The Bengards

32 week baby bump!!

2012-01-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

Things are coming along nicely. Slowly ever since I was 24 weeks, but now we're in full project get the nursery ready for this little guy. We've painted both of the kids' rooms, moved the boys into the same room, I finally won the battle of getting another crib for the house because I'm not ready for Liam to move into a big boy bed yet. Alex fought me for months to move Aiden into a toddler bed, which he finally gave into when Aiden turned 3. And now Liam is only 2, and he wanted to move him. Go figure! You see, Liam just started being a good sleeper at about 18/20 months. Up until then he would wake up in the middle of the night and one of us would have to go lay with him in his room until he fell back asleep. And now that he's sleeping through... I'm just not ready to have that battle again, nope! Especially not with a newborn in the house. So, I looked on Craigslist almost daily until the perfect crib popped up. $100 for crib and mattress.. perfect!

So the new crib is set up in the new nursery, the rocker and dresser in place. The crib and bassinet bedding is made, and the fun DIY curtains are hung. We're down to the little details to finish it off now. And I'll worry about finishing the big boy's room once I'm on Maternity leave and have more time. Oh, and we still need to agree on a name, and a spelling.

I'm 34 weeks as of Sunday... and here is my 32 week baby bump photo. And it just so happens that I turned 32 last week as well!!! I'm so curious to see my next one at 36 weeks... I feel like I have dropped a little bit in the last week... and since I am soooo high in this photo, It'll be interesting to compare. I have my 34 week check up tomorrow, but don't expect anything all that exciting to happen, other than getting to hear my little guys heartbeat. Which will never ever ever get old, I could listen to him all day.

Christmas passes way to fast....

2011-12-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

I feel like a kid again at Christmas time! I love everything about Christmas with the kiddos! I can hardly sleep the night before thinking about how much fun the kids will have the next day. Every year someone on at least one side of the family is growing, and it gets bigger and bigger with family! I love that!

Aiden made his way downstairs first...

Then about 35 minutes later, Liam made his way downstairs, and was a little taken back by the chaos. He wouldn't leave my lap to open his stocking...

Then he got into it once he saw that the reindeer and Santa ate all the snacks they left...

This is the kind of reaction that make me so excited for Christmas...

Cousins fun....

And then some more present opening...

Just as my family started to arrive Aiden started complaining about a stomach ache, threw up all over the bathroom. And this is pretty much how he spent the rest of the morning... Poor guy.

After some naps by all, Alex took Liam over to his parents house and I stayed home in bed with Aiden. As they were opening presents over there, Liam decided that it was his turn to get sick, and then they rushed home. Thankfully Liam's was the shortest lived. I spent the next day sanitizing the house, and washing all the sheets, comforters, towels, blankets, bath mats, and soiled clothes!

The Christmas decorations are now down and put away till next year, the new toys will slowly make their way into their spots as I rearrange this house getting it ready for baby. Only 8 more weeks!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

From our family to yours....

The boys' Gingerbread house

2011-12-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love building memories with the boys, our own little family traditions. I love that they, well at least Aiden for now, look forward to things like this...

Maybe Liam will be into it next year, but this year all he was into was the candy :)

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree....

2011-12-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

I completely let all my control tendencies go when we decorated the tree this year, and almost 3 weeks later, I am happy to report that have not moved any of the lumped together ornaments. I love my tree lopsidedly decorated tree. The boys had lots of fun decorating this year. And so far we've only had a few fixable ornament mishaps.

A fews days after our tree decorating we continued the holiday spirit by heading out to see a local neighborhood for it's crazy amount of Christmas lights...

30 Weeks!

2011-12-19T23:37:00.000-08:00

30 weeks!! Sunday, we hit the 30 week mark in the pregnancy. And with a date of 2.22 scheduled that means only 9 weeks left!! Our poor little guy is still nameless, which is so much out of character for me!! And with Christmas only days away, we're almost to the nursery and room planning and preparation stages. Just after the new year, new paint is going on the walls in the kids' rooms, Aiden is moving into Liam's room, and it's getting transformed into a big boy room. Aiden's room will become the new nursery, and the carpet will be replaced throughout the upstairs. When we first moved into this house, almost 3 years ago, we moved into it as a rental... since then we were blessed and lucky enough to purchase it from the bank... so it's time to upgrade the little things like carpet.

So far so good on the pregnancy front, since fighting a cold for 2 weeks, and not really being able to take anything is the most miserable thing ever. I did have to take a decongestion twice in order to breath and get a good nights rest, which the Dr. said is just fine. But the pharmacists was quick to point out that since containing a class C drug, one should only take it if absolutely needed! As you can see I've def popped out sometime between 24 and 30 weeks. It was somewhere around 27 weeks when it all of a sudden hit me how uncomfortable pregnancy is! Had my glucose test done, and just like last time, I'm hypoglycemic, but more so this time around, along with a little bit anemic. I go to the Dr. tomorrow for my 30 week check up, and then I'll be going every 2 weeks! So crazy... I feel like I was just did this!

Inside a 2 year old's world...

2011-12-16T05:46:00.000-08:00

We've only been 2 years old for a couple of weeks... but so far it's been nothing but fun fun fun!

Here is little guy's last night as a 1 year old...

The morning after his party. Breakfast with his gang...

The next weekend... more Toy Story fun, what else do you do as a 2 year old??

Liam's Toy Story 2nd Birthday

2011-12-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post... Liam loves Buzz Lightyear and the Toy Story gang! Here are the detail shots of his Toy Story themed party. I was a little worried about going with this theme... but glad I powered through it and did it!! And thank you to Drew of DrewB Photography for taking most of these amazing photos, you are seriously the best!!! The amazing ones are hers. :)

Fun and most favorite homemade cake! I had so much fun making this. I had the brilliant idea of fondant clouds... but couldn't find a cloud cookie cuter. Instead, my new favorite, I found candy molds!!! Candy molds are way better than fondant! Even that little cowboy hat is from a candy mold. Toys, complimentary of Liam's toy baskets, which he wasn't too happy about at first.

Alien cupcakes from Pintrest! For the faces I used candy molds!!

Rocket Rice Krispies... Thank you Kellogg's for making a holiday Krispie sheet so I didn't have to go through the frustration of trying to get mine flat like yours. I got mine at Walmart in their holiday baking section. I've never seen them before that, totally just stumbled upon them one day.

Chocolate mustaches.... again candy molds!!!

The watering hole....

Mr. Potato Head's photo booth to capture some of or guests getting into the Toy Story spirit.

Last but not least... the toy story themed invitation.

Linking to Bird's Party Blog

Happy 2nd Birthday Liam!

2011-12-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

Happy 2nd Birthday to my soon to be not the baby of the house. But will always be MY baby. Just like I always tell Aiden when he’s so quick to remind me that he’s not a baby anymore. HA! Why are they so quick to grow up? Someone remind why WE wanted to grow up so fast?

Liam is our funny little guy that keeps us on our toes and brings the saying, “no rest for the weary,” to truth. He makes us laugh everyday with the things he comes up with. The words and phrases he says and repeats, the craziness he brings to our household, and the never ending kisses, love and snuggles he warms our hearts with. He is a very good communicator, saying things that Aiden didn’t say till well after 2 ½ years old. He talks in full sentences, missing some words of course… and maybe some syllables, but for the most part others can understand him pretty well. He loves to experiment… most of the time at our expense. Like dumping a glass full of water on the ground right in front of us. Or by chucking a toy across the room, to see what kind of sound it makes when it hits something? We’re not really sure why. Hehe. He loves loves loves to play ‘kick’, and is such a tropper when we have to drag him from soccer game to soccer game. He’s really good about staying close to me and never wonders off too far. Which is a nice change from Aiden’s younger days. I could never take him to Alex’s soccer games because he just wanted to run run run, and I could never watch the game. And since Aiden is playing now, it’s nice that he’ll stay close to me. He loves and adores his older brother and we can't wait to see how he reacts has the big brother to his little brother. He’s finally a good sleeper as of 20 months. Wakes up early… but finally sleeping through the night, and a great napper. He runs pretty hard all day long, so night time comes pretty early for him, even with a long nap. And oh how he needs his rest. He's not a happy camper if he doesn't get his full rest.

When Aiden was little he would have to take two Cars car with him everywhere we went, loved his trains, loved Elmo and Mickey Mouse. Liam not so much. It was only a few months ago that he really started showing interest in characters like Elmo and Mickey. Loves Penguins of Madagascar, and playing with Aiden’s sharks in the bath. But not really attached to any of it. Until Buzz Lightyear came around!! This kid loves some Toy Story!! His favorites are Buzz, of course, Woody, Jessie, and the Aliens. So when he started to show interest in Toy Story, I knew immediately that that had to be the theme of his second birthday!!

His party came so fast, at the most busiest time of the year for us, but you better believe that this mamma wasn’t going to let it pass without a party! He was so excited! Everytime he saw me working on the party décor items on my computer he would say, “Birthday party!” Even the next two days as I was going through the photos after downloading them from my camera.

Thank you to everyone that came out to celelbrate our little guy in the mist of getting ready for the busy holiday season… he had a blast! He even put himself to sleep that night singing, “Happy to you, Happy to you” in his crib. Here are some pictures from his Toy Story themed party… I’ll post the Toy Story party décor photos tomorrow or the next day.

You Got a Friend in Me!

2011-11-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

I love how kids get so excited over the littlest things, especially at this age. Liam needed some new footsie pajamas, I found these at Target, he LOVED them! It was a win win, and all was happy in the house that night...

Tanaka Farms 2011

2011-11-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we finally made it out to Irvine for our annual trip to Tanaka Farms. I was a little concerned that this trip wasn't gonna happen because our weekend schedules have been crazy with soccer soccer and more soccer. When we lived in Tustin it was a lot easier to shoot down the freeway a few exits. Now, it's a little bit more of a drive, which makes it harder with their early closing time. I just hope as things get more crazy with soccer and 3 boys, we can still make it every year.

Tanaka Farms is by far our favorite, but if you're ever looking for another favorite pumpkin patch besides your corner patch. You should also check out Pa's Pumpkin Patch in Long Beach. This is only our second year at Pa's, but I know that as Liam gets older, it's def going to remain on the must go list of pumpkin patches. :) Plus, it's around the corner from my sister's house in Seal Beach, so cousin time is always a plus too.

Happy Halloween to you all!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Autobots transform... and roll out! The decepticons must be stopped.

Check out these boys! I mean really, are they not ALL boy? No girlie princesses in this house, that's for sure! Happy Halloween! Hope you all had a great and safe time trick or treating.

23 months/ 23 weeks

2011-10-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

My baby is 23 months today.... and it also marks the beginning of my 23rd week. Since this is so rare that these two days just happen to fall on the same day exactly... I wanted to freeze the moment and snap a photo. I am obsessed with chalk photos right now, of course I wanted to incorporate the chalk....

(My camera got a little water on it in the back of the car this weekend, so Alex took this with my cell phone.)

2.22.12

2011-10-27T05:46:00.000-07:00

Unless this baby decides to bless us with his presence early, like the other kids did, he will have a birth date of 2.22.12!!! Got the call from my Dr. the other day confirming that we got our first choice! It was either that or the 21st. Either one would have been fine really, but I had to pick a first and second choice, so I did! 2.22.12 would actually be pretty cool, considering my birthday is on 1.11.

On a side note, Big Brother/Little Brother shirts #1 came in the mail last week!! I can't wait till they can actually wear them!

If you have a little boy, and are in search for some cool T-shirts for a special day/event, you'll want to check out Revolution 64 on Etsy. They only had the big boy shirts in their shop, so I convo'ed the shop owner for a custom onsie that said Little Brother! We love them!!!

Liam's First Hair Cut...

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have been sooooo dreading this day. :( But it really has been a long time coming. My poor baby really really really needed a hair cut. As cute as his little ringlet curls were, and how they became apart of his spunky personality, his hair just kept getting in his eyes, and it became a habit for him to wipe his forehead multiple times a day moving his hair out of his eyes. I fought Alex on it for a few months.... and as sad as it makes me feel, it was just time. :(

On our way there....

Waiting our turn...

Check out these ringlets!!!

The cutting process....

The aftermath :(

My cute little 'man'!!

Daddy was actually a little sad! But loved it!!

But more importantly... this little guy loves his new hair!!!

And I'm happy to report... no actual tears from this momma! Almost... but I held it together!

20 Weeks!

2011-10-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

½ way there, and getting bigger!!!! As of Sunday...

Well so far this pregnancy is going pretty well. I’m super happy to NOT be pregnant in the summer this time. In the shuffle of the everyday happenings it seems as if it’s going by very slow, but when I step back and really look at it… it’s actually going by pretty darn fast. I mean, I’m already ½ there. During the last two pregnancies the big 18/19 week ultrasound seemed to take forever to get to. This time it was like bam, 13 week ultrasound, we’re having a BOY, and then bam again, 19 weeks and baby is growing right on schedule and everything is looking on the up and up. And now all of a sudden I’m 20 weeks! I feel that my belly is smaller than my last pregnancy, but I feel overall bigger.

However, I don’t feel 'as' pregnant as I did with the last. I’m pretty sure it’s because I was in overall better shape when I got pregnant this time. I’m kind of shocked that the weight gain isn’t taking more of a toll on my body, as it did last time. I’ve gained a total of…… gasp…. 20 pounds!!! I don’t know what it is! I don’t really eat much different when I’m pregnant, so I’m convinced that it’s a hormonal thing, or a water retention issue. I have no clue! But, those of you who can go through your whole pregnancy only gaining 20 pounds are my heros! I’m pretty sure I would be starving! If I end up around 40 pounds this time, I’ll be happy. That’s a tad more than what I gained with Aiden.

My digestive system is taking a beating this time around, the baby must be laying on my stomach in some weird way. I get crampy a lot! Not contraction crampy, but stomach cramps. I can’t eat a lot at night otherwise I get to uncomfortable. So my big meal is always lunch, which means I get pretty hungry at around 9pm (NOT GOOD!). The first trimester was tough in the sleep department, but now I’m sleeping a ton better! I’m sure it helps when you have a better sleeping toddler in the house. Aiden and Liam are loving the baby. When we first told the boys about the pregnancy, Aiden would ask be everyday about my ‘baby bump’, it was so cute when there was nothing to see, even when I felt like there was a little ‘bump’ Aiden was tell me, “No, no baby bump yet!” Now he tells me randomly that the baby bump is getting bigger. Liam wouldn’t even acknowledge my tummy or the baby at first. After he actually saw that baby at our 19 week ultrasound, he totally changed his mind about it. Now he’ll point to my tummy when I ask him where mommy’s baby is. When I ask him where his baby is, he’ll look and point at his tummy and say, no, no baby. It’s the cutest thing ever.

We’re feeling him kick!! I will forever miss that feeling once this is done, knowing this is our last. I felt him at 18 weeks, just like the other two, and Alex felt him just a few days later… unlike the other two where he had to wait a few weeks to feel it. Right now he has two very active periods, in the morning just before I get up, and then again at night, just before bed. Those are the only two times that I’m just relaxing taking a moment to myself. I’m really really really missing my runs. Missed my first ½ marathon this past weekend. Enjoyed reading everyone’s posts about it on Facebook… but missed being there. There’s nothing more rewarding than carrying and nurturing an unborn child… and I know I’m gonna miss it more once he’s here, so I’m trying really hard to just sit back and enjoy my last pregnancy. Which so far I’ve been better at than my last two. I’m not a happy glowing pregnant person… but feel like it a little more this time around.

We’re still deciding on names. We have one name at the top of our list, but I’m not sure I can do it since it’s a little out there. Although the name that I’m totally fixated on is even more out there. Both names are not common names for the states. Well, mine is… but it’s a girl’s name!! He would have to be one of two things, or both!, to carry a name like Ashely. (1) A baller at any sport, and/or (2) super super cute! Or as the teenaged girls his age would say, “Hot”. HA! (Yes, I know, I know! And don’t worry… I would never name my American boy Ashely – he would probably hate me forever if I did such a thing. I don’t know why… but I still really really like it).

We have another Dr. appointment next week for the normal monthly check up stuff. The best part… hearing his little hear beat! It was 147 at his ultrasound. That will never get old!

Easy Soccer Cupcakes

2011-10-07T05:52:00.000-07:00

Aiden, being the soccer loving kid he is, of course requested soccer ball cupcakes for school and for his soccer team. But hellooooo, have you ever tried to make a soccer ball? It's not really the easiest thing to do. The shapes never come out right, and it never lines up... for me at least. So when I saw this idea, I of course grabbed it... and became the hero. :) And the green cupcake color was a hit with the kids at school as well.

A few days later I asked my husband if he could draw a soccer ball. The guy who has a soccer ball at his feel at least 6 days a week couldn't even do it that well. Go ahead... try it. Or cheat and do it this way. I promise everyone will tell you how cute they are.

19 Week Ultrasound

2011-10-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had our big ultrasound for measurements. This was the first time Alex got to see this little guy, so it was a little extra special. And even though the boys have seen him, this time they really understood what they were seeing. Now Liam will actually acknowledge the baby when you ask him about it. He'll point to my tummy when you ask him where the baby is. :)

Waiting to go in....

Here he is!!!

Then I played hookie from work, and we took the boys to Disneyland to celebrate their little brother...

We took the boys on the Haunted Mansion ride for the first time...

We also took them over to what used to be called Tom Sawyer's Island... now Pirates Lair.

Aiden's Sky High Sports Party

2011-10-05T06:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated Aiden's birthday with our family and friends at Sky High Sports. Ever since I heard about Sky High Sports, back in the beginning of the year, I knew that I had to have Aiden's party there. I've been meaning to take him there before his party to check it out and see if he likes it, but it came so quickly that we never got around to it. So, if you know me, booking a party at a place I've never been to, is well..... just so not like me. I was a little scared, but the place turned out to be amazing for the kids! And oh so easy for me. It was really strange just showing up with a cake, and nothing else. It was pretty simple, and the staff/party-host were all super super friendly.

I originally wanted to do it on a weeknight, simply given the fact that it was cheaper, but that didn't work for our schedule. Especially since having a kindergartener. Also because I heard the weekends are packed. Boy was it packed! It's seriously the place to be right now for the young crowd. There was a nice calmer kids area, a foam pit area, a dodgeball area, and then a main arena with people of ALL AGES! Liam did great and loved loved loved the kids area, it was perfect for him. Aiden and his buddies had fun running between all the areas. I'm pretty sure that all the kids had a blast, and that most of the boy parents will be taking there boys there again sometime soon. :)

If you haven't been... you must go check it out. I'm not gonna lie... it's a little pricy for a party, and their 'party' packages don't really make sense when you do the math. If you just want to walk in and jump, it's not bad at $10 an hour to jump. Aiden had a blast, so it was all worth it. :) Plus I didn't have to do anything, which is worth a lot right now. :) Your kids can not NOT have a good time there.

Here are some photos from the night...

Here are all the Bengard boy cousins, with 2 more baby boys coming in early 2012!! Between Alex and his cousin there will be 7 boys!! This photo is also missing one more cousin's baby boy... so that makes it 8 boys... to only 3 girls!!!

And of course since I couldn't go without any details, I made the only things I could to coordinate. I searched high and low for a cool cake, even tossed the idea of getting a custom made cake to match the invitation I made. But then remembered the cool layer cake that I love so much! Perfect, easy, and cheap!! The cake layers matched the invitation, and of course it was dressed up with a "Happy Birthday" pennant banner to match. The last minute item I added was Aiden's shirt! T-shirt from Michael's last minute, Iron-on numbers from Michael's as well. And then I custom cut out a figure from the invitation, added the phrase, "It's my birthday", with the use of Iron transfer paper,... and wala!

Happy 6th Birthday Aiden!

2011-10-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

Our big man turned 6 last weekend and he went from this little guy....

to this big guy...

And even thought it didn't happen overnight.... it sure fells like it! Remember how slow time passed when we were younger? I would sure like to feel like that again :)

We just celebrated his birthday with our family and friends this weekend, but before I post those photos, I wanted to share the time we spent together on his actual birthday. Ever since shark week he's been wanting to do 2 things, (1) go shark fishing, and (2) go to Sea World. I'm not that big into fishing, so we opted for Sea World instead.

I taped up his door so he had to bust out into his birthday!

So excited for his new cleats!

This boy was on a mission... he had to go straight to the sharks

But of course we got side tracked on the way back and fed the Sea Lions first. He's soooo excited to be there.

Finally made it, and he was still going crazy running all around the exhibit.

Waiting for his turn to feed the dolphins.

We sat the closest that we've ever sat at the Shamu Show, so you can probably imagine what happened next...

Yup.... we got splashed!!! And Liam wasn't too stoked on it.

So we moved up where it was a little dryer...

Nanna and Pappa joined us too...

Happy 6th Birthday Aiden! Mommy and Daddy love you so very much, and we're so proud of you, you're a great big brother, you're a good student, and our little soccer stud. We love watching you form into this 'bigger' boy version of yourself. But don't forget, that even though you are getting bigger, you will always be our little boy! :) Love you! Mommy and Daddy

Petunia iPhone Cover!

2011-09-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Lookie what came in the mail on Monday from one of my new favorite baby stores Layla Grace...

And yes, that's Petunia, as in Petunia Pickle Bottom... for your iPhone! Love it!

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, and more Soccer

2011-09-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

Fall is such a busy month around here. Soccer is now in full swing, with Aiden's AYSO games starting this weekend. We have AYSO practice once a week, with Saturday games, then we also have club practice once a week, with games starting up soon on Sundays. Not really sure if I'm ready for 4 days of soccer... but I'll just go with it and we'll see what happens.

Here are a few photos from our first weekend of soccer! I didn't get any photos of Aiden playing, Boo.

Just before the game started... Number 8 just like his daddy

Aiden had a pretty big fan club supporting him at the game!! Both papas, Nana, Auntie Jennifer & Kevin, Auntie Jill, Cameron, Chase, Uncle Justin, and Uncle E and Auntie Jamie!!!

Then we went out and support daddy's team...

New Blog Design!!

2011-09-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

I've been so keeping my eye open for a new blog design, and randomly came across this freebie at Delicious Design Studio! I love the simplicity and cuteness of it! All their custom stuff is super cute, but wasn't counting a cute freebie! But low and behold... CUTENESS!

Drew's Barbie Shower Invitation

2011-09-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the invitation that went along with Drew's Vintage Barbie Baby Shower, posted last week.

16 Weeks...

2011-09-13T05:02:00.000-07:00

On Sunday's my weeks change over. I love it when my iPhone Baby Bump App notification pops up and tells me so. Yesterday I met Drew at her cute studio and we took a quick bump photo!! And a major plus, I got to snuggle with baby Kennedy for a little bit, she's such a doll!!

Fun morning baths

2011-09-12T05:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when we're out and about late the kids have to go to bed without a bath... which I hate doing! But I DO love giving them their bath in the am and having that fun time while they are wide awake, not tired, and don't have to go straight to bed afterwards. Liam especially loves it....

Universal Studios

2011-09-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have never been to Universal Studios Hollywood, but the boys got to go have fun while mommy was working. We got some free tickets, so the boys tagged along with Billy and Amy on Owen's Birthday! They had a blast, and Alex came home with some cool video footage! Aiden and Owen are 3 1/2 months apart and are like brothers! Happy Birthday Owen!!

Aiden's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-09-08T05:48:00.000-07:00

I almost had it all together! I thought I would have it all together. But those darn hormones tend to get the best of you when you're pregnant. Our big guy started Kindergarten this week. He's ready, he's been ready for about 2 weeks now, or wait... was that us that were ready. :) I wasn't looking forward to the hustle and bustle of the morning craziness, but we were ready to have the antagonizing come to an end. Aiden is really a good brother... but he loves loves loves to antagonize his little brother. And Liam, not being able to communicate well, will just scream to get his way... and that boy has one high pitched scream. I was excited to get Aiden off to school so that Liam could do some exploring himself, and grow a little by himself.

Aiden, mommy and daddy are so proud of you, and we can't wait to watch you this year as you grow from the experiences you will endure to the beginning life lessons you will face, to the amount of knowledge you're going to gain this year academically. You have a great teacher, great friends with some great families, and you're just going to love Kindergarten. We love you buddy!

Disney...

2011-09-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a last minute trip to Disney before summer comes to a quick end and school starts up! Especially when your child's school is one of the later school to start.... that leaves the park pretty open.

First stop was the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure...

Liam loved when the roller coaster went zooming past us...

Toy Story is officially the first thing that he's actually 'in to.' He's not into the good ol fashioned Sesame Street, or main stream cartoons. But this boy loves him some Buzz Lightyear!

Drew's Vintage Barbie Baby Shower

2011-09-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

Back in June I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for my very good sweet friend Drew! I know I've said this in the past, but Drew and I go a back a long time. We met back in our Elementary school days, lived just a neighborhood away from each other, in the same model house. Now I'm so lucky to have her in my life again, living just a mile away from each other, in a completely different city. It's funny how life works huh? She's just the kind of friend that every girl needs, and I'm so happy that I was able to throw her a baby shower for her little girl Kennedy.

Whenever I think of Drew I think of Barbie, but I couldn't figure out why. When I was throwing shower themes her way I told her I wanted to do a vintage Barbie like theme and mentioned why. When I told her that for the life of me I can't figure it out, but every time I think of you I think Barbie! She was quick to remind me why... read about why over on her post... along with some more photos, and since I wasn't going crazy I knew that that had to be the theme! She said her mom would be happy too, so that was it! Vintage Barbie...

Thank you Drew for being such a good friend!! I love you and all the B's!!!

Happy First Birthday Chase!

2011-09-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

My little nephew turns ONE today!! Happy Birthday Lil Mandinko!! Auntie loves you so very much, and can't wait to continue to watch you grow. But don't grow too fast. Actually you can slow down now... you're already catching up to your cousin Liam who's 9 months older than you. (Yes, my sister and I have some big boys!!)

Birthday Boy with his Daddy...

My little Niece....

Sorry buddy... mommy know's you need a haircut, but I am having a hard time with this one. Your hair is just so darn cute with the your curls!! But those bangs!!!

Birthday Boy with Mommy!

Cake time!!!

My sister and her cute little family...

Check out these two. They are 9 months apart! I had to get Chase clothes for his birthday because I can't pass down the clothes anymore. Not only because I'm having another boy... but because he's totally pretty much caught up with Liam size wise.

He's full on walking!!! It's now his main mode of transportation.

Happy Birthday little man! xoxox

Welcome Baby Anna Mae

2011-09-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Alex's brother had a little baby girl back in July! My second little niece! She's named after Grandma, and is the sweetest, prettiest little baby girl! Love her to pieces! Congratulations Tyler and Shelley! She's perfect and we love you all!

Aiden holding his newest little cousin and loving her!

Black and Laci's Wedding

2011-09-04T05:41:00.000-07:00

My sister's brother in law, who also happens to be the main guy at the taco shop, got married a few months ago. It was a beautiful wedding at our old stomping grounds, Orange Hill Restaurant. Every year we had our soccer and softball banquets up there on the hill. They've done some work to the place since the last time I was up there. The venue was beautiful! CONGRATULATIONS Black and Laci!! love you both!!

My little nephew Chase

Us with my Uncles...

My little brother.

And of course my cute little niece!

Liam's First Soccer Game...

2011-09-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bad parents we are! Liam didn't get to go to his first real soccer game till he was 17 months old! I know, it's not that bad... but for our family, it is! Liam is a handful. He is all over the place. Can't sit still. Basically he sees everything Aiden can do, and wants to do it too. But what he hasn't figured out yet, is that he's 4 years younger. This makes for a chaotic household, and a nightmare when you try to contain him. So we try to avoid those situation all together. HEHE.

But we braved it one nice June night... He loved it!

Aiden's last day of TK

2011-09-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

Aiden's school has this awesome program called Transitional Kindergarden geared towards kids with late birthdays like Aiden's. Seriously the best program EVER! It gets them ready for Kindergarden academically, they are on the kinder schedule, but is a little more relaxed. I know we're just about to start school again, but I wanted to make sure I documented his last day of TK!

Check it.. this was him on the very first day of school. Look at the maturity in his little face.

This was Liam on his first day of school.....

And look how much he's grown!!!

After his class party, we came to my work till Daddy picked him up! We got this desk for him for his 2nd Christmas! He looks so big in it!!

Our Own Little Gender Reveal...

2011-08-31T05:39:00.000-07:00

It was a Saturday morning, Alex was coaching, and I just called the Friday before to make my gender reveal ultrasound appointment at Ultrasound Me in Costa Mesa. Love that place. I went there with Liam as well, didn't know about it for Aiden's pregnancy, way back when. I was debating on waiting a whole week since I was shy of 13 weeks by just one day. I thought that maybe two more days would make a big different. Who was I kidding, I couldn't wait!!! I wanted to do the big thing right now and do a whole gender reveal party with our whole family, but Alex wasn't havin it. So I decided that we could still do something similar with just the 4 of us. This is how it went...

I had the tech put the gender in an envelope and seal it tight. I immediately took it to my friend Drew's house so that it would be out of my hands to rid myself of any temptation.

She inserted the appropriate color frosting into these cute little cupcakes, to be eaten only once Alex got home. I didn't talk to her ALL DAY! I didn't want to read into any tone of voices, I didn't even want to see her when I got the cupcakes back.. I didn't want to read into any faces. And just the simple fact that she knew before me... I didn't want her to rub it in. HA! I seriously picked them up from her doorstep!

We had a birthday party that day, and all 4 of us arrived home pretty much at the same time. My appointment was at 10:30, and we didn't even get to dig in till roughly 5:30pm!!

I think that this picture pretty much talks for itself!!

Yup, another it was another BOY!!!

No doubt about this one ladies and gents....

Baseball in our Future?

2011-08-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Even though this kid can kick a ball, I think that we might have a baseball player on our hands. Only time will tell.

It's A....

2011-08-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

***BOY***

Can you believe that it's a Boy? Did you really think any different? Not me, however, I'm not gonna lie, there was a itsy bitsy tiny part of me that thought it might have been a third times a charm scenario. I am sooooo excited for these boys to start creating their 'boy' memories together. I never pictured myself a mom of three boys, but now that I've had a week to process this thought, I'm not sure I could imagine it any other way! Let the baby planning begin!

P.S. I guess I can go buy myself a new purse or something girlie since I don't have lots of dresses and bows to buy, and we have everything boy already. HA! I think I deserve something a little nice and girlie, don't you think? :) I'm even thinking of redecorating the Master Bedroom to include the color pink... Do you think Alex would even sleep in there with me anymore?

A little Somthing Fun...

2011-08-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Just in case you missed it over on Facebook, GO CHECK OUT THIS SO CUTE VIDEO by my amazing friend Drew, of DrewB Photography!!!! Wait for the 1:30 mark for a cute little message. :)

Capturing the moments that we can't entirely see...

2011-06-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said that I wanted this, the underwater housing case for my G10. Well, I got it, a while back. For Valentine's Day to be exact. I know, my hubby's romantic right! Love that guy!! For our first three water/pool adventures I completely forgot it. So when we were headed out to my BFF's pool for a last minute get together, I made sure I turned the car around to grab it from under the bed.

I am so so so excited about to play with it more this summer! Especially at the water parks!! I have to admit that I was a little scared to submerge the thing under the water. HA! And I was so pleasantly surprised at the way the photos turned out!!! You can't even tell that my beloved camera is completely housed inside a big bulky housing contraption.

I didn't get in the pool because it was pretty cold so these photos where taken by bending over the pool edge and shooting blindly... but you get the idea! I can't wait to show more through the summer.

The case allows you to zoom like normal... but with the way it's built, it's hard to tell if you've accidentally left it zoomed. hehe, opps!

See, even Liam thought it was cold....

Note to self: wipe off the lens part of the case when shooting above the waterline! Trial and Error!

Even the flash works well....

Love this!!!!

Cami's Rainbow Party Invitation

2011-06-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

My sister didn't do any invitations for Cami's birthday since it was only family, BUT...... if she had asked me to do them they probably would have looked like this....

Cami's Rainbow Birthday Cake

2011-06-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make this cake for months now! I wanted to make it so bad that I put the dibs on my niece's birthday cake like 4 months ago. But the best part lays on the inside.

My new favorite way of coloring..... while baking of course! Once you use these little things, you'll never want to use another food coloring product again!

You will never be able to get these colors with old fashioned food coloring...

I mean really?? Check out that color!! Even I was in awww after finally cutting into it.

If you're looking for a really good rainbow cake tutorial, I got mine from Angry Julie's Six Layer Cake Tutorial.

Cami's 3rd Birthday: Rainbow Party

2011-06-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend we celebrated my favorite little girl's birthday. My niece turned 3, and we celebrated it with what my sister says is a 'small' immediate family BBQ. We joke about it because her husband's immediate family is not what we consider small. HA! My sister didn't want any decorations, but I couldn't let my little girl go without at least a dessert table!

Cell Phone Sunday

2011-06-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry another bedtime Cell Phone Sunday, but bedtime routine is one of my favorites....

notice that little fat lip?? My poor guy... these were taken a little bit ago so no worries, it's all back to normal again.

Cell Phone Sunday

2011-06-05T23:51:00.000-07:00

WOW! I have so much to catch up with!! But first, for today's Cell Phone Sunday, I want to share with you some of the photos from my phone from a few weeks ago at bedtime...

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful mommy friends! I hope you all are having the day you deserve.

Our American Football Player

2011-05-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

This little man wants to be just like this older brother. He wants to do everything his older brother does. He wants everything his older brother has. He can kick a ball pretty good, and knows exactly how to score a goal. His arm... I tell you, this little man can throw a full sized football pretty far. And he'll attempt to shoot a mini basketball with just one hand. Whenever he sees a basketball hoop, he goes straight towards with pointing to it and motions his arms like he's shooting a basket. He doesn't care how big or how high things are... he just goes for it! Needless to say, we're still waiting to see what sport he likes the most.

I took these photos one morning when we stopped to play while getting dressed for the day...

This makes for one proud daddy...

OC 1/2 Marathon...

2011-05-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I completed my 4th 1/2 marathon since my running days started back in March of 2010! When I did my first one I really had no idea what to expect. When you register for these you need to enter your expected finish time. Ummm.... ? Based on what my training pace was I estimated a 2 hour finish. My goal became to finish in 2 hours. Well, I finished it in 2:04. For my second one I took on way less training miles, and finished at 2:06. Then for my third, the training was going well, and the course was flat. The weather was going to be perfect in Huntington Beach, then the week of the race I came down with a mad head cold. Long story short, I did that one in 2:04!

I was determined to break this dang 2 hour mark for the OC 1/2 Marathon! I picked up the training pace just weeks before the race to better prepare. Race day came, and I was feeling pretty good. Minus the 3:15am wake up call. We had to be at the fair grounds in Costa Mesa, to catch a 4:45am shuttle to the starting line at Fashion Island, for a 6am start time. I love point to point courses because they don't back track the course. However, it makes for a weird car situation. You almost have to take the shuttle, unless you have someone willing to get up with you while it's still dark outside to drop you off at the starting line, and then meet you at the finish. This is the first time that we actually listened to the race day instructions, and it was actually pretty smooth! Although it made for an even early wake up call! HA!

Anyways, I finally did it! I broke the 2 hour mark, with a time of 1:57! I knew while running that I was going to be pretty close to it, so I couldn't let up on my pace at all during the race. Mile 1 was on an include. Mile 2-6 where flat mixed with some downhill. Mile 6 was kind of tight, Miles 7-12 was filled with rolling hills, with a pretty mean mile 7 hill, and mile 11 hill. That mile 11 hill hurt! We turned a corner at mile 12 and it was the home stretch. It was a long mile as we ran over the freeway into the parking lot of the fair grounds and then weaved around to the finish. I looked up and saw the time clock and knew that I had broken 2 hours! I stopped my Nike+ GPS, and right away heard my time in my ear. I felt good at finish. Stretching was nice. However, when I got home, I got a huge migraine, and hit the wall of exhaustion. That 3:15am wake up call had caught up. I showered, but Liam down for a nap, and crawled into bed with a bowl of popcorn for Aiden. He watched TV with me till Alex got home, and then I closed my eyes and that was it! We went for a mile walk to 7-Eleven for some ice-cream after lunch, and then when it was time for Liam's 2nd nap, all 4 of us took naps. I woke up and the headache was finally gone!

Thanks to everyone for their kind words on Facebook, it really means a lot! I'm pretty excited to finally break my personal goal! :)

Just picked up my race bib... (check out my sweet shoes. My mother's day gift from my boys last year!) Nike ID is where it's at! Go ahead, make a pair. Alex has a pair of ID soccer cleats with the boys' initials on it. Love them!

On the shuttle to the starting line...

Waiting to start...

I did it!!!!!!!!!!! I broke 2 hours, with a time of 1:57!

Moral of the Story... listen to your own advice that you give your children, if at first you don't succeed, get up and try again!

Cell Phone Sunday

2011-05-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

A typical weekend morning, I make the bed, and then everyone wants to jump on it! :) And as long as the kids are laughing together, I don't care about the just made messy bed. :) Happy Sunday!!

My loves...

2011-04-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

When I went to get Liam this morning of out his crib he was crying and pointing at the door. I put him down, and he immediately went into Aiden's room. Aiden must have woken him up, and he couldn't wait to play. I walked back into our room to start to get ready for work and it was a little too quite to be comfortable. I walked back down the hall into Aiden's room to find this. I ran back to the room where I knew my camera was sitting and quickly snapped this heart happy moment!

BTW, don't you just love those red shelves! We randomly found them at Ikea a few weeks ago! I love them! But mostly because they get a lot of things out of the reach of Liam!

Easter Sunday 2011

2011-04-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday celebrating with family and friends. We sure did! We hosted our annual Easter Brunch at our house, then headed over to Alex's parent's house for their annual Easter party.

I just love love love this stage. Every holiday is so exciting!! It brings back such lovely memories of my childhood.

The hunt begins....

Liam struck some gold... candy!!!! (Of course he doesn't want his non candy non money filled eggs. No way, those are boring!!)

Brunch menu, WAFFLES! We made a waffle bar of fresh fruit and wipped cream, along with scrambled eggs to complete it.

Oh, and some doughnuts for the kiddos. Here is Liam with his first powdered doughnut face.

Trick to a good waffle bar... a heat lamp, it makes for warm and not soggy waffles.

My dad...

Hunting for eggs at Alex's parents house...

Aiden always scores over there. He must be loved. hehehe.

A Typical Morning

2011-04-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is how it goes down in the am when Aiden and I are leaving the house for the day. Me to work, and Aiden to school...

Just before we get ready to walk out the door Liam grab's Alex's cell phone and wants to play with it

Daddy takes it away, and we have a little tantrum...

We're happy now that we're outside...

Aiden and I get into the car and Liam goes and sits on the front steps so we can back out...

Liam wants to chase us down the street...

Cell Phone Sunday

2011-04-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am so excited for these warm long nights to be in full affect! That way we can spend more time doing this...

And it will be more appropriate for these...

Happy Easter from Us!

2011-04-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

I decided to take the kids out last minute to grab some quick Easter photos. Hope you all have a fun and happy day celebrating with your family and friends!

Check out that little man's hair!! That's what happens when it's just momma with the camera, and an active 5 year old and toddler! My third eye must have missed the crazy messy hair. hehe...

Dying Easter Eggs

2011-04-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

For the past two years we've had an Easter Egg Dying party at our house to ring in the spring season, and get ready for Easter with our family and friends. However, this year has started out to be a little crazy, and some other things have come up, that I can't wait to share with you in an upcoming post, as to which had to put our Easter Egg dying party on hold this year. (and NO, I am NOT pregnant!) But of course that doesn't mean that dying eggs together as a family goes out the door, oh no no no. Last night we whipped out the coloring, cups and eggs and got to it! Just as expected our little Liam was like a bull in a china shop. SURPRISE you? Aiden didn't really like sharing his eggs with someone else. HA! Not to self, two sets of 18 eggs each! Liam started off ripping through the eggs like it was no one's business and we had an endless supply of boiled eggs. Throwing them into the cups of dye one after the other. Until we finally just limited him to just his ONE egg! That egg was a pretty tough egg, enduring all kind of throwing, dying, and squeezing. It was such a good egg.

I have such vivid memories of doing things like this with my siblings, and I love making these memories with my kiddos!

It started out nice... and clean...

HA! Then things started to get a little messy...

There's Liam's EGG... Looking pretty good huh!

This is what it ended up looking like. HA! I should have gotten a close up of it. Needless to say, it ended up in the trash and not in the carton of the clean and pretty eggs. :) And yes, those are cracks that you see. I had to let him go wild to get this photo! Throwing, kicking, whatever the child wanted just so I could capture this cute moment...

Spring Break

2011-04-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

I wish that the weather was a little more like this this week, especially since Aiden is on Spring Break this week....

Nothing like a $10 pool to entertain and cool down the kids in 90 degree weather.

Oh yeah, did I tell you that it's not even 70 degrees today, and this was only 6 days ago! :)

Cell Phone Sunday

2011-04-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Will my son follow in my footsteps and like to run?? I won't count on it! A few weeks ago Aiden had his jog-a-thon at school. It was hot that day. He didn't like it so much. HA! He did it, and did well, but complained about it afterwards. And because it was such a hot day, we enjoyed some Yogurtland afterwards.

This was right after the race...

Yes, I know. It's not Sunday, so yes, this is a little late :)

Cell Phone Sunday...

2011-04-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

Getting a photo of the me with the boys is hard. Well, actually, getting a photo of just the two of them is hard these days. Liam will NOT sit still. It was a rainy morning (hence me in pajama bottoms!!), and I was working on our taxes when my husband picked up my phone and snapped these....

For those that don't follow me on Facebook, you don't know that this glasses thing is pretty new to me. I am a controller so I'm pretty much looking into a computer screen all day long. When I got back from maternity leave with Liam I noticed that things would get blurry... especially when I'm looking at a lot of small numbers on a sheet of paper. I only wear them when my eyes are hurting, or things get blurry. My vision is mostly related to fatigue... so it seems to get worse when I'm tired. When I returned to work Liam was 4 months old, not sleeping through the night, getting up 2 sometimes 3 times a night still, so you can imagine the fatigue right!

Happy Sunday!!

A night at the soccer field

2011-04-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Or at the park....

Skating...

2011-04-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

We took it back to the old school! As a kid we always had skate parties at Holiday Skate Ring in Orange, so it was kind of weird when Alex's High School soccer team was holding a fundraiser night there. It was kind of fun to get some regular skates on and go skating like we used to.

Anyways. This is the first time we took Aiden skating. Let's just say it reminded me of the movie Bambi. It was pretty funny. I had to bribe him to get him out there. When he finally started to kind of get it, he would want to speed up, which would only cause him to to get wobbly. Then he got so good that he got all teenager on me, "Mom... I don't need your help."

Game 4

2011-04-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

Love watching my guy play a sport that he loves so much! I also love making these cute little videos, and can't wait to put them all together at the end of the season. This video and the last video where both taken with the iPhone4 video camera... not bad.

Anyone know how to get YouTube videos to show up bigger on blogspot?

Cell Phone Sunday...

2011-04-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

When Aiden asked me to download some silly game app on my phone, and it said, "You don't have enough space on this device to download this app," I realized something. I take a ton of photos on my phone. Some of them I upload to Facebook, some I don't. I just downloaded over 1200 photos (with some videos mixed in there) from my phone to my computer, just to make room for more, and of course to make room for Aiden's silly little game. I'm sure your the same right? So go ahead and join me in Cell Phone Sundays.

Here's a photo I took awhile ago, but it's one of my favorites. I slowly made my way up and out of bed, and down the hall after hearing Liam waking up. I entered the room to find this... (I immediately woke up, ran back down the hall to my nightstand to grab my phone to snap this cute memory).

Flashback Friday #27: 16 Months

2011-04-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

In honor of Liam being 16 months as of Wednesday, we're flashing back to when Aiden was 16 months old....

I can't believe that Liam is already 16 months already. It seams like just yesterday he learned how to crawl, then quickly afterwards walk! This child is into everything! He has so many toys, yet he wants everything else. Most of the times he won't even play with his toys, he wants Aiden's toys, he wants what Alex or I have. He's a pretty vocal one too. But we're learning more and more baby signs to cut down on the ear piercing scream he does when he wants something. He def knows what he wants. He's such a character, and we love watching him grow... I just wish that time would slow down a little bit so we can take it in a little more. Thank goodness for photos right. Cause everyone tells us that after a short while, you'll forget how small they really where, no matter how hard to try to take it all in.

Long Days Make for More Time to Get Dirty...

2011-03-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

I can't stand dirty kids... but when the days are long, you have kids that love playing outside, in the street/dirt/grass/gutters/etc, and you know your gonna go straight to the bath afterwards... all is fair game. The boys love their bath, and there are a lot of giggles that go on. Liam loves laughing at Aiden popping his head in and out of the water. He loves to get squirted in the belly with the water blaster, and Aiden loves teaching Liam how to blow bubbles. And thinks it's hilarious when he wants to drink the water instead of blow bubbles. Lots and lots of giggles.

Aiden is now at the age where he gets embarrassed to change in front of people. So you can imagine what he said to me when I asked him to pop his head out from behind the shower curtain. HA!

Spring Soccer

2011-03-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick little video of how the first three games have gone in AYSO Spring Season. I can't wait till Saturday... his next game! This kid loves the game.

Wordless Wednesday: Rainy Lazy Sunday

2011-03-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

I honor of the rain that is suppose to roll in today, where's what it looks like in our house when it rains on a Sunday morning/afternoon....

Spring Soccer

2011-03-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

While most little boys are playing baseball in the spring, my 5 year old wants nothing to do with it! He complains that it's boring, and requests to play soccer instead. Not sure if dad has a little influence over it, but I'm ok with it!! The first game was last weekend. He scored the first goal... then the second.. the third, yup, he scored them all! This week we worked on passing the ball and learning to look up and around for his teammates. He's doing so well, but most importantly... we loves it!

Practicing his moves...

Happy St. Patty's Day!!

2011-03-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

That sneaky little leprechaun had fun the night before St. Patty's Day in our house. He also turned the toilet's green, however it somehow managed to turn blue! Yes, blue, because that's what happens when your 5 year old goes pee into the green toilet water in the middle of the night. He was really confused in the the morning, and it really puzzled his teacher when he told her as soon as he saw her that morning. HA! Don't worry, I explained it to her. He also turned our milk green, which I was a little concerned about doing. Last year, Aiden flipped out after seeing the green milk... duh... the little man just peed in all our toilets and turned them green... of course he had to pee in the milk too right!

My sore attempted at rainbow cupcakes. :) Apparently I didn't read the instructions. HA

Then that night we of course had green milk shakes...

It was so nice that day that we enjoyed dinner outside!! Love these long days.

Alex's St. Patty's Day Themed Birthday Party

2011-03-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my man! Every year with you babe keeps getting better and better, and I can’t wait to embark on this next chapter of our lives together! We can do whatever we want when we’re together, and I thank my luck stars every day that you were put into my life, that you asked me to dance at that club that one night, 13 years ago. Every year gets better and better, and our boys are so lucky to have such a loving and supporting man to look up to.

Alex’s coaching schedule is pretty unpredictable around this time of year. “Are you playing next weekend or the weekend of blah blah?” “I don’t know, it depends on if we win on blah blah weekend.” “Really?” “Yes, you know this, we go through this every year.” “Oh yeah, your right, but I like to forget about it so that I don’t stay too upset about it.” Any.ways… we picked a date last minute and went with it. Of course he was late to his own party, but life goes on I suppose. (That’s what he likes to tell me… cause apparently I freak out about nothing. Really, freaking out because your guests are going to arrive before you, or that I won’t have that extra set of hands, with two kids to care for, the hour before is nothing. OK. Whatever. It is YOUR birthday. lol) We picked the date the weekend before, and I started planning it... on, ummm, Wednesday. School play on Thursday… so that pretty much left only Friday night because of course I had to work of Friday. Never a dull moment.

The Inspiration came from this AMAZING last minute St. Patty’s Day party featured on one of my favorite party blogs, Hostess with the Mostess, and thought it was perfect! Immediately it was an automatic St. Patty’s Day theme. Simple. Easy Peezy, and very low budget. The girl that drew up the amazing printables has some pretty cute stuff. I usually get my inspiration from multiple parties to make it my own, but I didn't have much time for this one, so I want to make sure I give proper credits and link backs. :) That's the proper blogging etiquette right.

Drake's First Birthday Party: St. Patrick's Day Style

2011-03-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we celebrated another baby cousin turning one! There are getting to be more and more cousins, i LOVE it!

Happy Birthday Drake! We love you!

Happy Birthday Marge!!

2011-03-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

This birthday we celebrated my mother-in-laws birthday. They tried to make it a surprise party, but getting a woman out of her own house, AND making it NOT obvious by getting things around the house ready... yeah, not such an easy task. We all know that us moms are the keeper of our houses so when there's something out of the ordinary, you better believe that we know it! The boys had to think quick on what to do. So what was suppose to be a small gathering, so she thought, the surprise was who all was there to celebrate with her!

Her good friend Colleen made this super cute 'diaper'/Coor's Light cake... look how unbelievably cute this is... and soooo suiting I might add...

Then Marge's best friend's daughter-in-law made her the utmost perfect cake for her...

Neither ladies have websites, so if you want info you can email me.

Happy Brithday Marge! We love you!

Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat Treats

2011-03-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! You're one of our favorites in this household. Here are some Cat in the Hat treats that we made to share in the classroom!

These were easy peazy by the way.

All you need is:
Red and white candy melts
Marshmellows
Vanilla Wafers
And I used some kabob sticks that I had in the cupboard.

Coat a vanilla wafer with white candy melt. Use the kabob stick to dip in the candy melt... that way you'll get a smooth surface for the hats base.

Dip the top of a marshmellow in red candy melt and let it dry (this is the top piece of the hat)

Then once the Vanilla wafter and pre-dipped marshmellow are dry, dip the bottom marshmellow in red candy melt and stick to the vanilla wafer. Do the same with the other end of the pre-dipped marshmellow and stick it on top, and wa la! Hello Cat in the Hat treats!

See, easy peezy!

Happy Friday!

2011-03-02T22:59:00.001-08:00

I love when I turn around and see this... makes my heart happy

Then this one decides he wants to get brave and stand on his chair... he's our little dare devil, that's why you'll see at least a bump a week on his forehead.

That cute little look on his face that says, "I'm up to no good," quickly turns into this when mommy comes over and puts him down on the ground and doesn't let him get back up for the third time. He's our feisty one, that's for sure.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

Mom*tog Moms

2011-03-01T06:01:00.000-08:00

I've talked about Drew's Mom*tog blog multiple times in the past. But now it's even more fun! You can now create your own blog post on Real Mom*togs! Blog and brag about your cute kids. Show & share some of your own photography tips and tricks... just like Drew does on Mom*tog. And if you have a really good tip or trick you can even get featured! You don't have to have a fancy DSLR (I don't!). You don't even know all that much about photography (I don't). All you need is a love for photography, a camera, and of course a child/ children that you love to take photos of. It's fun... check it out! Drew will be posting topics to post about from time to time, which is fun. Last week it was about getting your kids to smile! This was my post., which Drew featured on facebook. This week is about our office space... "Where we upload our photos from." Which is a super fun post that I'll be sharing here as well.

Thanks Drew for a great place for all of us photography loving moms to come together and have fun sharing our own ideas and of course for always providing such great tips and tricks.

Happy Weekend

2011-02-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

I love Saturday mornings in which Alex doesn't have to work! They are far in between, so we always make the most of them when they are here. Starting the morning off right with a walk to the local doughnut store!

Big Bear 2011 Part 4

2011-02-24T05:36:00.000-08:00

Final part, I promise!!! I just have such a hard time narrowing down 172 photos! I can't help myself... I just keep shooting my camera. I love it when Alex tells me what a great job I do getting all the kids' memories and moments on camera. I noticed that I didn't post many photo of our little guy. He loved being outside in the cold, the snow was hit and miss though. At Saturday he loved walking around in the snow, but on Sunday he wanted nothing to do with it. We tried again on Monday, and this is what we got...

He wanted nothing to do with his gloves... I'm not that mean of a mommy not to put gloves on his little chubby hands...

It looks like he's loving the sled... but he really didn't. I think I took about 25 photos of him on it, and this is the ONLY one that came out of him kind of looking like he's enjoying it. HAHA.

Big Bear 2011 Part 3

2011-02-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

Of course you can't go to the snow and not go sledding....

The cabin was amazing! All you had to do was step out the back door and this is what you saw...

Early Sunday morning my dad and Marina went out and carved a path down to the lake for sledding.

My little snow bunny niece...

Saturday night's snow fall was great! Snowed all night and sunny all day. Perfect sledding weather.

By Monday morning Aiden was so brave catching some air off of the barrier that daddy made

Big Bear 2011 Part 2

2011-02-22T22:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry, but of course I have a ton photos to share so again this vacation needs to be broken into parts.

When I was little my dad used to force me to do these things that were 'fun.' Ok, now that I am older, I get it! And I'm just like him! I went skiing for my first time in Utah. My dad snowboarded. Something wrong with this picture? Not only that, we just stuck us on top of the mountain and said go. Aiden must be really special and loved because my dad put him in snowboarding lessons! And trust me, I made sure that he knew how special he really was because Papa just put mommy up on the mountain and pushed me down. (ok not literally, but it makes for a good story). I was sooo excited to watch him snowboard. I was a little worried about how he would do. The first time he fell, he was over it. But the instructors were great and got him back out there. He finished his lesson strong, and even wanted to go back out there the next day!

Check out my little dude in action...

I mean seriously... how cute is his little borad

Liam loved being outside running around the slopes, and the lodge. He didn't care how cold it was!!

Then Alex and I were able to get out there

It started to dump snow on us while we were up there. Here is my dad getting ready to go down. These are the kind of things that memories are built upon.

The street as we were walking back to our car

Playing out on the balcony...

With my sisters...

Check out the pretty snow on the tress... just ignore the fact that my brother in law (in the red jacket) is in shorts with high socks and snow boots. I love my family!

Big Bear 2011 Part 1

2011-02-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago my dad asked us all if we wanted to go up to Big Bear for the weekend. Ummm, yeah! Family time on vacation = the best!! I am one of 4, so when we get together, there are a lot of us, and we have so much fun together! And now that we have kiddos, it's even better. It's so much fun seeing all the fun that the kids have together, and starting to build their own childhood memories.

Now I really don't like the cold weather, but when it comes to snow that all goes out the window!! When I was little I remember going to Utah and to Mammoth on skiing trips and having some amazing snow, which of course I took for granted. And now that I am older, and know all that goes into an amazing family vacation, I have a whole new appreciation for things like this! I know it's going to be a long while till Aiden will fully appreciate things like this, but that's okay... cause I know one day he will! Thank you dad for an amazing family vacation and giving us even more memories.

The week leading up to the weekend there were reports of rain! Which meant snow in the mountains. Then that lead to worries that we weren't going to be able to get up the mountain because of it. Then the rain/snow waited a day, and gave us the perfect drive up. It started raining as we were entering the base of the mountain.... then all of a sudden (about 10 minutes later) it started to look like this...

Then just 10 minutes more, it got like this...

So we stopped, and Alex put on our chains...

The kids loved to look it!!

A short while later, it all of sudden stopped, and it looked like this...

Then the next morning, this was the view from the cabin...

We woke up to Aiden saying this as he peaked out the bedroom window, "Ohhh myyyy gooosh! I am soooo serious, you have to come see this! It looks like Santa is coming to town!" Alex and I just looked at each other and smiled... this is what parenthood is all about!

Flashback Friday #26

2011-02-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

In honor of the big storm that is suppose to be rolling in this weekend, here are some photos of Aiden's first trip to the snow in January 2007!

Our Little Character..

2011-02-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

Cause when you're cool, the sun shines on you all the time....

Brayden's Surprise Party!

2011-02-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

We were so sad when we woke up sick last Saturday. We had a full day planned. I needed to pick up my race packet in Huntington Beach, then we were going to go to Sea Scape for party #1, quick nap for Liam, and then back to Sea Scape for party #2! But when Aiden woke up with a fever, it all came to a screeching hult. He was curled up on the couch crying that he didn't feel good. I'm still not sure if he was crying because he was missing two parties, or because he was really really hurting.

The second party that we missed was for a special little boy named Brayden. I was devastated to have to call Drew the day of and tell her that we couldn't make it. So we did the next best thing. We crashed his family surprise party on his actual! I totally invited ourselves over!

This is B when he first walked in...

Teacher's Valentine's Day Classroom Gift

2011-02-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

The cards that we did for Aiden's teacher were such a big hit with her, that I decided that for Valentine's Day I would do something similar. I gave all the kids a slip of paper and asked them to finish this sentence, "I love Mrs. Smith because...". I put them into a jar and gave it to Aiden's teacher at their Valentine's Day party. The idea behind this little project is the following; we all know that our little kids are always on their best behavior... well best intentions are what really matter's right!? Well, in those rare occasions that our kids might not be on their best behavior, and their little emotions might have gotten the best of them, the teacher can pull a strip out of the jar and easily be reminded how much they really do love her!

Here's the finished product...

This would also work really well for Teacher Appreciation Day, which is in May. May 3rd to be exact. That whole week is considered Teacher Appreciation Week, so mark it on your calendars!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!! Here's a few shots from our mini photo shoot we had yesterday... taken by yours truly. Hope you all have fun celebrating the loves in your life.

This is the first time that I have ever done my own little photo shoot. I have a really really good friend that I usually leave this stuff up to. :) Which is kind of funny, because we took these photos at the park in her neighborhood. But it was okay... because she wasn't home! HAHA. This park is the closest one to our house, and Alex said that he would help me if I didn't make him drive miles and miles just for grass. I really didn't want to go here because yes, this is the park located inside of Drew's neighborhood. But since I knew she was off at the Zoo I knew we wouldn't be running into her, and I would be spared that embarrassment. HEHE. (not like she would have cared, she actually probably would have grabbed her camera!) If I had a big fancy camera I probably wouldn't have felt so embarrassed, but it was just me and my little Cannon G11, and I was doing a few bad things... can you guess what they are? Well, (1) I shot these in the middle of the day, high sun! But Alex had a meeting at sunset, and I really wanted to get these in. (2) I shot in full on Auto Mode! eeeeek! Oh, and if that's not enough, there's another thing(3), I didn't hire Drew to take them! HA!

Surf City 2011

2011-02-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I ran in my 3rd Half Marathon!! My friend Jen has been trying to get me to train with her and do a half marathon with her for quit some time now. I always had told her... no, no, no... you're nuts! I have absolutely NO desire to run 13 miles. That's just crazy. What kind of fun is that? Then I ran my first one, San Diego Rock & Roll, and I got it! I felt that runner's high that I always hear about. I felt great! Not only did my body feel great from the training and running, but I felt this huge sense of accomplishment! I quickly signed up for my second one, the Long Beach half. Then quickly signed up for my third one. Surf City USA was on Sunday. 20,000 people participated between the three different runs that they offered. That's an insane amount of people on PCH people! I mean CRAZY! The starting line was crazy! The thing I love about these things are that there are so many kinds of people out there. From the runners to the volunteer staff, to the spectators, everyone is great!

San Diego was cool because we ran through downtown, and then actually ran on the freeway for a few miles. Long Beach was cool because we got to run on the boardwalk and by the Queen Mary... but actually that was a silent killer! That meant that over half of it was on concrete and my feet were killing me for 3 weeks! Oh, and we also got to run right past my Uncle Jeff and Uncle Bill's house! And they of course outdid themselves with hosting a carbo load dinner and breakfast for the family and some of their friends. They really know how to make you feel special. That also meant that I had a cheering team not once but twice, once down on the boardwalk, and then again when I came back around on PCH! Surf City was cool because practically the whole course was on PCH, which is the huge draw for this race. It's actually ranked in the top 5 of US marathons!!

The day before the race I woke up with a sore throat! The actual day of the race I didn't feel to hot either. But it's not entirely cheap to run these races and I wasn't about to back out!! I grabbed some halls, my iphone with my Nike GPS, and my running shoes and off I went! Being sick, I was pleasantly happy with my time of 2:04:30, which is exactly the same time I got in San Diego. My goal in every race is to break 2 hours... even if it's 1:59:59. HA! And until that happens it will remain there. But for now here are some photos from Surf City 2011...

The light is Huntington and PCH. And this is what the starting line looked like. Pure madness!

Just before the race!

The boys came and cheered me on at the finish line...

Best Friends. I can't believe that we went to Kinder together!! She's my motivation for these races!!

Chuck Wagon Stop

2011-02-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

If you know me, you know that I am not a person that would eat off of a food truck. But thanks to Drew, I now know about the latest craze of the 'gourmet' food trucks that cruise the streets and parking lots of Los Angeles and Orange County. Other places too I'm sure!

A few weeks ago, we met up with our friends the Bittel's at the Chuck Wagon Stop in Fullerton. We backed our cars together and lifted up the tail gates of our cars and had our own little party in the parking lot. Then made our way back to the trucks for some ice cream cookies, while the kids danced and ran around.

Find a place by you at TheFoodTrucker. com

Weekend with Aiden's class 'Pet'

2011-02-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

OMG.... if Aiden would be this excited about a real pet, I think I might consider getting on! Well, there was no poop to clean up, or any real feedings that we had to take care of, so I'm not sure if he was really a pet, but to Aiden's class room he is! Meet Aiden's class 'pet' Ruffles...

Each week his teacher picks a name out of a jar and whoever get picked gets to take Ruffles home for the weekend, and then share his time with the family in his very own journal. Then each week before passing the journal onto the next child, they get to share their story with their classmates!

If we're friends of Facebook, then you saw the cute video of Aiden reading to Ruffles on the first night. I think Ruffles is the first and only other person that Aiden has read to besides mommy and daddy!

On Sunday we walked to the doughnut store for some yummy breakfast!

On the way home from my dad's house on Sunday night, Aiden started crying when I told him it was his last night with Ruffles. But... I did tell him that if he ever got Student of the Month, we could get a dog just like Ruffles. :)

A trip down memory lane...

2011-02-02T23:03:00.001-08:00

Last week Alex and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary! When Alex and I met and started dating 13 years ago, 2011 was so very very far away. I mean really, 10 years is a long time, and we're going on 14 years together. Last year I told you a little bit about our story, so I won't bore you with it again. Instead though... I'll take you down memory lane via pictures! Oh Lord! Are you ready for this, in chronological order (A photo for every year)...

1998; My senior prom

1999; Snow boarding in Big Bear

2000; Tri Delt Formal

2001; Halloween

2002; Laughlin

2003; Our Engagement

(Alex proposed to my on the Space Needle in the background. And since we got engaged in Seattle while he was living up there, we decided that we wanted our engagement photos up there too, so we could remember that time in our lives)

2004; Our Wedding Day; the first of many bests days of our lives.

2005; The second best day of our lives, us with Aiden at just 13 days old

2006; Aiden turns ONE

2007; St. Patrick's Day

2008; A fun session with Drew B

2009; The 3rd best day of our lives, us with Liam at just 8 days old

2010; our fun family of 4

2011; Us Today... well a few weeks ago, with our little pride and joys!

Happy Anniversary Love! Thank for loving me the way to do. I will love you forever and ever! xoxox.

Cousins!!

2011-01-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

I always only wanted two kids... that's IT! No more! And now that I actually have 2 kids, I kind of want a third. I've kind of secretly been thinking about #3 since Liam was born. With every first it becomes a last, and that's sad. Very very sad. But the thought of 3 kids scares me at the same time. One to one ratio is easy, I can do that! But then I think about my 3 siblings, and how great it is when we all four get together, and how much fun it is. Don't I want that for my kids too? Of course I do! We are seriously soooo torn. Three/four/ and even more are so right for some families, but ours? Well, we're still thinking about it.

But regardless of all that, wanna know something that is just as good as siblings if they are raised together? COUSINS!! These are my sister's kiddos, whom we have SO much fun with when we're together. And because my sister and I are so close, I can wait to see what their little relationship grows into.

Have I ever told you how much Aiden wants a sister? He wants one so bad that if we ever did decide to have a third and it was a boy, I'm sad for how I think he would react. HA!

Our nephew Chase at 4 months old...

This kid loves babies!!

Oh, and we're now anxiously awaiting the arrival of another cousin, but this time on the Bengard side. Alex's brother is expecting a little girl in July! We can't wait to have another niece!

Duffy Ride

2011-01-24T06:58:00.000-08:00

Just before we left for Cabo we spent the night with our Uncles Jeff and Bill on a duffy ride around in Long Beach! My sister Jill and her family came too, and much fun was had! We love and miss Long Beach, just too bad it's so far from both our jobs. But having family down there means we get to visit it often. Thank you Jeff and Bill for a good time as always! We love you!!

It was the perfect night for it...

Uncle B with my nephew Chase

We love Uncle Bill

My sister and her cute kiddos

And we love Uncle Jeff too! Jeff was such a good sport as Aiden drove us through some pretty tight quarters... if there was a sherif on the water, Jeff would have been suspected for boating under the influence!

Our Vacation - Part 4; Saying Goodbye to Cabo

2011-01-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

I thought that booking our flights to leave on a Friday would be a good thing. Get home, have the weekend to unwind before going back to work. Good idea right? Um, yea, NO! You see everyone checking in as your checking out! Then you think about how you have nothing to do tomorrow because it's a Saturday, and all of a sudden your calling the airlines to see how much it would cost to change your flights!! HA! But really, Alex had to coach... otherwise, we would have totally stayed!!

On our last morning there we all got up early, took a walk on the beach, and then headed to the pool for one last hour or two of swimming!!

Photos from our last night...

As you can see... Liam was really really upset about leaving!

Our room...

The boys' room...

Unless next time Cabo...

Our Vacation - Part 3; Eating like a local

2011-01-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

I have to start this post off by telling you a little bit of my past. My dad used to race off road and we would frequently travel to Mexico for the Baja 500 and Baja 1000 races. We would travel with his race partner/cousin, which means we got to travel with our cousins as well! My siblings and I have some amazing memories of those times. Like that one time our car got stuck in a flash flood and water was coming into the car through the bottom of the doors, while our car actually started to float! Or sleeping outside on top of an open treehouse thingy, in Rosorito, and counting my cousin's mosquito bites the next day. Camping on the beach in our cars, driving from pit stop to pit stop in the middle of the night, in the middle of the desert remind you. Driving through town in the 4 seater dune buggy with flames shooting out of the exhaust, with all the locals pointing in aww. Some fun fun memories. And ONE not so fun memory of Mexico. The fact that we basically went starving because we refused to eat at the mexican taco stands! My dad made us eat at those tiny disgusting places. They were gross I tell ya, gross!

And now that I am older, imagine that we would actually seek a place like this out! If my dad would have said that one day I would actually really LIKE these places... I would have argued with him till the cows came out!! And now I'm actually making my own son eat at them! haha. He gave us a little bit of trouble, but mainly because they didn't have chicken nuggets. hehe. But he ate it. We wish we would have found this place earlier because we would have eaten there more than just once! Super tasty!!

Mexico doesn't have Diet Coke... It's Coke Light. Tastes more like Coke Zero.

We took this one just for my dad! To show him what a mean mom he turned me into by making my child eat at a place like this! I guess this is where I should be happy that I don't have a little girl. I'm sure she would have given me way more trouble. :)

Waiting for our cab ride back to the resort.

Our Vacation - Part 2 / My 31st Birthday

2011-01-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

This whole trip was planned by my hubby who knows that the all last year all I wanted for my birthday was to go on a family vacation and just get away. I wanted this last year for my 30th, but since I was 6 weeks postpartum, it was kind of hard to get away.

Even though we spent much of our time lounging at our resort, we did manage to rent a car for a day and drive into San Lucas, which was roughly 20/30 minutes down the main highway. Liam fell asleep on the way into San Lucas, so we let him sleep longer by finding the perfect spot to park. Yeah, that backfired! We ended up going the wrong way down a one way street and got pulled over by the policia, who was standing on the corner with a whistle!! I was WAY impressed with Alex's spanglish skills as he managed to talk his way out of the ticket! Or fine I guess I should say. The polica didn't understand a word that Alex was trying to speak to him, and Alex could hardly make out what he was saying. But with his good spanglish he was able to determine that he wanted to take his license and turn it into the federals. We then would have to go to their police station to get it back... after a huge fine/bribe, I'm sure. After we were let off the hook, we quickly parked our little go cart and made it to the Marina to catch the Double Decker boat to go snorkeling, whale watching, and to see the arches.

The Arches... just on the other side is the Pacific Ocean. This is the place where the Pacific Ocean meats the Sea of Cortez.

Liam has a hard time keeping his balance on lands... so you can imagine how hard it was for him to balance on a boat. HA

Getting ready to go downstairs to snorkle

The whole freakin time we were in the water he was telling me that he wanted to turn around and go back. I felt like my mean dad as he would do this stuff to us ALL.THE.TIME. Now I know how he felt. And then as soon as we got to the boat he loved snorkeling all of a sudden. Me on the other hand... I was a little freaked out about swimming in the middle of a school of hungry little fish that were being fed from the boat's crew members.

The staff was so kind to put water in this bucket for Liam! How nice are they?

He loved it!

Then on our way back to the car we were asked by a little mexican lady if we wanted to hold this Iguana. "No, thank you." So what does she do... she goes right to Aiden who so gladly stops to hold him. I didn't want to take a photo, and wasn't going to, but she said, "Go, ahead, you take photo." So I did! Then she follows us asking for money. Aw, the joys of Mexico.

After our snorkeling trip, we headed back to our resort and got ready for my birthday dinner. By far the best birthday that I have ever had! Thanks babe for making this trip happen! xoxo

Our Vacation - Part 1

2011-01-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Cabo, Mexico. We actually stayed in San Jose Del Cabo rather than Cabo San Lucas. A little more quant of a town, a little more chill. We stayed a a resort called Cabo Azul, and I can't recommend it enough!! The grounds where amazing, the staff was super super friendly, and the rooms were clean, big, and very well decorated. The whole resort had a very spa/zen feel, from the room beds, to the pool lounge chairs! So relaxing!!

The pool at this huge swim step that the kids could play on.

Liam loved to get in and out and strut his stuff around the resort. HA!

And then they had these little beds out by the pool as well! A perfect escape to have a little snack and or lunch.

Liam was perfect height to walk around inside of it.

We spent most of our time at the resort, because well, we were there to relax. The kids had a blast playing in the pool, and Liam couldn't wait to get out there after both his naps.

Where have we been?

2011-01-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while huh? I have a good reason.... we were relaxing here...

I turned 31 on 1/11/11, and had the most amazing birthday week EVER with my boys! I love my hubby so much for making this trip happen. It's not easy to get away for this long during this time of year. I'm a controller and end of year is a busy busy time. The week leading up to this trip was pure chaos for me. And Alex coaches soccer literally year round, so there really isn't a good time for him to leave, EVER. But even with our busy schedules making time for his family is something that he's really really good at!

I can't wait to share the rest of our trip with you in photos... There are a lot, as you can imagine after a week! I had a really really hard time picking the ones for this blog.

1-11-11

2011-01-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

On 1-1-11, at 11:11pm we were sitting in Cheesecake Factory, with Alex's brother Erik and his wife Jamie, when Alex looked down on his phone and it said 11:11pm. Cool!

Just yesterday it dawned on me.....

1-11-11 marks my 31st birthday!!!!! ahhhh!!! And I can't wait to celebrate it multiples times over again on 1-11-11.

So on 1-11-11 we'll be having a drink to celebrate at..
1:11 am
11:11 am
1:11 pm
-and-
11:11 pm

What will you be doing on 1-11-11?

Go ahead, have a drink... and celebrate with us!!

I love my man!

2011-01-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

I hate New Year resolutions! Who ever really sticks to them anyways? Good for you if you are one of those people, I just know that I am not one of those people. Life sometimes gets in the way, and it's hard to go back. Kind of like exercising, especially after kids. You get distracted and take a week off, and then that week turns into a month and so on.

Anyways... back to what I really want to post about! Even though I don't like new years resolution, there is one that we have to do more of together in 2011. And that's get out more and have adult time. We, I, weren't that good at it when Aiden was first born, and now with Liam, it's been tough again. I really don't like to leave my babies... but it's soooo good for a married couple to get couple time every once in a while!! :) So here's to 2011, and more adult time!!

Sunday night we went to see Jo Koy at the Brea Improv. Love the Improv! Such a fun time together!! So even though we did absolutely nothing for New Year's Eve... we're still starting the year off right!

Love my man!!