Phoenix on the horizon

Tomorrow we leave for Phoenix, tomorrow we leave for Phoenix! Whitney's wedding is on Sunday and we are hip-hopping out of town for it Friday evening. But hey, get this. So of course, last Thursday I go to pick Carter up from preschool, and his teacher starts talking to me about his "big Spring Show coming up on Friday, the 24th." Whaaaaaat? What Spring Show? 

There was no notice for his preschool's big, annual singing show! Literally! Not one ounce of warning. I asked her if she really meant that this humongous preschool play was happening in 8 days, on the day where we were supposed to be leaving for Phoenix at 10:00 am. "Oh yes, if you guys can't make it, have the grandmas come!" What the heck?! I was so perturbed that we had no clue this was happening. That was the second time where the timing of an event hadn't been communicated to me. The first time was for the Thanksgiving feast. Y'all, I had NO idea that there was a Thanksgiving party back in November, so I go to pick up my wonderful child and what do I find? Every kids' parents packed to the max inside his little classroom! EVERY. KIDS'. PARENT. (Except for one other child's mom and dad because they hadn't gotten the memo either.) I felt SO bad that not only had I straight up missed this party, but that Carter was only 3 weeks into school there at that point! I almost cried just thinking of him being by himself at that party! Once I found Carter in the (jam packed) classroom, he was chipper as can be, so it definitely was harder on me than it was on him, but man! It's the principle of the damn thing!

Anyway, Chad and I decided that we are definitely going to go to his Spring Show, even if that means we won't get to Phoenix until very late at night. We're hoping to hop on a flight thanks to Daddy-o's hook ups or if by some chance the rates drop dramatically (come onnnnnnn, airlines! Doesn't anyone want to give away a couple of seats to the ole' Cisneros's??). We'll see! Either way, I'm very happy we didn't make the decision to have the grandparents fill in for us there, even though I know they would bring more than enough energy to make up for mom and dad skipping out. Carter is so pumped about the whole event, so no matter how late and by whichever means we get to Phoenix, it will be worth it. Love that dude! 

Here's what we were up to this last week :)

 ^^^Playing in the sprinklers for the first time sounded like a good idea until a breeze passed through 30 seconds later.

 ^^^We had our first garage sale! See all that crap? It was in our garage. Until last Saturday, we had one of those garages I've always loathed: a small space for one vehicle and then heaps and heaps of stuff surrounding it. Let me tell ya something about 7 am garage sale shoppers: they be cray, but I'm happy for their insane ways because everything is now gone!!!

 ^^^Lovah and I at Cailyn's third birthday party.

 ^^^Have you ever seen a sweeter thing in all your life? These two girls dance away every Monday evening. Go Kota and Stella!

 ^^^Carter had the last practice of his first roller hockey session last night. Look at that dude! He did so great. They had a little scrimmage at the final practice, and it was so darling watching him actually skate after a puck within a real, huge rink!

^^^Everyone in the damn world tells me to cut this child's hair, but look at it! It's so long! Yes, this is during a rare moment where it's actually brushed and looking pretty fab, whereas most times it's a wild, tangly mess, but hey! You can't argue with those locks! (And with those badass eyebrows. I'm just happy the kids got Chad's brows. Thanks for the contribution, lovah man!)

Life in pics

I could just squeeze everyone's little faces off! 

February - current :)

The hockey zone

I've got to say, there is nothing more exhilarating than seeing one of your babes super lit up about something. This little child's love of hockey has completely transformed our family life! A few months ago I was worried about how much television we watched (and that wasn't the first time I worried over the matter). Now I can't get either one of them to sit on the couch for more than 2 minutes - it's a freaking amazing "problem" to have! Carter would WAY rather skate on the roller blades we got him after his (very successful) first day of roller hockey. Skating around indoors is way more fun than watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. And what's more fun than that? Roller blading outside while shooting pucks into his hockey goal with Dad. And what's more fun than that? Telling mom how sweaty he is because he's been "working so hard!" And even more fun than that (and freaking hilarious to watch)? Hanging out with Wild Wing screaming at the TV with Dad when the Ducks were down 2 to 1.

Dakota, his little shadow, also has decided that "cheerleading" for big brother is way more desirable an activity than watching Sofia the First. Seriously, the increase in activity over here has been out of this world. You know what I've noticed because of it? Both kids are talkative animals. They can talk talk talk talk talk talk talk. Totally not complaining. I'll listen to them all day long! With their "addiction" (I guess you could say?) to the TV in the past (totally my fault. Loungey mom = loungey kids), they were very tame little children - well Carter was, at least. Now there's just so much going on! Long conversations, jokes, stories, hyena laughter, tackling, playing, running at turbo speeds both indoors and outdoors, dying to get in the car to head to ice, roller hockey or dance. That's ALL DAY EVERDAY! When the four of us are together, we're always a lively bunch, but all of those things are happening when it's just the kids and I AND when Chad's here. I just love it!

Another thing that has changed is the amount of snacks these two have been asking for versus a few months ago. They seriously were emotional eaters, they were. Bored? Food. Mom's yelling at us? Food. Watching TV? Food. Can't play with the couch cushions to build a fort? Food. The only time they weren't hungry was when they were excited about something because they were distracted - their minds weren't "in park." Now it seems that they're excited about several things all the time so they only stop to think about food if I say, "Okay guys, it's getting late - time for lunch!" And this is all because Carter fell in love with a sport!

Okay and last thing on the hockey front at the moment. When he started skate school, he was using the rented skates from the facility. After we noticed how much he began to love skating and all things hockey, we went to go get him some legit skates "like the Ducks," as he put it. Bummer - he hated them. But after a few weeks of skate school and working very hard, he's better on those bad boys than ever. I'm just so proud of his work ethic here! That's part of the reason I'm so enamored with this obsession. He really did go from the bottom to (totally biased moment here) "the top," all by focusing and not quitting. The confidence from that conquered hurdle alone was enough for me to turn into a glowing mamacita, but the fact that he is having a blast really just pushes the whole thing over the top.

Active kids = happy mom.

**And really quick - that PVC pipe thing he's holding there in roller hockey? They gave that to all the kids who's first day it was skating. He literally was on there for 5 minutes then they bumped him up to run drills with "the big boys." I was like a shining sun of motherly pride at that first practice! He seriously did so, so good, but more importantly, was totally alive and into everything his coach was saying. Watching his face through that little caged in helmet spoke volumes. GOOOOOO CISNEROS CHILDREN!!!

Selfies run rampant

They shall be recorded! The full extent must be up on here because it's just so fun to look back. Got to love the old iPhone for catching these moments - and I do mean "old" iPhone. Chad surprised me with the 6 on Wednesday! (6s? Is that what it's called? Bleh, technology.) So now my old phone with all of it's slowness is no'mo. Wooo! Okay, here goes:

 ^^^Dakota found this picture of my ladies and I at our senior prom! (RANCH! Hahaha go MV!) Okay and really quick. See that crown? My hair dresser who placed it upon my head put it smack dab in the middle, but I didn't think it was centered. So I asked her to move it just slightly. Well, she was right the first time and because of my "suggestion," it's a bit cockeyed in every pic from that night. Haha! Got to love it!

 ^^^Kota and I spending time in the greenest room on the planet with Carter's underwear on. Her, not me.

 ^^^Gosh, I love her instinctual love of make up and all things beauty!

 ^^^I don't know why the heck I took a picture of this old Instagram pic, but I do remember feeling fly taking the kids to Southcoast all by myself in the stroller we all loved. And look at Carter! What a baby he was!

 ^^^Love this picture, but man, that beanie was not a good call. It looks decent in this picture, but it was totally annoying the whole day. Too hot, sliding off, kids grabbing it, ugh. Oak Glen shall not see it again. 

 ^^^T Day cookin' with my man reppin' his Movember pride!

 ^^^My sister and I were literally the classiest people on the planet around 19 and 20, especially when she would come to visit me in Fullerton. Chad ushering beers in our direction really DID help the Paplia Classy Cause.

 ^^^Whittier and I setting up Liz's bridal shower!!! I was very distracted by the beautiful home we were in. Whitney definitely did all of the heavy lifting while I just floated around admiring.

 ^^^This night was so much fun it was ridiculous. Hahaha! Oh, the Novini's annual ugly sweater party!

 ^^^Christmas Eve 2014! 

 ^^^The night I lost my marbles and put the kids down to bed at 6:40 because I thought it was 7:40. The funny thing was Chad totally knew it was 6:40 but just rolled with it. After I realized what had happened he said, "Oh yeah, you didn't know it was 6:40?"

 ^^^Admiring a very unedited picture from our wedding day. :)

 ^^^Bebe girl who looks way too old to me right here. I remember I was trying to cut out my dark-as-night hair in this picture. Hahaha! Sheesh.

 ^^^When Carter first started at his new school, we BOTH were inconvenienced by how much homework he received. We would even fight about it! I mean, come on, he's 5 and we were fighting about homework. But anyway, on this night I decided to pretend like we were playing school so he would just get the gosh darn work done. He absolutely loved it, making this night our first enjoyable HW experience ever! It's been better ever since. (And we are all in love with his choice of green for his "field wall." It shall be a football field soon!)

 ^^^Tackling Carter because he was making some wild joke that he wanted me to get away from him. Ha. HA! No such luck, my son! Not until your wedding day!!!

 ^^^Attitude.

 ^^^Reunited with my chicks at Whit's bachelorette weekend in San Diego!!!!!! Gosh I love them.

 ^^^Same weekend with Lizzy Poo and her babe-a-liciousness. I mean really. 

 ^^^The best!

 ^^^Our farewell breakfast before they headed back to Phoenix and I hit the 15.

 ^^^She's getting married in 9 days!

 ^^^Liz's bachelorette party in Nashville!!!! I'm so grateful that Chad made the call on this one. He secretly got my flight tickets to push me out the door and gifted them on Christmas morning. I love that guy. 

 ^^^Attractive days on the couch.

 ^^^I was soooooo tired here. All I wanted to do was to toast in the sun, but neither child wanted to go outside. What was up with those two? Anyway, after a full afternoon of me trying to convince them to go ride bikes or something outdoors, I just went by myself and set up a chair westward. It was very nice.

 ^^^Babes on the way to Liz's rehearsal dinner.

 ^^^Maids and the bride gettin' on ready!

 ^^^Carter taking selfies of us at the dance studio!

 ^^^Kota had just applied lip gloss to the two of us so we had to take a picture while watching Carter's roller hockey practice. Also, come on with those crows feet. I mean. WOW. I'm going to blame it on the lighting...

 ^^^At my parents' clubhouse pool! This is the day where I realized Carter can full on swim. Deep end, shallow end, across the pool, to the bottom. It didn't matter, he was swimming on his own with no assistance from any floatie device. It was one of the best days at the pool we've ever had - Carter and Tessa off on their own. Strap a few floaties onto Kota and I, my friend, was set for the day!

 ^^^GAME OF THRONES IN THE BEST SHIRT OF ALL TIME!

 ^^^More selfies at the studio.

^^^Carter caught this moment of my friend Nicole and I chatting it up while our girls danced away. I just loved this because it reminded me of what my mom and all of the other dance moms did while we danced for hours on end in the studio or during competition weekends. Like holy cow. Honest to goodness, talk about realizing a dream of daughter raisin'. But really, she may not even grow up to like dance! It's just a privilege to get to watch this portion of her life and all of the different avenues we will go down in pursuit of her passion (Carter's too!).