Hero in a half-shell...turtle power

Today Caden went vintage. He spent the day at Nonie's and she pulled out some vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He had so much fun playing with them and thought it was HILARIOUS when I was singing the song.
I have to give a big THANK YOU to Grammy for making us dinner. It was wonderful. It was so much fun to come home after a LONG day and play with the kiddos instead of having to cook dinner.
Here is a photo of the cutest Ninja Turtle I know.

8 or 9?

Oh Pluto you have become a source of much frustration to a little 4 year old boy. Caden is very much into obsessed with the Solar System. He has a few books he reads at nap time and one we read every night. Since the obsession he now has a lunch box, back pack, puzzle, model, and yes an alarm clock. The poor child is so funny he gets so frustrated that some books list Pluto as a planet and others say it is dwarf planet and some don't mention it at all. Really, NASA and publishers we need to come to some agreement - you are killing the poor child. It is kind of cute he now corrects me when I read the old books and tells me it is a dwarf planet. He also knows one of the moons is called Charon, but he likes to call it Aunt Sharon - Adorable!!!
He continues to AMAZE me and surprise me. I love that he wants to grow up to be an astronaut  (funny - I had the same dream going up thanks to my Sally Ride report) and Buzz Lightyear.
I love you Buddy, I hope you get the chance to go to the moon one day!

Happy 85th

Yesterday we celebrated GG's birthday with some Hawaiian style. My Grandma has so many special memories of Hawaii. She was stationed there, met and married my Grandpa there. She had one of her babies there and ended up being stationed there again.

It was so much fun planning the big surprise celebration. My family LOVES surprise parties and during the planning Chris kept telling me to NEVER throw one for him. I think that is really just asking for one right?!?!

Back to the party- it was a beautiful night with lovely weather. It was super special that we were able to get my Grandma's siblings to fly out for the special event. Aunt Charlene and my cousin Ann flew out from Virginia and my Great Uncle George flew out from the family farm. It was a pretty big deal that we were able to get him to leave the farm. ;-)

What a  fun evening celebrating  a really special person in my life. I am so blessed to live so close to her. I love my Tuesday evening "dinner date" with her and I LOVE that my kids get to know their GG.

Happy 85th Birthday Grandma!!!





One of the funniest and sweetest moments of the night. Watching my Dad and brother learn to hula. It was pretty cute.



And then she stole the show. She was soooo excited to go up and learn to dance. It was PRECIOUS!

My Saturday morning creation. I will be posting a tutorial over at Teaspoons and Twine.

A Brighton Day!!!

The adjustment to going back to work full time is getting better. My heart still aches to leave my kiddos every day. But I have to say I am LOVING working with my Kinder team. They have welcomed me and made me feel so loved. As a welcome gift they got me a fancy BRIGHTON LANYARD- I know how exciting!!!! I went home and told my husband for my birthday I will be needing some charms. His reply " What's Brighton?" Clearly we don't go to Walnut Creek enough or hang out with the Barrons enough.
Thanks Kinder team for the warm welcome.

Happy First Birthday Wesley

Today we celebrated Wesley's first birthday. It is hard to believe our little buddy is ONE!!! His mommy planned an AMAZING rainbow party. She loves throwing parties as much as i do.
It seems like yesterday I was anxiously awaiting for updates from Aunt Katie for Wesley's arrival. He sure made his Mommy work and made us wait to meet him.
We have loved watching him grow. The twins love playing with him. Caden thinks it is funny to be crazy and make him laugh and Emmeline loves kissing on him. Jackson hasn't changed much from when he first met him, he loves poking and investigating him - poor Wesley.
Happy First Birthday Wesley! We love you!!!

Mrs. Santa Claus

I did it, I made it through my first week in kindergarten. I had forgotten how little and cute they can be. It is going to be a long year with some of the kiddos, but it will be exciting at the end to see the growth.
The past couple days in class I kept hearing the kids saying Santa Claus. I thought it was rather odd that the kids were talking about him in August and then I heard it again paired with Mrs. It turns out Mrs. Santopadre is tricky for kindergarteners and they weren't talking about Santa they were calling me. I guess my name this year is Mrs. Santa Claus. The news of my new name spread like wildfire on campus and I am now known as Mrs. Santa Claus by everyone. I am sure it is the first of many things I will hear this school year that will make me chuckle.

Curve balls

The past few weeks have proven to be some of the hardest of my life. I feel like I am getting pretty good at hitting the curve ball and I have had quite a lot thrown at me lately. I am feeling better now that we have some game plans put in place. This week we should know more and be able to figure out some plans for my Dad.
 I have to say I am so thankful and grateful to all of my friends and family who have helped me get through these past couple weeks. I  am feeling better about going back to work full time. My team at work is AMAZING and have been so helpful. The kids have been so great about Mommy going back to work. Emmeline is excited about packing her lunchbox and can not wait to find out where she is going in the morning. The boys are still not as excited, but love when they find out they get to go to Grandma's, Nonie's, or on extra special days Aunt Tiffi's.
It is hard at times to understand all these curve balls that are getting thrown at me all at once, but I have to believe there is a reason and I will be stronger for it.