50 Years of Ernesto

Mi Neto turned 50 years old the other day!!! Whaaaaaa???? 

I knew I had to put something special together.  Because 50.

He had an idea to go to Spain for a European JuJitsu tournament and I was 100% on board with that idea.

But unfortunately childcare is hard to come by these days. 😂😂

He decided to join a tournament in Atlanta, which surprise, surprise, he won GOLD!  

 

I am so proud of him.   He is dedicated. He practices jujitsu 5 days a week and has for the last 4 years. He is also a competition junkie and has flown all over the country to bust out his skillz in tournaments. 

All but once, he walks out with the gold metal. 👏👏👏

 

Ernesto doesn't need much in the way of gifts, but we did wrap up some Chaco flip flops and a new family game called NINE, that we have yet to break out.  Its a golf card game and I've heard it is fun.  Here the kids are opening his presents.  Yes, we are still in that phase.

I had the idea of a "50 years of Ernesto" video, and knew that would be the best gift I could give.  It was so fun to put together. 

I started with baby pictures.  A lot of them Ernesto's mom sent me.  I continued on with young boy to teenage to young man to college to marriage to father to jujitsu champion.   All of these baby pics didn't make it into the video (which is posted at the bottom of this page) but they are too cute not to share. 

sadgfa

I requested that people in Ernesto's life (past and present) send me a little video clip with a message for him and they started pouring in...he has a lot of people that love him.  

I dropped all of the video clips into iMovie with all the pictures. 

It turned out so awesome....if I do say so myself! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Cinco de Mayo fell on a Thursday.  Ernesto actually had a lighting job that day.  He also didn't want any kind of party as he was competing 2 days later. He was actually watching everything that he ate/drank to make sure his weight was in check.  I knew that I had a great present with the video, but I was unsure what to do for him that day with all his restrictions.

Our friends Virginia and Rodney came over for Tostadas and cupcakes.  That is when I played the finished video.  Of course he loved it! 

Please enjoy below!

Happy Birthday mi amorrrrrrrrr!  You look sooooooooo good at 50! I love you mucho!

Paloma is THREE!!!

OMG PALOMA! You are so beautiful I can hardly stand it!!!

The morning surprise is a tradition. Decorations and presents waiting on the table. 

This little girl is easy to please...headbands and hand sanitizer "hanitizer" haha

Her hermanos crowded in sat close by just in case she needed help unwrapping.  

They were not impressed by her gifts, but the Peppa Pig jammies and coloring books  made the birthday girl super excited!

Paloma has been climbing out of her crib for months.  It wasn't really a problem though.  Not once did she fall out.  #expertclimber   BUT! We thought it was a good time for a "big girl bed"
 

And why not make it a surprise for her birthday?  I kept envisioning a "while you were out" scenario.  We would switch out the beds while she was at school and she would walk in and see the bed and new bedding and say her infamous line "what the heck?"

We had mentioned a big girl bed before and she liked this idea in theory, but she was not excited AT ALL when she saw it the first time. 

The next day when a guy came to our house pick up the crib (I sold in on FB mkt) she CRIIIIIIED and cried...."don't get rid of my crib mami.  I might need it when I get smaller"  waaaaaaaaaa

Besides her surprise "big girl bed" she scored this PINK balance bike.  And if you are wondering... yes, everything must be pink!

She wasn't this excited at first.  She eventually stopped crying and was excited to get outside and try out her new bike, but the emotions of the new bed spilled over into the driveway.
Upon mounting the new bike, a wave of emotion came over her.

Yes, it was a video, but Im not going to let you watch it.  It's just too sad.

After the sad bit, there was a brief mad stage, (what for???) after which she was happily dancing and smiling.

It's hard turning three. 

For a couple months before her big day, we had been seeing the trailer for the Small Foot movie.  She would say every time "should we go see small foot on my birthday?"
Yes. Yes we should.  It was cute.

After the movie it was time for the long awaited PINK CAKE! "should I have a pink birthday cake?"
I whipped up my go to white cake recipe (with almond extract-so good!) and added a few drops of red food coloring and wa-la! A pink cake! 
Add some classic buttercream frosting and a certain PIG family and I arrived at exactly what this three year old wanted.

So. Happy.

As with all birthdays, the candle must be re-lit many times for the birthday boy/girl to
 actually be the first one to blow out the candle. 

We partied like it was her birthday.

My precious, lipstick wearing beauty!