sweet
Beautiful
Caring
smart
Loving
Hard headed
Head strong
Sarcastic
funny
Instigator
Nosey
leader
Ambitious
Efficient
Scaredy cat
Loyal
Sixteen!
You make 16 look wonderful
Birthday Celebration
Baking Memories Together
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!
Happy 10th
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!
100 years!
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!
Happy 1st Birthday Liam
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.
A red carpet surprise
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.
Happy 8th birthday Lia
I brought Lia home on fathers day 8 years ago. I remember the days leading up to her birth were so busy with a part time job, shopping for fathers day, getting ready for my oldest daughters’ pre school graduation tending to my almost 2 year old and of course the everyday chores and meal preps. The busyness has not stopped and has only gotten busier. I always thought being a December baby was tough but I think June babies also get shuffled into the June madness! As shes grown so has the busyness of life especially with 3 school aged children. June has just become a month of check lists and more check lists. Other then the typical work and end of school days, June is also filled with Fathers day, Shared birthdays, graduations, recitals, bbqs and many things in between. Theres been times where we’ve had to celebrate her birthday a month later, and yes that’s not such a big deal to me, it’s a big deal to a little one who’d waited all year for her birthday party to come. This year, I wanted to intentionally make her actual birthday very special. In the past, her birthday has fallen on other occasions, making it challenging to just focus on her. This year it fell on a Monday, with absolutely nothing else going on other than school and work. I planned ahead and took the afternoon off from work, ( I am forever grateful for having a job that works with me and my family) I ordered a variety of sun catchers from oriental trading along with paint markers and hanging accessories. We prepared everything ahead of time and when her special day arrived I signed out the two older girls from school and together we headed to her class room and shared the craft with her classmates. 
She also got to share her All About Me poster. At the end of her celebration, along with each child taking home a suncatcher she also gave each child a pack of chalk. The big girls were so helpful in giving out all of the supplies, I didnt have to do anything. I spent most of the time chatting with the lovely teachers and classmates. We had fun and it was a great way to kick off lias birth day!
Our next event was to head over to Build -A-Bear. We had never experienced making one and the girls and I agreed that this would not only be a fun experience for Lia but for all of us as well. Even daddy!
I myself was looking forward to this all week so I cant imagine how excited lia was about it. After the experience, I realized you are never to old or young to build a bear! We had a great experience and although you can walk out of there spending a fortune, the girls were at an age where they understood how to keep the price low and still have a great time. Our experience included picking a special friend each (just the kids of course, although I wouldn’t have had any difficulty picking one out for myself!). Then we gave the girls the option of including a scent, a heart beat or a push button to play a special song. Lia chose to add a heart beat and the other two picked a special scent to include in their bears. Next, as a lovely young lady operated a stuffing machine, the girls each participated in a heart ceremony in which they picked a little heart to include inside of their little friend. 
After bears and rabbit were stuffed and hearts were sealed the girls got to hit the floor and shop for outfits and one accessory. They got to pick out lots of outfits and try everything on their little friend in the provided dressing rooms. They had so much fun doing this! And so did Amir and I! 
The experience ends with the kids picking a name for their special friend and printing out a birth certificate. Each friend shares a birthday with lia – June 17th 2019!
Lia named her rabbit Pauline, Melina named her bear Nina and Isabel named her bear Autumn. Each girl recieved a special home (box) to take their special friend home in. We ended the evening with each of us picking something different to eat at the food court. It was definatley a day that continues to put a smile on my face. 
A few weeks have now past, we found a day to have a party to celebrate with family but I’m so glad we carved out that day to truly celebrate lia on her real birthday. I totally would recommend giving this experience as a gift to anyone. Not only do you leave with a new special friend but the experience remains with you forever.
Red, White and Blue
We celebrated our “baby” , Lias 7th birthday this past June. One of the activities that our young guests got to participate in was making these awesome red, white and blue shirts. These shirts were so easy and so inexpensive to make. I found white shirts at Michaels for $2.99 and picked up some red, white and blue acrylic paint. I also purchased foam stars to use as stamps. I simply hot glued a tooth pick to the flat part of the stars which made it easy to stamp onto the shirts. The kids used blue painters tape to add strips onto the shirts, and some of the kids stamped on red and blue handprints. I laid the shirts out in the hot sun and once they were dried I cut some of the sleeves off and added fringes to all of them. The kids loved the shirts and have been wearing them throughout our summer festivities, including the Fourth of July of course! 
Hopscotch into 10!
My middle daughter, Melina came home from school the other day and asked me to make an indoor hopscotch for her. Immediately I thought this was an awesome idea and quickly thought of a way to incorporate it into celebrating my oldest daughter, Isabel’s birthday. She was turning ten, so what a perfect way for her to enter the double digit world! We always have a stash of washi tape so I figured that was the best way to make one. I also thought it would be fun to use washi tape to write a big number ten in front of her room so that when she came out in the morning, she’d follow it to the hopscotch in the next hallway. After she got through the hopscotch, her sisters had some gifts waiting for her. It was a perfect way to celebrate her b aefore she headed off to school for the day. I’m letting the girls keep the hopscotch until I get tired of looking at it! It was also a great little addition to her birthday party!
