Category: Mommy Life

Landon’s Lumberjack Themed Party

Raina5 Comments

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^ Cake: Sweet as Bliss (owned by my good friend, Tara, who was a Cupcake Wars finalist btw)  – Cake Topper & Birthday Crown: Fetes & Fables (amazing quality and the owner, Jess, is so sweet)

The photos above were taken a couple weeks before his actual party. As most mamas know, having a photo session with a baby or toddler can go either way so you gotta just go with the flow. Lol. In my case, Landon would not stay standing, didn’t want to smile and kept grabbing the lantern and putting it on top of the smash cake lol.

Here’s photos from the party we held at our house…

Lumberjack Welcome Table^ Everyone got a kick out of our welcome table… lol. Thank you Pinterest!

Lumberjack Sweets Table_5Lumberjack Chalkboard^ My cousin made this, she will be opening an Etsy shop soon but if you’re interested in a custome theme chalkboard (digital file)… e-mail me at raina@themamaqueen.com!

Lumberjack Tier Cake^Cake: Deanna’s Cakery & Sweets (everyone was obsessed with this cake my mom ordered from her friend)

Lumberjack Sweets Table_4^ Looking back at the sweets table, I wish I had time to make or order a backdrop!

Lumberjack Pancake Cake^Cake: Deanna’s Cakery & Sweets (everyone was in awe that Landon’s smash cake looked exactly like a stack of pancakes)

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Overall, I thought Landon’s Lumberjack themed party was pretty successful! Special shoutout to all our guests who came with their flannels in 90 degree weather. We had the AC blasting but since more and more people kept coming, it just wasn’t cooling down. Landon ended up being in his diaper most of the time until the early evening lol. Planning parties are no joke and as much fun as they are, they are so stressful when you’re the one hosting it! I hope Landon will be able to look back at all the photos one day and know that he is truly loved.

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You, Me, Matcha

Raina3 Comments

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Ok if you’re in the San Diego area, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard about Holy Matcha in North Park already… and if not, where have you been?! Lol jk. But no really, this place has been the talk of the town since they’ve opened and based on the pictures above, can you see why? It’s like a bloggers’ dream… from the marble tables, pink and green color scheme and the adorable presentation of their drinks and food. It’s totally the place to capture the perfect Instagram post! Lol.

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I’m sure this place can get crowded during the prime time hours of the weekday evenings and obviously the weekends so I went during a lunch break with my coworker, Shana (who had to take my husband’s role of Instagram Husband haha). We went around 11am on a Thursday and there were a good amount of people but it wasn’t packed. There were only a couple people ahead of us in line and there were open seats. I was stoked haha.

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I got the iced matcha horchata (two of my favorite things in the world mixed together in one drink). I loved it! It wasn’t too sweet and the touch of cinnamon was perfection. I also got the strawberry gluten free donut and for a “healthy” donut it was pretty darn good! The matcha donut was my coworkers and she said it was delish FYI.

Overall, this place is suuuuper cute and the drink and donut I tried were so yummy! Would I wait in line outside during a busy weekend day? Probably not, but I would definitely stop by again during their less busy hours on a weekday! If you’re in San Diego, you have to go at least once to try it out (and get that cliché picture for your IG, duh).

Thanks for stopping by! Happy almost Friday! 🙂

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Gift Ideas for Father’s Day

Raina2 Comments

FathersDayGiftGuide

One – Two – Three – Four – Five – Six – Seven – Eight – Nine – Ten – Eleven

Shoutout to all the amazing DADS out there! They sure deserve to feel special on Father’s Day. I’m so blessed to be married to an amazing man who is a Super Dad too 🙂

I don’t know about you but I always struggle with what to give my husband for his birthday AND Father’s Day! It’s only on these past couple of years that I’ve been nailing it LOL. For his birthdays two years in a row, I got him basketball shoes (he loves to play basketball and also coaches middle school) and my latest gift to him was an Apple Watch… I definitely got extra wifey  brownie points for that one haha. THEN, of course, I saw how awesome it was and how much he liked that I made him get me on for Christmas 😛

Any way, I hope this guide gives you ideas of what to give all the special dads, father figures, husbands, uncles, brothers, ETC. in your life. Don’t tell my husband but I think I’ll probably get him the iPhone Mophie Case since he’s always on his phone and it’s always dying haha.

Happy Hump Day!

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Laundry Day Tips

RainaLeave a comment

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Okay, you guys… laundry and I do not get along! I mean, is there any one out there that actually enjoys doing laundry?! If so, I NEED to meet you! Haha. If I had to choose, my favorite part would have to be throwing all the dirty clothes in the washer and… that’s about it. Lol. With a family of 4, laundry piles up quickly and I’m tired of spending hours all in one day washing, folding and putting away tons of clothing.

One thing I have loved when it comes to washing my kids clothes are these Baby Laundry Detergent Strips that Dapple Baby sent to me recently! I literally just have to throw in half a strip or one whole strip into the washer and it will dissolve away as it cleans the clothes. What’s awesome is that these were made for moms by moms so it’s completely baby-friendly. It’s also fragrance free and hypoallergenic. I’m totally going to use these to wash all the newborn clothing for baby #3 too 🙂

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Dapple Baby has been an awesome addition to my laundry life but there were still other things I needed to help lessen the load (pun intended lol) I figured that with all the mommy blogs out there, I’m sure there has to be some tips for this mama! Of course there were soooo… here are my favorite that I will definitely incorporate this week:

  1. Do laundry more frequently. – AMEN to this! At our old condo, laundry would literally be stacked up close to the ceiling (I’m exaggerating but it did get pretty high) and when we moved into a house, I didn’t want a whole day to be consumed by laundry. So ever since we moved in, I do a load every few days. Huge Help!
  2. Keep yourself preoccupied when folding clothes. – Yes! Put on your favorite TV show and fold away.
  3. Invest in a divided hamper/multiple bins and a “right away” bin. – Headed to Target tomorrow to get this done! I currently separate clothes right before I do laundry so this will definitely save me time. Oh and the “right away” bin is genius! I teach dance every day so I constantly need to wash my work shirts and maternity leggings so this would be so helpful.
  4. Have a “socks only” bin. – OMG. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?! We’ll see if this eliminates socks randomly disappearing during laundry time haha.
  5. Get the hubby involved. – I never asked my husband to fold or put away his clothes cause I just wanted to do it for him but as soon as kids came along, it became too overwhelming. I still fold his clothes but he puts them away. Thank goodness!
  6. Try Dapple Baby Laundry Detergent Strips. – It makes it so easy for all the kids clothes and it reassures us mamas that it’s safe for them too! What I love is that it’s great to take on-the-go! They offer a bunch of other cleaning products too.. check them out here!

Am I missing anything on my list?! What helps you “lessen the load”?

*This post was in collaboration with Dapple Baby. As always, all opinions are my own.
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30 Weeks Bumpdate + Landon’s Birthday

Raina4 Comments

MQ_30weeek1MQ_30weeek2MQ_30weeek5^Dress: Forever 21 – Shoes: JustFab

Omg, I can’t believe I hit the 30 week mark in my pregnancy! In about 10 weeks or so, we will officially become a family of FIVE (plus our 2 doggies). Insane. I am so excited though but a little nervous of course! Not much has changed from last week’s bumpdate except that everything that I was already feeling turned up a notch… especially my feet hurting after standing for awhile. Thankfully, I didn’t get any middle-of-the-night leg cramps this week though! 

Scarlett kind of understand that there’s a baby in my belly. I mean, she says there’s a baby in there and kisses my belly but I don’t know if she actually believes it lol. Landon, on the other hand, has no clue… speaking of Landon! He turned ONE yesterday!
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I still can’t believe that he’s been gracing us with his presence for a whole year. His birthday party (lumberjack themed) is in a couple weeks but of course, we still had to celebrate his actual birthday. We went to the San Diego County Fair for an evening of fun with my husband’s side of the family.  We go every year and last year, Landon was only a few weeks old so it was nice to see him actual enjoy looking at everything.

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He is becoming more and more independent yet still attached to me at times. He sure keeps this 30 week preggo mama on her toes which I don’t mind cause I am inhaling donuts like no one’s business… *shoutout to my husband for all the donut runs for me!* haha!

Excuse me while I go run to the kitchen and grab a Krispy Kreme donut from Leo’s donut run last night 🙂 Happy Monday!

P.S. I’m pretty obsessed with these taupe sneakers from JustFab! They’r sold out in the common sizes 😦 Here is a pair that are on sale and look exactly like them… and here are similar ones I love.

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29 Weeks Bumpdate

Raina11 Comments

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Ok guys, I’m 29 weeks and feeling like I’m 35 weeks!! It’s crazy that I literally thought that this pregnancy would be a total breeze… I mean, considering it’s my third one… in a row. LOL. It’s true when they say that every pregnancy is different. I definitely started strong with this one and was dancing rigorously up to 20 weeks but as soon as I entered my third trimester last week, I have just been feeling as pregnant as ever!

Thankfully, for ALL of my pregnancies, I never experienced morning sickness… just nausea at worst. I do, however, currently suffer from fatigue, crazy hormones (sorry to my hubby Leo lol), horrible cravings, shortness of breath, and my favorite (NOT)… leg cramps in the middle of the night! I just gotta keep reminding myself that it will soon be over and I’ll have a newborn to snuggle so all of this discomfort will be worth it in the end.

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Any way, Landon and Scarlett are both so attached to me but I’m not complaining! I’m looking forward to my maternity leave this summer where I can just spend as much time with them as possible 🙂 Here are the most recent pics of my babies *insert heart eyes emoji here*!

MQ_landonoutfit1^ Shoes: Adidas

MQ_scarlettoutfit1^ Matching Top and Bottom: Osh Kosh (on sale)!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! xo
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