SUMMER LATELY

it has been so nice to hang with other sweet mamas and their babies lately. this is something i should of been doing a very long time ago but this summer i have pushed myself to arrange meet ups with people my kiddos and i enjoy hanging out with. my kids definitely needed new playmates and i needed friends too. its the best days when we can get out of the house and interact with people who are just like us! sometimes its difficult to agree on a time and day when there's more than two families but we make it work. now if i could only plan a mamas night out! ha.
i have seen a change in luna's vocabulary recently.. she is putting sentences together and she has also added "no" to her daily words. its said with a tiny sweet voice, its cute and funny and a bit scary. niko's mood changes constantly.. and together we learn how to deal with things. but overall, we are getting back to the regular things and we are once again happy and a united family. the mister and i have been really enjoying each other lately and it seems more frequently now, we stop and observe our kids in awe. because these children of ours are pretty amazing. we look at them and we look at each other, and we giggle. and then we high five each other for creating such beautiful creatures.

last thursday was spent at the beach with my friend julie and her sweet daughters... they have become some of our favorite people. we are so happy we found these ladies! 

THE SWEETEST LIFE

my kids are so lucky to have their grandma so close to us, they love playing in her backyard so much. she's so good at playing with them and making up fun things to entertain them and make them smile. this weekend we spent our saturday at grandma's house, raoul trimmed his moms tree & the kids helped make a pile of leaves, then they threw them everywhere and then picked them up again... we had fish tacos & layed in the grass while we watched the kids play & the dogs fight. friday night my friend got back from shooting in vietnam for a week & brought some bows for luna, they are so cute. i think it looks adorable on my girl! oh yea, shooting for elle magazine not shooting guns, lol. today we leave to san diego for a couple days. super excited to see my friends & family! hope you all have an amazing weekend!

OUR DAY AT KNOTT'S BERRY FARM

i have taken an unexpected break from blogging and it was quite nice. not like i was taking a break in real life but you know a mama's job is never done! but i have been wearing THIS a lot lately... i know, it's okay to be jealous. last week we got year passes to knott's berry farm and took the kids for the first time! we took them on wednesday and niko wasn't having it, he wasn't feeling well and all he wanted was grandma. we got to the parking lot and he cried and kicked and had the biggest tantrum of all time and was just not going to knotts berry farm. we went home, got some medicine and tried again the next day. thrusday was our day, we made it and after showing niko photos and videos i had pumped him up for a fun day at knotts berry farm. as we walked in niko was very attached to me and wanted to be carried but after about two rides, he got the hang of it and started enjoying himself. luna was all about it, and even got mad because she wasn't tall enough for the roller coaster. i don't think luna knows how small she is, she's one brave little girl! you can see the video below which pretty much sums up our visit with the exception that luna cried with so much sadness when we walked away from snoopy after we met him. since we went, we have been playing with our snoopy puzzle and watching happiness is a warm blanket daily! i must say, charlie brown cartoons have beat out tom & jerry on favorite kids cartoons of all time since the dialog is the cutest! good grief!          

DR. SEUSS & THE LORAX

last year i started writing a post on dr. seuss and never finished it. i was about to edit and look at the photos i had saved but those too are gone with the rest of my photos from when all my photos were erased. but that will not stop me this time from talking about our love for dr. seuss. the kids and i often read his books and even have a couple of them from when papa was a kid! i have a growing collection of little golden books and dr. seuss books too that makes me very happy. i think my favorite is "oh the places you'll go" and niko's is "the cat and the hat". we have some dvds of old dr. seuss stories from the mid 70's and there is just nothing like them. i think our favorites are "the sneetches"  & "horton hears a who", i love the illustrations, the stories, and the songs. we had been really looking forward to the premier of the lorax in this house and today was such a special day. although i wasn't planning on taking luna to the movies just yet, she went on her first trip at the theaters and she loved it. she is always such a trooper but as soon as we arrived she sat down and was sucked in to the movie. i loved watching her with her tongue out as she was so absorbed with the beautiful colors in the film. although i feel the message could be too deep for niko to fully understand, it is a great movie for toddlers and parents. raoul and niko had been disappointed the two last times they went to the theater to watch cars 2 & happy feet 2 or three. whatever. they had too much suspense for kids and raoul said they were talking about bombs, military terminology which is no joke in real life. i clearly remember when i was a kid being so scared of villains in disney movies and i rather my kids not watch that kind of movies just yet. way too intense for small kids like mine. anyway... i do hope that niko and luna have a special place in their hearts for dr. seuss when they are older. i love quotes by dr. seuss, they just make so much sense! can we just stop and think about every single one of them? i know there has been some controversy over the lorax and its message. the book was even banned here in california because it showed negative light on loggers? i just can't stand the media like 95% of the time. but if you were interested in watching the lorax, i say go for it! you're going to love it!

source 1, 2 

OCTOBER FUN

okay so this month pretty much flew by, in the blink of an eye it was halloween. i havent been able to upload photos much lately so i am doing a quick wrap up for october.. thank god for my mother in law buying the kids costumes because knowing my procrastinator self i would of left it to the last minute and then i would of had problems with niko. i didn't get any  halloween decorations really but friday the kids and i made some with construction paper at grandma's house and they are just the cutest! we also made a trip to the pumpkin patch and hang out with some farm animals, and attempted to adopt a dog this month. the search for a pup continues.. so far its been heartbreaking and stressful. hope november is more calm and filled with more blog posts as i am ashamed of being a lazy blogger lately. xoxo

shirt, old navy. pants, baby gap. shoes, stella mccartney for baby gap. 

those are Niko's hands! 

Luna's nurse costume, vintage. shirt, handed down.

Super Mario gifted from the amazing grandma. shoes, keep. 

Papa was a taco! 

Snow White costume from grandma. tights, walmart. shoes, gymboree (thrifted).

 Luna and her grandpa, she loves him! 

 Niko and his aunt trick or treating 

walking home...  

Raoul's dad made a Michael Jackson doll, everyone thought it was gonna jump out at them! lol

their auntie was Black Swan, loved her costume! she made it herself! 

Luna and her auntie walking home from trick or treating. 

this is the awesomest dog costume i have ever seen! pug belongs to 5&A Dime 

ONE AWESOME DAY

it had been since last october the last time we came to the new children's museum in downtown and boy did the kiddos have fun. we arrived around one and niko went straight to the painting area, got his hands covered with purple paint and went all in. somehow my jeans got full of paint too, and of course, his face, shoes and clothes were covered in purple. that was just the beginning. i really love this place because they always have different exhibitions for kids to play, think and create. i think i might have gone picture crazy here but i couldn't help myself. i was loving watching my babies have fun. they' have a little room with cd turntables and a mixer where niko had fun. he loves scratching records because his papa lets him do it at home so when he saw it there he was not even shy to show off his skills. luna wore the cutest little vintage dress i got from frock you. its the sweetest little dress but i am not sure she can wear it again. i kinda had a hard time taking it off, but i think im gonna squeeze it in again asap. anyways, this trip to the museum reassured me that niko really needs to go to school soon, only if i could get him potty trained.

Niko wore: shirt, target. jeans, h&m. shoes, old navy. 

Luna wore: dress, vintage. leggings, old navy. sandals, handed down.


for more kiddo fashion check hart+sew and mama loves papa.

FIVE. INCREDIBLE. YEARS.

 i am so glad to be back home and sleep in my own bed.. although we will all be missing grandma, we were at her house for five days so im sure she needs some rest. niko and luna aren't the most laid back kids i know.. so raoul and i had our anniversary this last thursday but due to his schedule, we celebrated saturday, sunday and monday. yes! a three day celebration jam packed with all kinds of fun. our celebration consisted of, sushi and a tasty little drink called sake piña colada before going to the theater (we watched hangeover 2, not too thrilled about it). going to one of raouls shows in l.a. and hanging out with friends afterwards, (80's dancing was also involved) our friend busted out the robo cop, the cabbage patch, the running man, the kid and play dance, and of course the robot. the next day we took the kids to san pedro which was packed with mexicans and music and food. i would love to return someday soon. then we took them to the beach and to visit our buddies and their kids. monday night i got to go to my very first comedy club and it was the funnest thing ever. we went to latino night at the laugh factory in hollywood. i have to admit, i was slightly scared to sit front row because id be so embarrassed to get picked on but we sat in the perfect spot, not too close and not too far. we got vip tickets and it said to show up 45 minutes in advance so we got there about 30 minutes before the show and we were the first ones there thats why we took pictures in an empty theater (see below). it was so nice to hang out and order pizza and beer before everyone rushed in and joey medina came over and said hello, it was really cool of him. every single comedian was super funny that night. i can't wait to go back on a date with raoul or with a bunch of friends. either way i know it will be so much fun. and lastly our celebration ended with our beautiful kids. we came home today and are getting back to our usual routine tomorrow. ive gotta say, i have the sweetest life and i am grateful every day. cheers to a great summer! this is the unofficial beginning of summer ;)

dress: from some random store at the mall. shoes, aldo. 

shirt, foreign exchange. jeans, matix. shoes, ralph lauren. watch, kenneth cole.