Memorial Day 09

Memorial day was spent in the company of family, friends, and good food :) We BBQ'd burgers, hot dogs and I made my wave your flag cheesecake that the hubby likes very much. We all hung out and played Rock band. It was also our first Memorial Day in our new home. I love making new memories with my family. This was very special for us.

Making my usual "Wave your flag cheesecake" Its a staple in our family for Memorial Day and 4th of July!

The guys were totally concentrating on their song lol

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was spent in our new home and it was very special for us because we hosted Easter in our new home. We had my brother, his fiancee, my best friend. and my dad and his gf came over. I spent all morning cleaning up and getting ready for our company. I made a batch of cupcakes and some yummy potato salad. Hubs got out of work early and helped with the BBQ.

This was my Easter set up along with my cupcake centerpiece :)
The kids were given Easter baskets by my brother and his fiancee and my dad and his gf.

These are Christina's baskets

These are Carlos's baskets

My brother and Elsa hid eggs everywhere for the kids and then it was time for them to find them. They had a blast looking for them and loved the surprises they found inside of them!

I hope everyones Easter was as fun as ours! A great time was had by all!

Let The Egg Hunting Begin.....

Our Saturday morning before Easter began with taking a trip to little C's school for an Easter egg hunt for the community. We walked all the way to his school and back. A total of 3 miles! It was definitely good exercise :D When we got there we found many kids just as ready as my kids to find eggs and have a great time. They had an awesome set up. Kids ages 0-2 in one, kids 3-5 in another, and Elementary school kids were 30 min after the little kids. I was a little worried because this was Chris's first time egg hunting and unfortunately the group she was in (ages 3-5) had to look for eggs without the company of their parent. She had just seen Dora the explorer on TV the day before so I reminded her to just look for the eggs just like Dora did. She just answered with "OK mommy" and eagerly awaited everyone to do the countdown to begin

As the countdown began....my worries quickly went away because it turns out my child is a pro at egg hunting and as soon as the countdown hit 1 off she went to find her some eggs!

She ran around the whole park and came back with a basket full of eggs! She made her mama proud. Inside the eggs were coupons that could be redeemed for prizes and both her and her brother came back with lots of coupons that were found inside their eggs.

Next it was her brothers turn. He was in the elementary group and when the countdown came for them. They all took off and it was really funny because unlike the younger kids, the older kids cleaned up within minutes! It was really funny to watch, its like they would migrate from spot to spot all at the same time. He did really good as well and came back with a bag full of eggs.

The kids then went and redeemed their coupons and got some awesome prizes. They had tons of fun and were very excited. It was awesome to see the community come together and put something like this together. We will definitely doing this again next year :D

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was spent with friends and family. Christmas Eve was spent making cheesecake and preparing Enchiladas for our dinner with my mom and brother. Tradition in our home is that we spend the day cooking on Christmas eve and at midnight we open up presents. A tradition that our little one's love because it means they get to stay up with the grownups. This year we were lucky to have alot of friends over. :)

I couldnt get a good picture of our tree, but this was the best I could do. The kids were super excited to see all of the presents out for them.

My sis in law decorated again and she did a great job. I love the red all over the house :) Christina was bent on keeping her pj's until close to midnight and almost like clockwork she had me change her into her "princess" right before midnight. She had a ton of fun showing off her dress to all our guests.

The kids were anxious for the clock to strike midnight and as soon as it did. They went for it.

The grownups had fun opening up some presents as well :)

My hubby got me the best present ever for Xmas. I had been raving about a show on HBO that is based on The Southern Vampire Series aka The Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris that he surprised me on Christmas by getting me the books. I was beyond thrilled. I am already on book four of the series :)

We all ate dinner (chicken and cheese enchiladas) and had a great time. Christmas is a time when I am really thankful for my family. They mean the world to me. I was glad to have everyone with me this Christmas. My brother, my soon to be sis in law, my best friend, my hubby's friends. It is a blessing to have family. I am one lucky lucky girl :)

A day with my boy

I had never taken any sort of long vacation during the holidays. So I decided to take some time off from work. I spent lots of time with my little ones which was great! We baked and spent lots and lots of quality time together

I had always wanted to try painting pottery with little C and one thing or another would come up and we were unable to go. I decided my vacation was the perfect time to go paint pottery with him and we had a great time. So we woke up, grabbed some Starbucks and headed to Petroglyph in Willog Glen and painted.

I grabbed some coffee and little C grabbed some hot chocolate and we walked down the street to paint.

When we arrived we looked through the selection of things to paint. There are tons and I mean TONS of things to choose from. Los decided on a penguin bank and I (being the big coffee drinker that I am) decided on a coffee mug. Then we let our creativity do its thang! :P

I of course started taking pictures of everything rather than paint and when I looked at my painter. He was busy doing this:

He was so into it and was totally concentrating on his bank "Penguito".

I was havin a good time painting as well. :)

One of the workers was even nice enough to take pictures of us and our art.

I had such an awesome time with little C that I promised him we would do this again. I can totally see myself coming here with my kids again and I will :) The time just flew and I had a great time with my little man.

Oh and before I forget...our end result....behold mom and little C's creations. Yes I know you want one now too :P

Thanksgiving 2008

This year Thanksgiving was hosted at my mom's house. We had a huge thanksgiving feast with my brother, his fiancee, the kids and my mom. There was delicious food, with awesome company. I couldnt have asked for anything better.

Elsa decorated our tables as well as made little pumpkin tea light holders. That girl is very creative and everything looked awesome!

I made Chocolate vanilla swirl cheesecake and I was really pleased with the outcome! C loves cheesecake so I like to make it on special occasions for him and for the family.

Dinner was delicious. We were all full and ready for a nap afterwards :D

I am thankful for having my family, my kids, and my loving husband. It makes every day better for me knowing they are there for me.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!