New Year's Eve

Wishing everyone has a..........

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Tags

After talking to Carla on Facebook about the Christmas Journals we're doing, I was messing around wanting to scrap but not having the time to commit when I made these.

Christmas tags! (once again crappy dark pics--working on that!)

Made a vertical version too.....

Used my Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder, Hero Arts stamps, Marvy Uchida scallop square punch. Quick & easy!

What I've been up to today

It's New Year's Eve. Another year is over. Today it's been snowing throughout the day. It's been cold & windy---not my kind of weather at all! I've spent today messing around on the computer still in my pj's (the girls are too).

Just slacking when I should be working on my Christmas Journal. To be honest I was working on it a bit last night--so there! I've had so many thoughts go through my mind today but haven't gotten very far.

I've been trying to sign onto the CK website to make sure I can order my CK KOTM tomorrow but it's not accepting my log in attempts. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Now it's time for me to shower & get dressed for the day---I mean night!! LOL!!

Celebrate

Wish I was there..........

Everything in it's place....

Today I spent a good amount of time cleaning up the family room. Getting the girls to brings things up to their rooms made a dent in the mess. I re-organized the Den a bit to make room for Gianna's new dollhouse which freed up the family room even more. I got to vaccum the room & it looks CLEAN!! I can see the carpet again!! It feels good. Next week I plan on taking down the decorations. It's always been a tradition in my family to leave it up until after New Year.

I was hoping to spend the day scrapping but I realize now that I was aiming high.

Last night I messed around with the Christmas Journal but wasn't feeling the mojo. I ended up going to bed & staying up way too late (again) watching the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He is hysterical!! Don't even get me started on his accent!! I love Scottish, English, Irish accents!!

Another thing I got around to doing was updating the blog--in case you haven't noticed! Posted Christmas Day pics & pics from the fun-filled weekend we had. I am officially saying no to any future invites for the weekend after Christmas from now on. It was fun but not relaxing--know what I mean???

Monday well spent

Today me & the girls had plans with my friend Samantha & her kids to go out for lunch at Chili's. Since the Marissa & her daughter Ariel were in Kindergarten (they're BFF's) we've gotten together during the break for a playdate & to exchange presents.

This is where I should have pics.....


BUT I was in a rush & forgot my camera!

The kids had a great time & afterwards Marissa had some fun at their house.

Gianna & I went to Kohl's to do a little shopping & I scored some great deals on clothes. I got 2 tops for myself that were $2.40 each! Thanks to Gianna we even picked up some Hallmark ornaments that were 1/2 off. I'd say it was a good day.

Dominic's Christening

It's been a weekend of babies for us! Today we had a Christening for my cousin Angelo's baby boy, Dominic (sound Italian??). He and his wife Jennifer live in FL (LUCKY) & are Disney Fanatics like Joe & I.

Here I am happily getting my baby fix. Believe it or not this was the first time I've held a baby & not felt "the urge" to have another. Interesting..........

Here's the happy little family.
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While this weekend has been fun, I'm tired!!! I'm glad the girls are off from school this week...somewhat.

She's gonna be famous!

Wish I could dance like that! Saw this on another blog & thought it was adorable! (No this isn't either of my girls)

Sabrina's 1st Birthday

Today was my little girlfriend Sabrina's 1st birthday!! Her mom Patrizia & I have been friends since the 7th grade way back in 1987!! Still blows my mind that we're both married & have kids. She's now expecting baby #2!!

Anyway back to the birthday girl....
We went to her party & got to see her be the belle of the ball! She is just a happy baby!Here she is as the clown is painting Elmo on her hand.My girls will never pass up the opportunity to get their faces painted!! Marissa was a Butterfly...Gianna was "Ariel-the-Mermaid", that's how she says it.

Here's the birthday girl singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

She was mesmerized by the puppet's mouth & kept putting her hand in.

Happy family of 3, soon to be family of four come July.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY SABRINA!!!!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!!

Our morning came too early -- as it does with most parents who stay up late the night before putting toys together! Marissa was up first, followed by Gianna. The poor girls had to wait (sort of) patiently for me to get up but they knew they couldn't start un-wrapping without me so they took turns getting me up.

Here's Marissa checking out what Santa brought them.

While she was behind a pile of presents, Gianna took her pic in front of the pile of goodies.This is the only pic I have of the two of them (yeah it's crappy & dark & blurry but what do you expect when I haven't had any coffee & not enough sleep!!!! Besides my camera crapped out on me so I had to use my other camera which I'm not as familiar with)The first gift Marissa opened was from Santa--he brought her a Webkinz large version of her kitty Rose which is just what she wanted!!! Now she has the Mama & the baby kitty!Santa brought Gianna a pink puppy because he knows how much she loves pink!He also gave both girls a Santa suit for both Webkinz to wear. The girls got some movies they had wanted, Marissa got Barbie & the Rainbow Castle. Gianna got Barbie's Christmas DVD.We got Gianna a dollhouse for her Barbie's since we noticed how much she loves to play house with them. (Yeah no pic of her with her house) Joe stayed up till 3am putting this together & since I love him I kept him company, occasionally asking if her wanted help--which he refused. He was in his glory putting this together, using his power tools, (this is what Gianna heard when she thought she heard Santa!!)Marissa got an Easy Bake oven with extra mixes (yummmm--not) & a decorating kit to go with it. She was in heaven!!She may look like she likes all the clothes she got but there were comments made about not getting clothes for Christmas anymore. She just knew she had to pose for the camera!!The girls each got an apron with matching chef hat for when they cook with me. Marissa took this as a sign to get down to business & use her Easy Bake oven!

When the girls were done opening their gifts Joe & I got to open ours. He got a ton of new DVD's to watch, like The Dark Knight, Hancock, Wanted, Jumper, Two & a Half Men Season 4, Home Improvement Season 8, The Big Bang Theory Season 1, just to name a few. He was in Heaven!

I got the new printer I had wanted. Joe was secretly thrilled when I told him my old printer died since he still hadn't shopped for me much. He also finally got the hint that I wanted an ipod of some sort. I was very surprised when it was the ipod touch! He went overboard & got me Bose speakers to go with it--not that I'm complaining!! From the girls I got the Mamma Mia & Sex & the City DVD's. (yeah no pics of either of us opening our gifts)

After we opened all our gifts & did some clean-up we had breakfast, opened up some toys for the girls & played with our new things. Before we knew it we had to get ready to head up to my sister's house for Christmas dinner.

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My neice Destiny was there wearing one of the dresses we got her for Christmas--guess she liked it! Gianna looks up to her big cousin & was happy to take a pic with her. Just realized Destiny is the oldest grandchild (almost 13) & Gianna is the youngest (4 1/2)..... big difference!


Joe is one of the few adults who give my sister Chet's dog, Lorenzo any love. He knows to stay away from me--he bit both my girls (I hold a grudge) & we just tolerate each other.

When he was done hugging the dog I got Joe to cuddle with me. The closest pic we could get of all the cousins together--think they were all worn out from the night before posing for pics! Besides we couldn't threaten them with "You can't open your presents until we take a nice pic!" anymore. We had nothing to hang over their heads!

Marissa posed a bit......

I got completely lucky with this pic of Gianna--she would purposely close her eyes or cover her face--the stinker!Nikki showing her new Nintendo DS Santa brought her.Tyler was in the zone......Destiny smiled, she's getting older & realized we'll hold any weird pics as blackmail for future boyfriends!! Yes, yes we will!!My sister Chet (yeah another dark, blurry, crappy pic)My sister Marie & her family....someday we'll get my B-I-L Danny to pose nicely with his family--we hope. But that won't stop me from posting weird pics of him (he sometimes reads my blog--I've warned him not to make faces!!!!)Here we are towards the end of the night, Gianna was in her no-pic mode but I was determined to get a family pic!!

So that's our Christmas. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well!! Now, I'm hoping to re-claim my family room over the next few days--wish me luck!

New Toys!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE JOE!!

Christmas Eve Re-Cap

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. That it was everything they wished for & more. We start celebrating on Christmas Eve at my house. We all had a nice night playing (the kids), hanging out (my sisters & I), & watching movies (the guys).

We ate throughout the night. I serve buffet style since I like to keep it casual. And yes there was a ton of food!!Here is Marissa & my neice Nikki. They're BFF's since they were babies. I swear my sister & I DID NOT plan on dressing them alike!! We only found out after we got each other's Christmas cards! LOL!Here I am all white & patsy faced--I need to live somewhere warmer!! BTW--Marissa took this pic--not bad!The tree with everone's presents....We tried --oh Lord! how we tried!!-- to get the kids to pose pretty in front of the tree, but it didn't happen where everyone was looking or their eyes were closed--you know what I mean!! But when we told them to pose silly we got this. Cute.The closest I could get to my girls posing together.....Then we got this one where they were a bit more cooperative....except my nephew Tyler, who's the only boy in the house (not counting the husbands)....think he was tired of all the paparazzi! There were 3 cameras going off in their faces!!!Miss G being sassy.My sisters & I (I'm the one that wasn't holding my hands all sweet like--I'm a rebel!!)

Looking at this pic I'm thinking we should've tried the "Charlie's Angels" pose....LOL!!!After torturing the kids by making them WAIT to open their presents (we were actually waiting on my F-I-L to get here) we got them the kids in the living room & gave them their pile of presents.

Here's Tyler all ready to go....Gianna all set to tear into her pile.....Nikki & her doll "Angelina" are ready to get their presents open.Here's Marissa doing her "Vanna White" pose with her presents.One of her 1st presents was the HSM3 Soundtrack--needless to say she was THRILLED!!Gianna happy with the Hungry Caterpillar game...Marissa was estatic to get this game...Gianna got a doll to play tea party with her other doll so now she won't have to "borrow" her sister's American Girl doll while she's at school!!

After the chaos was over the adults exchanged gifts. We do a "Secret Santa" so our pile of presents was nothing compared to the kids!

Shortly afterwards everyone left. We gave the girls their Christmas jammies & then they put out cookies & milk for Santa.After the girls were in bed, Joe & I cleaned up everything & brought down our gifts for the morning craziness. Joe had to put together one of the girls gifts so I was bringing down all the wrapped presents, it wasn't quiet to say the least. That's when we heard Gianna say

"I hear Santa!"