Vegas, Baby!

Mommy and Daddy had a great get away to Vegas this weekend! Friday we dropped the kids off at the Calagnas and made our way to the Wynn. Despite worrying about Isabella because she was sick, we had so much fun. We did our favorites: Sushi, Steak house, Hash House (oh wait, that all includes food!!), Piano bar, gambling and shopping! It was nice to sleep in, take long showers and take time to get ready. It was fun to look through racks to find good deals (something I never get to do), spend quality time with my husband, not have to navigate through the strip with a stroller and people watch. But of course we missed those little smiling faces and it is awesome to be back home with them today! Hope everyone had a fun weekend! xo

Open House!

Isabella had a great time showing us around her classroom on Wednesday night and all of the work she completed. She was so excited that she could hardly wait until Dad got home and we ate dinner. It was so sweet. I love how proud she is of her work and look forward to watching her grow!

Lord, Help Me!

Do you ever find yourself saying something over and over throughout the day? Well for me, I always find myself saying, under my breath, "Lord, Help Me". I am not being sarcastic. I am actually asking Him to help me. I am asking for some patience and guidance. In my house, I try to enforce the "play with one thing, put it back when you are done, play with another thing" rule and that seems to work for us. Until there are visitors. When there are visitors, the kids know that goes out the window and they ransack everything! So when I went upstairs yesterday and saw this mess, I said, "Lord, Help Me!"

Finales!

It is FINALES week in our house, folks! We already did Survivor (YEA Boston Rob!)...Sunday was Celebrity Apprentice (YEA John Rich!)...Last night was part 1 of Dancing with the Stars; tonight part 2 AND part 1 of American Idol!! All our TV is ending. Modern Family also has their season finale this week. Chris and I won't know what to do with ourselves until Big Brother starts this summer!

This is Isabella and myself all set for Dancing last night! I remembered that I took a similar picture last year and here it is! Last year I gave my shout out to Lee Dewyze on American Idol. This year...I actually love them both. GO Scotty and Lauren!! And my hope is for Hines Ward and Kym Johnson to win Dancing tonight!

Bit of a reality TV nut?! I would say so!

Awkward!

I have to admit, I was worried about the Rapture. Most of me knew that it was unlikely...that no one knows the day or the hour except God. BUT, it still got to me. Yes I know that I am on the right side and that my family and I would all meet in Heaven, but it was the thought of missing out on life and it was being scared how it would exactly come to an end. 30 minutes 'til 6 o' clock I told Chris, "The World is going to end in Half an Hour"....He laughed and said, "NO, it was East Coast time"! Hallelujah!!!!! I didn't have to worry about that anymore and I missed the point in time where I would have been SUPER scared. Thank you God for more time on this beautiful earth. And isn't this billboard hilarious!?

Happy Birthday Uncle Nick!

Happy 31st Birthday to Uncle Nick! We went to a yummy BBQ yesterday at the Calagnas' house to celebrate. Uncle Nick is such a blessing to this family. The kids just adore him and of course love getting rides on the back of his wheel chair... Isabella started that when she was super little! Have a great day today celebrating Nick...We love you!

Birthday + Banquet

I turned 32 yesterday and what an ODD day it turned out to be! I woke up to traditional birthday toast (except this year my Hubby knew I was on a diet and made me egg whites with a candle) and coffee! But we soon found out that Vincent was sick. I stayed home through the day with a throwing up little boy. He never had a fever, but anything he drank came up a while later. So I read, watched a Roseanne marathon, and did a couple things around the house. I knew Isabella had a Softball Banquet at Chuck e Cheese, however I thought it was at 6:30. I thankfully text Coach Kristy at 4:00 confirming the time and she said, "NO, 4:30!" Oops! The plan was for Chris to come home and watch Vincent since he was sick and I would take Isabella. But I woke the Bubs up and we changed Isabella quickly and off we went! With only 1 quick turn around because I got a text to wear her jersey top. HaHa! 20 minutes late was not too bad considering it was in Diamond Bar. Anyhow, the kids had a great time at Chuck as did I playing Ski Ball and Basketball. Isabella got a trophy which she is thrilled about. The coaches gave very nice speeches to her regarding her hard work and improvement with encouragement to come back next season!

When we got home Chris was already making a yummy dinner complete with Birthday cake! Isabella set the table how she wanted and everything turned out awesome.  Chris wrote me a beautiful birthday card. And well, the day ended just as I would have wanted....with the 3 loves of my life.

32, YIKES!

Yesterday afternoon, we met the family at Rain Forest cafe to celebrate my birthday and also my Mom's birthday. Again, how blessed I am to have these people to call my family! They have showered me with so much love...

Last Sweet Stuff game!

Saturday morning bright and early, Miss Isabella got kidnapped by her Coaches to have a yummy breakfast at Denny's before the last ball game. She decided she was going to be independent and go without Mommy...what a special treat for her! We then met up at Big League Dreams to watch the last Sweet Stuff game and Isabella again got 2 hits off Coach Pitch. She has grown so much over the season and I am thrilled she got to play with Coach Kristy & Coach Jose & Coach Brian :) Now to talk her into playing next season. She has moved on to wanting to play Soccer in the fall!

In case you were wondering if Vincent is truly a boy, I think these pictures should be proof enough. This is how he spent his time while "Sissy go Baseball" (as Vincent says)! When it comes to him, I let it all go. I would have never been this way with Isabella. But if he wants to wear boots and jeans every day, I let him. If he wants to play in the dirt and be a huge mess, why not?! What little boy wouldn't want to make tracks in dirt with his cars? Too funny! Clothes, hands, faces....they wash! Look at the look of concentration in the top picture.

So In Love...

I am so in love with these pictures that my Mom and Dad bought for Isabella. They found them at the Jazz Festival in Texas a few weeks ago. Aren't they adorable, and SO Miss Bella?! They are charcoal drawings and signed by the artist. One of them says "Part-Time Ballerina" (with the Ballet shoes over the shoulder) and the other "Full Time Cowgirl" (with the Ballet shoes on the floor)! It took me about 2 seconds to have those hanging in her room! I JUST LOVE THEM! Thanks Pop and Gram!

Grandmother's Birthday!

Yesterday was my wonderful, beautiful Mother's 63rd Birthday!! We headed to lunch after school, followed by a trip to the Mall and then family dinner. We had a wonderful time and were so happy to spend the day with Grammy!! She is the BEST!!!!!!

Heroes

Mr. Vincent Guy comes up with words that Mommy doesn't even know that he knows! Yesterday in his Happy Meal he ran up to me and said, "MOMMY! I got HEROES!!!!". He was so excited to get 3 little action heroes that he couldn't stand it. He had to play with them all day and sleep with them last night. Every time he says the word, it makes me smile! Very appropriate that his pajamas say "Mommy's Hero"!

And I do believe that Sissy is one of Vincent's "HEROES"...he wants to be like her in everything she does. Last night he sat by her at the counter and said to me, "I do my HOMEWORK, Mom". It makes Isabella so happy to know that someone looks up to her and wants to be like her.... for now!

Cute Little China Girl!

Yesterday was Isabella's Kindergarten performance...Songs and Dances from Around the World. She has been practicing at home for weeks and they had a pretty rough schedule of getting to school at 8am a few days last week and this week. I told her that was getting her prepared for 1st grade. She had a speaking part and was part of the China fan dance. Don't you love her costume? Our favorite song the class sang was "It's a Wonderful World"! She had a wonderful cheering section (all the grandparents + Daddy + Bubs + Uncle Nick) and she made sure to thank everyone for making the special effort to take off work and come :) Great job Miss Isabella Rose!

Mother's Day!

We had a fabulous Mother's Day!

When we woke up in the morning, Daddy got our kids out of bed and we all cuddled. It was the best as we decided we have the most wonderful family and those little smiles and laughs melt our hearts! Isabella couldn't wait for me to come downstairs and get the presents she had picked out for me when she went out with Daddy the day before! She got me pink roses (which she says are the 'color of love'), kitty slippers, candles, and a Mother's notepad. She was so excited that she picked out everything herself, which of course made the presents mean that much more to me. I am totally rocking my kitty slippers all the time now...They are SO BELLA!

Our family then came over for brunch. They are all so awesome...we had such a great time visiting and sharing the special day. And I won't mention ALL we had to eat and drink! I used my Desert Rose dishes which made Alice and Mom both tear up. These dishes came from my Grandma Piraino and Chris' Grandma Katherine. My Mom says she thinks some even came from my Great-Grandma. How cool is that?! We also celebrated Taylor's 16th birthday!!!

Finished up the day by playing some Mexican Train, catching up on our DVR and relaxing.

HAPPY MOTHER's DAY!

Friends!!

Isabella's friend Kendal is over playing today! She is such a sweetheart and the girls are having so much fun playing checkers, playing American Girls, watching movies, and being silly. Little Brother is sleeping, which is adding to the peace since he is not pestering the girls. It is hard to believe Kindergarten is almost over and 1st grade awaits!
  

You asked for it...

I really couldn't help myself taking so many pictures (no wonder I get a bad wrap); there were so many fun times to take pictures of while on Vacation! We played in the snow, ate, relaxed, watched movies, read (I read 2 books and finished a 3rd on Monday), drove around the lake, shopped and played in the snow some more. The scenery was just amazing! If there is anything to make you feel at peace, it is to be outside breathing in fresh air surrounded by God's beauty! It made me want to own a little log cabin in Lake Tahoe to go every winter and summer...maybe someday!

After our time in Lake Tahoe was up, we decided to drive to a little town called Mariposa about 30 minutes outside of Yosemite. It was a super quaint and old town. We drove into Yosemite the next morning and saw more of the most amazing sights...we got so close to a waterfall that we were getting poured on...it was SO COOL! If you look closely in the one family picture Vincent is crying and Isabella is freezing to death (but what an experience that we were not expecting it, or we would have dressed accordingly)! We finally took the long drive home....

Yesterday as we were driving Vincent says, "I want to go play in the snow!"...then he looked up, pointed to the mountains and said, "I FOUND IT...SNOW!". So happy my children had a wonderful time and will be able to look back on all of these pictures some day!!

Creative

I was being creative this afternoon. I needed a new wreath for my door and using materials I already had, I came up with this. I am in love with burlap and everything matched perfectly with my red Mary Engelbreit garden flag I have out front...blogged about here last year on May 1st...too funny that it was a year almost to the day!

10 Things to Smile About...

Wasn't there so much to smile about in April? The month went by SO fast!

Here are my 10 things to smile about (no particular order)...

1. Jesus Christ dying on the Cross
2. Rising into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of his Father
3. Easter baskets + Easter egg hunts
4. Bunny cake making
5. Girls' dinner to celebrate Bianca + Teren
6. CSUF softball game
7. Heaven is for Real - book
8. Isabella's first field trip
9. Perfect family vacation to Lake Tahoe & Yosemite + watching the kids faces sledding and throwing snow balls.
10. Finding peace in all of God's wonder

Easter 2011 Festivities

Here are our lovely pictures from Easter.

On Friday after school (1st collage), we colored Easter eggs. The kids had so much fun painting and coloring! Love them in Popi's old tshirts. I let them get completely messy and thankfully, the stain wasn't as bad to get out as we thought!

On Saturday (2nd collage) it was time to make our annual bunny cake! We had two extra little hands helping us this year! He was super in to pouring the ingredients in and decorating with jelly beans.

Easter Morning (3rd collage), the kids had much fun checking out what the Easter bunny left in their baskets. Mainly things to use on vacation. Isabella was super excited that the bunny knew she LOVES Barbie!

These last two collages are of our Easter dinner at Grammy and Popi's house and the always fun Easter egg hunt!! Doesn't Isabella look so grown up? She was so excited about her high heels she was wearing. And, Vincent wouldn't wear his Easter shoes...had to be fire-boots!

What a glorious day of celebration!

  

Couldn't be more behind!

On cleaning,organizing, grocery shopping, exercising blogging, life....

I feel so behind! Catching up after vacation is HARD!

I thought I left the house semi-clean,but it turns out every surface is just disgusting since we also left the morning after Easter. I am behind on my blogging with so much to share. I am in the negative on my weight loss. Behind on my exercising. Behind on my grocery shopping. Behind on my 'family' schedule...and May is such a busy month. Lord, help me!

BUT I would never change our time away. We had an amazing time as a family and making those memories with my children & husband is one of those things I will always cherish. With being behind on all of this, you think I would be motivated...however, I am still in vacation mode and all I want to do is finish a book I downloaded and read more of the series!!

I will catch you all up shortly...Already working on my Easter collages...Love to you all, friends!