Ian Matthew's Winter ONEderland!!!

By now you've probably have guessed I LOVE planning kid's parties huh? lol With my little guy's 1st birthday approaching two weeks AFTER Christmas, I didn't want it to catch me off guard so I started early pondering what his 1st Birthday theme should be... I had different ideas come thru my head but when I came across "Winter ONEderland" I couldn't resist! It was PERFECT for my one and only winter baby! Plus, I already had turquoise party supplies from Briana's 4th Bubble Guppie Party and red party supplies from Eli's 2nd Curious George Party. Cute, Practical and on Budge=No brainer for his mom of four. We choose the date as 01/11 because it was the closest Saturday to his actual birthday and thought all "1's" was too cute to pass by for his 1st birthday ;) I was praying for great weather and man, did I luck out!! The HI was 77 degrees with 8 mph winds. I mean seriously? Who was praying for me? Well, thankyou! I wasn't sure about the weather since the day after Ian was born, it snowed. So I planned for a "smaller" party but with my size family- that's always kinda hard. I'm very sad I wasn't able to invite everyone I wanted to but had to limit it to only immediate family members since I honestly thought we would have chill weather (hence the theme) due to it being January and all. I'm very pleased with the turn out, I wasn't stressed from start to finish, and for once I was actually ON TIME and finished every detail before my 1st guest arrived. Super stoked, let me tell ya! ;) My mother in law was nice enough to keep my 2 and 4 year old so that Jared and I could clean and decorate. Baby Ian was very clingy to me at first so it was hard to get things ready but luckily he took a much needed nap and I hit turbo speed in the kitchen. We had pizza, wings, mini corn dogs, nachos, coke, water bottles, "polar punch" and a candy buffet. The candy buffet was probably my favorite. We had white cotton candy which was our "snow", red sour cherry candy, red strawberry Twizzlers, blue and white candy canes, peppermint candy, "snow" covered pretzels, and chocolate hearts covered in red foil. For the goody bags I prepared "snow balls" which were just powdered donuts. Snow much Fun ;) Here are some pictures we were able to capture of his BIG day! Enjoy

Welcome Sign

Party Decor

Food Table

Cake Boss

Pinata Time

Looking Back

Goodbye 2013 Hello 2014

Laylah's Birth Announcement

This is the baby announcement I made for my sweet girl. I bought her a super cute Christmas outfit and Denyce and I snapped pictures with our phones. Denyce was lucky enough to capture one of her smiling.

Welcome Laylah!!!

I really wanted my sister to have her baby Dec 23rd which fell on a Monday since my husband is off on Mondays. That way I could be there for the entire birth. But my sister told me that since I was there for her 1st son Ammar that it would only be fair and have her sister in law there this time. It's only fair, I understand but either way I was going to try to sneak in there hehehe ;) When her contractions started on Saturday, I knew the due date would be close. She was admitted on Sunday dilated at a 6! By the time she had an epidural she was already close to a 10 and tells me she felt everything! :/ Her and my other sister Meg are one of the strongest ladies I know! :)  She tells me that after being admitted, the baby was born within 2 hours. Wow! Luckily mom my and brother in law were there for support. I on the other hand was sad I couldn't be there. Since her delivery wasn't induced and it would be "au natural" - we were basically on baby watch every minute! The entire family went to visit her the very next day! I couldn't wait any longer!! She's so sweet and calm. We are so happy for them since she might be their last. She says she feels whole- a baby boy and now her baby girl. She tells me she couldn't handle 4 like me- she's not a multitasker she says. Hey, to each their own right? We are all head over heels madly in love with this little princess! Little girls are just so much fun. It even gave my hubby baby fever just holding her  0_o Ohhhh Oh! LOL We later headed to the mall to stretch our legs and take the kids to the play area. I took Denyce to her now favorite store Hollister where she found a couple of great finds at great prices. Just like momma taught her ;) We snapped some pictures along the way....

2013 Holiday Cards

                       

Holiday Pictures 2013

My awesome cousin Vincent, who is taking photography college classes was sweet enough to take these pictures at mi casa! ;) Dont you just love family?!?! Every year, it's the same struggle. I'm responsible for coordinating outfits and getting all my kids ready and out the door at a certain time inorder to make it to a photo studio. Only to have one kids lose a bow, or a shoe, or want to eat and get dirty, change of diaper....etc etc! lol I think I'm done with studios for now-until my three youngest get a little older and can endure alittle better. That's why I really appreciate mi primo hanging out with us and capturing these smiles. He brought my tia, whom I love very much and made them burgers with fries. We then chilled and watched the cowboys game on tv and later went to a mutual cousin's 1st birthday at Nickelrama. Overall, it was a nice day :)

Deerfield Lights

Every year we head out to see the Christmas display at Deerfield in Plano. We went on a Saturday night and met up with my second mom, father in law, sister in law and her crew. I was so proud of myself for having prepared dinner, feeding the kids, bathing them and putting pj's on them right before we had to head out to see the lights. That way, when we came back I could simply just brush their teeth and put them in bed. Everyone was pretty antsy in getting there-especially Bri Bri. When we got there, Denyce opened the moon roof and stood up very carefully with little sister. I rotated the boys and sat one on my lap so they could see better. Elijah kept say "wow!" I love seeing the sparkle in their eyes! :)

Bass Pro Christmas

Not much to blog about on this one- we all got dressed up to take pictures with Santa but the lines were crazy long but did manage to take pictures with their amazing Christmas background. This was our 2nd time at Bass Pro. The kids really like this place. The first time we went was for Jared's birthday. We ate on the patio all you can eat fish and chips. Later the kids played on their beach overlooking the lake.

Christmas Concert Choir

Denyce joined her school choir at the start of middle school. She absolutely loves it! She always has an interesting story that happened in class. Ever since she was about 2- she's had a passion for music. And might I add, has really good taste in music selection. She hears music differently than I do. For instance, when we used to watch American Idol-she would always single out the singers she liked and usually they would make it to the finals. Let me tell you, she did not get that from me!! lol 

This was their 2nd concert and being nominated the Vice President of her choir class, she had to be there extra early. That meant, we could not take the entire 6 member crew. Daddy decided to hang with his boys-bath them and put them to bed. Turned out to be a girls night for us ladies. After dinner, I got Briana ready and I just left in what I was sporting all day (no time to change). I honestly dont know who enjoyed the concert more: me or Bri?!?! She seriously clapped after EVERY performance! lol Luckly we sat on the 1st row so I couldn't see other people's facial response to an over enthusiastic preschooler. Little sister is Big sister's BIGGEST fan! I looooove that!! After a great performance, I surprised my girls with sundaes at Braum's- I didn't want our special night to end....

Elijah's 1st Christmas Program

I think December is one of the busiest months for most people. There's so much to do during the holidays. I tend to do a lot of my Christmas shopping early on so I can enjoy the season like Christmas programs for example. This year was Elijah's 1st Christmas program at his preschool. The 2 year olds rocked out to Jingle Bell rocks and did a great job!! All parents were grinning from ear to ear. Every camera/camcorder/cellphone was lit up!! I remember just looking at Jared next to me with a smile that would put Joker to shame! I was overly excited! When it comes to Elijah, I just can't help myself!! December is definitely my favorite month! :)

DIY Thanksgiving Shirts

This year, I wanted to create some unique Thanksgiving shirts for my little turkeys. Something that was unisex and that my oldest could wear without feeling embarrassed lol but fun enough that the younger kids would enjoy. On the back of each shirt we wrote in things the kids are thankful for. This was the fun part. My favorite for baby Ian was "orajel" lol since he's been teething. On Eli's shirt my favorite was "teddy bear" since he sleeps with it every night and absolutely loves his bear. My favorite on Bri's shirt was "swiss rolls" lol she looooves her desserts! And my Nyce's shirt was pretty funny-she wrote things like "wi-fi", "starbucks" "one direction" and then she added "whom ever is reading this" Sweetness! :)

Gracie's Baby Shower

Since my baby sis is not a big fan of posting pictures of her, I'll post some details of her baby shower instead. Hehehe, there are always ways around things ;) My mom and sister wanted to host the party at her new home that way the party could serve double duty and let all our guest know where my sister moved to. My mom was very blessed to have great cousins that helped arrive extra early to set up and even had my uncle make a pink fruit basket cake for the shower. We played several fun games and my brother in law catered all the food from his restaurant www.paliospizzacafe.com- which I have to say BEST pizza this side of world!! Overall, she had fun, was loved on, and got lots of pretty things for her little princess. Girls are so much FUN!! :)

Briana's 1st Field Trip

How cute are school field trips? Especially your 1st one? Oh, we knew we just HAD to be there! For her 1st field trip, they went to S.Garland High to watch The Cat in the Hat play. It was so cute and it captivated so many little faces. We even took baby brother Ian. Loved that we were able to be a part of her memories.

My 1st Thanksgiving

This year we enjoyed Thanksgiving on Wednesday-a day earlier at my MIL's that way we could each go to our respective families on Thursday. This was my Ian's 1st Thanksgiving- I love all his "first" deep sigh. Here are some sweet pictures of some sweet faces:

Northlake Baptist Fall Fest 2013

Loved that my little J's preschool organizes a Fall Festival each year for the kiddos. I always try to bend over backwards and be at every school function for each one of my kids. The life of a mother huh? And I love every second of it. These are the memories I will look back on and smile with satisfaction one day. Okay, enough mushy stuff. These are some quick highlights of the kids just being kids. I was lucky enough that my mom, grandma, and my daughter's BFF joined the fun! :) P.S. Love decorating our mantle to match the holiday, and check out all the awesome Halloween treats I made for my kid's classroom ;)

Halloween 2013

Feels like forever since I've blogged but that was on my to-do-list for the 1st of the year: catching up on the ole blog-a-rooni....

Can I just start by saying, "man, Halloween costumes are expensive!" okay, now that I've vented, I can recollect on the day.

I guess, I didn't mind spending more that I care to admit since it WAS Ian's 1st Halloween.This year, my oldest embraced her creative side and designed her own minion costume which won best group contest at her school :) Way to go sugz! For Briana it was easy- I went thru a trunk full of costumes and she feel in love with a cute clown costume which I only had to run it thru the washer and buy a wig for. Now for my boys, I went to Toys R Us and dressed them up in Monsters Inc characters. I loved it, especially since it was Eli's 1st movie he saw this summer. This year we went trick-or-treating in Lavon at my MIL's neck of the woods. I loved all my nieces and nephew's costumes. Everyone looked great! The hubby and I enjoy dressing up whenever we can- our kids get a kick out of it. After all, that's what we are here for....to serve as clowns! Overall, it was a great turn out :)