Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is here again. To many, that means presents ad laughter but to me, it means 2 days till Honduras!!! Yipee, I can not wait. Please pray that no one gets sick while we are there. A friend of our's caught a stomach bug and the last thing I want to do on my mission trip is throw up. I am scared of throwing up as it is. Pray for traveling mericies and hopefully, everything will go well. Thanks,
Elena

Aher's Birthday Party ( A little late) and Belt Promotion

I have been meaning to post pictures of Asher's Birthday party but I forgot to download them. Asher had a karate birthday party which he loved. He had about 10 friends there and he had a blast. Our karate teacher, Mr. Ravedutti ( We call him fruit man) ran the party for him. We didn't have to do a thing. The karate school does it all. The other pictures are of the boy's recent belt promotion. Kayla and I were going to promote but due to issues at home, we didn't. We caught it form our teacher. One thing about karate is they inforce respect, disepline, honesty, and other important morals. My mom likes that a lot. Asher moved up to yeallow belt and Ia is blue recomended ( Once you hit blue, you go to something called the decided belts. It goes blue, blue decided, brown, brown decided, red, red decided, and the belt everyone knows. Black. Ian is on his way to becoming a black belt. Enjoy the photos

What we have been up to.

I haven't posted in so long. School has been so demanding and between school, work, and karate, I have had no time. I ma on break so I am enjoying it while I can. I am extremly excited because in one week, I will set out on my first mission trip. It is not in the United States. I am going to Honduras!!! I can not wait. I am going with Sera and my dad and we leave the 27th of December. Of course, that means I need shots. That was easily taken care of. My dad ordered the shots and my mom gave them to me. The joy of having a nurse for a mom. I did not enjoy taking them but I would rather take them than get sick. Now I have two sore arms and relief that it is out of the way. I also have picked up some type of throat/flue bug and have had that since Saturday. That was not fun because we were attending our annual karate gala which is supposed to be fun. I thought that my one karate teacher had made me sick because she had the same bug a week before but I found out that I made her sick. Whoops : ) Hope she feels better ad has no hard feelings. She is a third degree black belt and could knock me out cold if she wanted to. Anyway, all the nessesary prep work for our mission trip is almost done. All we have to do is pack. I may not post till we get back depending on how much time I have so if I can't then this is bye. I will update on evrything else soon.
Elena

Black Cats come out on Halloween

Well its a funny story about this post. I was out all day Saturday. By all day I mean 10 am till 11 pm. I went to my siblings Karate Belt Promotion and straight from therr, I had work from 12pm to 6:30pm. After work, I went to see my friend, Lauren in her acrobatics performance. When I got home I was so tired. I went into the kitchen to eat dinner ( I had a late unch so I wasn't hungry till 11) and go to bed. Well I was pulling some Pizza from the fridge when Kayla walked in. She told me to follow her to the apartment. She kept telling me it was a secret. I was curious but also ready for her to say " Just Kidding." We got to the top of the stairs and I heard her sya " Come here Ollie." As soon as she said that, a small, black cat walked towards her. I was shocked. My parents hate cats so they must not know. Well the story was that Sera found the cat on Friday on her friends porch. Mom told her to bring it i the car. Sera told mom that she would get her on Saturday. On Saturday morning, she had said she had to run errands but I no one knew that meant bringing a cat home. My dad was angry that she brought it homeand told her we couldn't keep it. Well Sera had already bought stuff for a cat. My dad wouldn't look at the cat till we found him a home. I am looking at him as I type. He is very affectionate and will rub your hand until you pet him. We were able to find him a good home. My dad finally looked at him and admits that her is cute. The best part is my friend Steph is breeding her cat with Ollie and mom said we could have a kitten if they have a good temperment. Well Stephs cat, Storm is very sweet and so is Ollie so the kittens will be so sweet. Storm is a tuxedo cat but Ollie is all black with Orange eyes. He is purring and plaing with my phone right now. I will miss him but he will have a great home.
Pictures coming soon.
Elena

And then there were none : (

Unfortunatly, KK's last pup passed a few days ago. Sarah had undeveloped intestines and that caused her to have problems. I was saddened because I was so hoping to see a newborn pup again but the important thing is that KK is doing well and thats all that matters. Mrs. Jenny snapped one photo of the pups but it was too blurry to post. I assure you, they were oh so cute. Well thats all for now.
Elena

Congrats KK

Sorry for the lack of posting. I have been so busy lately. Between Asher and school work, I have almost no spare time. I am also in the middle of writing a novel for fun. I am hoping to publish it but I don't know if any one will buy it or not. Anyway, We have a friend who has been painting the murals in our new ( well 2 year old ) house. We have become pretty good friends with her. Her name is Ms. Jenny Sancartier ( to the us she is just Ms. Jenny) Well Ms. Jenny has two little toy poodles named Little man and KK. She was a former breeder but now but she decided to retire her poodle, KK, because she was getting a little old. Well KK is 12 right now. In dog years thats 86 years old. At taht age, she should NOT be having puppies. But KK reminds me alot of Sarah from the Bible. On Tuesday morning KK had three pups. One was stilborn and one looked really weak. The last one was a suprise but boy is this pup healthy. The second pup passed Tuesday evening which leaves one pup. Fortunatly, this pup is very strong and should make it. Infact, this pup has some very strong lungs. According to Ms. Jenny, she can scream. Very Loud too. Sheis gonna call this pup Sarah. If it was a boy she would have named it Issac but Sarah is a cute name. Hopefully this will be the last time KK has pups. I will update with some pics as soon as I can. Ms Jenny plans to bring both mom and pup so we can see them. It has been awhile since I have seen newborn pups so I can not wait to see her. I will update soon.
Elena

FFF/Closeups

I must admit that I have few good closeups but I am going to try and put some on. The last one is not good but Emma will not hold still for very long. I threw the dog one in because she holds still longer than the kids. Enjoy,
Elena

FFF. Family Poto Fun: Matching

Now the girls are NOT twins. We make that as clear as we can. They are five weeks apart. We still do love to dress them alike though. They look so cute. Here are some pics of our sweet matching girls. I have more that I will add later.
Elena

It has been awhile.

Day 2: More pool

We sort of just hung out in the pool on Monday. It was a lot of fun. Elly, again, played in the pool and with the hose and this time, Ethan, Kayla, and Andrew joined in the fun. The girls are really starting to miss mommy and they are showing it by acting up. They did earn one prize. They each got a headband that said Disney Princess on it and they were thrilled. Everyone is doing well and can't wait to meet Asher in person. I am posting plenty of pictures that I you will enjoy.
Elena

Computer trouble

I am having some major computer issues right now so to Sera, Skype and web cam will have to wait a while. I really hope you are reading this, Sera. My compute is being very slow and neither I nor anyone else knows whats wrong. I plan to call the mac store tomorow and find out what is going on. If Sera or the fam wants to contact us then please use the phone and not skype. Hope Asher is doing well.
Elena

Some pics form Day 1

I forgot pictures yesterday so I am going to post them now.

Day 1: They are on their way.

Well They are finally going. I am so excited. In a few days, they will have Asher. I am going to post updates about what is going on here. I have plenty of pictures from today. Emma, Esther, and Elly were playing in the pool. The pool is very warm but the kids had fun. I am going to try to upload a video to Mom and Dad of the little ones. To Mom, Dad, Sera, and Ian, I know you won't be able to read this till tomorow, I hope you had a good flight. I love you,
Elena

The beach

Well I don't know why but for some reason my parents decided to take our whole crew to the beach (minas sera cause she had tto work). So my dad took wendsday off and we packed up and left. The way there went pretty smooth exept for emma saying she had to go potty when we had at least another 45 minates to go. So we got there and mom decided that she wanted to eat lunch on the beach so dad went her and the kids stayed inside the condo for lunch. We all were down there for 30 min when all Thunder broke loose. A strom came through and quickly swept the beach of sunbathers and waders. My dad took all the kids on a walk on the beach while the storm blew through but when it got really bad, we took cover. Mom, on the other hand, freaked out and took everything off the beach. By the time the storm was over, she was ready to go home. So mom went to the condo and the rest of us stayed down at the beach until 5. We came back upstairs and got all cleaned up and quickly, went to dinner. We left the resterunt at bout 7: 30 pm and headed for home. It was a lot of fun and I hope we get to go again soon. Over and out from Kayla

Ians sick again (this is kayla)

hey sorry we havent bloged in a while we've been realy busy. But seras done a good job only leaving out two recent hapenings that I thought needed to be told we went to the beach (more about that in my next blog) and Ian got sick. First it started out as a sore throaght then he threw up so dad diagnoesed it as strep. So now he just has to keep up with the antibiotics. Oyeah I almost forgot about one other exiting happening elena is letting me type out two whole blogs i think im an exselint tipist if i doo sae soe mi self with exselint speling. well thats all for now

Our little Belle Girls

A little while ago, The little girls were asked to be in a wedding. Not as flower girls but as bell girls. They skip down the aisle while ringing bells. The lovely bride is actually a girl that I met about 6 or 7 years ago. I bumped into her at church and started talking to her. I was only like 7 but the girl was nice and answered my questions. The one question that I remember was " Are you an only child? " Now that I know her in kind of seems funny. She is one of nine. Enough said. Anyway, we are very close to her family now. Christa ( thats the girl) has completed a succecful courtship and it has resulted in her wedding tomorow. The little girls had to go to the rehearsal tonight and they got dressed up in their cute white dresses. I personally thought they should wear their white dresses but everyone knows that only brides wear white so they are wearing light blue dresses. They are so excited but probably not as excited as Christa. I hope that she is not to nervous and that she can get a good nights sleep. She will need it. Here are some pictures of the girls before the Rehearsal. Personally, I think Emma was drop dead gorgeous but I don't have very good pics of her so you can't really see her. Esther was cute too but they are cute in different ways. I love my Emmy and my Esthty.
Elena

Bye Bye Bella, Hello Braces

We have been petsitting for some friends the past week and have gotton some what attached to their puppy. Her name is Bella and she is a black Cockapoo. She is sweet but oh so very hyper. Her and Elly are very good friends and were always playing with each other. Now the day has come. Her owners are coming to retrieve their pooch. The house will seem quiet without the cute puppy but we still have four dogs to look after. Another thing happened today. Kayla got Braces!!!! She is not too thrilled and was making up names to call herself as she walked into the office. Metal mouth, Train track face, Silver lips, and many more. She actually looks older with them ( don't tell her I said that) She is feeling sore but not sore enough to skip youth group tonight. She even had a piece of chocolate cake for supper. All I got was mashed potatoes and Advil. Oh well, guess I am beeter off with just a retainer. Supper is calling. Have a great day.
Elena

Family Foto Fun Chalenge : Love

This weeks chalenge is Love. Love is abundant in a house full of kids. The little ones like to use it as a bargaining chip. " Esther, if you get the gum, then I will love you," says Emma. " Emma, I no love you no more," says Esther. When they do show love its sooo cute. The picture is posed but not for the chalenge. I took it about six months ago while making a video. I hope you like it cause thats the only photo of both of them, I have. I also have one og me and Esther when she first got here. I was playing with my computer and it has a built in camera, so Esther and I had a little fun with it. Enjoy,
Elena

Bahamas and Braces

My parents are heading to the Bahamas for their anniversery this weekend. They have left us all home with Sera so pray everything goes well. Also, Miss Kayla is receiving a very special gift. She is getting Braces and is in desperate need of them by the looks of this picture. She is third in the family to get them but will certainly not be the last. Any advice or comments are invited so Kayla can get a hand out braces from other people besides Sera and I. She doesn't really believe us. Oh well. Have a great day.
Elena

Family FotoFun Challenge # 33

I am a new blogger but I thought I would try out a challenge. The Challenge is Baby Strollers so here is the picture. We took this at Disney on our way to breakfast at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. The girls are in there cute double stroller. Enjoy it.
Elena

A night at the Crab Shack ( Back to Elena)

Now that you heard about our afternoon, You can hear about the evening we had ( and trust me, it was adventurous) My mom decided that we should go out for dinner since Sera was not there to cook ( Just a little hint on why she has not updated the blog, She has been very busy!!! She went back up to Maryland with my mother for our cousins graduation and then she returned only to spend this weekend at the beach with some friends so she should be posting either today or tomorrow.) Anyway, my mom wanted to try Joes Crab Shack since we have never eaten there before. We immediately got a table without waiting so it gave a good first impression. Then our waiter showed up and quickly made me think that this would not be a very regular dining experience. He was very friendly but almost to friendly to me. He told us the story of Joe and how he came to own a restaurant. He took our orders but started to walk away when Kayla was talking to him. He made our dining trip all the more fun. While we waited, Mom went to check out the little gift shop and Kayla and Ian took the girls onto the playground. I just sat in my chair while my dad texted Sera. Our food came quickly and it was all really good. The girls had popcorn shrinp and mandarin oranges; both were eaten and enjoyed. A ballon man stopped by the table and made ballon objects for the younger four. A pink ( figures) flower for Emma, A yellow horse for Esther and two parrots, one for Kayla and one for Ian. The food was good the entertainment was superb and the dancing waiters were awsome ( wait a minute. Did she say dancing waiters? Yup the macarena was danced while we were waiting for our desert) I guess I should end the post because I am typing with a puppy on my lap so until next time.
Elena Manubens

Tubing ( Kayla is posting this)

Last Sunday, Dad took us tubing. Well its kind of hard to describe this particular trip out on the lake.I guess you could call it colorful. Well anyway because of no rain for the past three weeks it was kind of hard to get the boat out so Esther, Ian, and I all had to pile on the tube. While Dad, Emma, and Elena stayed on the boat. It fun until water started splashing in our faces and Esther started crying. So I signalled Dad to stop we switched Esther with Emma and we were on our way after about ten minutes Dad decided he was bored so he went faster just as we flew over a huge bump needless to say tat got Emma crying. So we completely switched this time with Elena and Esther on the Tube this time. This arrangement kept up until Dad said that we had to go in. So we switched and my Dad took the boat through its paces. First of all, Dad gunned the engine and Ian and I went flying off. Then he took the tube in continues circles and I went flying of the Tube. All to soon, we had to go in and after attempting to submerge the Tube underwater. Then being untied and thrown away from Tube, we were more than ready to go in.

Sing it, Sparks!!!

Jordan Sparks was won!!!! The spunky 17 year old girl who captured people with her singing has suceeded!!! Melinda Doolitle deserved it more than anyone but Simon said " If Melinda doesn't win, Jordin will!!!" Of course, Simon is almost never wrong and he is able to predict the outcome of the singers. I am not really into American Idol but I must say, if anyone had to win, it would be her. Even Melinda admitted that. Congratulations to Miss Jordin Sparks!!!!!!

The puppy

We just got a new puppy!!!!! Ok we have had her since the 12th but Sera has not posted anything about her so I figured that I could beat her to the punch. Her name is Elly Mae and she is too cute! Today I took her for a walk while I rode my bike. She really hated the leash though. Whenever I would tug on it, she would pull away. I finally decided to take her off the leash to see if she would follow and she did!! She ran five straight miles without stopping. She is a very good girl!!

New Picture!!!!

Here are the new pictures I promised. Thank you Emily for telling me how to post pictures. We will see if this works the way its supposed to

Picture Trouble

I need some help from felloew bloggers. I can not figure out how to post pictures. I have been trying but I am having no such luck. If anyone can help me out, Please comment me. I have pictures of Asher that I would love to post. They are very new so Sera has not posted them yet. I will post them as soon as I find out how. Thanks.
Elena

The younger sisters of Sera

Welcome to a new view of the Manubens family. My name is Elena and I am Kayla and we our the younger sisters of the famous blogger, Sera Manubens. We saw how Sera kept a blog up and we thought we should give it a try. We want to give people another take on the Manubens Family. Of course, you might all ready know a lot about our family from what Sera posts, but we thought you might want to know about the smaller details that Sera doesn't post. First of all, we will tell you a little about ourselves. We both are completly different but we do get along most of the time. Elena is sweet but she is only a mena when she is stressed out ( about everyday ) or tired. She is a wonderful sister and a good caretaker. Kayla is the type of girl who know all the names of the pets in our neighborhood but can not tell you the names of their owners. She is arguermentative but passionate about animals ( she is not the best speller though ) We both love having little sisters, even when they decide to empty all the shampoo and bodywash into Kayla's shower and turn it into a bubble party during naptime. They are still adorable and know exaclty how to get what they want. We hope you enjoy our blog and feel free to leave comments. Thanks,
Elena and Kayla Manubens