Yogi Bear, Jellystone camping resort. One of my favorite family trips! Nothing like a tiny little cabin (without a bathroom) to keep your family close! Waking up with a river view, waiting for your siblings to hit the bathrooms, some uninvited crawling night guests, morning fishing, walking to park and pool, lazy river! Morning eggs, evening bbqs. Midday walks to ice-cream shop, little brother in diapers playing mini golf at least twice a day, lots of snacking, nonnas smiles, roasting marshmallows, cabin squabbles. A lifetime of memories made.

Every evening at about 8:30pm the fireflies start showing their glow. I’ve been enjoying taking a walk during this exact time and I call it the lightning bug walk. I let everyone know “It’s time for the lighting bug walk” I got the kids to come with me on this magical summer walk and they excitedly collected 32 fireflies, releasing them upon catching them. I used to put them in a jar and watch them for a while but they couldn’t bare the thought of that. I tell Liam, these are nature’s fireworks without the loud noise. He’s not a fan of fireworks, fireflies are his preferred lightshow.
what a beautiful summer night activity. My most favorite next to making smores.

Too worried, too anxious, too inexperienced, too afraid, too caught up to know just how beautiful and perfect you are right in this moment.

I hope you “enjoya” and have fun.

This was my last 10 year old girl party. I can’t believe how quickly my little girls have grown up. This was definitely an exciting party for all of the ages, so maybe this is not the end, but the beginning of new and exciting ways to celebrate my girls. We baked everything ahead of time and her sisters and cousins decorated one mini cake each and 3 cupcakes. To get them started, they all got an apron with their initial on it. There was 12 icing piping bags and got 3 little cups each of candy and cupcakes toppers to decorate, along with edible flowers and sprinkles. when they were all done we packaged their little cakes into a cake box. So adorable. I would do this party all over again. It was so much fun, I might do this for my next birthday!

My last little lady turned 10 today! I remember saying to myself all year, “ok, she’s still 9, still my little baby” and now she is officially double digits. My goodness the time has flied. So many good times. Lia adds so much spice into our lives. She definitely cracks us up with her funny comments and amazes us with her mature insights. Her birthday requests was to have a day off from school, she “slept in” until 6:30 am which she called a treat. She requested to go fishing with dad in the morning, then a little beach trip with myself and Liam. Bake a cake with me, she ended up making her own cake all by herself! She requested homemade empanadas and fries for dinner and just hang out with her family! Next week she will be celebrating with family in which she asked to have a cake decorating party!  She got to make her own birthday cake! And she made this entirely by herself! My jaw dropped when I saw it completed. But this is lia, she is capable of anything!It took me so long to cut this cake because it was just so gorgeous, how could I bring myself to cut it! Well let me say, it was just as yummy as it was gorgeous! Can’t wait to discover 10 year old Lia. We surprised her with a Polaroid camera in which she captured beautiful moments from her day. We love you Lia and hope you had the best day ever!

Today would have been your 100th birthday! We all assumed we’d celebrate this day with you here on earth, but 94 was your lucky number. I feel blessed to have spent 37 years with you, it wasn’t enough but its more than I could have ever asked for. We miss you so much. Miss your wisdom the most. So much going on in this world today, I wonder what you’d say about it. I miss our trips to homedepot, finding you working in your shed, talks about life, watching you drink your wine, eating meals with you, the classical music that played all day in the background and just sitting with you in the back yard. You lived a complete life, a simple one. You lived by example showing us all what mattered most. “Life is wonderful” you’d say, and you were right. Happy birthday dad!

You came into our lives a year and 7 days ago.  You light up our lives. We love your smile, your giggles, your obsession with balls. You make life new again. Happy birthday sweet little boy. Hope you enjoyed your 1st birthday party.

Happy birthday Melina! Surprising you was so much fun and we hope you had the time of your life. You are a VIP sister, daughter, and friend. We can’t imagine our lives with out you. Hope you enjoyed your first walk down the red carpet.

For 9 months I walked around pregnant. I watched my belly grow from looking like I was eating too much cake to looking like I swallowed a basketball. Layers of muscle and fat and skin kept me away from seeing what was between me and the baby growing inside of me. For 9 months all I had was wonder. I wondered, is this baby going to make it? Will I ever meet it? Are we adding another girl to the group or will this one be a boy. Are these boy symptoms I’m feeling or girl symptoms? I wasn’t sure. One thing I did know was that this baby was very active. I remember feeling flutters super early, way before 12 weeks. After three pregancy I knew the familiar feeling of flutters. As the baby continued to grow, the movements continued to increase, reassuring me throughout the day that it was there and it was ok. I loved that feeling. I remember at work, when we had the pre-schoolers rehearsing for graduation, this little one would flip and move with excitement as the kids sang there songs. I noticed the same thing while sitting in the auditorium, listening to my daughters holiday concerts. The response to music continued as we’d sit in our entry room listening to the girls playing their flutes. I’d think to myself “this kid really likes music”. This kid also made me very nauseous! I was nauseous for the whole pregnancy. It was awful. I was hungry but nothing delighted me. Well, except for cake! I had no cravings just hunger and naseau. Towards the end of the 2nd trimester I started experiencing numbness and pain in my right arm. The pain was so bad that I couldnt cut or write anything with my right arm. I couldnt even get thru stirring chopped meat for taco night! The nights were even worse. I had to ice my shoulders and hands to relieve pain in my arms. I’d never experienced such a thing in my other pregnancies. I cried alot, not cause of hormones but because I was in so much pain. I was so worried that it would never go away. How would I function? I couldnt drive or push the cart at the supermarket without my hand going dumb and pain striking my arms. At times I’d think to myself, what have I done. What if I put myself self through all of this and something goes wrong and it was all for nothing. But one little kick and a smile would appear on my face. The pain, the unknown, the naseau, the sleepless nights, they would prove to be worth it! One thing I did notice in this pregnancy was my hormones. I wasnt emotional or sensitive like I had been with the prior pregnancies. No one really got on my nerves and if they did I didnt meow about it like a cat, I roared like a lion. Almost like I had testosterone inside of me. Most of the time it was the kind that caused me to chase my husband morning, noon and night! Otherwise I was as cool as a cucumber or picante like a spicey pepper. Amir believed that the cause of all of this was a little boy. An energetic, high testosterone little boy. And he was right. I dont know how Liam entered the world, did he come out screaming and crying or was he silent. Due to an emergency c- section, that is a question we will never know the answer to. But I do know that Liam loves to cuddle. He doesnt like a soiled diaper, not even a barely soiled diaper. But he hates to be changed, go figure! You feel like your in a battle, the way he moves his legs and arms all over the place, desitin ends up all over the place, sometimes the diaper rips cause I’m trying to go as fast as I can so I dont have to hear the angry, high pitched scream he makes and to top it off he pees and has been known to poop all over me. Thats completely new to me. My little girls never did that to their mama. He frets if hes hungry, like hes been starving for days. Hes delighted by the hugs of his big sisters and absolutely loves to be in his daddy’s strong arms. He does not like to be alone, loves to be ooed and cooed at. He loves being outdoors and  looking up at the trees. He loves to sleep. Thank you for those 5 to 6 hour stretches in the early evening! Hes not a big fan of the car seat, luckily the car ride always puts him to sleep. Theres so many things we are learning about him every day and so much hes learning about each and everyone of us. So thankful for him. Two months ago we didnt know if he would be Liam or Natalia and now I cant imagine this life without him. So glad you are here Liam.