my lil' cupcake

Last Saturday we celebrated Luciana June's 1st birthday! We had a cupcake themed party for our little cupcake, and had some of my family, and two other families that we are close with over for brunch. We decorated the house with lots of fun decorations, and had lots of....you guessed it, cupcakes! I even made a giant cupcake cake with this mold. It was a labor of love for sure. I had seen online how you could make a cupcake liner for the giant cupcake out of melted chocolate, so I was determined to try it. Let's just say, the fourth time was a charm. After the first three attempts, the chocolate kept breaking as I would try and pry it out of the mold. Thankfully, my mom started up a conversation with an employee at the craft store who suggested putting the mold in the freezer before trying to wipe the melted chocolate on the mold. That did it, the mold was so cold once I put the chocolate on, it started setting right away. I put it in the fridge for an hour, and voila......it popped right out!!! I was so happy, I did a little dance around the house. Anyway, on with the rest of the party.

Our brunch menu was:
Southwestern Breakfast Casserole
Easy French Toast Casserole
Mini Frittatas with Bacon and Cheese
Hashbrowns O'Brian
Banana Bread
Pineapple, oranges, and strawberries
Orange juice and coffee

Birthday Girl eating her brunch

Kids grubbin'

Here are some of the decorations:

The banner I made with the help of the Cricut cutter.

the party hats

the party table complete with a time capsule for Luci to open on her 18th birthday (I've done these for Emilio and Gabriela as well....so special to have notes from important people in their lives and little trinkets from their first year).

cupcake lipgloss party favors for the girls, boys got soccer keychains instead.

cotton candy cupcake with a rock ring

too much sugar, learned a lesson with this one.

After brunch we had the kids decorate paper cupcakes with paper frosting and sequin sprinkles to add to their party hat (found the pattern here for the cone hat, and the cupcake on one of the Cricut cartridges). The kids looked fabulous in their hats.

Cousin Eloisa started crying, and that upset Luci and she started crying too. Oh well, made for a funny picture.

Gabi & Emma

my nephew, Marco

We had Luci open her gifts, she was very pleased with the wrapping paper, tissue and bows. She liked her new book, toy, and pretty dress, and she loved her new Bitty Baby from Nonno and Nana!



We then sang Happy Birthday and let Luci June try her first cupcake!!! She was into the sprinkles at first, and then decided to stuff the whole cupcake in her mouth. So darn cute.

Is that for me?

so tasty!

finger licking good

Happy Birthday to our beautiful girl, Luciana June!

an emotional rollercoaster

So, its been an emotional month for our family. We went down to Northern California to remember my Nonno's life at his memorial. Flying turned out to be quite pleasant, and easy because we all flew together, so the adults still outnumbered the children (minus John since he was on a business trip to New Orleans). Nana (my mom) had made up really fun activity bags for each of the kids, and they all were so happy with their new treasures and treats. at the airport checking out the airplanes. ages 5,4,3,2 and almost 1 (out of order).
Nonno's memorial was a very special time of sharing. It was great to hear the family members get up and talk about Nonno's legacy of love, and it was really cool to see his old co-workers.....his superintendent, and fellow principals, and old pals talk about him as well. What a special guy he was. My Nonno will not be forgotten. Nanna treated the whole family to a wonderful dinner at Scott's at Jack London Sqaure that evening.
The following day we decided to do something fun and went to Six Flags, Discovery Kingdom. We had a great day, the weather was perfect, and the adults and kids had fun on the roller coasters and other rides, watching the killer whale show, and walking through the butterfly garden, and seeing the Looney Toons characters around the park. My Uncle John and his family even joined us. This was amazing all in itself, because he just finished his cancer treatments and is still re-cooperating from his long painful process of healing and recovery. WE loved seeing his smile again. My son was a little nervous about the rides at the park at first, and his younger sister and cousin were showing him up in the bravery department, but he eventually tried some and gained confidence. Poor little Luci had a fever throughout the day though, and just wasn't herself, she didn't eat (so unlike her) and was a little limp baby. I felt so badly for her. That night we ate a delicious dinner at the Pyramid Alehouse in Berkley, and then went to visit my Nanna one more time before we would leave.

Foghorn Leghorn with the kids

Michael and Eloisa

Gabi with Cousin Josh

Cousin Heidi with Luciana

Nana and Luci

Emily, Eloisa, Aunt Kathe, Luci and Nana

Uncle Andrew with Emilio and Gabi

Aunt Karen Rose and Eloisa cheezing it up

sweet sick lil Luci

Harold the Helicopter

the airplanes, the fav of all the kids

Looney Tunes Dance Off show

Shouka the whale

in the caboose

Gabi with Miss Porky Pig

E with Taz and his Taz shirt on

In the middle of the night at the hotel, Luci woke up screaming in pain. She settled down after 1/2 hour, and I put her back to sleep, only to have her wake up again an hour later crying loudly and inconsolable. I felt so bad for my sick baby, and felt the walls closing in on me in the small hotel room. My Dad and I decided to take her to the ER because I suspected ear infections. Sure enough, she had a double ear infection, one in each ear. I told the ER doc that we were scheduled to fly out the next morning, and she strongly cautioned us against flying. She said it would be excruciating for Luci, and potentially harm her. I felt so awful about the situation, but my Dad calmly changed the flight schedules until Wed. (He's such a great Nonno, willing to do anything for the well-being of his beloved grandchildren). We left the hospital at 3:30 a.m. Have I mentioned it was Luci's birthday when all this transpired? Well, it was, her 1st birthday, and I had flashbacks at being in the hospital exactly a year ago in the middle of the night, in labor with the same baby. Weird feeling I must say.
The next morning my dad was able to find a reasonable price for a mini-van to drive back instead. So, we sent the rest of the family off to the airport, and we got our minivan and headed North. During the long drive, Emilio started having to pee every 5-20 minutes. We had to empty a baby Puffs container (I'll never look at one of those Puffs containers the same way again) so we wouldn't have to pull over every time. I started worrying he was getting an infection of some kind. During the trip my Dad's heart also went into Afib (irregular rhythm). He's had this happen before and has needed to go to the ER, but thankfully he has some medicine with him, he took it, and his heart converted back a few hours later. Added a little stress to our trip though, needless to say. We got to Portland, OR at 11:30 that night after endless hours of driving, slept, and then got back into the car by 5:30 the next morning to get back to Seattle in time to return the car within 24 hours. Whew.....what a trip! WE were so thankful to be back in one piece.

Updates:

• Luci responded to the antibiotics, and is her old happy self again.
• My Dad's heart is okay.
• Emilio doesn't have an infection, but likely is experiencing a nervous habit due to the two losses our family has experienced this month. We are trying not to get frustrated about his frequent use of the bathroom.
  

our loss, her gain

I'm writing this entry, with yet another very heavy heart. Yesterday we found out that one of my best buddies here on earth passed away and went home to be with Jesus.....my Grammy June. We always said we'd be happy for her when she would get to pass from this often pain stricken and dark world, to a place where there is no pain, tears, and sadness and where she'd get to reside with her Savior. Yet, we find ourselves still sad, mostly because she had such a huge impact on all of us, and we are going to miss her like crazy. My Grandma had a tough life, but she was resilient, hard working, always looking to the positive, and leaning on our Lord for her source of strength. The lessons we all learned from her are immeasurable. Mostly, they were about how to give and love with all that we have.

My heart is aching right now, my eyes are swollen, and I feel a piece is missing from my insides, but I know my Grammy wouldn't want me to be sick with sorrow. She's in the best place ever, with our precious Redeemer, and she's being reunited with her sister Bonnie, Aunt Peggy, and her sweet baby boy that she lost at such a young age, amongst many other dear loved ones. She might even be down on her knees digging in the dirt of God's garden, or baking sweet treats without any pain and trouble now. We couldn't be happier for her, we will just miss her SO much here on this earth. She was so loved, and I am honored that I was loved by her.

Here are some of my sweetest memories of my Grammy.

• She would often tell me how she rejoiced when I was born (I was expected to have severe problems) and I came out as healthy as could be. She cried for joy that day.
  
• Going to her house as a child to play or even spend the night. She always had such a cozy, well taken care of home, and was such a hostess.....making our favorite foods, and giving us "bunny" milk (Nestle strawberry milk). Being with her made me feel warm and loved.
• Organizing my mom's linen closet together to surprise Mom. I loved learning from her.
  
• Watching Sound of Music, or the Miss America pageant, or ice skating on TV together when I was young.
  
• Playing cards with her....she LOVED to play because she enjoyed the interaction between people during a game. We played Progressive Rummy, and Hand and Foot until our fingers hurt.
  
• Her thoughtful cards for birthdays and holidays. She always took time to write the kindest notes that expressed how she truly felt about a person. I've saved many of them knowing they were special.
  
• Learning how to make her recipes, from Christmas Cookies, to Chicken Spaghetti to pie crusts, sometimes even over the phone from her. She would giggle at my mishaps, and so would I. She had everything down to a t with her recipes. Mine often turned out tasting okay, but weren't near as pretty as hers. I will save her handwritten recipes forever.
  
• Getting special deliveries of her honey mustard dressing each time we visited, or when my parents were heading up this way. We took it out for dinner last night and cried in remembrance of Grammy.
• Receiving her labors of love.....Grammy afghans from her. Every family member has one and we snuggle up in them daily.
• Making her photo calendars of the whole family, sending her great grandchildren artwork and photos in the mail, and the digital photo frame for this past Christmas. When she'd open her gifts, she did it so slowly that everyone would say, "Hurry up Mom, or get a move on Grandma", and then she'd cry tears of joy when she finally revealed her gift. She had such a gracious heart.
  
• Talking to her to announce each pregnancy and delivery of my three children and having her be over the moon about each one. She LOVED babies. Introducing her to each one was even more special. I'm so thankful my third was a girl, and I could name her Luciana JUNE in honor of Grammy June.
  
• Over the past several years, I have called Grammy every Friday to talk with her. She called me "Old Faithful," and always acted so blessed by my calls. I know she felt at times like maybe I felt obligated to call her, but I didn't, it was my pleasure to speak with her each week, to share my life, to gain wisdom from her, and let my children speak to her and know a truly precious angel. I'm going to miss talking to my "Old Faithful" every Friday too.
  

I can honestly say, Grammy was one of my dearest friends, and I was blessed to have her in my life. Words can't describe how much I'm going to miss her. As she would often write in our cards, I love you "mieces to pieces, oodles and oodles, and oh so much" Grandma. I only hope I can pass on all that you've taught to me to my children, so that your legacy of love continues to live on.

green green is the color I see

I'm not quite sure why we are so excited about St. Patrick's Day today, if we are at all Irish, which I'm not sure we are or not, it is a small amount. I think it is just fun to have a "green" theme for the day. So, we started out this morning donning our green attire, and made green whole wheat pancakes and kiwi for breakfast.

My three little leprechauns!

Green Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Emilio had a fun day at preschool doing St. Paddy's Day crafts and eating green eggs and ham while celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday as well. Gabi, Luci and I ran errands for Luci's birthday coming up. Gabi kept calling out the different customers in Michaels, Old Navy, and REI who weren't wearing green, educating them that it is ST.PADDY'S DAY after all, and they will get pinched if they aren't careful. She struck up a long conversation in the Fred Meyer's checkout line with a little girl about her age named Ruby who was decked out head to toe in green and shamrocks. They would have so been fast friends had they had the chance, as both had an eclectic style of dress and seemed like two peas in a pod.

When we got home from picking Emilio up, we enjoyed Annie's Mac n' Cheese (and made it green of course) with cucumbers and pears (green too). We also made up these Rainbow Cupcakes, which don't only include green but all the colors of the rainbow which make them look so festive and appealing. We've made up a few plates for some friends in the neighborhood (because we all know we don't need ALL 24 cupcakes from the batch to ourselves) to pass out later.






Emilio has really gotten into the spirit and has started drawing leprechauns and even created a cute little story about a leprechaun in a handmade booklet. So sweet. We shall see what dinner will consist of for the night, maybe something.........green?!? Anyway, Happy St. Patrick's Day friends!!!


P.S. Last year at this time, I was as big as a blimp, waiting to meet my new baby anyday. I can't believe Luci is going to be 1 years old on Monday. Time really does fly. I will be updating about the festivities in the next week or so.