The Queen: Michelle

The Queen: Michelle
I am 28 years old. Still a princess but the queen of my family. Spoiled beyond belief. Lucky and truely blessed. A lover. A crafter. A mother. A wife. A friend. This is me.

My King: Junior

My King: Junior
The LOVE of my life! He completes me and balances me out in every way. He's a workaholic. He's loud, blunt, and crazy. He drinks Monsters like his life depends on it. Above all he is the greatest Daddy I could ever ask for, for my children. And he treats me like his Queen (and he calls me that too).

The Model Child: Diego Ray

The Model Child: Diego Ray
9 years old. My only boy. He is the epitome of the perfect child. He is so responsible and independent. Wise beyond his years. He is laughter, he is love, he is compassion, he is simply amazing. He keeps me grounded and reminds me always that I am beautiful. He is a natural born leader and takes care of the household and family better than me!

The Diva: Alayna Danae

The Diva: Alayna Danae
7 years old. She is drama. My fashionista for sure with a style all her own. Sensitive and loving when she wants to be. Thumbsucker. My biggest headache because she is the most like me. She is the only one who can cause me to become uncontrollably angry. She loves to dance. She loves to model. My bookworm and most academic.

The Wild Child: Arielle Marie-Grace

The Wild Child: Arielle Marie-Grace
4 years old. This one is something else. She is pure comedy. Never a dull moment with her crazy antics. She is also the crybaby. She does things her own way. She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to be cute to get it. My Disney loving pal. So girly. Her favorite color is pink. Loves Rapunzel. Will wear a dress every single day. Can't leave the house without a bow in her hair. She refuses.

The Munchkin: Atalie Belle

The Munchkin: Atalie Belle
2 years old. My sweet baby. She loves her Mommy above all else. She is a cuddlebug for sure. The calmest most well behaved baby ever! But she has TONS of energy. She is so small and petite. She loves to sing and dance. She so SO ready for ballet and has yet to even step foot in a class. She loves Minnie Mouse and watching Disney Jr. She is hilarious and talks way too much.
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

These Boots Are Made For Walkin'



So now that the pictures have been delivered I can show you this cute little family!

Dawn was my best friend in Jr High. You may remember seeing her wedding pictures on my blog as well as Lily's newborn pictures. Well semi-newborn pictures LOL

I gave them a disc with 150 photos on it... way more than a usual photoshoot but I got so many great shots and she's a good friend I had to include them all.

These are my absolute favorites: Dawn, Jacob, & Lillian







































As you can tell... I LOVED their boots!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Diego & Arielle's Big Top Circus

Finally the party I've been planning for a while is complete! Diego's 7th Birthday and Arielle's 2nd Birthday.

Although I didn't do everything I had planned because I woke up in a lot of pain. Which continued on during the day. Jr thought I was going to go into labor which I assured him I wouldn't. It was just a lot to do!

But of course it was ALL completely worth it. Diego and Arielle had the time of their lives. Diego had all his friends from school come and Arielle finally kinda got the concept of what was going on. She loved the jumper, she loved the cupcakes, and she loved opening her presents.

So I went with a circus/carnival theme. Primary colors. I loved it. And with lots of help I was able to make and put together all my ideas.




And I even made caramel apples... yes I tend to go overboard with the DIY stuff.


I also had carnival games made but decided not to do them after all because I was just too dang exhausted by the time our guests arrived that I just relied on the jumper to keep the kids entertained. And it did. They didn't miss a thing.


Arielle looked completely adorable in the outfit I put together for her and the tutu I made. My friend Tabitha made her the matching bow and it was just perfect for her outfit!


The hit of the party and my favorite part was the photobooth I made. Really simple but oh so cute! Children and Adults all got to take pictures and I am going to print them out for them. I may do this more often for other parties.

Birthday Boy Diego (it was his actual birthday)


Dawn & Lillian


Tyler & Tabitha


Kika & Alexis


My Nephew Ramon - 1 Week old at his first party!


Alayna


Ducky


Grandpa


Tracy & I


Cake time! As always my ideas are brought to life by the wonderful talents of Linda! I told her I wanted cupcakes that looked like popcorn.I printed the cupcake wrappers to look like popcorn tubs, as well as a few in the patterns I used for the party, and she made them perfectly how I envisioned them. She's completely awesome. None of my ideas are too hard for her!












The kids got TONS of cool gifts. Mostly clothes and as a Mom this is the best thing for me! And 5 pairs of shoes each! Another thing I love. And each one got like 3-4 toys. Not bad! I know they prefer them but I sure don't! We bought Arielle a $10 baby doll stroller and it turned out to be the best money we've ever spent! To say she LOVED it is an understatement.

And Diego was happy when Grandpa wheeled out his gift for him...


And by the end of the night I felt like Lily...


EXHAUSTED!

Friday, March 26, 2010

I Need Her

I need her.
Like functioning without her is not functioning for me at all.
Especially on a day like today.
It's nothing more than any other ordinarily busy day I've been having for weeks on end.
But after being awake for 4 hours as I was driving to the hospital for my routine monitoring I passed by the cemetery.
And I thought to myself...

"I NEED her. Today doesn't feel right. What would we be doing today? We would have gone to have breakfast by now. And shuffled the kids to school and the various activities they have scheduled. But I did it all alone. I thought, Jr wouldn't have to have taken Arielle to my Mother-in-law's while I had my monitoring done. I would have left her home instead. And afterward? We'd go right back to running around. And probably spend way too much money on too many gifts for the 2 of my children who are having a birthday party tomorrow. And had lunch, at Chipotle. And made sure to hide receipts that could get us in trouble with how much money we had really spent. That's what we would have been doing I could guarantee it."

And as I pulled into the hospital parking lot I couldn't help but feel sad at how different this day felt. And how important Diego was to her. And how now I am left alone to do everything for the party without her. Not that she helped me much... but she was there. And then the song 'Already There' by Lonestar came on the radio. I couldn't help but cry.

I sat in the car until the song was over. It's like everytime I think of her or start to miss her more the song on the radio immediately helps me. This was no different. The song says, "I am already there, take a look around. I'm the sunshine in your hair, I'm the shadow on the ground. I'm the whisper in the wind, I'm your imaginary friend. And I know I'm in your prayers, oh I'm already there." It was perfect timing. Like she was telling me I can do this. And not to mention that my Dad put that as a comment to something I wrote about her a while back on my blog. He used the same song.

I miss her more for my kids than I do for me. Although I am selfish and I miss her for me too.

AND ON A SIDENOTE:

After running some errands I had promised Diego some cupcakes for his class to celebrate his birthday. Running late as usual my sister-in-law and I stopped at Costco to buy the cupcakes. She also took my girls so I didn't have to worry about them. I got to his school with 20 minutes before they got out of class. Not bad only 10 minutes late from the time I said. I carried these 2 HUGE heavy boxes of cupcakes through the parking lot into the office. I thought my arms were gonna fall off. I check in as a visitor and they tell me I could head on back to his class. So there I go ALL the way across the campus to the back building to his classroom. And once I finally arrive there's 10 minutes left of school. But I peek into his classroom and there's no one in there! Great!

So I book it back with the HEAVY cupcakes (I'll take a picture so you can see JUST how heavy and big I am talking about) to the office and as I walk in the receptionist says, "Please don't tell me that he's a 1st grader..." I nod my head. And she says, "They're in the cafeteria." The cafeteris is connected to the office. Lovely. She goes in and gets his teacher and when she comes to talk to me she apologized and forgot that I was coming. The kids had already went their seperate ways (buses, after-school program, or out to the front to be picked up). I was so sad! She carried the cupcakes back to my car for me and said we could do it on Monday. So I came home in a hurry to get them into the fridge. I don't know how but they fit. Then I had to hurry to his busstop to pick him up. I felt so bad. I promised I would be there. I felt like he would feel let down. I cried waiting for him at the bus stop. I really felt terrible about it. Like I failed. Luckily his bus was 20 minutes late so I had time to calm down before he saw me.

But like my wonderful son that he is... he truly uinderstood that it was a mistake. I do love that kid. He didn't feel let down at all, he even thanked me for trying. Seriously... child of the year. I still felt bad though. So we'll try again on Monday... til then the cupcake are being kept in the fridge.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Country Kids

Well sure looked to me like we were in the country for a minute there... green and mountains.

Here's a few shots I got of my kids while I was out there shooting Dawn and her Family.




















(Taken by Alexis)








(Taken by Alexis)


(Taken by Alexis)


(Taken by Alexis)