May Adventures

I was afraid I wouldn't be very good at keeping my blog updated. So, in an effort to "catch up" here's some of our May adventures.

Aria went to her first hockey game and Melodie had a tap recital. My best friend got her Masters in Social Work. I had a nice Mother's Day (Melodie and I went to a church Mother/Daughter activity the day before).

Aria and I went to Disney's California Adventure quite a few time because my annual pass expired this month. This is my FAVORITE picture from all our visits.

Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite TV shows. When I saw that the last two episodes were entitled "Second Star to the Right" and "Straight on Til Morning" I knew a season finale party was in order. Everyone brought fairy tale themed food.

 

My best friend had to go to San Luis Obispo for the weekend and Aria and I went with her. Road Trip! The bubble gum wall in SLO is icky. I found the cutest little place called  Avila Valley Barn. Aria and I spent a beautiful afternoon there.

Aria is 3 months old!

 

It was a very busy month with so many fun adventures!

Happy New Year!

You may have noticed I'm a little late in posting things. That's because the day after Christmas I got sick. So now I'm playing catch up.

You may also have noticed I'm doing a lot explaining why we celebrate different holidays the way we do. I feel like we are now in the groove of how our family is going to celebrate holidays for years to come. It took a while to figure out what traditions worked for us and what new things we wanted to add. This is the same for New Year. Melodie's first two New Year's Eve celebrations she was up at midnight.

For her first one, we celebrated, just the three of us, at 9 o'clock PST. That's when the NY ball drops on the east coast. Technology is our friend sometimes. I'll admit it. I wanted those Kodak moments. We had been invited to a friends' house, and decided we would go if she woke up for a feeding around midnight. She did, so we bundled her up and off we went.

                                                      9pm                               Midnight

The next year we were in Northern California with family. There was a huge rain storm and we didn't think Rocky would make it back to my mom's house from family he was visiting a short distance away because streets had flooded. Plus, Melodie was sick. This is probably the sickest she ever was as a baby. But, we celebrated at midnight. I'm not sure if she was awake because she was sick. I do know we didn't wake her up. I don't think we tried to keep her up, although we might have just because we were with family. She still looked pretty sick, but it was fun celebrating with family. Plus Mel had her first taste of Martinelli's. Now she doesn't think we can have a New Year's Eve without it.

 

2008 was the first year we invited people over to celebrate at 9pm. It was a small celebration, but fun. Plus the kids were in bed by 9:30.

 

2008 NYE

 

The next year it actually turned into a party. I know call it our East Coast New Year's Eve Party. One tradition that started this year was throwing those snaps fireworks in the front yard. Another was Martinelli's after the ball dropped. One that was kept from my childhood was turning the Christmas Tree into the New Year Tree. This is accomplished by taking all confetti from off the ground and throwing it on the tree.

2009 NYE

 

2010 NYE

 

By the way, I was pretty proud of this cookie bouquet I made that year.

 

2011's party brought about a new tradition. I found this idea on pinterest, which led me to this website: http://partiesandholidays.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-years-eve-count-down-bags.html. Starting at 7 o'clock there was a bag to open every 1/2 hour. Inside the bag were goodies for all the kids. I remember I put in glow sticks, necklaces, noise makers in three of the bags, but I can't remember what were in the other two. This year I did bubbles, glow sticks, balloons, and noise makers (not doing one for 9pm like I did the year before). I focused more on things that gave them something to do (I was still sick and not really into entertaining). 2011 was also the first year I made jello in little cups. I didn't think about how much they looked like jello shots until just before the party. But the kids loved them, and we had to have them this year too.

2011 NYE

 

2012 NYE

 

And now we are in 2013. We don't make resolutions, but we have a lot to look forward to this year. We'll spend the next month preparing for baby, who will arrive sometime in Feb. My youngest sister graduates from high school this year. My niece turns 8 and will be baptized this year. Who knows what else will come our way?

 

Happy New Year! 

 

 

CANMT Trip: An Elmo Party

 We left on a Friday. Our first stop was going to be Mesa, AZ where we would stay at my sister Lori's house.
 When I was first planning this trip we were going to stop by her house at the end of the two weeks. But then we found out my niece was going to be in the Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant. I changed somethings around and now it was to be our first stop. This also meant we'd be there for my nephew's 2nd birthday. Plus, my mom, my sister Kelly and my Aunt Natalie were going to go to Mesa to see the pageant as well.
 The drive to Mesa is one we've made many times and was uneventful. We were excited to enter the second state of our travels.

 That night we enjoyed seeing the family and looked forward to sleep. But that's not what Lori had in mind for me and Kelly. We stayed up pretty late decorating Elmo cake pops. The first attempt to color chocolate didn't work and thankfully Aunt Natalie and mom bought read chocolate for us. Then we set to work.

Kelly participated under protest (she's not a craft person). I'm always willing to try an idea from Pinterest, and it was for my adorable nephew, but it got late quickly. I think we got a little silly the later it became. Eventually I was just slapping on the chocolate instead of the drizzling method we were suppose to do. Luckily they ended up looking adorable.

 The next moring we went to Jambo! for the birthday party. What I love about Arizona is that there are so many fun indoor activity places. What I hate about Arizona is that it gets hot enough to need these places. It was spring and it already felt like summer in California. Jambo! had rides and a play area (like a Mc Donalds play area). We set up all the Elmo themed birthday stuff. Lori did such a good job (most of it inspired by Pinterest).

 The kids played for a while, then we had cake (that I hastily decorated that morning and am a little embarrassed to show as it's not up to my standards) and my nephew opened presents. The kids played more and then we had pizza for lunch. Melodie loved the freedom of running around and going on whatever she wanted as many times as she wanted to.

Melodie with two of her cousins

 

He's 2!

 

Someone (maybe Kelly?) gave my niece a cake pop for a photo op. It quickly ended up in her mouth. Oops! LOL

 On the way back to my sister's house we (my mom, aunt, niece, Melodie and me) stopped for some frozen custard. Rocky had left the party early to take a nap. I've never had frozen custard before. It was yummy. Melodie surprised my by choosing black raspberry over vanilla or chocolate.

My mom and two of her grandkids.

 

Melodie and my Aunt Natalie