MY MOM'S DAY MORNING

Every birthday and Mother's Day I pretend I am surprised to get breakfast in bed, but it really isn't a surprise since this tradition goes back to when I lived at home and did this for my parents or they did it for me (my sister did it for my mom yesterday). Nevertheless, for my little ones, I stay in bed because they tell me they have a surprise. They even send one of them to in to my room to make sure I don't get up. I love this tradition of ours.

This time around, I got fresh made waffles. That was a surprise because we didn't have a waffle maker, so I thought I was just getting pancakes. Ben and the girls made buttermilk waffles, along with a kitty cat onion creature and an ant grape creature. Of course, I got a whole book of love notes made by my girls. It was the sweetest part.

I am hardly deserving of having such sweet children. They are the most forgiving people I know and I am so glad to be their mother.

THE COLORFUL HOTEL BIRTHDAY BONANZA

For her 6th birthday, she made a request to stay at a hotel. This idea of hers was inspired by her favorite book character Eloise, who is 6, and lives at the Plaza Hotel. We also asked her if she wanted a party and she said, "Yes, just the six of us." Other requests she had were swimming, watching My Little Pony in the room, and a vegetable cake. You shake up all the little requests she had in a box and this is what we came up with. 

I did show her a picture of the hotel once and she was quickly smitten with it. When it finally came time to figure out her birthday plans, I knew The Saguaro was a must, especially a room with pink. We started the adventure off with a stop for lunch and pick up some date shakes at Hadley Nut Farm (thanks to Heather's recommendation) and then we were off to the hotel. 

Once there, we gave her the suitcase, which pretty much contained all her birthday goodies, but we slowly revealed each item to her through the course of two days. That first afternoon there, they relaxed in the room watching My Little Pony, then we went to dinner at Tinto, which was pretty good. We had never tried tapas before and we like it, though I don't think it is something we will crave. After that, the girls went for a night swim and then that was that for the first day.

The second day, was her actual birthday and because it is tradition, she got her breakfast in bed (don't worry the other girls got breakfast too) and they spent the rest of the morning swimming. I hung out with them for a bit, but most of the morning, I was in the room getting her own little private party set up. Armed with all the goodies in the suitcase, I set out to prep her mini party. 

I knew a rainbow cake would be perfect the celebration, and I thought she would like that more than her request for a vegetable cake (what's that?). I baked the cake the night before we left home, using this recipe (this for the frosting) and wrapped each layer in saran wrap separately and froze it all. Then, when it was time to put it together it was easy peasy. This was all a surprise to her, so you should have seen her face when she came back to the room. My heart swelled knowing that her little heart was full of joy for her birthday surprises. She was so excited for everything! 

After the party, we wrapped up and checked out and then had a late lunch at El Jefe (yum!), stopped by Ace for some photo booth action, and then headed home. As soon as we got home, True started crying because she missed the hotel so much. It was real sweet. I'm thinking now her next request will be two nights at the hotel for her 7th birthday! 

I can hardly believe we have a 6 year old, but we were so happy to be able to oblige some of this sweet girl's wishes. Now, if she starts asking for us to buy a hotel, well, that just ain't gonna happen. Just to be clear. This little girl of ours has Ben's mischief, it's in the eyes, and my bossiness. She is also hilariously funny and a good big sister, when she isn't manipulating Brave. We love her so much and I think I forget she is still a baby, though she is also becoming a big girl. By golly, time just goes too fast. We love you True! 

See True's past birthdays... 5, 4, 3, and 2.

p.s. cause you're probably wondering... yes, i taped crepe paper streamers up to the wall for her mini party and tore it all down before we checked out and her birthday dress is from misha lulu.

PARTY IN A SUITCASE

Party in a suitcase is just what we needed for this little 6 year who requested to spend her birthday at a hotel. The vintage suitcase was found on etsy and in it came snacks all packaged in her favorite color pink, utensils, cups, plates, tablecloth, crepe paper streamers, blow horns, pink lemonade, sunglasses, new pajamas, new bathing suit, birthday dress, and her favorite of all... a my little pony. The rainbow colored contents also were done purposely to match where the celebration took place, The Saguaro. 

The contents were simple and practical things and mostly from the 99 cents store, but she loved every bit. We gave her the suitcase once we arrived at the hotel and all together, it helped make the perfect celebration. Birthday celebration post coming up soon...

p.s. on an unrelated note, i officially signed up for the 5k foam fest on may 26th in temecula and the zombie run in october. there are teams put together for both, pretty much with the same peeps i ran the color run with, so if you care to join our team, i think that would be so fun, just send me an email! i must admit, i am pee in my pants nervous about both races, especially that zombie one. yikes! 

LOVE DAY

The day started off with the girls' love day bags waiting at their breakfast spot and an extra valentine from their Papi for all his girls (including me!).

Their bags were filled with some edible treats and a ban.do clip for the big girls. Their shared wrapped present were the my little pony toys they have been wanting, rather, their papi has been eagerly wanting to get them.

My present on the other hand, were two of the shirts I had been wanting from our trip to Madewell. Turns out, while I was trying things on, that boy of mine sneakily purchased two shirts and had them hiding in the baby sling! See this picture, he is hiding two shirts in that sling of his. Definitely sneaky, sneaky, but I love it and love him more!!!

The girls got put to bed extra early, so Ben and I could get in some quiet time. We ordered sushi, put on some quiet music, and just ate and chatted together. Kinda nice. I also gave him his little handmade present, but I will save that for another post. I love simple celebrations like this. Though, I am not opposed to fancy ones too! I just love celebrating in general.

Ben has a lot of girls to romance and I feel so blessed that he enjoys using his creativity and love for us to spoil us girls. We love our Papi very much!!! It was definitely a good Valentine's Day in our home.

How was yours?

REINNA'S LAST HURRAH!!!

The middle sister is getting married, so we threw her one last hurrah!!!

I made her a little poncho (and head band) so everyone we came in contact with would know. She is the bride after all and she must be distinct.

I left Glow with my parents as I pretended to be free as a bird with the rest of the ladies that afternoon. I wasn't free that long because I came back to feed. None of my babies ever did well with the bottle.

As we were going to the first destination, we asked Reinna, "If you could eat anything, what would it be?" In this order, she said, "Alligator, giraffe, and rattlesnake." Well, two out of three ain't bad right?!! Middle sister is the queen of eating the unusual (at least to us).

What followed after lunch was a fun little scavenger hunt. Two teams, two cars, same list, ten dollars, and 45 minutes until we had to switch out the bride and another teammate. We wanted her to have fun with everyone, so we did a switch-a-roo in the middle. Then we had another 45 minutes until we had to meet at our final destination.

The list was filled of lots of embarrassing things for the bride to do (at least when she was on my team, I made her do them). She kissed strangers cheeks, rubbed their bellies, kiss their bald heads, got hugs, got phone numbers, kissed their muscles, kissed tattoos, and even serenaded a group of boys and so much more! Of course, the list also included items to get or to take pictures of. It was fun and we were all scurrying throughout the city.

At 4:05 we met again at a nearby park for the next phase of the adventure. The bride has always wanted to do a paint fight of sorts, but we did a little twist on her request. I remember a color fight Jordan did awhile ago and thought that would be the perfect thing to do. We first tallied to see which team got the most items, then we got ready for our fight. With all the holi colors scattered about like an easter egg hunt, we gave the winning team a 5 second head start and then we all went at it...

We all had so much fun and came home such a mess. Actually, all the girls went back home only to get dolled up to go back out for a fancy dinner and some dancing, but this mama washed up, fed her baby, and then made her way back home to her other little ladies and Ben.

It is so surreal for me as the older sister to comprehend that my little sister is actually getting married. I was glad we got to have this last special adventure for our sister before she gets hitched. I think we hit the spot with everything she wanted and we all had a grand time!

This next week is full of finalizing details and getting everything sorted out and organized. It will be a whirlwind of a week with family coming into town and all the preparations, but I can't wait for the culmination of everything at the wedding. Ahh! My little sister is getting married... crazy!!!