{Samantha's 3rd Birthday Party}

Samantha's birthday this year was so fun. She knew exactly what kind of party she wanted to have and was super excited the days leading up to it. Samantha adores Hello Kitty and has always loved pizza. Last year at summer camp, William and his class did a pizza tour at Steve B's. I remember him telling me how much fun they had. I called the place and was delighted when they told me that they can do pizza tours as well for birthdays.

Here's my adorable 3 year old enjoying her big day!

Little chefs all lined up and ready for the pizza tour. The super cute aprons were purchased from this Etsy Store!

Chefs in action.

Guest enjoyed the arcade games at the restaurant too.

Birthday girl (and big brother) loved her birthday cake!

We are so blessed to be surrounded by such loving family and friends.

Samantha enjoyed her party and love all her presents!

Easter 2013

A beautiful day to celebrate the Lord with family. Funny story, I am trying my best to teach our kids the real meaning of holidays. Easter bunny and egg hunting is fun but I wanted the kids to know what Easter is about.  So Good Friday, I told William is the day that the Lord died...he freaked out and said, "what, Jesus died?" Oh my, I think I just traumatized my child! So much for trying to be all serious and righteous on holidays.

We attended our morning church service with my sister. Much easier to explain that the Lord is risen!

After mass, we started making our way south to meet family for brunch and more egg hunting. We made it just in time for the Country club's annual egg hunt. They had a small crowd of egg hunters and there were more than enough eggs for everybody.

We enjoyed brunch and it was great spending time with family. My nieces and nephew are growing up way to fast. My kids absolutely adore them.

Easter basket goodies from Grandmommy and Granddaddy are always a favorite of the kids. William got his giant Skylanders and Samantha got a sassy cat Webkins. How appropriate for her! :)

{Easter Egg Hunt 2013}

We met up with friends for breakfast and then headed to our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt. It's been raining in Atlanta and was so happy that we got some sunshine during the egg hunt.

These kids are growing up way too fast.

My expert egg hunters.

The boys were happy to take pictures with the Easter bunny.

This is the only picture of Samantha "with" the Easter bunny :)

William also got his face painted with a bunny.

Kids checking out their loot. As you can see William is already enjoying his candy!

The church's Boy Scout built this fun area around the church ground. The kids had so much fun playing in there. These slides were perfect for that steep hill. The kids had fun sliding over and over and over.

These cutie pies are so adorable. I am so glad that Teeball brought all of us together. We adore the J family. Sad that they moved up in the suburb, but so glad that we are still able to get together.

Then at night the Easter bunny came by the house to give the kids their goodies.

{St. Patrick's Day Weekend}

It was a great weekend to celebrate one of our favorite holiday with friends and family.

My family was in town this weekend and we enjoyed it. Savoring every moment we can spend with my brother Nestor. He is Baltimore bound and we couldn't be happier for all the bright opportunities that await him. We had a fun Saturday lunch at our favorite Dim Sum place in town.

My kids got lots of Lola loving this weekend. Samantha especially think that my Mom is hilarious!

We had superb weather this weekend and William convinced me that it is popsicle season.

St. Patrick's day, Ed ran the Publix half and put in some great time. 1:46 for my super speedy husband. We are all so proud of him!!!

Of course, my lil ones had to be all decked out in green in this super fun day.

We've been extremely busy this past few days and had to work quickly on William's leprechaun trap. Hopefully, mr. leprechaun will still be enticed by the pot of gold.

{Valentines 2013}

It's been a busy month for us, but it was nice to take a break, focus on our family and celebrate love.

From top R-to bottom: (1) Valentines cards for grandparents (2)Our lil valentines enjoying their gifts from Mom and Dad (3)William didn't care for all the Pinterest projects and just really wanted to give his friends FunDip (4) Samantha loves her Bouncy ball Valentines gift to her friends.

I love that Ed and I made the time to go out on a lunch date. It was nice to just talk and spend some one on one time. Also, love that we got to check out the newest hip restaurant in Atlanta-The Optimist. The food was divine! You can tell that they used the freshest ingredients. I can't revive enough how much we enjoyed our lobster roll and chocolate mouse. We both agree, one of the most delicious food that we've had.

The kids had a great day at school and loved their Valentines party. We all were exhausted and enjoyed a quiet night in at home. The boys made us heart shape pizza for dinner. Yummy!

{Spanish}

The cutest Senorita learning here Spanish.

 

{Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15K}

This past weekend,  I ran the first Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15K/5K. Holy hills! I was hesitant to run this one because I haven't been training much. It hurt indeed but I finish! 9.3 miles of hilly torture :) Fortunately, I was rewarded with this chocolate goodness at the end of the race.

Atlanta is indeed one hilly town. Check out the elavation on this course.

{Welcome 2013}

Lots of blessings for us in 2012. Goals were achieved and we had so much fun. Thankful for good health, jobs, friends and family.

The Lenz family invited us to their family New Year's festivity. It was fun to welcome 2013 with good people. Of course to bring in good fortune, I set out 8 round fruits at New Year's Eve.

We are looking forward to 2013. Big goals in line this year for the Cullers.

• House. Get the Loft sold and move to a house. I never talked much about this in the blog. We've had a lot challenges on moving out of our loft. Ed and I are conservative people, and the thought of jumping into two mortgages was never appealing to us. We are so comfortable at our loft that there never really was a big push for us to move. Plus,you can't beat our 15 mins commute to work. Financial plans are now laid out for 2013, and we are hopeful that this year is the year for us to go forward with the move. We've attempted several years ago to move out, but it seems like God had other plans for us. You hear a lot of people say, that it was in God's plan for them to move. I get that. I hope that this year, we are in his schedule coz our hearts are getting weary:) In the grand scheme of things,the new house is not the most important thing in the world. Sure, would be nice though as it would make the path to goal below clearer :) LOL.

• School accommodation for the kids. One other driver for our move is that William is starting kindergarten at the big elementary. We are zoned at a school district that didn't scored to well. Luckily, just a couple of miles from us, is a great neighborhood zoned at a fabulous district. We are hoping to send William to that school. Other option is to send him to a private Catholic school around our area. We are fortunate to have options, but we've got some work to do. This also means that we would need to move Samantha to a different daycare. We love the kid's daycare now, but it is just out of the way, and is adding commute time. Very hopeful, that it all works out. 

• Fitness. We've done well last year, and very thankful for an injury free year. Ed and I will continue with our running routine. I have a signed up for a 15K in January. Ed signed up for the publix half in March. My fitness challenge this year, is to do more strength training/core exercises. My plan is to do it twice a week. This mean, Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be spent with Jillian Michael. Running will still be my main cardio. Mon-3 mile, Wed -4 mile, Fri-4 mile. Sat-break. Sunday-long runs.  I will begin with this after my 15K mid January. Looking forward to putting a check mark on this goal at the end of 2013. It was really rewarding to succeed in my fitness goal last year.

• Listen more. Listen to my husband (which he would love), listen to God, listen to my kids, listen to friends and family. I genuinely want to understand my friends and family. This will be my way of showing to them, that I appreciate them.

Any since these goals are all out in blog, it means that they will be completed right? LOL. Hope everybody is having a great year!

{Pink Pig Visit}

Pink pig, an Atlanta holiday tradition. Our super awesome neighbor works for Macy's and gave us tickets.  Kids enjoyed it. Samantha kept telling us how much fun it was to ride.

{Goodwill}

We were telling William and Samantha that we need to donate some of their old toys and take them to Goodwill.

William said oh I know how to spell Goodwill. Good is one of my sight words and I have Will in my name.
G-O-O-D-W-I-L-L

Love how his brain is processing everything!

{Garden Lights: Atlanta Botanical Garden}

We finally made it to the Garden Lights at Atlanta Botanical Garden. The show was included in Forbes 2012 list of 10 Dazzling Holiday Light Display around the world. With an awesome groupon deal, we couldn't pass seeing it this year. What a fun place. The weather was crisp that night, probably one of the coldest we've had. We all bundled up for a perfect night of Christmas lights spectating. Seeing the lights on foot is definitely more enjoyable than watching it from a car. Kids loved that they can run and get close to the lights.

You can't helped but be mesmerized by the enormous amounts of twinkling lights surrounding the area.

The Edible Garden's "Brilliant Bugs display was very much enjoyed by the kids.

Right around the corner was the Glo bar serving cider and hot chocolate. Hot chocolates was the perfect drink of choice for this chilly night. The adults even got a splash of Bailey's on theirs :)

My favorite was the Orchestral Orbs on the main lawn. The topiary light show was choreograpjed to holiday music. You'll see a lot of children (and adults) dancing to it.

This gorgeous poinsettia tree this was huge!

Aside from the beautiful colored lights, William and Samantha loved roasting marshmallows to make s'mores by the fire pit.

We all really enjoyed this family outing. The Garden Lights at the Botanical is definitely a must see!

{More Christmas}

After a quick nap, we started making the trip to my in law's house for Christmas celebration part 2.  We really are lucky to have the best set up for holiday get together. Grandmommy and Granddaddy go big on Christmas. The grandbabies love it. It truly is a kid's dream on Christmas day.

Cousins all super excited for presents. Btw, I had plan on Samantha wearing this adorable gingerbread house dress. Lil Missy was not having it...she wanted to stay in her jammies.

It was time for presents and more presents.

The kids fell asleep on the way home. The following day, it almost felt like Christmas morning again. They were super excited to play with all the toys they got from my in laws.