Be My Valentine

Pink and red hearts just make me smile.  And you know, practically anything can be made into a heart!

Hearts everywhere...

This Valentines day, instead of TJ and I going out to dinner alone, we made a fabulous meal together with the kids...with a twist.  We've done this a couple of times now, where TJ and I team up with either Thomas or Annie.  One group has the challenge of making the appetizer while the other gets to do the dessert.  The first time we did it the challenge, the rule was you could only use ingredients that we already had in the pantry or fridge, and it had to be relatively healthy!  The kids had so much fun making their food and even made up sheets so the other group could score the dish.  It was judged on presentation, taste, and how good it was for you.

Tonight, when we teamed up, Thomas and I had dessert while Annie and TJ made the appetizer.  TJ and Annie served Gouda cheese on top of crackers and tried to shape them into a heart on the platter!  Thomas and I made my new favorite dessert.  They also helped TJ make salmon and tuna steak on rice.  It was a lovely Valentines meal.  We're mastering the art of taking ordinary circumstances... dinner at home with five kids, and making it a bit more extraordinary!

Beautiful flowers from TJ!  Thank you, honey!

New Year's Eve 2011

Another year has come to an end.  How incredibly fast the years seem to be flying by.  We spent another new year's eve with our dear friends the Vaceks.  We have so much fun whenever we are with them and our children play so well together.  This year we decided to make some appetizers for dinner instead of a meal.  Craig made an amazing and very pretty ahi tuna sushi.  Oh my.  And being the kind person that he is, he even made some a little more...well done...for me!  They were outstanding!

I've had multiple people say to me it looks like you swallowed a basketball...during this pregnancy!  It's such a funny and rather strange comment to hear, but honestly, doesn't it look like there is a round, orange basketball nestled right in there?

Last year, as we sat around waiting for the new year, Craig commented on how he has wanted to make a new year's toast from their balcony.  This year, he did it.

The girls provided us with our own confetti drop from the balcony.  They spent a good chunk of time tearing up paper to dump on us!

We stayed until 12:30 and surprisingly, the kids were excellent.  Evelyn and Clare went to bed, but the rest of the crew stayed up and were going strong!  So I was thrilled when everyone slept in in the morning!  I was able to get up and set the table and make breakfast and have some quiet time to pray the rosary to start off a new year.

We have begun a tradition in our home over the last three years.  It's a memory box that throughout the year, I stash away notes, pictures the kids have drawn, sports tickets, trinkets, thank you cards...anything that I know I don't want to throw away, but don't know where else to put goes into the box.  No one sees it all year long.  So then on New Year's Day, after brunch, we open up the box and dig through all the treasures we forgot about throughout the year.  I also print off pictures throughout the year and stick them in as well. 

We always have a pineapple as part of our New Year's brunch.  Don't know how or why that got started, but they look forward to it.  Some of my most favorite traditions are ones that I have no idea how they got started! 

I wanted to make scrambled eggs and ham for brunch and since the house was quiet and we were in no rush, I decided to make the eggs what we call the slow way.  You cook the eggs on low heat while stirring and stirring away.  It takes forever!   It was, however,  the perfect amount of time to pray the rosary while standing at the stove.

I found really cheap calenders at the store and thought they would be perfect for the kids to write down important dates throughout the year, hang them by their beds, and cross off days.  I LOVE to sit down in front of a brand spanking new calender and begin to fill in birthdays, feast days, holidays, no school days, ect. 

Looking back is always fun. With great anticipation I'm looking ahead.   And being present in the moment is so important as life is flying by. 

Thank you dear Lord for another year of life.  Welcome 2012! 

Merry Christmas

What a merry Christmas this year was!  All the preparations and advent traditions are now done, and now it is time to celebrate Christmas for twelve more days!!

We always go to Christmas Eve Mass, then over to the Casadys for a fabulous lasagna dinner and present opening.  The kids look so forward to this part!

It 's funny to me that TJ has sat in that same chair EVERY Christmas that I've known him.  Those aren't his glasses in case you're wondering!

Bev wearing her new Christmas eve jammies.  Every year I get the kids a new warm pair of jammies that they get to open on the way to grammy's house.

Christmas morning at our house.  I was shocked when Thomas was the first one to wake us up and it was already 6:40.  I was preparing for a much earlier start time!

Please excuse this picture of me and my darling bed head....but my lovely family got me my very own Bob and Jillian workout video with a kettle bell.  I really do love the Biggest Loser.  I can't help it.

Christmas morning at my parents house.  Dad is usually Santa and hands out our presents.  Mom makes a wonderful brunch.  And now we get to Skype with Megan who just moved to Nicaragua.  It's unbelievable to me that we can instantly see where she is living, and the ocean that is thousands of miles away.  We missed having her here, but was enjoying her Christmas morning of 80 degrees.  

Our new cousin Dominic's first Christmas

And I get the bonus gift this year...our new baby.  The anticipation of meeting him so soon is all I pretty much think about.  I hope you all have a wonderful and merry Christmas!