What are memories worth to you?

A brand new week is here! This past week in the Vega household we had a few things going on. First it was picture day! How I love seeing them grow year after year in their school pictures but honestly the pricing of these packages and all the extras you can now add is mind blowing! LOL!

Don't get me wrong I love my girls and I'm all into pics but do I really need a giant sized comforter with their school pictures on it?!! Ok ok that wasn't an option but with their pricing it might as well been. For all 3 girls we are looking at over $100 in just the basic package. 😅

But you also know that this is what is going to happen on picture day...

😂😂 It seriously doesn't fail. When it's picture time I always get that fake smile! LOL but let's hope for the best! But they know we will buy the pictures and years down the road we will look back at them and laugh or show them to their boyfriends and embarrass them a little. 😜

Cruise update:

I've completely gone down the rabbit hole of things we need and fish extender gifts. Thank you for those who emailed me suggestions. I have an amazon cart full of blank things to personalize. Because why not add more to my plate and let's personalize gifts....

In my amazon cart right now I have small blank circle night lights and wanting to put the Disney cruise logo on them. I also have blank clear acrylic circle ornaments and wanting to personalize them with our ship name and sail dates. I have clear acrylic 5X7 frames to personalize as well so they have a nice picture frame for a photo. I also have color changing straw cups that I was going to personalize with an anchor or something. What do you think? Too much with the cups? My thinking was it's all you can drink soft drinks and soft serve ice cream and they can use it for that.

My girls are also getting in on the gift making. They love making these rubber band bracelets and want to make all the kids some Christmas colored ones. I love how they are getting involved and getting crafty like their Momma!

I'm also finalizing are t-shirt designs for the cruise and will bring that to you next week. Did you know I also make shirts? Come check out my IG My 3 Little Bugs Btq

Just call me....

So my mind is going with so many ideas and also what to take to wear! We have formal night (which I want to do Christmas type clothing for nice Christmas pics). We also have pirate night and semi formal night. So lots of clothes options I'm looking at and I will bring it all to you in the coming weeks. But I just realized today it's literally almost 4 weeks to go 😬 Exciting but so much to do!

Ok so talking about the cruise has got me thinking about something. My girls will be missing a week of school to go on the cruise. What are your thoughts about taking your kids out of school for vacation? I invite you to come to my facebook group Smart Moms Planning Disney and Universal with Girls and share your thoughts with the group on the post I put up.

But here are my thoughts....

I take schooling very seriously and the girls are always at school. I was and will always be a teacher at heart but family is important too! I was always that teacher if parents told me that their child was going on a family vacation I gave them the make up work and made sure to tell them to come back with a "note" and not one saying they were on vacation. Family time is important too! This is the hubby's 40th birthday, a big milestone birthday and I got an amazing price to go this week! So yes I will take the girls out of school to spend quality time as a family.

Last year life was put into perspective for me. Struggling mentally with being a teacher and trying to find time for my family was taxing. I realized that family comes first and you never know what tomorrow brings. I remember what my dad said to me when I asked if he wanted to join us for our Aulani trip for my 40th...he told me that my stepmom Sharon always wanted to go to Hawaii and always kept saying one day but that one day never came. She passed away 2 years ago without fulfilling that dream. So he said family is everything and I wouldn't miss it for the world. He carries a necklace with some of her ashes in it with him always. When he arrived in Hawaii he said finally I fulfilled her dream and brought her to Hawaii. So don't take anything for granted! Live your life, spend time with loved ones, and never forget to enjoy each day to the fullest. A quote I always go by is "You can always make more money but you can't always make more memories." So book that trip and make the memories. 😍

Here we are enjoying the Luau on my birthday and we both turned around with tears in our eyes, looked at that sunset and said "Sharon we know you are with us and we love you!"

This week I also decided to start taking time for myself. As moms, wives, full time workers we over due it sometimes and forget to stop and take time for ourselves. Remember we can't pour from an empty cup! So I love reading and used to read a ton before kids but once becoming a mom I felt that I didn't have time. A friend suggested I try audible and listen to books being read. But not too far into it I realized that I couldn't concentrate on someone reading to me. I had to be reading the words to put myself in the story and see it unfolding in my head. Then I had another friend suggest a Kindle...OH MY did that change my life! It gave me the flexibility to take my books anywhere because it was so compact and I've started making time each day to sit down and read to calm my mind. I love my kindle and already on book 2 after just 2 weeks. 👍 Do you have some great book recommendations? Let me know so I can add it to my list!

Enjoying my new Kindle outside as the sun was setting.

Well that was my week! So much to do in the next few weeks so stay tuned! I leave you with a quote from Anmol Andore:

“Enjoy every moment you have. Because in life, there are no rewinds, just flashbacks." Have a great week everyone! All the Pixie Dust, Jillian