Henry's 2nd Birthday and Family Reunion

It has been an amazing weekend full of family!  Our little family is actually only a teeny tiny part of a very large family.  As you can already tell, we are very family oriented which includes our extended family (and our family of friends) as well.  Saturday we had a very special birthday party to attend.  Our nephew/cousin Henry turned 2!!!!  Early in the morning we headed up to the Grandparents' house once again (it NEVER gets old) to wish He-Man a very happy birthday.  Needless to say my boys were super excited to get to go to their Mema and Pops's house for yet another overnight stay and spend lots of time with their cousins.  When the little guys get together anything can happen.  There's lots of energy, excitement, and adventures.  Jack, Max, Nico, and Henry are as thick as thieves.  We're really going to have to watch those boys!  Belle and Lucy got to enjoy some time together too!  These sweet girls were born only 6 weeks apart and are so blessed to have each other to grow up with like sisters!  The kids had so much fun at the birthday party.  All they needed was a bucket full of water and water guns to provide them with hours of entertainment.  Of course, the playground didn't hurt either.  I think Uncle Fer had just as much fun, if not more, as the boys!  Henry got to spend his special day with his parents, brother, maternal and paternal grandparents, his aunts and uncles and cousins, his Great Uncle Les and even his Great Grandma Mary.  We spent the party on Pops's deck which is such an AMAZING place to share with those we love!  I know I have mentioned it before, but it's completely the perfect weekend getaway.  Complete with bar, grill, playground with swings, and a whole lot of running space!     

Great Uncle Les, Great Grandma Mary, and Belle
Belle loves them!

Fernando, Jon and Jen (the twins!)

Beautiful Belle and her Gorgeous Mema, Joyce

After spending a long wonderful morning and afternoon outside together, some of us were able to stay at the house overnight for continued family togetherness.  That is the awesome benefit of living out of town, we get to have long days and evenings spending time together, joking and laughing, having meaningful conversations, etc.  It would be a huge blessing for all of us to live close together, but living apart sure does make the moments we have together even more special.  Especially when we have family gatherings that bring us all to my parent's house where we all cram in and stay overnight.  There may not be enough bedrooms, but there's plenty of space to find a cozy place to rest.  Besides, not a whole lot of resting happens when we all get together.  It is definitely typical for the adults to stay up until one or two in the morning enjoying each others company while the kiddos are sleeping.  Actually, this past Saturday was the very first time that I can remember since having multiple children that we had the kids fed, bathed, books read, prayers said, and asleep in bed by their usual bedtime while attending a huge family gathering.  I was very impressed with ourselves as well as the kids to accomplish this.  We had the babies and little boys in bed at the same time.  I think every one of them were beyond exhausted which probably helped.  My parents, brother, and sister-in-law, Fernando, and I were all able to have a peaceful (although never quiet) dinner together without a single interruption.  It was glorious!  While our angels slept soundly close by spread out into three different rooms, we were able to get some much needed quality time with our adult family.  After dinner the guys headed out back to the deck and the ladies ended up hanging out in the kitchen...how stereotypical is that!  But we had so much fun!  I can't tell you what kind of male bonding the boys were doing, but I really enjoyed talking with my sis-in-law and Mom while cleaning the kitchen, putting food together for the next day family reunion, and planning for our next family party (Someone's turning the big 3-0!)

Today we were able to attend a family reunion for my paternal Grandmother's side of the family.  It was nice to see my Grandma having so much fun seeing her family together again.  With her family spread all over, it has become extremely rare to see some of her siblings.  We enjoyed a great lunch, awesome desserts, and excellent company.  Of course the boys ran around again with their cousins, which is never dull.  I can't imagine a time when my brother, my sister, myself, and our families do not live close enough to visit regularly.  It really makes me reflect on the importance of spending the time that is available to us being with those we cherish the most. 

On that note, this afternoon when we finally made it back home after a long and exhausting but awesome, weekend away, the most amazing husband and papa in the world (who just happens to be all mine) forced me to take a much needed nap.  He made me lay on the couch and he took all three kiddos upstairs to play trains.  That nap was absolutely amazing.  I can't remember the last time I was able to even take a cat nap, much less an hour nap (but I guess that's not saying much since my memory is always failing me).  When I woke up I found an already bathed baby girl happy as could be!  While I took care of getting the baby fed and put to bed, Fer got dinner on the table for the boys.  By the time I got back downstairs, the boys had finished eating and were playing together in the living room, and this is what I found waiting for me... 

Fernando had made a delicious salad and had created a nice romantic display for us to enjoy dinner together complete with wine and a candle.  He's too good to me and so incredibly sweet.  The salad he put together was amazing yumminess too!  He made a spinach salad that included avocado, carrots, celery, jalapenos, boiled eggs, blueberries, walnuts, croutons, and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese topped with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing (hope I didn't leave anything out).  Yum yum yum!!!  Yes ladies, my husband is not only the best husband in the world, and not only the best Papa to our kids, he's also a romantic who's not bad in the kitchen, not bad at all!  Thank you, Fernando for all you do.  You make our lives complete and we love you more than the whole wide world! 

BEST weekend out of town enjoying family and my nephew's 2nd birthDAY EVER!

Favorite parts of the weekend:

Max, Nico, and Belle: playing with their cousins

Fer: Saturday adult dinner and hangout guy time out on Pops's Deck

Jen: family togetherness, late night hangout at my parent's house, Fer's romantic dinner

Memorable bloopers worth sharing have been rare lately, but I'm sure something will come up soon.  I'm so busy with the kids, juggling schedules and activities, and commuting to different locations for events, that I don't have time to focus on these things.  Nonetheless, our lives are never boring!  I've tried really hard not to miss any more appointments, play dates, or activities.  But I'm sure we haven't seen the last of that either!  A cute moment that I do want to share happened on Saturday morning.  While eating breakfast, for some reason or another Max was having a little bit of a meltdown.  I can't remember why, but when he's still tired, it's not too hard to set him off.  Anyway, we were trying different things to cheer him up to get his mind off of the issue.  Fernando was in the middle of doing the "Running Man" dance move in the kitchen saying "watch me boys, watch me!" so obviously both boys refused to look in his direction, giggling because they thought they were so clever.  Little did they know, this refusal to take a look would only provoke their father to continue to do the dance move until they would look in his direction.  Max finally shouted for Papa to wait a minute, ran to the living room for a second, and came back with binoculars.  He told him now he could continue (because his eyes were protected).  I just had to laugh.  Belle and I are so blessed with these three guys to keep us entertained.