5#FIVE#CINCO

it's our 5th year anniversary....

used the cocoa daisy february "color swatch" kit.

we have been thru ups and downs in our relationship.
ya gotta have the ying and yang.
without the downs, the ups wouldn't be so exciting.
life would be boring and you really wouldn't learn from each other.
what i love about our relationship is we do argue...
but..
we always make up.
we can't seem to stay mad at each other too long.
i love him.
so happy and grateful we found each other...
especially grateful that we are gonna keep it going...
til we are oldies but always goodies.
lmao!

happy wuteva!

heehee...
happy wuteva!
happy belated father's day!
way late!
happy 4th of july!

we're here in WA since last sunday.
loving the time spent with family.

been zumba-ing it and did some yoga.
i gotta a couple of runs in this week too (the one using my feetsies, not the other kind...heehee).
one solo and one with my hubz at heritage park.

2 lunch dates in a row.

discovered a new coffee place in olympia after today's lunch date...

learned how to skateboard today too!

tonight is zumba night with my sis & zumba buddies.
yey-yah!

i really needed this vacay.
it's been fun, tiring, relaxin, etc etc.
aaaaahhhhh...

i even got a little project life scrapping in too.
haven't taken any photos of it, but just happy i got some time of it in this week.
not sure when i'll share.

but i do got something to share.
it's late, but it's something i did for my hubby for this past father's day...

i'm off to dance the night away & enjoy the rest of vacay time.
til wheneva!

resilient

def. resilient:  the ability to overcome, correct, to become better than

this is the word someone i love and am very close to had recently said to me.
and that person is my sis.
she is one of my besties in life, for life.

this word totally describes me as a parent.
i never ever thought of using that word for myself, actually for both me and my hubby.
why not?
here's the deal...to put it in a nutshell...
this is my 1st marriage, my hubby's 2nd.
we both have kids from previous relationships.
and we also have 1 with each other.
so a total = 3 lovingly kiddos.
we are categorized by society, and i'm proud of it...a "blended" family.
i don't want to go all into detail and shit like that because this blog post would end being like a thick book that would seem to go on forever.
all i can say is like all "normal" families, we have our ups & downs, not just with each other but also as far as "co-parenting" is concerned.
co-parenting is not easy even when parents from opposite ends are civil and get along.
it's hard work, emotional too.
it takes its toll.

but this is what also makes us stronger parents.
i never realized this but my sis really hit it on the dot...
me & my hubby as parents in this kind of situation:

• we are resilient parents
• we don't take our time with our kids for granted 
• we make every minute count
• we actually ask if our kids are happy 
• we say "i love you" everyday
• we really focus on them with the time we do have with them
• we ask them questions not usually asked in a "normal" family (like the other day, i asked maiya, as a mother, what i can do to improve myself? i also told her to completely be honest with me.  her answer with a lot of thought into it, "mom, could you take it easy about cleaning my room?  there are times i feel that it is clean after i did clean it but you just don't see it that way."  she had tears in eyes, she was really hurt.  that answer and especially those tears, i have to say really made me step back and say to myself, "yeah, you're being a bit hard on her about it. take it easy.")
• we just seem to be able to really realize what's more important when it comes to our kids, our family because of our situation.

i bet you're thinking well there's a lot of families like us who are not "blended" families who do all these things too.
yes there are.
but there are also "normal" families who take these things for granted or don't think about it or make assumptions that their kids are happy without even asking them straight up, "are you happy?"
what about asking your kids what can you do as parents to improve yourselves?
my sis just told me she never thought about asking her kiddos something like that and thought it was a great thing to ask.

my intention with this blog post is not to criticize anyone.
it is not to say we are better than anyone else in this world.
it is not saying all "blended" families are like ours.
it is to just let you know that "blended" families are "normal" families too.
i feel and didn't realize til my sis pointed this out...
we seem to be more aware of things, our time, our situation, where we are... when it comes to our kiddos, our family as a whole.

and that my friend makes us resilient.

and i'm proud of it, the ups...  and even the downs.

happy 4 years!

happy anniversary to my hubby of 4 years!
yes today is the day...
we got married in a civil ceremony with just immediate family & a few friends to witness it.

got up real early this morning and did this..
dedicated to us...

i cannot believe we've been married for just 4 years.
it seems longer...
in a good way!
looking forward for some more & more.
i love this man so much.
he is my best friend...
my shoulder to cry on...
my biggest supporter in everything i do...
he loves me back no matter what...
i could keep going on & on....
i am so grateful that someone up there brought him to me.
he is the one.
i love you my hubby!
thank you for being with me this long and more to come.

anyway, on to the rest of the layout..
here's the deetz...

i used the cocoa daisy march 2013 "sketchbook" kit.
i got the kit a few days ago.
i used only 3 sheets of patterned paper, front & back.
punched shapes of different styles/sizes of circles...
punched borders (love that ek success swiss cheese punch!)
paint splatters, doodling (of course!)...
love how it all came together.
those b&w photos are old ones but good ones.
i love 'em!
hubby loved 'em too and the whole sha-bang layout.

nice way to end the week & begin the weekend.

tomorrow hubby & i are heading to santa monica to spend the whole day together...
going for a run, lunch, run again (depends how far we run at first), & just hang out ...
me & my hubby only and only us.
no kids, no dog.
yey-yah!
so looking forward to it!

hope you all have a great weekend!
and those who have anniversaries...
happy anniversary!

thank u L.V.u

this weekend has been a good one and fast one.
me, selene & maiya pretty much were home bodies saturday.
it was actually a lazy saturday for me.
load of laundry, clean a little, very little.
got to scrap and blog surf.
maiya did some organizing in her room and bathroom.
she got rid of a lot of stuff from her bathroom drawers.
stuff that was just sitting in there.
so happy she did and i know she was too.

last night we pretty much watched a marathon of "my so-called life" on the sundance channel.
that show didn't last long but i have to say it was pretty good.
and maiya kept saying last night, "i love this show."
i love it too.
so happy i found it while browsing friday night.

today i got to complete my week 6 of project life 2012.
i love that project.
it's nice being able to share it with maiya and hubby.
they love it too and always, "this is so cool."
yes it is.
thank you becky higgins for coming up with this fab-o-lous idea!
i will forever be doing it.

anyway, before i go and enjoy the rest of my "ME QT" here at starbucks...
gotta a wedding layout to share....
this one is a tribute to my hubby..
"thank you" 
....for sharing this life w/me,
...for being my husband,
...for being my best friend,
...for being loved by you.

i used the negative of a basic grey chipboard letters board for my title.

i didn't have enough letters for the whole title so i just improvised.

i'm gonna be using this technique on future layouts.

so cool.

i love how scrapbooking is so flexible.

lots of doodling, punching, stapling, popping up.
i used a therm o web pop up dots backing as part of matting my photo.
punched it with my new border punch, ek success swiss cheese.
actually got it from wal-mart.

the circle stamp border is from michael's from awhile back.
i love circles and so i had to get this one.
so happy it's getting into my layouts.

i love you hubby.

supplies:  cardstock: bazzill; patterned papers: 7gypsies, basic grey; stamp: Michael's; ink:  stampcraft; border punch:  ek success; punches:  ek success, fiskars; letters:  basic grey; pen, marker:  sharpie; white pen:  uniball signo; jewels:  prima; misc: staples

holiday galore & a scrapbook layout "love 12.26.2012"

photo-a-day sharing for the 11th thru the 27th...

12.11 on the shelf...

12.12 sweet...

a tall, skinny peppermint mocha for moi...

a holiday fave around this time of year...

12.13 tis the season...
our decor & a yumm-o salted caramel candle...

12.14 b&w...
nukin lunch...

12.15 something yum...
a simple lunch of pasta, marinara with melted mozzarella...

12.16 hands at work...
mixing the meat for lumpia (filipino egg rolls)...
made it for some of hubby's hungry staff...

12.17 comforting...
to be with my family...

12.18 it's cold outside....
this girl shivers about anything anyway, cold or hot...

12.19 light...
in the early a.m.

12.20 furry faces....
she's the only with the furriest in this house..

12.21 wrapped...
gifts too big for under the tree &...
too small because b/c selene will hide them other than under the tree...

12.22 warmth...
of a lil girl'z hugz to her doggie...

12.23 bokeh...
i did some of the lights of the xmas tree but it just did not look all that great...
so this will do...

12.24 twas the night...
before xmas and she slept so sweetly...
all night.

12.25 unwrapped...
her own gifts for the 1st time...

 
12.26 toy...
well toys...
for my 41st birthday: 2 types of tripods, 2 CDS, gift cards, and some zooming camera lens
now it's time to shop!

12.27 favorite thing....
scrapbooking a few layouts this past week...
this morning i made this one which i'll reveal...

....i guess right now...

i used an old cocoa daisy kit 'urban loft.'
lots of layering of scraps leftover  from another layout and card i did a long time ago.
ya gotta use da scrapz peepz!
glimmer misted silver the chipboard word & tucked behind one of the papers, added a couple of stickers on top & tied a ribbon.
did a 1-2-3 of placing my accents.
can you tell?
also signifies my 3 girls.
get it?

i love photobooth pix.
had to do 1 of the girlz especially  before maiya leaves for WA this saturday.
everytime we do 1 i have to make sure my 2 girls get a copy and of course i get one too.
then i do my traditional scrapping of it with a title "love ##.##.###" with the date it was taken.
i haven't done a page for one in so long.
this one is definitely down as one of my favez.

aaaaahhhhh....

as i type this we are baking chocolate almond cookies.
the girls and the hubz are playing one their tablets or phone.
my 21 month old is creating chaos with all the tupperware.
before that we played a couple of games including words for friends.
it's been fun and so nice to spend time together.
i love them so much.

what are you doing at this very moment?

hope you're having fun.