Saturday my cousin got married! Doesn't she look beautiful?!

Me, my cousin Amy, and my Mama :)

I woke up with the BEST of intentions of going to the gym and having plenty of time to get ready.

Instead I went to Target lol.

I wanted to find a cute dress to wear since the ceremony was at 2pm and then reception was at 7pm and was an hour away from home. Meaning I needed something that could go from day to night with little to no effort since I couldn't go home.

I found a kinda cute dress that I was ok with until the Hubs said he didn't love because it looked like some curtains his mom made once.

If you know my MIL, you'd know why the dress went directly back into the bag with the receipt.

I ended up wearing a dress I already had and felt pretty good in so it worked out ok :)

Except of course that we had to leave immediately after the ceremony.

A few weeks ago when planning for the wedding began, my uncle was coming up and the hubs was excited because they enjoy hanging out together. We made some pretty fun plans and were super excited about the whole day.

Then he had to cancel his trip up at the last minute. So we were kinda bummed and had to change plans.

Then early Saturday we made plans that we were pretty excited about! We were going to go to the zoo or the air museum and then have a nice dinner and then head to the reception to party!

And then on the way down ... the Boy started to puke. SIGGGHHHHHHHH ...

And since I had JUST got over the SICKNESS, I had a feeling it was only going to get worse. Which it did. But we were almost there so we went ahead and attended the ceremony, hung out for pictures and some snacks, and had to get back on the road :-/

On the way home we made a quick stop at Sonic, since we don't have one close, and got some yummy limeaids :) The poor kid was sick for the rest of the night, and I totally understood his pain. His timing sure did suck though.

I was super bummed to miss out on the reception, and all of the stuff we had planned for before that. But, that's what comes along with having kids I guess. Especially ones that have a weakened immune system from the way he lives and has to eat at his mother's house :-/ Hopefully Father's Day he feels a little better!

Today was another rest and recoup day. After the SICKNESS, I decided to give myself another day to recover so we hung out at the pool.

We go early, at about 10:30, so as to avoid the rabid crowds that show up by about noon.

It works out pretty well cause we have plenty of time at the pool and then go back in when the beg for food :)

Then it's lunch and quiet time :) and that usually makes for a pretty good day far as I'm concerned!

Today I had to drive the Boy back to his mother ... in the HEAT (my GOD the HEAT!) ... with NO AC in the car. It was a LONG drive. But it's only once a week during the summer so we'll deal with it.

It does suck though lol

But hopefully, tomorrow we'll all be feeling better and off to the gym like normal :)

Until the older girls leave for a week with their dad :-/ It'll be nice to have a little break but it gets old after a day or two. We do have some family stuff and a wedding this weekend though! So that'll be fun :) Something to get dressed up for :D

WOW. I was so looking forward to Sunday. I was looking forward to relaxing and getting things back to normal. I had BIG PLANS! I was gonna make the kids a fancy french toast breakfast, finish cleaning up the house, go to the gym, finish up baby gifts then go to a baby shower for my cousin.

TMI from here on out ... you should probably stop reading ... srsly ...

Instead, I puked so hard my throat wouldn't stop spasming. I couldn't breathe and panicked and ended up cleaning it off the walls and floor. And the Hubs was working out of town for the weekend. It was truly horrible. And that was just 5am. It went on until about noon. Then the other issues that tend to go with stomach flu started :-/

And throughout it all, there was this pain. Like every nerve and every muscle in my body hurt. I had the worst headache and couldn't even sleep because everything HURT so bad.

But I saw something amazing that day. I saw the amazing young woman my daughter is turning into right before my eyes :)

By the time the kids were up at around 8 they were playing quietly in their room. Which was good because I literally only had the strength to listen and make sure nothing horrible was going on.

When they started to make noises about the BIG FANCY FRENCH TOAST BREAKFAST I promised, I told them to wake up Teen. She came to the door and could tell something was up. I told her I was SERIOUSLY sick and could she poor the kids some cereal for me and keep an eye on them for a bit while I tried to rest so I could get up before too long.

The little ones heard CEREAL and were all AWWWWWW! so she asked if she could make them breakfast instead. I was a little nervous at first but she took a cooking class this year and REALLY wanted to make them something. I knew she learned a lot about cooking safety and I was so out of it that I basically just had to say OK, let it go and pray ... really hard.

I couldn't sleep so I listened. Pretty much all day. When I wasn't puking or passing out for 10 minutes here and there, I was listening. This is what I heard ...

• I heard her take control of breakfast and look up a recipe for french toast to make her sister happy.
• I heard them all happy and talking and laughing and enjoying her meal.
• I heard her DOING THE DISHES withOUT being ASKED!
  
• She unloaded and LOADED the dishwasher, even rinsed the dishes!
• SHE CLEANED THE STOVE TOP.
• I heard them all playing games and GETTING ALONG!
• I heard them all laughing and enjoying each other!
• I heard her make lunch without being asked.
• And then I heard more dishes being done :)
• I heard a quiet time instituted and a certain NO NONSENSE voice come out of Teen when the little ones tried to put one over on her ;)
• I smiled when I heard that voice OH YES I DID ;)
• The rest of the afternoon went about that same way and she even asked me if she could make dinner!
• We had nothing she could make so I ordered pizza
• I came downstairs for all of 13 minutes to wait for the pizza man before I drug my sad behind back up the stairs.
  
• I heard dinner go PERFECTLY and then more dishes :)
• I heard her tell the girls to get jammies on and make sure they brushed their teeth and got their stories read :)
• Before they went to bed I told them all how great they had all been, how much that helped me and how much I loved them.
• I told Teen how much everything she did meant to me, how much I adored her, and how proud I was of her.

I came down the next day to find that the house was lovely. The kitchen counters were clear, as was the table and the living room! That's a rarity around here :-/ and it was LOVELY to come down to :) Especially since I still had the worst headache of my life and felt like my skin was trying to separate itself from my body.

Anyway, all of that to say I have the best 13 year old daughter in the world :) I was pretty sure about that before this SICKNESS but what I didn't know is how mature she's really getting and how well she manages to take care of herself and others when the need arises. I saw what a amazing woman she's going to be and I couldn't be prouder of her :)

So when I asked Flower Child what theme she wanted to do for her birthday party she said "blue ... oh and Panda Bear". lol. Somewhere along the line the panda bear turned into black and white but I think it worked :)

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to but it came out pretty cute :)

I love how the table came out, and the pom poms! I used this tutorial and I think they look adorable!

This was the first year that Flower Child has invited friends from school to her party. It's difficult with her birthday in June since I don't really know her friend's parents or have their phone numbers.

So she handed out 10 invitations and about 8 of them said they would be coming ... TWO rsvp'd.

So you KNOW I had to be prepared for 10! Just in case! Although I was pretty sure it would be more like just the 3.

I got the York Pieces because they were blue and white :) Took some brownies, frosted them and added some blue and black/white sprinkles.

I got some blue melting chocolate and dipped pretzel sticks in it, then added some oreo sprinkles.

Got the zebra cakes just cause they went with the theme ;) I took that melting chocolate and dipped marshmallows in it and then added the oreo sprinkles.

Did the same with some Pirroline cookie sticks.

Made a blue punch out of blue koolaid and gingerale :)

We had a pedicure station where the girls picked out a pair of flip flops, flowers and decorations for the flip flops. Then a color for their nails!

As we waited for the guests to arrive the girls started digging into the treats!

We ended up with only 2 guests but Flower Child seemed to enjoy it anyway.

They decorated their flip flops and got their pedicures.

Then they decorated cookies

And it was cake time! A friend of mine bakes the best cakes and she made cupcakes for Flower Child. They were SUPER good! Chocolate cake with strawberry filling and a white chocolate frosting! They topped it with poprocks! The cake was FANTASTIC!



Then it was present time!

She's been begging for a Panda Pillow Pet forEVER :)

During Flower Child's party, Teen and Lil Miss had a party of their own. Teen was in charge of keeping Lil Miss company so she set up a little tea party of their own!

Lil Miss was VERY excited :) Teen was waiting for her to see it with her camera ready to catch her reaction ... yes she is VERY much like me ;)

My sweet babies :)

I gave her a few extra snacks from the party for their little party and WOW were they excited!

They had some blue punch in their little tea cups even :)

She's such a great big sister :)

These marshmallow pops were the HIT of the party! It's funny how much everyone loved these!

I made these adorable little rosette bracelets as the favors for the party :) I made EIGHT lol.

Thankfully, I decided to make an array of colors instead of just blue ... just in case we had a few extra left over ;) This way we have an extra few floating around the house to borrow from each other!

The girls loved them, as I do mine ;)

Fun was had by all. One of the girls stayed the night for a little sleepover and the rest of the night was pretty uneventful ... it was Sunday that eventful ... and not in a good way. But that's a story for tomorrow lol

It seems like this week has flown by, what with the procrastinating and all. It's very time consuming.

This week we've dealt with

• mounds of post-vacation laundry
• gathering supplies for a birthday party that could have 10 guests ... or ONE
  
• disappointing Old Navy excursions
• tear inducing trips through Wal-Mart
• doing absolutely NOTHING because Flower Child had the stomach flu
• Flower Child having the stomach flu about 3.5 days before her birthday party
• a birthday party that I have not received ANY RSVPs for
• a birthday party with up to 10 guests that I have NO phone numbers for
• attempting to design my own cupcake toppers and food cards and wanting to pull my hair out if I forget to add a layer ONE MORE TIME
  

And now it is today. The day before the party.

• I have to go to the store for the rest of the food because OH YEAH ... the oven STILL isn't working :-/
• clean the downstairs
• COMPLETELY CLEAN AND DISINFECT THE UPSTAIRS
• wash EVERYTHING Flower Child touched
  
• organize and cute-ify the girls' room
• make pom poms
• print, cut and assemble toppers and food cards
• maybe make a banner
• switch out photos with photos of Flower Child
• make cake plates
• maybe make a ribbon wall
• OH YEAH make a bunch of baby stuff for my cousin's baby shower ON SUNDAY.
• make 3 more pots of coffee or buy more Rockstar
• OH! and my favorite thing about today ... going to see my sweet friends' new baby!

Guess I should get on it! Hopefully I'll have MANY photos to share soon! And with a house full of up to 10 little girls, a bunch of stories too ;)

Hope you all are having a good week!

Monday was our last day of vacation. Time to head home but not before we took the kids to MAGIC MOUNTAIN :D We packed up and got on the road early, stopping first for a big ol breakfast!

We got season passes for the Six Flags amusement parks for Christmas and have been 3 times so far this year! It paid for itself in the first visit so basically we get to go for free! I have it down to a system too so we don't end up spending much money.

This was the Boy's first trip to a real amusement park! We took him to Disneyland several years ago but this is a place for the BIG KIDS! This is more about the rides than the story. I love my some Disneyland, and we'll probably take Lil Miss there a time or 2 more since she's still little but I think we'll be hitting places like this up more often ;)

When we first walked in we ran into Wonder Woman! Lil Miss was WIDE EYED AND SO EXCITED! "I WANNA GO SAY HI TO THAT SUPER HERO!" lol

Copying her new favorite character ;)

First we rode the carousel as we figured out where to go first!

We decided to ride the Ninja first. This was Lil Miss's first roller coaster ever back in December and she really wanted to show her daddy and her brother how cool it was ;) They loved it! And so did she! She's screams and yells and WOOOHOOOs! the whole ride :)

Next we rode the bumper cars and they got quite a kick out of knocking us as hard as possible ;)

Lil Miss has an issue with LOOKING AT THE @#$%ING CAMERA ... lol

Then they wanted to go on the Scrambler ... I said PEACE OUT and stood by to take pictures ;) Mama's tummy ain't what she useda be ...

Lil Miss really got a kick out of meeting the characters :) We ate lunch and then decided to split up so the men folk could ride the big rides.

They went on the Goliath ...

and the Colossus. I was surprised and proud of the Boy going on these. From the moment we walked in the park he kept saying he didn't really want to go on the BIG RIDES cause he was scared and he was too nervous. We pushed him just enough and he ended up doing it! I knew he would ;) We're really proud of him for being brave! and now ... HE LOVES them!

While the boys were ridin rides, Lil Miss and I headed over to Looney Toon Town!

We rode their newest roller coaster, the Road Runner! She LOVES her some roller coasters ;)

I have GOT to look into getting me one of these ...

So we ran around Toon Town and there was almost NO ONE there! She rode rides twice in a row sometimes, sometimes she was the only kid on the ride! It was great! My camera battery was low so I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked to, but OH MY she had the BEST time!

And you should have seen the men's faces when they found us! They LOVED those rides!

We decided it was time to head home but not before the guys went on one last ride ...

The Revolution! They went on it TWICE! and would have gone more if we'd had time!

While we waited for the guys, we went on the carousel again.

We had a GREAT time! It was SO much fun! I was so proud of the Boy for over coming his fears :) So we finally took off and headed home.

But on the way home we stopped at MY FAVORITE PLACE EVER OMG ... HOBBY LOBBY. The first one in California is approximately 2.25 hours from my house and just so happened to be on our way home :)

OH YOU KNOW WE HAD TO STOP!

You have never seen someone try so hard to take in SO MUCH INFORMATION in such a small amount of time. It was like trying to take a giant panoramic picture with my mind to think about later LOL.

All of that to say, IT WAS AMAZING. And I'll be going back :)

It was a great little vacation. Full of family, relaxing, sight seeing, roller coasters and HOBBY LOBBY ... what more could I ask for?!