Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Catching Up through pictures

Just like that, fall is over and I am sitting here on NYE.  It has been a very interesting year and I am going to write a post digesting everything that happened in 2013, this post is just a means to catch you up on some of the Leiva happenings.  I got a new computer for Christmas, so I am hoping to up the ante on the quality and consistency of my blogging....but we will see.  When work gets nuts, this blog takes a back seat, so we will see what 2014 has in store for us.

Here are some ramblings via photos of the tail end of 2013.

My parents have a new addition to their family that has all of us a little smitten.  Her name is Lady and they rescued her.  She is a very snuggly little dog and we are all very happy to have her in the family.

Lady is super lanky, so here she looks super long, but she can ball up into looking like a little dog too!

In October, Mom and I went to Gruene Texas for a first annual Mother-Daughter weekend with Amanda, my SIL and Lessie, my MILIL (mother in law in law)  We had a fabulous time.  Friday we walked around downtown Gruene and did some shopping and ended our day sipping wine under some BEAUTIFUL oak trees.  I was a photo slacker, so I have little photos.  Saturday we went outlet mall shopping and Saturday night we went to a great restaurant.  The name escapes me currently, but it was delicious and the atmosphere in the hill country was amazing as usual.

Waiting for our table on Saturday night...


At our dinner....it was so yummy!


Beautiful In Laws
UH played their season at Reliant this year, so our tailgates were cut short, but we did enjoy almost every game in the air conditioning.  We are all looking forward to enjoying the new UH system next year!

Hubs and I at the game!

In November, our youth group at church had a girls retreat.  Erika and I chaperoned and slept in the "Spa" room.  This was the WORST idea every.  We had 60 girls painting their nails in this room for 3 hours.  :/  So we slept in Nail fumes for the night.  We also had masks, so here Teeks and I are using the Cucumber peel...nice and glossy!


My Mother In Love [Sonia made the comment that she didn't like "Mother In Law" and that she felt we were closer than what that phrase usually means, so we switched it to Mother in Love - much more appropriate] came in town in November and we enjoyed LOTS of quality time.  We try to have a Mother/Daughter date one night every time she is town...it is very nice.  Usually we end up going to get mexican and margaritas!

I know a lot of people have issues with their Mother In Laws and I am truly blessed to have a very close, honest relationship with mine.  She is one of the most sincere people you will ever meet and we have been able to have some very serious talks and also have a lot of fun. I am really grateful for her and the relationship we have.  There is NO awkwardness where I feel like I can't be brutally honest, which I really appreciate.  She is one of my biggest supporters and we have a mutual respect for each other.  I love when she is here!

We really need a better backdrop -- looks like we are in a prison.  Sonia, we will take a better one next time you are in town!
Over Thanksgiving, we stayed at Mom and Dad's for the whole week and I just drove in for work.  It allowed for a LOT of quality time!  I was able to help Mom start decorating the dogs house for Christmas.

Santa's elves and reindeer

Mom had wanted to make a new centerpiece for her Kitchen Table using a nutcracker, so this is what we ended up with.  So whimsical.  Mom, how did you end up storing it???

One of our favorite little friend celebrated his 4th birthday.  We had to miss his Pirate Party, so his parents let us join in on a Birthday Eve Celebration at Chucky Cheese.  Happy Birthday Davis, we love you!  


We went to Elf and Backstreet Cafe to celebrate Christmas with the fam!

We all matched in our black and red.  

Me and  my little brother (and Amanda's finger with the photo bomb)

Hubby and I

We went to Americas in River Oaks for a drink or two after dinner -- that place is really nice.  I really enjoyed it!
Spencer has had some excitement lately.  We have been monitoring his Liver because for the last 9 months one of his liver enzymes have been slightly elevated and he has some nodules in his liver.  Our vet decided it was time to do a liver biopsy and make sure nothing concerning was going on with regards to his liver.  BTW - our vet is AMAZING! If you ever need a vet Dr. Wiltshire at Lakeside Animal Clinic is the best!

Since they were going to have to put him under to do the biopsy, we decided to have his "horn" removed.  That is the mass below on his head.


They did the biopsy the Friday before Christmas, so Spencer has been living the cone life the last week and a half.  We are going in on Friday to get the stitches out.



We had to go back on Monday to make sure an irritated area wasn't infected...Spencer was paralyzed with fear while waiting for the vet.
Dr. W called back last Friday and Spencer does have a liver condition, but not one that is concerning.  He just has some previous slight liver damage that could be due to varying issues.  The mass they removed from his head did not come back with great news.  He has a Malignant Melanoma.  Our vet feels he removed the entirety of the tumor, but we need to meet with an oncologist to see if it appears the cancer has spread at all and to discuss treatment plans, if any.  The crazy part in this all is that Spencer shows NO symptoms.  He is eating well, playing a lot, sleeping well and acting completely normal.  We will schedule an appt with the oncologist soon and go from there.  Please say a prayer for our sweet pup.  We are so glad he is feeling fine and hoping that is a sign that the cancer hasn't spread.

You may recall we are supposed to be building a house.  :)  Well the city has FINALLY permitted our plans and we are next in queue to start construction.  On Christmas Eve we drove by the lot and they had staked the lot.  We are going by today to see which trees they have marked to have to remove prior to construction starting so it is FINALLY all beginning.  We will be moving sometime before 2014 comes to a close!

Hello DIRT!
Christmas Eve was so much fun.  Alyssa and I are each other's entertainment.  She is so fun and silly at age 5 so we had a blast goofing off with her.  Love this little girl so much!



She DOES NOT smile for photos, so we have lots of these sneak attack photos.  
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's to you and yours!  Looking forward to 2014!

2 comments:

Sonia Castiblanco said...

I love love reading your blog. thanks for the update....love you ....your mother in love

Stephanie said...

Fun updates!

"I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well."



~Psalm 139:14