1st Birthday Party

On the Saturday before Christmas, which was Evan's actual birthday, we had Madelyn's party. I was up most of the night before baking!!

Here are the pink cupcakes fresh out of the oven:

Which I then frosted with chocolate frosting...



Pink number "1" cookies...

I also made heart shaped ones...

And a 6 layer chocolate cake with pink frosting.

It was all quite delicious, if I do say so myself. Though Betty Crocker had a lot to do with it... (except for the cookies - they were from scratch!)

Here's Maddy enjoying a mini cupcake:

Nuzzling with Uncle Doug:

Exploring the Christmas tree with Aunt Jeannine:

Hanging with Auntie Leah:

Chillin' with Granddad and Aunties Mae-Beth and Amy:

Entertaining Fammy, Aunt Ashley, and Uncle Richard:



And opening presents!!!!!

I forgot to take pictures of the minimal decorating I did, but I did take a picture of the princess's high chair decked out for the occasion:

It was a lovely party, and we were so happy that everyone could be here to celebrate with us. Hard to believe she is one already!! She is walking with more confidence now too, so I'll post some video of that soon.

But for now, a couple of adorable parting shots:

Ack!!! I just want to eat her with a spoon!!

Happy Christmas to all....

Another year is coming to a close, so hard to believe. 2010 has been such a flash! I have been a stay-at-home mom for a year! I have been the mother of 3 for a year! Where is the time going?



It's been a very busy December, and I will soon be doing a post about Madelyn's birthday party from last weekend, but today is Christmas!!



The festivities began yesterday afternoon at Fammy and Granddad's house. First was dinner. I didn't take a shot of Fammy's beautiful table, but did get a shot of the kid's table - here they all are tucking into their macaroni and cheese:

Such a shame they aren't mature enough to have enjoyed the minestrone soup and chicken cacciatori that Fammy prepared for the adults!!!


Here's Daddy with his princess:

Let's flashback, shall we, to what Maddy looked like last Christmas:

Here the boys are being occupied with a movie while we finished up dinner!!

Then it was time for presents!!!

Lots of great stuff - as usual!!

Then it was time to head home and prepare for Santa's arrival.....

We set out a plate with carrots for the reindeer and cookies and blueberries for Santa. Can't explain the blueberries, but Tyler insisted that we put some out. And of course a glass of milk. And the bucket? Full of water for thirsty reindeer!

This is the "before" picture:

And this is the "after":

And here is all the booty that "Santa" left for us, including a new train...

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Here are the boys making all their discoveries this morning:

For Christmas breakfast, I decided to make pancakes. I had this great idea to use the Xmas cookie cutters to make pancakes! How fun it would be to have pancakes shaped like trees and snowmen and sleighs and candy canes......

Wonderful idea, but it didn't work. If I pulled the cookie cutters off too soon, the batter spread into a blob. If I waited too long, it wouldn't come off at all. So we ended up with regular, round pancakes instead. Luckily, I didn't tell the boys they were getting special shapes, so they weren't disappointed!

(I realize now that a smarter cook would have made the regular pancakes and THEN used the cookie cutters to cut out shapes....!!!)

After breakfast, it was time for PRESENTS!!!!!

Pillow pets!!

(ok, how much do you LOVE these pink leopard print jammies?!?!)

So many trucks, and cars, and books, and dinosaurs, and soccer balls, and laptops, and bath toys, and Tickle Me Elmo's, and more cars and more trucks! The children made out quite well.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out at home - the kids (and daddy!) had lots of fun playing with all their new toys. Although, all daddy really got to do was be the remover of toys from boxes, the untwister of security twist-ties from packaging, and the battery installer! He was quite busy all day!

And I actually got to relax a little bit! I took a long, hot bath in my big fabulous tub, and I did my nails! And Mimi cooked a DELICIOUS dinner! All in all, a very nice day.

.... and to all, a Good Night!!

Has a year really gone by already???

December 16th, 2009:

December 16th, 2010:




HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY MADELYN!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!!! XOXO

'Tis the Season!!!

'Tis (or at least, 'Twas) the season.....


To be spooky!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back at the end of October, otherwise known as "Halloween", the residents of Kingbird and Flicker Courts decided to have another block party to celebrate the pagan holiday. Our contribution to the event included the yummy cookies you see above.

It fell on the weekend, so the timing was perfect to spend a late, sorta chilly, fall afternoon outside with the neighbors. All the kids (and some of the adults!!) showed up in costume.

There was lots of yummy food, including burgers and dogs grilled by Tom, our neighbor two doors down to the right.

Tom is a former Marine (like Mitch), and is a Fairfax County police officer, and his wife is a school teacher. They have 2 daughters - Kiera, who is 4 months older than Tyler, and Kayla, who is 3 months younger than Evan. The four of them play together all the time and have a lot of fun.

After all the eating and playing around, we all gathered up and went trick-or-treating around other parts of Morris Farm. The boys had a great time going around with their friends and collected a fair amount of candy (most of which was eaten by Daddy). It was loads of fun.

'Tis the season to be thankful.....

For friends.

November brought visits from special Aunties Mae-Beth and Leah!

For beautiful, healthy children.

Well, my photog skills aren't perfect, but the subjects sure are cute!!!

November also brought Maddy's first taste of banana bread...

She loves it!!!

And thankful for family.

Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL. We had (almost) everyone at our house. My sister and her husband (his first Thanksgiving off in about 20 years), and my nephew Jordan all drove down from Vermont. Unfortunately, my oldest nephew Jared, wasn't able to make it because he had to work. My brother and his boys, as well as his girlfriend Jeannine and her son also came down.

Here's Uncle Doug sharing a beer with Evan and Maddy:

JUST KIDDING!!

Joining us for dinner were Fammy and Granddad, as well as Ashley, Richard, Nathan, and Charlotte. We had quite a crowd and it was awesome. I don't have any pictures of the dinner event itself, but here are a couple pictures of the bird:

It was DELICIOUS!!! AND, I made the most ridiculously delicious pumpkin cake! Feast your eyes on this:

Mom wanted a shot of all the grandkids - unfortunately she had to settle with only 6 of the 7.

And here is a precious shot of Madelyn with her Uncle Doug (one that doesn't involve beer).

'Tis apparently also the season for birthdays here on the court. In November, we went to Kiera's 4th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese (OMG, the boys had a BLAST!), and next door for Carli's 5th birthday. She had a princess party, but invited a few prince's as well!

And of course, it is now December, and we've got lots of birthdays just in our own house! The month started off with Mitch's birthday on the 1st. I don't have any pictures, but the kids and I made a card involving construction paper, markers, and handprints with paint. By request, I slaved over a crock pot all day (tee hee) to create Mitch's favorite beef stew, and my mom took a drive up the road a ways to a farm where they sell the most delicious berry pies (or so I've been told - I don't care for berry pies) for desert.

Now Evan's birthday is not until the 18th, but we had his party this past weekend. It was a small affair to which we only invited our favorite neighbors. Well, truthfully we like all of our neighbors, but the boys play the most with Kiera and Kayla, and with Alex and Carli who live right next door.

The theme was "CARS".

Goody bag assembly....

decorations...

and CAKE!!!

There was eating,

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and drawing,

and presents!!

He got some great stuff and it was a lot of fun. I can't believe he'll be 3 on Saturday!!!

Another thing that I can NOT believe, is that Maddy will be 1 tomorrow! It is so bittersweet for me. She is such a sweet little baby that it makes me sad that she is growing up. At the same time, I'm excited about the fun we'll have together as she gets older. *sigh* It's a big day tomorrow, we're getting her pictures taken in the morning, and then she'll enjoy her first cupcake after dinner - not to mention her first taste of cow's milk! We're having her party on Saturday.

Some parting shots of the kids:

The princess...

the thinker...

and my little GQ man!!!

I'll try to be back tomorrow with some chocolate covered face shots of my baby girl!!!