HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

RENALEEN!!!

MISS YOU, ROOMIE!!!

The Dumptruck Duo have a new baby brother!!! Yay!!!

My Ate Sandy and her husband, Butch had a new baby boy today.

Here's my new nephew, Gabriel.

Here's Bianca. She's the eldest...

And here's Roman with his new playmate.

Here's Mom and Dad with the former baby of the family and new big sister, Sabrina.

Waaaaa, I miss these kids so much! I can't wait to meet Gabriel!

Congratulations, Ate Sandy and Butch!!!

Thanks Chrissy and Mel for sharing these pictures with us!!!

You're the dumptruck!!!

Just in case you need a reminder...

enchanted [ěn-chānt'-uhd]
influenced as by charms or incantations
Synonyms include: charmed, captivated, enamored

It's only fitting that the happiest place on earth would yield the happiest moment in the life of one of the happiest people I know. Jeff proposed to Ate last night and after she said, "Are you kidding?!!" 10 times, she finally said YES!!!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Ate & Jeff, we're all sooooooooo happy for you!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

(Thanks, James for being our paparazzi and taking pictures and video of that magical moment! We all wish we could've been there!)

Happy Birthday, Mel!!

I heart you too, pinsan!!!

Happy Birthday to my

goddaughter, Kayla!!!

(She's the one holding the hand. haha!)

Dad bytes...

My sister and I always joke around that my dad has a G-rated case of tourettes because he has these ramdom outbursts. Like yesterday, we were driving to my sister's game and no one in the car was talking. We were just listening to the radio and out of nowhere my dad goes, "Happy Hanukkah." hahahaha!

Today he had another outburst so my sister started teasing him and, well, Dad made another funny...

Tin: Dad, you have tourettes.
Dad: I have to what?

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

rival [rahy-vuhl]

a person who is competing for the same object or goal as another, or who tries to equal or outdo another; competitor; person or thing that is in a position to dispute another's preeminence or superiority

Synonyms include: adversary, antagonist, opponent

High school rivalries - how do they start?! As an IH Panda, the team we couldn't stand were the Malborough Mustangs but I honestly couldn't tell you exactly why. All I knew when I got there freshman year was that they were our rivals and knowing that meant that I had to act accordingly. I have to say that it didn't take much to convince me to do so. The wrath and the anger we all felt when we saw the purple uniforms was...oh heck, it was a teambuilder! Hahaha!

Providence High School's crosstown rival is Bell-Jeff High School. The two schools aren't even in the same league together, so the games they play against each other are strictly for bragging rights. Here are the Pioneers in a team huddle to hype themselves up. Tin's the one on the right, crouched down because as captain, she felt she should say a little something to motivate the team and that's her putting notes back in her shoe because she said she wrote so much that she didn't think she could memorize it. hahaha!

Their gym is considerably smaller than Providence's so when they blasted the music the way they did last night, the sounds coming from the sound system were deafening. Mom and dad covered their ears during the entire 10-minute pregame warm-up!

Ate and Jeff came to support! You can hear her screams over the crowd! Thanks for coming guys!
Sadly, Providence lost this game for reasons that I don't even want to get into (at least not on something as public as this blog) , but the girls played hard and as a fan and supporter, that's all you could ask for.

Aaaw, cheerleaders...always brings me back to my cheerleading days, dancing away, waving our poms, fists and spirit fingers!

I'm sure this rivlary will go way beyond graduation for my sister and her teammates. Heck, every time I see a pack of cigarettes I'm brought back to that anger and wrath myself. But now that this game is over, Tin and her friends can look forward to the rest of the season. Hope to see some of you there! Come by and cheer for them. It'll be fun!

advent [ad-vent]
a coming into place, view, or being; arrival; the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world
Synonyms include: beginning, manifestation, arrival, coming

Christmas is 18 days away and last Sunday at mass, Fr. Joe told us about his 2 P's of Advent:

1) put off PROCRASTINATION
2) put your PRIORITIES in order

God's timing is truly amazing because I couldn't have heard these words at a more appropriate time. The new year is 26 days away, my 30th birthday is 2 months away and I've been doing some of the most challenging and very necessary soul searching to account for some inadvertant preparation of what is to come.

So many plans, so many dreams, so many abstract things formed from a lifetime. Some were realized, some passed us along the way, and still others who await their place in our lives. Maybe with the help of Fr. Joe's 2 P's of Advent, I won't have to wait to find a place for my plans...

Happy Birthday,

Joemama!!!