The year is half over and this is my second post...

 Tino did his first mountain bike race with his big brother Nix. Nix raced his 3rd mountain bike race 6-8 year olds. He came in 1st his last 2 races! and Tino finished strong!

 They love to climb and explore... I need to keep them hiking!

 Sunday family walk to the water tower on Father's Day!

 Nix graduated first grade and we all wore our tye dye shirts to celebrate.

 Nix was in a class play and against all odds, daddy was there to see it!  There were only a few chosen to play their flutes for all the songs of the play and Nix was chosen, I want to get him a flute to play at home because they are left at school and recycled after 2nd grade.

 Tino had a birthday! #5

Corbs thinks he can swim, Tino can swim now, and Nix doesn't remember not knowing how to swim! They love swimming with daddy, he is so fun, they can't understand how mommy is a faster swimmer than daddy.  He could probably kick my trash right now, but once this baby comes... I hope my body goes back into the correct places.  I am so achy and weak this time around, as long as she is healthy!  9 months pregnant and can't wait to see this little girl!  I've been doing what I need to every day hoping she comes sooner than later.  I'd like her to have her own month, but sharing with Corbs will be cool.  OH! and New news on the home front, Corbs is potty trained.  Nix's last day of school he pooped in his diaper and I said, "That is the last diaper you will poop in, we need to save the diapers for the baby."  And he said, "O Tay!"  He went 11 days without an accident.  He had his first accident today, but cousins were over and he was having too much fun playing so we won't count it.  :) 

They are all big sweet hearts!  I love my 4 boys so much!  And this little girl, she will probably love them all too!  Can't wait to meet her!

Editing

I just went through all my blog posts and found about 8 that had never been published. I'm awesome! I had forgotten about them. I was going to write more or add more pictures or do something, but now I don't even know what I was going to do, so I went through them and clicked, publish, publish, publish.... etc. I'm sure if you went through them you wouldn't even know which ones they were.

Happy Birthday Sophi! Hope you're having a fun camping trip without us! It would have been funner with us, you know it! Brett just posted our camping trip from El Morro on youtube, he has a lot of videos to come, bbergener17 is his youtube ID.

I had a glass bottle break for the first time today. It shattered, and I cut my thumb cleaning it up. I was with Nix's school too. A little embarrassing.

Lego cake

Very fun! Not as hard as it looks. Here is how I did it:

I baked store bought cake mix. Half a box per 8x4" loaf pans. Cooled them completely, cut the top of the cakes off to make them flat. Wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer to firm the cakes. I made marshmallow fondant from this website. The knobs on top are large marshmallows cut in half. I colored the fondant, rolled it and placed it on top and helped it form around the bumps and edges. I educated myself online about how fondant works cuz this was my first time making it and working with it. It was a good experience and I was happy with how they turned out. Thank you Emily and internet! I think I will use fondant with all the cakes I make.

The Boiling Crab, Garden Grove

Happy Birthday Mony! We went to the Boiling Crab to help celebrate Mony's birthday coming up!

This place is awesome! Your waitress will bring a bag of food to your table, hot, in a pail. Place the bag on your table, no plates, no utensils, only a roll of paper towels on your wax paper lined table. The menu is simple, all sorts of shell fish, corn, sausage, etc... you can get some things fried, but the best way is to mix it all up in a mild to super hot sauce with the whole shabang seasoning. Nix ate his first raw oyster today and mommy couldn't even join him with the baby in the belly. But when I asked him what it tasted like he said salty water. He is officially in the raw oyster club, and he didn't want to smile in the picture cuz Bear Grylls doesn't smile when he eats stuff from the sea.

We had a great time!

31

Happy Birthday Daddy! We had such a fun day celebrating Brett's birthday. Here is our run down. We all woke up with daddy before he left for work and ate sticky buns for breakfast. Then around 10am we headed to pick up some balloons and brought them to Brett at work, I left and brought back some In-n-Out for lunch, then after work, he met us at the bowling alley. We took the boys bowling for the first time, it was so fun! Nix beat my score! We had a lot of fun, ate nachos, then went home for some Pero Cream Puffs that I sweat and bled over all afternoon. But it was worth every drop of blood! They turned out so so good. Then I played my annual game of Modern Warfare with Brett. We love you Daddy!!!

My Birthday Present

Brett and I have been married for 8 1/2 years and this year his present to me topped them all. At least it was the gift I needed more than anything else, and it was a complete surprise. A friend of mine is an esthetician and she is very good at what she does. Brett called her up and gave me an hour facial for my birthday. I have had a few facials in my life and this was the most amazing facial that I've ever had! My face looks different! My skin feels different and I am so happy about it! I would recommend her to everyone I know, when you are here... take the time to see Natalie! I also enjoyed a few hours of solitary relaxation, that I never get being the mother of 2 wonderful, energetic boys! Thank you Brett!

30!

I'm 30 now, the best age of all times!! The only picture of me is on my dad's phone. So if he sends that over I'll have a picture to share of my 30th B-day. So the most exciting present was that my friend Lucero's baby girl was born on my birthday. My dad came to visit, went on a hike with us and took us out to PF Chang's for dinner and Brett gave me the gift of an hour facial with my friend Natalie. I had a lot of birthday wishes come my way and now I'm 30! What could be better? My cousin Amanda asked me if I have accomplished everything I wanted before I turned 30 and I feel like I did a pretty good job of that. Sometimes we can't have everything we want. I have a few goals now that I want to reach before I'm 40.

Cupcakes

I think cupcakes make my kids so happy that it hurts them! These smiles look painful. Hahah!

Happy Birthday Nix!

My big boy, sleeping after a fun and full birthday. He had so much fun celebrating his birthday. And we had fun celebrating with him. We started Saturday night letting him push a little shopping cart around the store, and letting him pick out all the things he wanted. He picked out some apple juice, and cereal for his Birthday Breakfast (fruit loops and lucky charms). He put some plain m&ms, cake mixes, cake decorating frosting, green scissors, watermelon gum, a little watermelon, and curious George fruit snacks. He also wanted a Happy Birthday balloon. On Sunday my sisters came over with their kids. We went to the pool, bar-b-qued chicken, ate tacos, salad, and watermelon. Then we sang happy birthday to AJ and Nix, ate cake and ice-cream, swam some more, then went home to give Tino a nap, and my sisters and their families went home. We headed over the Disneyland to pick up Nix's fun card, and he picked out the airplanes and sun glasses that he's sleeping with. We had a profile picture done of Nix and Tino. We had a nice day with our family. After D-land we went home and Nix finished his birthday watching the Dr. Suess Cartoon Grinch movie.

Happy Birthday Tino

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Tino. We had a Fiesta for his birthday, friends and family came out for a Bar-B-Q by the pool. The kids swam, and we ate the most delicious Salmon and Carne Asada tacos, cookies, flan, and tres leches cake. He is so big, but he still seems like a baby to me. His tricks are pretty cute, he can give high 5s, kisses, say and wave bye-bye. He talks to me very matter-of-factly, he blows into straws, a harmonica, and a recorder. When I say "dangerous" he mimics the sound of the word slightly... he crys and shakes his head with frustration when he doesn't get his way. He is so funny, he always puts a smile on my face, even when I shouldn't be happy about what he is doing, like ripping my recipe book apart or sucking on my cell phone. Happy #1 Tino!

We had a fun morning with daddy, and a fun day at the beach before the party. I was so happy to have my family here to help watch my boys this day!

Happy Birthday Sophi

Rich, Sophi, L, and R went to California Adventure & Disneyland with us on Friday... we have never seen Disneyland this crowded before! It was nuts. But if you want to see the fireworks you have to be there on a Friday or Saturday night.

We look like we went on the new Toy Story Ride, but all we did was put on some cool glasses for a picture. No, actually we were in line for a long time until it broke down. So we at least were able to take our picture with cool glasses.

Bugs World is always fun. We feel so tiny. Nix and L were soaked when they were done with the water hose. When we tried to go to the Muppet show, it was so cold that we couldn't stay, they were shivering. So we left and let them warm up in the sun.

Happy Birthday from Grandma & Grandpa

Presents sent to Nix by mail.

Daddy helped him open them up. Running shoes, race cars, and

"Something Smells" Sponge Bob episode with the Sponge Bob to go with it.

Ro wants to help!

He was a little scared of the Sponge Bob with his funny eye brows, nose and mustache... but now he loves it. Now he thinks he is so funny and connects him to the episode.

"Tino"

His first moments of life here on earth. My little "Bruise Face" (his first name). 8 lbs 2 oz 20 inches long. 14 inch head. He was perfect, absolutely perfect. Don't read on if you don't want too much information. The doctor said the bruising to his face was from the fast decent. I think it could have been from him holding his head inside me while my body was pushing him out, who knows? I was just grateful that he was here and healthy. The umbilical cord was wrapped around him 3 times. Once around his neck and over both shoulders and one side and one leg if I remember correctly. It was crisscrossed over his chest. The doctor was amazed that it was so long and that he made it out. One of his shoulders was stuck on my pelvic bone during the decent so the baby nurse hopped up on the bed and pushed on my pelvis to release his shoulder and he popped right out.

My three favorite men on earth (so far I hope).

Grammy came to say "hello". She was watching Nixon so she missed the birth, but I was so glad that she could be with Nixon for me.

Mommy and Daddy fell in love at first sight. Sweet little Bruise Face, well by now we may have named him Rossi.

"The Birthing Team" Brett was expected to help, and I appreciated every minute of it, in my worst hour. But Amy was amazing. She survived by death grip and everything else thrown at her. Brett said "Next time we aren't going to go to the hospital until you start throwing up." Maybe the hospital environment makes me want to throw up. Who knows, but this wasn't an easy labor. Luckily by the time I wanted the epidural I only had 20 more minutes of the worst, most intense pressure of all times. It is soooo worth it! Just look at that precious boy from heaven. So no epidural. I started pushing again before I was fully dilated. Maybe the body knows more than the nurses, have you ever thought of that? They sure make me nervous when they tell me that I had better stop pushing and relax or I am going to tear my cervix. What nerve to say that to a laboring woman, don't they know I'm in a lot of pain? The last think I want someone to do is stress me out, which results in tension, which makes it harder to relax. HELLO?!?!

Yes, it is true! We had an ocean view. It was pretty cool. But the baby view was much sweeter, that and the back of my eyelids.

I packed a book to read to Nixon in my hospital bag. I wanted to give him a little bit of mommy love since I was away from him for a few days. I am so grateful I brought the book, cuz some nights in the hospital I had horrible dreams of Nixon getting hurt, but he was safe and sound when I returned home. I love Nixon!

Uncle James and Aunt Amy holding their brand new nephew

Nixon loving on Rossi, such an awesome big brother.