A "Frozen" 4th birthday and what we've been up to

With life being as crazy as it is, I have been doing a terrible job on keeping updated with what has been going on. We have had lots of things going on lately, and will continue too as the rest of the year pans out.

Our big girl on her first day of Pre-K, holding a photo of her on the first day of Preschool last year. I didn't think she had grown THAT much until I looked at the first photo and realized she was shorter than the doorknob. Now she's to the deadbolt!

One major thing that happened was Amelia turning 4! It's hard to believe that four years has already gone by so quickly, and that next fall our "little baby girl" will be starting kindergarten. You don't realize how quickly time goes by until you have children, and you watch them grow up in a blink of an eye. Amelia was very specific when I asked her what type of party she wanted this year, and as i'm sure all little girls have been requesting she asked for a "Frozen" one. I absolutely adore this movie and had so many fun ideas (thanks pinterest) to what we could do. We decided to have the party at our local park, which made for lots of entertainment for the kids. There is a bunch of different playgrounds as well as a small water park. And seeing as how August tends to be pretty warm around here, the water park was a big hit.

One of the biggest hits of the party was the arrival of Elsa herself! Amelia got super shy when she first saw her, but slowly warmed up after a little bit. Elsa sang along with the kids and even made every child their own balloon animal. She was worth every penny, especially seeing how excited all the kids got to see her. She even did a "coronation" ceremony where Amelia got a special necklace and tiara to commemorate her big day, and Elsa also gave my dad a special necklace because his birthday was also that day!

(Some of the party decorations that me and my bestie Marie set up)

The coronation for my dad!

What a ham my chunky little boy is

And this photo because it makes me laugh every time I see it.

Overall ever second of prep work and every penny spent was worth it. And little miss is already requesting to have a Cinderella themed birthday next year so I will obviously have to get to work on that.

In other news, the husband has been spending a lot of his time busy at work and I have spent most of my time chasing after both munchkins. Amelia is still in preschool 3 days a week so I try to use the time she's there to get other things done (aka going grocery shopping with only 1 child.) This has gotten remarkably more difficult lately as Ben has all of a sudden decided that he despises going in to any and every store we need to. We have been experiencing a lot of screaming and breakdowns in public, and it makes everyday tasks that should normal be pretty easy turn into a big disaster. I'm really hoping and praying it's just a phase he is going through, but in the meantime we are just trying to work through the tears and be productive. 

We have also been planning for some upcoming vacations that are much needed and that we are all desperately looking forward to. Next week we will be taking a weekend trip to Yosemite, which I am really excited about because I've never actually been there. I have heard that the area is gorgeous and that there is lots to see around the area. The Luciano's are supposed to be coming with us too, so that will make it much more fun having other people to enjoy it with! =)

Next month we also have a trip planned to visit Honolulu for a week! This will be Ben's first time on an airplane so I'm hoping that everything goes smoothly. In case it doesn't, I think i'm going to pack lots of earplugs for our fellow passengers. My sister in law is also going with us which will be nice because she has also offered to watch the kids so the husband and I can do some stuff alone. That's a rare thing these days so I could for sure use some date nights (and I think he would agree.) We have a couple different things planned for the two of us to do, as well as some stuff for the whole group to do. I may even get to cross off a few of my bucket list items ;) Now to just pray that every one is happy and healthy for the whole trip! 

Besides the vacations, we have a whole lot of other busy-ness coming up (as i'm sure every one else does this time of year.) The next few months will be filled with lots of fun holiday activities, good food, family togetherness time, lots of laughs and fun times, and much more. The end of the year is always the busiest but I love every second of it. 

One night with the Backstreet Boys.

Growing up I was a complete and total boy band addict. I loved them ALL. If you walked into my bedroom you would have seen my walls covered with Backstreet Boys, Nsync, LFO, Otown, Youngsotwn....the list could go on. And i'm pretty sure my mom still blames me for all the tiny holes in the walls in my old room from using push pins to hang said posters. I can still vividly remember my very first concert ever. Being with two of my closest friends watching 98 Degrees live. The seats were terrible but when you are 13 you really don't care. All you care about is being there and the experience of the whole thing. And that first concert sent me down a long road of many more concerts. Many of which were boy bands.

The one band I never got the chance to see was Backstreet Boys. The few times I remember them being in town, there was always something else going on or I didn't get tickets in time. (Remember, this is before things like Craigslist were big so you had a harder time trying to find tickets.) So last year, they magically had a concert close by and my husband found a deal on Groupon for some tickets. We figured it would be a chance to have a date night away from the munchkins for a few hours, and help me accomplish a long awaited goal of mine. We had it all set up so that my mother in law would come to our place and watch the kids while we went to the show. Knowing that Ben would probably still want breastmilk, I pumped a bunch into a bottle and figured that we would be okay. He was still in a stage where he spent most of the time sleeping so I was hopeful that everything would go smoothly. Let me tell you, when i'm wrong...I'm reallllly wrong.

Ben decided that this specific day he no longer wanted anything to do with a nap, and absolutely positively refused to take a bottle. Being a breastfed baby, he knows what he likes and he does NOT like bottles. We had been gone for about 2 1/2 hours and he had spent most of the time crying and refusing to sleep. My MIL desperately tried to calm him down but it just wasn't happening. So right before BSB were even about to come on we received the text saying "I think you need to come home." As a mom, your children always come first. But I can't lie. I was very disappointed. We had been wanting a date night and this one had really been cut short. So we left immediately and headed home. Luckily as soon as Ben saw me he completely cheered up. And as soon as he was fed, he fell asleep immediately. So my BSB dreams got put on hold.

Fast forward to a year later and I got a magical phone call from my sister saying, "What are you doing May 25th? Because I won front row tickets for Backstreet and you need to go with me." Now this definitely made up for my last experience. I worked it out with my amazing husband who agreed to take care of the kids for the evening while I went with my sister...bless his heart.

When we got to the amphitheater the line was ridiculously long, but we honestly didn't care because we knew how awesome it was going to be once we got inside. I really wish that I had taken more photos (and brought my dslr for that matter) but i'm so happy and grateful for the photos that I did take. My sister and I had such an awesome time that night and our mom's night out was a success. While I do love being a mom, it's nice every once in a while to get a break and just enjoy being around other adults. And spending some quality time with your sister and enjoying live music is a wonderful thing.

(Brian from BSB has a son who opens their shows for them. He came out and sang two different songs and has some good vocals, just like his daddy.)

(Avril Lavigne was the other opening act, and she did all of her hit songs and then some. We also had one crazy guy near us who was mildly obsessed with her and kept professing his love for her. It was quite entertaining.)

(Me and my sister, and Avril singing)

(Some of my favorite boys)

(Just to give you an idea of exactly how close front row was for us. So amazing!)

(Brian and AJ)

(One of my favorite pictures of the night)

(And obviously, my FAVORITE picture from the night. I love me some Nick Carter)

A 1 year old birthday, a preschool graduation, and one tired mom.

I had always hoped that I would be the type of mom that would document every single thing that my kids do, say, learn, etc... so that when they grew up I would have mounds of memories for them to look through and reminisce on. And then I actually had children and I quickly learned that it wouldn't be so easy. Having two kids has definitely kept me on my feet and has taught me to multitask even better than I already knew how to. I am going to make it more of a priority to take the time to write down things that have happened, because I have been realizing just how important it really is. 

Since the last time I posted anything there has been a ton of things going on...

Our little man officially turned 1! It was quite possibly the quickest year of my life, and also one of the best. We celebrated by having an "Uno" themed bash at a local park. The one down side of having it at an outdoor location is the weather is always up in the air, and it was quite windy on the day of his party. Luckily it didn't rain so it wasn't a complete disaster. Lots of our friends and family came to help us celebrate the big day, and Ben had a fun time crawling around with the other little ones. 

Even though things could have gone a bit smoother, I think we all enjoyed the day and being with each other. It's hard to get all of our family and friends together, so it's nice when mostly everyone is able to make it out for an event like a birthday. Ben felt the love around him, and was totally spoiled as usual. 

(We nicknamed this photo "baby races.")

(Still cannot believe that this little meatball is one whole year old.)

Summertime is always busy for us, and this year has been no exception. At the beginning of June we celebrated my little nephew's 2nd birthday with an awesome cars themed party that my bestie planned. She did an amazing job with everything, and everyone had a great time!

Shortly after that, our little princess had her preschool graduation! She will still be attending the same school in the fall (and is currently in their summer program) and she absolutely loves it. She gets so excited whenever she knows she gets to go, and always has so much to tell me when we pick her up afterwards. When we originally enrolled her I was a bit worried about how she would do, but it was actually a pretty easy transition for her. My sister is one of the teachers in the older class (the one Amelia will be in this fall) and she made sure to make her feel right at home. She loves all of the teachers and it makes me so happy to see how much of a passion she has for learning. She totally takes after me! =)

Even though the younger class comes back for a second year, the school never wants anyone to feel left out so they always let them have their own graduation ceremony. Completely adorable! The kids walk out and sing a few songs, and then they get called up individually to receive their diploma and a lollipop. As a child, I was always a bit shy when it came to being on stage and I always wonder how Amelia will do because she can be the same way. She did wonderful for the whole ceremony, and sang and danced with the rest of her class!

We are already halfway through summer and I have absolutely no clue how July is almost over.  In a few short weeks I will be turning 27 (yikes) and might possibly have a breakdown. Wasn't I just turning 18? 

Other than that I've been working on some major moves that I am hoping to accomplish by the end of the year, and I am going to make sure that I document that along the way. One of those has to do with being an adult and making some wiser financial decisions for our family, but more on that a bit later...

When you haven't blogged in a year... (Warning - picture heavy)

Well...where exactly do you start after not blogging about anything for almost a year? Maybe a bit of a recap of what has happened since we last left off.


To start off, the last time I was here I was approximately 30 weeks pregnant and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby boy. Needless to say that has definitely changed as our precious little bundle of joy will be turning ONE this coming May. Where has the past year gone? I fully plan on writing about the birth of our son but I will save that for another day.

(My precious little man)

Life seems to be going at a ridiculously fast pace since our little guy was born. Life has been filled with lots of new experiences, learning many new things, and trying to enjoy every second of life that we possibly can. Lately I have been realizing that I need to be better about taking things one day at a time, and to try to appreciate each moment for what it is. I'm hoping that this year will be filled with many more new adventures and lots of learning opportunities. For now, here are a few photos of other things that we have been up to this past year....

My goal is to be writing more frequently as it is a good way to document what goes on in our crazy lives. Cheers to being more productive! =)