Brianna is Home!!!

While Brianna was busy exploring the East Coast, we decided to have a little surprise waiting for her when she got back home! She very much deserves one considering how much this kid helps out around here. And, since daddy & mommy can't afford a New England cruise anytime soon, something more affordable and budget friendly will have to do! For awhile now she's been bugging me to change her old bright pepto bismol pink walls to a new soothing aqua-ish colored hue. So, out with the old, and in with the new! We had daddy waiting in the room for her with the lights off so he could snap away when she walked in. Elizabeth lured her into the room and Brianna turned on the lights. Boy, was she surprised!!!

See my dorky face in the background, I think I was more excited than anyone in the room! Here she is checking out her new Pottery Barn inspired Flokati rug. Pottery Barn $99.00, Walmart $19.99!

It definitely looks much more grown up. After painting it, I was so happy with the color that I didn't want to leave the room. I told Miguel that I want this room and Brianna can have mine.

Daddy and I worked on a few projects of our own to add to the room to kinda personalize it. Since Brianna is very much into photography lately we thought we'd put together something where she could display her photos.

Here's dad's project. It's a tiled wall board. Again, we were inspired by Pottery Barn's $299.00 one. Daddy made his own for $45.

This one is the Pottery Barn one- I like ours better!

This was my project for her. It's an iron scroll purchased at Pier 1 Imports. It was originally a bronze color and I spray painted it white to match the room. We are using mini clothespins to display her favorite pics!

And a pre-teen room isn't complete without a large self-portrait! So I enlarged one that we recently had taken by my good friend, Angel.

http://www.angelgphotography.com/ Needless to say, she was very excited. During the reveal she kept saying, "I can't believe this is my room!"

It's Coming...

Do you all know what tomorrow is????

Well if you know the Mejia family, you'd know that was a silly question!

Here's us around this time last year.

Tomorrow, is the 1st of October! In the month of October, BIG things happen over here!!! In fact, Daddy has even take the day off tomorrow to start getting the yard ready for the big day! Daddy's Halloween decoration collection has grown some over the past few years and it now takes several days to finish everything. He has been busy building a few new things to add to the collection as well. We don't usually do the inside of the house because the outside, by far, is scary enough. But, this year I've decided to do at least a few things inside, just not as freaky as daddy's showcase. Stay tuned, I'll be posting pics of our progress. Megan, just got her costume last night. Can you guess what she's going to be??? Here's a clue...

Kinda hard to tell when there's an annoying big brother right behind her! There, that's much better!

Must Watch Video

I haven't blogged much lately, not much to say. Brianna is still with her Nana and Pap and is due home tomorrow. We all miss her so much. Elizabeth, Emily, Matthew, and Megan have been counting the days til their sissy comes home bearing gifts for them. Mom and dad have been working on a special little surprise for Bri. And Ben is stretching mama's tummy out by the day, making it very hard to sleep at night, 6 more weeks to go! Here's a video that I came across and wanted to share... turn up the volume... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxQTU0YCQdE&feature=related

Brianna's New England Adventure

Brianna left early this morning to accompany her Nana & Papa on a 10 day long New England Adventure. She's keeping a journal of her daily sightings, if you want to follow along click on the link below: http://mytripjournal.com/Brianna This is her first time on an airplane and she'll be flying for about five hours! Next, they'll hang out in Boston for a few days, that's where Nana grew up. After that, they'll board a cruise ship and travel up the New England Coast. She'll just love it if you leave her a message on her website. Thanks for checking it out!

Emily's Hawaiian Luau and Matthew's Pirate Invasion

Sept. is Emily's bday month (6 yrs old) and Oct. is Matthew's (4 yrs). To make things easier we just celebrated them together in a small little gathering. I made the girls some matching Hawaiian outfits and daddy bbq'd. The kids swam and enjoyed Emily's luau decorations and Matthew got to have his pirate party he so badly wanted. And you'll never guess who made a special appearance, see for yourself...

Is that Jack Sparrow? No, that's just daddy pretending to be Cpt. Jack!

Wait a minute! There's Jack Sparrow!

*Special thanks to Nana and Papa for our gift and to Uncle Mikey for his connections!

8!

8 months along now. 8 more weeks to go. Definitely not getting 8 hours of sleep and could very easily enjoy an 8 hour day at the spa! Went to the fair yesterday, and 8 everything in sight!

Just went to the doctor today and was told that baby Ben is approximately 4 lbs now. Everything is running smoothly aside from the occasional back pain. Here's what the pros say about week 32:

How your baby's growing:By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth. To accommodate you and your baby's growing needs, your blood volume has increased 40 to 50 percent since you got pregnant. With your uterus pushing up near your diaphragm and crowding your stomach, the consequences may be shortness of breath and heartburn. To help relieve your discomfort, try sleeping propped up with pillows and eating smaller meals more often.

This post was meant for last week. I haven't had the time to post it, so I actually have 7 weeks left now!

Happy 6th Birthday Emily!

Emily turned 6 last week. ~EMILY'S BIRTHDAY POEM~ It's your birthday beautiful child make a wish let your dreams run wild! We thank God, He blessed us with you a girlie girl in all you do. Big brown eyes and wavy brown hair little things to you are such a big fare. Fashion and makeup are what you like you always ask to ride your bike. Your first tooth you recently lost 20 bucks, the toothfairy it cost. You brushed the tooth til it was clean how happy it made you could surely be seen. In such a hurry to grow up big please slow down, child cuz I'm enjoying this gig!

After dinner, we took her and the other kiddos out for a special treat- a BJ's Pazookie! Here's Emily proudly showing off her age!

And here's what the pazookie looked like before we got our hands on it!

Big Sur Camping Trip

So, we're home now. It's been about 2 wks. I just recently caught up with the mountain of laundry we created and daddy just put the last of the camping gear away yesterday. This is the part of camping that I dislike! But, when I see pictures like these, (be prepared, there's alot) I'm reminded that it's worth all the trouble!

FYI- the pictures are out of order starting with the last day. I wasn't going to spend extra time trying to rearrange them!


On our 3rd full day, we hiked to Pfeiffer Falls. Even me, 7 months prego! These are pictures of us cooling off in the water once we got to the top.

Almost to the top!

Everything about this picture says- BOY!!!

Just the beginning of the hike!

On the second day, we drove up to Monterey and did some sightseeing! Here's the historical Bixby bridge!

And the infamous Lone Cypress!

Daddy and Emily looking for sea lions! I love Monterey and the 17 mile drive! I wish I could afford to retire there someday.

I caught a beautiful sunset on the way back to the campsite!

And here's the pic that reminds me of the song..."On the road again..."

Momma and Bri on the 17 mile drive!

I love this one of Elizabeth. A genuine smile!

Cannery Row- We went to Fisherman's Wharf and did a glass bottom boat ride.

The sun peeking through the redwood trees at our campground. We stayed at the Big Sur Campgrounds and Cabins where the Big Sur river runs through the campground.

Sarah- introducing Shane to her kind of camping!

Joseph burning...errrr, I mean cooking, dinner.

Shane getting used to Sarah's kind of camping!

This was only about 2 hours into camping- the day we arrived! I could hardly keep this kid's face clean let alone the rest of her. Megan discovered that she had a crush on Sarah's boyfriend. She couldn't keep away from him. It was too cute! Watch out, Sarah. You've got some major competition!

Vivian loved the Big Sur River!

Playing in the water! It was cool and refreshing! Daddy and the guys went intertubing down the river a few days later.

Doesn't it make you want to go camping?!