Summer Vacation is Over

As the summer break from school winds down... we spent all last week just trying to spend even more time together. Because then we go back to routine.

Arielle got in a LOT of brother time... she absolutely loves Diego!



This little fella made a home out of our back yard for the last few weeks:




And as a farewell to summer we spent a day at our favorite hangout... Peter Piper Pizza!

And I got to see my Goddaughter who I hadn't seen in a few months!



And Diego took good care of all 3 girls... and kept them all entertained the whole 4 hours we were there! I swear I will miss all the help when he's back in school all day!




And the babies literally spent the last 45mins on the carousel. They were even falling asleep... So funny!






And then the kids were sad when Ari had to go home... They love her so much.


And last but not least my cousin Jessica came and spent a week here in AZ... and she spent a couple days at our house. So a photoshoot was in order! (More on this later) She lives in California and she'll be a Senior this year. Isn't she gorgeous?!

All In One Day

The weather here is very weird sometimes. These pictures were all taken on the same day within about a 2 hour span:

My husband took this from the roof of my brother's house facing towards the east.


Then he turned to the west and took this... still from the roof.


And this was facing South directly in front of the house.


Then my brother had to drive us home. So off we went. And it started to pour. And if you know Phoenix weather... it's doesn't POUR hardly ever. It was dark and I couldn't get a picture of the rain when I was squished in the cab of his truck.

But it really did pour.

Then we exited the freeway only to see a fire had just started. Pretty close to my mother-in-law's are some factories of sort and it was on fire. There was so much traffic because the fire dept had to get through so we were stopped there for a while.

But my husband took these:



And these are a mixture of the rain and fire:

Alayna's 4th Birthday Party

After all the hard work, sleepless nights, and just plain exhaustion I put myself through... her party was a success!

We chose Yo Gabba Gabba as her theme. She's loved the show since it first came out when she was a year old. Most of the kids in our family are completely FASCINATED by this show too. And now that she's getting older I wanted to commemorate her love for this show because by next year she'll be too old for these type of themes. But of COURSE they don't sell Yo Gabba Gabba anything. And if they do it's VERY hard to find, costs way too much, or you have to get it over the internet and it takes forever to arrive.

So I decided to just make everything myself. Easy peasy right? Haha... Wrong. So enlisted some helpers that got me through 2 weeks of torture. I mean I loved making everything but with all my ideas I kept coming up with more things to add to out to-do list and I didn't sleep at all.

So before I go on to a million pictures... cuz you know there's a million... I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to my sister-in-law Jennifer who without her I may not have made this party possible. She helped me with ANYTHING I needed and even lent us her home so we could have the party there. And also to my cousin Rebecca who decided to come on a mini vacation from California... just in time to help me with all my projects. She drew pretty much everything for me! And we stayed up all night and ran on little sleep for 4 days to get everything done. I love you both!

And without further ado:

All the trouble I went through was all for this!














But this little girl is definitely worth it!




Alayna had fun swimming and even showed off the fact that she can swim without floaties now!







After a few hours of being a little mermaid she changed into the outfit I made for her! Complete with a Foofa (the pink character) inspired and age appropriate party hat! I think I am going to make a party hat every year to match their outfits!


Then we sang Happy Birthday! The awesome cake was once again made by my sister-in-law's Mom. She seriously makes the BEST cakes.




Diego and Arielle even got a little camera time.



Present time!




(I love the look on mine and my dad's face)




Then I gave out all the goodie bags... they were a HIT!




And her Godparents surprised her with a gold necklace!



And when it was all over it was time for disaster clean up...


But after all the kids were in bed we rewarded our hard work by swimming at midnight.


Smirnoff... Quiet... A Pool... and Great Company = A wonderful end to the night!