january

before we begin february, i'd like to recap a bit of my january. we have done a ton of things...so brace yourself.

jonah and i have drawn on our chalkboard wall since November. i think it's gonna be our monthly art sesh. you can see the others on my Instagram account. 

i literally use the wall way more often than the boys and i'm wondering if i should still keep it. 

gary and i are determined to make useful furniture. i've grown bored of affordable, boring, lifeless furniture from the usual stores. and all i've been finding in my thrift shops are crappy overpriced pieces that have to have work on them (i'm pointing my finger at you, Goodwill).

enter the lego table project. this project came about mainly because i was tired of little girl eating the boys lego's. 

so, we built them a taller one. after many measuring mistakes, i'm seriously happy with the end result. can't wait to show it on here. the paint job is totally inspired by the one and only Vintage Revival's, Mandi.

the one thing i have loved this month, is the sunshine. we live in houston. never gets below 30 and there's never any serious storms. i'm not complaining considering how the northeast is right now, but the sunshine was lacking for a good while. 

and then one day....

and the next! 

and the next! seriously, the weather has been perfect. 

my relatives from mexico sent us a box full of goodies. candies, toys, and clothing. the boys had a field day with the guitar because i won't share my dulces. 

half of my life in january has revolved around basketball. it's alright with me, honestly, because i love the sport. haha, when i say i love the sport, i mean i love watching it. i'll take it over football any day. 

and to watch a bunch of 4-6 year olds on a court with parents screaming their heads off (mainly me), has a level of hilarity that is like none other. 

i've really loved watching all of the boys play together. coaches have been phenomenal, despite the opposite things we had been told. what's even better is the pizza party coming in a couple of weeks to celebrate the season! 

the boys have enjoyed countless evenings playing with Play-Doh...they make a huge mess, but they're getting good at cleaning up after themselves.

they each made a Spongebob with the play-doh. i taught them a few lessons in shaping things and choosing the colors...and i was impressed with the results! jonah's is on the left, andrew's on the right.

just look at what i put up with....

just a collage of my sleeping babes. they make my heart melt. 

and also, car lines. oh, i hate thee. sometimes little girl sleeps right through it. other times not. then i have to pack snacks because little guy gets hungry. sometimes that said snack is cheetos and it gets all over my seats. but look at the cute babay!!!!

this month, we visited some family that came all the way from phoenix. yep, i made that 5 hour one-way trip to dublin. i made sure to snap a pic of the newspaper building one afternoon and i think they did an amazing job. reminds me of the one here in houston which i haven't had the pleasure of visiting. but soon. soon.

we rode around on the go-kart and i actually mounted a horse!!! a horse! i was saddle-less and going about -.05 miles an hour. i was not sore the next day. just thought you should know.

this month, we went to the local high school where they had houston's rodeo art from the schools and to our surprise, andrew's tractor was a finalist! his art teacher praised his behavior and his talent. i was really impressed by the 3rd grade selection of finalists too. kinda wish i could have purchased a few originals....

and jonah still won't eat his food....

at times, when i've fixed something he really enjoys, he makes the comment, "mom, this is just what i wanted, thank you for making it for me." and then gobbles it up in 2.8 minutes. but if it's not what he wants, then he will take FOR.EVER.AND.EVER.

and finally, we fixed the iPad after months and months of not having it. we had it done locally and has a few little glitches there and here, but at least the boys are happy. i'm just happy they're not asking me to get it fixed. 

and you know? i've noticed that the boys are playing with each other a lot. and by a lot, i mean like every afternoon. sometimes they don't even ask for screen time. i've sent them out to the playground by themselves several times and they play on their own. with their happy little hearts. and imaginations. when i call them in, they're usually whining about wanting to keep playing. and when they're not outside, they're inside playing together. 

i love it. 

finally my master plan of having brothers 2 years apart paid off! and this is a random, mostly true story...

#butfirstletmetakeaselfie
this month has been chock full of stuff. i'm so happy. so content. and i'm finally finalizing my motto for 2015. stay tuned, ok?
have a great friday, you guys!

little girl's party is coming up

yes. yes. i love me a good party. i really do. especially the ones where i do a lot of diy's and have a great time with the people i love.
and yes, i forgot about my only daughter's birthday that's coming up in two weeks.
ooops.
not a thought about celebrating her came up until 2 weeks ago. and then i panicked--hard core.
i'm in frantic mode because i don't want a huge thing, but i want to celebrate her to the fullest. after all, she is my sunshine when i wake up.
so while i'm freaking out about details of the event, i'll give you some cute pictures of her.

a few months ago, she braved standing on her own--although she didn't take steps. the photos below are just a few days before she finally learned to walk. 

 i love the way she sticks out her little tongue and looks back at me. like, hey mom. aren't i cool?

and baby GodziLena will climb on anything. and stick everything in her mouth. and destroy all. just a warning. so when and if you come to my house and everything is on the floor, you know why. 

and here are some iphone pics: 

confession: i really like dressing her up. i remember when i played with my Barbie's a long time ago that that was the funnest part. 

i dress my daughter up even to go grocery shopping. and i carefully chose her headband too. headbands are important. don't forget.

people take about 5 minutes to talk to me in the aisles just telling me how beautiful she is and how lucky i am. one lady even admitted that her cruddy day had just gotten better because E smiled at her. that was just wow to me.

i don't take her smiles for granted. each one has a place in my heart in a little box labeled "Happiness." 

she's almost one and not one day has gone by where my heart doesn't jump out just thinking of how lucky i am she's in our lives. 

and now back to party planning....

have a happy week, you guys! 

my mom's 50th bash

a month before my mom turned 50, we were devising the grand scheme of her celebration. we decided to keep it secret because duh, how fun right? 

turns out it's really hard to keep a party a secret. and even harder to execute said party IN secret.

since my sisters and mother all live nowhere close to me, it was doubly challenging. i mean, if it was on a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being hardest, this party ranked like a 12. 

i know mom had some sort of clue as to something happening but i don't think she expected what she got.

some really good friends of the family hosted us in their brand spankin' new "mansion."oh, it was so beautiful! there was more than enough room + the italian vibe totally didn't hurt. 

prior to our mom's arrival, i was sweating buckets (along with my sisters who were helping setup) because the pressssuuure!

and mom walked in. 

completely shocked and surprised and happy and so full of joy! 

the balloons i ordered from here and the chalkboard sign is a special sign that my sis drew up in her new business. there were lots of hugs and lots of laughter. 

i printed out a lot of pictures from back in the day...mom got a kick out of every single one of them. oh, the nostalgia!

and the cake. oi vey! THE cake! what a pain in the patootie! i will always have the fondest and funniest memory of "the cheesecake." let me just tell you this, i'm not a cheesecake baker. but doesn't the end result look beautiful?! *hint: i did not bake it*

i made the ''YAY" out of glittered cardstock and i love the way it looked with the fresh flowers. 

among the cheesecake, there were churro cupcakes and mexican sweet bread called conchas. my sister made the tiny little burrito piñatas too, aren't they adorable?

our centerpieces included succulents in potted cans, limes, and tissue paper. a total fiesta!

during the chaos, i managed to snap a panorama of the entire dining room, it was quite large.

and here's my beautiful ma with her three daughters. 

phew! i'm so glad we pulled that off! it was a ton of work so i'm very proud of what we accomplished. it was a sweet success! i wish i could have attended the after party, but man, i was pooooooped! 

i only wish that i would have paid more attention to the pictures i was taking. i usually tend to play all roles (baker, cook, host, photographer, entertainer, planner) with help of course, that afterwards i feel aren't 100% to the standard they should be. it's just another lesson learned.

another one in the bag! 

...and now it's time to plan baby girl's bash....