Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Ana’s birthday(sneak peek of the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium + more)

~ Etc.

My little girl turned 5 last week!  We decided to throw her a birthday party again this year and forgo the birthday party every other year rule for now because this is the prime age where they LOVE birthday parties.  With Aiden we are not throwing a birthday party until he’s 4 or 5, and then it’ll be every year until they turn 10.  Then it’ll be back to every other year.  You’re a kid only once and birthday parties get less fun as you get older, so might as well spoil them while they really enjoy it. 🙂 We don’t get them any birthday presents when they have a party but we purchased a ukulele for Ana a few months ago, before we decided to throw her a party, so that was her birthday present which she was so excited about.  She’s been asking us for one for almost a year.  
Then daddy came home for lunch and surprised us all with Waffle Love, Ana’s favorite. 
Ana helped me make chocolate covered strawberries for her class as her birthday treats.  She loved making them for her teachers for Valentine’s so she requested we make it again.
Then we got to have a sneak peek of the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, which has a grand opening on March 25th.  We’ve been annual members of the old Living Planet Aquarium for years and always loved going, but the new one is way bigger and even better!  
the kids loved the bridge, they went on it over and over again.
okay, I loved it too, not gonna lie.
this guy hand painted all the art at Loveland.  It was awesome to see him in the works.
My brother Jacob came into town for a few days, which happened to fall on Ana’s birthday!
Thank you Loveland Living Planet for letting us have a sneak peek, we can’t wait to go again!
Then we went on a spontaneous stop to Scheels.  Last spontaneous trip we went to was to Shoe Carnival 3 years ago.  We like to live wild and free if you can’t tell.
we rode on the Ferris wheel a couple times.  me and the birthday girl.
the girls got really into the backdrop photo shoots.
okay, I did too.  
no Jacob, no.  please just stop.
hahahaha, this picture cracks me up.  the girls look like they’re getting punished by holding the giant fish up above their heads and they look so sad and pissed off.  I promise they were happy and having fun, and made us take plethora of pictures of them with the fish.
then we went to Jang Soo Jang Korean restaurant for dinner and ordered a ton of delicious food.
My outfit: dot peplum top | blue jeans: romwe | ankle strap flats(for 20% off click here)
Then we sadly had to say goodbye to my brother.  I would like to brag about Jacob for a sec if that’s alright.  Not only is he intelligent and graduated from Harvard, he is hard working and one of the most honest, down to earth, spiritual people I know.  He is currently working for John Kerry, the secretary of State and when he travels for meetings, the government pays first class for all his flights, but he refuses to go first class and travels coach every time.  I asked him why and he said it’s because there’s no need for him to fly first class and he’d rather save the government’s money and coach is more than enough for him.  Isn’t he awesome?!  I love you Jacob, please come visit us again!
It was quiet hectic around Ana’s birthday so I didn’t have a chance to really let it sink in the night before her birthday that it was her last day as a 4 year old, and have my usual little melt down where I cry and cuddle and kiss her, and give her one last hug and kiss as my 4 year old.  So at 3 a.m on the day after her birthday, I sneaked into her bedroom and I held her and kissed her as tears streamed down my face.  She would never be a 4 year old again.  She is now a half a decade old.  She will be going to Kindergarten this year.  I cannot believe it.  My sweet, strong willed, determined, funny, silly, smart little 5 year old.  Mama loves you without end.  Thank you for being mine.

My Birthday

~ Etc.

I am 30 years old! I might be one of the few who was actually looking forward to turning 30, and it feels great!  I got to sleep in and when I woke up, I found these two posts on Jay’s Instagram.  The second one is of him singing.  I laughed so hard watching him sing and I knew it was going to be a wonderful birthday.

We started my birthday at Magleby’s Fresh with my favorite french toast with my sister and her family, before they went back to California.  
then we went to the ice castles in Midway because I wanted to do something fun for the girls and knew they would love it since it’s like an ice castle from Frozen.  It was really cold so I put Aiden in Jay’s big coat, inside the baby carrier, inside his pram, inside his sweater onesie, inside his long sleeve onesie & two pairs of socks.  He was warm apparently because he slept the whole time.
picture take one
picture take two.  that’s better!
one of our girls yelled out, “It’s the best day ever!”
I told the girls, “I look like Oloft from Frozen!” and my daughter said to me, “No, you look like Oloft AFTER he rolled down the hill and was a HUGE snow man!”  Thanks Adi, thanks,
then we went to the Sora Restaurant to get pho’ and pad thai, two of my favorite foods!
sweater | pants | rain boots
Then after we put the kids to bed, we watched a movie to finish the night.  Thanks for a great birthday, Jay! Even though I didn’t celebrate your 30th birthday… 🙁

Adi’s a big 5 now

~ Etc.

We decided to throw birthday parties every other year for our kids instead of every year, and since we threw Adi a mermaid birthday party last year, we spent it with family this year. We told Adi it was her day, so she gets to call the shots the whole day, which she was very excited about.
she wanted pancakes for breakfast
she took oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to school to share with her classmates
both of the girls got Brave dresses & we watched Brave 
create an animated gif
we told Adi she could go where ever she wanted for dinner and she chose Burgers Supreme.  It was a proud moment right there.  We’ve taught her the right ways.  Grandma and grandpa joined us for dinner also.
I told Jay I didn’t want to give her too many presents because I don’t want her to grow up spoiled, but Jay spoiled her way too much and got her way too many gifts(she got 7 big gifts! what 5 year old girl needs 7 big gifts?)  I told him he can spoil me since I’m an adult, but we can’t spoil the girls too much from now on, haha.
we went ice skating
and sang her a birthday song and let her blow out the candles many times.
I cried the night before her birthday like I always do the day before our daughters’ birthdays, but this time I cried a lot more because she was turning half a decade old.  She really is a big girl now.  
I am so proud of you Adi, and I will always love you forever.  

The birthday boy

~ Etc.

We celebrated Jay’s birthday.  I wanted to throw him a homemade donut & hot chocolate party for his special day, but he just wanted it simple & sweet.  So we finished the night with an oreo ice-cream cake & I saved the best gift for last, which was a little book compiled by his close friends & family of the reasons why we love him.  
Here is one excerpt that made me laugh:
Dear Jay,
I love you.  Your smile, your hair, your left olo.  Brad Pitt drools at the thought of your beauty.  Arnold has your body as his computer’s wallpaper.  Kids wear superman underwear, superman wears Jay’s underwear.  If the church supported gay marriage, we’d be together forever.  
Um, should I be worried? 😉 The most repeated qualities people listed were that Jay is a hard worker, very loyal, always helping someone, is a great dad, and funny.  I agree with all that and much more.  I sure have much catching up to do.   
Happy birthday love, you make me so happy.
Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s not enough room for Jay’s big head so I better leave the room.

ariana’s birth day.

~ Etc.

on ariana’s birthday i told her we could do whatever she wished.  so she opened presents, got a cookies & cream lollipop, went shopping and picked out a dress, went to the aquarium, ate a fish burrito, took a nap(not her wish but it wasn’t optional ;), went to her friend’s b-day party, and she got to blow out the candles over and over and over again.  
p.s.  the second to last picture just kills me.  jay was in the bouncy thing making sure our girls weren’t getting dominated by older kids but i had to tell him to get off because he was probably scaring all the moms with his pedophile mustache!(yes, i openly call it the “pedophile mustache” in hopes that he’ll shave it off) and how all the moms were probably very nervously watching their kids as i spoke.  but instead of getting off, jay kept looking around with his “pedophile” smile.  oh, those poor moms.