Beautiful day

Today was such a beautiful day outside we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the park. It seems like ages since we've been able to have a park day, and Jack and Claire were bouncing in their car seats the whole way there! I hope we have a few more nice days sprinkled in throughout this Winter. It certainly was a treat to be sliding, climbing, and running around outside at the end of December. The kids were tuckered out and so was I. Such a beautiful day............


Here is a picture of Jeff and I from July 2008. It is such a lovely memory. It was my Birthday and I wanted to run my first ever 5K for myself and my Mom. My wonderful hubby decided to join me on the run, and my parents and Jack were along the route cheering us on. I love my family!! This was one of my best Birthday's ever, time spent with family and my wonderful neighbors who have become some of my greatest friends! We didn't do to bad on our first race. Jeff won first place in his age division, and I won second place in my age division! Our trophy's were bottles of wine. SWEET!

This is Jeff and I soon after we crossed the finish line!

Enjoying our day

Today we are just hanging around the house enjoying all the new goodies that the past few days have given us! Jack and Claire are enjoying all the new trains, puzzles and games.......and I am reading new cook books and wearing my newest apron like it's the latest fashion accessory. I LOVE IT. It makes me feel blissful! Stop snickering, it's darling! We are having a glorious day here, and it is equally glorious outside. I have some steaks to grill and potatoes to bake for a tasty supper for my hubby after his bout of sickness this weekend. I bet his belly is hungry for a yummy supper tonight, and you know I aim to please!

Off to finish cleaning up while the children are napping. Here is another picture I adore from 2008! Jack played T-Ball with his cousin Jakob this past Summer and Jack was the youngest kiddo out there. He did well and was especially proud when he received his medal after the session was over. I love how the proudness (what, that's not a word LOL) shines through in this picture. He is such a joy!

Kisses!

Count down continues

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad's family this afternoon and had such a fun day. We hadn't been to my Grandma's in quite some time so it was nice for us all to be together there. We left with some fun goodies and full bellies. Hard to believe that Christmas is over. Time just keeps marching on.... 3 days till nEw YeArS EvE! Here's another favorite photo from 2008.

Hugs!!

Merry Christmas

I hope you were all surrounded by family and good friends today. We had such a lovely day. I have no words to capture the joy of the past couple of days, so I am off to bed, though it is earlier than last night and I am one tired girl.

Here is a picture taken June in of this year after we had been riding bikes. He is drinking my water.......or at least sticking his hand in my water to get my ice cubes!

Kisses!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I hope the children are all snuggled up in bed, dreaming the sweetest dreams. I am headed that way, and I know sleep won't be hard to come by tonight. I have been a busy bee these past few days, and enjoying every minute of it.

I hope you have the Merriest of Holiday's, we certainly plan too!

Sorry no picture today..........to all a good night.

I just want to gobble him up

What is it about Motherhood that makes you want to nibble on your children??? I adore this sweet face. Those delicious little cheeks, perfect button nose, pouty little lips and don't even get me started on his slate blue eyes and nibble worthy chin. I could drizzle him with chocolate sauce and just gobble him up. Oh well I do refrain from actually nibbling on him, but I do tend to smother him with kisses. I bet you want to gobble up your kiddos too. Isn't it the greatest! HAHA!

This picture was taken February 9th, 2008.

Just 2 days till Christmas. Merry Merry!

A look back

There are only 10 more days left in 2008! I thought as we count down to the new year I would take a look back at some of our favorite pictures of 2008. So starting with today's post, and the remaining 9 days leading up to the end of this wonderful year, hopefully you will see some lovely shots that you haven't seen before. Away we go............

This was taken January 4th 2008 in Destin, Florida
I love looking at this picture, I can even feel the sand in between my toes as I think about the week we spent on the beach with just the 3 of us.

Reindeer games

Down the road from us this evening there was an opportunity to visit with a live reindeer. While I didn't have my camera with me we couldn't pass this by. It was only 7 degrees outside, so we were bundled up. Jack gave the lovely reindeer a pat on he back and said "Merry Christmas". Tomorrow I will have to get the couple of pictures I took with my camera phone put on here. They are not the greatest, but a nice memory non the less.

Well we had a wonderful weekend, and I hope you all did as well. I am of to snuggle up with my hubby. Tomorrow starts an exciting week for all...........
Kisses!

Speaking of cousins.......

Here is Jack and one of his cousin's Claire (Jack is just 4 months older than Claire). They are the best of friends, and fight like siblings! Two crazy kids that keep me on my toes, and keep me laughing all day long. Trying to capture a moment with them both looking at the camera is nearly impossible. My Mom wanted a picture of the two of them to send in some of her Christmas cards and this is about as good as it gets..........at least for today anyway.


Hugs!

Cousins night out

Last Friday evening I met up with some of Jeff's cousins for a girls night out. We went shopping along Main Street which was all a twinkle with Christmas lights. It is like an old fashion Christmas on Main Street, the street is filled with Victorian characters and Santa's from around the world. We had such a fun night giggling, shopping, eating and shopping some more! Here are the only 2 pictures I have of the evening together. We missed those of you who couldn't join us!!

We started this new tradition of getting together (without children) earlier this year, and we look forward to many more nights out next year! We are so blessed to have so many family members that live so close, that it seems silly to only get together at the Holiday's. I had a great time, thanks girls!!

Seven years of wedded bliss!

Today is our wedding Anniversary! We went out to celebrate on Saturday evening, so we will just celebrate at home tonight. I am so proud of our marriage and it seems when you are mindful of caring for it, love does get better with age and time. Turns out the millionth kiss is even better than the first..............Happy Anniversary my love! I want you by my side for the rest of my life. Here is one of our favorite wedding pictures.
Kisses!

Santa visits

Last weekend it was just Jack and I on Saturday because Jeff was taking a class for work. It is rare that Jack and I just have a day together so it was a nice treat! We decided to head down to Main Street to visit with Santa and to check out the trains. It was a chilly day, but we bundled up and had a lovely time. Here are a few pictures of the morning.






Jack visited with the Mall Santa this week as well. We made a quick stop in there before we headed to Jack's dentist visit. He loved this Santa and I think the pictures capture his joy! We are counting down the days till the jolly man makes a visit to our home. Stay on the nice list Mr. Jack. (you can click on any picture to make them larger)

Darling!

Goodness me I love this jacket! Why oh why does it cost $425.00? Oh well, I will just have to dream about how cute I would look wearing it, unless Santa hits the jackpot!

Legos

We have very few Legos for Jack. He really never showed too much interest in them until now. The past few days he has been building with his few Legos like crazy.......Wall-E, robots, walls, towers, and this great achievement, a letter!
He said "look Mom, the letter T" and so it is! Maybe Jack needs a few more Legos around this house of ours. Christmas time is comin'..........

Playing with trains

It's Jack's favorite thing to do, playing with trains. He especially loves it when his Daddy helps him build a new track.
We can sit in there with him for hours and play, he never gets tired of it. Autumn wants to be where ever we are so she tried to join us.
Not much room for her since the track was on the ground this evening, and thankfully she stepped carefully and didn't knock that track over.

We woke up to this........

SNOW! Jack said "Mom I have to show you somethin'." Then he pushed the blinds out of the way and said "ta-daa! It's snowing!" It was magical. I scooped him up and told him all about the wonderful things we will get to do now that it seems Winter is here............hot cocoa, homemade marshmallows, sledding, snowball throwing, snow angels, lots of baking to keep us warm inside and lots of snuggling to keep us cozy. Though I am already missing my shorts from the Summer that seemed to go by way too fast, I suppose I will welcome Winter with open arms. My little boy certainly is!

Warm hugs to all!

Thankful

I am Thankful for him & him......

I hope you've all had a lovely little Thanksgiving. Our little boy is off in the land of nod after getting sick four times this evening. We are hoping he feels better in the morning. Sleep well sweet boy. Much love to all!

Chicken Pot Pie

With this cold weather being here to stay for a while I thought I would post this recipe that I made tonight. Jeff and I really liked this one, and I plan on making it again. I did leave a few things out so I'll note what I did in the recipe. Hope you love it as much as we do!

1 Lb. chicken, cubed
2 potatoes, cubed (I used Yukon Gold because we love their flavor)
1 c. sliced carrots
1 c. frozen green peas
1-2 bouillon cubes
1/3 c. butter (I used 3 T.)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. chopped onion ( I left this out completely)
1/2 c. sliced celery
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. celery seed
1 3/4 c. chicken broth (I only used about 1 1/3 cups of broth)
2/3 c. milk
1 c. corn (canned), drained (I left this out too)
2 (9 inch) Pillsbury unbaked pie crusts (you can find them near the dairy section by the biscuits in the ‘pop-open’ tubes, it will be a box with 2 crusts included) Or feel free to make your own.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a saucepan, combine chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas, and celery. Cover with water, add bouillon cube(s) and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat garlic and onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick (if you like a thinner sauce, add more chicken broth and milk a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency) and add corn. Add the veggies (potatoes, carrots, etc..) and chicken to the sauce and stir to coat all the veggies in sauce. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place one of the pie crusts in a 9” pie pan (use a deep-dish pie pan if you have one). Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes, remove, and pour in the sauce/veggie mix. Cover with the other crust and seal the edges. Cut some slits in the top, and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.


Our bellies were nice and warm after this meal!

Happy family!

So we had some more family pictures taken! We are really excited about how they turned out this time and it will really be hard to decide which ones to get. These I love.......

Me and my two favorite guys!

We are in love with this kid of ours

And this next one is one of my all time favorites of Jeff and I. Here are 10 reasons why I adore this photo so...........

01. I'm with him, he makes me so incredibly happy that at times it seems to good to be true
02. My heart skipped a beat the first time I saw this photo
03. Fall is above and behind us
04. He's pulling me in tight
05. We were laughing just before this at how silly our kiddo was being
06. The wind was blowing like crazy that day, yet in this photo it looks like the most calm and peaceful afternoon
07. Calm and peaceful are how I feel when he holds me
08. It was sweater weather & we're both wearing sweaters
09. The sun was shining
10. We look so happy, because we are so happy!A great afternoon spent at the park and some great pictures to choose from.
Kisses!

Date night with my Hubby

A night I always look forward to! I get him all to myself, and it's the greatest feeling in the world.
My day started out wonderful, already thinking about the upcoming night with Jeff, already thinking about what I would wear..........when there was a knock on the door. It's 9:25 a.m. who could that be? Flowers! Yep you heard right, my man had flowers delivered to me in anticipation of our evening out together. Can I tell you how much I adore him. The greatest husband and the perfect match for me.

We went out and had a lovely dinner, followed by seeing a comedian we both enjoy, Norm MacDonald. The comedy club was crowded, so I enjoyed being snuggled close to him all evening long. We even spied Norm at the bar before the show began and had our picture taken with him. SWEET!

It really was a lovely evening. Kisses!

New Kids On The Block!!!!

Oh my goodness I had one of the best nights ever! On Monday evening I went to the NKOTB concert with some girlfriends. I could not get to sleep once I got home at 1:30 a.m., but when I was finally asleep I was dreaming about Jordan. I seriously have a problem! I'm so glad we all got to get out and act crazy, sing our hearts out, dance ourselves silly and laugh till we nearly cried. Our favorite moment of the concert was when Jordan ripped his shirt open while singing a solo OH MY! I nearly melted into a puddle at the sight. I swear he was singing only to me! What a night!!! Jamie took her camera in so thankfully the night will never be far from my mind.

The girls! Yes I'm wearing a "vintage" NKOTB shirt (thanks Jamie!) Oh and my friend in the middle is 8 months preggo!

Um yes I would love to come on tour with you!

Help me Ronda, this boy is dreamy!

Kisses!

Thomas the Tank engine rolled into town!

I was being busy Trisha and left without my camera. I stopped and picked up a disposable one so when I get the pictures back I will add them here. Until then here are a few photos from last August from our first visit with Thomas up in Chicago.

Jack woke up early today

Some time before 7:00 a.m. Jack woke up today. It's not much earlier than his normal7:30 wake up but I'm always surprised when he gets up before me. I took advantage of this time with just the two of us and we snuggled up together on the couch. I asked him why he got up so early today and this what he said......

"Because I just get up and go Mommy's room. "

"How come baby?"

"I go Mommy's room cause you in there. I be by mommy."

I hugged him a little tighter..............I love it when he wants to be by me! This was a sweet little comment from my sweet little boy, and it made my day, even if it was before 7:00 a.m.

Kisses!

Rest in peace Uncle Frank

Two years ago today the world changed for our family. My Uncle Frank passed away suddenly at the young age of 45. He left behind his wife and their 2 young children (11 and 12 at the time). He was called home to our Heavenly Father much too soon, and without a hint of notice.

One memory that is stuck in my head from the whirlwind of a weekend after his death is at the funeral home. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people there, a true testimony to the wonderful person my Uncle was, and his oldest son was sitting with a group of his friends (a group of friends that my Uncle had coached a time or two no doubt) and his eyes met mine and we both just became overtaken with emotion. He got up and hurried over to me and buried his face into my shoulder, we both held on to one another and sobbed. I felt so weak, there wasn't a single thing I could do to take away his pain because my heart was broken too. I just repeated the words "I Love You" over and over to him. He repeated them back and the magnitude of the words seemed to calm us down again.

I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and there are times I wish we knew what his plans are, but I suppose that is a selfish thing to ask for. I have made a few changes in my life since my Uncle Frank's passing.........Things don't have to be "perfect" anymore, I have tried to let go of grudges I was harboring deep inside and gradually started to rebuild friendships, I have friends and family over to our home more often, I try to celebrate the little things, and most importantly I have tired hard to be a better friend, wife and mother. Though I knew this before, this phase "life is short" is all too true.

It is so strange to me that time keeps marching on, but our hearts are far from healed. We miss you Uncle Frank, until we meet again...........

Hugs and kisses to all!

Jack 3 years and 3 months

We are so in love with this little boy of ours. Here are some of Jack's favorites at 3 years and 3 months old.

He loves playing baseball and golf.

He is Thomas the Tank engine obsessed! Knows all their names and is more than willing to tell you which train he wants to get next.

Apples are his favorite fruit, and he enjoys them without the skins on.

His favorite color seems to be blue......but every now and then he chooses green.

Some of his favorite phrases are "Look at me" (while showing you something he can do that is so spectacular). "I idea" (which translates to I have an idea. He even puts his pointer finger on his little chin as he says it, it's too much). "Watch I do" (which of course is watch what I can do, again followed by one of his many talents). "Why" truly a great one. These are the phrases I hear all day long. I'm not going to lie, I LOVE it! It is great fun to listen to him and watch all the little things his mind comes up with.

He enjoys going to the park, and spends the majority of his time while we are there on the swings. He is always requesting to go higher, higher Mommy! Such a brave kiddo.

He is fascinated by owls. Nearly every night he asks me where the owls are. Unfortunately there are no owls in our neighborhood, so I took him and Claire to the Bird sanctuary by us and they got to see owls up close. It was the highlight of their week and probably mine too!

He is looking forward to Halloween. When someone asks him what he wants to be for Halloween he replies "a robot..........go robot, go robot, go robot" the answer is accompanied by him walking like a robot and moving his arms all silly like. He's a funny boy!

His favorite songs to sings are ABC's, You've got a friend in me, The Thomas the tank engine song and Do you know the muffin man (Jack and his Daddy have a special way to sing this song).

His favorite movie has to be Wall*E.

Favorite kids shows are Curious George, Sid the Science Kid, Fireman Sam, Kipper and of course Thomas!

He adores Autumn and is always trying to hug and kiss her, it's so sweet. He also loves playing hide and seek with his Daddy. Jack screams and giggles every time his Daddy jumps out from hiding, and he quickly says "one more time daddy" though all his giggles.

He loves to play with construction toys (diggers, forklifts, cranes etc.) trains, cars and trucks and he really loves riding his tricycle.

So there is a short snap shot of what our kiddo loves these days.
Jack you make us so incredibly happy! I love looking into you eyes they are so expressive, and when you smile it really truly lights up the whole room. We always get compliments on your wonderful manners, you make us so proud. You have such an infectious laugh, and we love you more than you will ever know.

Love Mommy and Daddy

The Happiest of Birthdays

Today is a special day in our house. It is my Husband's Birthday! The keeper of my heart, the father of my sweet boy, the builder of our beautiful home, and my partner in this crazy life of ours. We enjoyed dinner at home with our kiddo, followed by cake AND pie. HA! Our evening ended with writing down our wishes for Jeff for the coming year on balloons and releasing them into the sky. I hope all your dreams and wishes come true my sweet. Tomorrow Jack will be spending some quality time with Baba and Papa (my lovely parents) while I get to enjoy the evening out with my hubby. I am looking forward to it. I will have him all to myself!





Here is Jeff's Birthday letter from me to him..........

My dearest Jeff-

Today, my love, you turn 31. I love you more and more as each year comes and goes......how is that even possible. I love the roles that each one of us plays in the others life and in Jack's life as well. I love our wonderful life and I strive more and more to really truly show you how much you mean to me. I love playing wife, cooking, baking, taking care of our happy home (though I'm sure it's not quite to your liking) and most of all taking care of you. Thank you so much for our handsome little boy, for our beautiful warm, cozy home and for most of all being my best friend. We share so many memories and there are millions more out there to be made. I look forward to all our Happy Birthday's ahead. I love you darling. Happy 31st Birthday!

~your beloved
Trisha

It was a special day indeed. Some photos of my Prince Charming..........


The end.

Happy Birthday Autumn!

Today is the day we celebrate Autumn's Birthday. Since she was a rescue dog we don't know when her actual Birthday is and we just can't let the year go by without celebrating her, so the first day of Autumn is her special day! Fitting don't ya think. Jeff picked up her Birthday cake from Treats Unleashed on his way home from work, and it turned out great! Autumn desperately needed a new retractable leash so she got one of those, a couple new toys, and some beggin strips (she really loves those) Here is a picture of the cake and goodies before she got to them, and then one of Autumn enjoying her doggie ice cream and cake!





Happy Birthday Autumn girl, we love you so much.

Speech Evaluation

Today was the day. Jack went to the Early Childhood center for his Speech evaluation. He has been making great progress with his speech and language, but I still needed to have him evaluated to make sure he was on track.

We received wonderful news, no therapy is needed! I got to sit in on the evaluation, and only had to prompt him twice to focus with his teacher. He did amazingly well, and I actually shed a few happy tears..............I was beyond thrilled to hear all these words coming out of his mouth and his articulation is great! She didn't go over everything with me today (I will get the full report in 2 weeks), but she wanted to reassure me that he is doing great and no therapy was needed! She said "keep up the good work Mom, he is making great strides". In my mind I had a huge sigh of relief that I am actually doing something right with this precious little boy, it feels nice to have someone acknowledge that from time to time...........keep up the great work Jack!

My wonderful husband

This past weekend my wonderful hubby rode 80 miles in the Multiple Sclerosis Bike Ride. While the course was hillier than he was expecting he kept on riding. He rode this ride in honor of my Mom who was diagnosed with MS over 10 years ago, she currently takes Avonex once a week to help slow the progression of the disease since there is no cure. She recently had a check up with her neurologist and he proclaimed that she was doing great...........terrific news!

We are all so proud of Jeff's accomplishment with the ride and we loved celebrating at the finish line with him. His Brother also rode in the bike ride and their total fund raising was nearly $1,100! We were so excited for both of them, and my heartfelt thank you, hugs and kisses goes out to these two great guys. Thank you for making my Mom feel so special and so loved, it was a wonderful weekend!

Here is Jeff and Jim getting ready to cross the finish line!

Jeff, my Mom and Jim after the ride! Way to go!

A picture of my Baby and me. I gobbled him up when we got home, I had missed him!

Tongue tied no more!

As most of you know Jack had minor surgery on February 11th to have his lingual frenulum ( the strand of tissue that connects the bottom of your tongue to the floor of your mouth) clipped. Jack's was attached nearly to the tip of his tongue so his ENT Doctor decided to have it snipped before it ended up causing difficulties with his speech. Well last night while we were at Holy Thursday mass, Jack tapped me on the arm and when I turned to see what he needed he was showing me a trick with his tongue. He had the tip of his tongue bent down behind his bottom teeth and he was trying to push his tongue out......hard to explain, but this was something I have never seen him do before and then he stuck his tongue out and was reaching it down to about the middle of chin. I was shocked to see him stretching his tongue in so many different ways. Just in that instant I knew we had made the right decision to have this issue taken care of last month. He is slowly adding more words to his vocabulary and he can even lick an ice cream cone now! What a huge difference, I can only imagine how it must feel for him to be able to move his tongue freely now. He obviously was so surprised by it himself that he felt the need to show me his little trick in the middle of mass. HA! No picture to go along with this post, because I obviously don't bring my camera into church, so I will post a picture of Jack from when we were at the beach in January. (click on the picture if you want to see it bigger)

Saturday fun!

On Saturday we had breakfast with the Easter Bunny, and Jack enjoyed making a few crafts and of course hunting for easter eggs. He wasn't too sure of the Easter Bunny until after the hunt was over and I told him that the Easter Bunny was the one who put all the treats in the eggs for him to find. He ran right over to her and gave her the biggest hug, and said "thank you". He left with his bucket full of goodies and sucker for the ride home.

Saturday evening we celebrated Emilie's 2nd Birthday, one of Jack's second cousins (I think). Jack and Emile are just 9 months apart in age and they are both such sweet natured kiddos, and they play so good together. Emilie is going to be a big sister in August and we found out on Saturday that she will have a little brother! YAY! We are so excited for them, and can't wait for the newest miracle to enter the family! Here are a few pictures from the day!

Jack with his favorite treat of the day!

Jack and Emilie, the Birthday girl!

Spring time is here!

This past week has brought us warmer weather and Jack has enjoyed being able to play outside again finally! He is a master on his trike, and I bet is a few short months he will be ready for an actual bike, with training wheels of course.




We also made a trip to the park this week and Baba (AKA Gramma) was happy to join us. Jack and Claire enjoyed being around all the other kiddos there and they were thrilled to show Baba all that they could do on the playground equipment. I sure hope this warm weather sticks around because it certainly makes the day go by fast when we are outside playing all morning!