Perez Party of Five

Happy Birthday!

Ayesha turned 15

My girls are growing up fast. It's hard to believe where
the time has gone. Aren't they beautiful young ladies?
These cakes are my first attempt at an ice cream cake.
They tasted great, but looked pretty ugly. Now, I just
need to practice making them look pretty.

Carissa turned 9

Christmas morning

The big stink in our house Christmas morning was the Wii and Guitar Hero. Tata and Nana Cinny are our Heros. We are all better bowlers, golfers, Mario Kart drivers, and Rock Stars because of them. I am proud to announce that Trae, Ayesha, and myself are great guitarists, Carissa is our sensational singer, and Jose is our dynamite drummer. We Rock!

Decorating our gingerbread house

This past Christmas, the kids made their own gingerbread house with very little help from me. It was fun to stand back and watch them create their masterpiece. I think they were happy that I didn't involve my OCD methods and just let them work. Look at how creative they all are. I'm so proud! Trae gets full credit for the icicles and Ayesha really paid attention to the small details and Carissa took care of the roof. Jose just sat there with a basket on his head for laughs. It was a great Christmas!

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!

The Falcons finished the season with a great win against their rivals the Redskins. It was an intense game against some huge players. Here are some rare pictures of Trae running the ball. It's hard to catch him in the act. One of the pictures is of him scoring the winning touch down. Check out the huge guy to his right. OMG!

Ayesha was a veterinarian. What you see on her scrubs are little doggies and kitties we printed off the computer and ironed on.

Trae was a Viking. We saved about $20 because I made the costume. He's actually wearing a nightshirt with fur sewed on the bottom and on the sleeves!

Carissa was a cowgirl. We had everything but the hat and guns, and the hat was even on clearance. I just love saving money!

Jose and I just threw on some wigs to celebrate. Don't you just love my orange hair?

Don't they look like they're having fun? I'll be sad when they outgrow this phase. Boo Hoo.

Gotta love carving pumpkins! Ayesha is very perky, Trae is very dramatic and Carissa is very sadistic. Ha ha, just kidding. I told them to make the most disgusted faces they could. I think they were successful!

The soccer season ended with a surprise. The top players from each team were selected to create an All-Star team. This is Carissa playing in the 5 game All-Star tournament. She worked her butt off and we are very proud of her hard work.

This is Carissa experiencing a comical punishment. Those of you who know me, know that I discipline my children with logical consequences. What you are seeing is Carissa wearing homemade blinders. She was having a hard time staying focused on her chores and homework, so I helped her out a bit. You can see that she's not too happy, but it actually worked. I just had to take a picture of it.

October 2009

Once upon a time there was community of cotton farmers. Then one day a nasty little bug called a boll weevil decided to ruin everyone's cotton crops (probably a curse from all the days of slavery). Anyway, people had to figure out what to do and how to grow something that the boll weevil couldn't destroy, so some genius decided to plant peanuts. Apparently, peanuts are pretty hardy and the boll weevil didn't care too much for them, so peanuts became the new cash crop in southern Alabama. The boll weevil is worshipped in these parts. He's a pretty famous little guy. There is a Boll Weevil Circle, which is a main road through town; there is a fountain on Main Street in the middle of downtown with someone holding a boll weevil up in the air, and the mascot for Enterprise-Ozark Community College is the Boll Weevil. You should see that guy dressed up in a boll weevil costume, it is a sight to see. An annual Peanut Festival is also celebrated in honor of the thriving peanut industry. The boll weevil is an ugly little booger, but he sure saved the day in a round about way!!

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Easter

Easter egg dying went to a whole new level this year. As our kids get older the magic starts to fade away, so we have to be creative. This year the kids had 3 eggs to dye. One would think that dying 3 eggs would go by really fast. Well, not with our kids. They dyed and redyed their eggs trying to make the perfect colors. It took them almost an hour to dye their 3 eggs. The funny part is that the next day, Carissa cried when Jose ate one of her eggs. I guess the magic never really goes away after all.

Lilly May

Here is the newest member of our family. Her name is Lily. We rescued her from Save-A-Pet, with PetSmart. She is a goofy dog that is definately a product of over-breeding. She is part beagle and part terrier. She has an extra toe on each hind leg and a huge underbite, which makes her the worst water drinker in the world. She has the worst smelling farts you'll ever smell, but she is the sweetest thing you'll ever see. Thanks to the Dog Whisperer and my creative genius side, she is housebroken and quite the little lady. We love our Lilly and she has made herself at home. Angel even likes her now. They are like peas and carrots.