Cousin Margaret Ann will be missed....

It has been another stretch since I have been on here updating what has been going on in the Alcala Family. Juan and I took a 4 night cruise to Mexico here just last week, and it was great! I will post about that and put some of the great pictures out here on that later. Then just this past Thursday we got some bad news that my cousin Margaret Ann passed away on Thursday morning.

Margaret Ann was really technically my third cousin, but she was more of an Aunt to me as I am closer to her and her family than I am to my own Aunts & Uncles in my family right now. My Dad is very close to her and lived with her and her family for awhile while he was going to college down in Mississippi.

The boys and I and my Mom and Dad just went down to Mississippi this past August to visit Margaret Ann and her family, and we stayed for a week with her and had a wonderful time. I am so glad that we were able to make the trip and spend this great time with her and she was able to see my boys and enjoy getting to know them.

This picture was one of Margaret Ann and my Mom & Dad and the boys from this past summer. We were at the Jackson zoo, and boy was it hot that day! We had a great time!

When we got the news on Thursday of course my Dad knew that he had to come to the funeral. I tried to talk him into flying as it is such a very long 12 hour drive down here but he would not hear of it. He DID NOT want to fly. So, Mom and I made the decision that it would be best for me to go with Dad on the drive down to Mississippi as I would be able to help Dad drive more than she would. Plus Mom was not feeling that great, so she stayed home and watched the boys on Friday while Juan worked. Thankfully Juan was off on Saturday and Sunday, so he was able to keep the boys. So Dad and I started out on Friday morning and the drive was long and exhausting but we got down here about 10pm on Friday night. We went to the funeral yesterday and it was a very nice service. Margaret Ann was one of the nicest most Godly women that I have ever know. She reminded me so much of my own Grandmother (who was her first cousin), and I just loved her so much. She will be greatly missed!

As sad as it may be for the reason for the gathering the only one upside to a funeral is that you get to meet up and see the whole family and extended family all together. This was the case with this trip and my Dad and I were able to see lots of family that we haven't seen in awhile.

It is now Sunday and we are up and getting ready to head out on the long drive home. Dad is slow in getting ready to leave, so I am sitting here typing this out while it is on my heart. Hopefully we will be on the road soon, and back to good old Indiana!

More to come later....

Alex's 1st Birthday!

We celebrated Alex's 1st Birthday back on January 18th. He is such a big boy! He did not like the cake at all, as you can see and cried when we tried to get him to eat it. That is the first child of mine, not to like cake! He just doesn't know what is good....but he will. I made the cake a little bear to match the 1st birthday decorations that I bought. It turned out well I thought. He got to wear a very cute 1st Birthday outfit that his Aunt Amy bought him...he did look cute! His brothers enjoyed getting to help him open his presents and we enjoyed getting to see everyone that could come and celebrate with us!


Connor really liked the cake even if Alex didn't. I guess you learn to eat cake by the time you are 2!

We thought it looked like he would like the cake....but not so much.

It was a cute cake I thought!

Such a happy boy with his Mommy!

Sick Family

Wow...it has been awhile since I have posted but this family has been sick! All the boys have been on a round of antibiotics for sinus infections, and once that was over they got sick again. I think Connor and Keith have gotten over it by themselves but poor little Alex is still running a fever and feeling really bad. He is going to the doctor tomorrow as I think he may have an ear infection, but we will let the doctor check him out and we will see.

In addition to the kids I am sick too, which has really been no fun but I am going to try to get in to the doctor tomorrow as well. I really want to get well as we are leaving on Thursday for our cruise and I really don't want to be sick on the vacation! My poor husband has been sickest of us all with being in the hospital last week for chest pain and having to have a heart catherization done and then finding out this past Thursday that he has pneumonia. Poor guy has been so sick...but he is on some strong antibiotics and is slowly getting better. I am hoping he is also feeling better by this Thursday so he will feel well for our cruise.

I am going to try to get some pictures posted of Alex's 1st birthday on here too...it was good time.