haLLowEEEEEEn fUn

These three were hilarious.

One never made it out to trick-or-treat in their costume, another one ran the entire night keeping up with all the kids & kept falling constantly and the other one filled her bag almost full!

We love spending this fun holiday with our close friends and this year Ang and I were able to make some fun refreshments for all of us!

 Haha..yes.. this wig is hilarious, is it not?

It might be mistaken for Dallas hair but don't let it fool you, it's suppose to be Rapunzel's. 

 

Baking in our house this time of year goes on quite a bit and we always manage to dig into the batter.

Pumpkin Bread...hmmm..love the smell and the taste.

Some fun appetizers and drinks to go along with night.

 

I must say that this little pirate's costume was awesome, thanks to her cousins! 

I wish I could squeeze into this !

Are we the only family that discusses what we're going to be for 12 months out of the year?!

The girls are constantly changing their minds or coming up with new ideas on what they or we should be. 

Next year they're determined to get us and our friends to dress up too!!

 

 A pirate looking after her little dragon.

 

This little guy never made it out to trick or treat in his dragon costume. 

He did make it out..but fell asleep in my arms as we walked door to door. :)

 These two had a blast. It's always fun dressing up, being together and asking for candy, right?

 

And this cute Mario!

 And I can't believe that I never got a snap of our pumpkins :(

but I did sneak one of our friend's.

Hope you had a fun Halloweeeeennn too! 

a lOOk at the little ThrEE!

You know, you look at your children and think wow it's crazy how they can look so much alike or different and yet how they're their own person at the same time. It's quite amazing.

I will say it is soo neat to say we have them all.

We have all 3 of em'!!! :)

So i had to share. 

I gathered just a few pics and put them together. 

gRatEful fOr:

A time to reflect.

A time to soak it all in. 

What are you grateful for? 

 

I'm counting over here. 

You know, the blessings that have come our way. 

There's so many to be thankful for.

What are some of the blessings in your life? 

So much of life is made up of choices. 

We can choose each day..each moment how we'll react to circumstances.

Will we embrace them?

Will we blow things out of proportion? 

Will we let the things that truly don't matter overrule us or will we choose to cherish what's truly important? 

____________________________

Nans lovin' on our little guy

Pink & Purple hair!

Thankful for smiling faces and a rock star Dad who makes things possible no matter what the heat or size of a crowd is.

( Thank you Jax for giving this girl some rhyming words!)

The little artists' that I have in this house make things fun, crazy, messy and yes even loud!

But we have fun.

And we've loved having our sweet momma's in town.

Oh how it was so nice having both of them here.

Thank you Momma's..we love u! 

I hope you have much to be grateful for today as well :)

aDjusTing & LoVing

It is soo good to have him here! The past week we've been settling in as a family of 5 and enjoying time with Grandma and Nans.

 

It's been good.

A time to slow down in some ways while the daily activities of everyone's life continue on.

It's a balance, a give and take.

So many sweet moments shared with the girls and him. So many times I've stared at him in disbelief that he was just in my body.

Isn't it a miracle?

It's hard to wrap your brain around the idea that we all started so so small. 

 And these girls are a little smitten with having a little boy around this place.

_____________________________________

I'm really starting to feel better each day. 

Whooo..surgery is surgery and well..recovery is sometimes hard, sometimes harder than expected. But God has been so good and having help has been a blessing to all of us :)

He's sure getting lots of lovin' from family and friends too.

Happy Friday and if you're living in Texas enjoy this cooler weather!!!

It's AWESOME.  

weLcoMing hIm inTo the woRLd!

It was just the four of us and then we were surprised with fun and exciting news at the end of last year that we'd be expecting another!

This little bambino's official delivery date wasn't suppose to be until Sept. 1st but he decided to surprise us again by arriving earlier than expected!! I could not be more in love over this little one.. feeling a sense of completion for our family.

It's the neatest and most amazing gift.

I've wanted to blog about him and our journey through the summer but truly my time & energy have had to be used on other things...Imagine?!!!

So here's some pics to capture how our day was yesterday!

We miss you family and we can't wait for everyone to meet our little T ! 

A Boy?!? We couldn't have been more thrilled with hearing we were going to have a boy.

But this little guy....he didn't stay little for long. 

Lets just say this wasn't the most comfortable pregnancy. We'll keep it nice and simple on here.

He was my biggest...and I had a gut instinct he'd be early. Sure enough he was.

 

I had created these Big Sis t's for the girls and actually was trying to finish P's up on the sewing machine when I thought I might be in early labor. Thanks to my own Big Sis and our talk on the phone :) I wanted these girls to feel special arriving on His big day. 

So with contractions getting a little closer after a night of sleeping, we went in. Honestly we thought we'd be going home but instead we found ourselves

HERE

It was quite the busy morning with deliveries so we honestly had to get in line. HAHA..no joke!

Kinda made me feel like I was at a deli counter grabbing a number but our adrenaline and excitement had invaded our bodies :)

We spent time trying to call our parents, grandparents and family as fast as possible because things were moving super FAST and we were still telling ourselves we were having a BABY!

My man looks cute in scrubs if I can say so!! 

 I don't look nervous, but let me be real by saying....I was! 

Yet I knew I was in good care and that God was protecting us.

I've always loved this time with my guy.

There's something special about the moments we have by ourselves right before our kiddos have come into the world. 

 And then he showed up!

My boys.

And now you can see why I'm in love AGAIN! 

 

 And then these two boys...

This P was wiped out over the excitement and anticipation. A breakdown in the hospital is no fun..no fun for parents or the kiddo :(

She did have a full fun day at A & R's though!!

This nervous excited laughter truly captures how these girls feel for him.

Nothing is better than this look.

And once P came around in her own timing, she was thrilled about her baby brother.

These girls couldn't be more proud of him already.

It melts me.

So little yet sooo big.

So now.. we're a family of 5 !!!

And parents of 3 !!!

The biggest joy of our lives :)

Wow...& wE'rE bAcK!

Wow ..wow...wow..is all I can say. The summer was here and now it's gone. Yep, we're back at school already and honestly I can hardly tell you what happened in June and July!! Do you feel like that?! There's been so much going on here in this crazy nest!

We've had such an amazing summer.

Have you?

We've now had 72 days of 3 digit temps...YES 72 days!!

Lets just say it's BLAZIN' HOT!

Lots of fun projects going on around here, a couple visitors from out of town, music festivals, drum corps, prepping for a new season and doing some fun adventures as a family. Plus we have some big news to share soon that we've kept hush hush on here for quite some time. :) 

 

And when it wasn't 110 degrees for days and days and days...

this little lady popped up and surprised us.

Isn't she pretty? So strong and bold.

And then she started to have little friends that followed in her footsteps and it was so nice to enjoy their beauty. 

Oh and this entrance in Vegas..aweesome and so mod.

This was such a fun trip with my sweet guy. We needed this time to get away and celebrate!

We left on our trip and guess what I forgot?!

My CAMERA!!!

How in the world?! 

So we snapped away with our phones, thank goodness we had something to document this fun time together.

There are a few times I'm ok without my camera, but that doesn't happen often.

 And honestly I love this shot. Ahhhhh

I'm not sure I'll have a moment like this at the pool for quite some time.

No interruptions, sun, water, people watching and a good book.

Thank you God for times like these : )

My sweet guy in his element.

He loves this..

plus he's good at it:)

Motivating, encouraging getting others to push themselves as musicians. 

And my friend Cristine has spoiled me more than once with gorgeous flowers this summer!

Thank you C, they always make me smile

 And I think this airstream will always be a favorite of our girls..

I mean they have the best Strawberry Cupcake around!!

She didn't seem to mind eating one even though I felt like we were melting.

So here's to a great Thursday and I hope wherever you are..you stay cool!!

flavOrs of suMMer

Where have I been? Oh my..so much has been going on and honestly I've not had the energy and strength to sit down and post new pics. How are you? How is your summer? Good? Refreshing? Fast paced or are you taking a more layed back approach? Are you enjoying these unscheduled days?  

I've had a few talks with my sweet guy and close friend and I've had to be intentional about slowing down. Yep, that means looking at the calendar and scheduling days of just being here together. Being content. Enjoying the time that is unscheduled and cherishing it. It's been a good eye opener. I'm one that wants to go and do it all and of course I want these little kiddos to have a great summer..so I plan fun things for us which I love but sometimes with the heat I think we all about fall over. :) 

So to catch up a little, here are a few of our different

flavOrs of suMMer!

 I've been making some mad homemade waffles..A LOT! Gotta share this recipe with you. 

Tan already and the barbie? I have no clue where her head was during this picture. 

A crisp glass of wine in the backyard on a hot summer evening.

Pushes from Sissy on the swings doesn't get much better. Especially when they're cracking each other up.

and croqouet? when was the last time you played?

 These colorful things sit on our kitchen counter, how can you not smile at a rainbow of colors? 

A special girls first dance recital.

 A first tooth was lost and the first visit from a tooth fairy came to our house!

Play outside in the 105 degree heat or surprise your girls and go see Judy Moody?! 

Goggles that truly work and have been a HUGE hit!

Zoggs is the brand and I found them at TJMaxx..go grab a pair! They're awesome. 

 Oh yes..I'm crafting.

I've found myself making gifts & conquering some other projects around this nest.

Isn't this bag the cutest?

I think this size might hold my lipsticks and glosses : )

and check out the inside..

It has a home and I'm pretty sure she likes it! 

And this little one. 

I can't keep up with the amount of clothes and dress up clothes that we go through in one day.

Imaginations are soaring..from thing to another: princesses, Jedi's, Barbie's, playing house or school.

I love the sounds in this house.

--------------

More pics to come soon.

I hope you're capturing your summer 

with your camera or your pen & journal,

capture this time.

It's precious

& you 

won't get it back.  

flOating LanTerNs

That's what we fell in love with after watching Tangled...floating lanterns. Completely beautiful and breathtaking!

Could I have them strung up all over my backyard? Maybe that's why at Disneyland we always run to the teacups at night because the lanterns just make it dreamy. 

So after watching Tangled for the 2nd time...I mean the 9th time I decided to take a cue from this fun gal and  create some paper lanterns with my girls.

Oh my..they were so giddy and what a fun craft for us to sit down and do together!!! Do you remember making these when you were little?

A few staples or swipes of glue bring it all together.

 I loved using up some old scrapbook paper that has been sitting in my bin..yay! A cute way to recycle and be useful. 

:)

Aren't they cute?

Adding their own little touch with some flowers and stickers..they loved this! 

And then when I mentioned we hang them in their room..they SCREAMED! 

 A beautiful mess..that's what I've come to call these things.

 

 A good spot for these little princesses to enjoy them. : )

Check out BEyedFox's site for the details on how to create them.

They're super easy, fun and cute!

seaWORLD

What a fun way to celebrate this little one's birthday. I mean..we celebrated by going to see Shamu. : ) How can you not have a blast right? 

Running through sprinklers.

Riding roller coasters and carousels.

Seeing & petting animals that we had been studying at school.

Laughing and laughing and going at full speed...that was us...

I mean..our little Cupcake. :)

Right when we entered the park..ready to go explore everything!

The girls have cute matching dresses but SPea wanted to wear her new one from her Great Grandma :)

This little thing was cracking me up. There were only so many rides this little thing could ride so Daddy and Sunshine would head off discreetly to ride them. Well she knew that she couldn't ride this one but she didn't let that stop her joy. Oh no, she jumped in the log that was the entrance and pretended to be screaming down the hill. 

Not only was I dying laughing but the people walking by thought it was pretty funny too. 

Seeing Shamu this time was a little different for Sunshine than 3 years ago, I told her about the last experience and she was thought it was hilarious.

She couldn't stop laughing.

Just loved the angle of this with her and the pink flamingos.

And not only did we see Shamu but we witnessed a baby whale that's only a year old join in too. She was smaller and it was soo cute. She was still big but compared to the other whales she was small. Such an amazing animal.

And this little guy...

his color...

isn't it gorgeous?

Lots of these happened during the day. Those little legs just get tired. 

I think we might have to come back this summer :)

And hmmmm....which one of these doesn't belong?!

(hee,hee)

haPpy haPpy dAy for oNe liTTle GiRl

She was happy.

She was so excited about turning the big 3!!

I mean she woke up to 100 colorful balloons covering her floor, what could be better?! 

 

Thanks for thinking of our sweet P on her special day. She felt so loved but most of all I really think she loved getting Mexican for dinner. She's definitely girl that is totally in love with queso, jalapeno ranch sauce, rice and chips...what could be better than a little Chuy's for your 3rd birthday?!?!?!

I remember the day she was born and thinking how our family dynamic had changed from 3 to 4 people so fast. I can't imagine our house without her. Who would sing musicals and act out scenes in the middle of dinner? Who would I chase after at the park? Who would give me sweet cuddles and hugs at all times of the day? Who would her Sissy giggle with and play with Barbie's everyday?

She's a gift.

A true gem and big piece of joy.

A true blessing to our family and we're so blessed to be part of her life. 

 Oh and these....yes you need the recipe and yes they are SOOO addicting. 

They've become a favorite in our house for birthdays and don't you just love those sprinkles?

Sprinkles always make me smile. 

So...thank you for making this little one feel like

THIS

on her 3rd Birthday!