Rios Family

The Rios Boys

2010-12-16T11:29:00.001-08:00

Finally got a picture of Thunder with Santa, and Joaquin too!

I think he's saying "I didn't do it Momma"

Thunder loves his baby brother soo much!!!

He's either saying "Look at what I can do, or this is all mine!!!"

My babies one morning very early! As you can tell Joaquin was sick and not feeling good at all!

Halloween 2010

2010-12-16T11:26:00.000-08:00

My superhero babies!!!

Soccer Season

2010-12-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I know I am the world's worst blogger. Since my last post we've been busy. We made it through our first soccer season, with Jesse coaching. Thunder's first day of school. We are almost done with the first half of his kindergarten year! He is doing good and loves school. We had some of our first's with Joaquin, Halloween and Thanksgiving and we are getting ready for our first Christmas as a family of four!

Life is good,! Jesse and I of course have been busy at work, but it's better than not working! 2010 has been an interesting year and we look forward to what 2011 has in store for us.

Vacation 2010

2010-09-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

In July we travelled to San Antonio on a mini-vacation. Here are a few of the pictures from our trip!

A Rios has been added to the Family

2010-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone, so much has happened since my last post almost 9 months ago! First we were blessed on April 17th with the birth of Juan Joaquin Ranger Rios. We call him Joaquin and he is a great baby!! At first we used to call him Dinosaur because he would grunt and grumble all the time but has since stopped. He's a little more serious than Thunder was, but is a very happy and sweet baby! He loves looking at himself in the mirror and is so in love with his big brother!! Thunder loves him so much and is a great helper!

Thunder has had so many changes since the last blog. He's a big brother, played his first season on Little League Baseball and started kindergarten. He is doing great in school and loves it. He's reading, writing and just playing as much as he can. His favorite class is gym. He will be starting his first season of soccer in the next couple of weeks and Jesse will be his coach. We are so excited!!!

Jesse and I are busy now with the two boys but couldn't be happier. We truly feel blessed to have our family complete! Thunder and Joaquin are so much fun and two is better than one!!! Here are pictures of the boys from the last 9 months and I'll try to be better at updating this post.

Lots of Love, Veronica

Mommy kissing Santa Claus

2009-12-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

My wonderful husband played Santa Claus this year at the clinic that my sister in law Anabel works at...and although everyone has rough times, seeing some of these kids who struggle day in and day out puts life in to perspective! We are very fortunate for everything we have and THANK GOD for all he has provided for us!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!!! Santa, Mommy and Joaquin!

Santa and his helper (Anabel)!!!!

For some reason Thunder would NOT get close to Santa and he knew it was his Daddy!! Oh well I finally got a picture with him and Santa! Sometimes you take what you can get!

Misc. Other Pictures!

2009-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

This is at the Police Car Wash

And this is from the Chili Cookoff!!

Thunder and Remi, aren't they so cute!

Thunder, Layla and Remi! Poor Layla Thunder is suffacating her!

My Handsome little Cowboy Baby!

Grandma's Birthday 2009

2009-12-28T18:12:00.001-08:00

For Jesse's Mom's birthday this year we went to the Botanic Gardens to take some family pictures! I think they came out awesome and here are just a few!

The family leaders Grandma and Grandpa! With all the grandkids, clockwise from Top Left, Joe, Ericka, Grandpa, Jaci, Tina, Grandma, Thunder and Isaac.

The Rios brothers and sisters, clockwise from Top left, Isabelle, Jesse, Anabel, Carlos, Alma, Grandpa and Grandma!

The grandkids again!

Anabel. me, Joaquin and Jesse!

Fall Through Christmas

2009-12-28T17:41:00.000-08:00

I have been a terrible blogger! I'd love to blame it on being pregnant and tired, and why that is true, I really haven't found time to sit down and write everything I need to say. We've been very busy since my last post. First, we know what Baby Rios is! IT'S A BOY!!! JUAN JOAQUIN RANGER RIOS!! We are so excited and I cannot believe I will be living with 3 men!!! I am 23 weeks along and have a very active baby inside me! Everything is progressing as it should and I will start going through Thunder's baby clothes to make sure we have everything we need! Work for both Jesse and I is going well and we can't wait for 2010 to to get here!

Enjoy all the pictures! Sorry for so many and they are out of order!

Captain Rex!Seargent Rios and Captain Rex!The family trick or treating!My beautiful niece Tina, Lake Worth Homecoming 2009! She didn't win Homecoming Queen but she is still beautiful!!!My nephew Joe, playing football for Lake Worth Collins Middle School!How we spent most of our Tuesday nights at football games watching Joe play!!!Helping Tio Carlos fix his classroom!Practicing with another baby in the house! Watching Chloe Bell! Notice how Thunder had to be on top of Momma the whole time she was with us!Me and Jesse at his high school reunion!!

Thunder's little ?

2009-10-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

We had our second doctor's appointment on Monday, Oct. 5th, and took another picture of the baby and got to see the heartbeat. Everything is progressing as it should and I lost a pound!!! Here is a picture of Thunder's little brother or sister!

We are adding to the family!!!

2009-09-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a very long time since my last post, but I have some wonderful news to share with everyone! Jesse and I are expecting again! Thunder is very excited to be a big brother, and he wants a little brother! My due date is April 25, 2010 and couldn't be any happier! We waited a long time for this to happen and I think God was very smart in giving us this blessing now! Stay tuned as I will add some pictures of Thunder, and my expanding belly soon!!!

It's been a long time since last update!!!

2009-07-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!! It's been a while since my last update, but we've had a busy summer so far. Thunder turned 4 years old on July 6th! He's a preschooler now! Please enjoy the following pictures!

Peaceful Baby sleeping!

At Makayla's birthday party!

Our Annual Zoo Birthday trip!

Mommy, Daddy and Thunder! We get a picture here every year!

Daddy and Thunder, and yes we get a picture here too every year!!

And the last of our yearly pictures, only Thunder didn't feel like streching his arms!

Having fun riding the horses!!

Birthday Party #1 - Star Wars Party! (Yes Mommy made the cake)

My first Cowboy's baseball cap! Watch out Tony Romo!!!

I'm now a "Star Wars" Clone! Both the helmet and the gun come with sound!!

Birthday Party #2
This was on Saturday July 11th and the temperature in the shade was 110 degress!!! Luckily the kids stayed cool on the slide, but man was it HOT!!!

Spiderman Cake (Mommy did not make this cake)

Pinata Time and yes Daddy is on the roof!!!

I'm going to get you Spiderman!

No escape!

Late April - Mother's Day

2009-05-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

So after doing a lot of NOTHING in March and most of April, we spent the last part of the month having some FUN doing some "firsts" with Thunder.

First, after Thunder's follow up dentist appointment for the "chipped" front tooth, (I left out that story, but it happened in mid-March) we took Thunder to Putt Putt for the first time. We thought he would love it, since he loves playing "golf" on the Wii. I think we would have had a better experience if we had brought our nieces and nephews with us. The problem is that another party playing had someone named Isaac with them, and the second he heard that name he thought it was his cousin and totally lost interest! Luckily we took him inside to play video games and he forgot about the other Isaac!!!

Our second "first" was that we went bowling!! This time we got smart and took Isaac and Jackie with us. We had two lanes, one for the kids with bumpers and one for the adults!!! Thunder did great and actually beat his cousins in the first game, but lost to Grandma in the second. I do have to brag a little because I beat Jesse in our second game!!!! And believe me I should have played on the kids lane!!!

May has started out great and this past weekend we went to our good friend Jennifer Tillman's little boy, Easton, first birthday party. Thunder was a "good boy" at the birthday party and got to play with his "friend" Giovanna! I am looking forward to Memorial Day and the start of Summer Hours! So be ready to see a lot of summer pictures!!!

March through Easter

2009-04-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so we really didn't have an exciting month!!! Sorry, two snoozer months in a row! Thunder is now fully potty trained!!! (Thanks Becky Burke for the potty training tip! Except you forgot to tell me how to end the training, but luckily I was able to figure that out on my own!!!) Thunder's vocabulary has really expanded and he is so much fun to converse with! Here are a few of his favorite sayings -

"Mom I in trouble?" (This comes out a lot)
"I wanna play Wii!!"
"I need to close my eyes" (This is when he sees people either kissing on TV or when he sees the girls on Dancing With the Stars half clothed!)
When he pronounces Pirate Ship it comes out as "Pile of S#it!" (Too Funny)
"Milk makes me strong"
"No wear socks, they make me hot!"
And he pronounces Chewbaca as "Chewbaba" (too cute)

And lastly for Easter I made a bunny cake. Normally when I make cakes it's for a birthday party so on Easter we had to sing "Happy Birthday" to the Easter Bunny. Of course we all know Easter is about the resurrection of Christ so we prayed before we sang, but it was so cute because he would not let us cut the cake before we sang to the Easter bunny!

I like to move it

2009-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

The second movie we took Thunder to watch at the movies was Madagascar 2. If you've watched the movie you know the theme song. So once the the video was out, we had to buy it. Here is Thunder's dance tribute to the song. It includes a little break dancing and his version of the running man! I hope you enjoy!

February 2009

2009-03-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm sitting her trying to think about what happened in February and really not much happened!!! Thunder for the most part is fully potty trained! Yeah!!! With the occasional "Poopy" exception! For some reason he doesn't like pooping in the potty! I know TMI..

In this first picture here he is on the big potty! I know he'll hate me one day for posting this picture!

For Valentine's Day we bought Thunder the one gift that we weren't able to buy him for Christmas (Target ran out of stock), his Batman Castle cave! He loved it and it has become his favorite toy!!! Mommy likes it because it is made for his age which means he can't break it into pieces!

In the last picture depicts a typical Friday night for us! Fast food and cartoons! And yes he's watching Family Guy! Luckily he doesn't understand the humor but loves the "baby" Stewie so I think we still have a while before we have to stop his Family Guy consumption!

Stock Show Here I Come!!!!

2009-01-28T17:59:00.000-08:00

Thunder got his first real pair of cowboy boots for Christmas and loves them. He'd wear them every day if I let him. Of course he can't wear his boots with any 'ol pair of jeans so we went and bought him a pair of Wranglers and real cowboy belt. Now he's ready to go to the Stock Show!!!!

Christmas 2009

2009-01-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was a more low key than last year. Jesse had to work this year, which was hard because we had gotten used to having him the entire day. Thunder of course was more into Christmas this year because he knew he was getting presents. Santa brought him a VTech gaming system and a Police Helmet so he could be like Daddy. Momma and Daddy also brought him his first pair of cowboy boots and he loves those things. He'd wear them everyday if we let him!

Late November - Early December

2009-01-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, it has been an extremely long time since my last post (Thanks Leah for "forcing" me to update ;0)). The end of November and beginning of December was a busy time for us. We had Thanksgiving, I had to travel to Puerto Rico for work and Carlos (Jesse's little brother) graduated from college. I will have to say that the trip to Puerto Rico was harder than any of the previous trips because Thunder actually knew I was away from home. Luckily I won't have any trips for a while. We've adjusted to Jesse being back on patrol - but miss seeing him every night.

On November 29th, Jesse and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary and had a date night. We went to dinner and then out Tejano dancing in Dallas. We had a great time but missed Thunder and wondered if he missed us!

We also took family pictures - it's been 2 years since the last set. I think they came out great and our hope is to have another family member (maybe a girl) by the next time we take pictures - one can only hope!

Madagascar 2

2008-11-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we took Thunder to the movies for the second time to see Madagascar 2. He did really good this time and only fell asleep for the last ten minutes, vs. the 1st time when we went to see Kung Fu Panda and he feel asleep within the 1st ten minutes. After the movie we walked around the mall and stopped into Build a Bear, I've felt bad since June when Thunder had to miss Makayla's birthday party because I had to travel for work. There we built him a Spiderman Doggie! Thunder had a slight meltdown once he realized that the Spiderman outfit wasn't for him to wear, but for the doggie, but it ended once he realized that the doggie was for him so he felt better!

To Infinity and Beyond

2008-11-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

This Halloween was a fun one because Thunder "somewhat" understood what Halloween was and that you would get to dress up and get candy. In early October he caught me on the computer ordering his costume, Buzz Lightyear, so for the entire month of October all I heard was "I be Buzz for Halloween". Of course he'd change his mind throughout the month and go from Buzz, to Batman, Spiderman, Optimus, Ben 10 and so on, but since Momma had already ordered his costume, he didn't have any choice. As luck would have it and the fact that we live in Texas the weather for Halloween was 80 degrees. Thunder's costume was all vinyl and very thick. On top of that he started getting a cold on Wednesday night and had a slight fever on Thursday we thought out plans were ruined!!! He perked up on Friday so our only hope was for a cold front to come in. Of course that didn't happen. We thought of going with an option B, getting a "cooler costume" but I felt too guilty to change plans at the 11th hour, and the fact that the Buzz costume was awesome that we went ahead and let Thunder sweat it out. He was a real trooper and everyone thought he had a great costume!!!

Jesse's Birthday

2008-11-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm still perfecting my cake decorating, but for Jesse's birthday I decided to make him a football cake. Of course I copied the idea from a Walmart commercial, but I think it came out pretty good. It was very delicious because half of the football field was red velvet and the other half was vanilla. The football itself was carrot cake!

Batman and Spideman

2008-11-01T17:48:00.001-07:00

Thunder still has his obsession with Spiderman, but now he has somewhat crossed over to include all the Marvel Comic heroes. For his birthday his Tia Letty, bought him "Batman" pajamas and he loves wearing them. Of course I made the mistake of taking his picture in them so now everytime he wears them he makes me take a picture of him.

And my good friend Leah Shepard gave Thunder his new best friend. A life sized blow up Spiderman!!!! Of course after the first night of "fun/fighting" with Spiderman, his life span is about 20 minutes, Momma and/or Daddy have to continually blow him up. He showers with Thunder and Momma has to kiss him every night before they go to bed together!!!

Daddy's Boots

2008-10-19T16:14:00.001-07:00

All little boys want to be like their Daddy and Thunder is no exception. One night while Jesse was getting ready to work off duty Thunder decided to take Jesse's work boots and walk around in them!! It was really cute and the first time that he could actually walk in them. Of course Jesse says that Thunder can NEVER be a cop but at least "play cop" every once and a while!

Enjoy the video!

The King

2008-10-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

Here's Thunder at his first "Royal Ball", actually it was Jordyn's 4th Birthday party. Doesn't the crown work on him!!!!!

Jesse's Big Day

2008-10-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Usually I blog about Thunder but this first blog is all about Jesse. In February Jesse was selected as officer of year in River Oaks! This is a huge honor because this was his first full year as a detective and he won it (the last time he won was in 2001, right as we started dating). Because of his winning we knew that he would also be honored at a Texas Rangers Baseball Game. They honor all local Policemen and Firemen of the year at a baseball game. Before the game Jesse keep joking at "How cool would it be if they let me throw out the first pitch?" Of course we didn't think that they would let him, but once we got there he called me to tell me that he would be catching the "first pitch". Being that we are a big baseball family it was a dream come true! And he looked very cute out there in his uniform!!!!

Mommy's Little Helper

2008-08-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I am a "clean freak". I proudly admit it! Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, because my son loves to help me wash dishes every night. He also loves to help with anything he can, so much that he even helped Daddy wash cars!!!!

Thunder's Own Optimus Prime

2008-08-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

Getting home one evening and I found this in my driveway!!! Thunder went nuts because he thought we bought him his "own" real life Optimus Prime. (Actually my in-laws were doing work on it) We got to "keep it for a couple of days and got to do our own photo shoot with Thunder! Surprisingly he didn't cry when the owner came to pick it up!

The Very Tan Dora

2008-08-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's been a while since my last blog, so I'm going to due a lot updates all at once. August has been a very busy month for us. We've actually had something to do every weekend. Normally we are hermits and stay home but we've been very social this month!!!

The first set of pictures are from our goddaughter Breanna's second birthday party. Because I think I'm a cake baker/decorator now I offered to make her birthday cake. It actually came out a lot better than I thought, however being that it is summer Dora ended up being a little darker than I wanted!!! Thunder thought she was fine, and luckily so did the birthday girl!

Thunder also found a police car at the party that he fell in love with and thought he was Daddy "being a policeman"!!!!

Transformer's Bed

2008-07-27T13:22:00.001-07:00

So we thought if we bought Thunder a Transformer's bed, he might like sleeping in his room. NOT!!! It is a great place to nap though!!!

The Zoo - 3rd Edition

2008-07-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of us at the zoo for Thunder's annual birthday trip!!!

Spiderman, Pool & Fireworks!!!

2008-07-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Thunder's 3rd Birthday

2008-07-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Thunder turned 3 years old on Sunday, July 6th!!! For his birtday Jesse made a brisket and I made him a Spiderman cake!!!! He loved it!! Afterwards we had a small fireworks display. (The whole time I was praying that no one turned us in to the cops! I guess that's the good thing about living on the NorthSide. Loud gunshot type noises don't make the neighbors call the police. Then again maybe it's a bad thing ;0)!)

On Monday we went on our annual birthday trip to the zoo. This year was great because all the animals were out to be seen. It must have been the 100+ Texas heat that brought them out!!!

This is Thunder at 5:00 in the morning.

2008-07-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

2008-07-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm at home now and am going to add some of the most recent pictures of Thunder. Thunder turned 3 on Sunday. Time sure flies by. He is still a fan of Spiderman, however has transitioned to being a MAJOR Transformers fan!!! We are buying him a Transformer's toddler bed and bedding set, in the "hopes" that he will sleep all night in his room!

In June we went to South Padre Island for our first family vacation since Thunder's birth! He did a great job on the 9 hour drive there and back and loved the beach! We thought that he would have been scared, but no not our son! Had we not had him in a life vest with string, he might have floating out to sea!

2008-07-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Just getting started!!!!

I decided that I would join the blogging era and start a blog to keep you all updated on Thunder, Jesse and I.