Happy Birthday DAD

Believe it or not, my parents bdays are only 5 days apart...and they're the same age (although my Dad will remind you that he's younger!!!). So now it's my Dad's turn to celebrate another year of life.

Although my parents have been separated since I was 3 and divorced since I was 6, my Dad has always been a HUGE part of my life. He gave me a baby sister when I was 8 years old

Me, my Dad & my "baby" sister Jenn

and later brought Lisa into my life (an amazing stepmom) along with her son Jeremy who is now like a brother to me. Like most dad's, he's a strong and loving man with a passion for success. He's a hard worker and a devoted family man. Growing up, some of my fondest memories are spending weekends with him at the racetrack watching him race. I also remember, and treasure, the time we spent with his brothers, parents and extended family on a regular basis. My cousins became like brothers to me and we had such good times eating crabs in the summer and spending Christmas together.

When I was in highschool he "adopted" my best friend Laurie after her mom died and helped her (and I) through some difficult times. If it wasn't for him, Laurie & I wouldn't be friends today!! He's always been there for me when I need advice and has often made me realize things that I wasn't seeing on my own. He taught me to drive a stick shift and was there in the hospital the day I was in a car wreck (b/c my mom was on a dinner cruise). He's tough, but he's tender and as I've grown and had kids of my own, he's become an incredible friend.

He moved to FL when I was 21 and I was crushed! In the end, it was the best move he made and he's been happier ever since. He's a fantastic Pop Pop and my kids enjoy spending time with him & Lisa whenever they can.

Pop Pop & Lisa with Alyssa, McKenna & Brennan

Happy Birthday Dad - WE love you!

Happy Birthday MOM

(I actually wrote this post on January 3rd in anticipation of her bday on Jan. 6th, but completely forgot to post it! Better late than never I guess.)

Tuesday was my mom's birthday and I thought I'd take a minute to talk about what a wonderfully amazing mom and woman she is!! She is my best friend and I'm not sure what I would do without her. She's always there when I need her whether it's just to listen, lend a hand or tell me that everything will be ok. Her entire life has been devoted to me and her friends and she's always the first one willing to pitch in and give a helping hand. She's the most soft-hearted, kind person I know and I hope and pray that when my daughters (and son too!) are grown they have the same relationship with me that I have with my mom. No doubt about it, shopping is our favorite thing to do together, but we also find time to support each other at the gym, go out to eat, attend Redskins games and spend time with my kids. She's a dedicated volunteer (who sometimes doesn't know how to say NO!), a devoted friend and a woman with a huge heart. Anyone who meets her likes her.

My mom and I on Christmas Day

Maw-Maw - as she's known to my kids - is AMAZING. She's the best grandma a child could ask for and my kids adore her. She's always there to see them play sports, sing at school or help us shutle them around as needed. She loves spending time with them and certainly does a great job at spoiling them - hey that's what Maw-Maw's are for right?!! I strive to teach my kids many of the same lessons she taught me and I can only hope that my kids turn out like I did!!! I know -that sounds conceited - but seriously I could've been way worse!

Maw Maw Linda with Alyssa, McKenna & Brennan

Happy Birthday Mom - you're the best and I love you with all my heart.

Merry Christmas

Well....the cookies are in place, the gifts are wrapped and my kids are tucked in bed waiting for the man in the big red suit (aka SANTA) to come. They're soooo excited...especially Brennan. I'm hoping they'll sleep till at least 7:30 - that's early for them - or else the rest of the day will be filled with whiny, sleepy children!! I can't wait to see their faces in the morning and I hope they're happy with everything they're going to get.

From our family to yours, I hope everyone has a healthy, happy and safe holiday season. I will post pics from Christmas Day as soon as I can - we're going to be super busy with family over the next week so I will have lots of photos to share.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Holiday Fun!

The day started off with David & I tackling the (dreaded) basement!! That's basically the kids "space" and neither of us go down there very often. Well it was that time of year again...cleaning out the basement and getting rid of toys that they don't use anymore. Every year my mom's volunteer organization holds a "Christmas Store" where people like me donate toys and then next Tuesday the needy can come in and "shop" without paying. They take new and gently used toys that still have all the parts and are in working order. This year I said I was REALLY going to gut their toy boxes and boy did I!! Surprisingly enough, they were really good about it. So we went from 2 stuffed toy boxes to 2 that aren't even 1/2 way full now. It felt so good to declutter. While I was doing that, David was dusting, vacuuming, cleaning out the bathroom closet and getting all those yucky cobwebs out of the corners. We now have one clean and organized basement that's ready for Santa to arrive! After that I still had more energy, so I headed upstairs and cleaned the kids rooms and David followed by vacuuming the entire upstairs. I did our bathroom, cleaned our linen closet and then helped David make another batch of chocolate chip cookies. Whew I am tired! So I'm sure by now you're wondering why I titled this post Holiday Fun?!! After dinner, as promised, I helped the kids make a gingerbread house. Each morning we put our neighbor's daughter on the bus so as a thank you she gave us the gingerbread house kit. We had a good time and they worked really well together. The girls did one side and Brennan did the other....and I of course took photos....see below! This is where the holiday fun came in and now I am relaxing and watching Saturday night football. Go RAVENS!

Ready to decorate - such concentration!

Brennan's working hard on his side

Almost done...

The finished product....great job!

It's the beginning of our holiday week and tons of holiday fun -I can't wait to see their little faces next Thursday :-)

Breakfast with Santa & the weekend

On Saturday, the kids school hosted Breakfast with Santa.

Ready to go!

Of course Santa was there handing out pictures and books and they had crafts for the kids to do, wreaths that each class had made that you could bid on and coloring stations. Alyssa & Brennan chose to do the same 2 crafts - making a wooden snowman measuring stick and doing a letter to Santa ornament. McKenna picked the beaded snowman pin and the gingerbread house picture frame.

Brennan & Alyssa with their snow measuring sticks

McKenna with her beaded snowman pin

McKenna, Megan & Alyssa with Santa

Brennan with Santa

After they finished their crafts and got their picture taken with Santa my mom picked them up for the night. She joined my MIL, niece Alexis and my SIL with niece Megan & nephew Trevor at the Swim with Santa event. Yes, Santa is swimming and they take underwater photos with the kids. For those that don't want underwater - like McKenna & Brennan - they do photos of them sitting in a chair inside the pool. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics to share of this event, but they had a BLAST!!! Next year I have to go to this, but this year David & I were finishing our shopping and enjoying a belated anniversary dinner. We had a great day and we think we are done shopping - think being the key word :-)

Today, David and I embarked on a bake-a-thon!!! We made chocolate chip cookies, pecan snowball cookies, double chocolate chip toffee cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter balls and english toffee.

Alyssa helping me make cookies

Everything, but the toffee turned out ok - David tried twice, but both batches made it to the trash. All we have left are peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses and then we'll be done! These are for us as well as the kids teachers, bus driver and our trash men. I'm baked out....'tis the season!

Huntin' Buddy?

Saturday was Alyssa's turn to try deer hunting with David...it wasn't nearly as successful as his day with McKenna :-) We both knew the chances of her really liking it were slim, but thought we needed to let her decide for herself. Well she has NO intentions going again!!! It was extremely cold yesterday - I mean VERY cold - and she was frozen by the time they got back. Her poor little cheeks and nose were so red and her hands were like ice cubes. David said she tried to think of every excuse she could to come back early and all he kept saying was "she is definitely YOUR daughter! She is sooo you!" Nothing wrong with that right?!!

They didn't see any deer - just squirrels - and she was more than happy when it was time to head home. Here's a pic of her & David before they left...she looks happy here!

Brennan's turn is next...if he decides he wants to go still. He changes his mind a lot. He's supposed to go Tuesday - it's early dismissal day - so we'll see what he decides. For now, the only kid who qualifies as a "huntin' buddy" is McKenna!

Thanksgiving Weekend Highlights

I'm a little late in getting this post up, but I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We had a nice, relaxing day surrounded by our family and tasty food! David's cousin hosted and was sweet enough to invite my mom so she wasn't alone on T'giving Day. I truly appreciated her hospitality! Just like everyone else, we had a HUGE spread of food followed by lots of yummy desserts. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and even spent some time outside playing baseball. Here are a few pics from our day.

McKenna, Megan, Alexis & Alyssa

Trevor & Brennan

On Friday my mom and I braved the crowds and went shopping. It actually wasn't that bad - crowded yes - but we didn't find a bunch of rude people. We did find several good deals and I was happy to get some Cmas shopping accomplished. Back at home, David managed to get 2 of our 3 Cmas trees up so I could decorate on Saturday.

Saturday was McKenna's big day! That afternoon David took her deer hunting and although they didn't get anything, she had a BLAST!!

Her little nose and fingers were soooo cold when they got back that night, but she really enjoyed her time in the woods. Up next - Alyssa - this outta be interesting :-) I'll let you know how that turns out after this weekend.

While they were gone, I got both trees decorated with Alyssa & Brennan's help and started putting out the rest of our decorations. I'm still not done yet! The girls stayed at Maw Maw Barbara's Sat. night so David & I took Brennan to Carvel for ice cream and then we had popcorn and watched Fred Klaus. He had fun spending alone time with us!

Sunday I went to the RAINY Redskins game - which they lost - but I did get to take part in the Sean Taylor memorial celebration which was touching and beautiful.

All in all it was a great weekend....now I have to focus on finishing my shopping and getting ready for December 25th!