Corn & Company

More Elf Adventures

2011-12-14T21:33:00.001-08:00

Our elves, Lucky and Buddy, have continued their fun antics in our household. Every morning the kids run around the house looking for the elves, and they are good...they always find them. The elves may have to get a little sneakier...

Who knew elves loved Wii so much? Maybe they were playing mini golf?

A little friendly game of Hungry Hungry Hippo's with some other friends from the North Pole...

Making a phone call to their elf friends.....

I think this is them making Mommy a cup of coffee....

Elves love chocolate....

A candy cane ladder....

Cards from the North Pole...

The elves left the kids a note to check Mommy's email...and there was a message from Santa for each kid. Very cute!

More elf adventures to come!

The Elf Adventures Part 1

2011-12-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

Our elves, Lucky & Buddy, have been extra mischievous this year! They have certainly upped their game for this 2011 Christmas season! So far we have had marshmallow snowball fights, cookie thievery, bedtime stories and hiding in an apple and plant. The kids have been having a blast (as have I) with all the antics of our elves. I can't wait to see what the next 20 days will bring!

North Pole Breakfast!!!

2011-11-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

This morning our Elf (Buddy) made his appearance! He also brought along a friend this year, Lucky the Elf, for Kenna and Degan! To make his grand appearance he brought breakfast for the kids.

He also brought along some treats for the kids like new plates, placemats, socks to keep their feet warm and a special letter...!

The kids are so happy that Buddy and Lucky are here!!!

After breakfast we put the elves on a Christmas wreath so they can start to get their Christmas magic to fly home to Santa. I have a feeling our Elves are going to be especially mischevious this year!!!!

Some rocking recognition!

2011-08-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that the party planning website 'Catch My Party' has featured Alex's Rock Star party! Check this fun website out, they have tons of great party planning ideas!

Thank you to Jillian and the staff at Catch My Party!

A big rock star Celebration

2011-08-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

My little man turns 6 this Thursday and we decided to celebrate in style. Since he was a little boy he has loved to dance, play instruments and sing so what better way to celebrate his special day then with a rock star theme!

Some of you may think that Justin Bieber has only affected the young girls but that's not true! My son and several of his little guy friends think he is the greatest. There is no better way to get my son to light up them to mistake him for a young Justin Bieber....! So to start the party off we created a 'step and retake' like at the Hollywood premieres. We had a red carpet, Hollywood stars with all the kids names in them, a backdrop and of course Justin.

After the kids had their photos taken they were given an all access VIP pass which guaranteed them unlimited candy and entertainment.

It is August so of course we had lots of swimming going on along with custom order snow cones for the kids.

No child can ever leave a party without lots of sugar so we made sure to cover our bases along with some fun items to remember Alex's party like Rock star lip gloss and pencils. My son also LOVES Jones Soda so I had custom labels made for him that turned out awesome!

Over the dessert table I got these great 36 inch balloons (thank you Shop Sweet Lu Lu) and also made two newspaper pom poms.

Of course what is a party without cupcakes and cake. I made the guitar cake with the help of Duff's cake kit and found this fun idea online for microphone cupcakes that turned out pretty cool!

Alex loved his cake so all the time to make it was totally worth it....

The centerpieces also turned out pretty cute! I ordered a pick punch online and made custom guitar pics with Alex's face on them and from pieces of the invitation. They made perfect confetti for the tables!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a memorable party for Alex. Lots of work went into this party from family and friends. A special thanks to all the vendors who made it possible and were so helpful. If you are interested in finding certain items from this party here are the main vendors I used:

Invitations, labels, VIP passes and soda labels done by DeanWorks on Etsy. (Kara from DeanWorks was extremely friendly and helpful!)

Balloons, cupcake holders, straws and goody bags are from Shop Sweet Lu Lu

The pails and containers holding the candy are from JoAnn's.

Rocker duckies, tattoos, and blow up guitars were from Oriental Trading Co.

Lipgloss and rocker pencils from Michael's.

Guitar pics were made with the help of Pick Punch.

I made the cake and cupcakes with help from Duff's cake kit at Michael's.

All of the amazing photos are from Sarah B Photography and my sister in law Cristina DaSilva.

Happy birthday to my beautiful baby boy!!!!!!

Girl's Night Out

2011-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

My good friend Mellissa just started selling for 31 Gifts so I offered to host a party so I could get some great hostess gifts, and what better excuse for a wine and dessert party!

If you aren't familiar with 31 gifts I highly recommend you check them out, I know have accumulated quite the collection and have 3 or 4 bags in my car at all time. I especially like the bags that double as a cooler to have in the car or when I take Alex to soccer practice.

Lately several of the blogs I follow were discussing desserts in a jar so I decided to give it a try. I made triple chocolate brownies in 4 ounce mason jars and topped them with a buttercream frosting with salted caramel. These were the hit of the party and looked so cute! The 4 ounce jars were the perfect serving size and also very convenient for the girls to take one home for their hubbies. When searching for recipe ideas I came across this site that has 15 different idea for desserts in a jar, I took their idea for the salted caramel brownies and tweaked it just a bit.

I also whipped up some pink champagne cupcakes that turned out pretty but taste wise just couldn't compete with the salted caramel brownies. I also found a beautiful apothecary jar at Michael's that I filled with dark chocolate wafer cookies from Trader Joe's. It was definitely a night full of my favorite things - sugar, chocolate, wine and great friends.

Beach babies

2011-08-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

A recent trip to the beach gave me a chance to take some great photos. Lucky for me my sister in law, who is an amazing photographer up in Canada, gave me some tips on editing my photos. I am really happy with the new tricks I learned.

All of these are done on the FREE program of Picasa which is a google program.

This one was done using 'focus' color. You turn the photo black and white and then choose what area you want featured in color. I love this photo of her, makes her look like Ms. America!

Me and my mini me! I love the soft glow effect.

Got some great new photos of me and my love.

My niece Livy came to visit for a few days. The girls were so darling together and I got some really beautiful shots of them. Just love it!

Learning all these new tricks will come in handy for Alex's big birthday party coming up. Lots of 'Rockstar' photos coming soon!

4th of July treats!

2011-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

We are slowly recovering from an amazing 4th of July weekend. I'll say it again, we have an amazing and very fun neighborhood. We had a block party both Sunday and Monday....giving me a good excuse to make lots of fun treats.

My sister wife Erin made these little sammies. So easy yet so yummy! Toasted some bread, spread a mixture of cream cheese, fresh dill, sour cream and mayo and then topped it with red onion, cucumber and tomatoes. Perfect fresh treat!

I continued on with my new found love for whoppie pies and made red velvet whoppie pies with a cream cheese filling. Added some blue sparkles to be festive and they were a big hit! I found the recipe through an online blog that has become one of my new favorites, check it out here!

I also did some funfetti cupcakes with a buttercream frosting. I got the cupcake wrappers and decorations on sale at Sur La Table, they were so cute!

For Monday I did a different variation of the rainbow cake I had made for Amelia's birthday and did red, white and blue. I did a lemon buttercream frosting and it was yummy as well as really cool when we cut it!!!

The kids had a great time all weekend....us adults managed to fit in some fun time as well!

Between all the sugar, swimming and fun the kids were exhausted (as am I!) but had a great holiday. Hope you and your family did as well!

Whoopie Pies!

2011-06-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing a lot of Whoopie pies around lately. They have been gracing the covers of many food magazines, Sur La Table sells whoopie pie pans, and many famous chef's have been promoting them, like Bakerella and Martha Stewart. So I gave them in decided to give it a go, I always have my handy taste testers around and knew they wouldn't go to waste.

You can make the batter and drop them onto a sheet of parchment paper or buy the Wilton Whoopie Pie pan, I opted to buy the pan at Sur La Table this morning since it was on sale and because I thought it would help me keep the size consistent. Yes, I really struggle with keeping size proportionate....it always start off good and by the end of a batch I've usually doubled the size.

I also decided to try making some from scratch and also some from a mix to see the difference. For the mix I bought StoneWall Kitchen's chocolate whoopie pie mix. Their mix is for the chocolate outer cookies and for vanilla filling. However I decided to add some peanut butter to StoneWall's filling mix to make a chocolate peanut butter whoopie pie.....because how can you go wrong with the combination?! Then I used Wilton's recipe for vanilla whoopie pie and their filling recipe, which I added cocoa powder to.

The verdict.....

I really liked how the cookies turned out for both. I liked Wilton's recipe from scratch a little more, it seemed more moist and made more. Also, from a cost perspective the Wilton recipe is a lot cheaper since the StoneWall Kitchen mix is $10 at Sur La Table. However in regard to the filling I did not like Wilton's filling recipe at all. It was really runny and too sweet - which is saying a lot with my sweet tooth. I want a thicker, more frosting like consistency. Wilton's recipe calls for marshmallow creme, which many don't. Think I will steer away from that in the future.

I'd never had a whoopie pie before today and I definitely love them. I'm excited to keep experimenting with new recipes and trying out new things. Thinking I'll try out a red velvet version next....!

Celebrations!

2011-06-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of celebrations lately! Lots to be thankful for and lots of happy occasions. To start with we have had two very special graduations which gave me a great excuse to make some baked goods!

My baby cousin, who is 22, graduated from Fresno State along with her husband. A huge accomplishment and she is onto get her teaching credential from here. I'm so proud of Sarah and her hard work at Fresno State. We had a lot of fun putting her graduation party together and making her cake! It was my first two tiered, two flavored cake and I was happy with how it came out.

Not long after was the next big graduation....my baby boy finishing kindergarten! I can't believe he is onto first grade! It seems like just yesterday I was dropping him off for his first day of school. I am so proud of how much he has grown this year and how much he has learned. He worked really hard and excelled in reading especially. In fact the week before graduation he got an award for finishing his first grade site words! Such a handsome and smart boy! I love him so much.

Yo Ho Ho and Once Upon a Time

2011-05-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

We rang in Amelia's 3rd birthday with a fun fairy and pirate's theme! Amelia loves Tinkerbell but lots of boys were attending the party as well so I threw in some pirates to balance things out.

I was extra lucky this year to have my friend and neighbor, Melissa Garcia, take all of these beautiful photos! She did a great job capturing this fun day and my darling girl enjoying her special party.

Instead of a bounce house this year I decided to try out the company A Wish Your Heart Makes. This company has characters you can hire for your party so of course I had to get a Tinkerbell and Pirate. I was very happy with the characters and the kids loved them! They told a story, sprinkled fairy dust on the kids, played games and face painted. So much fun!

I made Amelia's cake for the party and was thrilled with how great it turned out! It also tasted delicious!

In addition to the cake I made lemon fairy cupcakes and chocolate pirate cupcakes.

I sent all the boy's home with pirate goodies (pirate hook hands, eye patches and suckers) and the girl's went home with wands, crowns and Tinkerbell crayons and notepads. I made some beautiful rose flower balls (that I discovered on the blog House of Smith) and I attached the silhouette's of some fairies to them and hung over the goody table. I also added a Tinkerbell centerpiece I crafted using my Cricut machine.

As usual I went over the top for this party and always have to thank those that support my often overly ambitious ideas. My mom came down early to help decorate and contributed some amazing food, as did my wonderful mother in law. My favorite girls came over the night before to help with the cupcakes and set up. My sister wife Erin especially was a help in keeping my head screwed on straight and did the amazing fairy wands! My cousin Sarah assisted with the banner and of course my loving husband supported me the entire way. Thank you to everyone who helped!

And a happy, happy birthday to my princess! We love you so much!

A colorful birthday celebration

2011-04-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

My baby girl turned 3 this past Saturday and even though her big party (which of course I'm going over the top for) is this coming Saturday, I had to mark her big day with some fun.

I saw this beautiful rainbow cake on several blogs and Martha Stewart's website and I knew my princess would love it! Turned out to be quite a hit and was actually pretty easy!

To start, I took the easy way out and just bought some white cake mix. I bought two boxes knowing this would be a six layer cake to represent each color of the rainbow.

I made the mix according to the box and then divided it into six bowls, coloring each bowl a different color. I baked them for about 10 minutes, and presto - had my layers!

After letting them cool I made a lemon buttercream frosting and started stacking my cakes, putting a layer of frosting between each layer. I don't recommend this cake if you are watching your sugar, fat or carb intake.

After frosting the entire cake I decorated it with some rainbow sprinkles on top and around the bottom. It looked quite large and exciting!

Slicing it was so beautiful. The cake looked amazing when sliced and looked beautiful on each plate. My beautiful baby girl just loved it.

Happy birthday my darling girl!

The magic of spring....

2011-04-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Every year when springtime rolls around I am still amazed by the beauty of mother nature. This photo is a tree in our backyard that seemed to just bloom overnight and waking up to it was a special treat.

Keeping with the magic of spring time, lollipops are in bloom at the Soares household! We were so excited to wake up this past weekend and find the Easter bunny had paid us a visit.

Our kids had a sleepover so we had extra kids to enjoy the Easter magic.

The kids have been keeping busy enjoying the beautiful weather. They have been riding bikes and even talked me into taking a quick dip into our freezing cold pool!

With Amelia's birthday just days away I have lots of fun crafts and treats planned for her birthday! I've been busy making hanging flower balls, rainbow cakes and Tinkerbell centerpieces. I will be sharing all of those very soon!

Planting Jelly Beans

2011-04-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Easter is finally getting close so what is it time to do....? Plant jelly beans of course! Get them in the ground now so you sprout lollipops by Easter!

If you plant some jelly beans in the ground (or in our case a bucket) and leave it outside, the Easter Bunny will come by and sprinkle some magic on the dirt for the jelly beans to grow into lollipops. My kids had a great time putting the jelly beans into dirt yesterday, they didn't even eat them all!

After the jelly beans were planted we waited....and we were lucky enough to be visited by the Easter Bunny today! We didn't actually see him but know he was here since he pooped jelly beans near the bucket. He also sprinkled some of his magic on the dirt so the lollipops will grow.

Can't wait to see some 'buds' in the near future!

Low Fat Lemon Creme Pie

2011-04-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Wondering what to do with all those beautiful lemons? Well instead of making lemonade, I say make lemon creme pie! Due to my obsession with Pioneer Woman I've had to re-join Weight Watchers to shed a few (10) pounds. This recipe was featured in their Weekly brochure they give you at your weekly meeting. I love a nice lemon pie so I of course ran home and made it right away! For any other Weight Watcher enthusiasts out there - each slice is only 4 points!

The recipe is very simple! Here it is:

6 reduced fat graham crackers
2 tablespoons of butter
11 ounces of non fat sweetened condensed cream
2 eggs
the juice of one lemon
lemon zest of that lemon

That is it! Can you believe it??! And the results are delicious! Here's how to make you own lemon creme pie.

Crush up the graham crackers either in a Cuisinart or by a rolling pin and then mix with the melted 2 tablespoons of butter. Spread it out into your pie pan and set aside.

In a bowl pour the condensed cream and whisk in the two eggs into mixed completely.

Next zest your lemon. When zesting a lemon, stop when you get to the white of the lemon as the white part is bitter. Then roll the lemon gently on your counter to get the juices flowing and juice the lemon into the bowl.

Pour this mixture into the pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

After the pie cools from the oven, chill it completely in your fridge. I topped mine with some fat free cool whip and strawberries. A great spring or summer treat!!!

Pasta time!

2011-03-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those recipes that you find very daunting? I have always been very hesistant to make bread or homemade pasta. I have witnessed my friend Debbie making homemade pasta, and even assisted a bit, but had never done it myself....until this weekend.

My great friend Erin & I were watching Eat, Pray, Love and during the Italy section of the movie we started craving pasta and decided we would have to make it that night as a homecoming meal for Paul who had been out of town for work all week. And of course we couldn't make just one dish, we had to make multiple dishes of pasta. What else are you going to do on a rainy day???

We decided on three pasta dishes: pasta with pesto, linguine with shrimp, garlic & lemon and butternut squash chicken ravioli. Rather ambitious but we are both pretty competant in the kitchen and decided we could do it! After drinking a glass of red wine (for courage of course) we got on our way with our 5 little sous chefs. I just did a very simple recipe for the pasta of 6 cups of flour, 6 eggs and a bit of olive oil. In hindsight some salt would have been good as well. You mix that together and then add water until it gets until the right consistency. After kneading it and letting it set for 30 minutes it was ready to get rolled out. My friend Debbie let me borrow her Kitchen Aid pasta maker attachment and it is amazing! It makes rolling out pasta so easy! The kids were fascinated at what Erin & I were doing and quickly got on in the action. After rolling it out we cut it into strips and let it dry. This is so it doesn't all stick together when you throw it into boiling water. For the ravioli we just put the filling in, folded the pasta over and cut it with a pasta cutter that makes the wiggly edges we all think of with ravioli. Very easy and we were happy how professional they looked! With fresh pasta you only have to boil it for a few minutes and for extra flavor I boiled it in 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water with some olive oil. As my friend Melissa would say 'Yummers!' By the time Paul arrived home from the airport (at 10:30pm, we were very European eating so late that night) we had 3 amazing pasta dishes waiting for him, along with his wife and friends who had missed him so much! I discovered this weekend that with a great friend (love you my sister wife!), some wine and a leap of faith you can tackle those 'scarier' recipes you've been avoiding. Take a deep breath and just cook it, the results are worth it!

Busy bees

2011-03-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

We've been a busy bunch in our household, which is a small reason for my slacking. Alex is plugging along in school, bringing home a great report card. He also has his first tooth loose! Very excited to have a visit from the Tooth Fairy! Amelia is doing great too and in fact I am getting ready to enroll her in preschool for next year! Where does the time go???!!!

We have been spending a lot of time out at our friend's, The Ramos Family, new home. They live on several acres and the kids LOVE to be out in the country. Our kids are the same age so it has been instant close friendship across the board.

Paul and I also enjoyed an amazing getaway to Pebble Beach in February. The coast was beautiful that weekend and Paul had a great time golfing the course. My cousin joined us out there and golfed with Paul. I met them on the 18th hold and got a few great photos.

We have lots to look forward to this month! Paul & I are going to Vegas and then the whole family is taking a trip up to Chico to visit family for spring break. I'm hoping for more sunny days. The kids are already anxious to get in the swimming pool! I'm trying to explain that sunny skies don't equal pool weather necessarily!

I will keep on cooking my way through the Pioneer Woman cookbook, although it isn't helping my waistline. I've yet to find a recipe I don't totally love. If you haven't checked her out yet be sure to do so! Click here for her blog.

Snow day!!!!

2011-01-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

Alex has been begging us to visit the snow since the first day of fall. Today we took advantage of the holiday and took the kids up to the snow with some friends. It was a great time, and the kids were exhausted when we got home!

Before we went to the snow though I started off the morning with some homemade cinnamon rolls (thank you Pioneer Woman!) They turned out awesome and yes, my kids started off the day with a little bit of a sugar high.

Here in the valley we haven't seen a lot of sun, but as soon as we got up into the mountains we could see the cloud cover that has been over us this past month. What a cool shot this was!

The kids were so cute up in the snow! Amelia had never been up to the snow before and had a blast. The kids were so cute. Alex's little girlfriend Makayla was so sweet sledding with him. Miley and Amelia were little snow buddies as well.

With all the craziness in our life lately, it was nice to take a little time and just enjoy mother nature today. :)

My new obsession.....

2011-01-16T18:20:00.001-08:00

One of my big resolutions for 2011 was to cook more. I love to cook and bake, and with 2010 being such a busy year between moves, my business & the kid's busy schedules I found us eating take out or prepared food more and more. So I resolved that this year I would be a better wife and mommy and provide more home cooking.

In my journey to cook more and discussing this resolution I was turned on to the Pioneer Woman's blog. If you haven't read her blog or checked out her cookbook, finish this blog and GO, you can thank me later. I bought her cookbook earlier this week and have looked at it daily since. I have promised myself that I will make it through every single recipe in her cookbook. Then you can read all about my diet after that....geesh.

To kick things off I made her Linguine with Clam Sauce last night while we were entertaining friends. To say it was amazing doesn't do it justice. And if you shudder at the thought of clams don't worry, it isn't an overly powerful seafood taste. Just the right balance.

Tomorrow morning we are taking the kids on a snow day, but before we take off for the day I'm making Pioneer Woman's famous cinnamon rolls. I don't think they will disappoint either...!

As for baking, I am on class #2 for cake decorating and learning to make some amazing looking flowers. I can't wait for someone to have a birthday or celebration so I can make them a cake! Alex has been helping me in the kitchen too, such a great baker in training.

Hello 2011!

2011-01-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

I was a little behind at the end of 2010 to post all our Christmas fun and pre-New Year celebrations, but better late than never! Maybe one of my new year resolutions should be to do more prompt blogging!

This past Christmas season I was reminded more than ever how blessed we are to have such wonderful family and friends that surround us. We traveled many miles to see everyone, but had such a wonderful time. Many special memories were made and I tried to catch as many as possible on film.

We started the trip with a visit to see my childhood care provider and her husband who are amazing people. We had a fabulous lunch with them and then it was off to see my grandmother, the kid's great grandmother, and my aunt and cousins. It was great to see my kids interacting so well with my grandmother.

We also saw my cousin Kim and Livy, the girls were so darling together as usual!

We headed up to Chico to see the rest of my family. Our Chico family is always so welcoming and show us a great time. Alex LOVES his big cousins and played non stop the entire time we were there. We got some great new family photos and had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Christmas morning the kids were so excited to see what Santa brought them. This was the first year Amelia was really into Christmas and she was ecstatic that Santa brought her a princess bike. Alex got a wand and Easy Bake oven he wanted, as well as a sweet Spiderman costume.

Christmas day we went on to Paul's parents house and enjoyed more good cheer, food and yes, our kids got even more presents. We had just enough time to come home and relax for a day before we went onto our annual trip to Cambria! But those photos to come soon....we'll see how I do with my new year's resolution!

It's a sweet, sweet Christmas

2010-12-12T22:19:00.001-08:00

This past weekend it was as though the Sugar Plum Fairy visited our house, and left all of her sugar. My mom and I were the amazing baking duo this weekend baking toffee, fudge, cookies and cake. My kitchen is covered in sugar and flour, as am I, but we have so much to show for all our hard work. We made some old favorites as well as some new recipes that turned out quite well if I do say so myself!

Every year it isn't Christmas until the gingerbread cookies are made so that is what we started out with. My cake decorating classes really helped in decorating the gingerbread and sugar cookies this year!

Next we tried out a new recipe by Martha Stewart (if interested in it please click here). They are Peppermint Meringues with a chocolate ganache filling. The secret to getting the striped look is to paint the inside of the piping bag with red food coloring. They turned out great!

We also made Russian tea cake cookies that are another favorite childhood cookies of mine.

I am hosting my Christmas bunko group this week so in my final cake class this week I made a cake for bunko that turned out pretty cute. I was proud of learning how to make simple roses!

As though all of this sugar load wasn't enough, I also decided to make cake pops for the first time. My mom had bought me Bakerella's cake pops recipe book and I just had to try out the Santa hat cake pops, they turned out so cute, especially for my first time trying them!
Besides cleaning and getting to the gym this week post sugar high, I will be working to finish up the last touches to the house for our Christmas party! The holiday season is in full swing...I love it!

So much to be thankful for.....

2010-12-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and as always it reminds me of how much I have to be thankful of. We are all in good health, have a great home and wonderful friends and family to share it with.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our home this year and it turned out great. My mom made an apple pie and a chocolate pecan pie and I whipped up some pumpkin cheesecake. The kids loved helping us this year and were so cute in their aprons!

There was no shortage of food and we all enjoyed a wonderful meal. I was really happy with my table scape and all the beautiful food, like Paul's smoked turkey, that was delicious!

I especially enjoyed fueling up before Black Friday Shopping, there were some great deals out there! Now onto decorating the house for Christmas!

The world of Disney!

2010-11-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

The time had come to visit with happiest place on earth again. This was Amelia's first visit, well outside of the womb that is since the last we went to Disneyland I was pregnant with her. I think it was a bit over stimulating for her but she loved "Mickey Mouse's house" as she called it. It was very special when we got to meet Mickey on Saturday morning!

It was every one's first time visiting California Adventure and it was a blast! Santa was there as well as a lot of fun characters. Between Disneyland and CA Adventure's, I think we met just about every Disney character.....

Alex was really into the rides this time and even braved the Haunted House. He also rode his first roller coaster, the Matterhorn! He absolutely loved it and could have ridden it all day. He also really loved the Toy Story ride and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Amelia was really into the rides when she wasn't too cranky. CA Adventure has a cute area called Bug Land (after A Bug's Life) and had lots of kid rides. The bug bumper cards where very fun. The kids also loved Dumbo over at Disneyland.

We also went right after Disneyland had decorated for Christmas and got to see the Christmas parade which was beautiful. Just the thing to get us all in the Christmas spirit! The kids really loved seeing all the characters dressed up.

Before we left Disneyland on Sunday we stopped by Goofy's kitchen and had breakfast. It was so cute and Alex had a belated birthday celebration by the characters. Fun for all!

We are back to reality now but Alex is already asking when we can go back...! It was great making these memories as a family and I do look forward to another trip, but for now we can enjoy all the memories and photos from this trip!

Race day!

2010-11-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

The Trail of Two Cities Half Marathon was yesterday and once again Paul and I participated. The course changed a bit this year but I swear it was harder! Unfortunately my time reflected this at 2:17 which was much slower than my time last year of 2:05. Still, I finished and lived to tell about it!

Paul did amazing, despite slacking a bit on training. I swear that man must be 1/16 Kenyan!! He finished at 2:03 this year, what a stud! We are taking it easy these next few days but already talking about a spring half marathon, yeah! For now though - ice, wine and motrin!

Halloween treats!

2010-11-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

We have been celebrating Halloween in our household for a little over a week now and man oh man are the treats adding up! We started with a little Halloween themed movie night last weekend. I baked up some Halloween goodies to compliment the including Mummy dogs, mozzarella eyeballs, pumpkin creme stuffed brownie bites and carrot finger dip. We got a Halloween themed movie for the kids and us, however the Giants game started taking over....but a good time was still had by all! Especially by Alex and his new gal pal (don't call her his girlfriend or he gets so mad...!) Makayla. They are darling!!

This past Saturday Alex had his last soccer game and went out with a bang! He scored 3 goals during his last game!!! Very exciting, hopefully it continues over into next year so he plays again. Although now he is already talking about basketball. After the game we had a little pizza celebration. How cute is this monster themed cupcake cake?!

We were pretty low key for Halloween last night, just stayed around the new neighborhood and trick or treated. Very fun though and Alex ran into some school friends. Amelia really got into the trick or treating and had a blast running up to the houses. She was a darling ladybug and Alex was a great vampire. Paul even dressed up as a Chilean miner, so creative!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Finally......Fall!

2010-10-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Today was a wonderful fall day, finally!! With all this 90 degree weather I was wondering if Mother Nature was just going to skip fall altogether this year. In celebration of the beautiful fall weather I made a great dinner that I felt properly celebrated the season. It turned out delicious, my thanks to Giada and Food Network Website! To get the full recipe below click here!

I did cheat a little and bought the butternut squash ravioli at the new Fresh N' Easy store in town. But the sauce was adapted from Giada's recipe. I first lightly toasted 1/2 a cup of toasted walnuts in a pan. After they were done (you know they are done once you can really smell the walnuts, great aroma!) I put the toasted walnuts in a bowl and then melted 2 sticks of butter over medium heat. I then added the walnuts, 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, some dried basil leaves and pinch of salt. After about 3 minutes I took it off, poured it over the cooked ravioli, added some Parmesan cheese over the top and......a great taste for fall! Yum!

Good bye 20's, Hello 30's!

2010-10-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Yes I bid (a not so sad) farwell to my 20's this weekend. I wasn't too upset about it though since I really feel I am in a great place going into my 30th year. I have an amazing and loving husband. Two beautiful and healthy children who continue to amaze and delight me everyday. What is there to complain about?!

div>Speaking of that wonderful husband, he threw me a wonderful party! Now I haven't had an official party since I was about 13 years old so this was very special. He was a little nervous about throwing the 'party planner' a party, but he did an amazing job. He was helped out by our friend Brett who catered the party and did an amazing job!! Check out his website here!

I really do want to thank all my wonderful friends (and cousin Sarah!) who came out to celebrate my birthday with me. It meant a lot of bring in my 30th year surrounded by loved ones. And of course a big thank you to my Mom, without you I wouldn't be here!!!

Here is a photo of me and my wonderful hubby!

The 3 liter bottle of wine we had for everyone to sign.

Some of the wonderful friends who came out to celebrate....

Some of the amazing food! It was all so delicious!!!

My hubby also let me go a little crazy with flower arrangements since I love flowers so much. I LOVE these pumpkin branches I found at Trader Joe's!! Yes, they are real and so cute!!

Thanks again everyone for a memorable birthday!!

Soccer time!

2010-09-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

With school in full swing now it is time for some fall activities!! Alex wanted to play soccer again this year so we signed him up for his school's soccer team. This year though he has a very special coach.....his daddy! Paul was really excited to be a coach and Alex was excited to have his daddy out there at practice and all the games leading his team to....well the field. I mean come on, they are all only 6 years old and aren't doing too many goals out there. They are all quite darling though and I love getting to know all the parents!

I am happy to report that Alex is adjusting really well to school. He has made lots of new friends and his current new 'best friend' Dylan is a very nice boy that Alex has a lot of fun with.

Although mother nature has not been cooperating with the temperature, the kids have been happy with the weather and loving our new house. My cousin Sarah took this amazing photo of the kids that I just love! It just looks like a great fall photo, such a great photo of the kids - it looks like it could be on the front of a card!

Happy fall everyone!

A big 40th celebration!!

2010-09-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend one of my great friends Debbie turned 40! Her husband planned an amazing weekend getaway with about 30 of her closest friends & family at the Central Coast. It was an amazing weekend of wine, food and great memories had by all. The birthday girl had lots of surprises all weekend long and really enjoyed herself.

We started off the weekend with a little bit if wine tasting and then dinner at our favorite sea side restaurant, The Sea Chest. Dave presented Debbie with a very special gift of a strand of pearls that were his late mother's. It was a touching moment that was special to be a part of.

We stayed the weekend in our favorite rental home right on Moonstone Beach drive and soaked in the sea air. The next morning we got up and Dave had arranged for a limo to pick up 17 of us to go wine tasting for several hours. Debbie had no idea and was so surprised when the limo pulled up to the house!

We tasted some great wines at Eberle, Castoro (and we joined yet another wine club, eek!), 4 Vines and Eagle Crest. The wine was great and the scenery was beautiful!

After wine tasting we got ready for Debbie's big dinner celebration at The Hamlet. It was a great dinner, with an awesome cake drove over from Eddie's Bakery! Dave also put together an amazing slide show of photos for Debbie and we did a mini roast. More food, more great wine and lots of laughter.

What a great weekend! Happy 40th Birthday Debbie!!!

SpongeBob Birthday

2010-08-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

The big day has finally arrived and my big boy celebrated his 5th birthday in style this weekend. His choice of a theme this year - SpongeBob. I decided to take it up a notch though and not just do the same old SpongeBob ideas....I got creative!

I took the main colors of yellow and blue and carried them throughout the party with the labels, tissue poms and table cloths. A huge thank you to Channone Smith for taking such wonderful photos, my hubby for helping with all the food and decorating, Debbie who made the SpongeBob sugar cookies with me and my mom for the place mats. The kids all had a wonderful time (and went home on quite the sugar high) and I was very happy with the way it turned out!!

This was the dessert bar I set up. Had to set it up inside due to the 100 degree heat! Didn't want his cake to melt or all the beautiful cookies I had help making.

Even with the heat outside, everything still turned out wonderful! The kids loved the bounce house and pool and worked up quite an appetite.

Poor Alex has been having to contain himself these past weeks and not eat any of the candy and cookies that have been around. He was so happy to finally have a cookie and so was Sissy!

Finally he got to blow out the candles on his cake and open presents. Such an exciting day and now....kindergarten!

SpongeBob Party Madness (sneak peek #2)

2010-08-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have been MIA in the blog world but I have a good reason! I've been swamped in the world of SpongeBob and party preparation. My friend Carin actually had the great idea to blog about my latest party decoration but first..............I have to wish my darling boy Happy Birthday!!!! He is 5 years old today! I love you Alex!

Alex's party is a few days away and I have been burning the midnight oil getting everything ready for his party. As I said, my latest adventure was learning to make tissue poms for decorations. They are actually pretty easy and they are so beautiful. I read a lot of other party blogs and they are very popular at many parties, weddings, and showers. You just buy tissue paper of whatever color or colors you want and go nuts with it! I am sticking to yellow, blues and greens for Alex's party so here are a few I did:

I have the yellow ones in a bunch of three and they are hanging from one of our ceiling fans. I am going to make about a dozen more in various colors to hang over the dessert table and also throughout the backyard. I better get busy!

For full instructions on how to make these tissue poms click here compliments of Martha Stewart, the queen of party planning.

For Alex's birthday today I made him some 'Krabby Patty' cupcakes to take to his daycare. They turned out really cute and were very easy.

Well I must get busy with decorating chocolate dipped oreos and making more tissue poms, more to come soon!

Sneak Peek #1!

2010-07-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

Even though Alex's birthday party is over a month away I have already started working on things for it. I am really into partying planning lately so I am going all out for this party, much to the chagrin of my hubby! As mentioned before the theme is SpongeBob but I am also incorporating as much beach/poolside theme into the party as possible.

I purchased the SpongeBob cartridge for my Cricut machine and am really impressed with it so far! I have made some really cool things with it! I have more to do but here is the 'Welcome' sign for the party that I made today.

Etsy.com has also been great because this far I have ordered some great things for the dessert bar such as labels and decorations. I also got Alex's invitations off of there and they are darling!

I also just got some great candy from candywarehouse.com for the party. Perfect for the dessert table! Now I just have to keep the kids away from it!

I will have to take a break from party planning for a bit while we are at the beach but I'm excited with the way things are shaping up!

Happy Birthday America!

2010-07-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrate Amercia's birthday in the same manner many others did, with swimming, BBQ and fireworks!

All four kids had a great time running around, throwing poppers on the ground (and some at each other). The Hodge family had been in Italy for the past two weeks so Alex was glad to have his best friend Sean back.

Alex was really excited about fireworks and I was excited that this would be the first year Amelia got to experience them. Well, she really enjoyed the fireworks show at the local high school. She pointed at the sky saying "stars!" and "pretty!" However when it came to setting off our own fireworks she was not having it. As you can see from the photos below we had help her through our little firework show.

For now I am throwing myself into planning Alex's 5th birthday party which I am of course going totally over the top for. I will be trying to document my planning process as much as possible so some sneak peeks will be coming up in future blog posts....

The Busy Days of Summer

2010-06-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it will be July in just a few days! Where has June gone?! I guess days by the pool and a trip to Pebble Beach makes the days fly by!

Last weekend Paul & I volunteered Thursday thru Sunday at the US Open in Pebble Beach. I agreed to sign up because come on, Pebble Beach, but I wasn't sure what to expect since I am not a big golf fan. I have to say though, I am now officially a fan of golf. The US Open was so much fun and I got swept up in all the excitement! I really enjoyed myself and look forward to volunteering in two years at the US Open in San Francisco. I may even take a few golf lessons this summer. :)

I don't have a lot of photos from the event because no cameras were allowed inside but I do have one photo we had taken in the Lexus tent of us with the trophy, yes the actual trophy!

We had several friends also attending the US Open so we also had some fun nights out with them eating dinner and watching a band at one of the local bars. A lot of fun times with old and new friends.

This past week we spent time catching up with laundry and work. This weekend the temperatures finally got up there, we all knew it was coming. The kids are really enjoying all the time outside, especially the time in the pool!

As a belated father's day gift I took the kids to Color Me Mine to make him a coffee mug for work and a special plate. It was quite an experience let me tell you. What they enjoyed more though was the playground right outside the store. Oh well, Paul still got a very cute mug out of it!

I'm sure I will have lots more swimming pictures to come with this 100 degree weather upon us! We have fun plans of BBQ's and 4th of July celebrations coming up next weekend. With all these fun activities my kids have been sleeping great, as have I! Hope everyone is staying cool out there!

Chocolate Decadence

2010-06-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

We all deserve a little splurge now and then, and for me my splurges usually involve something with chocolate. I got the idea off of some blogs I follow to make cookie brownies. There are several variations for this treat but I took the easy, not homemade, version yesterday. They still turned out absolutely delicious! These yummy treats are perfect for a summer time picnic or play date because they travel well.

First you want to mix a box of brownie mix (I used Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge) and pour it into a 9x9 or 9x11 baking dish. Then either make chocolate chip cookie dough or buy pre-made cookie dough and drop it into the brownies.

They will take about 40-50 minutes to bake depending on what size pan you use. I recommend some swimming while they bake.

After they finish baking let them cool about 20-30 minutes before cutting into them. Then enjoy with a big glass of milk! We all indulged but then I went for a nice run today!

Summer has arrived!

2010-06-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Since October of last year (when it became too cold to swim in our pool) Alex has been asking me when we can swim again. Although they have had a few quick dips, this Sunday they had a full fledged swim day. With the pool 80 degrees and some fun new pool toys, it was a recipe for a fun summer day.

Yes, I was in the pool but no photos of me with the kids, that is the problem with always being the family photographer!

We did get some great family pics though, with all of us, this weekend by my friend Megan up in Sacramento. I encourage you to check out her blog, Click here. I am so happy with the way our photos turned out!!

While we were up in Sacramento we also all had a great time at a garden party my mom threw for us. It was a great time to catch up with old friends that I hadn't seen in ages. The kids had so much fun, especially Alex with his new friend Alexandria, the daughter of my friend Danielle. The two had so much fun romping through my mom's bushes and trees being 'explorer's.'

We were all so exhausted by the end of Saturday between the party and family photos, another great weekend away. However we are badly in need of some down time at home after all this running around! I'm looking forward to some more swim days and lounging around the pool this coming weekend!

From scratch, with love

2010-05-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight with a big television event occurring (all you Lost fans out there know what I am talking about....!) I decided to whip up a special dinner and dessert. My son has been begging me to make lasagna so I agreed to make lasagna but then also decided to make an apricot pie, my very favorite.

As I was rolling out the pie dough in my kitchen my mind wandered to all the pies I have seen my mother and grandmother make in my lifetime. My mom's mom has been gone now for eleven years but I cannot make a pie without thinking of her. Whenever I would go visit my grandmother she would have special treats waiting for me that she made from scratch. In an age where we all buy premade or dump a box of mix into a bowl, I really appreciate the love and time my grandmother put into her food.

My grandmother, the original pie master. One of my favorite treats she would make me was 'cozy pie.' It was basically left over pie dough that she rolled out, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and then cut into strips. I would sit in her kitchen eating cozy pie and talk with her while she cooked additional pies or dinner. My mom now carries on the tradition of making cozy pie for my kids and today I made sure to make some too.

Now, I am a bit anal retentive in my kitchen. Ask any of my family or hubby who cook with me. I hate messes and can never go to bed with a dirty kitchen. I get this from my father. However, when you make pie you just have to get messy. Flour is everywhere and pieces of pie dough manage to get all over the counter and floor. Oddly this doesn't bother me at all, it is all too familiar of a scene from my mother and grandmother's kitchen and it is just the way to make pie.

The pie dough ready to be rolled out....

In the pie plate....

Full of yummy apricot filling and ready for the oven after some more pie dough on top.

The cozy pie after baking...

The pie cooling, almost ready to be enjoyed.

I love that my grandma taught my mom to cook, who taught me to cook and at the age of 4 my son is already learning the ropes of the kitchen and my daughter isn't far behind. It has become rare people make anything from scratch and I am going to do my part to not let this die out, at least in my family. As my grandmother used to say, "if you can read, you can cook," so no excuse - go bake something!

My kids (the future bakers) enjoying their cozy pie.

Babies and Birthdays

2010-05-17T21:04:00.001-07:00

We had a busy spring weekend these past few days full of babies and birthdays! It started off with a fun visit from Channone and Baby Noah. My kids are dying for a baby brother after playing with Noah for the afternoon (sorry kids, you are outta luck!) They were so loving towards him though and had so much fun reading to him, playing with him and rolling around the floor. At times they almost smothered him with their love!

After a fun day with Baby Noah we drove up to Sacramento to celebrate Livy's 2nd birthday with her!!!! We were glad to have Livy and Kim come visit us a few weeks ago for Amelia's birthday so we were happy to return the favor. Kim and I worked hard on getting cookies and decorations ready while the kids played and ran around on sugar highs all day Saturday. The results of our hard work were amazing, Kim pulled off such a great party for her baby girl!

Mine and Kim's cookie creations!

Amelia playing with one of Livy's new babies, rocking her to sleep!

Kim, my cousin Paul and I. Such a great reunion!

The birthday girl! Such a sweetie!

The birthday girl with her birthday cupcake!

My sweet boy enjoying his red velvet cupcake.

The beautiful goody table and party favors. Great job Kim, it was such a beautiful party!!

Paul was a great sport all weekend helping us out with the party and keeping an eye on the kids. I have such a great hubby. :)

I always love watching the girls play together and I see them being future best friends, or twin souls as I call my twinie.

A Pinkalicous Party

2010-05-02T11:17:00.001-07:00

Amelia loves the book 'Pinkalicious' so I decided it would be a perfect theme for her 2nd birthday party. This theme is becoming quite popular and I was lucky to find so many wonderful ideas out on the web.

For those of you not familiar with the book it is about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes that her mother made and becomes pink herself. She loves the color pink so she is quite happy but eventually to go back to her regular self she must eat lots of green food, which she hates. It is such a cute little story and Amelia absolutely loves this book, and cupcakes so perfect fit for her!

The first thing I wanted was a pink table with lots of pink goodies. I had pink cupcakes, pink gum, pink cookies, oreos dipped in pink chocolate, lollipops and even pink marshmallows. The kids each could pick up a goody bag and fill it with yummy treats to take home (the parents didn't love this so much!)

For set up I had Paul build a huge backdrop that I hung pink fabric from (this is what is behind the goody table up above). For the guest's tables I had pink flowers in vases stuffed with pink tissue paper. Of course all plates, napkins and utensils were pink too.

We had lots of fun pink food as well. I made peanut butter and jelly sammies for the kids cut out in the shape of dresses, deviled eggs died pink and pink lemonade.

Keeping in tune with the book I had a table with green food. Nothing yucky though! Spinach dip, chips with guacamole, green lollipops, caesar salad and green jello salad made this table quite a hit.

The kids all seemed to have a blast. We had a big pink castle bounce house that the kids bounced in for hours! Amelia, Alex and Livy really got a ton of use out of it since we had it for well over 24 hours. All the kids slept well that night!

I managed to talk Paul into wearing a pink shirt but Alex wanted nothing to do with 'Pinkalicious' and wearing a pink shirt. I did talk him into at least wearing some green though!

Amelia had so much with Livy visiting and they were so cute during the party sharing their treats with each other. I love seeing them play and enjoying each other so much.

This was the first time I have not had an actual birthday cake for one of the kid's birthdays but Amelia seemed happy with her cupcakes and enjoyed them as did all the other kids.

This party was sooooo much work but I'm so glad I did it and that everyone enjoyed it, especially my darling girl.

The party came together very well and I am so thankful for everyone who helped out and made all my ideas come to life for Amelia and her friends to enjoy!

Happy Birthday my darling girl!

2010-04-23T14:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday my baby girl! I can't believe what a beautiful little girl you are turning into! The years are just flying by.

Last year on your birthday....look how much you have grown since last year!

Here you are at just a few days old, such a little peanut.

Your Mommy, Daddy and brother love you so much!!!!!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend up in Chico. It was so much fun visiting with family and celebrating the holiday with them. Alex and Amelia had a blast with their cousins and slept very well while we were up there! As my cousin's husband said, "Chico is hard on little kids!" Now that we are home Alex is bored and wants to know where all the people are to play with! Amelia had so much fun running around after the boys too and cousin Jack is so sweet with her.

We stayed with my cousin Ann who is always so welcoming and accommodating to us. Amelia loved swimming in her spa and even learned how to blow bubbles. She looked pretty cute in her cousin's goggles.

On Easter Sunday mass amounts of sugar were consumed by everyone. My diet went out the window as I went into a sugar coma. Amelia was introduced to Peeps and loved them! She probably ate half a box yesterday.

My cousin had a great Easter egg hunt for all the kids and it was so much fun to watch all of them out hunting for eggs, despite it being so cold out!

Despite the cold and rainy weather we got some great family photos which is always a bonus! However as you can see in the photo below, Amelia refused to let go of the Peeps!

We traveled home yesterday and today the kids are home with Paul and I. Tomorrow things will be back to normal for everyone, including all this candy getting out of this house! I have no willpower against jelly beans and chocolate!

Spring is here

2010-04-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

With all the beautiful spring weather lately I haven't had much time to blog but have lots of new photos to share.

Amelia has been steadily gaining lots of new words she can say and is quite the chatterbox lately. She also is developing into quite the fashionista just like her Mommy. She loves wearing my high heel sandals and one day put on quite the fashion show.

Daddy is going to be in trouble with both of us shopping.....uh oh.

Alex got a big boy bike, I can hardly believe that he is big enough to be on a bike with training wheels. It is a Spiderman bike so he is all decked out with his Spiderman helmet and bike. He is slowly adjusting to a big boy bike but is doing well. I have no photos of him on the bike because I have to be ready at any moment to push him or help him steer but soon I will have some photos.
Last weekend after a bike ride Alex decided he was really hot and kept begging me to go in the pool. I told him fine since I assumed he would put one toe in and change his mind, but no - he went swimming. Upon seeing him in the pool Amelia decided she needed in as well so both my kids went swimming that day for about 10 minutes. Alex has been taking swim lessons and got a little too brave at one point, jumping out into the middle of the pool and got scared. So guess who else ended up going in the pool that day? Yep, Mommy did with all her clothes.

The other big news is that Alex is all registered for kindergarten. It is hard to believe that this fall he will be attending school. What happened to my baby? We have been working on his letters and writing his name, but he is doing so well. I know he is ready for school but don't think I am ready for my baby to be so grown up.

Well more photos to come soon, we are excited for our Easter celebration this weekend. The kids will be darling with their Easter egg hunt and will have fun with all their cousins.

Time with the kids

2010-03-07T18:14:00.001-08:00

These past two weeks I have gotten in a lot of quality time with the kids. Paul was gone for 5 days in Washington D.C. so I was single mom (with the help of Nana who came to visit thankfully!) for those 5 days. Alex really didn't do well having Paul gone, he kept asking when Paul would "be real again," because apparently phone calls aren't real enough for Alex!

Amelia continues to develop her personality which is quite funny. For the first 22 months of her life she despised TV of any kind but now has decided she loves Baby Einstein videos, but only if they feature babies and/or animals. She got a DVD player from her Aunt Cris for Christmas and it has been getting a lot of use lately (please no judging me! I've been a busy mommy lately and I promise I do lots of other things with her too!!!).

Amelia has also decided she enjoys Mommy's high heels and her Pinkalicious book. In fact she has been carrying that book around with her everywhere and will sit and listen to the whole book so well I have decided she is having a Pinkalicious birthday party. Darling!

Yep, that is her sitting in the middle of the kitchen table reading to Alex the other morning at home. Alex is still thrilled with his little sissy but they are starting to get to the age where they are fighting and bugging each other. And so it begins....

This weekend we also started doing some changes to our home. We are switching two of our rooms and have ordered a wall unit for our front room to act as a desk. Our current office is turning into a playroom/movie room. The first stage of this change was for Paul to paint three massive walls in our house but I am so thrilled with the way it turned out! Photos soon of the changes.

Meanwhile I am trying to stay current on the blog with new photos but (luckily) I have been quite busy with my private practice and teaching so it has been hard, but I will continue trying to be diligent about it! :)

Valentine's Day Weekend Recap

2010-02-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

I know Valentine's Day was several days ago but I wanted to share our great weekend. Paul and I had so much fun taking a long weekend to my mom's house in Sea Ranch, leaving the kid's with Paul's parents. We hadn't been up there since Labor Day weekend so we were really excited to go spend some time at the house. On the way there we stopped and did a little wine tasting at Domaine Carneros. You know, the stuff you don't usually do when you have two little rugrats with you most of the time.

When we got to Sea Ranch it was full relaxation mode. There is a bakery there (Two Fishes Bakery) that is amazing. I mean out of this world coffee, fresh pastries and sandwiches. We would walk over to the bakery, played tennis, drank some wine, I went for a run, watched some movies - just laid back times. It was exactly what we both needed after all the craziness of these past few months between my working so many jobs and getting my business up and running, and Paul's very demanding job of being C.O.O. On Valentine's Day we decided to stay in and Paul grilled us up some amazing lobster tail and filet mignon. It was so yummy. I am so lucky to have such a great husband who takes care of me. And he got me a wonderful Valentine's Day gift - a Kindle. :)

Before we left on our getaway though we got the kid's prepared for Valentine's Day. They had a celebration for Valentine's Day at their daycare and exchanged cards and treats. Alex was excited about his X-Men Valentine's Day cards and since I am on a huge baking kick lately, I made red velvet cupcakes that turned out awesome.

Once we got back from the beach life as usual of course resumed. I had a busy week of seeing clients but got to stay home with the kids today. Amelia's little feet have been growing like crazy so we got her new shoes today and played at the playground at the mall. Her new little shoes are so cute, they are Saucony's which are the same brand as my running shoes. Now she has little running shoes just like Mama. :)

The kids were so exhausted when we got home and took great naps. Amelia was darling though when they woke up, she wanted to put bows in her hair. But her choices were, urm, interesting? Pink polka dots and lime green? She is darling though no matter what she wears.

This is Amelia being extra silly.....

Laying low

2010-02-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

With the icky weather this weekend we decided to just layed low around here. I know California needs the rain but I am a little tired of it and am glad to see the sun out today. This was the first week of me staying home on Fridays with the kids. We played at home and made some forts after we went to music class in the morning. Alex kept asking if it was the weekend, he was a little confused as to what was going on.

We had a fun time but unfortunately Alex was a bit sick and ended up in the Urgent Care Friday night getting a breathing treatment. Poor guy was so croupy but I am happy to report is doing much better now. Nurse Amelia helped out taking care of him.

Amelia basked in the attention this weekend with Alex laying low and was Mommy's helper and little shadow. Amelia even loves to dress like me, I love my scarves and Amelia got one of her blankets and put one on to look like Mommy, so cute.

I am on a baking kick and Saturday made Peanut Butter and Jelly cupcakes. Amelia helped me mix them up and of course was also my official taste tester. The cupcakes turned out really good, very rich though with that peanut butter, cream cheese frosting.

To go along with our cupcakes Paul made homemade mac and cheese, meatloaf and onion rings. Don't worry, we invited friends over to share in all the calories. :)

The only thing constant is change....

2010-01-24T18:53:00.000-08:00

It is early on in 2010 and there are already changes in the our household. I gave notice at EMQ Families First, my full time job where I am a Clinical Program Manager, when I returned from our vacation and as of January 22nd I am now my own boss doing therapy full time. This is a huge relief after the last two months of working three jobs while I grew my clientele enough to justify leaving my full time job. I am excited to have reached a major career goal of mine but nervous at the same time. All prayers, thoughts of good karma and referrals my way are very much appreciated.

With my new schedule I will only be working four days a week and will get to spend more time with the kids, which is a good thing because they sure are growing up fast! On a rainy day last week we had Alex try out his new roller skates and he is such a fast learner!

Amelia has been our little stripper lately. You cannot keep clothes on the girl. If you look away for too long she has stripped down to nothing but her birthday suit. I am hopeful that this is her way of preparing for potty training. Lately she has been showing interest in the potty and often runs to get diapers when she has a wet diaper. This weekend she actually sat on the potty chair for a while, although she didn't actually do anything other than read a book - but hey, it is a start and I will take it!

Another thing I hope to have more time to do in the near future is scrapbooking. A couple of weekends ago my cousin Kim, my good friend Channone and I did a 12 hour scrapbook crop. But before that, I hadn't had time to scrapbook in almost 6 months and with all the photos I take that puts me quite behind. I still have half of 2009 to finish scrapbooking but at least put a little bit of a dent in it....

Yet another thing I hope to be better about with my new schedule is blogging both on this blog and my professional blog. Unfortunately as soon as my schedule slows down a bit I tend to fill it right back up but I'm going to try very hard to keep things a bit calmer for a while. :) Although I am thinking about training for a half marathon this summer.....

Ringing in the New Year - beach style

2010-01-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

This year was the 4th year we have rung in the new year in Cambria, and is the 7th year we have brought in the new year with our good friends Dave and Debbie. We rented the same house we did last year, which is located right on Moonstone Beach Drive. Our front balcony gave us a beautiful ocean view which I enjoyed most mornings while drinking my coffee.
The kids of course love being at the beach as much as we do. All four kids made daily trips down to the beach and had fun running around the house together. Alex and Sean still bickered a lot this trip, but it was a little better than last year. They are so close it is like they are brothers, that great love/hate relationship.

Amelia also had a great time playing on the beach, was a pleasant change from this summer when she hated touching the sand! She really liked digging in the sand and learned to say "agua" when looking at the ocean. It was so nice spending so much time with her and Alex this week, especially since lately I have been so busy with work it felt good to reconnect with my beautiful kids.
There is a beautiful park near the house we rent and we walked the kids over a few times and let them run off some energy. They slept really well on this vacation!

Paul and I also had a great time wine tasting with Dave and Debbie. We had a babysitter for a day and took time to go out and try some new wineries. Of course we came home with quite a bit of wine to enjoy! We also ate at our favorite place - The Sea Chest. As usual the food was excellent, especially the oysters!
The weather was so beautiful and clear, it was hard coming home to all the fog here in Fresno, but we got a beautiful sunset before we came home. It was like the beach was saying good bye to us, or telling us to hurry back!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-03T19:49:00.001-08:00

I can hardly believe 2009 is gone and 2010 is here! 2009 was such an eventful year for us and I know that 2010 is only going to be bigger and better! We were so fortunate to finish out the year with some awesome Christmas celebrations and then a trip to the beach for a week of relaxing. So many photos and stories to tell, so I will start with just a few photos from Christmas.

Alex really got the concept of Christmas this year and was excited about Christmas and Santa as soon as the first decoration went up. Almost everyday he asked if Santa was coming yet. I remember being young and thinking that Christmas took forever to arrive. Well once it arrived it sure did it fly by!

My in laws got us all Snuggies this year and this photo was just so great!

Alex and Amelia were so cute Christmas morning with all their gifts!

I promise to post some more Christmas photos soon as well as some great ones from the beach but for now laundry and a cluttered house is calling my name! Happy New Year's everyone!

Christmas time in the Soares Household

2009-12-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is here, and so is the stress! I love the holidays but getting everything together has made things pretty crazy around here. The holidays are in full swing and the kids are very excited for Christmas. Okay, Amelia doesn't know what is going on but Alex is very excited. Even Ernie is in the Christmas spirit as you can see!

The day after Thanksgiving we had all the Christmas decorations up and I was out shopping at 3 a.m. on Black Friday for gifts. Alex has been in the "I want this" mode so buying for him has been easy. Amelia is at the age where she is a bit tough, she is too old for infant toys but a lot of the toddler toys are too big for her. She is very into baby dolls so I have been going that route.

This past weekend my mom came down and we made cookies, toffee, homemade marshmellows and fudge. Both kids were estatic to help with this task and Alex is turning into quite the little baker.

Our plan is to take the kids to see Santa this week, Alex is very excited to tell Santa about the Batman toy he wants and we anticipate the infamous screaming photo out of Amelia. Every parent has to have one! Check back to see how it goes.....!

What I am Thankful For.....

2009-11-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

There are so many things to be thankful for this holiday season. I have a loving husband who is a wonderful father and great provider for us (and awfully good looking too!), I have children who are healthy and each day are growing up to be unique and wonderful little people and we have a little black furry creature who loves us and the warm laps we provide for him. Whenever I am having a stressful day and bemoan my life I try to remember all of the wonderful blessings I do have, and remember all of the people out there who are not as fortunate.

Here are some recent photos of my little blessings. I wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving and encourage you to recognize and cherish all of the blessings in your life.

The other night Amelia refused to let anyone else feed her other than her big brother.....it was very sweet.

I got the kids dressed up and took some photos for our Christmas card this year...it was a bit challenging but these are the photos that turned out well (out of about 100 that I shot!)

The finish line....

2009-11-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

One week ago today Paul and I completed the Trail of Two Cities Half Marathon here in Fresno. It was a great run and a very well put together event. This was my 3rd half marathon and Paul's first. We both did well, finishing in respectable times. Paul completed the run in 1:55 and I did it in 2:06, which is 4 minutes faster than my last half marathon. We were sore and tired Sunday night and Paul swore he'd never do another run....and then a few days later we signed up for another half marathon in Huntington Beach. So February 7, 2010 we will run yet another 13 miles and hopefully improve our times again!

The photos of the half marathon just posted to the www.runfresno.com website and we plan to order some, so check back later for photos of the run to be posted!

My Little Pumpkins...

2009-11-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

What a busy week with all the Halloween festivities going on. While Amelia didn't really get what was going on, Alex was in a frenzy waiting for Halloween to come.

On Monday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch for our annual pumpkin photos and to pick our pumpkin to carve. The kids didn't disappoint with cute photos this year!

On Thursday we carved our two pumpkins. Paul worked on the big one, carving the Batman symbol at Alex's request (thank heavens for pumpkin stencils online!) while Alex and I worked on his small pumpkin.

On Halloween it was craziness around the Soares household! Alex had his last soccer game and then soccer team celebration. He received a trophy which he was very proud of. He really enjoyed playing soccer and I was impressed with the dedication of his coaches. The presented all the parents with a DVD of the season they had put together! I was touched by the thoughtfulness, especially since I am so crazy about documenting every moment of my kid's childhood...in case you haven't noticed.

After nap time we headed over to our good friend's house for some trick or treating. Alex and Sean were both dressed up as Batman and declared themselves "Batman Brothers." They shared this with every house they visited for trick or treating and everyone seemed to find it quite amusing. Amelia was the cutest little pig you have ever seen and Paul and I dressed up as Jon and Kate Gosselin and I think it turned out pretty well!

Paul and I also were quite accomplished this week, both running 10 miles in preparation for our half marathon next weekend. Even though I have run 2 half marathon's before I am feeling nervous for next weekend's event. With all the craziness going on lately I don't feel as well trained as I have in year's past but I am looking forward to running it with Paul. Check back for photos!

A Memorable Weekend

2009-10-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

This was a big weekend for Paul and I. For Paul he reached a big milestone - he turned 30 on Saturday! Since he is such an amazing father and husband I planned a big birthday bash for him that night, but before we could get down to the party we dedicated our morning to doing the Susan G. Komen run at Fresno State.

The event is a 5k run that raises funds and awareness surrounding breast cancer. This horrible disease has touched our lives in several ways and unfortunately, I fear there will be future people we know that will fight this disease. This year I ran for my aunt Cheryl who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for stage 3 breast cancer. One of Paul's close childhood friends has a mother who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer so he ran in honor of her recent diagnosis with breast cancer.

I ordered shirts for the event that said "Save Second Base" and was able to get several co-workers and friends to do the run. Paul had the best time by far in running it in 24 minutes! I set a new personal best for my 5K record at 27 minutes. But everyone who finished did awesome! This event was the first for my friend Debbie and she really rocked it!

Me and some of my work friends after the run.

After the race that morning Paul came home to relax and enjoy his birthday while I ran all over Fresno getting everything prepared for the party. But I have to say that it was all worth it because our backyard looked beautiful and everything turned out really nice for Paul's birthday party that night. Everyone came in cocktail attire, with no kids, and we enjoyed desserts, appetizers and just a few drinks.

The set up in our backyard...

Paul's birthday cake...

A few of his gifts friends brought...

Some chocolate dipped strawberries I made...

And some mini cupcakes I got (you can never have enough dessert!)...

Me and my handsome husband!

The house is now cleaned up and put back together, our rugrats have returned from Grandma and Grandpa's house, the cake is just about gone, but we have some lasting memories from a great weekend. Happy 30th Birthday Paul, I can't imagine my life without you and I hope you know all the joy you bring into our life. We love you so much.

Celebrations

2009-10-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a busy one full of celebrations. I feel so blessed to have so much to celebrate in my life! October 9th I celebrated my 29th birthday. I was initially pretty bummed out that I had to work on my birthday but once I got to work I immediately found myself feeling better after I found my office decorated and cupcakes waiting for me.

That evening Paul, Alex and I drove down to Santa Monica to see my childhood friend, Natalie, get married on Saturday. I wouldn't have missed this day for all the money in the world. I have known Natalie as long as I can remember, her parents are like my second parents - in fact my kids call them Grandma and Papa Toy. The ceremony was so beautiful, out on the Santa Monica beach. I was glad that it was such a beautiful day for them and it was a great chance to catch up with the Toy family and see many faces I hadn't seen in a long time, including Natalie's brother Jonathan who was her "man of honor." Natalie was a beautiful bride and was positively glowing. Alex, being the flirt he is, followed her around all day and was quite smitting. Congratulations Natalie and Marc!

Natalie, Jonathan and I.

Natalie & Marc with us after the ceremony.

Alex goofing around on the playground on the beach.

Natalie and Alex posing, very sweet!

Another celebration that took place this week was welcoming a four legged friend into our family. We adopted Ernie on Sunday and he has quickly become a solid addition to our family and secured a place in all of our hearts. With his quirky little underbite and funny personality we just love him to pieces. Alex ran around a good part of the day saying "I'm so glad Ernie is here!" He loves to run after him saying "Ernie, Ernie, Ernie" and Amelia follows behind saying "Onie Onie Onie" in her attempt to call him as well. Some people may think I am crazy taking on another responsibility in my life right now (and I probably am) but rescuing this little guy and seeing the delight on my children's face makes it all worth it.

The blushing bride....

2009-10-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Not me, it has been 6 years already since I was a blushing bride, but my cousin Sarah is getting married!! She and her boyfriend (now fiance) Josh have decided to walk down the aisle this coming April. Since the big day is only 6 months away, we went dress shopping at David's Bridal for her today. My little cousin has always been adorable, she was so stinking cute as a toddler, but to see her today all grown up in her beautiful wedding gown, full of excitement for her future, was a beautiful thing to witness. As you can see, she will make a gorgeous bride and I hope her fiance realizes how lucky he is.
Sarah's friend Ashley and I also tried on bridesmaid dresses and decided upon this one (but pay NO attention to the hideous color, they will be yellow).

Besides playing "wedding planner" this weekend with Sarah, our household took it easy. I continued with my training for my half marathon next month, completing 7 miles this morning. I had gotten off track this past week so I was happy to be able to complete this much mileage today. However, my muscles are none to happy right now.

Alex has been under the weather all weekend with a virus that is giving him a horrible sounding cough and fever. So far, fingers crossed, Amelia hasn't gotten it. Alex's weekend consisted mostly of him laying in bed watching Batman or Shrek in our bed. Amelia thought this was a great idea and climbed into bed with him several times.

Well, I am off to ice my knees and turn in early tonight. Wishing everyone else out there a happy, and healthy, week.

Trip up North

2009-09-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yikes, I am such a slacker! Not only have I not been blogging, but I haven't even been taking photos of my children - shameful I know. So this weekend while Paul was away in Vegas, doing an early 30th birthday celebration, I decided to head up north to Sacramento to visit family and friends - all the while determined to get some great photos of the kids. As you will see below, I think I did pretty good.

As always, Olivia and Amelia being together is a non-stop photo op. Those girls are just so darling and every time they see each other they seem to get more and more interactive with one another. I cannot wait for Kim to finish up nursing school (as is she!) so we can plan more regular play dates with the girls. But we got Kim and Livy almost all to ourselves this weekend and took full advantage, going to the mall, park and just hanging out at my mom's house.

While we were at the mall (yes, I had my camera at the mall) we went on a carosuel ride with the girls. While Alex is a seasoned professional, Amelia and Olivia had never been on one before - and it turns out they aren't big fans. Alex had a blast though riding a dragon with Nana.

We also went and got the kids fall shoes. I discovered I am a horrible mother and had been letting Alex walk around in size 9 shoes when he measured to be a size 11!! Eek! So needless to say he got a new pair and so did Amelia.

The mall out in Roseville has a great play area that the kids just loved. It was so bright and colorful so it was excellent for some very cute photos.

Saturday night my mother watched the kids for me (thank you Mom!!) and I was able to go out and meet up with some good friends from high school. We had a girls night out with no dinner and Kim was able to come along too. It was so great to catch up with Becky and Shannon. They are both awesome mothers and had some really great advice and stories to share with me. Shannon is pregnant with her 4th baby and is looking fabulous! Becky looks awesome too, as she always has. It was a great night filled with some margaritas, shopping and lots of chatting.

On Sunday my aunt, cousin and her two boys came down to visit us and we went to the park for a little picnic. The kids had a blast running around (even though it was 100 degrees) and got some energy out before our long ride back to Fresno.

Now I am back to work, work and more work. Hope you all have a wonderful week out there!

Fall is upon us....

2009-09-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

I slack off for just a couple weeks on my blog and suddenly it is fall, although Fresno weather does not appear to have gotten the memo. It has been very hot here, but today is (hopefully!) the beginning of a cool down. However, in all other ways the fall season is upon us. School has started, pumpkin spice lattes are back and fall sports began- the only fall season thing my son is excited about!

Alex has been excited about soccer season starting all summer and yesterday he had his first game. One of our good friends call this age group playing soccer "bumble bee soccer" because the kids all look like little bees surrounding the hive as they swarm around the ball. Alex doesn't really have a clue as to what is going on, but is having a great time running around. We are going to work with him this week about getting the ball in your own team's net, but it is really most important that he is just having fun right now.

Alex is also happy because his best friend Sean is on his team with him. Which we thought would be a good idea but are now wondering if it really was a good idea watching them bicker and throw elbows at each other out there.

Amelia also had a blast watching brother play soccer and cheered him on in her own little way. Anyone that is out and about in Fresno is welcome to stop by and watch Alex kick the ball around every Saturday morning through October!!!

2nd City? Not in my book....

2009-08-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

When Paul said he had a work conference to attend in Chicago a few months ago I decided, this just may be that mini vacation I've been needing!! So being the wonderful husband he is, I was allowed to tag along on his work trip for a few days. Funny thing is, I lived for a year just two hours away from Chicago but never made it up there, and boy do I wish I had been able to. Paul and I had hoped for a little Chicago weekend while I was living in St. Louis but when my dad got sick it just didn't work out. So 7 years later, we enjoyed a few days in Chicago and it was quite the memorable trip.

In anticipation for our trip I started doing some research on eateries. Being an avid watcher of the Food Network Channel I had seen a show with the head pastry chef for a restaurant named 'Hot Chocolate' and had to check it out. It was the MOST amazing dinner I think I have ever had. We went there Sunday night and over a bottle of wine enjoyed some amazing entrees (pork belly with grilled peaches salad and amazing macaroni and cheese) and of course some desserts that were out of this world. They were so amazing I had to take some photos of them. I had the chocolate souffle with salted caramel ice cream and Paul had a blueberry cannoli. They are famous for their hot chocolate, of course, and had handmade marshmallows with each cup that were amazing! The staff there were amazing; really I cannot recommend this place enough!!!

Continuing on our tour of eating through Chicago, Paul took me to Gino's East Pizzeria the next day for some famous deep dish pizza. My dad frequently took business trips to Chicago, so I was eager to try some of this deep dish pizza I had heard so much about and it didn't disappoint! Neither did Gino's which is an older restaurant that is artistically decorated by all of it's customer's who write on almost any surface they can find!

That afternoon, Paul went back to work while I walked off some of that pizza on the Magnificent Mile. Wow, the shopping in this city is amazing! I did some damage, much to Paul's horror, but come on....all the ladies out there can understand when I say there was a 4 story Banana Republic!!!

That night we went for drinks up on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building where the views are amazing and the drinks were pretty decent....

After our drinks we went to a great little Italian place where their motto was right up my alley of "Where Wine is Cheaper than Water." They had some amazing food, noticing a trend here?

Now most of you who know me well, know that I am not much of a sports fan. But my wonderful hubby is a big baseball fan, so our last night in Chicago we caught a Cub's game at Wrigley field. Even though I am not much of a baseball fan it was fun seeing a game at this historical field. We had fun eating at the Cubby Bear before hand and then listening to Eddie Vedder (from Pearl Jam) sing 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game' at the 7th inning stretch.

Wednesday morning I was sad to pack up and go, but was missing my kids a ton by then. I was so lucky to have my mom stay home with them while we enjoyed our trip in Chicago (thank you again Mom). To finish off the trip I went through a run, in the rain, along the Lake Michigan shore and through the parks of Chicago. There weren't many people out so it was peaceful and so beautiful, especially looking up at all of the tall buildings amongst the morning fog. It was amazing, as was our trip.

Don't let the name Second City fool you, this city is first rate and I recommend you all get out there to enjoy it for yourselves.

Happy Birthday Alex!

2009-08-18T07:09:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe you are already 4 years old! It really seems like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms as a newborn or watching you take your first steps. You are growing up to be such a wonderful and unique little man! Mommy, Daddy and Sissy love you so much!!!!

A spoonful of culture....

2009-08-16T21:52:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry to say this, but it is true, I don't really feel like I have a culture. My roots trace back to 'hillbilly' on my dad's side and somewhere in England on my mom's side, but all in all I don't have a strong sense of personal culture. So when Paul and I started dating almost 8 years ago I was in amazement of his strong sense of culture and how fascinating it is! We now make sure our children also get a strong sense of the Portuguese culture, and this weekend was an important event in the Portuguese culture.

A majority of Portuguese are Catholic. During the summer each Catholic church takes a weekend (which lasts Thursday to Sunday) and has a festival or 'festa.' During these four days there is tons of food, dancing, music, a parade and mass. Money is raised for the church and people in the community come together to partake in the great activities.

Last year Alex was baby Jesus in the parade, and I tell you was the hit of the parade. This year Alex and Cierra were on the float of folk dancers dressed in traditional Portuguese folk dancing attire. Alex actually wore Paul's hat and sash that Paul wore as a child. After the parade Alex and Cierra performed with about 20 other children on stage doing some traditional Portuguese folk dancing. ADORABLE! It was very sweet and you better believe I got it on video!!

Even though Amelia was too little to participate in any of the events, she dressed the part and was so sweet in her outfit. She wore herself out running back and forth and watching all the events going on. Being an animal lover she was thrilled with all the livestock present.

One of the ways the church raises a lot of money is through an auction they have. The big ticket items at this auction are goats (like above) and cattle as well as Portuguese sweets and other random items. This year they were auctioning off some puppies and oh my, the kids fell in love with this dog. I was swayed for a moment because this dog had an awesome temperament. He was calm with all these kids petting him and when Alex sat down next to him he even laid his little head on Alex's lap. Alex really wanted to take him home but right now just isn't a good time for us to adopt a dog, maybe a little later down the road. He went home to a good place though, but I had to take one picture of Alex and Cierra with their little friend. Meanwhile, Amelia fell in love with a little Mini Pin and was even playing peek a boo with it! I am not sure how much longer we can deny these kids a dog....

Birthday bash

2009-08-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe I am the mother of an (almost) four year old child! We celebrated Alex's fourth birthday this weekend, even though his birthday isn't until August 18th. However, please don't tell Alex he isn't four yet or he will dissolve into tears. "I am a big kid now," he informs me on a daily basis.

Alex decided on dinosaurs for this year's party and this theme turned out quite cute. I loved his cake (and it tasted so delicious!) and he got lots of new dinosaur friends for his birthday. Although the favorite toy this year was a Bumblebee Transformer he'd been eying for quite some time now.

One of the best parts of birthday parties are the guests of course! Some special guests this time were Kimberlily and Baby Livy! We are always so glad to see them and it was so great this visit to watch Amelia and Olivia actually start playing together. I can just see the bond forming between them and growing stronger everyday. They would light up when the other would walk into the room. They had great fun this past weekend feeding each other, playing in the pool and just running around.

Cierra, our niece, also has been here this summer from Canada. Cierra and Alex have also been having a great time running around and getting into all sorts of trouble. My sister in law Cris has a CD of photos she is giving to me this coming weekend with lots of photos on it, but here are a couple I got this past weekend.

As I stated above, there are more photos to come after I get my hands on that CD, but I wanted to share a bit of the birthday festivities this past weekend! Alex has been recovering from all the excitement these past few days!

We were runnnn-ing.....

2009-08-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well my title is suppose to be a play on Forrest Gump (at least it sounded like it in my head...) Last weekend Paul and I were proud finishers of the Wharf to Wharf 6 mile run in beautiful Santa Cruz. The run takes you from the wharf/boardwalk of Santa Cruz, through the coast and ends on the wharf (get it, wharf to wharf) and beach of Capitola.

Now, this is a small little run with only 15,000 participants. Yes, that is correct, I said 15,000. I have done quite a few runs in my day and even particpated in some big runs but this out did it all. This is not the run to do if you have any issues of claustrophobia. It took us at least five minutes to get up to the start line after the gun shot went off to start off the run, and we were not at the back. It took at least another 5 minutes until we could even really get running, and then the road narrowed, so we walked some more, and finally it cleared up enough that we could really stretch our legs and get out there. We finished with the respectable time of 1:05, but taking off those 5 minutes it took us to get to the start line I say we did it in under a hour.

I was especially proud of Paul who had never done a run before. He was a great 'running buddy' and it was great doing this event with him. Paul had so much fun he declared this will be an annual thing for us - yeah! Now if you notice from the photo above, Paul is wearing a gold number. His bib number was one of only 100, out of 15,000, that was gold. Those 100 gold bib numbers were entered into a contest for a week's vacation in Hawaii. Alas, it did not happen for us though. Now I just need to talk Paul into the half marathon here in November...I think he can be talked into it.

After the run we took the kids over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Paul's parents and his sister. There was a lot to see and do there, but I think most of us enjoyed the jellyfish exhibit the best. I wouldn't want to run into one of these creatures in the open water, but to look at behind glass was pretty incredible. We will have to return for another visit very soon. As always it was no fun to return to the valley heat from the beautiful coast weather, which was cold and foggy. I always say that if I lived at the beach I would be in excellent shape because it is always a beautiful day to run over there!

You can pick your friends.....

2009-07-27T18:24:00.001-07:00

6 years ago, a great man passed away - my dad. He was funny, but with a very dry sense of humor. He was so smart it was intimidating, and he often used his intelligence in tangent with his sense of humor, making him a wonderfully unique person. He was a great dad, husband, son, brother, uncle and friend and is missed everyday. I often miss his little quips and tidbits of humor.

One of his favorite sayings was this:
You can pick your friends,
You can pick your nose,
But you can't pick your friends nose.

He used to say this all the time when I was a kid, and I would respond "Eeewwww, stop Dad!" Oddly enough, a month or so ago Amelia started using her nose as a place holder for her finger. I can assure you I did not teach her this, nor did Alex or Paul. I can only think it was my dad, in whatever spirit form one takes on after this life, teaching his granddaughter to do all those things I used to be so embarrassed of as a kid, and miss so much now as an adult. He would be so proud of his grand kids, and would be teaching them all sorts of horrible things. I miss you Dad.

A sudden loss

2009-07-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a tough one on my family. My 32 year old cousin, Jeremey, died suddenly on the morning of July 16th. His death was totally unexpected and has sent shock waves through everyone in our family, as well as his large group of friends. While I had not spoken to him in some time, as children we were close. Being an only child I feel especially close to all of my cousins.

Jeremey is the oldest son of my (paternal) Uncle Michael's three children. Jeremey's sister, Kimberlee, is like a sister to me and I spent a ton of time over at their house as a child swimming, eating ice cream and causing the usual trouble all kids cause. Jeremey was the oldest of all us cousins and we definitely looked up to him. Kim and I have remained close all these years and over the years she had kept me appraised of what Jeremey had been up to, I had hoped to see him at our next family event. I also didn't know Jeremey's daughter, Jasmine, as well as I would have liked. My heart breaks for her, losing a father at such a young age is a terrible thing. Jeremey had been a dedicated father to Jasmine since he and his first wife had divorced, taking full custody of Jasmine and dedicating himself to her well being.

I feel such sadness for a life ended too soon. My heart breaks for my Uncle Michael and Aunt Shari who are having to endure what no parent ever wants to experience, the loss of a child. And my cousins Kim and Paul have lost a sibling, a pain that I can only imagine is debilitating at moments. As I prepare to head up to Sacramento, to assist in anyway I can before Jeremey's funeral, I have been making sure to let my loved ones know how much I love them and giving my kids one extra hug and kiss in the morning - I would encourage you to do the same.

Kim and her big brother Jeremey.

Sun, sand and smiles

2009-07-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in Santa Cruz with my mom and her side of the family. I've said it before and I say it again - we are beach people. We belong at the beach, but our house and jobs haven't caught up with this line of thinking yet. We just love the beach, well at least Paul, Alex and I do. Amelia is still on the fence about it. Alex isn't thrilled about getting sandy but once his big cousins started running around he was all over it. Amelia however was not digging the sand and wanted nothing to do with it. She was okay as long as someone was holding her, but as soon as we tried to set her down on the sand she looked at us as if we had set her into a pit of snakes. After a little while she warmed up to the idea but as you see from the photo below, she was still making up her mind on whether she wants to be a beach baby!

Alex played so hard all weekend trying to keep up with his cousins who are almost 12 and 10. He had a blast building sand castles, digging holes and playing tackle football. My cousin's boys are such sweet kids and were quite gracious having Alex follow them around like a little shadow.

Getting to see my cousins and aunt is always great too. We hadn't seen them since our trip to Punta Cana this past March. Paul golfed with the guys and I caught up with Jessie and Ann. We all enjoyed some wine and good food, Jessie even busted out the magnum bottle of champagne she had gotten for her 21st birthday! Amelia was quite intrigued by it!

We had planned this beach trip several months ago but I had been dreading it a bit since Amelia doesn't travel long distances in the car very well. Alex is pretty easy, we just start up a DVD and he is good, but Amelia doesn't do DVD's yet and just wants out of her carseat the second she is put in it. We drove at night thinking she would sleep but she didn't....however it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and most importantly we arrived at point A and B safely!

We were all sad driving home last night but we can't be too sad, we are headed back to Santa Cruz in two weeks for the Wharf to Wharf run and a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Still, I miss that sea air already!

My new friend.....

2009-07-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

I just had to blog about my new friend, her name is Cricut and she rocks the house! My new Cricut scrapbooking machine arrived Tuesday and I was like a kid on Christmas morning opening up the package and checking out my new toy! I have only made a few projects so far and am still learning all the tricks on this machine, but it is damn impressive!

Here is a thank you card I made for my mom tonight. She paid for the kids swim lessons this year so I wanted something special to give her as a thank you (other than the fact that her grandkids are now a little bit safer in the pool). I got a cartridge for the machine that is all beach/water themed. The machine cut out the card and then I used it to cut out the little saying and scuba boy, cutting out additional colored pieces to layer the card and add color to the scuba diver and saying. I am sure to get a lot of use just out of this cartridge since we are off to the beach again this weekend!

4th of July weekend

2009-07-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

The smell of BBQ is in the air, the sound of kids splashing in the pool, and it is over a hundred degrees outside - must be 4th of July!! We spent the 4th at we do most years, hanging poolside at our house until mid-afternoon when we head over to Dave & Debbie's for dinner and good seats for the local high school's firework show. This year Amelia did not make it to see the firework show though so I watched it from the roof of Paul's truck (hence the tree to the left hand side of the above photo!)

We all worked up an appetite swimming all day, which is a good thing because we had quite a feast prepared! Paul used his smoker to smoke some ribs and I made Butterfinger ice cream in my ice cream machine. I also made this red, white and blue appetizer which was a big hit! It has blueberries, cranberries and brie cheese wrapped in a crescent roll. I decorated it with some cute out stars to make it extra festive for the holiday!

All the kids had a great time playing with each other. After swimming they ran around to kill time until it got dark enough for fireworks. Amelia loves to watch the kids, and actually all three kids are very sweet with her and include her as much as possible in their activities. She loved watching them run around and would stand there and laugh to herself as they ran around her.

The three older kids all looked especially cute in their patriotic outfits!

We also managed to get some cute family pics during the day as well....

When it was finally dark enough for the firework show it proved to be worth the wait! It was a great show and then we did a few little fireworks of our own. Alex was unsure about the Morning Glory's though!

All in all it was a happy and safe 4th of July! Hope everyone else out there had a happy and safe holiday as well!

Scrapping my time away....

2009-07-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

When Alex was 13 months old I finished his baby scrapbook documenting. All his special events were documented, starting with my pregnancy and then tracking all his special milestones. When I was done with it several people looked at it and said "Gee we feel sorry for your next kid because there is no way you will be able to do another book like this with two kids!"

Ah, this sounded like a challenge! Being an only child I don't have experiences with sibling rivalry but have heard about it from plenty of my friends and was determined that Amelia would have a baby scrapbook, and in a timely manner as well. Over this past year there have been several days where I would pack up all my stuff and haul off to either my scrapbook store here in Clovis or go down and scrapbook with Channone. And now....drumroll please....I am proud to announce that Amelia's baby scrapbook is done!!! And it was completed one week shy of her turning 14 months. I posted a couple of pages just for you to check out! I am very happy with the way it turned out and hope she will enjoy looking at it as she gets older. Alex already loves to look at "baby Alex" in his scrapbook.

I finished up Amelia's book two weeks ago when I went to visit my dear friend Channone and we went to a crop at her scrapbook store from 4 until midnight. I even managed to get a few other pages done for my 2008 scrapbook. Now I just need to finish 2008 and move onto 2009, since it is already half over! Argghh! Never enough hours in a day!

While at Channone's scrapbook store in Visalia I used the store's Cricut machine several times (for those of you who don't scrapbook out there, the Cricut is a very nice die cut machine that cuts out letters and shapes, really just about anything). I had used it a few times before, Channone's mom has one, and LOVE it. When I returned home I was showing Paul my pages that I had completed and how nice the Cricut had cut out letters and items for me. I was going on and on about how much I loved it. Somehow, catching Paul in a week moment perhaps, he agreed to let me buy one right now. I was hoping for a birthday present but like I said, must have caught him at a weak moment! I have ordered my machine and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival!!! Channone and I are attending a 12 hours crop in a few weeks (yes, I said 12 hours) and I hope to have more pages done to share with you soon!

To the coast, to the coast we go....

2009-06-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

What can you do when temperatures reach up to 109 degrees? Escape to the beach, and that is exactly what we did this past weekend. Paul and I headed back up to Sea Ranch with our good friends Dave and Debbie to enjoy some nice weather and relaxing times. However, the kids did not go due to the loooooong drive (8 hours door to door) so they had to endure the heat. I know, I know - bad mommy and daddy!

Although it is a long drive it was quite entertaining since we took one car after Turlock and had some interesting conversations. On the course of the drive to and from multiple celebrities died so that gave us much to talk about (RIP Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Billie Mays). We also stopped at this great little lodge on the way up that had incredible views outside and a great bar and fireplace inside!
Paul and Dave goofing around outside the resort...it was freezing!

Dave and Debbie enjoying some wine...

Me and my favorite guy....

We finally got to Sea Ranch around 8 that night and as soon as we pulled onto the road up to my mom's house there was a little family of deer and this one posed and let me take some photos of him or her!

The next day we hung out, went into town for the best Bloody Mary's EVER and oh yeah, had food along with it. That afternoon the guys golfed while Debbie and I watched some movies and read. Very relaxing. Saturday Paul and Dave did some work around the house. Dave was nice enough to do some yard work while Paul fixed the wood box that had rotted through.

After the boys were done Paul and I took Dave and Debbie down on a hike to the Hot Spot. I talked about this on my last Sea Ranch post and it is quite a steep trek but so beautiful. Paul & I took our picnic backpack and packed up some wine and sandwhiches for us to enjoy once we arrived at the bottom. Of course we worked them off climbing back up!

We had great food, great wine and great company all weekend. It was horrible driving back into the heat. We stopped in Bodega Bay for a lunch with our family friends who were lucky enough to be heading up to the coast for the week! We had a great lunch with them but then had to face the valley heat. As we drove back into the valley we watched the thermometer in Paul's car go up and up to 110 degrees! If it wasn't for missing those beautiful children of mine I may have just had Paul turn the car around! But the kids had missed us, even though they had a great time with their grandparents. Both were extra cuddly and gave us lots of love when we picked them up!
Now we just need to get through this very warm week, but at least it is a short week!!

A very special day....

2009-06-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Daddy, I Love You
Daddy, I love you
For all that you do.
I'll kiss you and hug you
'Cause you love me, too.

You feed me and need me
To teach you to play,
So smile 'cause I love you
On this Father's Day.
-Author Unknown

It's Father's Day!!! The kids and I woke up this morning and cooked Paul a special father's day breakfast of bacon, eggs and cinnamon rolls - and coffee of course! The kids each gave Paul his card and his present was a new bbq smoker which he has been wanting as well as the 2010 Tiger Woods golf game for the Wii. I also bought him a tri tip that we can make for dinner tonight so he can try out his father's day gift. Good for all of us!

I do want to take a minute to say how lucky I feel everyday to have such a wonderful husband and father. Paul is much more patient with both kids than I am and really has embraced fatherhood. He gives so much to our kids and makes our little family feel loved and safe everyday. So thank you my love for all that you do!

Father's day is a sad day for me as well though since I cannot spend the day with my father. We used to have very relaxed days to celebrate father's day when my dad was alive because that was what he would enjoy most, and then we would cook a nice dinner. I miss my dad everyday, but especially today.

It just so happens that Father's Day also fell on our wedding anniversary this year. We aren't doing much today to celebrate since we are going up to Sea Ranch with good friends next weekend. Today is our actual 'wedding' anniversary, the day we had our big wedding. Our April 20th wedding anniversary is our 'legal' anniversary day. I am so luck to have two days of anniversaries to celebrate! Since this is our 6th year the gifts are suppose to be wood, so Paul got his smoker and I am finally going to get either a bench or table for our entry way. Happy 6th anniversary Paul, I love you more and more each day!!

Sibling love

2009-06-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was trying to decide what to do for this week's blog post and was going through pictures for ideas, as well as to find pictures to scrapbook and I discovered a lot of cute pictures of Alex and Amelia. I found some cute recent ones, as this one above and some older ones. I am sure anyone that has more than two kids had to field the question of "how does [insert older child's name here] like his/her baby sister/brother?" I feel incredibly fortunate that Alex has loved Amelia since the day she came home.

Now, I said day she came home. Alex was pretty stoked when I was pregnant because his best friend Bridget had recently become a big sister to Baby Courtney, who was an adorable baby. Then we had a 3D ultrasound done and he saw the pictures of Amelia. He looked me straight in the eye and said "I don't want an orange baby, I want a baby sister like Courtney!" We promised him up and down that when Amelia arrived she would not be orange but he was very unsure of things. The day I had Amelia, Alex slowly crept up to my hospital bed and confirmed that Amelia was in fact not orange and looked normal. So, the love of baby sister began. Alex actually never calls Amelia by her name, only Baby Sister or Sissy.

Here is a picture of Alex brushing her hair when she is only a few weeks old just like she is a little doll:

Alex has also been fascinated with putting he and Sissy into boxes and baskets. This started early and continues to this day....

I know Paul was relieved we had a boy first and then a girl so that Alex could always look out for Amelia as she gets older. Of course I have also pointed out that this means she will probably try to date his friends as well....but he just ignores me when I say that. Amelia does look up to Alex so much and copies him all the time. Last weekend when Alex was "fixing" something with his tools Amelia grabbed a hammer and started helping him.

When I look at Alex and Amelia playing (nicely, because they do have their moments trust me!) I think of the lyrics from a great Dave Matthew's song: "Lean upon me, I'll lean upon you and we'll be okay."

Brand new shoes!

2009-06-07T20:32:00.001-07:00

Now that Amelia is walking everywhere, I decided it was time to take her into Stride Rite for her first shoe fitting. Of course by doing this I outraged my husband who was quite upset at the thought of spending $50 on shoes for a 13 month old who will outgrow them in a couple of months. His feelings - kids everywhere have survived on $10 baby shoes and walk straight as adults. My feelings - it is important to get them fitted correctly the first time to see if their feet have anything special needs going on and to make sure they get a great fit. I won in the end, but my mom was also nice enough to step up and offer to pay for the first pair (I may have guilted her into it a little too by reminding her she paid for Alex's first pair...details, details).

Amelia was sweet as pie at the shoe store and I was thrilled that the same kind, patient woman that fit Alex for his first pair was working and helped us this time as well. Amelia was very intrigued as her feet were measured and she tried on several sets of shoes. Unfortunately, my daughter has been blessed and cursed at the same time with narrow feet like me. Blessed that they are going to be lovely slim feet, cursed for Paul and I that we will be continuing to buy shoes at Stride Rite since she will need narrow fit shoes.

After we found a pair that fit properly we got her up to walk and wouldn't you know it, my daughter suddenly forgot how to walk. She could not figure out how to take a step in those shoes. Luckily the very nice sales woman helped her and even took some pictures of Amelia in her new shoes! So for all of you out there, $50 at Stride Rite will buy you baby's first pair of shoes and also a little card with their picture on it!

While us girls were shopping at the mall, Alex and Paul were busy at home. Paul worked on mounting our flat panel television up on our bedroom wall and is starting the work to hide all the wires. After he finishes that he will start painting our room a grey/blue color I have picked out. Every single room in our house has been carefully decorated except for our bedroom, so I decided after 3 years of living in this house it was time to spruce it up a little.

Alex, forever Daddy's little helper, took it upon himself to get his tools and fix the baby gate hinges at the top of the stairs that had broken this week. I LOVE these photos of him because it shows how concentrated he was on fixing these brackets. He will make a wonderful husband one day!

Tomorrow both kids start swim lessons at Amy Morris Swim School, so I am sure to have good stories to share soon!

Amelia is walking!!!!

2009-05-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

Yes you heard it correctly, at 13 months, Amelia is mobile. She has been tentatively taking steps here and there the past few weeks but yesterday and today has really put it all together and now regularly takes 7-10 steps at a time. I finally managed to catch it on camera and video too which makes me happy. I love it when babies first learn to walk, that lovely drunken sailor walk which is just too cute! Amelia is very proud of herself and thinks she is quite clever.

Olivia has also been teaching Amelia some fun things. Amelia is now using a sippy cup and working on feeding herself better. In return, Amelia has been role modeling how to walk and Olivia took her first step today in our kitchen!!!! We were all very excited to witness her first step. The girls have been having a great time playing together.

As usual Alex has been very good with both girls and excited to have Olivia and Kim here visiting. He was up in Amelia's room today trying to read the girls a book and he looked so sweet I had to catch him reading "Goodnight Moon" to them.

We get to keep Kim and Olivia until Monday so we hope to have another fun day with them tomorrow. Stay posted for more pictures! :)

Sea Ranch Weekend

2009-05-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

We are back from the coast, and back to the Valley heat. When I left the beach this morning I was wearing Uggs and a sweatshirt over my outfit, now I am in a tank and flip flops. Needless to say, we very much enjoyed our weekend away where the high was 60 all weekend and in the morning we were greeted by a view of the ocean while sipping our coffee. Paul and I haven't had a weekend to ourselves in several months and it was really nice to reconnect as a couple and spend some time relaxing. That also included catching up on some much needed sleep!!!

BUT, it wasn't all fun and games. The beach house up at Sea Ranch was much in need of some TLC so Paul and I earned our keep this weekend. Due to the mild climate at the coast some beautiful flowers grow well over there.....

but things also GROW LIKE CRAZY!! We took advantage of a once a year pick up Sea Ranch has of green waste and cleaned up my mom's garden. Here are some before and after shots of our hard work!

BEFORE

AFTER

Another view of BEFORE

AFTER

And this was the pile we left for the pick up!

Each day we did a few hours of work in the garden but also explored a little bit more. I have been going up to Sea Ranch since I was in 7th grade and my parents bought their house there 10 years ago, but what I love about Sea Ranch is that there really is a lot to explore and do! For instance, there is this beautiful chapel there that is very tiny and artistic that we drive past every time but never stop and go in. So - this time we did and I snapped a few great shots.

This is a close up picture of one of the beautiful windows in the chapel:

One of the times Paul & I went up to visit my parents in Sea Ranch my dad took us on this great hike to a little place called "The Hot Spot," named because the trail follows the San Andreas Fault line. It is a really steep hike, but the reward is a beatiful, serene picnic area. When we did this hike with my parents and Grandmother it was tough! I specifically remember half pulling my mother up the trail in the end... Paul and I didn't picnic there but we did go down there to check it out and take some pictures. Next time we take our friends with us though we plan on making them do the hike with us!!!

There are some amazingly tall Redwood trees down at the Hot Spot. I got a picture with one of them and also took one of Paul next to a tree trunk that they dated to be almost a thousand years old!

We also visited the 'neighborhood' winery that is just 7 miles up the road from the beach house. This is somewhat of a tradition for us when we go up there, got to support those little wineries!

Keeping in tune of doing different and new things we stopped at Bodega Bay on the way back and Paul finally took a picture with the Portuguese Beach sign we pass every time. He is so proud....

Meanwhile our kids had a great weekend with the grandparents. They were spoiled and had a great time. Amelia is now up to taking 5 steps!!! And Alex was a very good boy all weekend. Here are some recent photos of them:

Hope you all had a fun and safe weekend as well! Now back to the daily grind!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

2009-05-22T12:10:00.001-07:00

I have gotten so behind in my blogging with work, family and resuming my teaching duties with University of Phoenix this past week. I promise to post some new photos and stories once we return from Sea Ranch on Monday. Paul and I are very excited to spend a weekend together up at the coast and the kids will have a great time, as always, at Grandma & Grandpa's house.

I had hoped to give you a link to our photographer's website with Amelia's 1 year photos, but they aren't up yet. The photo session didn't go as well as other sessions, but Jamie did manage to capture some cute photos of Amelia. As soon as the sneak peek is up I will post the link.

Wishing you all a happy and safe weekend!

Happy Mommy Day!!!

2009-05-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

Wishing all of you wonderful Mommy's out there a happy, special Mother's Day! My wonderful munchkins and husband treated me to a relaxing day here at home, which is exactly what I needed after a busy couple of weekends. They also gave me a gift certificate to the spa to continue my relaxation - pefect!

Looking at my beautiful children today I can't help but think of last Mother's Day when Amelia was just a teeny tiny newborn. I cannot believe how much she has grown in this past year, as has Alex who is becoming a unique little person.

Through the woods to Nana's house we go.....

2009-05-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

I am a bad daughter, cousin and friend, let's just get that out there. I have not been up to Sacramento to visit my mom since last July. Of course I see her all the time, but haven't been up to Sacramento for a visit in almost a year. This weekend in honor of Olivia turning one we made the three hour trek up Hwy 99 to Sacramento. Luckily we were able to break up the trip a little by staying overnight in Turlock Friday night and then heading out again Saturday morning. Three hours isn't such a long trip but with a 1 yr old and 3 yr old it can be an eternity. The kids did pretty well, but it still seemed longer than three hours.

As always it was great seeing my cousin Kim. Of all the things I miss about Sacramento she is who I miss the most. We've been such good friends since we were little kids and now that we have daughters only 6 days apart we are even closer.

Being that Kim and Olivia are so important to me I definitely couldn't miss Olivia's first birthday!! My beautiful niece (I know she isn't technically my niece but she calls me Aunt Corinne) was looking super cute for her first, cupcake themed, birthday party. Amelia and Olivia still don't quite know what to make of each other but played together a little bit. Amelia just preferred climbing up on top of Olivia's toys....that girl is such a climber!

Olivia, of Livy as she is called, dove into her cake not quite as quickly as Amelia but still did an excellent job of getting it everywhere which is the way it needs to be on a first birthday.

We also all devourted cupcakes from this amazing bakery named something like "Icing on the Cupcake." They had red velvet cupcakes and cookies and creme as well as other very inventive flavors. Kim said she doesn't have a single one left over everyone loved them so much.

After all the partygoers left Kim and I had some wine and got to catch up. We continued on until this morning when my mom made us all breakfast at her place. We stopped by to see my grandma on our way out of town who is doing great after her hip replacement surgery - up walking without a cane!!

Thanks Mom and Kim for a great weekend, I promise it won't be a year before I return again!!!

You CAN have your cake and eat it too!

2009-04-26T19:21:00.001-07:00

Is there anything better at a baby's first birthday party than watching them eat their cake? Ah, baby's first sugar! I had a feeling Amelia would dive right in and she sure did! So far we haven't found any food she doesn't like and she sure does love cake. Or actually frosting to be more accurate. After I put her hand in the frosting and she tasted it she just went for it...!

Even though she really had no clue what was going on and that this major celebration was in her honor, I think she had a good time at her birthday party. Alex had a blast with his friends bouncing in the bounce house and hitting down the most indestructible pinata I have ever seen. This thing would not burst open, Paul ended up just free falling it from the balcony up above.

Amelia looked darling in her tutu I had gotten for her. She even struck some ballerina like poses for me!

It was a really nice day and I was so happy that so many friends and family came down to celebrate this milestone with us. My mom was down of course and Grandma and Grandpa Toy also made the three hour drive! Amelia is certainly loved! She also got some beautiful clothes and fun new toys (Mommy is excited about the clothes). Her favorite new toys so far have been a toy piggy bank and teapot set.

Once again I want to wish my beautiful little girl a happy 1st birthday! You are a one of a kind cutie pie that is for sure! We love you so much!

Amelia is one!!!

2009-04-23T19:38:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to my baby girl!! I can't believe that she is already one. I still remember holding my sweet girl one year ago after my c-section. She was extra clingy today which I thought was to make me feel guilty for going into work on her birthday (which worked really well!) I bought her a special birthday girl shirt to wear today. We aren't doing anything really special today since her big party is this Saturday. I can't wait to see her eat her first birthday cake! This morning I took this really sweet picture of her holding her Teletubby LaLa that she loves to much! Stay tuned for some messy cake pictures!