One other thing I forgot!!

On December 18th, Madison and Jarod both earned their white belts in Karate!!!
Mom and Dad are so proud of them!!!
When we get their uniforms I will post a pic.
Congratulations to our two for their great accomplishments!!!

Christmas!

So once again Christmas has come and gone!
Shaun and the older kids made the drive fine and quick!
Miley and I took our flight and it surely had it's ups and downs!
But overall we had a great time at Mimi and Papa's in Florida! We all hated to leave!
Madison got a Nintendo DS Lite from Santa.
Jarod got an Xbox from Santa.
And Miley got a kitchen set from Santa.
Everyone was happy and playing hard!!
My most favorite gift was from Shaun's mom and dad. It is a 3D puzzle of the SLC Temple!! After 2 1/2 hours of working on it though we found it was missing pieces. So hopefully that will be rectified and I can share a photo of the completed project!!
To be honest though I am kind of glad that 2008 is coming to an end and we can start anew in 2009!!
We hope and pray that everyone has a safe and happy new year!!!
Love the Castillo's!!







OH MY I ALMOST FORGOT!! WE GOT TO GO TO THE BEACH TOO!!!

Christmas is around the corner!!

So the next week is going to be a whirlwind of activity for the Castillo's.
Shaun, Madison, Jarod and Lucy (the chihuahua) leave by car for Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday evening. I have to work Monday and Tuesday... So Miley and I hop a plane on the morning of Christmas Eve to meet everyone there. I'm excited and nervous! The last time we took an 18 month old on a plane was when Madison was that age and it was not a memorable 4 hour flight. Or should I say it was surely unforgettable for us and everyone else on the plane. If you can only imagine four hours of straight screaming and crying. The more anyone else on the plane tried to do what they thought was helping, it just made her scream more. She didn't want anyone else looking at her, talking to her or touching her!! It was a long long long flight. I'm hoping since this is a morning flight and a shorter flight, Miley will do a whole lot better!! Let's all keep our fingers crossed.
As you can see the kids have been to see Santa and give him their lists of "desires". LOL But to be honest this year has been a difficult one for all of us to get fully motivated into the spirit of the season. So I'm hoping once I start packing the bags for them, the feelings will get more exciting about our adventure and what lies ahead for Christmas!!
We hope all of you have a Merry and Safe Holiday wherever you may be!!!

SOMEONE TELL ME IF I'M WRONG...

take a look at this picture and then the one below of Miley and tell me she doesn't have a serious resemblance?????

HALLOWEEN AT THE CASTILLO'S!!

So our Halloween started with "Boo at the Zoo" a few weeks ago with our friends! We had a blast and the kids got a decent amount of candy and danced their hearts out to the music!!
Then on Halloween, since it was a Friday, we got the kids out of school a little early. We started with carving the pumpkins! Shaun decided Madison and Jarod were old enough to do their own... And they turned out GREAT!!!!
What a WONDERFUL job my "punkins" did!!
Miley just watched on and looked cute!!!
That night we went to Trunk or Treat at church. The kids got so much candy and had so much fun, that we ended the night from there!!

FLYING A KITE FOR THE FIRST TIME!

(It was even my first time!!)

I know it's been a while since I actually wrote so here's the best synopsis of what has been going on.
Miley is growing and learning by leaps and bounds!! She now refers to all dogs as "huahuas". This came from us joking around about the Chihuahua movie coming out. It is so cute though coming from her!! She got her first scrape on the chin yesterday from trying to ride a tricycle with Madison and Jarod. We have broken free of the bottle finally!! yeah us!! but due to her mild millk protein allergy we are still doing the formula. Hopefully in the near future we can try the milk again.
Madison is doing awesome in school academically. She still has the issue of talking in class, but I can't say she didn't come by that naturally. LOL She and Jarod are also doing karate once a week and she absolutely loves it!! Shaun and I hope that it will become a long term adventure for them.
Jarod is slowly doing better in school. His reading is really starting to blossom!! We got behind this morning getting ready because I found him reading Dick and Jane instead of doing his socks and shoes. As aggravated as I was this morning, I do know this is a great start for a love of books!!
I has truly helped the both of them to learn to love to read more because lately I took on the Twilight series to see what all the talk was about. It only took me three weeks to finish all the books. I do believe they really enjoyed watching me get so excited to sit down and read every chance I could get. Now I just need to find another series to read to continue the example!! All suggestions are welcomed!!
Shaun and I are still the same... working and taking care of the kids and loving every minute we can get with them!!

Here are some Miscellaneous photos over the past few months!!!

The long await moment!!!

here's the new place (minus our room and bath, to come later).

A couple of cute moments caught!

The first picture is of Jarod and his first masterpiece alone in Megablocks! Can you see the ship??

The second picture is of Madison reading to Miley. Miley absolutely loves listening to Madison read!!

As promised!

Here is the picture from The First Day of School 2008!!

It's been too long!!

Ok so i got kind of lazy the last month with everything else going on. there has just been alot going on with my mom and doctors etc.
Today school started for Madison and Jarod!!
I cannot believe Jarod is in Kindergarten!!!! where does the time go??
But he took to it this morning like he was an old pro. Now we wait for the report afterwards to see if he listened or got in trouble. ;-) I hope he does well.
As for Madison she was a little nervous because it's a new school and means making new friends. But i don't think she will have any problems with taking care of that task!! She ran up and gave her teacher a hug first thing this morning and caught the teacher off guard!
the both seem to have great teachers that will be able to handle each with great stride!! we are excited to see what the year will bring!!
thank you to Ms. Milliken and Miss Baston for loving their job, taking care of our children and teaching them the mulitude of things they need to know to grow!!!


Ok i'm attaching a picture here of Miley in her first pair of jeans!!



Miley is testing out the verbal skills more and more! She can now kind of mimic the "donald duck" voice my mom and shaun do. she's so cute when she does it! she also knows how to say "shhhh" and when "reading" a book she will make sounds like she's actually reading to herself. We are on the right track but heaven help us I think she'll take after Madison in the talk area, which means two very talkative girls competing with one another. poor Jarod will never get a word in edgewise or daddy! LOL

Well tomorrow i will attach pictures of Madison and Jarod on their first day of school!!

OK so the last few weeks have flown by and have been filled moving/organizing/rearranging/discarding/returning etc. everything that a moves has a tendency to entail!!
But a light was brought into the chaos this weekend. Shaun and I finally gave into the kids' pleas and our desire to add a new four legged friend to the family! Someone needed to find Lucy a new home and we were more than gald to oblige.
Lucy is a 2 year old chihuahua. She is energetic when we are and laid back when we are! How lucky did we get with two dogs in a row like that! But we have been getting her out twice a day for walks and not only does she love it but we have all been enjoying the fresh :-) and humid air. LOL
here are three pics I have taken of her. They aren't the best but they will do for now!





I am also working on getting the kids' bday photos uploaded and getting some photos taken of the new place to show off also!
Blog at you soon!!!

WHEW!!

Once again we have gotten everything moved to our new place!! Now it is time to complete the task of putting everything away etc. It will probably take another week or so! Then I'll take the time to take some photos and post for those that are interested in seeing the new place. We ALL love it so much!! Jarod will take some time to get used to having his own room. Right now he still tries to find ways to coax Madison into coming to his room. And of course Madison doesn't want Jarod in her's and Miley's room. It's going to be interesting to say the least! LOL

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO OUR PRINCESS!!!

It's so hard to believe it has already been an entire year since little Miley came into our lives!! She truly is a blessing to us all! We pray she continues to blossom and grow into the beautiful princess we know she can be!! Miley, your entire family loves and adores you with all our hearts!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

and once again the song attached is Miley's special song from her Daddy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO "THE BOY"!!!!

Our Boy is going to be 5 tomorrow on July 4th!! He is surely our "firecracker" baby!! He is growing so fast! He will be in kindergarten this year! Where has the time gone! We love you so much Jarod! Have a "bang up" bday!!

at the bottom as before is Jarod's special song from his Daddy!!