Our week in pics.

Last weekend we went to My hubby's baseball tournament with the church which lasted 3 hours. Which I know isn't long but when you have 5 kids and it's HOT, it seems like it lasted forever. But I'm so glad we went to cheer him on. I know he had a good time.

Since we are Annual Passholders at Disneyland we were eligible to enter the park an Hour earlier before they opened. So my hubby registered us for that. At first I thought, what were you thinking? We live an hour away and we have 5 kids!!! That means we have to get up at 4 a.m and be in the car by 5:30. Which I know it is possible but when you have to drag the kids out of bed and throw them in the car... It can be a challenge!

But you know what we did it!! WooHoo!! I'm not sure if we'll ever see that sign again....lol!

The older ones got up and got dressed without any complaining. The little guys I just put them in the car seats while they were sleeping. I changed their clothes after they woke up. The stroller, diaper bag and lunches were all packed in the car the night before. So it can be done with team work and planning!

And here we are in line with the hundreds of people that want to get in early to see the new Cars Land!

Everyone had the same idea and speed walked to Radiator Springs Racers, because there were many employees telling everyone to walk. 

Look at those cute Cozy Cones! They sell snacks at the window and you can get a drink in a Cozy Cone.....Too Cute!! 

So this week we painted the house and when I mean WE I mean my Hubby and his Dad. I wish I would've taken a before picture but I didn't. The house really needed to be painted. I believe that it had never been painted and it is probably over 30 yrs. old. The new paint makes the house look like new.

My baby turned ONE!! So we've also been preparing for the baby's first birthday party. Which of course I leave everything to the last minute because I love to stress myself out. I didn't get all the things I wanted done but I think it turned out cute! I'll post about the details later.

 My hubby went back to work from his vacation break. I don't like him to work, I wish he could stay home with us all day.  So the kids & I have been swimming and relaxing. We are enjoying these last days of summer that we have left.

    I hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Birthday Letter {to my one year old}

My little baby is now ONE, I can't believe how fast a year has went by. Celebrating his birthday was a happy event but kind of sad because he is ONE. That means my baby is growing up and sometimes I wish I could just freeze time. This year I have really been trying to savor the moments with him. Because he is No. 5, I do know how fast the kids grow up. In a blink of an eye a whole year has went by.  I know that we will be having new experiences together and that will be exciting in itself, teaching him how to walk, trying new foods and talking...but I'm still a little sad that the baby stage is coming to an end. It just all goes too quickly. So I've decided to write a Birthday Letter to my baby.

My sweet Daniel,

Here is our first picture together. You are just perfect in every way. So precious.

Today you turned one! You are growing up so fast, I can't believe that a year has come and gone. I have treasured all of our moments together from the late night feedings and diaper changes to the cuddling and kisses.

You are such a sweet and gentle little guy. You are very mellow and just go with the flow. Now, that's my kind of baby. You seem to only cry when you are hungry and need to be changed. At night you'd wake up to be changed and eat, then go straight to sleep. Aww.......what a blessing! I think God knew we needed a gentle little guy in our crazy bunch of kids. I'm so blessed to be your mama!

Some special things about you are:

~You got your first tooth when you were 5 months. 

~ You currently have 8 1/2 teeth. 8 1/2 because your top left molar is half way out on one side.

~ Rice Cereal and veggies were your first baby foods that you tried. Fruit soon followed as well as baby Puffs.

~ We soon realized that you loved homemade baby food after you refused to it it from the jars. I made fresh veggies and you ate it up without a fight. Yay!!

~You love to give kisses.

~You can wave Hi & Bye, with both hands at the same time.

~You give High-Fives!

~You can Clap!

~Started army crawling at 7 1/2 months. 

~ Started real crawling at 9 months!

~You are cruising around the furniture. But haven't started walking yet. 

~You have taken one step and then decided it's faster to just crawl. 

~You say dadada, gaw, aah, yaaa, and a couple of times ma.

  

~You are very serious and seem to always be thinking.

~Sometimes it can be a challenge to get you to look up and smile because you are focusing on what you are doing.

~But when we do get you to smile. You look SO CUTE!!

Love your smile.

I have cherished all of the many moments of your first year.  

And look forward to the many new adventures to come. 

Happy Birthday Daniel!!!

I love you to infinity & beyond! 

Love,

Mommy

Winner, winner, winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our first giveaway! I had so much fun reading about what everyone is enjoying this summer. For me, I love just being around my kids and no more school school schedule. We can slow down and relax. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

My little man helped me with the entries and the winner is:

Naomi 

who said:

I love being able to take the kids on trips
nbellowsdove at gmail dot com

Please email me to claim your prize at:

reginaanndesigns@gmail.com

Again, thank you all SO much for participating in my first giveaway!!

Giveaway Time!

I'm so excited!!! It's our first GIVEAWAY here on the blog!!! Yay!! I made this beautiful hand stamped square copper necklace with a pink swarovski stone and freshwater pearl. It is stamped with "Love And Be Loved."
It is hung on a stainless steel chain. Which is very strong! I love how this turned out! All pieces have been oxidized to give it a rustic appearance which is something new I haven't done. And I'm just loving how it turned out!
This would make a great gift for a mom, friend, sister, aunt, birthday gift, grandma or Yourself!

Ok,Ok, so on to the GIVEAWAY!!

So all you have to do to be entered into the Giveaway is:

1. "Like" my Facebook page & leave a comment on my Blog that you did so.
( Please leave your comment here on my blog, Facebook has very strict rules about giveaways)

Extra Entries:

2.  Leave a comment on the blog about what you love about your Summer.

3.  Become a Follower of my Blog and leave a comment that you did so!

That's it! Easy Peasy! Do all of them and you have 3 chances to win!!!



***Giveaway will close on Monday July 16th at 12:00p.m. (Noon) PST***
The winner will be announced here on my Facebook page this Monday!!


Winner will need to contact me within a week about claiming their prize.

So let's get started!

Good luck everyone! 

I hope you all enjoy your weekend :)

***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

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!!