It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go!

There is no better way to start the Christmas season than cranking up the Christmas carols and eating a yummy breakfast in your Christmas PJs!  While Jillian ate, Julian worked on getting all our Christmas decorations out of the attic.  All those decorations filled our front room.

While Julian worked on the outside lights (photos of those to come later), Jillian and I worked on the inside.  It was very important that we put Jillian's tree up in her room first!  She was very eager to help by fluffing out the branches. 

And then we put her lights on, and put on her animal ornaments one by one by one.  Every time we put one up, she would name the animal, name all the colors on the ornament, and then tell you what sound the animal makes.  It was especially humorous when we got to the penguins because no one has taught her (and no one has ever taught me) what sound they make...so Jillian just made one up!  We topped her tree with a STAR! 

More important than anything else this holiday season, it is important to remind ourselves and teach our children that Jesus is the reason for the season!

 

Julian worked tirelessly to get the grass cut (since the weather won't get cold and stay cold...grrrr) and get the outside of our house decorated.  And as everyone know, "the happiest sight to see is the holley that will be on your own front door!'

Julian saw some wreathes hanging in windows on a Pottery Barn catalog.  Of course, it would have cost an arm and a leg to get those wreathes.  But he is so amazing at seeing things in magazines and finding something so similar at a fraction of the cost.  The result...beautiful wreathes on the windows of our home!

Combine the wreathes with lights and our home is looking festive and beautiful!

We still need to finish the inside by putting up the rest of our trees, but it is certainly starting to look a lot more like our favorite time of year! 

Thanksgiving Fun

It was a happy Thanksgiving, indeed!  We started the Thanksgiving festivities a day early by going to the Thanksgiving lunch at Jillian's school.  Julian met us there on his lunch break and we were so glad!

The next day, when it was time to get some serious cooking done, we sent Jillian to the park with my brother and sister so that we could get stuff done!

Jillian had so much fun with Joseph and Michelle, swinging and sliding all afternoon.  They have the energy to keep up with Jilly, and so they played for a long time.  Which gave us all the time we needed to get the turkey and all the sides done.  

When they came back, it was time to watch the Cowboys game.  In my family, it is a tradition to watch the game and eat at halftime.  And though the game did not go as planned, we just enjoyed each other's company.  

Our little turkey girl was starting to get sick and so she was being a little bit of a toot all day. It's ok though, because she looks so cute in her turkey shirt. 

When it was time to say grace and give thanks, one of the biggest things we were thankful for was the fact that these 3 people travelled long and far to be with us this Thanksgiving.  I don't know what we would do if we did not have family willing to come spend the holiday with us!  Thanks Granny, Auntie Shell, and Uncle Doofus (ok, she tries really hard to say Joseph, but half the time, it sounds like she says doofus, hehe)!  We love you and are so glad you came!

All in all, it was a happy and relaxed Thanksgiving.  We were so glad to get to spend the day together as a family!  And we are certainly thankful today and always for all the blessings in our lives...especially our turkey baby, Jillian!

Casual Thanksgiving

Silly Jilly: Where are you from?

In my last Silly Jilly post, I talked about how Jillian answers the question of "Where are you from?"  To be honest, I did not even know that she would know the answer to that question when I first asked her, but then I remembered that they do a great job at Jillian's school of teaching them lots of things.  Their most recent lessons have been all about Texas.

Mommy: Where are you from?
Jilly: I'm from Tet-sas
Mommy: And where is Mommy from?
Jilly: Tet-sas
Mommy: And where is Daddy from?
Jilly: Tet-sas

Now, if anyone knows Julian, you would know that he is NOT a big fan of Texas.  So I was sure that he would not necessarily think it was so cute if his own daughter proclaimed that he was from this great state, Tet-sas!

Mommy: Jilly Bear, Daddy is not from Tet-sas.  He is from Puerto Rico.
Jilly: with a confused look on her face Poor-toe Ri-toe?!
Mommy: Yes, baby, Puerto Rico.
Jilly: Poor-toe Ri-toe!!!

So now when you ask her where she is from, or where Daddy is from, or where Mommy is from, or where anyone in our family is from, she just goes back and forth between Poor-toe Ri-toe and Tet-sas.  And though this may have confused her more, hopefully the older she gets, the more we can teach her to know where she is from, where her heritage comes from, and what it means to be a Puerto Rican Mexican-American Texan!

Jillian on Texans Day at school (yes, she was wearing her Yankees shirt that day, so not very Texan, but cute nonetheless)

Jillian's First Trip to the Library

One of my absolute favorite things to do as a child was visit the local library!  I just loved going and reading books to try them on for size.  

Jillian's teachers have been sending home feedback on her daily school reports that say that she often spends her days sitting and reading books.  Could it be that Jillian would share a love of books like me?!?!  

Couple her love of books with my love of libraries and I knew what our Saturday morning plans would be...

Jillian's first trip to the library!

As soon as we got there, it did not take her long to pull a bunch of books and sit down at a little table to dig right in.

She wanted to read to her monkey so she sat him down on the table and attempted to read him a story!

Then she decided that her monkey and her Lady needed to sit in chairs and have books of their own so she went and grabbed them books too.

After about an hour of pulling books, reading them, putting them back, and getting more, it was finally time for lunch and so I was able to lure her away by telling her to pick a few books that we could take home.  She was excited to go check the books out from the librarian with her library card.

It was time to say bye-bye to the library!  We had a fun, quiet morning together and can't wait to go to the library again soon!  Cross another thing off our CS bucket list :)

Silly Jilly: BTHO Bama

After a lot of time away from Jillian, I was looking forward to some quality time with my girl. What could be more fun than a Saturday afternoon at home watching some Aggie football!
It has been an amazing season so far, but nothing could prepare us for the awesome game today where the Aggies rolled the tide and beat the #1 team in the nation. Jillian and I spent the afternoon playing in the living room and cheering on the Aggies.

Mommy: Go Aggies! Beat Alabama!
Jillian: Go Aggies! Beat Ab-a-lama!
Mommy: Alabama...
Jillian: Ab-a-la-mama!
Mommy: Alabama...
Jillian: Bama-llama!

This went on for about 3 minutes, and I could not stop giggling as she tried to figure out how to say Alabama! Eventually, I could see in her face that she was ok with not getting it quite right and instead was just having fun because I could not stop laughing!

We cheered! We clapped! We jumped on the couch! And after the Aggies pulled out a W, we stood in front of the tv and danced and sawed 'em off together.

Silly Jilly! I'm so glad that we are not from A-ma-bama!

Mommy: Jillian, where are you from?
Jillian: I'm from Tet-sas!

God Bless Tet-sas! Gig 'em Aggies! Way to BTHO Bama!

Riding the Roll-Acosta

Hello!  I'm glad you're still Keeping Up with the Acostas!  I took a long hiatus from blogging in the month of October...3 weeks, which is FOR-EV-ER in the blogging world!

October was pretty stressful and busy as Julian and I have been busy riding this Roll-Acosta and it has taken us through some soul-searching turns and twists.  No one ever said that the ride was going to be completely smooth and without peaks and valleys.  But alas, November is upon us and at least for me, I'm on the downhill slide of the work and life craziness that has consumed me.

I won't go into too much detail about the causes for the bumps on the ride.  All I will say is that I thank God everyday for this man who has been by my side, holding my hand and telling me to keep going as the ride kept spinning faster and faster.   I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for having a partner by my side who has been willing to commit the time to strengthen our relationship, communicate through the process, and help me to understand the true value of our marriage.  Suffice it to say, I have always had faith that Julian and I can make it through anything, and this past month has proven that. And I would even venture to say that this past month has not involved any of the real tough stuff that life throws your way, just the smaller bumps that come along with a thorough soul-search.  It is with lots of faith in God and my husband, lots of love for our little love, Jillian, and lots of prayers that have seen us through this journey.

1 Corinthian 10:13 says: "...God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (NIV) 

Through it all, we have just tried living our normal lives, doing normal things.  I will try to recap all the fall fun we've been having but for now, I will leave you with this Silly Jilly story, who is very thankful to God for the things in her life too.

Jillian has been very vocal lately, and her nightly prayer time has been no different...

Mommy: (doing normal prayers) ....ask God to make us a better Mommy and Daddy everyday...
Jillian: (chiming in) ...everyday...
Mommy: Jillian, what do you want to thank God for everyday?
Jillian: frekfast
Mommy: You're thanking God for breakfast everyday?
Jillian: Yes, frekfast everyday!

Silly Jilly, your prayers are like music to my ears (and God's too, I'm sure)!