Highlights of June

I can't believe the months, days, and minutes are flying by. We have celebrated the end of the school year with field trips, awards ceremonies, Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays & everything in between! Wow!! The days are just flying by and I want to catch up here on the blog. The reason I have a blog is not only to keep in touch with you but also a way to document our lives. To record our adventures and everyday moments that we are experiencing as a family.
And my experience as a mom of 5, trying to raise them through God's Word. Sometimes life is happening so quickly and I am busy living in the moments, it can be hard to make time to sit down and record them. Sometimes things don't go as planned but I'm trying and I believe that has to count. So here is a look at  some of the highlights of the month of June.


In the beginning of the month the boys' school has an annual carnival and this year the theme was Olympics. It turned out pretty cool, but very hot. 




  Gabriel is ready to swim with his new shark goggles! 
Lot's of swimming has been going on this summer.




 James with his end of the year project on Italia. He had to do the report in Spanish and his teacher said he did Awesome!!




One morning I took Gabriel and Daniel to the park. 

Gabriel had fun at the park going down the slides!



            Michael had a end of the year field trip at Yucaipa park.




I took the all 5 of the kids to NASA'S JPL in Pasadena, Ca by myself because Jorge had to work. I have never been here and I gotta tell you it was amazing! You definitely have to get there early because parking is horrible and there is so much to see. 



One weekend a year they open NASA's JPL free to the public. They have amazing exhibit's and so much information. It is really a great learning experience for the kids. There were a ton of people there, it reminded me of Disneyland with all the lines for the exhibits. 


I would like to go again but next time Jorge has to come. I'm not going to lie it was hard with all 5 kids. I did it, we survived but it probably would've been a better day if Dad was there to help. Lot's of walking and whining going on here. As you can see from the picture below. 

  
I love taking pictures and these are all I took. I kind of forgot. 
As I snapped these after the melt downs. 

Ahh... here is few happy moments below.



These pictures were pretty neat. They took your picture in front of a green screen to make it look like we were on Mars in 3-D. Pretty cool! They sent us home with 3-D glasses and e-mailed our picture for free! Woo hoo!! 
So if you have any 3-D glasses lying around take them out to look at the pictures below. 






The boy's last day of school was filled with awards and trophies for having perfect attendance for the whole year!! I'm so proud of you guys and I'm so glad we are having a break. We so need a break from homework, projects and testing!




We celebrated James' 9th birthday this month. I can't believe my little guy turned 9, he is growing up way to fast. He wanted a baseball theme at the waterside park. So I thought it would be cute to make the invitations look like baseball tickets. All using Picmonkey!! Thank you Picmonkey!!  




 Happy Birthday my sweet Jimmy, we love you to infinity and beyond!!


 Father's Day landed on Jimmy's birthday this year so we celebrated both together. We had Jimmy's party with his friends later in the month. 


Here is a picture I made for Jorge for Father's Day, I love how it turned out! This idea wasn't mine but I found it on the internet and knew it would be perfect for Father's Day. 



The kids have been enjoying slipping sliding with the neighborhood kids and bike riding!


And of course swimming, like almost every other day! 


           
                            I'm afraid they might turn into fish! They are all definitely keeping cool and getting a tan, that's for sure!



So how's your summer been? I hope you're making memories and enjoying everyday moments with your families! 

Talk to you soon.... I promise!



















wordless wednesday

My little guy was being so sweet and playful this morning. He was in such a good mood. So I grabbed my phone again and started snapping away. I do have a camera, it's just when these little moments happen you have to act quick. I didn't want to miss it! I couldn't decide on which one I loved the most, so I made a collage. Isn't he so precious! These moments are flying by. He is growing so fast that I wish I could just stop time. I just want to enjoy and soak up every moment with all my children. I only have a couple months left of the infant stage and soon we'll be entering the toddler stage! I'm not ready! I'm not ready to say goodbye to the baby stage. Ready or not, it's gonna happen :(


Ok, I'll stop rambling, after all it's "wordless Wednesday" . 




                                            I'm cherishing these everyday moments!



Happy Wednesday!!

wordless wednesday

I know it's not Wednesday, but we'll just pretend. :) It has been a busy week with Mother's Day orders and Teacher appreciation week. Anyhow, I really wanted to share this cute photo of my little guy giving his big brother a kiss. He just went over to him and grabbed his brother's face and kissed him. He kept kissing him, so I quickly grabbed my phone and took a picture. Who knows if he'd do that again, so I had to be quick.




I hope that they'll always show lots of love to one another. Right now big brother says,"mommy my brother is my best friends!!  Aww......so sweet, it melts my heart :)

                                          I hope you have a great Thursday!! :)

what i made monday {DIY} Fingerprint Necklace

A few months ago I saw these beautiful necklaces with your child's fingerprints that Sarah made over on her blog. I LOVE anything that is personalized or has to do with my children's hand or fingerprints. So I definitely wanted to give this a try. I think any mom would love this, so I thought I'd share this beautiful idea since Mother's Day is fast approaching!! Sarah has great tutorial on her blog, so please go check it out!!

I did mine a little different, so I thought I'd share how I made mine. So here's how:

Supplies:

Sculpey Oven Bake Clay( I used Metallic Grey)
necklace chain
jump rings
pen
needle
pliers







First your going to take a small piece of clay and roll it into ball. I used metallic grey because 
I thought it looked more like silver. Although you can use any color you'd like.




 Next you'll take your pen and roll it out. Imagine your pen is a small rolling pin. I flattened it out to a oval shape. 



Now, if you don't like it. Just start over till you get your desired shape. You want your clay to be not too thin because you need to have it thick enough for the impression. 



Once you have your desired shape, gently place your child's finger in the clay. And if you make a mistake, just start again till you are happy with how it looks. 





Once you're happy with the impression, take the needle and make a small hole at the top, this will be where you'll attach the jump ring. 
Then you'll place your fingerprint pendant onto a cookie sheet lined with foil.
  Then follow the baking directions on your package from the clay. 
I baked mine at 275 for 15 minutes. 

When it's done, let it cool so it can harden before you attach the jump ring and chain. I used a chain that I had on hand. But you could easily make your own or find a completed one at a craft store. 



And that's it! You have a cute personalized necklace any mom would love. 



Here is my necklace! I have 5 kids so I had to do all of their fingerprints.... I don't think I'll wear all 5 at the same time :)

Happy crafting!! 





Michael's 11th Birthday


                          This month we celebrated my oldest son Michael's birthday!
                                             I can't believe how fast he is growing.




He is growing up to be such a sweet young man. 


His birthday was during the week, so he asked me to bring snacks to his class to celebrate. He really doesn't like cupcakes, so he asked me to bring donuts!  He said, " Mom I wasn't sure if you were really going to come to my class, I'm so happy you did!"
Awww.....he melts my heart!


Later that night we took the family out to dinner. Here is a picture of all 5, looking in the right direction for once! This is rare! And they all look happy too, bonus!  Maybe, because they were eating chips & salsa. :)


Here is another one, I had to try and take advantage of the moment! Plus we were sitting in a corner booth and they couldn't escape!... HaHa!


We sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed a yummy warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge!!



He had a party on the weekend with some of his friends playing Lazer Tag!!
He drove race cars with his buddies!!



Having fun on the race track!!



Michael, I can't believe how fast you're growing. I am so proud of you! I love you and thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful son!






Happy Birthday Michael!! 



March in cell phone pics

I can't believe the months are just flying by. Daniel is growing so fast and I wish I could just freeze time  to enjoy these moments. Well, actually all the kids are growing up too quick! 
Here is March in cell phone pics. 


  • We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday with the kids dressing up as the Lorax for school. 
  • Then we saw the Lorax movie, which was so cute! 
  • The kids had dentist appts. and Mike will be getting braces soon! 
  • Dad has been teaching the kids how to play tennis, which they LOVE!!  
  • The boys are still loving guitar club!!
  • Daniel  loves eating baby food and bath time!
  • So does Gabe ( bath time) not the baby food!
  • We tried a new oven baked chicken strips recipe. 
  • The kids love playing with sidewalk chalk!
  • We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with homemade playdough! Lots of fun & so easy!



  • I worked on new designs for the new shop!
  • We went to the mountains and played in the snow.
  • Daniel loved watching the kids sled down the hill.
  • James fell when playing with the neighborhood kids and we had to go to the hospital for stitches.
  • Daniel loves sitting in the shopping cart at the stores.
  • We played more tennis with Dad.
  • Dad surprised us with donuts for breakfast!
  • I made some cute bird nest pendants for the shop.
  • Clothes shopping for Mike's birthday next month.


                                    

We went to Chuck E Cheese last weekend and the kids had a lot of fun.  Michael is counting all his tickets so he can pick out a prize.




     Desi is growing to fast! I wish I could freeze time with my kids and just keep them with me always!            Ok, only when there not fighting :)


We ended the month by going to the Citrus Festival by our house. We saw lots of crafts, a car show, food and a band. Maybe next year I'll have a booth for my shop.....lets keep our fingers crossed :)



It's so hard taking a picture with all five looking at the same time, and smiling, well thats just a bonus. See I got 2 out 5 smiling, that's good!! If they can all look at the camera at the same time, I'm happy :)

                                                 How was your month of March?
               
                                      Linking up this week with Amy at  A Good Life.




Wordless Wednesday: 1st Time On The Swings!

So the weeks have been flying by and I have really neglected my little blog. It's time to catch up around here. Life has definitely been busy with the kids and my little project of growing my business. I have lots of ideas and just not enough time in the day to make it happen over night. I am not giving up, I just have to realize it might just take me a little longer than I thought. 
Ok..Ok.. moving on,  I love taking pictures of my kids and of basically everything so I thought I'd start participating in some fun photography linky parties. So here is my very first post for Wordless Wednesday which so far has not been wordless :)

Here is my sweet Daniel on the swings for the first time at the park.  At first he wasn't too sure of it but then he really started to like the little ride.

                                    

                                                          Here he looks a little scared.

                                                   
                                                         Then he is all smiles again!



I love those little chubby cheeks! He really enjoyed the park so I think we will try to go more often.
So that's it my first Wordless Wednesday! 


Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with Jenni From The BlogLive And Love Out Loud
And Then She Snapped, Parenting By Dummies

My Sweet Baby Cupid



I really wanted to try this when I saw it on Jessica's site. I am so glad I did! I think Daniel came out adorable! It was super easy and now I have a special picture for Valentines Day.
The only part that was a little difficult was trying to get him to sit still.



Jessica has a great tutorial on how to make cupid's wings on her site. I did mine a little different so I thought I'd share how I did it.

Here's what you'll need:
1. White foam board
2. 1 bag of feathers
3. Adhesive
4. white ribbon 

First I had an old white foam board that the kids hadn't used from one of their school projects. I cut it in a half moon shape. Then I spayed adhesive a little at a time and added the feathers.
I waited for them to dry and poked holes on the board to attach the ribbon for the arms. 
I didn't take any step by step photos because I wasn't sure how well it would come out.
I did however take a lot of pictures of my little cupid! 





I also had a red pillow and some red fabric for a background. You could use a red blanket or sheet for a background.  I just used what I had on hand. I am so happy and thankful that Jessica was so nice to share her baby cupid idea. Please go check out her site.

I'll also be linking for the first time to The Simple Things.