What's New

It has been quite a while since I have posted here. I have been checking all of your blogs though. I love reading about all the fun things you guys do. Life is meant to be enjoyed and at the same time, life happens and we learn to deal with it. The past couple of months have really just been a whirlwind. So much going on. Some good some bad. Since Cabo I will, do my best to update on various things that have happened around here: March was birthday month. So many birthdays in the family. Kingston turned the big 5! The kid had a crazy growth spurt too. We chart his height on the wall in the office and within one month, he grew almost 2 inches. The kid is already so tall. At this rate he will pass me in a year. I don't yet know his growth percentile but I will find out next week. I know to some people the whole percentile stuff is silly but I love to keep track of it. He has always amazed me with his growth since I am only 5'4". Kenna is pretty tall too though so they are getting it from somewhere. His birthday was a star wars themed birthday. I made the cake which was pretty amateur but he absolutely loved it. He and I stayed up until midnight constructing it together. All of his little friends came over and we had papa johns pizza, rainbow cupcakes, and chocolate cake. Chez and I went all out this year and got Kingston his first bike with training wheels, a train table set that fits nicely in the living room, and everything star wars from bedding to pillows and toys. At the end of March, the kids and I went on our biannual trip to Seattle to visit the Craig family (my family). We stayed for 10 days and had a really great time. The weather was mostly dreary but lately I have been making these trips to Seattle really fun. We did something fun everyday. One day we went to this cool place for kids inside the Supermall where they have those bouncy castles. We went there with Kingston and Kennas little cousins. They are all the same age which is really nice. Anotehr day we went to the pacific science center which was the coolest place ever! I loved that day. We also went to the Childrens museum in Seattle which also was pretty amazing. I will for sure be visisting these places again. I took my niece to the Hunger Games movie. She is 12 and had requested to see it. I have never read those book and I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. I was completely shocked and flabbergasted by this movie. I couldn't get it out of my head for days. Oddly enough, I think I actually like it. It was for sure disturbing but I am anxious to see what the next movie will be like. Coming home from Seattle back to the Vegas warmth was so nice. After a while, the rain kinda gets to ya. April so far has been crazy but mostly good. Unfortunately a few days ago our kitty came up missing and I am pretty confident this neighbor did something to him. A lot of evidence to support it and I am deeply saddened. Luckily my kids understand that when people an danimals die, their spirits go to heaven and they become angels that watch over us. I am still really upset about him being gone though. He was our family member who will be greatly missed. This month we decided we needed to take advantage of the amazing vegas spring before hot summer comes. All of us got brand new bikes to ride. I am a little rusty at rididng and I have a super sore bum already but I will get it down (hopefully). I also got the kids a red wagon that has a roof for Easter. I have developed a problem in my back that causes severe pain so I have had to discontinue my kickboxing. I have unfortunately gained about 3 pounds (silly I know) but I like to feel in shape. The wagon so far has been a great workout for me and easy on my back. Pulling the kids around the neighborhood in it has been so great. We love it. Easter was really fun for us. I did a big easter egg hunt for the kids. Tradition when I was a kid was finding the eggs that were filled with knickels, dimes, and quarters. This is the third year in a row where I have done the same for my kids. Both kids have piggy banks and Kingston will actually be able to open his own savings account here very shortly. He/we have been saving for him in his piggy since he was born. The kids also got these cool huge Mickey and Minnie easter baskets filled with books, movies, candy, and a couple small toys including kites. We were able to fly the kites just a couple of days ago and it was a blast. Kenna is like a little pro. It was so cute watching her with her princess kite flying high in the sky. We also had a short visit from our family in town from London. It was very brief but enough to get a good visit in. Coming up we have a trip to the beach and disneyland, house hunting (our landlord is short selling this house), building my catering business more and more (lots of new recipes and baking), and seeing a specialist for my back (I have a bulging disk and curve or dent in my spine beyween my shoulder blades). Cute new things the kids have done: Kenna- she is a little princess. She only wears princess dresses and costumes. She is the sweetest little angel in the entire world and I cannot imagine my life without her. She recently decided to let me start curling her hair in little shirley temple curls. She sits still the entire time which usually takes a good 20 minutes. Just yesterday at swimming lessons kenna learned to back float/swim all by herself. She swam all the way to the wall. These private swimming lessons have most definitely paid off. Kingstin has an acting teacher who was a performer on the Disney Wiggles show. Kenna has taking a major liking to her. She is the sweetest lady in the world. She loves kenna so much. I have decided that her and I need to have playdates because we have we have so much in common. She has started a new class called Princess Dance and Kenna will definitely be in it. She keeps asking, "can we go to my pwincess cwass?" So cute. Love that little angel. Kingston- He is learning so much. I cannot believe he starts kindergarten this year. He has learned how to count to easily 1,000, and also learning to read small words. He loves all of his little preschool classes and other activity classes. He has a big heart and a big imagination. He is so smart and will definitely teach me a lot in life. He and I have recently taken up a hobby. We are slowly building a garden. We have so far, sunflowers, watermelon, and pumpkins. A few days ago we planted flowers, corn, carrots, and tomatoes. I love that he is into this. My mom had a huge garden when I was young and I would love to have somewhat of a garden.He and Kenna are so different but they each bring such a light into our home. He is my little buddy and we have a good bond.

Cabo

What can I say? A week of relaxation. I don't have much time at all to update these days so this will be as quick as possible:

Day 1: Arrive to San Jose Del Cabo and shuttle to the Fiesta Americana. Head to the beach and hang with our friends. A little "alone time", and then beach side dinner hosted by the wonderful employees of the resort and paid for by Wyndham. Early night to SLEEP!

Day 2: Boys golf day and girls talk, laugh, and sit by the pool day. Boys met up with us around 4:30 and then we all went to get ready for "dine around Cabo" where the company divides the guests by alphabetical order and we go to various restaurants in the town. So, we went with the other people in our alphabetical order to a very classy restaurant. The food was perfect. A succulent fish for me with a side of jasmine rice and a pear and yam soup and a fillet of beef for chez with creamy mashed potatoes. Then back to the resort and into bed we went.

Day 3: I forgot to mention, every morning I went to the gym and worked out on the elliptical trainer. What a workout! This day we headed to downtown Cabo on the beach. This is more of a party area. We had fun. Rode wave runners, ate, sunbathed, shopped, and took a glass bottom boat out to the famous rock formations. Once late afternoon came, we went back to the resort, changed into our formal attire, and headed to the awards ceremony. Amazingly delish food. A cheese and ceviche ravioli starter followed by a spinach and pear salad, then a fantastic and tender filet minon and lobster tail with mashed potatoes, and to finish it off, a chocolate and raspberry mousse. After the awards, we headed off to bed.

Day 4: Beach day. We hung out at the beach, walked the beach gathering shells and found a few spots where there were a ton of black crabs. That was cool. We really just relaxed this day then headed to a Valentine's dinner that was ocean side. We were going to go to downtown cabo with everyon else this night but I stepped on glass and had a "minor" surgery right in front of the food buffet and plus Chez was exhausted so we headed to bed.

Day 5: Deep sea fishing day for my husband and our friends. I declined this trip beacause the last time we went, I was very sick. Luckily I missed out on this one because out of the 11 people on the boat, only 4 did not throw up. Instead, I hung out by the beach, slept in, worked out, and did absolutely NOTHING. That was nice. That night we did a beach dinner hosted by RCI which was good and then of course as goes every last night of Presidents Club, there were amazing fireworks over the ocean. Then to bed we went

Day 6: going home day. We started out with a brunch hosted by Wydham, then we hung out at the beach with our friends until we had to head for the airport. We bought all of our souveniers at the airport and away we went. Couldnt wait to see my babies. The reunion was magical.

Now we are home and getting back into our routine until our next mini vaca to not only but yes, Disneyland. Just so everyone knows, my husband works from 7 am to 6-7 pm 5 days a week so these vacations are needed. And of course, he has to practice what he preaches! I am so not complaining. We have Kingston's 5th birthday coming up in a few weeks as well as mine and Chez's 6 year marriage anniversary. March is always a crazy busy month for vacations, birthdays, and anniversary.

Disney Will Never Get Old

Surprising the kids with Disneyland never gets old. This time I went and bought these super cute Disney suitcases for the kids. We are taking them Monday but this time they will have no idea. Somehow these suitcases are going to surprise them but I haven't yet figured out how. Maybe a scavenger hunt while we are driving there and then have Chez hurry and place the suitcases somehwere on one of our stops for the kids to find. That will really get them guessing but they won't know for sure until we pull up to the condo. I don't know ill think of something. I am super excited though. Disney never ever gets old to us and the weather should be in the high 70's. Good fun. After this trip we will be dropping the kids off with grandparents and heading to cabo san Lucas. Our one trip a year without the kids and a glorious one at that. I love that my husbands company has presidents club. Always something to look forward to. Anyway, I will post about how the Disney surprise went and what we decided to do.

Christmas and New Years

It has been a month since I have updated the blog about the family. December is always a fun month with holiday parties, vacations, and fun Christmas activities. We had a great month. This was our first Christmas as a family of 4 by ourselves without being at one or the other's parents house or in Cancun. I was excited to start some traditions. On Christmas eve we had our closest friends come over to eat and play games. I had a big buffet display of yummy finger foods. After they left, we opened our Christmas Eve pj's and headed to bed anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival. The next morning, I was the first to wake up (at 8:30 am). Kenna then woke up at 9 am and we waiting almost an hour and a half for the boys to wake. Finally around 11, we opened presents. The kids got everything they wanted and they had a blast. Funny story: when we were at Disneyland, Santa was there. He asked Kingston what he wanted for Christmas and Kingston just froze (kinda like that scene on A Christmas Story where Ralphie froze when sitting on Santa's lap and could only muster out that he wanted a football but what he really wanted was a red rifle bebe gun). So finally Kingston said, "a car". That is definitly not what he wanted. So santa repled, "what about a bouncy castle". Whoa whoa what! I told Kingston Santa was just joking because there was no way he could fit one on his sleigh. Well, a few days before Chrismtas I was at Target and saw a bouncy castle on clearance for only $99! I hadn't even been looking for one. So on Christmas morning it was a great surprise for the kids when they saw the bouncy castle. Boy if I hadn't seen that castle, Santa would have been in trouble. Not even sure what made that Santa think it would be appropriate to suggest such a lavish item. Anyway, Santa really delivered for me. I had been wanting hair extensions for a while. Between hair color and having babies, my hair is sad these days. These extensions I got made my hair look long and healthy again. I am so happy about them.

On New Years we laid low. I actually took the kids to Target on New Years eve evening. With all the new toys I was going crazy with trying to keep organized. Therefore, I decided to buy a really nice organizing shelf to put in the playroom. I spent that evening putting it together and I felt SO much better to have the plaroom organized again. That night the kids did sparklers and pop its. Kenna went to bed early but the rest of us stayed up. We opened the window and had the Vegas fireworks display going on the tv while we heard them from the window. We all kissed and had flutes of sparkling cider and then went to bed. We are now looking forward to Disneyland in a couple of weeks and then dropping the kids off with grandparents and heading on a romantic week in cabo during valentines day. It is Presidents club through work so we are getting spoiled. Putting us all up in a 5 star resort and treating us like royalty the whole week. I cannot wait! I hope you all had a great holiday

New Poll

I added a poll to my Julie's Sweet Bites blog: http://​juliessweetbites.blogspot.com/. Vote and I will be doing another random giveaway at the end of the voting session on December 8th for a dozen cookies of the flavor with the most votes. So go vote :). It would be fun to see which one gets the most votes

New Facebook Page

I have also created a facebook page to display my goodies. You can look up Julie'e Sweet Bites and "like" it to get updates on my newest creations and I'll even have fun little contests and prizes here and there to make it interesting.

the address

I forgot to post the address. Its: juliessweetbites.blogspot.com