It’s Officially SUMMER!

Well our first official day of summer started off a bit rough in the sleep department! Ella is usually a great sleeper…I can’t complain since she is sleeping from 7pm-4isham (most nights) then back to sleep until 6-6:30am. She’s in her room, in her crib and sleeps…WOW thought it would never happen since we had such trouble with Owen. But she’s been good to us!
OF COURSE last night the little booger was up at 12am…once I had her fed and almost asleep and back into bed she pooped…grrrrrrrrrrr. (pooping has been a bit of an issue for her lately so I was happy but ohhhh at midnight..really Ella!?!?) so by the time I changed her and got her back to sleep it was almost 1am…then she was up again at 4am….5:30am….7:20am….yes…I was tired. Thankfully Yosh took her downstairs with him for an hour and let me crawl back into bed! Way to start off the summer girlfriend!

We headed to our friends for a day by the pool and play. Was a beautiful day…

Even the babies had fun playing together…

These two little love birds are so cute…holding hands, speaking sweet nothings to one another…typical boyfriend/girlfriend stuff…haha ok just kidding they were yelling at eachother, slapping eachother in the face, slobbering everywhere…it was wonderful! haha so still the typical bf/gf stuff (minus the slapping in the face part)

Mommies even enjoyed a yummy Sangria…to kick start the summer! Yay.

Was a great afternoon…but like clockwork our girl started her fussy, unsettled self around 6:30 (we usually start bath and jammies around that time)…so she screamed most of the way home…but now thankfully fast asleep! But Summer has BEGUN…Thank goodness. We have lots of nothing to do this summer…looking forward to some projects around the house, relaxing and prepping for our visitors in July! Yay!

Another School Year Over!

Another school year has come to a close…

My graduation duty was a “line leader”…aka on the field facing the graduates and keeping an eye on them! Its an alright job…you get to see the kids graduate and enjoy the ceremony. Boy have times changed though…they got confetti machines, fireworks and awesome music played as they turned their tassels. I have no clue why but graduations make me emotional…just a change in all their lives!!
I feel like it was just yesterday that we were graduating…its crazy to think it was 13 years ago! HOT damn we are getting old!

Owen will have one more full year at daycare before becoming a kindergartener…how crazy is that! And even though he’s not technically IN school yet …I still make him take his first and last day of “school” picture (just like I did last year)! heehee.
                  August 2012                                                                   May 2013


I can’t believe how much this little man has grown up over this school year. When I look back at his picture from August he’s such a little dude…tan skin, sun-bleached blonde hair…He has matured so much. He is his own person now, with his own likes, dislikes, preferences for food, clothes, pj’s, shoes, shows, movies, toys, etc. I just hope and pray everyday that he’s growing up to be the amazing young man that I want him to be. I think that the foundation to that, is started at this young age…and hopefully we’re doing it “right”.

We love our Martha at “Martha’s Daycare”…and appreciate what she does for our family. Next year we’ll be keeping her busy 4 days a week…she’ll have BOTH Souza children!
This is Owen and Martha at the end of his first school year with her (in 2011) and the end of this year…

Now…I wish I could say its time to relax, sleep in, and do the typical summertime beach/pool fun stuff BUT we all know with a 4 month old, THAT’S not gonna happen…at least not as much as I’d like! haha But I’m still REALLY looking forward to an awesome summer…with our little family…awaiting our visitors from NY and Ireland in July!

Today our littlest monkey is 4 months old…next up we have shots next week hopefully the ok to start rice cereal and maybe baby food and maybe we’ll get this lady to start rolling over sometime soon?!? I don’t remember when all this stuff happens! But it doesn’t matter…since I’ll be home until August 7th…YAY!

Comparing Babies

Both my babies both around 4 months old…they are definitely not TOTAL look alikes anymore.

More to come soon…Having emotional moments as Ella gets older and I think back to when Owen was this age! Our lives took a turn that no one could have guessed…everything became a blur…thank God I took photos and wrote everything in Owens baby book because I can’t remember much! Which is sad. But as summer approaches, we get ready for Ella’s first river trip…all of these things bring me back to Owen’s babyhood. But…I’ll write more about that later.

Today I couldn’t help but look back at Owen’s baby pics…and see how DIFFERENT he looks to Ella.

Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Why is it so hard to get pictures of two kids…my lanta!

When I was a teenager I loved Memorial Day weekend because it was the kick off of our summer of lifeguarding. The city pools opened and it was time to make some money! I loved working in the summers…we had so much fun!!

In 1998 I started lifeguarding at the Jurupa Lagoon in Fontana. Barely 16 years old and given the freedom to work and save lives! haha Who would trust a bunch of teenagers to do what we did…oh dear! But I continued working there every summer until I was married in 2006!! Started as the rookie guard and moved up to assistant manager working alongside one of my bestest friends. The memories and friendships I made during those summers are ones that I’ll cherish forever!

Funny how time and age changes you though…now Memorial Day weekend is the kick off of SUMMER and NOT working! We do have 3 more days left of work this year but Memorial Day is the preview of what summer has to offer…BBQ’s, pool time, friends and relaxation. Oh I can’t freakin’ wait!!

We spent the day with the Cildermans, Gerkes and the Rowes at the Manley’s new casa…so nice!

Last Memorial Day we were sitting in the Cilderman’s spa…enjoying some down time after a crazy day BBQing…

We saw a stork fly overhead and Heather said “Oh Erin…maaaayybbbeeee your pregnant!!!” I laughed and secretly hoped it was true as I took another sip of wine!! THEN another stork flew over and Heather said “ohhhhh maybe its twwiinnnssss!!”

Funny thing is…YES I was pregnant (obviously I didn’t know!) and NO it wasn’t with twins…the other stork baby was in Heathers belly!! And she had NO IDEA!!!!! Heather and I both found out we were expecting a few shorts weeks after that picture was taken! Best surprises of our lives!
So THIS Memorial Day there was no wine and spa lounging for us ladies…our little peanuts were with us….amazing how life changes in a year!

Camp Mom*Tog

So many of you know that after this Vote for a scholarship opportunity to attend a photography and craft workshop I actually won! I was so darn excited to get a chance to actually learn how to use my camera from a professional! For some reason I get the impression that if you do photography as a career, you don’t like to help others use their cameras haha…that could cut into your business…but yesterday Drew from Mom*Tog and also her business blog, drewbphotography…sat down with 11 ladies and helped us figure out HOW to use our cameras to be awesome members of the Mama-Razzi! 

Drew asked that we #hashtag our prepping, travels, and activities that day on instagram…and you KNOW this girl did JUST that. Made it even more fun! haha Here are a few of my #campmomtog photos…

So funny…the amount of bags and shi*t that it takes to get away for litterally 8 hours! haha Had my purse, breastpump, cooler (for pumped milk), thank yous, favorite picture, and then some.  I got Heather and I some Miguels burritos for lunch and away we went to downtown Fullerton to Drew’s studio. Heather and I were both so nervous…I was telling Heather we should shotgun some wine before heading in…she laughed so I figured she wasn’t game. lol

I wasn’t sure what to expect…but when we walked in, it was so cool! Drew and Julie had really put a lot of thought and time into it all…

Everything was decked out in a Camping theme…took me a sec to realize…CAMP Mom*Tog…camping..duh!

So…we broke up into 2 groups…my group started with the crafts with Julie, from Joys Hope. As Drew said…”Julie’s like FAMOUS in the blogging/crafting world”. I read her blog, her back story…I cried and it was so awesome to get to meet her! Spending the afternoon crafting with her was pretty cool! Julie was so nice and patient…I’m totally not a great crafter but she helped me out!
We made light up letters….
I felt so cool…I got to use a power drill…We painted our letters, cut out the backs, measured spaces for holes, popped in lights, glue back on. Sounds simple right? It wasn’t! lol

Second craft was so cool. Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish mine there because I had some “Mommy Duties” (pumping) to attend to. Oh the joys of little babies. lol
But I finished it today when I had some time here at home!!

Another awesome opportunity to use a power tool…this time a nail gun. We got the wood together, picked out our family saying to trace, then painted them, we were to hang some twine and make a bunt banner but I didn’t get to that part.

We had a little break to enjoy some freakin’ YUMMY cupcakes and snacks. Then off into our photography session.  I was so excited to learn, but nervous I’d forget everything…so I was taking notes…like I was back in school (but actually paying attention this time!)

Drew had a great power point presentation, and gave us her AWESOME UnManual (can be purchased on her webpage)…this guide has everything she told us…so my notes really weren’t even needed! All the buttons and functions to help us take better pictures of our kids were laid out for us. She told us HER preferences, secrets, tips…just amazing! She taught us HOW to get the type of pictures she likes/takes and even helped us set up our cameras for a backbutton focus feature (LOVE it!). After all the info we got to utilize our new skills with some little models  (Julie’s daughters who were freakin’ adorable!) and in different situations…

Indoor lighting, with backlights…we were figuring out what our ISO, F-Stop, and Shutter Speeds should be at…

Then we headed outside…for different lighting situations and figuring out how to photograph a moving child! Our kids don’t just stand still for photos…so we were taught how to get good pictures even when they are moving…

Secret tip was to find good shade too…lol

As you can see I’m still learning…figuring out exactly what settings are best and how to get them! haha AND my new nifty ability…how to focus and recompose…I like that I know what that is! haha  I’ll be honest…I used to think the only way to lighten a picture was to up the ISO…yeah…WRONG. I would up the ISO to 6400 indoors and then wonder why when I printed the images they looked so grainy….Yeah…Thank you Drew for showing me that I was soooo wrong! You want LOW ISO indoors…just had to change my shutter speed and of course open a darn window for some nice lighting! lol

And on top of all the knowledge we gained…we also got some AWESOME stuff in our “swag bag”.

Super cute Camp MomTog tote, 3 adorable prints, a camera funny cover, a kids book, Click magazine, the UnManual, Rose fabric rings, Cute necklace, $25 coupon for Mpix, knited girls collar, Camp MomTog notepad Joby GorillaPod, apron…am I leaving anything out? yeah a lot of stuff right? So cool!

Drew and Julie were amazing. The workshop was a very fun day for all us moms to get away for a day…heck some ladies flew in from out of state to attend Camp Mom*Tog. Crazy right!?! 
Just wanted to Thank Heather…if she wouldn’t have nominated me, writing that very heartfelt blurb about my “story” I wouldn’t have had the chance to be apart of the day!! And Drew and Julie…Thank you for allowing me the opportunity…means so much!!

After the workshop we went to dinner together to ne able to actually TALK…and get to know eachother. Was a perfect way to end an amazing day!

Ps. I was practicing my new picture taking skills today too…