Baptism

My son was baptized last weekend.  It was an intensely joyful moment for our family.  Seeing him enter the water with his Dad and his smile after was a priceless memory that I will forever cherish.

Here's a couple quick shots we took the day of.  Unfortunately, we were running late and I didn't get to do the shoot I'd have liked to do.  Plus there were monsoon rains outside.  Oh well.  We weren't there for pictures, we were there for Ordinances.

The rain finally cleared and we took one more family picture...

Guest Blogging!

I'm a guest blogger over at Sister Mommies! Click here to check it out!

Welp, we're still here!

No change as of yet as far as moving goes.  The only change happening here is a new challenge I am taking.  More on that later.

For now, here's my recent shoot of my kids.  My boy is nearly 7 years and my girls are 4 years and 6 months.  Where has the time gone?

We're Hoping for Change

There's a buzz in our house that could spell major change for our family.  No announcements yet but in preparation  my living room looks like this:

Getting ready for a garage sale!  It's my first ever and I'm trying to be ultra-organized.  We are trying to get rid of as much clutter as possible.  You have to make clutter to rid yourself of it, it seems.  It's hard saying goodbye to some of our things but we need to keep moving forward.

And here was the best shot I could get of all 3 Easter morning.  Still need a new family picture.

 I finished our wall measuring stick a couple months ago.  I'm pretty happy with the results.  I distressed the wood myself and had stained it with two stains.  The pictures just don't do it justice. 

Total cost was roughly $11!  

I am excited to have this with us for the rest of our lives.

Here it is in our hallway:

Another Year Gone By...

I can't believe I let a whole year slip away! Truth is, I had a very difficult pregnancy and had to eliminate the 'excess.'  Baby is here now and I am starting to get back into the groove of motherhood and life in general.  

Here's a little peek at last year's Christmas card:

front:

back:

I got so many compliments on our card this year and I have to thank Candra for designing this card.  If you are interested in any type of custom card, I highly recommend Candra.  Email her at shedesignscmb@gmail.com.

Also today is the Anniversary of marrying my best friend and the person who has always accepted me for me.  Happy 7th Anniversary to us.

Here's to 70 more together!

If there is anyone still reading this silly blog, thanks for sticking with me.  Let's see if I can get back on track.

Happy New Year!

My Kiddies...

Picture day in our family is a dreaded event.  It's really the one day that I openly admit to bribing my children.  Given that we only do this a couple times a year, I'm convinced that it isn't doing too much damage.  If I can get these results every year, then I will continue using this strategy.  

I'd like to publicly thank my husband for being my assistant on this shoot.  

I couldn't have done it without him.

(gonna crop shoes out later, I think)

My favorite:

Love it when you get the feeling that you totally nailed a shot.  That's how I felt after this one but it's probably cuz these are my babes and I'm totally biased.

Linked:

California Science Center

If you live near LA, you have to check out the California Science Center!  We had a great time, minus the incident of my son walking off and his mommy freaking out a bit.  Otherwise, great day!  

Here are some of the adventures awaiting you: 

IMAX movies

Touch pool and Aquarium

Lots of hands on play!

My Boy's Superhero Party!

Superheroes was the requested theme for my son's fifth birthday.  I mentioned that in this post.
Here's how it turned out:

The invitations:

(source)

 Instead of goodie bags, each guest took home a cape and mask.  I made the masks from elastic and felt.  My uber-helpful friend made all TWELVE capes.  

 I made the banner from comic books and double wide binding. (and by 'I,' I mean I had help again).

 We had cake and Kryptonite Cupcakes for dessert and lots of healthy options for lunch including Wonder Dogs!

 Printables available for purchase at One Charming Party.

We put on the invitations to come as your favorite Superhero.  Isn't she adorable?

I made a skyline from a table cloth, wrapping paper, construction paper and spray adhesive.  The day of the party, I taped bad guys (Magneto, Doc Oc, Catwoman, etc.) to the city and we played "Put the Bad Guy In Jail."  Just a spoof on Pin the Tail On the Donkey.

 We opened presents.

 And modeled presents.

Then we had dessert.

The kids loved the Kryptonite Cupcakes.

Here's my little girl in her brother's costume.  It was too big on him and gigantic on her.