Flour + Water = Love

This makes me so, so happy!

There is flour

(lot's and lot's of flour),

there are pots and pans

(sometimes sky high!),

but there is also

love!

Bellisimo!

Iris' 100 Days...

Iris,

And her bead masterpiece

celebrating  her 100th day of school!

We had some major fun with the glue gun,

and managed to keep from our burning ourselves

-yea!-

so all in a all,

a successful project!

Congrats, Iris!

And keep in mind,

there are many, many, many

more days of school...

{smile}

...but you will do

AMAZING!

We love you, sweetheart!

xoxo



V-Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kiddos were thrilled for the big day,

but after having made over 100 valentines the night prior,

we were ready to celebrate low-key at home!

I don't go super-crazy with the decor,

just some fancies hanging here and there,

but I do love to rock the food!

Here we go...

Breakfast*:

Heart-shaped Toast with

Fresh Strawberry Jam & Butter

+

Assorted Chocolates

*You can see this was a very complex

-not to mention highly nutritious-

breakfast!

Gotta love the love!

For dinner,

everyone's favorite:

From Scratch Pizza!

It's the best!

 

Well, not everyone thinks so.

Sorry, Gabriel!

Eat some more chocolate!

The kiddos love helping with dessert,

and at this point in their lives,

they are truly experts at dipping strawberries!

We can't get enough of them!

The big finale?

I shocked them all!

A Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

smothered in

Strawberry Ice Cream,

Whipped Cream,

and

Fresh Chocolate Dipped Strawberries!

Did you hear the screaming?

...

And last,

but certainly not least...

Happy V-Day

to the love of my life!

Samuel,

what else can I say?

Let's eat!

XoxoxXoxoO

Me

17 A's = 17 Free Donuts!

Granted,

we are not donut-people...

That's not to say that we don't EAT donuts,

we just buy them very, very rarely.

But when your girls amass an astounding

seventeen A's collectively on their report cards

-GREAT JOB, GIRLS!-

and Krispy Kreme offers one free donut for every A,

well...

Guess who was eating donuts?

The boys,

riding, or should I say, feasting, 

on the coattails of the girls efforts,

and happily doing so!

...

Isabella, Ava, & Iris,

You girls all make your mom and dad

so, so proud!

We love you very much!

xoxo

mom + dad

Feliz Aniversario: Once Anos!

What a day!

Or should I say,

"What 11 years!"

That doesn't really make sense,

but either way,

for our family,

it's happy commeration

of when our family began!

Samuel surprised me by coming home for lunch,

and announcing that he was home for the day!

Woo-hoo!

Then he whipped out a picnic,

complete with a baguette and chev're goat cheese

-my favorite!-

and we headed to the park!

For dessert,

my fatal hubris:

Scotchmallows...

11 of them!

Recently we scored a bocce ball set from a

second-hand store,

and with courts just down the way at a local park,

it's our new favorite game!

Now that we had an audience...

Let the games begin!

What a wonderful day!

The only flaw was that my girls

were at school and missed out on the

"stolen" afternoon!

More excuse to get out again

-and soon-

to do this all over again!

...

P.S.

Samuel,

I love you!

xoxome

Free Museum Day: The Aerospace Museum of California

How can you not love an airshow?

It's as American as apple pie

-which ironically, I don't like very much!,

or say the hot dog

-which again, I don't like very much...

Hmmm...

but it's everything that I DO love about this country!

It's freedom, innovation, adrenaline...

Really, you can't go wrong!

And when free museum day rolled around,

we took advantage of saving big bucks on admission

and hit the road...

 

Grandpa Lopez flew

the Coast Guard "doggie-nose".

We still see it flying in the sky,

and always, always think of him.

We love you, Grandpa!

Ready for take-off!

Not exactly warp-speed...

but one-day,

I want to fly in one of these babies...

I love seeing my boys on the "tarmac". 

They look so small!

My girls in a fighter!

Did you know I almost joined the Air Force?

I was on board with the recruiters and

would depart after graduation to report

to Lackland Air Force base in Texas.

Thank goodness for a little thing called,

"The Book of Mormon",

which changed my life forever!

Big mouths...

Samuel giving his cheesiest

"dignitary" grin!

Yes,

out of all the amazing things to see and do,

leaves top Gabriel's list!

Demonstrating how to go,

when you,

you know,

have to go...

And the proper washing of hands!

Thanks, Bella!

Love the fan!

One of our favorite parts of the day,

standing near a roaring propeller!

We screamed and whooped and hollored

and you could not hear a thing over that engine!

This was a really great day!

Beautiful weather, beautiful planes!

And free!