I was going through my flickr account and realized I never shared Glow’s 1st birthday party! For her party, we had a pie party contest. Guests were invited to bring a pie (not everyone did) and that there would be a cash prize for the winner. Guests also knew that  there were secret judges who would be tasting the pies, so that made it a little bit more exciting. Everyone was bugging each other to find out who the secret judges were!

Thankfully I’ve got my mom to enlist for help (she is quite the cooking queen), and she cooked some BBQ, so BBQ and pie made for a good combination that Sunday afternoon. I was so excited about the turn out. I wasn’t sure if anyone would bring pie, but we ended up having 10 different pies, which was more than enough to feed everyone! I made a special little one to be Glow’s “birthday cake” and hers was made from whole wheat crust, apples, and no sugar. It was much healthier than the others.

After we sang “Happy Birthday” to Glow, I put together a tasting plate for the judges (there were two). No one had any clue who they were and it took a bit of cleverness to sneak them away from the party without arousing suspicion. After both judges had had a taste of all the pies, we gathered everyone together to reveal the winner and the judges. Drumroll please… the winner of the contest was the Blueberry Chiffon pie made by my friend Liz (and she was the lucky one who won 25 buckaroos!). And the secret judges were… True and Brave!

Everyone laughed once they found out who the judges were, and True and Brave did a good job keeping the surprise. When we were upstairs and I was having them taste the various pies they were saying, “Oh mom, everyone keeps bugging us and asking us if we’re the judges.”

We had so much pie left over that I was begging people to take some home because if they had left it, I’d be the one who would be eating the leftovers all morning, noon, and night. I have very little self control around dessert. It was a fun way to celebrate Glow’s birthday and I think everyone there would agree all the pies were insanely delicious. Also, having a pie party made my job a lot easier because I didn’t have to worry about baking any dessert (thank you to all our friends who made my life easier that day! You know I love you guys!). Call me a lazy party planner if you wish, but I think all the full tummies (and happy chatter) is proof enough that everyone had a good time! Now, I have a couple more months until I have to plan Glow’s 2nd birthday… I’m thinking something centered around bananas because those are her ultimate fave!

Here’s a little video my friend Ashley made of Glow’s happy day (thanks ashley!)…

It was a simple day that matched our simple guy. I asked him the night before what he wanted for breakfast, since we traditionally make him a massive vegetable omelet, but he said all he wanted was his oatmeal. I had him tell me how to make it, he’s very particular about how it’s made, and I made it just as he instructed. 1 cup of oatmeal, about a cup and a half of milk, two handfuls of berries, 1 full scoop of protein, and 23 almond pieces. Yes, exactly 23. The girls put their little notes on the tray and we sang the “Happy Father’s Day” song (birthday song with the words substituted) and he had his oatmeal in bed.

The most special part is that the girls had wrapped up some gifts for him earlier in the week. I had no clue what they were. They mostly gifted him things that were already his, like our workout DVDs, a new pair of boxers he bought, a pair of his socks, though True did graciously give him one of her pens. The most special part about it was their wrapping, especially True’s! She wrote a bible verse on it (see here) and we were so amazed by it. We asked her, “Where did you get this?” She said, “In my bible. I opened it and read it, then wrote it down.” Seriously, that sweet heart of hers was the best little gift. I totally remember them coloring and drawing during the week, and her Bible was right next to her on the floor, so now it makes sense why it was there!

Ben’s one wish for Father’s Day was that the Spurs win game 5, and boy did they deliver! Game 5 was won with such good team basketball! Ginobili was Ginobili, Green was raining 3’s again, Parker is just awesome, and Duncan is Duncan. We love our Spurs!!! We were hootin’ and hollerin’, and we were all so excited! And we were all decked out in our Spurs gear, so I think Ben had a pretty darn good Father’s Day!

I love that man of mine and I’m so blessed by how he loves, serves, and leads our family!

Dear Spurs, 
ONE MORE GAME!!! 
Love, the Bratchers

You know how I was raving about the weekend starting off great? Well, it didn’t go as great as it started, but we had no choice but to roll with it. Ben and I decided to celebrate June 8, which marks the 11 year anniversary of Ben asking me to be his girlfriend, by taking the girls to the same restaurant he took me to 11 years ago…

It all started kind of bumpy because as we were going there, my stomach started hurting, and then really hurting some more. I turned to Ben and said, “I think I have to go bathroom.” I must confess, I have public bathroom phobia and if I have to go #2, I’d rather drive all the way back home to do my business. I considered asking Ben to drive me home and just forget about going to the beach, but we had reservations, and the girls were excited about the beach, so Ben said he would find me a nice hotel to do my business. I reluctantly agreed. Now, not only was I nervous about the business I had to do (in a public bathroom!), but I was wearing a 1 piece bathing suit under my shorts and top, so it would take a little bit more work than normal to get to my business. Oy! I turned to him and said, “People go #2 in public bathrooms all the time right?” He said, “Duh. Don’t think about it.” I was pretty much wincing from pain the whole drive until he found me that nice hotel (and I was getting scared I wasn’t going to make it!). Thankfully, it was really nice (and pretty dead), so I went in and did my business (oh that bathroom smelled strong of wonderful air freshener and it made this mama’s heart and mind happy) and I totally waited to come out of my stall when no one else was in the bathroom. I got back in the car, my stomach ache was gone, and I was ready for a yummy breakfast buffet.

We get to breakfast, my tummy starts hurting again. Ugh. I was so frustrated. I just wanted eat waffles and sausage to my heart’s content, but my tummy was preventing that. I ate slowly and tried not to think about it and prayed hard for it to go away. I was able to eat a decent amount, but then something happened that took the focus away from my stomach…

True and Brave were pretty much done eating, but they wanted some breakfast muffins, so I took them to get some. Brave’s was obviously blueberry and we assumed True’s was the same, because well, if it had nuts, wouldn’t it be labeled considering it is a food that a lot of people are highly allergic to? That’s where the restaurant failed and True took a bite and said, “Mommy, there’s nuts in here.” I grab it, sure enough there is. Ben runs out and goes to the nearest pharmacy to get her benedryl, I’m trying to get her to eat and drink to see if it will help lessen the itchiness, but nothing’s really helping. Ben gets back with the medicine, by this time she says her throat hurts, she takes the medicine, but then she starts crying saying it’s hurting more, so we go ahead and make the call to 911 from the restaurant. They come, check True, administer more medicine, and then they whisk Ben and her away. The restaurant takes care of the bill for us, which I’m glad they did because that was not smart for a food establishment to have unlabeled muffins with nuts, and the rest of the girls and I head over to the hospital. Thankfully, everything turns out fine and they administer True a few more medications, but after a little bit of observation, she’s released. Oh, we’re so thankful for health insurance and that True was okay! And my stomach ache never came back after that ordeal!

We go to get her more prescriptions, which included 2 epipens, and they tell us it’s going to take 20 minutes. It ends up taking an hour! Four kids cooped up for an hour, by this time starving for lunch, we were all pretty cranky. We get back on the road to go home, grab quick lunch on the road (yup, fast food!), and at about 4 in the afternoon we were finally home again. We had planned to be home by noon!

Later that evening, we have the girls ready for bed and they’re having their quiet reading time and Soulie comes downstairs to show us her ouchy on her hand. Ben and I both look at it and are I like, “WTH?!” She had clusters of blisters on her hand and her body!  Ben takes her to urgent care, doc says it’s a viral infection, sends them home with cream, and oh me oh my what a June 8th!

So much for our plans for a romantic evening to relax together and maybe get romantic. We were both spent and we just wanted to go to bed.

Then, Sunday night ends with the Spurs getting killed by the Heat in game 2, so there went that. And this morning we wake up and Soul’s blisters have spread, so we take her in to see the pediatrician and it turns out our big baby has shingles! We’re glad we have an answer to what she has, but so sad that she has to go through this, and nervous and praying the other kids don’t get it. What a busy weekend indeed!

11 years ago we became boyfriend girlfriend and 11 years later we’re still crazy about each other, but we just got a whole lot more crazy going on in our lives than just both being the 2 college students we once were. This weekend was filled with tummy aches (business in a public bathroom), ambulance rides, viral infections, and the Spurs losing, but hey! Ben and I love each other a whole lot, so it’s still all good. God is good! I’m glad I get to do all this craziness with him. I’m just hoping that next weekend will be a little bit more low key.

So, how was your weekend?

With True’s 7th birthday request of an ocean/mermaid/swimming theme, we decided a visit to the Long Beach Aquarium was necessary. After her breakfast in bed, we all got dressed to head out for the adventure. Of course, True wore her special birthday dress and “mermaid” shoes on her birthday excursion. She had no clue where we were going until we got there. The kids were so excited to explore and admire all of the various sea creatures. Seriously, there were so many wonderful things to see and True was loving every bit of it.

They got to touch a baby shark, a starfish, see lots of different jellyfish, and we even found Nemo! It’s a decent size aquarium and it was most definitely engaging for the kids. Their favorite might have been touching the starfish that they requested to go back one last time to touch them before we took off.  My favorite were all the different jellyfish. They are just absolutely captivating to watch.

We headed back home before traffic got really bad, and we were going to take True to have a special birthday dinner, but all she wanted was salmon burgers that we already had at home. Thus, we just went straight home and salmon burgers is what she got! I did have a special cake waiting for her, so she got her birthday song and a chance to make her birthday wish. One of her other birthday requests was a ocean/mermaid/swimming themed party with her friends, but since her birthday was on a Friday, she had to wait until Sunday to fulfill that part of her birthday wish. There will be another post for that later, but I have to wait until my brother-in-law sends over the pictures.

Just looking at these pictures make my heart swell. I can’t believe my biggest girl is 7! That went by so fast!

I requested pumpkin pancakes for breakfast with cinnamon whipped cream, and Ben and the girls delivered exactly that. It was so good! I love pumpkin pancakes! They are my favorite kind. The girls all came in singing the Happy Mother’s Day song (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday) and came bearing gifts along with my breakfast. The gifts were 3 homemade cards and one package, which contained a hat (which was already mine), a spool of thread, two markers, and nail polish. All of them were my things that somehow magically disappeared a couple days before Sunday, only to reappear again in my present Sunday morning. Nevertheless, I was so excited to open up my present from True and made a big ooh and ahh about wanting all those things! I remember doing the same things with gifts for my parents and siblings when I was younger. I would totally wrap up things that were already theirs and gift it back to them. True must have gotten that from me.

If you’re looking at the pictures of me in the morning and thinking I totally got camera ready, yes, I did. Not for the camera though, but because Sunday mornings are tight with having to get dressed (and the four girls ready) to get out of the house and get to church on time, that I had already gotten up and started getting ready for church while I was waiting for my breakfast in bed. When they were ready, I hopped back in bed. After I ate, all I had to do was change out of my pajamas and we pretty much took off for church soon after that.

The rest of the day was perfectly simple and low key. We gathered with church family, then we met my family for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, where we pretty much stuffed our bellies. We made it home around 5, served the girls dinner, then had them in bed by 7 for their quiet (reading) time, and then Ben and I were relaxing in our room with sushi, frozen yogurt, and a movie by 8. I told Ben not to plan anything and I didn’t want anything. We’ve been working on house projects, so spending our money towards things for the house was a good enough present for me. I was just so happy to have a simple, stress-free day with my sweet family, so this Mama’s Day was exactly what this mama needed. As crazy as I get sometimes, I’m so thankful that these girls are mine and that I get to love, teach, and grow with them, even if there are a lot of bumps (sometimes it feels like major turbulence) on the road while doing so.

p.s. this was my favorite picture of the day. #stilllovethempolaroids

on me: top, modcloth (last year). shorts and belt, thrifted. shoes, madewell. on true: dress, c/o homespun vintage (brave wore the same one last week). on brave: dress, vintage. on soul: top, misha lulu. dress, c/o homespun vintage. on glow: dress, vintage. all their sandals are salt-water sandals.

Here she is, my biggest girl, the head honcho of the sisters (though #3 often tries to take the job away), and she is finally getting her 7th birthday breakfast in bed. We’ve been doing this tradition since she was one, but it started in my family when my parents were doing this for us since I was a kid. Our biggest gal is quite the creative gal. She’s always reading, drawing, and crafting. Every day she wants a new project to do. It’s always, “Mommy, can we make something today?” True has been planning this birthday of hers since August and she had lots of very specific requests, so we started off the day with her first one… the dolphin shaped pancakes (made by Ben!).

When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, besides her request for a party (and all the specifics to go in it), she said, “Anything swimming, ocean, or mermaid.” Then she followed that up with, “You can just make me something mommy!” So make is what I did.

I ended up making her a mermaid doll and had Ben drill a hole in a little seashell the girls collected, and sewed that onto her head. She came out looking pretty sweet and quirky. I just knew True would love her. Then, we were going to get her another bathing suit, but then I came across these turquoise glittery sandals (for $10!) at the store, which seemed mermaid-ish, so I got that for her as well (we ended up not giving her a bathing suit).

With everything I had made, I was kind of thinking she needed a special birthday dress because having a special birthday dress is a must, right?! This was totally a last minute idea. I remembered I had this Heather Ross fabric from her “Mermaids” line that I have been holding onto for at least 3 years, so I took that out and went off into dress making. I kind of mimicked this dress I made for myself long ago, and thankfully it all came out fantastic on my first try. Good thing, because I wouldn’t have had anymore fabric had I messed up. We gave her all her gifts during breakfast and she was quite happy and thankful for all of it. We also gave her her first real Bible now that she is such an avid reader. It’s sweet because she’s been reading bits of it at night with Ben.