Eighteen Months

18 months ago today we became a family of 4!  Josephine Rose is our little darling....observant, silly, spunky, and so very happy.  Still in awe that she was chosen for us by our Heavenly Father.  Here is a look back at Josephine's First Birthday celebration just 6 short months ago.  I know some of you haven't seen the pictures yet so I thought I would share. Can't believe how much she has grown in the past 6 months, Happy Half Birthday to our Josie Rosie girl!

Invites I designed and made.

Happy Birthday Cheeky girl!

Cupcakes

Centerpieces

Sugar Cookies

Favors

Dessert table

Water bottle labels

Celebrate the small things

Jeff and I are dropping the children at my parents house tonight so the two of us can spend the evening celebrating the fact that we paid off our Honda!  HOORAY!  We have plans to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant and enjoy some cervezas and mojitos, CHEERS to US! 

 

Kisses!!

Citrus kick

I am on a huge citrus kick over here. It started with the cutie oranges for Valentine's day...now I have bowl full of Key limes on the counter that I'm planning on whipping into a pie. Just thinking about the sweet, tartness of it is making my mouth water, yummy! I think I'll make some lemonade to sip on over the next few days too. Wonder if this sudden citrus craving is me just trying to will Spring time here? We are ready for it!

Our babykins

Beautiful, wonderful, perfect all American girl!

So glad she was chosen for our family! 

 

Kisses!

The weekend is here

We had the most enjoyable week here! Wonderful weather, time with friends at the park, bike rides, playing outside, opening our windows and letting fresh, crisp air blow into all corners of our home....really, what more could you ask for in February?! It has been blissful! Our weekend plans are just as nice as our week has been. Jeff and I are taking the kids to one of their favorite parks tonight followed by ice cream cones at home. A relaxing Saturday is in store ~ we'll attend Mass on Saturday evening this week so I can volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House early Sunday morning. Preparing breakfast again for the families spending this part of their life in this wonderful House. We are always looking for extra help so if you live close by get in touch with me, we would love to have you come along and help out :)

Kisses!

Toothless

The darling tooth fairy made her second visit to our home last night! That's right, our boy lost another tooth and his toothless grin is adorable! He awoke to find six quarters in his tooth box, another note from the fairy and a wee bit of pixie dust on his night stand ~ proof she was there while he was off in the land of nod! Another milestone for Mr. Jack and my heart is having a hard time handling all this growing up he has been doing. I love it but I'm trying not to blink so I can enjoy it all!

Such a happy kiddo!

Hugs!

Mails here

Jack had been bouncing around the house all morning long waiting for the mail to arrive. You see, he made an extra special Valentine at school yesterday for Jeff and I. He stamped it and walked it out to the mailbox with his class, and now it was headed our way! It certainly made our day when it arrived and to see the excitement on Jack's face when we finally opened it was priceless. We love him so!

 YAY!  It's here Mom!

Little loves

Our little loves...hard to get a good picture of the two of them!

These are the Valentine's we mailed out this year! 

Happy Valentine's Day!  Kisses!

Goodies for friends

Jack and I finished up his Valentine goodies for his classmates tonight after enjoying a tasty dinner with Gramma and Papa. Last year we made heart shape crayons for his friends and this year we are giving them cutie oranges! Simple and sweet :) Hoping to make his teachers day by surprising her with a homemade lunch ~ chicken salad on croissant, creamy baked potato soup and a fudgy heart shaped brownie. Hope everyone has an extra special Love Day this year!

Cuties for the cuties in Jack's class!

Valentine's we gave out last year, they were a hit!

Kisses!

My Valentine

My Dear Valentine,  You are the best thing that's ever been mine!

Working on Valentine's

Every year we send Valentine's out to Grandparents, cousins, Aunts & Uncles and a few friends and we are working on them today. Stuffing envelops and getting them addressed and ready for the mail. Here is a sneak peak at what will be arriving in some of your mailboxes in the coming days :) and a look back at some of the Valentine's we have sent out in the past. It was fun looking back at these 'sweet' pictures.

This years sneak peak...the envelopes I embossed.  I am so happy with how they turned out and that they were so easy!

Valentine 2007, look at that sweet boy of mine!  This isn't a great picture, I had to scan it in since I couldn't find my saved file.

Valentine 2008, He was big into Toy Story that year (and still is)!

Valentine 2009 was a very special one for us, we announced our pregnancy to our family!  So fun coming up with this one!  You can click on the picture to make it bigger...

Valentine 2010 Jack

Valentine 2010 Josephine

 Kisses!

Pajama Book Club

Jack asked me a while back "what do you do at Book Club?" I told him I get together with friends, eat some tasty food, visit and talk about the book we all read. His response was, "I wanna come." My solution...a book club of his own! We sat down together and came up with a plan. We would invite all his preschool friends, we would have tasty food, and breakfast seemed like a fitting time for preschoolers to gather together so it would be breakfast food, they would all be welcome to wear their jammies and I would read some stories. It sounded like a recipe for success and we both where excited about our plan. We made invitations together, he addressed them himself and stuffed them into his friends cubbies at school. We had the day marked on the calendar and couldn't wait for our first meeting. Today was that day!!!  Our morning included blueberry muffins, bananas, chocolate or white milk and stories by author Karma Wilson.  It was the loveliest kind of day!  There was lots of giggles and smiles all around, Book Club was a success!  Jack can't wait till his friends come over for the next meeting. 

The invites we made, I loved that Jack helped with the whole process!

 

 

Jack's buddy Hannah is the little blond by his side!  Hannah's Mom told me that sweet Hannah couldn't even sleep she was excited to come to Jack's house for Book Club.
Hugs!

Out for the evening

I am so very glad that the weather has given us a few days break from the falling snow.  It looks as though I'll be able to make it to Book Club tonight, HOORAY!   A couple times a month or so I have an evening out with friends, usually a night of Bunco playing or Book Club, and Jeff takes over the bed time routines.   Tonight is Book Club and we are going to Mimi's Cafe, and I can't wait!  We read Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks and I am dying to know what everyone else thought of the book, I loved it!  I know my evening out will be full of laughs, great food and even better company and that my kiddos will have a wonderful evening, enjoying having their Dad all to themselves.  I'm anxious to hear what new book we are going to be reading for next month but I don't like being with out something to read, so in the mean time I downloaded Jodi Picoult's new Kindle Single Leaving Home.  It has been enjoyable to read a few short stories from one of my favorite authors.  I am trying my best to wait patiently for her new book set to be released in March, so these 3 short stories from her were just the thing to help pass the time.

This morning Jeff and I brought Josephine up to Jeff's parents house for a visit with Grandma.  Here is a picture of Josie girl when I was getting her ready to go this morning.  She looks like such a big girl here!  All I have to say is Josephine, let's get your hair combed and face washed and she runs into the bathroom ready and waiting for the morning routine :) 

 

Hugs!

Packer Backer

It's Super Bowl Sunday and aside from Mass this morning we have made it another lazy day here. I have family that lives in Wisconsin, so we rooting for the Green Bay Packers tonight! Since the big game this year is being held in Texas we planned a Tex Mex menu for this evening....snacking on nachos and cheese, chips, salsa and guacamole! Our main dish is chicken tortilla soup, creamy but so spicy. Just the thought of all that goodness is making my mouth water :) Hoping there are some funny commercials, that the half time show is entertaining and that the Packers pull off a WIN! Jeff has his cheese head ready, so we are all set HA! GO PACK GO!

Snowy Saturday

We woke up to another 4 inches or so of fluffy white snow. We are getting deeper and deeper into Winter. Thankfully our weekend is wide open with zero plans, that is the best feeling! We had a wonderful treat this morning of Heaven Scent donuts for breakfast, and we are in no hurry to change out of our p.j.'s :) On the agenda today is Science day with Jack, mixed in with finishing up my laundry and scrubbing the kitchen floor. Our driveway is shoveled, my blinds are open and Jack Johnson music is playing in the background...enjoy your Saturday everyone!

My life really is good

The beautiful sun is out today and it is a sight for sore eyes. All my blinds are open and the rays are pouring into every corner of my home. Claire joined us today and when she saw that we had decorated and made Valentine's I could tell she was bummed she missed it. So what is an Auntie to do, get more goodies out to do a little more crafting. Once our bellies were full of blueberry muffins warm from the oven, we got to work! Nothing fancy, just crepe paper, scissors, glue and card stock (they both chose blue). Their hearts turned out great, and most importantly Claire was feeling happy. She thanked me 3 times :)

I know a few friends that are begging to get out of the house after being cooped up for a few days and this is where I realize that I am a bit different. I have loved us all being home! Despite a few moments of bickering between the kids and a couple time outs, our time together has been the best. It's what I live for. I enjoy planning time to get together with my girl friends from time to time, but nothing beats being here at home. Music playing in the background, board games, crafting, cooking, putting my feet up and relaxing a bit while the children entertain themselves, kissing my husband (and the kids too) whenever I want...it really is the best when we are all home together. Possibly tomorrow will be a school day and then 2 more days of us all home together! Looking forward to it, besides, Saturday night is movie night and it's my turn to pick! I have no idea what my pick will be!

I made some pizza dough this morning and it is rising beautifully!  Can't wait to roll it out and stuff it with some tasty toppings, we're having calzones for supper.   Yummy!    Enjoy the pictures from our morning!

Cutting the crepe paper into small pieces

She was so proud of herself!  Jack was cheering her on across the table so she started clapping too!

My darling mixer, getting ready to whip up some pizza crust!

That's right woodchuck-chuckers, it's Ground Hog Day!

It's Ground Hog Day folks and it looks like Phil has predicted an early Spring, sounds wonderful to me! One of our silly traditions in February is that Jeff and I always, I mean always, watch the movie Ground Hog Day on February 2nd. It started when we were dating, I had never seen the movie before and so we had a date night on Feb. 2nd and watched it. Just like that a new tradition was started! Tonight I am making homemade creamy baked potato soup with some warm crusty french bread and a dessert recipe by Giada DeLaurentis. I am looking forward to snuggling on the couch with my hubby under our big down blanket, perfect way to spend this frigid Ground Hog Day!  The kiddos aren't left out on the fun of celebrating this Holiday, check out the cute snacks below.  I think I may be a little theme crazy, I don't know anyone who makes Ground Hog Day treats HA!

Kisses!

Love month

We love February around here! A delightfully short and sweet month! We have several silly traditions that we started way back when that help make this month even more enjoyable.

We are stuck inside with blizzard conditions outside, literally. It was just the four of us today and we kept the television viewing to a minimum, got our containers of glitter and glue out and worked on our valentine decorations. Jack and I enjoy crafting together and Josephine loved helping when she could also. She especially loved all the paper scraps and carrying around her own bottle of glue. I bet I will be finding glitter around my kitchen for weeks, but we made the most of our day home together!