From our house to yours....

The boys are sleeping at their grandparents house -as they do every year. Yummy dinner, snacks, games and fun .. plus they get to stay up late! They have a great time and we are happy they are building those memories with their grandparents. Something they can look back on when they are older and be glad they did.

I have a moment like that.... I remember staying up all night at Aunt Lulu's house in Birmingham to watch Princess Di and Prince Charles get married. We toasted with champagne (which I developed quite a taste for, but it never tastes as good as I remember it being that night). At home I would never had stayed up to watch a TV program at 2 a.m. NEVER. But at Aunt Lulu's it was ok. I love that! I love that memory!

So Jon and I went to dinner out and were home by 7 p.m. We don't like to drive on NYE with all the crazy people out there. We watched some TV, surfed the net and are thinking about going to sleep. This is late for me, I don't like to stay up too late. I get grumpy. So ringing in the new year for me is much better done when I wake up -than at midnight.

Happy New Year everybody!

Christmas favorites....

My favorite was the food. Lasagna, ham, spaghetti & meatballs, all of it!
I enjoyed spending time with my family. I was glad that the gifts I spent so much time finding delighted the
receivers.





Presents are my favorite. But I liked church too!
Having a whole week off to hang with my family.

Christmas Eve...

We spent Christmas eve at my parents house with the whole family. There were games (The Christmas Game and Whoonu), yummy food (lasagna!), dad doing the dishes.... My boys, my parents and I left for a bit to attend Mass at Divine Savior --the kids mass is at 4:30 p.m. but you have to get there early to get seats. We were a bit worried when we got there 35 minutes early and the church looked full. No one was in the first row right behind the priest, so we got those seats, which we like.

This year after dinner, Brian held a Gauntlet... each of the kids had to get past him and touch the rocking chair on the other side of the room, before anyone could open gifts.. the kids loved it, so much fun.

Then there were gifts, desserts and we were home by 11:00 p.m.

More Cousins...

2007 before opening presents.
2003 before opening presents. Not much has changed!
Outside playing ball before we left for church. They were having a grand time even though it was only in the 40's this year. Not too warm.

Cousins

Except for the fact that I waited until after all 3 kids had eaten spaghetti... I love these pictures! The boys love each other and enjoy spending time together. How great it is to have cousins!

Christmas Part 1 ..Sunday

We celebrated Christmas a few days early with Jonathan's family. His parents and Marisa, Scott and Iain were able to come. We had a great time visiting and playing with Iain's new toy. The boys liked it as much as he did -so there was lot's of fun with it. Grandpa Jim brought the boys ukelele's from Hawaii. The kids love them. There isn't a day when I don't hear the ping, ping, ping of the strings.. in fact this morning I thought someone was playing the piano -the music was very soothing. We will have to find a book on how to play them so the boys can play actual songs..



Here is Steven with his...

Iain's toy... ball popper.. so much fun!











Marisa's family.... such fun to hang out with, we feel so blessed that they live near by now.

Jack's Karate Promotion to yellow belt!

Here is a short video of Jack's promotion ceremony tonight. He is excited to have earned his yellow belt. He is at the middle of the row (the tall kid).

I have pictures too - but will have to post them tomorrow.

Also at Coney Island ... NATHAN's Hot Dogs!

S

So the reason we ended up at Coney Island .. Nathan's hot dogs! These are Steven's hands down, favorite food. He LOVES them! So when he found out it wasn't far from Aunt Peg's ... he wanted to go. So then Jack googled and found the Aquarium and we were set. Now my dad was 2 steps ahead of me .. he found buy one get one free coupons on the internet! I can't believe it didn't occur to me to look for them. So we had lunch there after the aquarium. I will admit -it was good. The kids all seemed to like it...

Ok ... back in time.... our trip to New Jersey...

I have had several people remind me that I posted that I would post about our trip, but I haven't. So here goes..... We got there late (7 p.m. or so ) Tuesday night. Wednesday - we headed out to the New York Aquarium (located at Coney Island). It was a quick 45 minute or so trip across more bridges than I can remember. Mimi navigated her way there without a problem and there we were. Here are the boys waiting for the ticket people to figure out how to sell us tickets using our coupon... took them about 20 minutes, no joke.

The kids were enthralled with the exhibits and how many different fish there were. This aquarium had a plaque by each window with a picture and description of the different types and we spent time trying to find them all!

The outside tanks were cool too! There was a baby walrus -totally neat to watch! But boys will be boys, so some climbing was part of the fun too!









Another group shot -by an inside wetlands exhibit. It was fun -as you can see by their shiny, smiling faces!

Scenic pictures of our day...

Alcatraz....

The Golden Gate....

The Bay Bridge into the City.

A day off....

Well the boys had Friday off from school for a teacher work day, so we took advantage of that and headed to San Francisco. It was Steven, Jackson, my mom and me. We left here around 10 a.m. and didn't get back to our house until almost 11 p.m. but it was worth it --we had a wonderful day!

First stop was drive thru Starbucks... once everyone had their drink (me: venti iced nonfat caramel macchiato, mom: grande soy white mocha, steven: tall vanilla bean frappaccino, jackson: tall hot chocolate, no whip!) we were on our way....


Once in SF we parked, and headed to the terminal for our Alcatraz tour. We had already bought the tickets online, but had to pick them up. I realized we were about 1/2 hour early for our boat, so I inquired if we could get on the earlier one, leaving in a few minutes. We were able to! So off we went. The boat ride is short -about 15 minutes and then we were there. We listened to the ranger at the dock, then took in a movie of Alcatraz history and saw some exhibits of the past and then we headed up the hill to the cellhouse. A quick stop by the boys (waiting for us, no doubt) at the morgue -they were fascinated. Then up, up, up the hill we went.

We started the audio tour (along with 100 other people it seemed) and after about 20 minutes, Jackson decided he was done with that -so he & I went outside while Steven & Grandma finished the tour. We looked at the gift shop and he read a book about "Prisoners of Age" and then he took a bunch of pictures -which I haven't downloaded yet.

Steven & Grandma finished out the tour... Steven LOVED it! He said he learned alot and it was really interesting. At this point it was a bit chilly and already 4 p.m. so we jumped on a boat back to the mainland.

Once off the boat we ditched our coats and things at the car and went to Pier 39. The boys hadn't been there before and our plan was to grab something to eat and then go to the Aquarium of the Bay... So the boys wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe .. it was yummy and not too crowded. After that we headed to the Aquarium only to find out they were closing early for a special event. So no aquarium for us that day. The kids & my mom got souvenir pennies in the gift shop and then we walked around the pier.

We hit the HUGE sports store, the Christmas decor store, the Carousel, the puppet shop, the Ireland store, the sports memoribilia store and then decided we should have dessert.

So we headed back to the car and went to Ghiradelli Square for a hot fudge sundae! The ice creams were huge and we all enjoyed them. Then we headed to Union Square to see the Christmas tree and lights ... Jack was tired by this time it was already after 8 p.m. so we just drove thru the square a few times and then headed home.

It was a busy and packed day full of adventure --I can't wait to go back!

Grateful.....

I looked and looked for a picture that would work with this topic. A lot of blogs I read focused this weekend on what they are grateful for. With Thanksgiving last Thursday, I can see why. I find I am grateful for the same things as many others... my family, my friends, a healthy family, a nice house, plenty of food and a wonderful church community.

But I will take it a step further and look at the little things, things that make a difference in my life. I am blessed to live in a place with wonderful, mild weather. My kids have friends they can count on. My parents and brother live near by. Many stores to chose from nearby. A great farmers market most of the year. Health Care is a biggie! Schools where my kids are safe. Massages.
Working from home. Daily opportunities to learn. The internet. A van that works. Washing machine and dryer.

Little things that add up to big things. I feel like we sometimes allow ourselves to get too busy. And it is nice when we take time to slow down. We have been in slow down mode for a while. Things are about to get more busy.. Steven is starting Basketball. Jackson is still doing Karate -in fact he has his belt test in less than 2 weeks! Both are starting Hard 90 Baseball academy sessions to prepare for their upcoming baseball tryouts in February. Plus school and friends and family --it's a lot. But I am grateful to be a part of it and to be here.

My Christmas shopping is done. The packages that need to be mailed will go tomorrow. The holiday season is upon us and we intend to spend time together at home, instead of me running all over the place looking for the best deal. I am pleased with the deals I have gotten so far and will accept them as final. I am ready for a stress free, easy holiday. And for that I am truly grateful.

Final Weekend Photos

Papa and his sister....

The boys outside... Jack was trying to get the shot -but his camera wasn't fast enough.

The kids and Maggie

Cyn & Ciera

More pictures from the new camera...

River ... he didn't even flinch since there was no flash!

Ciera & Maggie snuggled in my chair....

Jackson was taking pictures right along side me, the showing them to his grandma.