The Birthday Party(ies)

Ok. So we had 2 parties for Katie on the same day. She really wanted a Chuck E Cheese party, but I wanted to spare those who didn't have kids. Because really, if don't have a kid to play with, it's like being in a Casino when you don't gamble. Loud, noisy, and annoying. So we had the kid party in the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese and then in the evening we had a small family party complete with dinner from El Pollo Loco (Katie's new fave place to eat). Katie insisted it had to be princess themed. Who am I to not spoil my kid and cave to her every wish? ;)The party was topped off by roasting marshmallows over the fire pit even though it was almost too cold to be out by the fire at all, but the fire was warm. Who woulda thunk?
Anyway, she started out her birthday by opening her presents from us and from Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mark and Uncle Matthew. I won't bore you with all the details except to say that she did get her OWN laptop (one of Miguel's old ones) and loves that it's hers. I've even been yelled at for daring to get on it and surf the web. It came complete with it's Hello Kitty background and a pink theme thanks to Miguel. Very cool. Here's all the pics from the day. Enjoy!

Oh, and my baby was so excited today at the park. She met a little boy named Aden who was also 4, so it was kismet and off they went to play together. All because she's 4 too.

A pre-Birthday celebration

Keep this on the DL, but next week Miguel turns the BIG 3-0. Eeeeekkkk....I guess that means that he is really, officially a grown up? Maybe? Nah....we'll never grow up. LOL Anyway, we had a small family get together. His big present this year is our trip to St Thomas (yeah, you know I'll share pics from that trip, I am sure they will be in the 1000s. Seriously.) I took a few pics on Friday just to mark the occasion.


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Sam's Birthday Party!

We had a small birthday party for Sam yesterday. It was a blast, we had a ton of food and a slip'n'slide and cake. Here are a few pics from yesterday. I didn't take many because I've been feeling photographically challenged lately. But I did feel I owed it to Sam to have pics of his party.











Oh and this is the newest member of my sister's family. A little daschund/chihuahua mix named Tank. Cute, huh?

Happy Birthday Sam!!

Sam's 1st Birthday was yesterday. It was a fairly quite uneventful day. I took the kids with me to the gym, we went shopping for Sam's party this coming Saturday and I let him pick out a toy at the toy store. Then Grandma, Freddy, and Natalie came over to wish Sam a happy birthday and we did birthday cake. No present opening really, because well, I can't bring myself to wrap the few presents we bought him only to unwrap them myself. LOL. Anyway, his doctor appointment is on Thursday, so I'll update then with all of his one year particulars. Hopefully, he won't be too much of a butt from the shots and will be in a good mood for his party.
Here's some pics from the cake lighting and eating. He was afraid when we sang to him. It was either that or the flame on the candle.








Oh and P.S., take note of where his hands are in the candle lighting shots. Yeah...that's where they are ALL the time. I'll be sure to bring these out when you come home with your first girlfriend, Sam.

Claire's Birthday Party

Robin's little Claire turned one on Thursday and yesterday was her birthday party. The kids of course had a blast. Who wouldn't love a playdate with cake? LOL I got a little creative with the editing here, so forgive me. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Caleb!

I know we haven't been around much lately, but that's because things have just been so so crazy. In any case we went to Caleb's 4th Birthday party yesterday. Katie had tons of fun as usual, and I believe Caleb did too. I got to be the impromptu photographer of the day so I have a ton of pics to share. If you'd like to see them, check out Flickr. I'll be back later on with a more informative and interesting post. :) But right now, my lazy butt needs to go workout. Those size 6 jeans won't fit anytime soon, if I don't go bust my butt.

Emma's Birthday Party

We were invited to Emma's 4th birthday party yesterday (Thank You Heather!), and Kate had a blast. As did Sam. :) It was at Kangazoom, which I highly recommend to anyone looking for an awesome place for a birthday party. Especially where there might be babies around too. The kids bounced, slid, ran, hopped, you name it. Kate had pizza and cupcakes and got tons of candy from the pinata, so it was a total hit with her. Sam and Claire actually noticed one another yesterday. But they were more interested in scratching one another than any actual playing. One day soon, I know they'll be chasing one another around just like Kate and Caleb. And it'll be one day all too soon. Sniff..sniff...these kids grow up fast ya know! To see more pics from the party yesterday, check out Flickr.

A quick note.....

Because I don't have time or energy right now to post about the big shindig. I will just say Katie had an excellent birthday weekend. Thanks to all who came to the party and helped us to spoil her some more. :) I have tons of pics to go through, but I don't have patience for it tonight. The one pic I am posting tonight with this post is of a harmonica we gave her on Friday. It was a super hit. But I don't think it held a candle to the moon bounce we had yesterday. Anyway pictures and more info to come tomorrow probably.

The cake

Just in case something should happen to my precious creation, I am posting a couple of pictures of Katie's cake. I am by no means a cake decorator, and it's not perfect, but it's cute. Katie likes it and that's what is important. :) The colors in the first are a bit more accurate than the second, but I have a lot more stuff to do today and no time to fix it. So there you have it.

And so it begins.....

So as some of you may be aware, it's Katie's 3rd birthday tomorrow!! Yay Katie! So being the big partiers that we are, we started celebrating today. We took cupcakes and birthday hats to Katie's school and had a little party for her there. It was so fun! The kids in her class really are the sweetest things. We sang happy birthday to her and gave all the kids bubbles. They were all happy and excited. Katie was the most excited of them all I think. She was thrilled to us there during her school day and repeatedly kept coming up to us and giving us hugs and kisses. Happy Day before your Birthday Katie!

Katie's birthday invitation....

Ain't it cute?

Welcome Samuel Jacob!

I am sure most everyone has heard by now that Sam made his entrance into the world yesterday. It was a nice relatively uneventful birth, although ever just as precious and special. He was born at 8:35pm on 5/16 weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz and being 20 inches in length. He's laid back and happy and looks just like a newborn Miguel. He's been a little grumpy today, but what can one expect the day after your born? LOL There are more pictures on the Flickr site, and we'll be adding more all the time. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Michelle! And some pictures from the past couple of days....

So there are no birthday pictures really, but I just wanted to send a birthday shoutout to my sister. Even though technically it's only her birthday for 40 more minutes. SO here it is, Happy Birthday! And don't worry, I won't tell everyone how old you are. You're 20 twice over right? ;)
I have taken a few pictures over the past few days. This first one I call "The cutest five little piggies". I just love little feet. Katie is getting to be such a little bossy boots. In the second picture, she is trying to tell me we can't rest in the hammock for a minute, I HAVE to get out. She won't give me even a ten second break.And then she turns around and laughs and giggles with me and is the sweetest little girl. What am I going to do with her? Her newest thing when she really wants something is to say, "Please, please, please, please Mommy? Can I?", in the sweetest, cutest little voice. Katie is also becoming really attached to Molly. She spends a lot of time with her. I think really even though Katie always says that her mommy and daddy are her best friends, that Molly is her best friend. It's really cute. Look Katie will even share Cheetos with Molly. She won't even share them with me or Miguel. Lucky dog. LOL
And I will leave you with this last one. Because I really think it is very cute. Katie loves to give Molly kisses, which Molly puts up with. I wonder how much longer Molly will put up with this abuse? LOL Hopefully Molly is used to it by now. I can't wait to see what abuse Sam will inflict upon her. Poor little doggie.

Silly Cousins and Happy Birthday to Us!

We had a very quick impromptu photo sessions yesterday since we had the four cousins (my sisters' and my kids) all in one place. It doesn't happen all that often, so gotta seize every opportunity. :) This was their silly one. They are so funny. We also celebrated four birthdays yesterday. My Dad's, which was at the end of March, mine-next week, my oldest sister's-the week after, and my other sister's-the week after that. It was fun, and always nice to have most of your family around. Only my brothers were missing from the fun yesterday. My sister is turning 40, so of course we did the separate cake with the black icing and the candles that were the number 40, and also all the over the hill 40 birthday gags. Who can resist that? I was able to open all my birthday presents early, thank you, Miguel :), and I played around with them a lot yesterday. I got two new lenses for my camera, a remote for my camera, and also a strobe flash, that I still have to learn how to use. LOL I am really excited and hoping that soon after Sam is here, I'll be able to start making some money at this hobby. :) The picture of the azaleas was taken with the wide angle Tamron lens I got. Pretty huh? It was a cloudy day, so I can't wait to get it out there on a beautiful day.