Valentine's Day 2014

Valentine's Day is always one of my favorite holidays.  This year my husband was actually home, so we decided to throw a little party and invite our good friends.  I usually just do breakfast for dinner with the kids and chocolate fondue, so it was nice to have something a little more special this year!  I tried to go with a wine pairing party theme where we not only paired wine with cheese, but with chocolate too.  Turns out that to do it right we would have ended up with way more wine left over than we wanted and it would have been way too much food.  So we enjoyed doing a little cheese and chocolate tasting, but the wine we drank by the glasses instead of sipping!

 

Note:  This is the kids cheese/fruit tray.  

 The girls were excited to get Valentines from family with cash and target cards inside.  As always, we spoiled them with roses.

Sarah's 10th Birthday

I have been way behind on blog posting, like over a year behind.  I've decided to start back up again because I think it is a wonderful way to journal what goes on in our lives and I think (hope) that one day my girls will love to look back and read about all the things we did.  So in the spirit of #TBT, I am going to post for a bit on what we have been up to so far this year.  Starting with Sarah's 10th birthday back in January!

How is it possible that my first born is 10 already?!  To celebrate we did a Glow in the Dark/Neon party at the house with some of her friends!  Of course we did it later in the day/evening so they could have fun with the glow part of the party.  We ask everyone to wear neon or white so the black lights in the house would make their clothes glow!  They had such a fun time being silly, playing a few games and decorating T-shirts with glow in the dark paint!  Enjoy some of the photos from the party and my little Top Ten list about Sarah that I made to commemorate the occasion!

 
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Top 10 Reasons I Love Sarah

10.  She shares my same love of Starbucks and any thing salted caramel!

9.  She is a talented Irish dancer and watching her dance makes my heart sing.  She is proud of her Irish roots and it shows!

8.  Sarah told me recently that, “Italy must be heaven”.  I can’t agree more.  She thinks it’s because you can eat pizza and gelato to your hearts content!  Just wait till she grows up to really enjoy the finer things Italy has to offer!

7.  She has a love of travel and learning about different places and cultures.  This is one of the most important things Charlie and I wanted to teach the girls.  So far in her 10 years she has visited Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.  Her favorite states are of course Hawaii, California, and Texas!

6.  She loves animals and has a soft spot in her heart for them.  She would be a vegetarian if she didn’t love bacon and filet mignon so darn much! 

5.  She is a quiet girl and always tries to do the right thing.  However, put her in a room full of her friends and she comes out of her shell and can be the life of the party!

4. She loves her California roots.  Although she has lived ½ her life in TX, she was born in Riverside, CA, and I love that she loves this state.  I am so blessed to be able to raise her near the ocean and the beauty that California has to offer.

3. She loves her family, even her little sister who annoys her most times.  She is very close to her grandparents, her cousins, and her aunts and uncles.  She loves getting together with family and celebrating the holidays.

2.  She thrives in school and LOVES it.  She is the only child that I know that cries on the last day of school.  She loves learning and it shows through her many talents.  She loves to read and is a great reader.  I find that the most intelligent people are the ones who read.  Case in point, her father.  So glad she followed in his footsteps and not in mine.  Flipping through magazines and scrolling pinterest  does not intelligence make!

1.  The #1 reason I love Sarah is that she is mine and I see so much of myself in her, so much of her dad in her, so much of my mom and Nana in her.  She is a perfect mix of so many wonderful qualities and that I am sure will lead her to do great things, be loved by others, and have a happy and fulfilled life!  My sweet Sarah, my first born, will always have my heart.

Valentines Day 2013

I am a little behind on blogging.  I blame pinterest.  So I am going to attempt to catch up!

Valentine's Day this year was so super fun.  As tradition goes I made the girls breakfast for dinner and we had chocolate fondue for dessert.  I set a pretty little table complete with roses and gifts.  Daddy was out of town working again this year, so he had special gifts for them.  New dresses! 

Judging by the look Lauren's face...this might have been the last year we do the chocolate fondue.  She didn't love it this year! 

Sarah also had her Valentine's Cotillion.  It was so cute and she had so much fun!

We had lots of fun preparing for the day.  Homemade Valentine's for Sarah's friends and heart shaped cookies to give as gifts!  Such a fun day! 

Daddy and I were even able to get away for a little retreat to Terranea the week before for a little R&R and spa time!

Lauren's 'Over the Rainbow' 5th Birthday

She's 5!  There is no doubt that my girls are my greatest joy in life.  Getting to plan these little theme birthday parties for them, is another.  After many options that she started discussing about 2 days after her party last year, a rainbow theme was the one she picked.  I must say that it was very fun and pretty easy to put together.  Since her #1 request was that we have a bounce house, the park was the obvious choice for location.  Here in southern California, outdoor parties are so nice since the weather is pretty much always great.  So here it is: Lots of friends, a bounce house, a surprise visit by Bubblemania and a "sweet" cake and we were set!

Lauren is quite a child.  She is so incredibly sweet, yet very sassy, all rolled into one.  I can go from loving her so much I can't even stand it, to wanting to pull my hair out because she drives me insane.  All in the matter of about 5 minutes.  At the end of the day, she is a beautiful child (those curls and dimples), she is very smart, she is very sweet and loves her friends.  She began Kindergarten this year and is doing very well.  She also is a very busy girl taking art, ballet/tap, hip hop Jr. and Irish dancing.  She loves mermaids, princesses, unicorns, and (as to be expected) RAINBOWS!

Party Details:

Entertainment: Bubblemania

Bounce House: Planet Bouncy

Rainbow Cake: Cupcakes Couture -Manhattan Beach

Invitations: Polka Dot Design

Rainbow Dress: My Sweetie Bean