Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Surprised!

I had a birthday last week. It was a great day. I went to lunch with one of my bestest girlfriends and Jeff brought home a yummy Red Velvet Ice Cream Cake. Jeff gave me a gift card and assured my big present was on its way. Since I had class that night, we made plans to go out to dinner on Friday. The girls told me that their gift to me was going to help keep the house clean--what more could a woman want than that?!

So Friday night we went to a yummy dinner with the kids. When we came home, I unlocked the door and as I set my purse down, I noticed that my house smelled like perfume. I glanced over into the family room and noticed that there were a bunch of people sitting in my house!! I was a still confused as my friends yelled "SURPRISE!"
Jeff had enlisted the help of Tarja and arranged a party complete with cake, games and some of my dearest friends. To show them how much I love them, I'm not posting the horribly unflattering photos of them that were taken during a game :)
It was such a fun evening and I felt so blessed to have such great people in my life.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Mobile!!

Lucas decided it was time to get around, so he's begun crawling. He hadn't had given it much effort until he was up at Grandma Moody's house--maybe it was the carpeting instead of wood floors that he liked. But I love his little army crawl--he reminds me of the plastic soldiers on Toy Story.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Apples to Apples

Since it was the end of the apple season, my sister Sara and I took the kids to Oak Glen and we bought LOTS of apples this last weekend. It was absolutely pouring but we decided to take the tour of the packing plant that one of the farms offered. It was interesting to see the antique cider press they still use to make cider and 100 year old barn where they pack their apples. The girls even got to taste, sort and learn about some of the different heirloom apples.


The next day was a canning extravaganza and my mom, brother Mike, sister-in-law Kara, Sara, me and the girls peeled, cut and jarred 69 cans of apple pie filling. It was a lot of work to do that many, but it was rewarding to see all those jars filled with apples.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Family Pictures

I can't remember the last time we had a family photo done (without being in some sort of a costume) so it was time.

Lucas was so interested in the ocean it was hard to get him to look away.




This was NOT photoshopped. The photographer was adjusting her lens and captured this.
It's creepy and hilarious at the same time.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Haloween 2010

This year I was back in the swing of things and decided it was time for a Magical theme.


For the occasion, I turned my little prince into a toad.


We carved pumpkins, went to the annual Trunk or Treat--where Jeff won the Chili Cookoff!! Cara had her first Chili entry and she's already planning what she's going to cook next year.

On Halloween, we did something a little different. We carved our pumpkins, passed out candy, baked and delivered treats to a few friends. Jeff has also decided in the last couple years that he wants to take over decorating for Halloween. He's vetoed my "cute" decorations and has brought out the creepy things. He made a zombie (which we've named Bernie) and he set up the piano, with a skeleton playing creepy music so the trick or treaters can see it in the front window.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween--A Retrospective

It all started 9 years ago. For Cara's first Halloween, I thought it would be fun to dress as a family. This little number that I dressed Jeff in (combined with next years' gettup) started a tradition and I've been sewing every October since.
2001: Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell
2002: Monster's Inc.: Sulley, Boo, Mike and Roz


2003: The Ladies of Chicago


2004: Pirate and his wenches

2005: Witches of OZ

2006: "Knights"

2007:Classic Monsters


2008: Cowboys and Indians


2009: Fairies
Stay tuned for 2010...























































Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A Big Day for My Little Girl


Natalie chose to be baptized last Saturday.
It was a big day for her with lots of friends and family to support her. She was baptized by her daddy.

She wore the same dress that her Grandma Moody, Mom, and sister Cara all wore.
Afterwards, we had lots of yummy cupcakes.

As I did with Cara, I put together a little video recapping some big moments for her thus far.