, but it was on too tight. They want to see how the skin underneath is healing so that they can get it to be as clean (no scarring) as much as possible. Because they couldn't get it off today they have scheduled him for surgery next Tuesday in the morning. They are going to remove what's left of the mask and assess how it is healing. If it is healing fine they will send him home with us that day. If it is not, they will remove a small patch of skin from his thigh and graft it onto his forehead. The burn on his cheeks and around his eyes is healing great, the burn on the forehead was just so much deeper they said. If they do the graft then he will have to stay the night. 

So little Mario is going to be stealing Hannah's spotlight. That day (the 16th) is her birthday. Not that she will care that much, but I feel bad that I won't be with her that day. She will spend her day with Cari Winn. LOL! We'll have to celebrate it another day. Sorry Hannah! 

This is a picture of how he is looking today:

 He is doing much better. As you can see the mask has come off of his cheeks and the skin is looking much better.  His head is really REALLY itchy! He has scratched little holes in the mask on his forehead trying to scratch it. We are giving him Benadryl to help with the itch. 

As always if you have an questions feel free to ask me, I don't mind. My house is a mess because I haven't had time to catch up, the laundry is overflowing the baskets so I better go get some housework done! I'll update again on him after the surgery.

Happy Birthday Cindy!

I was born on September 8th, 1984. I was adopted by Paul and Vicki Wolters and sealed to them when I was 6 months old. This is a picture of me when I was 3 years old. Aren't I a cutie? Ha ha ha! I'm 24 years old today. Happy Birthday to me!

How's Little Mario Doing?

I just wanted to post and say that little Mario is doing fine. He is back to a normal schedule. He is playing good and for the most part back to his fun-loving self. He still doesn't look great, not much of a change from the last picture other than his eyes are no longer swollen, which is great. Some of the mask is starting to come off and we can see the burn underneath healing. It's still really bright red. He is really sensitive to people touching his face, as is expected (I would be too). Thank you to all of the people that have been concerned and have offered help. Heavenly Father has truly blessed him. We are so grateful for that. 

Happy Anniversary!

Today Mario and I celebrate 4 years of marriage. Mario and I met on February 16th, 2004 in the singles ward in Orlando, FL. I was doing a college internship with Walt Disney World and he was staying with his parents while preparing to go into the Air Force. We dated for 2 months before he proposed. After just 5 days of knowing each other we knew we would be married someday. Mario and I were apart for 5 months seeing each other for only 3 days during that time. Mario met my parents just 2 days before the wedding. We spent the first year of marriage in Monterey, California. 

 I love you, Mariano! Thank you for being a wonderful husband and father.