Oh Pinterest...I'm going to get in trouble...

Now that you know my new lover and the amount of love I have for her....I introduce you to my first project, first of many though...but let's not tell Mario ;)

The first time I searched on Pinterest, I feel in love with an idea someone had pinned (saved image) on their board. It was simple, made a statement but most of all it was displaying the true loves of my life; my husband and kids.Picture yourself playing a good ol' game of Scrabble, but instead of playing on your board, you use......YOUR WALL! Yes, your own Scrabble game displayed in your house with words you actually know, and not made up! ;) The cool thing about Pinterest is you get to save the picture and the direct link of where that item was found. GENIUS I tell you!

Once I was redirected to the actual website, I was blown away! Cassity went above and beyond to create her Scrabble letters, I'm talking about purchasing 2 x 2 or 4 x 4, sanding, priming and using a letter cutter! WHAT!? WHO!? HOW!? Can you imagine me telling Mario...."Um Babe, please sand all 32 pieces!? Thanks- love you!" I would get a big HEL TO THE NO!! So, Cassity, YOU GO ON WITH YOUR BAD ASS SELF!

Here's what we (I) did.... (yes, that's a BOLD and UNDERLINED I)

I originally was going to use the back part of the $1 wooden frames found at Michaels but when we saw them in person, both the front and back of the frame were cut out. MAJOR FAIL! We did find other frames that were perfect, but those were almost $3 each. Did I mention we needed 32 of them? Again....MAJOR FAIL! On to Plan B- Home Depot. With this plan we were going to buy actual planks of wood, like Cassity and cut them into 6"x 6" squares, but that came to a hault when the manager told us the size we wanted was too small. WHAT.THE.FUCK. She asked what I wanted to do exactly and at first I was like "oh she is going to think I've lost my mind and laugh in my face" but no- in true girly fashion, sporting her orange apron she said "Oh...that's soooo cute!" I instantly fell in love with her, not only because she didn't think I'd lost my mind holding up a picture of my project on display on my phone but because she gave us a much better idea at a fraction of the cost! What more can I ask for!?

We used the back part of the Rosette Block, which was great! No sanding, no priming, no cutting...those bad boys were all set and ready to be madeover.

That night I had to Google the font for the Scrabble game and find something similar in MS Word. I ended up using Calibri in a font size of 250, which would make the font 3 1/2 inches tall. After I printed all the letters, I then cut them out and traced them on back part of the block with a pencil.

After all 31 letters were stenciled and ready for their make-over, it was time for PAINT!

I then made my way to Walmart and picked up ½ pint of black glossy paint, along with a paintbrush set (which were awesome)!

I couldn’t wait to get home and start painting. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! I started with Alex’s name and that alone took me about an hour. (SIDE NOTE: It’s another thing to think about when picking your child’s name- they won’t be the only ones writing their names. YOU WILL TOO!) The following night I finished the rest of the names and let them all dry overnight.

Finally, after working on this project for about 4 days….the day finally arrived to hang them!!!!!! SWEET VICTORY!

I started playing with the arrangements of the puzzle and the second one I did was the winner. I asked Mario to please help me hang the blocks, but he was too “tired”…..
EXCUSE ME!? Ummmm…. hello. I’ve been working on these blocks for about 4 days now and I want them UP! So what is a girl to do?? HANG THEM UP YOUR OWN DAM SELF! I did ask him to eye the center of the wall and to pass me a nail. Guess what happened next…..Mario was my bitch, passing the nails to the WOMAN in charge! HAHA- then we reversed rolls and I became his! No worries….I GOT MY BLOCKS UP!

And here is the finished product…..

Yes, you might notice that our Scrabble game is “Double blessed” with our two crosses- which we didn’t intend on having them like that. But it’s super cool how they turned out as this! My mom is going to flip her rosary when she sees this for Alex’s party! Which you know you should stay tuned and see the Thomas the Train creation I pull out of my sleeve ;)

No one likes a cheater.....

The glory of the Internet! :::::angels singing:::::

Let me be the first to say the Internet is a fabulous place! When the Internet and I first met it was all about screen names, IM's, AOL chat rooms and the best question a 14 year old girl wants to read...A/S/L (age/sex/location).

Then I met Google...we hit it off like chocolate covered strawberries! We clicked and that was the end of THAT. I would google party ideas, recipes, how to stream movies for free, etc. I'm that person who says "Google it". Yeah- we were hot together.



After I met Google, I was introduced to Myspace who later became Facebook. Who by golly I love and hate that bitch. She always changes her style and I have no time to keep up. FB, all I want to do is see picture and read the latest adventures my friends are exploring.



I will now confess.... I have been cheating, not only on Google Images but Facebook. Yes, I feel bad and I think we can work things out. But man have I gotten in trouble with Pinterest. Yup, I've fallen and fallen hard for her. She's easy, simple and hasn't changed since I met her 2 weeks ago. You may be wondering who the hell is this PINTEREST!?!



Think of it as all your saved (pined) websites and images with your favorite crock pot recipes or that table set up you found on a party planning blog or even that bedroom setup you found online all gathered and saved into categories (Boards). Don't ask questions, just go, explore and thank me later.

Calling all Superheros!

It only took me 2 months to post. BUT, I'm finally uploading the pictures of Gaby's 7th birthday party! Beware this is a picture overload post!!! Don't say I didn't warn you.....


The famous cake I made from scratch!


Whoopie Pies!? Yes, please!!!

My fabulous cousin, Emi showing off her mask and fangs!!!

All the kids signing 'Happy birthday' to Gaby

A hero needs to disguise their identity....

The favor pails I got at Taget filled with candy, books and glow sticks I bought at the Dollar Store....

The kiddies showing off their capes made by my mother in-law

The Aleman's <3

My little spiderman

You might be wondering why is there Lady Liberty on the cake? Well, Gaby loves, LOVES New York so I thought this would be a great touch to her fabulous cake!

the big 7

He 'powed' me so I 'ZAPPED' him ;)

The city skyline made by poppa smurf

Ps. Did Imention I was on an hour of sleep the day of the party? Um...yeah!

Seven Amazing Years

I can't believe it’s been 7 years since Gaby was born!

I still have panic attacks that our little girl is becoming a little, sassy chic. I can only hope and pray that everything Mario and I are doing is to have her become a successful, independent woman. Seeing her mature and change each year baffles me. In my mind she’s still a baby but I know it’s time to face reality. Why does reality have to suck so bad!?

I usually plan the kid’s party on a Sundays, since my mom and uncle work on Saturday. But this year Gaby’s birthday landed on a Saturday and I'm so glad it did! We kept going back and forth with themes, locations and ideas for her party. We checked our local roller skating arena, the ice arena, and nothing. Then the birthday girl’s light bulb went off and a "Super Hero" party was born. I thought it was FA-BU-LOUS! And it screamed her personality to the T; a girly, superhero party.

I started to Google ideas, pictures, games, craft projects, etc. I loved everything I saw and started to save pictures like crazy! Then my light bulb went off and I searched “how to make a cake using fondant”. Hey, why not right? We were making everything else, why not the cake too; the ingredients are cheap, it looked easy and affordable. If our plan didn't work, we would execute Plan B: pick up a cake at Publix and call it a day :)

My DIY ideas were: cake, city skyline, superhero cake, masks, whoopee pies, and expression signs.

Holy. Smokes. MacGyver…what did I get myself into!?!?

The one thing I knew I wanted was superhero capes! What is a superhero with no cape?! We bought 3 different colors of fabric: Purple, Blue and Pink. Each cape was going to have the kids initial with black sparkle felt. My mother in-law made the capes and they turned out so awesome! The kids loved running around in the yard with their cape flowing in the wind.

The next project was the city skyline. I started collecting boxes at work and broke them down. Mario then spray painted them black and painted little yellow windows on them. I then had Gaby cut out preprinted clouds and a moon to put on the wall. She loved helping out, so this was a great project for her and Alex to do together. We also had “Ker-plop”, “POW”, “ZOOM”, etc. signs cutouts for the wall. These turned out great for the cake table and for the kids too.

My final and crazy projects were the desserts! This was the end of me….but I MADE them ALL! And I will say, they turned out amazingly delicious! The cake was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever baked and it literally took 3 ½ days to make. I was literally down to the wire finishing the cake. I made a two tiers chocolate and funfetti cake with marshmallow fondant. I’ve never made any sort of cake- but I was so happy with the way it turned out. Will I do it again? HELL YEAH! I loved every second of it- I cried, I laughed, I got upset but the finish product was my greatest accomplishment. That was just the cake; I also made whoopee pies with cream cheese frosting and individual fruit shortcake dessert for the adults.

I have to say the party was a success- the kids, adults and especially Gaby had a fantastic time. Would I change something about the party? Yes, I would have taken Friday & Monday off! PS. Did I mention I had lost my voice the day before the party!? Yes, I was voiceless and unable to chat away with the guests. It was not cute and everyone took full advantage of it! ;)

Where's the pause button??

Anyone….anyone…..Bueller…..

I can’t believe in a couple of weeks our first born will be 7. Where has the time gone, it was just yesterday we were changing her diapers and here we are about to celebrate her 7th birthday party.

Gaby is turning into such a young, crazy, boy-ish young lady. She loves to search for insects; lady bugs, butterflies, lizards, centipedes just to name a few! I think I’ve mentioned this before but Gaby is a girly tomboy, if that makes any sense at ALL. She loves her makeup and nail polish but give her a baseball, basketball, or bugs and she’ll love it just the same.

I love to plan birthday parties for the kids, I love the searching online for ideas, the do it yourself projects, and finally seeing it all come together. Well this year is nothing less than a huge DIY project and I’m super nervous- freaking out actually about how everything is going to turn out. I have to confess that this is by far the hardest one we’ve had to plan. I guess the older they get the more creative they want their parties to be….”Um hello when did you get a mind of your own?” But nonetheless we/ I’m super excited to bake, cut, snip, glue, paint, etc.

You may be asking yourself what are they going to bake, cut, snip, glue and paint!? Well, this year Gaby’s theme will be “Girly Superhero”. Yes, our girly tomboy loved the idea of battling those villains pink & purple style! So I started looking for ideas and spent a whole weekend saving pictures and watch tutorials on Youtube. I became (in my eyes) an expert in planning this party from scratch! (literally) I want to spending as little money as possible and so doing every detail which help the bank and the personal touches!

So far these have been the ideas I have gathered from my one too many Google searches:


A double tier cake with the bottom layer having the city skyline



Mario and I are making signs and a city skyline that will work for our "photo wall"




To set the mood of the party the invites:



Cupcakes


Color Scheme

Every Superhero needs a cape!

I've been taking pictures of all the things we've done so far. Can't wait to see the final product!

Easter Part II

A friend of ours started her own photography company (SeLaRom Photography) and back in April she asked us to help her build her portfolio by taking Spring/ Easter pictures of the kids.

How could we decline!? We headed back to Matheson Hammocks Park (where we took our maternity pictures for Alex) and I couldn't believe how much time has passed!

The pictures turned out great, not only is Zulaima a great photographer but the kids were such great models! Here are a few...











I want to enlarge the first picture- where Alex is giving Gaby a kiss! It's so tender and it shows the true love they both have for each other. Enjoy and remember to check out SeLaRom Photography when you can!!

Bunnies, eggs and chocolate OH MY!!!

Easter has been welcomed in our home once again! This year I decided to host an egg hunt/ egg decorating get together at our house.

Before we got to the festivities- we went to church! The last time we went was literally a year ago (last Easter- to be exact). I hang my head in shame with the thought alone! Since Mario works on weekends he can't join us. So I gathered up the troops and to Easter service we went. There was no stopping us now- well....except the traffic!

Last week all the statues in the church were covered in purple draping, which Gaby then asked why.... and since I didn't want to give her no answer, I said "ummmm...". It's the best I could do!

Well this weekend they were uncovered and the Holy Cross was bordered with beautiful flowers. All white Roses, Lily's, Orchids, Baby Breaths. It was gorgeous! Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought it because everyone was taking pictures of the cross. I semi heard the word of Christ, but I was able to catch the priests jokes ;) He was saying how he wrote a letter to us all saying "I'll see you in Christmas and New Year!"

He was right, we were THAT family. That family who went to church LAST Easter and didn't go back until this Easter. We skipped Christmas and New Year- which makes it even worse. Although this was my second time taking both kids alone- overall they did a decent job. All Alex wanted to do was take out the offering envelopes and putting them back into the book holder. At the end he was just tired- but we made it! Gaby was great though, she kept asking if the service was done...I said to her "Gaby, we JUST sat down. The service hasn't even started!" All I can think about was me at her age asking my mother the same exact thing. Only difference is I would get the "EYES" from my mother- while Gaby actually gets an answer.

After the service, I wanted the kids to take a picture in front of Cross and so we did!

Easter 2011

We left church and headed home to get ready for our guests. I cleaned the floors one last time and got the festivities started! (I won’t mention that I cleaned the house for 4 hours on Saturday and another 30 minutes on Sunday!) This year I wanted to do the Rice Krispy Eggs and have the kids decorate them. And can I say they turned out so freaking cute! Everyone had such a great time decorating their eggs with chocolate, Gummy Bears, Marsh mellows, M&M’s, crushed Oreos and peanuts! It was truly a big hit with the little ones and the adults. It was super easy to make too. Here’s the recipe I used, the only thing I changed was using an entire bag of mini marsh mellows! Apparently, 6 cups wasn’t enough in my Betty Crocker book ;)

Here are some pictures of our decorating party and everyone’s Easter Eggs:

Gummy Bears, Oreos and Marshmellows OH MY!

Gaby, Genesis and Alex decorating

Alex decorating his delish egg!

Our very own Picasso's

from top center (clockwise): Clau, Sofia, Misha, Sandra, Jorge, Gaby, Genesis, Alex and Emi
The finished products!

I sneaked out of the house while everyone was decorating their eggs- this Easter Bunny had to set up the hunt!! One would think “Oh its just spreading out eggs, how hard can that be!?” Its tough- you don’t want to have all the eggs close to each other or too spread out then there are areas with dog shit! It’s some seriously major planning! Finally, the bunny was ready!

Just as the hunt started, someone who shall remind nameless (OREO) dashed out the door and I was left taking 2 pictures before I had to chase his ass down! I was SO upset- but I couldn’t let that ruin the egg hunt. I was able to take pictures AFTER the fact….booo Oreo!

I think I spent so much time setting up that in a blink of an eye and a chase of a dog- all the eggs were GONE! Geese people- enjoyyyyyyyy the hunt, soak it all in, right? Who am I kidding….

The boys grabbing the eggs!
Emi & Mischa grabbing the ones I put on the stairs

Clau enjoying the hunt too!

Gaby & Genesis

After the very quick egg hunt we all headed back inside and enjoyed the Wii for the rest of the afternoon.




All in all it was by far a fabulous Easter for us and for our family! We did miss Mario- but Gaby made him a Rice Krispy Egg and hopefully he enjoyed eating it! If not- I will enjoy it for him! ;)

So from us to yours, we hope you all enjoyed your Easter weekend as much as we enjoyed ours!