Bring on 2010!!

It's been a great year. I feel like I've been on a whirlwind of sorts & can't get a handle on keeping my head from spinning off.

I'm happy to report that I've kept up with my Project 365 (in pics anyway, still behind on the journaling cards, but working on it!). Yeah I know I haven't shared the pics in awhile but it seemed too stressful to keep up with on the blog since there would be days & days where I didn't take pics & needed to catch up so I let it go. Just know that the album is full & I'm happy I did it. Yes in case you're wondering I did order Becky's new kit Project Life, just not doing it in the new year. Strange I know!

One of the best parts for me was not hosting Easter & being away for it. I usually host Easter, Thanksgiving & Christmas Eve so it was nice to take one off.
Marissa received her 1st Holy Communion. Seeing her dressed in her gown made me realize how fast time flies.

Joe & I celebrated our 10 year Anniversary. Hard to believe 10 years went that fast! Gianna graduated pre-school which was great. It'll be so nice to have the girls in one school.

We've gone on some great trips too. We visited Hershey Park which was cool. I mean c'mon you're surrounded by chocolate!! Then we went on a fantastic trip to Disney (yes again). Joe booked a really great trip & I like to consider it our Anniversary trip. Since school started in Sept., my days are broken up where I'm racing to school dropping off or picking up a kid every 2 1/2-3 hours. Kindergarten is just 2 1/2 hours so I don't get as much done as I'd like. Patiently waiting for 1st grade & full days.....

I'm also helping Joe out at work so that's been interesting. I go there (with Gianna) after we drop Marissa off at school, then we come home, feed G lunch & take her to school. That's when I do stuff around the house. It would be much nicer if Joe's shop was closer to home instead of 20 mins away (which he's working on moving closer to home). Don't get me wrong I'm complaining but I'm NOT. I really LOVE the extra time with Joe, but his office isn't big enough for both of us plus Gianna.

I think the end of the year has been the most hectic it's ever been. Which is why this happened to me. There was a lot to do that involved being at the school with the girls....

Building Gingerbread houses with Marissa's 3rd grade class.

Baking Gingerbread cookies with Gianna's Kindergarten class....
As well as being at both their class parties closer to Christmas. Are you tired? I was that day!! I played games with 24 3rd graders then ran to the opposite end of school to bring the Kindergarteners their treats (brownies) & play games with them. But the girls were both thrilled that I was there so it was worth it.

This year was the 1st time that I started Christmas shopping so late (Nov.) but once I started I really power shopped. The late start really threw me off but amazingly it all went off without too much craziness & I actually was in bed on Christmas Eve by 12:00 which is amazing for me!

So with that all said (and some not said) I'm ready for what 2010 brings.

Wishing everyone a safe & healthy

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning the girls were so excited to see all the presents under the tree. They know better than to dive in without pics first though!


The girls discovered "Zumbuddies" on the Webkinz website & couldn't stop talking about them, so Joe set off on a mission to find the pink one since that's the one the girls both wanted. Turns out the pink one is hard to come by & he had to order them online. CRAZY!!! But look how happy Gianna is when she opened hers....(sorry for the crappy pic but she doesn't sit still much!!)
Marissa loves the "Cooking Mama" series of Nintendo DS games & was excited to find this under the tree!
She was thrilled to open the "Mario Kart" game & wheels for the Wii but knows it's for both the girls (and a certain guy I know **wink**).When the girls were done opening their presents as happy as they were they were still looking for the "special" gift. And by "special" I mean they had been asking for ipods.

I like to mess with them so I didn't put those presents under the tree. Nope I waited to bring them out after they opened all their other gifts

Gianna got a pink shuffle, fully loaded with all her favorite music. Marissa wanted a pink nano & was lucky to get one. Look at that face--she was lit up more than the tree!!

Lots of pink under the tree this year. I even got the pink Slice I've been wanting! YAY!!! Sorry no pics!

Later on after the mess was cleared up & we all got dressed, we went to my sister Marie's house for dinner. The kids had a great time with their new goodies & the parents got to relax.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always celebrated at our house. We have the family over, which consists of my sisters & their families & Joe's Dad & his girlfriend. It's not a big crowd but you couldn't tell from all the noise! LOL!!

We exchange gifts from each other but first we make the kids wait for it. When we were growing up our Dad made us open all our presents on Christmas Eve at midnight (technically Christmas Morning.....plus he couldn't wait). So we turned it into tradition to do the same, only the kids can't make it to midnight so we wait until 9-ish...or we're sick of them begging.

Marissa would only let me take a pic if I got my sister's evil dog Lorenzo in the shot. I call him evil because he's bitten her several times but she loves him anyway. Gianna would smile but good luck catching her to pose...she would not stand still the entire night!!

Me & my girls, all dressed in red.

Chaos as they open presents!!
Gianna's favorite gift from her grandpa, a Strawberry Shortcake dollhouse. Smells like strawberries too! Yum!!
The girls leaving cookies & milk for Santa....and carrots for the reindeer!! They know to cover all their bases to make sure they get the goods! LOL!

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing everyone a very Mery Christmas!

Hoping you've all been good so Santa brings you lots of goodies!! ;)

Favorite Christmas Decorations

Just sharing some of my favorite Christmas decorations. (can you tell I have nothing crafty to share?)

My fireplace mantle next to the tree is totally made over at Christmastime. Yep it's all Disney!! Still love my button trees! They make me happy looking at them knowing that I made them. These 3 are my favorite but I have a few more scattered around the house, you can see more here.

I got this sign at Michael's a few years ago. Love the huge bells on it.....

A corner in my family room....yep more Disney but see that tree with the bears? That used to belong to Joe's mom. He gave it to her years ago.....she passed away long before I came along & never got to meet her. A year or two after we lived together Joe gave it to me for Christmas and it means so much to me! Think I smell a LO in the making there.......hmmmm........

Another Michael's find. I'm a sucker for snowmen & thought this would be fun for the girls to switch off on since we have another one & they fight over it.

Love this mailbox!! The door opens & the girls love to write letters to Santa & stuff them inside.....and in case you're wondering...it's from Michael's!! LOL!!

As I write this I realize I should use this for a LO....something to do next week......

Annual Gingerbread House

I don't remember the first year we made a gingerbread house but ever since our first one it's been a tradition. The first few years it was just the girls & I & we would pick a night to do it when Joe would be at his company Christmas party.

Somehow, Joe got the bug to do it with us the last few years. Something to do with the roof....he makes sure the shingles are "code". One year he did one side of the roof while I did the other & he kept mocking mine. It gets competitive.

This year I let him have the roof to himself. But now the girls were getting competitive!! Marissa & Joe were doing the back of the house while Gianna & I were doing the front. I tried keeping things even between them before it got ugly.

Here are the girls with the finished house. They were so proud of themselves.

Gianna's "front" of the house Marissa at the "back" of the house....

I'm thinking of turning this into an album somehow, got some ideas kicking around. Haven't had time (or space on my desk) to scrap lately. Not happy about lack of creative time {aka "me time"}, but I know next week with the girls home from school I can finally relax & scrap!!

Annual Family Christmas Party

Every year my family gets together for Christmas. Since some of the cousins are spread out there have been years where we don't get together until Jan or even Feb (1 yr). This year there were just a few of us missing but we made it work.

Getting the kids together for pics can be brutal. We tell them if they don't cooperate they don't open their presents--sounds simple right? HA!! Out of 8 cousins (there's actually 12 of us on my Dad's side), 4 of us were there with our kids. There was a 10 yr old, 3 eight year olds, a six yr old, 2 five yr olds & a four yr old.....that's crazy enough!!

The 3 crazy eight year olds.2 of the 8 year olds....
Ready to rip open their presents....

The 5 year olds.....
Gianna scored "pix-os". She was thrilled. Mommy was not (think small tiny little balls bouncing all over the house) but I'm making the most of it.

Marissa scored a pretty this purse & matching wallet, a necklace & lip gloss. She's in full blown "tween" mode!!
The cousins. My sister Maria, my cousin Carmela & her sister Maria & me. Yes they are both Maria's. Believe it or not on my Dad's side there are 6 Maria's!! It was real fun at family get togethers figuring out which Maria the parents were calling.
After we took this pic we bolted out. The snow was coming down non stop & we wanted to get home while we could. Somehow I had the honor of driving home. I haven't driven in that kind of weather in ages! By the time I got home my stomach was in knots from being tense the whole ride home but the girls were happy & we got to relax the rest of the night.

Blogger Birthday

Just wanted to wish my girl Susan a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Never met her before except through the scrapping/blogging world but know that if we lived closer we'd be hanging out constantly! So head over to her blog & send her some birthday love!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSAN!!

Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!!!

On a totally different note from my last post, I spent the weekend baking Christmas cookies. I baked the majority of the cookies on Saturday but got a late start so I had to finish up on Sunday. I knew I couldn't get them done during the week with school & activities so I was on a mission.

I've made 5 varieties of cookies:

Chocolate Chip
Snowballs
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut w/ Coconut
Red Spritz
Green Spritz

The girls had a blast "helping" me {aka-fighting over who was licking the spoon}, but amazingly enough this year Marissa really was more helpful!! She knows how I do things & was able to keep things moving.

The house is smelling sooooo good right now. But ya know what's the kicker??

We're out of milk. **sigh**

Not 1,not 2, but THREE times!!!

I have been pretty much stressed since before Thanksgiving. Since Thanksgiving though my stress levels have gone through the roof.

A few days ago I realized I was late.

Not for work.

Not for school.

A week late.

Ya know......{whispers}...... for "my friend"!!

GASP!! GASP!! GASP!!

Tell me about it!!

This made me MORE stressed! And FREAKED OUT!!!

I am done with the 2 beautiful, healthy kids I have. I am over getting up every 2 hrs. I am through changing diapers.

And yes I did think of the blessing that a new baby would be.....for someone else -- I'm DONE!!!
(not that I wouldn't love a baby BUT......KWIM???)

So yesterday I broke down & got a 2pk pregnancy test. I had to know. It's been awhile since I bought one of these so I chose this one thinking "it's easy". I mean c'mon, it says so right on the package.

Well I went & used the 1st stick....waited the 5 minutes, and got.........an error message. Crap!

So before going to bed I decided to give it another try. I had to know!!!

Know what happened?

I got an error message!! I swear someone's messing with me!!

So this morning on the way to work I stopped by Target & picked up a 3 pack of the kind I used way back when. Yes a 3 pack, cause I wasn't taking any chances.

I waited to do the test until I dropped Gianna off at school, then I got down to business. Within seconds I saw some activity.....................and finally got my results................1 simple line. Know what that means??

I'm just STRESSED!!

WHEW!! I called Joe & told him I am a lunatic & that I passed my test--finally! It only took 3 stinkin' times!!

ETA: In case you're not familiar with pregnancy tests, 1 line means you're NOT pregnant. So there are NO maternity clothes in my future!!

Birthday Shout-out

Thirty-one years ago this chick was born... Wishing my baby sister a wonderful year of happiness! Love her to pieces!

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY CHET!!!

Saturday Get Together

Every year my sister's & I get together for Christmas with our friend Carolee. Most years we get together during winter break....this year we managed to kill 2 birds with one stone and also celebrated my sister Chet's birthday.


We had cake for Chet, I gave a "lesson" on camera settings to Carolee, the guys watched a movie & the kids ran around.

Here's Chet with all her neices & nephews...

The funny part about tonight? It started out as a "girls night" & we were trying to do this since November!! Anytime we get together is a great time....we just have to plan it months in advance!

3rd Grade Gingerbread Houses

Every year at Marissa's school the third grade makes Gingerbread Houses. I'm not sure who was more excited about this me or Marissa!

We went out last week to buy assorted candies & I had to make the frosting, while the teacher supplied the "gingerbread" (graham crackers). We were given instructions on how to build it & got busy. We had to wait 5 mins in between adding the next wall so we goofed around playing "thumb wars" & taking pics.

Once the house passed inspection, we went to town! We both love this sort of thing, where there's no wrong way of doing things & no grading, just FUN!! When we were done our hands were sticky, the floor was a mess & we made a SWEET house...not to mention a wonderful memory!!

Notice the mess.....

Close up of our masterpiece...

All 3 third grade classes have their work displayed--that's A LOT of SUGAR!!! Here's Marissa posing with her work of art!