The Castañeda Clan Best Day Ever: Mama's Birthday Week

We've been busy busy busy this week. After the weekend FULL of finishing up Max's birthday celebrations, we spent the week doing all kinds of different things.

Some of the things we did this week included Legos, Legos, Legos.

Max got a huge container of tiny Legos for his birthday. On Monday, the boys starting playing with their Papa before he left for work. They made all kinds of forms of transportation. Then the fun carried on later into the morning when we built some of the things suggested in the boys' Lego magazine such as a bucket of popcorn! The kids also had their very first Wizard of Oz experience.

Last Friday, as has been our regular routine the past few weeks, after soccer we went to the library. I decided to pick up this classic movie for the kids to try out. I knew that I could catch their interest by the simple mention of the tornado. That did the trick, and they really enjoyed it! They played off and on during the movie, but they always came back to it. Nico and Max both really enjoyed the flying monkeys. During the tornado scene, Max was fascinated by the things that were spinning around inside. He commented on the cow that seemed to be flying inside the tornado. This made my day! You see, when I think about the Wizard of Oz I always think of my maternal grandma. I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it was a favorite film of hers, or maybe we watched it at her house? But I do remember a time when I was out there at her house on the farm and the weather got really wicked. The wind started to pick up and there was a weather warning...probably tornado warning. At my home we always took shelter in a hallway without windows at the center of our home....well, apparently that was not their way. The front door was wide open for a good view of what was happening out there. It got so windy and I remember my grandma saying in what seemed to me in an all seriousness tone (or at least in my pre-teen mind it was serious), "It's like the Wizard of Oz out there!" Later when it was all over and the shingles had been almost completely ripped from the house's roof I remember her mentioning that she had been sure a cow was going to fly by the window. That's still one of my favorite parts of the movie, and I get a good chuckle every time I see it. The boys were very curious about why the movie was "brown" and then it turned to color. Max was asking so many questions, but I wanted him to figure it out on his own. He did an EXCELLENT job. He realized that the color was the dream and that Dorothy was "over the rainbow". I was impressed. Nico and Max also thought the "horse of a different color" was awesome.

One afternoon this week included Nico "fixing" my hair. For some reason he just decided to do this. He went and got a brush all on his own. His favorite part was simply brushing my hair out of my face. It was incredibly sweet. Max, Nico, Belle, and I spent a good part of that same afternoon having a picnic on Belle's bedroom floor. We had a blanket laid out, we used the kid's play dishes and food, and "ate" all sorts of treats. We also spent some time sitting on the blanket reading stories together. Any time that same day when Belle would get a little fussy, you could find Nico right in front of her doing a little jig.

I have not seen him do this in the past, and I haven't seen him do it since, but all day Monday he did that. And every single time, Belle would forget her fussiness and giggle as loud as could be. Belle has also discovered that she has the capability to express her opinion. She certainly already knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it, or it's taken away from her, she will let you know it. When her "bubbas" take a toy away that she's either been playing with or was eyeing to play with she shrieks at them.

The boys have been finding it funny to hide under blankets and pop out and "scare" me. I'm not sure if they really believe I don't know they are there or if they just pretend that I don't know. The three guys also went swimming again this week. Sometimes if they've not had enough energy burn during the day with me, their Papa will take them while I'm putting the baby down to sleep. They enjoy their male bonding time. More of the fun this week involved playing so many board games! We have played two different Smurf games that Max's Mema and Pops gave him for his birthday. One is like the game "Trouble" and the other is a Smurf themed game played very similar to "Candy Land". Both are very enjoyable. Max also got the game "Guess Who?" from his Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jon. I have to say, one of my all time favorite games that I used to play with my brother and sister. It has been so much fun teaching him the game and playing with him.

Another really awesome time we had was last Friday when I sent the little guys upstairs while I set up a surprise for them in the living room. I moved all of the furniture around and hung sheets off of the couches, recliner, pack n' play, etc. and created a huge fort that took up almost the entire room. We had all kinds of imagination play in there. Even Belle seemed to enjoy it, playing on her quilt getting lots of natural light directly under the window which is usually where our love seat sits. Belle also has a new favorite toy. It's a miniature beach ball. She loves that thing. She gets super upset if it gets away from her. But she also really LOVES to play with me by passing the ball back and forth. Sometimes she'll roll it, sometimes kick, and other times she'll try to throw it. I can't believe she's doing these things already. Time is just flying by so fast!

Today we spent time (well most of the day) pretending to be Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad on a great adventure, trying to save the Princess! We went around the house acting out different courses/worlds. We beat the "game" and saved the princess after a final fight in a snowy world. We got rolled up pairs of socks and had a "snowball" fight. That was one of the best parts of the day.

We actually did that again another two times I think. A couple of hours before dinner we all started to kind of poop out. We'd been playing hard all day (and I tried to squeeze in some laundry and straightening up too). I was starting to wonder what I could get the kids to do where they could just sit for a little bit and get a break, but have some fun too. Then I saw an awesome post on Facebook. My friend, Lissa, had posted pictures of her kiddos playing with "Magic Muck". Not only that, she had posted a picture of the recipe! Thanks, girl! The idea was exactly what we needed this afternoon. I mixed up Max's favorite color, orange, and Nicos' favorite color, blue. Then we spent about an hour messing with that stuff. Of course they completely destroyed my kitchen with it, but I didn't care one bit. We had a blast! Even Belle sat in her booster seat watching for a little while. I tried to get her to mess with it a little, but she didn't enjoy it. I got a little carried away with the blue food coloring and now Nico's hands may be slightly off color for a couple of days. I scrubbed his little hands until he was sick and tired of it. Ah well...it'll fade in time.

recipe taken from the book "The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions" by John E. Thomas and Danita Pagel

As some of you may realize, I had a birthday yesterday! Seeing as my twin turned 29, I'm sure you guessed so did I! My 28th year was so full of some of the most amazing things. To name only a few we had our third child, we started our family blog, That's Sew Belle was established, I accepted a job as a teacher at St. Michael Academy for the Fall, our kids joined their first sports classes, and my husband turned 30! There is just way too much to recap. I only wish I had started my blog before to capture all of the wonderful moments of our family. To kick off my 29th year, my awesome hubby surprised me and took the entire day off of work! That was my first great gift. Then when I was going to get out of bed with Belle, my guys all busted in with flowers, a balloon, and a present!

Another gift for the day was no cleaning and no cooking for Mama! BEST GIFT EVER! Fer made me my birthday oatmeal :) Yes, it made me smile. Last year I got a delicious birthday omelet in which candles were placed for me to blow out. He gave me the choice this year and I went with oatmeal because I'm absolutely obsessed with it. I allowed myself a nice steaming mug of coffee to treat myself, especially since I had stayed up until midnight the night before in anticipation for my birthday! It's my own little tradition that I wait up for my birthday to begin and I stay up for the end. The boys had gymnastics so after breakfast I spent time getting all of us ready to get out the door and at practice on time. We thankfully, succeeded. I'm not sure why, but it seems like having that one extra person doesn't always help with our time management....anyway, Nico and Max had their gymnastics classes at the rec center. Afterwards the kids and Fer took me to Firehouse Subs for my birthday lunch. I LOVE their sandwiches!!! Then another wonderful birthday surprise that Fernando planned for me, we took a little trip over to Dallas to visit "Sprinkles" to get the most delicious cupcakes EVER!

I mean they were heaven in my mouth! I'm so terribly disappointed they are already gone. We should have bought a dozen of those things...well no we shouldn't have because I'd eat on them all day, but they were incredible! Too bad it's just too far away with construction almost the entire route to go very often. Yummy yummy yummy...

We got home mid-afternoon and Fer and I spent some time playing with Max and Belle. Nico had fallen asleep in the car and we could not get him to wake up. Not even when we told him we were going to make Uncle Jon's birthday video, and not even when we told him we were going to have the cupcakes! Poor guy must have been tuckered out. Max and Fernando went off to fetch dinner at Chipotle later afternoon while Nico STILL napped and Belle and I stayed home to play. When I said that I didn't have to cook for my birthday, that didn't mean anyone else was going to do it in my place. They let me enjoy some of my favorite things though! Belle fell asleep unusually early so after I put her down the rest of us spent some of the best times of the day having our very first FAMILY GAME NIGHT!!!

Playing "Race to Smurf Village Game"

We had never had an opportunity before where all four of us could play a game at one time. It's tough to find a game that we all enjoy or that we can all even do. Nico is getting to a really good age where he's able to catch on to some rules, but still has struggles with many. We first played one of Max's Smurf games because it was a good way to ease into the fun. We all knew the directions and were able to play. Then we played SEQUENCE!! Surprise, Surprise! I'm serious when I say that game is awesome. We all love it. Even Nico who is 2 1/2 knows the rules. He has a hard time choosing to always follow them, but he knows them and with a little help he does very very well. He even won a round! Family game night was such a success. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was and how much it meant to me that that was a way that I got to spend my birthday evening. I wish Belle could have joined us, but I know that is in our future. After the boys went to bed I got to spend some special time writing a blog post about my brother while Fernando cleaned! Oh it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E not having to clean up! Yes he already does help around the house a LOT, but it was even more special on my birthday. Fernando and I got to spend some quality time together afterwards. Fer was a good sport and waited up with me to the end of my birthday. We watched some Pawn Stars for fun! I'm not sure why I feel the need to wait up for the end, but I always do...well try. Most years I fall asleep around 11:30 because I just can't make it. Same thing happened last night, but Fer woke me at midnight when Pawn Stars was over to tell me Happy Birthday for the final time. I'm such a blessed girl to have such an amazing hubby and three kids. I also felt so blessed and special from all of the wonderful phone calls, texts, facebook messages, posts, emails, etc. My mom and dad are going to kill me for saying this, but I even got the most awesome video sent to me from them singing "Happy Birthday" to me! BEST gift I've EVER received from them! To be sure that I do not get disowned, I have opted NOT to post the video. But know it was greatness regardless of the fact that no one in my family has a good singing gene! A humongous THANK YOU to everyone who made my day so special. My 29th year has started off so wonderfully. I'm looking forward to finding out what is in store for us next!

Another BEST birthDAY week EVER!

The boys made waffles with me on Tuesday. They helped because it was their idea to make them. I had already planned dinner and had it almost ready when they begged for this too.

She loves to watch the trees moving outside so I moved her pack n' play in front of the window today so she could see out. She is really sleepy in this picture.