Mother's Day and More

Cinco de Mayo

Last Friday Pacheco Brothers had a BBQ for all of the employees for Cinco De Mayo. I took the girls down for a while to see everyone and enjoy the music! Watching the band



Ruben and Uncle Neal BBQing, Ruben does a great job preparing the meat!




Manning the front desk!

Rowell Ranch Rodeo Parade
Saturday Morning was the Rowell Ranch Rodeo Parade. This year my school made a float, which the kids enjoyed making signs for and riding on.

Showing some Dolphin spirit! (Payton's class are the Dolphins)Payton and her adorable friends Lauren and Paige (twins)Karl was so amazing, he arranged for the school to use one of PBG trailers and offered to tow it in the parade! That meant getting there a lot earlier than we did ;)
Paige rode in the truck with Daddy so she could see it all, he said she ended up sleeping through most of the parade though! We put her in Payton's Big girl car seat just for the Parade and she loved it!

Me and the wonderful Dino teachers I get the privilege of working with!





Baby Shower

After the Parade I changed and headed to Piedmont with my mom for my good friend Liv's Baby Shower

Everything was so beautiful , and YUMMY!

Liv's Sister is also pregnant and due a week after her, she is also having a girl and naming her Elle. I made her a burpie and bib. Liv has not decided on a name yet so I have to wait to make her some;).

I just had to share these. The Shower was in the Piedmont Hills and the homes are so charming! These are a few of may favorites!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is "my" holiday to host every year. I like to choose a "theme" and set at least one table for the Moms. I had a big pack of these napkins already so I went with it...

The flowers were from Dollar Tree and the cupcakes Payton and I made Saturday night. They are SO easy but VERY time consuming! My mom found them in a Magazine and thought they were darling so we gave it a shot! At first I thought no way will mine come out like the picture in the Magazine but they did! We cut mini marshmallows on a diagonal and then covered them with colored sugar. When you cut them the inside is sticky so the sugar sticks just in the center. Then frosted and placed petals on the cupcakes one at a time so frosting would not harden before placing the petals on! Super easy! (I tried finding a link to the magazine or "how to" but couldn't)

Payton had to get me something pink for mother's day so they picked out a pink flowered Roxy dress, the girl (and Karl) has good taste!

Paige with both her Grandmas!We are so lucky that both sides of our families come together and enjoy each others company!Paige with her Great Aunt Sue

It was also my Brothers Birthday so we had LOTS of desert!Everyone was trying so hard to get Paige to walk for me on Mother's Day, Grandpa Pacheco was even trying to put his "magic balance" bracelet on her to see if it would work, as we all suspected, it did not ;)

I am so blessed to be a Mother to my two girls, It is such a amazing job!! And I am blessed to have a husband to appreciates me for doing that job, I was spoiled with a beautiful necklace, bracelet and earrings that he picked out all by himself! I thought I was getting sunglasses but he surprised me ;)

I "Heart" Thursdays

I "heart" this....So Paige may not be walking but she sure can dance! Karl rode a horse in the team penning competition for the RRR that his families company sponsors, after was a BBQ and dancing. The girls were so cute dancing together! (ok so I didnt feel ike walking all the way back to my purse for the flip so I used my camera, you will just have to turn your head to the side, sorry)

I "heart" our Thursday lunch dates!

Every Thursday I pick Payton up from school and we go to McDonald's (Payton's choice) for lunch and PlayPlace. To be honest I don't enjoy the playplace so much, it so noisey, not the cleanest (yes today I was the anal mom wiping down the critters with a wipe for my own sanity ;) and no one watches their kids so I actually feel like I am at work, but the girls love it which makes it all worth it! ( I mean look at this face;)

Wacky Wednesday

This is one of Payton's Favorite books and today I felt like I was in it! I don't know what happened today, but everything was wacky, my brain was mush! Losing things, forgetting things ( I attempted to leave the house twice and had to turn around and go back once because I forgot dinner tickets I needed for the BBq I was trying to get to, and the second time because I remembered I plugged the curling iron in (but never got the chance to use it) I really was laughing a crying at the same time, and missing things (that was my husbands fault he told me the team penning competition started at 5, well it was 4:30 so we didnt even get to see him ride..). Man am I glad the day is over and hope tomorrow goes smoother!!

15 Months

15 months ago we welcomed our second little girl into the world! What a blessing she has been! Having a daughter already I thought I knew what to expect, she would be just like her sister. WRONG! And that is a GREAT thing! I love that Paige has her own personality, does things on her own time and is teaching me many different and new things about being a mother!

Payton meeting her new baby sister (one of my favorite pictures)

Weight- 16lbs 10oz (more on that below...)

Height - 29 1/2 in

Eating - Everything we eat, favorites are peanut butter and jelly, turkey, bananas and grapes, spaghetti, and big sisters favorite - Mac n Cheese! And she is now FEEDING HERSELF with a spoon or fork (she gets very stubborn about this)

Says- up, more, mama, dada, dough dough (paci), bye, uh oh, one grandma says she says Grandma and Ellie, the other grandma claims she said bird (I have not heard either of these but she does like to say something once and then not say it again for a while)

Sounds - Makes a lot of animals sounds, monkey, horse, bear, lion (anything that roars ;), dog ( she does not bark she pants like our dog), and my favorite- the turkey "gobble"

Understands- EVERYTHING we say. We can give her many commands and she knows exactly what we are talking about. Shakes her head yes and no to answer us (appropriately) and if she doesn't know she puts her hands up like "I don't know". Knows most of her body parts and loves putting her finger in your ear or nose hole ;)

Walking- SO CLOSE! She has taken a step a few times until she realizes we aren't holding onto her anymore, then plops down. She walks everywhere holding on to our finger or pushes her toys around like a maniac, doing laps around the kitch/family room!

Loves- Playing in the dirt, drawing with pens (just cleaned Payton's upholstered chair that Paige drew on with a ink pen, thank goodness it came out!), and looking at books. She has a favorite bedtime book now which is great but also makes it hard to get her to go to sleep b/c all she wants to do is keep reading it over and over!

Sleeps- Through the night from 7-7:30pm to about 6-6:30 am and naps at least once but mostly twice a day.

This is Paige enjoying a PB & J right before her blood test ( what a horrible experience that was, but she survived. Payton was soo cute first making sure everyone in the lab knew she DID NOT need shots and secondly trying so hard to comfort her sister by talking and singing to her during the blood draw).

I pushed up her 15 mos apt because Paige was still not walking and for a few days didn't even seem interested at all! During the visit the Dr thought her muscle tone was fine as she stands up by herself, walks with little assistance and is definitely strong enough to walk, just being stubborn about letting go. At this time however she was concerned about her weight. She is a good eater but does not eat that much. Sooo she wanted to do some blood work, stool sample and have us meet with a nutritionist to see what we can add in to her diet. Luckily all her labs came back great, nothing out of the ordinary. The nutritionist thought she was eating well but wants us to try adding a few more snacks throughout the day and give more fatty things like guacamole (which she loves), peanut butter and try adding butter to most of her foods. There was also a issue with milk. We think she is Lactose intolerant as when she was on whole milk she (and us) were miserable. She would not sleep well waking up with belly ache, wasn't drinking much which could have caused her not to gain much weight. So we went back to formula and will re-try to introduce lactose free milk this time. Paige is definitely a Mama's girl right now, but is overall mostly a happy baby who LOVES playing with her big sissy! I love watching them grow together! Paige is so lucky to have such a great big sister!

I "heart" Thursdays

I"heart"http://www.diapers.com/! We (I say "we" because Karl actually got into and placed the first order;) have ordered from them twice now and both time I have ordered around 5:45 pm and have had our diapers and formula waiting for me on the porch by 1:30 pm the next day! And the BEST part is, it is free shipping and No sales tax! One less thing for me to worry about! Our last order we also got wipes and Diaper Dekor liners, there is soo much more on the site!

And the Boxes make great entertainment for the kids!

I "heart" Picnik!
A few people have been asking (here and on facebook) what program I use for editing my photos. Well a while back when trying to re size a picture to post on our website I stumbled upon the site http://www.picnik.com/ . I LOVE it! It is mostly free but you can upgrade to a premium service, it is SO easy to use and makes my ho-hum photos into something special!

I "heart" that Paige is FINALLY into walking! She was so uninterested for so long I even pushed up her 15 mos appointment (another post on that)because I was so concerned. Payton walked right on her first Bday and as awful as it is to compare the two, I cant help it! Paige is walking all over with her toys, or holding onto our finger or Payton's (so cute). She has let go and taken a step on her own a few times and I am thinking she will let go sooner than later! My mom thinks she is waiting to let go on Mother's Day just for me ;)

Power Shopper, just like Mommy!

We have a VERY busy weekend ahead filled with Birthday's, Parades, a Baby Shower, and most importantly.. Mother's Day! Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers! It is truly a amazing job we have!!

Tour de Cure Napa

I have to start by saying how Proud I am of my husband for riding in this! This is the 3rd year he and friends/family have done it and this year they raised over $10,000 for the America Diabetes Assoc!!! Karl was not into it so much this year, mainly because he has been swamped at work with several new accounts so he did not have the time to train like he wanted. But he still completed the 25 mile ride! Past years he has done the 50 but did not want to push it since he did not prepare for it...

Napa is one of the most BEAUTIFUL places in California and we are so lucky to live a short 45 away! Even though we go every year for this ride we have never gone up just for fun/wine tasting. So I dropped some serious hints that that would make a great Anniversary gift this year ;)

We checked in to the hotel on sat afternoon and headed straight to the pool! That is all Payton could talk about was going to the pool in her new (too big) swimsuit from Grandma P. The weather was so nice! About 80 with a cool breeze, perfect! I think (I cannot remember, I know horrible Mommy) this was Paige's first time in the pool! OK scratch that I just remembered I did take her swimming at my parents pool last year, oops! But either way, she LOVED the water! Got right in, kept putting her face under the water and kicking her legs! Payton had to warm up to the water (like every year) which she needs b/c she will start swimming lessons again soon!

We had a fun dinner in downtown Napa with the rest of the team!

Sunday morning was a early one! We all got up and went with the guys to the starting point to watch them take off, then us ladies headed to beautiful St Helena for breakfast and shopping!

Paige loved standing there waving at all the bikers go by!

Auntie Cindy sure did spoil the girls that day!!

Fun little Bicycle Man Aunt Cindy got for Payton

She HAD to get the girls some candy from this Beautiful Chocolate shop!

The guys have definitely improved their time over the years because we missed them crossing the finish line, oops! Next year cant shop as long ;)

It was a wonderful weekend for a wonderful cause!

While Mom & Dad are away the Girls will Play!

My mom and Dad took a few pictures of the girls while we were in Texas! Seeing how happy they were made me feel a little less guilty for leaving them ;)Obviously this isnt one of my children, it is one of many wild Turkey's that visit my parents yard, the girls love to watch them, feed them, count them, ... Paige even makes a Turkey sound when we asks her "what does a Turkey say?" When she makes it the Turkeys talk back! My mom said they had fun watching the Turkeys all weekend! This was Paige's "post" every so often she would crawl over to the stairs and "read" her books for a while, then go back to playing with her toys...I love this pic! This was my brothers wagon when he was a kid some 20 or so years ago! (yes my parents kept it alll this time, my mom uses it when gardening with her plants and tools etc in it..)The girls LOVE it and always want a ride when they are at Grandmas!This explains why Paige has been sooo into my make-up lately! In order for Grandma to get ready she would give them REAL makeup to play with to entertain them! Oh boy!

My little Monkey loves her bananas!

After opening some of their daily gifts! (Yes my girls are still wearing their xmas PJ's... I still wear mine too ;)