Goodbye 2010 / Hello 2011

Wishing you all a wonderful 2011! I am always excited for the New Year to finally come! I love the beginning of new things. I guess the very same reason I LOVE Mondays! It has been quite a year for our family and we have so much to be grateful for. Thinking back we had some really rough patches at times but I am amazed at how blissful life feels at the moment and feel as though we came out on top! I love my family more than words can express. I am so very thankful everyday to have been blessed with the family I have. I couldn't ask for a better husband, cuter kids, more giving/caring parents, loving grandparents, awesome siblings (when they aren't teasing me of course) aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I have great in-laws and sister-in-laws that I adore. I have amazing family all around me in every direction I turn. They all enrich my life and add so much value in so many ways! I am so thankful. I will never have all the money in the world but I sure feel as though I am the wealthiest because of the family I have. And I have no urge to ever buy a lottery ticket because I already feel as though I won the lottery long ago! This year we received a Christmas card from a family member and inside the card it wrote "love is the only thing we have to give!"

I've thought about that a lot and realized, love is the greastest gift anyone could ever receive. Isn't that truly the only thing any of us really want at the end of the day? If love is all you have to give, then you are doing great....and if love is all you receive, well, then you are doing great too!

Give more love! I know I need to. May 2011 bring you love, happiness and health!

New Year's Eve 2010

Emma's special day!

My baby girl turned 7....WOW! Seven.

Here's a few highlights of the pajama party:

pizza/breadsticks

Ramona and Beezus....my favorite movie!

popcorn/treats

opening presents

cupcakes...made by grandma

jumping around screaming girl style (my ears are still ringing)

It was a successful girlie party! Fun times!

I just love my miss Emma more than the world!

Happy 7th!

My awesome husband had a birthday too however I won't declare how old he is! He's the best husband ever and I am so thankful he's mine and can't imagine my world without him either! For his birthday he and Fischer spent the evening going to dinner and then to the Jazz game on row 22! Then the next night just me and him had a yummy dinner at Christopher's Steak and Seafood!

Life is sweet!

So behind...

I feel so behind in my blog the last couple months. I often want to blog but then I am not sure where to even begin. Before I know it days have gone by, weeks, and then a month has gone in the blink of an eye! But I need to start somewhere I suppose.

Anyways, my cute sister-in-law Liz is having a baby in a few short weeks and she had a baby shower today at Mimi's Cafe. I decided to make her a baby cake! This is the second one I have made and they are so much fun...and easy too!

I'm so excited for her! It will be so much fun to have a new little bundle of joy in the family! Especially a girl since we have lots of boys! So here is a cute picture of the mom-to-be (I stole from her blog!)

Oh, and I had to get cute little Runbi in there too!

Life is good!

I'm having an affair

Yes, it's true. In fact, today marks one month since this relationship started. I wasn't looking to get "so involved" in something like this, however, I woke up one day and realized that my body needed some "attention" and that it deserved some attention. Don't get me wrong, my husband doesn't "neglect" me but c'mon we've been married for almost 16 years and I've given birth to FIVE of his children. He just couldn't give my body the kind of attention it needed. So I looked elsewhere.

 I won't get into the dirty details but I will tell you that it was not love at first sight. I was nervous but took it slow and cautious and before I knew it, our relationship was moving to a whole new level each and every day. It was moving faster and faster and lasting longer and longer every time we met up! I'm starting to feel as though this is not just a fling but very possibly turning into a long term commitment/relationship/partnership/love affair! Oh how I am loving it, who knew? I will be honest and say that it was interfering with my marriage in the beginning because my new found love affair was taking place in the late evenings. We meet in the basement every single night, I know crazy, huh? However, I switched things up a bit and most days meet up with my partner during NAP TIME! It's perfect really. I have more energy during the afternoon, my older kids are at school, baby is sleeping, no one can interrupt and I even still have some extra energy and steam left at the end of the day for husband!

I feel so much happier at the moment! I have always loved my life but this just seems to be what I was lacking and really needed at this particular time. I think that very soon I may even take this relationship out into the world and be seen in public......just maybe. All I know is that I should have gotten involved many years ago! Thank goodness it's never too late!

Life is sweet!

18 months old!

(click to enlarge)

My baby is officially 18 months old which means one very exciting thing......NURSERY~ ! Oh happy day!

Crew is such a BUSY little boy but so much fun! We just love him so much and it has been such a cool thing, really, to have a little one in our family! I know all boys are BUSY, naturally, but Crew seems to be over-the-top-busy! I cannot keep up with him!~ I have always loved this quote:

"With little boys, you always know where you stand....right in the middle of a hurricane!"

It is so true! Just today I mopped my kitchen floor and was for one minute standing to admire my sparkly kitchen only to walk up the stairs to discover that a hurricane had hit every single room! About 10 different games had been pulled out and scattered throughout the entire upstairs. Little teeny tiny pieces ALL OVER! Lots and lots of playing cards ALL OVER. Several different packs of flashcards ALL OVER. You get the picture! It was obvious that Hurricane Crew had hit hard!

Here are some Crew facts I want to jot down for memory keeping:

*Crew is not only a daddy's boy but he is obsessed with his dad  - when dad is home no one else even exists (weekends are kind of nice for mom)

*his favorite place to be is outside exploring and roaming around

*he doesn't talk very much (ok, not at all) except DAD of course

(he actually can say mom, done, night night)

*he is a climber

*he gets so excited when he wakes up from his nap and we go pick up the kids from school

*he understands anything and everything, just try it if you don't believe me!

*he's an awesome eater- loves fruit, all kinds of meat, waffles, even spicy mexican food

*yes he still takes a bottle before bed....my fault

*has the absolute cutest run I have ever seen, it just makes me laugh and smile (one of these days I'll get it on video)

*his favorite treats or dum dum suckers

*when you ask him something he will shake his head yes or no...it's so cute when he shakes his head yes....just ask Grandma!

*when he gets really cranky it's usually because he is very thirsty, he'll chug and chug water and then be happy again

*loves to collect rocks around the house and tries to bring them inside even in the tub for bath time,

*he just started throwing everything

*loves to be tickled

*loves dogs

*he loves to ride skateboards, he just lays on his belly and pushes himself all around

*loves to be chased around

Even though he can be such a stinker at times, I just love this age. Every day is a new discovery and they learn so fast it's amazing. We are so blessed to have him in our family!

Life is sweet!

The soon to be's....

I'm just working on a project and thought I'd post some pictures of my little brother Jordan and his girlfriend Meghan. They are FINALLY getting married October 7th! And when I say FINALLY.... I mean ****FINALLY***! I mean it's only been like 15 years (ok, maybe only like 8 freakin' years!) Aren't they a cute couple though! Love them!

Life is sweet!

A homemade BIRTHDAY present...

So Emma has a birthday party to attend in a few minutes and I decided to take some pictures of what she is giving! We (I) decided to make everything this time and Emma was VERY happy about it too! I was worried that she would want to go to the store and pick out a dumb toy but she was on board the minute I told her what ideas I had! Here are the finished projects:

A cute little bracelet!

A fun headband with rosetts!

A yellow single hair clip!

And of course we decided to go ahead and make our own mini gift bag!

Hope her little friend likes it!