this girl

this girl....

loves the color blue

loves her gymnastics classes

is fearless

loves eating burgers & sushi

(not at the same time)

is so sweet and loving

(she has to give me exactly five kisses before she enters her classroom)

loves elephants 

doesn't really have a sweet tooth

loves chips--especially cheese puffs!

says she will be a "cooker" (chef) when she grows up

this girl turned 5 years old today! 

viva las vegas!

in my last post i was being a little cryptic about the saying

does "what happens in vegas really stay in vegas?"

well, i am sure that most of the time it does

but when you elope

that most definitely does not stay in vegas!

yep, my middle sister and her fiance decided to elope

and took us with them!

we had a total of less than 6 weeks to plan (tops!)

she wanted it to be super, duper simple

i was pretty much down on my hands and knees

begging her to have a cake, flowers, favors and a photographer

(what can i say? it's the professional wedding planner in me)

she finally relented (after much heart felt begging on my part)

and i turned to my good friend google

and started hunting down las vegas wedding vendors

i think everything turned out perfect!

all of these photos are just from everyone's iphones 

 i hope to share the pro ones soon enough

you might just see elvis in a few ;)

viva las vegas!

ps. if you think planning a wedding in 6 weeks is tough
try keeping it a secret from almost everyone you know!
now that's tough! 

a special birthday brunch

it was my mom's birthday last week

and to celebrate, my sisters and i made a special birthday brunch for her

birthday cake, a breakfast casserole and lots of french toast

when i asked her what she wanted for her birthday

she said she wanted her "own" _ _ reasons why we love mom/lola

just like the one we made for my hubs a few weeks before

(the "fill in the blanks" are for her age--- i don't think she wants me disclosing that!)

so, by golly that is exactly what she got!

my sisters, zoe, pia and i each pitched in with reasons

and zoe and pia illustrated the reasons

she absolutely loved it!

and after we stuffed our bellies with too much yummy food

we sang happy birthday and blew out the cake 

and once again stuffed our bellies, 

but this time with the delicious cake my baby sister made

and because we ate way too much and because my mom loves shopping

we decided to go shopping to burn it all off!

happy birthday mom! thank you for all that you do for us

we love you!

happy lunches

one of the many mommyhood challenges

that i face five days a week

is preparing healthy and yummy lunches for zoe to bring to school

she has been having lunch at school since last year

so preparing lunch for her to bring to school is not new to me

but it certainly remains challenging!

i am lucky in the sense that zoe is not a really picky eater

and once she likes something, she really likes something

she can eat it everyday if i let her

right now she is really digging nutella sandwiches

she has had it almost everyday since school started

i found these super duper neat sandwich cutters

they cut the sandwich into neat shapes and take the crusts off (bonus points!)

i alternate her snacks between fruit, cheese sticks and granola bars

and zoe doesn't like juice ( makes our dentist visits way more pleasant!)

so she brings water everyday

i also stick a little "love note" on her sandwich container with

happy tape... because happy tape makes everything happier!

now, i just need to brainstorm more lunch ideas 

for when the time comes and she decides 

that she doesn't want nutella sandwiches anymore

sigh...

my zoe and pia say the darndest things

on our way to church one day:

pia: God says that there are no cell phones or pagers allowed in church

zoe: what are pagers?

while sitting beside me watching television one afternoon,
an infomercial for some sort of "belly shrinking" contraption comes on

pia: momma, do you want me to buy that for you?

a few days after her first baby tooth fell out, 

a second baby tooth fell out

me: we should put that under your pillow tonight 

so that they toothfairy comes again

zoe: the toothfairy already has one of my baby teeth, i don't want

her to have all of my teeth, i will keep this one

pia: when i grow up i want to be a farmer and only have one cow named caramel

it finally happened

 

you can't really tell from this photo

but my zoe lost her first baby tooth!

we knew it was going to happen sooner than later

her bottom tooth has been wiggly for a while now

and the adult tooth was already peeking through

 

it happened during recess while she was at school

 my mom happened to pick her up that day

and happened to nonchalantly mention that zoe had lost a tooth

i on the other hand immediately freaked out

"where's the tooth?!?! where's the tooth?!?!" i yelled into the phone

i was immediately ready to race to the school

and scour the entire playground for my baby's first baby tooth

but there was no need to worry on my part

the "school tooth fairy" aka the school receptionist

had given zoe a necklace with a tooth shaped container to 

keep her tooth in

later on that night, she placed her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy

 the next morning, she raced into my room

and exclaimed loudly

"mommy! the tooth fairy took my tooth and left me something!"

me: "WOW! what did she leave you??"

zoe: " she must have really liked my tooth because she left me BIG money

and a new toothbrush!!!"

FYI, the BIG money she was referring to was only 10 dollars!!

i hope 10 dollars will always be "big" money for her!

first day of school 2011

 as i mentioned in my previous post

this school year is extra special for us

because it's the first time that both

of my girls will be in school!

the first day of school went well

best friends were reunited

new friends were made

few tears were shed (only by me actually)

and the girls came home filled with first day of school stories

 and excited for the new school year

i couldn't have asked for more

this girl

 this girls turn 6 years old today

this girl is thoughtful and wise beyond her years

this girl is has a witty sense of humour

this girl is loyal and protective, especially when it comes to her little sister

this girl loves dolls and books

this girl loves to draw

this girl loves ice cream and cupcakes

this girl loves the colour pink

this girl is growing up right before my eyes

pia's me day

 ever since zoe had her "me day"

pia has been busy planning for hers

she knew exactly what she wanted to do

she wanted to go berry picking (this was a last minute addition)

have a hotdog picnic at the park

(the hotdogs had to be purchased from costco--

the food stand, not the store)

go to the playground 

and a trip to the ice cream shop

i tell yah, this little girl knows what she wants!

for breakfast she asked for toast with nutella

and after breakfast we made our way to the berry farm for some berry picking

we like to wait for the raspberries to be in season

and boy did we come at a perfect time!

the raspberries were plump, ripe and oh so delicious!

after our very fruitful adventure at the berry farm

we headed to the park for a hotdog picnic

(but first we stopped off at costco to purchase the hotdogs)

we found a nice grassy spot and settled in for a picnic

after filling our tummies with yummy hotdogs and fruit

the girls had some playground time

 the last item on her "me day" itinerary was a visit to the ice cream shop

but the little girl was so pooped that she fell asleep on the way to the ice cream shop

she didn't even get her ice cream wish

when we pulled her out of her car seat and she realized we were already home

and that we hadn't stopped for ice cream

she started crying and saying 

"my day isn't over, i haven't had ice cream!"

i would have felt sorry for her, but it was more funny to me than sad... ha ha!
i couldn't believe that she remembered even after her nap!

but we promised her that we would take her another day and then she was back to being happy

can you believe that she is already busy preparing for her next special "me day"?!