Weekend Photo Challenge: Something Different

5/25/13-5/27/13 Memorial Day Weekend was fun for us. We went to Washington D.C. with our youngest daughter. There was a National Conference for the professional organization I belong to so I attended those sessions in the mornings and in the afternoon, I got to spend time with my husband and daughter in this quaint, quiet and clean city.  We went to various museums: Museum of Natural History, Air and Space Museum, National Aquarium. We also went to the White House, National Mall,  Washington Monument, and Capitol Building. We watched the Memorial Day Parade and went to a restaurant in Georgetown. It was alot of fun and I got to take some great pics! Hope you enjoy! Please send me some pics of something different you did with your kids this past      weekend so I can include it in my guest section. Thanks!

National Aquarium

Beautiful Day, Beautiful City

Learning about some dangers to fish 

More Fun at the Aquarium

Memorial Day Parade

Lafayette Park 

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Guest Pictures

Santi's Day at the Zoo

Seeing all the different animals was alot of fun.

Weekend Photo Challenge: Fun, Fun, Fun

5/18/13 to 5/19/13: This is the first photo challenge of my series of 12 consecutive weekends (see previous blog post for details). Here is a short summary of how we tried to have fun this weekend.


On Saturday we went to a street fair in a nearby neighborhood that was supposed to have pony rides and face painting, but it ended up raining so most of the plans were ruined. My husband, I and our 3 girls tried to make the best out of it. We walked around in the drizzle, ate zeppole (in case you don't know what that is, its an Italian pastry consisting of fried dough and powdered sugar), enjoyed free Italian mango ices and received balloons from one of the local merchants. When the rain got heavier, we headed to the mall (its indoors). When we got there we had some coffee for hubby and I and some snacks for the kiddies. My oldest step-daughter and I played X-box Kinect Dance Central in front of a small mall audience. We danced to Gangnam Style-it was really fun! My husband told me afterwards, that the people in the mall were watching from the upper levels...how embarrassing!

  

So we thought the rain would stop for Sunday, but it didn't. We had invited the girls' aunt and cousin over for a BBQ but it looks like we will have to do it in the rain and make the best of it. 

Girls waiting for the rain to stop

Our guests arrived and we BBQed hamburgers and hot dogs and ate watermelon and the kids played with their toys and made the best of being stuck in the house. We had alot of fun!

Lots of little toes

 Playing with toys

Hubby at the grill, rain falling in the background

Guest Pictures:

Learning the joys of barefoot walking from her grandpa

Thanks Emma!

Cousins having fun!!

Jacob playing baseball!

Santi making a flower picture frame

Santi and Mom all dressed up for a confirmation

Washing the car on a lovely Saturday morning

Cupcakes are always a treat!

Cousins enjoying the pool!

Jacob having fun at Lake Wallenpaupauk

Family Photo Challenge

I love photography and I love to spend weekends doing something fun with the kids, so I decided to have a family fun photo challenge every weekend for the next 12 weekends. I will post my pictures each week.  The pics can include your kids or be sort of anonymous showing only the stuff you did. Send your pictures and a short description of the activity to me and I will post it on my blog with a link back to your blog if you'd like. The name of the topics are below. There is alot of overlap between the challenges but that's ok, just have fun with it! I will post the pictures every Sunday evening.

1. Fun, Fun, Fun. For weekend number 1 (May 18 and 19) the theme will be fun. Pictures of family fun time showing how you spent your weekend with your kids having fun.

2. Something Different. For the weekend of May 25, 26, 27 (which is a long weekend for most) I challenge myself and everyone reading to submit pictures of something you and your kids are doing that is usual or different or is something you don't normally do.

3. It's Summer Now. June 1 and 2. Now that's its officially summer, I challenge you to do something summery (is that a word??). Do something that shows it is summer: for example, pool, beach, water play. If it is raining be creative and try to make up an activity that can related to summer that you can do inside.

4. Something Relaxing. June 8 and 9. Take time for yourself and your family, do something relaxing (if that's even possible-I guess that's why its a challenge).

5. Daddy's Weekend. June 15 and 16. Its your weekend to celebrate Dad! Where did you go for Father's Day? How did you make Father's Day special?

6. Nature's Weekend. June 22 and 23. Take time this weekend to do something outdoors with your children. The Zoo, beach and botanical gardens are great choices. If that can be expensive, make some fun out of going out and finding flowers and animals that are native to your area and take some pictures of your kids enjoying themselves.

7. Patriotic Weekend. July 6 and 7. Its fourth of July weekend! Do something patriotic!! Be careful or course. Try to include the colors: red, white and blue.

8. Health and Fit Weekend. July 13 and 14. Do something fun with your kids and teach them a little about being healthy, this can be in the form of exercise or making healthy food choices. Make it fun!

9. Party Time. July 20 and 21. Even if you don't have a party to be part of for this weekend, the challenge is to do something party-like for your family. It can be a little party for just you and your kids or you can invite others and have lunch, BBQ or go to the park together. Try to make it fun.

10. Extended Friends and Family. July 27 and 28. Try to do something with your extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. or with friends that have children. The more the merrier.

11. Vintage Weekend. August 3 and 4. Black and white memories for this weekend. Try to make it look vintage!

12. Story Time. August 13 and 14. Pick 2 books to read with your child this weekend. Try to do something you saw in the book or simply show how you and your child (or children) enjoyed the book. Take a trip to the bookstore or library. Happy reading!

Send me your pictures and input! I am looking forward to see how creative the pictures will be. Have fun!

Send photos to: lliarpac at gmail

4 Nominations for Most Loving/Caring Moms in my Life

We are coming upon Mother's Day this Sunday and although it has become a commercialized holiday, it still means a great deal to me. It is a day where we can celebrate moms and let them know how much they mean to us. And so I would like to take this time to nominate the 4 most influential and "motherly" women in my life.

1. My Mother: My mother is one of the most selfless and caring women I have ever known. She has always been there for me. She has never turned her back on me no matter what. She is always ready to help and to give of herself. I made her a grandmother and this has helped take me back to how she was when I was little. She is always there for my daughter. She has never passed up the opportunity to spend time with her or myself. She is a wonderful caretaker who does all that she can for my daughter, sister and I. There are not enough words to describe all that she does but she definitely gets the best mom award. 
2. My Maternal Grandmother (My Nonna): My grandma was like my second mom growing up. My mother and father worked 9 to 5 jobs so it was my grandma who picked me up from school and sometimes also fed me dinner. She was also very kind and patient and I can't remember her ever yelling or getting upset with me. My fondest memories are our walks to and from school. She would hold my hand and talk through the sun, rain or snow. I remember her buying me ice cream almost every day from the ice cream truck (after I begged her). We would also go to the church and visit the "grotto". I miss her very much. She passed away unexpectedly on May 23, 2006. Even though she led a long and furfilling life and died in her 80s, I wish my daughter would have gotten the chance to meet her.
3. My Godmother (My Madrina): My Godmother (who is also my Aunt) is another caring and loving mom. She also  took care of me often when I was little because she lived downstairs from my grandmother. She took my cousin and I to the beach, park, pool etc when we were little. We probably drove her crazy in return but she never complained. She was always very affectionate and responsive to our needs. She still gives great hugs and kisses to this day. 
4. My Aunt (Father's Sister): Even though my Aunt lives in Italy and I have only seen her on about 6 different occasions, I still feel very close to her. She has always kept in contact through phone calls, email, facebook and skype. She is also a very loving woman who is very selfless and giving. She took care of my paternal grandparents until they died and she recently lost her husband to bladder cancer. She did everything for them in their times of need and never abondoned them even though their long illness took a toll on her. Her only daughter has given her 3 grandchildren who are the light of her life. I miss her and look forward to seeing her again soon.

My Mother, Grandmother, Godmother and Aunt have been the most influential women in my life. Their parenting has helped make me the mother I am today. My daughter is lucky because of how wonderful they were to me. I hope I can pass what I have learned to her.

Evolution of the Kid Birthday Party

Do you remember having a theme to your birthday party when you were a kid? Chances are if you are in your late twenties or older, you didn't have a theme besides a "Happy Birthday" one. And guess what? No character came and there wasn't any face-painting either. You were lucky if there was a pinata. Goodie bags were also a rarity.

Birthday parties for children these days is a carefully planned and elaborate display of a theme-related cake, decorations, plates, cups and activities. Party planning requires time, effort and usually money. The supplies are usually expensive. Cakes can range from a $30 to $300 and up depending on where it's bought and how detailed it is. The cost of renting a room or location can also cost you.

If I try to think back to my birthday parties, the only theme I remember is Raggedy Ann when I was 5 and that meant that only the cake was Raggedy Ann. I think it was an ice cream cake from Carvel.  I only remember because there was a picture. There was no Raggedy Ann cups, plates, or decorations and she did not come to your party! When I think about it, I was pretty lucky to have that cake because it wasn't the norm to have that for a party.

Then there were birthday parties at McDonalds. My ninth birthday was held there. Another example of the themed parties of the 1970s and 1980s. Having your party there was a coveted one. After all, where else could you eat french fries out of a Happy Meal and eat a cake that had edible sugary balloons? You got to wear Ronald McDonald or Grimace around your head and you got to color in a placemat of The Hamburglar or Mayor McCheese. (What ever happened to those guys anyway?)

My daughter's 2nd birthday was a Yo Gabba Gabba party. We had it at home because the guest list was small and because I couldn't come up with a place that would be appropriate for her age and for a cold winter day (January). Nevertheless, it was a great party. The cake was made by a good friend of mine (GG Cakes) and it looked and tasted fantastic! Foofa came to the party and boy was my daughter happy. If fact, after 30 minutes or so when it was time for her to leave, she cried and cried.

I look forward to planning more extravagant parties as she gets older (nothing TOO extravagant of course). It goes to show how things have changed from the 1970s and 80s. Even though we did without the elaborate parties, planning them for our children seems like second nature. Maybe its a fad like texting, iphones and viral videos....maybe it will be different in 30 or 40 years. Who knows? For now, I know I will enjoy planning them.

Have you planned any cool themed birthday parties for your children?  Please leave a comment and let me know. I would love to post some pictures of cakes and characters!

Vito's 4th Birthday at McDonalds 1980

Pilar's 1st Birthday 1981

Pilar's 7th Birthday 1987

Nataly's 5th Birthday 1995

 Carlos' 4th Birthday 1999

Santiago's 2nd Birthday 2010 (Backyardigan theme)

Santiago's 3rd Birthday 2011 (Spiderman theme)

Savannah's 1st Birthday 2012 (Cupcake theme)

Hailey's Sweet Celebration!

Happy Birthday Jacob!