Happy Birthday Caden December 1, 2009

Caden celebrated his GOLDEN birthday this year!  Golden because he turned four on the forth.  Only happens once a lifetime, you know?

The day before his actual birthday presents arrived from Grandma Gigi!  So we had to open them… there was no waiting one more day!

The next morning he opened presents from Mommy, Daddy, and Jacob.

It was a Leapster!

He decided to have a Buzz Lightyear birthday party, so we made his wish come true.  Here’s the spread of food.  I tried to recreate all the toys from the movie, but forgot Woody at home!  Silly me!

Here’s his cake… that I made.  (I just blew steam on my fingernails and wiped them on my shirt.  What does that mean?  Why do people do that?)  It’s a rocket with Caden in one window and Buzz and Woody in the others.  At first he wanted Buzz and Jacob, but at the last minute he wanted Woody instead.  Brother out, Woody in.

We had a treasure hunt where Buzz wrote us a letter about a star being stolen by the Evil Emperor Zurg and it was our mission to retrieve it and bring it back to the Gamma Quadrant of Sector 4.   After a bunch of clues, we found it!  And then we hit it with a stick until candy came out.

Here’s brothers at the party.

And then Caden blew out his candles and opened some presents.

And then we bounced.

It was a GREAT day!

P.S.  It was my birthday too.  It wasn’t golden.  I turned 31.  Now I have crows feet when I smile.  (Why crow’s?  Maybe it should be dove’s.  They’re prettier.)  Here’s my mom and I.  Geric got me a new outfit.  The sweatshirt is part of it.  Sidenote: if your due date is on your birthday, try to induce labor early.  Sharing your birthday is not as fun as it sounds.

DeVincenzo Birthday Celebration September 28, 2009

The last week of August marks the birthdays of Geric, my sister in law, and my father in law. (I think my mother in law must’ve lost her mind every year at this time when her kids were young… I would have!) SInce money is tight for everyone, we decided to go out for pizza and ice cream. At the end of the night we took some pictures.

The birthday people and their offspring.

Caden took some pictures… my budding photographer.

Self portrait.

I took this one of Jacob’s CRAZY smile! He’s a crack up!

Easter May 1, 2009

I know, I know, I’ve been gone for over a week and my computer is fully functioning! The horror!  Honestly, I’ve been trying to spend less time in general on this here thing (because I feel like a non-neglectful mommy when I do) and Caden has discovered pbskids.com and is basically hogging all my computer time!  But today I think I’m going to write a few posts and spread them out over the next few days so people stop complaining… Rachel… Bridget.  :)   

I’ve been backed up for awhile.  (Not in the digestive way, in the photographic way.) Here’s our Easter.

The DeVincenzo’s came over to our house on Saturday since Geric worked on Sunday.  The shirts I finally settled on were ones that I found in their closet!  After the whole fiasco at Kohl’s it was kind of humorous actually!  But don’t they look cute???

 

Gammy and cousin Kristyn helped the boys decorate their Easter eggs.

 

I decorated the table and made these cute cookies with everyone’s initials on them as place settings.  They were yummy!

 

Geric and his dad reminded us of the reason for the season!

 

Caden had some cuddle time with Auntie Tiff.

 

Then we went on the egg hunt.

 

We hunted for resurrection eggs this year and after all the eggs were found Geric told the story of Easter.  I was surprised at how attentive Caden was.  But he’s really into the Eater story right now.  The other day in the car he said to me, “Mommy, let’s talk about Jesus died on the cross.”  He told the whole story about how there were bad guys that put Jesus on the cross and he dies and they put him in a cave and he rolled the rock out of the way and said, “I’m alive!”  He melts my heart, that one.

 

Sunday was a work day for Geric and we skipped church.  I know, bad, very bad.  But the way I look at it, I was freeing up a seat for someone who might have had to sit in the big white overflow tent.  Because of my generosity they were able to watch a live Easter service.  What can I say?  I’m a servant.

On Sunday afternoon we went to my mom and dad’s.  The boys got more treats there including these cute little ducks.  On sings “Splish Splash” and the other one sings… something else, I forget.  But they love them!  And I love to wake up to them in the morning.  :)

 

My Dad was a very generous Easter bunny this year and gave my mom a Wii!!!  I’d never played it before.  But it was so fun!  Here’s a couple of action shots.

 

We had another Easter egg hunt.  Maw and Pop helped out.

 

Anyone noticed who was left out of Easter pictures??? ME! What the heck!?!?!

Rewind: St. Patty’s Day April 16, 2009

We had an impromptu family night for St. Patrick’s Day.  It was impromptu because I was just planning on eating a green dinner, but it turned into something more… so, so much more!  :)

For breakfast the boys ate some yummy green pancakes.

Then we put on some green and headed out for a playdate with our long lost friends Ezra and Nicci. (Geneva was at school and Judah was sleeping.)

After we got home the boys took a nap and then we made green shortbread cookies that we turned into ice cream sandwiches with mint ice cream that we ate for dessert.

For dinner we ate pesto and salad. I know, I know corned beef and cabbage is the typical Irish meal, but seriously? That sounds disgusting.

After dinner we went on a rainbow hunt. This was so much fun. We walked around our neighborhood and we had to find something that was each color of the rainbow. I told Caden that at the end, we may just find some gold. Here’s how it went:

Red:

Orange:

Yellow:

Green:

Blue:

Perhaps I should have wiped away the eye boogie?

Purple:

Then, when we got back home there was gold waiting at our front door!!!

So, St. Patrick’s Day turned out to be super fun! Who knew?

Valentine’s Week February 15, 2009

Normally I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day.  It was a big deal when I was single and dating, but once I got married, not so much.  I think that’s mostly because our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple was a bust, BIG TIME!  (Hint to husbands:  Always get your wife SOMETHING for Valentine’s Day, even a card is nice, just something so she knows you thought of her.)  But that was five years ago and Valentine’s Day has gotten better, but I never really get my expectations too high, and it’s all good.  I was actually considering joining the fight against the Hallmark Holiday this year, but then the ladies at my MOPS table inspired me.  So we spent a week celebrating this year!  HA!

Monday is always Family Night, so the theme of course was Valentine’s Day and LOVE!!  We baked a heart shaped cookie to eat for our dessert and decorated our dining room area with hearts and red balloons and streamers.

 

Geric helped the boys make Valentine’s (they mostly just scribbled on red paper) while I cooked dinner.

 

We ate heart shaped turkey burgers, heart shaped mashed potatoes and asparagus.

 

After dinner we sent the boys on a treasure hunt to find their Valentine’s gifts.  They had a lot of fun running around the house.  They finally found their big box in the laundry room.  I had put their gifts (a big chocolate kiss and heart shaped balloons) on the bottom and covered them up with boring old red and white balloons, and they thought those were the best thing ever.  Note to self:  Don’t buy presents anymore, just fill a box with balloons. 

 

During the rest of the week we did a few little things.  We made Valentine’s cards for all the grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Caden dictated everything and I wrote it all down.  He came up with some funny stuff.  For my mom and dad he said something like, “I like to help put him clothes in him dryer.  I like to help her get her machine workin’” He was talking about her embroidery machine.  I thought it was funny because it sounds like all they do is put him to work over there… but I know better.  Yesterday we made Valentine cookies for all the children’s workers at church. 

On Friday I got a flower delivery and the card was signed, “Happy Valentine’s Day.  Love, your first Valentine.”  It was from my dad!  How sweet, right?  (Note to husbands:  Do this for your daughter when she gets older.  She’ll love it!)

Geric and I celebrated on Friday and, unexpectedly, on Saturday.  We went out to Bucca di Beppo on Friday and the boys ended up spending the night at Geric’s mom’s house because we were going to go to a movie, but once we started driving to the theater we got really tired and the thought of sleeping in out own bed without and interruptions and early wake up calls was really enticing, so we went home and went to sleep!!!  How boring can we get??  But it was lovely!  So, last night after church I brought the kids home and put them to bed while Geric picked up some of our favorites from CPK.  We had a candlelit dinner in our own home.  It was really sweet.  We should definitely do that more often.

So, I think I’ve officially become a Valentine’s Day cheeseball, but we had so much fun with it this year! Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day and got to spend some time with the ones you LOVE!!!

Happy Birthday, Dad! January 19, 2009

My Dad turned 57 last Saturday.  He’s well on his way to his 60’s (AKA heart attack country) but he’s going strong.    (Love ya, Dad!)  We all got together at PF Chang’s for some yummy food and to celebrate.

From Dad’s Birthday

Jacob was being silly with Auntie B. Check out those boogers! Yowza!

From Dad’s Birthday

From Dad’s Birthday

From Dad’s Birthday

That’s not a booger.  That’s where he fell down.  Pooy guy.

From Dad’s Birthday

Caden is entering the stage of forgetting how to smile.  That’s what the goofy face is.

From Dad’s Birthday

From Dad’s Birthday

On our way out we played with the giant horse.

Happy birthday Dad!  We love you!  Oh, and if you want a good laugh from last year’s birthday, click here.

New Year’s Eve January 9, 2009

First things first: The babysitter position has been filled.  Thank you to all who inquired, but Caden is extremely excited about playing at “Wy-dit’s” house every Thursday afternoon. 

Okay, now rewind to New Year’s Eve.  I forgot to post these picture and since I’m anal and I can’t write posts out of chronological order without feelin’ all OCD, I have to tell you about our new years.

Here’s the thing.  Kids kinda put a damper on the holiday.  I love my kids, I really, really do, but kids and new years just don’t mix.  Even if we tried to go to a fun new years party and keep them up until midnight, the next day they’d still wake up at the crack of dawn and then we’d all pay for it for about a week until they caught up on their sleep.  Just not worth it to me.  Anyway, new years is kinda overrrated.  I mean, it’s just another night, another day, another year.  Big whoop.  But we couldn’t just sit around the house and do nothing.

Geric thought it would be fun to take the boys to Huntington and walk around and eat at Ruby’s on the pier.  I thought it was a good idea.  It was a beautiful day here in the 951, so I thought it would be a crisp, beautiful day at the beach.  WRONG!!!  Here’s what we drove up to:

From new years and dentist

Nice. We decided to make the best of it. Geric and I were cracking up as we were bundling the boys up in big jackets and hats and putting our own hoods up and mittens on. I don’t know why we thought it was so funny, I mean it’s cold everywhere else in January. But we did.

From new years and dentist

From new years and dentist

From new years and dentist

We made our way down Main St. and stopped at a lot of the sidewalk sales, but the boys weren’t really in the mood to shop, so we just headed down to Ruby’s to eat.

From new years and dentist

Jacob ate the wrapper to his straw, while the rest of us enjoyed burgers and mac and cheese.

From new years and dentist

When we left, the pier was so pretty. It was still all festive for Christmas so we took a family photo.  Unfortunately, the girl who took the picture didn’t get any of the festive parts in the picture.  Oh well.  Still cute.

From new years and dentist

Before we headed home for the night we stopped in at Starbucks and Caden got his FIRST STARBUCKS BEVERAGE!!! How exciting… gotta write it in the baby book!

From new years and dentist

Jacob ate a cookie.

From new years and dentist

When we got home, Geric tried to get me to stay up until midnight, but I was tired. So I was asleep by 10:30. Can anyone say “party animal?”  Happy New Year!

Christmas Day January 1, 2009

When we rolled out of bed at 8:45 (another Christmas miracle) we read the story of the first Christmas to the boys and sang happy birthday to Jesus before we dove into the loot below the Christmas tree.

I’m  limiting my photos of Christmas morning to this single picture because I seemed to have made my way into EVERY SINGLE PHOTO (thanks, Ger) and I don’t want you all to become overwhelmed by my “just out of bed” beauty.  I know, you’re jealous, but that stunner is what Geric gets to wake up to every morning… lucky guy.

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Caden and Jacob made out like bandits and got a train table with train (that I’m considering super gluing to the table), a pirate ship, Buzz Lightyear, and Lightning McQueen (Ka chow! I have to say that every time I say “Lightening McQueen”… ka chow.)

After we ate breakfast, we headed over to Gammy’s house for more presents and tamales! Woot, woot for homemade tamales! Holla!

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Then, we headed over to my mom and dad’s house for some more presents and some more food. (We’re greedy little gluttons.)

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

This beautiful tablescape was designed by my mom (as was the Thanksgiving one, even though my Dad tricked me into giving him all the credit, which is why he received a lump of coal in his stocking for Christmas this year.)

All in all, Christmas was a great, but tiring day!

Christmas Eve January 1, 2009

For the past three years we have hosted Christmas Eve at our house.  It’s nice because both sides of the family come here (instead of us driving all over the place) and we all go to church together after we eat.  This was the first year that I was totally relaxed and not worrying about food or decor or all that.  (Probably, as my little sis kept reminding me, because last year could not have gone any worse with me being deathly ill cooking family recipes that didn’t turn out so great.  So, there was only going up from there!)  I kept it simple and made a prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, and sweet potato casserole.  Everyone else brought something to contribute and it was all super yummy!  Even though Jacob was a major grump (poor sick baby) it was a great time.

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Auntie Kristin colored with Caden.

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

My bro-in-law, Rob,  and my Pops.

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Caden didn’t want to be a part of the family picture and Jacob wanted to do his impression of Kermit the Frog.

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

My parents… why do all my pictures look so blurry?!?!

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Our long table of guests… look how happy Jon was! He was excited for Santa’s visit!

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Geric’s sis, Tiff, with Grandpa and my Dad.

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

Jacob LOVES this little guitar! He bounces around and rocks out with it all the time!

From Christmas and New Years Festivities

The other hit was the “Bop Buddy.” It’s a blow up man that Caden can practice his Kung Fu moves on. (Notice the doll on the floor… Auntie Tiff didn’t get the memo that boys don’t play with dolls. J/K They’re just practicing being daddies, right?)

All Lit Up! December 9, 2008

After church on Saturday night we got some pizza and headed over to Thoroughbred to see the Christmas lights.  This is the first year that Caden was excited to see them.  He was so stinkin’ cute!  He was sticking his head out the window and pointing and yelling and saying hi to all the people passing by!  He wouldn’t even look at me long enough to smile, but you can see how excited he is just on he side of his face!

Ger liked the lights too!

He even let Caden drive part of the way! 

I got all creatve with the side mirrors.  Fancy, huh?

Poor Jacob missed everything.  He was out before we even got up there!

But I think we’ll go again before the season is over.  Maybe next time we’ll walk it.