Honoring Uncle Reuben

Shane and I were able to go out to California for Uncle Reuben's funeral this past weekend. (Thank you Aunt Marilyn!) It was such an amazing time and I am so happy we were able to go. We were there for the beautiful ceremony at their church and then after that we went to the cemetery where he was to be buried. I think that was the most special part for me. It was a military cemetery and 6 marines carried the coffin to the site. The Major escorted Marilyn and we all walked behind them. The marines all saluted the flag that was draped over Uncle Reuben's coffin. There was so much honor and respect given by these young men who didn't even know him. After they folded the flag and each saluted it again, the Major got down on his knee in front of Marilyn and thanked her for her father's service to his country and said how sorry he was for her loss. It was so moving and so special! Everyone was in tears. We all saluted the flag as they played the military taps and then they did a 21 gun salute. I only knew Uncle Reuben for a little over 10 years but he was a great man and and he made my life better for knowing him. 

 These Marines came to the church to pay their respects.

 

 Justin, Joel, Jon, Josh, Rich and Shane carrying the coffin into the church.

Sabrina made this poster of Uncle Reuben. 

After both ceremonies we had a great time being with all the family. So many people that we hardly ever get to see! We stayed up late talking and having fun. The next morning Shane, Joel and I woke up early and went to see Isabelle play soccer. So much fun!! She was awesome and did amazing. :) Then we went to brunch at this place in Old Town Pasadena. It's called Barney's Beanery. Kind of a hole in the wall sports bar but seriously...the best omelette in the whole world! I don't even like eggs and I haven't been able to stop thinking about this thing since we went! If you ever go...get the California omelette...A-MA-ZING!! :) Anyway...you know me and my food. It makes me very happy. :) Speaking of happy...we also went to In N Out, Chipotle, Del Taco and Thrifty's for some ice cream. :)

The best combo ever! 

I also snuck in a super quick visit to see my best friends brand new baby. So cute!! 

Mermaid Birthday Party

I had so much fun this year getting ready for Heidi's birthday. Pinterest made me crazy! There are so many fun ideas on there. Some were too expensive or took too much time so I kind of took all the ideas I found and made my own stuff. It turned out great!

I found some cool clip art online and made her little invitations

 I found these jellyfish on pinterest...they turned out so cute!

 I wanted it to feel like we were under the sea so I hung blue and aqua streamers on the ceiling. I hung blue balloons, little paper fish, and jelly fish from the ceiling. 

 I made the paper fish out of cardstock. This guy is my favorite. :)

 I used seashells that the girls had collected from the beach this summer and glued them to a wood frame from Michaels. Then I just spray painted them white. I wanted everyone to have a cute picture of Heidi to take home with them. :)

 I'm so proud of the cake I made. I love the look of fondant but that takes WAY too much work for me. I found a recipe in a Glamour magazine for a strawberry cake with real strawberries inside and decided to make a checkerboard cake with that and vanilla cake. I used whip cream frosting for the filling and buttercream for the frosting. I put graham crackers in a food processer and used it for sand. I used the clip art I found online and printed it on cardstock, then I cut it out and just stuck it to the cake. I also found cute little candy eyeballs for the fish and used pearl decorations for the bubbles. 

 This is the back

 I found this cute pirate map at the Party Store. I hung it in front of the fireplace and it was a great back drop for opening presents. :)

 Natalie, Heidi and Nokie

 Natalie loved all the gifts Heidi got. :)

 We got Heidi a bicycle for her birthday and she was so excited! 

 She said this was her favorite part of the day...when everyone sang happy birthday to her. :)

The cake turned out really yummy. I'll have to post the recipe for the strawberry cake soon!

With my girls.

The party turned out to be so fun! The kids had a blast. We had really good food. Shane grilled hot dogs and we had a ton of fun toppings. My oven broke the day before the party so I had to make the side dishes and then run them to my families' houses to bake in their ovens. Even with all the craziness, it was a really nice day. I love celebrating birthdays. I love making a big deal out of them. It's important to me that my kids know how special they are and how happy we are that they are in our lives! 

Heidi Turns 4

My sweet girl is 4 years old today! Her party is Saturday but today we did a few special things because she knew it was her birthday. She keeps saying, "Today I'm 4 (she actually says pour) but my real birthday is on Saturday cause no people are coming today." So cute!! I just want to squeeze her!! Anyway...we went to the park to take her 4 year old pictures and then she got to play for a while. We did her 4 year old interview that I do with the girls on their birthday every year. After Shane got home from work we all went to Red Robin and the sang to her. She loved it! And then finally before she went to bed we measured her to see how much she's grown. 

Another iPhone Catchup

So here is an overview of our life for the past few weeks. With soccer practices and soccer games, taking Natalie to school and picking her up and Shane working and going to school...I feel like we are just getting through the days. Nothing super exciting. 

We did take the girls to play miniature golf and ride go carts. That was really fun! They loved the go carts. Natalie rode with me and Heidi rode with Shane and we just drove around and around. They would have gone around in circles all day! :) The girls HATED the miniature golf. Thankfully there wasn't anyone else playing so we walked the whole course, picked the few holes that looked fun and then turned in our golf clubs. No future Tiger Woods here! 

Lots of soccer games. The girls are doing great! Heidi scored 2 goals last game and Natalie scored her first goal too. Nokie got head butted by accident and had a bloody nose. My Dad thought that was awesome and he was taking pictures of the blood running down her face and onto her shirt. I was trying to get her nose to stop bleeding and clean her up so I only have pictures of the "before." :)

Then last weekend we went to the Farmer's Market downtown. So much yummy food and cute craft tents! The girls wanted everything they saw! We compromised on face painting. :)

When we finished at the Farmer's Market we made a last minute decision to head to the Zoo. The kids were so surprised and we had a great time. We did all their favorite things...feeding the giraffes, riding the merry-go-round, and checking out the penguins. They also had some fun craft booths at the zoo too. The girls got free animal tattoos and got to do some spin art.  It was a really fun afternoon.  

Happy Birthday Matthew

Seriously...I don't know whats wrong with me. I have seriously just not been motivated to get on here!! It could be that we have been super busy or it could be that I've been trying to catch up on my scrapbooking, (eek!) or maybe that I'm just not in the mood. :)

Anyway...so Matthew's birthday. We went to my parents' house to swim and hang out. We had a honeybaked ham, scalloped potatoes that were A-MAZ-ING, rolls and salad. Super yummy! I made a chocolate chocolate cake for him and Colie decorated it. Matthew is a pretty tough kid to buy gifts for. Last year...I bombed! I heard about it all year and I had to make up for it this year. He doesn't ever want anything but money and that is not a fun gift to give. So I went to the store and I got a bunch of dollar bills, a couple gold coin dollars or whatever you call those and then some 5 dollar bills. I had the girls color pictures for him and Natalie found some random gifts around the house. I had Shane blow up around 20 balloons and I filled them with all the different things. Some had a couple dollars, coins, 17 pennies, pictures, crayons and chalk from Natalie and a few empty ones. We filled a giant box and told him he could have whatever he could pop in 60 seconds. That kid popped the whole box in less than 30 seconds with his bare hands! It was so funny!

 Mom's gift to Matthew...an entire bowl of pasta salad just for him!

 Our crazy gift for Matthew

Silly dog