Promotion

Can it get any better than this?

I am so blessed to be a mommy and it's even better to be a stay-at-home mommy, a working one too. I received an email from the company I am employed by and they have promoted me. They want me to be one of their top spanish telephonic interpreters. I was being called to interpret, but only when they overflowed on calls, now I will be called more often and be on their top priority list of interpreters. It's a very easy job and the best thing about it is that I get to decide what hours I work by just logging in and logging out of their system. I am very excited about this because I work and spend time with my daughters. Jahvel does the same thing except he actually goes out and interprets at the hospitals or clinics around here.

I have been thinking so much about our time here and we thank our Heavenly Father for the many blessings we have received. We are doing something right. We know that there will be trials and tribulations, but if we do the things he asks of us and keep his commandments he will bless us. We have had our share of trials and tribulations, from Velani being diagnosed with diabetes, Jahvel being diagnosed with lupus, losing a job, just to name a few, but then the blessings followed. We may have to fall at times, but we just need to get right back up and learn from that fall. Velani is doing good with her diabetes, Jahvel did get a better job after Baylor, he is doing good with schooling, we have a precious and healthy baby, and this interpreting job. We don't need a degree to use our ability to speak two different languages and help others.

"Any tool has multiple uses. Language, for example, can be either a bridge or a barrier." Shane Tourtellotte

Well, I just hope that we can all do good for ourselves and others. I know the blessings will come, let's be thankful for what we have and not take things for granted. Our lord will never give us trials that he knows we are not capable of handling. "I don't believe in God." " You may not believe in God, but he believes in you"(what movie is that from?)

A letter to my mommy

Dear Mommy,

I wanted to write this letter and let you know in case you haven't noticed, that I am no longer a little girl. I am a big girl and therefore, I am able to make my own decisions now. I am 2 1/2 years old and I want to do things my way now. I would like to eat anything I want, like cereal for breakfast, raisins for my snacks and icecream before my bedtime. I want to make a mess in my room and not pick it up when you ask me to. I need you to do what I say, I really don't like yelling at you! Please! I know it's hard for you to see me grow up so fast, but lets just enjoy our time together.
I gotta say though that I do like it when you sing, read, count, and watch cartoons with me. Mommy I love you and I just need attention when I ask for it. Thank you for listening.

Forever your "little girl",
Velani

P.S. I thought it would be easier for you to understand me in writing

Lazy Monday

I don't know why it is that I always get excited to start a new week, but on Mondays I always feel tired and very lazy to do anything. I like staying home on Mondays and I guess catch up on my undone chores just rest. So from now on Mondays will be "Lazy Mondays" and I will just post some pictures for everyone to enjoy. I will start posting more and get organized with my blog, that is a promise.


Can you guess who is who?

The Velani word of the day is: "I don't mant to!" (I don't want to) usually said when she is asked to do something for mommy and she is not in a very good mood.

The red ball

Once upon a sunny afternoon,

Velani and her family decided to take a hike.

They went on an adventure up to the red cliffs. Velani was so excited that she wanted to enjoy this adventure with her red ball. Picture her with a red ball in one hand and the other holding onto mommy for a little help going up the rocks. Mommy wasn't sure about taking the ball and asked Velani very nicely to leave the ball behind. Velani didn't want to and what Velani says well, that's what goes. Mommy helped her all the way up.

Once we got to the top of the cliff we decided to take some pictures, but without the red ball in her hands. Mommy placed it on the floor and made sure it wouldn't roll off the cliff. We took some pretty good pictures. Then little Velani thought it would be fun to play with her ball. She picked up her ball and threw it. Mommy then yelled out to daddy to stop the ball from rolling off the cliff, but it was too late. Velani wanted to go for it, but mommy was not going to let go of her hand. Not even for 1 second. She held onto her even tighter and even if she threw a tantrum, which she did, mommy would never let go.

Velani cried and cried. Daddy tried to console her, but she still wanted her red ball. Mommy finally had to talk to her and told her she'd better listen to mommy next time when asked to leave something behind, it would be the best for everyone.

After Velani finally calmed down we hiked back down. We got our little girls back into their seats and decided to make Velani a happy little girl again. We searched and found the red ball. Velani was happy again.

The End.

ABC,123

Do I hear a Jackson 5 song coming on? NO it's just the regular abc song and counting numbers with my precious Velani.

I am so impressed with my little girl. She is growing up so fast and learning so much! Some of it is thanks to me, but I also have to give, Barney, Dora, and other fellow cartoon characters some credit.

Today it's just about her. Velani can sing her Abc's all the way through and knows how to count past 3, all the way to 10. She know's her colors ( when asked what her favorite color was she said "yellow, I love it!) and many many other songs. She is my little "cricket" (like my mother calls her) I knew I would have special kids and that includes smart ones too. She is finally potty trained and we almost have her out of diapers at bedtime as well (hopefully very soon, that will finally stop the waking-mommy-up-at-1-and-4am-to-go-potty-routine).

I feel very blessed to have a 2 1/2 year old so smart and very polite too!! she always says please and thank you and will clean up her room when asked. She loves to help with chores and will help mommy make the sugar free drink for dinner ( that's for her benefit).

I love being her mom. I learn so much from her and even though I have my moments, they go away when she says she loves me mucho, mucho, mucho or says some darn cute things. Velani is a non-stop talking machine, unless we have visitors, which I am really considering having over more often for some quiet time.

Now I would like to just share with you some of the cutest things she says

• Hert me (help me)before
• hope me (help me)now
• I love it!!
• chin (when she drops something)
• darn it

that's it for now, more to come.

Family time

Our days here in St. George go by so fast that I don't think we have weekends. Actually, I take it back it feels like the weekend all the time. We have so much time in our hands and we spend it together. I love it here because it's so small and friendly and feels pretty safe to be out and about, it's very family oriented. Now that the weather has gotten pretty cold I think we will have to find some indoor activities and other type of entertainment. That's one of the things I miss about Dallas, there is more to do over there than there is here.

Anyways on Saturday we took Velani to Barnes and Noble for story time and let me just say that I enjoyed it more than she did. She has a real short attention span and well, she likes to do her own "reading" so I was paying more attention than she was to the author! yes the author was reading her newly released book "Granny McFanny" it is a cute book. I should have known she was the author instead of thinking that these storytellers had to memorize the books they were going to share for story time, duh!! it was one of those "blond" moments ( like my mom likes to put it. How can you call a brunette a blond?). After that, Clifford showed up and Velani couldn't be any more scared and excited than she was at the same time. Jahvel and I also had our fun.

We really spend more family time with the girls here and I guess that's what it's all about. I want my girls to really have a good childhood like I did and long lasting memories and I truly believe that this is the place and time for it. Jahvel is going to school and works as an interpreter when needed and gets to spend most of the day with us. I truly believe we are here for a reason, school for starters, but I know there is more and we still don't know what, but everything seems to be working out just right for us. Everything is falling into place little by little.

A day at home

Welcome to our first blog!
We are so excited to do this and well we just hope that y'all enjoy it. We want to share a little about our lives and hope that we can keep up. So let us share with you a normal day in St. George, Utah.

Ok so this is what it boils down to:

• Wake up one by one (mommy is usually the last one) & get ready for the day
• Eat breakfast
• Watch a couple of cartoons
• Eat snacks
• Play outside for a little bit
• Mom gets on the internet while baby takes a nap and big sister makes a mess, I mean "plays" in her room
• Daddy gets home and we all eat lunch together
• Go out anywhere
• Eat more snacks
• Girls take a nap (mom's free time to do as much as she can especially cook up some dinner)
• Watch a little more cartoons
• Dinner
• Read books and play a little
• Snacks
• Bedtime

Ok so this is pretty much it and I could go into detail, but it's alot. We really enjoy our time together and I can say that we can also really get on each other's nerves some of the time and when that happens, whoa! let me share with you an experience about a time when this happened. It started around dinner time and like most of the days, Velani didn't want to eat. What is it about toddlers not eating some days and then eating excessively some others? I will never understand, but anyways we told her to go to her room if she wasn't going to eat and that she could come out when she was ready (blah, blah, blah, room, blah, blah) was all she heard. She went to her room all upset and decided it was a good idea to just show us how upset she was by trying to slam her door, and I say trying because there was something hanging on the door knob that wouldn't let her shut it. Jahvel and I were laughing because she attempted to slam that door a few times unsuccessfully until she finally realized why it wasn't slamming so she just threw the door hanger out and finally slammed the door. You have to realize she is only 2 years old and she is already acting like a preteen and I don't know where she gets it. So yeah we can get on each other's nerves and this what she does when we get on hers.