Visiting Titi Diana!

July 27th-29th, 2007!

Jasmine's cousin Bailee got her ears pierced today

We went to give her our support. She looked adorable. Jasmine and I picked out her earrings!!! 7 20 07

4H Week in Starke County!!!

It's been quite the week in Starke County!!!

Here are some pics and videos to prove it!!!

Lizzie catching a pig!!!


Dog Shows!









Beautiful Baby Contest!!!



Jasmine winning Grand Champion for modeling Wilma's dress!!!



Steven taught Jasmine to say BEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH whenever he sees a sheep, I was surprised to see her actually do it. I was too late to catch it on video, but you can still hear a little bit! Now, everytime she sees an animal, no matter what kind of animal it is, she makes the sheep sound...It's too funny!





Fishing for goldfish!







30 elephant ears later, the fair was over. Can't wait til next year!!!

Hi!!!

It's been a month and 3 days since I left Florida. It's taken some getting used to, but Jasmine and I have found ways to keep busy, or better yet, I have found ways to keep Jasmine busy. Yesterday was her first swimming lesson at the YMCA in Valpo. We got there early and, for a minute, I thought we were the only ones that were going to attend the baby class. Then I saw other moms getting in the water with their babies. Most all of the other babies were about Jasmine's age. She loved the water. She swallowed it most of the time, splish splashing and trying to go under like a big girl. The other moms called her a little daredevil. I sat her on the edge and she would scoot towards me and into my arms. Other moms took my lead. The class is not as organized as the Gymboree class, but it was fun. It's kind of freestyle swimming for babies. We sang some songs, most of which I didn't know...still; it was super fun. After the class, I went and visited the YMCA drop off service. It's a childcare for members or non members. It sounds convenient. $4.00 per hour up to four hours a day, but I must book in advance. I spent about ten minutes there letting Jasmine play with other kids that were there, one of whom cried everytime Jasmine got within three feet of her. Too funny. I will definetly be considering that service if I can't find anything else soon. Everybody needs a little alone time.

We came home and Jasmine was out for a nap til 3:30PM. It was the only nap she took all day. I made a delicious salad with some meat I found in the freezer. It all turned out delicious, even though I had to wait to eat it because Steven came home late AGAIN. (Don't make me use uppercase letters again...)

By the time Steven got home, we were ready to go to Hamlet. It's where the 4H Fairgrounds are at for the Starke County 4H Fair. We got there just in time for the judges to pick the 4H King and Queen, instead, the judges picked two 4H Kings. What has the world come to?

Steven used to be 4H King back in the day. How gay!!!

We ate an elephant ear, gotta have that no matter what. Last year, since we were in Indiana throughout the whole entire Fair week, I ate so much, that I came home 12 pounds heavier. This year, I have an excuse...I'm pregnant!

Anyways, Lizzie caught a pig. She was the first one to catch one out of the whole bunch. The video will be posted soon.

Then Arielle and Natalie did their dog thing. I also took video of that!!!

We went to see the exhibit, where I saw Arielle's scrapbook. She won Reserve Grand Champion(2nd Place), and Jasmine's pink dress (see picture below), also won 2nd place, but just for the sewing part. We won't know if she won the modeling part yet until this Thursday. She looked so adorable that day, I just know she's gonna win it.

Arielle's picture of Bianca and Wes didn't win, but it got a blue ribbon. I thought that picture was great. Steven is really excited that Jasmine will one day be part of these things. One thing I regret throughout my life, is not taking advantage of my abuela's knowledge and not trying to learn how to sew or knit. She is extra good. She won many awards back in our home town and she was a celebrated artisan aswell. Now, in her old age, she still attempts to sew and knit. I have many outfits that she gave to Jasmine, and two blankets. I will never get rid of them...

We didn't get home from the fair until about 9:30PM but we had to stop at Walgreens for some eye drops. I think the pool affected Jasmine's right eye. This morning though, it looked better. Jasmine woke up in the middle of the night because I forgot to refill her bottle before going to bed. My mistake... We woke up at 8:30AM but I decided not to go to Gymboree today. I'm just not feeling up to it, plus it rained all night, so it looked awful depressing outside today.

Steven forgot to charge his phone yesterday so we can't even text back and forth today. I just know he's gonna be late again today. He works hard for the money, so hard for the money...

Hanging out at Wilma's House on Saturday, July 14th, 2007!!!

We spent the night at Wilma's house last night because Steven wanted to help cook a dinner. I forgot to mention that he is both a cook AND a nurse anesthetist :-)

We went to the Melody Drive Inn again last night and watched Live Free or Die Hard. It was OK. We ate those awesome breadsticks of course. I love them. Arielle was working at the Drive Inn.



Steven and Angie cooking!



We went to the dog show for a little while at the fair after the dinner was finished. Jasmine was ready for her nap!!!



Good times!

Ashley had a 10 lb baby!

Looking for land!

We've been to every website imaginable and looked at every house on the market. Apparently, the house we want doesn't exist. Therefore, we've started looking at the option of building. We went to see this lot and put an offer on it. Unfortunately, Steven changed his mind the moment he signed the papers, and the offer was withdrawn before it was even in.

Here's the lot!

Email from Francisco from Afghanistan on June 18th, 2007

Hi:
You are never going to believe how I spent fathers day. It was great! My two ICU patients were the 3 yo boy being here for a month and finally got extubated on fathers day. The other patient was a premature baby. The story is that the mom got shoot in the abdomen "accidentally" by her stepson. She was 36 wks pregnant. They rush her to the hospital in the Air Ambulance and got the baby out. She needed 2 bowel resections on top of the c section (Ouch) and the baby had a chunk of his R chest-flank removed by the GSW. They were ok after a long day in surgery. I never though I was going to come all the way here and take care of NICU and PICU patients, but believe it or not I really like it. Everything else is good. Thank you all for the emails.Hope to see you all soon. I included some of the latest photos, the room full of people is the trauma room, where we see, treat and categorize the patients in order that they go to the OR. Its pretty cool!
Francisco J Mari-Lassalle.

Francisco's address in Afghanistan:

Francisco J Mari-Lassalle Capt USAFSalerno Hospital
FOB Salerno
APO AE 09314

Pictures sent from Afghanistan:

New photo of Abuela!!! - Taken May 2007 by Mom!!!

I wanted to go see the Fireworks at the Taste of Chicago!!! Here's the next best thing: a video from youtube...

My Salsa!!!